My Way News - Report: Religious violence rising in Indonesia:
My Way News reports: "Indonesia's government, security forces and courts must do more to protect religious minorities from growing episodes of intolerance and violence, an international rights group said in a report Thursday. [...] The report alleged building permits for houses of worship have been denied, police have failed to stop violent attacks, prosecutors have sought weak punishment and in two cases, local authorities refused to honor Supreme Court decisions allowing religious minorities to build places of worship. [...] The watchdog organization also cited reports from the Jakarta-based nonprofit Setara Institute, which recorded 264 attacks last year, up from 244 cases the previous year and 216 in 2010."

My Way News - Magnitude 6.3 quake causes no damage in Russia
My Way News reports: "Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry says that a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in the Pacific off the fareastern Kamchatka Peninsula has caused no casualties or damage [...] The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 6.9. Russia's seismic station in Obninsk near Moscow reported the same magnitude."

My Way News - Putin signals Russia can be more flexible on Syria
My Way News reports: "Russia has backed Assad throughout a conflict that has killed more than 70,000, using its veto at the U.N. Security Council to shield Assad's regime from sanctions for cracking down on what began as peaceful protests. Moscow also has rejected calls for Assad to quit, saying his government and rebels should pursue talks. France, meanwhile, has been among the most vociferous critics of Assad and a major booster of the Syrian opposition."

My Way News - Report: Stuxnet cyberweapon older than believed:
My Way News reports: "The sophisticated cyberweapon which targeted an Iranian nuclear plant is older than previously believed, an anti-virus company said Tuesday, peeling back another layer of mystery on a series of attacks attributed by many to U.S. and Israeli intelligence [...] In a new report issued late Tuesday, Symantec Corp. (SYMC) [...] found a primitive version of Stuxnet circulating online in 2007 and that elements of the program had been in place as far back as 2005."

My Way News - China launches stealth frigate amid ocean tensions
My Way News reports: "China has launched the first ship in a new class of stealth missile frigates, state media reported Tuesday, amid ongoing tensions with neighboring countries over Beijing's maritime claims. The People's Liberation Army Navy is building a total of 20 Type 056 Jiangdao class frigates to replace older models and bolster its ability to conduct patrols and escort ships and submarines in waters it claims in the South China and East China seas. [...] China has made no secret of its desire to extend its navy's global reach, and the service has received considerable attention in China's military modernization. China's first aircraft carrier, the overhauled Soviet-era Liaoning, entered service last year, while a growing array of nuclear submarines and ultra-modern surface ships are also joining the fleet."

My Way News - First Gaza rocket in 3 months rattles cease-fire
My Way News reports: "Gaza militants on Tuesday fired a rocket into Israel for the first time in three months, rattling a cross-border truce that has held since Israel's military offensive against the Hamas-run territory. Israel closed Gaza's main cargo crossing until further notice, an apparent warning to Gaza's Hamas rulers to clamp down on rocket squads."

Reuters - Magnitude 6.2 quake jolts eastern Japan, no tsunami warning
Reuters reports: "An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 jolted eastern Japan on Monday, public broadcaster NHK said, adding that no tsunami warning had been issued. The quake also shook buildings in Tokyo, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage."

My Way News - SD college tests fingerprint purchasing technology
My Way News reports: "Two shops on the School of Mines and Technology campus are performing one of the world's first experiments in Biocryptology - a mix of biometrics (using physical traits for identification) and cryptology (the study of encoding private information). Students at the Rapid City school can buy a bag of potato chips with a machine that non-intrusively detects their hemoglobin to make sure the transaction is legitimate."

My Way News - US senator calls Jerusalem Israel's capital
My Way News reports: "An influential Republican senator has called Jerusalem the capital of Israel, taking a stand on an explosive issue between Israel and the Palestinians. The fate of Jerusalem is one of the most intractable issues in the Mideast conflict with both Israelis and Palestinians claiming rights to the city."

My Way News - Diplomats: Iran starts upgrade of nuclear site
My Way News reports: "In a disheartening signal to world powers at upcoming Iran talks, Tehran has started installing high-tech machines at its main uranium enrichment site that are capable of accelerating production of reactor fuel and - with further upgrading - the core of nuclear warheads, diplomats said Wednesday."

