Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

The Assad Regime, Like Tehran, Crosses “Red Lines” Under Cover of Western Doubletalk
Aug 22nd, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

By two comments, Israel confirmed Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 21 and 22, that the Assad regime had used chemical weapons on civilians in the region of Damascus – the first came from Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, who said "The use of chemical weapons by the regime is not a first” and the second from Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz. The latter reported corroborative intelligence obtained by Israel.
They were referring to the allegations of the use of poison gas by Syrian activists causing up to 1,300 deaths. Wednesday night, Russia and China again saved Bashar Assad from UN Security Council action or even condemnation of his actions.
debkafile’s military sources add: When a chemical warhead is fired at any point on the globe, it is picked up at once by US monitoring devices. American and Israeli spy satellites passing over Damascus every few hours can also tell when chemical shells are fired. This makes nonsense of the pretense by US and Western powers that Syrian opposition claims are short on proof and Independent on-the-spot expert investigation is needed to establish the facts of the case.
Wednesday night, the phone conversation between US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Moshe Ya’alon on the situation in Syria focused on an exchange of intelligence. Israel had recordings of commanders of the Syrian gas missile batteries ordering them to be fired earlier that day. The other purpose of the conversation was to hold Israel back from responding to the chemical attack on Damascus - or even warning Assad. Hence, Steinitz’s verbal contortions to account for Israeli inaction by the overworked pretext that it only strikes when its national security is in jeopardy.
This argument is not only absurd, it is dangerous: If the Syrian ruler is capable of using poison gas against his own people in his own capital, he would have no compunctions about launching chemical missiles against Israeli and Jordanian cities, whenever he feels his regime is in danger or judges it beneficial to his interests. The US and Israel ought to have acted in good time to avert the human disaster befalling the citizens of Damascus Wednesday and taking chemical weapons out of the Syrian equation. But they didn’t.
At the UN Security Council, as in world capitals, diplomats can be counted on for language to cover up the fact that Syria has crossed the “red line” set by Washington and Jerusalem - just like Iran, with regard to the point reached by its nuclear weapons program. Clouds of diplomatic claptrap are put in circulation to take the heat off for direct action against either peril.

Salvation
Aug 22nd, 2013
Daily NewsThe Bible
Categories: Bible Salvation;Contemporary Issues

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus (Romans 3:23-26).

Let the Headlines Speak
Aug 22nd, 2013
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The ground-based squadron guarding the Syrian border
With Wednesday’s alleged use by Assad’s forces of chemical weapons plunging the Syrian conflict to a new nadir, the Tammuz missile provides a vital line of defense on the northern frontier.  

Russia suggests Syria ‘chemical attack’ was ‘planned provocation’ by rebels
The Russian Foreign Ministry, citing its sources, said that a homemade rocket carrying unidentified chemical substances had been launched from an area controlled by the opposition.  

Gallup: Unemployment Rate Jumps from 7.7% to 8.9% In 30 Days
Outside of the federal government's Bureau of Labor statistics, the Gallup polling organization also tracks the nation's unemployment rate. While the BLS and Gallup findings might not always perfectly align, the trends almost always do and the small statistical differences just haven't been worthy of note. But now Gallup is showing a sizable 30 day jump in the unemployment rate, from 7.7% on July 21 to 8.9% today.  

Tropical System To Impact Southwestern United States Weather Friday into The Weekend
A tropical system currently down south of Baja, California is developing. This should become a Hurricane over the lifetime, weakening before hitting the Southwestern USA, and slamming the region with strong tropical moisture and upper dynamics for widespread flooding, severe thunderstorms, and maybe even tornadoes with the strongest storms. Cruise lines and passengers should be on alert.  

Syrian forces bomb area of alleged chemical attack
President Bashar Assad's forces pressed on with a military offensive in eastern Damascus on Thursday, bombing rebel-held suburbs where the opposition said a chemical weapons attack the day before killed over 100 people. The government has denied allegations it used chemical weapons in artillery barrages on the area known as eastern Ghouta on Wednesday as "absolutely baseless."  

POLAR STORM WARNING
Two CMEs are heading for Earth. The plasma clouds were expelled from the sun on August 20-21 by a pair of erupting magnetic filaments. NOAA forecasters expect the CMEs to arrive on August 23-24, possibly sparking geomagnetic storms around the poles.  

Catholic Church Plans Massive Push for Amnesty
Last week, the Catholic Church announced a massive, coordinated effort to press Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, including a pathway to citizenship. Catholics make up the largest single religious group in Congress.  

Effort to defund ObamaCare gaining GOP support
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said late Wednesday that his effort to block any funding resolution that includes money for implementing ObamaCare is gaining the support of his GOP Senate colleagues. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) on Wednesday became the 14th senator to sign on to his letter to defund ObamaCare, Lee said.  

