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A spokesman for the Taliban has told the BBC's Yalda Hakim "there will be no revenge" on the people of Afghanistan. Suhail Shaheen called the presenter live on air. "We assure the people in Afghanistan, particularly in the city of Kabul, that their properties, their lives are safe - there will be no revenge on anyone," he told her. "We are the servants of the people and of this country." Many Afghans fear a brutal return to the regime of the 1990s, which was characterised by public executions, stonings and girls being banned from school.

I believe in healing. I believe in affliction. I believe in “healing afflictions.” Any affliction that keeps me from going astray, that drives me deeper into God’s Word, is healing. As Psalm 119:67 says, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word” (NKJV). God’s most gracious healing force spiritually and physically can be afflictions. To suggest that all pain and affliction are of the devil is to suggest that the Psalmist was driven by the devil to seek God’s Word. In my own life, I have suffered great pain. I have called on God for...

“‘The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!’” (Matthew 6:22-23). Generous giving brings spiritual understanding. When people see, their body is filled with the light that comes in from the world their eyes perceive. But if their eye is dark (blind), there is no light and they perceive nothing. The eye is like a window—if a window...

@PentagonPresSec John Kibry: “Kabul is not, right now, in an imminent threat environment.” https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1426932062183903237

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Luke 1:39-56 Friends, today’s Gospel tells of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. I’ve always been fascinated by Mary’s “haste” in this story of the Visitation. Upon hearing the message of Gabriel concerning her own pregnancy and that of her cousin, Mary “proceeded in haste into the hill country of Judah” to see Elizabeth. Why did she go with such speed and purpose? Because she had found her mission, her role in the theo-drama. We are dominated today by the ego-drama in all of its ramifications and implications. The ego-drama is the play...

Ministers are being pressed to reveal what contingency plans are in place to deal with a future Covid variant that evades current vaccines, amid warnings from scientific advisers that such an outcome could set the battle against the pandemic back a year or more. Recent papers produced by the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) have suggested that the arrival of a variant that evades vaccines is a “realistic possibility”. Sage backed continued work on new vaccines that reduce infection and transmission more than current jabs, the creation of more vaccine-production facilities in the UK and lab-based studies to...

Nobody knew until last month that ­Joseph Chung-Hsin Tsai — better known as Joe Tsai — was the “mystery buyer” who dropped $157 million this spring on two massive condos at 220 Central Park South, the most expensive apartment building in the country. So far, keeping a relatively low profile and understanding international office politics has worked out well for Tsai, said to be worth at least $12 billion. The 57-year-old is the co-founder of Alibaba (China’s version of Amazon), the owner of the Brooklyn Nets and a friend of the Chinese Communist Party. The same can’t be said for...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. embassy staff in Kabul were leaving the compound and moving to the airport, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday, as Taliban insurgents entered the Afghan capital and officials said President Ashraf Ghani had left the country. There were reports of sporadic gunfire around the city, but there was no significant fighting and the Taliban said they were waiting for the Western-backed government to surrender peacefully. U.S. diplomats were being ferried by helicopter to the airport, where U.S. troops were providing security amid an exodus of Americans and their local allies and other foreigners. Sources told...

Similar to the the 7.2 Magnitude Earthquake that rocked Haiti, the Taliban is a force of nature causing tectonic shifts under a crumbling Biden Administration lead by the nose by an incompetent Defense Department that has mismanaged the effort in Afghanistan from day one. Regardless of Biden's half baked prediction. In just nine days the Taliban took control of more than half of Afghanistan’s provinces. And as he has done when it comes to the border, the economy, and covid. Biden blamed the Trump Administration. While Trump responded to the mischaracterization. As Biden's globalist mouthpiece Jen Psaki revealed just how...

