The following items were printed in the August, 2003 issue of The Prophetic Expositor:

Please write for further details of any items of particular interest.

The Weekly Telegraph, No. 623, July 2-8, 2003:
1. Australia attacks Britain over frozen pensions - By Ava Hubble in Sydney -
THE Australian Prime Minister , John Howard, has renewed his criticism of the British government following last month's Appeal court ruling that expatriates' pensions can remain frozen in some countries, including Australia, but not in others. [Brief: - The inequities in treatment of ex-pats is being litigated, but reverses have been encountered. Expats are appalled at pensions fiasco.]

2. Queen costs subjects 60p each a year heads a six-column illustrated article.

3. Belgium in rethink on war crimes legislation by Ambrose Evans-Prichard in Brussels -
BELGIUM'S political leaders have agreed to neuter the country's controversial war crimes legislation, which gave its courts a claim to jurisdiction over alleged violations of human rights committed anywhere in the world. Embarrassed by war crimes charges which have been lodged against Tony Blair and President Bush, the Belgian prime minister, Guy Verhofstadt, said parliament would restrict the 10-year-old law to cases in which either the victim or the accused were residents of Belgium. The climbdown came days after Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, ordered a freeze on $350 million (£210 million) funding for Nato buildings in Belgium and threatened to pull the alliance headquarters out of the country unless the "absurd" law was scrapped. Lord Robertson, Nato's secretary-general, said that the deal agreed by Belgium's liberals and socialists should be enough to avert a "major crisis".
COMMENT: Showing that "Money" dictates to "World Justice" !

4. War over sunken treasure -by Isambard Wilkinson in Madrid -
SPAIN has threatened to arrest members of a salvage operation that is authorised by Britain to recover up to £3 billion from the wreck of a 17th century warship. The ship, believed by the British government to be the 80-gun Sussex, lies at a depth of nearly 3,000ft in Spanish waters near Gibraltar. It is thought to contain 10 tons of gold and 100 tons of silver. Under international law Britain owns the salvage rights. A US company, Odyssey Marine Exploration, under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence has said it will begin the salvage operation soon. However Spanish officials have warned Odyssey not to touch the vessel without their permission and have cast doubt on whether the wreck is that of the Sussex.
[Related item: From The Weekly Telegraph No. 624: Spaniard claims Sussex rights - A SPANISH treasure hunter has further inflamed an Anglo-Spanish row over a 17th century shipwreck by claiming that he discovered it and demanding half of what is possibly the world's most valuable sunken treasure. Luis Angel Valero de Bernabé claims that he found the wreck of the British third-rater Sussex off Gibraltar while carrying out survey work for an electricity company in 1992.]

5. US sodomy laws overturned - by David Rennie in Washington -
IN A LANDMARK decision likely to revolutionise the legal standing of American homosexuals, the United States Supreme Court last week struck down laws banning sodomy, still found in 13 states. The decision reversed the court's own position of 17 years earlier, when it ruled that the constitution's talk of liberty did not cover the right to engage in what society considers "deviant" acts. The 1986 ruling, in which the Supreme Court cited the "ancient roots" of proscriptions against homosexuality, became a rallying point for liberal activists across North America. At that time, there were 24 states which criminalised homosexual behaviour. By six votes to three, the highest court ruled last week that the state cannot make "private sexual conduct a crime". Gay rights groups reacted with delight, but Christian conservatives expressed disgust. The ruling will strongly reinforce the presumption that public morality should halt at the threshold of an American's home - a point seized on by supporters and opponents of the decision. "Liberty protects the person from unwarranted government intrusions into a dwelling or other private places ....
Liberty presumes an autonomy of self that includes freedom of thought, belief, expression and certain intimate conduct." Wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy, for the majority. Though sodomy laws are rarely enforced, gay rights groups say they enshrine society's formal disapproval of homosexuality, and act as the legal underpinning for court decisions on employment, marriage and parental rights for practising homosexuals.
Justice Antonin Scalia, a staunch conservative and devout Roman Catholic, took the unusual step of reading his dissenting opinion aloud from the bench. He said his colleagues had "largely signed up to the so-called homosexual agenda". Mr. Scalia, who was joined in his dissent by the chief justice, William Rehnquist, and Justice Clarence Thomas, gave warning that the ruling would make it harder for states to resist demands such as gay-marriage. The test case before the Supreme Court involved a rare arrest of two men caught in a sexual act in their own home in Texas in 1998.
[Brief: We mentioned The Globe & Mail coverage of this briefly last month.]

