Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Weidmann Warns of 'Legal Limits' on Further Moves By ECB
Nov 25th, 2014
Daily NewsCNBC
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The European Central Bank could encounter "legal limits" if it pursued additional steps to combat low inflation, the president of Germany's Bundesbank said on Monday, calling for a focus on growth rather than any government bond buying.

"Instead of focusing on the purchasing program, we should focus on how you find growth," Jens Weidmann told an audience in Madrid, when asked about the possibility of the ECB buying government bonds, a step known as quantitative easing.

Getty Images

Jens Weidmann

He warned that it would be difficult to pursue such steps to tackle low inflation.

"Of course there are other measures which are more difficult, because they are untested, because they are less clear ... and of course they hit the legal limits of what you can do," said Weidmann, who sits on the ECB's Governing Council.

"This is why discussions are so intense," he added.

Understanding the Role of Syria in Islamic End Time Belief
Nov 25th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy News Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

The gruesome video released by the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) emphasizes that the beheading of Peter Kassig took place in the town of Dabiq, Syria. The town was chosen because of its significance in Islamic end-of-time prophecies about the time when the Mahdi and (the Islamic version of) Jesus will bring victory over those who oppose sharia.

The Islamic State named its English-language magazine “Dabiq” for the same reason. The group is telling Muslims that it is fulfilling prophecy, enticing them to participate in one of the most important moments in world history.

A secondary message is that Islamic State supporters should not worry about the military superiority of their enemy or the terrorist group’s setbacks because they will soon be made victorious with help from the Mahdi, Islam’s messianic figure, and Jesus (when he joins Islam, which he will according to Islamic prophecy).

“Here we are, burying the first American Crusader in Dabiq, eagerly waiting for the remainder of your armies to arrive,” says one Islamic State speaker.

The video features an excerpt from a sermon by Abu Musab al-Zaraqawi, the leader of the Islamic State’s predecessor, Al-Qaeda in Iraq, until he was killed by a U.S. airstrike on June 7, 2006.

“The spark has been lit here in Iraq, and its heat will continue to intensify…until it burns the Crusader armies in Dabiq,” Zaraqawi preached.

Then, for a third time, another Islamic State member says to the West, “We are waiting for you in Dabiq.”

The statements are a reference to prophecies in the hadith, the collection of sayings and actions attributed to Mohammed, the Holy Prophet of Islam.

One collector of the hadith, Sahih Muslim, states, “The Last Hour would not come until the Romans would land at al-A’maq or in Dabiq.”

When the Islamic State refers to President Obama as the “dog of Rome” in the video, they are making the case that the U.S. is the modern equivalent of the Roman Empire and American military action in the Middle East is the actualization of this prophecy.

The Islamic State draws a parallel between its own actions and the details of the prophecy. The hadith states that Dabiq will be controlled by the “best” Islamic soldiers from Mecca, Saudi Arabia. They will capture “Romans” (i.e., Americans), which will lead to a foreign attack.

The Brookings Institute points out that the Islamic State immediately presented its capture of Dabiq in April as part of this prophecy. The group’s supporters distributed pictures on social media of the seized hilltop with the text of the prophecy.

The Islamic State’s beheadings of Peter Kassig and the other Americans are not only justifiable acts of jihad in their opinion. They are also acts designed to provoke an assault on them as prophesized. In their eyes, a U.S. military response is actually desirable, as it fulfills this prophecy.

The prophecy states that the Romans will arrive at Dabiq and tell all the Muslims to stand aside so that they can fight only those Muslims who took the captives. The Muslims will then unite against the Romans. The Islamic State is hoping that this will come to fruition.

When the battle begins, according to the prophecy, about one-third of the Muslim forces will flee (“whom Allah will never forgive”), one-third will die as “excellent martyrs” and the remaining one-third will win the battle and then conquer Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey).

If Islamic State supporters believe this prophecy is about them, then they will not be discouraged by the current U.S. military action, high death tolls and desertions. They will actually be encouraged by it because they believe it will ultimately bring victory.

According to the prophecy, what follows this victory in Dabiq and Turkey is the appearance and final defeat of the Islamic version of the Antichrist, called the Dajjal, at the hands of (the Islamic) Jesus.

To most Westerners, it sounds fanciful to suggest that the Islamic State believes it is fulfilling this prophecy, but this type of thinking is common among Islamists.

Al-Qaeda and its affiliates often talk about eliminating or breaking "the cross." This is a reference to the same prophecies. They are talking about paving the way for the Mahdi and the Islamic Jesus to bring about final victory over their enemies. The terminology refers to an Islamic prophecy where Jesus will break a cross to disprove Christianity and absorb the religion into Islam.

The Muslim Brotherhood also believes in this. IslamWeb, a website with a fatwa bank that affirms the prophecies, salutes Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradawi as “one of the most eminent contemporary scholars who are recognized by their knowledge and efforts…”

Shiite Islamists also state they are fulfilling these prophecies. A documentary produced by the office of then-Iranian President Ahmadinejad made the case that he, along with Supreme Leader Khamenei and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, embodied specific characters foretold in Islamic prophecy. Much of the film aligns with the interpretations of Islamic prophecy by the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda.

