To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: Re: [bprlist] The Kyoto myth
From: tracy
Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2000 02:44:40 -0500

I really hate to see how the "nicolaitans" twist the truth. But is
anyone really ready to "bite the hand that feeds them"?

Will they forsake our markets were they sell there products? If we fall
into depression, won't the rest of the world?

What will they do bomb us?

The world is full of hypocrites. The IPCC, and others say that the
fight is against american CAPITALISM. But that doesn't hold water. The
left-wing of the world, they are the polluters of the earth! U.S.S.R.
has done more harm to the Earth than any 5 United States! And that is
a kind estimate.

We are a state that embraced FREE ENTERPRISE! A system that allows
anyone to start and manage there own business. In fact the government
will HELP THEM! A place Were COMPETITION creates a better environment
for business AND living AND the environment. If a company gets to greedy
then another one will take there place. If a company gets a bad
reputation for pollution people won't buy from them. (Were do you think
boycotts were first effective) But with any system there are those that
will make trouble.
  
IPCC, and others say that the fight is against american CAPITALISM. But
that doesn't hold water, you see, Opportunist and Capitalist are the
same being. They take advantage of the any situation. You cannot
legislate them out of doing what they do. In fact the more legislation
that is created the more opportunity there is for the opportunist. (say
that 10 times) But ask yourself, is anyone suggesting that we KILL
OPPORTUNITY??

What truly saddens me is the response that world leaders have to the
growing cries by their own people and in their own country. Cries to be
more like the U.S.A.. Cries to be allowed to DREAM.

In America you are told at a very early age that any thing you want to
be you CAN be. We nurture DREAMS in our children. When people believe
that their dream will come true, then the energy that they bring to the
table is magnified. With faith in a dream and faith in GOD you will
conquer, that is if your intentions are pure and for the good of all.
You may chuckle but companies who get too greedy will find trouble. Ask
Bill Gates, Ask AT&T, Ask Fire Stone, or Marlboro. Monopolies are
not tolerated here.

There are a lot of countries who love THE FATHER, and THE SON. Some say
it is only our faith in GOD that gives us favor. Maybe at one time it
was. But right now there are a lot of people who don't thank GOD like
they should. To busy chasing dreams. But we have worked hard doing GODs
work for many years. We have sent our sons across the sea to die so
that others may find freedom. Not once but many times. We followed the
example GOD gave us when he sent his SON to Earth to die for our
freedom. We have been rewarded for our sacrifice, and our mercy. We did
not kill Sadam but let him try to change. But it is easy to get lost
when your exuberant, and I believe GOD is wise enough to see that. But
there is a calling to come home and remember what life is all about. In
fact we will be back home soon. Americans when they see what is right
tend to do it.

The real threat to americans and their economy will be when we come
home. Will we let Victorianism and there believes of GOD crush the
outcast? Will we get a smaller viewpoint of what is "within GOD"?

Our problem is VANITY! We judge people on who they are, Based on job or
title. Not who they are, based on intent of actions, and size of
heart. This will not do.

We are the melting pot and always need to remain that way. A place were
all people of all types can DREAM. Long haired men and short haired
women, Leather or lace, black, white, or otherwise. For Christ said
love your brother and I didn't see any thing from Christ that said
anything different about gays. (I see this as a test of compassion that
we fail badly) We need to love all people and except backgrounds that
are of peace. A sense of belonging should be felt by all, so all will
seek salvation from Christ.

If you don't hurt people but help them, and are more of a giver than a
taker then you are good in the eyes of the people. If you nurture those
who are in need, and forgive those who slip, even better. If we live
and let live then we will always have the favor of GOD, THE FATHER, and
people will give praise.

Freedom by the choice of the people. Freedom to pursue happiness.
Freedom to be yourself. Freedom to believe that YOUR dream can come
true. That is what we still offer.

Soon the critics will be silenced. For the FREEDOM that THE LORD
established on this land will remain. The darkness won't take that
away...... without a fight, and nobody can thwart the plans of THE
LORD. If it comes to another fight, the evil in the world WILL LOOSE
AGAIN! Regardless of how they try twist and spin the truth. Regardless
if the fight is in a different format (like the world courts). It
doesn't matter. The reign of the LORD, GOD ALMIGHTY, is at hand.

Tracy

> EDITORIAL • November 22, 2000
>
> http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/ed-house-2000112203242.htm
>
> The Kyoto myth
>
> Preoccupied with the ongoing presidential election controversy, few
> Americans realize that a potentially much more significant decision
> is being made on their behalf in The Hague. Global bureaucrats
> meeting at the Dutch city are hammering out enforcement mechanisms
> for the Kyoto Protocol — an environmental treaty negotiated in Japan
> three years ago that could cripple the U.S. economy and reduce the
> standard of living for average Americans in a profound and lasting
> way.

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Spotlight email Magazine items
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 08:55:47 -0500

[This was sent to me by a list member.]

from Spotlight email Magazine

Four Bilderbergers Hold Senate Seats
Two Bilderberg members were elected to the Senate Nov. 7 and will join two
others who have been recruited by the secret international elite in recent
years. Hillary Clinton succeeds retiring Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-
N.Y.) after defeating Rep. Rick Lazio (D-N.Y) and Jon Corzine purchased the
New Jersey seat for $65 million. This will double the Bilderberg bloc, whic h
includes Sens. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) and Chris Dodd (D Conn.). A largely
overlooked historical footnote is about to occur: for about two weeks, Mrs.
Clinton will be both first lady and a sitting senator because the new
Congress will be installed in early January and the White House changes
tenants on Jan. 20. Mrs. Clinton became the only first lady to ever attend a
Bilderberg meeting when it met at a resort about 30 miles from Atlanta a fe w
years ago. President Clin ton, long a member of the brother group, the
Trilateral Commission, was anointed at a Bilderberg meeting in Baden
Baden, Germany, in 1991, launching his White House run. Corzine had
attended Bilderberg meetings for years, representing Goldman Sachs. He
was absent last June when Bil derberg met near Brussels, Belgium, because
the Democratic primary was taking place at the same time. Hagel and Dodd
were recruited into Bil derberg in Sintra, Portugal, in 1999 and returned t o
Brussels last spring. Bilderberg traditionally had a strong Senate presence ,
with such luminaries as Banking Committee Chairman Lloyd Bentsen (D-
Tex.) and Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) as regulars. Bentsen continued in Bil der b erg
as Clinton's first treasury secretary but has suffered a stroke and uses a
wheelchair now. Bradley retired from the Senate and failed in a bid for the
Demo cratic presidential nomination. For some years, no senators attended
Bilderberg, some telling inquiring constituents about "political problems" that
emerged when their participation in the secret meetings became known.
Corzine called for registering guns, federal control of public education to  facil
itate the globalist brainwashing of Amer ican children and racial quotas (" affir
mative action") in employment and education. All of this follows the
long-established Bilder berg agenda.

