Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Susan Rice: Inaction Against Assad Threatens U.S. National Security
Sep 10th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

National Security Adviser Susan Rice said Monday that US inaction in response to Bashar Assad’s use of chemical weapons would threaten US national security and the security of its allies, potentially diminishing America’s role in the international community. “Every time chemical weapons are moved… it raises the likelihood that they will fall into the hands of terrorists active in Syria, including Assad’s ally, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda affiliates,” she said

Stem - Cell Banks Enable Wealthy to Free ‘backup Version’ of Their Adult Selves
Sep 10th, 2013
Daily NewsThe Telegraph
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Forget prestige cars, yachts and private jets. From tomorrow, British business executives, sports stars, celebrities and anyone else with £38,400 to spare will be able to freeze a backup of their adult selves for potential use decades later.

Senate Delays Syria Vote As Obama Loses Momentum
Sep 10th, 2013
Daily NewsCNN
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

President Obama’s push for congressional approval for military airstrikes in Syria

ran aground Monday, forcing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to delay a procedural vote as opposition builds among senators in both parties.

Six senators, including five Republicans and one Democrat, announced Monday they would vote against a resolution authorizing the use of force — a strong indication that the administration’s efforts to build bipartisan support have been ineffective.

The Senate was scheduled to vote Wednesday on a procedural motion to begin formal debate on the resolution, but Reid announced late Monday the vote would be delayed in order to buy the president more time to make his case to senators and the public.

“What we need to do is make sure the president has the opportunity to speak to all 100 senators and all 300 million American people before we do this,” Reid said.

The delay also came amid reports that Russia was seeking a deal with Syria to dismantle its chemical weapons program. Obama said in television interviews Monday such a deal could circumvent the need for U.S. military intervention, but senators had not been briefed on the development and expressed skepticism.

“I have no idea what’s going on. It’d be great if the Russians could convince Assad to turn over his chemical weapons to the international community. That’d be a terrific outcome. I just am very dubious and skeptical,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

Comments made Monday in London by Secretary of State John Kerry describing the military effort as “unbelievably small” also rankled lawmakers. Graham said Kerry “undercut everything the president has been doing for the last couple of days” to build support.

The rapid clip of senators announcing their opposition on Monday raised serious doubts that the president would be able to muster the necessary support in either the House or Senate. The GOP-led House is not likely to take up a resolution unless the Senate can pass it first. A final Senate vote was expected this weekend, but Reid’s decision to delay the formal debate puts the schedule in flux.

Five GOP Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Johnny Isakson of Georgia, Roger Wicker of Mississippi, and Mike Enzi of Wyoming all announced opposition Monday, as did Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota.

San Antonio Passes Nondiscrimination Ordinance That Could Ban Christians Opposed to Homosexuality
Sep 10th, 2013
Daily NewsFox News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution

The San Antonio City Council approved a non-discrimination bill that will protect new groups from discrimination, but critics charge it will encourage bias against Christians and those who believe in traditional marriage.

The council voted 8-3 to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of classes protected from discrimination.

“This ordinance does ensure that everybody in our community is created equally,” Councilman Diego Bernal told MySanAntonio.com.

Mayor Julian Castro brushed aside concerns from Christians that it might make them second class citizens.

“This ordinance fundamentally is about ensuring whether you’re white or black, Christan or Jew, straight or gay, this city belongs to you,” Castro said. “This ordinance is about saying there are no second-class citizens in San Antonio.”

The ordinance has pitted gay rights activists against religious conservatives who charged the ordinance would trample on religious freedoms and invite lawsuits.

Kelly Shackelford, president of the Liberty Institute, told Fox News it is a “sad day for San Antonians, for Texans and for all Americans.”

He accused city leaders of giving the LGBT community special status “at the expense of the religious liberty rights of its citizens and businesses.”

“The ordinance, plain and simple, stifles free speech and tramples on religious liberty, targeting citizens and businesses that hold traditional views about sexuality,” he said.

He said the ripple effect of the law could go far beyond San Antonio.

“This should alarm every American who values their religious freedom,” Shackelford said.

Mat Staver, president of Liberty Counsel, was one of the groups working to defeat the measure.

“There’s no question people will lose their jobs as a result of this. Businesses owned by Christians will be targeted for complaints under this human rights ordinance,” he said.

Staver believes the ordinance is written so broadly that holding the belief that same-sex marriage is wrong, or even attending a church where the pastor speaks out against it could be interpreted as a bias – thus disqualifying one from working for the city.

