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Iran’s Watch on Christians Intensifies, Says Open Doors USA
By Alex Murashko – “The Iranian government’s tracking of Christians in Iran has intensified over the last several months, according to Open Doors USA, an organization that provides help to persecuted believers in Jesus worldwide.
In Iran, Christians gather in house churches, which are being increasingly discovered. Members are then subjected to various forms of harassment, including imprisonment, job termination and separation from family.
Open Doors estimates that there are 350,000 Christians from a Muslim background living in Iran. The country’s current regime lost credibility following the turmoil of the 2009 elections, and in an effort to distract attention from continuing protests, it is increasingly lashing out against Christians, Open Doors USA leaders say.
Michael Wood, an American who works in the Middle East office of Open Doors USA, told The Christian Post that the house church movement in Iran is one of the fastest growing in the world. However, the Iranian government is doing its best to squelch the movement, he said.
‘Over the last few months they have made a really strong attempt to undermine what’s going on in the house church movement. They are tearing apart meeting places. If they find out somebody has been involved in a house church group they are arrested or really intimidated,’ Wood said. ‘They are listened to on their cell phones. Houses will be broken into and Bibles and Christian material will be confiscated.'” Read more.
Iran: Imprisoned Christian Pastor Will Not Return to Islam and Renounce Christ, Execution Set For As Early As September 29
Hebrews 13:3, “Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”
Sahih Bukhari 52:260, “… The Prophet [Mohammed] said, ‘If somebody discards his [Islamic] religion, kill him.” (Hadith)
John 16:2b, “… the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a holy service for God.”
By Stefan J. Bos – “RASHT, IRAN (Worthy News) – A young pastor of Iran’s largest house church movement has told an Iranian court he will not ‘recant’ his faith in Christ despite facing execution as early as Thursday, September 29, for abandoning Islam, church sources said.
Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani of the Church of Iran was asked by the Gilan provincial court in the city of Rasht to ‘repent’ ahead of his next hearing Tuesday, September 27. However Nadarkhani declined, according to comments obtained by BosNewsLife.
‘Repent means to return. What should I return to? To the blasphemy that I had before my faith in Christ?,’ the 34-year-old church leader asked during his first hearing Sunday, September 25.
When the court told him to return ‘to the religion of your ancestors, Islam’ Nadarkhani replied: ‘I can not.’
The Court said however that Youcef Nadarkhani, whose first name is also spelled as Yousef, has ‘Islamic ancestry’ and therefore ‘must recant his faith in Jesus Christ,’ trial observers said.
Yet, fellow Christians following the trial described Youcef Nadarkhani as ‘being happy [with] his faith strong.'” Read more.
Iran Just Months From Nuclear Bomb, Turkish Premier Signals Joint Operation With Iran and Calls For Azerbaijan To Join Them Against Israel
It’s not difficult to figure out who Erdogan and Ahmadinajad would just love to team up against next. They’re just signing up as many nations to bring with them as possible on the offensive of all offensives …
Psalm 83:2-4, “For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; And those who hate You have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, And consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, ‘Come, and let us cut them off from [being] a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.'”
“IRAN may be just six months away from developing a nuclear bomb, despite international attempts to thwart the program through sanctions and cyber attacks.
Two years after an underground installation in the city of Qmo was revealed in a joint press conference by US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and former British prime minister Gordon Brown, Iran has significantly advanced its uranium enrichment program at the site.
The latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency concludes that Iran has not only boosted production but upgraded the level of enrichment from 3.5 per cent to almost 20 per cent and has installed more sophisticated centrifuges, which it is moving to the bunker in Qom, apparently to protect them from airstrikes.
Low-enriched uranium is used for nuclear power, which Iran insists is the purpose of its program.Weapons-grade uranium is about 90 per cent enriched.
‘We believe if Iran broke out now they could have a bomb in six months,’ said David Albright, a former weapons inspector who runs the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington. ‘They’ve done this right in front of our faces.'” Read more.
