The violence in Sweida province, a stronghold of the Druze minority sect, followed the killing of a prominent cleric in rare explosions Friday that claimed the lives of at least 25 others, activists and pro-government media said. Rioters holding the government responsible for the cleric's death destroyed the statue of late Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad and besieged security offices, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other activist groups said.

In Washington, the State Department issued a statement after US Secretary of State John Kerry called Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to express concern over unconfirmed reports "suggesting an imminent enhanced Russian military build-up" in Syria. Russia has been a stalwart ally of Assad throughout Syria's civil war and has provided diplomatic support and weaponry to help the Syrian leader maintain his grip on power. Moscow also maintains a small naval facility at the Syrian port of Tartous on the Mediterranean Sea.

For his three-day visit to Cuba, beginning on September 19, Francis can expect a warm reception from the Castro regime following recognition of the key role he played in Havana's reconciliation with the United States this year. But anticipation ahead of the US leg of the trip, which will kick off in Washington on September 22, has already sparked conflicting reactions - as well as a boom in Francis-themed souvenirs and trinkets.

The welcome from some American politicians is expected to be chilly. The 78-year-old's decision to visit Havana before Washington has not gone down well, particularly as Congress has yet to lift the embargo against Cuba. His environmental encyclical and recent impassioned speeches in Latin America against the free market system, blind capitalism and rabid exploitation by multinationals of natural resources, have seen him accused of Marxism.

Asked in July how it felt to have been termed by one American television presenter "the most dangerous man on the planet", Francis merely replied that "every criticism must be received, studied, and then dialogue must ensue". His speech to Congress will be a historic moment, and the outspoken pope will likely make no bones about the superpower's responsibilities in leading the way on tackling pollution and embracing renewable energy.

The fifth visit by a pope to the UN, dubbed the "Glass Palace", will see the Argentine hold forth on the social and ecological themes most dear to him, particularly ills such as the "culture of waste" and "globalisation of indifference". Francis is expected to urge member states to make concrete commitments at the Paris climate change summit in December. He is also likely to call for renewed efforts towards securing peace in the Middle East and greater dialogue with Islam, as well as insisting on the need to defend persecuted Christians around the world.

The word license is derived from the Latin word Licentious, which means lacking restraint, ignoring societal standards, disregard for accepted rules. According to Black's Law Dictionary, the word license is defined as - "the permission by competent authority to do an act which without such permission, would be illegal."

Now in other words, this means the government makes something that was lawful to do, illegal, so they can then tell you that if you pay the government money (which is a bribe), then they will turn their backs and give you a permit that allows you to break the law that they just said was illegal to do!

So the question that people need to ask themselves is why would it be illegal to marry without the State's permission? This question is rarely brought up or addressed because people have grown so accustomed to following the laws and statutes and commandments of man, rather than those of the Most High.

"Trident Juncture" will exercise a military intervention in a fictitious country at the Horn of Africa with NATO's "Spearhead" response force, comprised mainly of Bundeswehr soldiers. According to the training scenario, not only will western troops be confronting a regular army and guerilla fighters, but will also encounter "food insecurity," "massive population displacements," "cyber-attacks," "chemical warfare," and "information warfare."

According to Lieutenant General Richard Rossmanith, commander of the "Multinational Joint Headquarters Ulm," "Operation Trident Juncture" will not only send a "message" to Russia: "Everyone should consider carefully about how they deal with us" - because NATO is "the strongest military alliance in the world" with a "360 degree" orientation.

NATO is obviously seeking to use the "Trident Juncture" exercise to prepare itself for a permanent state of global war. As one of its spokespersons recently declared, the challenge is to assure that, as an alliance, it is clear that "we're never fighting the last war, whether the last war was ten years ago or ten minutes ago." In this context, the German NATO General Hans-Lothar Domröse, who will command the "Trident Juncture" exercise, said "speed matters - you will see it in the air, at sea, and on land."

