Maravot's News of the World: news headlines and trends

6.03.05 Death toll climbs to 44 in Iraqi insurgent attacks

BAGHDAD, June 3 – A suicide bomber set off an explosives belt among a crowd of Iraqis late Thursday, killing 10 and wounding 11, officials said today, and a Shiite religious leader was gunned down, bringing the toll to 44 in a day of bloody insurgent attacks across a wide swath of the embattled country. The suicide blast late Thursday occurred in Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, as followers of a religious group gathered for twice-a-week ceremonies.

Earlier in the day, a motorcycle suicide bomber and three car bombings claimed at least 33 lives and wounded dozens in central and northern Iraq. The strikes were the latest in a series of assaults that began Sunday and that appear to be in response to an ambitious counterinsurgency effort led by the Iraqi government, in which tens of thousands of Iraqi security forces have been assigned to police the streets of Baghdad. [More>>nytimes.com]

6.03.05 Iraq says 12,000 civilians killed by insurgent violence

June 3 – The Iraqi government says insurgent violence has killed 12,000 civilians in the past 18 months. Iraq's Interior Ministry reported the first official toll on Thursday. Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said the figures show more than 20 people per day died in bombings and other attacks. Authorities say the vast majority of victims (more than 10,000) appeared to Shi'ite Muslims. [More>>turkishpress.com]

6.03.05 North Korea praises Bush for addressing Kim as 'Mr.'

June 3 – North Korea gave rare praise to US President George W. Bush on Friday, welcoming his use of the title ``Mr.'' when referring to leader Kim Jong Il and saying it hoped that the softened tone could lead to its return to nuclear arms talks. `If Bush's remarks put an end to the scramble between the hawkish group and the moderate group in the US, which has thrown the Korean policy into a state of confusion, it would help create an atmosphere of the six-party talks,'' an unnamed North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

The United States wants the North to end its nuclear weapons development, and joins China, Japan, Russia and South Korea in trying to persuade Pyongyang to return to disarmament talks last held in June 2004. The North has stayed away from the table citing a ``hostile'' US policy and claimed in February that it had nuclear weapons. At a Tuesday news conference, Bush defended his focus on using diplomacy to try to resolve the standoff.

``It's a matter of continuing to send a message to Mr. Kim Jong Il that if you want to be accepted by the neighborhood and be a part of ... those who are viewed with respect in the world, work with us to get rid of your nuclear weapons program,'' Bush said.

The North said Friday that it had noted Bush was reported as ``politely addressing our headquarters of revolution,'' a reference to Kim. `We will closely follow if his remarks would not change day and night as this happened in the past,'' the spokesman said.

The softer tone Friday from the North came a day after it had labeled US Vice President Dick Cheney a ``bloodthirsty beast'' and said his recent comment labeling Kim an ``irresponsible'' leader were another reason for it to stay away from the nuclear talks. This week, the North also took a personal swipe at US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, using sexist language laced with insults to imply she was controlling the White House. In the past, Pyongyang has also called Bush a ``political imbecile'' and ``half-baked man.'' The North has demanded an apology for Rice labeling the country one of the world's ``outposts of tyranny.'' [More>>chinadaily.com.cn]

Editorial note: For historians who try to reconstruct the failures of particular empires of the past, this is a good illustration of the Bush administration's complete lack of diplomatic gifts and its reliance upon the use of the sword to administer the Bush family interests, which history will confirm have, for the large part, conflicted with American interests.
Mel Copeland

6.03.05 Rumsfeld warns China, pats India

SINGAPORE (Reuters) June 3 – US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned on Friday that China's failure to match economic freedoms with democratic reforms could raise tensions and undermine its growing influence in the world. On the way to a regional security conference that is expected to focus on China and North Korea, Rumsfeld drew a stark contrast between China and India, the world's largest democracy, which America is courting as a counter-weight to the Communist nation.

"We anticipate that the relationship with India will continue to be strengthened. With respect to China, it's not completely clear which way they are going because you have the tension I characterised between the nature of their political system and the nature of their economic system," he said. [More>>expressindia.com]; See separate article, jang.com.pk, "Chinese military growing: Rumsfeld."

