Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

World Economy so Damaged It May Need Permanent QE
Oct 16th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Telegraph
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Forward-looking credit swaps already suggest that the US Federal Reserve will not be able to raise interest rates next year, or the year after, or ever, one might say. It is starting to look as if the withdrawal of $85bn of bond purchases each month is already tantamount to a normal cycle of rate rises, enough in itself to trigger a downturn. Put another way, it is possible that the world economy is so damaged that it needs permanent QE just to keep the show on the road.

Traders are taking bets on capitulation by the Fed as it tries to find new excuses to delay rate rises, this time by talking down the dollar. "Talk of 'QE4' and renewed bond buying is doing the rounds," said Kit Juckes from Societe Generale.

Gentle declines in the price of oil are typically benign, a shot in the arm for companies and consumers alike. The rule of thumb is that each $10 drop in the price adds 0.3pc to GDP growth over the next year.

Crashes are another story. They signal global stress, doubly dangerous today because the whole industrial world is one shock away from a deflation trap, a psychological threshold where we batten down the hatches and wait for cheaper prices. That is the Ninth Circle of Hell in economics. Lasciate ogni speranza.

The world is also more stretched. Morgan Stanley calculates that gross global leverage has risen from $105 trillion to $150 trillion since 2007. Debt has risen to 275pc of GDP in the rich world, and to 175pc in emerging markets. Both are up 20 percentage points since 2007, and both are historic records. The Bank for Settlements warns that the world is on a hair-trigger. The slightest loss of liquidity can have "violent" effects.

Saudi Arabia has clearly shifted strategy, aiming to force high-cost producers out of business across the globe, rather than defend OPEC cartel prices by slashing its own output to offset rises in Libyan supply. Bank of America thinks the Saudis are targeting $85 a barrel, partly in order to squeeze three enemies, Iran, Russia, and the Caliphate.

If crude prices stay low for long, almost all the major oil producers will have to start dipping into their foreign reserves to fund their welfare states and military apparatus. The "fiscal break-even" price needed to cover the budget is $130 for Iran, $115 for Algeria and Bahrain, $105 for Iraq, Russia, and Nigeria, and almost $100 even for Abu Dhabi. The Saudis themselves are probably well above $90 by now.

This means that they will have to sell holdings of foreign bonds, assets, and gold to plug the gap. Russia has run through $7bn in recent days defending the rouble. The scale of this could be huge, and it comes at a time when China has stopped accumulating reserves for its own reasons, taking away the biggest global source of fresh purchases.

Nor does the chain reaction stop there. Lower prices chill the US shale industry, which has lifted US (liquids) output from 7m barrels a day (b/d) to 11.6m since 2008, and turned America into the world's biggest producer. Bank of America says the pain starts at around $75 for the most costly fields. "Shale oil output is very sensitive to price conditions," it said.

The US Energy Department says oil and gas companies have been amassing huge debts drilling for marginal output in ever more hostile regions. Net debt rose $106bn in the year to March, on top of $73bn of asset sales. Yet revenues were stagnating even when crude prices were above $100. The fossil fuel nexus has spent $5 trillion since 2008, and much of this is at risk. It has in itself become a systemic threat.

Yet the oil crash is not merely a supply story. "There has been a rapid collapse of demand,” said Edwin Morse from Citigroup. The International Energy Agency says demand fell by 50,000 b/d in France, and 45,000 b/d in Italy in August, below earlier estimates. China's oil demand is no longer rising by half a million b/d each year. It has slowed to a quarter a million.

The global slowdown has caught the global authorities off guard, as it always does. Above all, it has confounded the central banking fraternity. In thrall to "creditism", it insists that QE works by forcing down interest rates across the maturity curve. Ergo, Fed tapering does not matter so long as rates stay low. By the same logic, ECB policy is "accommodative" because rates have collapsed, a claim would have Milton Friedman turning in his grave.

Monetarists say this is a cardinal error, bound to cause serial mishaps. Indeed, Robert Hetzel from the Richmond Fed blames the Lehman crisis and all that followed on monetary overkill in early to mid 2008, arguing in his book "The Great Recession" that the Fed ignored the warning signs that M2 money was buckling.

We forget that the Venetian Grain Board regulated commerce over the centuries by altering the quantity of money, not interest rates. So did the Bank of England in the 18th Century, injecting liquidity when Easterly winds brought ships into London. The Bank continued to target the quantity of money in the early 20th Century when QE was known as open market operations. Quantity was Friedman's lodestar in his great opus.

Quantity is not doing very well. The Center for Financial Stability in New York says "Divisia M4" - its measure of broad money growth - has fallen to 2.5pc from around 6pc in early 2013. The US economy can perhaps handle some loss of dollar liquidity. The world as a whole cannot. There are $11 trillion of cross-border loans outstanding, and two thirds are still in US dollars. Emerging market companies have borrowed a further $2 trillion in dollars since 2008.

China is no longer tightening, but it is not loosening much either. It is actively steering down the growth rate of M2 money, even though house prices have been falling for five months, industrial output has stalled, and factory gate inflation has dropped to minus 1.8pc. President Xi Jinping seems resolved to break China's credit bubble early in his 10-year term, come what may. This will not be pretty. Standard Charted says debt has reached 250pc of GDP, off the charts for a developing economy.

Property curbs have been lifted. The central bank has injected small bursts of liquidity into the banking system. But this time China has not let rip with credit from the state banking system to keep the game going. "We cannot rely again on increasing liquidity to stimulate economic growth," said premier Li last month.

He is targeting jobs, not growth, willing to deflate the economy and purge excess capacity in the steel and ship-building industries as long as unemployment does not rise much above 5pc. This may be the right course for China, but it is an unpleasant shock for those across the globe who feed the dragon for a living.

China will eventually blink if the slowdown deepens, and so will the Fed in Washington. First the markets will have to learn the hard way that they have mispriced the reality of a broken global economy.