LAME DUCKS FLAP HOME
The lame-duck Congress limped back to Washington on Nov. 14, passed a
continuing resolution to keep the government operating until Dec. 5 and
trotted back home to overdose on turkey. With the presidential election sti ll
in doubt, lawmakers were unable to concentrate on six of 13 annual
spending bills still pending. Republican congressional leaders were also
negotiating tax cuts and health care legislation with the White House. "If
we're going to get an agreement on some of these really still touchy issues ,
we're going to need more time and they're going to have to resolve the
situation down in Florida," said House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Tex.).
"Right now, it's a real tough time for people to stay focused" on negotiati ons.
Republican leaders have agreed to de lay final budget action because "the
president is not here, members have schedules to keep and [we do not]
know who is the president-elect," said House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-
Tex.). Congress and the administration broke off budget negotiations shortl y
be fore the election, expecting voters to express their sentiments on these
issues through the ballot box, giving one party an advantage when Congress
returned to complete its work. After concluding that nothing major could be
accomplished, White House officials signed off on an interim resolution to
keep the government operating until Dec. 5. Congress has to complete work
on must-pass spending bills, consider a major $240 billion tax bill that
includes a $1-an-hour increase in the minimum wage and $27 billion to
restore Medicare subsidies to hospitals, nursing homes, managed-care
operators and other pro viders. Democrats are anxious to complete a $350
billion spending bill that includes large increases for education programs that
negotiators agreed on shortly before the election, only to have House Repub
lican leaders reject it. Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) i s
considering revising upwards its long-term forecasts of budget surpluses th at
would make it easier for the next president=97whoever he is=97to embrace
spending and tax-cut proposals. CBO officials met with outside economic
advisers shortly after the elections to consider draft proposals for increa sing
its long-term economic growth projections by as much as one-half a
percentage point. The revision could increase the projected $4.6 trillion
surplus by $500 billion to $1 trillion over the next decade. "When the dust
settles, the projected 10-year surpluses will be somewhat larger than they
were in July," said Robert Reischaurer, a former CBO director and a member
of its economic advisory panel. "And therefore the new president will have
more fiscal flexibility than was anticipated during the campaign." Half of the
projected surpluses is generated by the Social Security payroll tax and is
considered untouchable by Congress. But the rest can be used for spending,
tax cuts and debt reduction. The projected increases in the surplus would
make Bush's task of selling a $1.3 trillion tax cut easier or boost Gore's
arguments for major spending initiatives and more targeted tax cuts.

LEAKS BILL VETOED
President Clinton has vetoed a bill that would have criminalized the leakin g of
government secrets. The legislation might "chill legitimate activities that  are
at the heart of a democracy," Clinton said in rejecting the measure on Nov.
4. The measure had been assailed by news organizations that said it would
stifle their ability to obtain information vital to the public. "We must ne ver
forget that the free flow of information is essential to a democratic socie ty,"
Clinton said. Clinton cited the "badly flawed provision" as the reason he
vetoed a measure that authorizes spending for the CIA, the National Securit y
Agency and other intelligence activities for the fiscal year that began Oct . 1.
He urged Congress "to pursue a more narrowly drawn provision tested in
public hearings so that those they represent can also be heard on this
important issue." The total intelligence budget is classified and not made
public, but it is be lieved to be about $30 billion. Bush, Gore 'Mostly Agr ee'
On Globalization, Trade More than anything, global corporations want "free
trade" from the next president. They'll get their wish. Above all, global
corporations want one thing from the next president: "free trade," and the
right to invest wherever they want without having to comply with pesky loca l
laws and standards. Al Gore has been one of the Clinton administration's
most stalwart fighters for NAFTA, GATT, and now China trade. And George
W. Bush is at least as enthusiastic.

DON'T PROTECT JOBS
In their 200-page policy paper, Pros perity for America's Families, [prior to
the election, this paper was available from www.algore.com] Gore and vice
presidential candidate Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieber man give a ringing
endorsement of globalization, arguing that trade deals like NAFTA have
created new jobs for Americans because of increased exports. The
Economic Policy Institute recently documented that while rising exports
created about 4.1 million jobs, rising imports caused us to lose 7.3 millio n,
for a net effect of 3.2 million jobs lost due to trade. Of course, globaliz ation
has resulted in a lot more than the evaporation of a few million American
jobs. Workers around the globe are being squeezed harder and forced to
compete against one another for the opportunity to make a living. The
Democrats do give our concerns a nod. Although they say that their
"overarching aim. . . is to aggressively open markets," they also state tha t
"all trade agreements should include provisions that will protect
environmental and labor standards, as well as open markets in other
countries." Such provisions might give workers a focal point for organizing ,
but they can't undo the damage done by the trade agreements themselves.
So says Cornell University's Kate Bronfenbrenner, who has just completed a
report documenting how, in NAFTA's aftermath, employers have used plant
closings, or just the threat of plant closings, to keep workers from
organizing. A trade agreement that included real teeth to enforce labor rig hts
would help, says Bronfenbrenner. But even that wouldn't keep employers
from effectively using hollow threats or implicit threats to intimidate vul nerable
workers. When employers used such threats, Bronfen brenner found,
workers usually voted against the union. Without the threats, workers voted
union 51 percent of the time.

NEW REPORT
Bronfenbrenner's new report, commissioned by the U.S. Trade Deficit Review
Commission, is available on the web at:
www.ustdrc.gov/research/research.html. George W. Bush has no use for
promises about labor and environmental standards. But he has lots to say
about global trade. Bush chided the Clinton administration for not pushing
free trade hard enough. He pledges to secure fast-track authority (which
would force Congress to pass or reject trade agreements without
amendment). He says he will push for "free trade agreements with all the
nations of Latin America," including Chile, Brazil, and Argentina, as well as
Central American and Caribbean nations. The ultimate goal, he says, is "fre e
trade from northernmost Canada to the tip of Cape Horn." Trade agreements
like NAFTA and institutions like the World Trade Organ ization are the
creatures of multinational corporations, designed to give them free reign o f
labor around the planet. Goods produced under unfair labor conditions shoul d
not be allowed to enter the country. Companies that use child labor,
suppress workers' right to organize, or fail to meet occupational safety an d
health or environmental standards should have their products seized at the
border, and should be held financially liable for how their goods are produ ced.
Further, workers themselves should be empowered to investigate, present
evidence, and petition to remove goods that are in violation.

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Economic losses hit Israelis beyond the Green Line
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 12:00:46 -0500

Ha'aretz: Economic losses hit Israelis beyond the Green Line

By Yair Sheleg HJa'aretz 24 November 2000

Until the beginning of this month, R., a resident of one of the Israeli
settlements west of Ramallah in the West Bank, worked at an elementary
school in a settlement located east of Ramallah. Twice a day she had to
travel on roads that are close to Ramallah and traverse a number of Arab
villages. The disturbances of the past two months raised doubts in her
mind about whether to go on working in the school. "The route we used in
order to get to work within half an hour was blocked. In most cases we
were forced to go via the Modi'in-Jerusalem road, which meant a trip of
one and a half hours each way. Then the roads close to the settlement also
became far more dangerous. Even when you go on a protected bus, with a
military escort, you still have to wait until the escort arrives, but I
also have to get home on time so I can pick up the children from
kindergarten or school.".At the beginning of November, R. left her job,
deeply discomfited. "To leave educational work, which is even more
important at such a difficult time, was not easy, and I would not have
allowed myself to do it if I hadn't known that there was someone to
replace me. I have no regrets about the decision, because I couldn't take
the tension any more, but I know that some friends of mine will criticize
what I did as being a sign of weakness." Hence her decision to talk to
Ha'aretz on condition of anonymity.

