The following items were printed in the January, 2004 issue of The Prophetic Expositor:
Please write for further details of any items of particular interest.

Jane's Intelligence Digest 19 December 2003: Heading "Saddam: a can of worms" -
The opening paragraph gives the thrust: "Although the capture of ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has provided a welcome political boost for the Bush administration, few intelligence professionals believe that the fallen president had been playing an active role in directing continuing attacks against coalition troops and foreign diplomats in Iraq. Then there is the prospect of a public trial during which the USA's past policies in the region may come under unwelcome scrutiny. JID assesses whether this particular prize was worth taking alive." (www.janes.com)

Globe & Mail, Nov 12: Obituary: Canaan Banana,
Zimbabwe's first black President.

Globe & Mail, Nov 13: Pipeline sabotage keeps Iraq's oil from flowing, by Chip Cummins
(Brief: Without line, 300,000 barrels a day of production pumped back into ground.)

Globe & Mail, Nov 20, 2003: Obituary: Robert McMichael
(Respected Art Gallery donor.)

Globe & Mail, Nov 21, 2003: Social Studies by Michael Kesterton,
quoting The Chicago Tribune, mentions the interesting point that, in Delhi, India, Sacred Cows may eat one or two plastic bags a day, and on average 200 plastic bags accumulate as a huge wad in their stomachs, eventually killing them.

Globe & Mail, Nov 25, 2003:
1. One in 10 marriage licences same-sex by Jeff Gray -
One out of every 10 marriage licenses issued by the city of Toronto has gone to a gay or lesbian couple since a landmark Ontario court ruling this year... .

2. The war on dissent (Naomi Klein): Heavy-handed police and propaganda tactics brought Baghdad to Miami
(Brief: Riot-equipped police were present outside the Free-Trade Area of the Americas conference in Miami on Thursday. Small peaceful demonstrations were attacked with extreme force, according to the caption on a photo accompanying the 4-column article.)

3. Social Studies by Michael Kesterton
includes two small items of interest. One mentions that on the eve of the St. Catherine's Day holiday celebration certain activities were followed in old England, one of which involved girls jumping over a lit candle, which apparently was a bit tricky, as the candle must not be put out, nor petticoats singed.
The other item mentions the benefit imparted by ear wax (preventing foreign bodies from penetrating further into the ear, for example).

Globe & Mail, Nov 28, 2003: Same-time marriage?
(Brief: An Indian man has married two sisters simultaneously because one is disabled and depends on the other for support. It seems he evades the law against bigamy because prosecutors cannot prove which is his second, and therefore illegal, marriage.)

Globe & Mail, Nov 29, 2003:
1. The chart before the Norse -
This week, a U.S. chemist declared that the Vinland Map was almost certainly drawn six centuries ago. The claim is a blot on scholarship, counters historian Kirsten Seaver. In October, 1965, Yale University librarians announced that they had acquired a manuscript world map dating from about 1440 showing the territory the Norse had dubbed "Vinland" (Wine Land) (Brief: The question is whether it is a modern fake, or a map drawn 6 centuries ago.)

2. N. Ireland vote entrenches opposing hard-liners by Alan Freeman - Democratic Unionists and Sinn Fein gain seats, trouble looms for peace pact.
COMMENT: Historic problems continue!

3. Annan says Israel defying UN resolution - Security fence 'deeply counterproductive' - by Paul Koring, WASHINGTON
Israel has defied a United Nations resolution demanding it tear down the wall snaking deep into Palestinian territory, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said yesterday. ... The criticism came in an official 11-page report that was required by the General assembly resolution supported in October by 144 nations, including Canada. The United States, a staunch supporter of Israel, was one of only four nations to oppose the non-binding resolution, although Washington has also called for the wall construction to stop. (The other opponents were Israel, Micronesia and the Marshall islands.)

Globe & Mail, December 2, 2003: Gold price passes key mark.
Steady climb to close above $400 an ounce for first time since 1996 supports metal's comeback. (Illustrated by Graph of Gold's value, 1972 - 2003 inclusive.)