The harmful powder is made from ground seeds of a South American plant which is related to the deadly nightshade. South American tribes have been known to use it to drug the wives of dead chiefs so they can be buried alive. The plant has been used in a number of crimes across South America, but police have now seen a startling number of cases across Europe where victims, once drugged, are easily persuaded to hand over their valuables. An elderly woman in Paris was one of at least 20 people targeted in recent days in the capital.

French police sources described victims as falling into a "hypnotic state under the total sway of their handlers" after the powder is blown in their direction. A police source added: "They got the victims to take them to their home, where they asked them to put all their jewellery and money into a bag and hand it over to them."

Author Robert Spencer wrote September 4 in Front Page Magazine, “This is no longer just a ‘refugee crisis.’ This is a hijrah.” Hijrah is the Islamic doctrine of migration, which is a form of stealth jihad. “To emigrate in the cause of Allah – that is, to move to a new land in order to bring Islam there, is considered in Islam to be a highly meritorious act,” Spencer wrote.

He cited the following Quranic text: “And whoever emigrates for the cause of Allah will find on the earth many locations and abundance,” says the Quran. “And whoever leaves his home as an emigrant to Allah and His Messenger and then death overtakes him, his reward has already become incumbent upon Allah. And Allah is ever Forgiving and Merciful” (Quran 4:100).

And now, looking at Europe and America, a migration invasion of a much greater magnitude is underway. Evidence of that invasion came in February when an ISIS operative confirmed what many already suspected – the Islamic State is using the refugee crisis to form a fifth column of Muslim fighters inside Western nations.

The president has been twisting arms and Secretary of State John Kerry reassuring lawmakers that the deal between Iran and the P5 +1 - members of the UN Security Council plus Germany - will ensure international inspections and bar Iran from ever developing nuclear weapons. This week, Senator Barbara Mikulski, Democrat for Maryland, became the 34th member of the Senate to back the controversial and unpopular deal, meaning that if it is defeated in a vote as expected, Obama will have enough support to sustain his certain veto.

But Iran's military brass has answered the US nose-counting by thumbing their nose at America. “Iran does not plan to issue permission for the [International Atomic Energy Agency] to inspect every site," Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan told Al Mayadeen News Wednesday. "US officials make boastful remarks and imagine that they can impose anything on the Iranian nation because they lack a proper knowledge of the Iranian nation.”

Iran’s official FARS news agency added that “Dehqan had earlier underlined that Tehran would not allow any foreigner to discover Iran's defensive and missile capabilities by inspecting the country's military sites.” On the same day, a top Iranian general told troops preparing for a massive military drill involving up to 250,000 men that “the US and the Zionists should know that the Islamic Revolution will continue enhancing its preparedness until it overthrows Israel and liberates Palestine.”

“We are not against a deal,” a spokesman for Israel’s foreign ministry told FoxNews.com. “We are against this particular deal, because it does not cater to the real dangers represented by Iran. A stronger deal, which would encompass not only the nuclear aspect but also the terrorist activities of Iran, would have been much better.”

Officials in Jerusalem also note that a significant majority of the American public oppose the deal and sympathize with Israel’s predicament. “The American people get it,” an official Israeli source told today’s Jerusalem Post. “They understand the dangers to Israel. Iranian leaders openly say they will continue their terrorism and aggression, and they will now – with the sanctions relief – have enhanced resources to do, so because the deal will give them billions of dollars.”

Moreover, a number of recent contributing factors have made an already volatile situation worse: the murder of the Palestinian infant Ali Dawabsheh and his father Sa’ad by Jewish terrorists; the prolonged hunger strike by administrative detainee Muhammad Allan; the wounding and killing of knife-wielding Palestinian assailants in Jerusalem and the West Bank by IDF soldiers; and the violent clashes on the Temple Mount between Jews and Muslims.

