Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

World on Brink of Oil Price War As OPEC Set to Keep Pumping
Nov 27th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Telegraph
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Saudi oil minister suggests Opec oil cartel would keep its production ceiling at 30m barrels per day

Some Opec members want producers outside the cartel to shoulder some of the responsibility for balancing the oil market by essentially cutting their output Photo: AP

U.S. Army Denies Deployment of Tanks to Europe Linked With Ukrainian Crisis
Nov 27th, 2014
Daily NewsSputnik News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

According to a US Army document obtained by Sputnik, plans to deploy any heavy armor vehicles and equipment in the Baltic states or Poland would involve close coordination and consultation between the US and these countries.

7th Army Joint Multinational Training Command

US Plans to Deploy 150 Tanks in Eastern Europe

MOSCOW, Alexander Mosesov — The deployment of additional US military equipment, including tanks, to Europe is in line with the Operation Atlantic Resolve and is not connected with the geopolitical tensions in Ukraine and Eastern Europe as previously reported, a US Army spokesperson told Sputnik Wednesday.

"This [military equipment set increase] ties with the Operation Atlantic Resolve, this operation continues through 2015, we're looking at the best way to support the operation in future… I think what happened is there was some confusion," Lt. Col. Alayne Conway told Sputnik News Agency, commenting on the media reports earlier this week mentioning an alleged increase of US military presence in Eastern Europe amid the developments in Ukraine and in Eastern Europe in general.

"Right now there's a brigade… that's working with the Baltic nations in Poland and so there's a plan to rotate these units every few months… There are tanks there… he [Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, Commander of the US Army in Europe] talked about the positioning of additional equipment… that equipment includes tanks and trucks," the US Army spokesperson added.

US to Move Tanks to Poland, Romania, or Baltics: Defense Department

Conway told Sputnik that the US Army specified the unit that is stationed in Europe now (1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division) in August 2014 and that Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges only considered "increasing the equipment for the rotating forces which gives them more capability — this facilitates the relationships we have with the host nation forces in a firm demonstration of US commitment to NATO."

According to a US Army document obtained by Sputnik, "any plans to preposition heavy armor vehicles and equipment in the Baltics or Poland would involve close coordination and consultation between the US and the host countries."

US Provides Only Non-Lethal Aid to Ukraine: Defense Department

US Operation Atlantic Resolve comprises all US efforts to support their NATO allies and partners in Europe.

There are currently signs of increased US presence in Eastern Europe as NATO has stepped up its military activities near the Russian border, including in the Black Sea and the Baltic region. In particular, the US-led alliance sent additional warships to the Black Sea and bolstered air patrolling missions over the Baltic states.

Turkey Provides Hamas With New Headquarters
Nov 27th, 2014
Daily NewsIsrael Today
Categories: The Nation Of Israel

The Hamas terrorist organization has found a new best friend in the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and has decided to move its international headquarters from war-torn Damascus to Istanbul.

Israel has expressed a certain degree of shock that a NATO-member like Turkey will now host and facilitate a recognized terrorist organization. But all appeals from Jerusalem have been ignored by Erdogan.

Already, the Turkish government’s decision is having a negative impact on the region. Israeli security forces this week arrested 30 Hamas-linked terrorists who were planning a series of large-scale attacks on Jerusalem. The cell received its instructions and funding from Hamas offices in Turkey.

In communications with NATO headquarters in Brussels, Israel said that it was incomprehensible for a member of the international military alliance to not only maintain ties to a group like Hamas, but to actually facilitate its activities. But Erdogan is a long-time friend of Hamas’ parent movement, the Muslim Brotherhood.

Once close ties between Israel and Turkey took a nosedive in mid–2010 when Israeli commandoes raided a Turkish-led flotilla attempting to break the maritime blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. While commandeering the lead ship, the Mavi Marmara, Israeli troops were attacked, leading to a battle that left nine Turkish nationals dead.

Erdogan accused Israel of piracy, and diplomatic relations between the two nations were drastically reduced.

Special Report: How China's Shadowy Agency is Working to Absorb Taiwan
Nov 27th, 2014
Daily NewsReuters
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Pro-China activist Chang An-le, also known as 'White Wolf,' answers a question during an interview with Reuters in Taipei.