Globe & Mail, December 3, 2003:
1. 'Before, we had no land. That was not fair' -Zimbabwe's farm seizures drew international censure, but have also given some people a better life, writes Stephanie Nolen
Also: Globe & Mail Dec 8: Zimbabwe quits Commonwealth (p. 1 Headline), Commonwealth is in Mugabe's crosshairs; & Zimbabwe's decision expected to dominate final deliberations (p. 13)
[COMMENT: Your Editor (Hon. B.A. in Geography), was in Rhodesia in 1978, and again when it became Zimbabwe in 1981, to interview top government officials (including the Prime Minister) and gain first-hand knowledge of the situation before and after the transition of power. There are valid but generally unpublicised counter arguments to the claims of Mugabe's supporters!]

2. Dead Sea scrolls 'belong to all civilizations' -
Ottawa exhibition of more than 100 artifacts from Jerusalem's Israel Museum goes to the roots of Western History - by Michael Posner, Toronto. -
A stunning collection of more than 100 artifacts, 12th century BC to 7th century AD. [Brief: 5-columns, colour-illustrated.] (Ottawa exhibition Dec. /03-Apr. 12/04; 819-766-7000 or 1-800-555-5621)

Globe & Mail, December 4, 2003 -
1. First World War veteran, described as prankster and romantic, dies at 102 - by Erin Anderssen.
Harold Lewis, who took a false name to sneak into the Great War at 16, shared his whisky with the enemy in a Christmas truce, and survived to celebrate his 75th wedding anniversary with a woman he met after stealing a kiss on a Vancouver street, died at his California home on Sunday... He faced the front at Ypres and at Passchendaele in Belgium. At Christmastime in 1916, he shared dinner in the trenches with a group of German soldiers about his age, and the next day, as he would later tell his daughter, they returned to shooting each other. [Brief: 3 columns, illustrated.]

2. Canada aims to recognize Acadians' ordeal at last - by Kim Lunman, OTTAWA -
[Brief: The well-written front-page opening paragraphs explain: "More than three centuries ago, Euclide Chiasson's ancestors boarded a ship in France and crossed the Atlantic Ocean to start a new life in the New World, in what is now known as Prince Edward Island. But his francophone forefathers were caught between feuding French and British colonies, and their descendants were forced to hide from British officials in the mid-1700s so they would not be deported. Today, Mr. Chiasson of New Brunswick is among thousands of Acadians in the Maritimes celebrating a decision by Ottawa to endorse a royal proclamation acknowledging the wrongs done to their ancestors during those expulsions. (pp. 1 & 8)
[Also in Globe & Mail Dec. 5: Comment: Bitter root, sweet harvest (Acadian expulsion) by Donald Savoie
[Brief: 5-columns, illustrated by "La Dispersion des Acadiens", by Henre Beau, 1900: The painting's central figure is Evangeline, from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem of the same name.]
Also in The Weekly Telegraph No. 646, Dec. 10-16, 2003]

Globe & Mail, December 5, 2003 - U.S. is pulling back on terrorism laws by Paul Koring, WASHINGTON -
U.S. President George W. Bush's administration is beating a retreat on several legal fronts as the sweeping powers it gave itself after the Sept. 11, 2001 , terrorist attacks come under judicial fire and face mounting international concern. In rapid succession over the past few days Washington has: signalled wholesale releases of detainees held incommunicado and without legal rights at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; conceded that a U.S. citizen captured abroad and facing terrorism charges can have a lawyer; scrapped its reviled registration procedures for young Arab males; and found itself on the losing end of several judicial decisions limiting its anti-terrorism tactics... . [Brief: 'Public outrage and judicial concern is forcing them to rethink their position.']