Turkish premier signals joint operation with Iran – “Turkey’s prime minister on Sunday signaled a joint military offensive with Iran against their common enemy: Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq. Turkey and Iran were working together and ‘determined,’ Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. ‘There is no question of any postponement,’ Erdogan said in a clear reference to a possible joint military operation against the main Kurdish rebel base on Qandil Mountain which sits on the Iraqi-Iranian border deep inside northern Iraq.” Read more.
Turkey to Azerbaijan: Stand with us against Israel – “The Turkish ambassador to Azerbaijan called on Baku to stand beside Ankara in its diplomatic struggle against Israel and “reconsider” its relations with the Jewish State, a Persian-language US-based website reported on Sunday… Azerbaijan has become an important strategic asset for Israel’s security and foreign affairs. In 2010, the trade between the two countries totaled more than $2 billion – double than the trade between Azerbaijan and Turkey.” Read more.
Turkey Predicts Alliance With Egypt as Regional Anchors – “A newly assertive Turkey offered on Sunday a vision of a starkly realigned Middle East, where the country’s former allies in Syria and Israel fall into deeper isolation, and a burgeoning alliance with Egypt underpins a new order in a region roiled by revolt and revolution. The portrait was described by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of Turkey in an hourlong interview before he was to leave for the United Nations, where a contentious debate was expected this week over a Palestinian bid for recognition as a state. Viewed by many as the architect of a foreign policy that has made Turkey one of the most relevant players in the Muslim world, Mr. Davutoglu pointed to that issue and others to describe a region in the midst of a transformation. Turkey, he said, was ‘right at the center of everything.'” Read more.
Argentina: Argentines Probe Reports of Blast From Fireball That Fell From the Sky
“BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) –Argentina’s security ministry has an explosives team probing a mysterious blast that killed a woman and injured at least six other people in the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
The explosion occurred shortly after 2 a.m. Monday, destroying two houses, a business and several cars.
Several neighbors reported seeing a ball of fire fall from the sky right before the explosion.
Federal and provincial experts aren’t ruling anything out, but NASA has said that a satellite that fell to Earth sometime Saturday landed well clear of South America.
Provincial justice and security minister Ricardo Casal says experts ‘are evaluating all theories, from an explosion to something strange that came from the sky.'” Read more.
Meteor? Another Strange Falling Object Reported, This Time Across the Gulf Coast
“People all across the Gulf Coast reported seeing a large, perhaps green object streaking through the skies about 7:20 p.m. Sunday.
So far, there’s no official word on exactly what the object was. NorthEscambia.com and other media outlets received sighting reports from around the area — Atmore, Walnut Hill, Cantonment, Mobile and Pensacola. WKRG TV reports that their meteorologist Johnathan Owens saw the object, which he described on his Facebook page as likely a small piece of an asteroid or a large meteor – and obviously completely burned up in the atmosphere.” Read more.
A Geomagnetic Storm is Raging in Earth’s Atmosphere, ‘We Are Officially Entering the Beginning of Solar Flare Season’
“A geomagnetic storm is raging in Earth’s atmosphere. If you’re lucky, you just might be able to see the results over the next few days.
On Monday, NASA reported that a strong to severe geomagnetic storm is in progress after large solar flares over the weekend spewed a cloud of charged particles toward Earth.
Joe Kunches, a space scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmostpheric Administration, put it this way in an interview with The Times: “The Earth’s magnetic field is pretty disturbed.”
A solar flare is an explosion in the sun’s atmosphere that sends out a burst of radiation. Sometimes that radiation is not directed toward Earth, and sometimes, like over the weekend, it is. If that burst hits Earth’s own magnetic field, strange things start to happen.
‘When these charged particles go by our own magnetic field, it’s like dumping gasoline on a fire,’ said Kunches. ‘Everything gets a lot hotter.’
He said we are officially entering the beginning of solar flare season — a rotation that lasts about 11 years.
