Todays World News

"The Word of God is filled with encouraging Bible verses, which is one reason why it would be well for us to spend time reading the Bible daily. By meditating on key Bible verses we can find comfort and hope to get us through trying times. With that said, you will find several encouraging Bible verses below that you can reflect on for encouragement, and even use as a means to encourage others who might be troubled at heart. Encouraging Bible Verses Bible Verses to Remember "God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling." (Psalms 46:1-3 NKJV)"

" A proposed law passed recently in the state House is intended to make the process more convenient, boost voter turnout and cut the state's costs to register voters, said its main sponsor, State Rep. Lesia Liss, D-Warren. "You can register online for selective service, we pay our taxes online," she said. "So why not make online voter registration a priority as well?" (emphasis added) Registering for selective service and paying taxes on line is a weak argument. No one is going to register an extra six times for selective service and no one is going pay taxes two or three times. However, people will try to vote more than once."

"The U.S. does not plan to open a new front in Yemen in the global fight against terrorism despite closing its embassy there in the face of Al Qaeda threats, President Obama's top counterterrorism adviser said Sunday. "We're not talking about that at this point at all," White House aide John Brennan told Fox News when asked whether U.S. troops would be sent to Yemen. "The Yemeni government has demonstrated their willingness to take the fight to Al Qaeda," he said. "They're willing to accept our support. We're providing them everything that they've asked for." The comments came in the wake of the failed Christmas Day attack against a U.S. airliner by an accused 23-year-old Nigerian who says he received training and instructions from Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen. President Obama plans to return from his holiday vacation in Hawaii for a Tuesday meeting at the White House about the airliner plot. On Sunday, the U.S. and Britain shuttered their embassies in the Yemeni capital, San'a, citing security reasons. "We're not going to take any chances" with the lives of American diplomats and others at the embassy in Yemen's capital, Brennan said, making the rounds of four Sunday television talk shows. "There are indications Al Qaeda is planning to carry out an attack against a target inside of San'a, possibly our embassy.""

"Britain and the US have agreed to intensify efforts to tackle the "evolving threat" from Islamist groups in Yemen, Downing Street has announced. Officials said the UK and the US were funding a counter-terrorism police unit in Yemen. The news follows an alleged airline bomb attack over Detroit. Barack Obama has sent his top Middle East general to meet Yemen's president. The US president has alleged that the Christmas Day bomb suspect was trained by a Yemen-based al-Qaeda offshoot. Gen David Petraeus - who is responsible for US Middle East and Central Asian operations - reportedly said the US was keen to support Yemen's fight against al-Qaeda. On Saturday, Mr Obama for the first time publicly accused an offshoot of al-Qaeda, based in Yemen, over the alleged attempt by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up an airliner over Detroit. "

"The Obama administration says the internal unrest in Iran and signs of unexpected delays in their nuclear program make the Iranian government especially vulnerable to swift and serious sanctions, the New York Times reported on Sunday. An administration official said current circumstances "give us a window to impose the first sanctions that may make the Iranians think the nuclear program isn't worth the price tag." Despite the political unrest, Iran's political and military leaders are remaining steadfast in their determination to develop nuclear weapons, advisers to U.S. President Barack Obama said. But the unrest coupled with the Iranian government's internal turmoil has caused a deceleration in production of nuclear fuel in recent months. Advertisement The White House is interested in focusing new sanctions on Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is thought to be the driving force behind the country's nuclear weapons program. The Obama government believes that Iran's bomb making efforts were hurt following the exposure of a secret uranium enrichment plant three months ago in the city of Qum. The plant's exposure prevents Iran from enriching uranium at the high levels necessary for creating fuel for a nuclear weapon. Nuclear inspectors report that in Iran's plant in Natanz, the operation of centrifuges has dropped by 20 percent since the summer, which experts attribute to technical problems. "