The entire planet is going to be committing to work toward 17 sustainable development goals and 169 specific sustainable development targets, and yet there has been almost a total media blackout about this here in the United States. The UN document promises that this plan will “transform our world for the better by 2030”, and yet very few Americans have even heard of the 2030 Agenda at this point. Instead, most of us seem to be totally obsessed with the latest celebrity gossip or the latest nasty insults that our puppet politicians have been throwing around at one another.

It absolutely amazes me that more people cannot understand that Agenda 2030 is a really, really big deal. When will people finally start waking up? As I discussed in a previous article, the 2030 Agenda is taking the principles and goals laid out in Agenda 21 to an entirely new level. Agenda 21 was primarily focused on the environment, but the 2030 Agenda addresses virtually all areas of human activity. It truly is a blueprint for global governance.

And later this month, nearly every nation on the entire planet is going to be signing up for this new agenda. The general population of the planet is going to be told that this agenda is “voluntary” and that it is all about “ending poverty” and “fighting climate change”, but that is not the full story. Unfortunately, there is so much positive spin around this plan that most people will not be able to see through it.

The environment is a perfect vehicle for the elite to use to bring in their version of utopia, because just about every possible form of human activity affects the environment in some way. Ultimately, they hope to centrally plan and strictly regulate virtually everything that we do, and we will be told that it is necessary to “save the planet”. And they will never come out and openly call it a “New World Order” because “sustainable development” sounds so much nicer and is so much more acceptable to the general population.

Needless to say, there wouldn’t be much room for individual liberty, freedom or good, old-fashioned capitalism in the world that the elite are trying to set up. Don’t be fooled – the 2030 Agenda is a blueprint for a New World Order. Just read the document for yourself, and imagine what our world would actually look like if they have their way.

Berlin, which this week hit out at Britain for not taking a quota of those arriving, has admitted it has also had enough. Around 150 migrants an hour, mostly said to be from Syria, are reaching Germany each hour causing it to impose checks on its border with Austria. Stephan Mayer, a senior member of chancellor Angela Merkel’s party, who led calls for David Cameron to act, said the escalating issues "directly erodes and endangers Schengen".

As European countries engaged in bitter exchanges last night over how best to resolve the crisis, the EU’s treasured Schengen Agreement of free movement across most of the continent - but which the UK has refused to join - was beginning to crumble. But it is now clear that many European member states are now blaming the EU’s Schengen Agreement for the scale of the crisis now overwhelming several of them.

Last night Tory MP Peter Bone, the former chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking, laid the blame firmly at Brussels’ door. He said: “The EU has undoubtedly contributed to this crisis. Years ago we warned that the EU’s freedom of movement rules allowed traffickers to move people across Europe unimpeded. But because Brussels was so wedded to the idea of freedom of movement it would do nothing about it. The only way to combat this crisis is to reinstate border controls. The Schengen system of passport-free borders means traffickers are driving people across the Continent to reach the countries of their choice.”

Allowing Kim Davis, who previously has said she is an Apostolic Christian, to defy a court order could create a ripple effect among other county clerks, Bunning said. Two other clerks in the state — Casey Davis in Casey County and Kay Schwartz in Whitley County — also had stopped issuing marriage licenses but have not had lawsuits filed against them. "Her good-faith belief is simply not a viable defense," said Bunning, who said he also has deeply held religious beliefs. "Oaths mean things."

Kim Davis was tearful at times in her morning appearance before the judge but testified that she could not obey Bunning's order because God's law trumps the court. "It's very unjust," said the Rev Randy Smith of Morehead, Kentucky, where the Rowan County Clerk's Office is located. "Religious liberty has been trampled on today." Roger Gannam, a lawyer with the Orlando-based Liberty Counsel that represents Kim Davis, said Bunning's decision shows that elected officials no longer have religious liberties in light of the Supreme Court ruling — and that private citizens are next.

“Today, for the first time in history, an American citizen has been incarcerated for having the belief of conscience that marriage is between one man and one woman,” he said to the crowd outside. “It’s unprecedented in American law, and it answers the question, 'What will same-sex marriage mean for people of faith?' "