My Way News - North Korea warns South of 'final destruction'
My Way News reports: "Nuclear-armed North Korea has used a U.N. disarmament meeting to warn that South Korea risks 'final destruction.' The comments Tuesday by a North Korean diplomat at the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament come a week after Pyongyang conducted a third nuclear test."

My Way News - US ready to strike back against China cyberattacks
My Way News reports: "As public evidence mounts that the Chinese military is responsible for stealing massive amounts of U.S. government data and corporate trade secrets, the Obama administration is eyeing fines and other trade actions it may take against Beijing or any other country guilty of cyberespionage. [...] The White House plans come after a Virginia-based cybersecurity firm released a torrent of details Monday that tied a secret Chinese military unit in Shanghai to years of cyberattacks against U.S. companies."

My Way News - UK patient dies from SARS-like coronavirus
My Way News reports: "The virus was first identified last year in the Middle East. Most of those infected had traveled to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Pakistan, but the person who just died is believed to have caught it from a relative in Britain, where there have been four confirmed cases. The new coronavirus is part of a family of viruses that cause ailments including the common cold and SARS. In 2003, a global outbreak of SARS killed about 800 people worldwide. Health experts still aren't sure exactly how humans are being infected."

My Way News - A clear look at Scientology and its believers
My Way News reports: "Pulitzer Prize winner Lawrence Wright's new book about Scientology, its origins, its evolution and its believers, is a powerful piece of reportage. It is detailed, intense and at times shocking. But it's not merely an indictment of one of the world's newest faiths - Scientologists deny many parts of the book - it's also a reminder of the dangers of combining faith with fear, and the foolishness of choosing to believe anything blindly."

JPost.com - Why Jews should stand against Christian oppression
The Jerusalem Post reports: "The Open Doors website lists the countries responsible for persecuting Christians, with the worst perpetrators in sequence being: North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Maldives, Mali, Iran, Yemen, Eritrea, Syria, Sudan and Nigeria [...] Shared in common by the next 12 states that practice 'extreme persecution' is a majority Muslim population. [...] Public Christian worship is forbidden; worshipers risk imprisonment, lashing, deportation and torture.' In almost all Islamic countries, missionary activity and the distribution of Christian material, even the Bible, is illegal. Muslims who convert to Christianity risk honor killings, and accusations of blasphemy are an ever-present reality, punishable in many cases by mob violence."

My Way News - Israel PM: North Korea nuke test is lesson on Iran
My Way News reports: "Israel's prime minister says North Korea's recent nuclear test shows that 'sanctions alone will not stop' Iran's atomic program. Benjamin Netanyahu told a gathering of international Jewish leaders on Monday that the Western sanctions against Tehran 'have to be coupled with a robust, credible, military threat. If they are not, then there is no chance to stop them.' He says Iran will top his agenda when President Barack Obama visits Israel next month."

My Way News - Cuba, too, reports powerful meteorite explosion
My Way News reports: "Cuba apparently experienced a phenomenon similar to but smaller than the meteorite that detonated over Russia this week, island media reported, with startled residents describing a bright light in the sky and a loud explosion that shook windows and walls. There were no reports of any injuries or damage such as those caused by the Russia meteorite, which sent out shockwaves that hurt some 1,200 people and shattered countless windows. [...] Also Friday, residents of the San Francisco Bay Area reported seeing a fireball in the sky that scientists said was likely a piece of space rock."

My Way News - European Union slaps more sanctions on North Korea
My Way News reports: "The European Union imposed trade and economic sanctions on North Korea while condemning "in the strongest terms" the nation's latest nuclear test [...] The United States is currently negotiating in the Security Council for stronger U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang after the council quickly condemned the Feb. 12 atomic blast, the third conducted by the North since 2006."

CNN.com - 6.2-magnitude earthquake rattles southern Philippine island
CNN reports: "A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck Saturday near the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, the state-run Philippines News Agency (PNA) reported."

WND - Al-Qaida alive and well, ready to attack West
WND reports: "In an agreement between al-Qaida and the Islamic regime, three camps have been set up within Iran to train terrorists, WND has learned. Al-Qaida members are trained to attack NATO forces in Afghanistan and collaborate with the Islamic regime on terrorist activities against Israel, the United States and some European countries, according to a source within the Revolutionary Guards intelligence division."