What happened to R. is an example of one facet of the "Al-Aqsa Intifada"
that is not so well known: its impact on the settlers. While everyone is
focusing on the mortal dangers that exist, the settlers' private lives
have been very much affected, as have the operations of institutions and
organizations.

Pinhas Wallerstein, the head of the Binyamin Regional Council, relates
that he and the welfare department of the council have been inundated with
requests for assistance from people whose livelihood is suffering.
"Salaried people working in Jerusalem have found it difficult to get to
work, so they found themselves in danger of being fired," he explains. He
cites other examples: "Factories whose clients and suppliers can't get to
them, private individuals or industries who need various things repaired,
but the technicians will not, or cannot, get to them, and so forth."

Women who work as nurses in hospitals, particularly those who live in
settlements in the Jerusalem area, find themselves in a precarious
position. They need to be able to travel to Jerusalem and back at any time
of the day or night, as they do shift work and the shifts sometimes end
late at night. Debby Segal, from the settlement of Ofra, a nurse in the
intensive care ward at Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem,
says that "when the riots started, the companies that pick us up from home
and take us back after work simply refused to send vans. We had to
maneuver all the time: on Sundays we switched night shifts with nurses who
live in Jerusalem, but that is problematic because a lot of the people on
the staff come from the settlements. In some cases we got authorization to
do two consecutive shifts, 16 hours at a stretch, so we could come and go
during daylight, but that is obviously not a long-term solution. In the
meantime, we have been able to keep maneuvering, and the company found a
few protected vehicles for us. But our big fear is that if the situation
continues for a long time, things will become much more difficult."

Yisrael Samutani tells about a difficulty of a different kind. He owns a
factory that manufactures meat products and is located in the settlement
of Elon Moreh, near Nablus. He says he shut down most of the production
lines at the plant "because the suppliers and the workers are simply
afraid to come to the place." He too is trying to maneuver. He has since
managed to get the main production lines going again with the help of
plants that are not situated in the territories, such as Tirat Zvi, which
agreed to let him make use of their production facilities until the
situation gets back to normal. "Despite everything," he says, "we are
operating a small part of the production at the plant, mainly in the
frozen meats area. My partner and I rolled up our sleeves and started to
work on the production line."

After all these efforts, he says, production is nevertheless down by 30
percent, "and that is precisely after we invested NIS 350,000 this year in
renovating the cooling system." Samutani, it should be pointed out, does
not live on a settlement. His home is in Tel Aviv "and I got to Elon Moreh
not because of politics but because the government of Israel encouraged me
to go there. So those who induced me to go there now have to come up with
solutions for the situation that has been created."

Tourism, of course, has sustained a mortal blow. Shlomo Filber, the
secretary-general of the Yesha Council of settlements, says that an
investment of half a million shekels in the tourism sector (aimed at
Israelis) over the Sukkot holiday at the beginning of October went down
the tubes because of the sweeping ban imposed by the army on outings in
Judea and Samaria. But there is also another type of tourism in Yesha
(acronym, meaning "salvation," for Judea, Samaria, Gaza) in the
educational realm, consisting of numerous midrashot (religious schools),
particularly in the religious settlements, which provide outings and
educational seminars for the religious school system. Thus, at Midreshet
Ofra, according to the headmaster, Yehuda German, "in a normal year we
were filled up from the start of the school year until Passover," but this
year all the seminars since Rosh Hashanah - the Jewish New Year, which
this year fell at the end of September, as the Intifada began - have been
canceled. The forecast is that the institution will not have any groups
until at least after Hanukkah, at the end of December. "Everything is
totally empty," German says.

The same situation exists in other midrashot in Yesha, as Yossi Vardi, the
director-general of the Union of Midrashot, reports. "It is the same even
in midrashot to which access is relatively convenient, such as at Susiya,
which can be reached from Be'er Sheva without any fear. There are some
institutions, such as those in the Katif Bloc [in the Gaza Strip] where
even the girls doing national service, who work with us all the time, were
removed at the request of the voluntary organizations that are responsible
for them, because they don't want to take responsibility for their
security. In fact, even the midrasha in Jerusalem has stopped going on
outings in the Old City at the order of the Education Ministry."

Here, too, the only solution is to maneuver and finagle in the hope that
the emergency situation will come to an end before the network collapses.
"The midrashot are moving a large portion of their activity inside the
[1967] Green Line," Vardi says. "But even that is not always a simple
matter because it is not always easy to find an alternative site at short
notice, and on top of that all the income from accommodation is lost -
payment is for the educational activity alone. And despite everything,
there are schools who cancel because the atmosphere is that 'this is not
the time for outings.'"

German, who runs the midrasha at Ofra, says the cleaning staff has already
been fired and that they will probably have to dismiss members of the
organizational staff as well. "We are economizing tremendously," he says.
"Every expense, no matter how small, has to be cleared with me. We are
trying to delay payments to suppliers in the hope of somehow surviving
this period, but we are deeply anxious."

Filber sums up the major economic damage: "In the area of tourism, in
which we made large investments over the past few years, there has been a
total collapse. In the first month of the riots the activity of the
midrashot came to a halt because of the prohibition on outings. In the
second month things eased off a bit. For example, authorization was given
to get to the midrashot themselves - without outings - with appropriate
military escort. But 50 percent of the groups continue to cancel and the
damage amounts to hundreds of thousands of shekels a month.

"In the Katif Bloc agricultural exports have suffered to the tune of
millions of dollars, both because of the absence of Palestinian workers
and because of transportation difficulties. The settlement of Netzarim,
which usually supplies 25 percent of Israel's exports in the sphere of
cherry tomatoes, was cut off for 10 days, just at the critical time of the
harvest. Anyone who employed Palestinian workers in agriculture bit the
dust. But even with the Thai workers the situation is complicated because
the Thai Embassy in Israel has issued an unequivocal advisory to its
citizens not to enter the Gaza Strip.

"Factories are having problems getting machines that break down repaired
because the technicians do not always want to come. You have to
understand
that industrial plants that don't meet their supply contracts suffer not
only immediate damage, their credibility also suffers, and that means
cancellation of future contracts. In a normal year, industry in Yesha
manufactures goods worth NIS 200 million. It's hard to say how much of
that has been affected, but it is certainly a substantial amount.

"And besides all that, there are naturally very large outlays for
protection and security measures. People have to make sure their car is
protected. Employers have to ensure transportation for workers who can't
rely on their private vehicle any longer. We are talking about expenses
running into the tens of millions of shekels."

Wallerstein adds that the local and regional councils also have to arrange
transportation for some of their staff from one place to another. This
includes welfare workers, much of whose work is done in the evening hours,
when the families they tend to are at home, "but who are now afraid to
travel from one settlement to another after dark. We don't want to force
them to make such trips, and we try to offset the damage done to this form
of work by other means," Wallerstein says.

