Muslims beat, murder bookstore manager, claim he engaged in missionary activity
By Aaron Klein
Rami Ayyad (Courtesy Baptist Press)
The manager of a Christian bookstore in the Gaza Strip who was found dead last weekend was first publicly beaten and tortured by Islamic gunmen accusing him of spreading Christianity, according to witnesses and Palestinian security officials speaking to WND.
The body of Rami Ayyad, who managed the only Christian bookstore in Gaza, reportedly was found Sunday riddled with gunshot and stab wounds. Ayyad had been abducted the previous night as he closed his shop, according to a local Christian group.
Ayyad, a Baptist, was accused by Gaza-based Islamic groups of engaging in missionary activity. His bookstore, owned by the Palestinian Bible Society, was firebombed in April after which he told relatives he received numerous death threats from Islamists.
The day of his abduction, Ayyad reportedly said he was being followed by a car that had no license plates.
According to witnesses and security officials associated with Hamas' so-called Executive Force speaking to WND, Ayyad was publicly tortured a few blocks from his store before he was shot to death. 
The witnesses said they saw three armed men, two of whom ...   more »

by Prof. Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research Feature Article
US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) has announced the conduct of major war games under Vigilant Shield 2008 (VS-08).
Vigilant Shield 2008 (15 to 20 October, 2007) is designed to deal with a "terrorist" or "natural disaster" scenario in the United States. The operation will be coordinated in a joint endeavor by the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security.
Yet, VS-08, which includes a massive deployment of the US Air Force resembles a war-time air scenario rather than an anti-terrorist drill. The VS-08 war games extend over the entire North American shelf. Canadian territory is also involved through Canada's participation in NORAD. (See Nazemroaya, October 2007)
These war games are being conducted at an important historical crossroads, amidst mounting US pressures and threats to actually declare a "real war" on Iran.
VS-08 is predicated on the doctrine of preemptive warfare, with a vie to protecting the Homeland. The war games are coordinated with anti-terrorist drills directed against presumed Islamic terrorists.
Moreover, the announcement by NORTHCOM of the VS-08 war games-anti-terror drills coincided with a declaration by the Bush administration in early September that military action against Iran is being contemplated at the highest ...   more »

By BUNN NAGARA
FROM this week, it emerged that Britain and France have joined Jordan and the United Arab Emirates as allies in a new US war against Iran.
While the West Asian nations have not only agreed to assist US forces in logistics but are also training with them for aerial coordination and forces interoperability, the European nations add a special weight as permanent members of the UN Security Council.
The Sarkozy government has made France an unreserved US war ally, and last month Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warned the world to prepare for a war against Iran. In recent days the Britain of Prime Minister Gordon Brown has gone further, reportedly supporting a drive to war with a supply of British special forces troops.
The official word from London is that diplomacy is still the preferred course to stop Iran’s nuclear enrichment project. But that is not expected to work since unlike North Korea, the United States is offering neither concessions nor compromises to Iran.
Besides, British press reports say that even the nuclear issue is now redundant as a pretext for war, since Iran’s crimes are now judged to be its alleged support of Iraqi insurgents, supply ...   more »

Interview with Rabbi Daniel Lapin on How Today's World Compares to the Days of Noah 
By John-Henry Westen
WASHINGTON, DC, June 25, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The recent death of Mrs. Ruth Graham, the beloved wife of preacher Billy Graham, has caused renewed reflection on her oft quoted comment:  "If God does not judge America soon, he'll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah."  Indeed, with the culture war raging on abortion and same-sex 'marriage', many a Christian has wondered about a coming purgation - a cleansing as in the time of Noah and the flood.
It may come as a surprise to some, but Orthodox Jews too have a belief in a coming purgation.  As the man popularly known as "America's Rabi" told LifeSiteNews.com, we are "moving towards some kind of enormous, humanic and historic upheaval."
Nationally acclaimed speaker and best-selling author, Rabbi Daniel Lapin spoke with LifeSiteNews.com about his newly released audio series "The Gathering Storm: Decoding the Secrets of Noah," in which he looks at the similarities between the time of Noah and our present day.
Rabbi Lapin is the founder and leader of Toward Tradition - a ground-breaking coalition of Jews, Christians and other Americans united in ...   more »

MEDIA ADVISORY, October 10 -- RaidersNewsNetwork -- For years Youth Development International (YDI), (head-quartered in San Diego, CA.), operated on toll free 800 phone line that was offered to kids (primarily teenagers) who were in trouble. Many of the kids who called this line had problems with drugs, alcohol, sexual abuse or neglect. Their "hit home" line was nationally known. Even now, the line is still registered with Court TV as an outreach that helps children who are in trouble.
This popular toll free number is now being used as a telephone solicitation line by dial-a-porn operators. The line is used to entice callers to contact coeds to participate in 'hot' talk. This is quite different from a national line originally designed to help kids who are depressed, in trouble and hurting,,,
Phil Macintosh, former Director of YDI, told Huntington House author Lambert that his organization had to drop the line in 2005 because of lack of volunteer support from the church community. Enter the porn industry and their apparent attempt to solicit unsuspecting teenagers by directing them to 'hot talk' now through this phone line.
YDI was regularly staffed by volunteers who worked on the 24 hour outreach line ...   more »

By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels
European Union officials have been accused of "political geography" after Turkey, but not the Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, disappeared from a map of Europe designed for new euro coins.
A common design for the "tails side" of euro coins is to be rolled out in 2008 with an updated graphic showing an enlarged EU and new countries, such as Cyprus, that are joining the single currency.
Papers given to Euro-MPs under Brussels open information rules show that the European Commission proposed a standard format map of Europe extending as far as the Caspian Sea and including Turkey.
But, following the intervention of unnamed national governments, Ankara was short-changed in the final design as Cyprus was moved hundreds of miles west, to rest near Crete, while Turkey was cut from the map altogether.
Marco Cappato, an Italian Liberal Euro-MP, is angry that Turkey, an EU membership hopeful, has been removed from a design that includes Moldava and Belarus, countries with poor human rights records.
He believes the omission is a deliberate "provocation" by euro zone members, such as France, who are hostile to Turkish EU entry.
"They have deliberately and secretly wiped Turkey off the map. ...   more »

Vicente Fox confirms long-term deal worked out with President Bush
By Jerome R. Corsi
Ex-Mexican President Vicente Fox last night on CNN
Former Mexican President Vicente Fox confirmed the existence of a plan conceived with President Bush to create a new regional currency in the Americas, in an interview last night on CNN's "Larry King Live."
It possibly was the first time a leader of Mexico, Canada or the U.S. openly confirmed a plan for a regional currency. Fox explained the current regional trade agreement that encompasses the Western Hemisphere is intended to evolve into other previously hidden aspects of integration.
According to a transcript published by CNN, King, near the end of the broadcast, asked Fox a question e-mailed from a listener, a Ms. Gonzalez from Elizabeth, N.J.: "Mr. Fox, I would like to know how you feel about the possibility of having a Latin America united with one currency?"
Fox answered in the affirmative, indicating it was a long-term plan. He admitted he and President Bush had agreed to pursue the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas – a free-trade zone extending throughout the Western Hemisphere, suggesting part of the plan was to institute eventually a regional currency. ...   more »

GOP House leader urges Pelosi to 'restore longstanding practice'
U.S. Capitol
House Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., today to immediately order a halt to a new practice of removing references to God from the official certificates that accompany U.S. flags flown over the Capitol.
The acting architect of the Capitol is enforcing a rule enacted by his predecessor, reportedly designed to prevent some Americans from being offended.
In one case, Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., was asked to secure a flag in honor of a World War II veteran's 81st birthday. Her constituent requested that the certificate of authenticity state: "This flag was flown for Mr. [John Doe] on the occasion of his 81st birthday, the eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord, 2007. Thank you, Grandpa, for showing me what it is to be a true patriot – to love God, family, and country. We love you!"
The certificate accompanied the flag when it arrived at her office, but it had been edited of any reference to "God" or "our Lord."
In his letter, Boehner calls for full restoration of the longstanding congressional tradition of using the word God in ...   more »

By Bill Wilson, KIN Senior Analyst
WASH—Oct 8—KIN-- A confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is now saying that Israel will turn over part of Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority and allow the organization to make its capital somewhere in East Jerusalem. Vice Prime Minister Haim Ramon told Army Radio that in return, Israel would receive the recognition of the international community, including Arab states, of its sovereignty over Jewish neighborhoods and the existence of its capital in Jerusalem. Ramon said the Palestinians could establish the capital of a future state in the sector of the city, which Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day war.
This is an Israeli proposal that essentially has the backing of the political parties on the Israeli side, according to Ramon. Under the proposal, Israel would not transfer sovereignty of the Holy City to the Palestinians, but some sources are saying that there are details in the proposal that would relinquish control of some of the most contentious sites—translated, the Temple Mount. Ramon said that the most important objective of the plan is to "preserve the state of Israel Jewish and democratic." One wonders if the political parties in Israel supporting ...   more »

Officials in the Bush administration are divided over the significance of intelligence provided by Israel that led to last month's strike inside Syria on a reported nuclear facility, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
According to the Times, at issue is whether intelligence presented by Israel months ago to the administration that Syria had begun work on a nuclear weapons program was conclusive enough to justify military action by Israel, and subsequently, a rethinking of American policy toward the two nations.
US Vice President Dick Cheney and other conservatives in the administration are portraying the Israeli intelligence as credible and argue that it should cause the US to reconsider its diplomatic overtures to Syria and North Korea.
By contrast, the Times reports, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her allies in the White House said they do not believe that the intelligence presented so far merits any change in the American diplomatic approach.
During a breakfast meeting on October 2 at the White House, Rice and chief North Korea negotiator, Christopher Hill, told Bush that the US faced a choice: to continue with the nuclear pact with North Korea as a way to bring it back into the diplomatic fold ...   more »

Etgar Lefkovits
More than half a million Israelis and Palestinians have signed a petition calling on the Israeli and Palestinian governments to reach a peace agreement within the next year based on a two-state solution and an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines.
The petition is being organized by a non-partisan organization called the OneVoice movement, which is planning to hold simultaneous rallies in both Tel Aviv and Jericho next week that will be broadcast around the world in an effort to garner support for the two-state solution.
The moves come as Israeli left-wing organizations with similar ideologies, such as Peace Now and backers of the informal "Geneva Initiative" proposed by Yossi Beilin, have become marginalized in Israeli society following the breakdown of political negotiations at Camp David seven years ago, and the subsequent outbreak of Palestinian violence.
"Every minute delayed in ending the conflict is a minute gained by forces of militant absolutism committed to erase the possibility of a two-state solution," said Daniel Lubetzky, 38, the Mexican-born founder of the OneVoice Movement.
"If the Israeli and Palestinian heads of state demonstrate progress over the coming months, they will be able to eventually reverse the debacle in Gaza, by ...   more »

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday laid out his most specific demands for the borders of a future independent state, calling for a full Israeli withdrawal from all territories captured in the Six Day War in 1967.
In a television interview, Abbas said the Palestinians want to establish a state on 6,205 square kilometers of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It was the first time he has given a precise number for the amount of land he is seeking.
"We have 6,205 square kilometers in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip." Abbas told Palestine TV. "We want it as it is."
Abbas's claim comes as Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams are trying to hammer out a joint vision for a future peace deal in time for a US-hosted conference next month.
With Israel seeking to retain parts of the West Bank and east Jerusalem, Abbas's comments appeared to set the stage for tough negotiations, which are expected to include complicated arrangements such as land swaps and shared control over holy sites.
According to Palestinian negotiating documents obtained by The Associated Press, the Palestinian demands include all of the Gaza Strip, West Bank, east Jerusalem and small areas ...   more »

By DPA    
The Israeli government has granted official residency status to 3,500 Palestinians who in the last decade entered the West Bank on Israeli-issued visitors' visas but never left, Palestinian officials said Wednesday.
Israel however did not grant official residency status to another 1,500 Palestinians residing illegally in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
"After Israel had declared the Gaza Strip as a hostile entity, it decided to postpone any decision regarding its [illegal] citizens," Hussein al-Sheikh, the head of the Palestinian Authority Civil Affairs Department in Ramallah, told Voice of Palestine Radio.  
The move is an Israeli response to a request made by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas during one of his recent meetings with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ahead of the U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference scheduled to take place in Annapolis, Maryland next month.
The Palestinians demand that Israel grant permanent residency status to all Palestinians who entered the West Bank and Gaza Strip after the 1993 interim Oslo peace accords and have since stayed illegally. There are currently some 55,000 Palestinians who fall under this category.
Many who have family in the Palestinian Authority or have since married have applied for official documents on the basis of ...   more »

The Israeli government now believes that German and Dutch warships patrolling the Lebanese coast as part of a UN peacekeeping force are behind disturbances experienced over the past month by Israel's one million satellite television customers.
Israel's sole satellite television provider, Yes, has been inundated with complaints of fuzzy and frozen television images since early September, and warned the government that it would face bankruptcy if the source of the disturbances was not found. After weeks of searching, Israel's Ministry of Defense said it was fairly certain that monitoring equipment aboard the UN ships was causing the problem. The UN is believed to have significantly increased its surveillance of Israel following the alleged September 6 Israeli air raid on a suspected nuclear facility deep inside neighboring Syria.
Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mark Regev told Agence France-Presse that Israeli diplomats have "approached people in charge of the international peacekeeping mission in New York and communications specialists will work on the issue."
Original Source
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