My Way News - Meteor explodes over Russia, 1,100 injured
My Way News reports: "With a blinding flash and a booming shock wave, a meteor blazed across the western Siberian sky Friday and exploded with the force of 20 atomic bombs, injuring more than 1,000 people as it blasted out windows and spread panic in a city of 1 million. While NASA estimated the meteor was only about the size of a bus and weighed an estimated 7,000 tons, the fireball it produced was dramatic."

My Way News - Russian arms trader: Syria shipments will continue
My Way News reports: "Russia will keep supplying weapons to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime despite the country's escalating civil war, the head of Russia's state arms trader said Wednesday [...] Moscow has been the main protector of Assad's beleaguered regime, joining with China at the U.N. Security Council to block attempts to impose sanctions on Assad amid a civil war in which more than 60,000 people have died."

Comment: Who is to blame for the continuing carnage in Syria? Russia and China are to blame. All the international outrage at the loss of life should be directed towards those two countries. Oh, wait, there isn't any international outrage.

My Way News - Iran: Advanced enrichment centrifuges installed
My Way News reports: "Iran said Wednesday that it has begun installing a new generation of centrifuges at its main uranium enrichment facility, a move that will allow it to vastly increase its pace of uranium enrichment in defiance of U.N. calls to halt such activities [...] The announcement [...] could affect negotiations planned later this month between Iran and six world powers."

Comment: No, it won't affect negotiations, the Western powers will still meet at the negotiating table no matter what Iran does, they have convinced themselves that Iran will bow to diplomacy. 

My Way News - Syrian rebels close in on Aleppo airport
My Way News reports: "Syrian rebels knocked down army defenses and moved in on the country's second largest airport Wednesday, reportedly killing more than 40 soldiers and bringing them closer to what could be their biggest conquest since the beginning of the civil war. Control of Aleppo international airport and a military air base next to it would be a huge strategic shift for Syria's northeastern region, giving the opposition a potential air hub enabling aid and other flights."

CBS News - Earth in no danger from asteroid flyby this week
CBS News reports: "An asteroid a half a football field across traveling at a blistering 4.8 miles per second is expected to pass within just 17,200 miles of Earth on Feb. 15, a record close encounter that will carry it well inside the orbits of communications satellites. But scientists say a detailed analysis of its trajectory shows there is no chance asteroid 2012 DA14 will hit the Earth and very little chance of a collision with any satellites in geosynchronous orbits 22,300 miles above the equator."

Comment: In the email to the listserv I mistakenly noted Wednesday as the day of the close encounter, rather than Friday. Apologies. 

My Way News - NKorea brandishing nukes to get US to talk peace
My Way News reports: "The way North Korea sees it, only bigger weapons and more threatening provocations will force Washington to come to the table to discuss what Pyongyang says it really wants: peace. It's no coincidence that North Korea's third underground nuclear test - and by all indications so far its most powerful yet - took place Tuesday on the eve of President Barack Obama's State of the Union address."

NBC News - Sun unleashes solar eruption at Earth during long flare
NBC News reports: "A long-lasting solar flare erupted from the sun early Saturday, triggering an intense sun eruption aimed squarely at Earth. The solar storm, however, should not endanger satellites or astronauts in space, but could amplify auroras on Earth, NASA says [...] The sun is currently in an active period of its 11-year solar weather cycle, and is expected to reach its peak this year."

My Way News - SKorea believes NKorea conducted third atomic test
My Way News reports: "North Korea is believed to have conducted a widely anticipated nuclear test Tuesday, following an earthquake that monitoring agencies around the globe said appeared to be unnatural. The South Korean Defense Ministry, which raised its military alert level after the quake, said it was trying to determine whether it was a test."

My Way News - Pope's bombshell sends troubled church scrambling
My Way News reports: "The timing of Benedict's announcement was significant: Lent begins this week on Ash Wednesday, the most solemn period on the church's calendar that culminates with Holy Week and Easter on March 31. It is also the period in which the world witnessed the final days of John Paul's papacy in 2005. [...] And by Easter Sunday, the Catholic Church will almost certainly have a new leader, Lombardi said - a potent symbol of rebirth in the church on a day that celebrates the resurrection of Christ."

MyWayNews - Pope to resign Feb. 28, says he's too infirm
MyWayNews reports: "Pope Benedict XVI said Monday he lacks the strength to fulfill his duties and on Feb. 28 will become the first pontiff in 600 years to resign. The announcement sets the stage for a conclave in March to elect a new leader for world's 1 billion Catholics."