Khamenei’s news outlets likewise report on current events through end-of-times lenses. A Lebanese reporter in an Arab publication wrote that Iranian intervention in Syria and the ongoing civil war there is seen by the Iranian regime and Hezbollah as setting the stage for the appearance of the Mahdi.

The U.S. and its allies must not avoid tackling the Islamic State out of concern that doing so will reinforce its prophetic claims. National security and human rights are at stake. Instead, the U.S. can turn the tables using the prophecy.

The validity of the Islamic State’s claims rest upon the capture of Dabiq, the arrival of U.S. ground forces, the uniting of Muslims behind the Islamic State and military victory over the U.S. and its allies in the area.

Therefore, we can invalidate the Islamic State’s claims by not sending in U.S. ground forces to the area, strengthening the Islamic State’s Muslim adversaries, forcing the group out of Dabiq and delivering them a decisive defeat. If this happens, the Islamic State’s proclamations of prophetic fulfillment will be discredited.

The fundamental problem of Islamists seeking to trigger these end-of-times events will remain. The Islamic State could be crushed, but others with similar believes will arise. This entire mindset of fulfilling prophecy through war needs to be challenged.

Turkish MP Submits Bill to Define Israel As a 'terrorist State'
Nov 25th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Antisemitism

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses parliament

Reuters

Lutfu Turkkan, a Turkish MP for the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), introduced on Monday a bill to Turkey's parliament which proposes recognizing Israel as “a terrorist state.”

The Turkish deputy began his speech to parliament by referring to the nine Turkish Islamists killed while attacking IDF soldiers aboard the Mavi Marmara, the ship which was part of a flotilla in 2010 aiming to break Israel's blockade on Hamas in Gaza.

He continued by claiming that the Arab-Israeli conflict hasn’t been solved yet purely due to Israel’s "terrorist actions" against Palestinian Arabs, ignoring the numerous peace proposals accepted by Israel and rejected by the Palestinian Authority.

"Israel has intentionally targeted civilians in Gaza, killing mostly women and children," Turkkan charged, and accused Israel of purposefully targeting civilians during the recent 50-day war with terrorists in Gaza - despite evidence of the great lengths to which the IDF went to avoid civilian casualties, and ignoring Hamas and Islamic Jihad's widespread use of human shields during the conflict.

"The State of Israel aimed killing children, senior citizens, and women living in Gaza; when this is taken into consideration, Israel’s crimes meet the definition of ‘terrorism’. It has become an undeniable fact that Turkey should recognize Israel as a terrorist state," he alleged, .

MHP, alternatively translated as "Nationalist Action Party," is a far-right Turkish political party which is currently the second largest opposition faction in the Parliament of Turkey.

The ruling Islamist AKP party, founded by current Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been ruling Turkey for the past 12 years. Ankara's support for Gaza-based terror group Hamas; rising anti-Semitism and serious human rights violations in the country during AKP's time in power have prompted concern from various rights groups and governments including the United States government.

But such rhetoric by the member of an opposition party in Turkey raises the worrying prospect that such extremist stances are not limited to Erdogan’s Islamic party.

Turkey’s Parliament will start discussing the bill that is introduced by Turkken, who is a member of parliament for the Kocaeli Province in northwestern Turkey. The bill is officially named "The legislative proposal for the recognition of Israel as a terrorist state by Turkey."

The U.S. Government Thinks China Could Take Down the Power Grid
Nov 25th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy News Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

China and "probably one or two other" countries have the capacity to shut down the nation's power grid and other critical infrastructure through a cyber attack, the head of the National Security Agency told a Congressional panel Thursday.

Admiral Michael Rogers, who also serves the dual role as head of U.S. Cyber Command, said the United States has detected malware from China and elsewhere on U.S. computers systems that affect the daily lives of every American.

"It enables you to shut down very segmented, very tailored parts of our infrastructure that forestall the ability to provide that service to us as citizens," Rogers said in testimony before the House Intelligence Committee.

Rogers said such attacks are part of the "coming trends" he sees based on "reconnaissance" currently taking place that nation-states, or other actors may use to exploit vulnerabilities in U.S. cyber systems.

A recent report by Mandiant, a cyber-security firm, found that hackers working on behalf of the Chinese government were able to penetrate American public utility systems that service everything from power generation, to the movement of water and fuel across the country.

"We see them attempting to steal information on how our systems are configured, the very schematics of most of our control systems, down to engineering level of detail so they can look at where are the vulnerabilities, how are they constructed, how could I get in and defeat them," Rogers said. "We're seeing multiple nation-states invest in those kinds of capabilities."

Admiral Rogers declined to identify who the other countries, beside China, because of the classified nature of their identities. Russia is generally regarded as also having an aggressive cyber program.

In addition to nation-state actors, Admiral Rogers noted the increasing presence of "surrogate" criminal actors in cyberspace that serve to obscure the hidden hand of criminal activity done on behalf of formal nation-states.

"That's a troubling development for us," Rogers said.

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Michigan, the retiring chairman of the committee, called the groups "cyber hit men for hire" for nation-state actors in cyberspace.

