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Iran has begun enriching uranium deep inside a mountain and sentenced an American to death for spying, angering the West and undermining hopes that diplomacy could avert further sanctions or war. The start of enrichment at the Fordow bunker near the Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Qom was confirmed on Monday by an Iranian official in Tehran and by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran says its nuclear program is purely non-military but the West believes it is designed to produce nuclear weapons. The Islamic Republic's decision to carry out enrichment work deep underground could eventually make it much...

Hebron And Darfur Aug 9, 2007 Yesterday, Hebron marked the 78th anniversary of the 1929 riots and massacre during which 67 Jews were slaughtered and more than 70 injured. ...

The profane crowding out sacred in Mecca By Hassan M. Fattah Thursday, March 8, 2007 MECCA: Five times a day across the globe, devout Muslims face this city in prayer, focused on a site where they believe the prophet Abraham built a temple to God. The spot is also the place Muslims are expected to visit at least once in their lives. Now as they gaze here in their mind's eye, and make the pilgrimage clothed in simple white cotton wraps, they will see something other than the austere black cube known as the Kaaba that occupies the spot. They...

Anyone notice this morning that while both FoxNews and even MSNBC are refering to the attacks on Nazareth as on the "Holy City of Nazareth", CNN Does NOT?! Coincidence? I don't think so. For years every so-called islamic 'holy city' in Iraq and Iran have been referenced as such to soothe islamic sensibilities, but when it comes to a Christian Holy City, Nazareth the home of Jesus Christ, CNN, led by Christian-hater Ted Turner, omits such reference. Isn't it time CNN heard from Christians all over the world protesting their pro-islamic anti-Christian bias????

U.S. pleased with G8 climate outcomeBlair continues to push U.S. but looks past Kyoto By Stephanie I. Cohen, MarketWatch Last Update: 6:52 PM ET July 8, 2005 WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- President Bush's top environmental adviser said Friday that the Group of Eight nations reached a milestone on climate change this week by moving past discussions of mandatory emissions reductions. In a move seen as a victory for the Bush administration, the leaders attending the meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, adopted a statement on climate change that acknowledged greenhouse gases are warming the Earth's surfaces, but steered clear of agreeing to any...

Jerusalem officials said Thursday they will ban the annual gay pride parade set for next week, claiming the march would offend many of the holy city's residents. Organizers of the parade appealed to Israel's Supreme Court to repeal the ruling, saying the decision was a violation of the homosexual community's freedom of expression. The city council, including the mayor, decided ``it is not right to allow the march or other planned activities to take place in the streets of Jerusalem, fearing that it will create an uproar, offend a wide sector of city residents and out of fear of public...

International gay leaders are planning a 10-day WorldPride festival and parade in Jerusalem in August, saying they want to make a statement about tolerance and diversity in the holy city... [L]eaders of the three faiths -- Christianity, Judaism and Islam -- are making a rare show of unity to try to stop the festival... "They are creating a deep and terrible sorrow that is unbearable," said Shlomo Amar, Israel's chief Sephardic rabbi, "...We are all against it." ..."That is something new I've never witnessed before, such an attempt to globalize bigotry," said Hagai El-Ad, the executive director of Jerusalem Open...

John Loftus reported on Fox news this morning that Iraq is at WAR with Iran. Three weeks age Al-Sadr’s boss, an Iranian Counsel-General in Karbala was kidnapped by a rival clan. Bags of encrypted codes were found in his car, and as it turns out, this guy is close to the chief of Iranian spydom. After serious interrogation, a video taped confession has been obtained proving that Iran is behind the insurgence. The Counsel-General declared that Al-Sadr is a puppet of Iran, that his job was to announce in a very few days that Moqi has taken over the holy...

News that the Iraqi police have ordered all journalists out of Najaf and are enforcing it, strongly suggests that an operation against the Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf is imminent. The bullet that whistled through the lobby of the Sea Hotel in Najaf yesterday, embedding shards of glass into a foreign reporter's cheek before lodging itself in an air-conditioning unit, carried an unmistakeable message: "Get out." ... In Najaf journalists were summoned yesterday morning by the city's police chief, Ghalab al-Jazeera. It was said that he wanted to parade some captured members of Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army, who have launched...

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Senior aides to Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr agreed with other Shi'ite Muslim factions on Tuesday that Sadr could pull his Mehdi Army militia out of Najaf in return for a U.S. withdrawal from the holy city. "Agreement has been reached on all points of contention. This agreement represents all shades of the Shi'ite political spectrum," Qais al-Khazali, Sadr's chief aide in Najaf, told Reuters after a meeting with rival Shi'ite leaders. "This is the beginning of a solution to the crisis that endangers everyone," said Abu Hassan Amari, head of the Badr Brigades militia which is...

NAJAF, Iraq - U.S. troops will likely enter parts of Najaf soon in a move to clamp down on the rebel militia of a radical Shiite cleric but will stay away from sensitive holy sites in the center of the city to avoid rousing the anger of Shiites, a U.S general said Sunday. Shiite leaders have warned of a possible explosion of anger among the country's Shiite majority if U.S. troops enter Najaf, and until now U.S. commanders have been saying troops would not go in. With the new move, the military seeks to impose a degree of control in...

Several people were killed and dozens injured in an explosion that ripped through an Egged bus traveling through the Kiryat Menachem neighborhood in Jerusalem during morning rush hour Thursday. According to initial police reports, the explosion was caused by a suicde bomber that boarded the bus. The no. 20 bus was travelling on Mexico street. Rescue services are at the site. This is the first terror attack in Jerusalem in four months. Police had no prior warnings of a terror attack in the areas.