3ABN's Supporting Ministry Status Suspended? General Conference Statement Differs from South Pacific Division Report
By Ervin Taylor, AToday.com (05 June 2007).
A report dated June 1, 2007 from the South Pacific Division Administrators' Council and Institute of Public Evangelism Committee contained the following statement "The General Conference has suspended 3ABN's [Three Angels Broadcasting Network] Supportive Ministry status until some well known issues in more than one area are sorted out. Basically, a lot of smoke doesn't necessarily presume a fire, but it definitely needs investigation and caution." The report in which these statements were contained was signed by Dr. Denis Hankinson, President of the Victorian Conference in the Australian Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

A request for additional information from the General Conference of SDA resulted in the following statement communicated to Adventist Today by John Torres, Media Relations Coordinator, Communications Department: "There has been no change or review of the status of 3ABN as a supporting ministry by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists." The statement also stated that Rajmund Dabrowski, General Conference Communications Director, should be contacted for further information.

Requests for additional information and details concerning this reported suspension were made by e-mail to Dr. Hankinson, Danny Shelton, current president of 3ABN and Dr. Walter Thompson, chairman of the 3ABN Board of Directors.

Dr. Thompson responded to the Adventist Today request for comment by stating that "If the statement [from the South Pacific Division] is true, we [at 3ABN] have had no such communication."

ADRA Expands Assistance to Tsunami-Hit Solomon Islands
By James Astleford, Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) - Canada, Reuters AlertNet (22 May 2007).
"The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is continuing its assistance to the tsunami-affected Solomon Islands with a rehabilitation project to help 440 households on Choiseul Island rebuild their homes. The 14-week project began the first week of May and will benefit approximately 2,640 tsunami survivors. In early April, a massive underwater earthquake triggered a 33-foot tsunami that swept through the western region of the Solomon Islands, leaving devastation in its wake. The ADRA network responded immediately to the disaster, providing emergency supplies for survivors in the coastal areas, including construction tools, cooking supplies, and basic agricultural tools to help affected families begin to rebuild their lives.
ADRA teams discovered that many villages on Choiseul Island lacked suitable housing, with one village alone reporting an estimated 300 homes destroyed or uninhabitable. Although most villages are not this densely populated, ADRA will work with Choiseul Island residents in nearly 40 villages to rehabilitate, rebuild, and assist in redesigning their homes to be more resilient. ADRA will purchase and operate a portable sawmill and chainsaw to process local trees into lumber for the new homes and will provide tsunami-affected households with construction tools and supplies. 'The project will be easily sustainable, as village members in the Solomon Islands primarily build their own homes,' says Matthew Brown, ADRA Solomon Islands Executive Director." [More of the story].

Nigeria: Adventist Church Applauds City Government Efforts To Sue Tobacco Companies
By Taashi Rowe, Adventist News Network, Lagos, Nigeria (May 21, 2007).
"Following in the footsteps of other countries, the governments of two Nigerian cities, Lagos and Kano, have filed a lawsuit against tobacco companies operating in the country. The suit points out that even though tobacco companies have admitted to the fatal consequences of smoking, they still target young people in Nigeria. The cities are hoping to recover billions of dollars to offset treatment for tobacco-related illnesses, stop-smoking programs and tobacco education campaigns. This landmark case is welcome news to many Seventh-day Adventists--the people who brought the world the Five Day stop smoking plan." [More of the story]. Dr. Herb Giebel, acting health ministries director for the Adventist church in West-Central Africa.

Two-week courtship to 68-year romance
By Teresa McQuerrey, Payson Roundup, Payson, Arizona (May 17, 2007).
"Eleanor and Gar Baybrook have been together 68 years. Gar turned 90 this year and Eleanor will celebrate that milestone in June. They became engaged only two weeks after they met and were married within three months. Their wedding was on May 13, 68 years ago Sunday. Gar and Eleanor Baybrook built and run Leaves of Autumn Books on Main Street. They celebrated their 68th anniversary on Sunday. The couple has been a part of Payson since 1964 when they started the Seventh-day Adventist Church here. They held the church services in their home and then, in 1974, built the bookstore in front on Main Street. Services then moved to the second floor of the building." [More of the story]. Editorial comment: Gar Baybrook writes the column for the Leaves of Autumn newsletter, entitled, "Grumpy Gar sez."

