Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

United Nations Proposes New
Sep 12th, 2009
Daily NewsCBS News.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;World Government

(AP)

The United Nations would like the dollar, euro, yen, and other national currencies to be succeeded by a new "global currency."

That recommendation appears in a U.N. report released this week, which suggests the dollar's outsize role in international finance has ended -- and says that it's time to invent a successor currency that would be managed by a "Global Reserve Bank."

Countries could "agree to exchange their own currencies for the new currency, so that the global currency would be backed by a basket of currencies of all the members," says the 218-page report from the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development.

The U.N. report grew out of the financial problems that swept the world in the last year or two, which it diagnoses as arising from too much speculation in commodity markets, a bubble in stock markets and housing markets, and trade imbalances between countries like China and the United States. Its prescription? "More stringent financial regulation" and "diversification away from dollars" as part of a new system of constant exchange rates. (Supachai Panitchpakdi, UNCTAD's secretary-general, also wants "vigorous" global actions, including "managing" energy prices through taxes, to dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions.)

Art's Comments.....Global Government is coming like a freight train coming down the track, nothing is going to stop it.

U.S. Federal Deficit Climbs Higher Into Record Territory, Hits $1.38t
Sep 12th, 2009
Daily NewsMSN Money
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

WASHINGTON - The U.S. federal deficit surged higher into record territory in August, hitting US$1.38 trillion with one month left in the budget year.

The soaring deficits have raised worries about the willingness of foreigners to keep purchasing Treasury debt. The Chinese, now the largest foreign owners of U.S. Treasury securities, have expressed concerns about runaway deficits. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and other administration officials have sought to address those concerns by insisting that once the recession is over and the financial system is stabilized, the administration will move forcefully to get the deficits under control.

However, Republican critics contend the administration does not have a credible plan to address future deficits. Private economists worry the country could face the grim prospect of seeing interest rates soar in future years and the dollar weaken as foreigners dump their U.S. holdings.

The Treasury Department said Friday that last month's deficit was $111.4 billion, below the $152 billion that economists expected. Still, the imbalance added to a flood of red ink already accumulated through the recession and massive spending needed to stabilize the banking system.

The Obama administration last month trimmed its forecast for this year's deficit to $1.58 trillion, from an earlier $1.84 trillion. The recovery of the banking system led to the reduced estimate as it meant the administration did not need to get an additional $250 billion in bailout support for banks.

The $1.58 trillion estimate for the full budget year signals that that administration expects the imbalance in September to be around $200 billion. That would be a sharp deterioration from September 2008 when the government closed out that budget year with a $45.7 billion surplus.

Many private economists have slightly smaller deficit estimates for the full year but all agree that 2009 will be a record-holder by a large margin. The previous record deficit in dollar terms was $454.8 billion last year.

The administration's revised budget forecasts issued last month also underscored how much the government's fiscal picture has deteriorated. It is now projecting the deficit over the next decade will total $9 trillion, $2 trillion more than its estimates from a few months ago.

Six Powers Accept Iranian Offer to Talk
Sep 12th, 2009
Daily NewsJpost - AP
Categories: Today's Headlines

The United States and five partner countries have accepted Iran's new offer to hold talks, even though Iran insists it will not negotiate over its disputed nuclear program, the US State Department said Friday.

Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters that although Iran's proposal for international talks - presented to the six powers on Wednesday - was disappointing for sidestepping the nuclear issue, it represented a chance to begin a direct dialogue.

"We are seeking a meeting now based on the Iranian paper to see what Iran is prepared to do," Crowley said. "And then, as the president has said, you know, if Iran responds to our interest in a meeting, we'll see when that can occur. We hope that will occur as soon as possible."

In its proposal, Iran ignored a demand by the six world powers - the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - for a freeze of its uranium enrichment, which is suspected of leading to production of a nuclear weapon. Iran insists that its nuclear work is strictly for peaceful non-military purposes.

Iran pronounced itself ready to "embark on comprehensive, all-encompassing and constructive negotiations."

On Monday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country will neither halt uranium enrichment nor negotiate over its nuclear rights but is ready to sit and talk with world powers over "global challenges."

