Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Western China Quakes Kill At Least 400
Apr 14th, 2010
Daily NewsJpost
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Thousands injured, many buried under rubble in mountainous rural area.

A series of strong earthquakes struck a far western Tibetan area of China on Wednesday, killing at least 400 people and injuring thousands as houses made of mud and wood collapsed, trapping many more, officials said.

Paramilitary police were forced to use shovels to dig through the rubble in a Qinghai province township where most of the homes had been flattened, footage on state television showed. Officials said excavators were not available and with most of the roads leading to the nearest airport damaged, equipment and rescuers would have a hard time reaching the area.

Downed phone lines, strong winds and frequent aftershocks also hindered rescue efforts, said Wu Yong, a local military chief.

Workers were racing to release water from a reservoir in the disaster area where a crack had formed after the quake to prevent a flood, according to the China Earthquake Administration.

The magnitude-6.9 temblor struck Wednesday morning in an area in the south of Qinghai province, near Tibet, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake was centered on Yushu county, with a population of about 100,000, mostly herders and farmers.

The USGS recorded six temblors in less than three hours, all but one registered 5.0 or higher. The China Earthquake Networks Center measured the largest quake's magnitude at 7.1.

The main quake sent residents fleeing as it toppled houses made of mud and wood, said Karsum Nyima, the Yushu county television station's deputy head of news, speaking by phone with broadcaster CCTV.

"In a flash, the houses went down. It was a terrible earthquake," he said. "In a small park, there is a Buddhist pagoda and the top of the pagoda fell off. ... Everybody is out on the streets, standing in front of their houses, trying to find their family members."

The death toll rose to about 400 by afternoon, according to CCTV. Emergency official Pubucairen was quoted as saying that the number of injured has risen to more than 10,000.

The Day the Music Died: Somali Radio Stations Heed Islamist Order to Stop Playing Songs
Apr 14th, 2010
Daily NewsMSN
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Somali radio stations stopped playing music on Tuesday after hardline militants ordered stations to take songs off the air after the group labeled music as un-Islamic.

The edict is the latest unpopular order from Islamists, who have also banned bras, musical ringtones and movies. The order to stop the music echoes the Taliban's strict social rules imposed on Afghans beginning in the late 1990s.

Somalia has a tradition of music and most residents greeted the ban with dismay.

"Now I think we are going to be forced to hear only the horrific sounds of the gunfire and the explosions," said Khadiya Omar, a 22-year-old Mogadishu resident who called music a "tranquilizer" to help him forget life's troubles.

As many as a dozen Mogadishu-based radio stations stopped playing music on Tuesday after the insurgent group Hizbul Islam gave the order earlier this month.

Somalis in the country's capital can still listen to music on two stations: one that the government controls and another that is funded by the United Nations. Both stations are based in the small area of Mogadishu under the control of government and African Union forces.

Similar edicts have been imposed on stations in the southern Somali regions held by the Islamist group al-Shabab.

Islamic insurgents control much of Mogadishu and have been trying to topple the fragile government for three years. Somalia has not had an effective government for 18 years.

"We are in a war-ravaged country and music is what brings us relief from anger, frustration, depression, fatigue and other emotional and physical pain," said Isaq Ali, a Mogadishu resident.

The deputy chairman of the Somali Foreign Correspondents Association, Mohamed Ibrahim Nur, condemned the ban and called for Hizbul Islam to retract the order.

"This will paralyze the already violence-affected media in Somalia and will deprive Somalis from getting independent information free from threat, censorship and imposition of radical addicts," he said.

Any station that defies the order could face severe punishments. The Islamists frequently assassinate those who defy them or carry out Shariah-based punishments like amputations. Abdulahi Yasin Jama at Tusmo broadcasting said that stations have no choice but to comply.

Art's Commentary.... So you would like to live in an Islamic World Wide Caliphate? Some say this is just some radicals, not true Islam, the radicals eventually take over wherever Islam is in control.

Obama ‘Can’t Force’ Peace; Poll Results Back Netanyahu
Apr 14th, 2010
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Categories: Today's Headlines;Peace Process

U.S. President Barack Obama surprisingly expressed pessimism on the "diplomatic process” and said he cannot force an agreement on the Palestinian Authority and Israel. Simultaneously, a new poll in Israel shows solid Israeli opposition to an imposed agreement, division of Jerusalem and relying on American guarantees that the Palestinian Authority will be unarmed.

Israeli Jews overwhelmingly oppose, by a 83-8 percent margin, an imposed peace, according to the poll, conducted by Brain Base (Maagar Mohot) for Independent Media Review Analysis (IMRA).

The results also pull out the rug from any possible intentions by the Obama administration to try to topple the Netanyahu government in favor of a Kadima-Labor coalition. It shows strong support for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s opposition to President Obama’s demands to stop building for Jews in Jerusalem.

Seventy percent of the respondents said that Prime Minister Netanyahu should not agree to American demands to indefinitely stop building for Jews in parts of Jerusalem that the United States does not recognize as being under Israeli sovereignty.