6. New Zealand licenses brothels -
THE NEW ZEALAND parliament voted to legalise prostitution by one vote, 60-59, after three years of debate. The prostitution reform bill attracted the strongest opposition from moral conservatives seen in New Zealand since homosexual law reform 17 years ago. it decriminalises prostitution and sets up a legal framework for the sex industry. - AFP

Time Magazine (Canadian Edition) July 7, 2003 Vol. 162, No. 1 -Special Issue
1. "The Amazing Adventures of Ben Franklin" - pp. 26-49

2. "The War That Never Ends - as each day passes in Iraq, more coalition soldiers die. How much of the killing is organized, and can the U.S. stop it?" -

COMMENT: An important quote on pages 13-14 should be mentioned: "It is a measure of the challenge in Iraq that the killings at Majar - the deadliest event involving coalition forces since the end of the war- probably had nothing to do with Saddam Hussein, his family, his supporters, former members of his army or militias, foreign terrorists or anyone else who might be included in that over-used phrase "bad guys." Majar is in the homeland of the marsh Arabs, Shi'ite Muslims who, after years of oppression, hate Saddam passionately. That doesn't make them any less dangerous- especially since Iraq is one of the most heavily armed nations on Earth- when crossed. The British died, al-Ebadu thinks, in compliance with old local customs. British troops killed Iraqi civilians, so Iraqi civilians killed other British troops. "In a tribal society," says al-Ebdi, "justice is simple."
[We have pointed out this manner of tribal thinking and retaliation before, in regard to Afghan customs. Thus, where people think "tribally," what the US condemns as "Terrorism" is "Justice."- Ed.]

3. "Who Lost The WMD? - As the weapons hunt intensifies, so does the finger pointing. A preview of the coming battle"

Globe & Mail, July 3, 2003 - The artist revealed - A Rembrant self-portrait set for auction this month has spent more that three centuries in disguise -
[Brief - A five-column colour-illustrated article explains that the over-painting which disguised the original has been removed to reveal the true identity of the artist himself.]
COMMENT: This is what has happened to our whole Israel lineage, now descended to Anglo-Celto-Saxon and kindred peoples! May they also soon likewise be revealed from beneath obscuring concepts, and awakened to their own true identity!

Globe & Mail, July 7, 2003: Bond girl takes on new role as cleric. Liverpool, England.
Six years ago, she was clad in a sexy black dress, playing a Bond girl. Today she wears a curate's robe. Shannon Ledbetter, 39, who appeared in the 1997 film Tomorrow Never Dies starring Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, has been ordained a curate in the Church of England. The German-born cleric, who lectures in theology and religious studies at Liverpool Hope University College, will be the new curate at St. Marks Church in the city's Knowsley district. "I really don't see myself as some stuffy vicar type ... stuck in a quiet rural village," Ledbetter said Friday, "It's important that the church has representatives from all different backgrounds so it can appeal to as wide an audience as possible." Ledbetter said she had enjoyed her career, which also included modelling, but tried to persuade some of her fellow performers against doing drugs. "They knew I didn't approve and that I had religious beliefs because on Sundays I didn't work as I went to church," she said. AP

Globe & Mail, July 9, 2003:
1. Blair faces grilling on war against Iraq - London.
Facing growing public distrust, Prime Minister Tony Blair insisted yesterday he was right to go to war to depose president Saddam Hussein and said weapons of mass destruction would be found in Iraq. He defended his government's use of intelligence material and dismissed concerns that he had overplayed the threat posed by Mr. Hussein, a day after a parliamentary committee questioned the reliability of two key dossiers. "There is no doubt that Saddam was developing weapons of mass destruction," Mr. Blair said during a 2 1/2 -hour grilling by MPs. AP

2. Wrong over uranium, White House admits - Washington.
Amid questions about who knew what about pre-war intelligence, the White House has acknowledged that U.S. President George W. Bush was wrong when he said last January that Iraq had recently sought significant quantities of uranium in Africa to build weapons. The statement was incorrect because it was based on forged documents from the West African country of Niger, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Monday. Claims about Mr. Hussein's weapons of mass destruction were offered as a primary justification for the war, but U.S.-led forces have yet to find any. AP

