Ancient cave linked to early Christians in Jordan
AMMAN, Jordan - Archaeologists in Jordan have discovered a cave underneath one of the world’s oldest churches and say it may have been an even more ancient site of Christian worship. But outside experts expressed caution about the claim.
Archaeologist Abdel-Qader al-Housan, head of the Rihab Center for Archaeological Studies, said this week that the cave was unearthed in the northern Jordanian city of Rihab after three months of excavation and shows evidence of early Christian rituals.
The cave is under St. George’s Church, which some believe was built in the year 230, though the date is widely disputed. That would make it one of the oldest churches in the world, along with one unearthed in the Jordanian southern port of Aqaba in 1998 and another in Israel discovered in 2005.
Al-Housan said there was evidence that the underground cave was used as a church by 70 disciples of Jesus in the first century after Christ’s death, which would make it the oldest Christian site of worship in the world.
He described a circular worship area with stone seats separated from a living area that had a long tunnel leading to a source of water. He said the early Christians hid there from persecution.
A mosaic inscription on the floor of the later church of St. George above refers to “the 70 beloved by God and the divine” who founded the worship there.
S. Thomas Parker, a historian at North Carolina State University who led the team that discovered the church in Aqaba, said that while he hadn’t seen the Rihab site, any such claim should be taken with a degree of caution.
“An extraordinary claim like this requires extraordinary evidence,” he said. “We need to see the artifacts and dating evidence to suggest such an occupation in the 1st century A.D.”
Parker asked how archeologists could be certain whether the “cave was actually a center of Christian worship.”
The archaeologist also noted that mosaics are difficult to date unless there is a precise date in the text of the mosaic inscriptions themselves and typical mosaic inscriptions with Christian themes are from the 5th to 6th century.
US strikes undercut efforts on Pakistani border
WASHINGTON - Whoever was to blame, the U.S. airstrikes that may have killed friendly fighters in Pakistan have inflamed relations between the countries and could undermine the struggle to stem violence along the Afghan border.
The bombings fueled anti-U.S. sentiment in Pakistan and raised fresh questions about cooperative efforts against suspected terrorists in the lawless region. This is the area, American military leaders believe, that could spawn a major attack against the United States.
Little was certain about what happened.
U.S. diplomats offered apologies for the reported casualties. The Pentagon insisted surveillance drones tracking the bombings showed they hit exactly their intended targets: about a half-dozen enemy fighters firing on coalition forces.
Defense Department press secretary Geoff Morrell said it was too early to know whether the strike killed 11 Pakistani paramilitary forces, as Pakistan alleged.
“Every indication we have is that this was a legitimate strike against forces that had attacked members of the coalition,” he said.
The incident has fed suspicions about U.S. military operations inside Pakistan, as well as about Pakistan’s inability to control Taliban or al-Qaida terrorists in safe havens along the border.
4 dead, 40 injured as tornado hits Boy Scout camp
BLENCOE, Iowa - A tornado tore through a Boy Scout camp in the remote hills of western Iowa on Wednesday, killing at least four people and injuring 40, and setting off a frantic search to reach others in the piles of debris and downed trees.
A search and rescue team deployed after the 7 p.m. twister had to cut their way through branches during a lightning storm to reach the camp where the 93 boys, ages 13 to 18, and 25 staff members were attending a weeklong leadership training camp.
“All of the buildings are gone; most of the tents are gone; most of the trees are destroyed,” Lloyd Roitstein, president of the Boy Scouts of Mid-America Council, told CNN. “You’ve got 1,800 acres of property that are destroyed right now.”
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver said three people were unaccounted for, but a spokesman for the rescuers, Russ Lawrenson, said all the victims had been found.
The weather service had issued two warnings minutes before the tornado hit, Culver said, but it wasn’t clear whether the camp had sirens.
“Based on what we were seeing on radar it looked like it could have been a very powerful tornado,” said Daniel Nietfeld with the National Weather Service.
