Weekly News Archive

Broadcast Notes

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CHRISTIAN MEDIA
WORLDWATCH

MONDAY MAY 14, 2012

News Alert: Ron Paul ends his hunt for votes

Rep. Ron Paul of Texas said Monday he will not compete in primaries in any of the states that have not yet voted - essentially confirming Mitt Romney will win the Republican presidential nomination.
Mr. Paul said he will continue to work for delegates in states that have already voted and where the process of delegate-selection is playing out. He said that’s a way to make his voice heard at the nominating convention in Tampa, Florida, in August.
“Moving forward, however, we will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted,” Mr. Paul said. “Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have.”
He did encourage his supporters to still turn out and vote.

Source:     washingtontimes.com  MORE

More than 60 nuclear experts at work building Iranian nuclear bomb

The names and addresses of 60 Iranian experts employed by 11 different Iranian agencies under the control of the Iranian Defense Ministry were revealed Saturday, May 12, by the main Iranian opposition Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI). This is the first time an extensive, highly secret, central organizational structure dedicated to building a nuclear weapon has been revealed in detail – specifically the Ministry of Defense under the command of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which also runs the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.
The information updated to April 2012 was provided by “sources within the Iranian regime’s agencies, including military institutions.”
It contradicts the fundamental conclusion reached by the US and five world powers and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - that Iran’s nuclear program is not run by a single organization - on the basis of which they entered into negotiation with Tehran. Most of all, it refutes another key argument heard in the West that Iran has not yet decided to actually build a weapon because Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei has said it would be a “sin.”
The Mujahedin-e Khalq, which Tehran accuses of collaborating with US and Israeli intelligence to assassinate its nuclear scientists, clearly timed the publication of its findings for 11 days before the Six Powers were due to hold a second round of nuclear talks with Iran in Baghdad on May 23, DEBKAfile’s intelligence and Iranian sources report . . . .
The exhaustively detailed Mujahedin-e Khalq document presents a completely new picture of a well-advanced and centralized nuclear weapons program, quite different from the one broadcast by the US and its fellow nuclear negotiators - and even by some Israeli circles.
Refuting the belief Iran has not actually started building a nuclear warhead or bomb, the Iranian opposition group provides chapter and verse to demonstrate that Iran is way past the decision and flying ahead at top speed on its manufacture.
The project is revealed to be working out of the “headquarters of the Iranian Defense Ministry’s SPND (New Defense Research Organization) at the Mojdeh site in the western part of Malek Ashtar University in the Lavizan region.”
(This university was first exposed in 2009 along with its three campuses in Tehran, Isfahan and Urma.)
Where the document breaks startling new ground is in detailing the SPND’s 7 sub-sections, “each of which conducts research and tests in a specific field:”
(1) Working on the main element for the bomb, i.e. enriched uranium and fissile material.
(2) Shaping and molding the required material, including metal elements, to build a warhead.
(3) Producing metals required for building a nuclear warhead.
(4) Producing high-explosive material used to detonate a nuclear bomb.
(5) Conducting research on advanced chemical material.
(6) Blue prints and carrying out electronic calculations required for building a nuclear warhead.
(7) Laser activities applicable in the nuclear field.
To each sub-division, the Mujahedin-e Khalq document has attached diagrams of its internal structure plus the full names and addresses of its heads, officers, researchers and the liaison [officers] among the departments. Some are provided with their landline and cell phone numbers. The information is said be updated to April 2012.
In response to these revelations, some official American sources commented that they could not be confirmed and were skeptical about the document’s credibility. Our intelligence sources note that all of this Iranian group’s previous disclosures in the past nine years have proved accurate.

Source:     debka.com  MORE

Note: see also Drawing Focuses On Iran's Nuke Work - A drawing provided to The Associated Press is said to come from inside an Iranian military site at Parchin and to show a structure used in secret work on nuclear arms ... The official who shared the image demanded that he and his nation be not named in exchange for providing the classified information  LINK

Tripoli clashes after direct orders from Assad to Lebanese army

Syrian ruler Bashar Assad is no longer relying on Iranian agents in Lebanon and Hizballah to lead the covert war against his Western and Arab foes. DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose that he is now issuing direct instructions to the Lebanese army (56,000 men) on their roles in operations for suppressing the Syrian uprising.
The immediate result was a flare-up of armed hostilities in the mixed northern Lebanese city of Tripoli. Since Saturday, May 12, the various armed groups and sects have been at each other’s throats: the local Alawites who side with the Syrian ruler and the Lebanese Army on the one side, but separate, and Sunni groups led by former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, his al-Mustaqbal and Salafite militias, on the other.
The Lebanese army is keeping the numbers of fatalities quiet, admitting to only three, hoping to keep the unrest in the sectarian war-prone country under control. But Monday, one person was killed and 10 injured in early morning fighting.
Our military sources report that the clashes in Tripoli are an offshoot of the six-month bloody contest between Assad’s tanks and rebel forces in the Syrian city of Homs. Lebanese Sunni elements have been pumping fighters, arms, money, medicines and food to beleaguered rebel forces in Homs.
Saad Hariri, a Sunni leader, has sworn to topple Assad whose agents assassinated his father, the former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, in 2005. His al-Mustaqbal group has established a forward command in Tripoli to provide the Syrian rebels with logistical backing.
Then, there are the Salafist militias commanded by Sheikh Shadi al-Mawlawi which aid Muslim Brotherhood and al Qaeda elements in Syria. They distribute the arms, ammunition, money and inside intelligence supplied them by Saudi and Qatari security agencies.
To cut the Syrian rebels’ lifeline at [its] source, the Syrian General Staff in Damascus last week sent the Lebanese Chief of Staff General Jean Kahwagi a crude ultimatum: Take care of the Syrian rebels’ helpers in Tripoli, or else the Syrian army will enter Lebanon and do the job itself.
In response, the Lebanese General Security Department began rounding up key Sunni figures actively supporting Syrian rebels. Saturday, the Salafist sheikh al-Mawlawi was placed in custody on charges of “terrorist operations.”
The Sunni militias, aware that the Lebanese security officers had acted on orders from Damascus rather than Beirut, then turned on Assad’s Alawite sympathizers in Tripoli [to] force an end to the arrests and the release of detainees.
Sunday, Hariri’s outfit demanded that Prime Minister Nabil Miqati resign for failing to stop the bloodshed in Tripoli – and indirectly implying that he must stop playing ball with Damascus. He rejected [Miqati’s] statement that a decision was taken by [the] national government in Beirut “not to provide political cover for any security violator in the northern city of Tripoli.”
To stem the flow of war materiel to the rebels, Assad’s border units are also subjecting Lebanese border villages to frequent cross-border shelling, supported on the other side by Hizballah under joint Syrian command. [no further content]

Source:     debka.com  LINK

Note: see also Lebanese Army Imposes Tenuous Calm In Tripoli  LINK

[Note: Also see Sectarian Clashes Rock Lebanese City ... 3 Killed in today's News Briefs section.]