Good luck if you’d like to know how many people infected with COVID-19 are coming into South Florida seaports aboard cruise ships. Cruise lines and government agencies are not making that data publicly available as the cruise industry resumes operations from U.S.-based ports. Critics who want to see more transparency say cruise consumers and community members deserve to know how successful cruise lines are at preventing spread of the virus. Twenty-seven ships that currently operate or will be operating in U.S. waters have reported COVID-19 infections to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since cruising resumed this summer, according...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — There are plenty of places to turn for accurate information about COVID-19. Your physician. Local health departments. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control. But not, perhaps, your local government’s public comment session. During a meeting of the St. Louis County Council earlier this month, opponents of a possible mask mandate made so many misleading comments about masks, vaccines and COVID-19 that YouTube removed the video for violating its policies against false claims about the virus. “I hope no one is making any medical decisions based on what they hear at our public forums,” said County...

ISTANBUL (AP) — As the Taliban mass at the gates of Kabul, they are promising a new era of peace in Afghanistan, with amnesty for those they have been battling for two decades and a return to normal life. But Afghans who remember the Taliban’s brutal rule and those who have lived in areas controlled by the Islamic militants in recent years have watched with growing fear as the insurgents have overrun most of the country while international forces withdraw. Government offices, shops and schools are still shuttered in areas recently captured by the Taliban, with many residents either lying...

Just took down the flag at U.S. embassy

Just five days ago, Joe Biden told the media “I do not regret my decision” to summarily withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan with no plan in place to stabilize the country’s government.That government is collapsing. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has reportedly fled the country as the Taliban moves into Kabul and awaits a “transfer of power.”Another word for “transfer” is “surrender.” The Taliban has the momentum and will wait — but likely not for long — before resuming its military campaign to destroy the Afghan government. One question now is whether the United States will be able to remove its...

Google whistleblower Zach Vorhis says Google altered its news algorithm to directly target former President Donald Trump. Vorhis was a senior software engineer at YouTube and Google. He left after discovering the companies censored conservatives. Vorhis’ new book, Google Leaks: A Whistleblower’s Exposé of Big Tech Censorship, took a deep dive into Big Tech’s censorship of right-of-center conservatives: The madness of Big Tech and their attempt to mold our reality into a version compatible with their globalist view of the world has never been portrayed better than in this chilling account by Google whistleblower, Zach Vorhies. As a senior engineer...

Taliban militants have been ordered to enter Kabul, following earlier assurances by Taliban officials that they do not intend to take Afghanistan's capital by force According to a statement, the Taliban ordered its fighters to enter the city because "now there are reports that districts in Kabul have been evacuated, police have left their job of providing security, ministries have been evacuated, and security personnel from the Kabul administration have fled." "So that God forbid the common thieves and robbers in Kabul do not mix, the abusers do not harm the people, the Islamic Emirate ordered its forces to enter...

Trudeau announced the election would be held on Sept. 20 after visiting the governor general, who holds a mostly ceremonial position representing Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. “We’ve had your back, and now it’s time to hear your voice,” Trudeau said. “Canadians need to choose how we finish the fight against COVID-19." Trudeau is seeking to win a majority of seats in Parliament. His Liberal Party fell just short of that two years ago and must rely on the opposition to pass legislation. The election comes as Canada is experiencing a new wave of COVID-19 cases, apparenly...

Beginning Oct. 4, Live Nation’s fully owned and operated venues and festivals will be requiring all artists and fans to either show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID test, where permitted by law. In addition, all Live Nation employees will also need to be fully vaccinated in order to work at or visit one of its events, venues, or offices.

While homelessness plagues the city of Seattle, one Christian group that looks to help those in need is fighting for the ability to hire those who share its faith and message. Seattle's Union Gospel Homeless Mission declined to hire an applicant for a staff attorney position who was bisexual and in a relationship with a man – going against the mission's religious lifestyle requirements. It is now turning to the U.S. Supreme Court after the Washington Supreme Court ruled that it violated Washington’s Law Against Discrimination (WLAD), claiming the mission is protected by the law's religious exemption. "Even though Washington’s...

If dependence on China increases, we will have to bow before it, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat said on Sunday. Speaking after hoisting the national flag at a Mumbai school on the 75th Independence Day, the RSS chief also said "swadeshi" means doing business on India’s terms. “We use the internet and technology a lot. Our country does not have the original technology. It comes from outside,” Bhagwat said. “No matter how much we shout as a society about China and boycott Chinese items, but from where does everything that is in your mobiles come from? If the...