The testimony also comes in the wake of a report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project that cited a prediction by technology experts that a catastrophic cyber-attack that causes significant losses in life and financial damage would occur by 2025.

Admiral Rogers told the committee he did not disagree with the assessment.

In addition to the threats from specific nation-states, Admiral Rogers said there are already groups within the U.S. cyber architecture who seek to cause major damage to corporate and other critical sectors of the American economy.

"It is only a matter of the when, not the if, that we are going to see something traumatic." he said.

Russia Gets Greater Control Over Black Sea Region
Nov 25th, 2014
Daily NewsABC News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and leader of Georgia's breakaway province of Abkhazia Raul Khadzhimba shake hands during their meeting in the Bocharov Ruchei residence in Sochi, Russia, Monday, Nov. 24, 2014. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Mikhail Metzel, Presidential Press Service)

Russia tightened its control Monday over Georgia's breakaway province of Abkhazia with a new treaty envisaging closer military and economic ties with the lush sliver of land along the Black Sea.

The move drew outrage and cries of "annexation" in Georgia and sent a chill through those in Abkhazia who fear that wealthy Russians will snap up their precious coastline. It also raised further suspicions in the West about Russian President Vladimir Putin's territorial aspirations after his annexation of Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in March.

Under the treaty signed by Putin and Abkhazia's leader in the nearby Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russian and Abkhazian forces in the territory will turn into a joint force led by a Russian commander.

Putin said Moscow will also double its subsidies to Abkhazia to about 9.3 billion rubles (over $200 million) next year.

"I'm sure that cooperation, unity and strategic partnership between Russia and Abkhazia will continue to strengthen," he said.

"Ties with Russia offer us full security guarantees and broad opportunities for socio-economic development," Abkhazian President Raul Khadzhimba said.

Russian troops have been deployed in Abkhazia for more than two decades since the region of 240,000 people broke away from Georgia in a separatist war in the early 1990s. Still, Monday's agreement reflected a clear attempt by Moscow to further expand its presence and came only after a change of leadership in the territory.

Coming amid a chill in Russia-West ties over the Ukrainian crisis, the deal raised concern about Moscow's plans. The Black Sea region has always been important for Putin, who justified the annexation of Crimea by saying it would guarantee that NATO warships would never be welcome on the peninsula, the home base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

NATO's secretary-general condemned the treaty, stressing that the alliance supports Georgia's sovereignty. He also called on Russia to reverse its recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, another breakaway province, as independent states.

"This so-called treaty does not contribute to a peaceful and lasting settlement of the situation in Georgia," Jens Stoltenberg said. "On the contrary, it violates Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and blatantly contradicts the principles of international law, OSCE principles and Russia's international commitments."

The U.S. also said it wouldn't recognize Russia's move and expressed continued support for Georgia's sovereignty.

"The United States will not recognize the legitimacy of any so-called 'treaty' between Georgia's Abkhazia region and the Russian Federation," the U.S. State Department said in a statement.

Abkhazia's former leader, Alexander Ankvab, was forced to step down earlier this year under pressure from protesters who reportedly were encouraged by the Kremlin. Khadzhimba, a former Soviet KGB officer, was elected president in an early vote in August that Georgia rejected as illegal.

Unlike Ankvab, who had resisted Moscow's push to let Russians buy assets in Abkhazia, Khadzhimba has appeared more eager to listen to Russia's demands.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry denounced the new agreement as a "step toward the de-facto annexation" of Abkhazia and called on the international community to condemn the move.

Report Reveals U.S. Schools Whitewashing Hamas, PA
Nov 25th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Gaza exhibit on recent operation (illustration)

Parents groups are up in arms after a recent report found public schools in Newton, Massachusetts presented whitewashed versions of Hamas and Palestinian Authority (PA) charters, as well as other materials posing the destruction of Israel as acceptable.

The findings were made through an investigation of classroom materials by the independent watchdog group Verity Educate, which discovered "repeated instances of bias against Israel, bias against the US and its actions in the Middle East, and bias that sanitizes the ideology and actions of terrorists."

Parents for Excellence in Newton Schools (PENS), which took part in the research, on Sunday released a statement demanding action over the issue and detailing just how serious the school materials were.

In one case, students were given a modified version of the Hamas charter, in which references to genocide were removed and the word "Jew" was replaced with "Israeli" to sanitize the terrorist group's murderous intentions.

Likewise, the PA charter was presented with Article 2 missing, an article that claims all of Israel belongs to "Palestine." All following articles were renumbered to hide the change to the key piece showing the PA aims to replace Israel, not live alongside it.

In an exercise given to students, the destruction of Israel was presented as a "mainstream and well-accepted concept," and anti-Israel sources were used exclusively in giving supposedly neutral outlines of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

"The use of anti-Israel material in this affluent suburb, which prides itself on the quality of it's self-proclaimed 'world-class' schools, has been a controversial issue for the past three years, ever since a fourteen-year-old student found a false, anti-Israel passage in required reading for a high school World History class," notes PENS.

The group adds that while that text three years ago was removed, the recent report shows the anti-Israel bias is alive and well in Newton.

