Headline News
After Stunning Loses In The Middle East, Islamic Terror Group ISIS Sets Up New Beachhead In The Philippines
As ISIS loses ground in the Middle East, militants from around this region are moving their operations to Southeast Asia — primarily the Philippines.
At a crowded center for refugees fleeing the fighting that has ravaged this city, Merlinda Obedencio never lets her most valuable possession out of sight: a blue cellphone. It is the only link she has to her husband and three of their six children being held by Islamic State-linked extremists ISIS.
Obedencio’s husband, Raul, and their children were captured by the local Maute extremist group during a siege that started May 23 and has left almost 600 dead.
Almost 400,000 people have been displaced by the fighting in Marawi, a city on the southern island of Mindanao, according to the Philippine military. And like Obedencio, most face an uncertain future in a region turned upside down by extremist violence.
The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, views the drawn-out battle as a major win at a time when it is being driven out of its base in Iraq and Syria, bringing greater attention to the Philippines and Southeast Asia as a new beachhead for extremists.
“This is what I consider the first significant example of how foreign fighters from the Syria/Iraq battle space can be brought to bear in another part of the world,” said Thomas Sanderson, director of the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.
After weeks of not knowing whether her family was alive, Obedencio got a call from her husband, who got access to a hidden cellphone. He said he is forced to cook for his captors. He said their 20-year-old son is being used as a human shield on the front lines, while their daughter, 17, was “married” to one of the fighters.
Her husband has since been able to call or text a handful of times, and this contact helps Obedencioda, a devout Christian, keep going.
“For almost two months, I can’t sleep well,” she said. “I’m always thinking of them — are they in good hands? Sometimes when they call I thank God that my family is still alive. I don’t know what we will do after this. All I can do is pray.”
Farhan Macapandia, 23, an English teacher, spent 13 days trapped at home with 11 family members and neighbors after the fighting broke out. The last four days were spent without food, having only rainwater they could collect.
The group finally made a break to safety, carrying only a few essentials. They’re now staying at an evacuation center in the military-controlled compound near the heart of the fighting, where daily airstrikes rattle the buildings and stray bullets are a routine danger.
“We don’t have any idea right now if our house is still there,” said Macapandia. ”We don’t have money. Our access to work, lost. Our house, lost. Everything, lost. It seems that we need to have a new life, a new beginning.”
While residents blame the extremists for the violence and chaos, many are also growing impatient with the military and its heavy airstrikes, which are leveling buildings throughout the city.
“We are angry at the two sides — ISIS and the military,” said Macapandia’s mother, Nabiliah. “We are trapped here in a war zone.”
The fighting has been contained to a 7,500-square-foot area of the city, with 60 to 70 militants holding about 100 hostages, said Lt. Col. Jo-Ar Herrera, spokesman for the military’s Task Force Marawi.
The fighting, which initially was expected to end in a matter of days, has killed 427 militants, 99 soldiers and 45 civilians, according to the military. The Philippine congress voted Saturday to extend martial law on Mindanao until the end of the year. President Rodrigo Duterte had declared martial law for 60 days when the fighting began.
Herrera admitted the battle has “exposed the gaps and weaknesses” in the military’s ability to conduct urban warfare. “We should see the city or urban area as the battleground of the future, and we need to upgrade our capabilities,” he said.
Among the fighters who were killed are militants from Chechnya, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, while fighters from Pakistan and Morocco are still active in the city, the Philippine military said. A greater future danger may be fighters from Southeast Asia returning from Iraq and Syria, said analyst Sanderson.
“Without a doubt, Southeast Asians returning is perhaps the most lethal element of the discussion, because they are coming with the same high-level combat skills that the other combatants have, but these are guys who know the local territory and language,” Sanderson said.
As ISIS loses ground in the Middle East, militants from around this region are moving their operations to Southeast Asia — primarily the Philippines, said Sidney Jones, director of Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict,
“The idea that the Philippines is now the destination of choice rather than Syria has sunk in,” she said. “That’s definite now.”