Geomagnetic storms come with positives and negatives. One major plus for sky watchers: They can cause auroras to be brighter and closer to the equator, so that more people see them…
On the downside, geomagnetic storms can interfere with orbiting, human-made objects that we depend on — satellites that allow us to use our cellphones and access our GPS devices, for example.” Read more.
Solar flare could unleash nuclear holocaust across planet Earth, forcing hundreds of nuclear power plants into total meltdowns – “Forget about the 2012 Mayan calendar, comet Elenin or the Rapture. The real threat to human civilization is far more mundane, and it’s right in front of our noses. If Fukushima has taught us anything, it’s that just one runaway meltdown of fissionable nuclear material can have wide-ranging and potentially devastating consequences for life on Earth. To date, Fukushima has already released 168 times the total radiation released from the Hiroshima nuclear bomb detonated in 1945 … What if a global tidal wave could destroy the power generating capacities of all the world’s power plants, all at once? Such a scenario is not merely possible, but factually inevitable. And the global tidal wave threatening all the nuclear power plants of the world isn’t made of water but solar emissions.” Read more.
Fukushima Desolation Worst Since Nagasaki as Population Flees From Fallout
By Yuriy Humber, Yuji Okada and Stuart Biggs – “Beyond the police roadblocks that mark the no-go zone around Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, six-foot tall weeds invade rice paddies and vines gone wild strangle road signs along empty streets.
Takako Harada, 80, returned to an evacuated area of Iitate village to retrieve her car. Beside her house is an empty cattle pen, the 100 cows slaughtered on government order after radiation from the March 11 atomic disaster saturated the area, forcing 160,000 people to move away and leaving some places uninhabitable for two decades or more.
‘Older folks want to return, but the young worry about radiation,’ said Harada, whose family ran the farm for 40 years. ‘I want to farm, but will we be able to sell anything?’
What’s emerging in Japan six months since the nuclear meltdown at the Tokyo Electric Power Co. plant is a radioactive zone bigger than that left by the 1945 atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While nature reclaims the 20 kilometer (12 mile) no-go zone, Fukushima’s $3.2 billion-a-year farm industry is being devastated and tourists that hiked the prefecture’s mountains and surfed off its beaches have all but vanished.” Read more.
Fukushima Getting Worse – Tokyo Becoming Uninhabitable? – “The radiation coming out of that hell-hole is still INCREASING. As I have said for months, there is no way to stop it. The only solution is to hide it and pretend it doesn’t exist… Moving right along…the Japanese are gearing up to restart all of the nuclear plants that are now offline. They have no other sources of energy and winter is approaching – so all the plants that were shut down because they were – and still are – unsafe are going to be put back on line before winter. I absolutely guarantee you that there will be another Fukushima-type accident in the near future because of these unsafe plants. Japan will not only kill off it’s own citizens, but everyone else as well. That’s not rhetoric. Tokyo is rapidly becoming uninhabitable. As my VERY FIRST POST said back in March, when the cores hit groundwater, it will get very serious. Now it is happening.” Read more.
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UK Chancellor George Osborne: Europe Has Six Weeks to Find Debt Crisis Solution
By Jonathan Sibun and Jeremy Warner – “The FTSE 100 closed up 25.20 to 5,066.81 on Friday, but ended the week down 5.62pc, with £78bn knocked off the value of Britain’s blue-chip companies. While the index closed higher, it had fallen as much as 1.6pc earlier in the day, dropping through the pyschologically important 5,000 mark.
The falls came as traders were left underwhelmed by a communique rushed out in the early hours of Friday morning by G20 finance ministers at the IMF meeting in Washington. In the wake of Thursday’s global stock market rout, the G20 committed ‘to take all necessary actions to preserve the stability of banking systems and financial markets’ but was criticised for failing to introduce concrete measures.
Speaking at the IMF meeting on Friday, UK Chancellor George Osborne ratcheted up the pressure on European leaders to solve the crisis by calling on them to bolster the European bail-out fund and declaring they have just six weeks to find solutions.
