Al-Qaida faction in Syria contemplating US attack, intelligence officials warn

THE GUARDIAN

Senate hears Nusra Front has 'aspirations for attacks on the homeland' amid concern over civil war's terrorism implications

Intelligence officials have claimed that a faction linked to al-Qaida in Syria has a desire to launch a domestic attack on the US, an assertion that underscored the growing importance of the Syrian civil war to global terrorism.

The Nusra Front, one of the jihadist factions in Syria that aligns itself with al-Qaida, “does have aspirations for attacks on the homeland”, James Clapper, the US director of national intelligence, told the Senate intelligence committee on Wednesday.

Clapper pointed to the deterioration of Syria during three years of violence – a situation he compared to the federally administered tribal areas (FATA) in Pakistan that became a haven after the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan for the core leadership of al-Qaida.

“What’s going on there, may be in some respects a new FATA force ... and the attraction of these foreign fighters is very, very worrisome,” Clapper said.

...Despite the focus on Syria, Clapper said al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen-based affiliate that twice attempted unsuccessfully to bomb US aircraft in 2009 and 2010, remains the franchise with the strongest interest in attacking the US, with many of the others principally interested in more localized assaults and contests for power.

“Of all the franchises, that’s the one that poses the most immediate threat for a potential attack on the homeland,” Clapper said. “The probability of an attack now, compared to 2001 is, at least to me, is a very hard question to answer, principally because this very dispersion and diffusion of threat.”

World Bank's former chief economist: Replace dollar with super currency

Replace dollar with super currency: economist

The World Bank's former chief economist wants to replace the US dollar with a single global super-currency, saying it will create a more stable global financial system.

"The dominance of the greenback is the root cause of global financial and economic crises," Justin Yifu Lin told Bruegel, a Brussels-based policy-research think tank. "The solution to this is to replace the national currency with a global currency."

Lin, now a professor at Peking University and a leading adviser to the Chinese government, said expanding the basket of major reserve currencies — the dollar, the euro, the Japanese yen and pound sterling — will not address the consequences of a financial crisis. Internationalizing the Chinese currency is not the answer, either, he said.

Lin urged the international community, especially the US and European Union, to play a leading role in currency and infrastructure initiatives. To boost the global economy, he proposed the launch of a "global infrastructure initiative" to remove development bottlenecks in poor and developing countries, a measure he said would also offer opportunities for advanced economies.

"China can only play a supporting role in realizing the plans," Lin said. "The urgent thing is for the US and Europe to endorse these plans. And I think the G20 is an ideal platform to discuss the ideas," he said, referring to the group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 major economies.

The concept of a global "super currency" tied to a basket of currencies has been periodically discussed by world leaders as well as endorsed by 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize-winner Joseph Stiglitz. A super currency could also be tied to a single currency, but the interconnectedness of world financial markets and concerns about the volatility that can occur as a result of the system being tied to one currency have made this idea less popular.

Read the rest here.

Nevada rocked by quake swarm

Historic Virginia City faces earthquake danger

VIRGINIA CITY, Nev. (MyNews4.com & KRNV) -- If you live in south Reno or Virginia City, you may have felt the recent swarm of earthquakes. More than 100 small quakes have been recorded near the area.

Many people from Lockwood to Damonte Ranch and the Virginia Highlands are feeling them. Experts are concerned about the historic buildings in Virginia City.

The epicenter is located between Virginia City and Lockwood. Since Tuesday, four of the more than 100 quakes had a magnitude greater than 3.0.

No damage has been reported, but Storey County Emergency Management Director Joe Curtis said his department is "all over this."

That's because earthquakes are unpredictable and no one knows if, or when, a big one will hit. In Virginia City, in addition to the potential danger posed, there is another concern.

"We have completed a survey of all of our historic structures," Curtis said. "Most of them for the most part are un-reinforced masonry structures."

Curtis said there is a potential of losing an irreplaceable piece of history. "Should we have a major, upwards of high six into the seven area earthquake, we would probably lose many of these historical structures."

These historic buildings in virginia city were built back in the 1800's, prior to building codes and regulations, but they have withstood major earthquakes before. Two long-time Nevada residents remember some of the recent big ones very well.

APOCALYPTIC: Storm Brigid rages towards UK bringing 150MPH KILLER winds, rain and SNOW

A VIOLENT and destructive storm is hurtling across the Atlantic and will smash into Britain TONIGHT.