More significantly, respondents who intend to vote for Labor and Kadima were split 40-40 on the issue of a building freeze, with the remainder on the fence. A building freeze not being backed by even a majority among supporters from the less nationalist parties gives the American government little hope for a change in Israeli policies.

Among those who would vote for the Likud and other parties that are considered relatively on the right wing, an overwhelming majority backs Prime Minister Netanyahu and rejects the demand for a freeze.

President Obama’s sudden shift to low gear is uncharacteristic for the American government, which always has expressed optimism for the “diplomatic process,” which officials hardly ever refer to anymore as the “peace process.”

Attempts to resume talks, even on an indirect basis with the United States as mediator, have faltered due to escalating demands by the PA, rejected by the Israeli government. President Obama said Tuesday, “The PA and Israel "may say to themselves, 'We are not prepared to resolve these issues no matter how much pressure the United States brings to bear,'" adding that it is possible that peace cannot be reached "even if we are applying all of our political capital.”

His comments essentially eliminated, at least for now, the chance that his administration would come up with a peace plan of its own and present a “take it or leave it” offer. However, his government previously has agreed to make more demands on Israel after having stated it would not so, and the president may be playing for time before shifting gears again.

Backing up the president’s stated low expectations was General David Petraeus, who was misquoted several weeks ago for allegedly saying the failure of a PA-Israeli agreement risks the lives of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said he does not blame Israel for the failure to reach an agreement.

President Obama spoke to reporters at the end of the nuclear summit, which he has cited as a major move forward towards forcing Iran to agree to international inspection for its nuclear program. However, similar to the American-led diplomatic process aimed at a PA-Israeli accord, the summit highlighted optimistic speeches that did not reflect the deep disagreement on harsh sanctions, particularly by China.

Concerning Israel’s policy of ambiguity on its nuclear potential, President Obama also was ambiguous. "As far as Israel goes, I'm not going to comment about their program," he said, but added, "Whether we are talking about Israel or any other country, we think that becoming part of the NPT [non-proliferation treaty] is important."

Iranian 'Fisher of Men' Ok Getting Wet
Apr 14th, 2010
Daily NewsAllie Martin - OneNewsNow
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution

After posting bail, an Iranian pastor accused of trying to convert Muslims to Christianity is out of jail -- at least temporarily.

Pastor Wilson Issavi was arrested in February and held for nearly two months by Iranian government officials. According to the Farsi Christian News Network, he had been ordered a month earlier not to reopen his Pentecostal Church of Kermanshah after it and two others had been shut down by government security forces on charges of "attempting to convert Muslims to Christianity."
 
Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) says Pastor Issavi -- who reportedly appeared to have been beaten while in Dastgard prison -- displayed a Christ-like demeanor throughout his captivity.
 
"He seems to be in very good spirits," notes the VOM spokesman. "He made quite an amazing statement -- he said, 'You know, I'm a fisherman -- and a fisherman should expect their clothes to get wet sometimes.' So he really didn't see that being in prison was a shock or a surprise."
 
Nettleton points out that charges are still pending against the pastor.

76 Senators Sign Letter of Support for Israel
Apr 14th, 2010
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Hana Levi Julian
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

More than 75 percent of the U.S. Senate has followed the House of Representatives in sending a bipartisan message of support for Israel to the State Department.

The letter, signed by 76 senators, (39 Democrats and 37 Republicans) was sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, indirectly slamming the Obama administration's treatment of Israel. A similar letter was sent by 333 U.S. Representatives.

The letter urged Clinton to “do everything possible to ensure that the recent tensions between the U.S. and Israeli administrations over the untimely announcement of future housing construction... do not derail Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations or harm U.S-Israeli relations.”

The reference was to an Israeli government announcement, inadvertently made during a visit to the region last month by Vice President Joe Biden, that a three-year-old housing project in Jerusalem's Ramat Shlomo neighborhood was approved for step four of a seven-step process. The announcement was seen as an embarrassment to the Obama administration and infuriated both Biden and the White House. It sparked an immediate condemnation by the vice president, which he then repeated later in the week during a speech at Tel Aviv University, and subsequent censures by other Obama administration officials as well.

The letter to Clinton noted that “in a reversal of 16 years of policy, Palestinian leaders are refusing to enter into direct negotiations with Israel. Instead they have put forward a growing list of unprecedented preconditions. By contrast, Israel's prime minister has stated categorically that he is eager to begin unconditional peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Direct negotiations are in the interest of all parties involved – including the United States.”

Backed by AIPAC, the letter also noted that “our government and the Government of Israel will not always agree on particular issues in the peace process. But such differences are best resolved amicably and in a manner that befits longstanding strategic allies.”

Lead signatories were U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and Johnny Isakson, who circulated the letter among their colleagues. Among the others were New York Democrats Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer, as well as senior Democratic Senator Robert Menendez and Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin. Also signing the document was Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, as well as Senators John McCain and Scott Brown.