Equipping believers for a world-wide ministry

Subzero Weather Kills 89 In Eastern Europe - February 01, 2012 (Arab News) Record-low temperatures in parts of Eastern Europe pushed the death toll from Arctic conditions to at least 89 people on Wednesday. In Ukraine, 43 people have died in the past five days. Overnight temperatures sank as low as -27F and hundreds of heated tents have been put up to shelter the homeless. European weather alert network Meteoalarm warned of "extremely dangerous" conditions in several parts of eastern Europe, including Serbia, where a fourth person was found dead overnight in the southwestern Suvobor mountains. Thermometers in parts of Bulgaria plunged to record lows freezing ATM cash machines in Sofia, the daily newspaper Trud reported. Eight people in Bulgaria and 14 in neighboring Romania have now died in the cold snap. Meanwhile in Slovenia, winds of up to 180 kph (112 mph) blew off roofs and prompted authorities to close some schools, authorities said.

Read More in: The Rise of a European Superstate

Komen for the Cure Defunds Planned Parenthood - February 01, 2012 (Life News) The breast cancer awareness organization Susan Komen for the Cure is defending its decision to revoke funding for the Planned Parenthood. The key in the Komen decision is the grant criteria it uses to make grants. Planned Parenthood does not perform mammograms at any of its centers across the United States, and Komen says it is implementing "more stringent eligibility standards to safeguard donor dollars." Its new guidelines also prevent it from funding any group under congressional investigation, but the breast screening issue reportedly has the effect of ending Planned Parenthood's funding even if the current Congressional probe finds Planned Parenthood free of any wrongdoing.

Read More in: The Decline of the U.S.

Alaska Airlines To Stop Giving Out Prayer Cards - January 26, 2012 (AP) Alaska Airlines is ending decades of giving passengers prayer cards with their meals, saying Wednesday the decision was made out of respect for all passengers. Airline spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said the airline heard from customers who preferred not to mix religion with transportation. "Some customers were comforted by the cards and some didn't feel religion was appropriate on the plane and preferred not to receive one," she said. The cards offer a short excerpt of a psalm from the Old Testament printed on a beautiful photograph. One current example includes this excerpt printed over a beach scene: "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever."

Read More in: The Decline of the U.S.

Authorities Round Up 104 Suspected Mexican Mafia Members In So. Cal. - January 26, 2012 (CNN) Authorities arrested more than 100 members and associates of the Mexican Mafia street gang in southern California as part of investigation into a wide range of offenses such as racketeering, kidnapping, attempted murder and drug trafficking, federal officials said. The arrests were made primarily in San Diego County and were the culmination of three major investigations on gang activity in the area, U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said Wednesday.

Read More in: The Decline of the U.S.

Tehran Residents React To Obama's SOTU - January 26, 2012 (Reuters) At a time of heightened tension between the West and Iran with the US more determined than ever to prevent the Islamic state from becoming nuclear-armed Iranians are uncertain about the future they face. Local residents in Tehran's northern district are divided over the comments of US president Barack Obama, who, in a State of the Union address, warned Iran the United States would keep up pressure on its disputed nuclear program with "no options off the table" but said the door remained open to talks for a peaceful resolution. Obama said on Tuesday (January 24) Tehran was isolated and facing "crippling" sanctions that he said would continue so long as the Islamic Republic keeps its back turned to the international community.

Read More in: Weapons Proliferation

Palestinians Refuse Peace Talks Without Designated Borders - January 25, 2012 (The Jerusalem Post) The Palestinian Authority will not restart direct peace negotiations with Israel unless Jerusalem recognizes the borders of a Palestinian state, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday according to the Palestinian News and Information Agency (WAFA). The most outstanding issue preventing the resumption of high-level direct negotiations is the continued expansion of Israeli settlements, especially in "occupied" Jerusalem, Abbas said according to the report. Israeli officials took a more positive tone, saying Tuesday they were confident the Palestinians would continue the talks being held in Jordan beyond the January 26 Quartet deadline, which Israel contests.

Read More in: The Struggle for Jerusalem

Full Text Of State Of The Union - January 24, 2012 (National Post) The full text of President Obama's 2012 State Of The Union speech can be found at the above link. We will give perspective on the speech in next week's eNews.

Read More in: The Decline of the U.S.

