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BY OMAR SINAN, Associated Press Writer Sat Nov 10, 4:26 PM ET CAIRO, Egypt - Egypt and Saudi Arabia backed an upcoming U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference Saturday as a way to set the stage for a final agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, an Egyptian official said. It was still unclear, however, whether the two countries would attend the conference, scheduled for late November in Annapolis, Md. Arab countries have been reluctant to commit to attending without guarantees that the meeting will yield firm results. "Egypt and Saudi Arabia have a clear stance, that is to welcome the meeting because...

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer LONDON - President Bush is sending his national security adviser to the Middle East next week to keep up pressure on Israel and the Palestinians to reach agreement on launching formal peace talks, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday. The announcement came as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she was encouraged by what she had heard from the two sides during four days of intense talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials and civic and business leaders in Jerusalem and Ramallah in the West Bank. But Rice also acknowledged tensions between the two...

TOKYO : A strong typhoon was churning in the Pacific towards Japan on Wednesday and may hit the Tokyo area later in the week, the weather agency said. Typhoon Fitow, packing winds of up to 108 kilometres (67 miles) an hour near its centre, was in the Pacific hundreds of kilometres south of Tokyo Wednesday morning and was forecast to reach Tokyo or its vicinity by early Friday. More...

This image provided by the US Navy shows the U.S. Navy's oldest ship in full active service, the USS Kitty Hawk, departing Yokosuka Japan Tuesday May 15, 2007 to begin carrier qualifications in the western Pacific Ocean. Kitty Hawk is the Navy's only permanent forward-deployed aircraft carrier and operates out of Yokosuka, Japan. The Kitty Hawk is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2008. (AP Photo/US Navy - Stephen Rowe) Oldest U.S. carrier making last voyage TOKYO - The USS Kitty Hawk, the US Navy's oldest ship in full active service, embarked on its last major maneuvers Wednesday before being...

Jamestown -- the birth of a nation 400 years ago The replica Jamestown ships, The Susan Constant, center, Godspeed, right, and Discovery ply the waters of Hampton Roads as they make their way to Virginia Beach to participate in the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, Va., Tuesday, April 24, 2007. The centerpiece of the 18-month commemoration of the 400th anniversary of America's first permanent English settlement is almost here after a decade of planning. About two-thirds of the tickets for the 'America's Anniversary Weekend' extravaganza May 11-13 remain available; 31,587 had been sold as of...

Apr. 10, 2006 21:32 | Updated Apr. 10, 2006 23:13 Our World: The Jordanian option By CAROLINE GLICK IAF helicopters attacked Palestinian terror training camps in Gaza on Saturday and Sunday in an attempt to thwart the Palestinians' rapidly intensifying Kassam rocket offensive on southern Israel. The targeted camps are new blots on the blighted Gazan landscape. They were established shortly after Israel expelled 8,000 of its citizens from their homes in Gush Katif and razed their communities ahead of the IDF retreat from Gaza last summer. The camps were established on the ruins of the communities of Slav and Neve Dekalim....

Japan, US to jointly test missile defence system this week     Tokyo, Mar 07: Japan and the United States will test fire an interceptor of their jointly developed next generation shipborne missile system later this week, a Japanese defence official said today. The two allies are currently developing a new version of the US sea-based Standard Missile 3 (SM-3), amid growing concern about North Korea and rising tension between Japan and China. Under the plan, they will launch a conventional SM-3 with a nose cone prototype, from a US aegis destroyer off Hawaii, to shoot down a flying target, the...

Video on MSNBC. Two-story house destroyed. Fire being extinguished. Status of home's occupants unknown.

Jordan calls for quick revival of Mideast peace talks Jordan's King Abdullah II, seen here on 04 January, called for a "rapid return" to Middle East peace talks after the shock Palestinian election victory by the Islamist movement Hamas, which advocates the destruction of Israel. (AFP/PPO-HO/File) AMMAN (AFP) - Jordan's King Abdullah II called for a "rapid return" to Middle East peace talks after the shock Palestinian election victory by the Islamist movement Hamas, which advocates the destruction of Israel "Whatever the results of (Wednesday's parliamentary) election," the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel remains "the only solution for...

Kuwait rulers in succession wrangle after death of emir KUWAIT CITY (AFP) — The Kuwaiti ruling family remained at odds Thursday over succession issues following the emir's death, leaving the oil-rich Gulf state in a political impasse. Top members of the Al-Sabah family held lengthy meetings Tuesday and Wednesday on issues such as the appointment of a new crown prince and a prime minister, but failed to reach decisions, sources close to the family told AFP. They also discussed further arrangements to strike a balance between various wings of the family, especially the Al Salem and Al Jaber lines which...