Jones warned that the Philippine military is treading a thin line by using excessive force, because of its long history of taking a harsh stance against extremist groups in Mindanao.
“One theme that was used to bring people on board to the ISIS message is the brutality of the security services,” she said. “This was before even the airstrikes. So I think there’s got to be a serious re-think of how the Duterte administration responds to extremism. Because if they’re not careful, they’re going to be building a new generation of extremists, not eradicating the generation that’s there now.”
Many in Marawi agree that the aftermath of the fight may be the biggest challenge.
“There will be social disorder, political instability, health issues,” said Norodin Alonto Lucman, a well-known former politician and Muslim chieftain.
Lucman, who harbored in his home 74 civilians — including 31 Christians — for 12 days during the conflict before escaping, said many conditions that caused extremism in the first place will be exacerbated by the fighting here.
“We believe that this rebellion in Mindanao is caused by poverty,” he said. “With the Marawi crisis, you reduce thousands more people into poverty — but now they have guns.”
In the meantime, Obedencio waits with her blue phone for news about her trapped family. “It’s so hard to be a mother trying to look forward to their release,” she said. “I pray all the time. It’s just a great nightmare.” source
Donald Trump
HUH?? In Just A Matter Of Months, Donald Trump Goes From Humiliating Zelensky At The White House To Becoming His Partner In Drone Warfare Production
President Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky are considering a ‘mega deal’ that would see the US buy battlefield-tested Ukrainian drones in exchange for Kyiv agreeing to buy a swath of weapons from America, the Ukrainian leader said.
It was only a few months ago when President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance invited Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House for the sole purpose of publicly humiliating him on live television. Then Trump tried to push through an untimely peace to the Russia Ukraine war by siding with Putin and forcing Zelensky to accept terms negotiated without his input. That was then, this is now, and now Trump has come back to Zelensky, tail between his legs, asking Ukraine to give America drone technology we don’t currently possess? This is not simply theater, this is the theater of the absurd in the extreme. That’s the memo.
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32 (KJB)
Do you ever get tired of watching all this Deep State and New World Order nonsense? I sure do. It doesn’t fool me for a second, I have a King James Bible to show me the truth, but it does wear me out nearly to the point of exhaustion. As for Donald Trump, you have to come to one of two conclusions. Either he is just flailing about, doing whatever pops into his head at the moment no matter how crazy and contradictory it may be, or, he is taking orders from the Deep State who tagged his right ear with a warning shot last July in Butler, PA. Maybe a little of both, but I will say this much. If the idea that the United States has to come crawling to tiny, little Ukraine for drone technology we don’t have, but they do, doesn’t set off every red flag and alarm bell in your brain, there is something very, very wrong.
Trump discussing drone ‘mega deal’ with Ukraine — as US tech lags behind adversaries: ‘The people of America need this technology’
FROM THE NY POST: Speaking exclusively with The Post on Wednesday, Zelensky revealed that his latest talks with Trump focused on a breakthrough deal that would see the US and Ukraine prop up each other’s aerial technology — with Kyiv offering to share everything it’s learned about modern warfare in the three-year conflict with Russia.
The deal could be transformative for the US military and national security, with officials and drone experts warning that America’s technology lags far behind Russia and China, and American soldiers are ill-equipped to use the UAVs or defend against the types of devices being produced by adversaries.
“The people of America need this technology, and you need to have it in your arsenal,” Zelensky told The Post of Ukraine’s latest drones, which have been able to penetrate Russia’s defenses to take out heavy bombers and hit as deep as 800 miles over the border.
“I think this is really a mega deal, a win-win, as they say,” he added.
Back in February, Zelensky was Trump’s punching bag. What changed?