“That kind of statement would be considered biased towards homosexuality and disable you from working at all with the city,” he said. “People who want to make a living will not be able to work with the city of San Antonio either directly or indirectly if they have any alleged bias in their background regarding so-called LGBT issues,” Staver told Fox News. 

“We will see a general persecution or certainly a significant discrimination against people of faith.”

Staver also said the ordinance could be read as requiring churches, as part of the public accommodation law, to allow men to use women’s restrooms in certain situations.

A coalition of some 500 ministers organized to defeat the proposal including a number of African-American and Hispanic pastors. Steve Branson, the pastor of Village Parkway Baptist Church, said his 1,500-member congregation is frightened about the future.

“Some of us will pay a price,” Branson told Fox News. “There will be somebody going after our Christian business people. They will try to make a few people examples.”

He said the idea that Christians could be penalized for opposing gay marriage could prompt a backlash.

“The city of San Antonio will react strongly,” he predicted. “There will be recalls. This law is going to be very punitive towards believers – especially businessmen and it will have some effect on churches.”

Russian Report: Syrian Rebels Planning Chem. Attack on Israel
Sep 10th, 2013
Daily NewsYnetNews
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Arabic-language Russian news site Rusiya Al-Yaum has reported that Syrian rebels are planning a chemical attack on Israel.

In the report, it was claimed that “armed Syrian militants will use territories controlled by the Syrian regime to perpetrate their provocative plan.”

The story was quick to spread through pro-Assad outlets, like the Hezbollah affiliated Lebanese stations Al Manar and Al Mayadeen. The Russian site is also known for its pro-Assad bias in covering the Syrian crises, what suggests that there is a possibility the story might propaganda.

In the past, the Syrian regime and its mouth-pieces have claimed that the rebels are responsible for the chemical weapons usage – a claim that has now become part of their line of defense against the West. A few days after the chemical attack in question, the official state Syrian TV published a report in which Syrian soldiers allegedly suffered chemical related symptoms after entering a rebel position, where they found chemical materials related to the attack.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested Monday that Syria place its “chemical weapons under international control and then have them destroyed,” if such a move would help “avoid military strikes” that are being considered by the United States and its allies. Lavrov said he had already passed the proposal to al-Moallem in Moscow and hoped for a “quick and positive answer” from Syria

Syria welcomed the Russian proposal, as al-Moallem praised the Kremlin for seeking to “prevent American aggression”.

Al-Moallem who spoke to reporters through an interpreter after Russia expressed hope the proposal could avert military strikes against Syria, stopped short of saying explicitly that President Bashar Assad’s government accepted it.

Report: Russia Transferred S - 300 Missiles Into Syria
Sep 10th, 2013
Daily NewsINN - Gil Ronen
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Russia has transferred several S-300 missile batteries into Syria, Kuwaiti newspaper Al Rai reported Tuesday. The transfers took place despite statements by Russian officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, that Russia would not provide Syria with the advanced anti-aircraft system.

Al Rai claimed that Syria has accelerated the rate at which it ships arms into Syria since the current crisis between Russia and the US began, when chemical weapons were allegedly used to kill over 1,000 civilians, on August 21.

The information was picked up by Voice of Israel public radio, which added that Russian ships are due to offload more military aid in the next few days.

The delivery of Russian missile systems to Syria is legal but the contract "has not yet been realized," Russian President Vladimir Putin said in June.

In August, the head of Russia's arms export monopoly Rosoboronexport announced that Russia would not be supplying Iran with a replacement for the S-300 missile defense system delivery, following the apparent cancellation of the S-300 deal.

Speaking to journalists in Baku, Azebaijan, Anatoly Isaiki said that despite media reports of discussions over a replacement system, no such deals were in the pipeline.

“I will only be able to speak about that if there were any deals or when there would be deals, but there are none,” he said, according to the RIAmedia agency.

Putin has praised the capabilities of the Russian-made S-300s, which can engage 12 targets simultaneously at distances of 200 kilometers and heights of up to 27 kilometers.

Israel has been aggressively lobbying Moscow not to provide Syria with the system, which could alter the balance of aerial power between Israel and Syria.

In May, Israel's defense minister, Moshe Yaalon, said that Israel "will know what to do" if Russia delivers the S-300s.

"The deliveries have not taken place – I can attest to this – and I hope they do not. But if, by some misfortune, they arrive in Syria, we will know what to do," Yaalon said. 