The Weekly Telegraph No. 645 Dec 3-9, 2003: -
1. Queen's Speech sets up a showdown by George Jones, Political Editor -
[Brief: Tony Blair has political clashes ahead. Renewed Conservative Party, a showdown with Labour over university tuition, and a looming constitutional clash over plans to remove the 92 remaining hereditary peers, abolition of the post of Lord chancellor and creation of a wholly unelected House of Lords. Other headlines on same page announced: "Blair has broken his promise on peers" and "Doubt cast over future of Lord Chancellor"]

2. Britain could veto EU constitution
[Brief: this heading is joined by subsidiary headings: - "Blair upset by Straw's scepticism", "Redraft robs London of foreign policy role", and "Commission fears 'impasse or failure'."]
COMMENT: The picture is of an agenda-driven clutch of Euro-centered politicians striving to over-ride constitutional safeguards upheld by patriotic citizens.]

3. Car park to cover old mosaics -
SUPERB third-century mosaics discovered in the river port of imperial Rome are to be reburied to build a car park on the site, writes Bruce Johnston. The works were found near the ancient Porta Protese gate on the river Tiber during excavations to build a tram depot. [Brief: lack of funds and the corporation's change of mind are responsible.]

Globe & Mail, December 10, 2003: -
1. Population of nine billion predicted by 2300 - United Nations -
The human race could have nine billion people by 2300, Japanese will live to 108, and Africa's population will explode while Europeans could become a dwindling species, the United Nations predicted yesterday. The UN Population Division forecast an increase from the current 6.3 billion people to about nine billion, providing the trend towards smaller families continues. The report notes birth rates in industrialized countries, including Canada, are considered too low, but warns even so, fertility levels in the developing world must shrink to prevent global population from reaching 244 billion in 2150 and 134 trillion in 2300. Reuters.

2. 'Waiter!'
A new book by a German historian has cast fresh light on one of the most extraordinary episodes of the First World War and revealed that the celebrated 1914 Christmas truce took place only because many of the Germans stationed on the front had worked in England, reports the Guardian. The book, Der Kleine Frieden im Grossen Krieg (The Small Peace in the Big war) by Michael Jurgs, is the first to be written from a German perspective about the impromptu Christmas ceasefire that spread across the western front. According to Mr. Jurgs, the fraternization was only possible because many of the German soldiers spoke good English as they had previously been employed "as cab drivers and barbers in places like Brighton, Blackpool and Liverpool. When war broke out in August, 1914, they were forced to go home. Some even left families behind in England." One German soldier had worked in the Savoy hotel; when the war started, British soldiers would apparently shout "Waiter!" at him, from their trenches. (Social Studies by Michael Kesterton)
Also in The Weekly Telegraph No. 648, Dec. 24-30, 2003, added here: We started the truce, say Germans -
GERMANY is celebrating the Christmas truce of 1914 for the first time, with the country gripped by a new book highlighting the fact that it was German soldiers who initiated the temporary peace, writes Kate Connolly in Berlin - Because of Germany's role as perpetrator in both World Wars, its writers have until now hardly dared to explore the subject of the Germans as victims or sufferers. Now the historian Michael Jurgs has written the first German account of the day when British and German troops took a break from the conflict to play football and sing carols together for a few hours. "The miracle is that the Germans started it," the author said. "For the first time it wasn't the Germans who were waging war but starting a peace." The Small Peace in the Big War, which is near the top of the bestseller lists, records the events of December 1914 at the front lines in Flanders.

Globe & Mail, December 13, 2003: -
1. Did Brazilian flier beat Wright brothers? U.S. hoopla over Kitty Hawk centennial neglects to mention Santos Dumont's feat - by Paul Knox.
For many Brazilians, what ought to be celebrated next week is a century of wounded pride. [Brief: In 1906 scores of spectators, attracted to the Bois de Boulogne outside Paris by public announcement watched as a Brazilian-born balloonist and aviator, Santos Dumont, climbed into a contraption called the 14-Bix, which lifted into the air and flew for 21 seconds. He covered 220-metres on Nov. 12, 1906, thus demonstrating "heavier-than-air" flight was possible. Contention centres on previous flights, catapult-launched and not documented, by the Wright's aircraft. (3 col., large illus.)

