Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Will Israel be the World’s First Cashless Society?
Sep 24th, 2013
Daily Newsnowtheendbegins.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;Prophecy

The bible has long foretold that in the end of times, all financial transactions will be control by what it calls the mark of the beast. 

So it is no surprise that we will now begin to see nation after nation getting rid of cash as currency, and replacing it with a worldwide, computer-controlled financial system.

From Israel National News: The government on Tuesday authorized establishment of a committee that will examine ways to eliminate cash from the Israeli economy – the better to prevent citizens from cheating on their taxes. The committee will be chaired by Harel Locker, director of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Cash is easily passed from individual to individual, and transactions using cash can take place without the tax man’s supervision. Not so electronic transactions; with modern computers, banks can keep tabs on how much people deposit into their accounts and how much they withdraw, while credit card companies have an up to the second record of how much people spend.

Members of the panel will include top staff from the Israel Police, the Tax Authority, the chairman of the Government Authority on Money Laundering and Terror, the Bank of Israel’s income and payments director, State Attorney’s office officials, and more.

According to many of these officials, cash is bad – because it allows individuals to get out of their tax payment responsibilities. Today, an enterprising tax collector cannot easily compare income and outflow. 

While he may suspect that a person living beyond his reported means is cheating on his taxes, there is no way to know for sure, without solid evidence. 

In a cashless economy, all records will be electronic, and checking who makes what and how much they owe in taxes – and collecting it before it gets to their account – will be a much simpler matter, the theory goes.

Officials in the Prime Minister’s Office declared that “around the world, it is recognized that cash is a key element of the illegal economy and money laundering. 

It allows a wide gap between reported and actual incomes, with the corresponding effect on tax revenues.” By eliminating cash, the PMO said, “it will be possible to expand the tax base, and prevent money laundering.” The committee will study the issue from all its perspectives and make recommendations, the PMO said.

One issue the committee will be examining, the PMO said, was the imposing of administrative fees on electronic transactions, common in Israel. 

Whatever solutions the committee comes up with, the office said, it will ensure that individuals who have no choice in the matter will be able to make transactions in a manner that will not tack on extra expenses. Observers said that it was hard to imagine the government succeeding in this effort. 

“A move like this could really weaken the economy,” said one observer. “The only thing declaring cash obsolete will do is to encourage people to use dollars or other foreign currency for financial transactions. 

Unless the government plans on making it illegal to hold foreign currency, there is no way to get rid of cash and the problems that go along with it.”

Washington and Europe Rush Headlong Towards Accepting a Nuclear Iran
Sep 24th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The Iranian delegation arrived at the UN General Assembly in New York this week to an enthusiastic Western welcome led by the Obama administration, without having rescinded one iota of its aggressive policies or nuclear ambitions.

 “We welcome an Iran ready to engage seriously through that (diplomatic) process given that it represents the international community’s commitment to hold Iran accountable, but also being open to a diplomatic resolution.”

This convoluted message was how Ben Rhodes, US Deputy National Security Adviser, referred Monday, Sept. 23, to the US Secretary of State John Kerry’s get-together with Iranian Mohammad Javad Zarif Thursday, along with foreign ministers of the five world powers.

Their acclaimed purpose is to test Tehran’s willingness for progress in nuclear negotiations. But before this test, the Obama administration agreed to the highest-level face-to-face contact between the US and Iran since the 1979 Iranian revolution.
Rhodes did not shut the door on a meeting, even a brief one, between President Barack Obama and President Hassan Rouhani at this week’s annual gathering of world leaders in New York.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague and European Union Foreign Executive Catherine Ashton had already met the new Iranian foreign minister Monday, after which Ashton commented that she had found him resolved to go forward with talks (on Iran’s nuclear program) and “many things flow from that.”

How to account for this burst of eagerness in Washington and Europe for a rapprochement with the Revolutionary Republic of Iran?
Has Tehran agreed to give up its nuclear weapon program? The new president and even supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei say their government will never develop a nuclear bomb. So what if they said so? Have their words caused Iran’s nuclear facilities, open and concealed, to suddenly vanish like a desert mirage?