Ultimatum to Nurses: One Mistake and You Die
Oct 16th, 2014
Daily NewsBetsy McCaughey
Categories: Contemporary Issues;Warning

Uk Student Union Boycotts Israel - But Won't Condemn ISIS
Oct 16th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;War

Kurdish activists are calling for international solidarity in the face of ISIS attacks

Reuters

The UK's National Union of Students (NUS) has rejected a motion condemning the radical Islamic State terrorist group - also known as ISIS or ISIL - on the grounds that it could be considered "Islamophobic," sparking a row over the dominance of radical-left groups within the student body. 

The decision by NUS's National Executive Committee to shoot down the motion is all the more shocking given that the same body adopted an aggressive bill just over two months ago condemning Israel and calling for a boycott of the Jewish state. The anti-Israel motion was adopted despite objections that it risked alienating Jewish students, who are feeling increasingly insecure on British campuses as a result of militant anti-Israel activity.

It comes as Kurdish fighters continue to battle ISIS in Kobane, stymieing the jihadi group's bloody advance through Syria. Rights groups have said that ISIS's brutal military campaign throughout Iraq and Syria amounts to ethnic-cleansing of "historic proportions", as non-Sunni Muslim groups - including Shias, Christians and Yazidis - have been targeted with rape, mass-killings and forcible conversions.

The proposed motion was penned in support of the Kurds in particular, who have both been at the forefront of resistance to ISIS and on the receiving end of much of the group[s brutality. It called "to condemn the IS and support Kurdish forces fighting against it, while expressing no confidence or trust in the US military intervention." (For full text see below.)

But NUS's black students' officer Malia Bouattia came out strongly against the motion, according to student newspaper The Tab, reportedly claiming that "condemnation of ISIS appears to have become a justification for war and blatant islamophobia. This rhetoric exacerbates the issue at hand and in essence is a further attack on those we aim to defend."

One of the motion's co-sponsors, student Daniel Cooper, issued a strong condemnation of the "stranglehold of identity politics" he said lay behind the controversial rejection.

"The motion then fell as large numbers of NEC members either abstained or voted against (including the bulk of the political left on NEC). I think this says a lot about the current state of the student movement," Cooper wrote on his blog.

"There is a stranglehold of 'identity politics' on the student movement… essentially the idea is widespread that if a liberation officer opposes something, it must be bad."

Opponents of the motion claimed that they opposed it because it encourage military intervention, not for its condemnation of ISIS per-sa.

A spokesperson for the NUS responded to the row with a statement, saying it was formulating an alternative motion.

"At our most recent NEC meeting, a motion on this issue was presented and voted on by all members. Some committee members felt that the wording of the motion being presented would unfairly demonise all Muslims rather than solely the group of people it set out to rightfully condemn.

"Of course NUS does not support Isis and a new motion will be taken to the next NUS National Executive Committee meeting, which will specifically condemn the politics and methods of Isis and offer solidarity for the Kurdish people."

The Osprey
Oct 16th, 2014
Daily Newswayoflife.org
Categories: Commentary

The osprey is a magnificent fish-eating raptor that is found on every continent except Antarctica. A full grown bird is about 24 inches in length with a six-foot wing span and weighs between two to four pounds.

With its amazing eyes, this bird of prey can see a fish swimming underwater from 130 feet in the air. Like the bald eagle, the osprey’s eyes face forward, giving it binocular vision and great depth perception. Its sharp eyes correct for the refraction caused by the bending of the light in the water.

When it sights a target, it hovers, folds its wings and dives feet first with its talons ready to grab the prey. Its outer toes are reversible, allowing it to grasp its prey with two talons in front and two behind or three talons in front and one behind, and its feet have backwards-facing scales which act as barbs to help grip the slippery fish. The osprey’s nostrils are closable to keep out water during dives, and it has a membrane that covers the eye and acts as a contact lens when it is under water.

When flying with its catch, it carries the fish head-forward to reduce wind resistance.

The birds usually mate for life, building a large nest that is renovated each season. The male provides the nest-building materials for the female to do the actual construction, and the male brings food to the nest while the female incubates the eggs. A pair of nesting birds and their chicks will eat six pounds of fish per day.

Most ospreys migrate for the winter, with European ospreys wintering in Africa and American and Canadian ospreys wintering in Florida, California, and South America. They travel an average of 160 miles per day during migration.

Russia Cant be Blackmailed Over Ukraine, Putin Says
Oct 16th, 2014
Daily NewsBloomberg
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Vladimir Putin, Russia's President.

It’s futile for the U.S. and its allies to “blackmail” Russia over the Ukraine crisis, President Vladimir Putin said in a newspaper interview.

Russia’s partners should remember the risks involved in disputes between nuclear powers, Putin said. He accused Barack Obama of adopting a “hostile” approach in naming Russia as a threat to the world in the U.S. president’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 24.

“We hope that our partners will realize the futility of attempts to blackmail Russia and remember what consequences discord between major nuclear powers could bring for strategic stability,” Putin told Serbia’s Politika newspaper on the eve of his visit to the Balkan nation today.

Putin said that Obama had identified Russian aggression in Europe as one of the three “major threats facing humanity,” alongside the Ebola virus and Islamic State.

“Together with the sanctions against entire sectors of our economy, this approach can be called nothing but hostile,” Putin said.

Attempts to pressure Russia with “unilateral and illegitimate restrictive measures” will impede efforts to settle the crisis, he said.

“How can we talk about de-escalation in Ukraine while the decisions on new sanctions are introduced almost simultaneously with the agreements on the peace process?” he said. “If the main goal is to isolate our country, it’s an absurd and illusory goal.”

Looming Recession

Ukraine, the U.S. and the European Union say Russia is sending insurgents cash, weapons, and fighters in eastern Ukraine to encourage their separatist aspirations and to prevent the country of more than 40 million from strengthening ties with the EU and NATO. Putin denies any military involvement, while tit-for-tat sanctions have plunged relations to their lowest since the Cold War and pushed Russia to the brink of recession.