Hizballah rushes arms to Syria ... Iran sets up security cameras in Damascus

The shocking impact of the twin explosions which killed 55 people and injured almost 400 in Damascus Thursday, May 10, galvanized Bashar Assad’s allies, starting with Iran, into frenetic activity. Within hours, Tehran had ordered its Lebanese proxy Hizballah to open up its arms stores and run quantities of weapons and military equipment across the border to the Syrian army – a striking reversal of the routine direction of arms supplies. Thursday night, Washington quietly asked Lebanese President Michel Suleiman to put a stop to the traffic.
While the Syrian opposition and Assad regime blamed each other – or al Qaeda - for the worst attack Damascus has seen in the 14-month uprising, it was obvious to both that it must have been the work of a major and very professional undercover agency.
In Tehran, Moscow and Beirut, the scale of the bombing attacks which leveled a key Syrian security headquarters was judged a sharp escalation in the offensive for President Assad’s overthrow - more intense even than the NATO campaign which last year removed the Libyan ruler Muammar Qaddafi.
DEBKAfile’s sources in Moscow say the event has consequently cast a dark shadow over relations between the Obama administration and Vladimir Putin at the outset of his third term as Russian president.
This week, Putin pointedly declined to attend the G-8 summit of world leaders meeting next week at the US presidential retreat of Camp David. He decided to send Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev over in his place.
The Russian president has three large bones to pick with Washington: (a) He suspects American hands of stirring up opposition demonstrations against him during his election campaign; (b) He is flat against the US missile shield going up in Europe and the Middle East to intercept Iran’s ballistic missiles; and (c) He is solidly behind the Assad regime which he accuses the US of seeking to overthrow.
In its message to Beirut, the US reminded the Lebanese president that the transfer of war materials by Hizballah to Syria was a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended the 2006 Lebanon war between the Lebanese Shiite terrorist group and Israel. Arms transfers between Syria and Lebanon were banned in both directions. But this prohibition was never upheld. Regular arms consignments have been crossing into Lebanon for Hizballah from and via Syria for the past six years without any interference by the United Nations force UNIFIL stationed in South Lebanon.
Washington knows perfectly well that no one in Lebanon will stop the arms flow to Syria either. But the request to President Suleiman is intended to lay the ground for expanded international and US intervention in the Syrian conflict.
Another step Tehran took straight after the Damascus bombings to firm up the Assad regime was to start organizing a network of closed circuit security cameras to be installed in all parts of Damascus and its exits and entries for three functions:
(1) Opponents of the regime will have less freedom of movement in the capital;
(2) The army and security forces can economize on manpower for securing the city. Patrols will fan out after cameras register hostile or suspicion movements.
(3) Syrian and allied intelligence services can keep track of UN monitors’ movements. The UN mission is regarded by Syria, Iran and Russia as “the eyes and ears of the West.” [no further content]

Source:     debka.com  LINK

Press Release: New Potential Dangers of Genetically Modified Foods Found

The potential dangers of Genetically Modified Foods have been well documented in recent years. However, recent medical research combined with new documentation posted at health and wellness portal BeWellBuzz.com has discovered a new batch of potentially harmful side-effects which GMO’s transfer to the human body.
Genetically modified foods (GMO) are those foods that are primarily derived from genetically modified organisms. These genetically derived organisms have undergone specific changes to their DNA using genetic engineering techniques that exploit the natural forms of gene transfer. Scientists at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have warned about potential health problems associated with GMO’s as far back as the early 1990’s. According to documents released from a lawsuit, the scientific consensus at the agency was that GMO foods were inherently dangerous, and might create hard-to-detect allergies, poisons, gene transfer to gut bacteria, new diseases, and nutritional problems.
"The GM soybean and corn varieties used in the feeding trials 'constitute 83 percent of the commercialized GMOs' that are currently consumed by billions of people,” stated a research paper documented by the Institute for Responsible Technology. “While the findings may have serious ramifications for the human population, the authors demonstrate how a multitude of GMO-related health problems could easily pass undetected through the superficial and largely incompetent safety assessments that are used around the world."
In recent months, doctors have [decided] to prescribe GM-free diets to their patients. According to Dr. Amy Dean, a Michigan internal medicine specialist, and board member of AAEM, “I strongly recommend patients eat strictly non-genetically modified foods.” Ohio allergist Dr. John Boyles continues to go on the record about the dangers of GMO foods by stating, “I used to test for soy allergies all the time, but now that soy is genetically engineered, it is so dangerous that I tell people never to eat it.”
After reviewing more than 600 scientific journals, world renowned biologist Pushpa M. Bhargava concluded that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are a major contributor to the sharply deteriorating health of Americans. American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) has been warning [about] use of GM foods and how these genetically modified foods are a threat to human health. However, the production and sale of GMO’s continues and it is left to consumers to decide whether it is suitable for consumption. [no further content, emphasis added]

Source:     prweb.com  LINK

[Note: To learn more about the top 10 foods which are being produced through GM techniques, see LINK to the article posted at BeWellBuzz.com]

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NEWS BRIEFS
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Followup story
Abbas warns of 'national disaster' over hunger strikers

RAMALLAH -- Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas warned on Sunday of a "national disaster" if any of the 1,550 Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails were to die. Abbas spoke as two of the hunger strikers, Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahla, entered their 75th day without eating, and after international rights groups and governments said they were concerned that prisoners could die if they continued to refuse food. "The situation of the prisoners is extremely dangerous," Abbas told a meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's executive committee. "Some of them face real harm, and that would be a national disaster that no one can tolerate. I hope and pray to God that no one gets hurt because it would be a major disaster." Diab and Halahla are specifically protesting their jailing by Israeli authorities without charge under a procedure known as administrative detention. The broader hunger strike by around 1,550 Palestinian prisoners is intended to pressure Israeli prison authorities to end the use of solitary confinement and ease a wide range of restrictions, including on family visits and prisoner education. The protest has attracted widespread support throughout the Palestinian territories, and Abbas said he had raised the issue in discussions with Israeli negotiator Yitzhak Molcho and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. "These prisoners have a right to justice, and we are talking about the conditions of detention and the prison conditions that Israel is trying to ignore," Abbas said. "The issue of the prisoners is the most important issue we're working on these days." Palestinian sources say negotiations are under way with Israeli representatives on a package of measures to ease conditions for the 4,700 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.  MORE

Note: see News Update: Hunger Strikers Ink Deal With Israel To End Mass Fast  LINK

Abbas, Netanyahu Issue Joint Statement on Peace

Palestine and Israel issued a rare joint statement May 12, which said they were committed to peace after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dispatched an envoy to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The envoy carried a letter from Netanyahu replying to one he received last month from Abbas, in which the Palestinian leader stated his grievances over the collapse of peace talks in 2010 and laid out his parameters for a resumption of negotiations. Details of Netanyahu’s letter were not released, but Israeli officials said last week that they did not expect him to accept a key Palestinian demand to halt all settlement building in the occupied territories before reopening any talks . . . Few diplomats expect any breakthrough ahead of the United States presidential elections in November; however, the surprise formation of a national unity government in Israel last week has provided a slight flicker of hope . . . The head of Kadima, Shaul Mofaz, has long blamed Netanyahu for the failure of the peace talks and told reporters last week that entering new negotiations “was an iron condition for forming the unity government.”  MORE

Rep Ron Paul: 'It will Lead to War'
Statement on H.R.4133, The US-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act of 2012 ... It more likely will lead to war against Syria, Iran, or both

Mr. Speaker: I rise in opposition to HR 4133, the United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act, which unfortunately is another piece of one-sided and counter-productive foreign policy legislation. This bill's real intent seems to be more saber-rattling against Iran and Syria, and it undermines US diplomatic efforts by making clear that the US is not an honest broker seeking peace for the Middle East. The bill calls for the United States to significantly increase our provision of sophisticated weaponry to Israel, and states that it is to be US policy to "help Israel preserve its qualitative military edge" in the region. While I absolutely believe that Israel - and any other nation - should be free to determine for itself what is necessary for its national security, I do not believe that those decisions should be underwritten by US taxpayers and backed up by the US military. This bill states that it is the policy of the United States to "reaffirm the enduring commitment of the United States to the security of the State of Israel as a Jewish state." However, according to our Constitution the policy of the United States government should be to protect the security of the United States, not to guarantee the religious, ethnic, or cultural composition of a foreign country. In fact, our own Constitution prohibits the establishment of any particular religion in the US. More than 20 years after the reason for NATO's existence – the Warsaw Pact – has disappeared, this legislation seeks to find a new mission for that anachronistic alliance: the defense of Israel. Calling for "an expanded role for Israel within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), including an enhanced presence at NATO headquarters and exercises," it reads like a dream for interventionists and the military industrial complex. As I have said many times, NATO should be disbanded not expanded. This bill will not help the United States, it will not help Israel, and it will not help the Middle East. It will implicitly authorize much more US interventionism in the region at a time when we cannot afford the foreign commitments we already have. It more likely will lead to war against Syria, Iran, or both. I urge my colleagues to vote against this bill. [no further content]  LINK

