KORAN ALLOWS WIFE ABUSE

1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS.2-Moderate quake west of Vancouver Island, but only marine life feel the shake. 3-Plan for big one in quake-prone areas: US geophysicist. 4-More heavy rain 5-Jews Revive the Sanhedrin with Plans for a Passover Sacrifice. 6-Britain says 15 sailors detained by Iran. 7-Poll: Likud hardliners leading the pack. 8-Expert likens occupation to apartheid.
9-U.S. boosts missile defense system plans. 10-Koran Allows Wife Abuse.

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)

Update time = Sat Mar 24 12:00 AM EDT

MAR 23,07
MAP 3.2 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.5 HAWAII REGION, HAWAII
MAP 4.6 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA, RUSSIA
MAP 2.8 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 4.4 HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION
MAP 4.5 VANCOUVER ISLAND, CANADA REGION
MAP 2.6 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

MAR 22,07
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 5.4 KEPULAUAN BARAT DAYA, INDONESIA
MAP 2.8 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 5.3 ATACAMA, CHILE
MAP 4.7 KOMANDORSKIYE OSTROVA, RUSSIA REGION
MAP 4.5 OFFSHORE GUATEMALA
MAP 3.2 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.9 PUGET SOUND REGION, WASHINGTON
MAP 4.4 OFFSHORE FALCON, VENEZUELA
MAP 3.9 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.1 MOUNT ST. HELENS AREA, WASHINGTON
MAP 5.2 SOUTHEAST OF THE LOYALTY ISLANDS
MAP 3.2 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 5.9 SOUTH INDIAN OCEAN
MAP 5.1 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.3 OFFSHORE CHIAPAS, MEXICO
MAP 3.0 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 4.2 NEAR THE SOUTH COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 2.6 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA

Moderate quake west of Vancouver Island, but only marine life feel the shake MAR 23,07

VICTORIA (CP)-A moderate earthquake has been recorded in the Pacific Ocean west of
Vancouver Island. The U.S. Geological Survey says the 4.5-magnitude quake at 8:49 p.m. PT Thursday was centred just under 200 kilometres southwest of Port Hardy.But seismologists say the tremor, at a depth of 10 kilometres, wasn't strong enough to cause a tsunami.It was also too far offshore to be felt in communities on Vancouver Island.The quake struck in an area of the Juan de Fuca Plate noted for numerous tremors.

Plan for big one in quake-prone areas: US geophysicist MAR 23,07

CHICAGO (AFP) The world's most high-risk earthquake zones should be considered lethal and policy makers need warning systems in place in case of a disaster like the 2004 Asian tsunami, a top geophysicist says.

These systems need to be strong and they need to be maintained over the long term because we have no way of knowing when the next great earthquake will hit, wrote Robert McCaffrey, professor of geophysics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, in an editorial in the journal Science.He warned that seismologists simply do not have enough data to predict with accuracy which of many faults in the Earth's crust could yield the next magnitude 9.0 quake.The December 2004 quake off Sumatra, Indonesia, unleashed a tsunami that devastated nations around the Indian Ocean. It occurred in a known hotspot, a subduction zone where one tectonic plate slips beneath another. Some 168,000 people died in Aceh province.

Even so, seismologists thought the fault was an unlikely spot for a quake. A hundred years of records indicated the age and speed of the subducting plate were the most important factors in determining the occurrence of a magnitude 9.0 quake.Given the extent of the damage, McCaffrey wrote, the facts suggest that the limited historical record is insufficient for mapping a trend in geographical events that could span centuries or millennia.A magnitude 9.0 quake can be created by 20 meters of slip between two converging plates. However, slips of this length only occur every 200 to 1,000 years or more at a particular boundary, leaving no historic records to track their frequency. Magnitude 9.0 quakes typically occur in subduction zones.It's not that the science is bad, but we don't have enough data.

We've only been watching these processes for 100 years, McCaffrey said.In the absence of reliable forecasting data, policy makers should consider all subduction zones, from Chile to Java, as lethal, McCaffrey said.The highest magnitude earthquake ever recorded was 9.5 in Chile in 1960. Geologists now use moment magnitude scale, which measures the maximum magnitude, the size of the quake's rupture, amount of slip and the force released.