Putin said a “real opportunity” existed to end the fighting, which he called a “civil war.” He said the U.S. had actively supported protests that led to an “unconstitutional seizure of power” with the overthrow of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in February.

“When its Kiev henchmen antagonized a large part of Ukraine through rabid nationalism and plunged the country into a civil war, it blamed Russia for provoking the crisis,” Putin said.

Gas Supplies

Asked if Europeans should prepare for a “cold winter” because of doubts over gas supplies linked to Ukraine’s debt to Russia, Putin said Russia was meeting all of its obligations to European consumers.

“Naturally, we are aware of the risks generated by the Ukrainian crisis,” he said. Russia is willing to continue talks with the EU and Ukraine to ensure the uninterrupted transit of gas to Europe and the resumption of flow to Ukraine.

“As for the future of Russian gas exports to Europe, the problem of transit across the Ukrainian territory remains,” Putin said.

He urged the European Commission to lift restrictions on OAO Gazprom’s use of the OPAL pipeline, which connects the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany. A “deadlock” over the South Stream pipeline project should also be resolved, he said.

PA to Submit UN Resolution on Israeli Withdrawal By End of Month
Oct 16th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

The Palestinian Authority will submit a draft resolution to the UN Security Council demanding Israel's withdrawal from Judea and Samaria by the end of October, a senior official said on Thursday.

The PA has been under intense pressure not to push forward with the resolution - including with alleged threats of cuts to US aid - but Palestine Liberation Organization secretary general Yasser Abed Rabbo said a decision was taken late Wednesday to push ahead.  

"The political council of the PLO decided during its meeting last night... to go to the UN Security Council with the aim of getting a resolution passed to end the Israeli occupation in the Palestinian territories... by the end of this month," he said.

Voting could take place "two weeks or more after the request is presented," Abed Rabbo told a news conference in Ramallah. "There is no excuse for a delay."

Since the collapse of US-led peace talks with Israel in April, the Palestinians have been pursuing a new diplomatic path to independence via the United Nations and by joining international organisations, as part of a campaign of political warfare against Israel.

The PA won the symbolic status of UN observer state in 2012.

A draft of the resolution obtained by AFP earlier this month calls for the "full withdrawal of Israel, the occupying power, from all of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, as rapidly as possible and to be fully completed within a specified timeframe, not to exceed November 2016."  

An initiative in the Security Council is sure to meet opposition from the United States, which has repeatedly vetoed resolutions seen as unfairly singling out Israel, or breaking PA commitments under previous agreements not to take unilateral steps.  

Abed Rabbo said he hoped the draft would at least survive long enough to be debated by the 15-member council, even if its chances of being carried were slim.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told visiting UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday that a Palestinian diplomatic offensive would "undermine" peace efforts.

Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas said earlier this month that the PA is risking $700 million a year in US aid by pursuing the resolution.  

He warned the Palestinians could also seek to join the International Criminal Court, where they could sue Israeli officials over allegations of war crimes. However, some (including the PA's own UN human rights envoy) have warned that move could prove a double-edged sword, and leave Palestinian factions open to Israeli prosecution for war crimes as well.

Let the Headlines Speak
Oct 16th, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Houston Mayor Totally Didn’t Mean That Subpoena Thing, You Guys
Houston's mayor did, indeed, issue an incredibly broad subpoena request for basically everything every church in Houston has ever said from its pulpit over the course of her transgender bathroom law's legislative journey. And as anyone with a cursory understanding of the Constitution or basic litigation practice suspected, last night, she threw outside legal counsel under the bus and backed off her requirements, in the face of a bevvy of First Amendment cases from local congregations.  

Sen. Ron Johnson: Public Needs to Know How Workers Got Ebola
The Obama administration and Centers for Disease Control officials need to be square with the American public about how two Dallas healthcare workers treating a West African Ebola patient contracted the virus, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson said Wednesday on "America’s Forum" on Newsmax TV. "We still don't understand if there was a breakdown in protocols," Johnson said.  

Boehner: Ban Flights From West Africa to Stop Ebola Spread
House Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday joined a rising number of Republicans in calling on the Obama administration to ban west African travel to help stop the spread of Ebola.  

Vatican Astronomer Says Young Earth Theory Is 'Almost Blasphemous,' Argues Bible Should Not Be Used as Science Book
Consolmagno argued that literal interpretations of the Bible could suggest that the Earth is of a young age, but scientific evidence to the contrary has shown that such a belief is "bad theology." The age of the Earth is a controversial subject among Christians, with some creationists, like Answers in Genesis' Ken Ham, insisting that the Bible opposes evolution and notions that the Earth is billions of years old.  

Central bankers may have no quick fix as markets swoon, economy weakens
Global central bankers, eager to see the economy stand on its own feet, faced the rude reality this week of market turmoil threatening already faltering growth and prolonging world reliance on easy money.  

Radiation levels at Fukushima rise to record highs after typhoon
The amount of radioactive water near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has risen to record levels after a typhoon passed through Japan last week, state media outlet NHK reported on Wednesday. Specifically, levels of the radioactive isotope cesium are now at 251,000 becquerels per liter, three times higher than previously-recorded levels. Cesium, which is highly soluble and can spread easily, is known to be capable of causing cancer.  

U.S. Army warns of potential 'airborne' Ebola
While Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization officials continue to insist Ebola cannot be transmitted by air from one person to another, an Army manual clearly warns the virus could be an airborne threat in certain circumstances. On page 177 of the handbook, in a chapter discussing “Viral Hemorrhagic Fever” (VHF), a category of viruses that includes Ebola, USAMRID says: “In several instances, secondary infections among contacts and medical personnel without direct body fluid exposure have been documented. These instances have prompted concern of a rare phenomenon of aerosol transmission of infection.”  

Obama Ebola czar: Zero medical experience
Lisa Monaco, who has no professional medical expertise, was named by the White House as the point person in charge of coordinating the government’s response to the Ebola outbreak. Earlier this month, prior to widespread criticism of the handling of the first Ebola case in the U.S., Monaco assured the public the government had the outbreak under control. “We know how to do this, and we will do it again,” Monaco said at a press briefing.  

