The BBC said Sunday that the satellites it uses to broadcast in Persian were being jammed from Iran, disrupting its reports on the hotly-disputed presidential election.
The corporation said television and radio services had been affected from 1245 GMT Friday onwards by “heavy electronic jamming” which had become “progressively worse”.
Satellite technicians had traced the interference to Iran, it said.
[William] Lawrence, who served as the Episcopal bishop of Massachusetts from 1893 to 1927, was cut from a different cloth than most of today’s prelates. He was the scion of an immensely wealthy, influential and philanthropic Boston family that made a fortune in textiles, founded the cities of Lawrence, Mass. and Lawrence, Kansas, and had a long association with Harvard University and the Episcopal Church. Bishop Lawrence travelled in elite circles ”“ he was a familiar of Theodore Roosevelt and a visitor to Buckingham Palace. So when he was called in to arbitrate the pay dispute in the newspaper industry, he immersed himself in the unfamiliar workplace before working out a deal.
During that week, St. Paul’s will become the first parish in the San Joaquin Diocese — and one of the first self-incorporated parishes in the nation — to willingly sign its property over to the Episcopal Church before a lawsuit has been filed. The church, which is 130 years old and has been at various locations in Modesto, predates the San Joaquin Diocese and owns its property free and clear.
“Our name’s on the deed. It doesn’t even have the name ‘Episcopal’ on the deed, and we paid for it,” said the Rev. Michael McClenaghan, St. Paul’s priest. “Not a dime came from the Episcopal Church, not even a dime from the diocese.”
“The Michael Ramsey Prize is intended for theological writing which, by freshness and originality, somehow changes the theological landscape, and also serves the needs of the Church; not by being safe or orthodox, or by reinforcing the Church’s institutional life ”“ but by giving people something with which to nourish themselves and to enrich their lived Christian experiences.
“Richard Bauckham in his book ‘Jesus and the Eyewitnesses’ had, in the words of one of the judges, ‘Placed something of a bomb under a good deal of New Testament scholarship’. His book shows why we are right to have confidence in the testimony of those who personally witnessed the life of Jesus as recorded in the gospels.”
The decision taken last March by U.S. President Barack Obama to allocate Federal funds to research on stem cells created by the destruction of human embryos (embryonic stem cells) has rekindled the polemics on a topic characterized by complex bioethical implications. The situation has been further aggravated by the nature and content of the declarations made in support of this decision, which will have a huge impact on the question of the defence of human life in the context of stem cell research.
The argument that this decision is necessary in order to defend the right of the sick to have access to possible future treatments constitutes a distortion of logic. In this approach, the rights of the sick person are used as a lever to justify measures which, given the recent developments in this field, would not be justifiable on a scientific basis. Furthermore, the contemporaneous urging to look at the facts and not to act in conformity with ideological considerations is astonishing at a time when, analyzing the objective facts, we discover that they lead to diametrically opposite conclusions that is, that there is no need to destroy human embryos in order to pursue all possible paths in the search for cures for many serious diseases by means of stem cells.
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Watch it all–hard to believe it has been a year already–KSH.
[BOB] ABERNETHY: And what did you tell them?
Rabbi [SHMUEL] HERZFELD: Well, I said to them sometimes there are just people who are wicked. You know, like sometimes you’ll see a kid in school who’s just being mean for no reason. Well, if we multiple that by so much, there’s some people who are so wicked in the world and there’s no way to understand it. But that means we have a job to do, and our job, I said to my children, is to reach out and be extra nice to people ”” especially people whom we don’t know, especially people who are different. That’s a message that kids can understand, and in the face of somebody who acts with senseless brutality and evil we have to be the opposite of such a person. We have to double-down on kindness.
ABERNETHY: Do you see this as an isolated incident, or do you fear that it’s part of something larger?
Rabbi HERZFELD: Well, there’s always the fear that this is part of something larger, and I’m very afraid that this is part of something larger.
Binyamin Netanyahu is expected to endorse a “two-state solution” in a much-heralded speech this weekend, but he may stall on American demands to freeze Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Feeling the squeeze between the US Administration, which wants a moratorium on settlement growth and a commitment to a Palestinian state, and his national-religious coalition, which favours neither, the Israeli Prime Minister appears likely to try to steer a middle course.
