IRAN HAS ENRICHED

Story 1-Highly enriched Uranium found in Iran. 2-Ethics expert warns of implications of Microchip implants.3-Rabbi Eckstein on Presbyterian boycott of Israel. 4-Arab free trade area.

Highly enriched uranium discovery in Iran confirms regime's nuclear weapons program Saturday, 10 June 2006

The Iranian regime’s president and head of the Guardian Council call for further enrichment NCRI - In its report released on Thursday, the International Atomic Energy Agency acknowledged that, “it has found traces of highly enriched uranium in the regime’s equipments in a technical school in Tehran.” In May 2003, the Iranian Resistance revealed the location of these equipments which had been installed at the Shian-Lavizan facility in eastern Tehran.

Subsequently, the Iranian regime razed the Shian-Lavizan site and relocated its equipments to other sites. Discovery of highly enriched uranium is proof of a parallel atomic weapons project and confirms that the regime is still on the path of further diversions and secretive behavior despite the new and increasing tolerance on the part of the western countries.At Friday prayers in Tehran, Ahmad Jannati, head of the regime’s Guardian Council said, We must have uranium enrichment between 3.5 to five percent.

They have no choice but to accept this. On Thursday in Qazvin, the regime’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, “Whether you do negotiate or not, whether you sulk or not, the Iranian people are determined in their path to acquire peaceful atomic energy and would not retreat even an inch.Discovery of highly enriched uranium, and the assertions by Jannati and Ahmadinejad, reaffirms the need for the adoption of a firm policy which involves comprehensive sanctions being imposed on the regime at the UN Security Council. No amount of incentives would convince the mullahs’ regime to abandon its sinister nuclear program.These incentives and negotiations only provide the necessary time it needs to complete its secret nuclear weapons projects and bring the region and the world to the brink of a major catastrophe.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, June 9, 2006

Ethics expert warns of microchip implants Many implicationsBy Sun Staff

An expert in technology and ethics warned a national information rights conference about microchips implanted in patients for access to health care. Let’s talk a little about the implications before that happens, because sometimes you can’t put the genie back in the bottle, said Ian Kerr, Canada Research Chair in Ethics, Law and Technology. He spoke to a few hundred information professionals – from government, health care and other sectors – at the downtown Westin Friday on the growing use of microchips to identify patients in the United States.

Ninety-seven hospitals there have agreed to implement the system sold by VeriChip, according to the company. The radio frequency identification chips are about the size of a grain of rice and are injected under the skin, usually near the tricep. The technology can also be used to track materials and for access control. Kerr, a professor at the University of Ottawa, said the it hasn’t been approved for use in Canada yet. He said chips have been successfully cloned in the United States, giving rise to concerns of identity theft.

He stressed the chips don’t hold personal information, but numbers that match up to one’s information in a secure database. Alberta’s Information and Privacy Commissioner Frank Work said he knows of no plans underway in Alberta’s healthcare system to adopt the technology. There’s huge security problems with them. They’re not the panacea that we originally thought they were.

Work said he suspects the technology will inevitably make its way here, though. I rather suspect it is (inevitable,) and we’ll do it in a well intentioned way, wanting to look after people. (EDMONTON SUN)

This Week with Rabbi Eckstein, June 8, 2006
Dear Friends,

Two years ago, the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA), one of the “mainline” denominations that used to represent the religious establishment in this country, voted to endorse divestment from Israel. This policy caused a stir that has not yet died down. Jews and evangelical supporters of Israel were -- and are --outraged. If a religious group is truly concerned about human rights, Jews asked, how could it single out democratic Israel for punishment, given
the abuses perpetrated daily by Israel’s Arab neighbors? And evangelicals -- who take seriously the biblical injunction to support the Jewish people -- rightly demanded to know how a Christian denomination could support a policy so clearly biased against Israel.