United States: Adventist Woman Nominated as Brigadier General ...
Jerry D. Thomas/ Southwestern Union Conference/ANN Staff, May 22, 2007 Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
"United States President George W. Bush has nominated Colonel Loree K. Sutton, a Seventh-day Adventist, for appointment to the grade of brigadier general. Colonel Sutton is commander of Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Ft. Hood, Texas. She assumed command of the center in July 2005. 'Colonel Sutton would be the first female Adventist to ever obtain that rank,' said Gary Councell, associate director of Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries located at the Adventist world church headquarters in Silver Spring. He added, 'Only 8 percent of people ever make colonel and out of all the general officers less than 1 percent make it to brigadier general.' Colonel Sutton has received numerous awards including the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, the Order of Military Merit and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal. She has served in a variety of operational positions both in the states-side and overseas, including deployment to Operation Desert Storm. Sutton holds a medical degree from Adventist-owned Loma Linda University and a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Pacific Union College, also Adventist owned." [Story].

Ooltewah Soldier Killed in Iraq Explosion
By Mary Fortune, Staff Writer, The Chattanooga Times Free Press (May 23, 2007)
"Chattanooga, TN - The death of a 20-year-old soldier from Ooltewah who was killed in an explosion in Iraq has left friends and family of Pfc. Travis Haslip numb with shock and grief, a friend said. 'I'm telling you, we have lost something so precious," said Hamilton County resident Bobbi Blevins, who considered Pfc. Haslip part of her family. 'The hole that is left in our hearts will never be filled.' Pfc. Haslip was one of six soldiers who died Saturday in Baghdad when an improvised bomb detonated near their vehicle. The young man joined the Army in 2005 because he needed money for college, said his father, Fred Haslip, of Clarkston, Mich. 'He didn't have any college money, and I wasn't in a position to pay and neither was his mother," Mr. Haslip said. 'He was smart, and he wanted to go to college.' Pfc. Haslip grew up in Ooltewah with his mother, stepfather and older sister. He attended Ooltewah Adventist School through eighth grade but moved to Michigan for about a year in 2003 and 2004 to attend high school, his father said. He enrolled in school there, but he really never attended regularly, Mr. Haslip said..... 'He was the best kid,' Mr. Haslip said, fighting back tears. 'He did not need to go like that.' Pfc. Haslip was his father's fishing and camping partner, and Mr. Haslip recently bought a new aluminum boat that he hoped to use after his son returned from Iraq, he said. 'He was supposed to come back and go fishing this summer,' Mr. Haslip said. 'I'm really going to miss just being around him.'" [More of the Story]

Broadview Academy to close after 98 years
By Susan Sarkauskas, The Daily Herald (May 23, 2007).
"Broadview Academy, a La Fox high school run by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, is closing after graduation Sunday. The Illinois conference of the Christian denomination made the decision public Tuesday after deciding earlier this year it couldn't afford to keep the school open as enrollment declined. The conference intends to sell the campus. The school had 78 students this year, and only 58 last year. Twenty-one are expected to graduate Sunday. The academy opened in 1909 in what was then rural Broadview, near Chicago. For most of its life, the school primarily educated boarding students, some from as far away as Korea and South Africa. Faculty also lived on campus. Principal Randy Siebold, a 1978 graduate of the school, believes several factors led to the closing. As enrollment dropped, so did tuition income. But fixed expenses, such as staff and maintenance, didn't, Siebold said. In 2004, leaders of the Illinois conference recommended closing the school, but delegates from member churches felt otherwise and voted to keep it open by tapping into an endowment fund. That fund came from the sale of 190 acres of the school's land in 2001 to the Kane County Forest Preserve District, leaving 130 acres remaining. Siebold expects that money to run out by the end of the month. Another factor is a change in what he calls the “educational climate.” When Siebold was a teen, there was no question where he was going to go to high school. His parents were graduates of Broadview Academy, and even though he wanted to attend public high school with his friends, they sent him to Broadview. Now, parents are more reluctant to send a child away to a boarding school, he said, and teens have a say in the decision. “I had a couple here that said ‘We really like the school; we hope our son chooses to come here,'” Siebold said. [Story].

