Surely, I can't have been the only Catholic to listen in open-mouthed disbelief as the leader of the Church in Scotland used a sermon to mark the 40th anniversary of the Abortion Act TO INSIST MPS WHO CONTINUE TO SUPPORT IT RISK LOSING THE RIGHT TO HOLY COMMUNION.

BY PRESSURISING CATHOLIC MPS IN THIS WAY, THE CHURCH IS SWAPPING ITS ROLE AS LOBBYIST FOR SOMETHING ALTOGETHER MORE SINISTER. IF IT GETS AWAY WITH THIS, HOW LONG BEFORE THE THREAT OF "EXCOMMUNICATION" IS EXTENDED TO THE POSITION OF CATHOLIC MPS AND MSPS ON OTHER ISSUES SUCH AS CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS OR SEX EDUCATION?

It doesn't take a great leap, either, to imagine it dangled over ordinary church-goers. If Catholic MPs who support the abortion law should surrender the right to Communion then why not the Catholic voters who endorse them?

But the most offensive aspect of the Cardinal's attack is the way it reduces Communion - believed by Catholics to be a sacred gift from God - to a bargaining tool in the political process. And they say MPs are cynical.
In the meantime, the Church continues to be inconsistent in its approach to how political it should be. Earlier this month, Pope Benedict took the opportunity to attack "liberation theology", which emphasises the Christian mission to bring justice to the poor through activism. "IF THE CHURCH WERE TO START TRANSFORMING HERSELF INTO A DIRECTLY POLITICAL SUBJECT, SHE WOULD DO LESS, NOT MORE, FOR THE POOR AND FOR JUSTICE."

But if it's not within its remit to be active on social justice issues, HOW CAN IT JUSTIFY ITS BLATANT ATTEMPT TO HIJACK THE POLITICAL PROCESS OVER ABORTION?

Catholic leaders expect ordinary people to take their lead from the top not the other way around. It has been said Pope Benedict would rather have a Church that consisted of a handful of 'true believers' than one that embraced 'cultural relativists' like me. If he and his cardinals keep up these hardball tactics, if they continue in this affront to democracy, they may well get their wish.

The far-reaching measures include boosting police powers to hold and question suspected terrorists, and allowing wire-tap evidence to be used in British courts for the first time. Brown will also push for an increase in the length of time police can hold terror suspects - one of the most controversial elements of Tony Blair's anti-terror blueprint and one that has consistently been rejected by MPs.

But the Prime Minister-in-waiting also wants to reinforce scrutiny of the way the new powers are used, in an attempt to buy off concerns that human rights are suffering in the drive to protect Britain from the increasing risk of international terrorism.

In the first significant disclosure of one of the key planks of his manifesto for government, Brown told party workers in Glasgow yesterday that ministers "must be vigilant for the benefit of security in this country". "Our security must be strengthened, but we must also strengthen the accountability of our institutions." But Brown's attempts to buy off the civil rights lobby looked destined to fail last night, as pressure groups complained that he was proposing too many powers to tackle the terror threat.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of the human rights group Liberty, said: "We have proposed the use of wire-tap evidence and post-charge questioning as proportionate alternatives to extending pre-charge detention, not in addition to it." "We don't understand why Gordon Brown would even consider reintroducing internment before fully implementing these other measures," said Chakrabarti.

The report has been sent to the pope and church leaders. IT IS THE FIRST TIME THE SECRET INTELLIGENCE SERVICE HAS SHARED ITS INFORMATION WITH RELIGIOUS LEADERS. "We do so because we believe the situation is extremely serious," said an MI6 source.

The report is based on details from MI6 agents stationed in the countries. North Korea is identified as the world's worst repressor of Christians. More than 50,000 Christians are incarcerated in work camps because they refuse to submit to the extreme views rigorously enforced by the country's dictator, Kim Jong-il.

