Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Turkey Joins Saudis in Showing Displeasure Over U.S. Policy on Syria
Oct 26th, 2013
Daily NewsJpost
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Ankara chooses Chinese firm over US, European firms to co-produce long-range air, missiles defense systems.

Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said on Thursday that there was an international failure in dealing with the Syrian crisis.

Also Thursday, US Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone said Washington had begun “expert” talks with Turkey to assess the impact of its plans to co-produce the long-range air and missile defense system with a Chinese firm under US sanctions.

“We are seriously concerned about what this means for allied missile and air defenses for us and for Turkey,” Ricciardone said of the Chinese missile defense deal.

Turkey, a member of the NATO military alliance, said in September it had chosen the FD-2000 missile defense system from China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp, or CPMIEC, over rival systems from Russian, US and European firms.

This comes after a recent report that Turkey’s intelligence head, Hakan Fidan, had disclosed sensitive Israeli and American information to Iran.

While the Turkish government, ruled by the Islamist Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP party, has turned East in order to revive its Ottoman past, it also has sought to retain good relations with the West. This balancing act has been hard to keep up though as Erdogan has supported policies that counter Western interests.

Erdogan’s government has cooled relations with Jerusalem and the recent Chinese deal and intelligence leak to Iran could mean that the US may be reassessing its relations with Turkey, despite the fact that US President Barack Obama has said he has a close relationship with the Turkish leader.

Let the Headlines Speak
Oct 26th, 2013
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Iranian guards killed on Pakistan border
Iran has hanged 16 "rebels" in retaliation following clashes overnight in which 14 border guards were killed on the frontier with Pakistan. The clashes occurred in a mountainous region used by drug traffickers and rebels, according to Iran's IRNA news agency the agency said.  

Iran Announces 34 New Nuke Sites
Iran plans to build many new nuclear plants with atomic reactors along its coastlines with the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea, Iran’s top nuclear official announced on Thursday. The announcement comes just a week after Western nuclear negotiators claimed that Iran was giving ground in talks aimed at ending Tehran’s contested enrichment program.  

NSA Denies It Was Hacked After Agency’s Website Went Down for Several Hours
The National Security Agency says its website nsa.gov was inaccessible for several hours during a scheduled update. The agency says an internal error in the system caused the problem. There had been speculation on the Internet that the online site had been hit with a denial-of-service attack, but the agency said that was not true.  

Top German spy chiefs to go to Washington for talks
Germany is to send its top intelligence chiefs to Washington to "push forward" an investigation into allegations the US spied on its leader Angela Merkel. The heads of foreign and domestic intelligence would hold talks with the White House and the National Security Agency, a government spokesperson said. Earlier, Germany and France said they want the US to sign a no-spy deal by the end of the year.  

IAEA diplomats: No confirmation Iran has halted higher-grade enrichment
Diplomats accredited to the UN nuclear watchdog said on Friday they had no information to substantiate word from a senior Iranian parliamentarian that Tehran has halted its most sensitive atomic activity. Iran's enrichment of uranium to a fissile level of 20 percent is a major technical step taking it just short of the concentration needed for a nuclear weapon.  

US Charges Man For Trying To Buy Missiles For Iran
A man with dual US and Iran citizenship was indicted in a New York court Friday on charges of conspiring to buy surface-to-air missiles on behalf of the Iranian government.  

Armed agents seize records of reporter, Washington Times prepares legal action
Maryland state police and federal agents used a search warrant in an unrelated criminal investigation to seize the private reporting files of an award-winning former investigative journalist for The Washington Times who had exposed problems in the Homeland Security Department's Federal Air Marshal Service.  

Syria polio outbreak 'spreads'
At least 22 people - most of them babies and toddlers - are now believed to have contracted polio in Syria, the World Health Organization has reported.  

Syrian mosque car bomb 'kills 40' in Suq Wadi Barada
At least 40 people, including children, have been reported killed in a car bomb blast in Syria, outside a mosque in a town in Damascus province. The blast, in the town of Suq Wadi Barada, came just before the end of Friday prayers and brought down the mosque's entrances.  

Israel issues warning on report on Iran bomb
A new report that says Iran may need as little as a month to produce enough uranium for a nuclear bomb is further evidence for why Israel will take military action before that happens, an Israeli defense official said Friday.  

Nigerian military: Air bombardment, ground and counterattacks kill more than 100 insurgents
Suspected Islamic militants attacked several police targets in northeast Nigeria’s Yobe state Friday, razing at least three offices and provoking gunbattles that killed scores of extremists and security forces, a police officer said. The military declared an indefinite 24-hour curfew across Yobe state, leaving terrified residents locked into their homes and about 10,000 residents running short of water.  