They reported that the Newton Public Schools refused to comment on the issue, and likewise refused requests to investigation other materials despite student reports that there is "even more objectionable material than that already uncovered."

PLA Base on Fiery Cross Reef Could Tip Balance in South China Sea
Nov 25th, 2014
Daily NewsWant China Times
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Fiery Cross Reef will be renamed an island as it is expanded into a key military base for the PLA. (Photo/Xinhua)

China appears to be building a military base on the newly expanded Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands in an attempt to tip the balance of territorial disputes in the South China Sea in Beijing's favor, reports Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao.

Over the past year, Beijing has been particularly aggressive in conducting reclamation activities on Chinese-controlled reefs and islets in the Spratlys, parts of which are which are also claimed by Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

Following the most recent period of construction, China is said to have essentially "created" five new islands from existing reefs, including Fiery Cross Reef, which has reportedly become the largest island in the Spratlys.

Fiery Cross Reef, which China calls Yongshu Reef, is nominally administered by Sansha city under southern China's Hainan province and has been occupied by the PRC since 1998, when a "UNESCO marine observation station" was built there. Since then, China has also constructed a helicopter pad, a wharf, a two-story building and a 500-square-meter greenhouse on the reef, where about 200 People's Liberation Army soliders are stationed.

Of particular interest to neighboring countries is a newly constructed airstrip on Fiery Cross captured by British satellites. The strip, measuring around 3 kilometers in length and about 200-300 meters in width, would be large enough to cater to China's H-6 jet bomber and Y-20 large military transport aircraft. Along with the construction of a new harbor large enough to dock military tankers, experts believe Beijing is aiming to build a strategic base on Fiery Cross, the only Chinese reef under reclamation large enough for such a project.

Military experts believe that the construction of a strategic base on Fiery Cross could tip the balance of power in the South China Sea territorial disputes in China's favor, especially as the reef is located just 460 km away from the key Vietnamese naval base at Cam Ranh Bay.

Some analysts have noted that further reclamation could potentially expand Fiery Cross to as large as 30 square km in size, which would rival that of America's naval base at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

The US has called on China to freeze its "provocative" reclamation activities in the South China Sea, with a Pentagon spokesperson calling on Beijing to "engage in diplomatic initiatives to encourage all sides to restrain themselves in these sorts of activities."

China has declined to confirm the construction of the vast island but said Beijing needs to build facilities in the South China Sea for strategic reasons. "We need to go out, to make our contribution to regional and global peace. We need support like this, including radar and intelligence," said a PLA spokesperson.

Professor Ni Lexiong from the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law says China's reclamation activities in the South China Sea forms part of a long-term strategy aimed at disrupting the balance in the Spratlys and extending the country's influence further into the South China Sea on a more permanent basis. Once China can establish a firm base in the region its strategies will instantly become more flexible, even allowing Beijing to forcibly seize reefs and islets in the control of other countries.

Ni believes the reclamation activities in the Spratlys could offer China a strong counterpoint to America's "return to Asia" policy and will also be beneficial to Chinese civilians who can count on a safe passage through the South China Sea for trade purposes. He also notes, however, that tensions will likely increase and the odds of conflict in the region will also increase as a result.

Panicked PLO Warns 'Jewish State Law' Ends 'Two State Solution'
Nov 25th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas

Flash 90

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee, headed by Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, on Tuesday criticized the "Jewish State Law" which would enshrine Israel's status as the nation-state of the Jewish people in state law.

An announcement released by the Executive Committee read "this law will put an end to the two state solution in that it imposes the plan of greater Israel and the Jewish nature of the state on the historical land of Palestine, and it serves as a unilateral Israeli cancellation of the mutual recognition document from 1993."

Aside from the well-documented historical absence of any Arab state of "Palestine," the statement also raises eyebrows in that the PLO has taken numerous unilateral moves breaching the 1993 Oslo Accords, and most recently is threatening a UN statehood bid in breach of the Accords.

The PLO statement continued "the Jewish State Law is a racist political decision that is built to negate the Palestinian rights and to control the land, and it contradicts international law...and the law institutionalizes racism and discrimination in all fields of life, by implementing (Prime Minister Binyamin) Netanyahu's plan to turn Israel into a country based on racism by law."

"What is called the historic national homeland of the Jewish people is an ideological racist exclusive expression, and an attempt to warp and twist the Palestinian historical narrative," claimed the statement. "It creates legitimacy against them (Arab residents of Israel) and prepares the groundwork to expel them and uproot them under the pretext of the law, as they aren't part of the Jewish people."

Abbas torpedoed recent talks in April by, aside from making unilateral moves and signing a unity deal with Hamas, refusing to recognize Israel as the Jewish state even as he demanded a "Palestinian state." Abbas has said a future state of "Palestine" would not have any Jews in it at all.

What is the law?

The bill passed a crucial cabinet vote on Sunday, which cleared the way for it to be put to a vote in the Knesset, and stipulates "the state of Israel is the national home of the Jewish people in which it realizes its aspiration for self determination in accordance with its cultural and historic heritage...the right to realization of national self determination in Israel is exclusive to the Jewish people."

