Note from UTT:

The following article indicates we can expect more and more discussions in the future by "global authorities" asking for "global laws" to resolve "global problems." This is one of the many avenues towards a one world "governance" that sets up a one world government and a one world religion the Bible foretells. 
 

Humanity slides into the red today and begins racking up an ecological overdraft driven by unsustainable exploitation of the world's resources, according to a report by the sustainable development organization Global Footprint Network.
 

In little more than nine months, humans have used up all that nature can replenish in one year, and for the rest of 2006 are destined to eat into the planet's ecological capital, the study claims.
 

The network calculated the day the global economy started to operate with an ecological deficit by comparing world demand for resources with the rate at which ecosystems can replenish them. The study draws on surveys from bodies such as the UN Food and Agricultural Organization.
 

According to GFN, humanity first went into global ecological debt in 1987, when the year's resources were spent by December 19. Since then, the date has leapt forward year by year to November 21 by 1995 and October 11 last year. The trend reveals the alarming effect of unsustainable lifestyles which are increasingly using up world reserves. "Humanity is living off its ecological credit card," said Mathis Wackernagel at GFN.
 

The worst offenders are in developed countries: for North Americans the "ecological footprint" - the land and water a person needs to sustain their lifestyle - is 9.6 hectares (23.7 acres). For the typical African it is 1.4 hectares.
 

If every country lived frugally, only half the planet's resources would be needed to meet demand. But if the world adopted a US lifestyle, four extra planets would be needed.

SEOUL, South Korea - The United States and Australia demanded immediate U.N. Security Council action against North Korea for its reported nuclear test, while China condemned its ally for blatantly defying the world.
 

British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the move "completely irresponsible," and his government warned of serious consequences for the isolated regime.
 

The U.N. Security Council planned to discuss the crisis today, and the United States and Japan are likely to press for a resolution imposing additional sanctions on Pyongyang.

North Korea said it tested its first atomic bomb in an underground explosion this morning. The White House said U.S. and South Korean intelligence detected a seismic event at a suspected North Korean nuclear site and were trying to confirm Pyongyang's claims.
 

"A North Korean nuclear test would constitute a provocative act in defiance of the will of the international community," said White House spokesman Tony Snow. "We expect the U.N. Security Council to take immediate actions to respond to this unprovoked act."

Archaeologists have discovered the 100,000-year-old fossilised remains of a previously unknown giant camel species in Syria.

The bones of the dromedary were unearthed by a Swiss-Syrian team of researchers near the village of El Kowm in the central part of the country.

The animal is thought to have been double the size of a modern-day camel.
 

It may even have been killed by humans, who were living at the once water-rich site during the same period.
 

Jean-Marie Le Tensorer of the University of Basel commented: "It was not known that the dromedary was present in the Middle East more than 10,000 years ago.

"The camel's shoulders stood three metres high and it was around four metres tall; as big as a giraffe or an elephant. Nobody knew that such a species had existed," he said.

By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent

The Syrian military is preparing for war with Israel, Syria's President Bashar Assad told the Quwaiti newspaper Al-Anba on Saturday.

In an interview widely quoted by Syrian news agencies, Assad said Israel could attack Syria "at any moment."
 

"We must remain ready at all times," said Assad. "We have begun preparations within the framework of our options."

Assad also said he believes Israel has abandonded the peace process.

One thing is for sure: Israel's response to a Syrian attack will be nothing like its reaction to the July 12 kidnapping of reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser in a cross-border Hizbullah attack. The retaliation, defense officials interviewed for this article warned, would be harsher, fiercer and far deadlier.
 

The first difference would be the bank of targets. On the night of July 12, hours after the kidnapping, the cabinet convened to approve a list of targets for the IAF to strike. None of them included government or Lebanese armed forces sites. The closest the IAF got to striking at the Lebanese government during the month-long war in Lebanon was the bombing of the runway at Beirut International Airport.
 

"We will shut down the entire country" was how one defense official described the potential response.

Some customers are willing to have microchip implants as a means of paying in stores, a report out today says.
 

Teenagers are more open to the idea of having a high-tech shopping experience, the Tomorrow's Shopping World report suggests.
 

Around 8 per cent of 13 to 19-year-olds were open to the idea of microchip implants while 16 per cent wanted trolleys to be fitted with SatNav systems.

Somalia's Islamists have accused Ethiopian troops of attacking a town and have vowed a "holy war" in revenge.
 

The town of Bur Haqaba lies on the road from the government base in Baidoa to the Islamist-held capital, Mogadishu.
 

Ethiopia denies that its troops have crossed the border but does support the government against the Islamists.
 

An Islamist leader, wearing fatigues and holding an AK-47, said a "jihad" had been declared on Ethiopia, raising fears of a regional conflict.

Egypt - along with Turkey - recently announced plans to build nuclear power plants.
 

The BBC website asked three Egyptians if they approved of the move; if they thought it would lead to an arms race; and how worried they were about Iran's nuclear ambitions.
 

AMAL, 33, TRANSLATOR, CAIRO

This is not new, we did have a nuclear energy programme before, until the 80's. But look who announced it. It wasn't the government, but the president's son, Gamal.

