The Kingdom Come

(MSNBC) — Saudia Arabia would move quickly to acquire nuclear weapons if Iran successfully tests an atomic bomb, according to a report.

Citing an unidentified Saudi Arabian source, the Times newspaper in the U.K. (which operates behind a paywall) said that the kingdom would seek to buy ready-made warheads and also begin its own program to enrich weapons-grade uranium.

The paper suggested that Pakistan was the country most likely to supply Saudi Arabia with weapons, saying Western officials were convinced there was an understanding between the countries to do so if the security situation in the Persian Gulf gets worse. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have denied such an arrangement exists.

(LOS ANGELES TIMES) — The U.S. State Department has issued an updated travel warning for tourists planning to visit Mexico, adding information on drug violence on a state-by-state and city-by-city basis.

The new, more detailed warning comes in response to concerns expressed by Mexico tourism officials, who worried that previous travel warnings scared off U.S. tourists by generalized about the threat of crime violence in Mexico.

“The Mexico Tourism Board has long advocated for travel advisories which abide by three key tenets: context, clarity and specificity,” said Rodolfo Lopez-Negrete, chief operating officer for the Mexico Tourism Board. “The revised U.S. State Department travel advisory regarding Mexico adheres to these principles and should serve as model for the rest of the world.”

(AP) FRANKFURT, Germany — An Islamic extremist who killed two U.S. airmen bound for Afghanistan at Frankfurt airport last year and injured two others was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison on Friday.

The state court in Frankfurt convicted 22-year-old Arid Uka of two counts of murder. It also found him guilty of three counts of attempted murder and serious bodily harm for wounding two other servicemen and taking aim at a third before his 9 mm pistol jammed.

Uka, an ethnic Albanian from Kosovo, killed Senior Airman Nicholas J. Alden, 25, from South Carolina, and Airman 1st Class Zachary R. Cuddeback, 21, from Virginia in the March 2 attack on the Afghanistan-bound servicemen as they were boarding a bus at the airport.

(NEWSCORE) ROME — The Vatican moved quickly Friday to dismiss newspaper reports of a plot to kill the pope.

“These are clearly ramblings, which are not at all taken seriously. This is madness,” Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, said in a hurriedly-released statement.

Italian media went into a frenzy Thursday night after Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano published a front-page account of a note sent to Benedict XVI by retired Colombian Cardinal Castrillon, Sky Italia TG24 reported.

The note, written in German, tells of an alleged conversation in which the Archbishop of Palermo, Cardinal Romeo, during a visit to China, claimed the pope was in great danger and an attack was feared within 12 months. Romeo also apparently named the pope’s probable successor as Cardinal Scola, the current Archbishop of Milan.

Editor’s Note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, the premium online newsletter published by the founder of WND. Subscriptions are $99 a year or, for monthly trials, just $9.95 per month for credit card users, and provide instant access for the complete reports.

WASHINGTON – Informed sources say that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is to pay a “surprise” visit to Iran soon, and he may be carrying a message from U.S. President Barack Obama, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Al-Maliki is close to the Iranian government and is seen as a conduit in addition to the Swiss channel to convey messages to Tehran. Because the United States and Iran lack formal diplomatic relations, they use the Swiss Embassy in Tehran to convey any messages. While there is no official indication of the content of any message from the U.S. president, it is possible that al-Maliki may be taking word about wanting to pursue talks between the U.S. and Iran.

It largely was due to Iran’s influence and Iranian-backed Shi’ites in the government that prompted al-Maliki to reject U.S. appeals to extend the Status of Forces Agreement beyond last December’s deadline. Those U.S. forces that were in Iraq toward the end of last year then were sent to neighboring Kuwait, which also raised questions on the limits imposed in the U.S.-Kuwaiti Status of Forces agreement.

Al-Maliki will be looking to Iran for increased infrastructure reconstruction assistance and for military training against the rising Sunni insurgents who are being joined by al-Qaida and backed by Sunni Saudi Arabia. Despite all this, the U.S. still is seriously considering selling some 36 F-16s to the Iraqi government, with the hope of maintaining some semblance of U.S. military presence in Iraq.

Keep in touch with the most important breaking news stories about critical developments around the globe with Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence news source edited and published by the founder of WND.

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President Obama cannot effectively handle the growing crisis in Syria because of his unwillingness to address Iran’s central role, charged former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton in an interview today with talk-radio host Michael Savage.

