Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

World's Hungry Reach More Than 1 Billion in '09 - UN
Oct 15th, 2009
Daily NewsReuters
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

1.02 billion people are undernourished in 2009 * World missing political will to eradicate hunger-FAO DG

ROME, Oct 14 (Reuters) - A combination of the food crisis and the global economic downturn has pushed more than 1 billion people into hunger in 2009, U.N. agencies said on Wednesday, confirming a grim forecast released earlier this year. The Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Food Programme said 1.02 billion people -- about 100 million people more than last year -- are undernourished in 2009, the highest number in four decades. "The rising number of hungry people is intolerable," said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf as the new annual report on world hunger was released. "We have the economic and technical means to make hunger disappear, what is missing is a stronger political will to eradicate hunger forever," he said. The increase in the number of hungry people is not a result of poor harvests but is due to high food prices -- particularly in developing countries -- lower incomes and lost jobs. Even before the recent twin crises of food and recession, the number of undernourished people had risen steadily for a decade, reversing progress made in the 1980s and early 1990s. The Group of Eight countries in July pledged $20 billion over three years to help poor nations feed themselves, signalling a new focus on longer-term agricultural development. That has sparked some concerns that emergency food aid might be cut back as a result. The WFP last year raised a record $5 billion to feed poor people as a spike in food prices in 2006-2008 sparked rioting and hoarding in some countries. So far this year it has received $2.9 billion, and has had to cut food rations or scale back operations in places like Kenya and Bangladesh. FAO and WFP urge a twin-track approach, saying longer-term investment in agriculture development should not come at the expense of short-term initiatives to fight acute hunger spurred by sudden food shortages. (Reporting by Silvia Aloisi; editing by James Jukwey)

Turkey Tightens Syrian - Iranian Axis After Snubbing Israel
Oct 15th, 2009
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Tzvi Ben Gadalyahu
Categories: Today's Headlines;Anti-Israel

 
The threat of the anti-Israel axis north of the border worsened Wednesday with the announcement that Turkey, which has close ties with Iran, conducted joint military drills with Syria after snubbing Israel.

The maneuvers were held last week, revealed Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, who made the announcement on the Qatar-based Arabic-language Al Jazeera news network. "One week ago, Syria and Turkey carried out maneuvers near Ankara," Moallem announced. "This is important because it refutes reports of poor relations between the military and political institutes in Turkey over its strategic relations with Syria."

The Syrian-Turkish military exercises were apparently being held at the same time that Turkey was informing Jerusalem that it would ban the IAF from participating in the joint Anatolian Eagle exercise, a move that was not made public by Israel until Sunday. The war games, scheduled to be held together with Turkey, the U.S. and Italy, reportedly were to include mock bombing raids in air space near the borders of Iran, Iraq and Syria. Israeli planes are believed to have passed through Turkish air space two years ago during the attack on a Syrian nuclear facility under construction.

Two decades of close ties between Ankara and Jerusalem appear to be coming to an end, the Asia Times reported Wednesday. It explained that demands from the Arab world and from hard-line Muslims in Turkey have influenced the government to distance itself from Israel, which has supplied Ankara with hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of equipment for refurbishing tanks and airplanes.

"This is a seriously worrying development," former Israeli Air Force Commander Eitan Ben-Eliyahu told an interviewer on Israeli television. "Turkey is critically essential in the training of our air force over wide spaces, particularly given Turkey's strategic location adjacent to both Iran and Syria."

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Tzachi HaNegbi (Kadima) stated that the cancellation of the joint military exercise is a "troubling" development.

Turkish officials tried to calm harsh Israeli reactions to the surprise cancellation, but Israeli officials charged that the government of Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan is trying to punish Israel for the three-week Operation Cast Lead counterterrorist war against Gaza that concluded in mid-January.

Prime Minister Erdogan also has been in the forefront of criticizing the United Nations decision last month not to discuss the Goldstone Report that accused Israel of war crimes in the Gaza operation. The U.N. now is considering reversing its position.

End of an Era?

The change in the friendship between Turkey and Israel, which one senior Israeli official admitted may “have simply ended,” leaves Israel without any friendly nation close to the northern border. The Asia Times noted that the cancellation of the aerial exercise may have severe implications on the effort to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

A Turkish-Syrian treaty signed Tuesday included plans to strengthen military ties and to end visa requirements for each country. Ten Turkish ministers flew to Syria for the high-level meeting with Syrian counterparts.