Netanyahu has said he will amend the bill to make it more "moderate," equalizing Israel's Jewish and democratic status as opposed to the current version that highlights the Jewish nature of the state, even as it defines Israel as a democracy respecting the rights of all citizens.

The original bill would have Arabic moved from being an official language of the state to having "special status" instead, although Netanyahu would keep Arabic as an official language, leading many to warn the new version will be watered down enough not to have many practical effects.

Speaking about the bill on Tuesday, Netanyahu said Israel's "democracy is guaranteed. What is being challenged is Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, and therefore we are updating via the law this national right of the Jewish people, side-by-side with a guarantee of the personal rights of all of its citizens."

NATO Scrambles Jets 400 Times in 2014 As Russian Air Activity Jumps
Nov 25th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy News Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

NATO warplanes have had to scramble 400 times this year in response to an increase in Russian air activity around Europe not seen since the Cold War, the alliance’s chief said on Thursday.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation members have sought to fill gaps in the alliance’s land, air and sea defences since Russia annexed Crimea and backed a secessionist movement in the eastern part of Ukraine.

Speaking to U.S., German and Estonian troops at a newly expanded and renovated air base in western Estonia, which once housed a Soviet military installation, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the problem was not just where the Russians are flying but that they are not turning on their transponders or communicating.

He said the flights – which have risen 50 percent over the last year – posed a risk to commercial air traffic.

“This pattern is risky and unjustified, so NATO remains vigilant. We are here and we are ready to defend all our allies against any threats,” Stoltenberg said in a speech after meeting Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas.

“It is a pattern which we have not seen for many years and it is a pattern that reminds us of the way they conducted these kind of military air activities back in the time of the Cold War.”

Vice Admiral Peter Hudson, commander of NATO’s Allied Maritime Command, said Russia was using its military forces in a “much more assertive manner”, which included more Russian naval activity in the Baltic region.

“From a NATO perspective, we are going about our legitimate business in international waters working with our allies. They are occasionally interfering, occasionally operating as a nuisance,” Hudson told Reuters in London.

“Safety has not been breached, but it is just a style of behaviour which we have not seen for 25 years, since the end of the Cold War,” he said.

Stoltenberg said most of the Russian flights were close to NATO air space, with “very limited numbers of violations”.

NATO allies remain concerned that France could still decide to sell an advanced military helicopter carrier to Russia, Stoltenberg said, but added that this was not a decision that NATO had any authority over.

Let the Headlines Speak
Nov 25th, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Khameini: The West Will Never Bring Us to Our Knees
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatolla Ali Khameini was quoted in his official website that in the negotiations for a nuclear agreement the West would never be able to bring Iran to its knees,  

Study: Half of Americans, Majority of White Evangelicals Believe Natural Disasters Are Rising Due to 'End Times' Not Climate Change
Especially white evangelical Protestants are more likely — 77 percent — to attribute the severity of recent natural disasters to the End Times than to climate change, added the poll on religion and the environment.  

Mysterious malware performs 'stealthy surveillance'
A highly sophisticated piece of malware began quietly spying on governments and businesses in 2008, according to security specialist Symantec, which warns that the complex code was likely the handiwork of a nation state.  

Missouri State Senator: ‘This Is St. Louis’ Race War’
Missouri Democratic state senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal said the ongoing violence following the Ferguson grand jury decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson is “St. Louis’ race war.”  

Rewriting America’s Thanksgiving History to Remove God Is a Tragic Deception
As Americans mark Thanksgiving this week, one thing noticeably absent from public discourse is our nation's first Thanksgiving celebration—and the One to Whom those early American settlers gave thanks. Instead, talk of "Pilgrims" is taboo, and talk of giving thanks to God even more so.  

Banking culture breeds dishonesty, scientific study finds
Researchers in Switzerland studied bank workers and other professionals in experiments in which they won more money if they cheated, and found that bankers were more dishonest when they were made particularly aware of their professional role.  

We Have a Moral Divide, Not a Racial One
It is, we are told over and over, all about "perceptions" — a "black-white divide" in the way each race perceives racial matters. This is how it works:  

Ariel Cancels Temple Mount Visit Over Security
Housing Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) has retracted his decision to ascend the Temple Mount Monday night, in deference to the severity of the security situation in Jerusalem.  

Netanyahu: Recognition of Israel as nation state of Jews is basis for future peace accord
Recognition of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people is the basis of any future peace accord, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday, responding to critics both domestic and abroad claiming that the controversial “Jewish state” legislation will water down the country's democratic character.  

Hamas Threatens 'Holy War' Over Jewish State Law
Hamas has an opinion on the 'Jewish State Law' making rounds in the Knesset, Channel 2 reports Tuesday - claiming that the law could provoke a "holy war."  

Multiple Earthquakes Recorded Early Monday Morning In Oklahoma
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, at 12:36 a.m., a 4.0 magnitude earthquake was recorded 13 miles west of Perry and 19 miles east, southeast of Enid. It was about three miles deep. Again, at 12:55 a.m......  

Riots erupt after grand jury clears policeman in Ferguson shooting
Police fired tear gas and protesters set businesses ablaze in Ferguson, Missouri, in racially charged unrest sparked by a grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer for fatally shooting an unarmed black teenager in August.