GREEN COMET APPROACHES RED PLANET
On Sunday, Oct. 19th, Comet Siding Spring will pass ridiculously close to Mars--only 140,000 km away. An international fleet of Mars orbiters and rovers will observe the encounter from close range.  

Bermuda: Two Tropical Cyclones In Less Than A Week? How Rare Is That?
Why So Many Storms? Back-to-back tropical cyclones may pass very near or over Bermuda in less than a week's time. Think about that for a moment. Two or more tropical storm or hurricane strikes in one location during any single season is quite unusual outside of western Pacific hot spots such as the northern Philippines, southeast China, Japan or Guam  

Drought, Hot Weather Worsens Pest Infestations
LOS ANGELES—Pest control companies in southern California are reporting 2014 as one of the busiest seasons in years, and they say it’s because of the weather. “It’s so dry, it’s actually pushing the insects in even more than normal,”  

Scare in Bungoma as woman dies from marbug like symptoms
As the Ebola virus continues to shake the world, residents at the Kenya Unganda border in Busia have expressed concerns about the measures in place to screen those crossing into Kenya.  

Dutch biker gang grabs rifles, joins Kurds in fight against ISIS
Members of a massive Dutch motorcycle gang, armed with Kalashnikov rifles, recently joined Kurdish forces battling the Islamic State in Iraq, vowing to “exterminate the rodents.” The leader of No Surrender -- which has dozens of chapters in the Netherlands and across Europe -- told state broadcaster NOS on Friday that three of its members have traveled to Mosul in Northern Iraq to take up the fight against ISIS, AFP reports.  

Japan Earthquake Today: Tokyo, Chiba Shook by 5.9 Quake
A 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck southeast of Chiba, Japan, and it was felt as far away as Tokyo. The Japanese earthquake monitoring agency, JMA, posted an update on the quake on Thursday morning.  

Latest LA Earthquake Report called "Frightening" by City Council
Dr. Jones presented her report to the LA City Council Wednesday stating that a quake nearing 8.0 magnitude or more could severely damage LA's economy and mean mass casualties.  

Bermuda bracing for Hurricane Gonzalo
Hurricane Gonzalo, which left one man dead and two missing after hitting the eastern Caribbean earlier this week, is now churning its way towards Bermuda. According to forecasters, Gonzalo is packing sustained winds of 125mph. It could be a category 3 hurricane by the time it reaches the northern Atlantic island, with the capacity to cause widespread damage.  

Virus-transmitting 'yellow fever' mosquitoes discovered in L.A. County
A new aggressive daytime-biting mosquito capable of transmitting debilitating and possibly deadly viruses has been found in the Los Angeles region, officials announced Wednesday. Known as yellow fever mosquitoes, the insects were found Oct. 7 and 8 in Commerce and Pico Rivera, respectively, according to the Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District.  

Shia Houthi rebels and al-Qaeda clash in south Yemen
Shia rebels and suspected Sunni al-Qaeda militants have been engaged in heavy fighting in southern Yemen. Security officials and tribal sources said at least 10 people were killed in clashes around the town of Radaa in Bayda province late on Tuesday. Al-Qaeda vowed to confront the rebels, known as Houthis, after their takeover in the capital, Sanaa, last month.  

Ebola crisis: British army medics travel to West Africa
British army medics are on their way to West Africa to help in the fight against the deadly Ebola virus. A team of 91 medics from 22 Field Hospital in Aldershot will run a hospital in Sierra Leone, set aside for healthcare workers who risk infection. The nurses, doctors and infectious disease consultants will join 40 soldiers already in the West African country.  

Putin says Western sanctions threaten nuclear 'stability'
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has said the Ukraine crisis threatens nuclear “strategic stability” and global “economic health”. “We hope our partners will realise the futility of attempts to blackmail Russia and remember what consequences discord between major nuclear powers could bring for strategic stability”, he said, referring to EU and US sanctions, in Serb daily Politika on Thursday (16 October).  

Ebola Escalation Could Trigger Major Food Crisis
The global famine warning system is predicting a major food crisis if the Ebola outbreak continues to grow exponentially over the coming months, and the United Nations still hasn't reached over 750,000 people in need of food in West Africa as prices spiral and farms are abandoned.  

Putin warns U.S. spat over Ukraine threatens global stability
President Vladimir Putin warned Washington that a spat between nuclear powers over the Ukraine crisis could threaten global stability and said in remarks published on Wednesday that Russia would not be "blackmailed" by sanctions.  

Category 3 Hurricane Gonzalo aims for Bermuda
People on this small British territory are hurrying to batten down for Hurricane Gonzalo, which is churning toward them as a major Category 3 storm just days after a tropical storm damaged homes and knocked down trees and power lines in Bermuda.  

U.S. sees some progress in Iran nuclear talks, still aims for November deal
A senior U.S. official said some progress was made in high-level nuclear negotiations with Iran on Wednesday but much work remained to be done, adding the goal was still to reach a deal by a late November deadline.  

Why the City of Houston wanted the sermons of five Christian pastors
The City of Houston ignited a First Amendment free-speech debate by issuing subpoenas to evangelical Christian leaders demanding they turn over their sermons – and all other communications – regarding a new city ordinance providing protections to the LGBT community.  

Islamic Jihad Head Praises Iran Role in Gaza War Against Israel
Oct 16th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Islamic Jihad terrorists during Gaza "victory" parade

Flash 90

The head of the Islamic Jihad terrorist group praised Iran for its role in last summer's Gaza conflict against Israel, during a visit to Tehran on Thursday.

"Definitely, the victory was achieved with the assistance of the Islamic republic," Ramadan Abdullah Shallah said at a meeting with Iran's supreme guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, quoted by Fars news agency.