Syria also praised Turkey for pulling out of the military exercise with Israel and urged other Muslim countries, mainly Jordan and Egypt, to cut diplomatic ties with Israel. Jordan this week threatened to withdraw its ambassador to Israel if Israeli police enter the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount.

Turkey also played a critical role as intermediary in indirect talks between Syria and Israel during the term of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Art's Commentary.....The alliance of Ezekiel 38-39 continues to grow.

Homosexuality 'not a Civil Right'
Oct 15th, 2009
Daily NewsOneNewsNow - Jim Brown
Categories: Today's Headlines

The chairman of the Orange County (California) Board of Education says she is "appalled" that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is asking schools to set aside a day to honor a controversial homosexual activist.

Schwarzenegger signed a bill earlier this week creating an annual day of recognition for Harvey Milk. The designation of each May 22 as "Harvey Milk Day" encourages schools around the state to commemorate the murdered homosexual politician and activist.
 
Last month, the Orange County Board of Education voted unanimously (5-0) to oppose the creation of Harvey Milk Day. Dr. Alexandria Coronado, chairman of that board, says she is "absolutely furious" that the homosexual community is claiming that passage of the Harvey Milk bill is a civil rights victory.
 
"I think it just absolutely denigrates the entire civil rights movement. Homosexuality is not a civil right," Coronado emphasizes.
 
"I don't remember the last time that a homosexual person was forced to move out of their seat on a public bus, like Rosa Parks. And I don't remember the last time that a homosexual person or student...was forced to go to a segregated school, as in the case of Mendez v. Westminster, which took place right here in Orange County, California."
 
Dr. Coronado says she also opposes Harvey Milk Day because several Californians are more worthy than Milk of a special day of recognition, including the late President Ronald Reagan and former Governor Pat Brown. She also argues that Harvey Milk Day wastes school staff time and money that could be used for more educational purposes.

Eu Leaders Pressing Klaus to Ratify Lisbon Treaty
Oct 15th, 2009
Daily NewsIrish Times.com - DANIEL McLAUGHLIN
Categories: Today's Headlines;Revived Roman Empire

EUROPEAN UNION leaders are cranking up the pressure on Czech president Vaclav Klaus to sign the Lisbon Treaty after his Polish counterpart finally ratified the document.

Poland’s president Lech Kaczynski signed the treaty on Saturday, leaving the Czech Republic as the only one of the EU’s 27 members which has yet to fully approve a charter that is intended to streamline the bloc’s decision-making and give it a long-term president and stronger foreign policy chief.

Mr Klaus fears the treaty will transfer too much power from national governments to Brussels.

He wants a special exemption for his country from possible claims for property that belonged to the three million Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia after the second World War.

Mr Klaus also insists that he cannot sign the treaty until the Czech constitutional court rules on a last-ditch query on its legality filed by Mr Klaus’s eurosceptic allies. Both houses of the Czech parliament have already approved the treaty.

“The EU remains a union of nation states, a strict union, and let it remain so . . . Within a union of sovereign states we will achieve increasing successes,” Mr Kaczynski, another strong eurosceptic, said after signing the treaty in the presidential palace in Warsaw.

“Today the EU has 27 members, and I’m convinced that we haven’t finished yet – Croatia will definitely join us shortly, but it mustn’t be the last country to do so,” he said.

“There’s also Ukraine, Georgia, and in the future there’ll be others, too. The EU can’t say no to them.”

European leaders were quick to congratulate Mr Kaczynski and urge Mr Klaus to follow his lead as soon as possible.

“Today, the signature of president Kaczynski brings us one step closer . . . However, the Czech Republic still needs to complete the steps, with the signature by president Klaus,” said Fredrik Reinfeldt, prime minister of Sweden, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency.

“Europe eagerly awaits this happening,” he added. “We do not need more delays.”

France’s foreign and European ministers said in a joint statement that Mr Kaczynski’s signature “marks a new step that brings us closer still to the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, which we hope will be as quick as possible, before the end of the year as committed to by the 27 [members]”.

Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi added: “The treaty has now been ratified by 26 member states, so we are very close to our goal.

“It must take effect by the end of the year for Europe to become stronger and more efficient.”

Czech prime minister Jan Fischer and senior EU officials have said they believe that the treaty will be ratified this year, despite Mr Klaus’ demand for a Czech opt-out on parts of the charter of fundamental rights, which will become binding once the treaty is passed.

Britain and Poland secured certain formal exemptions from the charter, but EU officials hoped Mr Klaus might settle for a less legally complicated “political declaration” on the matter by EU leaders, which could be attached to the treaty without altering its text.

Ireland was satisfied with such a solution to its own demands on issues including neutrality, abortion and taxation.

However, an aide to Mr Klaus said this would not satisfy the notoriously stubborn Czech leader, who has compared the workings of the EU to those of the Soviet Union.

“This [Irish way] seems to me as an absolutely impossible way forward,” said Mr Klaus’s aide Ladislav Jakl.

“The president will not be satisfied by any declaration, but only guarantees for every citizen. For him, this condition is fundamental, necessary, unbreachable.”

Does Al - Qaida Have Key to Unlock Pakistan Nukes?
Oct 15th, 2009
Daily NewsWND - Joseph Farah
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Security experts worry about access to arsenal

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton isn't too concerned about the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, saying that she has "confidence in the Pakistani government and the military's control over nuclear weapons," according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

However, when she dismisses the prospect that Islamic militants could overthrow the Pakistani government of President Asif Ali Zadari and gain control of its nuclear arsenal, her opinions are at odds with security specialists concerned that individuals in the Pakistani military are colluding with al-Qaida.

In a number of instances, these security experts point out, the Pakistani military provided safe houses for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed before his capture. Mohammed was the self-professed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

One security expert, Shaun Gregory from the University of Bradford in Britain, points out that officials from Pakistan's civil nuclear sector have met with leaders of al-Qaida, including Osama bin Laden.

The prospect of an inside job became more worrisome after it was revealed that Pakistan's top nuclear scientist, A.Q. Khan, had set up a global black market nuclear network for more than a decade and had shared nuclear information with such state sponsors of terrorism as Iran and North Korea. The CIA has confirmed that Khan's associates had met with bin Laden prior to 9/11.

"Pakistan's weapons are less secure today than they were five years ago, and it seems they're even less secure than under the (President Gen. Pervez) Musharraf government," according to Gerald Steinberg, professor of conflict management at Bar Ilan University in Israel.

From the Israeli perspective, he said, confidence is diminishing in the U.S. ability to control events in Pakistan and protect that country's nuclear stockpile.

Concern over the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal has arisen again as a result of the attack last week by Islamist militants on the heavily guarded headquarters of the Pakistan army headquarters in Rawalpindi. The attackers were dressed in military uniforms.

The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, claimed responsibility for the attack. The TTP, also known as the Students' Movement of Pakistan, is the top umbrella group of the Taliban in Pakistan. Their primary target is the Pakistani army. They seek enforcement of Shariah law and want the forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization out of Afghanistan.

"If a relatively small group of people is able to penetrate into their 'Pentagon,' then it might show something about overconfidence of the Pakistanis, and that is worrisome – it's surprising that they were able to go in there relatively simply," said Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project of the Federation of American Scientists. He estimates that Pakistan has up to 90 nuclear warheads.

Berlusconi Says: 'vote Tony' for EU President
Oct 15th, 2009
Daily NewsEUobserver.com - LEIGH PHILLIPS
Categories: Today's Headlines;Revived Roman Empire

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday (14 October) came out in favour of "Forza Blair" as president of the European Council.

"Tony Blair has all the credentials to become the first president of the European Council," Mr Berlusconi wrote in a letter that appeared in Il Foglio, a conservative daily.

The Italian leader was responding to an editorial entitled "Vote Tony, vote Tony!" in the paper that had appeared on Monday.

"Dear editor, I absolutely agreed with your idea, even before you could think of it," the prime minister wrote.

He added that the former British prime minister should be "appointed to that post as soon as legally and politically possible."

On Tuesday, the newspaper known for its Fox-news style neo-conservatism, said that Mr Blair's candidacy was an opportunity both for Europe and for "Il Cavaliere."