Comment
Prophecies of Saint Malachy about to be put to test...according to his writings, the next pope will also be the last - Petrus Romanus.

My Way News - EU leaders inch toward budget deal at tough summit
My Way News reports: "European Union leaders closed in on a deal that would cut the bloc's budget for the first time in history and deliver a strong message that years of expanding EU powers were on the wane. If a deal emerges Friday, the budget would still need to be ratified by the European Parliament, and early signs suggest that may prove problematic [...] The hard-fought summit in Brussels is, at base, a tussle about what the 27-nation European Union stands for: some leaders argue that it's a drag on national budgets in tough economic times, while others say the economic crisis highlights the need for closer and deeper ties."

My Way News - Tunisia buries politician as crisis deepens
My Way News reports: "The funeral of an assassinated leftist politician drew hundreds of thousands of mourners chanting anti-government slogans to the Tunisian capital Friday - as well as gangs of armed youths who smashed cars and clashed with police just outside the cemetery."

My Way News - Iran's Ahmadenijad entices Egypt into alliance
My Way News reports: "A warming of ties between the two regional heavyweights could have uncomfortable repercussions for the U.S. and its wealthy Gulf allies, giving Iran a foothold to spread its influence in Egypt. In turn, Egypt could gain an avenue to influence the fate of Syria, a key ally of Iran, as well as economic benefits. The Iranian president arrived in Egypt on Tuesday to attend a two-day Islamic summit hosted by Egypt's president, Islamist Mohammed Morsi."

My Way News - 150-foot asteroid will buzz Earth, no need to duck
My Way News reports: "A 150-foot-wide asteroid will come remarkably close to Earth next week, even closer than high-flying communication and weather satellites. It will be the nearest known flyby for an object of this size. But don't worry. Scientists promise the megarock will be at least 17,100 miles away when it zips past next Friday."

My Way News - Tough times for Hezbollah in fast changing region
My Way News reports: "These are tough times for Hezbollah. The Shiite militant group's uncompromising support for Syrian President Bashar Assad and allegations that it attacked Israeli tourists in Bulgaria are both unpopular in Lebanon, where it is increasingly accused of putting the interests of longtime patrons Iran and Syria over those of its home country."

My Way News - Germany warns of 'consequences' for Hezbollah
My Way News reports: "Germany warned Wednesday of 'consequences' for Hezbollah if allegations are confirmed that the group was behind an attack which killed five Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last year. [....] The announcement put pressure on European countries such as France and Germany, which haven't designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization despite the urgings of Israel and the U.S."

My Way News - US tightens Iran sanctions, targets censorship
My Way News reports: "The United States is tightening sanctions on Iran to pressure Tehran government to limit its nuclear program and placing similar restrictions on institutions that Washington says are stifling political dissent and censoring speech."

My Way News - US to cut carrier fleet in Persian Gulf to 1
My Way News reports: "The Pentagon is cutting its aircraft carrier presence in the Persian Gulf region from two carriers to one, the Defense Department said Wednesday, in a move that represents one of the most significant effects of budget cuts on the U.S. military presence overseas. The decision comes as Washington struggles to find a way to avoid sharp automatic spending cuts set to strike the Pentagon and domestic programs next month."

Reuters - Tsunami threat lifted after big South Pacific quake
Reuters reports: "A powerful 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck near the Solomon Islands on Wednesday, triggering a small tsunami that swept into isolated island communities and sparked tsunami alerts across the South Pacific that were later canceled."

My Way News - Iran says nuclear talks with West on for Feb. 26
My Way News reports: "Iran has agreed to hold talks with six world powers in Kazakhstan on Feb. 26 over its nuclear program, Iranian state TV said Tuesday. The TV says the timing of the talks was confirmed following a phone conversation Tuesday between the offices of Saeed Jalili, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, and EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton. [...] The West demands Tehran stop enriching uranium to 20 percent, which is close to the level used to arm nuclear warheads."

My Way News - Suicide bomber kills guard at US Embassy in Turkey
My Way News reports: "In the second deadly assault on a U.S. diplomatic post in five months, a suicide bomber struck the American Embassy in Ankara on Friday, killing a Turkish security guard in what the White House described as a terrorist attack. Washington immediately warned Americans to stay away from all U.S. diplomatic facilities in Turkey and to be wary in large crowds. Turkish officials said the bombing was linked to leftist domestic militants."