Turkey's Erdogan: Women Not Equal to Men
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that women are not equal to men, saying Islam has defined a position for women: motherhood. Speaking to a conference in Istanbul on women and justice, Mr. Erdogan said that it is against nature to put men and women on an equal footing.  

Afghanistan: Fifty dead after suicide attack during volleyball match
At least fifty people are now known to have been killed instantly when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device during a popular volleyball game. It is the deadliest attack in Afghanistan this year.  

Ukrainians to Decide on Future NATO Membership in Eventual Vote
Ukraine will choose whether to join NATO in a referendum once the former Soviet republic moves from “empty declarations” and completes real policy changes needed for membership, President Petro Poroshenko said.  

Israel resumes razing homes to punish attackers
Enas Shalodi, a Palestinian mother of six, has been severely punished by Israel for something she didn't do. A wrecking crew gutted her family's apartment in Jerusalem last week, tearing down inner walls and leaving behind a thick layer of debris.  

Six years in, Obama gearing up to be a war president
Barack Obama's meteoric rise to the presidency probably wouldn't have been possible without his decision to stake out a strong position against the Iraq War while still an Illinois state senator in October 2002. In a speech in Chicago that month he warned of "a dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics."  

Here's The Depressing Reason Why Iran May Have Rejected A Generous Nuclear Deal
The nuclear negotiations between Iran and a US-led group of countries over Tehran's nuclear program have once again fallen short. On the one year anniversary after the signing of the landmark Joint Plan of Action in Geneva, diplomats from Iran and the PP5+1 — the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany — announced that the negotiating period will be extended for another seven months after the parties failed to reach a final deal during a marathon session in Vienna.  

Khamenei: Arrogant World Powers Failed to Bring Iran to Its Knees
Nov 25th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

DUBAI - A Twitter account Iran experts believe is run by the office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday "arrogant" powers had tried hard to bring the Islamic Republic to its knees but had failed.

In a comment apparently referring to the failure of Iran and six world powers on Monday to end a 12-year dispute about Iran's nuclear goals, a message on the English-language account said: "In the nuclear issue, arrogants have made their best to bring Iran to its knees but they were not able and will not be able to do so."

Israel's UN Ambassador: Europe Has Failed U.S. Again
Nov 25th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Ron Prosor

Reuters

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, on Monday hit out at European governments for "failing us again," singling out Sweden's "historic mistake" of recognizing the “state of Palestine”.

European parliaments voting to recognize Palestine are "giving the Palestinians exactly what they want -- statehood without peace," Prosor told the UN General Assembly.

"By handing them a state on a silver platter, you are rewarding unilateral actions and taking away any incentive for the Palestinians to negotiate or compromise or renounce violence," he added.

The comments come as countries in Europe are continuing to lend a hand to the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) unilateral bid to achieve statehood by recognizing a Palestinian state.

British lawmakers voted overwhelmingly on October 13 in favor of a non-binding motion to "recognize the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel as a contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution".

Sweden announced on October 30 it officially recognized the state of Palestine, a move criticized by Israel and the United States.

Last week, Spanish lawmakers adopted a motion calling on the government to recognize a Palestinian state, and France has announced an upcoming vote on the matter as well.

Meanwhile, the PA is still planning to formally submit to the UN Security Council a draft resolution calling for an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria in 2016.

The UN bid was announced in September at the UN General Assembly, when PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas threatened unilateral action in asking the Security Council to demand a deadline for Israel to withdraw from its Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria.

Specifically, the resolution 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 time-frame, not to exceed November 2016".

Despite PA statements that the text would come up for a vote in November, the PA’ representative to the UN, Riyad Mansour, told AFP on Monday no date had been set for the draft to be discussed at the 15-member council.

ISIS Abducting and Indoctrinating Children for Active Combat
Nov 25th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Vancouver Sun
Categories: Today's Headlines;War

BEIRUT — Teenagers carrying weapons stand at checkpoints and busy intersections in Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul. Patched onto the left arms of their black uniforms are the logos of the Islamic Police.

In Raqqa, the de facto Syrian capital of the Islamic State of Iraq & Al-Sham (ISIS), boys attend training camp and religious courses before heading off to fight. Others serve as cooks or guards at the extremists’ headquarters or as spies, informing on locals.

Across the vast region under ISIS control, the group is conscripting children for battle and committing abuses against the most vulnerable, according to a growing body of evidence assembled from residents, activists, independent experts and human rights groups.

In the northern Syrian town of Kobani, where ethnic Kurds have been resisting an ISIS onslaught for weeks, children have been seen fighting alongside the jihadists. One man said he saw the bodies of four boys, two of them younger than 14. At least one 18-year-old is said to have carried out a suicide attack.

In Syria’s Aleppo province, an activist affiliated with the rebel Free Syrian Army said its fighters encountered children in their late teens “fairly often” in battles against ISIS.

It is difficult to determine just how widespread the exploitation of children is in the closed world of ISIS-controlled territory.

