“A Message Signed With Blood to the Nation of the Cross”: US Condemns Another Horrific ISIS Video

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By Hasani Gittens and M. Alex Johnson. The U.S. condemned the videotaped beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians kidnapped in Libya, explicitly blaming ISIS-affiliated terrorists Sunday for the “wanton killing of innocents.”

The Egyptians, dressed in orange jump suits, were beheaded after being forced down on the ground on a beach. An early caption in the video says the location is “Wilayat Tarabulus by the Mediterranean Sea,” which suggests that it was filmed near Tripoli.

Each of the victims, who are all male, is paired with a masked, knife-wielding terrorist and, after a brief statement by the ISIS leader, they are all beheaded.

The video is called “A Message signed with blood to the nation of the cross” and was released by the group’s Al-Hayat Media Center, according to Flashpoint Intelligence, a global security firm and NBC News consultant. (Read more about the horrific ISIS video HERE)

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ISIS Seizes Iraqi Town 5 Miles From Marine Base

By Fox News. Islamic State has reportedly seized al-Baghdadi, in Iraq’s Anbar Province, 5 miles from an air base staffed by U.S. Marines, as the terror group continues its push beyond its bases in Syria and Iraq in an attempt to establish militant affiliates in other countries.

Hundreds of Islamic State fighters reportedly captured most of al-Baghdadi, which is 55 miles from the capital Ramadi, on Thursday.

On Friday, Iraqi soldiers had retaken several government buildings, but the soldiers withdrew early Saturday, handing the town back to the militants, The New York Times reported, citing local security officials.

One local Iraqi official told Reuters that, “Ninety percent of al-Baghdadi district has fallen under the control of the insurgents.”

Militants attacked the town of al-Baghdadi from two directions before advancing inward, Reuters reported. (Read more about the town ISIS seizes HERE)

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ISIS’ Christian Victims Speak Out With An Urgent Message On How They’re Being Targeted For Extinction

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Photo Credit: IJReview By Justen Charters. Following ISIS’ invasion of Iraq, Christians, Yezidis and other minorities were chased from their homes, murdered, enslaved, or displaced.

Sadly, there isn’t a lot being done to help prevent more marginalized sects from becoming victims of the Islamic State’s massacres.

Disturbed by the reports of ISIS trying to snuff out the flames of Christianity in Iraq, former Congressman Frank R. Wolf co-founded the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative. The Wilberforce vision states:

There has never been a greater need both in history and scope. The rise of ISIS, the declining freedom of speech and communication globally, and the sheer number of religious prisoners around the world pose a critical threat to all of humanity. 21st Century Wilberforce wants to awaken the church to these atrocities and stir Christians and other religious groups to action.

Wilberforce is taking action to bring to light the importance of stopping Iraq’s minorities from being targeted for extinction. (Read more about the ISIS’ victims who are being targeted for extinction HERE)

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ISIS: Smoking Will Kill You, One Way or Another

By Nabih Bulos. Beheadings have become commonplace in the territories held by the militant Islamic State, but the severed head reportedly found last month in the eastern Syrian city of Al-Mayadeen was nevertheless unusual.

It had a cigarette placed between its lips.

“This is not permissible, Sheikh,” someone had scrawled in Arabic on the decapitated corpse lying nearby, according to an account from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition monitoring group. The body and head belonged to an Islamic State official, a deputy police chief.

From consuming alcohol to cursing, vices of all types are frowned upon by Islamic State . . .

Shortly after the group’s takeover of large swaths of Deir Elzur province in eastern Syria, Islamic State began to close tobacco shops and shutter the ubiquitous water-pipe cafes. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Prince Charles Makes Devastating Statement About Islam, Causing Outrage From Muslims

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Photo Credit: Daily Mail Prince Charles risked provoking a new political and religious storm yesterday when he said Muslims living in the UK should follow British values.

In a staunch defence of Britain’s ‘Christian standpoint,’ he denounced the radicalisation of young Britons by Islamic fanatics and said they should show more respect to ‘the values we hold dear’.

People who had ‘come here, were born here or go to school here’ should ‘abide by our values,’ he said. His comments were made as he started a six-day tour of the Middle East, seen as another stage in assuming more of the Queen’s international duties.

It is a clear response to critics who say he should not meddle in sensitive political matters. The Prince will also challenge Arab leaders head-on during the trip.