One question that has of course come up is possible state compensation for
the damages sustained by the settlers, as businesses in the north were
compensated for losses they sustained in periods of Katyusha rocket
attacks launched from Lebanon. Wallerstein and Filber admit that even if
they have raised this subject in discussions with officials from the Prime
Minister's Office and the treasury, they have not done so intensively
"because we are focused mainly on security concerns," Filber explains. The
regional councils, Wallerstein says, have been flooded with requests for
assistance from individuals and businesses but are unable to accede to
them, and in the meantime those affected are trying to practice damage
control. The longer the situation continues, and certainly if it gets
worse, the greater will be the demands for compensation.

As of now, at any rate, the government has no intention of compensating
anyone. The spokesman of the Finance Ministry, Eli Yosef, says explicitly,
"The settlers are not the only ones who have been affected by the current
situation - the entire Israeli economy has been hurt. The hotel business
and the tourism industry in general have been severely hit, all of the
country's economic activity has been affected. If we give the settlers
compensation, we will have to give it to everyone, and that would mean
taking from the collective pocket of all of us - in other words, on top of
the expected decrease of one percent in the country's economic growth, we
will do even more damage to the economy. We can help, and we intend to,
by
transferring workers from one sector to another - for example, by
employing newly unemployed people in agriculture and perhaps also in
construction, including professional training, because that is a long-term
structural change. But we will not give general compensation, apart from
cases that will be decided on a specific, individual basis, and even then
only as an act of leniency, as the decision was made to compensate those
who suffered damage in the riots that took place inside the Green
Line."The Barkan industrial zone in western Samaria, which has about 100
plants, is one of the largest of its kind in Yesha. Even though it is
close to the 1967 Green Line, Barkan has been seriously affected by the
events of the past two months. Etti Aloush, the coordinator of the
industrial zone for the Samaria Regional Council, says that overall, in
the first weeks, "we found ourselves in a situation where many of the
suppliers were unwilling to come to the site, and the same went for the
truckers who transported the finished goods. The plants that employed
Palestinian workers were even more severely affected because many of the
workers could not get to Barkan. But now that a bypass road to the
industrial zone has been opened, the situation is much better, though
there are still workers who find it difficult to get here and truckers who
refuse to come. I would say that we are now about 25 percent below our
normal production level, as compared with a reduction of 50 percent in the
first weeks."

Many of the owners of businesses at Barkan refuse to be interviewed, for
fear of creating a negative image for their products. One who is willing
to speak out is Yoram Oren, the owner of a small factory which
manufactures packaging and bags. In front of his plant is an IDF guard
unit, concrete testimony to the current situation, The soldiers are there
to guard the bypass road that was opened in the midst of the riots in
order to facilitate access to the city of Ariel and to Barkan. As for the
direct impact on his business, Oren says that the main effect has been on
the number of working hours. "All my workers - there are ten of them -
come from the center of the country. They used to work until 8 or 9 P.M.,
but now they want to leave while it is still daylight, meaning 4 or 5 P.M.
at the latest, and I can't say no because I will not take responsibility
for the possibility that they will be attacked. The upshot is that
production is down by about 40 percent, and that is without taking into
account suppliers who don't want to come or who ask me to meet them
somewhere else, so I have to go there myself and pick up the raw
material."Y.S.The question of real estate values in Yesha in the wake of
the Intifada has no clear answer as yet. The assessment of those who are
professionally involved is that it is still too soon to talk about a
general trend of a fall in prices. Motti Bier, a real estate agent in the
town of Efrat, in the Etzion Bloc south of Jerusalem, says that "since
only a few weeks have gone by since the start of the riots, most of the
transactions that were in the pipeline earlier have not been canceled, but
for the most part suspended. Deals that were concluded before the riots
began, at least in my area, were not canceled. As for those who had just
begun to look around, they are naturally inclined to wait and see, but
again, there are hardly any outright cancellations.

"In the short term, prices have fallen by five to ten percent, but as
regards the long term we will have to wait at least a few months. You have
to remember that at this time of the year people in any case don't put
their homes up for sale, as they know they will have a hard time selling
them, so maybe that accounts for the lack of demand. But there is also no
supply, and the price level overall is holding firm, and in any case it
was low even before the riots because of the general real estate crisis
across the country."

via: "IMRA Newsletter" <imra-l@lyris.vcix.com>

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Arutz-7 News (11/24/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 12:09:00 -0500

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Friday, Nov. 24, 2000 / Cheshvan 26, 5761

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
   1. ISRAELI CITIZEN MURDERED IN SHOMRON TERRORIST ATTACK
   2. TERRORISTS ARRESTED
   3. FUNERALS AND MORE VIOLENCE
   4. YESHA CITIZENS TAKE MATTERS INTO OWN HANDS - SLIGHTLY
   5. ARAB MKs TO BE INVESTIGATED
   6. BEN-ELIEZER WISHES TO HELP
---SPECIAL "WHITE PAPER" INSERT

***BULLETIN: As we go to press - *****
Prime Minister Ehud Barak told government ministers at an early-morning
meeting today that he plans to resign if the proposal to topple the
government is passed by the Knesset next week. Likud MKs said they
would submit the proposal this Monday; Speaker Avraham Burg ruled that an
absolute majority of the 120-member Knesset is required in order for it to
pass. Yossi Elituv of Mishpachah magazine reports that Barak explained
today that he now knows he has neither a partner on the Palestinian side
with whom to make peace, nor a partner on the Jewish side with whom to
establish a unity government. Arutz-7 reporters were told this afternoon b y
Prime Minister's Office staffers that a reaction to the reports would be gi ven
only on Sunday. MK Benny Elon said that if the reports are true, "this is a
brave step by the Prime Minister. Until his resignation takes effect, we m ust
help him fight Arafat."

1. ISRAELI CITIZEN MURDERED IN SHOMRON TERRORIST ATTACK An
Israeli citizen was killed this afternoon when Palestinian terrorists, wait ing in
ambush, shot at his car, east of the Tapuach Junction, between central
Shomron and the Jordan Valley. The driver continued driving until the
nearest army checkpoint, where he reported what happened and then
collapsed. He was treated on the scene, but died shortly afterwards. Toda y
marked the fifth day in a row of fatal terrorist attacks against Israelis; a total
of ten Israelis have been murdered by Palestinians in the past week.

Minister Dalia Itzik, a defender of the government's policy of restraint, s aid
today, "We must understand that we are in a state of war. However, I think
that the motto of the recent days should not be, 'Let the IDF win,' but rat her,
'Let common sense win.' MK Rehavam Ze'evi (National Union), however, said
yesterday, "Of course in the end we will have to negotiate - but the questi on
is in what position will we be for these negotiations - a position of weakn ess
and defeat, or a position of victory and strength?"

The government's security cabinet has rejected, over the past two months,
many plans submitted by the IDF General Staff for military actions against
the Palestinians. Arutz-7 correspondent Haggai Huberman reports that IDF
Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Sha'ul Mofaz met with Yesha Council leaders in Alon
Shvut (Gush Etzion) two nights ago, and repeated three times that the army
submits plans, but the cabinet rejects them. Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-
Ami, while visiting the wounded victims of the Hadera bombing, said that
there is no point to "hit back" at the Palestinians, and that only solution  lies
in conducting dialogue with them. Ben-Ami also said that Egypt - which
recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv this week - will continue to play an
important role in the stabilization of the region.

