“The US needs to recognize that China will not tolerate US military presence in its waters just as the United States will not tolerate Chinese naval ships off the coast of Atlantic City in New Jersey,” Madsen said in a phone interview with Press TV on Wednesday.

Washington and Beijing have been trading barbs since USS Cowpens and a Chinese warship “nearly collided” in the South China Sea earlier in December. “With President Obama’s ‘pivot’ to Asia where he has redirected a lot of US military assets to East Asia, we’re going to see a lot more confrontations like the one we recently saw between a US Navy cruiser and a Chinese aircraft carrier,” Madsen said.

In his tour of the region on Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry said that the United States would increase maritime security assistance to China’s neighbors amid rising tensions with Beijing.

At the time, Shalit did not provide a reason for his resignation. Washington asserted that his authorization of the sale of a miniature cooling system for missiles was in direct violation of Israel’s preexisting obligations to the United States.

The conflict came as a result of differing interpretations of defense agreements between Israel and the US, according to the report. Israel claimed that the highly sensitive part was actually sold to a European company as part of a separate deal, but the Americans contended that the fact that it ultimately wound up in China is a breach of long-standing arrangements between Washington and Jerusalem.

Furthermore, there is fear among the Americans that this advanced technology has found its way from China to Iran.

Mrs Justice Parker said spouses can cause “untold damage” to their offspring in the wake of a divorce or separation. The judge delivered a harsh rebuke to social workers and an official guardian acting for three brothers at the centre of a contact dispute between their mother and father.

Sitting at the High Court in London, Mrs Justice Parker expressed concern that the mother appeared to have turned her 15-year-old son against his father. “Parents who obstruct the relationship with either mother or father are inflicting untold damage on their children and it’s about time the professionals truly understood this,” said the judge.

"The most important thing is the person and not the question of material costs," the defense minister said. "The material must be good enough to ensure that … the people who work here are well protected."

At the same time, though she noted that any new purchases must be "cost-effective."

The quality of equipment issued to Bundeswehr soldiers has been criticized by several people in recent years, although, Hellmut Königshaus, the German parliament's commissioner for the armed forces, acknowledged in his 2012 annual report that there had been some improvement. After her arrival in Afghanistan on Sunday, von der Leyen used a speech to around 300 Bundeswehr soldiers to pledge that she was “there for them.” She said she was “proud” to be their defense minister and took the job “very seriously.”

Von der Leyen also expressed Germany's willingness to remain involved militarily in Afghanistan after the Western military alliance NATO withdraws all of its remaining combat troops from the country by the end of next year. Germany has offered to contribute around 800 Bundeswehr trainers and advisors to a non-combat NATO mission of between 8,000 and 12,000 troops.

Now, the UN weapons inspectors have quietly retracted one of their main claims implying that Assad was behind the attack. Former Associated Press and Newsweek reporter – Robert Parry – notes:

A United Nations analysis of samples taken from one of the two sites of the alleged Sarin attack outside Damascus, Syria, on August 21 found zero chemical weapons agents, and one UN laboratory backed off its earlier claim to have found a residue that can result from degraded Sarin on the remnants of the missile, according to revisions in a new UN report.

The two UN laboratories are now in agreement that there was neither Sarin nor possible derivatives of Sarin on the metal fragments from the Moadamiyah missile.

Time will tell if these two cities will end up like Detroit. However, the fact that they are losing their biggest industries to major competition, much like Detroit did, with depressed housing, casinos bankrupting/closing and businesses fleeing, makes their fate seem eerily similar.

Cash and debit card spending limits are being implemented on 2 million debit card holders because those customers are suspected of having shopped at Target during the time period in question. JPM is considering issuing new debit cards to those customers who were directly affected by the data breach.

Chase customers will be limited to $100 daily withdrawal from ATMs. Debit card users will see $200 – $500 daily limits as well as $500 daily purchase limit. Customers are encouraged to come into their local branch to withdraw more cash if necessary; however that too is limited to $300 per day.

A judge ruled in 2002 – at the urging of the White House – that the suit should be dismissed. The Obama administration has also urged that the suit be dismissed. But the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that the suit could proceed. Unless the Supreme Court plays politics, justice will proceed …

Customers at Marks and Spencer will not be refused alcohol or pork by Muslim staff after the store reacted to a massive backlash by customers. Thousands of shoppers threatened to boycott the retailer after Marks and Spencer said it would allow Muslim staff to refuse to sell pork and alcohol because it was against their religious beliefs.

But now Marks and Spencer has apologised and said that Muslim staff who did not want to handle these products would not man tills and would work in other roles such as in clothing or in the bakery. The issue was revealed after customers at a London branch of Marks and Spencer were told they would have to use another till because the assistant would not be able to serve them pork or alcohol. At the time Marks and Spencer said staff could refuse to sell these items, based on their religious beliefs.

A study published in the European Heart Journal suggests millions of patients put on the medications may be being “over treated” - exposing them to potential side effects - while other patients who are more likely to suffer a heart attack are not being targeted.