Has Iran announced itself ready to open up all its nuclear facilities to international watchdog inspections? Will Rouhani make this offer when he addresses the UN Assembly Wednesday?
Has Iran promised to stop developing ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads?
And what about the Islamic Republic’s long sponsorship of state terrorism against Israeli and Jewish targets across the world? Have those death-dealing networks been recalled home?

And has Tehran started pulling its troops out of Syria and terminated its partnership in butchery with Bashar Assad, given up its control of Lebanon or stopped sending rockets to Hizballah?

Has anyone noticed that Iran is building a Red Sea Naval base at Port Sudan facing the coast of Saudi Arabia? Or that a large-scale munitions production and distribution center for supplying Iran’s Middle East allies is going up in Sudan?

And finally, has Iran abandoned its ambition to wipe Israel off the map, or stopped denying the Nazi Holocaust?

The slick new president easily ducked the second question by saying: “I’m not a historian.”
He and members of his regime have suddenly been given free license to fill the op-ed pages of important Western media with smooth propaganda for Western audiences.
But while polishing his civilized aspect towards the West, Rouhani made sure the day before he flew to New York to display Iran’s steel teeth with its largest display ever of missiles with a range of 2,000 kilometers. The 30 weapons on show included 12 Sejil and 18 Ghadr missiles which can reach Israel and US Gulf bases - although Rouhani stated with a straight face that they were “for defensive purposes only.”

The turbaned Iranian president has an obvious motive for gulling the West into accepting the Islamic Republic’s conversion from a regime bent on “exporting the Islamic revolution” to a lover of peace: He was elected to end the sanctions crippling the country, without giving up the regime’s objectives.
It is less clear what moves President Obama to swallow the Iranian bait and go for a historic US rapprochement with the revolutionary republic. On every occasion, he protests that Israel’s security is his overriding concern. Yet he is rushing to accept a nuclear Iran whose avowed ambition is to destroy Israel.

Under their slick new façade, the ayatollahs have not changed their spots. Washington has.
Sources close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu say he is determined to tear the false veil off Iran’s face – even if he is a lone voice, when he addresses the UN later this month.

Last Thursday, Netanyahu tried throwing water on Rouhani’s claims that Iran’s nuclear program was peaceful, calling them fraudulent. He dismissed Iran's offer to engage in diplomacy as false “media spin,” which should not fool anyone.
But no one in the West was listening. And at home, people were asking what happened to Netanyahu’s solemn pre-election pledge to stop Iran attaining a nuclear bomb.

Vandals Topple Ten Commandments Statue Near Supreme Court Building
Sep 24th, 2013
Daily NewsThe Washington Times
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

A stone monument of the Ten Commandments that sits across the street from the U.S. Supreme Court was toppled by vandals over the weekend.

The 3-by-3-foot monument, which weighs 850 pounds, sits in front of the headquarters of the evangelical Christian group Faith and Action.

“We’re confounded, absolutely mystified, how a collection of people could get away with this kind of damage,” said the Rev. Rob Schenck, who leads the Christian group. “The Ten Commandments is something that unites people. It’s disappointing to say the least. Heartbreaking — that’s the word I used with my staff.”

Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Officer Anthony Clay said the vandalism occurred sometime Saturday and police had no suspects as of Monday.

The organization’s headquarters, at 109 Second St. NE, is on a block protected by U.S. Capitol Police, D.C. police, and a guard house near the Supreme Court building that is staffed 24 hours a day.

The fallen monument was discovered Saturday when a neighboring minister walked past the site and noticed the granite slab lying face down in the front yard. He reported the damage to one of the organization’s staff members.

Peggy Nienaber, the chief of program with Faith and Action, said a “For Rent” sign was placed facing the toppled sculpture, and an in-ground light that normally illuminates the monument at night was torn out.

Mr. Schenck said he spoke with the monument’s engineer, who said it would have taken leverage and a “herculean amount of strength” to wrench the stone off its base and bend a steel reinforcing rod so the monument could fall forward.

Editors note....This is a symbolic act portraying that which is taking place all over the world. God and His Word is being defied and dishonoured.