By: Nathan Rao Fri, January 31, 2014

48

Storm Brigid is gathering pace in the Atlantic and heading for Britain [Eumetsat Meteosat]

The entire country faces at least three days of torrential downpours, savage 150mph gales and weeks of relentless flood misery.

Storm Brigid is expected to first hit UK shores later this afternoon before the full force of the onslaught rips into the country tomorrow.

Experts say it threatens to cause destruction on a par with the ferocious October St Jude’s Day Storm and subsequent Storm Emily which hit in December.

It came as figures show some areas of England have already had their wettest January since records began.

Scientist sues NASA over mysterious Mars rock

Houston Chronicle

A California man who claims that a mysterious rock recently photographed on Mars is actually a growing organism has filed a lawsuit against NASA for failing to investigate the discovery.

Rhawn Joseph, who describes himself as an astrobiologist, filed a petition Jan. 27 in U.S. District Court in northern California. Joseph asked the court to compel NASA to "scientifically examine and investigate a putative biological organism."

"The refusal to take close-up photos from various angles, the refusal to take microscopic images of the specimen, the refusal to release high-resolution photos is inexplicable, recklessly negligent and bizarre," Joseph stated in the petition.

"Any intelligent adult, adolescent, child, chimpanzee, monkey, dog or rodent with even a modicum of curiosity would approach, investigate and closely examine a bowl-shaped structure which appears just a few feet in front of them when 12 days earlier they hadn't noticed it," his petition said. "But not NASA and its rover team who have refused to take even a single close-up photo."

The space agency's position is puzzling, Joseph's petition states, since NASA referred to the rock in a press release as "unlike anything we have seen before... We are totally confused."

According to earlier published reports, a photo taken on Sol 3540 (Jan. 8, or the 3,540th Martian solar day since the Mars rover Opportunity landed) shows a rock that wasn't visible in previous photos taken on Sol 3536.

Read the rest here.

Volgograd Bombers' Video: We Have Prepared Gift for the Olympics

MEMRI.org

Volgograd Bombers in Recorded Message to Putin: We Have Prepared Gift for the Olympics

"With regard to the Olympics that you are so keen to hold, we will prepare a gift for you over there, Allah willing...we have prepared a gift...for the tourists who will come.  Allah willing, if you hold the Olympics, we will organize a gift for you.  This is our revenge for the innocent blood of the Muslims which is being spilled all over the world..."

SUMMARY: X-Ray Event exceeded M5 (R2)

Space Weather Message Code: SUMXM5
Serial Number: 112
Issue Time: 2014 Jan 30 1633 UTC

 SUMMARY: X-ray Event exceeded M5
Begin Time: 2014 Jan 30 1548 UTC
Maximum Time: 2014 Jan 30 1611 UTC
End Time: 2014 Jan 30 1628 UTC
X-ray Class: M6.6
Location: S12E61
NOAA Scale: R2 - Moderate

NOAA Space Weather Scale descriptions can be found at
www.swpc.noaa.gov/NOAAscales

Potential Impacts: Area of impact centered primarily on sub-solar point on the sunlit side of Earth.
Radio - Limited blackout of HF (high frequency) radio communication for tens of minutes.

---

Thank you for using the Product Subscription Service. If you would like to remove a product subscription or update the personal information in your account, go to the Product Subscription Site.Please do not use the from address for correspondence, as it is not monitored. For comments or help, please contact SWPC Help.

State of the Union: State of Disaster

 Deadly U.S. ice storm turns Atlanta into parking lot, strands thousands 

Freak Southern storm blamed for at least 13 deaths

China and Japan on the Edge of War? 

Droughts Everywhere Are Sending Beef Prices To Record Highs 

California Drought Could Impact World Food Prices

Lawlessness Breeds Evil and Disaster

Weather Extremes Split The United States, Is The Earth Next?

Deadly U.S. ice storm turns Atlanta into parking lot, strands thousands

By David Beasley

ATLANTA, Jan 29 (Reuters) - A rare ice storm turned Atlanta into a slippery mess on Wednesday, stranding thousands for hours on blocked roadways and raising questions about how city leaders prepared for and handled the cold snap that slammed the U.S. South.

The storm, which has killed at least seven people, on Tuesday swept over a region of about 60 million largely unaccustomed to ice and snow - stretching from Texas through Georgia and into the Carolinas - and showed no sign of abating on Thursday.

