IDOLS: Catholic Statue Falls and is Beheaded in Church Amid Screams
"And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him." 1 Samuel 5:4
Catholic Statue Falls and is Beheaded in Church Amid Screams
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Catholic Statue Falls and is Beheaded in Church Amid Screams
Praying Man in Custody after Car Prompts Pennsylvania Alert
Praying Man in Custody after Car Prompts Pennsylvania Alert
Pittsburgh (AP) - Authorities say a man who recited a prayer, kissed the ground and told befuddled witnesses he worked for Jesus before abandoning his car at a subway construction site has been arrested.
Port Authority of Allegheny County spokesman Jim Ritchie says 34-year-old Nowell Howie was arrested a couple of blocks from the construction site.
Ritchie says a bomb squad searched the car because of Howie's actions and because he left the car in a restricted construction zone without explanation Friday afternoon. Nothing dangerous was found.
Ritchie says Howie handed out money and offered prayers to people before he was apprehended.
Howie has been charged with disorderly conduct and defiant trespass. Authorities say he claims to have multiple addresses.
He was taken to be examined by the behavioral unit at the Allegheny County Jail, where he can't be reached for comment.
Savior of world is found among poor, not in halls of power, pope says
"At times, power -- including that of knowledge -- blocks the path to encountering that child," the Son of God, the savior of the world, he said.
"God does not manifest himself in the power of this world, but in the humility of his love, that love that asks us, in our freedom, to welcome it so that we may be transformed," he said.
The pope made his remarks at a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica Jan. 6, the feast of the Epiphany.
In his homily, the pope highlighted the journey of the Wise Men or Magi who were in search of something more -- for "the true light that would be able to indicate the path to follow in life."
Following the star, the Magi met King Herod in Jerusalem. Herod, a man of power, considered Jesus, the promised king of the Jews, to be a rival and wanted to kill him.
Even today, God can seem like "a particularly dangerous rival who would want to deprive people of their personal space, of their autonomy and their power," the pope said.
"We have to ask ourselves, is there perhaps a little bit of Herod in us as well? Perhaps we, too, sometimes see God as a kind of rival" who needs to be removed so we could have unlimited power to do whatever we want, the pope said.
However, letting God into one's life "does not take anything away and does not threaten anything; rather he is the only one capable of offering us the possibility of living to the full and feeling real joy," he said.
In Jerusalem, a city of power and learning, the Magi met with scribes and theologians for guidance, he said. But the Jerusalem-based scholars did not embark on the journey to seek out the Christ child, preferring instead to stay put and continue to study, examine and discuss the Scriptures.
"Again we can ask ourselves, is there not also in us the temptation to see the sacred Scriptures -- this extremely rich and vital treasure for the faith of the church -- more like something for specialists to study and discuss rather than like the book that indicates the path to take in life?" the pope asked.
In the end, the star brought the Magi to the small town of Bethlehem and "led them among the poor, the humble in order to find the king of the world," said the pope.
The Magi, like many people today, had expected to find the savior of the world "in places of power and culture," he said.
Many would imagine that if God was coming to save the world, he would have displayed his might by "giving the world a more just economic system in which everyone could have everything he or she wanted," the pope said.
Yet that kind of power would have been "a kind of violation of humankind because it would have deprived people of the fundamental elements" of being human, he said, such as their free will and capacity to love.
God wants people to exercise their freedom and love, and so he comes as a child and displays not earthly power, but "the apparent helplessness of his love."
After the Mass, Pope Benedict gave his noonday Angelus address from his studio window to thousands of people gathered in St. Peter's Square. The Epiphany, a national holiday in Italy, is largely dedicated to children, and the square was full of young people.
The pope said everyone is called to be like the star of Bethlehem and lead others to Jesus with his light. Christians "must shine like children of the light, to attract everyone to the beauty of the kingdom of God," he said.
On the eve of the Epiphany, the pope visited children in Rome's Gemelli hospital "to be a little like the Magi," he told them.