Unfortunately, this policy of economic warfare against Israel has found traction in other mainline denominations, many of which are heavily influenced by radical Palestinian Groups. The Episcopal Church and the United Church of Christ (UCC) have both considered divestment, while the UCC and the largest Lutheran denomination (the ELCA) have also entertained resolutions recommending Israel demolish its security fence -- an important line of defense against terrorism.

But this year, there are hints that the tide is turning. After a recent trip to the Holy Land, a group of PCUSA leaders announced that it was time for their denomination to reject its “one-sided, negative and counterproductive” divestment policy -- and, in fact, when the PCUSA meets next week, it will consider a number of motions to do just that. Pro-Israel groups have sprung up in the PCUSA and the Episcopal Church, and several “umbrella” organizations now bring together mainline and evangelical Christians and Jews to encourage support for the Jewish state and foster Jewish-Christian relations.

You have played a part as well. Your overwhelming response to our anti-divestment, pro-Israel advocacy initiatives directed at the mainline churches has shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that Israel’s true friends won’t sit by while she is under attack -- from anyone. We are committed to supporting Israel and the Jewish people in any and every way we can and that includes ensuring that the truth is told about Israel’s struggle for peace and freedom. Please help us stand firm in our commitment by supporting our Stand for Israel program which rallies support for Israel at both the grassroots and leadership levels. And check your inbox regularly for alerts that will tell you when Israel is under attack and how her friends can come to her defense.

With prayers for shalom, peace,
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein Founder and PresidentInternational Fellowship of Christians and Jews www.ifcj.org

EU trade chief: Free trade deal with GCC by year-end by Taieb Mahjoub 2 hours, 58 minutes

ago ABU DHABI (AFP) - European Union trade chief Peter Mandelson called for talks with the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council toward a final free trade deal with the Gulf Arab bloc after 18 years of negotiations. I believe that the technical level negotiations should take place without delay. I would invite GCC technical experts to come to Brussels next month,Mandelson told reporters after meeting with GCC finance ministers in Abu Dhabi.

He said the July negotiations would be a precursor to a ministerial-level meeting to be held after the summer that would make a final decision on a free trade agreement (FTA), that has been under discussion for nearly two decades.This is to be done this year. That's why we need to make fast progress now building on the positive atmosphere (of this morning's meeting),he said. Mandelson said experts from the EU and GCC have been meeting in the UAE capital for the past few days to narrow differences on market access and rule of origin issues as well as those relating to direct investment, services and government procurement.The GCC groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

In all these areas we do not have identical views and do understand we need to show flexibility to one another in order to conclude an agreement which both of us believe is important economically and politically,he said.If we can't make this agreement this year, I'll be surprised and disappointed. Mohammed Khalfan bin Kharbash, the UAE state minister for financial and industrial affairs, told reporters that an eventual deal with the EU would have a profound impact on relations.Last year EU countries exported nearly 50 billion euros (64 billion dollars) worth of goods and services to the GCC, while imports from the oil-rich region stood at 33.7 billion euros (43 billion dollars), according to GCC chief negotiator Saudi Hamad al-Baziy.

We agreed to act with flexibility," Baziy said, citing the GCC's "worries" about measures that could complicate the entry of Arab products into European markets.Baziy also said the EU wants the GCC to agree to allow European investors to retain "up to 100 percent" of businesses that they establish in the six Gulf monarchies, where foreign capital is always subject to restrictions.The GCC and the EU signed a framework economic cooperation agreement in 1988 but have so far failed to agree on a free trade deal.

The EU has long pressed the GCC, which last month celebrated its 25th anniversary, to implement among its members a customs union that was signed in 2003.In principle, the GCC plans a common market in 2007 and a monetary union and a single currency by the start of 2010. However, a slew of political and economic differences among member countries ruled by powerful and sometimes competing dynasties has gotten in the way.Over the past year Bahrain and Oman have signed FTAs on their own with the United States, and Washington is seeking similar deals with Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE.