JEWISH LEADERS OPTIMISTIC

Story 1-Jewish leaders buoyed by interfaith meeting.2-Florida fire Statistics. 3-India Monsoon kill 133.

Jun. 4, 2006 7:59 Updated Jun. 4, 2006 8:00Jewish leaders buoyed by EU interfaith meetingBy JOEL CLARK / JTA

Jewish leaders said they were optimistic following a high-profile interfaith meeting held by the European Union last week. The Tuesday meeting was attended by Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders from across Europe, as well as Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. Fifteen delegates were invited to Brussels to represent their faith communities in a discussion focused on the role religious communities should play in the promotion of freedom, democracy and human rights across Europe.

Organized by the EU Bureau of European Policy Advisers, the meeting was chaired by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, together with Wolfgang Schussel, chancellor of Austria, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU.

The event follows a similar gathering of religious leaders at the European Commission, the EU's executive wing, in July 2005, but this was the first time that such an initiative has had the support of the EU presidency. Europe's Jewish community was represented by Chief Rabbi Rene Gutman of Strasbourg and Bas-Rhin in France and Chief Rabbi Albert Guigui of Brussels, both members of the Conference of European Rabbis, the organization which coordinates Europe's chief rabbis. Barroso hailed the meeting as a very important moment,adding that dialogue between faiths was a vital condition in understanding their differences.

Delegates spent three hours discussing issues affecting their communities in front of senior members of the European Commission, including the employment, justice and education commissioners, as well as Barroso and Schussel. The meeting was also attended by Iranian-born Shi'ite leader Ayatollah Seyyed Abbas Ghaemmaghami, who expressed a willingness to work with Jewish leaders on common issues such as ritual slaughter. Guigui, also permanent representative of the Conference of European Rabbis to the European Union, was positive about the meeting.

The fact that the European Union now has a clear structure for interfaith dialogue gives us great hope that we can continue these meetings into the future," he told JTA. Guigui added that he and Gutman had raised several key issues affecting the European Jewish community, notably the rise of anti -Semitism across Europe.

Anti-Semitism is a very deep problem for the Jewish communities of Europe and the president said that they are preparing an EU forum to fight that phenomenon,he said. Imam Abduljalil Sajid, a representative of the UKbased Muslim Council for Religious and Racial Harmony, said the meeting had shown a lot of "hopes and aspirations" among faith leaders. Although there was nothing new in the gathering of religious leaders, Sajid said, the presence of such influential European politicians made it a historic event.

There's no alternative to dialogue, but what we need now is actions to follow it all up. Philip Carmel, director of international relations at the Conference of European Rabbis, said the meeting had been a real landmark. Bringing together religious leaders from all the monotheistic faiths of Europe under the flag of the European Union is something that I regard as very positive, he said. It gives a sign that the EU is committed to real interfaith dialogue and to integrating people of faith into the European discussion to build a better society.

Florida Wildfire Information: January 1- June 1, 2006:
2,974 wildfires have burned 121,954 acres

India monsoon toll hits 133, floods displace 25,000 by Zarir Hussain 41 minutes ago

GUWAHATI, India (AFP) - Twenty-eight people died in lightning strikes and rain-related accidents as the death toll from the early monsoon hit 133 and 25,000 people were displaced by flooding, officials said. Authorities in northeastern Assam state said floodwaters from the Brahmaputra river inundated at least 70 villages and severed road and rail links. At least 25,000 people were forced to take shelter in makeshift arrangements with floodwaters submerging villages,a government statement said.No casualties were immediately reported from the flooding in Assam, but 15 deaths were reported in northern Uttar Pradesh state, and 13 more nationwide after summer rains tore into the subcontinent earlier than expected.

At least 41 people have died in the western state of Maharashtra, which has been pounded by heavy rains since mid-week bringing back memories of floods in July 2005 which killed hundreds of people in the state capital Mumbai.The other deaths -- caused mainly by lightning strikes, drownings and house collapses in heavy storms -- were in Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat, Jharkhand and West Bengal states, according to official reports.

The monsoon hit India's Andaman archipelago on May 18, about a week earlier than usual.According to Assam's Central Water Commission, the Brahmaputra was Sunday flowing above the danger level in at least six places with the river maintaining a rising trend.

The area worst hit by the first wave of flooding that began Thursday was Assam's eastern district of Dhemaji.State officials said at least 22 villages in the district had been submerged and 642 hectares (1,585 acres) of agricultural fields had been "devastated.Road and rail links in parts of Assam have also been hit by the floods.In many places in southern Assam, floodwaters have topped roads and caused breaches disrupting surface transport,government spokesman C. Nath said.A railway official said a breach in a canal washed away a major section of a rail track between the towns of Rangia and Rangapara in northern Assam.

Since Thursday rail links have remained snapped between Rangia and Rangapara,the official said.Eastern Assam's Kaziranga National Park, home to the world's largest concentration of endangered one-horned rhinos, was partially flooded. The animals are still safe despite floodwaters submerging a section of the park,said ranger D.D. Boro.The 2,906-kilometer
(1,816-mile) Brahmaputra is one of Asia's longest rivers, traversing China's Tibet region, India and Bangladesh before reaching the Bay of Bengal.

Every year the monsoon causes the river to flood its banks, submerging paddy fields, washing away villages, drowning livestock and killing many in the remote state of 26 million people. In 2004, at least 200 people died and more than 12 million were displaced in the floods although last year lower-than-usual rains saw a reduced death toll and fewer people displaced.