Crowley said Iran's lack of interest in addressing its nuclear program is not a reason to refuse to talk.

"If we have talks, we will plan to bring up the nuclear issue," he said.

"So we are seeking a meeting because ultimately the only way that we feel we're going to be able to resolve these issues is to have a meeting," Crowley added. "But it's not just a meeting for meeting's sake; it is a meeting to be able to see if Iran is willing to engage us seriously on these issues."

The decision to take up Iran's offer was communicated publicly Friday in Brussels by Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief who is an intermediary for the six powers, who represent the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.

"We are all committed to meaningful negotiations with Iran to resolve the international community's concerns about their nuclear program," Solana said in a brief written statement. He said his office was in contact with Iranian officials to arrange a meeting "at the earliest possible opportunity."

Crowley said there is no assumption that new talks with Iran will be productive. But the proposal made Wednesday by the Iranian government indicated at least a new willingness to engage diplomatically, he said.

"There's language in the letter that simply says the government of Iran is willing to enter into dialogue," the spokesman said. "We are going to test that proposition, OK? And if Iran is willing to enter into serious negotiations, then they will find a willing participant in the United States and the other [partner] countries.

"If Iran dissembles in the future, as it has in the past, then we will draw conclusions from that," he said.

Crowley said the administration will, between now and December, assess where it's diplomatic approach stands. Iran's willingness to deal with the nuclear issues in the proposed new talks will be part of that assessment, he said.

Trita Parsi, founder of the National Iranian American Council, said in a phone interview Friday prior to Solana's announcement that he hoped the Obama administration would take Iran up on its offer.

"The Iranian proposal is an opening bid," Parsi said, even if it contains no offer of compromise on the nuclear issue.

The Obama administration has expressed interest in discussing numerous other issues with Iran, including cooperation in stabilizing two Iranian neighbors - Afghanistan and Iraq - as well as alleged Iranian support for terrorist groups.

School Officials Face Jail Time for Meal - Time Prayers
Sep 12th, 2009
Daily NewsOneNewsNow - Pete Chagnon
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution

A principal and an athletic director are facing criminal charges for a lunch-time prayer.

Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against Pace High School in Santa Rosa County, Florida. The ACLU claimed some teachers and administrators were endorsing religion, but the school chose to give in to the ACLU's demands rather than fight them in court.
 
According to the settlement, all school employees are banned from engaging in prayer or religious activities before, during, or after school hours. Now two school officials are facing criminal charges for offering meal-time prayers at an appreciation dinner for adults who had helped with a school field house project. Principal Frank Lay and athletic director Robert Freeman are scheduled to go on trial next month on criminal contempt charges. If convicted, both are subject to fines and imprisonment.
 
Matt Staver is founder of Liberty Counsel, which will argue the court order prohibiting prayer at school-related events violated Lay's and Freeman's constitutional rights.
 
"In this particular case, Principal Frank Lay asked the athletic director to have a prayer for the meal at an honorary luncheon in celebration for some of the athletic achievements. And then in [another] situation, the clerical worker at an event where some employees of the school were present asked her husband, who is not an employee of the school, to have a blessing over a meal," he explains. "Because of those two events, these individuals now face criminal contempt."
 
Staver believes that the accusers in this case are students who recently graduated. If that is the case, he says the case is moot. However, Staver adds it is outrageous to punish a school official with potential jail time for simply praying.

Art's Commentary.....There is a battle that rages against God in every unregenerate heart. Because of that battle our society has declared through evolutionary teaching that God does not exist. When a God hater sees a man or a woman praying to the one they hate it evidently fills them with anger.  The basic reason that men do not want to acknowledge God is because God has made them and He has a right to direct them and their lives. Adam and Eve's sin was simply, "God you are not going to tell us what to do, we will run our own lives," that is the basic sin. Man in his blindness and rebellion cannot understand that God loves him with an infinite love and wishes to bless him to the infinite degree.

Rockets Hit Israel from Lebanon
Sep 12th, 2009
Daily NewsBBC News
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Warning

Two rockets have been fired into northern Israel from Lebanon.

The Israeli military responded with eight shells fired into a fruit plantation near the city of Tyre, reports said.

Remnants of a Katyusha rocket were found in Israel, police said. There were no reports of casualties.

Israel and the Lebanese militant and political group Hezbollah fought a devastating 34-day war across the border in 2006.

Iran Beware: Israel Tests 'secret Weapon'
Sep 12th, 2009
Daily NewsWND - Jerome Corsi
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Warning

Netanyahu's trip to Russia a diversion?

The mystery that surrounded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's unannounced trip to Russia was created by the Israeli government in a calculation to divert attention from a secret weapons test, according to sources.

The test, held at undisclosed Israeli military base while Netanyahu was traveling, was done with top-secret authorization from the White House, the sources reported.

Trusted confidential Israeli sources in Jerusalem close to the government told WND the Israeli military conducted the secret weapons test in preparation for a planned pre-emptive strike on Iran.

They reported the Israeli government has set no date for a possible strike, but preparations already are in an advanced stage.

The plan to create a mystery out of Netanyahu's trip to Russia was deliberate – calculated to transform what in truth was a routine visit by the prime minister into the appearance of a secret mission involving Iran, the sources said.

To carry out the subterfuge, the Israeli prime minister's office stuck to the cover story yesterday, telling reporters only that Netanyahu was occupied with "secret and classified activities" during his unexplained absence of over 12 hours on Monday.

The National Security Council press office in the White House did not respond to a WND request for comment.

WND was unable to learn the exact nature of the experimental weapon that was successfully tested, other than to confirm the Israeli military specifically designed the weapon to be used in a possible upcoming war with Iran.

Today, the Jerusalem Post reported a senior Kremlin official confirmed to the Russian paper Kommersant that Netanyahu did make a secret trip to Russia on Monday.

The Jerusalem Post further reported that the Russian official said this kind of development "could only be related to new and threatening information on Iran's nuclear program."

Reuters said today that Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko would neither confirm nor deny any meetings were held by Russian government officials with Netanyahu in Moscow. Israeli newspapers were outraged by what was being described as lies issued by the prime minister's office in a "major media fiasco" surrounding the trip.

Glyn Davies, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency, said earlier this week that the U.S. believes Iran is coming close to the "break out" threshold of possessing enough low-enriched uranium to produce one nuclear weapon, if the decision were made to further enrich it to weapons-grade, according to a report published by the Telegraph of London.

Today, Mojaba Samareh Hashemi, a top aide to Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said in an interview that Iran had no intention of entering into talks designed to halt its nuclear enrichment program, according to the Washington Post.

Fatah Backs Egypt's Plan for 'unity' With Hamas
Sep 12th, 2009
Daily NewsJpost - Khaled Abu Toameh
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning;Peace Process

Fatah welcomes a new Egyptian proposal aimed at solving its dispute with Hamas, a high-ranking Fatah official said on Thursday.

The Egyptian proposal has the support of the Hamas as well.

"Fatah has welcomed and accepted the latest proposal," said Jibril Rajoub, the newly-elected member of Fatah's Central Committee, who said that the proposal would bring the two rival parties closer to signing a "national unity agreement."

"President Mahmoud Abbas accepted it after holding consultations with Fatah leaders in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and abroad," Rajoub said, adding that he and a group of senior Fatah leaders were planning to visit the Gaza Strip soon for talks with Hamas leaders. The purpose of the meeting, he said, was to find ways of ending an ongoing power struggle with the Hamas.

Earlier this week, sources close to Hamas told The Jerusalem Post that the two parties were scheduled to sign a reconciliation accord under the auspices of the Egyptians before the end of this year.

The sources said that the breakthrough in the Hamas-Fatah talks came after the Islamic movement's leader, Khaled Mashaal, held talks in Cairo last weekend with senior Egyptian government officials.

On Thursday, Mashaal stopped at Cairo International Airport on his way home from Sudan. A Hamas official in the Gaza Strip said that Mashaal met at the airport with Gen. Mohammed Ibrahim, a senior official with Egypt's General Intelligence Service.

The two discussed latest developments related to Egypt's efforts to end the Hamas-Fatah rift and the case of abducted IDF soldier Gilad Schalit, the official told the Post without elaborating.