Israel Concerned About Syria's Weapons Stockpiles - January 17, 2012 (AFP) Israel has serious concerns about what will happen to "huge stockpiles" of chemical and biological weapons in Syria when the Assad regime collapses, a senior military official said on Tuesday. Major-General Amir Eshel, head of the Israeli military's planning division, said the working assumption was the regime of President Bashar Assad would eventually fall. "That's a major concern because I don't know who is going to own those the day after. Up till now, what has been transferred to Hezbollah? What will be transferred to Hezbollah? What will be divided between those factions inside Syria? What is that going to create?" asked Eshel.

Read More in: Weapons Proliferation

US Supreme Court Won't Hear Board Prayer Cases - January 17, 2012 (Bloomberg) The justices today left intact a federal appeals ruling that said a North Carolina county board was violating the constitutional separation of church and state by opening most of its sessions with a Christian prayer. The high court also refused to review a separate decision that barred prayers at meetings of a Delaware school board. In the North Carolina case, the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners used private religious leaders to deliver its prayers, each year inviting members of various faiths to sign up on a first-come, first-served basis to deliver an invocation. The result tended to be prayers that were predominantly Christian. From May 29, 2007, to Dec. 15, 2008, almost 80 percent of the prayers referred to Jesus.

Read More in: The Decline of the U.S.

Sugar-Free Diets Don't Stop Cancer - January 10, 2012 (NewsWise) A study by a team of researchers at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere shows that lymph gland cancer cells called B cells can use glutamine in the absence of glucose for cell replication and survival, particularly under low-oxygen conditions, which are common in tumors. When the investigators used a glutaminase (a glutamine enzyme) inhibitor, cancerous growth of B cells was stopped in petri dishes.

Read More in: Biotech & Global Pestilence

Appeals Court Lifts Ban On Texas Ultrasound Law - January 10, 2012 (The Dallas Morning News) The Texas sonogram law, requiring women seeking abortions to have an ultrasound in order to view the fetus and hear its heartbeat, doesn't violate constitutional protections and can go into effect, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. The three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals lifted a ban on the law that had been imposed in August by U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks. Other issues and a formal ruling on the case are still pending before Sparks. "We are thrilled by the ruling," said Joe Pojman, executive director of Texas Alliance for Life, adding the law protects women. "This is about raising the standard of care regarding informed consent about abortions to the same level any patient would expect from any other medical or surgical procedure," he said.

Read More in: The Decline of the U.S.

1500 y.o. Bread Stamp Found In Israel - January 10, 2012 (Haaretz) A 1,500-year-old seal with the image of the seven-branched Temple Menorah has been discovered near the city of Acre. The ceramic stamp, which dates from the Byzantine period in the 6th century CE, was found during ongoing Israel Antiquities Authority excavations at Horbat Uza, east of Acre. "The stamp is important because it proves that a Jewish community existed in the settlement of Uza in the Christian-Byzantine period. The presence of a Jewish settlement so close to Acre - a region that was definitely Christian at this time - constitutes an innovation in archaeological research," said Dr. Danny Syon, one of the directors of the excavation, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Read More in: The Struggle for Jerusalem

Pfizer Recalls A Million Birth Control Pill Packets - February 02, 2012 (Fox News) A manufacturing mix-up by Pfizer Inc. is leaving women at risk of unwanted pregnancies. The world's largest drug maker, led to some packets being distributed with the pills out of order. That means a patient could have unknowingly skipped a dose and raised her risk of an accidental pregnancy. Pfizer has recalled about 1 million packets of Lo/Ovral-28 and its generic equivalent, but the company estimates that only about 30 packets were flawed. The pills were made and shipped last year. Each packet contains 28 days' worth of the prescription, with 21 pills containing the active ingredient that prevents pregnancy and seven placebo pills. The pills are normally color-coded to note the difference.

Egyptian Soccer Fans Slaughter Each Other - Military and Police Blamed - November 30, 1999 (CNN) Horrified eyewitnesses described how Egyptian police officers stood by as violent clashes between rival fans at a soccer match in northeastern Egypt left scores dead. When the referee blew the final whistle, thousands of Al-Masry home team fans stormed the pitch despite their team's hard-fought 3-1 victory. Amr Khamis, an Ahly supporter told CNN at the train station in Cairo after returning from the match, "Officers refused to open the gates of the stadium so we could not escape and had to face thousands of Al-Masry hooligans attacking with rocks, knives, swords and anything else you can imagine." Egypt has recently experienced a breakdown in security, with several armed robberies, kidnappings and random killings taking place across the country in the past week alone.