"Forecast: 100 percent chance of frustration," read an entry on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Twitter feed.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed came under fire for his response to a storm that trapped hundreds of children in schools overnight, some without provisions, and created traffic jams that stretched for miles on roads coated with barely two inches of snow.

He said schools, businesses and government offices were partly to blame for sending people home just as the storm was rolling in.

"During the day, we have a million to 1.2 million people in this city and all those people were out in very bad weather. It hampered our ability to get our equipment on the ground and to prepare our roads for that," Reed told a news conference.

Freak Southern storm blamed for at least 13 deaths

ATLANTA — The arctic blast crippling much of the deep South has caused at least 13 deaths and created havoc for millions, prompting six states to declare emergencies and bringing criticism on the National Weather Service for its forecasting.

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, who mobilized the National Guard on Wednesday to rescue Atlanta-area motorists stranded on snarled, icebound freeways, blamed the state's early response on the Weather Service, which predicted the chaotic storm would hit farther south.

Tuesday's snowfall brought just 2.6 inches of snow to Atlanta, but it was a one-day record and enough to hamstring the region, creating nightmares for commuters, truckers, students and their families. Hundreds of flights were grounded at Hartsfield International Airport — the nation's busiest.

Deal declared a state of emergency for Georgia. Similar declarations were issued for Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina, At least nine people died in traffic accidents, including five in Alabama, two in North Carolina and 1 in Florida. Four people, including a three-month-old infant, were killed early Tuesday in a Mississippi mobile home fire near Fulton caused by a faulty space heater.

China and Japan on the Edge of War?

Japan tells world to stand up to China or face consequences

Davos (Switzerland) (AFP) - Japan on Wednesday told the world it must stand up to an increasingly assertive China or risk a regional conflict with catastrophic economic consequences.

Related Stories

• [$$] Japan's Abe Defends Visit to Shrine The Wall Street Journal
• Japan-China tensions take center-stage with Abe in Davos Reuters
• Japan's Abe says China's prosperity rests on trust, not tensions Reuters
• The Dangerous China Japan Face-Off The Wall Street Journal
• Davos to focus on global economy, conflictsAssociated Press

In a landmark speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe issued what amounted to an appeal for international support in a potentially explosive dispute with its superpower neighbour over islands in the East China Sea.

"We must restrain military expansion in Asia ... which otherwise could go unchecked," Abe told the annual meeting of global business and political leaders, which Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is due to attend on Friday.

"If peace and stability were shaken in Asia, the knock-on effect for the entire world would be enormous," Abe added.

See also:  

Roubini doom scenario: It looks like 1914 again

The $23 trillion credit bubble in China is starting to collapse –global financial crisis next?

Six Major Quakes In North Atlantic in Two Hours

See also:

Quakes Shake MidAtlantic Ridge

Droughts Everywhere Are Sending Beef Prices To Record Highs

Business Insider

Recent droughts have cast a long shadow over beef prices.

Live cattle contracts hit $1.43/lb. today, highest since the contract started in 1964, according to Bloomberg's Phoebe Sedgman. 

In a recent note, ConvergEx's Nick Colas explained what's going on: Although we had a normal and even wet summer last year, it takes years for pastureland — and the volume of animals grazing on them — to recover from such a severe lack of precipitation. The last three years have seen below to severely below average precipitation. 

Colas:

"There are a lot of cattle in America – just over 89 million head in total – but those numbers are down from 94 million in 2010.  Pasture land doesn’t recovery from drought in just one or two years, so ranchers have to maintain lower herd sizes even when the weather improves.  It did so this year, but numerous articles (one cited below) in local farming community newspapers seem to indicate that ranchers remain cautious despite this year’s better environment. Bottom line: U.S. herds are at a 60 year low and seem likely to remain depressed.  For a long term frame of reference, consider that the peak was just over 103 million head of cattle in 1996. 

Sedgman writes ground beef prices hit a near 30-year high of about $3.50/lb. last September. Here's the chart for Live Cattle contracts. 

Ground beef prices have since come down a bit. But Sedgman reports prices may rise again, as severe droughts in Australia are forcing massive sell offs among ranchers Down Under. Although this will cause exports to temporarily increase, demand is surging in places like China, which “puts a lot of pressure on imports for fast-food grinding beef,” and means “beef will go to the highest bidder,” she quotes Global AgriTrends' Brett Stuart as saying.

Read more: 

California recording-breaking drought to impact world food prices in 2014.

