24/03/2012

'Israel warned neighbors: Don't march to Jerusalem'

Following the deadly clashes last year during the Naksa and Nakba marches to its northern border, Israel issued a stern warning to Arab countries and Palestinians to refrain from approaching the border.
London based newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat reported Friday that the warning was issued in reference to the "Universal Jerusalem March" planned for next Friday to commemorate "Land Day."

Syria troops bomb towns, EU grounds First Lady

Asma Assad, whose parents live in Britain where she grew up, cannot be barred entry to the country but is not expected "to try to travel to the United Kingdom at the moment," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said.Washington hailed the EU move and said it was looking into what more can be done."We are gratified that the EU has taken yet another step in tightening the noose on the Assad regime," US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

Turkey blames Syria for supporting Kurdish rebels, inches closer to military action

Should Turkey decide that the Kurdistan Workers' Party – seen now by Ankara as an additional arm of Assad's forces – threatens its national security, it may decide to invade its neighbour. 

Will the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) drag Turkey into a war in Syria? The Turkish media has emphasized the declaration by the PKK's de facto leader Murat Karayilan that "If Turkey intervenes against our people inwestern Kurdistan, the area will turn into a battlezone."


Yaalon: Iran World's Number One Threat

Vice Premier and Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe Yaalon said Thursday that Iran's nuclear program is the leading global security threat. "The main threat to regional and world stability comes from Tehran and the Iranian regime." Yaalon stressed during the visit referred to in high school in Kiryat Haim. "Imagine what it would do upon achieving such capability," Yaalon said, adding "The nuclear umbrella will not just open against us, but against the United States."

'Iran may activate US Hezbollah cells after strike'


WASHINGTON – A congressional report finds that Hezbollah fundraising cells are rampant across the United States and that the Lebanese organization could activate these cells to carry out lethal terrorist attacks. The report, compiled under the aegis of the US House Committee on Homeland Security, estimates that there are several thousand sympathetic Hezbollah donors in the country, with operatives probably in the hundreds.

Tehran forces Iranian Jews to join anti-Israel Global March 

The Islamic regime in Tehran was not satisfied with the public support the Iranian Jewish community’s was forced to confer on the Global March to Jerusalem for which Iran is recruiting Islamists worldwide. Now, the event’s organizers, Majlis Speaker Hossein Sheikh-ol-Eslam and Salim Ghafouri, have ordered the community to send a Jewish delegation to march with the Islamist groups in Lebanon, debkafile’s Iranian sources disclose.

N. Korea calls criticism of its nuclear program ‘declaration of war’ 

Right ahead of the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, North Korea announced that it will consider a statement about its nuclear program a direct “declaration of war”. This comes as the USA has condemned the country’s planned rocket launch in April.
The US administration announced on Thursday that President Barack Obama considers the North Korean “space experiment”, involving the launching of a ballistic missile with a mounted satellite, a “provocation” and direct violation of the international agreements.
  
Russia issues new warnings over US missile defense

MOSCOW (AP) — A U.S.led NATO missile defense plan that Washington says is aimed at deflecting potential Iranian threats will break existing nuclear parity with Russia and prompt it to retaliate, President Dmitry Medvedev warned Friday. Moscow rejects Washington's claim the plan is solely to deal with any Iranian threat and has voiced fears it will eventually become powerful enough to undermine Russia's nuclear deterrent.

"No one has explained to me why we should believe that the new missile defense system in Europe isn't directed against us," Medvedev said in a speech at a security conference, adding that the shield will "break the nuclear parity."

Climate disarray: skipping spring and going straight to summer

 March 23, 2012 – CHICAGO – The United States and parts of Canada have come out of winter to find a lingering ridge of high pressure inducing summer-like conditions. The map above shows surface temperature anomalies during March 13-19 compared to averages for those dates over the last 10 years. More than 1,054 locations set new daily high temperatures records and 627 saw new record lows. “Records are not only being broken across the country, they’re being broken in unusual ways,’ reports NASA’s Adam Voiland. “Chicago, for example, saw temperatures above 26.6° Celsius (80° Fahrenheit) every day between March 14-18, breaking records on all five days.

Growing seismic unrest in Middle East: Earthquake hits Dead Sea region, felt in Jerusalem

 March 23, 2012 – ISRAEL – An earthquake measuring 3.7 on the Richter scale shook the Dead Sea area and was felt as far away as Jerusalem on Thursday morning. The quake struck at 6:17 a.m. with an epicenter near Masada, according to the Seismological Institute. There were no reports of injuries or damage from the tremor. MK Zeev Bielski (Kadima), the head of a Knesset subcommittee for Home Front preparedness....

Open Doors: Growth of Christianity in Iran 'Explosive'

Despite the Iranian government's ongoing crackdown of Christians living in the primarily Islamic country, the number of Muslims converting to become Christians is growing at an explosive rate, according to the persecution watchdog group Open Doors USA.
There is even talk of witnessing a Christian revival, especially among young people living in the country, say Open Doors ministry workers in the Middle East