The Weekly Telegraph No. 624, July 9-15, 2003:
1. Obituary: Sir John Stokes: SIR JOHN STOKES, who has died aged 85, was a Tory of robust, if eccentric, views which earned him the nick-name in the Commons of "MP for the 17th Century" or "Parliament's last link with the Middle Ages". He regarded with deep distaste much that had happened in Britain during the past century and had unconcealed forebodings for the future of the Island Race. Moreover, he was perfect for the role, being a man of tall military bearing with a clipped brushed moustache and a down-to-earth manner of speech.
Stokes - who was MP for the Midlands seat of Oldbury and Halesowen (subsequently Halesowen and Stourbridge) from 1970 to 1992 - liked to use the latitude allowed MPs in the debate on the Loyal Address for wide-ranging reflections on the state of the nation and the glories of bygone days. These never varied much, but his geniality and genuine eccentricity spared him the opprobrium his views might otherwise have attracted. Indeed, Stokes in full spate was always a draw. He saw a Britain rife with fornication and homosexuality, and peopled with drug addicts, drunken divorcees, foul-mouthed alcoholics and priests with beards.
Stokes was an inveterate writer of letters to the national press, and a trip abroad was an opportunity to diagnose signs of British decline by comparison with some of our European neighbours; thus, Spain was praised (1971) for its emphasis on "Religion and the Family"; France (1974) for its "strength of patriotism".
During the 1970s he felt that subversion was eating into Britain's universities and trades unions, and suggested that "shooting a few strike ringleaders, Pétain style, would end trouble at British Leyland". He attributed much of what he saw as the rot in British society to the BBC, which he believed damaged the moral fibre of the nation by televising too much sex and violence... .John Heydon Romaine Stokes was born at Sandy, Bedfordshire, on July 23, 1917, the son of a stock jobber. He was educated at Haileybury and Queen's College, Oxford.

2. Obituary: Strom Thurmond - America's longest-serving senator who preserved the priorities of Dixieland. SENATOR J. STROM THURMOND, who has died aged 100, was the longest-serving senator in American history; he spent much of his long life personifying Dixie's resistance to desegregation, and played a pivotal role in detaching the once "Solid south" from the Democratic coalition. During the six decades of his political crusade, he won the governorship of his home state of South Carolina, made a notable rebellious run for the Presidency against Harry Truman in 1948, and spent more than 30 years in the Senate, serving as both a Democrat and a Republican. Thurmond was neither a populist demagogue - in the mould of Governor George Wallace of Alabama - nor a master of congressional procedure, such as Senator Richard Russell of Georgia. Instead, his political longevity could be ascribed to his passionate commitment, and to his unparalleled ability to divine the aspirations of his fellow South Carolinians... . James Strom Thurmond was born in Edgefield County, South Carolina, near the Georgia line, on December 5, 1902, the grandson of a civil war confederate general and the son of a politically active judge... .[Brief - 3 col., illus.]

3. Building starts on Somme visitor centre - by Neil Tweedie -
A PLAN to build a visitor centre at the heart of the Somme battlefield in France, scene of the most calamitous campaign in British military history, is soon to become reality. Enough money has been raised from private donors in Britain to begin construction of the centre at Thiepval in the shadow of Sir Edwin Lutyens's towering memorial to the dead... . The £1.25 million centre, a joint Anglo-French project, will be the first of its kind on a Great War battlefield where British soldiers were killed. It will house a databank allowing visitors to trace where relatives are buried or commemorated... The first day of the Battle of the Somme, July 1, 1916, was the most disastrous in the history of the British Army, claiming 19,240 British and Empire lives. The total number of British dead, missing and wounded during the offensive was 420,000. Last week the Government announced that it was giving the Somme Association a grant of almost £400,000 to help buy Thiepval Wood. It was from Thiepval Wood that the 36th Ulster Division charged German positions at the start of the battle. The wood has remained almost untouched since 1916. A Great War veteran aged 102, William Stone, was among those attending the Somme Day ceremony in Whitehall last week. Wreaths were laid at the Cenotaph to mark the 87th anniversary of the battle in a ceremony organised by the Friends of War Memorials (FoWM).