California Drought Could Impact World Food Prices

Elizabeth Lee

January 27, 2014

LOS ANGELES — Southern California, where many fruits and vegetables for the country are grown, is experiencing a recording-breaking drought, which could impact world food prices in 2014.

'Not looking good'

Andy Domenigoni is a fourth generation grower in Riverside, California. He says there are good years and bad years, and this year things are not looking good.

“I have some fields that we planted almost a month ago that are still not out of the ground,” Domenigoni said.

He says normally it takes five to seven days for the wheat to sprout, but not this year. He points to a brown field behind him.

“This field was planted two weeks ago and it is just bone dry. The seed is not in any moisture," he said. "It can’t sprout. We got to wait for the rain.”

Waiting for rain

Domenigoni is not the only one waiting for rain. The western United States has been in a drought that has been building for more than a decade, according to climatologist Bill Patzert of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“Ranchers in the West are selling off their livestock," Patzert said. "Farmers all over the Southwest, from Texas to Oregon, are fallowing in their fields because of a lack of water. For farmers and ranchers, this is a painful drought.”

It may be painful for those who depend on rain, but Patzert says drought is actually the norm in the history of the American West, with some dry periods that have lasted up to 50 years. In Southern California, this drought is turning into one of the worst in recorded history.

...And what happens in California does not just affect the United States.

”Here in California, we’re the breadbasket of the United States, but also we export tremendous volumes of fruits, vegetables and even cattle overseas," Patzert said. "And so when these terrible droughts hit and production drops, this echoes around the globe.”

According to the United Nations, global food prices for 2013 were among the highest on record. Food experts in California won't know how much the drought in the western U.S. will affect the price of food in 2014 until later this year. As for farmers, experts agree there is no quick fix for their need for water.

Read the rest here.

Theft of pope blood linked to Satanism

John Paul II relic and crucifix stolen from church in Abruzzo, Italy

The theft of a reliquary containing the blood of John Paul II has been linked to Satanism by an Italian consumer rights lobby. That remarkable assertion was made today by the Italian Anti-Plagiarism Observatory in the wake of reports of the theft of a gold reliquary and a crucifix from a church in San Pietro della Ienca, at the foot of the Gran Sasso mountain in Abruzzo.

Since 2011, the church of San Pietro della Ienca has become a sanctuary dedicated to the memory of the late Pope John Paul II. The handsome little church, picturesquely situated beneath the snow-covered Gran Sasso, is right in the heart of a mountainous region much loved by the late Pope.

Legend has it that, in the early days of his pontificate, John Paul II would occasionally slip out of the Vatican during the winter months to go ski-ing on the Gran Sasso. In his later years, he continued to visit the area, this time restricting himself to long walks in the hills.

Given his attachment to the area, the Pope’s long time private secretary, the current Archbishop of Cracow, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, in August 2011 donated a gold reliquary, containing a small amount of the late Pope’s blood, to the church of San Pietro della Ienca. On Sunday morning, however, a custodian discovered that the church had been broken into and that both the reliquary and a crucifix were missing. This morning more than 50 policemen, aided by sniffer dogs, searched the area close to the church in the belief that the thieves might have immediately dumped the stolen objects.

Lawlessness Breeds Evil and Disaster

Nehemiah 13 (English Standard Version)

¹⁵ In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them on the day when they sold food.
¹⁶ Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself!
¹⁷ Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day?
¹⁸ Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster^[a] on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”

See also:  

Shaping Disaster Against National Evil

(M2.3) Mag Quake NEW HAMPSHIRE

M2.3 - NEW HAMPSHIRE

Preliminary Earthquake Report

Magnitude	2.3
Date-Time	28 Jan 2014 11:32:03 UTC 28 Jan 2014 06:32:03 near epicenter 28 Jan 2014 06:32:03 standard time in your timezone
Location	44.133N 72.044W
Depth	5 km
Distances	2 km (1 mi) SSW of Woodsville, New Hampshire 57 km (35 mi) NNE of Lebanon, New Hampshire 78 km (48 mi) WSW of Berlin, New Hampshire 81 km (50 mi) NW of Laconia, New Hampshire 44 km (27 mi) ESE of Montpelier, Vermont
Location Uncertainty	Horizontal: 0.0 km; Vertical 2.0 km
Parameters	Nph = 28; Dmin = 15.5 km; Rmss = 0.30 seconds; Gp = 95° Version =
Event ID	us b000m9l5

For updates, maps, and technical information, see: Event Page orUSGS Earthquake Hazards Program
National Earthquake Information Center
U.S. Geological Survey
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/neic/

Editor's note:

See also   Quakes Shake MidAtlantic Ridge
Weather Extremes Split The United States, Is The Earth Next?