Several are near densely populated land areas, and the potential impacts of shaking and tsunamis cannot be overstated, he wrote.Given the experience of 2004 and the fact that so much damage was done so far from the quake zone, authorities should create warning systems with input and support from many countries, he said.We can never forget what happened, he wrote. Now is the time to use the knowledge that we have gained and work to save lives should another magnitude 9.0 hit tomorrow or hundreds of years from now.Many didn't know about tsunamis before the quake; we must make sure that now they never fail to remember their destructive force.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

More heavy rain Wayne Verno, Meteorologist, The Weather Channel Mar 23,07

Midwest

The cold front that moved through the Midwest yesterday has become stationary along the Ohio River Valley this morning. This will continue to focus numerous showers and thunderstorms from the Kansas City through the St. Louis, and Louisville areas; Heavy downpours may result in flooding. Temperatures along and south of the boundary will be warm, with readings in the 60s and 70s across Louisville, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Omaha. North of the boundary, from Cleveland, through Chicago, Minneapolis, and Fargo, highs will be in the 50s. Showers and thunderstorms will continue across parts of the Midwest Saturday and Sunday, as well as spread into the Upper Midwest as a cold front approaches. The continued periods of showers and thunderstorms across parts of the Midwest and Central Plains, will increase the potential for localized flooding into the weekend.

Northeast

A cold front has moved through the Northeast States, and become stationary across the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic this morning. This will focus numerous showers and thunderstorms from Pittsburgh, east through New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. Some will produce heavy downpours, which may lead to localized flooding. Afternoon highs will be cooler north of the boundary, with readings generally in the 40s and 50s across Burlington, Boston, New York, and Pittsburgh. South of the boundary, highs will be in the 60s from Philadelphia through Washington, DC. Saturday, more of the same is expected, as the front will remain stationary across the area. Saturday night, into Sunday, a disturbance may slide southeast across southern New England, producing a little wet snow. This will also help to push the boundary south of the area, bringing a break to the rainfall over the Mid-Atlantic for Sunday. A slight warming trend will begin by early next week.

West

A weather disturbance over the Southwest will continue to produce numerous showers and thunderstorms across Arizona and New Mexico, north into the Denver area. A few showers will also impact parts the Seattle area as well.

Dry conditions should prevail from the Los Angeles area, north through the San Francisco and Salt Lake City area. The disturbance over the Southwest will begin to move out in the central Plains, therefore showers and thunderstorms will be less widespread across Arizona and New Mexico Sunday, but more widespread across the central Rockies. Meanwhile, a new storm system will begin to spread rain and rain showers across a larger part of the Pacific Northwest Saturday into Sunday, with some heavy rainfall possible along coastal areas. The rest of the West will be dry, but rain should spread into parts of central and northern California early next week.

South

High pressure will continue to dominate much of the Deep South providing partly cloudy skies and warm temperatures. The exceptions will continue to be the east coast of Florida where an onshore show will generate some afternoon showers and thunderstorms, and across West Texas into the southern Plains where strong to severe thunderstorms will be possible. Afternoon highs will remain warm with readings well into the 70s and 80s. This same general weather pattern will hold for Saturday as well, with even warmer temperatures expected by Sunday. A few record highs will be neared or broken over parts of the Deep South. Showers and thunderstorms, some strong, will continue to spread across Texas and the southern Plains through the weekend. Also, a few showers may sneak down into the Carolinas as well. The chance of showers and thunderstorms will increase across much of the South into early next week.

REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE WITH SACRIFICES

REVELATION 11:1-2
1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

DANIEL 9:27
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one
week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Jews Revive the Sanhedrin with Plans for a Passover Sacrifice
By Deborah Pardo-Kaplan Religion News Service MAR 23,07

In a donated apartment concealed among the narrow streets of the Jerusalem suburb of Nahlaot, 13 Orthodox Jewish men meet every Tuesday to debate matters of Jewish law. They are the management team of a larger developing Sanhedrin, or religious court, in Israel.And they plan to sacrifice sheep on the Temple Mount on the day before or one month after Passover, which starts at sundown April 2. Either date is permissible under Jewish law. If the government will not resist, said Rabbi Dov Stein, 68, a member of the group, we will do it.As Easter eclipses the last days of Passover this year, Christians will focus again on the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus. The Sanhedrin, meanwhile, will literally attempt to resurrect the Passover sacrifice of old.