The pope brought stuffed animals, music boxes, books and candy for the children, many of whom were receiving care for the birth defect spina bifida.
The pope greeted and blessed the children, and they gave him small statues of the three kings and drawings they had made for the occasion.
END
New Israeli military technology speeds up warfare
SHIVTA ARTILLERY TRAINING SCHOOL, Israel (AP) — Intense winds scraped sand from the desert floor, clouding the view and leaving the Israeli soldiers scarcely able to see each other as they practiced blasting artillery shells at distant targets.
In a nearby armored vehicle, commanders armed with small screens could easily monitor every cannon, jeep and target involved, ordering strikes with the tap of a finger. Their weapon: a sophisticated communication system that compiles battlefield information in an easy-to-use, video game-like map interface, helping militaries make sense of the chaos of battle.
The Associated Press was given rare access to the exercise by a military eager to reclaim some of the deterrence it lost over technologically inferior Arab forces.
That deterrence has eroded in recent times, as guerrilla warfare left conventional armies — here as elsewhere — looking clumsy and vulnerable.
In a monthlong war in 2006, Lebanese guerrillas with relatively simple rockets knocked out Israeli tanks, and Israel's high-tech military was powerless to stop a barrage of primitive, unguided Katyusha rockets on northern Israel.
The latest computerized gadgetry is designed to knock down the military's response time. Troops on the ground can add new targets as soon as they spot them — like militants on foot, a rocket squad or a vehicle — to the network for commanders to see instantly and hit.
Strikes that used to take 20 or more minutes to coordinate now take just seconds, said Maj. Hagai Ben-Shushan, head of the C4I section for Israel's artillery. "It doesn't take much, then shells are going to the target," he said.
Israel is among several nations harnessing digital and satellite technology to develop C4I systems — short for "command, control, communications, computers and intelligence" — that integrate battlefield information.
The goal is to have "all the elements of a force ... seeing the same tactical picture, and you can move information from one to the other completely seamlessly," said Britain-based Giles Ebb, who studies such systems for Jane's Information Group.
C4I systems are operational in the United States, which started development in the 1990s, as well as France, Singapore, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy, among other countries, Ebb said.
Israel's version — being developed over the past decade or so — is "a little bit further down the road than some people ... because they have a focus on the problem, they are constantly operationally alert, and they need to be as operationally developed as they can," Ebb said.
The army says it started using the first, basic version in 2005, but it did not include all units and functions. The latest, completed in 2009 and in training since last March, allows all forces on the ground to communicate instantaneously.
"Visually, now everything is on the map, so it's much easier to coordinate," said the battalion commander whose men were being trained. "You can easily understand the map and the position of forces." He spoke on condition of anonymity under military rules.
On a stretch of sand near the army base at Shivta, deep in Israel's southern Negev desert, six artillery cannon stood with their barrels aimed at targets about 4 miles (6 kilometers) away. Commanders in a nearby armored vehicle stared at two screens, watching all movement on an interactive satellite map.
Pink squares marked each cannon, dotted lines of shell trajectory extended from their barrels and circles showed the expected blast radius of any shells fired.
Different symbols marked other army vehicles, their locations kept up to date with GPS-like devices. All the vehicles carried similar screens, giving soldiers a realtime map of the battlefield.
One soldier demonstrates how to add a new target to the map: A tap on the screen places it, then he can describe its size and character.
Seeing the target, a commander can then order a strike with a few more taps, deciding who will fire and how much. The order immediately appears on those units' screens.
The system's newest version, built by Israeli defense contractor Elbit, has yet to be battle-tested, but Israel used an earlier one in its Gaza offensive two years ago, Ben-Shushan said.
That war, launched to stop militant rocket fire on Israeli towns, killed about 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis. Four of the 10 Israeli soldiers were killed by friendly fire, but Col. Gil Maoz, head of Israel's Digital Army program, said the technology helped to prevent other Israeli fatalities.