2. TERRORISTS ARRESTED
Police in the Judea and Samaria district have arrested over 100
Palestinians over the past few days who have taken part in laying
explosives, rioting, and rock-throwing. Among them is a Palestinian
para-military police officer, who confessed to the charges. A police
spokesman said that following the wave of arrests, a certain drop in the
violence has been noted in the relevant areas. In addition, three Tanzim
members who were involved in shooting attacks in the Binyamin area were
arrested last night.

Israeli forces killed a Hamas terrorist over the night - but not in his hom e, as
had been reported. Army sources say that the terrorist was on his way to
carry out a shooting attack on Kadim, in northern Shomron, when he was
killed by a waiting IDF force. Another terrorist with him was wounded, but
managed to escape.

3. FUNERALS AND MORE VIOLENCE The two victims of yesterday's
Palestinian terrorism were buried today. Lt. Eduard Mechnik, who was kille d
by a bomb placed by Palestinian policemen inside the joint Israeli-
Palestinian coordinating office, was buried in Be'er Sheva. Corp. Samr
Hussein, who was killed at the Erez Checkpoint, was buried in his northern
Druze village of Hurfeish.

Shots were fired at IDF forces at Rachel's Tomb today; the soldiers did not
return fire at first, but later shot two mortar shells in the direction of the fire.
Palestinian riots began this afternoon at Ayosh Junction and elsewhere in
Yesha. An Israeli motorist was injured when a boulder was dropped onto his
car near Modi'in.

A bomb was exploded alongside a bus on a by-pass road near Hevron today;
the bus was damaged, but no one was hurt. Last night, two children
suffered burns when a firebomb was thrown onto their bus between Givat
Ze'ev and Ramot, north of Jerusalem. Among other violence last night,
shots were fired at Psagot and at Gilo, and at various IDF positions in
Yesha.

4. YESHA CITIZENS TAKE MATTERS INTO OWN HANDS - SLIGHTLY
Jewish citizens of the South Har Hevron communities - the area of Susiah,
Maon, and Shani - blocked off the access road to the Arab village of Samoa.
The action was taken in protest of the continuing rock-throwings and other
violence by Arabs of Samoa. One resident related how, during a routine dri ve
this week, he was greeted by a mob of Arab rock-throwers from the village;
when he quickly turned the car around to retreat, he was met by another
group of rioters who had been lying in wait. He managed to escape by
driving quickly through; neither he nor the attackers were hurt.

5. ARAB MKs TO BE INVESTIGATED
Attorney-General Elyakim Rubenstein announced today that he had ordered
investigations into the recent inciteful remarks of, and encouragement of
violence by, Israeli-Arab Knesset Members. He said that he does not wish
to harm the sacred principle of freedom of speech, "but everyone
understands that a country cannot commit suicide." Among other remarks,
Arab MK Abdel Malek Dahamshe called in September upon Israeli-Arabs to
"break the arms and legs of any policeman that destroys an Arab house."

6. BEN-ELIEZER WISHES TO HELP Communications Minister Binyamin
Ben-Eliezer visited Kfar Darom in Gaza this morning. He promised to fulfil l
several of their requests necessary for the continued existence of the town .
Education Ministry Director-General Shlomit Amichai visited yesterday, and
said she would help to establish a school there, so that the children would
not have to travel the dangerous roads to Gush Katif.

***SPECIAL "WHITE PAPER" INSERT
The Israeli government released this week, as part of its retaliatory
actions against the Palestinian Authority for Monday's fatal terrorist
bombing of a Kfar Darom school bus, a "White Paper" detailing 60 pages of
PA/PLO non-compliance with the Oslo agreements. IMRA (Independent
Media Review Analysis) publicized an electronic version of the paper
(http://www.imra.org.il), after the government limited the distribution to hard
copies alone. Excerpts from the document:

"The present wave of violence - led by the Fatah "Tanzim" - is essentially an
attempt by Arafat to achieve, through violence, his maximal political goals :
and avoid the choices necessary to bring the negotiations to a successful
conclusion... Instead of responsibility for the welfare of the governed we  see
him willing to use Palestinian suffering, including the death of children o n the
frontline (shamelessly exploited)...

"Ambivalent attitudes towards terrorism, and at times - outright complicity =85
In the current crisis, P.A. Preventive Security [and] the "Tanzim" (militia ) of
Arafat's Fatah movement are actively involved in terrorist attacks=85

"Incitement to Hatred - a key element in the current crisis has been the
relentless effort to mobilize "the Arab masses and destabilize the region.. .
This comes against the background of a broader pattern of education and
public messages, which denigrate the Jews, and reject the possibility of
compromise solutions.

"Criminal activities on a large scale - from car theft to excise tax fraud - take
place under P.A. auspices.

"It should be recalled that the P.L.O. was not an "unknown quantity" when i t
came into the Peace Process: its institutional record - of terrorism, breac h of
agreements (with Arab governments - Jordan, Lebanon), and abuse of the
"governed" in areas under its control - meant that extensive formal
commitments were required - beginning with the pledges given to Prime
Minister Rabin prior to the signing of the Declaration of Principles. These ,
however were often interpreted in a slippery way, or honored only when it w as
expedient for Arafat and the P.A. to do so.

"As early as Arafat's own speech on the White House lawn, on September
13, 1993, there were indications that for him, the Declaration of Principle s
[signed that day] did not necessarily signify an end to the conflict=85 T he
map of "Palestine" remained as it has always been for him, the entire
territory of pre-1948 mandatory Palestine=85

"On various occasions, Arafat continued to use the language of "Jihad"=85 a
clear reference to the violent option. In a eulogy to a Palestinian officia l on
June 15 1995 (at the height of the Oslo Process) he paid homage, among
others, to two women terrorists and spoke of the children throwing stones a s
"the Palestinian Generals."=85 Of special interest, in this context, are Ar afat's
repeated references to the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, signed by the Prophet
Muhammad with his Meccan enemies when they were still stronger than
him, and then abandoned (as he conquered the city) within a much shorter
time than the Treaty itself warranted. The first such reference made public
came shortly after the signing of the Interim agreement, in the "Jihad"
speech he made at the Mosque in Johannesburg (obtained by the Jewish
community, and broadcast in Israel in May 1994)=85 The reference to the
Hudaybiyyah treaty re-surfaced in 1998, coupled with the warning that "all
the options are open to the Palestinian people". (Orbit television, April 1 8,
1998). In essence, here was a rationale for accepting Oslo and the place at
the negotiations, and the various commitments involved, not as the building
blocks of trust and cooperation but as temporary measures, to be shed off
when circumstances allow.

"In a speech (documented on video) to a forum in Nablus in January 1996 -
again, at a time when the negotiations were going forward - Nabil Sha'ath
described the strategy in terms which then sounded unrealistic, but now rin g
familiar: "We decided to liberate our homeland step-by-step... Should Isra el
continue - no problem. And so, we honor the peace treaties and non-
violence... if and when Israel says "enough"... in that case it is saying t hat
we will return to violence. But this time it will be with 30,000 armed
Palestinian soldiers and in a land with elements of freedom... If we reach a
dead end we will go back to our war and struggle like we did forty years
ago".