Repeat Performance: Jews Banned from the Temple Mount
Sep 24th, 2013
Daily NewsINN - Ari Soffer
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Hundreds of Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount this morning (Tuesday) were turned back upon their arrival, after being informed at the gate that the police had decided to close Judaism's holiest site to Jews.

Scores of Jews from across the country - including participants in a pre-organized ascent of hundreds of Jewish schoolchildren - arrived in cars and buses, after undertaking the necessary preparations to ascend the Mount in accordance with Jewish law, including ritual immersion in a mikveh (ritual pool).

"We are talking about continued harassment against the Jewish world on the Temple Mount by the Israeli police. Hundreds of children made their way here with their parents after coordinating their ascent with the police," complained one visitor to Arutz Sheva.

"The police have once again violated the order of the Knesset's Interior Committee to open the Mount to Jews without disruption during the intermediate days of the Sukkot holiday," he added.

Among those visitors banned from ascending was Member of Knesset Shuli Muallem of the Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) party.

Aviad Visulai, Chairman of the Temple Mount Movement - an umbrella organization representing Temple Mount activists - condemned the summary ban, and called for the replacement of the police presence on the Temple Mount with a private security company.

"The police have proved, again and again, that they are unable to secure Jews with free access to the Temple Mount," he said.

Visulai continued: "After the police closed the Mount to Jews during [the Islamic holy month of] Ramadan, they should have opened it exclusively for Jews during the Jewish festivals, to enable free access to all Jews, without submitting to Muslim terrorism."

The sweeping ban on Jewish visitors comes a day after a Jewish man was arrested for praying on the site, in violation of a ban on all signs of non-Muslim worship.

The Temple Mount is Judaism's holiest site, and the location of the two Holy Temples of Jerusalem. Despite that fact, in the face of pressure and threats of violence by Muslim extremists, the Israeli authorities enforce a ban on Jewish prayer or other religious rituals, on behalf of the Waqf Islamic trust, which administers the site.

Numerous court rulings have stipulated that Jews must be permitted to pray on the Temple Mount as a basic right to freedom of religion. Nevertheless, the Israeli police force has repeatedly ignored the rulings, citing unspecified "security concerns" as a pretext to continue enforcing the ban, and even barring religious Jews from the area for days or even weeks at a time.

Putin Positioning Himself As New Power Player in the Mideast, But to What End?
Sep 24th, 2013
Daily Newsflashtrafficblog.wordpress.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The Russian Bear is back.

A growing number of journalists, political leaders, and foreign policy analysts are noting that Vladimir Putin is aggressively positioning himself as a new and increasingly influential force on the global stage generally, and in the Middle East, in particular. 

Consider recent headlines:

•Russia re-emerges as Mideast player (Associated Press)

•Putin shoves Obama aside as he seizes Syria agenda (New York Times)

•Syrian weapons deal helps Putin and Assad, say Russian observers (Los Angeles Times)

•Vladimir Putin New York Times op-ed sparks tension ahead of talks

•Sen. John McCain: Russia deserves better than Putin as president (UPI)

•Putin plans to diminish U.S., Obama (Clifford May, president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies)

Are such headlines warranted? I believe they are. The Russian leader had actually been fairly quiet over the last several years. 

But he is suddenly re-asserting himself in international affairs with a boldness and an arrogance we have not seen in some time. Consider his moves just in recent days:

•Putin has announced he will soon make a state visit to Iran to further strengthen Russian ties to the Persian power.

•Putin and his team are hinting they will increase arms sales to Iran

•‘Russia to sell Iran anti-aircraft system, nuclear reactor’: S-300 deal said back on track; Moscow legislator threatens further weapons sales to Tehran if US strikes Syria

•Putin blames Israel for the Syrian stockpile of chemical weapons — “Putin said on Thursday that Israel’s alleged nuclear weapons stockpile only serves to make the Jewish state “a target” and creates ’foreign policy problems.’ 

Putin’s comments…came in response to questions from reporters on the US and Russia-brokered deal to put Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal under international supervision,” reported the Jerusalem Post.

