From The Weekly Telegraph No. 463 of June 7 - 13, 2000: Obituary - Prince Hassan Aziz Hassan "who has died in Cairo, aged 76 was one of the few members of the Egyptian royal family to remain in Egypt after Nasser abolished the monarchy.
For nearly 50 years, Hassan Hassan lived as an impecunious artist, a chronicler and living symbol of the country's lost grandeur." [In his recent memoir ... (w)ith great restraint, he argues that the Egyptian royal family were not the decadent pleasure-seekers that history has portrayed, but dutiful servants of an ordered society.]
"Hassan Hassan had an encyclopaedic knowledge of the history and architecture of Cairo and was much consulted by writers in search of the flavour of the old order... ."

From The Toronto Globe and Mail of June 12, 2000: Obituary - Hafez Assad, the air-force officer who ruled Syria for nearly three decades, transforming a Middle East backwater into an introverted regional power that endured as the centre of unbending Arab hostility toward Israel, died Saturday in Damascus. He was 69. Much further detail is contained in the five column, illustrated obituary.

From The Toronto Globe and Mail of June 30, 2000: On the "Comment" page, an article by Peter Cook, who writes from Salzburg, Austria, explains that "The latest concern in Europe is how to undo what was recklessly and pre-emptively done in February and lift the sanctions that 14 European countries imposed on Austria for forming a coalition government that included its far-right Freedom Party.
Austria, it seems, has been punished enough. Or rather, make that the European Union that has been punished enough. For as a result of the action taken against Vienna - which had broken no EU laws then, and has broken none since - several unfortunate, otherwise avoidable things have happened.
First, within Austria, support for the coalition government of Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, a Conservative, has grown. So has backing for his Freedom Party partners in government, who are supporting constructive reforms and no longer have Jorg Haider as their official leader. And so has hostility toward the rest of Europe. Vienna says it may hold a referendum on the EU sanctions. If it did, say pollsters, nine out of 10 Austrians, including supporters of the opposition Socialist party, would condemn them."
The article goes on to list other considerations: The Danes don't like the bullying by EU, and their September vote on the euro could influence how Britain eventually votes. Also the poorer Eastern European states have not been offended, as had been expected, by anti-immigration statements by Haider. The sanctions also form a worrying precedent. It ends "Meanwhile, the real issue - that a mistake was made and that Austria should not have been judged before its government had done anything - is not a topic the 14 want to talk about."
COMMENT: Elitist blunders are not limited to this instance. We have most serious thoughts concerning Kosovo, and other matters which Bilderbergers seek to manipulate.

From The Weekly Telegraph No. 466 of June 28 - July 4, 2000: High sheriffs face the final showdown - By Benedict Brogan - "THEY survived the Norman Conquest, Robin Hood and the Civil War. But, after 1,000 years, the high sheriffs of England and Wales have finally met their match in what some believe is the Government's obsession with political correctness.
The Government has given them until early in the next Parliament to raise the number of women and members of ethnic minorities in their ranks. This year six out of 55 high sheriffs are women and the number will rise to nine in 2002-03. there has so far never been a black or Asian high sheriff, although both Greater London and Leicestershire are understood to be about to appoint one."

Also from The Weekly Telegraph No. 466 of June 28 - July 4, 2000: [Editorial - headed "Not an inch:] STANDARDISED measurement may well make sense in science and manufacturing, as the destruction of an American probe to Mars last September illustrated. On that occasion, the space agency Nasa sent metric instructions to a vehicle programmed in imperial units; instead of orbiting the planet, it crashed into it. But loose bulk consumer goods are another matter.
From January 1, the European Union has required British shops and stalls to label items metrically as well as in pounds and ounces, yards, feet and inches. the ruling has been widely disregarded and barely enforced by trading standards officers. Last week Angela Browning, shadow trade and industry secretary, committed the Conservatives to lifting this obligation. When in power, they would apply to the European Commission for a renewal of the derogation which ran out at the end of last year. The metrication ruling is an unwelcome intrusion by Brussels. The fact that it is not properly enforced brings the law into disrespect. The Conservatives have identified an issue that will win the support of small businesses and shoppers. Seeking to reverse the present situation chimes nicely with their call for a common sense revolution.

Also From The Weekly Telegraph No. 467 of July 5 - 11, 2000: All human life is here - By Roger Highfield - "A MILESTONE for mankind was passed last week with the announcement that scientists have completed a working draft of the 'Book of Life', the entire human genetic code... ."
Drafting the blueprint of the human genetic code ("the three billion 'letters', that spell the recipe for Homo Sapiens") is bound to raise questions regarding authorship and copyright claims. Long articles cover two full pages of the newspaper.
COMMENT: It seems that two contending parties are pushing for recognition as first in the field, (for commercial profits, we understand). Sorry, folks, that copyright was established millennia ago as stated by God's Prophets!

From The Weekly Telegraph No. 467 of July 5 - 11, 2000: Leap of faith for a student of Leonardo - It seems that Adrian Nicholas has succeeded in building, and trusting his life to, a parachute of canvas and wooden (pine) poles built according to a design sketched in the form of a pyramid open at its base, by Leonardo da Vinci. He was dropped at 10,000 feet from a balloon over South Africa's Mpumalanga province. Contrary to expert advice, the device worked perfectly down to 7,000 feet, when, as planned, he cut himself loose and used a conventional parachute for the rest of the journey to earth.