Israeli newspapers were full of speculation about what Mr Netanyahu ”” who has so far refused openly to back a Palestinian state alongside Israel ”” might offer to deflect pressure from Washington. Ehud Barak, his Defence Minister, urged him this week to recognise a Palestinian state, but members of Mr Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party have cautioned him against the move.
Supreme Court of British Columbia hearings have concluded in a case that will decide whether the Anglican diocese of New Westminister or parishes that have split away from the Anglican Church of Canada own disputed church buildings and resources. Judge Stephen Kelleher reserved his judgment and did not say when he might announce a decision.
Two lawsuits were filed against the diocese of New Westminster and its bishop, Michael Ingham, by clergy who cut ties with the Anglican Church of Canada and individuals who say they are the lawful trustees of church properties and resources for several congregations that also voted to leave the church. Other hearings have resulted in decisions about interim possession and sharing of Anglican church buildings in British Columbia as well as in Ontario, but this trial will be the first in Canada to rule on which side owns the buildings and resources.
Some Church of England clergy and their families are living in crumbling and decrepit vicarages that are unsafe and environmentally unfriendly, according to trade union officials.
Unite, the country’s largest union that represents about 2,500 faith workers, is calling on the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Dr Rowan Williams and Dr John Sentamu, to “practise what they preach” in terms of the carbon footprint left by hundreds of parsonages.
Unite want the Archbishops to revamp more than 6,000 vicarages and rectories that the union claims fail to meet modern environmental and safety standards.
Despite a slow start, the program could soon expand broadly. Next week, the Fed will add commercial real estate mortgages ”” a vast market ”” to the list of loans it will buy. Eventually, officials say, the TALF program could provide as much as $1 trillion in financing.
Fed officials say they, too, are uncomfortable with their new role and hope to end it as soon as credit markets return to normal. When R.V. manufacturers recently sought a meeting, senior Fed staff members refused to see them in person and instead heard their pleas in a conference call.
The central bank is increasingly having to make politically sensitive choices. For example, it is weighing whether loans to people who buy speedboats and snowmobiles are as worthy of help as those to people who buy cars. And it is being besieged by arguments from R.V. manufacturers and strip-mall developers that they play a crucial role in the economy and also deserve help.
Many of the decisions could have political repercussions. On Feb. 9, President Obama traveled to Elkhart, Ind., a Republican stronghold that Democrats hope to convert to their column. Elkhart is also home to much of the R.V. industry, which has been battered by the recession.
Count me among the deeply uncomfortable. Speedboats? This is nuts. Read it all–KSH.
The authorities declared Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the official winner of Iran’s presidential election on Saturday afternoon, but opposition candidates and their supporters insisted the election had been stolen, and riot police officers used batons and tear gas against thousands of demonstrators in the worst street protests in a decade.
Witnesses reported that at least one person had been shot dead in clashes with the police in Vanak Square in Tehran. Smoke from burning vehicles and tires hung over the city late Saturday.
The Interior Ministry said Mr. Ahmadinejad had won 62.6 percent of the vote, with Mir Hussein Moussavi, the leading challenger, taking just under 34 percent. Turnout was a record 85 percent, officials said.
A plan to create a new Pentagon cybercommand is raising significant privacy and diplomatic concerns, as the Obama administration moves ahead on efforts to protect the nation from cyberattack and to prepare for possible offensive operations against adversaries’ computer networks.
President Obama has said that the new cyberdefense strategy he unveiled last month will provide protections for personal privacy and civil liberties. But senior Pentagon and military officials say that Mr. Obama’s assurances may be challenging to guarantee in practice, particularly in trying to monitor the thousands of daily attacks on security systems in the United States that have set off a race to develop better cyberweapons.
Much of the new military command’s work is expected to be carried out by the National Security Agency, whose role in intercepting the domestic end of international calls and e-mail messages after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, under secret orders issued by the Bush administration, has already generated intense controversy.
There is simply no way, the officials say, to effectively conduct computer operations without entering networks inside the United States, where the military is prohibited from operating, or traveling electronic paths through countries that are not themselves American targets.