U.N. inspectors to push Iran on military site access

VIENNA -- A senior U.N. nuclear official said Iran must give his inspectors access to information, people and sites as he began a two-day meeting with Iranian officials on the Islamic state's disputed atomic activities on Monday. The meeting in Vienna will test Iran's readiness to address U.N. inspectors' suspicions of military dimensions to its nuclear program, ahead of high-stakes talks on the program in Baghdad next week between Iran and six world powers. Two meetings in Tehran this year with U.N. inspectors failed to make any notable progress, especially on the inspectors' request for access to Parchin, a military site where the watchdog believes nuclear weapons-relevant research may have taken place. "The aim of our two days (of talks) is to reach agreement on an approach to resolve all outstanding issues with Iran," Herman Nackaerts, deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters as he arrived at an Iranian diplomatic mission in a smart area of Vienna. "In particular, clarification of the possible military dimensions remains our priority ... It is important now that we can engage on the substance of these issues and that Iran let us have access to people, documents, information and sites."  MORE

Sectarian clashes rock Lebanese city ... 3 killed

TRIPOLI, LEBANON (AP) -- Sectarian violence linked to the unrest in neighboring Syria shook the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Sunday, with the state news agency reporting a soldier and two civilians killed in the street clashes. The fighting highlights how easily trouble in Syria can raise tensions in Lebanon, with which it shares a complex web of political and sectarian ties and rivalries. Residents say gunfire broke out in the city Saturday and continued through the night primarily between a neighborhood populated by Sunni Muslims who hate Syrian President Bashar Assad and another area with many Assad backers from his Alawite sect . . . An Associated Press reporter in the city said the Lebanese army sent reinforcements to the city, but that gunmen still patrolled the streets and intermittently shot at each other with automatic rifles. Heavier weapons, like rocket-propelled grenades, have also been fired. Similar clashes in the area in February killed two people. The fourteen month-old conflict in Syria has exacerbated sectarian and political tensions in Lebanon, and many fear Syria's chaos will eventually bleed across the border. Lebanon is sharply split along sectarian lines, with 18 religious sects. But it also has a fragile political fault line precisely over the issue of Syria. An array of pro-Syrian parties support Assad's regime, as do many Lebanese citizens. Others hate Assad and accuse Damascus of heavy-handed meddling in Lebanese politics. The two sides are the legacy of, and backlash against, Syria's virtual rule over Lebanon from 1976 to 2005 and its continued influence since.  MORE

Sudan airstrikes could be international crime

JUBA -- Sudanese airstrikes on foe South Sudan could amount to international crimes, the U.N. rights chief warned Friday, adding that she was “saddened and outraged” at bombing raids that broke a U.N. cease-fire order. “Deliberate or reckless attacks on civilian areas can, depending on the circumstances, amount to an international crime,” said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. Khartoum has repeatedly denied its warplanes have bombarded Southern territory, including civilian areas and a U.N. base as well as Southern army positions along the contested frontier. However Pillay, who has been visiting South Sudan, said Khartoum had carried out “indiscriminate bombing without consideration that civilians are living there.” A May 2 Security Council resolution called for Sudan and South Sudan to cease hostilities along their border and settle unresolved issues after the South’s separation last July following a 1983-2005 civil war. Sudan’s army said Wednesday it had fought with South Sudan, while the South said it had come under renewed Sudanese air attack. “What the U.N. has done in response to the aerial bombardment by Sudan in the territory of South Sudan is mostly the adoption of a Security Council resolution, which is very serious when it reaches this stage,” Pillay said. [no further content]  LINK

Note: see these related items:

UN Resolution Violated As Sudan Says It Fights South  LINK

Commentary: To Stop The War On South Sudan, The U.S. Should Send Weapons  LINK

China wants Russia out of South China Sea
Claims region as its exclusive 'sphere of influence'

WASHINGTON -- Just as it has demanded of the United States, China now is putting pressure on Russia to remove its commercial presence from the South China Sea, particularly the oil exploration projects it has with Vietnam, says a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin. Not only is Moscow working with Hanoi on the commercial side, but it is selling submarines that Vietnam believes it needs to stand up to Beijing as its feud continues over offshore mineral rights. Moscow’s commercial and military interests in Vietnam, however, are part of a larger strategic issue of maintaining its presence in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims is in its area of influence.  MORE

U.S., Pakistan Negotiate Reopening NATO Supply Line

ISLAMABAD (AP) -- The United States has been holding intense negotiations with Pakistan to get the country to reopen its border to supplies meant for NATO troops in Afghanistan, a U.S. official said Monday, a day before senior Pakistani decision makers are set to discuss the issue. The clock is ticking ahead of a NATO summit in Chicago on May 20-21 that is largely focused on the Afghan war. Pakistan will likely only receive an invitation if it ends its nearly six-month blockade of NATO supplies.  MORE

Report: Iraqi police training program may end

WASHINGTON -- The United States has reduced - and may phase out entirely - a multi-billion-dollar police training program that was to have been the centerpiece of a hugely expanded civilian mission in Iraq, The New York Times reported Sunday. Citing unnamed State Department officials, the newspaper said that what was originally envisioned as a training cadre of about 350 US law enforcement officers in Iraq was quickly scaled back to 190 and then to 100. The latest restructuring calls for 50 advisers, but most experts say even they may be withdrawn by the end of this year, the report said. The training effort, which began in October and has already cost $500 million, was conceived of as the largest component of a mission billed as the most ambitious American aid effort since the Marshall Plan, the paper said. Instead, it has emerged as the latest high-profile example of the waning American influence there following the military withdrawal, The Times said. "I think that with the departure of the military, the Iraqis decided to say, OK, how large is the American presence here?'" the report quotes James Jeffrey, the US ambassador to Iraq, assaying in an interview. "How large should it be? How does this equate with our sovereignty? In various areas they obviously expressed some concerns." [no further content]  LINK

Russia, U.S. start first joint anti-terror war games on American soil

Russia and the US are holding their first ever joint anti-terror military exercises on American territory. A group of Russian paratroopers has taken off to Fort Carson military base, located in the US state of Colorado. A special unit of American land forces and a reconnaissance unit of Russian special forces will be taking part in the exercises. Russian paratroopers will first familiarize themselves with American small arms, military equipage, munitions, communication and reconnaissance equipment, parachute systems and types of landing operations. In addition, Russian and American servicemen will have joint gun practice, mountain training and will take a course in demolition techniques. They will also have parachute training using American military equipment. At the end of May the exercises will enter the “active” stage with combat training, in the course of which participants are supposed to find, seize and destroy a large base of international “terrorists”. [Or is the target "domestic terrorists"? -Ed.] [no further content]  LINK

Student in fight for her life battling flesh-eating bacteria (Georgia)

Flesh-eating bacteria - a rare, aggressive infection that violently attacks the deepest layers of skin - has claimed a Georgia student's leg, hands and remaining foot, thrusting her into the fight of her life and stirring nationwide interest about her ordeal. Aimee Copeland, 24, was kayaking near the Little Tallapoosa River in Georgia on May 1 when she hopped on a homemade zip-line for a ride. The line snapped, Copeland fell, and she suffered a cut to her calf. The gash was deep enough to warrant medical attention - doctors closed the wound with 22 staples. But a dangerous bacteria - necrotizing fasciitis - found its way into the wound. Within days, Copeland was back in the hospital in grave condition. The scourge has led to the amputation of the West Georgia University student's left leg. She is also expected to lose her hands and her remaining foot, according to the Associated Press. She is listed in critical condition at the Joseph Still Burn Center at Doctors Hospital in Augusta, Georgia . . . Necrotizing fasciitis is especially difficult to treat because it can be initially overlooked, experts said. The outside of the wound appears to be healing, but the devastation is taking place on a much deeper level, Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University Medical School told Reuters. "This often is a very subtle infection initially," he told Reuters. "These bacteria lodge in the deeper layers of the wound. The organism is deep in the tissues, and that's where it's causing its mischief."  MORE

Marchers in Rome protest Italy's allowing abortion

ROME (AP) -- A few thousand people opposed to Italy's 1978 law allowing abortion have marched through the Italian capital in a protest drawing people from around the world, including Americans and Poles. Nuns, priests and lay people marched in Rome Sunday from the Colosseum to Castel Sant'Angelo, a landmark near the Vatican. In Italy, abortion on demand is legal through to the end of the third month of pregnancy. After a long battle between secular forces and the church, voters upheld the law in a 1981 referendum. There is no major momentum now to rescind the law. Some in the Mother's Day march pushed babies in strollers. One American participant, the Rev. Dominick Holtz, from St. Louis, Missouri, said the march united people from around the world against legalized abortion. [no further content]  LINK

