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Dutch bask in warmest autumn in three centuries
The autumn of 2006 has been the warmest in the Netherlands for over 300 years, 12.5 percent hotter than the previous year which was already a record, meteorologists said.
The passion of the pope
Editor's note: The following is a summary of this week's Time magazine cover story.(Time.com ) -- It was not a laid-back Turkish holiday. The citizens of the proud, predominantly Muslim nation had no love of Popes. To the East, the Iranian government was galvanizing anti-Western feeling. The news reported that an escaped killer was on the loose, threatening to assassinate the pontiff when he arrived. Yet the Holy Father was undaunted. "Love is stronger than danger," he said. "I am in the hands of God." He fared forward -- to Ankara, to Istanbul -- and preached the commonality of the world's great faiths. He enjoined both Christians and Muslims to "seek ties of friendship with other believers who invoke the name of a single God."
'Bush doesn't think America should be an actual place'
PALM BEACH, Fla. – President Bush believes America should be more of an idea than an actual place, a Republican congressman told WND in an exclusive interview.
World may have averted bird flu pandemic: expert
The world may have already averted a bird flu pandemic by widespread chicken culls and the isolation of infected humans, Australia's chief medical officer said in a report released Sunday. But if a new flu virus did begin spreading rapidly among humans all the world's preparations might be shown to be insufficient, John Horvath wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia. "It may be that the world has already averted an influenza pandemic by actions it has taken in response to H5N1, such as extensive culling of poultry and isolation of infected humans," he said. "Yet all preparations may seem insufficient if the world comes face to face with a rapidly spreading novel virus like the one that emerged in 1918."
Report: Israeli spies active in Iran
Iran has developed and tested a trigger device for a nuclear bomb, Israeli agents stationed there have told the White House, according to a report published in the New Yorker on Monday morning. According to the report, written by Seymour M. Hersh, the White House received the information but did not hand it to the CIA.
Prodi heads to Eygpt to push for ME peace plan
Italian Premier Romano Prodi was heading to Cairo Monday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarark as Italy pushes for a European peace plan for the Middle East.
Ahmadinejad: Israel weak, won’t attack Iran
Iranian leader responds to recent statements made by top Israeli officials alluding to possible attack on Islamic Republic by saying, ‘This is a media war, because the Zionist regime is weak; we have faced stronger countries in the past’.
Pope to Make 1st Visit to Muslim Nation
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - When Pope Benedict XVI goes to Turkey this month for his first papal visit to a Muslim nation, he will in effect be making two distinct journeys. The global spotlight will be on what efforts he makes to win back the respect of Muslims angered by his remarks on religious violence and the Prophet Muhammad. The other will be a pilgrimage to one of Christianity's last toeholds in Turkey.
Head of Russian Orthodox Church Says Roman Catholics Are Allies
A top Russian Orthodox cleric said on Sunday that the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church were allies in the face of hostile secularism, the Reuters news agency reported Monday. Metropolitan Kirill, the head of external relations for the Moscow Patriarchate, has met Pope Benedict and is thought to be pushing for closer ties with the Catholic Church.
ISNA: Iran needs 60,000, not 100,000 centrifuges
TEHRAN, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Iran wants to have 60,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday was quoted by the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) as saying during a tour of Iranian state-run television.
China provides irreplaceable opportunity for Italian agriculture
ROME, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- China provides "an irreplaceable opportunity for the Italian agriculture," said Italian Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies Paolo De Castro. China should also serve as a key "reference point" for Italian enterprises and Italian agriculture" in their globalization process, he said in a recent interview with Xinhua before his first China trip. "We are the fifth largest European investor in China after Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and France," he said, noting that "we have to do more."
U.S. chemists create, grow nanotube seeds
HOUSTON, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. chemists have cut carbon nanotubes into "seeds" and used those seeds to sprout new nanotubes. "Carbon nanotubes come in lots of diameters and types and our goal is to take a pure sample of just one type and duplicate it in large quantities," said corresponding author James Tour, director of Rice University's Carbon Nanotechnology Laboratory. "We've shown the concept can work."
Chlamydia strain may produce new diseases
OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they have determined Chlamydia trachomatis is evolving at a rate faster than believed possible. Chlamydia trachomatis is a bacterium that is the leading cause of sexually transmitted diseases and the second leading cause of blindness worldwide.
African flood relief underway
MOGADISHU, Somalia, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- An international effort is underway to help 1.8 million people, mostly in Somalia, who have been hit by flooding from weeks of rains in the Horn of Africa. The flooding, affecting central and southern Somalia, also has spread to Kenya and Ethiopia, reports the Kenya Broadcasting Corp.
Iran invites Iraqi, Syrian presidents for summit
Iran has invited the Iraqi and Syrian presidents to Teheran for a weekend summit with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to hash out ways to cooperate in curbing the runaway violence that has taken Iraq to the verge of civil war and threatens to spread through the region, four key lawmakers told the Associated Press on Monday.