2. I am a conservative, I conserve - Robert Bateman -
As Canada's political parties realign, 'conservatives' must ask themselves which they value: social order, family and the environment - or the market, says artist/environmentalist Robert Bateman. [Brief: 5-columns, illustrated.]

3. 'What else could it have been but a miracle?'
[Brief: Essiac secret revealed. The account lists: 6 1/2 cups burdock root (cut), 1 lb of sheep sorrelherb, powdered, 1/4 lb of slipper elm bark, powdered, 1 oz of Turkish rhubarb root, powdered. The beginning of the process is stated as: "mix ingredients thoroughly and store in glass jar in dark, dry cupboard. Use 1 oz herb mixture to 32 oz water", etc. The account continues: Boil "hard", covered 10 min., leave on warm plate (covered) & in morning, heat steaming hot, let settle & strain into sterilized bottles, let cool, store in dark. Refrigerate when opened. It all sounds a bit complicated to us! We only report this, we make no medical claims whatsoever for it! The 6-column, illus. account apparently indicates this tonic to have been thought a possible cancer cure!]

Globe & Mail, December 15, 2003: Capture of Saddam: p. 1 & 10 other pages.

Globe & Mail, December 16, 2003: Obituary: Jeanne Crain - 1925-2003
White actress had role in Pinky, as a black passing herself as white. Her career included 63 films. A wartime favourite of the soldiers, her career dimmed by the 1960s. AP

The Weekly Telegraph No. 646, Dec. 10-16, 2003:
1. Ministry scuppers Trafalgar display by Isambard Wilkinson in Madrid and Benedict Brogan -
ROYAL NAVY Plans to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar with a review of the fleet are being blocked by the Government on the grounds of cost. [Brief: 4-columns, illustrated by a portrait of Lord Nelson, whose victory is to be commemorated in 2005.
An associated heading, Nelson's erotic letter to his lover fetches £117,000 is also illustrated with a portrait of Lady Hamilton.

2. Britain atones for expulsion of Acadians by Marcus Warrin in Grand Pré
THE QUEEN is to atone for the past deeds of British redcoats in Canada in an unusual foray by the Crown into the fraught sphere of relations between the country's English and French speakers. A royal proclamation, expected this week, will acknowledge - but not apologise for - the expulsion of the Acadians from a bleak corner of Nova Scotia in the 18th century. [Brief: 4-columns, illustrated.]

3. Children have a right to Nativity plays - W.F. Deedes,
the well-known columnist, takes on the belief that ethnic minorities are offended by the Christian festival of Nativity. [Brief: In his column, he remarks that the Christmas story has long caught the imagination of young children. He asks "what is the right response" to the "other faiths" quarrel, and goes on "I think that, on the children's behalf, we should remain firm about our right to present the Christmas narrative, where appropriate, how we choose. It is a mistake, furthermore, to become nervous of our proliferating thought police. They include in this context a good many non-believers who are not so much troubled by the feelings of minorities as hostile to all manifestations of the Christian doctrine"... and concludes "There is a case for discretion, none for feebleness."]

Globe & Mail - December 17, 2003: -
1. Bush urges death penalty for 'tyrant' by Paul Koring, WASHINGTON -
[Brief: Sub-heading: U.S. President's decision to make public his views on Hussein's fate may irk allies sums up the 5-column, illustrated account.
COMMENT: Your Editor is reminded about the old one about the law requiring that King Charles I "must be given a trial before he is executed!"

2. Comment: Fragile - Handle with care;
What has to happen if Bush is to bring in Iraqi self-rule by next June (and incidentally boost his hopes for a second term)? Paul Koring investigates the problem in a 5-column, illustrated account.

3. Obituary: Vincent Noonan - 1919-2003,
last survivor of the original Mounted Division of Newfoundland's Constabulary [Brief: 5-columns, illustrated. Founded in 1873, and disbanded in 1951, the horses have just recently been re-introduced as they have a public-relations value that vehicles cannot match. Mr. Noonan died a few days before the official ceremony to celebrate their re-introduction, and they provided an escort at his funeral.]