City rules church not 'charitable' enough (Maine)

A city in Maine has decided to enforce thousands of dollars in property taxes on a congregation because, its assessment board ruled, the church doesn’t qualify as a charity. Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Rockland, Maine, filed suit in the Knox County Superior Court last month over a legal loophole that allows the city to charge taxes on the church’s driveway and parking lot, while exempting other non-profit organizations from the same costs. “Maine’s tax exemption statutory scheme is fundamentally flawed,” explains the Alliance Defense Fund, a non-profit legal organization that defends religious freedom. “The statute broadly exempts property owned by and used for not-for-profit groups, including charities, hospitals, fraternities, child care centers and veterans groups. The parking lots of these organizations are tax-exempt, no questions asked. “But the statute treats ‘houses of religious worship’ differently,” the ADF continues. “They are limited to the exemption of their church building, furniture, burial plots and a portion of the parsonage. No other not-for-profit is similarly limited.” The inequitable treatment could be overlooked, the ADF claims, if the city would recognize the church as a form of charity and applied the broader exemption law.  MORE

Christian messages banned in Buffalo (New York)

A federal lawsuit has been filed against the city of Buffalo, New York, alleging that police threatened to arrest a Christian for peacefully handing out tracts and talking with passersby who were willing to chat with him on public property. The complaint was filed by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) on behalf of Gregory Owen. While handing out tracts to willing recipients on a public street during a public festival, Owen was approached by a police officer who declined to identify himself but told him that the Buffalo Police Department is “the law” and he should stop handing out tracts. According to the lawsuit: “Subsequently, another police officer, Officer Slomka, arrived on the scene. She quickly informed Owen that they could not hand out tracts in the festival and explained that the prohibition was ‘by our orders.’ Owen asked for her name, and she replied: ‘Slomka, write it down.’ Owen advised that he believed the tracts to be free speech; nonplussed, Officer Slomka reiterated that they couldn’t hand out tracts there and had to go outside of the festival area to continue with their expressive activity.” Then, “Owen inquired as to whether they would be arrested if they continued to hand out tracts in the festival area, to which, Officer Slomka replied: ‘Yes.’” Nate Kellum, one of more than 2,100 attorneys in the ADF alliance, said people of faith “shouldn’t be threatened with arrest for peacefully expressing their beliefs.” “The Constitution and court precedent in these types of cases is clear: Officials cannot toss someone out of a public event simply because they don’t like the views he’s expressing,” he said. “This is a classic example of free speech that the First Amendment protects,” he said.  MORE

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Mad moms to food police: We'll eat what we want (Minnesota)

Moms in Minnesota are preparing to defy state dictates over when and how they can access food supplies for their families, with a rally scheduled Monday to coincide with the beginning of the trial of the manager of a farm buying club, according to the Farm Food Freedom Coalition.
World Net Daily previously has reported on disputes between farmers and consumers on one side and federal regulators on the other. They have involved the purchase by consumers of raw milk; the rights of consumers to access milk from their own cows; a radio program that offered natural products; and a blogger who wrote about his battle with diabetes and was threatened with jail.
The newest development comes from the Farm Food Freedom Coalition, which is assembling a protest at the Minneapolis trial of Alvin Schlangen, a farm buying club manager.
The group said that mothers in the state who act as hosts for “drop sites” for farm buying club members now have been threatened with criminal charges.
The May 14 protest will be at 7 a.m. outside the Minneapolis courthouse where Schlangen’s trial is scheduled, officials said.
“At the rally supporters will sign a ‘Declaration of Food Independence’ and demonstrate non-compliance against what they deem ‘unjust’ regulations,” the organization announced.
Another supporting organization, the Raw Milk Freedom Riders, said that Schlangen founded the Freedom Farms Coop, which simply connects people with the foods of their choice from local producers.
“Over the past two years the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has illegally raided Alvin’s van, warehouse, and farm. The state has now brought four charges against Alvin related to food distribution; all are misdemeanor counts. If convicted, Alvin faces up to a year in jail and hefty fines … just for helping to connect consumers to the producers and foods of their choice.”
Organizers confirm that “several Minnesota mothers who organize community access to local fresh farm foods plan to risk criminal charges by openly and publicly defying warnings from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.”
“The MDA has threatened several mothers, conducted investigations against them and sent them warning letters that if they continue helping provide fresh food to their friends and neighbors, they will be subject to criminal charges and prosecution. The MDA alleges the mothers are violating food-handling regulations.”
Hundreds are expected to join the rally, organizers estimate.
“It is absolutely outrageous that during this time of economic crisis our state government is investigating and sending warning letters to mothers and putting farmers on trial who are helping provide communities with fresh foods. It is my right to contract privately with a farmer for the food of my choice just as it is the right of every American,” said Melinda Olson, a mother and recipient of one of the MDA’s warnings.
“The MDA’s harassment against mothers will not work. We plan to ignore this warning and continue operating as we are. MDA should not waste taxpayer money investigating, prosecuting and jailing peaceful farmers and mothers for helping their communities secure fresh foods. Our time to stand up against this tyranny is now!” she said.

Source:     wnd.com  MORE

Commentary: Kofi Annan's Syrian peace plan has been blown out of the water (Abdel Bari Atwan)
While Syria's opposition is unlikely to prevail unaided, extremists seem intent on driving the conflict's deep sectarianism

The two suicide car bombs in Damascus on May 10 were an alarming development. Before last December suicide bombs were unheard of in Syria. Now there have been 10 such attacks, becoming increasingly deadly – 55 died in the latest atrocity; and on May 11 another attack was thwarted in Aleppo, Syria's largest city . . . .
Damascus and Aleppo are home to Syria's business and professional classes, who have not, in general, participated in the uprising, tending to remain loyal to the Assad regime. The suicide bombs have targeted government buildings, the security services and the ruling Ba'ath party's headquarters. While many civilians died in Thursday's blasts, significant numbers of security personnel have also been killed.

None of this suggests that the regime is carrying out these atrocities, as the opposition has claimed . . . Moreover, it is unlikely that the Free Syrian Army, the armed wing of the opposition, has appropriated methods that are the hallmark of jihadist, not secular, groups.
My fear is that a third element has crept into this conflict, possibly from Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan, and that its agenda has nothing to do with the Arab spring or the clamour for democracy.
On Friday an Islamist group calling itself al-Nusra (Victory) Front released a video in which it added the Damascus bombs to others it has already claimed . . . The spokesman highlighted the sectarian intentions of the attack, stating that Sunni Muslims need "protection" from the ruling Shia Alawites, who will be made to "pay the price".
And this apparently sinister development has not occurred in isolation. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Gulf states were keen to arm the Syrian revolution – not because they are lovers of democracy and reform, but because they would like to see Assad removed from power. Under pressure from the Islamist establishment inside their own countries (which has its own sectarian agenda), the Saudis in particular are also mindful of the 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri . . . which led to a long-standing personal vendetta between the Saudis and the Assad regime, which they held responsible.

The problem is that the Free Syrian Army, even well equipped, is unlikely to prevail, unaided, against Syria's mighty and highly professional armed forces, which in general remain loyal. Meanwhile, the advent of suicide bombers has given Assad a pretext for escalating the violence against his own citizens.
Given the course of events in Libya, the opposition were, understandably, gambling on foreign intervention, but none has been forthcoming . . . Any American intervention is likely only after the presidential elections in November, and would be linked to an attack on Iran, which remains the main focus in the region.

Any hopes that Kofi Annan's peace initiative might succeed have been blown out of the water by the apparent arrival of an extremist group, or groups, intent on escalating the sectarian aspect of the conflict, which neither the regime nor the opposition can hope to control.
If the extremist groups manage to hasten the fall of the regime, their agenda is unlikely to end there. In post-Saddam Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida offshoot fanned the flames of a Sunni-Shia sectarian war that was only extinguished by the US army's "surge" and General Petraeus' "Awakening" campaign, which overwhelmed the jihadis temporarily. But in Syria there are no US forces, no Petraeus in sight.