The autumn of 2006 has been the warmest in the Netherlands for over 300 years, 12.5 percent hotter than the previous year which was already a record, meteorologists said.
The passion of the pope
Editor's note: The following is a summary of this week's Time magazine cover story.(Time.com ) -- It was not a laid-back Turkish holiday. The citizens of the proud, predominantly Muslim nation had no love of Popes. To the East, the Iranian government was galvanizing anti-Western feeling. The news reported that an escaped killer was on the loose, threatening to assassinate the pontiff when he arrived. Yet the Holy Father was undaunted. "Love is stronger than danger," he said. "I am in the hands of God." He fared forward -- to Ankara, to Istanbul -- and preached the commonality of the world's great faiths. He enjoined both Christians and Muslims to "seek ties of friendship with other believers who invoke the name of a single God."
'Bush doesn't think America should be an actual place'
PALM BEACH, Fla. – President Bush believes America should be more of an idea than an actual place, a Republican congressman told WND in an exclusive interview.
World may have averted bird flu pandemic: expert
The world may have already averted a bird flu pandemic by widespread chicken culls and the isolation of infected humans, Australia's chief medical officer said in a report released Sunday. But if a new flu virus did begin spreading rapidly among humans all the world's preparations might be shown to be insufficient, John Horvath wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia. "It may be that the world has already averted an influenza pandemic by actions it has taken in response to H5N1, such as extensive culling of poultry and isolation of infected humans," he said. "Yet all preparations may seem insufficient if the world comes face to face with a rapidly spreading novel virus like the one that emerged in 1918."
Report: Israeli spies active in Iran
Iran has developed and tested a trigger device for a nuclear bomb, Israeli agents stationed there have told the White House, according to a report published in the New Yorker on Monday morning. According to the report, written by Seymour M. Hersh, the White House received the information but did not hand it to the CIA.
Prodi heads to Eygpt to push for ME peace plan
Italian Premier Romano Prodi was heading to Cairo Monday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarark as Italy pushes for a European peace plan for the Middle East.
Ahmadinejad: Israel weak, won’t attack Iran
Iranian leader responds to recent statements made by top Israeli officials alluding to possible attack on Islamic Republic by saying, ‘This is a media war, because the Zionist regime is weak; we have faced stronger countries in the past’.
Pope to Make 1st Visit to Muslim Nation
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - When Pope Benedict XVI goes to Turkey this month for his first papal visit to a Muslim nation, he will in effect be making two distinct journeys. The global spotlight will be on what efforts he makes to win back the respect of Muslims angered by his remarks on religious violence and the Prophet Muhammad. The other will be a pilgrimage to one of Christianity's last toeholds in Turkey.
Head of Russian Orthodox Church Says Roman Catholics Are Allies
A top Russian Orthodox cleric said on Sunday that the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church were allies in the face of hostile secularism, the Reuters news agency reported Monday. Metropolitan Kirill, the head of external relations for the Moscow Patriarchate, has met Pope Benedict and is thought to be pushing for closer ties with the Catholic Church.
ISNA: Iran needs 60,000, not 100,000 centrifuges
TEHRAN, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Iran wants to have 60,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday was quoted by the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) as saying during a tour of Iranian state-run television.
China provides irreplaceable opportunity for Italian agriculture
ROME, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- China provides "an irreplaceable opportunity for the Italian agriculture," said Italian Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies Paolo De Castro. China should also serve as a key "reference point" for Italian enterprises and Italian agriculture" in their globalization process, he said in a recent interview with Xinhua before his first China trip. "We are the fifth largest European investor in China after Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and France," he said, noting that "we have to do more."
U.S. chemists create, grow nanotube seeds
HOUSTON, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. chemists have cut carbon nanotubes into "seeds" and used those seeds to sprout new nanotubes. "Carbon nanotubes come in lots of diameters and types and our goal is to take a pure sample of just one type and duplicate it in large quantities," said corresponding author James Tour, director of Rice University's Carbon Nanotechnology Laboratory. "We've shown the concept can work."
Chlamydia strain may produce new diseases
OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they have determined Chlamydia trachomatis is evolving at a rate faster than believed possible. Chlamydia trachomatis is a bacterium that is the leading cause of sexually transmitted diseases and the second leading cause of blindness worldwide.
African flood relief underway
MOGADISHU, Somalia, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- An international effort is underway to help 1.8 million people, mostly in Somalia, who have been hit by flooding from weeks of rains in the Horn of Africa. The flooding, affecting central and southern Somalia, also has spread to Kenya and Ethiopia, reports the Kenya Broadcasting Corp.
Iran invites Iraqi, Syrian presidents for summit
Iran has invited the Iraqi and Syrian presidents to Teheran for a weekend summit with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to hash out ways to cooperate in curbing the runaway violence that has taken Iraq to the verge of civil war and threatens to spread through the region, four key lawmakers told the Associated Press on Monday.