Peace can happen! — Northern Ireland

Historic return for N[orthern] I[reland] Assembly
BBC News (8 May, 2007)
"Northern Ireland has a new power-sharing government in an historic day at Stormont. D[emocratic] U[nionist] P[arty] leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness took office as first and deputy first ministers as five years of direct rule ended. 'Mr Blair said that the day's events offered the chance for Northern Ireland to 'escape the heavy chains of history' and 'make history anew.' .... 'Look back and we see centuries pock-marked by conflict, hardship, even hatred, among the people of these islands,' the prime minister said.... Ministers from the four main parties took the pledge of office, which includes support for the police. The return of devolved government follows an historic meeting in March between Mr Paisley and Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams, where they agreed to share power." [More of the Story].

"I believe that Northern Ireland has come to a time of peace, a time when hate will no longer rule."—Ian Paisley, First Minister, Northern Ireland (Full speech).

"As for Ian Paisley, I want to wish you all the best as we step forward towards the greatest yet most exciting challenge of our lives."—Martin McGuinness, Deputy First Minister, Northern Ireland (Full speech).

Liberal Protestantism Finding New Life
By Diana Butler Bass, Newsweek-Washington Post (10 May 2007).
"The New York Times recently ran a story about the Riverside Church, the congregation that serves as a national cathedral for liberal Protestantism, and its search for a new minister. Riverside's past ministers have included renowned leaders such as Harry Emerson Fosdick and William Sloan Coffin, making the current task a daunting one. The Times referred to Riverside as 'the capital of a theological movement that has been slowly deteriorating,' citing mainstream Protestantism's 'decades-long pattern of losing members, vitality, and influence' as a challenge to finding a new pastor. A photograph illustrated the story: two men looking down from the church's balcony over forty parishioners huddled in the back pews of a mostly-empty building. Last October, I preached at Riverside's Fosdick Convocation—a five-day teaching event celebrating liberal Protestantism—to a crowd of approximately 800 people. The building was not empty. More than three-dozen leaders, theologians, and writers preached, offered workshops, and led worship with large audiences in attendance. That conference was energetic, intelligent, and, frankly, emotional—testifying to a renewed spiritual vitality among mainstream Protestants. Mainline Protestant vitality (denominations including the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church USA, the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) is probably the most under-reported religion story in America today. While these denominations face undeniable challenges of leadership and attendance, many local congregations are experiencing new growth—in terms of both numbers and theological depth.... in recent months, three academic studies have suggested that liberal renewal might be at the edge of a trend: Ian Markam's 'Why Liberal Churches Are Growing,' Hal Taussig's 'A New Spiritual Home: Progressive Christianity at the Grass Roots,' and my own, 'Christianity for the Rest of Us.' Together, these books explore the characteristics of liberal congregational growth, renewal in progressive communities, and patterns of vitality in mainstream churches based in research involving thousands of congregations." [More of the story].