An estimated 40,000 Christians are imprisoned in China for their beliefs. The MI6 analysis calculates there are some 70 million "active Christians" in the People's Republic, all living in a climate of fear because of their beliefs.

Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV reported the ceremony of kindergarteners of the Islamic Association in Gaza. The video, with translation, was made available by the Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI, in Washington, D.C. The host of the show urges viewers, "Stay with us to watch this performance by the children of Palestine."

The boys chant: "ALLAH AKBAR. PRAISE BE TO ALLAH. ALLAH AKBAR. PRAISE BE TO ALLAH. ALLAH AKBAR. PRAISE BE TO ALLAH. ALLAH AKBAR. PRAISE BE TO ALLAH. WHO IS YOUR ROLE MODEL? THE PROPHET. WHO IS YOUR ROLE MODEL? THE PROPHET. WHAT IS YOUR PATH? JIHAD. WHAT IS YOUR PATH? JIHAD. WHAT IS YOUR MOST LOFTY ASPIRATION? DEATH FOR THE SAKE OF ALLAH. WHAT IS YOUR MOST LOFTY ASPIRATION? DEATH FOR THE SAKE OF ALLAH."

Hamas, which won a majority in the Palestinian parliament in January 2006 elections, officially is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. Responsible for scores of suicide bombings, shooting attacks and rocket firings, the group's official charter calls for the destruction of Israel.

As 'WND reported earlier this month, Palestinian children are being entertained and indoctrinated on television by a Mickey Mouse-knockoff WHO TEACHES THEM TO FIGHT FOR ISRAEL'S DESTRUCTION AND ISLAM'S DOMINATION OVER THE ENTIRE WORLD.

"We, tomorrow's pioneers, will restore to this nation its glory, and we will liberate Al-Aqsa, with Allah's will, and we will liberate Iraq, with Allah's will, and we will liberate the Muslim countries, invaded by murderers," the mouse character says.

WND reported in March an online forum tied to the website of Hamas posted a photo of a little girl in a combat vest and the head band of the terrorist Al-Qassam Brigades. "Have you seen the new child martyr who will soon shake Israel [to the core]?" says the caption, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute blog

The message accompanying the photo on the Shabakat Falastin Lilhiwar online forum says the girl "is part of the Muslim generation which will go down in history as a generation that refused to accept humiliation and defeat."

Hamas launched a children's website in 2002, encouraging kids to follow the example of terrorist suicide bombers.

Full article and video see http://www.worldnetdaily.com

The epicentre was in the city of Pu'er, and thousands are now being evacuated from the region, which is near the border with Laos and Burma. Some buildings collapsed, and communications are difficult, the state news agency Xinhua reported. We estimate 120,000 people will have to be evacuated," a local official at told the AFP news agency.

About 30,000 people live in the old city of Pu'er, and tremors were felt up to 200km (120 miles) away.

Three men were arrested and one was being sought in Trinidad on Saturday. In an indictment charging the four men, one of them is quoted as saying the foiled plot would "cause greater destruction than in the Sept. 11 attacks," destroying the airport, killing several thousand people and destroying parts of Queens, where the line runs underground.

One of the suspects, Russell Defreitas, a U.S. citizen native to Guyana and former JFK employee, said the airport was a symbol that would put "the whole country in mourning.""It's like you can kill the man twice," Defreitas said, according to the indictment.

The plot never got past the planning stages. It posed no immediate threat to air safety or the public, the FBI said Saturday. "The devastation that would be caused had this plot succeeded is just unthinkable," U.S. Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf said at a news conference, calling it "one of the most chilling plots imaginable."

The arrests mark the latest in a series of alleged homegrown terrorism plots targeting high-profile American landmarks. A year ago, seven men were arrested in what officials called the early stages of a plot to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago and destroy FBI offices and other buildings. A month later, authorities broke up a plot to bomb underwater New York City train tunnels to flood lower Manhattan. And six people were arrested a month ago in an alleged plot to unleash a bloody rampage on Fort Dix in New Jersey.

