According to senior reporter Shimon Shiffer, Yaalon said in closed conversations ahead of Kerry's latest visit that “the American security plan that was presented to us is not worth the paper it was written on. It contains neither security nor peace. Only our continued presence in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan River will guarantee that Ben Gurion Airport and (the northern city of) Netanya do not become targets for missiles from every direction.

“Secretary of State John Kerry – who came here very determined, and operates based upon an unfathomable obsession and a messianic feeling – cannot teach me anything about the Palestinians,” he is quoted as saying. Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas “lives on our sword,” said Yaalon. “Once we leave Judea and Samaria, he is finished.

In fact, throughout the recent months, there is no negotiation between us and the Palestinians – but rather, between us and the Americans. The only thing that can 'save' us is that John Kerry will get a Nobel peace prize and leave us alone.”

"I live and breathe the conflict with the Palestinians, I know what they think, what they want and what they really mean,” he went on. “The American security plan that was presented to us is not worth the paper it was written on.”

"The remarks of the defense minister, if accurate, are offensive and inappropriate especially given all that the United States is doing to support Israel's security needs," spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki claimed to reporters following a visit by Kerry to the Vatican. "To question his motives and distort his proposals is not something we would expect from the defense minister of a close ally," she said. On Monday, Ya'alon called Kerry "obsessive" and "messianic."

"Secretary of State John Kerry – who came here very determined, and operates based upon an unfathomable obsession and a messianic feeling – cannot teach me anything about the Palestinians,” he is quoted as saying. "I live and breathe the conflict with the Palestinians, I know what they think, what they want and what they really mean,” he continued. “The American security plan that was presented to us is not worth the paper it was written on.”

Ya'alon responded Tuesday to the US with more criticism, stating that the US knows that the source of instability in the Middle East is not the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to Channel 10. Yaalon called on Israel "not to panic and give in to these [statements] and other intimidation, because this" - standing up for oneself - "is the only way to protect the security of Israel."

According to Kol Yisrael radio, Netanyahu made the comments during his dinner meeting with Biden at the Prime Minister’s Residence on Monday night. Netanyahu reportedly complained to Biden about Abbas’s comments on Saturday, in which he said that there will be no peace with Israel unless all his preconditions are met.

These comments, Netanyahu told Biden, were proof that Abbas is not prepared to make the necessary decisions that would bring about peace. Abbas told a delegation on Saturday that there will be "no peace between us and Israel" without eastern Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and PA chief Mahmoud Abbas “have both shown courage,” Kerry said. “The Israelis and Palestinians are currently wrestling with difficult decisions and challenges,” he added.

Israel has made clear to Kerry that dividing Jerusalem is not on the agenda, government sources said.

At the same time, PA officials reiterated over the weekend that there would be no agreement unless Israel withdrew from all areas of Jerusalem liberated in the 1967 Six Day War, and agreed to allow descendants of Arabs who fled their homes in 1948 to return to their abandoned properties.

Kerry also discussed with the ministers the agreement with Iran that is set to come into effect on January 20. He said that the Western powers were planning to watch Iran's behavior very closely.

"Whoever wants resistance, whoever wants Jihad, the direction for Jihad is well-known and clear," Al-Habash claimed to a crowd at a PA-sponsored event. "Those who send young people to Syria or elsewhere to die for a misdirected cause must stop and understand that Jerusalem is still waiting. Jerusalem is the direction, Jerusalem is the address."

"I don't think that there is anyone who doesn't know to where we should direct efforts or where to concentrate the masses. I don't think there is anyone who doesn't know this." PMW notes that Abbas applauded to the speech, which came just hours after PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki claimed to Maariv that “the Arab states will never recognize a Jewish state.” On Saturday, Abbas told a visiting delegation that there will be "no peace between us and Israel" without eastern Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state.

The article originally appeared at qianzhan.com under the headline, ‘Sudden major move of Chinese troops this year to recover Zhongye Island by force’, and was translated by the China Daily Mail. Relying on US support, the Philippines is so arrogant as to announce in the New Year that it will increase its navy and air force deployment at Zhongye Island, a Chinese island that it has illegally occupied for years. It will be an intolerable insult to China.

According to experts, the Chinese navy has drawn a detailed combat plan to seize the island and the battle will be restricted within the South China Sea. The report goes on to state that the “battle” will not include a Chinese invasion of Filipino territories, although the Philippines will undoubtedly view Beijing’s attack on Zhongye Island as precisely that since it has been occupied by Filipino troops for over 40 years.