6.03.05 Syria test-fires three Scud missiles, Israelis say: NY Times report

NEW YORK (AP) June 3 – Syria test-fired three Scud missiles last Friday, including one that broke up over Turkish territory and showered missile parts down onto unsuspecting Turkish farmers, The New York Times quoted Israeli military officials as saying.

These were the first such Syrian missile tests since 2001, the paper�s Web site quoted the Israelis as saying, and were part of a Syrian missile development project using North Korean technology and designed, the Israelis contend, to deliver air-burst chemical weapons. The missiles included one older Scud B, with a range of about 185 miles (300 kilometers), and two Scud D�s with a range of about 435 miles (700 kilometers), the Times� sites said late Thursday, quoting Israeli officials. Little was especially startling about the tests, Israeli officials said, except the embarrassment to Turkey -- a member of NATO -- and the timing, during the Lebanese elections, the Times said. [More>>khaleejtimes.com]

6.03.05 Kazakhstan's Baikonur cosmodrome marks its fiftieth anniversary

June 3 – Presidents of Kazakhstan and Russia Nursultan Nazarbayev and Vladimir Putin arrived in Baikonur to take part in the celebrations at Russia's space vehicle launch complex. Says khabar.kz, "Its history is the history of modern, technologically developed, civilization. In the middle of the last century the Soviet designer Sergey Korolyov created the rocket R-7, a new super-carrier for hydrogen bomb delivery. The range "Kapustin Yar," located on the Asian coast of the Volga river, turned out to be too small for a rocket and a suitable region was found east of the Aral sea in Kazakhstan. All the necessary conditions were present here – a thinly populated area, a rail road connecting Moscow with Tashkent and one of the largest rivers of Central Asia. The 51st parallel, one of the closest spots to the equator in the Soviet Union, enabled the use of the energy of Earth�s motion when launching a rocket. In 1955 the first detachment of military builders under the leadership of general Georgiy Shubnikov arrived at the station. On June 2nd, 1955 the General staff approved the structure of the 5th state testing area, the birthday of the cosmodrome. The first launch of the R-7 was carried out on the 5th of May 1957. Within its half-century of existence 2 1/2 thousand rockets and more than 3 thousand space apparatuses were launched from it and about 130 cosmonauts from different countries around the world started their journey into orbit. The Late 1980s were the starry years of Baikonur. The "Energy-Storm" program was elaborated, then a geopolitical catastrophe followed by and, consequently, the ruin of all hopes and a serious crisis. Now, due to the agreement between Russia and Kazakhstan there appeared an opportunity to fully use the complex, and Baikonur got its second wind. According to last year�s results, the cosmodrome took first place for a number of launches, having surpassed the 8 other big cosmodromes on the planet. [More>>khabar.kz]

6.03.05 19th case of mad cow disease confirmed in Japan

TOKYO (Kyodo News) June 3 – A 9-year-old Holstein cow in Betsukai, Hokkaido, was diagnosed with the 19th case of mad cow disease in Japan, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said Thursday. The cow was born in the spring of 1996, which is around the same time as many other cows infected with the disease called bovine spongiform encephalopathy were born. [japantoday.com]

6.03.05 Stash of old unexploded shells from 18th-19th centuries found in Tokyo

June 3 – A good illustration how unexploded bombs and shells can continue to threaten future generations – for centuries – is in a Daily Yomiuri report released today: Another 240 unexploded shells were found Wednesday at the site where a new headquarters for Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward Office is being constructed, following the discovery earlier of 84 bombs of the same type, believed to be from the period straddling the late Edo (1603-1868) and early Meiji (1868-1912) eras.

The Ground Self-Defense Force's bomb disposal squad removed the shells, but was expected to continue its search as more may be buried at the site. According to Defense Agency and ward officials, the shells, which are 8 centimeters in diameter and 17 centimeters long, are believed to have been made for use in the Boshin War (1868-69) between the forces of the new Meiji government and former Tokugawa shogunate. Experts using metal detectors confirmed that shells were buried underground at a location near an old well, where stockpiled ordnance was discovered on May 26, and notified the Metropolitan Police Department's Kojimachi Police Station. [More>>yomiuri.co.jp]

6.03.05 US warns of threat to attack hotels in Jakarta

JAKARTA (Agencies) June 3 – The US Embassy in Jakarta warned Americans on Friday of a threat to bomb lobbies of hotels in the city, less than a week after blasts killed 22 people in an Indonesian area marked by Muslim-Christian violence. An embassy statement emailed to Americans in Indonesia on Friday said the embassy had learned "there were plans by extremists to conduct bomb attacks targeting the lobbies of hotels frequented by Westerners in Jakarta".