At least 40 people who were injured in the storm were being taken to area hospitals, said Iowa Homeland Security spokeswoman Julie Tack.
Lawrenson, of the Mondamin Fire Department, initially said most of the kids who were hurt had been hiking when the tornado hit, but later said he could no longer confirm the victims’ whereabouts.
Burgess Health Center in Onawa, Iowa, had treated 19 people from the camp and were warned to expect a bus carrying up to 45 more with cuts and bruises, said spokeswoman Beth Frangedakis.
McCain says cutting casualties in Iraq is primary goal
By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer
7 minutes ago
PHILADELPHIA - Avoiding casualties in Iraq is more important than bringing troops home, Republican John McCain said Wednesday, feeding an outcry from Democrats who quickly declared him to be out of touch with the public and the needs of the military.
Appearing on NBC’s “Today Show,” McCain was asked if he has a better estimate for when U.S. troops could leave Iraq.
“No, but that’s not too important,” McCain said. “What’s important is casualties in Iraq.
“Americans are in South Korea. Americans are in Japan. American troops are in Germany. That’s all fine. American casualties, and the ability to withdraw. We will be able to withdraw. … But the key to it is we don’t want any more Americans in harm’s way.”
The answer was in keeping with McCain’s long-stated argument that as Iraqis take more control of security in their country, the number of killed and wounded U.S. soldiers should decline. He has said he could envision troops withdrawing around 2013 but has refused to fix a date.
US defends airstrikes that angered Pakistan
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer
34 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - U.S. airstrikes into Pakistan that may have accidentally killed allied fighters have upset the already fragile relations between Washington and Islamabad over how to stem violence in the lawless border region.
Defense Department press secretary Geoff Morrell defended the bombing Wednesday and said it was too early to know whether the strike killed 11 Pakistani paramilitary forces, as alleged by the angry Pakistani Army.
“Every indication we have is that this was a legitimate strike against forces that had attacked members of the coalition,” he told a Pentagon press conference.
Other U.S. officials said earlier Wednesday that three aircraft launched about a dozen bombs into Pakistan after militants attacked coalition forces in a wooded area near a checkpoint. Conflicting reports about the Tuesday clash were being sorted out by the U.S. military.
U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson was summoned to the Foreign Ministry, where Pakistan’s government also lodged a diplomatic protest.
“The United States regrets that actions … on the night of June 10 resulted in the reported casualties among Pakistani forces who are our partners in the fight against terrorism,” a U.S. Embassy statement said. It expressed condolences to the families of the dead.
Fed: High energy, food prices keep economy weak
WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve says the economy remained “generally weak” heading into summer as rising costs for energy and food pounded consumers and forced some companies to push their own prices higher.
The Fed’s new snapshot of business conditions, released Wednesday in Washington, underscored two big sore spots for the country: listless economic activity coupled with lofty energy and food prices. Those rising prices raise the risks of both spreading inflation and putting another drag on overall economic growth.
Chafing under price hikes, “consumer spending slowed … as incomes were pinched by rising energy and food prices,” the Fed said. Manufacturing activity, meanwhile, was “generally soft” and the housing market remained stuck in a rut.
Businesses also were hit by rising costs, especially for energy, metals, plastics, chemicals and food. Such reports were “widespread,” the Fed said. To cope, manufacturers in several areas “noted some ability to pass along higher costs to customers” the Fed said. Retailers, however, reported “mixed results with respect to raising final goods prices,” the Fed said.
Over the past week, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his Fed colleagues have been sounding an ever-louder alarm against inflation. Given those concerns, Bernanke has signaled the Fed’s rate-cutting campaign, started last September to bolster the weak economy, is probably over for now.
Many economists predict the Fed will leave its key rate at 2 percent, a four-year low, when it meets next, on June 24-25.
