Syrian rebel fighters say they have taken a military base in the town of Mayadeen, leaving a swathe of eastern Syria under opposition control.
Opposition sources say they control a key oil-producing area between the city of Deir Ezzor and the Iraq border.
The rebels have made advances in the north and east but have yet to take a major city from government forces.
Activists say 40,000 people have been killed since protests against Bashar al-Assad's rule began in March 2011.
The director of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP news agency on Thursday that at least 28, 026 civilians, 1,379 defectors, 10,150 soldiers and 574 unidentified people have been killed in Syria in the past 20 months.
The UN estimates that at least 20,000 have died.
The Observatory is one of the most prominent organisations documenting and reporting incidents and casualties in the Syrian conflict. The group says its reports are impartial, though its information cannot be independently verified.Rebel gains
On Wednesday, Syrian warplanes bombed the suburbs of Damascus and rebel-held areas of the north.
Reports said people had been fleeing areas under attack in the south and east of the capital.
In the north, opposition groups and eyewitnesses in the embattled city of Aleppo said a key hospital there had been flattened by Syrian government airstrikes.
At least 15 people are reported to have died in the attack on the Dar al-Shifa hospital, which was run by volunteers.
On Thursday morning, opposition groups said the Mayadeen military base had fallen under its control at 08:30 local time (06:30 GMT) after a 22-day siege.
Rebel fighters said that 44 of their number had died in the battle.
Syrian army casualty figures are as yet unknown, and the government has not commented on the loss of the base.
If the reports are confirmed, the rebels will now be in control of a large area of the Euphrates valley, from the Iraqi border to the provincial capital of Deir Ezzor.
The base is approximately 42km (26 miles) south-east of the city and was an important stronghold for the Syrian government, the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says.
The attack on Mayadeen follows the capture of a military airport near the Iraqi border last week.
Analysts say a series of gains by rebels in the east and north shows their growing military strength, but the Syrian army still possesses vastly superior aerial firepower and has struck back with force.
Rebel fighters have found themselves unable to make any real progress in major cities like Aleppo and Damascus under bombardment from government warplanes.
BBC
BRUSSELS - EU and US statements after one week of Gaza hostilities have underlined the new status of the Muslim Brotherhood in the region.
British foreign minister William Hague and French President Francois Hollande - speaking for the two former colonial powers in the Middle East - joined the US on Wednesday (21 November) in singling out Egypt's role in ending the fighting.
"I urge all sides to uphold their commitments and pay tribute to President Morsi and the Egyptian government for their intensive efforts and the leadership they have shown," Hague said, referring to Egypt's recently-installed leader Mohamed Morsi, a prominent figure in the brotherhood movement.
Speaking for the EU as a whole, foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton noted: "I commend in particular the efforts of Egypt and all those who engaged in mediating between the parties to secure this ceasefire."
For her part, US secretary of state Hilary Clinton, told press alongside Morsi's foreign minister in Cairo the same day: "I want to thank President Morsi for his personal leadership to de-escalate the situation in Gaza and end the violence. This is a critical moment for the region."
The ceasefire agreement, which was brokered by Hamas and Israeli delegates in Cairo over the past few days, includes an Israeli pledge to lift its seven-year-long blockade on the Gaza strip.
"Opening the crossings and facilitating the movements of people and transfer of goods and refraining from restricting residents' free movements and targeting residents in border areas and procedures of implementation shall be dealt with after 24 hours from the start of the ceasefire," the text says.
The deal, if implemented, would mark a victory for the militant Palestinian group.
Both sides on Wednesday said the fighting - which claimed 160 Palestinian and five Israeli lives - did them good.
Hamas said Israel backed down despite the fact its rockets hit the outskirts of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Israeli military sources said they got away with pounding their old adversary despite the new Islamist government in Egypt.
Commentators also noted that the crisis made Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas look like a marginal player just one week before he aims to call a UN vote on upgrading Palestine's international status.
But the real winner could be the Muslim Brotherhood itself.
A broad Arab movement with roots in Yemen and important offshoots in Algeria, Egypt, the Gulf states, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Syria and Tunisia, it was for decades kept down by Israeli and US intelligence and by pro-Western dictators as a threat to stability.
It kept a low profile, but built street-level backing in part by providing welfare support, before bursting out on the political scene in post-Arab-Spring elections.
On Monday, US President Barack Obama spent almost one hour on the phone with Morsi during the middle of the night on a trip to Asia in a bid to broker the Gaza truce.
"The thing that appealed to the president was how practical the conversations were - here's the state of play, here are the issues we're concerned about ... This was somebody focused on solving problems," a White House official told the Washington Post.
"The way we've been able to work with Morsi ... indicates we could be a partner on a broader set of issues going forward," another US official said.
"May God keep him in the presidency," Khaled Meshal, the leader of Hamas, which has no direct contacts with EU or US officials because both parties designate it as a terrorist entity, noted.
EUobserver
Marc Faber : "There will be pain and there will be very substantial pain. The question is do we take less pain now through austerity or risk a complete collapse of society in five to 10 years’ time?"
"In the Western world, including Japan, the problem we have is one of too much debt and that debt now will have to be somewhere, somehow repaid or it will slow down economic growth,” stated Faber. “I think we lived beyond our means from 1980 to 2007, and now it’s payback period.” - in CNBC
November 16th, 2012This week on 'The Hal Lindsey Report'As early as the mid-19th century, French philosopher and historian Alexis de Tocqueville warned that democracies will collapse once the majority realizes it can elect leaders who will give them free things. He said that all democracies die on the rocks of loose fiscal policies.
He also warned that the world's great civilizations only last about two centuries.
Well, we're working on our third century and the American electorate just got its first taste of the free goodies.