"[There is now within the PA] the collapse of all existing commitments, and
the systematic creation - day by day, week by week - of an atmosphere of
raw emotions, fear and hatred, in pursuit of a general Palestinian and Pan-
Arab mobilization. All of this is not only in breach of the clearly stated
commitments offered at the beginning of the Oslo process, but also in
obvious, at times blatant, rejection of the understandings reached at the
recent Sharm al-Sheikh Summit."

The document lists specific examples of Palestinian non-compliance in the
areas of incitement and the perpetuation of hatred, violence against
Israel, complicity in terrorism, the size of the Palestinian police,
foreign relations, economic breaches (such as not paying debts to Israeli
companies), invading and building in area C, where it has no legal
jurisdiction, criminal activity under PA auspices, failure to protect holy
places, and more.

Hebrew News Editor: Haggai Segal
English News Editor: Hillel Fendel

***************************************
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****************************************

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Molecular Braille expands computer memories
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 12:26:05 -0500

technology : Molecular Braille expands
computer memories

PHILIP BALL

Computer memories of the future will read their contents by touch,
using a kind of microscopic Braille, Swiss scientists now suggest. The
information storage capacity of magnetic hard drives has expanded
enormously in recent years, but is now nearing saturation point. The
touch technique could allow computer memories to continue to grow.

The storage capacity of a magnetic hard drive is measured by the
number of 'bits' of information - the individual 1's and 0's of binary
code - that fit into a square inch of disk space.

Commercial drives now hold between 6 and 15 billion bits per square
inch. This magnetic storage technology will reach its limits in the
next four or so years, when it has grown by a further 10-fold. If each
bit is encoded in only a small number of magnetic atoms, they can no
longer hold it reliably.

For over a decade, researchers have been exploring another option for
information storage that promises densities at least four times
greater than the best magnetic systems. This new approach is little
more than a scaled-down version of the clay tablets used in antiquity.

A sharp needle, with a point only a few atoms across, inscribes marks
in the surface of a soft material. The needle is fixed to the end of a
thin, hard cantilever arm that can be moved with tremendous precision.

This instrument was devised as a kind of microscope in the 1980s at
IBM's research laboratories in Z=FCrich. When the needle tip is held
only a few atoms' width above a surface, a force of attraction bends
the cantilever arm.

Attractive force, and hence the bending of the arm, increases where
there are bumps on the surface - if a molecule is stuck there, for
example. So the atomic-force microscope (AFM), as it is called, senses
individual molecules by 'touch'.

But the AFM is also a tool for modifying surfaces. If the tip is
lowered to touch a surface it can leave behind a scratch, just a few
molecules wide.

Information can thus be written into a surface as a series of
scratches or pits, creating something like a molecular-sized pianola
roll. The information can be read out again using the AFM as a
microscope to detect the marks. These can encode data in binary form:
a pit for a 1, say, nothing for a 0.

Unfortunately, scanning a surface for marks takes a long time. Even
the best prototype memory systems of this kind have read-out times
over a hundred times slower than magnetic hard disks. There is not
much point packing more information into a memory if you have to wait
all day to get it back out.

The solution is to read lots of information in parallel, using many
AFM tips at once, say Mark Lutwyche and colleagues (including one of
the AFM's inventors, Gerd Binnig) at IBM's Z=FCrich lab.

They have made an array of 1,024 tips, each capable of writing and
reading, they announce in Applied Physics Letters1. Heated
individually, the tips make indentations in the surface of a plastic
film. Heating the entire film erases the information all at once.

The researchers stored about 20 times more information in this pitted
film than is possible in current commercial magnetic hard drives. But
the read-out rate remains small because of software limitations in
interfacing the tip array with standard computer systems.

Once these shortcomings are ironed out, Lutwyche and colleagues are
confident that their approach will achieve speeds comparable with
existing memory devices.

1. Lutwyche, M. I. et al. Highly parallel data storage system
   based on scanning probe arrays. Applied Physics Letters
   77, 3299-3301 (2000).

http://helix.nature.com/nsu/001116/001116-7.html

via: transhumantech@egroups.com

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Daily World Affairs Report items (11/23/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 18:03:54 -0500

GERMAN ARMY MAY LIST ON STOCK EXCHANGE

Frankfurt's stock exchange has witnessed many interesting initial public
offerings, yet even by those standards, the announcement due to be made
on Thursday will be a rather extraordinary move. The Bundeswehr,
Germany's armed forces, has plans to create a number of investment fund
companies, which could eventually lead to the Bundeswehr issuing stocks.
Negotiations are currently under way and should be concluded sometime
next year. Placement volume is expected to be in the range of DM1bn
($432mn). Although German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping has not
yet revealed which parts of the armed forces will be included in the
investment fund, it is widely believed that the main focus will be on property
and buildings that also have a civilian use, rather than on army divisions and
flight squadrons. The project is being supported by 6 major German banks
and the "society for development, procurement and operations" founded by
Mr. Scharping. (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)

NOW BRUSSELS SETS UP RAPID RESPONSE UNIT

The European Commission is planning to set up its own "Rapid Reaction
Facility" that will deploy to crisis situations before the planned European
rapid reaction force. The French-led proposals freely admit that the aim of
this facility is "to promote a more pro-active commission contribution to EU
action on conflict resolution" They are intended to allow the commission "to
fully assume its role of co-player" in the European Security and Defence
Initiative (ESDI) which led to the formation of the new EU force.

The draft plans involve the deployment of a mixture of officials, police,
medical workers and humanitarian staff led by a "special envoy" to any
given trouble spot to act as "a complementary instrument" to the EU
defence force. Tony Blair has insisted that the commission is "explicitly
excluded" from any role in the new Rapid Reaction force, to which Britain
has contributed 3 army brigades of about 30,000 men, 72 combat aircraft
and 18 warships. The commission proposals make clear, however, that
having its own people on the ground would allow it "to fully assume its role
of co-player in the European Security and Defence Policy field".

Lord Owen, the former Labour Foreign Secretary, joined Lord Healey,
Lord Carrington and Sir Malcolm Rifkind this week to warn that the EU
force risked splitting NATO. Yesterday he said that the proposals proved
that the commission was involved. Lord Owen said: "This demonstrates
beyond reasonable doubt the full extent to which the commission is
inextricably linked to the rapid reaction force and how the ESDI has drifted
from being a matter for national governments alone." (The London
Telegraph)

E.U. SAYS 15 NON-MEMBERS WANT TO JOIN NEW MILITARY
FORCE

Defense ministers of 15 European countries that do not belong to the EU
told their EU colleagues Tuesday that they also wanted to join the union's
planned new rapid reaction force. The 15 countries include Norway,
Iceland, Turkey and 12 EU candidates, mostly from the former Communist
bloc of Central and Eastern Europe, of which 3 - Hungary, Poland and the
Czech Republic - are now NATO members. Meeting one day after EU
countries pledged troops, ships and aircraft to the new force, the ministers
of the 15 non Union states informed their counterparts how many men and
resources they might commit. But, as with the contributions of EU
members, the officials declined to give a country-by-country breakdown.