The Mail on Sunday can disclose that he is to tell new Saudi king Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud to his face that he should stop the 1,000 lashes handed down as punishment to Saudi blogger Raif Badawi for comments which the regime claimed were critical of Islam. (Read more about the statement about Islam HERE)

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ISIS Sends Michelle Obama and Family ‘Bloody Valentine’

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By Carmine Sabia. The Islamic State was at it again Tuesday with its “Cyber Caliphate” hacking the Twitter feed of Newsweek magazine and giving a chilling warning to the first family.

The hackers tweeted a message that read “#CyberCaliphate Bloody Valentine’s Day #MichelleObama! We’re watching you, you(r) girls and your husband!”

The hackers also put up the same ISIS logo picture they have used in the past of a jihadi fighter.

They also included the phrase “Je suIS IS,” which means “I am Islamic State” in French, taken from the “Je suisCharlie” phrase used after the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris on Jan. 7. (Read more about the ‘Bloody Valentine’ HERE)

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Obama Opens Door to ‘Limited’ Ground Combat Operations Against ISIS

By Fox News. President Obama on Wednesday opened the door to “limited” ground combat operations against the Islamic State, as he asked Congress to formally authorize military force against the terrorist network.

The president, in a proposed resolution and a letter to Congress, underscored the “grave threat” posed by ISIS.

“If left unchecked, ISIL will pose a threat beyond the Middle East, including to the United States homeland,” Obama said.

Speaking later at the White House, Obama vowed to defeat the terror group. “This is a difficult mission, and it will remain difficult for some time,” Obama said. “But our coalition is on the offensive. ISIL is on the defensive, and ISIL is going to lose.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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Secret Iranian Unit Fueling Mideast Bloodshed With Illicit Arms Shipments

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By Jennifer Griffin. As conflicts and civil wars rage across the Middle East and North Africa, a shadowy covert cell operating under the Iranian government is fueling the bloodshed.

Unit 190, a secret arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force made up of about two-dozen employees, has for years smuggled arms to these conflict zones.

After an extensive investigation tracing the land, air and sea routes used by the Quds Force to move weapons to Hezbollah, Hamas and now the Houthis in Yemen, Fox News has also learned from western intelligence sources the name of the Iranian man who is a key player in Unit 190: Behnam Shahariyari, born in 1968 in Ardabil, northwest Iran.

According to western intelligence sources, Shahariyari runs a network of straw companies — which skirt sanctions packing RPG’s, night-vision equipment and long-range rockets in powdered milk, cement and spare vehicle parts.

“Very often arms and explosives were placed in trucks underneath legal cargo in order to hide them,” said Michael Eisenstadt, director of Military and Security Studies programs for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. (Read more about the illicit arms shipments HERE)

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Iran Marks 36th Anniversary of Islamic Revolution Amid Nuclear Talks

By Associated Press. Iran is marking the 36th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution as the country continues negotiations with world powers over its contested nuclear program.

State television aired footage of commemorations in Tehran and elsewhere across the country Wednesday. Some participants chanted “Down with the U.S.” and “Death to Israel.”

On Feb. 11, 1979, followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ousted U.S.-backed Shah Reza Pahlavi. America helped orchestrate the 1953 coup that overthrew Iran’s popularly elected prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, which brought Pahlavi to power and set the stage for decades of mistrust between the countries. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Family of US Aid Worker Confirms Her Death at the Hands of ISIS

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Photo Credit: Fox News Kayla Mueller wrote her family a heart-wrenching letter nearly a year ago, possibly from the bowels of a Raqqa, Syria, building that U.S. special forces raided on July 4, 2014, only to learn Mueller – and at least three other hostages who were later killed – had been moved days earlier.

“If you could say I have ‘suffered’ at all throughout this whole experience it is only in knowing how much suffering I have put you all through,” wrote Mueller, a 26-year-old aid worker from Arizona who was kidnapped in Syria by ISIS in August 2013.

“I have a lot of fight left inside of me. I am not breaking down + I will not give in no matter how long it takes,” Mueller said in the newly released letter, believed to have been written in the Spring of 2014. “I know you would want me to remain strong. That is exactly what I am doing. Do not fear for me, continue to pray as will I + by God’s will we will be together soon.”

Mueller’s parents confirmed Tuesday their daughter died while in the hands of the terror group, though they did not say how or when she was killed.