His comments came after Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said providing the missiles to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad would be a "stabilizing factor" aimed at deterring any foreign intervention in Syria.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met Russian leader Vladimir Putin two weeks earlier and reportedly asked him not to deliver the system to Syria.

Mini Ice Age Warning: Extreme Cold Temperatures and Heavy Snow Killing Kashmir Goats
Sep 10th, 2013
Daily NewsAsia Times on line
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The famed pashmina shawl that keeps the cold away – in style and at a price – could itself have become the victim of winter. Thousands of goats whose fine wool is woven into pashmina have perished in extreme cold being associated with climate change.

Pashmina is drawn from Changra goats found in Ladakh region of Kashmir state and a part of the Tibetan peninsula, more than

14,000 feet (4,267 meters) above sea level. The peninsula is often called the Roof of the World. Little grows in these areas where the temperature can drop to minus 35 degrees Celsius. The local Changpa nomads live off their herds of sheep, yak and goats.

The Changthang region of the larger Tibetan Peninsula does not normally see heavy snowfall. That may be changing, given the heavy snowfall earlier this year that deprived the Changpas of fodder for their animals.

“In the past five years this is the second time I have seen such heavy snowfall,” Bihkit Angmo, 53, who rears goats, told IPS outside her tent in Kharnak, a nomadic settlement 173 kilometers east of Leh, capital of Ladakh. “This new trend of snowfall several feet high has left us quite worried.”

Summer last year brought its own problems, leaving areas parched and barren. “It was terrible. We had to go long distances to find suitable pasture for our livestock,” said Angmo.

This summer, melting snow brought some greenery back but not before serious loss. The District Sheep Husbandry Office at Leh puts the number of goats lost due to weather upheavals at 24,624. This has seriously jeopardized the pashmina business. Wool from the goat is extremely warm, given the cold the animal has to survive in. With a diameter of 14-19 microns, strands of pashmina are said to be six times finer than human hair.

Kashmiri craftsmen have used these for generations to make the renowned Pashmina shawl, woven with hand and often embellished with fine embroidery. A pashmina shawl can cost about US$200-$600. Pashmina exports fetched $160 million in 2011-12, according to the state government’s economic survey.

Now, given the extremes of summer and winter, goats are dying either of starvation or of hypothermia.

Angmo’s is one of few families that have stayed behind in Kharnak to still rear Pashmina-producing goats. Some 83 families out of a total of 98 have migrated from this area, according to Mohammad Sharief, the district sheep husbandry officer at Leh.

“For the past several years,” he told IPS, “our surveys show that five to 10 families from the Changthang area migrate to Leh city every year.”

Let the Headlines Speak
Sep 10th, 2013
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Obama 'letting Muslim Brotherhood run anti-terror ops'
The Obama administration allowed into government agencies Islamic groups and activists tied to the Muslim Brotherhood who now influence U.S. anti-terrorism policies and endanger the nation, charges a newly released book.  

Mt. Lokon active volcano erupts
Mount Lokon in Tomohon, North Sulawesi, erupted again at 6:30 a.m. local time on Monday, spewing volcanic material from the Tompaluan Lokon crater up to 1,500 meters in the air.  

Liberman warns that Israel will topple Assad if he attacks
The statement was the clearest warning to Assad delivered by a top Israeli figure since the escalation of tension between Syria and the United States.  

Obama Administration Denies AP Requests for Syria Evidence
The Associated Press ran a skeptical piece Sunday about the Obama administration's public case for military intervention in Syria in response to a reported Aug. 21 chemical attack. The AP's Zeina Karam and Kimberly Dozier wrote that "the U.S. government insists it has the intelligence to prove it, but the public has yet to see a single piece of concrete evidence produced by U.S. intelligence.  

5.7-magnitude earthquake rocks Indonesia
A 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia’s Sulawesi island this morning, the United States Geological Survey has said. The quake hit at 0311 IST 135 kilometres north-west of Gorontalo city at a depth of 46 km. The USGS’ Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) system estimated the risk of fatalities and economic damage as very low.  

Archaeologists’ Stunning Find: Ancient Treasure Trove at Temple Mount Is a ‘Once in a Lifetime Discovery’
...During excavations this summer, Dr. Eilat Mazar of Hebrew University of Jerusalem found stunning relics including 36 gold coins, gold and silver jewelry and a gold medallion, the university announced. The medallion has a menorah symbol etched into it, along with a ram’s horn, known as a shofar, and a Torah scroll. It’s believed the medallion was used to adorn a Torah scroll.  