He's paving the way for his own future in politics.
 

The programme is for peaceful energy reasons, so it's OK. In the region, Israel has nuclear weapons, Iran is making a fuss and Turkey may be heading the same way. We can't be left too far behind or we'll be eaten alive.

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Thursday Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders needed to work harder to improve dialogue and promote "authentic respect" among cultures and religions.
 

Benedict, who became embroiled in controversy over remarks about Islam last month, made the comment during an audience for a delegation of Jews from the Anti-Defamation League.
 

He said Christians, Muslims and Jews should build on the "many common convictions" they share.

..."To do this effectively requires a deepening of our mutual understanding and a shared dedication to building a society of ever greater justice and peace," he said.

Comment from UTT:

This news item regarding the meeting of the Dalai Lama and Pope Benedict is very interesting in light of another event that occurred February 20, 2006, when the Delhi Lama was asked to set up a "religious united nations" in Jerusalem.

http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx? id=11885&t=1&c=1,%20February% 202006

Also, it is know that the Delhi Lama " venerates" our Lady of Fatima (also venerated by the past and present pope). The Catholic Mary called the Queen of Heaven is also given the title of "Our Lady of Peace." 
 

Pope Benedict XVI met with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in Rome today in an audience that was unpublicized by the Vatican.

The audience did not appear on the Vatican's page of daily appointments. The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after the country's failed revolt against Communist China, a country with which the Vatican is trying to repair diplomatic ties.
 

The meeting with the Dalai Lama was ``private, a courtesy, of religious content,'' Ansa news agency quoted the Vatican's Deputy Press Director Father Ciro Benedettini as saying.
 

Today's encounter was the Dalai Lama's first meeting with Benedict, though he met with his predecessor Pope John Paul II as many as nine times.

by Ezra HaLevi

MK Uri Ariel (National Union) is drawing up plans to construct a synagogue on the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site. Jordan's King plans to build a fifth minaret on the site as well.
 

The synagogue would be build upon the Temple Mount, but in an area that is indisputably not within the areas that require immersion and other preparations, according to Jewish law.

Ariel says that the synagogue would not change the Muslim status quo on the mount, which is home to the Al-Aksa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.
"This is not a new idea," Ariel stressed, "it has been brought up and considered countless times since the [1967] Six Day War [during which the Temple Mount was liberated from Jordanian occupation - ed.]."

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

OSLO (Reuters) - The birds and the bees may be gay, according to the world's first museum exhibition about homosexuality among animals.
 

With documentation of gay or lesbian behavior among giraffes, penguins, parrots, beetles, whales and dozens of other creatures, the Oslo Natural History Museum concludes human homosexuality cannot be viewed as "unnatural."
 

"We may have opinions on a lot of things, but one thing is clear -- homosexuality is found throughout the animal kingdom, it is not against nature," an exhibit statement said.

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to impose punishing sanctions on North Korea including ship searches for banned weapons, calling Pyongyang's claimed nuclear test "a clear threat to international peace and security."
 

North Korea immediately rejected the resolution, and its U.N. ambassador walked out of the council chamber after accusing its members of a "gangster-like" action which neglects the nuclear threat posed by the United States.
 

The U.S.-sponsored resolution demands that the reclusive communist nation abandon its nuclear weapons program, and orders all countries to prevent North Korea from importing or exporting any material for weapons of mass destruction or ballistic missiles. It orders nations to freeze assets of people or businesses connected to these programs, and ban the individuals from traveling.

Note from UTT: 

Over the past few days an increased number of news items reveal that dialogue between Pope Benedict XVI and other world religious leaders (Islamic, Jewish and Buddhist) for the cause of peaceĀ has been intensifying. While these events are happening, fewer and fewer who profess to be Bible believing Christians seem to be aware or even care.
 

This past week (while speaking at a Pastor's conference) I was told that exposing the Roman Catholic "Peace Plan" was irrelevant and my second talk on dealing with the "Emergent Church: Another Road to Rome" was canceled. The following article should confirm we are living in perilous times and it is time to wake up.
 

The meeting between Benedict XVI and the Dalai Lama is "a unique moment that heralds peace in bringing together the disciples of Christ and Buddha. Only they can stop the wave of violence and terrorism coming from those who use religion for political ends." This was the feedback gathered by AsiaNews from Catholics and Buddhists in Lumbini, the "cradle of Buddha", about the private audience given yesterday by the pontiff to the leader of the Tibetan Buddhists.
 

Sr Celestine, a Catholic religious, said: "The two religious leaders emphasized how important interfaith dialogue is in these times. Christianity and Buddhism have different rituals and traditions, but they promote the same theology of peace."
 

She added: "It is not a coincidence that Christ is the prince of peace and Buddha is called the apostle of peace. The meeting wants to send a clear message that comes from God: those who perpetrate violence in the name of religion are perpetrating sacrilegious acts. They are sinners who need prayers."
 

Devendra Nath Nepali, a Hindu activist, told AsiaNews: "What the leaders of Buddhism and Christianity did yesterday should be imitated by all other religious leaders. A meeting between Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Jews and all other faiths, called to discuss how to stop violence, could change the world."