For these Jews, the sacrificial Passover offering is not their redemption per se, yet it is vital to the process.The Passover sacrifice is the latest of more than 40 legal decisions issued by the modern Sanhedrin. Seventy-one Orthodox men revived the court more than two years ago in the city of Tiberius, the same geographical spot they believe marked the final days of the Sanhedrin a few hundred years after the time of Jesus.In antiquity, the Sanhedrin determined Jewish practice. It now rules on political and religious issues and ultimately sees itself as an alternative to the secular Supreme Court of Israel. It hopes to impose Jewish law on the Jewish people and the seven Noahide laws -- prohibitions on theft, murder, blasphemy and others, based on Jewish teaching -- on Gentile nations.

We want all the world, Stein said, to walk with God.

Descriptions of the Sanhedrin can be found in Jewish legal writings and the New Testament. The Gospels say Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrin so its members could assess his messianic claims. This current Sanhedrin also sees as one of its goals to evaluate any potential messianic contender. There is no redemption without the Sanhedrin, said Stein. We are building the opportunity for a king (messiah).Some Orthodox Jews see the Passover sacrifice on Jerusalem's Temple Mount -- one of the most disputed pieces of real estate on the planet -- as key to quickening redemption.The Sanhedrin bought a herd of 12 sheep -- 110-150 pounds each -- from a farm in southern Israel.

Anyone wanting to eat of the sacrifice can pay seven shekels ($1.67) for an 8-10 gram slice, the minimum required by Jewish law, Stein said. The group is hoping to collect 30,000 signatures through its Web site to prove its influence to the Israeli authorities, and gain access to the Temple Mount area.

Some members of the Sanhedrin are a bit more cautious.

The Passover plans are just preparation, said Hillel Weiss, a professor of Hebrew literature at Bar Ilan University. Not everyone is in favor of it.The Passover sacrifice will draw the attention of some religious Jews as well as evangelical Christians who see both the restoration of the Sanhedrin and sacrifice as part of end-times prophecy. Other Orthodox Jews want to distance themselves from this group, which they consider extremist.Religious Zionists, such as Israeli settlers, serve as the main audience for the new Sanhedrin, said Mordechai Inbari, 37, an Israeli who teaches at the University of Florida. Inbari sat in on some of the Sanhedrin meetings last year for his doctoral research.Zionists perceive Israel as in the process of redemption, Inbari said, but most see the Temple's reconstruction with its sacrificial system as the last stage, occurring only after a widespread repentance in which all Jews turn religious. But the extremists see it as going hand in hand, he said.

Hila Lipnick, a 28-year-old Orthodox woman who lives in Cambridge, Mass., used to live in Jerusalem and traveled daily to Gush Etzion, a settlement in the West Bank, for school. While she believes in the eventual rebuilding of the Temple, she is unsure about sacrifice. I can't see rivers of blood going all over Jerusalem, she said, and society just accepting it.In order for the Sanhedrin to proceed with the sacrifice, they would need to build an altar on the Temple Mount, at least the size of 1 amah (21 inches) by 1 amah, Stein said. They would slaughter the sheep and sprinkle the blood towards the altar, said Hillel Weiss. The meat would then be taken from the Temple area and cooked on a special oven and given to families to eat.

Some leaders in the Jewish community question not only the renewal of sacrifice without a Temple, but the validity of the Sanhedrin itself.They are a self-selected group, said Michael J. Broyde, an Orthodox rabbi who sits on the Rabbinical Court of America. And they have no more and no less authority than any other self-selected group of rabbis.While many Jews are either ambivalent or hostile toward the Sanhedrin and other Temple-related groups, some evangelicals support these projects.

They get excited when they perceive the Jewish people fulfilling what they view as part of future prophecy, said Randall Price, an evangelical professor and author of four books about the Temple. Then they think we're getting closer to that being a reality, he said.The Sanhedrin considers the Passover sacrifice equal in importance to circumcision, since it is the first collective commandment given to the Jewish people.Since the Passover sacrifice is an eternal commandment, we should do it, said Rabbi Yeshayahu Hollander, an English spokesperson for the group. Those who do not observe the sacrifice, he said, will be cut off from the Jewish people.If we have psychological inhibitions, it is our duty to educate ourselves, to overcome the inhibitions, Hollander said. This is part of our redemption. An essential part.