“Of course, claims that “battle will be restricted” are nothing but taunting and should China launch an offensive here, we suspect the already dry and brittle tinder box in the South (and East) China Sea could rapidly escalate,” reports Zero Hedge. The report arrives hot on the heels of Japan’s announcement that it will “nationalize” around 280 islands in the disputed region, the latest shot across the bow in a tit-for-tat build up that experts have warned heralds the beginning of a new cold war.

Francis’ reign may not ultimately affect centuries-old church doctrine, but it is already reshaping the way the church is run and who is running it. Francis is steadily subbing moderates for traditionalists as the church prepares for a debate about the role of far-flung bishops in Vatican decision-making and a broad discussion on the family that could touch on delicate issues such as homosexuality and divorce.

In St Peter’s Basilica on New Year’s Eve, Francis, dressed in golden robes, hinted at the major changes he had already set in motion. “What happened this year?” he asked. “What is happening, and what will happen?” To some of the scarlet-clad cardinals seated in rows of gilded armchairs at the New Year’s service, the answer was becoming clear. Cardinal Raymond L Burke, one of the highest-ranking Americans in the Vatican, found his influence diluted. Another conservative, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, was demoted. Among the bishops, Archbishop Guido Pozzo was sidelined.

To some degree, Francis, 77, is simply bringing in his own team and equipping it to carry out his stated mission of creating a more inclusive and relevant church that is more sensitive to the needs of local parishes and the poor. But he is also breaking up the rival blocs of Italians with entrenched influence in the Roman Curia, the bureaucracy that runs the church. He is increasing financial transparency in the murky Vatican Bank and upending the career ladder that many prelates have spent their lives climbing.

Interviews with cardinals, bishops, priests, Vatican officials, Italian politicians, diplomats and analysts indicate that the mood inside the Vatican ranges from adulation to uncertainty to deep anxiety, even a touch of paranoia. Several people say they fear Francis is going department by department looking for heads to roll. Others whisper about six mysterious Jesuit spies who act as the pope’s eyes and ears on the Vatican grounds. Mostly, once-powerful officials feel out of the loop.

Andrea Leadsom, co-founder of the Fresh Start group of Conservative MPs, said that without such changes there would be overwhelming calls for Britain to exit the EU. Her intervention comes ahead of a major speech tomorrow by George Osborne on Britain’s future in a reformed Europe.

David Cameron is struggling to maintain Tory unity on the issue, with more than 90 backbenchers this week backing a call for Parliament to gain a unilateral veto over new EU laws. Foreign Secretary William Hague yesterday dismissed that idea, saying it would undermine the single market and make even a Swiss or Norwegian-style trading relationship with the EU impossible.

But he suggested the Government is ready to back the idea of allowing a bloc of ten or fewer EU states to veto unwelcome laws in the renegotiation talks promised by Mr Cameron to claw back powers before an ‘in/out’ referendum on membership.

Speaking before leaving his home in Gran Canaria ahead of his meeting with the Pope, Fernandez, 19 when war broke out the two countries, said: 'I want to tell the Pope there are new paths we haven't trodden and that we have to take, and that I'm committed to helping. I believe the Falklands issue can be solved but we have wounds to heal because the damage has been great.'

Pope Francis, the first Argentinian Pontiff, claimed the islands were snatched by Britain when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 2011. He insisted those who died in the war had 'shed their blood on Argentinian soil.' And in a mass to mark the 30th anniversary of the Argentinian invasion he said the islands were 'usurped.'

After he became Pope, David Cameron urged him to respect the overwhelming wishes of residents who days earlier had voted overwhelmingly to remain British in a referendum. In a dig at the Vatican, where officials pumped white smoke from a chimney to announce Pope Francis had been chosen in keeping with tradition, he said: 'The white smoke over the Falklands was pretty clear.'

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who occupies the First Throne of the Orthodox Christian Church, was speaking today during his welcome of the Anglican Communion‘s spiritual head Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. He said, “In the past, the rapprochement between our two Churches has been greatly assisted by the exchange of students, and we trust that this will continue. Our Theological School at Halki used to offer scholarships to Anglicans, and when it is reopened – as will happen in the near future (so it may be hoped) – we shall certainly wish to revive this tradition.

“These exchange students have frequently gone on to become leaders in their respective Churches, and their early inter-Church experience has enabled them to further the cause of Christian unity in highly constructive ways.”

Archbishop Welby is on what has been described as an ‘intensive two-day visit’ that will include official reception in the Chamber of the Throne, and a discussion with the Synodical Committee for Inter-Christian Affairs. It was clear from both the Orthodox leader’s welcome speech and his official toast that he very much welcomed the visit: “It is a great joy to us that, so soon after your elevation to Canterbury, Your Grace has found it possible to visit the sacred centre of Orthodoxy, the Ecumenical Patriarchate.”