Ever since a civil war split the two sides more than 60 years ago, China has viewed Taiwan as a renegade province that needs to be absorbed into the mainland. To that end, the legion of Taiwanese businessmen working in China is a beachhead.

 In June, hundreds of those businessmen gathered in a hotel ballroom in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. They were there to toast the new head of a local Taiwan merchants’ association. They sipped baijiu liquor and ate seafood as a troupe performed a traditional lion dance for good luck. An honored guest, senior Communist Party official Li Jiafan, stood to deliver congratulations and a message.

“I urge our Taiwanese friends to continue to work hard in your fields to contribute to the realization of the Chinese dream as soon as possible,” said Li, using a nationalist slogan President Xi Jinping has popularized. “The Chinese dream is also the dream of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait – our dream of reunification.”

Li, who ended his speech to beating drums and loud applause, is a department chief in the Shenzhen arm of the United Front Work Department, an organ of the Communist Party’s Central Committee. Its mission: to spread China’s influence by ultimately gaining control over a range of groups not affiliated with the party and that are often outside the mainland.

United Front documents reviewed by Reuters, including annual reports, instructional handbooks and internal newsletters, as well as interviews with Chinese and Taiwanese officials reveal the extent to which the agency is engaged in a concerted campaign to thwart any move toward greater independence by Taiwan and ultimately swallow up the self-ruled island of 23 million.

The United Front’s 2013 annual work report for the Chinese province of Zhejiang, for instance, includes the number of Taiwanese living in the province, the number of businesses they run as well as an entry on background checks that have been conducted on the Taiwanese community in the province, an entrepreneurial hub near Shanghai.

The United Front hasn’t confined itself to the mainland. It is targeting academics, students, war veterans, doctors and local leaders in Taiwan in an attempt to soften opposition to the Communist Party and ultimately build support for unification. The 2013 work report, reviewed by Reuters, includes details of a program to bring Taiwanese students and military veterans on visits to the mainland.

INFLUENCING POLITICS

Through the United Front and other Chinese state bodies like the Taiwan Affairs Office, which is responsible for implementing policies toward Taiwan on issues including trade and transport, Beijing has also tried to influence politics on the island, in part by helping mobilize Taiwanese businessmen on the mainland.

Many of them are heading back home this weekend to vote in mayoral elections that are being viewed as a barometer of support for Taiwan’s ruling Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT), which favors closer ties with China than does the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). A large number of those businessmen, who a senior KMT source said will largely vote for the party, will be flying on deeply discounted airfares being offered by Chinese and Taiwanese airline companies.

“The goal is simple – peaceful unification,” said a person with ties to the Chinese leadership in Beijing. Soft power, not armed force, is the strategy. “To attack the heart is the best. To attack a [walled] city is the worst,” the source said, quoting Sun Tzu’s “Art of War.”

Questions sent by fax to the Beijing office of the United Front Work Department were not answered. The Chinese government's Taiwan Affairs Office referred Reuters to a statement on its website saying it does not comment on elections on “the island.”

What’s happening in Taiwan is part of a broader effort by Beijing to bolster its control over restive territories on its periphery.

 The United Front has long been active in Hong Kong, which is ruled under the “one country, two systems” model that enshrines a wide range of personal freedoms for its residents and which China’s leaders have proposed as a model for Taiwan. Reuters reported in July that United Front operations in Hong Kong had shifted from the backroom courting of academics and businessmen to the streets, where new groups of pro-Beijing agitators were attempting to silence critics of China.

 “What the United Front is doing to Taiwan now is the same as what it has been doing in Hong Kong since the 1980s – a quiet, slow but extensive penetration," said Sonny Lo, a professor at the Hong Kong Institute of Education and author of a book on China's covert control of the city.

Unlike Hong Kong, Taiwan is a fully democratic entity. It has an army but does not have membership in the United Nations, and China has refused to rule out the use of force to gain control of the island.

Since the KMT won the presidential election in 2008, cross-Strait ties have been warmer than ever. More than 20 trade deals, including the establishment of the first direct flights between Taiwan and the mainland, have been inked. No trade agreements were signed under the previous DPP-led administration. Earlier this year, Chinese and Taiwanese officials held their first official meeting since 1949.