"If Silvio Berlusconi, after the furious and embarrassing controversies of recent months, wanted to revive the activities of his government's international profile and give its political agenda a boost, he should exploit a tremendous opportunity: to fight for the nomination of former British prime minister Tony Blair as president of the European Council," the paper wrote.

Europe had hope for a future, the article continued, "only if a figure of great international calibre, able to warm hearts, to be respected outside Europe and perhaps even feared, but also able to identify the institutions with his leadership, is chosen."

The paper said it could also ease tensions with the Italian centre-left opposition, as Mr Blair comes from their political family.

If the Italian leader is hoping to win over resistance to Mr Blair's coronation, he chose an unusual forum. Il Foglio is most known for its robust support of the Iraq war.

The paper also cheered Mr Blair's conversion to Roman Catholicism and signed off the editorial: "Forza Blair!" echoing the name of Mr Berlusconi's former party.

Mr Berlusconi's backing strengthens Mr Blair's chances, although it reinforces the perception that the battle over the ex-UK leader could shape up to be one between large and small EU states.

The Benelux countries a week ago released a proposal for the position of European Council president and high representative for foreign affairs - essentially a foreign minister for the EU.

The document has been widely interpreted as an anti-Blair move, as their job description of the office of president is closer to a paper-shuffler than a statesman. A Belgian diplomat was also quoted in Le Monde as saying that the anti-Blair interpretation is correct, although it is thought that the Netherlands is taking a softer line.

Poland is expected to be releasing its own perspective on what sort of president Europe should have. Early signs suggest Warsaw's thinking is in line with Belgium and Luxembourg, with Poland's EU affairs minister Mikolaj Dowgielewicz recently saying the new appointee should not be a "celebrity" but should focus on consensus-building instead.

Art's Commentary........Though the first European Super President may not be the Antichrist, it would seem that this will be the office of Antichrist, be it sooner or later.

'syrian Long - Range Missiles in Lebanon'
Oct 15th, 2009
Daily NewsJpost
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Syria has transferred nearly a quarter of its long- and medium-range missile arsenal to Hizbullah, the Kuwaiti al Jarida reported on Thursday.

According to the report, security sources in Jerusalem told the paper that the missiles, now held by Hizbullah, could hit every part of Israel.

Iranian and Syrian officers were reportedly training the Hizbullah operatives in using the new missiles and in operating early warning systems intended to alert the group of Israeli jets.

The Jerusalem Post could not confirm the report.

The Kuwaiti article comes days after Israel's Ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev called on UN peacekeepers to investigate Monday night's apparent weapons cache blast in the home of a Hizbullah operative in Tayr Filsay, southern Lebanon.

In a letter of complaint sent to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the president of the Security Council, Le Luong Minh of Vietnam, Shalev said Israel has "considerable" reason to believe the house where the explosion took place served as an arms storage facility for Hizbullah.

Shalev also said that in the aftermath of the explosion, Hizbullah operatives sealed off the area and attempted to remove evidence.

Following the blast in Tyre, President Shimon Peres said that Hizbullah was turning Lebanon into a "powder keg," and the IDF released footage showing apparent arms transfer activity at the home.

'israel May Attack Iran After December'
Oct 15th, 2009
Daily NewsJpost
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;War

Israel is making preparations to carry out military attacks in Iran after December, a French magazine reported overnight Wednesday.

According to the report in Le Canard Enchainé quoted by Israel Radio, Jerusalem has already ordered high-quality combat rations from a French food manufacturer for soldiers serving in elite units and has also asked reservists of these units staying abroad to return to Israel.

The magazine further reported that in a recent visit to France, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi told his French counterpart Jean-Louis Georgelin that Israel was not planning to bomb Iran, but might send elite troops to conduct activities on the ground there.

These, according to the magazine, could involve the sabotage of nuclear facilities as well as assassinations of top Iranian nuclear scientists.

Israel has recently toned down rhetoric against Iran so as not to hinder US diplomatic efforts for Iranian transparency regarding its nuclear program, but neither Jerusalem nor Washington have so far made any unequivocal statements to the effect that the military option against Iran was no longer being considered.

Israel has maintained that it has the military capability to tackle Iran on its own if sanctions against the Islamic Republic prove ineffective.

Israel accuses Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. Teheran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful.