News for October 3, 2005

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Iran: Will Give Unforgettable Lesson to Israel if Nuclear Sites Attacked (October 3, 2005) - Damascus: If Israel goes mad enough to target Iranian nuclear sites as it did against Iraqi installations in 1991, Iran would give it a lesson which it could not forget forever, Majles Speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel said on Sunday. He made the statement in his address to members of Syrian parliament in reply to a question on Iranian reaction to US-Israel threats against Iranian nuclear sites if they are translated into practice. “The Iranian nation will proudly advance the goals of Islamic Revolution and will never surrender to bullying and will proceed with its legitimate rights,” he said. “We have made clear that Iran follows regulations of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Iran is a signatory to Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Iran implemented Additional Protocol to NPT voluntarily to build confidence with international community and ensure that Iranian nuclear program is civilian,” Haddad Adel said. “We have proved our good faith by opening up Iranian nuclear sites to IAEA inspectors in the past two years.” “Almost 1,200 persons/days from IAEA have inspected Iranian nuclear sites and they said there is no sign of any diversion from civilian nature of the nuclear program,” the Majles speaker said. He said that the attempts being made to refer Iranian nuclear case to United Nations Security Council is outcome of pressure on Iran adding that Iran will never yield to extortion of the enemy. Haddad Adel condemned the ominous phenomenon of terrorism and drew distinction between terrorists and those fighting to liberate their homeland from occupation. He said that both Tehran and Damascus have common views about supporting Palestinian rights and civilian nuclear program. Haddad Adel said that in his negotiations with President Bashar al-Assad, they reached an agreement to take practical steps for cooperation on international issues. more...

Stations Nixing Gasoline on Credit (October 3, 2005) - TAMPA - Rising gasoline prices are forcing some station owners across the Tampa Bay area to end credit card sales, cutting off an option for consumers growing short on cash to buy the fuel they need. Retail dealers say they are losing money on every gallon of gasoline as more motorists turn to credit cards to purchase it. Across the Bay area Friday, the price of self-serve, regular unleaded gasoline jumped as much as 30 cents a gallon from the day before, hitting $3 or more at many stations. Meanwhile, credit card use for gasoline purchases rose to nearly 80 percent Friday, up about 26 percent since last year, said Pat Moricca, president of the Gasoline Retailers Association of Florida. With so many consumers using credit cards to buy gasoline, station owners, who make a flat 6 cents per gallon sold, are losing at least 3 cents a gallon with gasoline at $3 or higher, Moricca said. That is because financial institutions charge retailers 3 percent per gallon on gasoline credit card purchases, he said. more...

Huge landslide gets attention of seismologists (October 3, 2005) - ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A huge landslide down a remote peak in the eastern Chugach Mountains caught the attention of seismologists because it produced a slow rolling signal that lasted three minutes. Seismologists could clearly see what was occurring was not an earthquake. “I think it’s awesome, and I’m still trying to figure out what I know about it,” said seismologist Jackie Caplan-Auerbach with the Alaska Volcano Observatory. “The rock slide is indeed enormous, but I think the thing that’s really unusual is the seismic signal is much larger than what you’d expect. We’re still trying to figure out why.” The slide shook the earth with as much vigor as a magnitude 3.8 quake and dumped an estimated 65 million cubic yards of rock and ice from the south face of the 10,500-foot Mount Steller on Sept. 14. The mountain is about 240 miles east of Anchorage south of Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park. The landslide registered on instruments across the world, said seismologist Natasha Ruppert with the Alaska Earthquake Information Center in Fairbanks. “I’ve never seen anything like this, and what surprised me is how huge it was,” Ruppert said. “It’s more like an explosion, I would say, than an earthquake. It hit the ground and seismic waves traveled in all directions.” more...

Typhoon, quake leave Taiwan shaken, stirred (October 2, 2005) - As typhoon Longwang approached Taiwan, a moderate earthquake shook the island, prompting some residents to flee their homes. Nature’s double-whammy left 36 people injured from the storm, according to local media reports, but no one was reported hurt by the quake, a magnitude 5.4 -- capable of moderate damage. Longwang made landfall on Taiwan’s eastern coast Sunday at 5:50 a.m. (5:50 p.m. ET Saturday) with wind gusts over 125 mph (201 kph) and heavy rains. Sustained winds were clocked at about 83 mph. Longwang means dragon king in Chinese. The storm forced officials to shut down public transportation, and it was expected to strengthen and possibly make landfall a second time in mainland China after crossing the Taiwan Strait. more...