Taiwan’s economy has become increasingly intertwined with China’s. About 40 percent of Taiwan’s exports are to China and some key sectors like technology have much of their manufacturing on the mainland. The world’s biggest electronic components maker, Foxconn Technology Group ,, which assembles Apple Inc’s iPhones, has many of its plants in China.

Taiwan presidential spokesperson Ma Weikuo said Taiwanese heading home to vote were exercising their right as citizens. “It is normal that Taiwanese businessmen living in Hong Kong, Macau, mainland China, Europe, Japan and other parts of the world want to return to Taiwan to vote,” she said.

PRIZED HONOR

The United Front’s annual work reports and handbooks provide a window into the agency’s methods. It has at least 100 offices in Zhejiang. The 2013 work report said 30,000 Taiwanese businesspeople and their families were living in the province and 6,800 Taiwanese enterprises had operations there at the end of 2012.

United Front officials reported creating a more friendly business environment by helping to smooth investment problems and resolve legal disputes for resident Taiwanese. In the Zhejiang city of Ningbo, one United Front office said it spent 110,000 yuan (about $18,000) to buy life and traffic accident insurance for 137 Taiwanese businessmen.

Under a “three must visit” system in effect across the mainland, United Front officials are instructed to visit Taiwanese businesspeople and their families during traditional holidays, when a family member is ill and when someone is facing economic troubles.

“They help with our business as well as little problems in daily life such as car accidents, illness and schooling for kids," said a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin, who works in the property sector in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province.

One enticement China has dangled in front of the Taiwanese business community residing on the mainland, is provincial and municipal membership in the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which serves as an advisor to the government. It is a prized honor for businessmen whose livelihoods are directly dependent on the mainland. The position affords access to government officials and a form of protection in a country that lacks an independent judicial system.

“There will be a force that helps protect your business on the mainland,” said Lin. “They won’t make trouble if you are a CPPCC member.”

Holding CPPCC membership is a violation of Taiwanese law that bars citizens from taking positions in state or party bodies in China. It is, however, legal to be an honorary, non-voting CPPCC member. The Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland (ATIEM), which lists some 130 Taiwanese business associations across China as members, met with Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou in December 2012 to try changing that.

Their bid to persuade him to allow Taiwanese citizens to become full-fledged CPPCC members ultimately failed. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council announced that same month that Taiwanese could not sit on the CPPCC.

Earlier in 2012, Taiwan’s National Security Bureau had handed a list of 169 Taiwanese suspected of being CPPCC members to the island’s Mainland Affairs Council, which implements policy toward China on a wide array of issues including business, shipping and travel. The council whittled the list down to 32. Ultimately, no one was punished after Taiwanese authorities determined those named were all either honorary CPPCC members or weren’t holders of a Taiwanese passport.

FAR-REACHING DEALS

Taiwanese working on the mainland have actively lobbied for increased trade ties with China. ATIEM, the business lobby, lists some of Taiwan’s largest companies as members on its website. Several of the group’s founding members urged the Taiwanese government to sign far-reaching deals with China, arguing it would boost Taiwanese business on the mainland. They held meetings with Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council to help lay the groundwork, a senior member of the organization told Reuters.

Their efforts were rewarded when Taiwan signed trade deals in 2008 that for the first time allowed direct flights, shipping and mail links with the mainland.

ATIEM hasn’t always been on the winning side. In March, students occupied the Taiwan legislature in a bid to block passage of a deal that would have allowed for freer trade with China. The protests, dubbed the Sunflower Movement, fed off fears the pact would give China greater sway over Taiwan. The protest ended when parliament agreed to suspend a review of the bill.

ATIEM did not respond to questions sent by email.

Some Taiwanese officials warn against United Front encroachment. In late September, the head of Taiwan’s Overseas Community Affairs Council, which handles matters related to citizens living overseas, told a parliamentary committee that the United Front was stepping up work among Taiwanese business leaders and younger Taiwanese on the mainland and abroad.