Globe & Mail - December 18, 2003:
1. Ancient art demonstrates early man's skill - Tiny ivory figurines 30,000 years old, show unexpected attention to detail. By Anne McIlroy.
Three tiny figurines carved from mammoth tusks have been discovered in Germany. The photo caption states "Pictures show figurines of a duck-like bird and a half-human, half-animal, two of three carvings found in a cave in the Swabian Jura, southwestern Germany. The figurines, none longer than five centimetres, have been carbon-dated to at least 30,000 years old and show that early man was far from primitive in artistic skill." (6-columns., colour-illustrated.)

2. Electronic 'bomb jammer' foiled Musharraf assassin by David Akin -
The motorcade carrying the President was equipped with an electronic bomb-jammer device, which blocks signals within a 200-metre radius around the President's limousine. [Brief: the device is explained in 2-columns on pp. 1 & 21, and includes a diagram of the safety-zone arrangement.]

3. Legal marker for the world -
The trial of Saddam Hussein is poised to become the greatest test of the Bush administration to date. If the U.S. is seen to be pulling the strings, the process will be a mockery, says Erna Paris. - [Brief: Summary: Will US pull strings on marionette justice? 4-col. illustrated.]

Globe & Mail - December 19, 2003:
1. Courts lash war on terror -
Verdicts on treatment of suspects roll back Bush's sweeping powers - by Paul Koring - Courts lash war on terror - Verdicts on treatment of suspects roll back Bush's sweeping powers. Language of ruling reflects judicial unease. (pp. 1 & 22) Related headline: Detainees bloodied, report finds (5-col. illus.)

2. Top U.S. weapons hunter may step down, official says by Dafna Linzer, CAMP SLAYER, IRAQ -
[Brief: 'For a while, this place was really active, but that's changed in the last month. Now we're lucky if there's a mission once a week around here.']

3. Ottawa's New Year resolutions - Many federal changes are coming to protect employees, but just as many questions remain, writes Wallace Immen
[Brief: A full page, 6-col. illus. article. Protection of privacy starting January 1st, under Federal Law "The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act".]
Noteworthy insert box item: Privacy principles: the 10 principles of personal information protection: (Each of the following headings is followed by an explanation) Accountability, Identifying purposes, Consent, Limiting collection, Limiting use, disclosure and retention, Accuracy, Security, Openness, Individual Access, Challenging compliance. - Source, Canadian Standards Association.
[COMMENT: The Board of Directors has, since our founding, consistently upheld and implemented the principle of total confidentiality of our mailing lists and similar information. The extension of Federal Law thus reinforces our present practice.]

Globe & Mail - December 22, 2003: Israel under pressure to destroy arsenal -
Follow example set in announcement made by Gadhafi, Arab countries' leaders demand. [Brief: 5-col. illus. by map, table of weaponry in 6 countries, photo.
Also: Globe & Mail - December 23: Gadhafi invites rogue states to eliminate their WMDs (pp. 1 & 15) & Secret talks paved way for Libyan pact - 6-col., illus.
Also in The Weekly Telegraph No. 648, Dec. 24-30, 2003 p. 18]

The Weekly Telegraph No. 647, Dec. 17-23, 2003:
1. Your chance to make a difference -
An appeal for funding by The Telegraph Christmas appeal is underway on behalf of two charities: Moorfields Eye Hospital which does eye research and treatment of children; Orbis, the world's only flying eye hospital, has spent the last 21 years travelling the globe to restore sight to the needlessly blind, and visited 67 countried, teaching 55,000 doctors and nurses cheap and simple techniques of cataract surgery and corneal transplants.

2. The tide is turning and we are unprepared - by Kevin Myers -
[Brief: banning notice of Christmas carol service, not other religions, in Buckinghamshire, banning of headscarves in France, are symptoms of a reaction to flooding of non-traditional inhabitants, bringing their foreign cultural baggage to the heartlands of traditional Christianity. "Islam is now the rising Church of England."]

