Iran revealed a secret underground missile base in an unprecedented broadcast on Iranian state television on Wednesday, showing where medium and long-range missiles were being stored.
The pictures were from The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force and gave the world a look into tunnel that is about 10 meters high and houses many missiles that were sitting on their launch pads, ready to be fired. Also featured in the pictures were numerous Iranian soldiers and other pieces of hardware. The tunnel is reportedly buried 500 meters (1,640 feet) underneath a mountain, but the exact location is unknown.
The underground missile bases make it more difficult for spy satellites to pinpoint the location of the missiles and arms caches.
A senior general told state media that there were numerous missile bases scattered across the country and that all of their weapons would be getting an upgrade very soon.
“As of next year, a new and advanced generation of long-range liquid and solid fuel missiles will replace the current products,” said Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
“The missiles in various ranges are mounted on the launchers in all bases and (are) ready to be launched.”
The broadcast comes days after Iran tested a ballistic missile, which French and American officials are calling a violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution. The Security Council resolution 1929, which went into effect in 2010, states that Iran is banned from ballistic missile tests.
It has also been reported that Iran recently sent hundreds of troops into Syria to join their Hezbollah ally in an offensive against the rebels. The Iranian fighters have been deployed near Aleppo to retake the city with the help of Russian air strikes, rocket launchers, and artillery.
A soap opera based on the Biblical story of the Ten Commandments is a massive hit that is allowing its network to challenge the top channel in the country.
The program is driving the Rede Record television network to the top of the ratings. The network, owned by the founder of Brazil’s biggest pentecostal church, has suddenly become a major player in broadcasting.
TV critics and analysts suggest the family oriented script of the program is what drives the sky-high ratings.
“There is a more conservative audience in Brazil that we’ve seen is quite strong,” said Bruno Dieguez, a communications professor at Rio’s Pontifical Catholic University.
“The Ten Commandments” has earned ratings triple any previous offering by its network. The network has also spent more money on the show than any previous production.
“In my opinion, there should only be soaps like this one – to teach about the Bible, about family and values,” hairdresser Cristiana da Silva said, dividing her attention between the evening’s last customer and the action on screen. “This is the best soap.”
The show could be heading to the United States. MundoFox, Fox Television’s Spanish-language channel, is negotiating for the television rights.
Fox is planning to air a TV series that focuses on Satan coming to Earth as a nightclub owner.
“Bored and unhappy as the Lord of Hell, Lucifer Morningstar has abandoned his throne and retired to L.A., where he owns Lux, an upscale nightclub,” a description of the series reads on the Fox website.
“Charming, charismatic and devilishly handsome, Lucifer is enjoying his retirement, indulging in a few of his favorite things—wine, women and song—when a beautiful pop star is brutally murdered outside of Lux,” it continues. “For the first time in roughly 10 billion years, he feels something awaken deep within him as a result of this murder. Compassion? Sympathy? ”
The series is based on comic books by author Neil Gaiman which focus on occult culture.
The Fox description then goes to say that Satan will begin to wonder if “there’s hope for his soul” because of the “inherent goodness” of the police detective he works with to solve a murder.
Criticism of the show has been swift.
“It was only a matter of time before Hollywood gave the devil a prime time television show on a big network,” wrote Joe Schimmel of Good Fight Ministries and host of the documentary “Hollywood’s War on God” in an online post this week. “After all, for the last several years, Hollywood has portrayed everyone from meth dealers to sexual deviants as ‘cool,’ while depicting Jesus as a cuss word!”
Pastors are saying the show is a danger to youth, showing Satan to be “cool” instead of his truly evil nature.
A television program that featured people having sex in a box just feet away from a panel of therapists and commentators in a soundproof box has been cancelled by the WE TV network because of low ratings.
The network said the show did not attract the “large numbers of viewers”but that they are considering ways to chance the show for a return to the air. The show previously featured two adults having sex and then talking about it just after the act with therapists and show hosts.
The producers of the show claimed that there was nothing improper or pornographic about the show.
The show had been condemned by Christian groups across the nation who had been calling for a boycott of WE TV because of the program. The Parent’s Television Council had started an online petition to stop the program before it aired.
The network’s response was for people to “watch before you judge”.
The PTC released a statement Friday praising the cancellation and declaring victory in their effort to remove the show.
“The program from its very outset was an affront to families, toxic to advertisers, and a clear demonstration of a badly-broken business model that forces every cable/satellite subscriber to pay for unwanted and unwatched cable networks,” stated PTC President Tim Winter.
“PTC members and other pro-family groups who signed petitions against the show are to be congratulated for their successful activism.”
The parent company of Fox News Channel and Fox Entertainment Group is coming under fire for airing a program on Fox Television Sunday night that blasphemed Christ.
The show “Family Guy” created an episode called “The 2,000 Year Old Virgin” in what the show was considering their “Christmas episode.”
The cartoon has Peter Griffin, the father of the show’s central family, finding out that Jesus is a virgin and then in a parody of the movie “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” seeks out to arrange for Jesus to lose his virginity.