(ACNS) But hidden behind the routine is a suppressed mix of continuing anxiety and cynicism over the Jaffna context as well as deep sorrow over the experiences of the Vanni Tamils. In some instances one also sensed regret that not enough was said and done on behalf of the Vanni Tamils during LTTE suppression prior to the recent war. Such concerns would have added credibility to the concerns expressed for the safety and well-being of these civilians during and after the war. The predominant and recurring feeling amongst all classes and ages however was that the Tamils are an isolated and constrained community.
On the Peninsula, the people feel they are marooned; physically, psychologically and politically. The youth in particular are restless and search for answers to difficult questions. Many will migrate if given the opportunity. Options for study and employment are few and restricted. Yet only the desperate or daring will think of travelling to the south in search of better prospects. Stories of inconvenience and some ridicule and harassment experienced in travel, abound. In the south there is severe hardship in finding suitable lodging as even friends and relations are reluctant to take them in. State sponsored youth hostels, which will also provide an opportunity for the integration of our youth of all communities, are non-existent.
There was little enthusiasm for elections. A feeling prevails that change must come now, as a preparation for and prelude to elections. Pre-election promises will centre too much on what individuals can do. What people want desperately is an impartial political culture that they can own and that will restore trust, civilian administration and normalcy.
North Korea vowed Saturday to step up its atomic bomb-making program and threatened war if its ships are stopped as part of new U.N. sanctions aimed at punishing the nation for its latest nuclear test.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry also acknowledged for the first time that the country has a uranium enrichment program, and insisted it will never abandon its nuclear ambitions. Uranium and plutonium can be used to make atomic bombs.
The threats, in a statement issued through the official Korean Central News Agency, came a day after the Security Council approved new sanctions aimed at depriving the North of the financing used to build its rogue nuclear program.
To accuse someone of naïveté can be a handy way of dismissing someone else’s effort to practice faith concretely. On the other hand, Christians can also hide behind “simplicity” to evade serious responsibilities or thinking through serious matters. Depending on what we mean by the word, naïveté can be helpful or dangerous to the authentic Christian life.
The state of California is in crisis and time has almost run out. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor, has spent this week haggling with state legislators to agree cuts to basic services in one of the world’s largest economies.
The state’s top finance officials warned that unless an emergency austerity plan is agreed by Monday ”” and there is little chance that it will be ”” they will not be able to borrow the billions of dollars needed to keep the current government functioning. If California was a company, it would have gone bust months ago.
The breadth and depth of Mr Schwarzenegger’s cuts are unprecedented and no one in the state, not even its dozens of billionaires, will be unaffected….
The Rt Rev David Chillingworth was today elected Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church – at an Episcopal Synod held during the annual meeting of the General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Bishop David was the single nomination and his election was supported by all other six bishops.
Bishop David has been Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane since 2005 and succeeds the Most Rev Dr Idris Jones, Bishop of Glasgow & Galloway who stepped down as Primus last night following his recent announcement to retire from the office of diocesan bishop.
Paul Hodgson is at the Corporate Library, a consulting firm that tracks executive compensation.
PAUL Hodgson: Almost as soon as these regulations came out, there were concerns that companies would immediately employ consultants to try and find a way around it.
In February Congress tightened the screws, banning all severance payments for top executives, and yesterday the administration issued new rules. But many banks already found ways around the ban.
Associated Banc Corp, based in the upper Midwest, took half a billion dollars in federal aid last fall. Then this May it paid its chief operating officer, Lisa Binder, $1.6 million to leave. But don’t call it a golden parachute. Instead, Binder signed an agreement not to compete against the bank. The Corporate Library’s Hodgson calls that cheating.
Winning Game 7 avenged losing the Cup to Detroit at Mellon Arena in 2008 and completed a remarkable turnaround by the Penguins. When Dan Bylsma was brought in to replace Michel Therrien as coach Feb. 15, they were five points out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference standings.
Bylsma promptly led them to an 18-3-4 record during the stretch drive and rallied them from a 3-2 deficit in this series. He joins Al MacNeil as the only rookie coaches to win a Cup after getting his job during the season. MacNeil did it with Montreal in 1971.
The Penguins have won all three of their Cups on the road — they did it in Minnesota in 1991 and in Chicago in 1992 — and last night became the only road team to win a game in this series.