Jan. 2 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. East Coast faces the coldest night of the season as frigid air spills south and threatens agriculture in Georgia, Alabama and the orange crop in Florida. Freeze warnings were posted by the National Weather Service as far south as the Orlando area, which may be as many as 20 degrees below normal tonight, the National Weather Service said. The advisory alerts growers that subfreezing temperatures are imminent and may kill crops or other sensitive vegetation. Tampa and others cities in the central part of the state are under a freeze warning from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. local time tomorrow. Temperatures may fall below 32 degrees Fahrenheit (zero Celsius) for more than three consecutive hours, the National Weather Service in Tampa said on its Web site. "This is a pretty significant cold snap," Matt Keefe, a meteorologist with AccuWeather.com Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania, said in a telephone interview. "This could really put a hurting on the citrus crop." He said the jet stream, which normally keeps the coldest air north of the Hudson Bay in Canada, is centered over parts of Alabama and Mississippi. "The cold temperatures could last for a good part of the week," he said. Jacksonville, Florida, may see a record low tonight, Keefe said. The Miami area will see temperatures 12 degrees to 13 degrees below normal for this time of year, Keefe said. Tonight will be the coldest and offer the greatest danger of crop damage, Keefe said. The next chance for freezing will come next week.

"Iranian Protestors Save Two From Being Hanged - filmed on December 22, 2009 - after saving their fellow protestors from death by hanging - we see cruel and deadly violence - VIEWER DISCRETION STRONGLY ADVISED! This video is very difficult to watch. On December 22, Iranian protesters in Sirjan rescued two prisoners as they were being hanged. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards then called in assistance, and later in the video we see them shooting dead a number of the protesters and wounding many more." Note this is the reality of Iran today. Do we really want them to have Nuclear Weapons?

"Iranian media on Sunday reported Tehran will conduct a large-scale defensive military exercise next month, coinciding with what government officials now say is a deadline for the West to respond to its counteroffer to a nuclear-fuel deal. The commander of Iran's ground forces, Brig. Gen. Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan, said the drill will be conducted by Iran's army, in conjunction with some units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, to improve "defensive capabilities," Press TV, the English-language, state-run media outlet reported. The report follows comments by Iran's foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Saturday, challenging Western nations to decide by the end of the month on counterproposals Tehran has floated to an internationally brokered nuclear-fuel deal. In the counterproposals, Iran has said it would agree to swap the bulk of its low-enriched uranium for higher enriched uranium, but in small batches and on Iranian soil."

"It's a new year, which means it's time to make resolutions, take on fresh challenges, learn new things and change our lives for the better. Perhaps you want to lose 10 pounds, travel more, or get the job you really want? Mashable (Mashable) has been building a vast archive of how-to guides on everything from professional networking to planning a vacation online - what better time to release a combined list than at the beginning of a new decade? If you're looking to improve your life in 2010, we hope you'll find these 40+ How-To guides useful. You can find even more How-To guides and tips in the How-To section of this site."

"Republicans scoff at the "Jobs for Main Street Act" title that House Democrats put on their $174 billion package last month. They refer to it as "son of the stimulus," the $787 billion economic recovery plan of nearly a year ago that they say was ineffective at producing jobs. In its last vote of 2009, the House narrowly passed the bill, 217-212, without a single Republican supporter. Democrats tick off the job prospects from the House bill's $75 billion in infrastructure and public sector spending: tens of thousands of new construction jobs, 5,500 more police officers, 25,000 additional AmeriCorps members, 250,000 summer jobs for disadvantaged youth, 14,000 part-time jobs for parks and forestry workers. "Why don't we just put everyone in the United States on the federal government payroll and call it a day?" said Rep. Jerry Lewis, California Republican. (emphasis added)"