"Today's meeting demonstrates that the European countries that are not in
the European Union want to be involved in the rapid reaction force and to
be fully informed about it," the French defense minister, Alain Richard, said.
Mr. Richard said Turkey, by far the largest country involved but one that is
often at odds with the Union over human rights and other issues, had
offered a "substantial" contribution to the force. "The mere fact that Turkey
has made such a substantial contribution is a clear sign that things are
moving in the right direction," Mr. Richard said. The EU's top foreign policy
and security official, Javier Solana, said he saw no problems with Turkey's
involvement. "I see a very constructive attitude," he said. (Int'l Herald
Tribune)

WHY TONY BLAIR SHOULD BEWARE HIS NEW BEST FRIEND

Rory Bremner carried off a brilliant one-man double-act playing both Tony
Blair and Bill Clinton in My Government and I, shown on Sunday evening.
But there was one character missing from his television satire: Vladimir
Putin, Mr Blair's new best friend. These days, you see, the Prime Minister
spends at least as much time with the Russian President as he does with
the American. In the past year alone, they have met no fewer than 5 times.
Even before Mr Putin was actually elected to office, he got the red carpet
treatment at Downing Street. Last night, Tony and Vladimir were toasting
one another in the Kremlin yet again. What is going on?

"The point is," Alastair Campbell admitted yesterday, "that we have
invested quite a lot in the relationship with Putin." Russian officials, to their
surprise and delight, confirm this: "We cannot remember a time when
Anglo-Russian relations were better, not even before the Revolution."
There is, of course, a history of British leaders investing in the rulers of
Russia: from Churchill and Stalin, or Macmillan and Krushchev, to Thatcher
and Gorbachev. All these autocrats had 2 things in common: they were
communists and they needed something from their British counterparts.

Before 1917, the boot tended to be on the other foot: Peter the Great came
to western Europe under the pseudonym Peter Michailoff, spent time in
London's docklands and sought to emulate Britain's maritime strength by
building St Petersburg, his new capital, on the Baltic. The last tsar, Nicholas
II, was devoted to his British royal cousins, who, however, left him and his
family to their grisly fate at the hands of the Bolsheviks. Since the
Revolution, and especially since the war, Downing Street has paid court to
the Kremlin, not the other way round.

Mountains of caviar and lakes of vodka have been consumed for the sake
of Anglo-Russian relations. The benefits for the British have usually been
nebulous; for Russia, on the other hand, Britain has always been a happy
hunting ground. For espionage, for credit and for propaganda, Britain has
been second only to Germany, Mr Putin's old billet when he worked as a
KGB spy during the Cold War. By using the power of the British media to
present himself to the West as a liberal, a democrat and a strong reforming
leader, Mr Putin has already eclipsed his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin. The
butcher of Grozny is more comfortable as the Russian Blair than the Prime
Minister would be as the British Putin.

This week's jollification at the Kremlin, though, coincides with a gathering in
Brussels that we may be sure that Mr Putin is taking very seriously indeed,
even if Mr Blair is not. I refer to the European army, to baptise which the
EU defence ministers are gathering like so many godfathers. Last week
they buried the Western European Union. It will not be long, I fear, before
they gather again -- this time to perform the last rites for NATO.

For the first time in modern history, a large military force is being formed
without any clear strategic purpose. Nobody knows what threat the
European army is intended to defend against. Its function appears to be
exclusively one of political symbolism: the nascent European federation
needs to give martial expression to its claim to full sovereignty over the
nation states. Militarily, it will be more use on the parade ground than the
battleground.

Seen from Moscow, however, it looks like a godsend: a tool with which
Russian diplomacy may engineer the demise of the Atlantic alliance. No
wonder Mr Putin, who devoted many years in his earlier profession to
undermining NATO and has bitterly opposed its extension into central
Europe, is looking so cordial.

In order to detach western Europe from the United States, the Russian
president has a wide repertoire of siren songs at his disposal. He will
patiently harp on the US National Missile Defence programme, which will
protect Americans but not Europeans. Only Republican hawks of the kind
that form George W Bush's praetorian guard, Mr Putin may say, still
believe in a strategic threat from Russia or anywhere else. The Cold War,
he will whisper into the prime ministerial ear, is not merely history, but
prehistory: irrelevant, old hat, dead. There is no need to defend against an
ex-threat.

Mr Blair probably believes all this. He will dismiss from his mind the fact
that the Russian Federation, with its satellite republics, still maintains by far
the largest armed forces on the European continent. He will ignore the fact
that, while the sinking of the Kursk demonstrated the vulnerability of the
Russian fleet, hardly any of the Royal Navy's nuclear submarines are fully
operational. If Chechnya was a reverse for the Russians, Kosovo revealed
the weakness of the West. Before offering to train Russian troops to
exterminate "terrorists", Mr Blair should stop cutting our own undermanned,
underpaid and under-equipped Armed Forces.

The world is as inhospitable as ever. China Military Science, the leading
military journal in the People's Republic, recently predicted armed conflict
with the US over the Chinese claim to Taiwan: "War is not far from us
now." The Middle East has witnessed at least one major war in each of the
past 6 decades; only a rash strategist would rule out a conflagration now.
The Americans undoubtedly have bigger fish to fry outside Europe at the
moment, but that does not mean that Washington, especially under a Bush
presidency, will trust Mr Putin.

Other Europeans, with an anti-American animus, might be expected to take
such anxieties as a pretext to do just that; what surprises the Russians - and
ought to dismay us - is that the supposedly Americanophile Mr Blair has
embraced Mr Putin so eagerly, despite the Russian's imperial pretensions
and his manifest contempt for free speech and the rule of law.

Churchill saw Russian policy as a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an
enigma. Not Mr Blair; he sees Mr Putin as a reformer very like himself.
Let the public subject their curious relationship to Lenin's celebrated
question: who whom? Who is exploiting whom? Who is fooling whom?
Above all, who needs whom? And what, precisely, will be the return on Mr
Blair's investment in the spy who, until now, had stayed out in the cold?
(The London Telegraph - Opinion)

ARAFAT GIVES PUTIN CHANCE TO RE-LAUNCH RUSSIA'S
MIDEAST POLICY

Yasser Arafat offered Russia the chance Thursday to repair its tattered
credibility as a player in the Middle East when he fixed up a weekend
summit at the Kremlin. Vladimir Putin announced that Arafat would fly to
Moscow on Friday to hold crisis talks that had been specially requested by
the Palestinian leader. The last-minute scheduling came a day after Arafat
appealed for Russia, a co-sponsor of the stalled Middle East peace process
and a traditional ally of Arab states, to help end the violence.

Arafat and Putin would discuss "the latest dangerous developments in the
Middle East and the escalation of the Israeli army's military operations
against the people of Palestine," Palestinian embassy sources told Interfax.
The Palestinian leader had sent an urgent message to Putin via Russian
representative in Gaza, Sergei Peskov, to request the weekend meeting. In
the dispatch, Arafat had urged Russia to seize the diplomatic initiative in the
Middle East and to intensify its efforts "to stop the Israeli aggression against
the people of Palestine," Interfax said.

Complicating Arafat's Moscow visit, however, Israeli Foreign Minister
Shlomo Ben Ami announced Thursday that Arafat had in fact proposed the
resumption of negotiations with Israel via the US. "US Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright called me Wednesday night to tell me that he had made
this proposition (to resume negotiations)," Ben Ami told Israeli public radio.
A top Palestinian told AFP it was a political "bluff" on the part of Ben Ami.