China renews push for control of internet
China's leaders have accelerated a renewed push for control of the internet with draconian new regulations that allow them to impose lengthy jail terms on those convicted of spreading online rumours or using social media to provoke unrest. Micro-bloggers who peddle "false information" or "slanderous comments" will face up to three years in prison...  

Syria Agrees To Russia's Proposal To Put Chemical Weapons Under International Control
The big news is that Syria has agreed and welcomed Russia's proposal that all Syria's chemical weapon be put under international control. The twist is that Secretary of State John Kerry has threatened Syria to do just that, giving him a week to do so, or face attack, but according to the video report below, the US State Department has since issued an apparent retraction, saying it wasn't a genuine offer.  

Global warming computer models collapse; Arctic ice sheets rapidly expand as planet plunges into global cooling
For years, we've all heard that global warming is threatening our planet. But now, in a stunning turnaround, world scientists are warning that an era of global cooling seems to be upon us, complete with extraordinary expansions of ocean ice being recorded in just the past year. Even the latest UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report seems to indicate that an era of global cooling is now underway, according to many scientists.  

NSA Affair: Germans Conduct Helicopter Flyover of US Consulate
The German government on Monday confirmed that a previously reported operation targeting potential American eavesdropping facilities located on German soil took place at the end of August. Both a spokesperson for Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Interior Ministry admitted on Monday that a Federal Police helicopter had conducted a low-altitude flyover of the United States Consulate in Frankfurt in order to take high-resolution photographs.  

Government rejects the science behind neonicotinoid ban
The government says it accepts the EU ban on the use of some pesticides linked to bee deaths, but it rejects the science behind the moratorium. In a response to the Environmental Audit Committee, the government indicates it will not ban the use of these chemicals for gardeners. The Committee says they are disappointed with this approach.  

New bird flu 'has unique traits'
The new flu which has emerged in China has unique traits, say scientists. It is able to infect both the nose, giving it the potential to spread easily, and penetrate deep in the lungs where it causes pneumonia. The authors of the American Journal of Pathology say the twin attack has not been detected in previous bird flus.  

Syria conflict: France to float tough UN resolution
France will put a resolution to the UN Security Council to place Syria's chemical weapons under international control so they can be destroyed, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says. He said it would threaten "extremely serious" consequences if Syria breached its conditions. There would be a request for a complete inspection of all chemical weapons.  

More clashes in southern Philippines' Zamboanga city
A stand-off between Philippine troops and Muslim rebels has continued for a second day, with reports of civilians being used as "human shields". At least four people were killed in Monday's violence in Zamboanga city in Mindanao, in the south of the country. Clashes began when a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) moved into the city early on Monday.  

Central African Republic says scores killed in new clashes
At least 60 people have been killed in Central African Republic in fighting between former rebels and forces loyal to the president they ousted in March, officials say. A government spokesman said fighters loyal to Francois Bozize had seized the town of Bouca north of the capital. This is the first large-scale operation launched by the former president's forces since he was toppled in March.  

Obama 'could pause Syria attack plans'
US President Barack Obama has said he will put plans for a US military strike against Syria on hold if the country agrees to place its chemical weapons stockpile under international control. But he said he was sceptical the Syrian government would follow through. As the US Congress debates authorising an attack, Russia on Monday proposed Syria relinquish its chemical weapons.  

MEPs call for suspension of EU-US finance tracking deal
Press reports that the US intelligence agency secretly tapped into international bank transfer firm Swift have prompted MEPs to call for an immediate suspension of the EU-US terrorist financial tracking programme (TFTP) agreement. "We cannot continue loyal co-operation in data exchange with US Authorities with this NSA dark cloud hanging over our heads,” said Belgian Liberal MEP Guy Verhofstadt...  

Liberation theology finds new welcome in Pope Francis’ Vatican
Francis, who has called for “a poor church for the poor,” will meet in the next few days with the Rev. Gustavo Gutierrez, a Peruvian theologian and scholar who is considered the founder of liberation theology.

Jewish Residents of Jerusalem Victims of Daily Rock Attacks
Sep 10th, 2013
Daily NewsINN - Elad Benari
Categories: The Nation Of Israel;Antisemitism

Jewish residents of Jerusalem’s Abu Tor neighborhood have been the victims of repeated rock attacks by Arab residents of the neighborhood.