"Without Iran's strategic and efficient help, resistance and victory in Gaza would have been impossible," he said of the 50-day war in which 2,200 Gazans and 73 Israelis died and the Hamas-ruled territory suffered serious damage..  

Iran, whose government is sworn to Israel's destruction, is one of the world's leading sponsors of terrorism, and a longtime backer of both Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Iran has been the primary supplier of the rockets Islamist terrorists in Gaza have used to target Israeli civilians, as well as other support in terms of weaponry, funding and training.

Recently, a senior Iranian military official claimed Iran was also helping terrorists fight Israel "in the field."

Iran has also been actively working to arm terrorists in Judea and Samaria.

At the meeting with Shallah, Khamenei, also quoted by Fars, urged the terrorists to "boost their preparedness day by day and reinforce their resources" ahead of any further Israeli assault on the territory.  

The Islamic Jihad leader was skeptical of the $5.4 billion in international aid to rebuild Gaza that was pledged at a donor conference in Cairo last Sunday.  

"We do not pin much hope on such promises and only rely on God to compensate losses inflicted on us by the Zionist regime," said Shallah, referring to Israel which launched its July-August assault on Gaza with the aim of halting rocket fire on its towns, and destroying dozens of tunnels infiltrating into Israeli territory in preparation for terrorist assaults. 

ISIS Capable of Making Dirty Bombs With Chemical Weapons Cache in Iraq, Former British Colonel Warns
Oct 16th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Vancourver Sun
Categories: Today's Headlines;War;Contemporary Issues

LONDON and NEW YORK — A former commander of the British Army’s chemical and nuclear weapons protection forces has warned that the Islamic State in Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) has the capability of making battlefield dirty bombs.

It emerged that hundred of shells filled with poison gas are stored unguarded in areas controlled by the jihadists.

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former colonel, issued the warning after it was found that two large stockpiles of shells filled with mustard and sarin gas had not been made secure, either under the American occupation or when Iraqi forces controlled the areas north of Baghdad before this summer.

Mr. Bretton-Gordon said ISIS had shown it was determined to use chemical weapons in Syria and its advance in Iraq had put dangerous material within the group’s grasp.

“These materials are not as secure as we had been led to believe and now pose some significant threat to the coalition in Iraq fighting ISIL,” he said, using another acronym for the terror group.

“We know that ISIL have researched the use of chemical weapons in Syria for the last two years and worryingly there are already unconfirmed reports that ISIL has used mustard gas as it pursues its offensive against the Kurds in Kobani.

“They certainly have access to the Al-Qaeda research into chemical weapons and will want to use the legacy weapons in Iraq.” ISIS seized the Muthanna State Establishment, where Iraqi chemical agent production was based in the Eighties, this summer.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that last year, two contaminated bunkers there containing cyanide components and sarin gas rockets as well as other shells had not been encased in concrete and made safe.

It also reported that another large bunker where U.S. marines found mustard shells in 2008 was overgrown and abandoned during the same visit. Jace Klibenski, a corporal, told the newspaper: “There were just rounds everywhere.”

Iraqi officials added that an army base near Saddam Hussein’s home town of Tikrit, which fell to ISIS during the same lightning offensive, housed a shipping container “packed with chemical shells”.

All told, the Iraqi government has estimated that about 2,500 chemical shells were stored within ISIS territory, but it has never admitted that the bunkers had not been put beyond use.

The allegations that ISIS could access chemical-filled munitions heightens concern over use of the weapons, either in Iraq or Syria. “If in Kobani”.

A State Department spokesman said the American government was investigating claims that ISIS had used chemical weapons.

The New York Times found that 17 American service members and seven Iraqi police officers were exposed to nerve or mustard agents after 2003 but reported that American soldiers were instructed to cover up their experiences.

Is Your Church Worship More Pagan Than Christian? [excerpts]
Oct 16th, 2014
Commentarychristianity.com
Categories: Contemporary Issues;The Church

There is a great misunderstanding in churches of the purpose of music in Christian worship. Churches routinely advertise their "life-changing" or "dynamic" worship that will "bring you closer to God" or "change your life." Certain worship CD's promise that the music will "enable you to enter the presence of God." Even a flyer for a recent conference for worship leaders boasted: "Join us for dynamic teaching to set you on the right path, and inspiring worship where you can meet God and receive the energy and love you need to be a mover and shaker in today's world...Alongside our teaching program are worship events which put you in touch with the power and love of God."

The problem with the flyer and with many church ads is that these kinds of promises reveal a significant theological error. Music is viewed as a means to facilitate an encounter with God; it will move us closer to God. In this schema, music becomes a means of mediation between God and man. But this idea is closer to ecstatic pagan practices than to Christian worship.

Jesus is the only mediator between God and man. He alone is the One who brings us to God. The popular but mistaken notions regarding worship music undermine this foundational truth of the Christian faith. It is also ironic that while many Christians deny the sacramental role of those ordinances which the Lord Himself has given to the church (baptism and the Lord's Supper) they are eager to grant music sacramental powers. Music and "the worship experience" are viewed as means by which we enter the presence of God and receive his saving benefits. There is simply no evidence whatsoever in Scripture that music mediates direct encounters or experiences with God. This is a common pagan notion. It is far from Christian.

[There are] four consequences of viewing music as an encounter with God. I will summarize them.

1. God's Word is marginalized: In many Churches and Christian gatherings it is not unusual for God's Word to be shortchanged. Music gives people the elusive "liver quiver" while the Bible is more mundane. Pulpits have shrunk and even disappeared while bands and lighting have grown. But faith does not come from music, dynamic experiences, or supposed encounters with God. Faith is birthed through the proclamation of God's Word (Rom 10:17).

2. Our assurance is threatened: If we associate God's presence with a particular experience or emotion, what happens when we no longer feel it? We search for churches whose praise band, orchestra, or pipe organ produce in us the feelings we are chasing. But the reality of God in our lives depends on the mediation of Christ not on subjective experiences.

