Putin Thanks Trump for CIA Tip on Bombings

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Russia’s Vladimir Putin called President Trump Sunday to thank him for U.S. intelligence that helped thwart terrorist attacks in St. Petersburg, officials in both countries said. It was their second phone call in four days.

The Kremlin said the CIA provided Russia with key information about a plot to bomb Kazan Cathedral and other places in St. Petersburg, allowing Russian police to arrest a group of suspects in raids on Friday.

The Russian president expressed gratitude for the CIA cooperation and assured Trump that Russia would continue to provide the U.S. with similar information, the Kremlin said.

Trump told Putin that he was pleased that the intelligence saved so many lives, and later called CIA Director Mike Pompeo “to congratulate him, his very talented people, and the entire intelligence community on a job well done,” the White House said.

The White House summary of the call also emphasized agreement that the intelligence cooperation was “an example of the positive things that can occur when our countries work together.” (Read more from “Putin Thanks Trump for CIA Tip on Bombings” HERE)

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Suicide Bombers Attack Christian Church

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Two suicide bombers attacked a church in Pakistan where hundreds of worshippers were attending service ahead of Christmas, killing at least nine people and injuring dozens of others, officials said.

One of the suicide bombers was shot dead outside Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in Quetta, but the other assailant made it to the church’s entrance hall as Sunday services opened, said Sarfaraz Bugti, home minister for the southwestern Baluchistan province. The gunman — who didn’t gain access to the main building — opened fire at the churchgoers before detonating his explosive vest.

“There were nearly 400 people inside the church, but the attackers couldn’t get inside the services,” provincial police chief Moazzam Jah told Reuters. “We killed one of them, and the other one exploded himself after police wounded him,” he said.

The Islamic State group later claimed responsibility for the attack on their Aamaq news agency, saying two “plungers” from their group had stormed the church, without providing further details.

The death toll in the deadly attack rose to nine people, including two women, by Sunday afternoon. Five women and two children were among the 57 people hurt. Seven people were listed in critical condition, said Wasim Baig, a spokesman for Quetta’s main hospital. (Read more from “Suicide Bombers Attack Christian Church” HERE)

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Iran Seeks ‘New World Order’ on ‘Ruins’ of West

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The prime objective of Iran’s mullah-led regime is to export its Islamic revolution worldwide to build a new Shiite “world order” on the “ruins” of Western civilization, declared a columnist for a daily paper affiliated with the country’s religious leadership, reports Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin..

“Iran will, in the future, become one of the poles of the world,” wrote Abdollah Motevalian in a recent column in the daily newspaper Javan.

The paper is “affiliated with the country’s ideological camp,” according to the Middle East Media Research Institute, which monitors and analyzes media in the region.

The writer cited a list of principles that provide the foundation for the Islamic revolution’s objectives.

“Identifying the enemy; believing in the need for fighting the enemy; a revolutionary discourse; a fighting strategy; persistence in fighting, with no hiatus; jihadi spirit; a plan for the fighting; tirelessness; making it a people’s war and leveraging all the human potential in the country.” (Read more from “Iran Seeks ‘New World Order’ on ‘Ruins’ of West” HERE)

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India’s First Ever ‘Happiness Minister’ Is Wanted on Murder Charges

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India’s first and only “happiness minister” is wanted on murder charges.

Lal Singh Arya was named a suspect in the 2009 murder of an opposition politician, Makhanlal Jatav, the Times of India reported .

The 53-year-old has previously denied the charges, according to the BBC . Arya is the top official in the Department of Happiness, a ministry run by the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh . . .

An Indian court issued an arrest warrant for Arya last week, but police have yet to find him, the Times of India reported. They have searched three locations across central India: Bhopal, Gwalior, and his native town of Gohad.

The central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh created the department of happiness last year in a bid to “counsel people on how to be always happy,” the state’s chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, according to The Telegraph. (Read more from “India’s First Ever ‘Happiness Minister’ Is Wanted on Murder Charges” HERE)

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Trouble for Imam Who Wants Every Last Jew Dead

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An imam from New Jersey who called on Allah to destroy every Jew is in trouble.

The Times of Israel reported Aymen Elkasaby apparently is going through a retraining period after making the comment that Allah should “kill them down to the very last one.”

He’s from the Islamic Center of Jersey City, and the report says he gave a sermon on November 24 where he called on “Allah to wreak vengeance” on Jews.

“That sermon came days after U.S. President Donald Trump defied warnings from the world and recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital,” the report said.

According to reports on the dispute, Elkasaby also said suggestions that the recent terrorist attack on the Sinai Peninsula mosque where some 300 worshippers died was done by Islamic State were “ridiculous.” (Read more from “Trouble for Imam Who Wants Every Last Jew Dead” HERE)

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Bermuda to Become First Territory to Legalize – and Then Ban – Same-Sex Marriage in Just Seven Months

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The Senate in Bermuda gave final legislative approval on Wednesday to a measure that would end same-sex marriage in the British island territory and allow only domestic partnerships.