‘Patience is running out in the international community… More needs to be done to avoid a disorderly outcome,’ he said, before referring to the next G20 meeting in Cannes on November 3 and 4. ‘The eurozone has six weeks to resolve its political crisis.'” Read more.
Alessio Rastani: ‘In less than 12 months the savings of million of people is going to vanish’
Canary Islands: Island of El Hierro Prepares for Volcanic Eruption
“The island of El Hierro in the Spanish Canary Islands is bracing itself for a possible volcanic eruption.
Situated in the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Africa, the Canary Islands are all volcanic, but there has been no volcanic activity on El Hierro since 1793.
However, a series of small earthquakes have been registered by sensors in the past two months and a quake of grade 3 on the Richter Scale registered last Thursday have caused the threat of volcanic activity to be raised from green to yellow for the first time in recent history.
Saturday produced another stronger tremor of 3.4 on the Richter scale which was felt all over the island.
Speaking to the El Pais newspaper, volcanologist, Juan Carlos Carracedo admitted an eruption on El Hierro would not be a major surprise.
‘It is the youngest of the Canary Islands,’ he explained. ‘There is a ball of magma which is rising to the surface and it is stationed at the limit of the earth’s crust. At the moment we do not know if that ball of magna will break the crust and cause an eruption.’
Rather than having one large crater, the volcano on el Hierro consists of around 250 small craters.
‘Any eruption would form cones on the high zones of the island and lava flows which would flow to the sea, although they would do so at a speed that would be slow enough for the population to be evacuated. It is something that could happen in days, weeks or months,’ said Carracedo.” Read more.
Fire in the Sky: Object Falling from Texan Sky Blamed For 60 Acre Grass Fire
By John DeLapp – “SAN LEON — An object falling from the sky could be to blame for a Saturday grass fire.
‘When the call came in to the dispatcher, the person said that something fell from the sky and started the fire,’ Jeff Pittman, chief of the San Leon Fire Department, said.
The chief said an investigation will be conducted to determine the cause of the blaze at 18th Street and Broadway.
‘It could be awhile before we figure out what happened,’ he said. ‘It could be (today) because of the lighting.’
The call came in at 5:36 p.m. Saturday and the fire was under control by 7 p.m.
Along with San Leon, firefighters from Texas City, Dickinson, League City and Kemah responded to the call.
Galveston County sheriff’s deputies and Galveston Area Emergency Medical Services personnel also were on the scene.
Pittman said about 60 acres of grass and brush burned.” Read more.
‘The Earth Has Experienced a Noticeable Increase In Seismic Activity and Intensity Over the Past Few Years’
“There are seismologists who believe that the earth has experienced a noticeable increase in seismic activity and intensity over the past few years. According to latest statistics from the United States Geological Survey, between 1986 and 1996, there were 15 earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or greater. In the next 10 years, the frequency increased by more than six times. Even the rate of lesser magnitude earthquakes has increased. Around 120 earthquakes of magnitude 6.0-6.9 take place every year. And, in the last week alone, we have had six. At this rate, we would end up having almost three-times more earthquakes this year!
‘I don’t think anyone can explain why the activity has increased,’ says Segall. Several theories have been put forth to explain what is happening. Though most of them are no better than conspiracy theories, a few seem credible. One of the theories has to do with a meteor that has returned to the earth’s proximity and may be affecting its gravity balance. Another theory points to solar flares reaching the earth’s surface, thus affecting its electro-magnetic fields. And, of course, there are some who believe that the earth’s rotational axis has shifted, causing changes in climate, waves and gravity; this, according to them, has resulted in hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes.” Read more.
Killer earthquakes on the rise – “The last decade has seen an intensification in earthquake activities. The 2004 Sumatra quake in Indonesia, which registered 9.3 on the Richter scale, has triggered stress in many areas. The Sikkim earthquake could be a manifestation of this stress. Earthquakes, some scientists believe, are on the rise. The earthquake in Fukushima in Japan had a magnitude of 8.9 and was the largest in the recorded history of Japan. The February 2010 Chile earthquake registered a similar magnitude as the Japan quake while the January 2010 quake in Haiti had a magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter scale. Prof D.K. Paul, an earthquake engineer with IIT Roorkee, believes the pushing of the Indian tectonic plate under the Eurasian plate (at the rate of 5 cm per year) results in stresses which over a period of time, manifest as earthquakes.” Read more.