Bolton told Savage that the administration’s Syria policy fell apart last weekend when Russia and China vetoed a U.S.-backed Security Council resolution condemning Bashar al-Assad’s crackdowns on his people “that wouldn’t have done anything other than satisfy the need for some sort of rhetorical statement.”

The vetoes caught the administration “completely unaware,” said Bolton, who is serving as an adviser to Republican Gov. Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.

“At this point they don’t really know what they are doing; they were so stunned by the vetoes that they’re still recovering,” Bolton said of the Obama administration.

You’ve always known that “Liberalism is a Mental Disorder”: Get Savage Solutions

Bolton explained that the political conflict in Syria is very different than the upheaval in the other Arab countries caught up in the so called “Arab Spring” revolutions over the past year.

The big difference, he said, is the Iranian mullah-led Shia regime’s active support of the Assads’ Basque party dictatorship.

“Syria is part of Iran’s influence in the region, and the Iranians will shed a lot of Syrian blood to keep the Assad family dictatorship in place,” Bolton said.

Even if Obama were inclined to act in Syria, Bolton said, “the only sensible way to look at it is in the larger picture of Iran’s role there.”

“And I just don’t think – to be frank about it – I don’t think Obama is up to dealing with that challenge.”

Savage asked Bolton what he would do if he were to become secretary of state under a Romney administration.

Explaining that he was giving his personal views, not the views of the Romney campaign, Bolton said that regime change in Syria and Iran should have been U.S. policy for some time.

He pointed out that the civil war in Syria now is a proxy contest for a larger struggle in the region that encompasses Islam as a whole, between the Persian Shia and the Arab Sunni factions.

Undoubtedly, he said, Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations will arm the opposition in Syria.

But at the moment, Barack Obama is the occupant of the White House, he said, “and I don’t think this president is prepared to take Iran on.”

Bolton said he thinks the Obama administration has no intention of taking military action to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons.

He noted that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta essentially admitted recently that Iran is on the verge of gaining nuclear weapons capability, possibly within a year.

“I think it could well be less than that,” Bolton said.

The administration’s Plan B, then, he said, appears to be: We don’t like a nuclear Iran, but we can contain and deter it.

“Personally, I think that’s a very dangerous and foolish position,” Bolton said.

The U.S. position effectively leaves the job to Israel.

“They’ve got to make the extraordinarily difficult and risky decision whether they’re going to use military force in preemptive self-defense,” Bolton said.

He pointed out that Israel has destroyed nuclear facilities “in the hands of sworn enemies” twice before, in Iraq in 1981 and in Syria in 2007.

Savage asked whether Saudi Arabia would support an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear capability.

“Most Arab countries don’t want Iran to have nuclear weapons any more than Israel does,” Bolton said. “They may condemn Israel publicly, but in private they will be applauding.”

He noted that the Saudis believe the U.S. is too weak to accomplish the task, “so that leaves them, paradoxically, to rely on Israel.”

Turning to Iraq, Bolton said the administration of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki essentially is doing the bidding of Iran when it comes to regional policy.

It’s one reason, he said, why it was a mistake for the U.S. to withdraw troops from Iraq.

“The Savage Nation” airs live Monday through Friday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern. It can be heard online through stations such as KSTE in Sacramento.

(VOA NEWS) — In recent months, Israeli leaders have stepped up their rhetoric about Iran’s nuclear capabilities and increasingly are warning that Israel might attack Iranian nuclear installations to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. Lately they are warning that such an attack could come this year. This is sparking widespread debate in Israel, where memories are still vivid of missile attacks on the country two decades ago during the Iraq war.

Lawyer Moshe Meiron, 86, sits in the living room of his house in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan. He was deputy mayor of the town when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, under attack by a coalition of Western and Arab states because of his invasion of Kuwait, 21 years ago launched Scud missiles against Israel.

Meiron recalls the night after a siren alert when he was huddled with his wife in a safe room, wearing gas masks. A missile struck their car parked in the driveway nine meters away.

“Everything, five or six villas, were completely destroyed,” Meiron said. “All the cars were burned up. And it’s a miracle that we are here alive, my wife and I.”

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton discusses three critical hot spots in the Middle East.

Bolton tells WND the Obama administration spent all of its efforts on Syria trying to get sanctions approved at the U.N. and now it doesn’t really have a strategy moving forward.

