IRAN RIOTS UK EMBASSY

1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS.2-Quake jolts western Turkey; no casualties. 3-Flash floods kill 16 people in eastern Afghanistan. 4-Argentina floods claim 7 lives. 5-The nation's weather. 6-Pakistani avalanches kill at least 29. 7-Ecuador's Reventador volcano spews ash. 8-First sandstorm of year hits northern China.9-Menu Foods says its pet food is now safe. 10-Outcry cancels chocolate Jesus show. 11-U.N. chief: Arms crossing Syrian border. 12-Merkel: EU supports Mideast peace talks. 13-Pope celebrates Palm Sunday Mass. 14-Protest in Iran targets British Embassy.

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 = Sun Apr 1 14:11:30 UTC 2007

APR 01,07
MAP 2.9 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.5 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.1 NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
MAP 4.9 FIJI REGION
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 4.8 TONGA
MAP 2.9 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 5.5 IZU ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION

MAR 31,07
MAP 2.6 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 3.3 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.5 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 5.5 VANUATU
MAP 2.5 PUGET SOUND REGION, WASHINGTON
MAP 3.4 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 2.5 NORTHERN ALASKA
MAP 5.2 MINAHASA, SULAWESI, INDONESIA
MAP 2.6 KODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.7 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 5.1 EASTERN HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 5.4 SOUTHERN EAST PACIFIC RISE
MAP 3.0 MAUI REGION, HAWAII
MAP 4.9 VANUATU
MAP 5.0 VANUATU
MAP 4.5 GUERRERO, MEXICO
MAP 2.8 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.8 OFFSHORE CHIAPAS, MEXICO
MAP 3.8 GULF OF ALASKA
MAP 4.9 SOUTH OF THE FIJI ISLANDS
MAP 2.5 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO

MAR 30,07
MAP 2.8 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 3.0 WASHINGTON
MAP 2.8 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 4.8 SIMEULUE, INDONESIA
MAP 4.2 LAKE BAYKAL REGION, RUSSIA
MAP 4.5 WESTERN TURKEY
MAP 5.1 GUERRERO, MEXICO
MAP 2.8 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 4.4 RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN
MAP 4.7 WESTERN TURKEY
MAP 2.8 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.9 OFFSHORE COQUIMBO, CHILE
MAP 5.7 FIJI REGION
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.7 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 3.0 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 2.5 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 4.6 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 2.8 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 4.0 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.4 HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION
MAP 4.8 SOUTH OF THE FIJI ISLANDS
MAP 4.9 FIJI REGION
MAP 3.1 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 2.8 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 2.6 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 3.3 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 5.0 VOLCANO ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
MAP 3.7 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 2.7 KODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA

Quake jolts western Turkey; no casualties Fri Mar 30, 6:58 PM ET

ISTANBUL (AFP) - An earthquake measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale jolted the western Turkish province of Isparta on Friday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties, officials said. The epicenter of the tremor, which hit at 7:56 pm (1656 GMT), was at the district of Egirdir, the Istanbul-based Kandilli observatory said.There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, Egirdir sub-governor Omer Ulu told Anatolia news agency.Earthquakes are frequent in Turkey, which is crossed by several major fault lines. Two violent temblors in the heavily populated, industrialised northwest claimed about 20,000 lives in August and November 1999.

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.

Flash floods kill 16 people in eastern Afghanistan APR 01,07

JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AFP) - Flash floods caused by torrential rains killed at least 16 people and destroyed dozens of houses near the Hindu Kush mountain range in eastern Afghanistan, police said Sunday. Floods hit three districts in the northeastern province of Nuristan overnight and on Sunday, swamping villages and washing away roads, provincial police chief General Aseel Totakhail told AFP.Sixteen people have died, seven others are wounded, dozens of houses have been destroyed. Villages have been cut off, he said.Totakhail asked for urgent help from the government, the United Nations and foreign forces to evacuate people from the flood-affected area.Many people need to be air-lifted. Hundreds of families left homeless are in need of immediate help, he said.

Floods also affected the nearby eastern provinces of Kunar, Laghman and Nangarhar, causing damage to houses and farms but no human casualties were reported.Heavy rain has caused flooding across Afghanistan in the past weeks with avalanches also claiming several lives.Dozens of mudbrick houses in the capital Kabul were in ruins Sunday after a downpour Saturday. The Kabul River that runs through the city, usually as a dirty stream, was overflowing its banks Sunday.