3. Musicians are given priestly status: When music is seen as a means to encounter God, worship leaders and musicians are vested with a priestly role. They become the ones who bring us into the presence of God rather than Jesus Christ who alone has already fulfilled that role. Understandably, when a worship leader or band doesn't help me experience God they have failed and must be replaced. On the other hand, when we believe that they have successfully moved us into God's presence they will attain in our minds a status that is far too high for their own good.

4. Division is increased: If we identify a feeling as an encounter with God, and only a particular kind of music produces that feeling, then we will insist that same music be played regularly in our church or gatherings. As long as everyone else shares our taste then there is no problem. But if others depend upon a different kind of music to produce the feeling that is important to them then division is cultivated. And because we routinely classify particular feelings as encounters with God our demands for what produce those feelings become very rigid. This is why so many churches succumb to offering multiple styles of worship services. By doing so, they unwittingly sanction division and self-centeredness among the people of God. 

Scripture is full of exhortations to God's people to sing and make music to the Lord. Our God has been gracious to give us this means to worship Him. But it is important to understand that music in our worship is for two specific purposes: to honor God and to edify our fellow believers. Unfortunately, many Christians tend to grant music a sacramental power which Scripture never bestows upon it.

Iceland is Experiencing Its Biggest Continuous Volcanic Eruption in Centuries
Oct 16th, 2014
Daily NewsNewsweek
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Lava flows from the Bardarbunga volcano on August 31, 2014. Reuters

The last time an Icelandic volcano made headlines around the world was when the tongue-twister Eyjafjallajökull spewed tons of ash into the air in 2010, halting thousands of flights and costing airlines and passengers more than $7 billion in lost revenue.

Despite the power and global impact of that volcano’s several-week-long eruption, it barely affected Iceland, dropping only a small amount of ash near its peak, Freysteinn Sigmundsson, a geophysics and volcanology researcher at the University of Iceland’s Institute of Earth Sciences told Newsweek during an interview at his office in Reykjavik at the beginning of October.

But Eyjafjallajökull is paltry compared to the recent eruption of Bardarbunga (or Bárðarbunga in Icelandic), a volcano in a remote area of central Iceland that began venting lava and fumes in earnest on August 31, Sigmundsson said.

By October 1, that eruption had already spewed out more sulfur dioxide than any other Icelandic volcano in the past several hundred years and showed no signs of stopping, said Sigmundsson, whose calm and friendly demeanor, which is common among denizens of this volcano-forged land, contrasted with his message of the volcano’s ominous power.

Since then, the eruption has continued at the same rate, coughing up more lava and sulfur fumes.

“The concentrations have been reaching unhealthy levels in large parts of the country,” John Stevenson, a volcano researcher at the University of Edinburgh, told Newsweek Wednesday. “The area affected depends on the wind direction but includes Reykjavik. It has been causing painful eyes and throats, led to cancelation of sporting events, and asthmatics are encouraged to stay indoors,” he said.

The fumes have cast a blue haze across the landscape and at times made the sun appear red, according to a post at a blog called the Daily Kos.

So far, there haven’t been any deaths attributed to the volcano’s eruption, but the high levels of pollution have been linked to increased deaths by cardiopulmonary diseases in the past, especially amongst the elderly, Stevenson said.

Researchers survey the Holuhraun eruption. John A. Stevenson  

The eruption has produced a lava field that is growing about 0.6 square miles per day, and which now covers an area roughly the size of Manhattan. The average thickness of the lava is about 45 feet—enough to reach the windows on a four-story building—although these geologic estimates are uncertain since the thickness can only be measured over a small area, Stevenson said.

The molten rock is “spraying out of the ground as high as the Statue of Liberty is tall,” and covering the equivalent of a soccer pitch every eight minutes, Stevenson said.

The current eruption is taking place at the Holuhraun lava fields, about 28 miles away from where scientists expected the volcano to erupt, at Bardarbunga’s caldera, or crater, where lava has come out of the mountain in past eruptions.

Luckily Reykjavik is relatively far away from active volcanoes. Icelandic Met Office via Reuters

The caldera is covered in a thick sheet of ice, which is part of Vatnajökull, or the Vatna glacier, Iceland’s largest.

“We are lucky the eruption didn’t take place there,” Sigmundsson said, pointing to Bardarbunga’s ice-covered caldera on a map. Instead, a swarm of small earthquakes in late August progressed from near the volcano’s main chamber by the caldera, and toward Holuhraun, through which lava eventually erupted on the last day of the month.

There’s still a possibility that another eruption could occur closer to or on the caldera, Sigmundsson said. If this happens under the ice, it has the potential to could cause flooding and impact the lives of the farmers living downhill from the volcano alongside the Skjálfandafljót river. An eruption under the ice (and resulting flood) could have an immense impact on tourism in the country’s northeast, since one would have to go all the way around the island to reach this area, Stevenson said.

Scientists are continuously monitoring the eruption site with various types of equipment and video cameras, and if there is a flood, researchers would have perhaps five hours or more to warn people downstream, Stevenson noted.

Bardarbunga may be one for the history books, but it’s definitely not the worst in Iceland’s history. That would probably be the 1783-1784 Laki eruption, which killed 60 percent of Iceland’s livestock and about 20 percent of its people. Compared to that, Bardarbunga is “10 times smaller in terms of eruption rate, fire fountain height, and gas content,” Stevenson said.

But even so, “it’s pretty amazing,” he said.

Houston Mayor Totally Didnt Mean That Subpoena Thing, You Guys
Oct 16th, 2014
Daily NewsThe American Spectator
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

I'll admit, when I first heard about the Houston mayor's subpoenas for sermons given by religious leaders on basically any topic related, in any way, to transgendered bathroom, I thought it was a joke. There's no way an American bureaucrat could be so shortsighted as to order mulitple violations of the First Amendment pursuant to tenuous legal language. 