Iraqi refugees and displaced now total 4.2 million, U.N. refugee agency says
"GENEVA -- More than 4 million Iraqis have now been displaced by violence in the country, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday, warning that the figure will continue to rise. The number of Iraqis who have fled the country as refugees has risen to 2.2 million, said Jennifer Pagonis, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. A further 2 million have been driven from their homes but remain within the country, increasingly in 'impoverished shanty towns,' she said. Pagonis said UNHCR is receiving "disturbing reports" of regional authorities doing little to provide displaced people with food, shelter and other basic services. 'Individual governorates inside Iraq are becoming overwhelmed by the needs of the displaced,' Pagonis told reporters in Geneva, where UNHCR has its headquarters. More than half of Iraq's 18 governorates are preventing displaced people from entering their territories, either by stopping them at checkpoints or by refusing to register them for food aid and other basic services. Astrid van Genderen Stort of UNHCR said checkpoints are increasing in northern governorates, specifically along the 'green line' that divides Kurdish-controlled zones from the rest of the country. Displaced people are also being stopped on the roads leading out of the cities of Karbala and Najaf, which are both south of Baghdad and considered holy by Shiite Muslims. While many of the checkpoints were originally established for security reasons, they are being increasingly used to prevent displaced Iraqis from moving around the country, van Genderen Stort said. Almost half of all displaced people have no access to official food distribution programs, according to U.N. estimates. Most of those uprooted from their homes come from Baghdad and its surrounding districts. More than 85 percent of the Iraqis displaced within the country have moved to central and southern regions, Pagonis said. She said about 30,000 Iraqis continue to flee each month to Syria, which is now housing 1.4 million Iraqi refugees. Another 750,000 are in Jordan. While Iraq's neighbors are bearing the bulk of the refugee burden, few Iraqis are being welcomed into countries farther away, particularly in Europe, Pagonis said. The Bush administration says it will allow up to 7,000 Iraqis to settle permanently in the U.S. -- up from 202 in 2006 -- by the end of September and will pay more to help Iraq's neighbors cope with the surge of refugees. UNHCR hopes to find a permanent home for 20,000 Iraqi refugees by the end of the year." [Story].

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: An International Update on the Comparative Performance of American Health Care
By Karen Davis, Ph.D., Cathy Schoen, M.S., Stephen C. Schoenbaum, M.D., M.P.H., Michelle M. Doty, Ph.D., M.P.H., Alyssa L. Holmgren, M.P.A., Jennifer L. Kriss, and Katherine K. Shea
Editor(s): Deborah Lorber, Commonwealth Fund (May 15, 2007; updated May 16, 2007).
"Despite having the most costly health system in the world, the United States consistently underperforms on most dimensions of performance, relative to other countries. This report—an update to two earlier editions—includes data from surveys of patients, as well as information from primary care physicians about their medical practices and views of their countries' health systems. Compared with five other nations—Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom—the U.S. health care system ranks last or next-to-last on five dimensions of a high performance health system: quality, access, efficiency, equity, and healthy lives. The U.S. is the only country in the study without universal health insurance coverage, partly accounting for its poor performance on access, equity, and health outcomes. The inclusion of physician survey data also shows the U.S. lagging in adoption of information technology and use of nurses to improve care coordination for the chronically ill." [More of the summary; the entire report; entire chart pack for the study].

Fundamentalism and Freedom
The Jehovah's Witnesses are more than a knock-knock joke.
by David Neff, Christianity Today (05/22/07).
"Jehovah's Witnesses are America's favorite punch line, says Joel P. Engardio, co-producer of Knocking, a documentary on the 7 million-member sect, which, he says, spends 1.3 billion hours per year knocking on doors. The film, which airs tonight on PBS's Independent Lens, begins with the sound of knocking, followed by a deep sigh. Is it the sound of apprehension? The dullness of routine? Weariness of the present evil age? And then come the jokes—clips from The Simpsons and Letterman. But Engardio is not joking. His mother converted when he was a child, and he has observed the Witnesses at close range, although he himself never became a member—he chose journalism over fundamentalism, he says. Engardio helps viewers to get past the joke by following the stories of two men: one an aged survivor of the Holocaust and one a 20-something with a rare disease.... But Engardio's Knocking is not just about Jehovah's Witnesses. It is also about fundamentalism and the fear of religious 'extremism' abroad in our land.... According to an ACLU spokesman in the film, Witnesses were in the Supreme Court 45 times between 1935 and 1958 fighting for their rights of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and (because of their conscientious opposition to blood transfusions) patients' rights. Long before the founding of Christian public interest law firms, such as the Liberty Fund, The Becket Fund, and the ACLJ, the Jehovah's Witnesses were using the courts to establish liberties. And, claims Engardio, Witnesses were among the first to report and condemn Hitler's persecution of the Jews. Because of their anti-military stand, the Nazis bundled off to concentration camps about 10,000 of the 25,000 Witnesses in Germany. (The rest went underground.) Witness prisoners smuggled out accounts of the brutality and slaughter as well as detailed diagrams of the camps' layout. Their leadership in America publicized the atrocities. This film offers a one-sided portrait, and I would welcome a careful assessment by a knowledgeable historian. Nevertheless, Engardio's point is powerful. Religious minorities—as exasperating as they can be—serve to test our capacity for freedom. And those who suffer in order to secure our civil liberties deserve our gratitude." [Full article].

