Egypt Declares Muslim Brotherhood a Terrorist Group

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Photo Credit: Ahmed Ashraf/AP

Photo Credit: Ahmed Ashraf/AP

Egypt’s military-backed interim government has declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group, criminalising all its activities, its financing and even membership to the group from which the country’s ousted president hails.

The announcement on Wednesday is a dramatic escalation of the fight between the government and the Brotherhood, which has waged near-daily protests since the 3 July popularly backed military coup that toppled President Mohamed Morsi. An Egyptian court had banned the group in September.

Hossam Eissa, the minister of higher education, read out the cabinet statement after a long meeting, saying: “The cabinet has declared the Muslim Brotherhood group and its organisation as a terrorist organisation.”

He said the decision was in response to Tuesday’s deadly suicide bombing targeting a police headquarters in a Nile Delta city which killed 16 people and wounded more than 100. The Brotherhood has denied being responsible for the Mansoura attack, for which an al-Qaida inspired group has claimed responsibility.

“Egypt was horrified from north to south by the hideous crime committed by the Muslim Brotherhood group,” Eissa said. “This was in context of dangerous escalation to violence against Egypt and Egyptians [and] a clear declaration by the Muslim Brotherhood group that it still knows nothing but violence.”

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Snowden to Give UK Channel 4 ‘Alternative Christmas Address’

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Photo Credit: Sunshinepress/Getty Images

Photo Credit: Sunshinepress/Getty Images

Edward Snowden will deliver the “Alternative Christmas Address” on Britain’s Channel 4. In the past, the address was given by figures such as Ali G and Sharon Osborne. The “Alternative Christmas Address” is the channel’s answer to the Queen’s message to the country.

Snowden will say “Great Britain’s George Orwell warned us of the danger of this kind of information. The types of collection in the book – microphones and video cameras, TVs that watch us are nothing compared to what we have available today. We have sensors in our pockets that track us everywhere we go. Think about what this means for the privacy of the average person.”

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US Sending Marines to Africa in Preparation for Evacuations in South Sudan

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

The U.S. military is sending Marines and aircraft to the Horn of Africa in anticipation they may be needed to respond to the violence in South Sudan, Fox News confirms.

A senior U.S. Defense official told Fox News that 150 Marines are being moved from Moron, Spain, to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, in case the State Department asks for their assistance in evacuating U.S. citizens left in South Sudan. So far, no request from the department has yet come in to evacuate the roughly 100 U.S. citizens left in the country.

The decision comes after four U.S. troops were injured Saturday when gunfire hit evacuation aircraft. Three of those troops are stable and being sent to the military hospital in Germany, a spokesman said, while the fourth continues to get treatment in Nairobi, in neighboring Kenya.

A few dozen U.S. troops already are in South Sudan providing security. Others are in Djibouti, where the U.S. maintains its only permanent military base in Africa. Ten aircraft are now stationed there including Osprey helicopters and C-130 transport planes.

The U.S. continued intense diplomatic efforts Monday to calm the roiling ethnic violence, including holding a meeting between the U.S. special envoy for South Sudan, Donald Booth, and South Sudan President Salva Kiir.

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Obama says US May Take Further Military Action to Protect Americans in South Sudan

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Photo Credit: AP/U.S. AIR FORCE

Photo Credit: AP/U.S. AIR FORCE

President Barack Obama told Congress Sunday that he may take further military action to protect Americans trying to evacuate violence-plagued South Sudan.

In a letter to Congress, Obama said that about 46 U.S. troops were deployed Saturday to help evacuate Americans. That’s in addition to another 45 troops deployed to reinforce the U.S. Embassy in Juba.

Four U.S. troops were injured in the evacuation mission Saturday when gunfire hit three military planes in Bor. All four are in stable condition, the White House said.

It remains unclear how many Americans are still stranded in Bor and other rural towns.

Obama is on his annual vacation in Hawaii, but he said in the letter to congressional leaders that he’s monitoring the situation. Earlier Sunday, Obama was briefed by advisers on events in South Sudan following a meeting that his national security adviser, Susan Rice, held with national security aides and U.S. personnel still in South Sudan.

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Three US Military Aircraft Hit In Southern Sudan, 4 Wounded

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Gunfire hit three U.S. military aircraft trying to evacuate American citizens in a remote region of South Sudan that on Saturday became a battle ground between the country’s military and renegade troops, officials said. Four U.S. service members were wounded in the attack in the same region where gunfire downed a U.N. helicopter the day before.

The U.S. military aircraft were about to land in Bor, the capital of the state of Jonglei and scene of some of the nation’s worst violence over the last week, when they were hit. The military said the four wounded troops were in stable condition.

The U.S. military said three CV-22 Ospreys – the kind of aircraft that can fly like a helicopter and plane – were “participating in a mission to evacuate American citizens in Bor.” A South Sudan official said violence against civilians there has resulted in bodies “sprinkled all over town.”

“After receiving fire from the ground while approaching the site, the aircraft diverted to an airfield outside the country and aborted the mission,” the statement said. “The injured troops are being treated for their wounds.” It was not known how many U.S. civilians are in Bor.

After the aircraft took incoming fire, they turned around and flew to Entebbe, Uganda. From there the service members were flown to Nairobi, Kenya aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 for medical treatment, the statement said.