“I think they’re scrambling now. I think the administration is completely at sea as to what to do.”

Bolton explains why the instability in Syria is very different than what we encountered in Libya.

“It’s very much in Iran’s interest to keep the Assad regime in power, it’s part of their arc of influence and they’re prepared to shed a lot of Syrian blood to keep the regime in power.”

He also discusses Iran’s contradictory statements of wanting to discuss its nuclear program with the international community in one breath and calling for the extermination of every Jew within two years just days later.

We’ll also ask Bolton about the differences between the U.S. and Israel over how to confront an unrepentant Iran. And Bolton suggests the instability in Egypt is what you get by throwing a longtime ally under the bus – as he alleges the U.S. did to Hosni Mubarak last year.

(LOS ANGELES TIMES) — Greece’s political leaders have agreed with foreign creditors on steep austerity cuts, officials in Athens said Thursday, hours after a dangerous deadlock stalled talks on a new rescue package designed to stave off a chaotic default.

A senior official in Prime Minister Lucas Papademos’ office said an announcement would be issued shortly. Local media reported that Papademos reached an agreement with foreign lenders early Thursday after coming to a compromise with leaders of his coalition government over proposed cutbacks to state and private pensions.

The accord follows days of negotiations over demands by European Union and International Monetary Fund officials for more spending cuts by Greece to bring down its public debt and deficit levels. The European Union and the International Monetary Fund insist that the cuts are necessary for Athens to stay in compliance with terms of its 2010 bailout and for the country to qualify for a second rescue package, which it needs to avoid going bankrupt within weeks.

(CNN) — Although the U.S. focus remains on exerting diplomatic and economic pressure on Syria, the Pentagon and the U.S. Central Command have begun a preliminary internal review of U.S. military capabilities, CNN has learned.

The options are being prepared in the event President Barack Obama were to call for them. Two senior administration officials who spoke about the review to CNN emphasized that U.S. policy for now remains the use of non-military options.

The focus on diplomatic options was underscored by the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in an interview with CNN on Tuesday.

Russian scientists are reporting success in their quest to drill into Lake Vostok, a huge body of liquid water buried under the Antarctic ice.

It is the first time such a breakthrough has been made into one of the more than 300 sub-glacial lakes known to exist on the White Continent.

Researchers believe Vostok can give them some fresh insights into the frozen history of Antarctica.

They also hope to find microbial lifeforms that are new to science.

Kickstarter, a website that helps entrepreneurs raise funds, is helping an ambitious Irish woman to bring the historic Irish liquor poitín (pronounced puh-cheen) to the United States. It’s her dream to have 1661 Poitín as a regular liquor found in US bars.

The liquor, made with malted barley grain or potatoes, is very potent. It was banned from being sold in Ireland in 1661, hence the name, and although the drink is still banned in Northern Ireland, as of 1997 the ban was lifted in the Republic.

Is this Iceland’s legendary river worm? The footage was taken by a local resident and caused a stir when it appeared on the national broadcaster’s webpage.

The river worm is the most famous monster in Icelandic folklore, first mentioned in 1345. But skeptics argue that the video shows an ordinary fishing net moving in the water after ice melted. One thing is certain: it’s doubtful the truth will be uncovered any time soon.

The world’s greatest snow-capped peaks, which run in a chain from the Himalayas to Tian Shan on the border of China and Kyrgyzstan, have lost no ice over the last decade, new research shows.

The discovery has stunned scientists, who had believed that around 50bn tonnes of meltwater were being shed each year and not being replaced by new snowfall.

Editor’s Note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, the premium online newsletter published by the founder of WND. Subscriptions are $99 a year or, for monthly trials, just $9.95 per month for credit card users, and provide instant access for the complete reports.

WASHINGTON – Turkey will continue to uphold United Nations sanctions against Iran but will ignore increased unilateral sanctions imposed recently by the United States and the European Union that target Tehran’s oil exports and its central bank, says a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Turkey’s defiance sets up two companies to be sanctioned for violating the U.S. and EU prohibitions, the private Toprash and the public Botash. The companies will not stop buying oil and gas from Iran, according to Taner Yildiz, Turkey’s minister of energy and natural resources.

Turkey has a high dependency on Iranian as well as Russian oil. Yildiz warned that increased sanctions on Iranian oil will only jack up international prices for oil and natural gas.