I feel sad for you if you think what happened in the White House was good today, it was theater, nothing more. Yes, they beat up on little Zelensky pretty good, and I have no problem with that but will they talk to PUTIN with that same level of harshness??It’s a show, people. pic.twitter.com/KTZPZAQ2cE
— Now The End Begins (@NowTheEndBegins) February 28, 2025
Drone warfare has become the standout method of battle in the Ukraine war, with Moscow and Kyiv trading hundreds of aerial blows a day using the explosives-carrying UAVs. Zelensky, who touted drones as the key tool that has allowed his country to fight back against the Russian invasion for more than three years, offered everything he’s learned while under fire to help the US and NATO prepare for the new generation of war.
“We will be ready to share this experience with America and other European partners,” he said, adding that talks were also underway with Denmark, Norway and Germany.
Experts and officials have sounded the alarm on America’s blind spot when it comes to drone technology and warfare.
“We all know the same thing. We aren’t giving the American war fighter what they need to survive warfare today,” Trent Emeneker, project manager of the Autonomy Portfolio at the military’s Defense Innovation Unit, told the New York Times.
“If we had to go to war tomorrow, do we have what we need? No,” he added.
The issues were made evident in a four-day testing camp held last month in Alaska by the defense department, which saw soldiers and private contractors repeatedly crash and fail to take down prototype drones, The Times reported. Some of the drones failed to launch altogether, and one of the drones that could fly ended up hitting the wrong target.
The potential “mega deal” also comes as US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a new order to “cut red tape” on US drone production. The Pentagon memo highlighted the need for the US to keep pace as military drone production skyrockets around the world. READ MORE
Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church
- HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page
When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.
But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)
“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB
Free Bible Program
NTEB To Help Sponsor ‘Backpack And School Supplies Drive’ To Benefit The Children And Community Impacted By The Guadalupe River Flood In Texas
NTEB to supply Victory Baptist Church in Kerrville, Texas, with resources needed for 400 back-to-school backpacks filled with King James Bibles and supplies
The floodwaters that roared through Kerrville, Texas, took the nation by storm as we watched incredible devastation especially at Camp Mystic Christian girls camp where 27 campers and counsellors perished. We were contacted by Pastor Ed from Ranchero Drive Baptist Church with an urgent request for Bibles and we sent out an opening order of 1,000 KJVs. Yesterday we learned about a local community outreach for the children of flood victims that Pastor Cody from Victory Baptist Church wants to conduct, and we offered to help him to bring it to fruition.
“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 (KJB)
Victory Baptist Church wants to hold a community day where they will feed anyone and everyone who comes out, as well as handing out 400 back-to-school backpacks filled with school supplies and, of course, a beautiful new King James Bible. But in order to make that happen, they need a little help, and that’s where NTEB’ers come in. After exchanging dozens of messages back and forth with Pastor Cody, NTEB has offered to provide all the school supplies needed in each backpack as well as the Bibles, 400 in all. These are children and teen Bibles, separate from and in addition to the 1,000 adult Bibles we have already sent out. Total cost for all of this is right around $12,500.00, and the resources mentioned here have already been sent, by faith, to supply the need in Kerrville in time for their event on August 9th. This is where you come in, we need your help to cover the cost for all this.
- HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page
When we started Now The End Begins 16 years ago, never in my wildest imaginings did I ever see a Free Bible Program, much less a Bibles Behind Bars program, and certainly not one where we would be supplying aid, relief and Bibles to assist disaster victims on such a large scale. But this is what the Lord has seen fit to use NTEB to accomplish, and it is so exciting to be “in the game” on this level. Please pray for the Kerrville outreach we are helping Victory Baptist with, pray for Pastor Cody, and pray for healing for all the people who will come on that day for food and much-needed school supplies for their children. If God has prospered you, please click on the donate button to help us with the cost of this mission.
Thank you so much…TO THE FIGHT!!!
Kerrville Hit With More Flash Flooding Halting Search Efforts Along Guadalupe River
This is the Guadalupe River in Kerrville, Texas just a few days ago, 170 people still missing and the need for help is overwhelming.
Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church
- HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page
When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.