Yet Arafat did take on a more conciliatory tone Thursday, saying there was
"no doubt" he disapproved of a car bomb attack that killed 2 people in
northern Israel a day earlier, calling it a "terrorist" act." In Moscow,
analysts suggested that Arafat could be seeking to shore up his own
position in the Middle East by appealing to Russia's leader to honor the
Kremlin's longstanding support for the Palestinians.

"There is an element of provocation in Arafat's appeal to the former Soviet
Union's staunch backing of the Arab side," said Viktor Kremenyuk of
Moscow's US-Canada Institute. "Desperately, Arafat is looking to those
Russian leaders who still remain faithful to their imperial past." The
Kremlin's dramatic fall in the region's influence was underlined by its
absence from October's Sharm el-Sheikh summit in Egypt.

Nevertheless the foreign ministry here announced Wednesday that Russia's
top diplomat, Igor Ivanov, had consulted his Western counterparts and UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan in a bid to coordinate the world's response
to the Middle East crisis. Ivanov held telephone talks with Annan and
foreign ministers from Britain, France and Israel, along with Albright.
During the conversations, Ivanov stressed "the importance of completely
coordinated efforts" in solving the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian violence, the
foreign ministry said. (Agence France-Presse)

INT'L DRUG RAIDS NET 3,000

In a co-ordinated anti-drugs operation throughout the Caribbean, almost
3,000 alleged drug traffickers have been arrested and 20 tons of cocaine, 29
tons of marijuana and &pound;20 million in assets seized. The scope of
"Operation Liberator", organised by the US Drug Enforcement
Administration, was unprecedented, involving raids in 30 territories.Michael
Vigil, the senior DEA official in Puerto Rico said: "This operation
succeeded because of the relaxation of sovereignty issues that many times
in the past had acted as a barrier to law enforcement operations."

The operation, which began 3 weeks ago, resulted in the arrests of 2,876
individuals. In the 40,000 searches conducted across the Caribbean basin,
94 drug laboratories and 197 guns were destroyed. About 4,000 acres of
coca, the raw material for cocaine, 2,000 acres of poppies, used to make
heroin, and more than 900,000 marijuana plants were also destroyed.
Several drug kingpins, particularly in the Dominican Republic, were
arrested. The only Caribbean nations that did not participate were Cuba, the
Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. (The London Telegraph)

MICHAEL TURNER 
(mykelturner@airmail.net) 

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Security Cabinet decides not to retaliate for recent attacks
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 18:27:12 -0500

     Security Cabinet decides not to retaliate for recent
     attacks

     (IsraelWire-11/24) During the Thursday night session, the Security
     Cabinet decided not to retaliate for the Wednesday night Hadera bombin g
     attack which left two dead and 59 wounded or the attacks in Gaza on
     Thursday which left two soldiers dead and others wounded.

     The Security Cabinet did authorize Prime Minister/Defense Minister Ehu d
     Barak to launch retaliatory raids in the future if necessary without
     consulting with the forum.

     During the Thursday night session, cabinet members heard from the IDF
     chief of staff as well as the heads of IDF intelligence and the Genera l
     Security Service (GSS/Shin Bet).

     Deputy Minister of Defense Ephraim Sneh stated there were intelligence
     community warnings pointing towards efforts by =93Islamic extremists =94 to
     perpetrate additional attacks inside the Green Line, and as such,
residents
     of Israel are requested to be increasingly vigilant.

http://www.virtualjerusalem.com/israelwire/articles/1058001.htm

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Strong solar storms to wreak havoc in northern latitudes
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 26 Nov 2000 00:27:45 -0000

http://english.hk.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/technology/afp/

Saturday, November 25 2:05 PM SGT
Strong solar storms to wreak havoc in northern latitudes
WASHINGTON, Nov 25 (AFP) -

Across the United States this weekend, fire alarms and anti-theft
devices may be triggered for no reason, pictures on television
screens may flicker and fade to black, and entire communities could
be plunged into sudden darkness.

Such unusual goings-on things could result from what scientists
describe as a wave of major geomagnetic storms expected to strike
beginning late Saturday and last for several days.

In an alert issued Friday, the US government's Space Environment
Center said "a major solar flare from a large, active sunspot group"
was observed on the Sun from Boulder, Colorado, last Thursday, at
8:13 am local time (1513 GMT), likely producing "additional major
events."

The solar radiation storms and strong geomagnetic storms categorized
by the center as "G3", officials said.

Under such storms "power system voltage corrections may be required,
false alarms triggered on some protection devices, surface charging
may occur on satellite components, drag may increase on low-Earth-
orbit satellites, and corrections may be needed for orientation
problems," the center pointed out.

The list of possible calamities doesn't end there, however.

The storm wave could cause interruptions in navigation satellite
communications and become a real headache for high-frequency ham
radio operators, according to the center.

"In the worst case scenario, power can be lost," Norman Cohen, a
space environment forecaster with the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, told AFP.

He said failures of power grids were more likely to occur "at higher
latitudes in both hemispheres," but the geomagnetic storms -- to
continue for at least several days -- would affect the whole planet.

"It will be global event. And we won't know the magnitude until it
actually starts," Cohen stressed.

He said the flare observed on the surface of the Sun on Thursday has
spawned a large cloud of plasma, which is heading towards the Earth.

"From its appearance, we have been able to determine that it was
Earth-directed," Cohen explained. "It will be a major event."

The magnitude of the storms was expected to reach six or seven on a
scale of nine, according to the forecaster.

As a result, orbiting satellites may experience "some orientation
problems" and "will need correction from ground control," Cohen said.

That may affect some communications, but television networks and
cellular phones should be working normally, said the forecaster. If
interruptions were to occur, they should be brief.

Power grids, however, may be worst-equipped to withstand the
geomagnetic onslaught from space.

In 1989, most of the power grid in the Canadian province of Quebec
went down for an expended period of time due to such a storm, Cohen
reminded.

On the bright side, night-time skywatchers in areas far beyond the
Arctic could be treated to a spectacle they have never seen before.

Aurora Borealis, otherwise known as Northern Lights, could be seen in
North America as far south as the US states of Oregon and Illinois,
the center said.

"Most of Europe will be able to see it too," added Cohen.

He said in Illinois and Oregon, the aurora will probably be visible
starting at around midnight Saturday. In Europe, it is most likely to
be detected on Sunday and following days after dark.

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Infertile men turn to fathers for sperm
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Sun, 26 Nov 2000 00:32:42 -0000

Infertile men turn to fathers for sperm
by Jason Burke and Paul Harris

Sunday November 19, 2000

British women are being impregnated with sperm donated by the father
of their infertile partner, The Observer can reveal.

The controversial practice is being carried out in an attempt to
continue the genetic family line if the man in the relationship is
infertile.

Senior medical figures confirmed that the practice, though unusual,
was now regularly performed in British clinics. One described it
as 'logical, appropriate and ethical'. But the procedure - which
makes a father's son his biological half-brother and a child's
biological father his or her grandfather - has fuelled the
increasingly acrimonious debate over artificial insemination.

Full story at:
http://www.observer.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,399846,00.html

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