"The attacks were to occur circa noon on an unspecified date," the statement said, adding that there was no additional information on timing or method of attack. The bombings on Saturday that killed 22 took place in Tentena, a Christian town in Central Sulawesi. Friday's warning was also repeated by the Australian embassy. [More>>thejakartapost.com]

6.03.05 Rally staged against Israeli barrier

June 3 – Residents of a Palestinian village have staged a protest against the separation barrier being built by Israel in the West Bank. Israeli occupation troops confronted the protesters on Friday. The two sides clashed when the demonstrators tried to advance towards the territories being razed in preparation for extending the barrier wall.

Some demonstrators were injured while others were arrested by Israeli troops. The demonstration coincided with the 38th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of West Bank and Gaza, and also marked the 100th day of the beginning of popular resistance in the village against the occupation. Many Palestinians describe the structure as an "apartheid wall" while Israel calls it security barrier. [More>>aljazeera.net]

Editorial note: A view of the wall is at the aljazeera.net link.A map and another photo are in our sidebar.

6.02.05 Conference on anti-Semitism, intolerance against Muslims, minority Christians and others in Cordoba

June 2 – The Free Muslims Coalition (FMC) announced that a US Delegation to a Conference on anti-Semitism, intolerance against Muslims, minority Christians and other Forms of Intolerance will be held June 8-9 in Cordoba, Spain. The conference is sponsored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. His Majesty Juan Carlos I, King of Spain, will open this year's event, which will focus on practical steps to combat intolerance, building upon last year's Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe�s Conference in Berlin and Conference on Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination in Brussels. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe comprises 55 nations, including the United States, Canada and the countries of Europe and Eurasia.

Attendees chosen by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to represent the United States are:

George E. Pataki, Governor of the State of New York, was chosen to lead the delegation and represent the United States in recognition of his leadership role as governor of ethnically-diverse New York.

In addition to Governor Pataki, the United States delegation will include:

1 – Mr. Kamal Nawash, President of the Free Muslim Coalition against Terrorism;
2 – Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput, Archbishop of Denver and Commissioner of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom;
3 – Ambassador Stephan M. Minikes, the US Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe;
4 – Ambassador Edward O'Donnell, the US Special Envoy on Holocaust Issues;
5 – Mr. Sander Gerber, Member of the National Board of Directors of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee;
6 – Honorable Jennette Bradley, Ohio Treasurer of State;
7 – Rabbi Marvin Hier, Dean and Founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center;
8 – Rabbi David Zwiebel, Executive Vice President of Government Affairs at Agudath
Israel of America.

[More information>>http://www.freemuslims.org.]

6.02.05 Series of attacks kill 34 in Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) June 2 – Three suicide car bombings struck within an hour and two parked motorcycles exploded in northern Iraq on Thursday, while gunmen in speeding cars opened fire on a crowded market in Baghdad in a series of attacks that killed at least 34 people. Continuing violence during the past days also has claimed the lives of three children, a U.S. soldier and a Sunni Muslim cleric, underscoring the rampant, random nature of an insurgency that has killed almost 800 people since the April 28 announcement of Iraq's new Shiite-led government, according to an Associated Press count. Twenty people were killed as a wide swath of northern Iraq was hit by three suicide bombings within an hour. [More>>ap.org]

6.02.05 Bomb kills anti-Syria journalist in Beirut

BEIRUT (Reuters) June 2 – A booby-trapped car exploded killing a prominent anti-Syrian journalist in Beirut on Thursday in an attack the opposition blamed on Syria and its Lebanese allies. The killing of columnist Samir Qaseer four days after the start of Lebanon�s staggered parliamentary elections shocked the country that was just coming to terms with the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

Security sources said Qaseer of An-Nahar newspaper died instantly when a bomb placed under the driver�s seat of his white Alfa Romeo car blew up as he switched on the ignition outside his home in the Christian Ashrafiyeh neighborhood. His body was torn apart. Several cars were damaged and windows in nearby building were shattered by the explosion. �He got into his car. It exploded when he turned the key,� florist Adel Hassan told Reuters.

...Qaseer, 45, was a front page columnist for Lebanon�s leading daily who has for years called for an end to Syria�s role in Lebanon. [More>>khaleejtimes.com]

6.02.05 At least 67 dead in Chinese floods

BEIJING, June 3 – Torrential rain and mountain torrents have left at least 67 people dead and 56 missing in central and western China. Around 100,000 people have been moved from affected villages in mountainous areas of central Hunan province, officials and state media reported. At least 30,000 buildings have collapsed in Hunan and the western provinces of Guizhou and Sichuan, injuring many who were sleeping inside. The death toll rose throughout the day with the Hunan's Shaoyang Municipal Headquarters for Flood Control and Drought Relief saying late today it stood at 47 dead with 50 missing, Xinhua news agency reported. State radio reported 17 deaths in Guizhou, and three deaths and six missing in Sichuan. [theaustralian.news.com.au; See also chinadaily.com.cn, "Death toll rises to 47 in Hunan floods": Mountain torrents in central China's Hunan Province have left 47 dead and 50 missing, said the Hunan Provincial Civil Affairs Department Thursday. The flooding has affected about 4.98 million people in eight cities including Shaoyang, Loudi, Yiyang, Huaihua and Tujia-Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Xiangxi in Hunan, cutting off electricity, traffic and telecommunication services in many affected villages.

The rainstorms triggered mountain torrents in about 60 villages in six townships in Xinshao and Shaodong counties, affecting about 60,000 people and destroying 3,560 houses, according to the latest figures from Shaoyang Municipal Headquarters for Flood Control and Drought Relief. The floods also hit more than 231,000 villagers in Xupu County in Huaihua, flushing away 1,300 head of livestock and destroying 8,200 hectares of farm land and 37 dikes, according to Huaihua Municipal Headquarters for Flood Control and Drought Relief.

6.02.05 Update; 6.01.05 Suicide bomber kills 19 in Afghan mosque

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, June 1– The police chief of Afghanistan�s capital was among 19 people killed in a suicide bomb blast at a mosque on Wednesday as mourners gathered to pay respects to an assassinated anti-Taleban cleric. Kabul police chief Akram Khakreezwal was among mourners at the Abdul Rab Akhundzada mosque in the troubled southern city of Kandahar. It was the first suicide attack on a mosque in Afghanistan, a government spokesman said.

�I saw bodies scattered, blood all over the place. Dead policemen were also lying there,� said shop owner Kalimullah, who rushed to the mosque moments after the blast. Police and security officials said the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber. It was the most serious in a spate of attacks with 19 people killed and 52 wounded, said Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Jalali told a news conference the bomber was believed to be a foreigner. He did not elaborate. [More>>khaleejtimes.com; See khaleejtimes.com for updated story: "Pakistani police find letter from militant leader claiming Karachi mosque attack."

6.01.05 Saddam to face trial 'within two months'

June 1 – Saddam Hussein could go on trial for crimes against humanity within two months, far earlier than expected, Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, said, while Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari vowed to beef up security in the war-weary country. In New York, Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Syria was a key transit route for "foreign terrorists" as well as remnants of the Saddam Hussein regime and urged Damascus to do more to stop this.

Asked in an interview televised on CNN when Saddam's trial would begin, Talabani said: "I hope within two months." Iraqi prosecutors and their U.S. advisers say a trial is more likely in 2006, after some of Saddam Hussein's lieutenants have been tried, to help build the case against the former dictator. [More>>dailystar.com.lb]

05.31.05 Nine Afghan insurgents killed

KABUL, May 31 – Insurgents launched three nearly simultaneous attacks on US and Afghan government positions and up to nine attackers were killed, the US military said today. Rebels firing automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades attacked three adjacent positions in Paktika province, along the border with Pakistan yesterday, the US military said in a statement.

The attacks were the latest in a series of bloody guerrilla raids in Afghanistan that have dashed international community hopes the Taliban insurgency might be petering out. "Coalition aircraft responded to the scene and, in conjunction with ground forces, pursued the attackers, killing a suspected six to nine insurgents," the statement said.