The first point is that it would never happen. There are no Israeli organisations - governmental or freelance - that would contemplate such a thing. That fact is itself significant. But just suppose that some fanatical Jews had grabbed Mr Johnston and forced him to spout their message, abusing his own country as he did so. What would the world have said?

There would have been none of the caution which has characterised the response of the BBC and of the Government since Mr Johnston was abducted on March 12. The Israeli government would immediately have been condemned for its readiness to harbour terrorists or its failure to track them down. Loud would have been the denunciations of the extremist doctrines of Zionism which had given rise to this vile act. The world isolation of Israel, if it failed to get Mr Johnston freed, would have been complete.

If Mr Johnston had been forced to broadcast saying, for example, that Israel was entitled to all the territories held since the Six-Day War, and calling on the release of all Israeli soldiers held by Arab powers in return for his own release, his words would have been scorned. No one would have been shy of saying so. THE CAUSE OF ISRAEL IN THE WORLD WOULD HAVE BEEN IRREPARABLY DAMAGED BY THUS TORTURING HIM ON TELEVISION.

BUT OF COURSE IN REAL LIFE IT IS ARABS HOLDING MR JOHNSTON, AND SO EVERYONE TREADS ON TIP-TOE. Bridget Kendall of the BBC opined that Mr Johnston had been "asked" to say what he said in his video. ASKED! IF IT WERE MERELY AN "ASK", WHY DID HE NOT SAY NO?

Throughout Mr Johnston's captivity, the BBC has continually emphasised that he gave "a voice" to the Palestinian people, the implication being that he supported their cause, and should therefore be let out. One cannot imagine the equivalent being said if he had been held by Israelis.

Nobody yet knows the precise motivations of Mr Johnston's captors, but it is surely not a coincidence that they held him in silence until the 40th anniversary of the Six-Day War approached, and only then made him speak. They wanted him to give the world their historical explanation - Israeli oppression - for their cause.

YET THAT WAR TOOK PLACE BECAUSE PRESIDENT NASSER OF EGYPT LED HIS COUNTRY AND HIS ALLIES DECLARING "OUR BASIC AIM WILL BE TO DESTROY ISRAEL". He failed, abjectly, and Egypt and Jordan later gave up the aspiration. But many others maintain it to this day, now with a pseudo-religious gloss added.

WE KEEP GIVING SYMPATHETIC AIR-TIME TO THEIR DEATH CULT. In a way, Mr Johnston is paying the price: his captors are high on the oxygen of his corporation's publicity.

As for Israel, many sins can be laid to its charge. But it is morally serious in a way that we are not, because it has to be. Forty years after its greatest victory, it has to work out each morning how it can survive.

"There are massive assaults on police officers at the city's harbor right now," police spokeswoman Cordula Feichtinger said. "The situation is currently very chaotic and we have to get it under control before I can tell you how many people have been arrested." Feichtinger said one police officer was injured slightly but remained on duty.

The officially permitted march in the northern town of Rostock comes four days before world leaders gather at nearby Heiligendamm for the G-8 summit. The march began without violence, and most of the demonstrators remained peaceful. But some taunted members of the 13,000-strong police detachment from around Germany, and several hundred wore the bandanas across their faces with sweat shirt hoods pulled down low to obscure their identities.

The protesters from around Europe and the rest of the world gathered at two locations early in the day for rallies, then marched in two groups along 4-kilometer (3 mile) routes to converge on the harbor for the main demonstration - the biggest so far against the June 6-8 summit in the northern resort town of Heiligendamm. Police put the size of the demonstration at 20,000. Police with body armor and riot helmets lined the path, and helicopters swirled overhead.

The protest was organized by several dozen groups under the motto "another world is possible." "The world shaped by the dominance of the G-8 is a world of war, hunger, social divisions, environmental destruction and barriers against migrants and refugees," organizers said in leaflets handed out on the streets. "We want to protest against this and show the alternatives."