“We are heartbroken to share that we’ve received confirmation that Kayla Jean Mueller has lost her life,” Carl and Marsha Mueller, of Prescott, Ariz., said in a statement. “Kayla was a compassionate and devoted humanitarian. She dedicated the whole of her young life to helping those in need of freedom, justice, and peace.” (Read more about the death of the US aid worker HERE)

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Here’s How Obama is Defending His Choice to Not Meet With Netanyahu

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Photo Credit: The BlazeBy Fred Lucas. President Barack Obama said his refusal to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu two weeks before Israel’s elections isn’t personal — he wouldn’t meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel under the same circumstances, either.

“As much as I love Angela, if she was two weeks away from election, she probably would not have received an invitation to the White House, and I suspect she would not have asked for one,” Obama said at a joint news conference with the German leader Monday at the White House. “Some of this just has to do with how we do business. I think it is important for us to maintain these protocols because the U.S.-Israeli relationship is not about a particular party” . . .

“I don’t want to be coy. The prime minister and I have differences around Iran’s sanctions,” Obama said. “I have been very clear and Angela agrees with me and [British Prime Minister] David Cameron agrees with me and the others who are members of the negotiations agree that it does not make sense to sour the negotiations a month or two before they are about to be completed and we should play that out if we can get a deal, we should embrace it. If we cannot get a deal, we will have to make a set of decisions and, as I said to Congress, I will be the first one to work with them to apply even stronger measures against Iran.” (Read more about how Obama is defending his choice to not meet with Netanyahu HERE)

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Despite Recent Criticism, Netanyahu Still Determined to Address U.S. Congress on Iran’s Nuclear Program

By Barak Ravid. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that he is determined to address the U.S. Congress on Iran’s nuclear program. Netanyahu rejected the criticism in the United States and Israel, saying that “while some are busy with protocol or politics, a bad deal with Iran is taking shape.”

Speaking at a Likud election event, Netanyahu added that, as prime minister, it is his duty to do everything in his power to prevent a dangerous deal with Iran. “From the day Israel was established to this day, there have been essential differences between Israel and the U.S., and relations remained sound – this will be the case this time as well,” he said.

“This is not a political issue or a party issue, neither here nor there. This is an existential issue, and I approach it with the fullest responsibility.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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Boko Haram Attacks Again, Attacking Villages and Kidnapping 30

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By Associated Press. Residents say suspected Boko Haram fighters have kidnapped more than 30 people in northern Cameroon after attacking several towns.

Bouba Kaina, resident of where the first attacked took place, confirmed to The Associated Press on Monday that a bus was seized by the insurgents with 20 people aboard.

The bus was then driven toward the border with Nigeria, about 11 miles away . . .

Boko Haram fighters have escalated their attacks outside Nigeria, striking multiple times inside neighboring Cameroon and Niger in recent days. Neighboring countries are planning a military effort to subdue the group blamed for killing 10,000 people over the past year. (Read more about the Boko Haram attacks HERE)

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Nigeria Vows Not to Postpone Another Election, Despite Even More Boko Haram Threats

By Ola Awoniyi, with Aminu Abubakar in Kano. Nigeria insisted it will crush Boko Haram militants and avoid another election postponement, even as violence raged and the Islamists’ leader vowed to defeat a regional force hunting them.

National Security Advisor Sambo Dasuki’s comments came as Boko Haram launched another attack in neighbouring Niger and reports emerged of 20 people kidnapped in Cameroon, with 12 of them executed.

Niger’s parliament voted unanimously on Monday to send troops to join the regional fightback against the extremists, who have seized swathes of northern Nigeria in a conflict that has claimed more than 13,000 lives since 2009.

Dasuki, who at the weekend secured a six-week delay to Nigeria’s presidential elections, vowed that “all known Boko Haram camps will be taken out” by the time of the rescheduled vote. (Read more from this story HERE)

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HSBC Admits it Helped Wealthy Costumers Dodge Taxes

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Photo Credit: The Fiscal Times By Steve Slater and Joshua Franklin. British bank HSBC Holdings Plc admitted failings by its Swiss subsidiary in response to media reports it helped wealthy customers dodge taxes and conceal millions of dollars of assets.

“We acknowledge and are accountable for past compliance and control failures,” HSBC said late on Sunday after news outlets including French newspaper Le Monde and Britain’s The Guardian published allegations about its Swiss private bank.