Whoever governs post-revolutionary Syria is unlikely to rule over a united country, but rather sectarian or ethnic pockets, engaged in ongoing battles with each other. The historical precedent here is Lebanon, which was mired in civil war from 1975 for 16 years.

Nor is the prospect of sectarian conflict confined to Syria's borders. Regional polarisation might see a Sunni bloc, headed by Turkey and Saudi Arabia and incorporating any number of extremist groups, facing off a Shia alliance led by Iran. Here we have an even more chilling template – from 1514 the Sunni Muslims of the Ottoman empire and the Shia Safavid of Persia battled over the region for more than a century, fuelled by their religious differences. [emphasis added]

Source:     guardian.co.uk  MORE

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ADDITIONAL NEWS & ANALYSIS
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Syria troops storm village ... month-old truce in tatters  LINK

More deadly violence hits Syria  LINK

Algerian elections turn back jihadists  LINK
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Doomsday scenarios spread about No. 4 reactor at Fukushima plant  LINK
TEPCO has issued statements reassuring the public that such a disaster would not occur, saying the structure has been reinforced to withstand serious shaking
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Iran boasts U.S. has abandoned Israel  LINK
Claims 'rejection by West' paves way to annihilate Jewish state

Iran warns West against applying pressure ahead of nuclear talks  LINK

Gulf Nations Set for New Union (Followup)  LINK
GCC states meeting Monday May 14 in Riyadh

NATO chief determined to move ahead with missile shield  LINK

Israel Won't Be at 'Biggest Summit in NATO History'  LINK

Yemen retaking Qaeda-held city  LINK

Yemen: U.S. drone strikes kill 11 Al-Qaeda militants  LINK

Al-Qaeda suspects blow up Yemen gas pipeline  LINK

North Korean women sold into 'slavery' in China  LINK

[analysis]: When False Flags Don't Fly (4-19-10)  LINK
Now we know what the real definition of terrorism is ... It is governments scaring their own populations into line

Abbotabad Raid: Publicity Stunt Says Senior Pakistani Intelligence Official (Interview)  LINK

[18 month old terrorist] ordered off plane at Fort Lauderdale airport  LINK

New York police frisk more people despite criticism  LINK
New York police conducted more than 200,000 frisk searches in the first three months of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, even as critics say the practice often is racial profiling

New York police tout improving crime numbers to defend frisking policy  LINK

[analysis]: 'They Think We Are Animals': How America's Police State Controls Black People  LINK

'Sonic cannons' emitting pain-inducing noise to be used during Olympics to keep crowds under control  LINK

Court: U.S. spy agency can keep mum on Google ties  LINK

How Corporations Like Monsanto Have Hijacked Higher Education  LINK
Academic research is often dictated by corporations that endow professorships, give money to universities, and put their executives on education boards

[analysis]: Indentured Servitude for Seniors: Social Security Garnished for Student Debts  LINK

Largest U.S. Bank J P Morgan Hit by 'Egregious' Trading Loss of $2 Billion  LINK
Senator Carl Levin: "The enormous loss JPMorgan announced today is just the latest evidence that what banks call 'hedges' are often risky bets that so-called 'too big to fail' banks have no business making"

[analysis]: What Jamie Dimon's $2 Billion Dollar Fail Reveals About Our Banking System  LINK
What just happened at J.P. Morgan – along with its leader’s cavalier dismissal – reveals how fragile, opaque and dangerous the banking system continues to be

Massive [HSBC] fraud ignored (Followup)  LINK

Fear grows of Greece leaving euro  LINK

GAO: Recoverable Oil in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming 'About Equal to Entire World's Proven Oil Reserves'  LINK

Netanyahu mulls adding magnesium to Israel's water supply  LINK
Magnesium is said to help maintain a normal heart beat, adding it to the water could save the lives of 250 Israelis a year ... If Israel does add the mineral to desalinated water, it would be the first country in the world to do so

Mexico volcano [Popocatepetl] spews huge ash cloud, frightens villagers  LINK

House Armed Services Committee: Chaplains Cannot be Forced to Perform [Sodomy-Based] Marriages  LINK

Senator Rand Paul on Obama: 'What Version of the Bible is He Reading?'  LINK

[analysis]: Demonic oppression is real: Here's how to beat it  LINK
Christianity Today's Leadership Journal finds out from expert

New study: raw milk promotes health in Amish children  LINK

HEALTH HIGHLIGHTS: Join the Sound Body Yahoo group (part of the Christian Media ministry) to receive regular health eblasts  LINK

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"Now we know what the real definition of terrorism is ... It is governments scaring their own populations into line."
James Corbett, The Corbett Report
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CHRISTIAN MEDIA
WORLDWATCH

TUESDAY MAY 15, 2012
- no news edition -

CHRISTIAN MEDIA
WORLDWATCH

WEDNESDAY MAY 16, 2012

New U.S. battle strategy against Iran [seen] in U.S. movements and Israeli drill

A series of apparently unconnected military movements observed in Middle East seas and skies in the last ten days have a common factor: introduction of the new US Air Sea Battle (ASB) doctrine, which is designed to make the most of tightly coordinated operations by air, land, sea, undersea, space and cyberspace capabilities for defeating those of the enemy.
Monday, May 14, the day that Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal warned Iran not to meddle in the evolving Saudi-Bahraini union, large US Navy and Marine forces put into Jeddah port for [the] first time in 11 years.
Last week, Israel’s Navy and Air Force and their special operations units - Shaldag, Shayetet 13 and 960 Task Force - carried out their largest combined exercise ever in the Mediterranean. It ended with Israeli surface ships and submarines arrayed in a dense defensive line against enemy vessels armed with unconventional weapons approaching the Israeli coast.
The Israeli exercise, which ended May 13, practiced the new American ASB doctrine of simultaneously massing large-scale sea and air strength against Iran on two seas, in this case, the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf. It also drilled operating in unison with their American counterparts under the same doctrine.
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that Washington timed the unveiling of the new battle strategy for May 10, two weeks before the Six Power nuclear talks with Iran resume in Baghdad.
US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jon Greenert explained that the ASB concept was developed "to defeat A2AD (Anti-Access/Area Denial) strategies such as the closure of the (Hormuz) strait, cyber attack, mines, cruise and ballistic missiles and air defense systems, threats enhanced by technological advancements.”
Our military sources add: The concept is also closely applicable to American tactics for defending the Persian Gulf nations against possible Iranian aggression as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) takes its first unification steps to shore up its defenses against that threat.
Admiral Greenert wrote: “There’s been attention recently about closing an international strait using, among other means, mines, fast boats, cruise missiles and mini-subs.”
DEBKAfile: Those are precisely the systems Iran’s Revolutionary Guards hold ready for a decision to block the strategic Strait of Hormuz to international oil traffic.
ASB concepts include “submarines hitting air defense and cruise missiles in support of Air Force bombers: F-22 Air Force stealth fighters taking out enemy cruise missile threats to Navy ships.”
Admiral Greenert was the first senior American commander to put on public record the measures for repelling Iranian cruise missile attacks on US aircraft carriers deployed in the Persian Gulf. He also spelled out the mission for which a squadron of F-22 jets was stationed at the al Dhafra air base in late April.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly revealed on May 4 that a second squadron was due to land soon in the Gulf region.
On May 16, Admiral Greenert and US Air Force chief General Norton Schwartz are to discuss the ASB in a public event at the Brookings Institute in Washington.
US and Israeli air, sea and special forces have meanwhile begun operating under the new doctrine in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Monday, the US Amphibious Ready Group, led by the USS Iwo Jima put into Jeddah, the Saudi Navy’s Red Sea command port, with 2,200 Marines aboard.
It was the first time since the 2001 Gulf War that the Saudis had permitted US naval and air units of this size to anchor in one of their ports and, moreover, allowed American military personnel to show themselves in its streets.
The GCC summit which began in Riyadh on the same day had three key items on its agenda: Iran’s military, political and covert threat to the region’s stability; the Syrian crisis; and unification steps between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to ward off Iranian interference in the Shiite-led unrest. [no further content]

Source:     debka.com  LINK

[Note: Also see Iran Fumes As Six Arab States Consider Saudi Plan For A Closer Union in today's News Briefs section.]