“They are drawing the Taiwanese who are more receptive to China over to their side, exerting pressure on Taiwan’s government and affecting its mainland policies,” Alexander Huang, a former vice chairman of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, which is responsible for ties with China, told Reuters. He didn’t cite specific examples.

Mainland Affairs Council spokesperson Wu Mei-hung said United Front activity shouldn’t be interpreted in an “overly negative way.”

“China has some political intentions,” she said. “But Taiwan has its own advantages in terms of systems, core values and soft power.  All of these, we hope, will impact China via exchanges.”

The ruling KMT dismisses charges from the opposition DPP that it is benefitting from United Front activity. Kuei Hung-cheng, the KMT’s director of China affairs, acknowledged the close relationship between Taiwanese businessmen on the mainland and the Chinese authorities, but said that did not mean Beijing held sway over the party. “The KMT will not be influenced or controled by the Chinese Communist Party. That is not possible,” he said.

A MAGIC TOOL

The United Front is a legacy of the earliest days of Leninist communist revolutionary theory. China’s version of the United Front, dubbed a “magic tool” on the agency’s own website, helped the Communist Party become established on the mainland and ultimately prevail in a civil war that forced Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang (KMT) to retreat to Taiwan in 1949. The United Front has as its primary goal the promotion of “motherland unification” and blocking of “secession.”

A 2007 handbook for United Front workers in Beijing instructs cadres to “unite neutral forces in order to divide and attack enemies.” It also directs them to “make friends extensively and deeply with representatives from all sectors” in Taiwan and abroad to “form a mighty troop of patriots.”

A senior Taiwanese defense official, who did not want to be named, referred to the United Front’s tactics as a “war.” The ultimate goal was “to overturn the Republic of China,” he said, using Taiwan’s official name.

The front’s activities haven’t been confined to harnessing China-friendly forces. The southern Taiwanese city of Tainan, which is a bastion of the pro-independence DPP, has been singled out. One group in the city that has gotten special treatment is doctors, who have been invited on trips to the mainland, according to a 2011 work report from an organ associated with the United Front.

The visits had "successfully enhanced identification with the motherland among some pro-green Taiwanese," the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League, a nominally independent political group that is permitted to operate by the Communist Party, wrote in its report. Green is the color associated with the opposition DPP.

Some politicians in Taiwan unabashedly favor unification. Among them is Chang An-lo, the head of a pro-unification party. Known as the White Wolf, Chang was once a leader in a triad group, a traditional Chinese criminal syndicate, called the Bamboo Union. He lived for a decade in China as a fugitive from the law in Taiwan but ultimately was never tried. He also spent ten years behind bars in the U.S. on drug-smuggling charges.

Sitting in his office in Taipei dressed in a white jacket and black shirt, Chang says he and his party have regular contact with Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office and he has “friends in the United Front.” The Chinese government, he says, has provided all-expenses paid trips for members of his party to the mainland. “Getting carrots from China is better than getting sticks,” he says.

UNSPOKEN CONSENT

The United Front and the Taiwan Affairs Office are also deeply involved in an activity that in Communist China is strictly prohibited: democratic electoral politics.

Taiwanese businessmen based in Shenzhen and Shanghai told Reuters they have been encouraged by United Front officials to head home to vote in past elections.

This year, the stakes are high for Beijing. The Democratic Progressive Party champions independence. The ruling KMT government backs a status quo position of “no unification, no independence, no war.”

Election airlifts helped the KMT to victory in 2008 and 2012. Close to a quarter million Taiwanese residents on the mainland headed home to vote in the 2012 presidential election, according to a senior member of the ruling party who estimates there are about one million Taiwanese working and living in China. As many as 80 percent voted for KMT leader Ma, who won a second term promising closer ties with Beijing, the official said, citing an internal survey.

This year, the airlift may not be enough to turn the tide in the most important mayoral run-off – in Taipei. Final opinion polls published by Taiwan’s leading media outlets showed the KMT’s candidate trailing an independent by 11.5 to 18 points. A victory for the independent would mark the first time in 16 years that the KMT has not ruled the capital.

But Beijing isn’t giving up. More than a dozen airlines, including state-owned Air China and Taiwan’s largest carrier China Airlines, have agreed to provide discounted flights from the mainland to Taiwan at the end of November, according to a notice sent to members by ATIEM. The Beijing-based organization lists the Chinese minister in charge of the Taiwan Affairs Office as an honorary chairman on its website.