Israel had only an early version of the system during its war with the Lebanese militia Hezbollah in 2006, which killed about 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis. An Israeli investigation into the war, which was widely seen as a failure, criticized the inability of commanders to relay key information to the field.
Maoz said having the system then could have lowered the Israeli death toll.
Elbit spokeswoman Dalia Rosen said that what sets the Israeli system apart from others is the ease with which it allows land, naval and air forces to communicate with each other and its ability to link everyone from rank-and-file soldiers in the field to the highest commanders.
She said Australia purchased Elbit communications technology for its own battle management system in a deal last year valued at $298 million.
Associated Press writer Josef Federman contributed reporting.
- New Israeli military technology speeds up warfare
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- New Israeli Military Technology Speeds Up Warfare
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Mystery of mass animal death epidemic deepens
Mystery of mass animal death epidemic deepens after 8,000 turtle doves fall dead in Italy with strange blue stain on their beaks
- Cold weather and overbreeding blamed for deaths of two 2million fish in Chesapeake Bay
Thousands of dead turtle doves rained down on roofs and cars in an Italian town in the latest in a growing spate of mass animal deaths across the globe.
Residents in Faenza described the birds falling to the ground like 'little Christmas balls' with strange blue stains on their beaks.
Initial tests on up to 8,000 of the doves indicated that the blue stain could have been caused by poisoning or hypoxia.
Mystery: 8,000 turtle doves fell to the ground dead in Faenza, Italy, and were found to have a blue stain around their beaks
Shock: Residents described seeing individual doves fall from the sky, before groups of 10 or 20 began hitting roofs and cars
Hypoxia, a lack of oxygen, is known to cause confusion and illness in
animals. It is also a common precursor to altitude sickness.
flock was swept into a high-altitude wind storm before falling to the
earth.
It comes after two million dead fish were found to have washed up on shores in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.
The alarming find is being blamed by
authorities in Maryland on the stress caused by unusually cold water and
overbreeding among spot fish.
Mystery: Experts said they believed the blue colouration around the doves' beaks may indicate poisoning or lack of oxygen
Littering the beach: The bodies of two million spot fish have washed up on the shores of Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, after unusually cold weather
Carnage: Thousands of dead fish have washed up on the shores of Spruce Creek, Florida
That
investigation comes just days after the deaths of an estimated 100,000
fish in northwest Arkansas, which is being blamed on disease.
A statement by the Maryland Department of the Environment said: 'Natural causes appear to be the reason.
'Cold water stress exacerbated by a
large population of the affected species (juvenile spot fish) appears to
be the cause of the kill.'
Preliminary tests of the water in Chesapeake Bay have showed the quality was acceptable, officials said.
The statement added: 'The affected fish are almost exclusively juvenile spot fish, three to six inches in length.
'A
recent survey showed a very strong population of spot in the bay this
year. An increased juvenile population and limited deep water habitat
would likely compound the effects of cold water stress.'
Gruesome: New Year revellers watched in horror as the birds rained down on houses and cars in Beebe
Mystery: Officials initially blamed high-altitude hail or lightning hitting the birds. Then preliminary lab tests concluded they had died from multiple blunt force trauma
Mystery: A starling lies along the Morganza Highway in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana. Experts said hundreds of birds may have died after hitting power lines
Mass winter deaths among spot fish have occurred twice before in the Maryland area - in 1976 and 1980.
These include:
- 450 red-winged blackbirds, brown-headed cowbirds, grackles and starlings found littering a highway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- 3,000 blackbirds on roofs and roads in the small town of Beebe, Arkansas
- Thousands of 'devil crabs' washed up along the Kent coast near Thanet
- Thousands of drum fish washed along a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River
- Two million small fish in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland
- Thousands of dead fish found floating in warm Florida creek
- Hundreds of snapper fish found dead in New Zealand
- Scores of American Coots found dead on Texas highway bridge
Experts
have speculated that New Year fireworks, thunderstorms, cold weather,
parasites and even poisoning may be behind the deaths.