One of the Jewish residents of Abu Tor, Ruth Pross, told Arutz Sheva on Monday that the attacks are perpetrated by Arabs aged 18 to 22 who gather outside the homes of the Jewish residents of the neighborhood and pelt them with rocks from a distance of about 100 feet.

During Sunday’s attack, she recalled, five Arabs carrying a large box with blocks and rocks gathered at a curb near Jewish homes in Abu Tor. They then proceeded to throw the rocks and, noted Pross, they were a group of well-trained rock throwers who were able to repeatedly and accurately hit vehicles and homes belonging to Jews.

Within moments of the beginning of the rock attack, said Pross, the ground was literally flooded  with rocks .

"Kids were very scared,” she said. “One screamed in fear. We were sure that an Arab rioter had broken in, but it turned out it was a boy who was just scared and screaming. The incident ended only when they ran out of rocks.”

Residents called the police, who arrived about eight minutes later, said Pross. The officers detained several Arabs but released them shortly thereafter when no evidence tying them to the incident could be found.

Pross said that Sunday’s incident occurred just one day after a similar incident which was likely perpetrated by the same Arabs. In both cases there were no casualties, but the residents of the neighborhood see these two incidents as an escalation in rock terror attacks since, until now, the rock throwing was carried out by individual Arabs and not by a group of well-prepared rock throwers.

Despite the repeated attacks, Pross declared that the Jewish residents of Abu Tor have no intention of leaving. "We did not come here to live in peace. We knew what we were getting into,” she said, calling on police and security forces to step up the enforcement against the Arab terrorists "just as they know to enforce the law against the Jews."

Arutz Sheva has reported on many occasions about rock attacks targeting Jews in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and other areas of Israel.

Israel Could Become Oil Shale Superpower
Sep 10th, 2013
Daily NewsTimes of Israel
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Far below the surface of the promised land, a hidden treasure lies. If it can be carefully liberated from the geological layer in which it is caught, it promises nothing less than to transform Israel’s economy. 

It is called oil shale. And, along with Jordan, Israel just so happens to sit upon the world’s second largest deposits of the stuff, after the United States.

Oil shale deposits are overwhelmingly located outside conventional oil-rich areas such as the Middle East and North Africa. 

So if safe, economic processes for extracting this alternative oil resource can be put into effect, dependence on the energy-exporting Middle East could gradually decline, in a dramatic transformation of the global economy, with Israel as a prime beneficiary.

Advocates say oil shale is an Israeli resource whose time has come, and are adamant that it can be realized without negative environmental consequences. But critics cite fears of underground fires, contaminants seeping into air and water, even seismic rifts.

With a few exceptions, the battle over oil shale is being fought away from the headlines. It will come to a head in the Jerusalem Regional Planning Authority, a body headed by an Interior Ministry bureaucrat, which in the next few months will decide whether to authorize a pilot project to extract shale oil in the Elah Valley, south of Beit Shemesh.

Iran Won't Give Up 'one Iota' of Nuclear 'Rights'
Sep 10th, 2013
Daily NewsINN - Gil Ronen
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Iran will not give up "one iota" of its nuclear rights, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a speech to clerics, Mehr news agency reported on Tuesday.

Rouhani's comments come ahead of a meeting in New York later in September between his foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, on restarting negotiations over the his country's nuclear program.

"Our government will not give up one iota of its absolute rights" on the nuclear issue, Rouhani said.

He also said that after Zarif and Ashton meet, nuclear negotiations "will continue in another place with the 5+1 group," which is made up of the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany.

On Friday, after a phone call with Ashton, the P5+1 lead negotiator, Zarif said that Tehran wanted to "remove any ambiguity" about its nuclear work.

Rouhani said soon after his election as president in June that he wanted to hold "serious" talks "without wasting time" on Iran's nuclear program, while maintaining Iran's "undeniable rights" to this program.

In recent years, the Islamic republic has been slapped with several rounds of international sanctions, targeting oil exports and banking transactions, and causing inflation to soar to more than 40 percent.

But Rouhani said that such measures would not make Iran abandon its program.

"The rhetoric of the Iranian administration is one of prudence and the rhetoric of the nation is also one of civility accompanied by resistance and perseverance; and if their (the West’s) language is not one of respect as well, no progress will be made,” he said in his speech to the clerics.

“The West must understand that it will not achieve the least success through sanctions and pressure against the Iranian nation. If the West uses the language of logic, reason and mutual interests on an equal footing, the Iranian administration is also ready to respond in the language of wisdom, prudence and logic,” Rouhani said.

