Iran simulates nuclear weapon with triple the power of Hiroshima bomb
(JNS.org) Computer simultions run by Iranian scientists reveal a nuclear weapon with more than three times the power of the bomb America dropped on Hiroshima during World War II, the Associated Press reported.
The AP cited a diagram it obtained from anonymous officials featuring a bell curve whose highest point is 50 kilotons (a measurement unit indicating nuclear force), compared with the Hiroshima bomb’s power of 15 kilotons.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at his September speech to the United Nations General Assembly, displayed his own diagram indicating that Iran nuclear program would reach the point of no return in the spring or summer of 2013.
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NJ congressman renews call for release of American Jew in Bolivia after official’s arrest
(JNS.org) U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), who has been active advocating for the release of American-Jewish contractor Jacob Ostreicher—jailed in Bolivia without formal charges or bail since June 2011—is hopeful that the arrest of Jose Manuel Antezana, a high-level official who was employed for the Bolivian ministry of the presidency, will help prove Ostreicher’s innocence.
Antezana is accused of earning more than $9,000 by illegally selling 18 tons of rice that had been confiscated from Ostreicher.
“I am cautiously hopeful that this is a positive development and that Jacob is a step closer to freedom. Justice delayed is justice denied, and justice has been delayed for a long time. Jacob has tried to work through the legal system, and has been patient beyond reasonable expectations. There simply is no evidence offered against him,” said Smith, chairman of a U.S. congressional subcommittee that oversees international human rights.
Ostreicher had traveled to Bolivia in December 2010 to oversee rice production and was arrested in June 2011 on suspicion of money laundering and criminal organization. No formal charges have ever been brought against him. On Aug. 31 this year, Ostreicher was denied bail.
U.S. Rep. Bob Turner—who represents the section of Brooklyn where Ostreicher lived—explained in an October phone interview with JNS.org that according to Bolivian law, “you have to be charged within an 18-month period.” Both Turner and Smith are among the consistent advocates for Ostreicher’s cause.
In June, Smith attended a hearing with Ostreicher during which a Bolivian judge passed the matter on to a higher court—a move “likely guaranteeing more months of delay,” according to the New Jersey legislator.
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Israeli mother of four fends off intruder from Gaza
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) A disaster was averted on Monday when a mother of four managed to fend off a Palestinian attacker who had broken into her home after infiltrating Israel from the Gaza Strip.
The attacker was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers after he fled the woman’s house in the Gaza border community of Sde Avraham. Yael Matzpun, 39, was lightly wounded in the attack, which investigators initially believed to be nationalistically motivated but later said could have been criminally motivated. Matzpun struggled with the attacker, possibly saving the lives of her children, who were asleep in the adjacent room.
The burglar entered the family’s home through the back door around 3:50 a.m., armed with a knife and metal rod. Matzpun and her four children were asleep. Her husband was away on business. Danni Matzpun said, “After [the attacker] woke Yael and she became scared he would harm her and the children, she fought him hard, managed to push him into the shower room, get the kids into the safety room and then continued to fight the intruder while throwing everything she could get her hands on at him.”
While the intruder was stuck in the bathroom, Matzpun called a neighbor and her husband, who works in the defense establishment, and they called the community’s emergency first response unit to the home, along with an Israel Defense Forces unit stationed in the area. After realizing he was trapped, the attacker tried escaping through the bathroom window. During his escape attempt, Israeli soldiers arrived at the home and chased him on foot for about 1.5 kilometers (nearly a mile). They called on him to halt near the community’s greenhouse area, but he refused to comply, and was shot and killed.
“I’m very proud of my daughter,” said her father, Danni Matzpun. “In my eyes she’s a real hero. She managed, with a great deal of resourcefulness, to push the burglar into the shower, which is next to the bedroom, and then pushed the child’s bed up against the door to prevent him from escaping. Without her quick thinking, it could have ended very badly.”
Palestinians submit resolution for upgraded status at UN, vote set for Nov. 29
(JNS.org) The Palestinian Authority has submitted a final draft resolution to the United Nations General Assembly, paving the way for a vote on upgraded status at the UN on Nov. 29, Ma’an News Agency reported.
The Palestinians are seeking to upgrade their status from “non-member” to “observer,” which would allow them to join several UN agencies and treaties, such as the International Criminal Court (ICC), where the Palestinians could bring criminal charges against Israel.
The Palestinians failed to gain UN statehood last year after the U.S. threatened to veto the initiative in the Security Council. However, this year the Palestinians only need to gain a simple majority in the UN General Assembly, where the U.S. does not have veto power. Analysts expect the Palestinians to easily gain passage.
As a result, the U.S. and Israel had been working to convince the Palestinians to soften the language in the resolution, including a guarantee not to join the ICC, Haaretz reported.
However, the Palestinians refused to budge, telling U.S. and European diplomats that it was only prepared to give an oral promise not to pursue action in the ICC for six months.
Also complicating efforts, Hamas, which had originally opposed the UN initiative pursued by its rivals in the Palestinian Authority, recently came out in support of the resolution.
Pope calls for end to persecution of Christians, renewed peace efforts in Middle East
(JNS.org) At a gathering in Rome with Lebanon’s new cardinal, Pope Benedict XVI launched a new appeal for peace in Syria and the Middle East, the Associated Press reported.
“The church encourages all efforts for peace in the world and in the Middle East, a peace that will only be effective if it is based on authentic respect for other people,” Benedict told the gathering, which included several Lebanese pilgrims.
Benedict also spoke out concerning the plight of Christians from their traditional homelands throughout the Middle East, calling for them to be able to “live their faith freely.”
Christian communities have come under assault by Muslims amid the upheaval related to the “Arab Spring.” Tens of thousands of Syrian Christians have fled the civil war there, while Egypt’s Coptic Christian community fears the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood and ultra-extremist Salafi groups to power.
Recently, several Coptic Christian teenage women were been assaulted by other women on Cairo subways because their hair was uncovered. Many Coptic women are now afraid to ride the transit system in fear of being assaulted or sexually harassed, according to Morning Star News.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org