However, a video posted on jihadist websites Monday offered the most substantive evidence to date. It purportedly highlights the “Cubs of the Caliphate” class, showing young children dressed in black training to use different weapons, responding to staged ambushes and learning to manufacture explosives.

A United Nations panel investigating war crimes in Syria concluded ISIS is perpetrating abuses and war crimes on a massive scale “in a systematic and organized manner” in enlisting children for active combat.

The group “prioritizes children as a vehicle for ensuring long-term loyalty, adherence to their ideology and a cadre of devoted fighters that will see violence as a way of life,” the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria said in a recent report.

It interviewed more than 300 people who fled or are living in ISIS-controlled areas, and examined video and photographic evidence.

The use of children by armed groups in conflict is, of course, nothing new. But no other group comes close to ISIS in using them in such a systematic and organized way. And the effect is that much greater because the group commands large areas in which the jihadists inculcate the children with their radical and violent interpretation of Shariah law.

“What is new is that ISIS seems to be quite transparent and vocal about their intention and their practice of recruiting children,” said Laurent Chapuis, UNICEF regional child protection advisor for the Middle East and North Africa.

“Children as young as 10, 12 years old are being used in a variety of roles, as combatants as messengers, spies, guards, manning checkpoints but also for domestic purposes like cooking, cleaning, sometimes providing medical care to the wounded.”

“This is not a marginal phenomenon. This is something that is being observed and seems to be part of the strategy of the group,” said Leila Zerrougui, the UN secretary-general’s special representative for children and armed conflict.

“They are abducting children and forcing them to join, they are brainwashing children and indoctrinating them to join their group. All the tools used to attract and recruit children are used by this group.”

In areas of Syria and Iraq under their control, the Sunni extremists have closed schools or changed the curriculum to fit with their ideology. Their goal, according to the United Nations, is to use education as a tool of indoctrination to foster a new generation of supporters.

One man from Fallujah, Iraq, described seeing his six-year-old son playing with a water pistol, screaming, “I am a fighter for the Islamic State!”

He added he and his son were recently stopped at an ISIS checkpoint. The boy shouted, “We love the State!” and one of the fighters asked, “Which state?” When the son replied, “the Islamic State,” the fighter “told him, ‘Good boy,’ and let us through.”

The incident persuaded the man to move his family to Kirkuk, now in Kurdish hands.

ISIS has abducted Kurdish boys and attempted to indoctrinate them. It also runs youth training camps near Raqqa, one specifically for children under 16.

Residents in ISIS-controlled areas, such as Mosul and Fallujah, say it is not uncommon to see gun-toting boys in their late teens at checkpoints.

In a report this year, Human Rights Watch interviewed four former ISIS child fighters in Syria who described their military training. Bassem, who joined ISIS at 16, said he left after being seriously wounded by shrapnel in battle. A 17-year-old, Amr, said children in his unit signed up for suicide missions — and he reluctantly did so as well under pressure.

Thousands of foreign fighters have flocked to ISIS areas from all over the world, many of them with their families.

A video emerged this month showing two boys, both speaking perfect French, brandishing guns and claiming to be in Raqqa. The boys, who look much younger than 10, say they are from Strasbourg and Toulouse. French prosecutors have working to identify the children.

“Over there, you’re in a country of infidels. Here, we’re mujahedeen. We’re in Syria, we’re in Raqqa here,” one of the boys says. “It’s war here.”

How Russian Website is Spying on Thousands of U.S. Webcams
Nov 25th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy News Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

A baby is seen sleeping in a crib in Orange, California. A woman is watched as she sits at her kitchen table reading the newspaper in Burlington, New Jersey. An office in Plano, Texas, is shown just as the work day begins.

They're all scenes from the 4,591 webcams in the United States that are being broadcast on a Russian website. The cameras haven't been hacked. They're simply unsecured, making them easy targets for the Moscow-based website, which ABC News has visited but will not name out of concern for users' privacy.

Footage from more than 100 countries, showing living rooms, home exteriors and closed circuit cameras in businesses, among other locations, is easily viewable. The website even takes it further by providing the exact coordinates of each web cam.

A message on the website's homepage said it "has been designed in order to show the importance of the security settings."

"To remove your public camera from this site and make it private the only thing you need to do is to change your camera default password," the message reads.

While it was not immediately clear what could be done to shut down the website, it has caught the attention of watchdogs in the United Kingdom who said they were joining agencies in the United States, Australia and Canada, among others, to issue a warning to consumers.

Robert Siciliano, a McAfee identity theft expert, told ABC News users with webcams need to be vigilant about changing the username and password once they're installed.

"The users of these devices often use the default user name and password that comes with the device," Siciliano said. "Criminals know this and scan the web for these networks and cameras and then they get full access to it."

Aside from choosing a secure password, Siciliano said he encourages people to make sure their software is always up to date so hackers can not exploit any potential flaws and making sure their home and office Wi-Fi is encrypted.