Argentina floods claim 7 lives By MAYRA PERTOSSI, Associated Press Writer Sat Mar 31, 11:00 PM ET

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Rising rivers in three rain-soaked provinces have forced some 38,000 people to flee their homes and floodwaters have claimed seven lives, authorities said Saturday.

Civil defense officials said Santa Fe province in Argentina's northeast remained the hardest-hit, with about 30,000 evacuees in and around the provincial capital of Santa Fe, 250 miles northwest of Buenos Aires, and the cities of Rosario and Canada de Gomez.Rain has lashed the region for five days, forcing evacuees to struggle through waist-deep waters with laundry baskets containing only a few possessions. Some tried to load refrigerators and TV sets on trucks and escape to higher ground, while others tried to cross flooded highways in small boats.A woman's body was recovered from the Parana River near Rosario, coast guard officials said Saturday, bringing to three the number dead after a house tumbled into the river a day earlier. The bodies of two men were recovered Friday.

Authorities said Saturday a 70-year-old farmer died after he was swept away by the Gualeguay River in Entre Rios province while trying to rescue some of his livestock.That brought to seven the dead over two days, including a man killed Friday trying to save a dog from a stream and an elderly man with Alzheimer's disease who was alone when he drowned in his flooded home, authorities said.
Jose Salim Jodor, mayor of the Entre Rios city of Gualeguay, said about 8,000 people had to leave their water-filled homes in that low-lying province on Argentina's eastern border with Uruguay.

Meanwhile, some 400 flood victims were reported in central Cordoba province on the border with Santa Fe province.President Nestor Kirchner pledged federal assistance for the victims and residents of Buenos Aires have begun organizing charity drives of food and other emergency assistance for the hardest-hit areas.Uruguayan authorities reported some 380 people had to be evacuated from regions near the Argentine border because of flooding of small rivers and streams.

The Nation's Weather By WEATHER UNDERGROUND, For The Associated Press
Sun Apr 1, 6:22 AM ET

Forecasters predicted a severe weather system would move through the Upper Midwest to the eastern seaboard on Sunday, and a separate system could bring rain to the Northwest. Heavy rain and thunderstorms were predicted from the Southeast through the Mid-Atlantic. Cool rain showers were expected in the upper Midwest and Great Lakes.Meanwhile, a separate system with rain and snow was expected to move into the Northwest and Intermountain West. Showers were also expected in the Northwest and portions of Northern California.High temperatures in the Northeast were expected to rise into the 40s and 50s, while temperatures in the Southeast were expected to reach into the 70s and 80s. The Southern Plains could see temperatures rise into the 70s and 80s also.The Northwest and Northern Rockies were expected to rise into the 40s and 50s, while California and portions of the Southwest will rise into the 70s, 80s, and even into the 90s in the warmest locations.Temperatures in the Lower 48 states Saturday ranged from a low of 3 degrees at Shirley Basin, Wyo., to a high of 91 degrees at Death Valley, Calif.

Pakistani avalanches kill at least 29 APR 01,07

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Avalanches struck two villages in a remote part of northwest Pakistan, killing at least 29 people and leaving 14 others missing, police said Sunday. Heavy rains and snow have been lashing Chitral, a rugged district near the border with Afghanistan, since late last week. In some areas, about six feet of snow has fallen over the past several days, Ijaz Ahmed, a senior police officer, said by telephone from the area.All the roads are blocked due to landslides. There is no
access to the area, he said.Bad weather blocked helicopter flights and authorities planned to send food, medicines and blankets by air on Monday.One avalanche hit 18 homes in the village of Wasij late Saturday, killing 24 people whose bodies were recovered by neighbors and police, Ahmed said.

Six people were pulled alive from the rubble, three of them with injuries, he said. Fourteen people remained missing.Five members of one family were killed when an avalanche hit their home in the village of Postaki, Ahmed said by telephone from the town of Chitral, 170 miles northwest of Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Ecuador's Reventador volcano spews ash Fri Mar 30, 11:52 PM ET

QUITO, Ecuador - A volcano in Ecuador's Andes erupted Friday, shooting plume of ash nearly two miles into the sky but causing no injuries or damage, authorities said. Liliana Troncoso of Ecuador's Geophysics Institute told The Associated Press that Reventador volcano had been showing increasing signs of activity since January, but that this eruption does not pose a threat to any nearby villages.The volcano erupted in 2002, spreading ash over the capital, Quito, about 65 miles to the east.