•Amidst a growing movement at the United Nations to force Israel to disclose and destroy its alleged stockpiles of nuclear and chemical weapons, Putin seems to be positioning himself to be the “peace-maker” in the Middle East, the one trying to rid the epicenter of WMD, and thus a sharp critic of Israel’s unwillingness to discuss what strategic weapons systems it may or may not have. (shades of The Ezekiel Option?)

•Putin convinced Obama to strike a deal with Syria regarding chemical weapons, even though he says he’s not 100% sure Assad will actually comply — many analysts believe Putin has played the American President, prevented an American military strike, and protected Assad, a key Russian ally, from being toppled.

•Putin: Russia to reopen Soviet-era Arctic military base

•Putin has announced he is considering running for a 4th term — that would make him modern Russia’s longest serving leader since Stalin, but why announce this now when elections are not until 2018?

Such moves fit a clearly emerging pattern. As I recently mentioned in this blog, Putin smells blood in the water — he has used the Syrian crisis to seize global leadership from Obama. Consider some of the other moves he has made in recent weeks:

•granted former-NSA contractor Edward Snowden asylum in Russia and refused to extradite him to the U.S.

•hosted the G-20 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia

•insisted Obama and U.S. has no evidence of chemical weapons being used by the Assad regime

•called Kerry a liar

•moved Russian warships into the Med

•promised to resupply Assad in case of war with the U.S.

Where is all this headed? What are Putin’s objectives? What will he do next? It’s hard to say at the moment, but Putin’s moves are troubling and it’s important to be watching him closely. 

Some are asking me if Putin’s moves are leading us rapidly to the fulfillment of Bible prophecies, such as those found in Ezekiel chapters 38 & 39, what Bible scholars call the coming “War of Gog & Magog.” 

In such prophecies, a Russian dictator forms an alliance with Iran and other Middle Eastern and North African countries to attack Israel in the “last days” of history before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. 

Others are asking me if Putin is “Gog,” the Russian dictator of whom Ezekiel writes. My answer is that it is too early to draw such conclusions. 

Putin is certainly Gog-esque. That is, he is making moves that would be consistent with the preparing for the fulfillment of Ezekiel prophecies. That said, we must be cautious. 

We simply don’t have enough data yet to draw conclusions. It is important not to overreach. Perhaps someone far worse is going to emerge to lead Russia. Perhaps the fulfillment of the Gog & Magog prophecies is still many years off. 

The important thing is to:

1. help more Christians and non-Christians become aware of the prophecies of Ezekiel 38-39

2.keep a close eye on Putin and his colleagues in the Kremlin

3.watch particularly to see if Putin intensifies his alliance with Iran, and begins taking the lead in denouncing Israel and calling for Israel to be disarmed

4.pray for Putin and for the people of Russia

5.continue praying for Netanyahu and the people of Israel

6.pray for the Khamenei, Rouhani and the people of Iran

7.encourage and strengthen the Church in the Middle East and in Russia, so that they can be a light in the darkness right now, regardless of how soon or faraway the prophecies will come to pass.

Nsa Surveillance Goes Beyond Orwell’s Imagination – Alan Rusbridger
Sep 24th, 2013
Daily NewsThe Guardian
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

The potential of the surveillance state goes way beyond anything in George Orwell’s 1984, Alan Rusbridger, the Guardian’s editor-in-chief, told an audience in New York on Monday.

Speaking in the wake of a series of revelations in the Guardian about the extent of the National Security Agency’s surveillance operations, Rusbridger said: “Orwell could never have imagined anything as complete as this, this concept of scooping up everything all the time.

“This is something potentially astonishing about how life could be lived and the limitations on human freedom,” he said.

Rusbridger said the NSA stories were “clearly” not a story about totalitarianism, but that an infrastructure had been created that could be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands.

“Obama is a nice guy. David Cameron is a nice social Democrat. About three hours from London in Greece there are some very nasty political parties. What there is is the infrastructure for total surveillance. In history, all the precedents are unhappy,” said Rusbridger, speaking at the Advertising Week conference.

He said that whistleblower Edward Snowden, who leaked the documents, had been saying: “Look, wake up. You are building something that is potentially quite alarming.”

Rusbridger said that people bring their own perspectives to the NSA revelations. People who have read Kafka or Orwell found the level of surveillance scary, he said, and that those who had lived or worked in the communist eastern bloc were also concerned.