The Independent Lens documentary "Knocking" on PBS.

Christian Colleges' Green Revolution
From the cafeteria to the classroom, students are learning to be environmentally conscious.
By Cindy Crosby, Christianity Today (5/25/2007).
"Flush twice. It's required at Calvin College's Vincent and Helen Bunker Interpretive Center's restrooms; once before, once after. The flushed water, which is the consistency of a bubble bath, washes waste to an underground room. There, preserve manager Cheryl Hoogewind and I climb up on a metal receptacle and look into a huge bin of waste that smells pleasantly of wood chips. This compost will eventually be spread as fertilizer on the college grounds. Above us in the 5,000-square-foot building, a student-designed solar photovoltaic system generates electricity from sunlight; meanwhile, gray water from drinking fountains and sinks nourishes plants lining the classroom windowsills. It's all part of the Bunker Center's environmental sustainability. Integrating creation care with academics is a growing emphasis on Christian campuses around the country. According to Paul Corts, president of the interdenominational Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), about 40 of 105 North American member schools have adopted significant green initiatives. These vary considerably, from multimillion-dollar sustainable 'villages' and student volunteer educational programs to majors in environmental studies and recycling pop cans in school cafeterias. There is also national action." [More of the story].

Theocons of the World, Unite
A prominent pundit wants American conservatives to make common cause with Muslim reactionaries.
By Cathy Young, Reason magazine (June 2007 Print Edition).
"A few years ago, I heard someone call into a right-wing radio show to rail against the feminists, the homosexuals, the atheists, and other usual suspects. The host enthusiastically agreed. The caller then voiced the hope that the host would join him in supporting the establishment of Islamic law in America, a twist that left the host sputtering incoherently. These days, the idea of conservative Christians aligning themselves with radical Muslims is not a prank caller's gag but the subject of heated debate on the right. Dinesh D'Souza sparked the argument with his controversial book The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11 (Random House).... Yet D'Souza's critique of Spencer falls flat because he shares some of the same basic assumptions—for instance, that Islam is inherently incompatible with secularism and is inherently 'fundamentalist' in the sense of relying on a literal reading of the Koran. It's just that, for D'Souza, these are not vices but virtues. The anti-Muslims regard secularized but Islamic Turkey as an anomaly; so does D'Souza, who writes mostly with approval of the push to reverse Turkey's secularization: 'Muslims have the right to live in Islamic states under Muslim law if they wish.' It is quite true that, in the age of militant Islamic terrorism, it is not very helpful to tell millions of peaceful Muslims that their religion is inherently violent, evil, and oppressive. It is equally unhelpful of D'Souza to deny the obvious: The best hope for peaceful coexistence is for the Islamic world to embrace modernization and individual liberty, not for the West to turn its back on those values." [More of the opinion piece].

Articles in the current issue of Adventist Today: Subscribe today!

May-June 2007 (Vol. 15; No. 3). On the issue of plagiarism, and other articles.

CONTENTS

• 02 | Editorial: In "Term Limits" John McLarty reflects on the denominational health benefits of church leadership term limits, and how after 10 years as Adventist Today editor, promoting open discourse and news within the Adventist Church, it is time for him to "it's time for me to acknowledge my own dispensability" as AToday sets out to find a new editor, in order to spend more time with his church and family.
• 04 | Letters | AT readers
• 06 | Letters on Abortion | AT Authors and Readers Response
• 10 | 3ABN used by Adventist Retirees for Inspiration and Witnessing | Edwin D. Schwisow
• 11 | Adventist College and University Enrollment Figures Released | James Stirling

Features

• 12 | Defining Plagiarism - Article Review | James Stirling
• 14 | Posner is Wrong on Plagiarism | Jim Walters
• 16 | The Specter of Plagiarism Haunting Adventism | T. Joe Willey, reporting on a presentation by Dr. Frederick Hoyt
• 19 | Unity and Tolerance in the Church – Parts I-III | Mark F. Carr
• 22 | Buckle Up – A Commentary on the Adventist Soul | Alden Thompson
• 24 | Contemporary Adventism: The Owl and the Aging Tiger | Dr. Milton Hook

Climate change: Gulf stream under threat. Flash media presentation.