On Wednesday night, leaders of various Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Fatah, were handed a draft of the latest Egyptian proposal for ending the crisis in the Palestinian arena.

The proposal, which has been accepted by both Fatah and Hamas, calls for holding presidential and parliamentary elections in the Palestinian territories in the first half of 2010 and not in January of the same year as originally planned.

The initiative divides the Palestinian territories into 16 electoral districts, 11 in the West Bank and the remaining five in the Gaza Strip. The vote, according to the proposal, would be held under Arab and Western supervision to guarantee their honesty and fairness.

On the issue of security, the initiative envisages the establishment of a security committee that would consist of "professional" officers and which would be placed under the supervision of the Egyptians. The committee's main task would be to oversee the revamping of the Palestinian Authority security forces.

The Egyptians also want to see another committee, comprising representatives of all Palestinian factions, tasked with the mission of preparing for elections, reconciliation among warring factions and rebuilding houses that were destroyed during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip.

Immediately after the signing of the reconciliation accord, both Hamas and Fatah would start releasing all "political" detainees.

Hamas legislator Salah Bardaweel said that Mashaal's discussions in Cairo were designed to show that the movement is keen on ending its differences with Fatah.

Bardaweel said that Mashaal warned during his talks that holding elections only in the West Bank would complicate matters and consolidate divisions among the Palestinians.

Bardaweel said that elections should be held only after Hamas and Fatah sign a reconciliation accord. He said that the Egyptians displayed "understanding" toward Hamas's positions, especially with regards to its demand that Fatah release all Hamas supporters held in West Bank jails.

'we're Running Out of Time to Stop a Nuclear Iran'
Sep 12th, 2009
Daily NewsJpost - Amir Mizroch ,
Categories: Today's Headlines;War;Warning

Michigan Congressman Mike Rogers, ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, is confident the US administration will stick to its September deadline for tougher sanctions on Iran if Teheran refuses to substantively engage the international community on its nuclear program. He thinks there is no other choice, since Iran is rapidly moving towards nuclear weapons capability.

The evidence of Iran's nuclear weapons program is "overwhelming," says Rogers, whose committee oversees the work of some 16 US intelligence agencies and organizations.

Rogers, a former FBI agent, spoke with The Jerusalem Post this week, on the sidelines of the 9th Annual International Institute of Counter-Terrorism (ICT) Conference at IDC Herzliya.

The Jerusalem Post: Can America live with a nuclear Iran?

Mike Rogers: "I think it is dangerous for people to find it acceptable that Iran will have a nuclear bomb.

"You have an irrational leadership that somehow we would expect would play by rational international rules. You can't make that conclusion. They're willing to face sanctions and maybe even the death of their citizens to get the bomb. I don't know how any honest intellectual can look at those sets of facts and come to the conclusion that it's okay for Iran to have a [nuclear] bomb.

"Secondly, it will set off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have already indicated their intentions if Iran gets a nuclear weapon. The Saudis are certainly not going to be on the weaker end of that [Sunni-Shi'ite] equation. Now you've got a whole set of new problems.

"And because Iran gets a nuclear bomb does not mean they're going to stop their efforts on terrorism by proxies, which has worked for them through Hizbullah and Hamas.

"And finally, look at the behavior of their mentors, the North Koreans. They are clearly proliferating nuclear technology to any willing buyer.

"Iran has already shown that it is engaging US forces with deadly force in theatres it doesn't belong in. Give it a nuclear umbrella, and Iran will become much more brazen."

Why is there this disconnect between the way America is going after al-Qaida and the way it approaches a state sponsor of terrorism like Iran?

"We had a rough twenty years with terrorism, without fully realizing what we were dealing with. You have a look at the Khobar Towers attack, the USS Cole attack, the 1992 bombing of the World Trade Center where we got the blind Sheikh and said, 'That's it, we did it, we got the bad guy, put him in jail, it's over.' Unfortunately, a decade later we lost a few thousand citizens. We were slow in coming to the realization that al-Qaida and Islamic extremism are dangerous to the world, to America and our allies.

