Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Meshaal in Gaza: All Palestine is Ours
Dec 8th, 2012
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Anti-Israel

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal vowed to a cheering crowd in Gaza: "We will never give up a single centimeter of Islamic Arab Palestinian. Jihad and resistance are the true way to liberation.” He called on Arab governments to provide weapons, aid and funds. “The right of (the refugees) return is sacred and we shall never forego it." He went on to shout: “We’ll liberate Jerusalem, one centimeter at a time. We’ll kidnap more Israel soldiers and all our prisoners will be set free.”

Meshaal, exiled from the West Bank in 1967, was allowed to enter the Gaza Strip for the first time to take part in the 25th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement. He entered through the Rafah crossing from Egypt.

Mashaal: First Gaza, Then Ramallah, Then Jerusalem
Dec 8th, 2012
Daily NewsJPOST.COM STAFF, REUTERS
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning;Anti-Israel

Thousands of Gazans gathered Saturday to to mark Hamas's founding and celebrate its "victory" over Israel.

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, who attended the rally, set his sights on "liberating Palestine" upon his arrival in the Gaza Strip on Friday, his first-ever visit to the Palestinian enclave.

Laying out his hopes for future triumphant visits, Mashaal told cheering crowds, "Today is Gaza. Tomorrow will be Ramallah and after that Jerusalem, then Haifa and Jaffa," Ma'an News Agency reported.

According to the report, Mashaal referred to the Gaza visit as his "third birth"; his second birth, he said, was surviving an Israeli assassination attempt in Jordan in 1997.

"I pray to God that my fourth birth will come the day we liberate Palestine," he added.

Hamas said that half a million Palestinians gathered at the outdoor event, which was likely to be used by Mashaal to promote Hamas's growing stature in the Arab world and push the case for reconciliation with its secular political rival, Fatah.

Mashaal, 56, is on his first visit to the Gaza Strip and was moved to tears on Friday by the ecstatic reception he received from flag-waving crowds as he toured the tiny territory, which is home to 1.7 million Palestinians.

His trip comes just two weeks after Hamas fought an eight-day conflict with Israel that killed some 170 Palestinians and six Israelis and ended with an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire.

There is little doubt the fighting boosted Hamas's standing in the region, winning it the support of Arab neighbors, many of whom used to treat the group as a pariah before the Arab Spring uprisings ushered in several sympathetic Islamist governments.

"Israel must now be fuming as it watches this Gaza victory," said Abu Waleed, 52, as he stood in a crowd on Friday, waiting to catch a glimpse of Mashaal, who survived a 1997 assassination attempt by Mossad agents in Jordan.

The rally on Saturday commemorates the 25th anniversary of the founding of Hamas and the start of the first Palestinian uprising, or intifada, against Israel in December 1987.

Let the Headlines Speak
Dec 8th, 2012
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

CBO: Feds Borrowing $4.8 billion Per Day in FY 2013, So Far
The federal government ran a deficit of $292 billion for the first two months of fiscal year 2013 – October and November 2012 – amounting to $4.8 billion of borrowed money each day. “The federal budget deficit was $292 billion for the first two months of fiscal year 2013, $57 billion more than the shortfall recorded in October and November of last year,” CBO said in its Monthly Budget Review Friday.

Doha climate talks: US faces dilemma over final text
There has been a historic shift in the UN climate talks in Qatar, with the prospect of rich nations having to compensate poor nations for losses due to climate change. The US has fiercely opposed the measure - it says the cost could be unlimited. But after angry tussles throughout the night the principle of Loss and Damage is now in the final negotiating text.

Sudan docks Iranian warships, may strain Gulf ties
Saturday's visit by Iranian warships to Sudan, the second such visit in little over a month, risks widening divisions inside the African country's government and upsetting its Gulf Arab donors. Two Iranian navy ships also visited in October, days after Sudan accused Israel of bombing a weapons factory in the capital Khartoum.

Sandy: Barack Obama asks Congress for $60bn

US President Barack Obama has requested more than $60bn (£37bn) from Congress for response, recovery and repairs in the wake of "Superstorm" Sandy. The scale of the request was welcomed by the governors of the two worst-hit states, New York and New Jersey. The White House said the storm was on track to be the second or third most costly storm in US history.

Report: Corruption Remains Widespread Global Problem
Anger over corruption has sparked mass demonstrations and even toppled governments in the past few years. But a global study published Wednesday by Transparency International finds the problem remains widespread. In Pakistan, teacher Bashir Bulti says it takes a bribe to get a job.

Philippine typhoon rescue operations hampered
Search and rescue operations following a typhoon that killed nearly 600 people in the southern Philippines have been hampered in part because many residents of this ravaged farming community are too stunned to assist recovery efforts, an official said Saturday

US consumer borrowing rises to record $2.75T
Americans swiped their credit cards more often in October and borrowed more to attend school and buy cars. The increases drove U.S. consumer debt to an all-time high. The Federal Reserve said Friday that consumers increased their borrowing by $14.2 billion in October from September. Total borrowing rose to a record $2.75 trillion.

Egyptian Opposition Rejects Dialogue with Mors
Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi has called for what he describes as a “comprehensive” dialogue Saturday with the opposition as the political crisis in the country enters its third week. Opposition leaders say they are not interested in engaging in discussions with Mr. Morsi unless a controversial presidential decree is revoked and a referendum on a draft constitution is canceled.