“If you are Mark Zuckerberg and you are trying to build an international business, this is dismaying to you,” Rusbridger said.

Zuckerberg recently criticised the Obama administration’s surveillance apparatus. “Frankly I think the government blew it,” he told TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco.

The Facebook founder was particularly damning of government claims that they were only spying on “foreigners”.

Massive Earthquake Hits Southwest Pakistan
Sep 24th, 2013
Daily NewsAljazeera
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake has hit southwestern Pakistan, according to the US Geological Survey.

The earthquake struck at 4:29 pm local time (11:29 GMT) southwest of the city of Khuzdar in Balochistan province, at a depth of 15km, on Tuesday.

The USGS originally measured the earthquake at a magnitude of 7.4 and depth of 29km, but later revised that figure. Pakistan’s meteorological office said the magnitude was 7.7.

Tremors were felt  across the province as well as in the port city of Karachi, residents have said. Mild tremors were also felt as far away as the Indian capital of New Delhi.

The epicentre is in a remote, thinly populated mountainous area of Balochistan with no major industrial installations.

Muhammad Riaz, a senior Pakistan meteorologist, told local media that the earthquake was “major” and that “heavy destruction” was likely.

Let the Headlines Speak
Sep 24th, 2013
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Island emerges near Gwadar coast after earthquake
QUETTA: In a rare development, an island emerged off Gwadar coast after a powerful earthquake of 7.7 magnitude struck Pakistan on Tuesday.According to DIG Gwadar Moazzam Jah, the island's altitude is 20 to 40 feet and width around 100 feet. Talking to Geo news, the DIG said that the island emerged at a distance of 350 feet in the sea from the Gwadar coast.  

Pakistan quake tremors felt across UAE, Oman; some buildings evacuated
An earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter Scale has hit rural southwest of Pakistan, with tremors felt as far away as the UAE, Oman and parts of India.  

Imprisoned Iranian Pastor Reportedly Leads ‘Over 30 People to Christ’
Despite his plight, which includes intense pain, suffering and mistreatment, Abedini’s wife, Naghmeh, recently revealed an intriguing fact during an address she delivered at Liberty University — a tidbit that will likely enrage Iranian officials: The detained Christian has reportedly “led…over 30 people to Christ.”  

Pope expresses good will to Muslims in letter to Sunni imam
Pope Francis has indicated respect “for Islam and Muslims” in a letter to the head of the main cultural institution of Sunni Islam, marking the end of Ramadan. Ahmed el-Tayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar University, perhaps the highest authority in Sunni thought, received the Pope’s letter at the hands of Archbishop Jean-Paul Gobel, apostolic nuncio to Egypt, on Sept. 17, Fides News Agency reported. A statement from the Cairo-based university said that the Holy Father’s letter expressed hope in the attempt to further “understanding among Christians and Muslims in the world” and “to build peace and justice.”  

Islam Is The Greatest Threat To World Peace Since Hitler’s Nazis
Islamic jihadism continues to cast its dark shadow across the world. The atrocity in the Nairobi shopping center is a chilling reminder of the global reach of this vile ideology.  

Egypt court bans Muslim Brotherhood, orders its assets confiscated
An Egyptian court on Monday ordered the Muslim Brotherhood to be banned and its assets confiscated in a dramatic escalation of a crackdown by the military-backed government against supporters of the ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi. The ruling opens the door for a wider crackdown on the vast network of the Brotherhood, which includes social organizations that have been key for building the group's grassroots support and helping its election victories. The verdict banned the group itself -- including the official association it registered under earlier this year -- as well as "any institution branching out of it or ... receiving financial support from it," according to the court ruling, made public on Egypt's state official news agency MENA.  

Syria’s Christians Nearing Extermination
While many were fixated on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent letter to the American people, another letter from another Russian leader—this one directly addressed to the U.S. president—was missed. On September 10, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill issued a letter addressed to “His Excellency Mr. Barack Obama, President, United States.” Whether one wishes to interpret this communique as a product of politics or sincerity, it accurately highlights the plight of Syria’s Christians, especially in the broader context of a larger civilizational struggle.  