But
conspiracy theorists have also speculated on the internet that secret
government experiments could be behind them, with some even claiming it
was a sign of a looming Armageddon at the end of the Mayan calendar next
year.
Another theory is that the rapid movement of the Magnetic North Pole towards Russia may have affected the birds' innate navigation systems.
The plot thickens: Rescue chief Christer Olofsson holds a dead bird in Falkoping, Sweden. Dozens of jackdaws were found dead on the street
Creepy: Thousands of dead drum fish were also discovered just miles away lining the shores of the Arkansas River
Tests are being carried out on the dead birds and fish, but results are not expected for several weeks.
have been baffled by the sudden deaths of hundreds of birds which have
plummeted to the ground seemingly simultaneously in several locations.
experts blamed the shock of New Year fireworks for the unexplained
deaths of 50 jackdaws found on a street in Falkoping, Sweden.
Many of the birds are believed to have died from stress or as a result of being run over while disoriented.
The
largest incident took place in Beebe, Arkansas, were horrified
revellers witnessed around 3,000 blackbirds crashing to their deaths
into homes, cars and each other as they celebrated New Year.
Another 450 birds were found strewn along a highway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after apparently hitting overhead power lines.
In both cases, the birds are believed to have become confused and were flying at a lower height than usual.
Thousands
of Brazilian fishermen have been left struggling to make ends meet
after the sale of seafood was temporarily suspended when masses of fish
were discovered in Paranaguá, Antonina and Guaraqueçaba Pontal do
Paraná.
Fish were also discovered rotting and floating in Spruce Creek, Florida, after another period of cold weather.
And
the cold snap has been blamed for the deaths of 40,000 Velvet swimming
crabs - known as 'devil crabs - found littering beaches in Thanet, Kent.
Thousands of them: Crabs washed up at Palm Bay, Margate, are thought to have died of hypothermia
See more at www.dailymail.co.uk
39 Percent Of NYC Pregnancies Result In Abortion
39 Percent Of NYC Pregnancies Result In Abortion
New York Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan at a a press conference in New York on Jan. 6, 2011. (AP Photo/Chiaroscuro Foundation, Diane Bondareff)
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) – Archbishop Timothy Dolan is calling for efforts to make abortions in New York City “rare.”
Dolan gathered with other religious leaders on Thursday to draw attention to the city’s high abortion rate. The city health department last month released statistics that showed 39 percent of pregnancies ended with induced termination in 2009.
READ THE REPORT HERE.
“I re-affirm Cardinal John O’Connor’s promise of a quarter-century ago that every woman facing a difficult pregnancy will be provided with free, confidential help of the highest quality from the Archdiocese of New York,” said Archbishop Dolan.
While the numbers have declined in the last decade, the religious leaders said they are still too high.
In 2009, there were 225,667 pregnancies in the City with 126,774 resulting in live births and 87,273 resulting in abortions. In addition to those abortion numbers, there were 11,620 spontaneous terminations.
Forty-six percent of all births in the Bronx result in abortions—the highest among the five boroughs, according to the report.
Blacks had the highest number of abortions with 40,798 with Hispanics having the second highest at 28,364, according to the report.
In response, the Chiaroscuro Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports alternatives to abortion, pledged that it will spend $1 million in 2011 to address the City’s abortion rate—nearly double the national average of 23 percent.
“Like it or not, the legality of abortion is a settled question in New York for the time being,” said Greg Pfundstein, executive director of the Chiaroscuro Foundation. “That doesn’t mean we have to accept the fact that in parts of the city nearly half of all pregnancies end in abortion.”
Dolan said the practice is unlikely to end but that it was important ‘to tell people what is happening’ and help pregnant women come to terms with their choices.
“We are prepared to do everything in our power to help you and your unborn baby to make absolutely certain that you need never feel that you have no choice but an abortion,” Archbishop Dolan said.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the religious leaders also criticized public schools sex education programs that include condom distribution.