4. Magnificent flying machine recalled -
Hundreds of aircraft enthusiasts from around the world gathered last week at the scene of the first manned flight to witness a successful re-enactment by millionaire entrepreneur sir Richard Branson, writes Paul Marston. It was not at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina, the globally renowned test site of Orville and Wilbur Wright, the aviation pioneers, but at Brompton Dale, North Yorks. The re-enactment was part of an attempt to gain wider recognition for an Englishman regarded by many aeronautics buffs as the true father of flight. Half a century before the Wright brothers took to the air and 150 years ago this month a 35ft monoplane glider built by Sir George Cayley flew nearly 300 yards across the dale. The flight was the culmination of five decades of inquiry and research by Sir George. In 1853 he built the "New flyer", big enough to carry a person. Having demonstrated that animals could fly in it without mishap he persuaded his reluctant coachman, John Appleby, to take a turn. Though the aircraft was slightly damaged on landing Appleby was unhurt. Allowing for the odd safety adjustment, the craft used last week was as near a copy of the original as a band of volunteers, with the help of BAE Systems and Virgin Atlantic, could make it.

5. MPs oppose EU's plans for criminal justice by Benedict Brogan Political Correspondent -
BRITISH criminal law is a "fundamental issue of sovereignty" that should not be surrendered to Brussels and the proposed EU constitution, a cross-party committee of MPs said last week. The commons European Scrutiny Committee issued a scathing assessment of the criminal justice proposals set out in the draft constitution which will be considered by EU members this year. In particular, the Labour-dominated committee contradicted Tony Blair's assertion that the plans do not amount to a "fundamental" constitutional change. Mr. Blair says the changes are not important enough to require a referendum. The committee's report found that plans to remove the British veto in a number of areas will undermine democratic legitimacy. It singles out the proposed European public prosecutor as a potential "engine of oppression" and concludes that plans to extend majority voting will "marginalise" national parliaments. MPs rejected the idea that all measures in the field of "freedom, security and justice" should be adopted using qualified majority voting - one of the most controversial elements in the draft.

The Globe & Mail, July 10, 2003: U.S. alters reason for war on Iraq - Rumsfeld defends decision to attack despite fact some evidence that led to invasion was false by Christine Boyd -
The U.S. administration has abruptly revised its explanation for invading Iraq, as Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asserted that a changed perspective after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - not fresh evidence of banned weapons - provoked the war.
"The coalition did not act in Iraq because we had discovered dramatic new evidence of Iraq's pursuit of weapons of mass murder," Mr. Rumsfeld testified yesterday before the senate armed services committee. "We acted because we saw the evidence in a dramatic new light, through the prism of our experience on 9/11." It was an about face from a man who confidently proclaimed in January: "There's no doubt in my mind but that they [the Iraqi government] currently have chemical and biological weapons."" (He was seconded in March by Vice-President Dick Cheney, who said of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein: "We believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.")
Mr. Rumsfeld's reversal came as the administration scrambled to defend itself from accusations that it deliberately used false or misleading information to bolster one of its primary justifications for the war. On Monday, the White House acknowledged that U.S. President George W. Bush was wrong when he said in his State of the Union address in January that Iraq had recently tried to purchase large quantities of uranium from Africa to build nuclear weapons.
He cited British intelligence reports of documents that purported to show an Iraqi attempt to buy a form of raw uranium known as yellowcake. The documents were later discredited as forgeries. While the White House justified the invasion to topple Mr. Hussein on the ground that his biological, chemical and nuclear weapons posed a threat, no such arms have been uncovered in the 10 weeks since the war ended... [Brief: 5-columns, illustrated include U.S. Democratic senators questions in grilling Mr. Rumsfeld.] . With reports from the Guardian, Reuters.
[Also see G&M July 12, 2003, Bush blames own spies for Iraq uranium claims, pp. 1, A16-A17 for related items,
G&M July 14 2003 U.S. stands by uranium statement - Other intelligence shows Iraq wanted to buy yellowcake in Niger, Rice says... p. A10.
Also G&M July 15: Intelligence accurate, Bush says - Agencies' information on Iraqi weapons was 'darn good,' President maintains.]
COMMENT: Get the feeling somebody's squirming under the glare?

Globe & Mail, July 11, 2003 Obituary: Lord Shawcross 1901-2003, Nuremberg's Nazi nemesis - British prosecutor successful in trials against notorious wartime traitor 'Lord Haw-Haw' and Cold war physicist spy Fuchs. [Brief: 5-columns, illustrated.
Also 3-col., illus., in The Weekly Telegraph, No. 625, July 16-22, 2003.]