Khaled Mashaal's political deputy, Moussa Abu Marzouk, was one of several senior Hamas leaders who were in Cairo over the past week for talks with Egyptian officials on ways to calm Palestinian infighting and ongoing fighting with Israel.

"We may agree to a one-year cease-fire," Abu Marzouk was quoted as saying in an interview with the state-owned daily Al-Ahram." Both parties have to abide by it."
Abu Marzouk, who along with Mashaal lives in exile in Syria, demanded that Israel also agree to a truce with Hamas, saying the only way for success was calm on both sides.

Over the past two weeks, Hamas has launched more than 250 Kassam rockets that have a range of about 10 kilometers (six miles), many slamming into the border town of Sderot. Three Israelis have been killed by the rockets. In a telephone interview from the Hamas political office in Syria, Mohammad Nazal confirmed that Hamas is considering a truce. "Some private ideas were presented to Hamas (by Egyptian mediators) to reach a truce with Israel, and Hamas is about to undertake the suitable decision," Nazal said.

Earlier Saturday Vice Premier Shimon Peres said that "IN SPITE OF THE PERCEPTION IT IS TRYING TO CREATE, HAMAS'S SITUATION IS BAD."
Peres told Israel Radio that the economic situation in Gaza was difficult, chaos was ongoing and that governance in Gaza is carried out through "a rule of gangs." "We are talking about a war of nerves," said Peres, "and Israel has strong nerves."

Lord Winston claimed the vast profits being made have led doctors to exploit women desperate for a baby, offering them unnecessary or overpriced treatments. More than 30,000 women sought IVF help last year, with each cycle of treatment costing up to £8,000, in a sector estimated to be worth £500million a year.

Lord Winston, professor of fertility studies at Imperial College London, said: "One of the major problems facing us in healthcare is that IVF has become a massive commercial industry. "It's very easy to exploit people by the fact that they're desperate and you've got the technology which they want, which may not work."

Lord Winston said: "Amazing sums of money are being made through IVF. It is really rather depressing to consider that some IVF treatments in London are charged at ten times the fee that is charged in Melbourne, where there is excellent medicine, where IVF is just as successful, where they have comparable salaries.

"So one has to ask oneself what has happened. What has happened, of course, is that money is corrupting this whole technology." Lord Winston also criticised the fertility watchdog, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, for failing to protect vulnerable women and adequately inform couples of the treatments available. He said: "The regulatory authority has done a consistently bad job."

The change has been imposed by the Scout Association, which believes the chapel excludes non-Christian Scouts. Locals are dismayed, but the association says it is simply "moving forward".

The basic open-air structure in woodland surrounding Belchamps Scout Centre in Hockley, Essex, was built between the wars by volunteers. But in April, as the Scouting movement celebrated its centenary, it was torn down.

Last year, it was revealed that the Scout Association banned helpers from putting suncream on children unless they already had sunburn. This was to done to prevent allegations of child abuse.

Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Barbara was located 215 miles (350 km) south of the small oil port of Salina Cruz. The port remained open. Packing sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph), and higher gusts, the storm was located over warm water off Guatemala's southern coast and that of the neighboring Mexican state of Chiapas. It was seen making landfall some time on Saturday.

The center said expected heavy rainfall could lead to life-threatening flash floods and mudslides on either side of the Mexico-Guatemala border. Mexican television pictures showed flooded city streets and swollen jungle rivers in areas in Barbara's path which have been pummeled with heavy rain.

Earlier predictions had Barbara developing into a hurricane over the weekend and barreling toward Mexican coastal resorts like Puerto Escondido, a major surfing spot. A tropical storm becomes a hurricane when maximum sustained winds reach 74 mph (119 kph).

We're trying to make meat without having to kill animals," Bernard Roelen, a veterinary science professor at Utrecht University, said in an interview.Although it is in its early stages, the idea is to replace harvesting meat from livestock with a process that eliminates the need for animal feed, transport, land use and the methane expelled by animals, which all hurt the environment, he said.