Separately, U.S. policymakers are concerned that a sharp rise in oil prices will have a detrimental impact on any U.S. economic recovery.

The U.S., however, has abundant supplies of natural gas. Both the U.S. and EU sanctions allow for waivers, and already some countries – especially Greece, Italy and Spain as members of the EU – have sought those waivers due to their extreme economic conditions.

Iran doesn’t appear to be too concerned with the additional unilateral U.S. and EU sanctions, not only because a number of countries will seek waivers but because demand is growing for Iranian crude in Asia and Africa, which require oil to keep their refineries fully employed.

Keep in touch with the most important breaking news stories about critical developments around the globe with Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence news source edited and published by the founder of WND.

For the complete report and full immediate access to Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, subscribe now.

The news media is rife with reports accusing Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces of killing at least 67 civilians in the rebel stronghold of Homs.

The reports are the latest claims charging Assad’s soldiers and militiamen engaged in wholesale atrocities against unarmed civilians.

The vast majority of reports rely on claims by local, unnamed activists.

Many English-language news reports of recent events in Syria reviewed by WND fail to quote the Syrian side, which claims armed terrorists, including Islamists, provoked Syrian forces and drew fire into civilian zones.

Syria also says the terrorists are behind the killing of civilians.

Scores of U.S. and international news reports in recent months reviewed by WND almost uniformly fail to report the number of troops Syria claims are killed in the battles, painting a one-sided picture of Syrian soldiers firing into civilian zones instead of the possibility Syria is fighting a well-armed insurgency.

An example was yesterday’s claims that Syrian forces thrusting into Homs and killed at least 67 civilians, including three families in their homes reportedly by militiaman loyal to Assad.

Syria, however, widely disputed the number and claimed “armed terrorists” were behind civilian deaths.

Syria’s SANA English-language government news website reported an “armed terrorist group” yesterday detonated a booby-trapped car in al-Bayyada neighborhood in Homs, causing the deaths and injuries of a number of civilians and law-enforcement members.

Syria accused the terrorists of shelling civilian zones yesterday as well as setting two fuel tanks ablaze.

SANA claimed “the armed groups shoot at citizens, break off roads, attack public and private facilities.”

Syria claimed its forces yesterday dismantled a number of explosives planted by the “armed terrorist groups” on several passenger roads while the jihadists kidnapped a number of citizens at Tseil Village in Daraa who were later released by Syrian forces.

SANA claimed armed terrorist groups burglarized a number of houses in al-Khalidiyyeh, al-Bayyada and al-Nazihin neighborhoods in Homs.

Missing in many of the recent news media reports are the almost daily claims by Syria that a number of troops, at times about a dozen per day or more, are killed in battle with the purported armed groups.

On Monday, for example, Syria listed the names of 13 troops it said were killed in battle one day earlier.

SANA said funerals had been conducted on Tuesday for 30 more members of the security forces.

Last Saturday, Syria disputed claims that Assad’s forces massacred more than 200 civilians in Homs.

A Syrian official told WND an “armed terrorist group” first attacked a security post in Palmyra, in the Homs countryside.

Also the Syrian official accused the purported terrorist group of targeting civilians, saying Syrian forces found and dismantled several explosive devices placed in civilian locations in and near Homs.

This routine was confirmed by a leaked Arab League report.

The report, posted by the Anonymous group, says Arab League monitors several times witnessed an “armed entity” provoking Syrian forces and placing civilian lives in danger.

That section of the classified report reads: “The Mission determined that there is an armed entity that is not mentioned in the protocol. … In some zones, this armed entity reacted by attacking Syrian security forces and citizens, causing the Government to respond with further violence. In the end, innocent citizens pay the price for those actions with life and limb.”

Editor’s Note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, the premium online newsletter published by the founder of WND. Subscriptions are $99 a year or, for monthly trials, just $9.95 per month for credit card users, and provide instant access for the complete reports.

WASHINGTON – Recent Iranian naval activity has shown exercises that appear to be aimed more at shutting down the Strait of Hormuz than the defensive preparations that had been identified as the goal. And that has prompted an internal debate between the military and the parliamentary members, regional experts have said in a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

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The maneuvers showed a definite trend of engaging in asymmetrical, or unconventional, warfare by attacking primarily oil tankers. The apparent goal would be to block the Strait prior to any engagement with U.S. and allied naval forces.