Iran Aggressively Recruiting ‘invisible Army’ of Latin American Converts to Infiltrate U.S.
Sep 10th, 2013
Daily NewsThe Blaze
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Iran is recruiting an “invisible army” of revolutionary sympathizers in Latin America to infiltrate the U.S. through the “soft belly” of the southern border, U.S. officials and national security experts told TheBlaze. And they’re using one website in particular to do it.

The Iranian regime’s conversion efforts are becoming increasingly aggressive, especially over the Internet, with the goal of conducting operations against United States interests in the Western Hemisphere, according to U.S. government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the nature of their work in the region.

Islamoriente.com, which focuses on religion and politics, is one of Iran’s main recruitment and conversion websites for Latin America on the Internet, TheBlaze has learned. 

The site, which launched in 2008, includes links to Iranian television for Spanish speakers, anti-American news stories, essays on reasons to convert to Islam, chat rooms and a personal message from the Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran.

Even as President Barack Obama waits for Congress to make a decision on Syria, the Iranian website wastes no time and has no shortage of stories ridiculing the U.S. administration for threatening to strike President Bashar Assad’s regime, a staunch ally of Iran.

Jim Phillips, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation and expert in Iranian affairs, said Iran’s focus on Hispanic converts is a new evolution in Iranian operations in Latin America. 

Phillips said Khamanei’s message titled “The Importance of Work and the Nobility of the Worker” in Islam, is significant because the Ayatollah is “normally a background player in these sorts of efforts and doesn’t usually play such a public role.”

“Historically, Iran has tried to recruit agents from the Lebanese Shi’ite diaspora in South America and West Africa,” Phillips said. ”This emphasis on Hispanic converts is something new.”

In the past, “U.S. intelligence focused on Iran’s relationship with Hezbollah but now with the people they are recruiting it could be much more difficult to gauge who is infiltrating the U.S.,” Phillips added.

In August, the U.S. State Department decided to order a new review of Iranian terror activity in Latin America, based on a 500-page report issued by Argentinian prosecutor Alberto Nisman on Iran’s terrorist strategy in the region. 

Nisman was the original prosecutor in the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association that killed 85 people and wounded hundreds more. Nisman believes Hezbollah, on orders from Iran, was responsible for the bombing.

The report states that Iran has attempted to infiltrate “for decades, large regions of Latin America, through the establishment of clandestine intelligence stations and operative agents which are used to execute terrorist attacks when the Iranian regime decides so, both directly or through its proxy, the terrorist organization Hezbollah. 

These actions have been taking place within the so-called ‘export of the revolution,’ which was never masked by Tehran and is, in fact, written in their own constitution.”

Nisman’s report supports the evidence U.S. officials say they’ve found in the region. Iran’s revolutionary guard is focused on Latin America and has ramped up its efforts over the past decade, utilizing the same Internet tools they censor and ban from their own citizens. 

It is ”part of their effort to build an invisible army to penetrate the U.S. and our interests without suspicion, and it’s something we should be extremely mindful of,” said a U.S. official familiar with Iranian operations in Latin America.

The official said recent Iranian activity in Latin America shows the importance of the region in Iran’s political and ideological goals. Those goals are not only to cultivate anti-American sentiment in the region but also to build a network of support among Latin American converts in positions of power, the official said.

TheBlaze attempted to trace the domain and creators of the server hosting IslamOriente.com but the site is protected by a privacy company based out of the U.S. Attempts to call the number on the website led to a voice recording from a telephone number out of Queensland, Australia, which said that the website is protected by privacyprotect.org.

According to a 2012 report from the Middle East Media Research Project (MEMRI), a think tank providing translation on video and Internet websites from the Middle East, privacyprotect.org is one among many U.S. companies that are used by Al Qaeda and other nefarious groups use to hide their information. MEMRI also attempted to trace the Iranian website to no avail.

Ayelet Savyon, the director of the Iran desk for MEMRI, told TheBlaze that Iranian activities seem to be focused more on recruiting from the local populations with more sophisticated approaches.

“(Iran) is doing so in all parts of the world with the aim at targeting the U.S. soft belly,” said Savyon, who is based in Israel. “Latin America is a long-term goal for them with direct national security implications for the U.S., and I do think it’s of special interest to the U.S.”