"Keeping animals just to eat them is in fact not so good for the environment," said Roelen. "Animals need to grow, and animals produce many things that you do not eat." Under the process, researchers first isolate muscle stem cells, which have the ability to grow and multiply into muscle cells. Then they stimulate the cells to develop, give them nutrients and exercise them with electric current to build bulk.

After perfecting that process, scientists will then need to figure out how to layer tissues to add more bulk, since meat grown in petri dishes lacks the blood vessels needed to deliver nutrients through thick muscle fibers. And then there is the question of fat, to add flavor.

The storm was centered about 240 miles southwest of Tampa and about 160 miles west of Key West at about 2 a.m. It had sustained winds near 50 mph and was moving north northeast near 10 mph. Forecasters expected Barry to continue the same path and increase speed over the next day, but a slight decrease in strength was anticipated before the storm's possible landfall.

"We're not looking for a hurricane," said Dave Roberts, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center.
The hurricane center said it threatened to bring dangerous battering waves, coastal flooding of up to 5 feet and rainfall of three to six inches in the Florida Keys up through southeast Georgia. Tropical storm force winds extended outward up to 90 miles, forecasters said."It will bring rains to the area," Avila said. "Perhaps, the rains will be beneficial for that area."

Florida is facing one of its worst droughts on record, but the tropical weather wasn't expected to ease conditions much. "It'll help a little bit, but everyone is so far below rainfall that we're still going to be under drought conditions," said Kim Brabander, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "To really alleviate the drought conditions we're going to need anywhere from 30 to 40 inches of rain."

The moisture could also help with wildfires that have burned along the Georgia-Florida border for weeks, fueled by the dry conditions in both states. Tropical Storm Barry formed more than three weeks after the first named storm of the year - Subtropical Storm Andrea - developed about 150 miles northeast of Daytona Beach. Andrea skirted the southern Atlantic coast but caused minimal damage.

Now, cracks in the concrete walls of the dilapidated tanks have allowed seawater and rainwater to seep in and corrode the lethal contents. The situation is so bad Russia's nuclear agency has warned rods at the site could explode in an "uncontrolled chain reaction", according to a Norwegian environmental group, which says it has a leaked copy of a report. Experts say that could set off an explosion scattering radioactive material across northern Europe, reaching even as far as Britain, in an environmental catastrophe worse than the Chernobyl disaster.

"We are sitting on a powder keg with a fuse that is burning, but we don't know how long that fuse is," said Alexander Nikitin, a former Russian navy officer and Bellona environmental activist who first revealed the existence of the dump at Andreeva Bay, on the Kola peninsula of north-western Russia.

The nightmare scenario, identified by Russia's Federal Nuclear Agency, raises new fears that Moscow is failing to properly manage the potentially deadly nuclear legacy of the Cold War, which has left the country with tonnes of plutonium and uranium and millions of tonnes of nuclear waste to deal with.

The report, leaked to the Norwegian group Bellona, centres on Andreeva Bay, only 30 miles from the Norwegian border. "Ongoing degradation is causing fuel to split into small granules. Calculations show that the creation of a homogenous mixture of these particles with water can cause an uncontrolled chain reaction," reads Bellona's translation of the document.

Such a chain reaction would generate enormous heat and potentially release hydrogen from the seawater. That could lead to an explosion, hurling radioactive material into the atmosphere. "The radioactive fallout could be higher and affect northern Europe to a greater degree than the region was hit by the Chernobyl disaster." said Nils Boehmer, the atomic physicist who heads Bellona.

Since the end of the Cold War, Russia has sharply cut its stockpile of nuclear warheads, from 45,000 to less than 7,000. Now, it is its non-weaponised nuclear material that causes greatest concern in western capitals.
By some estimates, Russia has 1,200 tonnes of highly enriched uranium and 15,000 tonnes of solid spent nuclear fuel. There are some 1,000 nuclear power plants of various types.