A senior official at Taiwan’s China Airlines told Reuters that “with tickets selling at 50 percent off, airlines will incur losses.” But the carrier would nevertheless “100 percent meet the demand from Taiwanese businessmen.”

China Airlines spokesman Jeffrey Kuo said the company was offering “promotional tickets for all flights” because November was “the low season.” Air China did not respond to questions sent by fax and email to its Beijing office.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said it was aware that Taiwanese businessmen wanted to vote in the elections. ATIEM had negotiated with airline companies to allow them to fly home, it said.

He-tai Chen, president of the Taiwan Merchant Association in Shenzhen, said the Taiwanese business community on the mainland was “China's best public relations tool.”

“There are 7 to 8 votes in my family,” he said. “And am I not the one who decides to whom those votes go?”

The United Front has also been working to penetrate other layers of Taiwanese society. As part of an operation called “Collecting Stars,” it has targeted military veterans in Taiwan, inviting them to China for visits. In May 2012, retired Taiwanese and mainland generals who were once sworn enemies met for an invitational golf tournament in Zhejiang, United Front documents show.

Outreach to students takes the form of summer camps, corporate internships and discover-your-roots tours to the mainland. Tsai Ting Yu, a 15-year-old junior high school student who joined a trip in 2013 and in 2014, said she attended classes with her mainland hosts and visited popular tourist sites, including the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.

“Before the trips, I kind of resisted the idea of China. But through the programs I got to know them better and that resistance gradually disappeared,” said Tsai.

She says she is now considering doing an undergraduate degree on the mainland.

Report: Russia Calls Syria to Resume Unity Gov
Nov 27th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: The Nation Of Israel;Contemporary Issues

Official sources in Syrian suggested to Syria’s Foreign Minister that the country return to the negotiating table in Geneva, and discuss the establishment of a unity government with the Syrian Opposition, Asaraq al-Awsat, reports, according to Russian sources.

The sources indicate that “The Russian side suggested thinking of the establishment of a third conference in Geneva.”

Report: Israel and PA Held Secret Back Channel Negotiations
Nov 27th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Yitzhak Molcho

Israel news photo:

Israel and the Palestinians held secret back-channel negotiations to achieve a "two-state solution" deal even while official US-brokered negotiations were faltering, the New Republic revealed Wednesday in a first time report. 

The secret talks began in 2010 between Yitzhak Molho, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's attorney and point man for negotiations, and a confidante of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who could not be named for security reasons. 

Veteran peace process negotiator, Dennis Ross, then special foreign policy advisor to US President Barack Obama, came in to foster the discussion. 

"Substantial progress" was apparently made toward crafting a final agreement.

According to the understandings, Israel would accept the 1949 armistice lines with mutual land swaps. In return the Palestinian Authority would be flexible in recognizing Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, with the clarification that the rights of Arab citizens in Israel would not be harmed. 

The secret negotiations also discussed the "Palestinian refugee" issue and reached creative wording acceptable to both sides. They could not, however, reach a complete understanding on Jerusalem, deciding to postpone the issue for later negotiations. 

Ross tried to make these discussions more prominent with the Obama administration in 2011 but found little success, according tot he report. The secret channel talks were not particularly interesting to Washington nor to Netanyahu and Abbas, who gave no public signs of accepting the proposal. 

As a result, Molho and his counterpart began to meet less frequently. 

However, in 2013, when US Secretary of State John Kerry began pushing for official new peace talks, Molho and his Palestinian counterpart also renewed their back channel in a European capital, meeting every few weeks. 

While the official negotiations stalled thanks to arguments, mistrust, and other distractions, the secret channel was gaining momentum. Molho and his counterpart were reconstructing their plans from 2010 and transforming it into an outline of terms for a serious final status agreement. 

Kerry, Martin Indyk, the US envoy for peace talks, and Tzipi Livni, the head Israeli negotiator, were all aware of the back channel negotiations, and were being briefed regularly on its progress. But Israeli officials began to believe that the official Palestinian negotiators had no knowledge of this back channel. 