“After running into Jesus at the Quahog Mall, Peter is stunned to discover that the Son of God is still a virgin,” a description of the episode outlines. “So, he enlists Quagmire and Cleveland to help him throw Jesus the best birthday ever by finding a way to help him become a man.”
The show then has the Jesus character admit he lies to men about being a virgin so he can sleep with their wives. At the end of the show when Peter and Lois thank Jesus for teaching them a lesson about resisting temptation, Jesus says he’s fake.
“Who cares? I’m not even real. Merry Christmas,” he says.
The show’s creator, Seth McFarlane, has spoken before of his bigotry toward Christians.
“I consider myself a critical thinker, and it fascinates me that in the 21st century most people still believe in, as George Carlin puts it, ‘the invisible man living in the sky,” he said.
Dr. Kent Brantly, the Christian doctor who was one of the first Americans to be infected with Ebola during the current outbreak, says that conditions in Africa are worse than you see on television.
You’ve seen the news reports, and I can assure you, the reality on the ground in West Africa is worse than the worst report you’ve seen. And our attention and our efforts need to be on loving the people there,” he said.
“Let’s stop talking about that highly improbable thing [of an outbreak in America] and focus on saving people’s lives and stopping the outbreak where it is. God saved my life… He used some incredible people and unbelievable circumstances to do that … I want to live in that reality forever.”
Dr. Brantly called the attention being paid to Ebola possibly breaking out in the United States “panic.”
“I just want to tell everyone that yes, Ebola is a serious devastating disease and for those number of people who have been identified as contacts of an Ebola patient, they need to be monitoring themselves, they need to be cooperating with the authorities, with the CDC, and it’s very serious for them, but for the rest of us we don’t need to be worried,” Dr. Brantly said.
“I am particularly thrilled to be alive,” Brantly added.
A Lebanese TV station has added the Arabic letter “N” to their name as a show of solidarity with the persecuted Christians of Iraq.
A news anchor that wore a T-shirt during an evening newscast emblazoned with the letter made the announcement. Arabic language speakers pronounce the letter “N” as “noon”.
“From Mosul to Beirut, we are all Noon,” anchor Dima Sadeq said. “We are all targets to be pointed at with a finger or a sword because we’re different, whether in terms of sex, religion or color of our skin. We are all targets of murder in this insane era. The era of radicals, dictatorships and Israel’s hatred. Only here [in the region,] are children killed on beaches, churches closed down, mosques raided, shrines of prophets destroyed.”
Viewers of the TV station flooded phone lines and websites with positive responses.
The letter has become a symbol of solidarity with Christians in Iraq because the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria sprays the letter on the homes and businesses of Christians. The letter was chosen because it’s the first letter in Nazarene, the term they use for followers of Christ.
The exodus of Christians from the northern parts of Iraq has reached levels that some major cities have virtually no Christians left. The city of Mosul does not have a single operating church within its borders.
The open hatred of Israel in the middle east is rising to new levels in the wake of their defending themselves against Hamas terrorist attacks.
Zoher Al-Azzeh, a prominent television host on Jordan’s 7 Stars TV, called for the U.S. Embassy in Jordan to be shut down saying it was a spy outpost for Israel. Then he aired footage of the Israeli offensive against Hamas intercut with pictures he claimed were children hurt in the offensive.
Then he pulled out an Israeli flag and set it on fire.
“For the sake of Palestine and its children, allow me to burn this filthy flag of the Zionist entity for the whole world to see,” Al-Azzah said. “The world should know that the Zionists are our enemies. They are criminal murderers and we must fight them. We must demand that all Arab peoples expel them from their countries, starting with Jordan.”
No other host on Jordanian TV challenged the openly anti-Semitic actions and comments of Al-Azzah.
Cartoon Network will be airing a show in its late night “adult swim” block that will feature a character who the show says is Jesus that smokes marijuana, swears and use the Lord’s name in vain.
The show is called “Black Jesus.”
The show will have the “Jesus” character living in Compton, California, participating in illegal activities with drug addicts and alcoholics and conducting other activities that mock Christians.
The character claims that he’s just about “spreading love and kindness” while participating in questionable activities.
Several groups including One Million Moms is calling for Christians to protest the show saying that the Christian faith should not be used as a source of derision in manners that would never be allowed on television for Muslims or Jews.
Supporters of the show’s creator Aaron McGruder say that the show is just satire and people need to develop a sense of humor.
A new reality TV program ordered by WEtv will feature couples having sex inside a soundproof box and then talking about it.
The program, called “Sex Box”, is based on a British show of the same name. The show will put couples inside a soundproof booth in the middle of a stage to have sex while a panel of marital counselors discusses issues with a host.
When the couples are finished, they walk out of the “sex box” to talk about problems in their relationship with the counselors on the panel.
The network says the “in the moment” portion of the show “fosters conversation about intimacy that are completely filter-less and emotionally honest.”
“Sex Box is an intriguing and original concept,” Marc Juris, president of WE, said about the show.
