The Marty Heiser Show

YES, YOU read that correctly. There are in fact Chinese Jews, and they are heirs to a proud and ancient heritage dating back more than 1,000 years. The first Jews are believed to have settled in China's imperial capital of Kaifeng, along the banks of the Yellow River, during the Song Dynasty.

Over the centuries, China provided its Jews with a welcome and comfortable home, free of the widespread hatred and persecution that plagued Jewish communities elsewhere in the Diaspora.

In 1163, Kaifeng's Jews built a beautiful synagogue, which was subsequently renovated and rebuilt numerous times. At its peak, during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Kaifeng Jewry may have numbered as many as 5,000 people.

But by the middle of the 1800s, widespread assimilation and intermarriage had all but erased the Chinese Jews' knowledge of Judaism. After the last rabbi of the community died sometime in the first half of the 19th century, Kaifeng's Jewish community effectively disbanded.

BUT THAT was not the end of the story. Against all odds, Kaifeng's Jews struggled to preserve their Jewish identity, passing down whatever little they knew to their progeny.

Today there are still several hundred people in the city who are clearly and verifiably identifiable as descendants of the Jewish community. Nonetheless, the policy of the Israeli government throughout the years has been essentially to ignore Kaifeng's Jewish descendants, out of a dubious fear that China's government might not look kindly on such contacts.

The results of a Swiss-led study on the long-term success of kidney transplants suggest that organs should be distributed to recipients of the same sex as the donor.
The findings, published in the British medical journal The Lancet, indicate that male recipients of female grafts have an increased risk of graft-versus-host disease.

"Consideration of sex should be integrated into future prospective analyses and decisions on organ allocation," the study's authors wrote.

Male recipients could probably profit from male kidneys, which contain higher nephron doses, researchers said. Nephron doses are the basic structural units of the organ; the higher the dose, the stronger the kidney.

Female recipients might not need the same number of nephrons as men, and could profit from the lower likelihood of rejection associated with a sex-matched donor kidney.

Brits Feel Threatened

MOSCOW (SPT) — British security services have identified Russia as the greatest threat to Britain after al-Qaida terrorism and Iranian nuclear proliferation, the Times of London reported Friday.

British security officials fear that agents from the Federal Security Service, the Foreign Intelligence Service and the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces have flooded Britain, forcing authorities there to divert valuable resources to battle Russian espionage, the newspaper said.

The son of al-Qaeda chief, Osama Bin Laden, has continued with his father's mission of hate.

At sixteen, Hamza Bin Laden has already been dubbed the "Crown Prince of Terror", by proving his credentials by in a poem that calls for Britain to be destroyed.

The teen has declared in an Internet poem:
"Accelerate the destruction of America, Britain, France and Denmark. Oh God, reward the fighters hitting the infidels and defectors. Oh God, guide the youth of the Islamic nation and let them assist with the fighters' plans. God, be pleased with those who want to go for jihad - and blind those who are watching and want to capture them."

The verses, by the youngest of Osama's eighteen sons, have appeared on an extremist website to mark three years since the 7/7 London suicide bombings.

His words accompany a short video clip featuring footage of his father.

The poem is preceded by a short introduction that says: "We now offer you a new poem by Sheikh Hamza Bin Laden, may God protect him."

The Muslim Council of Britain has blasted the poem, branding al-Qaeda "mass murderers."

'Iran leaks reflect conflict in Bush administration'

The recent spate of leaks and reports from Washington about whether Israel will, or should, take military action against Iran, and what that would mean for the US, is a reflection of deep divisions on the matter inside the Bush administration, Israeli diplomatic and defense officials said Sunday.

The officials said that the two sides of the argument, the "hawkish camp," led by US Vice President Dick Cheney, and the "dovish camp," led by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, are leaking assessments about Israeli intent to further their own agendas, and in this regard using Israel as a "pawn" in their own political battles.

India will soon sign a deal on a pipeline that will transport gas from Iran, India's oil minister has said.

The $7.5bn project, which will bring gas from Iranian fields to India and Pakistan is expected to be signed "next month", Murli Deora said at a World Pertroleum Congress (WPC) event in Madrid on Thursday.