Palestinian official: Negotiators met in Jerusalem
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met secretly in Jerusalem on Tuesday, a senior Palestinian official said, a week after US-brokered peace talks were re-launched in the Holy City. Both sides described the talks as "serious" after the meeting, and agreed to reconvene soon.  

Turkey says all 'red lines' in Syria have been crossed
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Thursday "all red lines" had been crossed in Syria and criticised international inaction after the opposition accused Syrian government forces of gassing hundreds in a chemical weapons attack. "All red lines have been crossed but still the UN Security Council has not even been able to take a decision  

Polio virus heads north, found near Hadera
A wild strain of the polio virus was found on Tuesday in a sewage treatment plant in Baqa al-Gharbiyye, near Hadera, marking the northernmost point in which the virus has been sampled.  

Indonesia Warns of Rising Volcanic Activity in East Province
Indonesian authorities have been warning local villagers in East Nusa Tenggara Province about increasing volcanic activities in the area in recent days. The agency reported on Tuesday two volcanoes in the East Nusa Tenggara Province have shown “increasing activities.” The volcanoes are subsea Mount Hobalt and and Mount Ili Werung.  

Strong and shallow earthquake M6.2 struck Guerrero, Mexico
A strong and shallow earthquake with recorded magnitude of 6.2 (USGS) struck Guerrero, Mexico on August 21, 2013 at 12:38 UTC. USGS measured depth at 20 km (12.4 miles), EMSC reports magnitude 6.2 earthquake at depth of 30 km.  

Poas volcano eruption 2013
Poas volcano eruption was first observed at 9:55 a.m. and reached a height of between 2 to 3 meters. While at 11:16 a.m., the second eruption occurred reaching an estimated height of 10 to 15 meters.  

Signs Pointing Toward More Active Tropics
Although we have entered the heart of hurricane season from a climatological standpoint, the Atlantic Basin remains void of tropical storms and hurricanes at this time. The most active part of the season is typically from mid-August through September. During this time, it is common for clusters of rain and thunderstorms to move westward off Africa and into the eastern Atlantic.  

Germany urges access for UN to check Syria chemical attack reports
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle demanded on Thursday that Syria grant full access to United Nations chemicals weapons experts to investigate allegations that the Syrian government used chemical weapons in an attack on civilians.  

Benedict XVI: ‘God told me’ to resign
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI resigned from the papacy because “God told me” to, according to a report by a Catholic news agency.  

Thailand court jails Iranians over bomb plot
A court in Thailand has jailed two Iranian men for their roles in an attempted bomb plot in the capital, Bangkok, in February 2012. The two men said they were innocent, but the court found them guilty of charges that included illegal possession of explosives.  

Egypt's Mubarak to be placed under house arrest
Egypt's deposed autocrat Hosni Mubarak is expected to be freed from prison and placed under house arrest on Thursday after being ordered released the previous day, following more than two years in detention.  

France says force needed if Syrian chemical attack proved true
France said on Thursday that the international community would need to respond with force if allegations that the Syrian government was responsible for a chemical attack on civilians proved true. "There would have to be reaction with force in Syria from the international community, but there is no question of sending troops on the ground," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told French television network BFM.  

Radioactive Leaks in Japan Prompt Call for Overseas Help
The crippled nuclear plant at Fukushima is losing its two-year battle to contain radioactive water leaks and its owner emphasized for the first time it needs overseas expertise to help contain the disaster.

Ketzaleh Calls for Bennett's Removal
Aug 22nd, 2013
Daily NewsINN - Gil Ronen
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Former Knesset member and ex-chairman of the National Union party Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh) is calling on the Bayit Yehudi MKs to immediately depose the chairman of the religious-Zionist party, Economics Minister Naftali Bennett. Katz says Bennett knows that the current “peace talks” are rigged to lead to the eviction and demolition of eight Jewish communities around Shechem.

Katz says Bennett is complicit in the impending demolition because he is staying in the Coalition, rather than leaving it now.

"I call on the Knesset members of Bayit Yehudi to convene immediately and depose Naftali Bennett from all of his functions in the leadership of the party, because of the impending destruction of the Torah world and demolition of the settlement enterprise that we are facing,” the former leader of the religious Zionist party wrote on his Facebook page.

"Bennett knows, just as I do, that Bibi-Livni-Kerry-Abu Mazen have already agreed on an interim agreement in which, 8 months from now, the Jewish communities around Shechem will be razed.

"Just as Bennett knew about the harsh cut in funding for yeshivas and Torah educational institutes, and told his faction and the heads of the institutions that nothing would happen, just to keep them quiet, so today, Bennett is hiding the great threat to the settlement enterprise from everyone today.