Iranian leader: US military is Iraq’s top problem
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer Mon Jun 9, 7:52 AM ET
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran’s supreme leader imparted upon the visiting Iraqi prime minister Monday who the U.S. military appearance is the number one indicate of Iraq’s problems, according to Iranian neighborhood television, building obvious his opposition to a U.S.-Iraqi security pact.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s talks in Iranian leaders over his three-day visit right here experience focused on the proposed security agreement the Iran fears could carry on the American military in neighboring Iraq for years.
Al-Maliki has tried to impel Iranian leaders to coming back off such a fierce opposition to the proposed pact, promising who Iraq can not be a launching pad for any attack on Iran.
But the agreement has become a rank of contention as Baghdad tries to scale its finishing ties to rivals Washington and Tehran.
Iran, that has regularly assumed the way to end instability in Iraq is for U.S. forces to withdraw, believes the proposed pact ought to instigate to permanent U.S roots on its doorstep among fears of an eventual American attack.
“Occupiers who interfere in Iraq’s affairs in this military and security would … are the chief problems,” Iran’s area television quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as professing Monday.
Khamenei stated Iraqis hold to “think of a key to free” themselves based on what i read in the U.S. military. Though he did not explicitly bring up the security agreement, he alleged Iraqis — not Americans — should discern the fate of the country.
Racial attitudes pose challenge for Obama
By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer Mon Jun 9, 9:42 AM ET
GREENSBURG, Pa. - Joyce Susick is the sort of voter who can carry Barack Obama to the White House — or carry on him out. A registered Democrat in a highly competitory state, she is eager to replace George W. Bush, whom she ranks surrounded by the worst presidents ever.
There’s clearly one problem.
“I do not am sure our nation is expected for a brown president,” Susick, who is white, claimed in an interview in the coat insert at which she works. “A brown man is never probable to win Pennsylvania.”
Susick alleged her tailored objection to Obama is his inexperience, not his color. “It has not anything to do among race,” she said.
If Susick is properly close to Pennsylvania voters, it presents a important hurdle for the presumed Democratic nominee. Democrats undergo carried Pennsylvania in the endure five presidential contests, and Obama might suffer to offset a cost of its 21 electoral votes by rendering Republican-leaning argues based on John McCain.
Polls signal overly Susick, a grandmother of three, performs not work on the behalf of many registered Democrats right here or elsewhere. But there may be adequate like-minded voters in Pennsylvania, whose the previous two presidential elections hold kept on close, to tip it to McCain.
In the April 22 primary, Susick voted for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who carried Pennsylvania by 10 fee points. Perhaps more and more troubling for Obama, one in two Clinton’s backers informed exit pollsters properties are able to vote for McCain if Obama got the nominee; an a greater amount of 17 per cent declared properties may not vote at all.
Midwest copes with floods, East warned of heat
By JIM IRWIN, Associated Press Writer 17 moments ago
INDIANAPOLIS - Military crews joined a desperate sandbagging utilization Monday as Indiana streams flooded to unheard of levels, additonally the East Coast turned to a steam bath in temperatures simmering toward the century mark.
Eight deaths had continued blamed on stormy weekend weather, a large amount of in the Midwest. Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle argued an emergency for 29 counties and President Bush late Sunday believed a pivotal catastrophe in 29 Indiana counties. Iowa Gov. Chet Culver claimed around a third of his state’s 99 counties difficulty government help.
Flooding was set to be a continuous question presently week in the Midwest as rivers are swollen amongst the runoff based on what i read in heavy weekend rainfall, topped by the 11 inches which fell Saturday in Indiana.
“This worry came on hastily amongst this kind of a radical deluge of water this individuals got describing probable from what i read in a feeling of security to waist-deep water in a issue or 15 or 20 minutes,” stated Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who canceled a trade job to Japan.
A new storm process was went toward the Ohio Valley from what i read in the south Plains on Monday — Oklahoma got up to 6 inches of rain by late Evening and utilities reported around 5,000 households blacked out — and the National Weather Service claimed as a good deal as 3 inches of rain may destination on now waterlogged Indiana late Monday.