Followup story
U.S. Leads Major War Drill in Jordan ... Israel Not Invited

The United States is leading what it described as the "largest military exercises in the Middle East in 10 years" in Jordan on Tuesday.
Eager Lion 2012 “is the largest exercise held in the region in the past ten years,” Major General Ken Tovo, head of the US Special Operations Forces, told reporters in Amman.
“Yesterday we began to apply the skills that we have developed over the last weeks in an irregular warfare scenario … They will last for approximately the coming two weeks,” he added.
“The message that I want to send through this exercise is that we have developed the right partners throughout the region and across the world … insuring that we have the ability to … meet challenges that are coming to our nations,” Tovo said.
Over 12,000 soldiers are taking part in the war games, representing 19 countries, including Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Pakistan, Qatar, Britain, France, Italy, Spain and Australia.
Jordanian army operations and training chief Major General Awni Adwan said the military exercise “has been in the planning phase for the past three years.”
“No forces will be deployed north … the exercise is not connected to any real world event,” Adwan said when asked if the war games were related to the ongoing violence in Jordan’s northern neighbor Syria.
"This has nothing to do with Syria. We respect the sovereignty of Syria. There is no tension between the Syrians and us. Our objectives are clear,” Adwan said.
Israel – despite having extensive security agreements with Jordan – was not invited to participate in the exercises. Several Arab nations participating in the drill are still formally at war with the Jewish state.
Washington has granted Amman $2.4 billion in military and economic aid in the past five years, according to official figures. [no further content]

Source:     israelnationalnews.com  LINK

Iran drills first large-scale paratroop drops for offensive action

Special operations units of the Iranian army and Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Tuesday, May 14, began a two-day practice of offensive tactics, for the first time dropping large-scale forces from the air deep behind enemy lines. The many war games Iran has conducted until now focused on defense of strategic and nuclear locations and repelling invaders. This drill displayed its aggressive capabilities. Codenamed Ja’far Tayyar, it was staged in remote Khorasan near the Afghan border, so as not to expose the commando tactics it employed.
In announcing the exercise, Gholam-Ali Gholamian, Deputy Commander for Operations for the IRGC Ground Forces, cagily called it another routine exercise for “maintaining the preparedness and promoting the combat capability of units stationed in the region.”
DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose that there was nothing routine about it. The units taking part were not stationed in the region but flown in especially.
Western intelligence sources observing the exercise report that its offensive nature was evident: Air transports coming in from the rest of the country dropped large numbers of paratroopers and special forces; Air Force fighter-bombers practiced intense bombardments of small targeted locations; and helicopters drilled rapid transfers of forces between points and air cover for the units reaching the ground.
Monday, the Persian Gulf rulers invited to Riyadh by Saudi King Abdullah for a summit on the Iranian threat dwelt long and hard on the exercise and concluded the threat had been exacerbated and that Tehran had more in store for them than closing the Strait of Hormuz to oil traffic in the event of war. They saw special forces being prepared by Iran to strike deep inside their countries up to and including their oil-producing regions.
The exercise also served the ongoing trade of war signals between Washington and Tehran. Staging a special forces exercise not far from the US military presence in Afghanistan was meant as a rejoinder to [the] US-led special forces maneuver taking place in Jordan across the border with Syria with the participation of 17 nations.
Iranian and Syrian media made much of the fact that the US-led war game was named Eager Lion 12 as a deliberate insult to Bashar Assad, whose name is the Arabic for Lion. [no further content]

Source:     debka.com  LINK

Israel [is] staging Iranian spy runs from Iraq

WASHINGTON -- Israel is using bases in the Sunni Kurdish portion of northern Iraq to launch missions inside Shi’ite Iran to gather intelligence on the Islamic republic’s nuclear program, a number of informed sources said in a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
With the help of recruited Iranian dissidents in Kurdistan, the Israelis are attempting to gather sufficient information to convince the United States and the United Nations that Iran is involved in using its nuclear development program to make nuclear weapons.
Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government officially has denied claims by Iranian officials regarding the missions.
But various reports including a recent Times of London report suggest that Israel is using specially modified U.S.-supplied Black Hawk helicopters to carry 12-member armed teams with sensitive equipment to monitor radioactivity and the magnitude of explosives tests.
The helicopters may be similar to the specially modified stealth Black Hawks which were used in the [alleged -Ed.] May 2011 assassination of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden by U.S. Navy SEALS in Abbottabad, Pakistan . . . .
In undertaking missions inside Iran, sources suggest that the commandos are dressed as members of the Iranian military and use Iranian military vehicles.
In separate activities, the Israelis also may be teaming up with members of the Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MeK), who use northern Iraq as a safe haven against Iran when they launch their own attacks.
The MeK, which is a group comprised of militant anti-government Iranians, also has been implicated in working with the Israelis to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists.

Source:     wnd.com  MORE

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NEWS BRIEFS
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Followup story
Palestinian inmates in Israeli jails end hunger strike with Egyptian-brokered deal

GAZA -- Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails agreed Monday to an Egyptian-brokered deal aimed at ending a mass hunger strike that challenged Israel’s policy of detention without trial and raised fears of a bloody Palestinian backlash if any protesters died . . . An Egyptian official involved in the talks said that under Monday’s deal to end the strike, Israel had agreed to end solitary confinement for 19 prisoners and lifted a ban on visits to prisoners by relatives living in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Israel agreed to improve other conditions of detention, and to free so-called administrative detainees once they complete their terms unless they are brought to court, he added.  MORE

Iran 'could order Hezbollah hit on Israel'

JERUSALEM -- Lebanon's Hezbollah may not want a new war with Israel but an order to attack would come from Tehran in the event of a strike on Iran, a senior military official in Israel's northern command told AFP. And if the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad collapses, the resulting unrest could see Al-Qaeda type groups create chaos on the Syrian Golan Heights, he said in an interview conducted on Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity. Any military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities would likely spark a deadly response from its ally Hezbollah, whose leader Hassan Nasrallah warned on Friday that its missiles could strike anywhere inside the Jewish state. But senior military officials do not believe Nasrallah wants another war with Israel and would only attack as a direct result of orders from Tehran. "The biggest spending of Iran in 30 years has been on the nuclear programme, and Hezbollah is the second," the Israeli official told AFP, adding that Tehran's aim was to create "Iranian footprints near the border with Israel." "If something would happen in Iran, it's a tool that they can use in all kinds of scenarios," he said.  MORE

Iran Fumes As Six Arab States Consider Saudi Plan for a Closer Union

(CNS News) -- A proposal by six Arab Gulf states to explore a possible union drew an angry response in Iran, where lawmakers are painting it as part of a plot to “annex” tiny Bahrain to Saudi Arabia. Leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) agreed at a summit in Riyadh on Monday that their foreign ministers would study further a Saudi-led proposal for a closer union that envisages political, economic and military coordination, more open borders, and a centralized decision-making body to replace the GCC secretariat. Although the decision for further study – ahead of an extraordinary summit at a yet-to-be-determined date – in fact delays the proposal, Tehran is unhappy with what it says is an attempt, under the guise of deeper regional integration, to “prevent the success of Bahrain’s [Shi’ite-led] revolution.” . . . The statement warned that what Iran considers a joint plot by the Saudi and Bahraini governments to annex Bahrain would spread unrest into Saudi Arabia. (The kingdom’s oil-rich eastern province is home to a restive Shi’ite minority.) [emphasis added]  MORE

Note: see these related stories:

Saudi Foreign Minister Tells Iran To Keep Out Of Saudi-Bahrain Affairs - Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said Monday that Iran should keep out of the kingdom's relations with Shiite-majority Bahrain, even if the two states decide to form a union  LINK

Iran Says Saudi-Bahrain Union Plan Deepens Crisis - "Any kind of foreign intervention or non-normative plans without respecting people's vote will only deepen the already existing wounds" - Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast  LINK

CIA Rendition Victim Will Have His Day in EU Human Rights Court
Top Macedonian official expected to confirm Masri's kidnapping