Supreme Court to Hear Two Challenges to Gay Marriage
The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it would enter the national debate over same-sex marriage, agreeing to hear a pair of cases challenging state and federal laws that define marriage to include only unions of a man and a woman.

Rebels circle Damascus airport; Russia, U.S. downbeat
Rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad declared Damascus International Airport a battle zone on Friday, while Moscow and Washington both sounded downbeat about the prospects of a diplomatic push to end the conflict.

Boehner says Obama pushing U.S. toward "fiscal cliff"
Republican House Speaker John Boehner accused President Barack Obama of pushing the country toward the "fiscal cliff" on Friday and of wasting another week without making progress in talks.

Egyptian Army will not Allow Violence, Urges Opposition to Accept Dialogue
Dec 8th, 2012
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The Egyptian military stepped into the political crisis entering its third week Saturday with a notice that violence would not be allowed and urging the opposition parties to accept Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi’s call for national dialogue Saturday afternoon. Opposition leaders rejected the invitation, demanding that he first revoke his sweeping presidential decree and cancel the referendum on pro-Islamist draft constitution set for one week from today.

Overnight, protesters broke through a security cordon into the presidential compound declaring they would stay there until their demands were met. Security police stood aside to avoid confronting them.

Assad’s Troops, More Chemical Arms Move Northwest, Iranian Arms Airlift Rerouted to Palmyra
Dec 8th, 2012
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

US, Turkish, British, Jordanian and French forces are standing ready around Syrian bordersfor the order to go forward still to come from US President Barack Obama. Syrian President Bashar Assad is regrouping his army in defense array in strategic parts of Damascus, while planting mines and bomb traps in abandoned bases. Convoys carrying missiles, shells and canisters armed with chemical and biological weapons continue to ply roads to the north, while the airlift of Iranian arms is rerouted to northern air bases.
The situation in Syria as it stands Saturday, Dec. 8. is summed up by debkafile’s military sources:

1. Assad has so far resisted rebel pressure to withdraw with his army from the capital, Damascus, but as in Syria’s largest town, Aleppo, he has regrouped his forces for the defense of centers of government against the rebel push from the east.
For now, his army fully controls the western districts of Damascus and areas up to Zabadani on the Lebanese border. This keeps the Syrian ruler’s direct military corridor open to a key prop of his regime, Hizballah, on the other side of the border.

2. His second key prop is the air passage plied by Iranian transports for keeping his army furnished with arms and ammunition. Up until midweek, the Iranian planes, coming in at the rate of three or four transports a day, were landing at Damascus military air base, which is section of its international airport. Friday, Nov. 7, the rebels declared both the civilian and military sections of Damascus airport a military target. All planes were warned that by landing there they risked being shot down by the shells or anti-air missiles recently delivered to them by Qatar or booty taken from the Syrian army bases they captured.
Following the rebel warning, the Iranian transports were being rerouted to the Shayrat and Tiyas airbase between the northern Syrian towns of Homs and Palmyra.
This necessitates intense Syrian army effort to keep the roads open for the incoming Iranian supplies to reach the hands of the units fighting in Damascus, Aleppo and Latakia.
3. Syrian engineering units are systematically planting mines and booby-trapping the buildings at the bases from which the army has retreated. Our military sources were told that the quantity of explosives Assad’s troops are leaving in their wake would take years to clear.

4. There has been no letup in the military convoys heading north with missiles, shells and bombs containing chemical arms.
Western intelligence sources say Assad is keeping the convoys moving on the roads for two purposes:
One, as a red warning to the Western and Arab powers preparing to intervene in the Syrian conflict that any attack or attempt to impose a no-fly zone over the country would trigger a chemical offensive.

And two, to confuse his enemies: The poison gas weapons apparently moving openly along Syrian highways may be decoys to conceal the operational chemical warfare units which some Western intelligence watchers suspect are kept hidden until Assad gives them the order to strike.

Assad’s Last Warning to Rebels Before Using Chemical Weapons. West, Israel on High Preparedness
Dec 8th, 2012
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

The danger that Syrian ruler Bashar Assad will now resort to chemical warfare shot up Saturday afternoon, Dec. 8, after the rebels captured the “chloride factory” at Al Safira east of Aleppo. This is a codename for the Syrian army’s biggest chemical weapons store and base, which also houses Syrian Scud D missiles armed with chemical warheads adjusted to fire at Israel. Assad’s warning to the rebels not to fight with chemical weapons is taken as a means of justifying his own resort to chemical weapons and brought this threat closer than ever before. The West, Israel and Syria’s other neighbors have gone on elevated preparedness. debkafile file: The fall of Al Safira into rebel hands crosses a red line and places the Assad regime in direct peril. Possession of the chemical-tipped Scuds gives the rebels their strongest weapon for forcing the Syria army to capitulate.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said earlier Saturday that the UK and the US have seen evidence that Syria is preparing to use chemical weapons. There was enough evidence from intelligence sources to know “that they need a warning,” he said at a security conference in Bahrain. "The President of the United Sates warned of serious consequences and he meant it,” said the British minister.

British intelligence sources told the BBC that Syria's chemical weapons are concentrated at five air bases and are being closely watched. They said contingency plans have been drawn up if they show signs of being readied to be loaded and used as weapons.

debkafile reported this week that US British and French air, sea and marine forces are concentrated opposition Syrian shores and across its Turkish and Jordanian borders.
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