A US-led force of 18,300, most of them Americans, is in Afghanistan fighting Taliban insurgents and hunting for Osama bin Laden and other militants. About 100 Taliban and allied fighters have been killed in clashes near the Pakistani border in recent weeks. [More>>theaustralian.news.au]

05.31.05 Kidnapped governor found dead

BAGHDAD, May 31 – Mussab al-Khairall reports: The governor of Iraq's biggest province, who was kidnapped earlier this month, has been found dead along with his militant captors after a clash with US forces, a government spokesman said today.

Laith Kubba told a news conference the body of Anbar governor Raja Nawaf had been found tied to a gas canister in a house near the town of Rawa two days ago. He was discovered after by US forces making a routine sweep through a neighborhood met fierce resistance from insurgents in the house.

The authorities do not know how Mr. Nawaf died, but it was likely that concrete fell on him after the clashes triggered explosives in the house, Mr. Kubba said. Mr. Nawaf and four bodyguards were kidnapped on the road from the town of Qaim near the Syrian border to the city of Ramadi just days after he became governor of Anbar, the heartland of Iraq's insurgency. Officials and relatives said they were kidnapped by militants loyal to the al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, because of a dispute with Mr. Nawaf's tribe. [More>>theaustralian.news.com.au; See also Reuters story, khaleejtimes.com]

05.31.05 Iraq attack kills 27 in Shiite area

BAGHDAD (AFP) May 31 – A double suicide bombing killed at least 27 people in a Shiite town near the Iraqi capital, while U.S. forces released a Sunni political leader they had detained "by mistake." Iraqi and U.S. troops with sniffer dogs, meanwhile, scoured Baghdad's infamous Haifa Street as part of Operation Lightning, touted as the biggest domestic security operation since former strongman Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003.

In the town of Hilla, south of Baghdad, two suicide bombers detonated their explosives belts in a crowd of about 500 former police commandos outside local government offices, police said. "We have 27 people killed and 118 wounded," an Interior Ministry source said. The policemen had come to collect back-pay in the town, where a bomb in February killed 118 people, the largest single attack since the U.S.-led invasion of March 2003. [More>>dailystar.com.lb]

05.31.05 Russian oil tycoon Khodorkovsky found guilty

MOSCOW, May 31 – A court declared oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky guilty of an array of charges Tuesday including fraud and tax evasion, and sentenced him to nine years in prison minus time served. The declaration of guilt and sentence came in the 12th day of the laborious verdict-reading process in the most closely watched trial of post-Soviet Russia, and one that has been widely criticized as politically motivated. Khodorkovsky, the former head of the Yukos oil company and once estimated to be Russia's richest man, has already spent 583 days in jail, meaning he would serve about another seven and a half years in prison. Khodorkovsky looked straight ahead as the sentence was pronounced.

His codefendant Platon Lebedev, found guilty of the same charges and give the same sentence, said, "There's not a sane person who can understand what you have said.'' Supporters have claimed that Khodokovsky's trial was part of a Kremlin-driven campaign to punish him for funding opposition parties and to stifle his own political ambitions. The sentence would keep him in prison well past the 2008 presidential elections and potentially during the 2012 elections as well. A third defendant in the case, Andrei Krainov, was given a five and a half year suspended sentence. [More.>thestar.com.my; See also rian.ru article, "Khodorkovsky to give press conference from jail."

05.31.05 MasterCard nets 1,400 phishing sites

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, May 31 – Edwin Yapp reports: MasterCard International said it has successfully shut down nearly 1,400 global phishing websites – 300 operating from Asia Pacific – last year through its Operation Stop IT (Identity Theft) campaign. The credit card giant said its success was due to the effective monitoring of phishing activities discovered on the Internet and swift counteraction by Internet service providers (ISPs) and law enforcement agencies.

Launched last June, Operation Stop IT was a round-the-clock programme that monitored the activities of online credit-card trading rings, phishing scammers and other forms of payment fraud racketeers targeting the MasterCard brand, its customers, financial institutions and cardholders. Phishing scams use fraudulent e-mail and websites that seemingly originate from well-known companies to dupe consumers into divulging personal information such as bank account details and credit card numbers.