The “extraordinary rendition” of Khalid el-Masri, the bungled CIA kidnapping of a German car salesman over a case of mistaken identity, is going to get a very high profile, very public hearing, as the European Court of Human Rights has agreed to hear the case. El-Masri was kidnapped during his vacation by the Macedonian government at the behest of the US in late 2003. During his detention he was tortured by the CIA for several months, and sent to Afghanistan and Iraq. The CIA apparently thought it had Khaled al-Masri, a completely different person, and when they discovered that they had kidnapped an innocent car dealer, they dumped him off in a deserted road in Albania in the middle of the night. The German government says the US has confirmed that it [had “mistakenly” [kidnapped] el-Masri, and a WikiLeaks cable revealed that the US had warned Germany not to attempt to issue any warrants related to the case. Though the kidnapping is a recognized fact, the Macedonian government has repeatedly denied any involvement. This is expected to change, as an unnamed senior minister in the Macedonian government is planning to testify at the court that the account Masri gave of the “rendition” was accurate. [no further content]  LINK

Business As Usual Alert: States Use Housing Aid Cash to Plug Budgets

In a budget proposed this week, California joined more than a dozen states that want to help close gaping shortfalls using money paid by the nation’s biggest banks and earmarked for foreclosure prevention, investigations of financial fraud and blunting the ill effects of the housing crisis. California was awarded more than $400 million from the banks, and Governor Jerry Brown has proposed using the bulk of that sum to pay the state’s debts. The money was part of a national settlement valued at $25 billion and negotiated with five big banks over abuses in their mortgage and foreclosure processes. The settlement, reached in February after a year of talks and intervention by the Obama administration, was the second-largest in history involving the states, trailing the tobacco industry settlement, and represented the first large-scale commitment by banks to provide direct aid to borrowers. As part of the settlement, the banks agreed to pay the states $2.5 billion, money intended to help homeowners and mitigate the effects of the foreclosure surge. But critics complained that this was the only cash the banks were required to pay - the rest comes in the form of “credits” for reducing mortgage debt and other activities. Even that relatively small amount has proved too great a temptation for lawmakers. Only 27 states have devoted all their funds from the banks to housing programs, according to a report by Enterprise Community Partners, a national affordable housing group. So far about 15 states have said they will use all or most of the money for other purposes. [emphasis added]  MORE

'Existential threat' to Western U.S. states

The Obama administration has launched a new battle over water rights that threatens not only the the economies of arid Western states, which largely voted against him in the 2008 election, but their very existence. World Net Daily reported last month that the federal government was creating obstacles for Tombstone, Ariz., to restore its water supplies following last year’s forest fire and monsoon-triggered floods in the nearby mountains. The federal government said crews could not use machinery to rebuild pipelines and spring-water collection systems. Now, a letter contradicting longstanding federal practice asserts a claim to water in arid Western states, such as Utah, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and others, that supersedes all other authorities, including decisions by state water courts . . . [The] Goldwater Institute, called it an “existential threat to the Western states.” The institute is fighting on behalf of Tombstone for its right to repair its water supply system and use the water. A statement from the institute said the city of Tombstone “is no longer the only one fighting the federal government for water rights.” “The latest move by the federal Bureau of Land Management appears to herald a bigger and much more comprehensive effort to seize water and access rights on federal lands throughout the Western states,” the statement said. [emphasis added]  MORE

Followup story
Father: Georgia student with flesh-eating bug wants book

A week ago, doctors gave her little chance of survival. Now a Georgia grad student who is battling a rare flesh-eating infection is alert and bored enough to ask for a book, her father told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Aimee Copeland remained in critical condition at an Augusta hospital, unable to speak because of a breathing tube in her throat as she continued to fight the life-threatening disease that took hold after she gashed her leg in a fall from a broken zip line. Doctors had to amputate most of 24-year-old woman's left leg to save her life, and her father says she'll likely lose her fingers too. But he told AP that doctors now believe they'll be able to save not only the palms of his daughter's hands but her right foot as well. Days ago she faced losing both of her hands and feet. "This doctor can't fathom a reason for why she's improved the way she has," Andy Copeland said in a telephone interview. "Her spirits are extraordinarily high. I am absolutely amazed."  MORE

Note: see also Georgia Student With Flesh-Eating Bacteria Makes Progress  LINK

Imprisoned Iranian pastor alive, in good spirits

Though Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani remains in prison in Iran, a new letter gives reason to believe he is still alive. Jason DeMars of President Truth Ministries received the letter that Nadarkhani reportedly wrote from prison. But it actually addresses "all those who are worried about [his] current situation." "He wanted to let everybody know that he's in perfect health in the flesh and in the Spirit, and he looks at the days that he's being persecuted as 'a day of exam and trial' of his faith," DeMars reports. "He's using them as a trial in order to prove his loyalty and sincerity before God, and he's doing everything he can to stay right with what he's learned from God's Word." Jason DeMars (Present Truth Ministries)The pastor writes that though he wants his ordeal to end, he has surrendered himself to God's will . . . Nadarkhani was given the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity, although he has stated frequently that he never practiced the Muslim faith to begin with. Now, he is asking "all the beloved ones to pray" for him.  MORE

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MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY
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Note: Views expressed in the commentaries on this website are those of individual authors and not necessarily those of Christian Media Daily or our host - Christian Media Network. Quotes are obviously the opinion of the source. A quote is just a quote and these are offered without comment. Use of a news story or commentary is not an endorsement of the source website.

Commentary: Fighting Erupts in Lebanon (Tony Cartalucci)
U.S., Israeli, and Saudi-funded terrorists destabilizing Syria now under fire in Lebanon

Excerpt:
According to a 2007 New Yorker article by Seymour Hersh, "The Redirection," the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia had been assembling a region-wide army of extremist-mercenaries to battle Hezbollah in Lebanon, destabilize and overthrow Syria, and create a united front against Iran. The forces recruited for this effort would come from the ranks of the CIA-created "Arab foreign legion," Al Qaeda itself - extremist groups fresh back from fighting US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, including listed terror organizations like the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) from Libya.
Hersh's 2007 report exposed the groundwork for the very violence unfolding in Syria today, and now Lebanon. Forces to destabilize Syria were primarily to be staged in northern Lebanon, as explained in the article, and indeed the heaviest fighting over the last year has been seen in the Syrian city of Homs, just across the border from northern Lebanon . . . .
Now, the very staging ground in northern Lebanon being used to destabilize neighboring Syria has erupted into violence. Not by Syrian troops crossing the border, but by indigenous Lebanese factions facing off against each other. News is trickling out slowly and the Western media appears intent on keeping the violence as nebulous and confused as possible, but initial information indicates that extremist groups backed by the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia are fighting factions connected to Hezbollah. Extremist leaders across the region are attempting to frame the violence as "Sunni verses Shi'ia" . . . .
Far from genuine sectarian violence, it was planned since 2007, to use terrorist proxies in a battle stretching from Lebanon to Iran with Arab nations from North Africa to the Middle East aiding the effort, dominated by freshly installed US proxies (Tunisia and Libya) and the Muslim Brotherhood, stated in Hersh's 2007 article to be wards of the West.
Violence has raged for nearly a week, in and around Lebanon's northern port city of Tripoli. While being depicted as violence "spilling over" from Syria, it is clear that the violence is indigenous, sectarian in nature, and directly related to the larger conflict envisioned by US-Israeli-Saudi machinations in 2007 - pitting Sunnis against Shi'ia . . . .
"[Sectarian]" differences between Sunni and Shi'ia Muslims were planned for exploitation since at least as early as 2007 by the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, for the sole purpose of advancing their self-serving hegemonic agendas throughout the region.

Source:     globalresearch.ca  MORE

Note: see these related items:

North Lebanon Calm After Syria Spillover Clashes  LINK

Commentary: Tripoli Clashes: Harbinger Of Violence To Come?  LINK

Obama: Same-Sex Marriage 'Strengthens Families' - "We have never gone wrong when we expanded rights and responsibilities to everybody" [?!]  LINK

Administration Opposes Attempt To Bar Same-Sex Marriage On Military Property And Shield Military Chaplains  LINK

Commentary: Obama Most MORALLY BANKRUPT IMPOSTER PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY (Devvy Kidd)

Excerpt:
Obama/Soetoro/Dunham is a champion of infanticide - the killing of infants. While serving in the Illinois State Senate, Barry Soetoro aka Barack Obama, voted three times to allow infants who survive abortion [to] be left to lay there and die . . . .
Would you stand there and allow a living, breathing infant to die if you were a doctor or nurse? How could anyone, doctor, nurse or just plain human stand by and allow an infant who has survived the horror of abortion - just let them die without trying to save that precious life? Soetoro did because his soul died a long time ago. And, how did Barry justify it?
"Listen to audio from Obama’s 2002 Illinois Senate floor debate wherein he argued that while babies might be aborted alive, it would be a “burden” to a mother's “original decision” to assess and treat them." In other words, the mother wished to kill the infant, so be it . . . .
The American people, out of fear [of] being called intolerant, have walked right into the jaws of the beast. This nation has forsaken all that God has bestowed upon our land in favor of moral rot passed off as "progressive", "social" and other words meant to persuade individuals to turn their backs on what they know in their hearts Almighty God has told them is wrong. The created now think they are more powerful than the Creator. A big mistake.