"Everyone now knows that Bennett's messages of calm were baseless. 66% of the funding for the Torah world was cut, and the same thing will happen now if the Bayit Yehudi postpones Bennett's dismissal until the presentation of the agreement for destruction of communities.

"By then it will be too late, and our public will again have to face the same horrific sights that it experienced only 8 years ago in Gaza and northern Samaria," he said, referring to the forced deportation of 9,000 Jews from Gaza and four communities in Samaria during the 2005 "Disengagement."

Katz called on the party to "fix what has been twisted and immediately conduct negotiations with its natural partners in the hareidi parties, for their entry into the government instead of Lapid.”

Katz was referring to Yair Lapid, the head of the Yesh Atid party, currently the second largest Knesset faction with 19 seats. He envisions a coalition in which the hareidi parties, which number 18 MKs together, would take Lapid's place.

Bayit Yehudi was formed in a merger between parts of the National Union and the National Religious Party prior to the last elections, following Bennett's election as head of the party. Bennett has been widely credited with reviving the religious-Zionist political bloc, which prior to the merger had only 7 seats between the two parties - just over half of the combined list's twelve seats today.

But there has been a growing sense of unease among many Bayit Yehudi supporters surrounding Bennett's decision to ally the party with the center-left Yesh Atid party on the issue of equal army service, which entails the ending of the blanket exemption for hareidi yeshiva students.

Iran: Christian Man Jailed for Distributing Gospel
Aug 22nd, 2013
Daily NewsINN
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution

An Iranian convert from Islam to Christianity has been sentenced to a decade in prison for proselytizing, the Christian news network Agenzia Fides reports.

The man, Mohammed-Hadi “Mostafa” Bordbar, was officially charged with “crimes against state security.”

Bordbar had previously faced criminal charges for converting to Christianity. He was found guilty of “apostasy,” but was not jailed.

His latest arrest took place in December 2012. He was taken into custody following a police raid at his home, which had been used for Christian prayer meetings.

Officers found thousands of copies of the Christian Gospel, which Bordbar had been distributing in an attempt to convince others to join him in following Christianity.

The report also noted a related sentence, that of Ebrahim Firouzi, an Iranian Christian who was sentenced to one year in prison and two years of exile for “evangelization activities and distribution of Bibles… in opposition to the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Christian Girl Guide Leaders Defy Decision to Drop God from Pledge
Aug 22nd, 2013
Daily NewsThe Telegraph
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Area Near Al - Aqsa Mosque Collapses
Aug 22nd, 2013
Daily NewsINN - Elad Benari
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

An area collapsed near the western wall of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem late Tuesday, reported the Turkish Anadolu news agency.

An eyewitness told the agency that the collapse occurred near the Bab as Silsila, on the western part of the mosque.

It is the second collapse near the western wall within five years, Cum'a Usayle, an eyewitness, told Anadolu.

"The collapse has caused a deep hole there. It is dangerous for the Al-Aqsa Mosque. It poses danger especially for children and women," he said.

The report claimed that no security precautions around the area have been taken by Israeli officials so far, nor has there been a statement about the incident.

The Al-Aqsa Foundation and Cultural Heritage Organization accused Israel, as it usually does, of paving the way for demolishing the Al-Aqsa Mosque by “building new settlements and digging dozens of tunnels.”

Arabs continuously accuse Israel of "Judaizing" the Temple Mount, sometimes resorting to outlandish propaganda such as accusing Israel of using chemicals to erode the foundations of the mosque in order to cause it to collapse.

At the same time the Waqf, which was left in charge of the Temple Mount after Israel liberated it during the 1967 Six Day War, consistently destroys Jewish antiquities on the compound in a direct violation of a ruling by the Supreme Court.

The Waqf has removed every sign of ancient Jewish presence at the site. At the entrance to the Temple Mount, a Waqf sign says, “The Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyard and everything in it is Islamic property.”

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas several months ago accused Israel of trying to “destroy” the Al-Aqsa Mosque by allowing Jews to pray on the Temple Mount.

Speaking to a Saudi-based newspaper, Abbas said that "the Al-Aqsa Mosque is in danger," claiming that Israel prevents PA Arabs from praying at the mosque, while allowing “extremist Jews" to worship there. This, he claimed, is proof that Israel has a "malicious" and dangerous plan to destroy the mosque and rebuild the “false” Holy Temple in its place, as he put it.

Most recently, Jordanian King Abdullah II added fuel to the ongoing debate over Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, when he told visiting Muslim and Christian dignitaries from Jerusalem that he will continue his efforts to “safeguard” Islamic and Christian sites in the holy city of Jerusalem from what so-called "Judaization."