The Guardian, along with other news outlets, cited documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) via Le Monde. HSBC said that its Swiss arm had not been fully integrated into HSBC after its purchase in 1999, allowing “significantly lower” standards of compliance and due diligence to persist.

The Guardian alleged in its report that the files showed HSBC’s Swiss bank routinely allowed clients to withdraw “bricks” of cash, often in foreign currencies which were of little use in Switzerland. HSBC also marketed schemes which were likely to enable wealthy clients to avoid European taxes and colluded with some to conceal undeclared accounts from domestic tax authorities, the Guardian added. (Read more about how HSBC admits it helped wealthy costumers dodge taxes HERE)

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Claims That HSBC Aided Tax Evaders

By Chad Bray. HSBC found itself under fire again on Monday after news reports over the weekend provided more details about long-running accusations that its Swiss private banking arm helped clients hide billions of dollars in assets from international tax authorities before 2007.

In a report released on Sunday, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, an organization based in Washington, said that secret documents revealed that bank employees had reassured clients that HSBC would not disclose details of their accounts to tax authorities in their home countries and discussed options to avoid paying taxes on those assets. Also contributing to the report were the newspaper Le Monde in France, The Guardian in Britain, the BBC program “Panorama” and CBS News’s “60 Minutes.”

The documents were stolen from HSBC by a former employee in Switzerland in 2007 and were given to the French authorities, who in 2010 shared them with officials in Britain, Spain and the United States, among other nations. Some of those jurisdictions have used the information to seek back taxes and penalties from individuals, and the British bank has paid fines to the United States related to those disclosures. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Reports of Massive Explosion in Ukraine, Likely not Tactical Nuke, but Obama Shaken [+videos]

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Ukraine: Artillery Fire, Not ‘Tactical Nuke’ Attack, Sets Off Large Donetsk Explosion

[Editor’s note: A number of sites, such as Alex Jones’ Info Wars, suggested that the explosion was nuclear, but that seems to be a stretch. Nuclear detonations create significant EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) that would almost certainly have destroyed the electronic cameras recording the events.]

On Sunday night, a series of YouTube videos appear to show a large explosion in Donetsk, Ukraine (several can be watched here). However, it wasn’t a “tactical nuclear weapon,” as some social media users claimed, but just a big blast–reportedly Ukrainian army artillery fire hitting an ammunition depot held by the rebel Donetsk People’s Republic.

Videos that were uploaded Feb. 8 show a massive explosion going off in the distance, with an orange-red fireball lighting up the night sky.

While many details remain unclear, preliminary reports say it was a an artillery attack on a weapons depot owned by the breakaway Donetsk People’s Republic. According to Ukrainian news site TSN.ua, right-wing politician Dmitry Yarosh said the blast killed about “200 terrorists,” destroyed 20 Grad rockets, and trucks filled with ammunition. (Read more from about the reports of a tactical nuke in Ukraine HERE)

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New York Times Warn About Russia “Nuclear Saber Rattling” in Ukraine

By JOHN J. MEARSHEIMERFEB. The possibility that Mr. Putin might end up making nuclear threats may seem remote, but if the goal of arming Ukraine is to drive up the costs of Russian interference and eventually put Moscow in an acute situation, it cannot be ruled out. If Western pressure succeeded and Mr. Putin felt desperate, he would have a powerful incentive to try to rescue the situation by rattling the nuclear saber.

Our understanding of the mechanisms of escalation in crises and war is limited at best, although we know the risks are considerable. Pushing a nuclear-armed Russia into a corner would be playing with fire.

Advocates of arming Ukraine recognize the escalation problem, which is why they stress giving Kiev “defensive,” not “offensive,” weapons. Unfortunately, there is no useful distinction between these categories: All weapons can be used for attacking and defending. The West can be sure, though, that Moscow will not see those American weapons as “defensive,” given that Washington is determined to reverse the status quo in eastern Ukraine.

The only way to solve the Ukraine crisis is diplomatically, not militarily. Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, seems to recognize that fact, as she has said Germany will not ship arms to Kiev. Her problem, however, is that she does not know how to bring the crisis to an end. (Read more from this story HERE)

See also Putin Threatens to Use Nukes in Ukraine

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Matt Drudge Warns that “Obama Knows Something Terrible is Coming”

In a tweet yesterday, Matt Drudge said this about Obama’s Grammy appearance: