Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

U.S. to Media: Israel Struck Latakia Arsenal Last Week. will Putin and Assad Make Good on Threats of R
Jul 13th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

US officials early Saturday, July 13 named Israel as responsible for the July 5 air strikes against the big arms depot at a Syrian naval base in the Alawite port city of Latakia. Dispelling conflicting reports, three US officials asserted that Israel had conducted the air strikes for demolishing the advanced Russian-made Yakhont anti-ship missiles stored there.
debkafile’s military sources report that three strategic arsenals were targeted: One consisted of weapons mostly delivered by Russian air freights in the last two months for the Syrian-Hizballah offensive to recapture Aleppo. A second contained the supersonic Yakhont anti-ship missiles (NATO codenamed SS-N-26) plus their radar systems; and the third, the Syrian army’s strategic reserve of missiles and ammunition, stored there for an emergency, such a possible forced Syrian army retreat to the Alawite region - or even Lebanon.

It is important to note that, although Moscow was perfectly aware that the advanced Russian weapons supplied to Syria were put in the hands of the Lebanese Hizballah, the consignments were not only not suspended but expanded. Moscow is therefore directly arming HIzballah with advanced weapons.
During the attack, neither Syrian radar nor that of the Russian warships cruising off the Syria coast registered any aircraft or missiles heading for the Latakia depot.

They were therefore unable to positively identify the source of the explosions.

Israel and the IDF held their silence – hoping that matters would stay that way, unlike their air strike of May 5 which destroyed Iranian arms shipments for Hizballah stored in the Damascus area, when American sources made haste to finger Israel. This time, too, after a few days’ pause, Washington again broke the story.
This step coincided with US President Barack Obama’s early Saturday phone call to Saudi King Abdullah to discuss the Syrian crisis. They may have discussed a potential Russian or Syrian reprisal for the Israeli air strike.

In their rough, acerbic encounter at the Black Sea resort of Sochi on May 14, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned President Vladimir Putin that if Russia sends advanced weaponry to Syria, such as S-300 anti-aircraft missiles or sophisticated radar for upgrading the Yakhont missiles, Israel would destroy them. Putin retorted that if Israel did this, Moscow would hit back.

After Israel’s air strikes over Damascus of May 5, Syrian President Bashar Assad said repeatedly, as did Hizballah and Iranian officials, that another Israeli attack on Syria would elicit an immediate Syrian reprisal.

The theme running through the Syrian and Hizballah warnings was a threat to open a new warfront against Israel from the Golan.  

And so, two days after the IDF detected Hizballah movements on the Golan opposite the Israeli border,  the army spokesman Monday, July 8, announced the deployment of extra Israeli forces in the divided enclave.
Tuesday, July 9, a car bomb blew up at Hizballah’s office building in the Bir al-Abd quarter of South Beirut. A next-door Shiite mosque and a technical school were also hit. At least 53 people were injured.

Hizballah did not admit that the targeted office building housed the intelligence and communications centers for its combat operations in Syria. When no organization took responsibility for the attack, Beirut and Tehran pointed the finger at Israeli intelligence as the culprit.

The Egyptian Army Moves Morsi to a New Location
Jul 13th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

After the Obama administration urged the Egyptian army to release Mohamed Morsi, in detention since he was deposed by a military coup July 3, the army moved him Saturday to a new military location outside Cairo. The military regime arrested a Palestinian suspected of the attack which sabotaged the Egyptian-Jordanian gas pipeline in northern Sinai and also protested the display of a Morsi placard when tens of thousands of Palestinian Muslims celebrated Ramadan Friday at the Al Mosque in Jerusalem.

Obama Talks to Saudi King Abdullah. No Agreement
Jul 13th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The White House reported that President Barack Obama discussed the crises in Egypt and Syria with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia Friday. Obama emphasized that the US will keep supporting the rebels seeking to oust President Bashar Assad and voiced concern about violence in Egypt and the need for an inclusive, democratic process to return a civilian government. DEBKAfile: Their conversation ended with the US president and Saudi king at odds on both Syria and Egypt.

Obama Speaks With Putin on Snowden
Jul 13th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Major Papers Reject Pro - Life Ad – Image of Baby Too 'Controversial’
Jul 13th, 2013
Daily Newslifesitenews.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

A national pro-life organization is outraged after three major American newspapers rejected a pro-life ad as “too controversial.”

The Chicago Tribune, USA Today, and the LA Times refused to run an advertisement created by Heroic Media.