"BERLIN - Millions of German bank cards have been affected by a "millennium bug"-like problem because they contain software that can't process the number 2010, industry groups said Tuesday. The DSGV group, which represents public-sector banks, said some 20 million debit cards issued by those banks were affected, along with around 3.5 million credit cards - nearly half of the total number of cards issued by those banks. The group said cash machines were adjusted hours after the problem emerged to ensure that customers could withdraw money, but there may still be problems using some debit-card terminals. Those should be fixed by Monday, it said. Problems remain with credit cards and customers should use debit cards instead for now, added the group. The BVR group of cooperative banks said about 4 million debit cards issued by its members - about 15 percent of the total - also were afflicted by the faulty software, although there were no problems withdrawing cash. Its credit cards were unaffected. Another 2.5 million cards issued by German private banks were affected. The problem stemmed from a chip on the cards which, due to a programming fault, wouldn't correctly process the number 2010. Computer experts widely believed that hardware and software systems would fail as the clocks rolled over to the year 2000. The problem, they said, would be caused when computers and other devices, which used only two digits to represent the year, mistook the year 2000 for the year 1900. In the end, however, the so-called "millennium bug" caused few problems."

"JERUSALEM - Israel has approved construction of four new apartment buildings in disputed east Jerusalem, officials said Tuesday, fueling tensions with the Palestinians at a time when the U.S. is laboring to get peace talks moving again. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem for a future capital and demand all construction there stop before negotiations resume. The 24-unit project is being developed in an Arab neighborhood by Irving Moskowitz, an American Jew who has generously funded Jewish settlers determined to cement Israel's hold on contested areas of the holy city. The latest project is potentially even more contentious than others because it is not in any of the established Jewish neighborhoods. Instead, it is located in the heart of a predominantly Arab area of the city. Jerusalem is the most explosive issue between Israel and the Palestinians, and the new buildings would be located in one of its most volatile sites, just outside the walled Old City with its Christian, Muslim and Jewish shrines."

"HONIARA, Solomon Islands - Landslides and a tsunami destroyed the homes of about one-third of the population on a Solomon Island, but lives were likely spared as residents with memories of previous disasters fled quickly to higher ground, officials said Tuesday. From the air, extensive damage could be seen on a remote western island after a 7.2-magnitude temblor triggered the landslides in the Pacific Solomon Islands on Monday, said disaster management office director Loti Yates. No injuries have been reported some 30 hours after the biggest in a series of quakes churned a tsunami wave that was up to 10 feet (3 meters) high as it plowed into the coast, officials said. However, more than 1,000 people have been affected after some 200 houses were destroyed on Rendova, an island some 190 miles (300 kilometers) from the capital Honiara. Only 3,600 people live on Rendova. Photographs taken from police helicopters Tuesday showed debris lining the foreshore and damaged houses on the coasts of Rendova and Tetepare, as well as deep scars on hills and cliffs caused by landslides. Yates said some 200 households were taking shelter in emergency centers on Rendova."

"The Yemeni government ordered an "unprecedented" number of troops into a region controlled by a branch of al Qaeda, as the U.S. and Britain, concerned about the threat of terrorism, both closed their embassies in the capital of Sana. The Obama administration increased the pressure on Islamic militants in Yemen Sunday after the Yemeni branch of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for plotting the failed attempt to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day. The White House's top counterterrorism official didn't rule out U.S. military action. The Fight in Yemen View Interactive * More interactive graphics and photos Yemen deployed troops into provinces east of the capital to combat a growing al Qaeda presence in the area, an aide to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh told The Wall Street Journal Sunday. The move, targeting the group identified as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, follows pledges of increased U.S. and British aid to finance Yemen's effort to fight Islamic militants."

"The Burj Dubai tower officially opened yesterday, six years after construction began on the $4.1 billion, half-mile-high skyscraper. Conceived as a monument to the Arab city-state's economic ambitions, the Burj today looks more like a modern-day Tower of Babel. Dubai has been wracked by a debt crisis, and the building stands mostly empty and unwanted by the international tenants for whom it was supposedly built. But then, the main argument for these monuments has never been purely economic. In early 20th-century New York, one tycoon after another vied to build the world's tallest building, adding their marks to Manhattan's iconic skyline. Both General Motors and Chrysler in their day saw fit to build testaments to their economic might in the form of tall towers. Later on, the gods of vanity shifted to the Far East, where Malaysia's Petronas Towers and more recently Taiwan's Taipei 101 vied to be the world's tallest. Today a half-dozen Asian skyscrapers put Chicago's Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower) in the shade. As for Dubai, the Burj is merely the most recent bauble in a quest for excess that includes the world's largest man-made islands, indoor shopping mall and indoor ski resort. It even boasts the world's heaviest gold ring, weighing in at something like 62 kilos. The economic theory behind all this, we suppose, is that being the land of superlatives confers a comparative advantage to a place of otherwise few charms and little human capital-though we do wonder who proposes to wear that ring. If the past century has taught us anything, it's that there will always be another, bigger building built somewhere, and Dubai cannot hope to keep up indefinitely. By contrast, in cities such as Houston and Hong Kong the skylines are not the cause of their economic prosperity, but merely one visible manifestation of it. That's a prosperity that has been built over the years on the basis of those old reliables: economic freedom, the rule of law, hard work and sound ma