Senators approved the Domestic Partnership Act by an 8-3 vote. The House of Assembly approved it 24-10 on Friday. It must now be signed by the governor before it becomes law in the Atlantic ocean territory.

A Supreme Court ruling in May made same-sex marriages legal in Bermuda amid opposition on the socially conservative island. The ruling Progressive Labor Party took up the matter after winning power in the July election.

Opponents of the legislation said that it would be unprecedented to strip the right to same-sex marriage after it had been granted in a jurisdiction and that global reaction could hurt the tourism industry.

They said it was discriminatory because same-sex couples would have only the option of domestic partnerships while opposite-sex couples could choose between marriage or a domestic partnership. (Read more from “Bermuda to Become First Territory to Legalize – and Then Ban – Same-Sex Marriage in Just Seven Months” HERE)

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US Ready to Talk Any Time North Korea Wants, Tillerson Says

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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday that the U.S. would be willing to hold talks with North Korea even if the Communist nation does not do away with its nuclear weapons program.

Although Tillerson said the goal of U.S. policy remained denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, he added it was “not realistic to say we’re only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program. They’ve too much invested in it. The president is very realistic about that as well.”

Tillerson’s remarks at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington came two weeks after North Korea conducted a test with a missile that could potentially carry a nuclear warhead to the U.S. Eastern Seaboard — a milestone in its decades-long drive to pose an atomic threat to its American adversary that Trump has vowed to prevent, using military force if necessary.

“We are ready to talk any time North Korea would like to talk. We are ready to have the first meeting without preconditions. Let’s just meet,” Tillerson said. “And then we can begin to lay out a road map.”

The secretary of state did say that a “period of quiet,” without new nuclear or missile tests, would have to take place before talks could begin. This year, the North has conducted more than 20 ballistic missile launches and one nuclear test explosion, its most powerful yet. (Read more from “US Ready to Talk Any Time North Korea Wants, Tillerson Says” HERE)

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Major World Leader Threatens to Wipe out Jews

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President Obama praised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as “a man of action” and one of the five world leaders with whom he had the strongest bond. President Trump met with him at the White House last spring.

And certainly Erdogan has tried to portray himself to Western leaders as a pragmatist with whom they can work.

But at a convention of his ruling party Sunday, Erdogan invoked a Muslim hadith — a collection of the accounts and sayings of Muhammad — that made clear his view of Jews and the state of Israel, according to dissident Turkish journalist Abdullah Bozkurt, the Investigative Project on Terrorism reported.

“Those who think they own Jerusalem better know that tomorrow they won’t be able to hide behind trees,” Erdogan said, according to Bozkurt.

That statement essentially is an affirmation of a prophecy that all Jews will one day be destroyed, the journalist said. (Read more from “Major World Leader Threatens to Wipe out Jews” HERE)

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Look Who’s Donating $5 Million to Resettle Refugees

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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has donated $5 million worth of aid to the nine federal refugee resettlement agencies in the U.S., according to the Deseret News.

The donation comprises $1.2 million in cash and $3.8 million in commodities to be used during 2018, and it marks the second straight year the church has made such a donation.

Each of the nine organizations will receive a different amount. Episcopal Migration Ministries, for example, received $50,000 in cash and $200,000 of in-kind donations.

“The support from the LDS church has allowed Episcopal Migration Ministries to grant support projects for housing and health issues focused on homelessness prevention and intensive services for refugee cases with medical needs,” the organization said in a statement. “We are thankful for LDS church leadership in support of refugee resettlement.”

The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, meanwhile, received $40,000 in cash and $160,000 in in-kind donations. (Read more from “Look Who’s Donating $5 Million to Resettle Refugees” HERE)

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Trump’s Jerusalem Declaration Sparks Talk of 3rd Temple

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While Muslims jeer, Israelis cheer President Trump’s Jerusalem declaration, prompting Jewish religious activists to suggest building the Third Temple is closer to reality than ever before.

“What he did … was an enormous step in bringing the Temple,” said Asaf Fried, official spokesman for the United Temple Movement, an association of organizations working towards making the Third Temple a reality . . .

Fried sees Trump’s role similar to the one played by Cyrus, the Persian king who ended the Babylonian exile and helped build the Second Jewish Temple.

“There have been amazing advances towards bringing the Temple this year. It was clear that Trump was part of that process, guided by Hashem (God),” Fried declared . . .

“One year ago, the Sanhedrin called on Trump to build the Temple as Cyrus did 2,000 years ago,” [Rabbi Hillel Weiss] said. “He has clearly moved in this direction but there is still a long way to go and many pitfalls that could prevent that from happening. Trump is facing enormous political pressures. The borders of Jerusalem are still open to negotiation. The Temple Mount is still not a settled issue and the United Nations is working hard at trying to convince the world the Jews have no place there. If Trump is to succeed, the Jews have to come together in unity in order for him to remain strong.” (Read more from “Trump’s Jerusalem Declaration Sparks Talk of 3rd Temple” HERE)

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