NEWS BITES

Sojourners Magazine, Jul 2004 by Berger, Rose Marie, Bolton, Brian

* Xtreme Peace. Eight Palestinians and Israelis completed an Antarctic expedition called "Breaking the Ice" to prove that "our peoples can and deserve to live together in peace and friendship," according to their statement. Two of the Palestinians had served time in an Israeli prison. Two of the Israelis were former members of a commando unit.

* Riot Report. Obdulio Villanueva-a former Guatemalan military officer serving a 30-year sentence for the 1998 assassination of Catholic Bishop Juan Gerardi, a human rights leader-was killed in February during a prison riot in Guatemala City, according to Reuters.

* Spotlight. South African Quaker, anti-apartheid activist, and theoretical cosmologist George F.R. Ellis won the 2004 Templeton Prize for advances in religion and science. Ellis is splitting the $1.4 million award between his retirement trust and a number of small South African nonprofit agencies.

* Weapons Watch. "Caterpillar is selling bulldozers to the Department of Defense for delivery to the Israeli military under a Foreign Military Sales agreement," said Catholic sister Mary Ann McGivern in a Caterpillar shareholders meeting, "Like all weapons manufacturers, Caterpillar does have the responsibility to monitor how its weapons are used."

* Nuke Plank? Eighty-seven percent of U.S. citizens favor U.S. participation in the treaty banning all nuclear weapons testing, according to a 2004 Pipa/Knowledge Networks poll. Eighty-four percent think the elimination of nuclear weapons as part of the Non-Proliferation Treaty is a good idea.