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Christian Group Plans 100-Foot-Tall Jesus Statue in Muslim-Dominated Nazareth

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riojesusAs Christians from across the globe flock to the Holy Land in time for Christmas prayers and ceremonies, some in the community in Nazareth are seeking to reaffirm the historical importance of their town by erecting a statue of Jesus that would tower more than 100 feet above the city.

The idea for the statue comes from Bishara Shlayan, a Christian merchant seaman who lives in Nazareth, the childhood home of Jesus. Shlayan has seen the demographics of Nazareth change considerably in recent years, with the Christian community becoming a minority while the Muslim population has grown to 70 percent of the 80,000 residents of the northern Israeli town.

“Slowly, but surely, the Christian identity in Nazareth is beginning to disappear,” said Shlayan, noting that signs in the main square declare that “There is no power but Allah.”

The plan is for the statue of Jesus to be sit atop Mount Precipice, also known as the Mount of the Leap of the Lord, the promontory where according to Luke 4:29-30, a mob attempted to drive Jesus off the hilltop only for him to pass through them without injury. Shlayan is raising money for the project, but recently got what may be even more important backing: Israel’s Tourism Minister Uzi Landau gave him the green light, saying, “Start it, and we will bless it.”

“I don’t believe in statues, but it is a symbol of love and peace,” Shlayan told The Jerusalem Post. “People who are against it, it comes from jealousy.”

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UN Endorses Iran’s Call for a ‘World Against Violence and Extremism’

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Photo Credit: UN Photo/JC McIlwaine

Photo Credit: UN Photo/JC McIlwaine

Three months after Iran’s president first invited the international community to embrace Tehran’s vision of a “world against violence and extremism” – or what he calls WAVE – the U.N. General Assembly has endorsed a resolution on the matter.

The Iranian text, whose 11 co-sponsors included Syria and Cuba, was approved “by consensus” on Wednesday; no member-state called for a recorded vote.

Several delegates did raise allegations of Iran’s own record of promoting “violence and extremism,” however, and the session in New York witnessed a heated exchange between the Iranian and Israeli ambassadors.

The WAVE resolution calls on all countries to unite against “violent extremism” in all its forms, including sectarian violence.

It also touches on a range of issues that most democratic governments would be keen to endorse, with references to eliminating violence against women; condemnation of attacks on religious sites; and the importance of tolerance, dialogue and the exercise of free expression.

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Putin: Jealous of Obama’s Surveillance State

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Photo Credit: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images

Photo Credit: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images

Russian President Vladimir Putin defended the U.S. National Security Agency, and even said he envies President Barack Obama in light of the NSA revelations “because he can get away with it.”

Putin’s comments at a Thursday news conference reflected support for the NSA surveillance as a necessary tool to fight terrorism, but added that government rules should “limit the appetite” of the data-collecting agency, CBS News reports.

The 16-year KGB veteran and former head of Russia’s primary espionage agency said that the American spy program “isn’t a cause for joy, it’s not a cause for repentance either.” He added that “on a political level, it’s necessary to limit the appetite of special services with certain rules.”

Russia granted former NSA contractor and leaker Edward Snowden temporary asylum in June, despite U.S. efforts for his return to America to face espionage and theft of government property charges.

Earlier this week, a U.S. federal judge ruled that the NSA’s mass collection of phone records is in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s ban of unreasonable searches, and a government appeal is likely to be issued in the near future.

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Gold Price Stumbles to 6-Month Low After Fed Stimulus Trim

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Photo Credit: Zeenews.com

Photo Credit: Zeenews.com

London: Gold slid more than 1 percent on Thursday to its lowest since late June after the U.S. Federal Reserve took its first step away from the ultra-loose monetary policy that had helped drive bullion prices to record highs in recent years.

The Fed said on Wednesday that the U.S. economy was finally strong enough for it to start scaling back its massive bond-buying scheme, winding down the era of easy money that saw gold rally to USD 1,920.30 an ounce in 2011.

Spot gold was down 1.2 percent at USD 1,203.85 an ounce at 1000 GMT, having earlier touched a low of USD 1,200.25. U.S. gold futures for February delivery were down USD 32.00 an ounce at USD 1,203.00.

That move came despite the Fed blunting its taper with a continued dovish message on interest rates – that tapering was not tightening.

“This is another sign of increasing normalisation for the world economy,” Macquarie analyst Matthew Turner said. “Gold’s insurance function is less desirable in that environment.”

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Former Iranian Presidential Advisor: Had Deal Not Been Reached in Geneva, Iran Would Have “Annihilated Israel” (+video)

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Photo Credit: YouTube

Photo Credit: YouTube

An Iranian political analyst claimed last week that if a deal between Iran and the West over Iran’s nuclear program had not been reached in Geneva, Iran would have annihilated Israel.

The comments by Mohammad Sadeq Al-Hosseini, a former political advisor to Iranian President Khatami, aired on Syrian News TV on December 11. They were translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

In fact, said Al-Hosseini, had a deal not been reached in Geneva, President Barack Obama would have had to kiss the hands of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in order to prevent an Iranian attack on Israel.

“Believe me, President Obama tried five times to get a free handshake from President Rouhani, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly – and he failed,” said Al-Hosseini.

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