COULD THIS BE THE THING THAT FINALLY MAKES THE WEST GO AFTER IRAN, WE WILL WAIT AND SEE IF ANYTHING COMES FROM THIS DETAINING BY IRAN.

Britain says 15 sailors detained by Iran By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer MAR 23,07

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Iranian naval vessels on Friday seized 15 British sailors who had boarded a merchant ship in Iraqi waters of the Persian Gulf as part of efforts to protect the Iraqi coastline and its oil terminals, U.S. and British officials said. The British government summoned the Iranian ambassador in London and demanded the immediate and safe return of our people and equipment. The U.S. Navy, which operates off the Iraqi coast along with British forces, said Iran's Revolutionary Guard naval forces were responsible.The British Navy personnel were engaged in routine boarding operations of merchant shipping in Iraqi territorial waters, and had completed a ship inspection when they were accosted by Iranian vessels, Britain's Defense Ministry said.We are urgently pursuing this matter with the Iranian authorities at the highest level, the ministry said.

No one could be immediately reached for comment at either government offices in Iran or at the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad or at the U.N. mission. Iran is in the middle of its New Year holiday when almost all government offices close.A U.S. official said the incident occurred just outside a long-disputed waterway called the Shatt al-Arab dividing Iraq and Iran. It came as tensions were running high in the Persian Gulf following Iran's defiance of U.N. Security Council orders to rollback on its nuclear program and U.S. allegations that Iran is arming Shiite militias in Iraq.U.S. officials had expressed concern that with much military hardware concentrated in the Persian Gulf, just such a small incident could spiral out of control and trigger a major armed confrontation.The United States, Britain's chief ally, has built up its naval forces in the Gulf in a show of strength directed at Iran. Two American carriers, including the USS John C. Stennis — backed by a strike group with more than 6,500 sailors and Marines and with additional minesweeping ships — arrived in the region in recent months, ratcheting up tensions with Iran.

Earlier this week, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said if Western countries want to treat us with threats and enforcement of coercion and violence, undoubtedly they must know that the Iranian nation and authorities will use all their capacities to strike enemies that attack.In February, President Bush said: The Iranian people are good, honest, decent people and they've got a government that is belligerent, loud, noisy, threatening — a government which is in defiance of the rest of the world and says, We want a nuclear weapon.

The Britons were in two boats from the frigate H.M.S. Cornwall during a routine smuggling investigation, said the British Defense Ministry.According to a statement from the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, which is based in Bahrain and operates jointly with the British forces off the coast of Iraq, the British sailors had just finished inspecting the merchant ship when they and their two boats were surrounded and escorted by Iranian vessels into Iranian territorial waters.Cmdr. Kevin Aandahl of the Fifth Fleet said the British crew members were intercepted by several larger patrol boats operated by Iranian sailors belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, a radical force that operates separately from the country's regular navy.

The Iranian boats normally carry bow-mounted machine guns, while the British boarding party carried only sidearms, Aandahl said. No shots were fired and there appeared to be no physical harm done to any personnel involved or their vessels, Aandahl said.

The seizure of the British vessels, a pair of rigid inflatable boats known as RIBs, took place in long-disputed waters just outside of the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway that divides Iraq from Iran, Aandahl said. A 1975 treaty gave the waters to Iraq and U.S. and British ships commonly operate there, but Aandahl said Iran disputes Iraq's jurisdiction over the waters.It's been in dispute for some time, Aandahl said. We've been operating there for a couple of years and we know the lines very well. This was a compliant boarding, this happens routinely. What's out of the ordinary is the Iranian response.Aandahl said the U.S.-led task force has touchier relations with the Revolutionary Guard, who often ignores normal maritime operating traditions, than with the regular Iranian navy.A fisherman who said he was with a group of Iraqis from the southern city of Basra fishing in Iraqi waters in the northern area of the Gulf said he saw the Iranian seizure. The fisherman declined to be identified because of security concerns.

Two boats, each with a crew of six to eight multinational forces, were searching Iraqi and Iranian boats Friday morning in Ras al-Beesha area in the northern entrance of the Arab Gulf, but big Iranian boats came and took the two boats with their crews to the Iranian waters.