QUIET SUN
Today is another day that seems more like Solar Min than Solar Max. All of the sunspots on the Earthside of the sun are quiet, and solar activity is low.  

Tens of thousands attend priestly blessing in Jerusalem
The semiannual mass priestly benediction service — or Birkat Kohanim -- took place Sunday morning at the Western Wall. Tens of thousands of Jewish worshippers crowded the plaza to receive the blessing from the Kohanim, descendants of Aaron who make up the priestly caste. Both new chief rabbis, David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef, participated as well.  

US braces for shutdown a week before budget deadline
The Republican-led House of Representatives passed a bill last week that would prevent a shutdown at the price of defunding what has become known as "Obamacare." The president has warned that this is a non-starter, and now the House and Senate are left with one week to thrash out a compromise. Should they fail, several government agencies will close on October 1, placing hundreds of thousands of non-essential staff on unpaid leave.  

At UN, Israel likely to stand alone against Iran
While Western powers appear ready to embrace Rouhani, who will speak later Tuesday, Netanyahu expected to warn against trusting the new Iranian president.  

Why retirement of Lois Lerner doesn’t end IRS tea party scandal
Lois Lerner, the Internal Revenue Service official under fire for her department’s targeting of tea party groups, has retired effective Monday, according to the IRS. But that development does not end the scandal that burst into the open last May, when Ms. Lerner revealed that tea party groups were undergoing extra scrutiny in their applications for tax exemption. Lerner, who was director of the IRS’s section on tax-exempt organizations, had been placed on paid administrative leave, and remains under subpoena by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is investigating the scandal.  

Obama, Bill Clinton Join Forces to Campaign for Obamacare
Obama will use an international conference hosted by former President Bill Clinton tomorrow in New York to kick off what the White House is calling an aggressive campaign to promote Obamacare.  

Kissinger, Brzezinski: Obama's Syria Actions 'Misconceived, Badly Calculated'
Appearing on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" on Sunday Brzezinski and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger agreed that the United States and Russia share a common interest in avoiding American military action in the Syria.  

North Korea acquires key components needed to enrich uranium
The estimations by two US nuclear experts are in line with a report by the Institute for Science and International Security in August that suggested that North Korea has dramatically increased the size of the uranium enrichment facility at its Yongbyon nuclear plant. More recent satellite images indicate that North Korea has started procedures to restart the reactor at the facility.  

10 Commandments Monument Toppled in Washington
A stone monument of the Ten Commandments that sits on a street behind the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington and was the subject of controversy in the past has been toppled by vandals. The 3-foot-by-3-foot granite monument weighs 850 pounds and sits out front of the headquarters of Faith and Action, a Christian outreach ministry.  

Cruz Sets Confrontational Tone as Senate Debate Begins
The Senate plunged into debate over legislation to fund the government while cutting of money for the new health-care law, with both sides accusing the other of threatening to bring about a government shutdown. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) opened debate by denouncing the bill passed by the House Friday that embodies conservatives’ campaign to “defund Obamacare,” as the health law is known.  

Human role in warming 'more certain' - UN climate chief
Scientists are more certain than ever that greenhouse gases from human activities are heating the planet, the head of the UN's climate panel says. Rajendra Pachauri made the comments in an interview with BBC News. The panel is due to deliver its latest report on the state of the climate later this week in Stockholm, Sweden.  

UN chemical weapons inspectors 'to return to Syria'
Russia's government says UN chemical weapons inspectors are expected to return to Syria on Wednesday. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said they would investigate alleged chemical weapons attacks at Khan al-Assal, Sheikh Maqsoud and Saraqeb. The inspectors had been preparing to do so when chemical weapons were fired at suburbs of Damascus on 21 August, killing hundreds of people.  

Iran nuclear issue and Syria to dominate UN assembly
The UN General Assembly's annual meeting starts on Tuesday, with the focus on talks between Iranian and US officials, and the Syria crisis. Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif will meet diplomats including US Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss Iran's nuclear programme. It will be the highest level US-Iran contact for more than 30 years.  