Planet-hunters find bonanza of new solar systems
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor, Reuters, Washington (May 28, 2007).
"Planet-seekers who have spotted 28 new planets orbiting other stars in the past year say Earth's solar system is far from unique and there could be billions of habitable planets. The most recent planet discoveries bring the number of known exoplanets—planets outside our solar system—to 236, the researchers told a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Honolulu on Monday. 'We are beginning to see that our home is not a rarity in the universe,' said Geoffrey Marcy, a professor of astronomy at the University of California Berkeley, who led the team. 'We are easily able to detect giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn around other stars. Most orbit far from the star like our own Jupiter and Saturn orbit from the sun,' Marcy said in a telephone interview. 'It's a common structure among planetary systems.' New techniques allow astronomers to detect planets that are not enormous although Earth-sized objects cannot yet be seen, said the researchers, who have posted details of their findings on the Internet at http://exoplanets.org. Four of the systems also have multiple planets, like Earth's own with its sun, eight planets (Pluto was demoted from planet status) and smaller orbiting objects. 'We are finding that most stars have not just one planet but when we find one there is a second or a third or a fourth,' Marcy said. 'The ... attribute which really has us the most excited is this new planet which we found three years ago,' Marcy said. The Neptune-like planet orbiting the star Gliese 436 has intrigued scientists because it appears to be covered with water—albeit rock-hard, hot water in a most un-Earthlike chemical state because of the intense pressures on the planet. Earlier this month, Swiss and Belgian researchers imaged the star as this planet crossed between it and the Earth. The tiny change in the star's light gave them the planet's diameter and density. 'From the density of two grams per cubic centimeter—twice that of water—it must be 50 percent rock and about 50 percent water, with perhaps small amounts of hydrogen and helium,' Marcy said. 'Now we are very sure it has a rocky core and this giant thick envelope of water,' he added. 'This is why we are jumping out of our clothes. It is the first time we have determined the structure of one of these extrasolar planets. It is rocky like Earth but it has a lot of water which is the essential ingredient for life.' This is almost certainly happening over and over again, Marcy said. Scientists had theorized this for decades but now the hard evidence is starting to pour in. 'Our Milky Way galaxy has 200 billion stars. I would estimate that 10 percent of them, perhaps, have planets that are habitable,' Marcy said. 'There are hundreds of billions of galaxies, all of which are more or less like our Milky Way Galaxy, which is tens of billions of planets like our own.' There is one unusual property to our solar system: the nearly circular orbits of the planets, which gives a consistent dose of radiation from the Sun. Other solar systems seen so far are not usually like this. 'Most of the planets are not in circular orbits around the host star but in elongated ones called elliptical orbits,' Marcy said. 'We enjoy nearly constant temperatures throughout the year,' he added. 'If the Earth got too close to the Sun, the Earth would heat up, the water would boil off and that would be bad.' Too far, and it would freeze. 'An elongated orbit could not sustain life,' Marcy said" [Story].

"An artist's rendering of the planet orbiting the star, Gliese 436.... Planet-seekers who have spotted 28 new planets orbiting other stars in the past year say Earth's solar system is far from unique and there could be billions of habitable planets. REUTERS/ Handout/Lynette Cook"

Editorial comment: The continuing discovery of exoplanets seems to constitute an ongoing illustration of the Copernican principle, that earth is simply part of the great whole, without occupying a privileged vantage point. Many Christians have even grown accustomed to the thought that there may be numerous inhabited worlds in the universe.

 

Untapped: The Scramble for Africa's Oil by John Ghazvinian (Harcourt, 2007). From Publishers Weekly. With American relations in the Middle East on shaky ground, the U.S. government and the petroleum industry have turned to Africa as a new source of oil, investing more than a billion dollars a year in the continent since 1990. China and India are also looking to African crude oil, which is 'lighter' and 'sweeter' than its Arab counterpart and thus requires less costly refining, to fuel their booming economies....