Evidence from the Humming Bird
Oct 16th, 2014
CommentaryCreation Facts
Categories: Creation - Evolution

One of the most fascinating and unique creatures of all creation is the common hummingbird. What is the probability that all of the unique characteristics of the ruby-throated hummingbird, each of which are needed for its survival, developed by some step-by-step evolutionary process? A few of the hummingbird’s incredible abilities are listed below:

1. The unique ability to fly forward, backward, upsidedown, and straight up like a helicopter as no other bird can.

2. The use of a special fringed tongue to sweep insects out from the inside of flowers. It cannot survive on nectar alone, but also needs the protein from eating insects. Without its special tongue it could never catch the insects.

3. The ability to fly 500 miles nonstop over the gulf waters to Mexico. The hummingbird can conserve its strength for long flights by taking a prolonged rest just prior to the flight and making every motion count in flight.

4. The ability to go into a “torpid” condition at night by almost shutting down its metabolism. Because of its incredibly high energy activity, gram for gram the hummingbird has the greatest energy output of any warm-blooded animal. Yet at night it uses only about one-fifth of its normal energy.

The hummingbird is truly a marvel of God’s creativity.

The above document was taken from Character Sketches, Vol. II, p. 42-48 and quoted in A Closer Look At The Evidence by Richard & Tina Kleiss.

"Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore. Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth" (Psalm 105:4-5).

EU: Efforts to Reach Nuclear Agreement With Iran in Critical Phase
Oct 16th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

VIENNA - Efforts to reach a deal over Iran's nuclear program are in a "critical phase" ahead of a late November deadline for an agreement to end the decade-old dispute, an EU spokesman said on Thursday after high-level negotiations in Vienna.

"We are trying hard to make progress and remain fully engaged to achieve a comprehensive solution" by the Nov. 24 deadline, said Michael Mann, spokesman for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

The talks in the Austrian capital included a six-hour meeting on Wednesday between Ashton, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Experts would meet in the coming days to continue technical work on the issue, said Mann. "Diplomatic efforts to find a resolution to the Iranian nuclear issue are now in a critical phase," his statement read.

Central Bankers May Have No Quick Fix As Markets Swoon, Economy Weakens
Oct 16th, 2014
Daily NewsReuters
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The new European Central bank (ECB) headquarters are pictured in Frankfurt, September 11, 2014.

Stocks slumped again on Wednesday pushing S&P 500 losses to almost 8 percent since mid-September. The dollar fell and U.S. bond prices soared after weak Chinese inflation and U.S. producer price and retail sales data fanned fears the world economy could be even weaker than thought.   

(Reuters) - Global central bankers, eager to see the economy stand on its own feet, faced the rude reality this week of market turmoil threatening already faltering growth and prolonging world reliance on easy money.

When stock markets turned south last week after rallying for much of this year, many policymakers initially played that down. In fact, the sell-off could be seen bringing some healthy volatility back to markets that officials worried had become too complacent to risks ranging from tensions surrounding the conflict in Ukraine to the Ebola outbreak.

But the deepening of the sell-off may have put major central banks on their heels, by raising the prospect of the market rout going too far too fast, threatening to hurt confidence and potentially triggering a pullback in spending.

"It reminds me of the massive flight to quality we saw during the (2008) banking crisis, when there were fears that the whole global economy would tip into depression," said Nick Stamenkovic, a strategist at Edinburgh-based RIA Capital Markets.

Economists familiar with central bank policymaking say there is no doubt that officials are worried by the markets' sharp turn for the worse. It is less clear how and when will they respond.

Over the past week investors have pushed back their expected date for an initial Fed rate increase from next summer to late in 2015 or even into 2016.

Ever since the financial crisis hit six years ago, central bankers have been at the forefront of a campaign to save the global economy, slashing rates to zero and pumping trillions of dollars into the world economy via unconventional policies such as buying vast amounts of government debt.

At meetings of the International Monetary Fund last week, central bankers appeared content that their mission was largely over and called on governments to do their part to boost demand and job growth by investing in infrastructure.

FAMILIAR DILEMMA

Central bank officials from Washington to Tokyo face questions that have dogged them in recent years: Is recent volatility just a sign of markets adjusting to a host of issues, from the potential for rising interest rates to tensions in the Middle East? Or is the world economy backsliding?

Those who still have wiggle room have already been using it with central banks in Sweden, Poland and South Korea cutting interest rates over the past few days. Beijing is also expected to use its policy leeway to keep rolling out stimulus measures to keep the world's second-largest economy from cooling too much.

It is a greater challenge for the Fed, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan, which have long hit the limits of conventional monetary policy.

Officials in Washington and London in particular were eager to start lifting interest rates in part because with rates near zero they have to resort back to unconventional policies to counter any new downturn.

San Francisco Federal Reserve President John Williams told Reuters on Tuesday that he would be open to another round of asset buying if the outlook for the economy worsened significantly. But he stressed it was a distant possibility and his main scenario was that the U.S. economy would weather global headwinds and the Fed could start lifting rates in mid-2015.

The ECB and the BOJ, meanwhile, are still in the thick of unconventional policies that are achieving only mixed results. They may be hard pressed to do more, even though ECB President Mario Draghi recently suggested it was European nations turn now to do their part saying that European governments with the capacity to borrow, such as Germany, should ramp up spending.

The Fed's policy setting committee meets Oct. 28-29 and plans to end its bond-buying program then. Its language will be watched particularly closely for evidence of how deeply recent world events have affected its thinking.

"We have seen a lot of sizeable ups and downs in recent days and we don't know where the dust will settle," said Antulio Bomfim, a former Fed economist and senior managing director at the Macroeconomic Advisers consulting firm. "I don't think this fundamentally moves the (Federal Open Market Committee) in a different direction, (but) it does throw more caution into a committee that was already cautious."

Arab League Chief to Head 'Solidarity Mission' to Gaza
Oct 16th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Contemporary Issues

Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Arabi

Reuters

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi will lead a ministerial delegation to Gaza on October 23, an official said Thursday, according to AFP.

The delegation will include Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled al-Sabah and Mauritanian Foreign Minister Ahmed Ould Teguedi, the League official told reporters in Cairo.