"When we went into Iraq and Afghanistan - and I don't think there's a military that rivals the US military - we didn't think that the global jihad was going to engage [us] in those conflicts. What we have learned over time is that Iran is part of our problem. They were smuggling people and weapons and directly supplying and financing to groups that we know were there in both countries, trying to kill coalition and US soldiers. They were using, by proxy, those pipelines and those networks like they had been using Hizbullah and Hamas against Israel for a very long time. Our intelligence agencies knew about it, but now our policymakers are involved in that discussion [of Iran's involvement]."

There's a sense in Israel that Iran is not near the top of President Obama's agenda. Where do you see the issue of Iran's nuclear drive fitting into the US agenda?

"There are many policymakers, myself included, who hope that we float it [Iran] to the top of every policymaker's agenda. The most important element in the near term is to get every policymaker engaged in the notion that the clock is running, and that it is an absolute 'game changer' when Iran goes nuclear, because that is not a genie you could put back in the bottle.

"Iran knows [the stakes], and that's why they're being so clever about how they get there. My concern is that once they get that nuclear umbrella, [then] - given their policy statements in the past, their very aggressive use of proxy terrorism - things are only going to get worse.

"When you think of all the places that they're engaged, and they are around the world - that two-year window, or that 12-month window, or even a five-year window… Even [outgoing IAEA Chairman Mohammed] El Baradei will tell you that [Iran's nuclear] program is going ahead but it's not immediate.

"Well here's the good news: We all agree now that they're trying to get a nuclear weapons program.

"Would we risk that we might get to that two-year mark, or 18-month mark, without any serious sense of engagement with them on serious sanctions to try to halt or slow down their program? Or would we risk that we go five or six years and they get a nuclear bomb? That, to me, is what the debate needs to be about.

"I think the US ought to step up to a very aggressive sanctions stance right now, because we're running out of time. Iran is very good about the dance, but my mother always told me that when you're dancing, somebody's going backwards. Unfortunately it is the international community and the US [that are going backwards]. We don't need a second dance."

Where do you see Russia and China in this dance?

"It is really not in their strategic interests [to block sanctions on Iran], but they're doing it. It is frustrating to us, and we scratch our heads trying to figure out why they're behaving like they are.

"I think they can be important players, including in peace negotiations throughout the Middle East. If we could bring Russia into that equation they could be incredibly helpful to us on the sanctions issue. I think that if we can get Russia, we'll get China engaged.

"Russia sees itself as a world player, and you don't go from the USSR, which was a very large empire, to where they are today, without some ill feelings. I think they want to re-engage again as world leaders.

"We have a lot of issues of difference with Russia, and I think they'll use as many points as they can for negotiation. But they can also be involved with Iran's nuclear program in a way that I think everybody could find acceptable."

How will a nuclear Iran affect America?

"We have over 150,000 troops in Iraq and we're escalating in Afghanistan. Pakistan is always worrisome to us. Americans are very weary right now. Our economy is bad. We're mired down in other things. We said there were WMD in Iraq. We got there and there weren't any. Now we're saying Iran has a nuclear weapons program, and people are going, 'Are you sure? Are you really sure?' That's just something we're going to have to get over.

"I think the intelligence here is overwhelming. The average American doesn't want any of it [more wars]. I think that the public is savvy enough to understand that a nuclear Iran doesn't get us less trouble, it gets us more trouble. Lots more trouble.

"And that's what we're trying to convince the Russians. If they think that Chechnya is just a small problem for them now, wait until the radical Muslim community decides that they can get in there with relative impunity [under an Iranian nuclear umbrella] and do what damage they wish.

"It spreads our problems worldwide. If Iran wants to control the movement of oil out of the Middle East, that will impact us too. You think the average American wants to pay $8 for a gallon of gasoline? [The price of gasoline in America now averages between $2 and $4 per gallon.] It has so many implications for the US and for the average American."

Do you sense any desperation on the Israeli side, that they're determined to do what they think is necessary?

"I think that Israel has the right to defend itself, given it's position in the world and the neighborhood it's in. It's probably the toughest neighborhood to be in. I think we can all agree that a nuclear Iran is dangerous for the world, but it's probably most immediately dangerous to the State of Israel. I think that most Americans believe that Israel has the right to defend itself. I think that speaks for itself."