German Bond Yields to Trump Japan As ECB Battles Deflation
Nov 25th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Telegraph
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

"Be very bullish. The huge elephant in the room is ready to roar again," RBS advises clients

'Net [Bunds] supply in Germany is zero since they are in budget surplus this year and next, and they have written a balanced-budget amendment into their constitution' Photo: Alamy

France Says Iran Nuclear Talks Progressed on Key Issues Including Enrichment
Nov 25th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

VIENNA - France's foreign minister said on Tuesday talks between Iran and the major powers over its nuclear programme had been "pretty positive" and there was progress on key issues including Iran's capacity to enrich uranium.

"On limiting (Iran's capacity to enrich), I found that there had been a certain movement," Laurent Fabius told France Inter radio.

Exposed: Vladimir Putin's Secret Plot to Rule Europe
Nov 25th, 2014
Daily NewsExpress
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has embarked on a secret plan to become the 'Fuhrer' of conservative parties across Europe in a bid to influence policy towards Russia for decades to come.

Vladimir Putin is reportedly behind a plan to rule Europe

Smarting and isolated due to international sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, Germany's biggest newspaper today published details of the Kremlin plot in which Putin seeks to hold sway over a continent currently aligned against him.

German intelligence sources claim the country's only mildly-eurosceptic party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), is being wooed by Russian agents as part of the campaign "to construct a network of right-wing populism in western Europe."

According to BILD, Moscow's Centre for Strategic Communications has drafted the blueprint for the covert operation under the title: "Putin: the new leader of international conservatism". 

It is unclear whether the UK, currently home to thousands of Russian exiles, features in his grand plan

Part of the Kremlin strategy includes acquiring gold dealerships through front companies to support parties friendly to it.

European Parliament to Postpone Palestine Recognition Vote
Nov 25th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

ADL Expresses Concern Over 7 - Month Iran Talks Extension
Nov 25th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

 In response to the announcement that negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran is to be extended for an additional seven months, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today (Tuesday) voiced concern that the extension will “reward Iran’s delaying tactics” and called for the establishment of a definitive expiration date to the diplomatic process.

Barry Curtiss-Lusher, ADL National Chair, and Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director issued a statement which read, "We are concerned this extension, now for another seven months, will lead to the interim arrangements of November 2013 becoming the new, long-term status quo and keep alive the threat of Iran developing nuclear weapons. It also serves to reward Iran’s delaying tactics with the ongoing release of previously restricted assets.

As the world powers continue to engage with Iran to resolve the nuclear issue, there is a risk that the ongoing talks will give legitimacy to Iran despite its extremist policies, sponsorship of terrorist organizations and ongoing gross violations of human rights."

'I'm Among the First Swedes With a Microchip'
Nov 25th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy News Watch
Uncategorized

Sweden has a global reputation as a leader in developing innovative technologies. But will a trend for inserting microchips in the human body catch on? The Local spoke to one of the first Swedes to choose an implant to unlock her office door.

Emilott Lantz, 25, from Umeå in northern Sweden, got a microchip inserted into her hand last week. 

She became a guinea pig during Sime 2014 in Stockholm – a conference about digitalism, the internet, and the future. In line with the goals of the event, participants were offered to get a microchip fitted for free – an opportunity Lantz jumped at.

“I don’t feel as though this is the future – this is the present. To me, it’s weird that we haven’t seen this sooner,” she tells The Local.

There is evidence that the number of chip-wearers in Sweden is growing rapidly. 

"This has very much been an underground phenomenon up until now, but there are perhaps a 100 people with the chip in Sweden," says Hannes Sjöblad from the Swedish biohackers group BioNyfiken. 

In the last month alone 50 people from the group underwent the procedure. 

The technology has previously been used for key tags or chips in our pets’ necks to let them through cat flaps. What is relatively new is inserting the chip in human hands.

The idea is that instead of carrying keys or remembering pins or passwords for our phones or doors, people fitted with microchips can use them to unlock rooms or lockers, by placing their hand against a machine that reads the information stored in the chip.

It was the appeal of minimizing the number of keys she needed to carry around that was the deciding factor for Lantz.

But her decision to go through with the procedure has brought mixed reactions from her friends and family, some saying she’s been foolish while others argue it’s a cool idea.

“The technology isn’t new but the subject becomes sensitive just because it’s in the human body,” she says.

The chip, which is the size of a grain of rice, has been designed to stay in Lantz’s hand for the rest of her life.

“I’m not surprised that people think it’s a big deal – it’s not that common yet, but I think it will be. We’re already modifying our bodies, why should this be different?” 

Lantz first came in contact with the idea while attending the conference Geek Girl Meetups last year, where she heard speaker Carin Ism talk about transhumanism. 

Transhumanism is a movement that explores science and technology innovations and their relationship to humanity. Its goal is to challenge humanity by using emerging technologies that enable humans to go beyond their current limitations.

“I’m super stoked to have had this done – I can’t wait for the property agent to get back to me about letting me into the system so that I can use my chip instead of my keys to get into the office,” says Lantz.

BioNyfiken's Hannes Sjöblad says it makes sense that Sweden is starting to embrace the technology.

"There's a reason that this is happening in Sweden first and not anywhere else. Swedes have a proven track record of being very early adapters of new technologies and the current mood is very conductive to this type of experimenting," he says.

Lantz adds: “besides having a chip in my hand, I’m a pretty normal person."