Jan. 19, 2006 1:00 | Updated Jan. 19, 2006 5:57 Jerusalem among the stars By JONATHAN SCHNEIDER For centuries, Jerusalem has been considered the center of the earth, but now it has been become a planet unto itself. Scientists have unveiled the authentic Planet Jerusalem, after the International Astronomical Union finally approved the naming of a recently discovered minor planet in honor of Israel's capital. Initially spotted in December 2000 by Dr. Michal Kocer and his wife Martina from the Klet Observatory in the Czech Republic, the minor planet from the Phocaea asteroid family has an estimated diameter of three to six...

Per CNN...

Joseph the Antecedent; Joseph the Nazir Matthew 2:19-23 19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life. 21 And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding,...

Would-be Israeli brides leave intimate offering for rabbi Bras are strung together on a line. Hundreds of young Israeli women hoping to find themselves a husband have been placing their underwear on the tomb of a venerated rabbi in the hopes that their marriage prayers will be answered.(AFP/BELGA/File) JERUSALEM (AFP) - Hundreds of young Israeli women hoping to find themselves a husband have been placing their underwear on the tomb of a venerated rabbi in the hopes that their marriage prayers will be answered. Around 400 pairs of knickers and bras have been collected from the grilles of the tomb's...

WASHINGTON (AP) — His Majesty King Abdullah was awarded the first Pope John Paul II Peace Award on Wednesday in recognition of his efforts to promote tolerance among the world's religions and tackle extremism. The King, who did not attend the award ceremony, accepted it in a letter “on behalf of the people of my beloved Jordan and the entire Arab world. Millions are courageously standing up for peace and tolerance — the traditional Muslim values that are the heart of our heritage and our hope for the future.” The King has been at the forefront of efforts to portray...

Gates Promises Tough Battle With Google By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer Wed Oct 26, 4:42 PM ET TEL AVIV, Israel - On his first trip to Israel, Bill Gates promised Microsoft Corp. would make an aggressive push into the fast-growing market for Internet searches, taking aim at archrival Google Inc. Gates also said Israel's vibrant high-tech sector will play an important role in the global marketplace and pledged to strengthen cooperation with the country. He offered $1.4 million for local startups and pledged to connect tens of thousands Israeli children to the Internet. "It's no exaggeration to say that...

In this photo made available by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI meets with Jordan's King Abdullah II and his wife Rania in the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, Monday, Sept. 12, 2005, a meeting the king said was a positive step in developing an honest dialogue between moderate Islam and the West. (AP Photo/Osservatore Romano, Arturo Mari)   Pope on meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II 16:52 2005-09-12 Pope Benedict XVI met Monday with Jordan's King Abdullah II, who called the talks a positive step in developing honest dialogue between the Islamic...

This Is How We Will Cancel the Decree by Nadia Matar Aug 10, '05 / 5 Av 5765 This is it. We've come to the bottom line of the struggle. If some supernatural miracle does not occur in the next week, then we must organize and act, to bring about, with our own hands, the natural miracle that, with G-d's help, will result in the cancellation of the deportation decree. To put it simply: anyone who thoroughly understands the situation knows that we have the power to stop the deportation plan. We have a tremendous, determined and believing public. Moreover, a...

Egyptian mummy brought to virtual life in US technology mecca Computer experts in US technology mecca Silicon Valley have used 21st century science to virtually revive a two-century-old Egyptian mummy. Picture shows an open coffin and a mummy at an excavation south of Cairo.(AFP/File)   SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Computer experts in US technology mecca Silicon Valley have used 21st century science to virtually revive a two-century-old Egyptian mummy. Technicians at computing visualization company Silicon Graphics Incorporated used body scan data to create three-dimensional imagery of a mummified girl kept at Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose since about 1930....

Jul. 26, 2005 0:34  | Updated Jul. 26, 2005 8:58 Thousands of IDF, police begin training for pullout By ARIEH O'SULLIVAN AND YAAKOV KATZ For the next three weeks, the Tze'elim training base in the Negev will be buzzing with thousands of IDF soldiers and policemen as they undergo the most unusual training of their careers. Starting Tuesday morning, the police and the army begin preparing their forces for evacuating settlers from their homes in the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria. The training will provide the security service personnel with a variety of practical skills but will also include a heavy...