"To get an idea of the state of mind of the men here in Yemen who run al-Qaeda in the Arabia peninsula, just take a look at what they said about the failed attack on the US airliner on Christmas Day. Framed photos of Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh in Sanaa President Saleh's government has been accused of corruption In a swaggering and ambitious statement, they claimed that they sent the Nigerian student onto the plane, and that he only failed because of a technical fault with the bomb. For them, getting that close counts as the next best thing to a successful mission. And take just one look at the terrain of this country to understand why al-Qaeda is feeling so comfortable here, relaxed enough for one of its leaders reportedly to have moved his wife and family down from Saudi Arabia. Yemen's mountains are rugged, hard to reach, and best of all from a jihadi point of view, they are not controlled by the central government. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula established itself in Yemen after it was forced out of Saudi Arabia, taking advantage of the fact that large swathes of Yemeni territory are controlled by powerful, well-armed tribes, not by a government that is getting closer to the US and its counter-terrorism advisers than ever. "

The Good News, Jesus Christ Died for all of us. Why? Because He Love Us!

"The international community will hit Iran with new sanctions in the next month, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said during an event in Tel Aviv on Saturday. Deputy Foreign Minister Danny... Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon. Photo: AP [file] SLIDESHOW: Israel & Region | World "The regime in Iran today won't necessarily be in power in another year," he said, stressing that "the world is united against Iran." He said that Washington, Beijing and Moscow agree that a nuclear Iran would "destroy the current world order." Regarding peace talks with the Palestinians, which Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has recently being trying to relaunch, Ayalon said, "The Palestinians need to understand that the time to act is limited." RELATED * Israel seeks 'crippling' Iran sanctions "Today, more than ever, the US government understands that the conditions for negotiations are difficult, that the essential problem is that the Palestinians aren't willing to be flexible in their approach," he added."

"Jordan has asked Canada to seize the selected parchments of the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls that have been on display in Toronto, invoking international law in a bid to keep the artifacts out of Israel's hands until their "disputed ownership" is settled, the Toronto-based Globe and Mail reported last week. The Isaiah Scroll portion of... The Isaiah Scroll portion of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Photo: The Israel Museum SLIDESHOW: Israel & Region | World In its request, Jordan invoked the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, which is concerned with safeguarding cultural property during wartime. The 1954 convention requires signatories "to take into its custody cultural property imported into its territory either directly or indirectly from any occupied territory." The Jordanians claim Israel acted illegally when it seized the scrolls from the Rockefeller Museum, located in eastern Jerusalem, during the Six Day War. On Sunday, Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum ended its exhibit "Words That Changed the World," which featured scroll fragments on loan from the Israel Antiquities Authority. "

"Among those detained are two infants, both less than a year old, reported International Christian Concern last week. ICC said it has learned that the indigenous Christians have been imprisoned since October, and among those detained is a six-month-old infant. The local governor, Jose de los Santos Sauna Limaco, had announced that Christianity was banned and called a meeting with the Kogui Christians on the Kogui reservation in northern Colombia on Oct. 27. After the Christians were gathered, he reportedly trapped them and imprisoned 16 individuals, including children, for refusing to renounce their faith. Since then, the number of Kogui Christians in prison has grown to 28. ICC noted that in some regions of Colombia the governor and local authorities are given relative autonomy over reserves for indigenous tribes."