In December 2013, the fundamental flaw of of the secret negotiations exploded: Abbas' so-called representative was holding the talks without a real mandate from the Palestinian Authority, and the concessions he had discussed did not represent the real views of the PA Chairman. 

At this time, an Israeli news article reported that during Netanyahu's previous term in office (2009–2012), Molho had a "secret Palestinian contact" with whom he exchanged messages between Abbas and Netanyahu. 

While Netanyahu's office did not comment, Abbas forcefully announced that "there is no secret channel with Netanyahu, and never was one." 

His statement raised concern in Israel, who had taken seriously the back channel talks. Abbas' subsequent detachment from the compromises made in these secret talks, which Kerry attempted to incorporate into the official negotiations, saw the fizzling out of negotiations in the spring of 2014. 

As the New Republic concluded, "“Perhaps what the Israelis considered a serious back channel, the Palestinians — including their man in the room — saw as merely an unofficial exchange of ideas." 

"Only two people can really solve the mystery, Yitzhak Molho and his negotiating counterpart. Both of them refused to comment."

Obama's Planned Surge Against ISIS Already in Trouble
Nov 27th, 2014
Daily NewsWND
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

NATO Warns That Russia Could Exert Control Over Entire Black Sea
Nov 27th, 2014
Daily NewsABC News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Photo: US General Philip Breedlove says Russia is using its military might to affect political developments inside Ukraine. (Reuters: Valentyn Ogirenko)

NATO's top military commander has warned that Russian militarisation of the annexed Crimea Peninsula could be used to exert control over the whole Black Sea.

NATO's Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, US General Philip Breedlove, has accused Russia of keeping forces in Ukraine to help separatists, and has expressed fears that Russia may be marshalling resources to push for more territory.

General Breedlove spoke during a brief visit to Kiev, where he met with top officials to discuss continued NATO assistance in Ukraine.

"The capabilities that are being installed in Crimea will bring an effect on almost the entire Black Sea," General Breedlove said.

"There's a great force there that can be exerted if it's required. Inside Ukraine we still see a large number of Russians who are involved primarily in training, advising, assisting and helping the forces of the Russian-backed forces in the East."

General Breedlove was set to meet with Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, as Kiev stirred further Russian ire by stating it hoped to join the Western security alliance.

Mr Poroshenko mooted an eventual referendum on joining NATO, and Ukraine's new pro-Western government included a desire for membership in its official program.

Russia is strongly opposed to the expansion of Western institutions in what it considers to be its backyard.

Russian deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov said Ukraine's efforts to join NATO would "lead only to further complication of the situation".

"This will not increase security for Ukraine, it will not improve the life of the Ukrainian people," he told reporters.

The Ukrainian public was never keen on NATO membership in the past but there has been a dramatic shift in opinion since Russia annexed Crimea in March, with 51 per cent backing NATO membership in a recent poll.

Kiev argued that it needed to join NATO in order to stave off alleged aggression from Moscow, which it accused of stirring the conflict in the east that has killed over 4,300 people since April.

Moscow routinely denied it played any direct role in the conflict in Ukraine.

Let the Headlines Speak
Nov 27th, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Israel 'foils Hamas cell planning Jerusalem attacks'
Israel's internal security service says it has uncovered a Hamas cell in the West Bank that was planning to carry out a series of attacks in Jerusalem. Shin Bet said it had arrested more than 30 militants who were trained abroad, and recovered weapons and explosives. They planned to kidnap Israelis and their targets for attack included a football stadium in Jerusalem and the city's light rail system, it alleged.  

Nearly 1 in 5 Households Will Celebrate Thanksgiving on Food Stamps
Nearly one in five U.S. households will celebrate Thanksgiving on food stamps this year, according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on participation in the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program.  

U.S. Adds Planes to Bolster Drive to Wipe Out ISIS
The United States is shifting more attack and surveillance aircraft from Afghanistan to the air war against the Islamic State, deepening American involvement in the conflict and presenting new challenges for the military planners who work here in central South Carolina, far from the targets they will pick for those aircraft.  