The offical news agency reported that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won, and the state elections chief said that the President had 69 per cent of the vote with 35 per cent of the ballots counted. However, the main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, insisted that he was the “definite winner” by a substantial margin, and an aide suggested that he had taken 65 per cent.
The official result will be announced today, but the huge turnout ─ close to the historic record of 80 per cent ─ appeared to favour Mr Mousavi’s claim. Urban, middle-class Iranians, who seldom bother to vote, did so yesterday because they thought Mr Ahmadinejad’s first four years in office a disaster.
It was widely alleged, but never proved, that vote-rigging secured Mr Ahmadinejad’s unlikely victory in 2005. He entered that election an unknown, but was backed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader.
Update: This reader comment is very interesting:
One more thing: do not discount the power of vote rigging. I expect the vote to be close, but anything that gives Ahmadinejad more than 60% of the vote has definitely been rigged. Of course, there are also more subtle ways of modifying the outcome: bussing his supporters to the booths with state funds, running out of ballot paper in the voting booths of Tehran, voter intimidation by armed thugs, and so on.
For years, children’s voices rang out from the playground at the Islamic Saudi Academy in this heavily wooded community about 20 miles west of Washington. But for the last year the campus has been silent as academy officials seek county permission to erect a new classroom building and move hundreds of students from a sister campus on the other end of Fairfax County.
The proposal from the academy, which a school spokeswoman said was the only school financed by the Saudi government in the United States, has ignited a noisy debate and exposed anew the school’s uneasy relationship with its neighbors.
The government looking at expanding a pioneering scheme in Flint, one of the poorest US cities, which involves razing entire districts and returning the land to nature.
Local politicians believe the city must contract by as much as 40 per cent, concentrating the dwindling population and local services into a more viable area.
The two main candidates in Iran’s presidential election have claimed victory, after extended voting as huge numbers of people turned out to vote.
Reformist challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi told a news conference that he had won by a substantial margin.
However, state media said hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won, and officials said he had got 69% of the 10 million votes so far counted.
But Mr Mousavi has complained of some voting irregularities.
I would be skeptical until tomorrow and results are finalized with some confidence.
The first Hebrew charter school opened in August 2007 in Broward County, Fla. The Ben Gamla Charter School “is not a religious school in any form,” explains its principal, Sharon Miller, “but a Hebrew-English public charter school” educating 585 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, and a high school scheduled to open in 2010. This coming fall, a second Hebrew charter school, Hebrew Language Academy, will open its doors in Brooklyn, N.Y., offering a completely secularized dual-language curriculum committed to academic excellence and Hebrew-language proficiency.
Before the emergence of these charter schools, families interested in a Hebrew education had essentially two choices — a private Jewish day school, where the Hebrew language and a religious curriculum are an integral part of the day, or “Hebrew school,” an afternoon or Sunday program for children in public school or nonsectarian private school. A Hebrew charter school is neither of these. By law, it cannot teach religion, and yet it is more than an extracurricular program.
Are these schools drawing in new families who would otherwise never have received a Hebrew language and cultural education? Or are they offering an affordable but religiously diluted Jewish education to kids who would otherwise have gone to a Jewish day school? Are they a welcome development or a worrisome one?
A special committee as well as the timeline and deadlines for the election of a successor to the Rt. Rev. George Packard as Bishop Suffragan for Federal Ministries was announced today by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.
Bishop Packard was elected by the House of Bishops in September 1999 and consecrated as Suffragan Bishop for the Armed Forces in 2000. He announced his intention to retire during the spring House of Bishops’ meeting in March.
The Vision Before Us, subtitled ”˜The Kyoto Report of the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations 2000-2008’, records the Commission’s work of maintaining an overview of the Anglican Communion’s engagement with Christians of other traditions, and of giving encouragement and advice to the ecumenical activities of the Communion and the Provinces.
Described by the Rt Revd Gregory Cameron, Bishop of St Asaph, and former Anglican Director of Ecumenical Affairs, as ”˜a chocolate box of delights’, the book contains all the Resolutions of the Commission, along with its statements, papers, advice and other key texts. These include an extended study on Holy Orders in Ecumenical Dialogues and Guidelines on Ecumenical Participation in Ordinations. It details all the Communion’s bilateral and multilateral dialogues, as well as various regional developments, and the ecumenical dimensions of other areas of the Communion’s life.