Some will argue that America has crossed the Rubicon; that the "gimme" generation has reached critical mass; that from this point on a majority of Americans will vote for a President based on what he will give them, not on how wisely he will lead the nation.
And the majority will vote this way because they are ensnared in the "entitlement trap." And not by accident, unfortunately.
What else could explain the re-election of a leader who failed miserably to accomplish anything he promised in his first campaign? Yet repeatedly and clearly guaranteed that, if re-elected, he would double-down on his failures.
Wait a minute. I stand corrected. He did come through on one promise: ObamaCare. And it may help bankrupt America -- which is not what he promised, but almost surely intended. (See the Cloward-Piven plan I described on "The Hal Lindsey Report" of July 9, 2010.)
Atlas Shrugged is a monumental novel written in the 1950's by Ayn Rand, an atheist and philosopher-type. Ms. Rand believed that Reason is god and that man is his own greatest achievement. She was also an unabashed capitalist.
Atlas Shrugged imagines a dark, depressing American future where government intervention into the economy causes further economic downturn that extends and deepens the existing depression. In looking for someone to blame for the nation's ills, the American leaders begin to blame the rich. They harass them for their ideas, initiative, profits, and wealth. Not to spoil the ending (although this is one of America's most famous novels so you probably already know the ending), but the "men of the mind" go on a silent strike by shutting down the "motor of the world", that is, their own inventiveness and industry.
In her epic work, Ms. Rand frames the confrontation as the "moochers and looters" versus the "inventors, workers, and the rich." When the creators of work and wealth finally get fed up with having their efforts burdened with regulation and their rewards confiscated and redistributed, they check out. Eventually their loss starves the government of its financial 'resources' and, literally, Manhattan goes dark.
Sound familiar?
Interestingly, Ms. Rand wrote the book in the '50's and one of the pivotal years in her futuristic scenario is 2016.
As we used to say, that kind of gives cause for pause. But I'm not sure we're going to make it to 2016. At least not on the path we're following now. One thing I can guarantee, though, is that the America of 2016 will be a far cry from the America of 2012. And not for the better, I fear.
What we've recently witnessed in our nation calls to mind two poignant scriptures. One from the Apostle Paul and the other from God Himself delivered through the Apostle John.
Paul famously described these days in his second letter to Timothy. He says in part, "There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive... ungrateful, unholy... without self-control... treacherous... conceited... lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God...." I won't go on, but, believe me, it's a letter-perfect description of present day America. You can read it for yourself at 2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NIV).
The second passage is found in the Apostle John's Book of the Revelation. In it, God says to the church at Laodicea (which depicts the dominant characteristics of the Church just before the Rapture), "I know your deeds, that you're neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm -- neither hot nor cold -- I am about to spit you out of my mouth." I won't finish the passage, but you can find it at Revelation 3:15-18 (NIV).
I think God's condemnation of Laodicea aptly fits many in today's Church. How else can we explain how 21% of American evangelical Christians justified voting to re-elect President Obama, the first American president to openly support abortion, same-sex marriage, the forcing of religious institutions to violate their moral and spiritual codes, and who displays open hostility toward Israel.
I can understand a Christian voting for Mister Obama the first time. After all, he cleverly disguised his true beliefs on these issues. But I think the fact that 6.5 million born-again Christians voted for those values -- after the President revealed his true convictions during his first term -- tells us we are nearing the end of the prophetic timeline. Just as Paul and John described.
I truly believe Americans are in for some rough days ahead. But all is not dark. As I said last week, God is still in control and everything is unfolding just as the Bible prophets predicted. Rough times are coming, but they're bringing with them unprecedented opportunities. Opportunities to see, up close, the hand of God at work. Opportunities to let Christ shine through your life and testimony. Opportunities to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with those who are discouraged, dismayed, and disappointed with how things are turning out.
Should Jesus delay His coming, the next few months and years will be the true Church's greatest opportunity to reap a bountiful harvest of souls for God's Kingdom. Let's be ready for the moment and share the truth about Jesus Christ in boldness and joy. Take the scripture at face value. Speak the name of Jesus and speak the Word of God to others. It is "living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword...." It unleashes the power of the Holy Spirit to work in any situation, no matter how big or small.
By boldly sharing the claims of Christ and speaking the Word of God into someone's life, you're putting the ball in the Holy Spirit's hands -- and the Bible promises that He's quite capable of taking it from there.
If we "crack the faith barrier" and trust God's Word, I think the dark days ahead may well be the brightest yet.
Please have a wonderful Thanksgiving. In spite of all that is happening in America, it is still the most blessed nation on earth. God bestowed upon all of us who are fortunate enough to live here a truly magnificent favor. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for this wonderful land and all of Your blessings. May gratitude reign in our hearts.
Hal Lindsey
Not happy with building mysterious gigantic structures in the desert, the Chinese are now building inter-dimensional portals in the middle of their cities. I mean, come on, what the hell is this 157m high metal structure in the the city of Fushun, in northeast China’s Liaoning province?
It’s made of an astounding 3000 tons of steel and it will glow at night — decorated with 12,000 LED lights. According to Fushun Municipal Government’s officials, this titanic structure does absolutely nothing except serve as an elevated sighting position. They claim it is pretty “landscape architecture” — like the Eiffel Tower. It uses four elevators to take people to the top.
The Chinese media has been harsh about the building after a blogger posted these photos on Sina Weibo, which is the country’s “largest microblog platform”. Not surprising, since this thing costs $US16 million.
According to Fushun’s Urban Construction Bureau, the “Ring of Life” means “a round sky and a path leading to a paradise in heaven.”
I believe it. And so does the internet. Check out the photoshops at the end of this post.
Gizmodo Australia