The maneuvers showed activity using missiles and particularly submarines using torpedoes, a development G2Bulletin recently reported. While the maneuvers were to be a show of the force and capabilities of the Iranian military, it also gave U.S. intelligence a keen insight on tactics to be employed that would then allow the U.S. military to take evasive action.

“In light of this tactical move, with its obvious military risks, the ultimate strategic objective is to cause major chaos in the oil markets and the global economy on which the United States relies heavily for its own survival,” according to Iranian sources.

In addition, the tactics the Iranians employed showed the use of Special Forces along with the use of surface-to-surface missiles, suggesting surprise strikes. Analysts believe that the focus on the Strait serves as both the first and last “bullet” to fight any U.S. threats against its nuclear program and the sanctions now afflicting the Iranian economy.

This show of offensive maneuvers has promoted an internal debate with more moderate Iranian forces who believe the maneuvers pose a risky policy and could cause an inadvertent military confrontation with U.S. naval forces. According to Emad Hussein of the Iranian Energy Commission of the Iranian Majlis, or parliament, rhetoric threatening to shut down the Strait of Hormuz does not help Iran’s position over its nuclear development and doesn’t do anything to help the country’s economic condition.

Keep in touch with the most important breaking news stories about critical developments around the globe with Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence news source edited and published by the founder of WND.

For the complete report and full immediate access to Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, subscribe now.

WASHINGTON – WND’s international scoop Sunday on a new threat by Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to kill all Jews and annihilate Israel was read by millions around the world over the last three days.

Some of them, however, didn’t read it in WND – and that has Editor Joseph Farah bugged.

Yesterday, he confronted London Daily Mail Editor Paul Dacre with the charge of plagiarism for publishing a copycat version of the story in his tabloid a day after the WND report broke.

The original story was broken by WND contributor Reza Kahlili, a pseudonym for a former CIA operative in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and author of “A Time to Betray.”

He is a senior fellow with EMPact America and teaches at the U.S. Department of Defense’s Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy.

The report cited shocking new genocidal calls from Iran’s top religious leader against Israel and Jews worldwide.

“Though the story carries the byline of Lee Moran, the entire content of the article was lifted, without credit or attribution to its original source,” Farah said in his letter to the Daily Mail. “Not only did every fact reported in the Daily Mail piece originate in the WND story, but even the headlines are nearly identical.”

Farah called for Dacre to issue a public apology to his own readers and the WND staff.

It was after the contact from Farah that the Daily Mail added a reference on its page to the WND report.

“I have been working in daily newspapers and journalism for more than 35 years, yet I have rarely witnessed such shameless and blatant plagiarism in my life,” said Farah.

JERUSALEM – As Islamic groups gain power throughout the Middle East, Christians here fear for their safety and are concerned about their role with regard to the future of the volatile region.

“I fear for the Christians of the Middle East because it’s a bad situation for them,” Lebanese parliamentarian Samy Gemayel told WND.

Gemayel, a senior member of the Phalange party, said he received information last week about a specific assassination plot against him.

“I just got the information from the head of security, and he asked me not to go to a specific place, because he had information that something was going to happen there,” he said.

While the exact nature of the purported assassination plot remains unclear, Gemayel, who descends from a historic Lebanese Christian family, said he is taking the new threats seriously.

His older brother, Pierre, was a member of parliament and a government minister before his assassination Nov. 21, 2006. His uncle, former President-elect Bashir Gemayel, also was assassinated.

Christians have been a minority in numerous Middle East countries for several decades, facing routine mistreatment and occasional persecution for much of that time.

However, in the last year, the so-called Arab Spring has sparked intensified concern, with reports of an increase in attacks against Christians in some countries here.

Islamists already have ascended to power in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. Jordan, Morocco, Syria, Yemen and other countries face similar prospects, with Muslim Brotherhood-allied group consisting of much of the opposition that stands to gain from any power-sharing system.

Since the downfall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Coptic Christians have been facing a wave of Islamic attacks, including murders, rapes, church burnings and institutional intimidation. Some reports say more than 200,000 Copts already have fled their homes.

When Copts attempted to protest last October, security forces reportedly fired at the protesters, killing 24 and wounding more than300 people.

Last weekend, the Global Post quoted numerous Syrian Christians, speaking on condition of anonymity, expressing deep concern that if the secular regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad collapses, Islamists may gain power and persecute Christians.

Middle East Christians routinely speak to news media anonymously for fear of Islamic reprisals.

