Christian News
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Mark of the Beast
Spanish researchers from the Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology at Barcelona University are perfecting a system to individually tag and track mouse embryos with silicon barcodes. But the researchers do not intend to stop there. The press release stated, “Researchers recently received authorization from the Department of Health of the Government of Catalonia to begin testing the system with human oocytes and embryos from several fertility clinics in Spain.” (click title to read more)
The “REAL ID” Act was passed by the US Congress five years ago and now is in effect here in Florida. Get a “gold star” on your Florida Driver’s License and you’ll be allowed to board an airplane. It’s a concept designed to beef up identity security. But as the local CBS4 I-Team investigator Stephen Stock discovered, what’s really being beefed up are the profits of private companies in the Identity Management Industry who are benefiting from this huge new federal program. (click title to read more)
6th Trumpet
‘We Were Stunned’ by North Korean Nuclear Facility
Robert Carlin, one of three Stanford University scientists reported about what they said is a “modern, small industrial-scale uranium enrichment facility with 2,000 centrifuges” at Yongbyon, North Korea. “We were stunned, because we saw row after row after row of centrifuges.” (click title to read more)
Could Terrorists Launch America’s Nuclear Missiles?
In October, a Wyoming-based squadron of 50 nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), enough firepower to kill some 20 million people, lost computer communications with its human controllers for 45 minutes. When the news broke, the ensuing political debate focused on what effect the outage might have had on America’s readiness to fight a nuclear war. But the more important concern should be that for almost an hour the safeguards that protect against unauthorized launch were compromised. (click title to read more)
Holy Roman Empire
The European Commission has announced its proposals to develop three systems to raise the level of security for citizens and businesses in cyberspace. An EU cybercrime center to be established by 2013 will coordinate cooperation between member states, EU institutions and international partners, while an European information sharing and alert system will facilitate communication between rapid-response teams and law-enforcement authorities. The Commission also wants to create a network of Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) by 2012, with a CERT in every EU country. (click title to read more)
According to EU president Herman Van Rompuy, the age of the nation state is over and the idea that countries can stand alone is an ‘illusion’ and a ‘lie’. Mr Van Rompuy’s speech in the German capital told his audience that ‘the time of the homogenous nation state is over’. He added that the ‘danger’ of Euroscepticism was spreading beyond the confines of countries such as Britain and was becoming a stronger force across the whole continent. (click title to read more)
Middle East
Livni: Netanyahu is too Weak to Give Up Land For PeacePrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is attempting to pass on the decision of whether or not to relinquish land as part of a future peace deal since he is too weak to make that decision himself, says opposition leader Tzipi Livni. The Knesset is expected to pass into law a bill conditioning any retreat from territories Israel considers to be under its sovereignty upon the holding of a popular referendum. Referring to the upcoming vote, Livni said that her party, Kadima, would vote against the bill. (click title to read more)
Sources in Washington have disclosed that a three-month settlement construction freeze-for-incentives deal also included a commitment to hold Israel-Palestinian negotiations on the two states’ final borders. Assuming the talks collapse, the Obama administration will take the initiative of delineating those borders and present its own map to both sides before the three months are up. (click title to read more)
World Government
FCC May Regulate Internet Lines Days Before Christmas
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has a Christmas gift in store for the phone and cable industry: it may move ahead on its controversial net-neutrality regulations three days before Christmas. Though the FCC has not confirmed that it will vote on net neutrality this year, rumors are swirling that it will. Some see it as a way to move the matter along before the GOP assumes the majority and while Congress is not in session to criticize the effort. Republicans are already mounting a campaign to oppose the potential Internet line regulations, which would aim to rein in how cable and phone companies manage Internet traffic. (click title to read more)
Economic Power Shifting From US To China
According to former hedge fund manager George Soros, global governance is faltering and China’s grip on the global economy is getting tighter. Mr. Soros said China’s devalued currency manipulates global trade and distorts the global economic recovery. Mr. Soros devoted much of his talk to China because the country’s rapid rise is taking place at the exact same time that the US is losing its global economic dominance. (click title to read more)
Polish Leader Warns NATO of Russian BearFear that Russia is rebuilding its authoritarian dominance in Central and Eastern Europe as it grows closer to Washington underscores a message to NATO leaders from the head of Poland’s top opposition party. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the president of Poland’s Law and Justice party, writes in a letter that Poles have observed in the past decade since 9/11 “a progressive process of growing authoritarian power in Russia and a number of measures aimed to rebuild Russia’s communist-era sphere of influence, not only in the former Soviet Union, but also outside of it.” (click title to read more)
World Religion
Archbishop Cyrille Salim Bustros of Newton, Mass. fueled a firestorm of criticism in Israel and elsewhere when he said Jews cannot justify Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. Butros claims there is no longer a chosen people. “Islam has supplanted Judaism as the top priority” for the Catholic Church, said John Allen Jr., Vatican correspondent for CNN. (click title to read more)
During a visit prompted by the Tony Blair Faith Foundation’s funding of teaching and research on religion and globalization, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke to scholars, students, religious leaders, and MPs on issues that his foundation promotes to be some of the 21st century’s most vital. “Does religious faith become a force for progress? Or does religious faith become a source of conflict and sectarianism?” Blair asked. “I think that’s the dominant question of the 21st century.” (click title to read more)
Top Story
Rejecting a request by a Republican gay rights group, the US Supreme Court refused to stop enforcement of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy while a lower court hears a challenge to the ban. The decision by the high court keeps in place the military’s ban on gays and lesbians serving openly. (click title to read more)
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