Globe & Mail, July 12, 2003: Obituary - Paul Wilson Brand - a surgical pioneer - Seattle.
Paul Wilson Brand, who pioneered the use of reconstructive surgery to ease the ravages of leprosy and diabetes on hands and feet, died Tuesday of complications from a blood clot in the brain. He was 88. Born in India to a missionary family, Dr. Brand was sent to England at 9 to be educated. He attended medical school at London University, where he met his wife, classmate Margaret Barry. They married immediately after graduation in 1943 and in 1946 went to India, where he taught surgery at Vellore Medical College, becoming a specialist in orthopedic surgery, specializing in hand reconstruction. Dr. Brand began using reconstructive surgery to help people with leprosy in the late 1940s. He later adapted the work for patients with diabetes, which, like leprosy, deadens the sensation of pain. In 1966, the Brands were invited by the U.S. Public Health Service to work at the National Leprosarium in Carville, La. Paul Brand became chief of rehabilitation at the facility, and for more than 20 years conducted research and taught surgery and orthopedics at the Medical College at Louisiana State University. The couple retired in the mid-1980s and moved to Seattle, where he became clinical professor of orthopedics emeritus at the University of Washington.

Globe & Mail, July 18, 2003: -
1. Pension ruling stuns war vets by Kirk Makin, Justice Reporter -
Thousands of war veterans were denied up to $5-billion in lost pension compensation yesterday after the Supreme Court of Canada put the brakes on their class action lawsuit. The court said the federal government was within its rights when it passed an amendment in 1990 to retroactively thwart lawsuits by up to 30,000 mentally disabled war veterans who were paid no interest on their pensions. "Parliament has the right to expropriate property even without compensation, if it has made its intention clear," a 7-0 majority said... . Lawyers and families of disabled veterans were incensed yesterday by what they viewed as the Supreme Court's refusal to stand up to what they considered an act of deception by Parliament... .

2. A right royal historical drama - Film by Ray Conlogue -
The Legend of Suriyothal - The story of a 16th-century princess who saved the kingdom of Thailand. The film has been funded by the Thai Royal Family, and directed by a royal prince.

Globe & Mail July 19, 2003: -
1. Obituary: Isabelle D'Orleans 1911-2003 by Wolfgang Saxon - 'Of the same blood' as Marie Antoinette. Isabelle d'Orleans et Bragance, the Countess of Paris died in Paris on July 5. She was 93.

2. Star witness in U.K. Iraq row found dead - by Alan Freeman, London - Dr. David Kelly, 50.
[Brief: Oxford educated microbiologist with a background in agricultural science, acted as chief science officer at Britain's Natural Environment Research Council, Institute of Virology. Became head of microbiology at the Ministry of Defence's chemical research centre. Spent the majority of his career as a consultant to the ministry and other government departments and agencies, advising them on arms control. Worked as a weapons inspector in Iraq following the first Persian Gulf war, 1991-1998. Led inspections of Russian biological warfare facilities, 1991-94. Senior adviser on biological warfare for the United Nations in Iraq, 1994-1999. Scientific adviser to the ministry's proliferation and arms control secretariat.]
[Brief: See also: G&M July 21 "Scientist's demise stalks Blair; Scientist's death widens rift between Blair, the BBC";
G&M July 22, "Blair vows to co-operate with probe into death";
and "Comment - First Clive Ponting, now David Kelly" The brave people of conscience who reveal government wrongdoing always pay a price, says British MP Tam Dayell.
G&M July 23, "U.K. Defence Secretary tied to release of Kelly name";
G&M July 24, 2003: Obituary - David Kelly 1944-2003 - The 'unvarnished truth' - The British microbiologist's superlative work in Iraq led him into a media and political quagmire - by Nigel Fountian and Sarah a. Smith, LONDON.

See also: The Weekly Telegraph No's. 625, July 16-22, 2003- Obituary and 626, July 23-29, 2003 "Death of the dossier fall guy"; "Hounded and unhappy, (Dr. Kelly) walked out to a lonely end"
The Weekly Telegraph No. 627, July 30-Aug. 5, 2003: "BBC chairman in savage attack on Labour".

And see also Science Vol. 301, No. 5632, 25 July, 2003 pp. 445, 447 Bioweapons- British Expert Leaves Impressive Arms control Legacy - "Persistent yet polite" British bio-weapons expert David Kelly.]