Australia Climate Council revived after being axed
An Australian climate change body scrapped by the new government has been relaunched as a non-profit organisation reliant on public donations. Prime Minister Tony Abbott axed the Climate Commission, set up by the previous government, last week. But the group resurrected itself as the Climate Council, saying it hoped "Obama-style" public donations raised online would keep it open.  

Nairobi attack: UK woman and Americans 'among militants'
A British woman is thought to be among militants who killed at least 62 people at a Kenyan shopping centre, the country's foreign minister has said. Amina Mohamed said the woman had "done this many times before" and "two or three" Americans were also attackers. Earlier, Kenya's interior minister said all of the militants were men, although some may have been dressed as women.  

EU sets stage for Iran-US breakthrough
Warm words from top EU diplomats in New York have set the stage for a potential breakthrough in the decades-long confrontation between Iran and the US. EU foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton told ...that she "was struck … by the energy and determination that the foreign minister demonstrated" on reaching a deal on Iran's alleged nuclear weapons programme.

Kenya: Four Year Old Boy Confronts Terrorists, and Escapes Alive
Sep 24th, 2013
Daily NewsINN - Ari Soffer
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

As Kenyan security forces continue to battle Somalian Al Qaeda-linked terrorists, more stories have emerged, shedding light on the horrific events of the assault on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, which have killed at least 62 people and left more than 170 wounded.

Gunmen - and, it is emerging, at least one female terrorist - stormed the mall, hurling grenades and firing indiscriminately with AK 47s as the building was packed with both locals and tourists enjoying the end of the weekend.

Chillingly, eyewitnesses have told of how the gunmen selected many of their victims deliberately - forcing people to prove whether or not they were Muslims by reciting Islamic prayers or by answering questions from the Qoran. They then executed those found to be non-Muslims, and allowed Muslim shoppers to escape.

Other escapees said that the terrorists mutilated the bodies of their dead victims, chopping off hands and even burning their faces to mask their identities.

But there are also stories of remarkable bravery.

One such story is that of four year-old Elliot Prior from Berkshire in Great Britain who, in an astonishing show of courage, confronted and even chastised one of the gunmen - and escaped with his life.

According to the Daily Mail, Elliot had been hiding with his sister Amelie and their mother Amber under a table in a grocery store, with Amber sheltering her children under her own body for an hour and a half, when they were discovered by the terrorists, one of whom shot her in the thigh. 

But when the terrorists asked if there were any children still alive in the store, Amber stood up and answered in the affirmative, in the hope that they would be spared.

It was at that point that little Elliot confronted the terrorists, telling them that they were "bad men."

Bizarrely, upon learning that Amber was of French origin, the gunmen began to plead with her for forgiveness, insisting that Islam "is not a bad religion" and urging her to convert.

"He told me I had to change my religion to Islam and said 'do you forgive us? Do you forgive us?'," she told The Independent newspaper.

"Naturally, I was going to say whatever they wanted and they let us go."

Then, in an act which stood in stark contrast to the brutal massacre they had just committed, the terrorists handed the brother and sister chocolate bars before they fled with two other children, including a 12-year-old boy who initially refused to leave his dead mother behind.

Kenyan security forces are still battling terrorists as they move to clear the mall, amid claims that at least some of the attackers are citizens of western countries, including two Americans and a British woman.

In an interview with PBS Newshour, Kenya's foreign minister Amina Mohamed said that "two or three" of the attackers were American, and that another was a British woman who had "done this many times before."

That has raised speculation in the UK of the potential involvement of Samantha Lewthwaite, a British convert to Islam and the widow of one of "7/7 bombers" who attacked London's transportation system in July 2005.

Lewthwaite, also known as "The White Widow," has been on the run in Africa for two years after she was accused of plotting to bomb tourist sites in Kenya, and has evaded capture on a number of occasions, mocking her pursuers on social media.

Mohamed claimed that the Americans were 18 or 19 years old, of Somali or Arab origin, and lived "in Minnesota and one other place".

Jim Rickards: We’re Witnessing One of the Greatest Failed Experiments in Economic History
Sep 24th, 2013
Daily NewsPeakProsperiy
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Jim Rickards, author of the best-seller Currency Wars, sees the world’s central banks embroiled in a “race to debase” their currencies in order to restore – at any cost – growth to their weakened economies.