From The Toronto Globe and Mail of June 29, 2000: Headed "U.S. Supreme Court protects controversial partial-birth abortion", Andrew Cohen, Washington Bureau, Washington, has written an article which begins "The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a state law yesterday that banned late-term, 'partial-birth' abortion, a rare procedure reviled by abortion foes. The nine-member court ruled that a law passed by Nebraska banning the procedure is unconstitutional because it places 'an undue burden on a woman's right to make an abortion decision.'
Twenty-nine other states also ban the procedure, which opponents believe borders on infanticide. On the federal level, President Bill Clinton has twice vetoed a ban on the procedure passed by Congress..."
COMMENT: It was a 5-4 split ruling. Apparently the right of the baby to have its life preserved is not "constitutional." Mothers have the option of not engaging in the procedure months before rather than initiate the pregnancy.

From The Weekly Telegraph No. 468 of July 12 - 18, 2000: Under "Politics", and a major heading "Britain honours Australian centenary with memorial", a full page was devoted to the theme.
However, not a word is to be said, apparently, concerning the 200th anniversary of the establishment of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and (Northern) Ireland, which came into force on January 1, 1801 and hence is only months away at the time of writing.

From the same issue: three more short items:
1. Memory of Diana in William's coat of arms: A NEW coat of arms designed to mark Prince William's coming of age was unveiled this week. Arms chosen for the 18-year-old Prince draw on the Royal Arms used by the queen and the Prince of Wales and, unusually, contain a tribute to his mother Diana, Princess of Wales in the shape of a escallop shell. The shell, which derives from the Spencer coat of arms, was used by Diana and has been incorporated in the design at Prince William's insistence. The escallop motif has been borne by the Earls Spencer since the 16th century. It appears four times: in the centre of the three-pointed label which adorns the shield, on the necks of the lion and unicorn and on the lion device above the shield. Prince William, as heir apparent to the Heir Apparent, will be the queen's only grandchild to be given a three-pointed label on his arms.
2.Sante Fe torn over prayer: A SHORT prayer said before a high-school American football game has divided the Texan town of Santa Fe. The prayer, which invoked the name of Jesus, landed a 17-year-old cheerleader in the United States Supreme Court. Judges ruled that Marian Ward should not have mentioned Christ when she prayed for a fair match. She was deemed to have breached the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
3. Whites in California will be in the minority - by Ben Fenton: WHITES will cease to be the majority in California next year, a portent for the future of America, demographers said last week.
Figures gathered by the California Department of finance indicate that the proportion of the population counted as white - non-Hispanic people of European or Middle Eastern origin - will fall below 50 per cent in the next 12 months. It will make California the only mainland state to have a white minority. Hawaii has a majority of Asians and Polynesians.
With Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois all becoming racially mixed at a rapid rate, it is thought that America will lose its majority of white people by about 2070 at current rates.
The prospect of an America turning more and more towards its cousins in the south or the Pacific rather than to Europe is likely to worry politicians in Britain.
Thirty years ago, eight out of 10 Californians were white. Since then, there has been a huge influx of immigrants, mostly from Mexico and the rest of Latin America.

From The Weekly Telegraph No. 466 of June 28 - July 4, 2000: [Editorial - headed "The Tory party at prayer"] -
If William Hague is hoping to import into Britain the politics of America's "Religious Right", he is making a big mistake. Most Britons have a healthy suspicion of politicians who claim the endorsement of the Almighty for their policies. God, after all, has passed on to the human race very few clues about the colour of His politics. No political party can justly say that it has God's exclusive support, and it would be very foolish indeed of any political leader to claim it. Mr. Hague should therefore be wary of associating himself too closely with Bible-belt figures such as Prof. Marvin Olasky, adviser on matters religious to the presidential candidate George W. Bush. But Mr. Hague should not fight shy of touching upon religious matters in his writings and speeches. The religious instinct is very strong in mankind. Politicians too often ignore it because they are afraid of sounding preachy. For that reason, arguments that might strike a resonant chord with the electorate frequently go unspoken. All the main religions of the world, for instance, agree that abortion is terribly wrong. But the religious argument against it gets hardly a hearing in the House of Commons. In the same way the debate about sex and marriage has become so secularised as to be stripped almost entirely of its religious content. Politicians nowadays argue that casual sex is bad because it spreads diseases and leads to unwanted pregnancies. But how often these days do we hear a politician say that it is wrong for moral and religious reasons, too? Similarly MPs should understand that for many voters, marriage is a matter of belief - and not merely of economic convenience.
When politicians do raise specifically religious issues these days, more often than not they are seeking to pander to minorities. There will always be MPs willing to amend the law to accommodate, say, Muslim or Sikh rules of dress. But again, they are treating religion not as a matter of belief, but as a question of race relations. There are hardly any MPs now who seek to give expression to the spirit that runs through all the world's religions, or to acknowledge that God plays an important role in many voters' lives. Mr. Hague is taking a brave stand against current fashion by introducing a religious note into his public pronouncements. If he can convince voters that the Conservative Party is the natural home of voters of all religions who feel the spiritual instinct, then his strategy will pay handsome dividends. Let him campaign vigorously for the religious principles of marriage, the family and charitable giving. But he should do so without preaching - and he should avoid the temptation to claim that God is a Tory.
COMMENT: Why do we feel that the paper is saying "World Religion = Good, but Christianity = Bad?" Advocating political "religious sterilization" followed by "procreation" won't work!