Some 200 Indiana National Guard workers and 140 Marines and sailors joined local emergency governments Monday in sandbagging a levee of the White River at Elnora, roughly 100 miles southwest of Indianapolis. The White River was news story to crest Tuesday at nearby Newberry at 16 feet above flood stage.
Gas hits national average of $4 for the 1st time
NEW YORK - The conventional price levels of median gas crept up to $4 a gallon for the primarily phase throughout the weekend, enactment the once-unthinkable milestone clearly in moment for the largest summer travel season.
Prices at the pump are guessed to remain climbing, actually subsequent to go on week’s furious surge in oil prices, that neared $140 a barrel in a record-shattering rally Friday.
While Americans who undergo to press can feel the uppermost squeeze, the increased costs as well transmute to even greater ranges for households and businesses, who may be required to to shoulder increased market values for food and everything else so needs to be transported.
“I do not are sure we have have had to deal with relatively the thorough lessen of $138 or $139 a barrel oil,” assumed Jason Toews, co-founder of power values exploring site GasBuddy.com.
Gas market worth rolled out of such a new threshold Sunday, inflating to $4.005 a gallon overnight based on what i read in $3.988 the day before, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.
Of course, drivers in a multitude of characteristics of the world undergo currently kept on paying off enormously above the market value for particularlly time.
California has observed a few of the largest prices; a gallon there now averages $4.436 a gallon, the a multitude of in the country. Missourians are using the lowest at the pump, in on a gallon in the Show-Me State marketing for a quite inexpensive $3.802 a gallon.
Prices hold hiked by just about 20 cents in the out of 3 weeks, according to a prediction by the Lundberg Survey released Sunday.
Truckers and others amidst diesel engines underneath the hood suffer it continuing to worse off. A gallon of diesel now transactions for $4.762, up something like a penny overnight, according to AAA and OPIS. Prices hit a key in atop $4.79 at the end of May.
Skyrocketing oil prices, that are trading at more and more as opposed to dual the total sum survive year, are usually to blame for the surge. Crude rates try up a greater amount of as opposed to 13 per cent late go on week in such a largest two-day market values step up in history.
Benchmark light, round crude for July delivery lawfully ended the week at $138.54 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, but at one rate inflated as above the usual as $139.12.
“This would be a true weight on the economy,” James Cordier, president of Tampa, Fla.-based trading establishment Liberty Trading Group, claimed of oil’s jump Friday. “With most any nickel who gas goes up, mortgage holders are driving a lower amount of and less.”
Oil’s recent surge caught a good deal of longtime petroleum world veterans off-guard, and left market analysts wondering if it represented a one-time peak or the coming of a new wave of advances.
Yolanda Cade, managing director of public relations at AAA, alleged gas market values are possible to swell further, even though the automotive club is backlogged to see at which oil ranges supervised their week before being any new predictions.
“We’ve cautioned gasoline station title&wshyp;holders against not recklessly shooting up retail market values clearly due to the fact that of one big jump in the crude market,” she claimed Sunday. “One day of trading does not constitute a industry trend.”
A lot of components are behind oil’s ascent.
Soaring call in Asia and elsewhere is ensuring intercontinental materials stay tight a great deal as Americans cut back; up to date figures according to the U.S. Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration indicated U.S. gasoline call in fact fell 1.4 per cent more than the the preceding one weeks.
A tumbling dollar is additionally contributing to the increase. Many traders buy commodities the as oil as a hedge against growth when the dollar is falling, and a weaker dollar causes oil more low&wshyp;cost for investors wrestling in some currencies.
The rapid increase in value has in addition enticed speculators, frustrated by low profits elsewhere, appearing to bring in a quick profit.
The influx of so significantly contemporary finances to fuel markets has caught the respect of government watchdogs. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission just argued it has commencing a check of U.S. oil markets focused on impending market value manipulation.
For numerous drivers, the even greater gas price levels cruel rethinking everyday habits.
