Headlines for the Day:

There are so many pertinent stories today, it is hard to go beyond the headlines alone:

Taliban kills Pakistani Christian minister

The assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti, the only Christian in Pakistan's cabinet, is the latest sign of the deep political instability in the nuclear-armed US ally. Frequent militant attacks and chronic economic problems have raised fears for the country's future. Bhatti was shot in broad daylight while travelling in a car near a market in the capital, Islamabad, police said.

World and media cannot blame Israel now

Iran Adopts Bill Clinton's 'New Middle East' Phrase

When Bill Clinton was president, he envisioned a ‘New Middle East” based on the failed Oslo Accords, which blew up in 2000 with the Second Intifada, also known as the Oslo War. Iran now says a new Middle East indeed is on the way, but one with the Islamic Republic as its axis.

“Iran nourishes Hizbullah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza with terrorism and weapons, and it is creating visible and hidden terrorist cells in other countries, in the Middle East and even Latin America.”

Having so far survived international sanctions, Iran continues to deepen its ties with Syria with the aim of extending its influence in the entire Muslim world.

Moscow arms against nuclear attack

Nearly 5,000 new emergency bomb shelters will be built in Moscow by 2012 to save people in case of potential attacks

US Targets Iranian Nuclear Threat

The US is sending a special radar-equipped warship to the Mediterranean Sea next week, in the first step to develop a broad anti-ballistic missile system to protect Europe against a potential Iranian nuclear threat, the Pentagon said.

The goal is to protect Nato nations against medium-range missile attacks, with the focus being the growing nuclear threat from Iran.

Ahmadinejad Stresses Iran, China's Role in Establishing New World Order

"The order and the system dominating the world at present is worn-out and rotten and its unfair nature has been unveiled to all," he said, adding, "Under the present conditions, the world needs a humane and fair new order and Iran and China can have fruitful cooperation in the interest of humanity to define and establish this order."

'Our Christianity is our lifestyle - we can't take it on and off'

Eunice lives according to the instruction she finds in the Bible – and one of those instructions is that sex should be confined to marriage. For that reason, she and her equally beaming, gentle husband, Owen, have not been allowed to foster children.

Yesterday, two High Court judges upheld the decision of Derby City Council not to approve the Johns family as carers. There were no objections to them saying grace before meals or taking foster children to church on Sunday. The sticking point was their answer to the question: “Would you tell a child it was OK to be homosexual?” The Johns replied that they would not. They would love a child regardless, but not endorse that lifestyle.

Iran to build permanent naval base in Syria

Just two days after two Iranian warships reached the Syrian port of Latakia via the Suez Canal, Friday, Feb. 25, an Iranian-Syrian naval cooperation accord was signed providing for Iran to build its first Mediterranean naval base at the Syrian port, DEBKAfile's military and Iranian sources reveal.

The base will include a large Iranian Revolutionary Guards weapons depot stocked with hardware chosen by the IRGC subject to prior notification to Damascus. Latakia harbor will be deepened, widened and provided with new "coastal installations" to accommodate the large warships and submarines destined to use these facilities.

Iran has much to celebrate, DEBKAfile's military sources report. It has acquired its first military foothold on a Mediterranean shore and its first permanent military presence on Syrian soil. Tehran will be setting in place the logistical infrastructure for accommodating incoming Iranian troops to fight in a potential Middle East war.

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