She referred to The Washington Post’s recent report revealing how Iranian embassies in Latin America use cultural attaches to recruit young impressionable students to special conversion programs in Iran.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who was elected in June to replace the openly anti-American Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said in a recent public address that his support for Latin America is strong. 

Rouhani told Vasquez Bucaro, the president of the Central American Parliament and the head of Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly, that he welcomes increased interaction between the two groups and Iran’s legislature to strengthen their relations.

“Just because Iran has a new president, that hasn’t changed their goals,” Savyon said. “They are looking to recruit people who can support Iran’s revolutionary values. Their agenda hasn’t changed, only thing that has changed is the image they are trying to present to the world.”

A U.S. counterterrorism official said Iran’s activities are being closely monitored by U.S. intelligence agencies and “there’s no question that Iran has tried to cultivate ties with some of Latin America’s left-leaning governments.”

“As an element of this strategy, Tehran has mounted a charm offensive that includes using Internet propaganda to influence public opinion in these countries,” he added.

Another U.S. official, who has worked in Latin America for more than a decade, said Iran has dedicated a large number of resources to recruiting and converting people in Mexico, who have easier access to the U.S. border and can easily blend in with other migrants crossing the border.

In 2009, six U.S. officials confirmed in an earlier investigation conducted by this reporter that the designated terrorist group Hezbollah, which is supported by the Iranian government, had been using the same narcotics routes used by drug cartels into the U.S.

That has not changed but now “Iran’s goal is to recruit people that can be utilized against U.S. interests” and blend in without raising suspicion, the U.S. official said.

Hezbollah is based in Lebanon and was founded after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. It has grown into a major political, military and social welfare organization, which is controlled and financed by Iran and in 2006, it fought a 34-day war against Israel.

Hezbollah members and supporters have entered the U.S. through the southern border as early as 2002, with the case of Salim Boughader Mucharrafille, a Mexican of Lebanese descent. 

He was sentenced to 60 years in prison by Mexican authorities on charges of organized crime and immigrant smuggling. Mucharrafille had owned a cafe in the border city of Tijuana, near San Diego. In 2002, he was arrested for smuggling 200 people into the the U.S., including Hezbollah supporters, according to a 2009 Congressional report.

In 2005, Mahmoud Youssef Kourani, the brother of a Hezbollah chief, pleaded guilty to providing material support to Hezbollah after being smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border and settling in Dearborn, Mich.

“Now what they desire is a proxy terrorist group that can easily slip past U.S. border security,” the U.S. official added. “Who’s going to suspect an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, Mexico, or anywhere else for that matter, of being a jihadist?

Florida Official Tells Christian Charity to Kick Jesus to the Curb
Sep 10th, 2013
Daily NewsFox News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution

A Florida ministry that feeds the poor said a state agriculture department official told them they would not be allowed to receive USDA food unless they removed portraits of Christ, the Ten Commandments, a banner that read “Jesus is Lord” and stopping giving Bibles to the needy.
“They told us they could no longer allow us to have any religious information where the USDA food is going to be,” said Kay Daly, executive director of the Christian Service Center.

So why did the government have an issue with the religious group’s religious decorations?
A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Agriculture told me they were following the guidelines written by the USDA.

“This program is a USDA-funded program and the requirements were outlined by the USDA,” spokesperson Amanda Bevis said. “This agency administers the program on the state level. Our staff did provide a briefing to CSC following turnover in leadership at CSC and did review the USDA requirements.”

Daly said they were told it was a matter of separation of church and state.
A USDA spokesperson told me that “under current law, organizations that receive USDA nutrition assistance can still engage in religious activities so long as the activity is not used to create a barrier to eligible individuals receiving food.”

The USDA referred to an Executive Order providing equal protection for faith-based organizations. That order guarantees those groups the right to provide assistance without “removing or altering religious art, icons, scriptures or other symbols from these facilities.”

For the past 31 years, the Christian ministry has been providing food to the hungry in Lake City, Fla. without any problems. But all that changed when they said a state government worker showed up to negotiate a new contract.

“The (person) told us there was a slight change in the contract,” Daly told me. “They said we could no longer have religious information where the USDA food is being distributed. They told us we had to take that stuff down.”

Daly said it’s no secret that the Christian Service Center is a Christian ministry.

“We’ve got pictures of Christ on more than one wall,” she said. “It’s very clear we are not social services. We are a Christian ministry.”

