Al-Qaeda's second in command Ayman al- Zawahiri has vowed in a videotape that his group will pursue attacks on the United States and slammed Palestinian Hamas for joining the political process.

Only jihad, or holy war, can liberate occupied Palestinian territory, not elections, Zawahiri said in the video broadcast on Qatar-based pan-Arab television Al-Jazeera Wednesday without explicitly naming the Islamist movement.

Zawahiri said Al-Qaeda, which claimed the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, will not stop attacks on US soil as long as the United States strikes Muslims on their own land.

"If we are hit in our countries, we will not stop striking you in your country," he said.

Pope Benedict appeared to back a greater role for Syria in resolving Middle East conflicts on Thursday, putting himself at odds with Israel, the United States and France.
 

The Pope made his comments in an address to Syria's new ambassador to the Vatican in which the Pontiff defended Israel's right to exist within secure borders and condemned terrorism.
 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has voiced concern at the turmoil in the Middle East and stressed Moscow's desire for a diplomatic role in the region, as he held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the AFP news agency reports.

"The situation in the region remains tense. We see that the region is practically moving from one conflict to another and that cannot but concern us," Putin said at the Kremlin meeting Tuesday.

Noting that he had recently hosted Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, Putin said: "We continue in the most active way possible to participate in the Middle East peace process and continue to have contacts with all the political forces in Palestine".

 

Russian weapons sales to Syria were also likely to be a theme, analysts said. In an interview Monday with the official Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper, Syrian Vice President Faruq al-Shara hinted that Syria would like to buy more Russian weapons systems -- a trade that has angered Israel and raised eyebrows in Washington.

Kommersant said Damascus is considering buying MiG-29SMT fighter jets from Russia as well as possibly Amur-1650 submarines, Yak-130 planes and additional Pantsir-C1 air defence systems. Kommersant said Russia was looking at possibly expanding a supply base in the Syrian port of Tartus used by the Russian navy and previously the Soviet navy, with a view to turning it into a fully-fledged base and foothold in the Mediterranean for Russia's navy.

Iran defied imminent United Nations sanctions over its nuclear program yesterday and pledged that it would become a member of the nuclear club within weeks.

After weeks of haggling between major world powers, a resolution is expected to be approved by the UN Security Council before Christmas.

"The nature of this resolution is not capable of pressuring Iran, and Iran will give an appropriate response to it," said Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, and main negotiator on atomic issues. "This behaviour will just create more problems."

Following Iran's failure to halt sensitive nuclear fuel work, the resolution is expected to ban imports and exports of materials and technology relating to uranium enrichment, reprocessing and heavy-water reactors, as well as ballistic missile delivery systems.

Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, yesterday reiterated a prediction that Iran will announce going nuclear in February during celebrations of the 1979 Islamic revolution against the Shah.

This afternoon (December 24, 2006) at 3:00 p.m. ET, Fox's David Asman will host a Fox News "exclusive" presentation titled: "Purpose Driven Life: Can Rick Warren Change the World?" The "exclusive" will re-air at 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. ET, and again on Christmas Day at 1:00 a.m. ET. In the show's promo, Fox promises to,

[S]how you how Pastor Warren became one of the most influential religious leaders in America and built one of the largest evangelical churches in the nation.

If you miss the show, Fox News is offering a DVD through a "special offer" posted at the link above: Purchase the "Purpose Driven Life: Can Rick Warren Change the World?" DVD for only $19.99 (plus shipping and handling) by calling (800) 933-0760 or through foxnewsshop.c om. Hurry - supplies won't last!

If you luck out there, you can buy Warren's book via the publishing house Zondervan, or you can contact Zondervan's parent company, News Corp., which, gosh darn it -- can you believe the coincidence?, just happens to be Fox's parent company too!

At the end of the Fox "exclusive," Warren, whose website is PurposeDriven.com, will invite viewers to go to ThePeacePlan. com, which is, "the response and resources website for the Saddleback Christmas Services broadcast on Fox News." At PeacePlan, viewers can, "register their spiritual decision or interest in finding a church" as PeacePlan is, "creating a 'Church Finder' list of every qualified church in our network." It says that,

Your church needs to be on that list so people in your area can find you! People who request follow-up information from the website will give us their name, email, and ZIP code. Then we'll send you the names of people in your area who are looking for a church! We're paying for this. It's free to you and other churches in our network...

If you miss the Purpose Driven special altogether, be sure to catch Fox's broadcast of Warren's Christmas service from his Saddleback church (notice Fox's logo on the homepage) in Lake Forest, California. Fox will air that on December 24 at 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. ET, and again on December 25 at 12:00 midnight ET, 10:00 a.m. ET, and 2:00 p.m. ET.

Comment: Could anything be more insidious? Nine hours of Rick Warren over a 23-hour period. News Corp. (that's News Corp.) uses Fox News to promote Warren who promotes Fox and around and around we go.

I wonder whether Warren will share the PeacePlan list with anyone. Sorry but my imagination's running wild: Warren gives "the list" to Murdoch who gives it to Karl Rove?

IRANIAN President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sent a message to Pope Benedict XVI urging greater understanding between religions, officials said today.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki arrived in the Vatican City today to deliver in person Mr Ahmadinejad's message, his latest letter in a series of missives to world leaders, the official news agency IRNA reported.

"It is not a political letter," Ehsan Jahandideh of the Iranian president's press office said.

"President Ahmadinejad insisted in his letter on the common teachings of the prophets and the importance of establishing new political and human relations based on those teachings.

"The unjust relations that exist at the moment require the cooperation of different religions to remedy them," Mr Jahandideh quoted the letter as saying.