Official: Israel presents
Mideast peace outline
- An Israeli official says that
disagreements have already
popped up in newly launched
negotiations with the
Palestinians, but his government
is ready for "substantive"
discussions on all issues.
7.3
magnitude quake strikes off
western Indonesia
- A 7.3-magnitude earthquake
struck off the west coast of
Indonesia's northern Sumatra
early Wednesday, sending
panicked residents onto the
streets and in search of higher
ground.
47,000
people killed in drug violence
in Mexico - The
Mexican government says more
than 47,000 people have been
killed in drug violence since
President Felipe Calderon
launched a military crackdown
against drug cartels in December
2006.
Sixteen
dead as Nigeria chaos grows
- Ethnic and
religious violence in Nigeria
claimed 16 more victims, with
gunmen killing eight in the
north and a mob torching an
Islamic school in the south, as
a fuel strike added to the
deadly tension.
Doomsday
Clock ticks closer to midnight
- By at least one measure, the
world just got that much closer
to apocalypse.The Doomsday
Clock, a figurative timepiece
used as a barometer of
humankind’s fate, was moved one
minute closer to midnight on
Tuesday, the first time it has
been nudged forward since 2007.
It is now 11:55, five minutes
before the appointed hour.
The
Disarmament of America
- Shortly after U.S. combat
soldiers left Iraq, on December
22 the Associated Press reported
14 terrorist attacks in Baghdad
killing 69 people, and an
Al-Qaeda front group in Iraq
claimed responsibility. Then on
January 5, 2012, bombings
targeting Shiite killed at least
another 78 people, so there are
growing concerns that Iraqi
security forces are not up to
the job. The result is that the
nation could fall apart in
another civil war between Sunnis
and Shiites.
Obama's
defense strategy myths spell
doom in a nuclear age
- President Barack Obama’s new
defense strategy is chock full
of myths as his soon-to-arrive
2013 budget promises to detail
national security changes at
this critical “moment of
transition.” Last week Obama
spoke from the Pentagon briefing
room saying this “moment of
transition” is the confluence of
ebbing security challenges and
the necessity to put our fiscal
house in order. He promised his
new strategy will “guide our
defense priorities” and satisfy
Congress’ mandated cuts, while
maintaining the “greatest force
… ever known,” without repeating
past mistakes.
Atheists
Turn to Self, Others in Times of
Crisis, Not 'Invisible' God
- Blair Scott, an
American Atheist board member,
reaches out to others or relies
upon himself, he recently
blogged, criticizing the role of
what he deemed to be an
invisible God or gods.“During
times of crisis I do not plead,
‘God please help me!’ or ‘God
give me the strength!’ I simply
tell myself that I can do it or
that I can make it through it.”
12% Of
Pastors Believe In Evolution, 4%
Not Sure -
Pastors overwhelmingly believe
that God did not use evolution
to create humans and think Adam
and Eve were literal people,
according to a recent survey by
LifeWay Research.The survey of
1,000 American Protestant
pastors also found that
ministers are almost evenly
split on whether the earth is
thousands of years old.
Bethlehem
to Host Church Conference Which
Demonizes Israel
- Next March, the Bible College
in Bethlehem will host dozens of
US theologians, activists and
ministries for the “Christ at
the Checkpoint 2012 Conference”.
It is to be a major religious
and political event meant to
demonize Israel and to support
the Palestinian Intifada against
the “ethnocentric” Jewish State.
The
Vatican has called for a central
world bank - The
Vatican recently called for a
global public authority and a
central world bank to rule over
the financial institutions that
have been at the center of the
global economic crisis because
they have become outdated and
ineffective in dealing with this
financial crisis. There
are those who say that this
proposal by the Vatican is music
to the ears of the demonstrators
around the world who are calling
for economic equality for all.
God's Plan
Through the Ages
- Imagine the difficulty of
trying to put together a
2500-piece jigsaw puzzle if you
had all the pieces, but not the
box with the picture. You could
examine all the details with as
much care and precision as
possible, but it would be very
difficult to figure out how the
pieces relate to one another and
how each one fits into the
overall picture. And even if you
were to successfully assemble
several groups of pieces
scattered around the picture by
matching colors and patterns, it
would still be very difficult to
figure out how these groups fit
together when they don’t seem to
match up in any obvious way. It
wouldn’t take very long for most
people to resign themselves to
the fact that this is about as
far as they will ever get.