3. Lights, Camera, Apocalypse! - As bombs explode, locusts swarm and seas turn to blood, Gayle MacDonald investigates a growing appetite for 'endtimes entertainment' and finds that two brothers running a tiny film company in St. Catharines, Ont. Are feeling the rapture. [Brief: Rapture Films grab audiences.]

The Weekly Telegraph No. 625 July 16-22, 2003:
1. Mice offer hope of walking again -
FRENCH scientists have discovered a way to regenerate damaged spinal cords in a breakthrough that might eventually allow paralysed people to walk again. They have succeeded in regrowing the broken spinal cords of mice after identifying and eliminating two proteins that create scar tissue. This had prevented nerve endings from repairing themselves. When scientists from the French National Health and Medical research institute manipulated the genes of the mice so they did not produce these proteins, they discovered the spinal cord regrew in weeks.

2. Truman diary reveals scorn 'for cruel Jews' by Toby Harnden in Washington.
PRESIDENT Harry S Truman, long hailed by Zionists for recognising the state of Israel at its inception, viewed Jews with disdain and believed they were crueller than Hitler, according to newly discovered diaries. [Brief: 3-columns, illustrated.]

3. Roman mosaic treasures unearthed in Sicilian villa by Bruce Johnston in Rome
DAZZLING Roman mosaics have been discovered by archaeologists on the site of an ancient villa in Sicily. The find, which was made near the site of the ancient city of Eloro, close to Noto, is one of the best preserved found on the island and is being likened in terms of style, period and importance to the famed mosaics of an imperial-style villa at Piazza Armerina, in central Sicily... [Brief: 2-col. Illus. One point of interest is the weighing of Hector's body on scales balanced by Priam's treasure.]

4. Ode to Joy heralds EU's final draft text. By Ambrose Evans Pritchard
[Brief: Gives EU law primacy over that of member states and incorporates the Charter of Fundamental Rights as a legally binding text, giving the European court power to decide on social and economic rights. It doubles the power of the European Parliament and vastly reduces the national veto. The new anthem is Beethovens Ode to Joy; the flag is the existing dark blue one with 12 yellow stars in a circle; the motto is "United in Diversity", Europe Day is May 9th.]

5. Pte Jessica 'was saved by her Iraqi captors' by David Renne
[Brief: The Humvee, struck by enemy fire, crashed into a broken-down lorry at 45 mph. She survived "principally because of the medical attention she received from the Iraqis", a Pentagon source told the Washington Times.]

Time Magazine Can. Edn. July 21, 2003 - Untruth & Consequences - how flawed was the case for going to war against Saddam?
A Question of Trust - The CIA's Tenet takes the fall for a flawed claim in the state of the Union, but has Bush's credibility taken an even greater hit? By Mchael Duffy and James Carney. [Brief: 5 colourful pages summarise the principal points.]

Globe & Mail, July 21, 2003: Is that a real moon rock? [Brief: Microscopic pits in surface define real from fake.]

Globe & Mail, July 23, 2003: Israel police arrest owner of controversial ossuary by Michael Posner -
The owner of the controversial ossuary that some think once contained the bones of the brother of Jesus was arrested in Tel Aviv yesterday by Israeli authorities on suspicion of forgery. Although no charges have been laid, official said they would be questioning Oded Golan during the next four days about both the 2,000-year-old limestone box, which was exhibited last fall at Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum, and the Yoash tablet, said to date from the 9th century BC. ... Despite the report, ... Ed Keall, the ROM's expert on Middle Eastern archeology, said yesterday that his institution continues to consider the ossuary genuine.
Also see: Globe & Mail, July 26, 2003: Forgery mystery creates a Pandora's Box - Unanswered questions surrounding the James ossuary are pitting experts against each other, Michael Posner writes. [Brief: 6-columns, illustrated.]

Globe & Mail, July 23, 2003: Obituary: Britain's oldest veteran of First World War, London.
Jack Davis Britain's oldest veteran of the First World War has died at the age of 108. He joined the army at the age of 19, seeing active service in France and Belgium, including the battle at Ypres in July, 1917, which claimed a quarter of a million lives on all sides. ... (T)he World War One Veterans Association... now has just 34 members. AP

Globe & Mail, July 24, 2003: Comment Article - Old hatred, new Passion - Mel Gibson fosters anti-Semitism by filming a version of Christ's death in which Roman occupiers were dupes of those they oppressed, says Rabbi Abraham Cooper and historian Harold Brackman. [Brief: 4-columns, illustrated.]