Fresh signs that ancient Mars was life-friendly

NBC NEWS

Opportunity rover finds fresh signs that ancient Mars was life-friendly

Ten years after it landed on Mars, NASA's Opportunity rover has hit pay dirt again: This time, the rover's scientists are reporting new evidence that garden-variety life could have thrived on the Red Planet billions of years ago.

Not long after Opportunity bounced to the surface in 2004, the six-wheeled rover came across geological formations that were formed amid standing water, suggesting a sort of habitability on ancient Mars. But back then, the evidence indicated that the water was salty and highly acidic — making for an environment that would have been suitable only for the hardiest organisms on Earth.

Now scientists are fleshing out a scenario that's more in tune with what NASA's Curiosity rover, a more recent arrival, found at a different site thousands of miles away. That suggests that life-friendly conditions could have existed for hundreds of millions of years.

"The punch line here is that the oldest rocks Opportunity has examined were formed under very mild conditions — conditions that would have been a much better niche for life, and also much better for the preservation of organic materials that would have been produced," said Ray Arvidson, a planetary scientist at Washington University in St. Louis.

Read the rest here.

Western U.S. Quakes

In last 3 hours...

(M2.3) CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

(M2.3) MISSOURI

(M2.9) WESTERN TEXAS

(M2.2) OKLAHOMA 

(M3.4) CENTRAL CALIFORNIA 

(M2.6) OFF THE COAST OF SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA

http://earthquake.usgs.gov

ALERT: X-ray Flux exceeded M5 (R2)

Space Weather Message Code: ALTXMF Serial Number: 209 Issue Time: 2014 Jan 27 2211 UTC

ALERT: X-Ray Flux exceeded M5 Threshold Reached: 2014 Jan 27 2210 UTC NOAA Scale: R2 - Moderate NOAA Space Weather Scale descriptions can be found at www.swpc.noaa.gov/NOAAscale

Potential Impacts: Area of impact centered on sub-solar point on the sunlit side of Earth. Extent of blackout of HF (high frequency) radio communication dependent upon current X-ray Flux intensity. For real-time information on affected area and expected duration please see http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/drap/index.html.

The $23 trillion credit bubble in China is starting to collapse –global financial crisis next?

The $23 trillion credit bubble in China is starting to collapse – global financial crisis next?

Respond to this post by replying above this line New post on The Extinction Protocol The $23 trillion credit bubble in China is starting to collapse – global financial crisis next? by The Extinction Protocol January 2014 – CHINA - Did you know that financial institutions all over the world are warning that we could see a “mega default” on a very prominent high-yield investment product in China on January 31st? We are being told that this could lead to a cascading collapse of the shadow banking system in China which could potentially result in “sky-high interest rates” and “a precipitous plunge in credit.” In other words, it could be a “Lehman Brothers moment” for Asia. And since the global financial system is more interconnected today than ever before, that would be very bad news for the United States as well. Since Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008, the level of private domestic credit in China has risen from $9 trillion to an astounding $23 trillion. That is an increase of $14 trillion in just a little bit more than 5 years. Much of that “hot money” has flowed into stocks, bonds and real estate in the United States. So what do you think is going to happen when that bubble collapses? The bubble of private debt that we have seen inflate in China since the Lehman crisis is unlike anything that the world has ever seen. Never before has so much private debt been accumulated in such a short period of time. All of this debt has helped fuel tremendous economic growth in China, but now a whole bunch of Chinese companies are realizing that they have gotten in way, way over their heads. In fact, it is being projected that Chinese companies will pay out the equivalent of approximately a trillion dollars in interest payments this year alone. That is more than twice the amount that the U.S. government will pay in interest in 2014. Over the past several years, the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England have all been criticized for creating too much money. But the truth is that what has been happening in China surpasses all of their efforts combined. You can see an incredible chart which graphically illustrates this point right here. As the Telegraph pointed out a while back, the Chinese have essentially “replicated the entire U.S. commercial banking system" in just five years... Overall credit has jumped from $9 trillion to $23 trillion since the Lehman crisis. “They have replicated the entire U.S. commercial banking system in five years,” she said. The ratio of credit to GDP has jumped by 75 percentage points to 200pc of GDP, compared to roughly 40 points in the US over five years leading up to the subprime bubble, or in Japan before the Nikkei bubble burst in 1990. “This is beyond anything we have ever seen before in a large economy. We don't know how this will play out. The next six months will be crucial,” she said. Forbes warned: “A WMP default, whether relating to Liansheng or Zhenfu, could devastate the Chinese banking system and the larger economy as well. In short, China’s growth since the end of 2008 has been dependent on ultra-loose credit first channeled through state banks, like ICBC and Construction Bank, and then through the WMPs, which permitted the state banks to avoid credit risk. Any disruption in the flow of cash from investors to dodgy borrowers through WMPs would rock China with sky-high interest rates or a precipitous plunge in credit, probably both. The result? The best outcome would be decades of misery, what we saw in Japan after its bubble burst in the early 1990s.” –Economic Collapse Blog The Extinction Protocol | January 25, 2014 at 3:57 pm  Thanks for flying with  WordPress.com

Islamic Cleric: Volgograd Bombings Fatwa - Approved

Salafi-jihadi Cleric Issues Fatwa Approving Volgograd Bombings that 'Enraged the Infidels’

Abu 'Abd Al Rahman Al Maqdisi, a Salafi-jihadi cleric, issued a fatwa retroactively approving the December 2013 bombings in Volgograd, Russia.

According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), “The fatwa was published on January 12, 2014, on IslamDin.net, a Website affiliated with the Caucasus Emirate. Abu 'Abd Al Rahman Al Maqdisi, a member of Minbar Al Tawhid wal Jihad's shari'a committee, issued the fatwa in response to a query submitted by operatives of the Emirate's Kabardi-Balkaria-Karchai ‘province.””

Al Maqdisi said that according to shari'a law, the bombings are legitimate since both the target -- "Christian infidels" -- and the means (suicide bombings) -- were legitimate. He said that such tactics were necessary in order to send a message to the Russian government that it must leave the Caucasus, and to shake the country's security and stability in the run up to the Sochi Winter Olympics.

Jihadists had earlier encouraged attacks on the Winter Olympics in Russia. More recently, Russian security forces shot suspected jihadi rebels in Dagestan following the bombings in Volgograd.

MEMRI said Al Maqdisi “added that the Russian people must be punished for its government's support of the Syrian regime. Al Maqdisi encouraged Russian Muslims to join the jihad fighters of the Caucasus Emirate and carry out similar attacks throughout Russia. In this vein, Al Maqdisi urged Russian Muslims to prefer jihad in Russia to traveling to Syria to wage jihad.”

“Finally,” MEMRI said, “Al Maqdisi gave some practical advice to potential terrorists. He urged them to coordinate their actions with the Caucasus Emirate, and to attempt to execute the largest possible attack, so as not to waste their own lives for a small impact.” 

Read the rest here.

See also:

Jihadists Encouraged to Attack Winter Olympics in Russia

Pope's Peace Doves Attacked By Angry Birds

Ill omen? Pope’s doves of peace for Ukraine attacked by angry birds 

Pope Francis on Sunday prayed for the start of a “constructive dialogue” in Ukraine, releasing two white doves to symbolize the hope for peace. However, the doves were immediately attacked by a crow and a seagull.

Addressing tens of thousands of people gathered in Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Square for the Pope’s weekly Angelus prayer, the pontiff said that his thoughts and prayers were with the victims of the Ukrainian unrest.

“I am close to Ukraine in prayer, in particular to those who have lost their lives in recent days and to their families,” Pope Francis said.

He then raised hopes for a “constructive dialogue between the institutions and civil society,” urging both sides to avoid violence and reminding that “the spirit of peace and a search for the common good” should be “in the hearts of all.”

In a symbolic peace gesture, two white doves were then released by children standing alongside Pope Francis.

But as soon as the birds took off, they were immediately attacked by a crow and a seagull.

The crowd gasped as one dove broke free from its seagull attacker, losing some feathers in the process. The other was less fortunate and was repeatedly pecked at by the crow before flying away.

 

Jeremiah 15:3

I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the Lord: the sword to kill,the dogs to tear, and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.