Tim Morris, vice-president and Asia Pacific regional head of security and risk management for MasterCard, said the number of websites that were shut down underscores the resounding success of Operation Stop IT. �With strong collaborative efforts in place, we were able to take quick, decisive action that has been integral to our success,� he said.
...According to MasterCard�s latest findings, most phishing attacks which targeted its credit-card holders were hosted by websites located in the following countries: United States (47%); Europe / South Asia/ Middle East / Africa (25%); Asia Pacific (23%); and Latin America and the Caribbean (5%). [More>>star-techcentral.com]

05.31.05 China refuses to stop gas project in East China Sea

BEIJING (Kyodo News) May 31 – China rejected Japan's requests to halt its gas projects in the East China Sea and hand over their data during two days of talks aimed at resolving the two countries' dispute over gas exploration, Kenichiro Sasae, director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, said Tuesday.

But in the talks in the Chinese capital, China made a proposal to jointly develop the area until a fundamental solution can be reached. "While it's not quite acceptable to us as it is, both the Japanese and Chinese sides agreed to hold discussions to consider what would be possible for the two sides," Sasae said. [Japantoday.com]

05.31.05 Villepin replaces Raffarin as French PM

PARIS, May 31 – Dominique de Villepin on Tuesday became France's new prime minister, officials said, replacing Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who resigned in the aftermath of the country's massive rejection of the EU constitution. Dominique de Villepin on Tuesday arrived at President Jacques Chirac's Elysee palace, shortly after the announcement of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin's resignation. [jang.com.pk]

05.31.05 International creature crew launches into space

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) May 31 – Cuban crayfishes, Georgian snails, geckos and Spanish ribbed newts made up a special international research team setting off Tuesday in a Soyuz LV from the renowned Gagarin launch site on the Russian Baikonur space center, according to the Institute of Medico-Biological Problems.

"The container with Cuban fresh-water crayfishes, several gecko reptiles, Spanish ribbed newts and microorganisms has been orbited for a 16-day mission within the Foton biological research program," head of the institute's gravitation biology laboratory Murad Tairbekov, said. After 16 days of enduring zero gravity and enhanced radiation, the container is expected to be back on earth on June 16, he said. [More>>rian.ru]

05.31.05 Toll rises in Pakistan sectarian riot

May 31 – Six employees of an American fast food restaurant have been burnt alive after an angry mob, protesting against the bombing of a Shia mosque in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi on Monday, set fire to the place, police say.

Senior police official Manzoor Mughal said on Tuesday that they had recovered bodies of six employees at a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant in the southern city of Karachi. Four of them had been burned alive, while two died after hiding in a cold storage at the restaurant, he said. "Their bodies were found during the search of KFC," city police chief Tariq Jamil said.

The arson came in response to an attack by three men, who stormed the minority Shia Madinat-ul-Ilm mosque in the middle-class Gulshan neighborhood of the city during evening prayers late on Monday. One of the assailants died in the ensuing gun battle with police, while the other was said to have blown himself up. The third sustained a serious head injury in a fall, Jamil said. [More>>aljazeera.net]

(2) The name, Allah, in Arabic is an expression of surprise. It is not unusual for the God of the Bible to be known by many names. Jewish Midrash quotes passages in the Old Testament (Torah) that cite as many as seventy names of God (and more). But they can all be reduced down to one name.
(3) Ronald L. Conte Jr., biblicalchronology.com. has an interesting analyses of comets and eclipses as they relate to Roman times and Biblical Chronology. His estimate of 54 A.D. for the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, rather than 70 A.D., is controversial, to say the least.
(4) In comparing the Hogenberg, Adrichem and Josephus maps, it appears that the structure noted as "Solomon's Temple" is, in fact, Pilate's palace, and the Antonia fortress and Strotion Tower. This leaves the adjacent "squared complex" in all three maps as the Temple of Herod. This leaves to be explained the mountain peak underneath the Dome of the Rock, whether the height of the Temple Mount was above that point, since no mountain peak is indicated in the area of the "squared complex." King Solomon's palace and stables were adjacent to the Temple Mount, and there may be confusion here with the "squared complex" on the maps. The image of "Solomon's Temple" on the Josephus map does match the description of the actual temple. The thesis that the Temple did not sit atop the peak underneath the Dome of the Rock still must be answered, since both those who advocate restoration of the Temple and those who resist it (Palestinians, who oversee the Temple Mount) have presumed that in order to restore the Temple the Dome of the Rock would have to be torn down.

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Painting of Apple by Mel Copeland, early 70's
Background: tile from Cicero's villa (Marcus Tullius Cicero 106 B.C. - 43 B.C.)

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