Are Solar Storms Disrupting Power Grids and Causing Blackouts Around the Globe?
9/24/2011 – “A huge mass of electrically-charged particles thrown out by a gigantic eruption on the Sun is due to strike the Earth tonight.
Scientists expect it to trigger one of the most violent geomagnetic storms ever recorded.
The result could be widespread power surges and even blackouts, disrupted TV and mobile phone signals, and broken down communication satellites.
At the same time the Northern Lights, normally confined to polar latitudes, may produce dazzling displays in the skies above southern Britain.
At least one satellite has already been knocked out of action by the storm. Japan’s space agency said its Kodama communications satellite had been temporarily shut down after malfunctioning.
The solar flare that caused the eruption burst out of a sunspot at 10.54am yesterday.
Experts said it was the strongest flare seen in the past 30 years. The explosion caused a coronal mass ejection (CME) which is now speeding towards Earth.” Read more.
Arizona, USA: Lights go out during Giants-D-backs game – “The D-backs offense seemed unstoppable Saturday night. Right up until the lights at Chase Field went out. With the D-backs up on the Giants, 11-2, Aaron Hill led off the seventh inning with a single up the middle and right after that the stadium lights went out at 7:46 p.m. MST. The scoreboard and sound system remained in working order.” Read more.
Idaho, USA: Power outage hits Boise, Garden City – “Over 1,000 people in Boise were without power Saturday afternoon. Around 4 p.m., an outage that ranged from Boise to Garden City affected 1,369 customers at its peak. Ada County Dispatch said that a blown transformer at the corner of Chinden and Maple Grove was the cause of the outage.” Read more.
Illinois: Three county power outage – “The failure of a ‘bus cable’ inside the Hennepin sub-station is the cause of a sizeable power outage in LaSalle, Bureau and Putnam Counties late Saturday afternoon. Leigh Morris, spokesperson for Ameren IP told AM 1220 WLPO news personnel were at the sub-station to make needed repairs around 5pm. Reports of restored service were coming into AM 1220 WLPO via Facebook around 6:25pm. At the height of the outage, 15-thousand Ameren IP customers were affected, according to Morris.” Read more.
Washington State: Power outage delays Point Defiance-Tahlequah ferry run – “The state Department of Transportation announced this afternoon that drivers should expect delays at the Tahlequah dock due to a power outage at the terminal. This likely means delays in and out of the Point Defiance ferry terminal as well. Updates will occur when more information becomes available.” Read more.
Chile: Massive blackout affects 9 million people – “More than nine million people were affected by a widespread power outage that plagued northern and central parts of Chile Saturday night, including Santiago the capital, officials said. Two and a half hours after the occurrence of blackout at about 2030 local time (2330 GMT), more than 90 percent of the capital region’s power supply were restored, but system instability and congestions of cell phone and Internet networks would remain for a while, Energy Minister Rodrigo Alvarez told press.” Read more.
Ontario, Canada: Power Outage in Kanata Around Eagleson and Terry Fox – “Over five thousand people are without power in and around Eagleson Road, Terry Fox Drive, and Stonehaven Drive. Hydro Ottawa is sending repair teams but isn’t sure what’s caused the outage or when they’ll have service restored.” Source.
Pakistan: Karachi without electricity for half a day – “The Karachi Electric Supply Company on Saturday increased the duration of unannounced power outages for domestic consumers to about 12 hours and for the industry to eight hours. Residents of North Karachi, parts of North Nazimabad, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Federal B Area and PECHS block II complained that they suffered at least five spells of power outages of two-hour duration each.” Read more.





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