Jeremiah 15:2-4 (in Context)

Christians Warned Against ‘Slandering’ Allah in Jesus’ hometown

Christians Warned Against ‘Slandering’ Allah in Jesus’ hometown

Posted on January 26, 2014 by creeping

via Nazareth Christians Warned Against ‘Slandering’ Allah – Israel Today | Israel News.

As Christians of every stripe in Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth begin to again take a real stand for their faith, local Muslims are warning them not to overstep the boundaries of their traditional place in the Middle East (hint: they must remaindhimmis, or second-class).

A large billboard hanging at a central point in Nazareth features a picture of an Israeli stop sign, along with the English translation of a verse from the Koran cautioning Christians (and Jews) to speak only the “truth” regarding Allah.

The poster (and Koran 4:171) reads:

“O people of the Scripture (Christians)! Do not exceed the limits of your religion. Say nothing but the truth about Allah (The One True God). The Christ Jesus, Son of Mary, was only a Messenger of God and His word conveyed to Mary and a spirit created by Him. So believe in God and His messengers and do not say: ‘Three gods (trinity)’. Cease! It will be better for you. Indeed, Allah is the One and the Only God. His Holiness is far above having a son.”

6.0 Mag Quake Strikes Greece with 15 Strong Aftershocks

M6.0 - GREECE

Preliminary Earthquake Report

Magnitude	6.0
Date-Time	26 Jan 2014 13:55:43 UTC 26 Jan 2014 15:55:44 near epicenter 26 Jan 2014 08:55:43 standard time in your timezone
Location	38.208N 20.425E
Depth	18 km
Distances	0 km (0 mi) NW of Lixourion, Greece 61 km (37 mi) NW of Zakynthos, Greece 87 km (53 mi) SSW of Preveza, Greece 89 km (55 mi) WSW of Mesolongi, Greece 289 km (179 mi) W of Athens, Greece
Location Uncertainty	Horizontal: 0.0 km; Vertical 3.6 km
Parameters	Nph = 140; Dmin = 175.2 km; Rmss = 1.17 seconds; Gp = 39° Version =
Event ID	us b000m8ch

For updates, maps, and technical information, see: Event Page orUSGS Earthquake Hazards Program
National Earthquake Information Center
U.S. Geological Survey

1 Day, Magnitude 2.5+ Worldwide

44 earthquakes - DownloadUpdated: 2014-01-26 15:07:27 UTC-05:00Showing event times using Local System Time (UTC-05:00)

1. 4.49km SSW of Lixourion, Greece2014-01-26 14:03:06 UTC-05:0010.1 km
2. 5.415km WNW of Lixourion, Greece2014-01-26 13:45:09 UTC-05:0010.3 km
3. 5.02km ENE of Balanacan, Philippines2014-01-26 12:57:51 UTC-05:0076.0 km
4. 3.010km N of Coalinga, California2014-01-26 12:49:34 UTC-05:0010.6 km
5. 4.210km WSW of Lixourion, Greece2014-01-26 12:45:16 UTC-05:0010.0 km
6. 3.1135km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico2014-01-26 12:38:54 UTC-05:0062.0 km
7. 3.04km N of Columbia City, Oregon2014-01-26 12:31:33 UTC-05:0019.1 km
8. 4.416km W of Lixourion, Greece2014-01-26 10:36:38 UTC-05:0010.5 km
9. 4.613km SW of Lixourion, Greece2014-01-26 10:29:28 UTC-05:0011.2 km
10. 4.526km NNW of Lixourion, Greece2014-01-26 09:59:25 UTC-05:0011.2 km
11. 4.313km NW of Lixourion, Greece2014-01-26 09:47:36 UTC-05:0021.8 km
12. 4.47km NW of Lixourion, Greece2014-01-26 09:41:39 UTC-05:0011.1 km
13. 4.615km W of Lixourion, Greece2014-01-26 09:32:52 UTC-05:0012.0 km
14. 4.428km NW of Lixourion, Greece2014-01-26 09:29:20 UTC-05:0011.9 km
15. 4.610km WNW of Lixourion, Greece2014-01-26 09:24:05 UTC-05:0010.1 km
16. 4.411km SW of Lixourion, Greece2014-01-26 09:21:58 UTC-05:0010.6 km
17. 4.97km NW of Lixourion, Greece2014-01-26 09:08:40 UTC-05:0011.9 km
18. 6.13km S of Lixourion, Greece2014-01-26 08:55:42 UTC-05:0012.3 km
19. 2.873km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico2014-01-26 08:16:44 UTC-05:0064.0 km