The News Review:

- Religion | projo.com | The Providence Journal
- Blood From Stones
- Prime Minister pays tribute to UK armed forces
- Sebutinde Still in Judiciary.

Religion | projo.com | The Providence Journal
Providence Journal – Dec 25, 2004
I’m not only an optimist who sees the glass as half-full, I look at a glass with four drops of water in it and proclaim, “NOW we’re getting somewhere!”OF COURSE, as a Christian, I am called to live in hope — hope in everlasting life; hope in God, who cares for me and for all others; hope that God’s kingdom one day will come and that peace will be the rule, rather than the exception, here on earth. In this holiday season, I find myself filled with more hope than ever, not because life on earth is any better than normal, but because I have decided, as I did so long ago, that if I simply hope enough, all that I yearn for will be fulfilled. So I herewith present my hopes for Christmas:I hope that we indeed can find peace on this earth, particularly in the war-torn areas of Iraq and Afghanistan, Israel and Palestine, Sudan and Nigeria, Liberia and the Ivory Coast, Congo and Sierra Leone. Those are the most prominent war zones of the moment. There are others, of course, ones to which we pay little or no attention. My hope is that in all of them, we will turn our weapons into plowshares and care for each other as God asks us to. I hope that we can find forgiveness in this holy season, both for ourselves, for the sins we have committed, and for those whom we believe have sinned against us.

Blood From Stones
Weekly Standard – The Weekly Standard – Dec 25, 2004
The CIA investigates, but the veracity of the stories remains uncertain, and, consequently, the subject of protracted, acrimonious debate within the intelligence community. Of these stories, one–Iraq’s purported attempts to acquire uranium from Niger–is well known. The other–al Qaeda’s purchase of conflict diamonds in Sierra Leone and Liberia–is not. Thus it makes a well-deserving subject for a new book, namely Blood From Stones by veteran investigative journalist and former Washington Post West Africa bureau chief Douglas Farah. Farah first posited the connection between black market gems and radical Islam in the fall of 2001. Blood From Stones carefully lays out the evidence that senior al Qaeda operatives traveled to West Africa in the late 1990s and again in the summer of 2001 to buy diamonds from Sierra Leonean rebels, with the connivance of then-president Charles Taylor of Liberia. Taylor, a thuggish kleptocrat under U.

Prime Minister pays tribute to UK armed forces
noticias.info – Dec 25, 2004
The Prime Minister added his thanks for all the hard work going on in Iraq and Afghanistan. Prime Minister’s Christmas Message Across the world, more than 50,000 of you are on duty this Christmas. From Afghanistan to the Balkans, from Ethiopia to Iraq, from the Falklands to Sierra Leone, and across the oceans. You will be far away from home and family, but not far away from our thoughts. There is tremendous pride in this country at what you are doing and the courage, professionalism and commitment that our Armed Forces display every day. There are no finer forces in the world, and none with a higher reputation. In Iraq, our forces are making a real contribution to the creation of a democratic country.

Sebutinde Still in Judiciary.
Free with registration – Asia Africa Intelligence Wire – AccessMyLibrary.com – Dec 25, 2004
Sebutinde Still in Judiciary. | Asia Africa Intelligence Wire (December, 2004).