President Obama and the international community called on Assad to step aside amid reports he has been violently suppressing a revolution targeting his regime. Assad has accused armed groups, including Islamic organizations, of sparking the revolution.

Underscoring the immediacy of the threat, just yesterday Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregorios Lahham III called for an Arab Christian-Muslim summit in the wake of the developments in the Arab world.

“These commitments apply especially for the situation in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan and Iraq,” said Lahham.

Lahham said the inter-Christian summit was also needed to decide on the Arab Christians’ upcoming role in the wake of historical developments in the Arab world.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, in a Newsweek article titled “The Global War on Christians in the Muslim World,” warned “Christians are being killed in the Islamic world because of their religion.”

“It is a rising genocide that ought to provoke global alarm,” wrote Ali.

Ali reported that in recent years “the violent oppression of Christian minorities has become the norm in Muslim-majority nations stretching from West Africa and the Middle East to South Asia and Oceania.”

“The conspiracy of silence surrounding this violent expression of religious intolerance has to stop,” Ali wrote. “Nothing less than the fate of Christianity –and ultimately of all religious minorities – in the Islamic world is at stake.”

Christians warned: Accept Islamic law

Christian persecution escalated even before the “Arab Spring.”

Since Hamas took over Gaza in 2007, the coastal territory’s 3,000-strong Christian community has been facing rampant persecution.

One Gaza Christian leader told WND that Christians living in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip held only small, quiet Christmas celebrations in December after local leaders received warnings for the fifth year in a row from Muslim groups against any public display of Christianity.

Islamists have been suspected in a string of anti-Christian attacks, including the bombing of a Christian bookstore in November 2007 and the murder of the store’s manager, local Christian resident Rami Ayyad.

After Hamas’ rise to power, Christians in Gaza repeatedly have been targeted. The Islamic extremist group Jihadia Salafiya is suspected of many of the Islamist attacks, such as a May 2007 shooting against a United Nations school in Gaza after it allowed boys and girls to participate in the same sporting event. One person was killed in the attack.

In the case of Ayyad, who managed the only Christian bookstore in Gaza, his body was discovered riddled with gunshot and stab wounds. Just before his murder, Ayyad, a Baptist, was publicly accused by Abu Islam’s group of engaging in missionary activities. Ayyad’s bookstore, owned by the Palestinian Bible Society, was firebombed in April 2007, after which, he told relatives, he received numerous death threats from Islamists.

WND quoted witnesses stating Ayyad was publicly tortured a few blocks from his store before he was shot to death.

The witnesses said they saw three armed men, two of whom were wearing masks, beat Ayyad repeatedly with clubs and the butts of their guns while they accused him of attempting to spread Christianity in Gaza. The witnesses said that after sustaining the beating, Ayyad was shot by all three men.

Just after Hamas assumed control, Sheik Abu Saqer, leader of Jihadia Salafiya , told WND in an interview that Christians can continue living safely in the Gaza Strip only if they accept Islamic law, including a ban on alcohol and on women roaming publicly without proper head coverings.

The militant leader said Christians in Gaza who engage in “missionary activity” will be “dealt with harshly.”

“I expect our Christian neighbors to understand the new Hamas rule means real changes. They must be ready for Islamic rule if they want to live in peace in Gaza,” said Saqer.

“Jihadia Salafiya and other Islamic movements will ensure Christian schools and institutions show publicly what they are teaching to be sure they are not carrying out missionary activity. No more alcohol on the streets. All women, including non-Muslims, need to understand they must be covered at all times while in public,” Saqer told WND.

Previous stories:

Baptist publicly tortured for ‘spreading Christianity’

Christians warned: Accept Islamic law

(REUTERS) — Tightening international sanctions against Iran look set to shrink its economy, push up inflation and further erode its currency, but they may fail to deliver a knock-out blow that forces Tehran to compromise on its nuclear ambitions.

Few areas of Iran’s economy now remain untouched by the sanctions. Because of payments difficulties, Iranian ships have in recent days stopped loading imports of Ukrainian grain. The United Arab Emirates has told its banks to stop financing Iran’s trade with Dubai. Iranians are finding it more difficult to obtain hard currency to travel abroad.

But the history of sanctions against other countries, and the strengths of Iran’s diverse and relatively self-reliant economy, suggest that as long as Tehran can find buyers for a large proportion of its oil, it will be able to limp along.