Earlier this month, authorities evacuated about 100 families from the slopes of the Tungurahua volcano in central Ecuador after it showered villages with flaming rocks and ash.

First sandstorm of year hits northern China Sat Mar 31, 8:58 AM ET

BEIJING (AFP) - Northern China was blanketed in dust on Saturday as the first sandstorm of the year struck the region, including the capital Beijing, state media reported, citing the national weather service.

Visibility was low in the capital due to the storm, but meteorologists said the sand was likely to blow out of town by nightfall due to strong winds, the Xinhua news agency reported.The mild storm was caused by a cyclone which developed over Mongolia and then moved eastward toward parts of Inner Mongolia and northern Hebei province, said Sun Jun of the China Meteorological Administration, quoted by Xinhua. Authorities urged residents to stay indoors and cover up if venturing outside to protect themselves from the floating dust.

Other sandstorms are in the forecast for Gansu, Liaoning, Ningxia and Shaanxi provinces, along with Inner Mongolia and the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, meteorologists said.Northern China suffered from more than a dozen dust storms last year which were attributed to desertification in China's northwestern regions, including Qinghai province. A similar number has been predicted for this year.China has around 1.74 million square kilometers (696,000 square miles) of desertified land, or 18 percent of its total land area.Despite the sandstorms, the Chinese government has insisted that it will intensify its efforts to clean the air and prepare for the 2008 Olympics by planting broad belts of trees around the capital.

Menu Foods says its pet food is now safe By Lionel Perron
Sat Mar 31, 3:45 AM ET

TORONTO (Reuters) - Menu Foods Income Fund, maker of the tainted pet foods at the center of this month's massive recall, said on Friday it is no longer using a Chinese supplier of wheat gluten after U.S. officials found the chemical melamine in some of the recalled products.

Menu Foods stopped using the supplier on March 6, 10 days before the recall was announced, Paul Henderson, Menu Foods' president and chief executive, told a news conference in Toronto.He said all pet food manufactured by his company after that date is safe.Let me be clear on this: we have removed the problem from our system, he said. Our recall is well under way and products produced today are being made with known quality and tested raw materials.We are angered that a source outside the company has apparently adulterated the product, causing this regrettable loss, he added.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that melamine, a chemical used in fertilizers in Asia and forbidden in pet food, had been detected in some of the wheat gluten used by Mississauga, Ontario-based Menu Foods. The FDA said the wheat gluten came from a company in China.Menu Foods said all of the wheat glutin tainted by melamine came from the Chinese supplier.On March 16, Menu Foods recalled 60 million cans and pouches of cuts-and-gravy style wet pet food after it was blamed for the deaths of at least 14 animals -- mostly cats.The company makes pet foods that are sold under a variety of labels such as Iams, Eukanuba, President's Choice and Nutro Max Gourmet Classics, store brands sold at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Safeway Inc. and at specialty pet stores including Petsmart Inc.The company says it used the Chinese supplier because its regular North

American and European wheat gluten suppliers couldn't keep up with demand.

In general there's a tight supply and we had to seek additional products to meet our needs, that's why we looked at bringing in additional suppliers, said Randall Copeland, Menu Foods' vice president.

It is still unclear how the chemical got into the wheat gluten.Henderson said he could not confirm the number of deaths related to the pet food recall, noting the company has fielded about 300,000 calls from across North America.Last week, New York state officials said aminopterin, a substance used in rat poison, had been found in the pet food. However, the FDA has not confirmed the presence of that toxin in the recalled pet food.Menu Foods says its investigation into the toxic ingredient that caused the recall is continuing.This is a subject of very great interest to us and our lawyers and you can expect we'll be following up, said Henderson.Units of Menu Foods closed up 16 Canadian cents, or 4 percent, at C$4.05 on Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.($1=$1.15 Canadian)

Outcry cancels chocolate Jesus show By LARRY McSHANE, Associated Press Writer Sat Mar 31, 10:43 AM ET

NEW YORK - A planned Holy Week exhibition of a nude, anatomically correct chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ was canceled Friday after Cardinal Edward Egan and other outraged Catholics complained. The My Sweet Lord display was shut down by the hotel that houses the Lab Gallery in midtown Manhattan. Roger Smith Hotel president James Knowles cited the public outcry for his decision.The reaction is crystal clear and has brought to our attention the unintended reaction of you and other conscientious friends of ours to the exhibition, Knowles wrote in the two-paragraph cancellation notice.Matt Semler, the gallery's creative director, resigned in protest.