The ad features a hand holding a 20- to 24-week-old baby with the quote, “This child has no voice, which is why it depends on yours. Speak Up.”

Heroic Media Executive Director Joe Young said he was shocked and angered that the media outlets were willing to talk about the issue but were unwilling to show the reality of life at 20 weeks.

“I am disturbed that these papers would run article after article promoting the notion that abortion is a victimless act without consequences,” Young said. “The fact remains, children who are unique individuals – never again to be duplicated – are being killed in the most violent way imaginable and they feel the excruciating pain of that death.”

The newspapers took issue with the image of the baby.

“It seems as though it is okay to talk about the issue in general, but when you actually put a face to the discussion, then it becomes controversial,” Young said.

Last week after the House passed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, Heroic Media put out a statement requesting that the pro-life community contact their senators and encourage them to consider and support the Act.

“Americans deserve to know the truth about the children sentenced to die for no fault of their own and that we have a chance to spare some of them through this legislation,” Young said.

The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act prevents an abortionist from performing an abortion at or after 20 weeks, based on empirical scientific medical evidence that proves that unborn babies can feel pain. Science shows that at eight weeks after fertilization, the unborn child reacts to touch, and at 20 weeks, the unborn baby responds to what would be felt as pain.

The image shows a 20- to 24-week-old baby in a person’s hands. Heroic Media’s goal was to show what life looks like at 20 weeks. The non-profit organization has resubmitted the ad with a different image, now one of a 20-week-old baby in utero.

The Chicago Tribune has now agreed to run the ad with the second image as long as Heroic Media indicates that it is an advertisement.

“Our hope is that the American public begins to advance this debate with both the mother and child in mind,” Young said.

Heroic Media is a non-profit whose mission is to educate the public in general and reach women facing unplanned pregnancies with life-affirming alternatives through the use of mass media, such as television commercials, internet outreach, and billboards.

“This issue, the late-term killing of developing children, is one that should be addressed in the U.S. Senate, and we encourage our fellow citizens to let their Senators know our desire to see that happen,” Young said.

Let the Headlines Speak
Jul 13th, 2013
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Pakistan Taliban 'sets up a base in Syria'
The Pakistani Taliban have visited Syria to set up a base and to assess "the needs of the jihad", a Taliban official has told the BBC. He said that the base was set up with the assistance of ex-Afghan fighters of Middle Eastern origin who have moved to Syria in recent years. At least 12 experts in warfare and information technology had gone to Syria in the last two months, he said.  

US officials: Israel is responsible for Syrian missile depot attack
Israel is responsible for a July 5 early morning airstrike in Syria, anonymous US officials told CNN on Friday. The attack on Latakia, which originally had no claim of responsibility, is reportedly the work of the Israeli Air Force (IAF). Three unnamed US officials told CNN that the IAF had been targeting Russian-made Yakhont anti-ship missiles that could pose a threat to the Israel.  

Saudi Arabia warns pilgrims over coronavirus
Health officials in Saudi Arabia have asked pilgrims visiting its holy sites to wear masks in crowded places to stop the spread of the MERS coronavirus. A list of requirements issued by the health ministry also tells elderly people or those with chronic diseases to postpone their pilgrimage. Thirty-eight people have died from the virus in Saudi Arabia.  

Gay marriage foes seek to halt California same-sex weddings
Gay marriage opponents asked the California Supreme Court on Friday to stop same-sex weddings in the state and order that a voter initiative banning the nuptials remain in effect.  

Report: Israel, Russia May Reach Agreement to Halt S-300 Delivery to Syria
Israel could drop its opposition to Russia stationing troops on the Golan Heights as members of the UN peacekeeping force – if Moscow cancels plans to ship S-300 missiles to Syria, the London-based Arabic-language newspaper a-Sharq al-Awsat reported Wednesday.  

IDF Says Hezbollah Weapons Cache Exceeds 60,000 Rockets, All Israel in Range
On the seventh anniversary of the start of the month-long Second Lebanon War, marked Friday, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that Lebanese terror group Hezbollah has dramatically expanded its arsenal of weapons, exceeding 60,000 rockets and missiles in 1,000 military facilities, making the terrorist group capable of striking any part of Israel with continuous, precise attacks.  

Report: Microsoft collaborated closely with NSA
Most of the big tech companies implicated in the ongoing controversy over secret government Web surveillance insist they turned over data about users to the National Security Agency only after being compelled by court orders.  