3. Tunnel to link Spain and Morocco agreed by Isambard Wilkinson in Madrid -
Europe will be linked to Africa by tunnel within 10 years under plans announced at the weekend by Spain and Morocco. The tunnel, joining Punta Palomas in Spain to Punta Malabata in Morocco, running beneath the Strait of Gibraltar will be nearly 25 miles long, of which 17 miles will lie under the sea.

Globe & Mail December 27, 2003: 2-page spread of obituaries of notables who passed in 2003.
8 are photographed, with obituaries, including Idi Amin, Johnny Cash, Diana Mitford, and Soong Mei-ling, while 12 columns list others by categories of fame: Entertainer, Song, Television, Film, Stage, World, Writing, Business, Politics, Also Notable, Cartooning and Innovation.

Globe & Mail December 29, 2003: -
1. Nationalists poised to win most seats in Serb vote - Former Yugoslav strongman Molosevic elected though behind bars in The Hague. (5-col. illus.)

2. Israel has contingency plan if peace talks fail by Greg Myre, JERUSALEM -
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appointed an army general yesterday to develop unilateral steps Israel could take to separate from the Palestinians if peace efforts fail. [Brief: Disengagement might include withdrawing from four settlements, building the rest of the West Bank barrier wall, the current route of which would put about 15 per cent of West Bank land on the western or Israeli, side of the fence. (5-columns)]

3. Obituary: George Elliott, 85: Pearl Harbor radarman's warning went unheeded - Port Charlotte, Fla.
George Elliott, whose unheeded warning about aircraft approaching Pearl Harbor was depicted in history books and movies including Tora, Tora, Tora, died Dec. 20 of complications from a stroke. He was 85. The former U.S. Army radarman detected the incoming Japanese aircraft on Dec. 7, 1941; he issued a warning, which was brushed aside. Nearly an hour later, the enemy planes attacked the U.S. Navy fleet in the harbour. Mr. Elliott and another private had been on duty since 4 a.m. on the northern tip of Oahu, Hawaii, familiarizing themselves with a new marvel called radar. Just after 7 a.m., he saw "something completely out of the ordinary" on the screen - a huge blip 220 kilometres to the north. The pair reported the sighting but were told by headquarters to disregard it. The blip grew so large that they decided the system was broken. Mr. Elliott turned the set off at 7:45. About 10 minutes later, the first Japanese bombs fell on battleship row in Pearl Harbour. AP

Globe & Mail December 30, 2003: Tunnels below Oak Island hold Spanish booty, die-hard insists - Nova Scotia mystery solved, says man who has been hunting for gold for 38 years - by Steven Proctor, HALIFAX -
After 38 years of searching, an Oak Island treasure hunter believes he's solved the mystery of the famous Nova Scotia Island. Dan Blankenship says he has uncovered evidence that proves the 32-hectare island is the repository for millions of dollars worth of silver and gold that marauding Spaniards left behind in the mid-16th century. The early story of Oak Island is well known. Three boys from the area were exploring the island in 1795 when they came across a depression in the ground near an oak tree. They dug in the dirt in the hope of finding treasure but hit a wooden platform. They lifted it and continued to dig, only to find another platform a few metres deeper. Subsequent efforts by everyone from locals to John Wayne and Franklin Delano Roosevelt turned up tantalizing items like bits of chain, parchment and coconut husks, but all were defeated by what seemed to be an intricate series of flood tunnels designed to protect whatever was at the bottom of the pit. Mr. Blankenship now dismisses the money pit as an elaborate decoy. [Brief: Tunnels and shafts deep within the island appear to hold the answers, but Mr. Blankenship, aged 80, needs a license from the province to establish further probings.] (5-columns, illustrated by photo and map.) Canadian Press

The Weekly Telegraph No. 648, Dec. 24-30, 2003:
1. PM in retreat on 'smoking gun' -
TONY BLAIR sought to prepare the ground for the possibility that weapons of mass destruction would not be found in Iraq - only evidence that Saddam Hussein once possessed them. The Prime Minister appeared doubtful whether Saddam would lead Britain and the United States to the weapons following his capture. Eight months after the fall of Baghdad, with no weapons yet found, the Government has begun to retreat. Mr. Blair said there was evidence of a system of "clandestine laboratories" in Iraq. But had referred to the elusive weapons in the past tense.