The six-foot sculpture was the victim of a strong-arming from people who haven't seen the show, seen what we're doing, Semler said. They jumped to conclusions completely contrary to our intentions.

But word of the confectionary Christ infuriated Catholics, including Egan, who described it as a sickening display. Bill Donohue, head of the watchdog Catholic League, said it was one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever.The hotel and the gallery were overrun Thursday with angry phone calls and e-mails about the exhibit. Semler said the calls included death threats over the work of artist Cosimo Cavallaro, who was described as disappointed by the decision to cancel the display.In this situation, the hotel couldn't continue to be supportive because of a fear for their own safety, Semler said.

The sculpture was to debut Monday evening, the day after Palm Sunday and just four days before Christians mark the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday. The final day of the exhibit was planned for Easter Sunday.The artwork was created from more than 200 pounds of milk chocolate, and features Christ with his arms outstretched as if on an invisible cross. Unlike the typical religious portrayal of Christ, the Cavallaro creation does not include a loincloth.Cavallaro hoped the sculpture could go on display elsewhere, according to Semler.Cavallaro is best known for his quirky work with food as art: Past efforts include repainting a Manhattan hotel room in melted mozzarella, spraying five tons of pepper jack cheese on a Wyoming home, and festooning a four-poster bed with 312 pounds of processed ham.

U.N. chief: Arms crossing Syrian border By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer MAR 31,07

BEIRUT, Lebanon - The U.N. chief said Saturday that arms are reportedly still being smuggled over the border from Syria to Lebanon, and he urged all sides to fully comply with a United Nations resolution that ended the summer war between Hezbollah militants and Israel. The leading Lebanese daily An-Nahar reported Saturday that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Lebanese security chiefs that Israel had provided him with evidence and pictures of trucks crossing from Syria to Lebanon and unloading weapons.There are intelligence reports that arms are smuggled. I am concerned by that kind of arms smuggling, which will destabilize the situation in Lebanon, he told reporters later during a stop at the headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.

The U.N. resolution that halted 34 days of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel calls among other things for a stop in arms shipments to Hezbollah guerrillas and demands the unconditional release of two Israeli soldiers the militants captured, triggering the conflict.Ban met Friday with Lebanese security chiefs during his two-day visit to Lebanon to discuss ways of enhancing the Lebanese army's monitoring capabilities along border with Syria, one of Hezbollah's principal patrons.He urged all sides to obey the U.N.-brokered cease-fire and expressed the need for an enhanced monitoring capacity of the Lebanese armed forces to ensure that there will be no such smuggling activity.Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz told Ban during a stop in Israel last weekend that the cease-fire in southern Lebanon is endangered by Hezbollah militants. He accused the Iranian- and Syrian-backed guerrillas of continuing to receive arms shipments from Syria.Lebanese leaders have rejected Israeli claims that weapon smuggling continues.

Pro-Western Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said at a news conference with Ban on Friday that the Lebanese government was trying to improve its monitoring capabilities but stressed that not one single case of arms smuggling across the border with Syria has been recorded.His defense minister, Elias Murr, recently said that not a single mosquito is getting across the border, adding that Hezbollah did not need to resupply. On Friday, the defense minister again dismissed reports of arms smuggling through Syria as not true.But Hezbollah has boasted that it replenished its stockpile of rockets after the war.Israeli warplanes continue to fly reconnaissance missions over Lebanon, although Beirut and the U.N. consider them a violation of the cease-fire and have demanded Israel stop.Israel has refused, saying they are vital intelligence-gathering missions. An internal Israeli military document has said, however, the flights are intended in part to pressure the international community to stop arms smuggling to Hezbollah guerrillas and force the militants to release the abducted Israeli soldiers.