One dead, 31 injured as Typhoon Soulik hits Taiwan
Typhoon Soulik battered Taiwan with torrential rain and powerful winds on Saturday that left one person dead and at least 30 people injured. As daylight dawned, some areas were submerged by flood waters, roofs were ripped from homes, and debris and fallen trees littered the streets.  

Democrats vow abortion fight in Texas
Republicans in the Texas Legislature passed an omnibus abortion bill that is one of the most restrictive in the nation, but Democrats vowed Saturday to fight both in the courts and the ballot box as they used the measure to rally their supporters.  

Twitter hands over data in French anti-Semitism case
Twitter handed over data to French authorities on Friday to help identify the authors of anti-Semitic and racist tweets after a months-long legal battle launched by Jewish and anti-racism groups.  

Five South America Envoys Recalled from 4 European Capitals
Jul 13th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The leaders of Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Bolivia decided at a summit in Montevideo Friday to recall their ambassadors from France, Spain, Italy and Portugal. They demand apologies for an incident on July 2 in which the aircraft carrying Bolivian President Evo Morales was denied entry into the airspace of a number of EU countries, after the US ambassador to Austria alleged the fugitive Edward Snowden was taken aboard to asylum in Latin America. The Bolivian plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Austria. In their statement, the five leaders said: "We repudiate any action aimed at undermining the authority of countries to grant and fully implement the right of asylum” and called for "solidarity with the governments of Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela, which have offered to grant asylum to Mr Edward Snowden".

Evolution verses God
Jul 13th, 2013
CommentaryLiving Waters - The Blaze
Categories: Contemporary Issues;Creation - Evolution

‘Evolution vs. God’ Movie So Popular It Crashes Evangelical Leader’s Website: ‘It’s Going to Take Down Evolution’

Evangelical leader Ray Comfort is making waves in both Christian and science circles with his new “Evolution vs. God” movie. After releasing the 38-minute short film online on Tuesday, Comfort said that downloads were so rampant that his website crashed.

“It began slowly and built to over 1,000 people. That’s a huge amount of people to be downloading an entire movie, and it proved to be too much for our site. It crashed,” he told TheBlaze in an e-mail interview.

While tech problems are never welcome, in this case, Comfort said that the demand for “Evolution vs. God” was encouraging, as it showed just how interested people are in the subject. In the end, the faith leader believes that the movie will have monumental impact.

“I believe it’s going to take down evolution. It exposes it at bogus science,” Comfort said. “That sounds like a bold claim, but it’s true. The movie delivers, and it’s not just our claim.”

Comfort said that prominent Christians have viewed the movie and given it their seal of approval. Dr. Randy J. Guliuzza, P.E., M.D. from the Institute for Creation Research and Ken Ham of the group Answers in Genesis have both endorsed the film. General viewers, too, have expressed excitement over its contents as well.

But not everyone is happy about the film, of course. Atheists, in particular, have taken to Comfort’s social media profiles to voice their angst. He said that he has more than 240,000 followers on Facebook and that many who are responding to “Evolution vs. God” are non-believers who “are getting very nervous” over the movie’s contents.

“Some are angry because evolution is their doorway to all sorts of sinful delights — because if there’s no God and no moral accountability, anything goes,” he told TheBlaze. “So this movie is a huge threat to them.”

Comfort said that Christians are often mocked by atheists for being weak-minded and for not having evidence that God exists, yet the faith leader said that “Evolution vs. God” shows that the “bogus science of evolution has no evidence and rests on nothing but blind faith.”

While an MP4 download of the movie is available on Comfort’s website, additional outreach plans are in the works (Christians groups plan to offer downloads and DVDs). TheBlaze already covered that the evangelical leader plans to give away one million DVDs on university campuses .

With the project sparking outrage among atheists and non-believers, Comfort is expecting that he’ll be painted as a villainous character — a prediction that is already proving to be accurate.

“I’m no prophet, but I will predict is that there are going to be full-scale attacks on my character, because atheists want to stop this movie from being seen,” he explained. “Many of them are very angry. But for me, this is a hill to die on, and I’m ready for battle and for whatever that brings with it.”

“Evolution vs. God” will world premiere on July 22 in Sevierville, Tennessee.