In the midst of the fight, the U.S. Federal Reserve wields oversized power due to the dollar’s unique position as the global reserve currency. As a result, actions by the Fed create huge percussive ripples across the battlefield, often influencing events in ways little understood by the players – and especially by the Fed itself.

In Rickards’ words, the policymakers at the Fed “think they are dialing a thermostat up and down, but they’re actually playing with a nuclear reactor – and they could melt the whole thing down”:

It will play out in all markets. When I say collapse, it is a loss of confidence in paper money.

Take the Fed, for example. The Fed has printed almost $3 trillion since 2007. Now, that is without a liquidity crisis. I mean, we did have a liquidity crisis in 2008. And the first round – I would say QE1 was a legitimate central-bank response to liquidity crisis. But QE2 and QE3: we will look back over them and we will see them as enormous blunders in one of the greatest failed experiments in economic history.

But the problem is, the Fed printed trillions of dollars without a liquidity crisis. What is going to happen when we do have a liquidity crisis, which I expect in the next couple years, where there is a 2008 panic starting again? What are they going to do? Print $6 trillion? $9 trillion? There is a limit on what they can do. And so at some point, it is going to get handed over to the IMF, and they are going to have to print SDRs (special drawing rights). That is the IMF world money. Because none of the central banks have clean balance sheets at this point; they look like hedge funds.

And so it really is a loss of confidence. Confidence is the key word – a loss of confidence in paper money. And that confidence is going to have to be restored somehow. And there are really only two ways.

One is the SDR, which no one understands. So maybe they can re-liquify the world by printing SDRs and that will create massive inflation, but no one will really understand where it is coming from.

Dozens of Mks Join Calls to End Terrorist Prisoner Releases
Sep 24th, 2013
Daily NewsINN - Ari Soffer
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Following the slaying of two IDF soldiers in three days, dozens of Knesset members, including deputy government ministers, have signed a letter calling on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to cancel all planned releases of terrorist prisoners as part of a series of "goodwill gestures" to the PA.

26 out of a list of 104 convicted terrorists - many of whom are responsible for the murders of Israeli civilians and soldiers - have already been released in an Israeli concession to the PA.

But a petition - initiated by Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) party chairwoman Ayelet Shaked and MK Robert Iltov (Likud-Beiteinu) - has been signed by MKs from across the political spectrum, including Deputy Ministers and MKs from the Likud, Shas, UTJ (United Torah Judaism), Bayit Yehudi, and Hatnua parties.

Members of Knesset from Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party refused to sign the letter.

"In light of the appalling murders which took place in the last few days, we are asking to cancel the planned release of terrorists as part of negotiations with the Palestinians," the letter reads.

"It cannot be that a country which values life should release murderers, whilst at the same time, as negotiations are ongoing, acts of terrorism continue."

MK Shaked has fiercely criticized the policy of releasing convicted terrorists under any circumstances in the past, claiming recently that murderers were actually better off being declared as "terrorists" than criminals, as terrorist murderers have a far better chance of being released early.

“The government's recent policy of releasing terrorists wholesale has brought us to a difficult situation where a single terrorist can bring the state down to its knees, Shaked said on Sunday, following the murder of IDF soldier Tomer Hazan by a terrorist whose motivation was to trade the 20 year-old off duty soldier's body for his brother, who is currently serving a sentence in Israel over terrorism charges.

The letter is similar to another one submitted to the Prime Minister yesterday, in which a number of government ministers called for an immediate meeting with the PM to discuss the government's policy on releasing terrorists, following the murders of Tomer Hazan and Gal Kobi.

“In recent days, we have witnessed two difficult murders that took the lives of two soldiers – Tomer Hazan and Gal Kobi. As a result, we demand an immediate government meeting on the policies regarding the release of terrorists,” the letter said.

That previous letter was signed by ministers Uri Orbach, Uri Ariel, Naftali Bennett, all of Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home); and Yisrael Katz, Uzi Landau, Sofa Landver, and Yair Shamir of Likud-Beiteinu.

Today's letter has so far garnered 30 signatures of deputy ministers and Members of Knesset.