Science Vol. 301, No. 5632, 25 July, 2003:
1. Regaining one's Marbles - p. 443 [Brief: The Internet joins marble frieze from Parthenon in Athens which is a sculpture 160 meters long. The actual frieze remains in fragments in Athens, London and Paris but can be thus studied as a unit.]

2.Peopling of the Americas - Late Date for Siberian Site challenges Bering Pathway. pp. 450-451
[Brief: New evidence casts shadow over once cherished idea: that Asian big-game hunters crossed the Bering Land Bridge to give rise to the Clovis people, who were considered the first Americans. New data show that a crucial Siberian site, thought to be a way station along the Bering road, wasn't occupied until after the Clovis had begun killing mammoths in North America.]

Globe & Mail, July 25, 2003: Abbas set for high stakes summit by Paul Adams Ramallah, West Bank; also Globe & Mail, July 26, 2003: Bush vows action on wall in West Bank - Security fence erected on Palestinian land hampering peace process, President says - by Paul Koring, WASHINGTON.
COMMENT: Are we to believe all this "activity"? We feel compelled to ask "Which is the tail and which the dog? And does it stand on its hind legs and do magicians tricks?" [The old "empty-shell" switch perhaps? - Ed.]

G&M July 28, 2003 Palestinian 'baby boom' may affect road to peace by Paul Adams, Ramallah, West Bank - [Brief: Children of the intifada (uprising) may outnumber Jews within a decade as out-of-work families create a (tricky?) demographic quandary!]

G&M July 28, 2003: Obituary - Yitzhak Kilitz, 81, Jerusalem's chief rabbi battled liberal believers. [Brief: He was Jerusalem's Ashkenazi chief rabbi, serving Jews of European origin for 20 years. His term was marked by bitter battles over representation for liberal streams of Judaism - Conservative and Reform - with Mr. Kolitz insisting that only Orthodox Jews could take part in decision-making bodies. Mr. Kolitz signed newspaper advertisements declaring that the liberal movements were not legitimate forms of Judaism and tried to block their participation in Jerusalem's religious council by ordering a boycott by Orthodox members.] AP

G&M July 29, 2003: Obituary - Bob Hope dead at 100. [Brief: many pages of obituary and much praise have appeared. He was buried in San Fernando Valley at 6:30 am from St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church.]

The Weekly Telegraph No. 627, July 30-Aug. 5, 2003:
1. Saddam's sons killed in raid. Comment is not needed.

2. More stars than sand -
Scientists say there are 10- times more stars in the night sky than grains of sand in the world's deserts and beaches, writes David Derbyshire. Astronomers have worked out that there are 70 thousand million million million - or 7 followed by 22 zeros - visible from the Earth. The estimate is said to be the most accurate yet. Dr. Simon Driver, who led the study at the Australian National University, said: "Even for a professional astronomer used to dealing in monster numbers, this is mind-boggling." Without a telescope, it is only possible to see around 5,000 stars from the darkest places of the Earth, and just 100 in the middle of a city.
Rather than count the stars one by one, Dr. Driver and colleagues from the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, St. Andrews University and the University of New South Wales, counted all the galaxies in one small region of the universe close to the Earth. By measuring the brightness of each galaxy, the team were able to estimate how many stars it contained and extrapolated for the entire night sky...
This is not the total number of stars in the universe, but it's the number within range of our telescopes." Said Dr. Driver. "The real number could be much, much larger still - some people think it's infinite."

3. Ploughs 'ripping up our history'
THOUSANDS of archaeological sites face being destroyed by modern farming methods, according to English Heritage. Intensive ploughing had arguably done more damage in six decades than traditional agriculture had done in the preceding six centuries... .

4. Big firms in row over squatters' stolen sugar by Peta Thornycroft in Chiredzi
TWO South African corporate giants are under fire for allegedly handling large consignments of produce stolen from Zimbabwe's white farmers by supporters of President Mugabe. The mining group Anglo American..., and the sugar firm Tongaat Hulett are accused of processing sugar cane stolen from white farmers who are under threat of dispossession in Zimbabwe's chaotic "land reform"... Anglo American... denied it was using the legal tussle for its own profit... .