Most patients are put on Statins because they have high cholesterol, high blood pressure or other conditions such as diabetes. But the study of almost 7,000 adults found that the risk factors were not an accurate way of predicting the likelihood of a heart attack or a stroke. Scans to examine the build-up of calcium in the arteries were far better at identifying patients who would suffer a cardiac event, researchers found.

MK Hana Sweid (Hadash), who was born to a Christian Arab family, submitted a request for an official Knesset Christmas tree last week. Sweid argued that putting a tree up in a highly visible place in the Knesset would show consideration for Christian citizens of Israel and would highlight Israel’s ties to the Christian world.

Edelstein told Sweid that individual MKs or parties may put up a tree if they choose to do so, but that the Knesset will not host a central Christmas display. “There is nothing preventing you from putting a tree in your office, or your party could put a tree in the room belonging to its Knesset faction. But I do not believe it would be fitting to order a tree put up as per your request,” he informed the MK in a letter.

The report was based on a report in the London-based Arabic paper A-Sharq Al-Awsat, which spoke to senior Arab League officials at the Arab League meeting in Cairo. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas called the meeting to discuss Israel-PA talks. So far, the Arab League has voted to reject a US proposal according to which Israel would withdraw from the Jordan Valley, but IDF soldiers would remain for a 10-year period. Arab leaders insist Israel withdraw completely in the short term.

Israeli leaders have expressed strong concern over Kerry’s suggestion as well, arguing that a complete withdrawal in 10 years is not in Israel’s interests and would pose a serious security risk. An Arutz Sheva analyst has described the proposal as a "death trap." Arab League officials reported that Kerry has not been deterred by rejection of his proposals, and remains hopeful for significant agreements to be reached within the next week.

Kerry is currently in Israel to promote an agreement, and reportedly plans to "attack" Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and exert heavy pressure on Israel to accept his security plan.

Israel and the PA also continue to disagree on the status of Jerusalem and the subject of “return” to Israel for Arabs of Palestinian Arab descent. Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel since the reunification of the city in 1967; the PA argues that all parts of the city that were under Jordanian control from 1949 to 1967 should rightfully be under Arab control.

The demand for previously Jordanian-occupied areas includes a demand for complete control over the Temple Mount, Judaism’s most holy site and the site of the Al-Aqsa mosque.

“There will be a unified command of around 100,000 members, God willing. I hope it will happen soon, and the National Guard is ready for anything that is asked of it,” Minister of the National Guard Prince Miteb Bin Abdullah announced, Saudi Press Agency reports. The prince also stressed the need for unity among the Gulf’s monarchs to display power in the region, claiming that the new force will boost security, defense and the economy of the member states.

Last week Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbors, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar, at the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Kuwait City, agreed to create a joint military command and tasked the Joint Defense Council to implement measures.

On Thursday, the kingdom’s ambassador to London, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, said that the Western approach to the region was a “dangerous gamble” that jeopardizes stability in the Middle East, hinting that Riyadh intends to pursue an independent policy in the Arab world after the US resorted to diplomatic solutions to the Syrian and Iranian crises.

“This means the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has no choice but to become more assertive in international affairs: more determined than ever to stand up for the genuine stability our region so desperately needs,” Abdulaziz wrote in a New York Times commentary.

In contrast to M&S, Sainsbury’s said it had issued official guidelines that stated there was no reason why staff who did not drink alcohol or eat pork for religious reasons could not handle the goods. The advice followed consultations with religious groups, said a spokesman. Tesco said it treated each case on its merits, but said it “made no sense” to employ staff on a till who refused to touch certain items for religious reasons.

Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, the former bishop of Rochester, who has voiced fears that Britain is losing its Christian identity and warned of the dangers of the influence of radical Islamic beliefs, said supermarket customers risked feeling uncomfortable if they were told they would have to wait to be served just because they were buying alcohol. He said: “If supermarkets do not put up a notice saying this desk does not handle alcoholic beverages, it runs the risk shoppers could be humiliated when they get to the checkout.”

Douglas Alexander, a senior frontbencher, suggested that public figures have allowed “political correctness” to prevent them talking about faith and the persecution of Christians in the Middle East. In a thinly-veiled attack on the Tony Blair era, when Alastair Campbell, the then communications director in Downing Street, said “we don’t do God”, Mr Alexander warned that people should have the courage to speak up for Christians without fear of causing offence. Mr Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, spoke out to voice his concerns about growing harassment and attacks suffered by Christians in the Middle East.

Writing in the Telegraph, he warns that the mounting persecution of Christians is a “story that goes largely untold”, describing those who have spoken out on the issue, including the Prince of Wales, as lone voices. “Across the world, there will be Christians this week for whom attending a church service this Christmas is not an act of faithful witness, but an act of life-risking bravery. That cannot be right and we need the courage to say so,” Mr Alexander says.

“In the UK today, perhaps through a misplaced sense of political correctness, or some sense of embarrassment at 'doing God’ in an age when secularism is more common, too many politicians seem to fear discussing any matters related to faith.” He adds: “People of all faiths and none should be horrified by this persecution. We cannot, and we must not, stand by on the other side in silence for fear of offence.” Mr Alexander says persecution of Christians should be treated in the same way as anti-Semitism or Islamophobia.