(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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New Laws Govern Guns, Web, Banks
New Laws Govern Guns, Web, Banks
More Provisions of Health-Care Measure Also Begin This Year
By MELANIE TROTTMAN And NATHAN KOPPEL
A raft of new federal and local laws ring in the new year, governing a span of topics from health care and finance to texting, guns and smoking.
Associated Press
A teenager reads a text message while steering through a test course sponsored by a Driven to Distraction task force.
Among the most far-reaching pieces of legislation is the new federal health-care law which this year includes new taxes on drug makers, as well as lower prescription-drug costs for many seniors and restrictions on tax-free medical spending. The provisions come amid heated debate, with many lawmakers saying they hope to overturn the health-care law.
Another new federal law gives borrowers more specific information on the interest rates they pay on credit cards and other loans. Beginning this year, consumers have the right to find out why they didn't get the best possible terms on a credit-card or non-business loan. Credit-card companies and other lenders must provide a risk-based pricing notice or a credit score to explain the reasoning behind interest rates.
Associated Press
A man stacks computer equipment in Bloomington, Minn., for recycling.
Federal regulations will begin requiring new and upgraded power plants, oil refiners and other large facilities to hold permits to release greenhouse gases.
State legislators passed about 31,000 news laws in 2010, down slightly from the previous year. Many of those laws took effect at the start of this year, and many reflect the potential misuse of computers.
Illinois lawmakers, for example, enacted a law aimed at catching people who use webcams to engage in virtual sex acts with children. California made it illegal to intimidate, threaten or defraud someone using a website.
"States passed laws last year to directly address cyber bullying and the use of technology to steal identities and misrepresent who you are online," said Meagan Dorsch, director of public affairs for the National Conference of State Legislatures, a bipartisan group that offers data and research to legislators nationwide. "There are a lot of examples of states expanding their current laws to try to protect the public while they engage in new technologies."
Some states have taken aim at an increasingly common technological scourge: the use of cellphones while driving. Delaware, Kansas and Kentucky join more than two dozen other states in making it illegal to send text messages while driving. In Kentucky, fines are $25 for the first offense and $50 for each additional one. In Kansas, where enforcement of a texting law began Saturday, drivers face a minimum fine of $60. Kentucky is also prohibiting anyone under 18 from using any cellphone while driving—hand-held or otherwise—except to summon medical help or police.
Efforts to ban public smoking continued. In Missouri, the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County prohibited smoking in most bars and restaurants beginning this year, joining other indoor smoking bans around the U.S.
States also targeted gun use restrictions. In Iowa, local sheriffs will have less discretion to reject gun permit applications. The new right-to-carry law says sheriffs can only turn down applications for specific reasons, such as a previous criminal record. The new law also allows gun owners to carry concealed weapons in bars as long as the gun owner isn't legally intoxicated.
In Wisconsin, a law took effect Saturday to collect statistics to determine if law-enforcement officers are stopping and searching drivers based on their race. The law requires officers to report the age, gender and ethnicity of the driver and passengers, along with the reason for the traffic stop and whether a search was conducted.
In Indiana, a new law this year prohibits people from dumping computers and electronics for trash pickups. Such electronics, which can contain mercury and other hazardous substances, are now barred from being incinerated or placed in landfills.
Some states also took aim at a synthetic cannabinoid, similar to the active ingredient in marijuana, dubbed "K2." The substance was made illegal in Illinois this year, one of 17 states that took legislative action against the chemical substance, according to Ms. Dorsch.
This year also marks the start of the race to implement many of the key parts of the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul bill passed last summer. At the first shareholder meeting that occurs after Jan. 21, for example, SEC-registered firms must provide for a nonbinding say on pay vote regarding executive compensation.
Regulators are also supposed to complete a study in January that looks at the impact of restrictions on certain types of bank trading, as part of the Volcker Rule. And by the end of the month, the Treasury Secretary must submit a report to Congress with a study and recommendations for the fate of the government-run mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Write to Melanie Trottman at melanie.trottman@wsj.com and Nathan Koppel at nathan.koppel@wsj.com