Source:     newswithviews.com  MORE

Note: see these related items:

From Conception To Birth - Visualized (Video)  LINK

Commentary: Obama's Wicked Marriage Proposal - It's one thing to be a hypocrite, which Mr. Obama has been for years ... It's quite another thing, however, to invoke Christ when doing the devil's work  LINK

Commentary: Obama Calls Nation To Rebel Against God ... Where Are Our Ministers? - Regardless of what your political philosophy may be, every believer in America should be incensed that the leader of our country has called for a national embrace of a behavior that God Himself reserved the word "abomination" to describe  LINK

Commentary: JUST THINKING OUT LOUD (Coach Dave Daubenmire)

Marriage used to be called Holy Matrimony. “Matri” is Latin for “mother.” “Mony” is a suffix that means “to make.” Hence, Holy Matrimony was a sacrament whereby a woman received the blessings of God for the purpose of becoming a mother. It was a God-ordained, God-established union for the purpose of producing a family. A “marriage license” is not necessary in order to be joined in Holy Matrimony.
In fact, the marriage license is a legal document that makes the state a partner to the marriage. It gives jurisdiction over the union. Until 1923 marriage licenses were only needed for inter-racial marriages. A marriage license, like the 501(c)(3) corporation , partners the sacred with the secular . . . .

Most Christians are not really Christians. The unbiblical idea of walking the aisle and repeating a prayer is a modern-day invention. Becoming a Christian requires a complete surrender of one’s will. You don’t “come to Jesus,” “ask Jesus into your heart,” or “accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior.” Becoming a Christian requires your dying to self and becoming a bond-servant to Jesus Christ. “You must be born-again” … not repeat a prayer.
Most “Christians” have it backwards. Most have never died to self. They think Jesus serves them . . . .

Homosexuals are ashamed of their behavior. That is why they work so hard to get others to approve and accept their deviancy. In their hearts they know that what they do is unacceptable and are looking for validation for the un-natural behavior. So, they look for the god-of-government to tell them that they should be proud of what they do. But their tale-tell heart will not give them peace. Even they know their activities are vile . . . .

“Pro-life” is nothing more than a political position that conservative candidates hold. When does a baby become a baby? At what point should it be protected? Why does a woman’s right to choose end at the baby’s birth? The birth makes the child more dependant on the mother. Ask the mother of any new-born. Born babies are much more work than a fetus.
Abortion is not choice. Ice-cream flavor is choice. Abortion is murder . . . .

Americans are not permitted to “marry” anyone we want. I can’t marry my son. I can’t marry my daughter. If marriage is a “civil right” why are [there] any restraints on it? Homosexual-sodomy based marriages are special rights … not civil rights … [It’s] affirmative sin . . . .

Romans 13 does not teach that Christians must obey civil government. Romans 13 was written by a Christian, to Christians, for Christians. It had nothing to do with secular government, but church government. Jesus defied governmental authority . . . Paul wrote two-thirds of the New Testament, much of it from jail. Shadrach, Daniel, Moses. Paul and Silas … you’d think they’d practice what they preached.
And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them, Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. [Acts 5:27-29] . . . .

I’ll know a president is serious about being pro-life when he vows to issue an executive order outlawing it as his first act in office.

Source:     newswithviews.com  MORE

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ADDITIONAL NEWS & ANALYSIS
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U.N. convoy attacked in Syria  LINK

U.N. team in Syria evacuated from tense town  LINK

Dozens killed in Syria ... Saudi doubts Annan peace plan  LINK

Jihadist group denies claiming Damascus bombings  LINK
Al-Nusra Front, an Islamist group unknown before the Syrian revolt, has denied in a statement that it had claimed responsibility for Damascus bombings last week that killed 55 people

Yemen battles rage ... 37 Qaeda militants reported killed  LINK

[George W. Bush]: 'Arab Spring' Is 'Broadest Challenge to Authoritarian Rule Since Collapse of Soviet Communism'  LINK
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Iran executes 'Israel spy, nuclear scientist' killer  LINK

Robert Joseph Goes Nuclear  LINK
Former State official: Obama softline policy toward Iran, North Korea creates a more dangerous world

Iran, IAEA in 'good exchange' ... to meet again Monday  LINK

New Palestinian cabinet to be sworn in Wednesday  LINK

Foreign force strikes Somali pirate land base for first time  LINK
A European naval helicopter fired a volley against pirate skiffs stowed away on a beach in Somalia's central region

Greece faces repeat elections as coalition talks collapse  LINK

Bosnia war crimes trial of Mladic opens  LINK

Nearly 50 mutilated bodies found on Mexico road  LINK

Don't tell anyone, but that al Qaeda mole op had zero to do with the Obama administration  LINK

Underwear bomb plot: British and U.S. intelligence rattled over leaks  LINK
Leak about UK involvement described as despicable by CIA as anger turns to Obama administration for compromising mission

FAA To Ease Rules For Police Agencies To Fly Unmanned Drones  LINK

Feds clearing way for drones over your house  LINK
“I would predict, I’m not encouraging, but I predict the first guy who uses a Second Amendment weapon to bring a drone down that’s been hovering over his house is going to be a folk hero in this country” - Commentator Charles Krauthammer

[analysis]: Predator Nation: How Endless Drone War Is Turning the Promise of America into a Promise of Death  LINK
The CIA’s global drone assassination campaign has long been a bragging point in Washington, even if it couldn’t officially be discussed directly before, say, Congress

[press release]: ['Intellistreets' - street lights with speakers and listening devices] (5-3-12)  LINK
Operating effectively without cable installation, underground trenching or wire maintenance to set-up the control of the outdoor lighting, sound and video, SmartSite is a 24/7 area-wide system that offers architectural luminaire styles, a robust platform, digital wireless solutions, Wi-Fi capabilities, and a myriad of homeland security features ...

[press release]: Intellistreets: Big Brother or Big Idea? (10-27-11)  LINK

Obama administration shrugs off contempt threat against Holder (Followup)  LINK
“We believe that a contempt proceeding would be unwarranted given the information the Department has disclosed to the Committee to date; unprecedented given the law enforcement sensitivities at issue; and ill-advised given the damage it would cause to relations between the Executive and Legislative Branches” - Deputy Attorney General James Cole

Wrong man was executed in Texas, probe says  LINK

Rhode Island Considers First-Of-Its Kind 'Homeless Bill Of Rights'  LINK

Don't Look Now - Banks Are Still Ruining America: 6 Harsh Lessons from the J P Morgan Fiasco  LINK
JP Morgan Chase is part of an entwined system of too-big-to-fail institutions that are ripping us off

European leaders and financial markets braced for Greece exit from euro  LINK
Return to drachma nears amid political impasse in Athens and open discussion in Brussels of possible end of single currency

Looming U.N. Mega-Conference in Rio to Seek 'More Sustainable Future'  LINK

Jordan center translates Babylonian Talmud into Arabic  LINK
A Jordanian research center says it has recently published the first Arabic translation of the Babylonian Talmud.

U.N.: Maternal deaths cut by half  LINK

Brain implant allows paralysed woman to control a robot with her thoughts  LINK
The BrainGate implant can decode a patient's brain signals and instruct a robotic arm to reach and grasp objects

HEALTH HIGHLIGHTS: Join the Sound Body Yahoo group (part of the Christian Media ministry) to receive regular health eblasts  LINK

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And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God. And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
Acts 5:38-42 (KJV)
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