Merkel: EU supports Mideast peace talks By KARIN LAUB, Associated Press Writer Sun Apr 1, 6:21 AM ET

JERUSALEM - In her first Mideast trip as EU president, German Chancellor Angela Merkel offered Europe's help in bringing Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table, trying to build on a new burst of international efforts to restart peace talks. Merkel also called on Iran to immediately release 15 British sailors and marines seized in the Gulf on March 23. Britain has the full solidarity of the European Union, Merkel said in a speech at Hebrew University. We demand the immediate release of the 15 British soldiers.Merkel, who was meeting Israeli and Palestinian leaders Sunday, said the Europeans are ready to offer support, but ultimately the sides must resolve their differences themselves.The Europeans must not assume that they could force a solution. We can't and I don't want to do it, she said in her speech. Within my abilities, I would like to support the sides to walk the path toward peace.Her visit came after the Arab world renewed a land-for-recognition offer to Israel last week. Since then, the Quartet of Mideast mediators — the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia — has said it hopes to arrange a meeting with moderate Arab states, Israel and the Palestinians before the summer. Merkel, who now holds the rotating EU presidency, plays an
important Quartet role.

However, several obstacles are blocking progress.

Much of the world is still reluctant to deal with the new Palestinian unity government, a coalition of the Islamic militant Hamas and the Fatah movement of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, because it has failed to explicitly recognize Israel or renounce violence.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said he will not talk to Abbas about any of the ingredients of a final peace deal, such as
the borders of a future Palestinian state, until Palestinian militants halt rocket fire from Gaza and release an Israeli soldier held in Gaza for nine months.Olmert, while praising the Arabs' readiness to offer recognition, has been cool to the price Israel is asked to pay for it a withdrawal from the lands it captured in the 1967 Mideast War, including the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, and recognition of the right of return of Palestinian refugees. Israel has said that while willing to give up lands, it won't return to the 1967 borders. It flatly rejects the return of refugees.In a visit last week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrested a promise from Olmert and Abbas to meet biweekly.

Merkel is expected to ask the two leaders to make good use of these conversations no date has been set for the first round but her aides said she is not carrying a concrete action plan.

The chancellor arrived in Jerusalem on Saturday evening and held informal talks with Olmert.Israel and Germany have close relations. Germany has long considered guaranteeing Israel's security to be a pillar of its foreign policy following the Holocaust.Sunday's stops included breakfast with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and a tour of the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum.Merkel spent about half an hour at the Holocaust memorial, visiting the Hall of Remembrance and laying a wreath decorated with ribbons bearing the German flag. Before leaving, she wrote in the memorial's guest book: Humanity grows out of responsibility for the past..Later, Merkel went to the Hebrew University where the former physics researcher received an honorary doctorate.We admire your steadfast friendship with the Jewish people, university President Menachem Magidor said. As Merkel stood on a red carpet, a large blue ribbon was placed on her shoulders.

In the afternoon, she was to meet with Abbas at his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah, followed by more talks with Olmert in Jerusalem in the evening.In Ramallah, Merkel was expected to meet only with Abbas and to avoid Palestinian Cabinet ministers, even those who are not Hamas members, her aides said.

The EU foreign ministers decided Saturday, in a meeting in Germany, to start dealing with non-Hamas members of the Palestinian government. In continuing to shun the entire Palestinian Cabinet during this trip, Merkel apparently was trying to avoid angering her Israeli hosts. With the EU decision, Israel is increasingly alone in its call for a total boycott of the Palestinian government. Abbas will ask Merkel to deal with all members of his government and to pressure Israel to resume peace talks, said his information minister, Mustafa Barghouti. Abbas' aides contend that the government cannot be ignored because it represents the vast majority of the Palestinian people. They also note that the government calls for establishing a state in territories Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast War, implying recognition of Israel, and that it seeks to consolidate a truce. Yet Abbas has been unable to
stop rocket fire from Gaza on Israeli border towns. And his assurances to Israel and Germany that the Israeli soldier would be freed soon, as part of a prisoner swap, never materialized.

Pope celebrates Palm Sunday Mass By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI, in his Palm Sunday Mass, opened the Roman Catholic
Church's most solemn week by urging young people to live pure, innocent lives. This year, Holy Week also includes the second anniversary of the April 2, 2005, death of Pope John Paul II. On Monday, the Catholic Church will close one phase of its investigation into John Paul's saintliness as it keeps up the momentum to have the beloved pope beatified. Holding an intricately woven palm frond, Benedict opened the Palm Sunday celebration by processing through the sun-filled St. Peter's Square and up the steps of the basilica. He was preceded by dozens of priests, bishops and cardinals who clutched palms and olive branches as their red vestments fluttered in the breeze.

Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem, and is the start of the church's Holy Week, which includes the Good Friday re-enactment of Christ's crucifixion and death and his resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Benedict continued the tradition started by John Paul and dedicated Palm Sunday to the young, who were out in force in St. Peter's.He told them that to follow God they should have innocent hands and pure hearts.Innocent hands are hands that are not used for acts of violence, he told them. They are hands that are not sullied by corruption and bribes.Hearts are pure when they are not stained by lies and hypocrisy, he said. A heart is pure when it is estranged from the intoxication of pleasure; a heart for whom love is true and not just the passion of a moment, he said.

Benedict has an unusually busy schedule this week: In addition to the traditional Holy Week ceremonies, he will preside over a Mass on Monday afternoon in honor of John Paul to mark the second anniversary of the pontiff's death.He is not expected to attend the ceremony earlier in the day closing the church probe into John Paul's life and virtues. That ceremony will be headed by officials of the Rome diocese, which completed the investigation that will be turned over to the Vatican to decide whether John Paul can be beatified, the last formal step before possible sainthood.

WELL ISN'T THIS INTERESTING, THE IRANIANS ARE RIOTING AND BURNING THE UK BUILDING IN IRAN (LIKE USUAL,NOTHING NEW). MEANWHILE THEY CAPTURED THE UK SAILORS, DOES THIS REALLY MAKE SENCE. THE UK SHOULD BE BURNING AND RIOTING THE IRANIAN EMBASSY INSTEAD. OH BUT I FORGOT ISLAM IS A PEACEFUL RELIGION AND AMERICA AND UK IS THE DEVIL IN IRANS EYES.

Protest in Iran targets British Embassy By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer
APR 01,07

TEHRAN, Iran - About 200 students threw rocks and firecrackers at the British Embassy on Sunday, calling for the expulsion of the country's ambassador because of the standoff over Iran's capture of 15 British sailors and marines. Several dozen policemen prevented the protesters from entering the embassy compound, although a few briefly scaled a fence outside the compound's walls before being pushed back, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.The protesters chanted Death to Britain and Death to America as they hurled stones into the courtyard of the embassy. They also demanded that the Iranian government expel the British ambassador and close down the embassy, calling it a den of spies.Britain's Foreign Office said there had been no damage to the compound.

A British Foreign Office spokeswoman in London, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government rules, said diplomats were working normally inside the embassy.There is a police presence outside and there is no risk to those inside, said the spokeswoman.Britain and Iran are at a standoff over the 15 seized sailors and marines. Britain said they were in Iraqi waters when detained, but Iran has contended the Britons entered its waters illegally.British government and defense officials refused to discuss a report that claimed a Royal Navy captain or commodore would be sent to Tehran as a special envoy to negotiate the return of the personnel.The official would deliver an assurance that British naval crews would never deliberately enter Iranian waters without permission, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.Transport Minister Douglas Alexander said Britain was engaged in exploring the potential for dialogue with the Iranians.The responsible way forward is to continue the often unglamorous, but important and quiet diplomatic work to get our personnel home, Alexander told the British Broadcasting Corp.'s Sunday AM program.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett appeared to soften rhetoric against Iran Saturday — though she stopped far short of the apology sought by many in Iran.I think everyone regrets that this position has arisen, Beckett said in Bremen, Germany, before returning to England. What we want is a way out of it. President Bush on Saturday called for the release of the sailors and marines and labeling their capture inexcusable behavior.Iran must give back the hostages, Bush said. They're innocent, they

did nothing wrong, and they were summarily plucked out of waters.Eight British sailors and seven marines were detained by Iranian naval units March 23 while patrolling for smugglers near the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab, a waterway that has long been a disputed dividing line between Iraq and Iran.Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called world powers arrogant for refusing to apologize.Instead of apologizing over trespassing by British forces, the world arrogant powers issue statements and deliver speeches, Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying during a speech in the southeastern city of Andinmeshk. A poll published in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper found that 66 percent of respondents trusted Blair and Beckett to resolve the crisis, while 28 percent did not. Only 7 percent thought the government should be preparing to use military force. Pollster ICM interviewed 762 adults by telephone March 30 and 31. The margin of error is 4 percentage points. Associated Press writers Jill Lawless and David Stringer in London, and Deb Riechmann in Camp David, Md., contributed to this report.