Assad is Off the U.S. Military Hook and Keeps His Chemical Weapons. Israel is the Loser of This Round
Sep 10th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon have until now patted  themselves on the back for striking a balanced and cautious stance which kept Israel secure in the course of the nearly three-year old Syrian conflict. However, President Barack Obama’s decision to put US military action against Syria on hold - unveiled in six US TV interviews Tuesday, Sept. 10 - leaves Israel exposed to a major threat: Bashar Assad’s chemical warfare capability which is left intact.
By buying into Moscow’s proposal to place Syria’s chemical arsenal under international oversight (picked up from a possible throwaway comment by US Secretary of State John Kerry), Obama has in fact opened the door to the “Iranian syndrome.”

Yet another weapon of mass destruction is now loose in the Middle East.  Assad can dip into Tehran’s two decades of bamboozling international inspectors and concealing its nuclear weapons program and pick up endless tricks to keep his chemical arsenal far from “international control” – not to mention destruction.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) doesn’t even have a mechanism for monitoring CW. It would need many months or years – if ever - to dig through a mountain of bureaucracy and build one and muster expert personnel for the task. By then, the chemical arsenal will be well distributed and hidden in inaccessible locations – a project the Syrian government embarked on two weeks ago when America was still believed to be genuinely on track for a military strike. The monitors would also need the Damascus government’s consent to carry out inspections.

debkafile’s military sources report that the 20 locations in which the poison gas containers were hidden two weeks ago had grown by this week to fifty.

Most international intelligence agencies in the West and the Middle East were relying on Israel’s clandestine services to keep track of the whereabouts of the concealed CW. It was taken for granted that when the Syrian war reached a point at which the Syrian ruler used his chemical weapons, the US and its allies, including Israel, would deploy special forces for covert operations to destroy them.
Netanyahu and Ya’alon must now decide whether to continue this painstaking covert effort for updating the map of concealed chemical weapons stores, now that President Obama has put military action on a back burner. It will be much harder now that he has given Assad leeway for moving the stocks around from place to place to hoodwink secret watchers.

It is no wonder, therefore, that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javed Zarif Tuesday joined the Assad regime in welcoming Moscow’s proposal:  Syria has joined Iran and North Korea on the list of WMD possessors which are safe from US military punishment.

For Israel this is a fiasco. The Netanyahu government’s rationale for sticking to the Obama administration’s line on the Syrian conflict was that it would eventually bring about the break-up - or at least the weakening - of the Iranian-Syrian-Hizballah axis.

But now, President Obama has led his Syria strategy into a blind alley, leaving the axis stronger than ever before and Israel in the lurch.

After using massive quantities of poison gas to kill hundreds of civilians with impunity, Bashar Assad will not hesitate to go forward with his next objective, the capture of Aleppo, Syria’s biggest town.

For months, Israel tried to convince Washington of the vital importance of keeping Aleppo out of Assad’s hands, because it is the ultimate game changer of the civil war that would award ultimate victory to the Assad regime and its allies, Iran, Russia and Hizballah.
Now that the threat of an imminent US attack has been lifted, the Syrian ruler’s way is open to win Aleppo, with his chemical arsenal intact. It is clear that Israel is the loser of this round.

Arabs Take Over Courtyard of Beit Hamachpela
Sep 10th, 2013
Daily NewsINN - Kochava Rozenbaum
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

While the Jewish owners who legally purchased the land of Beit HaMachpela, adjacent to the Cave of Machpela (Patriarchs), were ordered to leave their homes, it appears that the Arab neighbors have illegally taken over the yard next to the building.

Mayors from Judea and Samaria (Yehuda and Shomron) discovered this on Monday during a visit held in the ancient Jewish city of Hevron. 

A military appeals court legally validated in last July that the Jews who purchased the three story building, known as Beit HaMachpela, in 2012 did so legally. 

A resident of Hevron, Shlomo Levinger, said that "during the visit, it was discovered that Arabs who live near the property had taken over the yard and made it as their own."

Malachi Levinger, the Mayor of Kiryat Arba, also took part in the visit to Hevron and stated that the development was a direct result of the government policy that denies property rights of Jewish owners in Hevron, thus backing the Arabs who seek to keep the Jews from their land.

In August 2012 former Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the removal of the residents who purchased the building, despite a request by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to allow the judicial process to proceed and determine the course of events. 

In response to the order, Hevron residents urged the Israeli government to "respect the decision of the judges of the Appeals Committee who have just decided on the validity and integrity of the acquisition transaction and immediately approved the Jewish buyers, who paid in full, to go home today."