Hundreds of Thousands Without Power Due to East Coast Storm
More than 350,000 electric customers from Maine to Virginia were without power this morning, after a storm dumped a sloppy mix of rain and snow along the East Coast. New Hampshire residents experienced the heaviest level of outages, with more than 180,000 electric customers there reported without power this morning. More than 78,000 customers in Maine lost power, along with 55,000 customers in New York.  

Australia faces growing budget deficit, says report
Australia's budget deficit could expand by billions of dollars more than expected, according to a new report. Risks from economic shocks to the government's budget revenues were "weighted to the downside", said a Parliamentary Budget Office analysis. The 2014-15 budget was particularly susceptible to slower-than-forecast labour productivity growth and a weaker terms of trade, the report said.  

Ebola vaccine 'promising' say scientists after human trial
The first human trial of an experimental vaccine against Ebola suggests that it is safe and may help the immune system to combat the virus. Twenty volunteers were immunised in the United States. Scientists at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) described the results as "promising". The research is published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).  

Shots fired from Gaza at IDF patrol, tanks return fire
Shots were fired from the Gaza Strip at an IDF vehicle patrolling the border with the coastal enclave on Thursday, the military said. IDF tanks responded by firing a shell in the direction of the source of fire.  

Pope visits Turkey amid Christian-Muslim tensions
Francis will travel to Turkey this weekend amid new Muslim-Christian tensions and war next door, with Islamic State militants seizing chunks of Iraq and Syria and sending 1.6 million refugees across the border into Turkey.  

Bubonic Plague Spreading Through Madagascar
A bubonic plague outbreak in Madagascar that has seen more than 130 confirmed cases and claimed 47 lives is spreading to the island nation's capital, officials have warned.  

7.0-magnitude quake strikes off Indonesia
A 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck in the Molucca Sea off Indonesia late Wednesday night, the U.S. Geological Survey said.  

Young sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un takes senior party post
The younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has assumed a senior position in the ruling Workers' Party, state media reported on Thursday, consolidating a third generation of Kim family rule in the secretive state.  

Protests ease as snow falls on Ferguson
Calm was prevailing Wednesday as protesters turned out in fewer numbers on a snowy third night of demonstrations over the police shooting of an unarmed black teen.  

Nato commander warns Russia could control whole Black Sea
Nato's top military commander, Gen Philip Breedlove, has warned that Russian "militarisation" of the annexed Crimea Peninsula could be used to exert control over the whole Black Sea. Speaking in Kiev, Gen Breedlove said Russian military assets being installed in Crimea would have an effect on "almost the entire Black Sea".  

Egypt court sends 78 youths to jail for pro-Morsi protests
A court in Egypt has sentenced 78 youth to up to five years in prison for protesting with the Muslim Brotherhood. The boys, from 13 to 17 years old, joined rallies calling for the return of ousted President Mohammed Morsi.  

Syria conflict: Raqqa air strikes death toll rises
Almost 100 people are now believed to have died in a series of government air strikes on the Islamic State-held city of Raqqa on Tuesday, activists say. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 52 civilians were killed. One activist from Raqqa told the BBC the only hospital still functioning in the city was finding it difficult to cope with the dozens of wounded.  

Europeans debate common stand on Palestine
Frustrated by deadlock in the Middle East peace process, a growing number of European leaders and lawmakers are calling for unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.  

OPEC heading for no output cut despite oil price plunge
OPEC Gulf oil producers will not propose an output cut on Thursday, reducing the likelihood of joint action by OPEC to prop up prices that have sunk by a third since June.  

Two teen female bombers kill more than 40 in Nigeria
The teenage girls entered the busy marketplace separately Tuesday, their vests of explosives hidden beneath their full hijabs.  

Anti - ISIS Coalition to Meet Next Week in Brussels
Nov 27th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The Foreign Ministers of the countries involved in the coalition against the “Islamic State” (ISIS) terrorist organization will meet next week for the first time in Brussels, Belgium.

During the meeting, which will be run by US Secretary of State, John Kerry, the ministers will be briefed on developments in the fight against the organization and will discuss the manner in which the coalition members may possibly join forces in the future. 

A Tidal Wave of Gold Repatriations Could be Unleashed
Nov 27th, 2014
Daily NewsSprott Money
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary