Thursday, July 14 (early edition)

[Guest]

http://www.debka.com/article/21109/
Murder of Afghan President's brother parades Taliban capabilities
Tuesday July 12, the day French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived for an unannounced visit to Afghanistan and stated that a quarter of France's 4,000-strong contingent would be pulled out by the end of 2012, Afghan President Hamid Karzai's younger half-brother, Kandahar strongman Ahmad Wali, was shot dead by a bodyguard at his home. This was no coincidence, debkafile's military and intelligence sources note:

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtri...0859_07_12.asp
Assad finally loses State Department's backing
LONDON — For the first time in the four-month revolt, the regime of President Bashar Assad has directed supporters to attack Western embassies. Hundreds of Assad-aligned fighters stormed the U.S. and French embassies in Damascus in what Western diplomats asserted was an operation directed by the embattled regime.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...zZAI_blog.html
What Christians must do about Iran
As the debt ceiling debate, Casey Anthony acquittal, unrest in Syria, and fight to topple Qaddafi in Libya monopolize the news cycle, Iran is quietly implementing its radical Islamist agenda. In just the last two weeks, Iran has sentenced Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani to death just for being a Christian, in what the U.S. State Department has noted would be the first such Iranian state execution for one’s faith since 1990.

http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/eurozone-finance.b92
EU will do 'whatever necessary' to safeguard euro: Rompuy
(LISBON) - European Union president Herman van Rompuy said Tuesday there was a "very strong commitment" to safeguarding financial stability as eurozone debt contagion threatens Italy and Spain. "I am fully aware of the current tensions in the debt markets. But let me be very clear that there is a very strong commitment at the highest level to do whatever is necessary to safeguard financial stability," he said in Lisbon.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/...book-profiles/
U.S. Law Enforcement Obtaining Warrants to Search Facebook Profiles
NEW YORK – U.S. law-enforcement agencies are increasingly obtaining warrants to search Facebook, often gaining detailed access to users' accounts without their knowledge. A Reuters review of the Westlaw legal database shows that since 2008, federal judges have authorized at least two dozen warrants to search individuals' Facebook accounts.

[Guest]

Thursday, July 14

http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/Pri...aspx?id=229269
Russia lays out 'step-by-step' approach on Iran
Lavrov: Iran will address IAEA concerns over nuclear program in return for eased sanctions; US fears losing leverage over Tehran. WASHINGTON, July 13 (Reuters) - Russia on Wednesday laid out a "step-by-step" approach under which Iran could address questions about its nuclear program and be rewarded with a gradual easing of sanctions.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomac...craft-1.373190
Israel Air Force pilots head to U.S. to test-fly new military aircraft
Israeli pilots visit Marine Corp base in North Carolina; IAF will have to replace outdated aircraft models toward the end of the decade. An Israel Air Force delegation recently visited a United States Marine Corps base in North Carolina in order to test out the new V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/Nachric...S/Default.aspx
Israelis: The next intifada will be this year
A 52 percent majority of Israelis believes the next Palestinian intifada (terrorist uprising) will erupt in September, or shortly thereafter. That catalyst for this new orgy of violence will be the unilateral Palestinian statehood bid at the UN.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.p...ies-2011-07-13
Turkey may freeze EU ties
Turkey and the EU ‘cannot continue relations’ if Greek Cyprus takes over the bloc’s presidency on its own in 2012, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu says. Allowing Greek Cyprus to take over the rotating EU presidency in July 2012 without a unification deal for the divided island would “freeze” relations between Turkey and the European bloc, the Turkish foreign minister said Wednesday,

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtri...0869_07_13.asp
How Syria’s Assad fooled the U.S. before finally going too far
For the past two weeks, the internal opposition in Syria had been negotiating with the Assad regime a transition into a civil society with U.S. mediation. Bashar managed to convince the world in his third speech of his sincere will to reform.

http://www.debka.com/article/21115/
The Libyan War ends. Obama makes Moscow peace broker. NATO halts strikes
Bar the shouting, the war in Libya virtually ended Thursday morning, July 14, when US President Barack Obama called Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to hand Moscow the lead role in negotiations with Muammar Qaddafi for ending the conflict - provided only that the Libyan ruler steps down in favor of a transitional administration. The US president thus accepted the Russian-Libyan formula for ending the war over the heads of the NATO chiefs who rejected it when they met Russian leaders at the Black Sea resort of Sochi last week.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...lks-stall.html
Moody’s Places U.S. on Review for Downgrade As Debt Talks Stall
Moody’s Investors Service put the U.S. under review for a credit rating downgrade as talks to raise the government’s $14.3 trillion debt limit stall, adding to concern that political gridlock will lead to a default. The Aaa ratings of financial institutions directly linked to the U.S. government, including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Banks, and the Federal Farm Credit Banks, were also put on review for cuts, Moody’s said in a statement today.

http://nationaljournal.com/nationals...world-20110713
Poll: Views of U.S., Obama Drop Sharply Across Arab World
President Obama has failed to live up to the expectations he created in the Arab world, according to a new poll released by Zogby International and the Arab American Institute Foundation. The poll also noted that most Arab countries view the U.S. less favorably today than they did during the last year of the Bush administration.

http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110...tatehood_arabs
Arabs to seek full Palestine upgrade at U.N.: draft
DOHA (Reuters) – The Arab League will apply to upgrade the Palestinians to full member status at the United Nations, according to a draft statement from a league meeting in Qatar on Thursday. "It was decided to go to the United Nations to request the recognition of the state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital and to move ahead and request a full membership," said the communique, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/are-...nition-iphone/
Are U.S. Cops Preparing Widespread Use of Facial Recognition iPhone?
Starting as early as September, cops across the country may be using a new iphone-based device to identify people based on a picture of their face, iris scan, or a fingerprint reader, raising concerns about how the data will be gathered, stored, and used. The device in question is called the MORIS, which stands for Mobile Offender Recognition and Information System. Made by BI2 Technologies of Plymouth, Mass, it runs on the iphone platform.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...bbery-science/
Space-Time Cloak Possible, Could Make Events Disappear?
It's no illusion: Science has found a way to make not just objects but entire events disappear, experts say. According to new research by British physicists, it's theoretically possible to create a material that can hide an entire bank heist from human eyes and surveillance cameras.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-14153116
Earthquake hits English Channel
An earthquake with a magnitude of 3.9 has struck in the English Channel, the British Geological Survey (BGS) said. The earthquake was the biggest in the area for nearly 300 years.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=321837
'Rapture' real aftermath: Beheadings, shootings, mass graves
The executive director of a ministry that works with the persecuted church in the northern reaches of Vietnam says he's outraged that a "prophecy" by an American preacher apparently cost the lives of many tribal Hmong people who believed it. #HYPERLINK "http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=300269"The prediction by Harold Camping, 89, of Oakland, Calif.-based Family Radio, was that Jesus Christ would return to Earth to "rapture" his followers to heaven on May 21. Camping said mankind had run out of time, and the Creator of the universe would arrive on that Saturday.