El Salvador volcano kills two, thousands flee (October 1, 2005) - El Salvador’s largest volcano erupted for the first time in a century on Saturday, killing two people and forcing thousands to flee their homes. The Ilamatepec volcano, also known as Santa Ana, hurled out hot rocks, ash and boiling water on Saturday morning and a massive plume of smoke rose more than 10 miles into the air. Two people were killed under a landslide caused by the volcano’s eruption in the small community of Palo Campana, near the crater, the government said. A few homes were destroyed. “I have lost everything. I have no money, nothing, just my children and my husband,” said 73-year-old Rosa Flores, whose small home was set ablaze by a red-hot rock as she made breakfast. more...

Sea Ice Decline Intensifies (September 28, 2005 report) (October 3, 2005) - Summer arctic sea ice falls far below average for fourth year, winter ice sees sharp decline, spring melt starts earlier. more...

Shakin’ in the New Year: Quake hits Israel, West Bank (October 3, 2005) - A minor earthquake hit Israel just west of the Jordan early Monday but no injuries were immediately reported, police said. The tremor measured 4.3 on the Richter scale, causing beds to shake in the West Bank town of Jericho. The epicenter of the quake was in the Israeli city of Beit Shean in the northern Jordan Valley.

Israeli President Will Visit Vatican (October 3, 2005) - Israeli President Moshe Katsav has accepted an invitation from Pope Benedict XVI to make the first official visit to the Vatican by an Israeli head of state, officials said Sunday. Katsav will visit Italy for about a week in mid-November, said Katsav’s spokeswoman, Hagit Cohen. The Foreign Ministry said the visit was “unprecedented.” Israel and the Vatican established diplomatic relations in the 1990s, and Pope John Paul II hosted Israeli prime ministers and other officials as part of his effort to build ties with the Jewish state. The presidency in Israel is a largely ceremonial office, but Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said the visit was “of great symbolic value.” “We have every reason to believe that the new pope is building on the foundation that the previous pope already built, and we will see a further strengthening of our relationship,” Regev said. Since becoming pope in April, Benedict has visited a synagogue in Germany, met Israeli chief rabbis and warned of a rise in anti-Semitism around the world. The synagogue visit was the second time a pope had entered a Jewish house of worship. The visit follows a diplomatic spat that erupted in July when the pope did not include Israel in a list of countries that suffer from terrorism. more...

Eclipse to Appear Over Europe and Africa (October 3, 2005) - A rare and spectacular type of eclipse will dim the morning sky across a strip of southwestern Europe and eight African countries Monday. During the event, called an annular eclipse, the moon will mask the sun like a black plate, leaving a bright, fiery rim. The moon will be too small to blot out the sun completely, as in a total eclipse, because its elliptical orbit has taken it too far from the earth. However, scientists say the daylight will fade and temperatures will drop slightly as the eclipse travels along a narrow band girdling almost half the planet. The rim of fire that appears around the moon glows brighter than the corona which is seen during a total eclipse. “It’s quite spectacular,” said Dr. Stephen Maran, an astronomer with the American Astrological Society in Washington DC. “I wouldn’t miss it if I was over there, because it’s rare,” Maran said by telephone. The eclipse’s three-and-a-half-hour path first traverses Portugal and Spain, including the capital, Madrid. The Iberian peninsula hasn’t witnessed an annular eclipse since 1912 and won’t see another one until 2028. The eclipse’s narrow corridor will also travel across mostly deserted parts of Africa, encompassing Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. Outside that band, a partial eclipse will be visible through protective eyewear over most of Europe, the Middle East, India and a large chunk of Africa, though some cloud cover is forecast on that continent. Authorities are reminding the public to avoid looking at the sun without eye protection. In Spain, where the event has stirred keen anticipation, opticians selling 1 million special protective glasses at $3.70 each said Friday they had virtually sold out. In Portugal, the General Directorate for Health was distributing free glasses with daily papers. The annular eclipse starts over the North Atlantic at 0841 GMT. It quickly tracks southeast, crossing the Iberian peninsula. At 0856 GMT, the eclipse will blanket Madrid for 4 minutes, 11 seconds. more...