"The visit is in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, which was subjected to comprehensive destruction by the last Israeli aggression, and to understand its needs," the official said on condition of anonymity.

Details of the itinerary were not immediately available.

The one-day visit comes after an international donors conference in Cairo hosted by Egypt and Norway on Sunday pledged $5.4 billion (4.3 billion euros) to rebuild Gaza.

Donations mainly included $1 billion from Qatar, $212 million from the United States and 450 million euros from the European Union.

The July-August war between Israel and the coastal territory's Hamas rulers left nearly 2,200 Palestinians dead along with 73 on the Israeli side.

9 Ominous Signals Coming from the Financial Markets That We Have not Seen in Years
Oct 16th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Economic Collapse
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Is the stock market about to crash?  Hopefully not, and there definitely have been quite a few "false alarms" over the past few years.  But without a doubt we have been living through one of the greatest financial bubbles in U.S. history, and the markets are absolutely primed for a full-blown crash.  That doesn't mean that one will happen now, but we are starting to see some ominous things happen in the financial world that we have not seen happen in a very long time.  So many of the same patterns that we witnessed just prior to the bursting of the dotcom bubble and just prior to the 2008 financial crisis are repeating themselves again.  Hopefully we still have at least a little bit more time before stocks completely crash, because when this market does implode it is going to be a doozy.

The following are 9 ominous signals coming from the financial markets that we have not seen in years...

#1 By the time the markets closed on Monday, we had witnessed the biggest three day decline for U.S. stocks since 2011.

#2 On Monday, the S&P 500 moved below its 200 day moving average for the first time in about two years.  The last time this happened after such an extended streak of success, the S&P 500 ended up declining by a total of 22 percent.

#3 This week the put-call ratio actually moved higher than it was at any point during the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.  This is an indication that there is a tremendous amount of fear on Wall Street right now.

#4 Everybody is watching the VIX at the moment.  According to the Economic Policy Journal, the VIX has now risen to the highest level that it has been since the heart of the European debt crisis.  This is another indicator that there is extraordinary fear on Wall Street...

US stock market volatility has jumped to the highest since the eurozone debt crisis, according to a closely watched index, the the CBOE Vix index of implied US share price volatility.

It jumped to 24.6 late on Monday and is up again this morning. On Thursday, it was as low as 15.

That's a very strong move, but things have been much worse. At height of the recent financial crisis – the Vix index peaked at 80.1 in November 2008.

Could we get there again? Yeah.

#5 The price of oil is crashing.  This also happened in 2008 just before the financial crisis erupted.  At this point, the price of oil is now the lowest that it has been in more than two years.

#6 As Chris Kimble has pointed out, the chart for the Dow has formed a "Doji Star topping pattern".  We also saw this happen in 2007.  Could this be an indication that we are on the verge of another stock market crash similar to what happened in 2008?

#7 Canadian stocks are actually doing even worse than U.S. stocks.  At this point, Canadian stocks have already dropped more than 10 percent from the peak of the market.

#8 European stocks have also had a very rough month.  For example, German stocks have already dropped about 10 percent since July, and there are growing concerns about the overall health of the German economy.

#9 The wealthy are hoarding cash and precious metals right now.  In fact, one British news report stated that sales of gold bars to wealthy customers are up 243 percent so far this year.

So what comes next?

Some experts are saying that this is the perfect time to buy stocks at value prices.  For example, USA Today published a story with the following headline on Tuesday: "Time to 'buy' the fear? One Wall Street pro says yes".

Other experts, however, believe that this could represent a major turning point for the financial markets.

Just consider what Abigail Doolittle recently told CNBC...

Technical strategist Abigail Doolittle is holding tight to her prediction of market doom ahead, asserting that a recent move in Wall Street's fear gauge is signaling the way.

Doolittle, founder of Peak Theories Research, has made headlines lately suggesting a market correction worse than anyone thinks is ahead. The long-term possibility, she has said, is a 60 percent collapse for the S&P 500.

In early August, Doolittle was warning both of a looming "super spike" in the CBOE Volatility Index as well as a "death cross" in the 10-year Treasury note. The former referenced a sharp move higher in the "VIX," while the latter used Wall Street lingo for an event that already occurred in which the fixed income benchmark saw its 50-day moving average cross below its 200-day trend line.

Both, she said, served as indicators for trouble ahead.

'Hundreds' of ISIS Terrorists Killed As Kurds Take Back Kobane
Oct 16th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;War

Kurdish YPG fighters (file)

Reuters

Kurdish fighters in the embattled city of Kobane, along the Syrian-Turkish border, say they have succeeded in pushing out Islamic State forces from most of the city.

Intensified US airstrikes are said to have played a decisive role in enabling Kurds to mount a counterattack after holding out against the odds for over a month against numerically-superior and better armed ISIS terrorists.

A spokesman for the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia told the BBC that YPG forces were currently conducting "mopping up" operations against the Islamists.

"Maybe in the few past days [Islamic State] was controlling about 40% of the city of Kobane, but now... less than 20% of the city is under control of [ISIS]," Idriss Nassan said.

Kurdish commanders have expressed their hope that the entire city will be liberated soon. The fight is far from over, however; ISIS still controls the areas around Kobane, and is reportedly calling in reinforcements.

'Hundreds' of ISIS terrorists killed

Meanwhile, the US military claimed that "hundreds" of Islamic State fighters had been killed in recent airstrikes. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that poor weather conditions in Iraq - where a US-led air campaign is also targeting ISIS - had freed up resources to focus on Kobane, enabling some 50 airstrikes in the past 48 hours alone.

He cautioned that the situation on the ground was still fluid, but that US air power would help deal with possible ISIS reinforcements.

"The more they want it, the more resources they apply to it, the more targets we have to hit," Kirby said: "We know we've killed several hundred of them."

Activists on the ground say that anything from several hundred to two thousand civilians remain in the besieged city of Kobane, and Kurdish officials have warned of a massacre should ISIS succeed in taking it.