Soaring temperatures have had a devastating impact on cattle farmers in Queensland, which accounts for about 50 percent of the national herd. Australia is the world's third largest beef exporter, with sales during the 2013/14 season projected to reach A$5.4 billion ($4.82 billion).

But as the heat forces farmers to send cattle to slaughter, the country’s cattle herd is predicted to fall to 25 million heads during the 2013/14 season, the lowest since the 2009/10 season, the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics and Sciences said.

Some farmers have said that if significant rains do not fall by autumn their operations will become worthless and they would have no option but to abandon their properties, the New Zealand Herald reported. So far, the weather outlook is not good. It is expected that the overall record high of 50.7C (123.3F) for the country set in 1960 in the south might be broken in the next few days if current conditions continue.

At the CES electronic trade show in Las Vegas this week, the global vice president for Ford’s marketing and sales division opened up about just exactly how much data is being collected by his company’s latest line of smart cars. “We know everyone who breaks the law, we know when you're doing it. We have GPS in your car, so we know what you're doing,” Ford’s Jim Farley told a Vegas crowd on Wednesday, according to Business Insider reporter Jim Edwards. “By the way, we don't supply that data to anyone," Farley assured attendees.

But just as how National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden revealed how the United States government compels telecommunication companies for metadata pertaining to the phone habits of millions of Americans on a regular basis, the sheer fact alone that this automotive data is being collected and stored means it could someday be used by others.

Edwards described Farley’s remark as being “both sinister and obvious.” “Because of the GPS units installed in Ford vehicles, Ford knows when its drivers are speeding, and where they are while they're doing it,” Edwards wrote. Should the company choose to share that information with law enforcement, though, then it could create an environment where surveillance extends off the computer and onto the road.

Oral arguments slated for Monday will center on a trio of recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that were deemed unconstitutional by lower courts. If they uphold the decision, experts say the justices could endanger hundreds of NLRB decisions.

Even more significant are the ramifications for future presidents, with the court poised either to bolster or blunt the chief executive’s appointment powers. “Rulings like this have implications that last for centuries,” said Michael Lotito, an employment and labor attorney and co-chairman of Littler Mendelson's Workplace Policy Institute.

Just one day before, in announcing his “economic promise zones,” Obama had touted the so-called recovery, insisting, in the face of widespread disbelief among working people, that it was “real.”.

The US economy generated a net increase of only 74,000 jobs in December, about one third the number predicted by economists and less than half the amount needed to keep pace with population growth. The increase in non-farm payrolls was the lowest since January 1, 2011, when the economy added 69,000 jobs. Friday’s number followed two months in which payrolls grew by 200,000 or more, leading to claims that the economy was shifting into high gear.

The unemployment rate for December dropped sharply, from 7 percent to 6.7 percent. However, this decline was not the result of an improvement in the real economy. On the contrary, it was caused by a further exodus of workers from the labor force, which shrank by 347,000. In the past twelve months, the labor force has contracted by almost 550,000 workers.

In the so-called “recovery” since the Wall Street crash of 2008, a decline in the official jobless rate has perversely become, more often than not, an indicator of deepening social crisis rather than a sign of expanding production and rebounding employment. Most of the decline in the government’s jobless rate from 10.0 percent in October 2009 has been due to the fact that millions of people have fallen out of the job market because of economic conditions.

Turgut Keles loved his premier. He maintained his support of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan through early summer, when demonstrators in Istanbul were protesting the redevelopment of Gezi Park. When Erdogan held a rally for tens of thousands of supporters, Keles was in the first row.

But just half a year later, everything has changed. "Erdogan must go," the former fan now says, adding that the prime minister has "betrayed" millions of Turks. Keles long voted in favor of Erdogan's conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP). But his support of the party is exceeded by his admiration of Muslim preacher Fethullah Gülen, the leader of a powerful civic movement that is now at odds with Erdogan.

Keles attended a school founded by Gülen followers, and later studied at one of the movement's universities. The organization helped him find a job, he says. Today, Keles works for a construction company in Istanbul and remains a devoted follower. "Anyone who insults Gülen, insults me," he says.

For a long time, Gülen and Erdogan were allies. This fall, however, the prime minister announced that tutoring centers run by the Gülen movement would be shut down. Erdogan has accused the preacher's supporters of creating a "state within a state," and since then the two sides have been locked in a bitter power struggle. The conflict appears to confirm what many once dismissed as a conspiracy theory - that in many cases the Gülen movement controls the police and justice system.