Al Qaeda in Sinai Has Advanced to Striking Range of the Suez Canal, Israel and Jordan (October 3, 2005) - The emphatic advisory to Israeli travelers to stay clear of their favorite Sinai resorts for this year’s High Holidays reflects incoming intelligence on the broadening threat posed by al Qaeda today. Since the Taba attacks exactly a year ago, the Islamist terrorist organization has planted a daunting infrastructure amid the inaccessible peaks of the strategic desert peninsula. Egyptian attempts to access their strongholds have been thrown back. Al Qaeda has established local terror networks in northern Sinai – centering on el Arish, as well as strongholds in the inaccessible central mountains of the peninsula around Jebel Hillal. In all, the jihadists control roughly one-fifth of Sinai total area (61,000sq. km or 23,500sq. miles). Egyptian forces of law and order have learned not to venture into these bastions or into the areas commanded by age-old smuggler clans who currently collaborate with al Qaeda. This leaves about half of the forbidding desert peninsula inaccessible to Egyptian security forces. Today, they can only claim to control the main roads routes fringing the vast desert expanse: from Ras Sudeir down to Sharm el Sheikh along the Suez Canal and Suez Gulf shores; from the Suez Canal east to El Arish along the Mediterranean shore and from the Sharm el-Sheikh resort center north along the Gulf of Aqaba to Taba and the Israeli port of Eilat. The spectacular, biblical landscape conceals terrorist bomb traps and roadside devices. Gunmen armed with RPG and anti-tank weapons lurk behind huge rocks in wait for any Egyptian police or security unit daring to step off a main road into one of the dry valleys dissecting the forbidding peaks. more...

Don't worry, we'll take care of Iran nukes: Israel (October 2, 2005) - Washington, September 30: If Washington and its allies do not stop Iran’s nuclear programmes by force if necessary, Israel will, three Israeli legislators visiting the US have warned. “Israel will not live under the threat of an Iranian nuclear bomb. We feel we are obliged to warn our friends that Israel should not be pushed into a situation where we see no other solution but to act unilaterally against Iran,” said Yosef Lapid, head of the Shinui party. Lapid and his colleagues Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee and Arieh Eldad, a member of the Israeli National Union party said conventional diplomacy will not work with Iran. “They won’t be stopped unless they are convinced their programmes will be destroyed if they continue,” they said. Steinitz said Israeli officials estimate Tehran is only two to three years away from developing a nuclear bomb and that time is running out for the world to act. “We see an Iranian bomb as a devastating existential threat to Israel, to the entire Middle East, to all Western interests in the region. For us, either the world will tackle Iran in advance or all of us will face the consequences,” he said. Eldad said Israelis across the political spectrum see Iran as the most serious threat to Israel, one that cannot be ignored. Eldad conceded that there could be problems if Israel acted. “If we have to do it, we will do it. If the United States and the world community do it, there is a chance the issue can be contained. If Israel has to do it alone, there is no chance the conflict can be contained,” he added.

16 Muslims reportedly rape Christian girl (October 2, 2005) - A 12-year-old Christian girl was reportedly abducted and gang raped by 16 Muslim men in Pakistan. The alleged offence occurred at Rawlpindi, bordering Pakistans capital city of Islamabad. According to a news release from the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), Sara Tabasum escaped two weeks later while she was being transported to a new location. APMA reported Tabasum managed to jump out of the vehicle and escape while it was on a busy road. Although the youngster was pursued, she still managed to reach her family. In the last week of June, APMA reported, according to Tabasum and her family members, Perveen Bibi, a Muslim woman and her husband Babar, rented an apartment next to Tabasums house. Both families shared a single bathroom and main entrance door, APMA said. It soon became evident to Tabasums family, APMA reported, by the amount of strangers coming and going that their new neighbors owned a brothel. more...