Egyptian Revolution Triggers Unexpected Regional Realignment
Jul 13th, 2013
Daily Newstheclarionproject.org
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The revolution that toppled Egyptian President Morsi isn’t just a decisive defeat for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt; it has triggered events that may signal a regional realignment. Just a month ago, the Muslim Brotherhood was ascending as it had never before; now it is in a downward spiral.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s reign has managed to align the fractured non-Islamist opposition. A Zogby poll taken from April 4 to May 12 showed that only 29% of Egyptians had confidence in Morsi. This poll was taken weeks before his July 3 overthrow when an estimated 17 million people took to the streets.

The U.S. criticized the military’s intervention, with Senator John McCain (R-AZ) going so far as to recommend the suspension of aid to Egypt. You can judge the wisdom of this recommendation by those that agreed with it: 

The Islamist government of Turkey, facing its own internal challenge from non-Islamists, immediately condemned the Egyptian military and took the Muslim Brotherhood’s side. The Islamist government of Tunisia is urging the Muslim Brotherhood to stay in the streets until Morsi is reinstated.

The countries that immediately congratulated the Egyptian people were Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The Jordanian government embraced its liberal opponents in order to marginalize the Muslim Brotherhood. Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah fears a "Muslim Brotherhood crescent developing in Egypt and Turkey" and says Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and Morsi are false democrats.

The United Arab Emirates has called for a Gulf coalition against both the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran. The Saudis, though they are Islamists themselves, distrust the Muslim Brotherhood and have been supporting the Brotherhood's rivals in Syria. These are the countries who took the side of the Egyptian people, not the U.S.

The biggest change in the strategic landscape since Morsi’s ouster is the position of Qatar, a U.S. “ally” that was more allied with the Muslim Brotherhood. Qatari support for the Islamists was so massive that the three above countries (including Saudi Arabia!) complained about it.

The developments in Egypt apparently convinced Qatar that it bet on the wrong horse. The Qatari government, which supported Mubarak’s overthrow, congratulated Morsi's replacement. 

The Qataris had been the Brotherhood’s biggest governmental supporter. Shortly after Morsi fell, it was reported that Qatar shut down the Brotherhood activity in its territory, revoked Brotherhood spiritual leader Yousef al-Qaradawi’s citizenship and expelled Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal. It was from Qatar that Qaradawi reached 60 million people each week on Al-Jazeera. If it is true that Qatar has switched sides, the damage to the Brotherhood is incalculable.

The Brotherhood’s loss in Egypt will affect its popularity in Syria, where a three-way power struggle is taking place. And if it is true that Qatar has defected, the balance of power among the rebels may rapidly shift in favor of the Free Syria Army and away from the Islamists, especially if plentiful U.S. aid to the Free Syria Army arrives (Congress is currently holding it up).

We may already be seeing this reshuffling of power among the Syrian rebels taking place. On July 8, only five days after Morsi’s removal, the interim prime minister of the Syrian rebels, Ghassan Hitto, resigned. As the Clarion Project reported at the time, he was part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood network and won the position with the backing of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar. The Brotherhood’s non-Islamist opponents amongst the Syrian rebels were outraged.

Hitto admitted he failed to form an interim government that could replace Assad. He was replaced by secular activist Ahmad al-Jarba, who has “close links” to Saudi Arabia. He is allied to the anti-Islamist Democratic Bloc led by Michel Kilo, a Christian secular-democratic activist. Another leader of the bloc is Kamal al-Labwani, who the Clarion Project interviewed in April 2012.

It is highly unlikely that all of these events just happened to coincide. Apparently, the Brotherhood’s dramatic setback in Egypt led to major losses in Qatar and Syria, as well.

There are other ripple effects that are causing the Brotherhood pain.

The bias of Al-Jazeera towards the Muslim Brotherhood has discredited it in the eyes of many Arabs and even its own employees. Twenty-two employees from its Cairo office, including at least one anchor, resigned. Another four from Al-Jazeera’s headquarters in Doha joined them. The employees complained that they were being directed to favor the Muslim Brotherhood in their broadcasts. One of the journalists who resigned said Al-Jazeera was “airing lies and misleading viewers.”

The Palestinian Authority, including President Abbas, celebrated Morsi’s overthrow and other Fatah officials encouraged Palestinians to overthrow Hamas, the Palestinian wing of the Muslim Brotherhood that rules the Gaza Strip.

“Now it’s Gaza’s turn to get rid of the Muslim Brotherhood branch. The dark era of political Islam has ended. The era of hypocrisy and lies has ended and Gaza will soon witness its own revolution against Hamas,” one Fatah official predicted.