3-D gun raid in UK may have nabbed printer parts
Sometimes a 3-D printer part is just a 3-D printer part. Police thought they had seized the UKs first 3-D-printed gun on Thursday when they raided a local model-making shop, arrested its 38-year-old owner, and confiscated a 3-D printer and a number of parts they believed were for a 3-D printed gun.  

Detroit pension cuts 'function of mathematics' -investment banker
Cuts to Detroit's public pensions and retiree healthcare were inevitable given the city's sagging finances, a top consultant for the city testified on Friday during the third day of a trial to determine whether the city is eligible for bankruptcy.

Very strong earthquake M 7.1 off shore Fukushima NPP
JMA is reporting that very strong earthquake M 7.1 struck off the east coast of Honshu at 17:10 UTC today. They measured depth at 10 km. Both USGS and EMSC are reporting major M 7.3 at depth of 10 and 7.3 km, respectively.

Israel Issues Warning on Report on Iran Bomb
Oct 26th, 2013
Daily NewsUSA Today
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Warning

A new report that says Iran may need as little as a month to produce enough uranium for a nuclear bomb is further evidence for why Israel will take military action before that happens, an Israeli defense official said Friday

A new report that says Iran may need as little as a month to produce enough uranium for a nuclear bomb is further evidence for why Israel will take military action before that happens, an Israeli defense official said Friday.

"We have made it crystal clear – in all possible forums, that Israel will not stand by and watch Iran develop weaponry that will put us, the entire Middle East and eventually the world, under an Iranian umbrella of terror," Danny Danon, Israel's deputy defense minister told USA TODAY.

Iran is developing and installing new and advanced centrifuges that enable Iran to enrich even low-enriched uranium to weapons grade uranium needed for nuclear weapons within weeks, Danon said.

"This speedy enrichment capability will make timely detection and effective response to an Iranian nuclear breakout increasingly difficult," he said.

"Breakout" refers to the time needed to convert low-enriched uranium to weapons-grade uranium. On Thursday, the Institute for Science and International Security issued a report stating that Iran could reach that breakout in as little as one month based in part on Iran's own revelations about its nuclear program.

"If they use all their centrifuges ... and their stockpiles of low- and medium-enriched uranium, that would take one to 1.6 months," said David Albright, president of the institute and a former inspector for the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency.

The report comes as the White House is trying to persuade Congress not to go ahead with a bill to stiffen sanctions on Iran to force it to open up its program to inspection. The White House on Thursday invited senate staffers to a meeting on Iran strategy for negotiations that are to resume next month with Iran, it said.

In discussing Iran strategy, President Obama has said Iran is a year or more away from having enough enriched uranium to make a bomb.

Bernadette Meehan, an spokeswoman for the administration's National Security Council, said the intelligence community maintains "a number of assessments" regarding potential time frames for Iran to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for one weapon or a testable nuclear device.

"We continue to closely monitor the Iranian nuclear program and its stockpile of enriched uranium," Meehan said.

In the report, Albright said negotiations with Iran should focus on lengthening Iran's breakout time. ISIS' analysis is based on the latest Iranian and United Nations reports on Iran's centrifuge equipment for producing nuclear fuel and its nuclear fuel stockpiles.

Iran's stockpile of medium-enriched uranium has nearly doubled in a year's time and its number of centrifuges has expanded from 12,000 in 2012 to 19,000 today.

Sen. Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican whose Senate Banking Committee is considering legislation to tighten Iran sanctions, said the report shows that Iran is expanding its nuclear capabilities under the cover of negotiations.

"The Senate should move forward immediately with a new round of sanctions to prevent Iran from acquiring an undetectable breakout capability," he said. The House has already passed legislation to toughen sanctions.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said his country has no interest in nuclear weapons but that producing nuclear fuel is Iran's right. However, Iran has blocked international inspectors from some suspected nuclear facilities, making it impossible to determine whether it is complying with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty it has signed.

United Nations inspectors say they have found evidence of a weapons program in violation of Iran's commitment under the treaty. The USA and the U.N. Security Council have implemented economic sanctions on Iran to persuade it abide by its obligation and verify it is not developing a bomb.

Albright says negotiations with Iran should focus on establishing protocols that lengthen the time period that it would take Iran to convert uranium to weapons grade uranium.

"An essential finding is that they are currently too short and shortening further," stated the report by the Institute for Science and International Security.

Four Christians Sentenced to 80 Lashes in Iran for Drinking Ceremonial Wine During Communion Service
Oct 26th, 2013
Daily NewsThe Independant
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution

Four Iranian Christians have been sentenced to 80 lashes for drinking ceremonial wine during a communion service and possessing a satellite radio antenna.