2. Chief WMD hunter in Iraq to quit by David Rennie in Washington -
The head of the US-led hunt for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction plans to resign soon, it was emerged. David Kay, the former United Nations weapons inspector in charge of the 1,400-strong Iraqi Survey group, has had to watch in recent weeks as some of his experts were re-assigned to the fight against insurgents. The senior Democrat on the House intelligence committee, Jane Harman, told The Washington Post: "They took away a lot of his folks, some critical people." She added that Dr. Kay's departure would be a "big loss". Dr. Kay has told the Bush administration that he is leaving his post for "family and personal reasons". A senior administration official said he could leave before February, when his next interim report is due.

3. Euro-MPs get 30pc rise -
EURO-MPs awarded themselves a 30 per cent pay rise last week with no loss of their office perks. Pay for British MEPs is to jump from £55,000 to £72,000 overnight, severing the link with their Westminster colleagues for the first time.

4. Are we Christians? The answer's on a card ...
Department of Culture's 'season's greetings' has mosques and Hindu dancers - but no Christ by Chris Hastings and Victoria McCann - [Brief: A 2-page colour-illustrated spread includes samples of seven "Christmas" cards. We are not surprised that not one of them actually bears a respectful portrayal of the event which is traditionally celebrated at the season of Christmas. The closest might be a charming photograph of a disabled 6-year-old pupil seated in front of a decorated Christmas Tree, or a gentle light-hearted cartoon by Matt, of Three Wise Men, one of whom is on a "speeding camel" trying to catch-up to the others. The most artistically beautiful photo is the card from The Archbishop of Canterbury, depicting a winter scene across snow-covered lawns, looking towards Lambeth Palace. Traditional "family photos" form the Prime Minister's selections. (7 columns, illustrated.)]

5. Obituary: Carl Henry, 90 - Carl Henry, Aged 90.
American theologian who was the first editor of Christianity Today. He was credited (with Billy Graham) with sparking the revival of fundamentalist evangelical Christianity; Charles Colson, former special counsel to President Richard Nixon, described him as "the man who led the evangelical movement out of its wilderness and brought it into the 20th century".

6. Obituary: John Smith, 78, Microbiologist,
whose work on the chemical sequencing of ribonucleic acid (RNA) helped to elucidate the relationship between RNA and DNA and contributed to the methodology involved in unravelling secrets of the genome.

7. SAS issued with guns that shoot around corners -
The SAS has bought a new Israeli weapons system that could revolutionise its urban warfare and anti-terrorist operations by letting soldiers fire aimed shots around corners, writes Toby Harnden, According to Israeli sources, British police forces have also shown great interest in the "Corner Shot" system, invented by Amos Golan, a retired lieutenant colonel. The system appears to solve the age-old dilemma of how a soldier can fire accurately and safely around a corner... A small, high-resolution camera and monitor give a full view.

8. Royal Rock visit angers Spanish by Isambard Wilkinson in Madrid -
Britain enraged Spain last week by announcing that the Princess royal will travel to Gibraltar next year to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the colony's conquest. The announcement added to Madrid's anger after the failure earlier this year to strike a deal on Anglo-Spanish co-sovereignty over Gibraltar. "Although this is of symbolic rather than political importance it is clearly not going to be something that helps to resolve the dispute," said a Spanish government spokesman. "In fact it is far from helpful."... Foreign Office minister Denis MacShane, announcing the Princess's visit in Parliament, said: "It is an important anniversary of the occupation by a combined Dutch and British fleet during the Spanish War of Succession, when France was trying to dictate its will to Spain and we stoutly resisted." Britain captured Gibraltar from Spain in 1704 and was then formally ceded the territory in the Treaty of Utrecht nine years later. A clause in the treaty gives Spain first preference should Gibraltar's status change, and Madrid has never given up its claim to the Rock. (3-columns, illustrated.)