That is a complete reversal of how Fatah had been trying to make amends with Hamas. President Abbas had been saying that Hamas isn’t a terrorist organization and spoke at a rally in Gaza in January encouraging the two factions to unite.

The Muslim backlash against the Muslim Brotherhood raises the hopes that the region will increasingly scrutinize Islamist interpretations, fatwas and religious rulings.

One Muslim who is loudly doing so is the son of Qaradawi. He wrote a public letter taking his father to task for his pro-Morsi fatwa. “I know some people would treat my letter as a sign of disobedience to you but I can’t keep silent because it is a fatwa,” Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi writes.

As the year began, the Muslim Brotherhood was enjoying its brightest days since its founding in 1928. It led Egypt, Tunisia and the Gaza Strip. The Brotherhood was leading the Syrian opposition against Assad and had Jordan in its crosshairs. The Turkish government was riding high and Fatah was bowing to Hamas.

Now, it has lost control of Egypt; lost the premiership of the Syrian rebels, reportedly lost the vital sponsorship of Qatar and, most importantly, lost the popular support it used to propel itself to power. Its remaining allies in Tunisia, Gaza and Turkey are plummeting in the polls.

The Brotherhood went from scoring some of its greatest victories to suffering some of its biggest losses. This sudden reversal in fortunes should provide both hope and caution; the ascendancy of the West’s enemies can be quickly altered, but so can their descendancy.

Christians Targeted for Retribution in Egypt
Jul 13th, 2013
Daily Newstheglobeand mail
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution

The military’s ouster of President Mohammed Morsi has unleashed a new wave of violence by extremist Muslims against Christians whom they blame for having supported the calls to overthrow Morsi, Egypt’s first Islamist elected leader, according to rights activists.

Since Morsi’s ouster July 3, the activists say, a priest has been shot dead in the street, Islamists have painted black X’s on Christian shops to mark them for arson and angry mobs have attacked churches and besieged Christians in their homes. Four Christians were reported slaughtered with knives and machetes in one village last week.

The attacks have hit across the country, in the northern Sinai Peninsula, in a resort town on the Mediterranean coast, in Port Said along the Suez Canal and in isolated villages in upper Egypt.

Tensions between the Christian minority and extremist elements in the Muslim majority are not new, but many cite anger among Islamists at the removal of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood from power as fuelling the recent increase in violence.

Many Christians were alarmed at the victories of Islamists in elections after the 2011 revolution that overthrew Morsi’s autocratic predecessor, Hosni Mubarak. Although Christians by no means represented a majority of the anti-Morsi rallies that preceded Morsi’s downfall, Christians did participate in the campaigns to remove Morsi that so deeply antagonized his supporters.

“They thought Christians played a big role in the protests and in the army’s intervention to topple Morsi, so this is revenge for that,” said Ishaq Ibrahim, who has documented the violence for the Cairo-based Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, or EIPR.

Many Islamist leaders blamed Christians and holdovers from the Mubarak era for the mass protests against Morsi that took place on the June 30 anniversary of his swearing-in. Even rank-and-file Islamists maintaining a sit-in in a Cairo suburb calling for Morsi’s return often have spoken spitefully of what they described as Christian collusion.

In some places, Christians were warned not to participate in the anti-Morsi protests. Fliers distributed in the upper Egypt province of Minya, documented by EIPR, warned that “one liter of gas can light up your gold, wood, plumbing, tractor, carpentry shops, buses, cars, houses, churches, schools, agricultural fields and workshops.”

They were signed “people who care for the country.”

After Morsi’s ouster, Islamist mobs in the village of Dagala in that province looted one church, burned a building belonging to another and surrounded Christian homes, shattering their widows with rocks and clubs, EIPR said.

After one Christian man shot at the attackers from his roof, they dragged his wife from the house, beat her up and shot her. She is currently hospitalized, according to EIPR.

“The police came the day after the events, and they didn’t do anything,” Ibrahim said. “People prevented the fire engines from coming in so they couldn’t do anything.”

In the village of Naga Hassan near Luxor, Muslim mobs invaded Christian homes and set them alight while besieging other Christians in their homes. Security forces arrived to evacuate the women but left the men, four of whom were subsequently stabbed and beaten to death, Ibrahim said. One of them, Emile Nessim, was a local organizer for the tamarrod, or “rebellion,” campaign that collected signatures and organized mass protests against Morsi.

Dozens of Christian homes were reported burned in the Naga Hassan attacks, and most of the village’s Christians have fled or are believed to be hiding in the local church.