Daily Headlines

There are a lot of interesting stories "out there" today:

Anti-Christian Violence Continues in Pakistan

Anti-Christian violence continues in Pakistan and police are not pursuing the perpetrators, according to news reports. May 26 article in AsiaNews.it described the gang-rape of a Christian woman and the desecration of Christian tombs in the Pakistani city of Faisalabad. The publication called it “ordinary violence visited upon Pakistan’s Christian minority.”

Bibi: UN Statehood for PA is Like Declaring the World is Flat

If the United Nations in September declares the Palestinian Authority to be a state, it might as well decide the world is flat, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee Monday.

He said Israel cannot stop the resolution from going forward and has few friends n the international body, but a veto from any member of the United Nations Security Council would block the proposal from reaching the General Assembly, whose anti-Israel majority likely would approve it.

The only problem is, the fact that the U.S. is most likely the only nation who would oppose. What happens if the U.S. decides to vote for an independent "PA State"?

Gantz: Army gearing up for mass riots

IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz addressed the various threats Israel faces amid unrest in the Middle East on Tuesday.

Speaking at the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Gantz said that while past threats were still relevant, new ones challenge to the IDF in handling numerous fronts under a tight timetable.

There's a new player in the Middle East - the street," he noted. "The IDF has drawn lessons from the Nakba Day events and knows it may find itself facing large-scale popular protests in the coming months.

Hamas-Gaza missile stock passes 10,000 - and going up

According to updates reaching DEBKAfile's military sources, the number of missiles Hamas has managed to stockpile in Gaza passed the 10,000 mark in early May – despite Israel's partial blockade of the Gaza Strip. It is growing at the rate of some 30 new projectiles of many types smuggled in every two weeks.

On April 9, the Palestinian fundamentalists shot 133 rockets at seven Israeli cities before Israel granted a ceasefire in lieu of an operation for smashing this arsenal.
Firing at the rate of 150 missiles a day, Hamas is currently capable of keeping southern Israel under constant attack for 66 days running.

Eurozone crisis risks 'systemic' fallout, says Draghi

The debt crisis in Greece, Ireland and Portugal could have "significant systemic effects" in the eurozone, Italy's central bank chief Mario Draghi, who is set to head up the European Central Bank, said on Tuesday.

"In the eurozone, the sovereign debt crisis in three countries, which together represent six percent of the area's GDP, has the potential to exert significant systemic effects," Draghi said at a central bank conference.

"European economic and monetary union is facing its most difficult test since it was created," added Draghi, referring to Greece, Ireland and Portugal which have agreed bailout packages worth tens of billions of euros (dollars).

Mobius: 'Another financial crisis around the corner'

Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Asset Management’s emerging markets group, said another financial crisis is inevitable because the causes of the previous one haven’t been resolved.

“There is definitely going to be another financial crisis around the corner because we haven’t solved any of the things that caused the previous crisis,” Mobius said at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo today in response to a question about price swings.

Largest E. Coli Outbreak Spreading in Europe

The largest outbreak of E. coli in the world has killed 14 people in Germany. Another 300 are seriously ill, and according to scientists who spoke with the Reuters news service, the epidemic is spreading.

The deadly bacteria was originally found on a shipment of fresh cucumbers imported into Germany from Spain, although its source is still unknown.

According to the German scientists, the pathogen has been identified as hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious complication resulting from a type of E. coli called Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC).

As of Monday, the University Medical Centre Schleswig-Holstein in north Germany had reported 82 cases of HUS and 115 confirmed cases of E. coli, with the number having doubled within the past few days. The city of Hamburg reported 488 cases of E. coli since the outbreak began two weeks ago, and 94 cases of HUS.