The Cornwall's commander, Commodore Nick Lambert, said the frigate lost communication with the boarding party, but a helicopter crew saw the Iranian vessels approach. I've got 15 sailors and marines who have been arrested by the Iranians and my immediate concern is their safety, Lambert told British Broadcasting Corp. television. Lambert said it was a routine boarding, the skipper of the vessel answered all the questions, and the leader of the boarding party cleared him to continue with his business.In June 2004, six British marines and two sailors were seized by Iran in the Shatt al-Arab. They were presented blindfolded on Iranian television and admitted entering Iranian waters illegally, then released unharmed after three days. Associated Press writers Pauline Jelinek in Washington and Kim Gamel in Baghdad contributed to this report.

GO BENJAMIN (BIBI) NETANYAHU GO.

Poll: Likud hardliners leading the pack By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer
Fri Mar 23, 4:05 AM ET

JERUSALEM - If elections were held today the hardline Likud party would be the overwhelming victor, a new poll showed Friday, a sign of Israelis' deep dissatisfaction with their leaders.

The poll in the Maariv newspaper showed the Likud winning 35 seats in Israel's 120-seat parliament, easily defeating Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's ruling Kadima party.The centrist Kadima would see its power drop more than 50 percent to a meager 13 seats in the theoretical election, and the dovish Labor Party would also get 13 seats, the poll showed. The next national elections are slated to be held only in 2010.The survey was carried out by the TNS Teleseker polling company. Pollsters surveyed 460 people, and the margin of error was 4.5 percentage points.

Kadima and Labor, led by Defense Minister Amir Peretz, currently rule together in a coalition government. Olmert and Peretz have been dismally unpopular since Israel's war in Lebanon last summer, which they are widely perceived to have mishandled.The opposition Likud, led by former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was not tarnished by the war.Olmert's popularity has been further undermined by a series of corruption scandals involving him and members of his government. In the most recent case, police are looking into charges that one of Olmert's political allies, Finance Minister Avraham Hirchson, embezzled money from a nonprofit organization he ran.The poll indicated that the Likud owed its success less to a rise in hardline sentiment than to the personal unpopularity of Olmert and Peretz.

The poll showed that if Kadima and Labor changed their leaders, their fortunes would change as well. If Kadima replaced Olmert with the popular foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, Kadima would beat the Likud and win the election, though just barely, the poll indicated.If Labor replaced Peretz with either Ami Ayalon, a former Shin Bet chief, or former prime minister Ehud Barak, it would win several more seats than the 19 it has today, the poll showed. Barak and Ayalon are the two favorites to oust Peretz and take control of the party in a May primary.

WE DON'T GO BY MERE MEN ON THIS SITUATION. GOD CREATED MAN, GOD HAS THE FINAL SAY ON THE LAND IN ISRAEL, HE GAVE IT TO ISRAELIS AND NO ONE ELSE. SO FOR THIS PERSON TO SAY THE SO CALLED OCCUPIED LAND, ITS OCCUPIED BY ISRAEL BECAUSE GOD SAYS ITS ISRAELS LAND. TEN-FOUR OVER AND OUT, ITS SETTLED.

And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.

Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.

ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.

Expert likens occupation to apartheid Fri Mar 23, 5:16 AM ET

GENEVA - An independent expert told the U.N. human rights council on Thursday that Israel's treatment of Palestinians is comparable to apartheid. John Dugard, a South African investigator on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said that anyone who experienced apartheid has a sense of deja vu when visiting the OPT (Occupied Palestinian Territories).Dugard, a lawyer who campaigned against apartheid in the 1980s, presented his findings on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian
territories to the 47-nation council, which commissioned the report last year.His comments drew an immediate rebuke from Israel's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, who said Dugard had resorted to inflammatory and inciteful language which did not contribute to a constructive dialogue on the Middle East question.The report was utterly one-sided, highly selective, and unreservedly biased, Itzhak Levanon added.

The one-year-old council has so far only passed resolutions critical of one country —Israel. Muslim countries have proposed three further resolutions for the current session of the council that condemn the actions of the Jewish state.The 24-page document, which was posted on the council's Web site last month, catalogues a number of accusations against the Jewish state ranging from destruction of Palestinian houses to preferential treatment for Jewish settlers in the West Bank.Dugard's account of Israel's treatment of Palestinians echoes that of former President Carter's most recent book, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid. The work drew widespread condemnation in Israel and the United States and prompted 14 advisory board members of Carter's foundation to resign.Dugard said that he had previously refrained from using the term apartheid on account of the sensitivity of the issue.But the uproar over Carter's book and the serious attempts to impugn his integrity, particularly in the United States, has led me to reconsider this decision, Dugard said.

Citing the existence of separate residential areas for Jews and Palestinians in Hebron, as well as separate roads for Jewish settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank and Jordan Valley, he said Israel's actions clearly violated international conventions.Can it seriously be denied that such acts are committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over another racial group, Dugard said.Dugard was appointed in 2001 as an unpaid, independent expert by the now-defunct U.N. Human Rights Commission to investigate only violations by the Israeli side, prompting Israel and the United States to dismiss his reports as one-sided. Israel refused to allow him to conduct a fact-finding mission on its Gaza offensive last summer.

U.S. boosts missile defense system plans By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer MAR 23,07

VIENNA, Austria - U.S. officials are intensifying their campaign to build support in European capitals for plans to deploy a missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic — a proposal that Russia contends could touch off a new arms race. U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Mark Pekala was in Vienna on Friday for two days of meetings with ambassadors to the 56-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, hoping to win greater regional backing for the plan.Pekala's visit follows a stop in Warsaw earlier this week by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried, intended to reassure Polish officials that the bases are designed to enhance European security and in no way threaten Russia. Moscow says that placing the systems so close to its border could diminish Russia's nuclear deterrent.

Recent polls suggest most Poles oppose the idea of hosting 10 interceptor missiles that Washington contends would serve as a shield to counteract Iran's potential future missile capabilities. Czechs, meanwhile, have staged several small but boisterous protests against U.S. plans to station an accompanying radar system in their country.Lawmakers in Ukraine were the latest to balk, adopting a resolution Thursday in parliament that declared the system a threat to Ukraine's national security.

U.S. officials had gone to the former Soviet republic last week to explain what they insist are the strategic advantages of the system.German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose country holds the rotating European Union presidency and chairs the Group of Eight industrialized nations, urged the U.S. this week to count the political and diplomatic costs before pushing ahead with the plan.Steinmeier warned of the potential for a new Cold War between the USA and Russia, even if only conducted in words, and suggested that Washington consider teaming up with Moscow on a possible joint missile defense.

German judge rules Koran allows wife abuse Thu Mar 22, 9:26 AM ET

BERLIN (AFP) - A German woman judge has refused a Moroccan-born woman permission to file for divorce by interpreting the Koran as allowing husbands to beat their wives. Where are we living?

Woman judge allows beating in marriage... and invokes the Koran, said a front-page headline in Germany's top-selling Bild newspaper, reflecting the widespread angry reaction on Thursday.This Moroccan woman has the same right to protection from a violent husband as any German woman. Anything else would be misconceived sensitivity to the benefit of the husband and would amount to racist discrimination against the wife, said the Tageszeitung daily.The Central Council of Muslims in Germany also condemned the decision.

The judge should have made a decision based on the German constitution instead of the Koran, said spokeswoman Nurhan Soykan, who said that violence and mistreatment, regardless of the gender of the victim, were also grounds for divorce in the Islamic world.A court in the western city of Frankfurt on Wednesday upheld a complaint of bias against the judge lodged by the lawyer of the 26-year-old woman, who has two children.The woman had filed for immediate divorce on the grounds that the husband, also of Moroccan origin, regularly beat her and threatened to kill her. The claims were backed up by a police report.But the female judge, who has not been named, made clear in a letter that the wife's bid had little chance of approval because, according to her, Islamic law allowed a man to strike his wife.German politicians from all parties were united in disgust at the judgement.

When the Koran takes precedence over the German Basic Law, then I can only say: Good night Germany, Ronald Pofalla, the secretary general of the conservative Christian Democratic Union of Chancellor Angela Merkel, told Bild.Hans-Christian Stroebele, of the opposition Greens, said the kind of abuse suffered by the woman should be punished by German criminal law.