But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)
“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB
Conspiracy Theory
Former Mafia Capo Michael Franzese Who Was Locked Up In Same Cell As Jeffrey Epstein Said Suicide Would Have Been ‘Impossible’ To Carry Out
Mafia boss Michael Franzese who served time in the exact jail cell where Jeffrey Epstein died said it would be ‘impossible’ for the pedophile to have killed himself inside.
Donald Trump could still pull a win out of this tsunami of MAGA opposition over his botched handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, but the clock is not his friend, and as Jack Bauer would say, he is very quickly running out of time to recover the situation. Yesterday, former Mafia capo in the Colombo crime family Michael Franzese, who himself was locked up in the very same cell that Jeffrey Epstein was, said there was no way that Epstein committed suicide, that it would have been categorically impossible, unless he had had a little help. We agree, and that’s the memo.
“And they were more than forty which had made this conspiracy.” Acts 23:13 (KJB)
One thing is for certain, Donald Trump knows a whole lot more than he is telling, and for whatever his reasons, is choosing to keep it under wraps in the hopes it will all just blow over in the next news cycle. The man we elected to dismantle the Deep State is now the one doing their bidding, is that where we are here on Day 1,948 of 15 Days To Flatten The Curve? Mr. President, I’d advise you to choose your next move wisely, you are running out of time.
Former mobster Michael Franzese once jailed in Jeffrey Epstein’s cell says suicide inside would be ‘impossible’
FROM THE NY POST: Michael Franzese — a former Colombo crime family capo — told NewsNation that he spent seven months incarcerated in the cell where Epstein died and that the very architecture and layout of the rooms would not allow somebody to kill themselves like Epstein.
“There’s just no way you are able to commit suicide. There’s just no way,” Franzese said. “There’s no way to hang yourself, there’s nothing from the ceiling, there’s nothing from the bed.”
“You’d have to be a midget, and work really hard to try to hang yourself and I don’t think you could accomplish it,” he added, explaining that there are no fixtures on the ceiling and that beds are generally low to the ground. “You just couldn’t physically do it. It would be almost impossible to do it.”
Former Mafia capo in the Colombo crime family Michael Franzese says that it would be ‘impossible’ for Jeffrey Epstein to have committed suicide. He should know because he was locked up in the exact same cell as Epstein. What is Donald Trump trying to hide? pic.twitter.com/cQU22fwUg0
— Now The End Begins (@NowTheEndBegins) July 16, 2025
Despite Franzese’s claims about the cell’s layout, photos from Epstein’s cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center after he died showed a bunk ladder and gridded bars on the window that reached the ceiling. Epstein, 66, hanged himself in his cell in August 2019 as he was being held without bail pending trial on child sex-trafficking charges.
Donald Trump is flabbergasted why “anyone would be still be interested in talking about Jeffrey Epstein”. He says that only “bad people” are keeping this fake news non-story going. Wow. Nothing Obama ever did was as much gaslighting as this. Trump is the Deep State. pic.twitter.com/VwyFsQfuuH
— Now The End Begins (@NowTheEndBegins) July 16, 2025
The twisted financier had been placed on suicide watch after an apparent attempt to take his own life behind bars just days earlier. He was moved to a more heavily monitored unit after that, where guards were supposed to regularly check on him. But the guards fell asleep on duty the night Epstein died and later doctored their logbooks to hide it. At the same time, the cameras watching the cellblock apparently malfunctioned and turned off.
Franzese doesn’t buy those stories
“As far as the cameras being off, I haven’t experienced that – I did eight years in prison and I haven’t experienced cameras being broken and a perfect storm of correctional officers not walking those cells,” he told NewsNation.
“I just can’t buy it. I cannot buy it, I’m sorry. And I have no horse in this race other than my experience and the fact that I just couldn’t see it happening,” Franzese continued.
Debate over Epstein’s death — and conspiracy theories about the high-flying sex trafficker’s death — have dominated headlines since the Trump administration announced last week that investigators determined a supposed client list detailing powerful people connected to the pedo never existed. READ MORE
Epstein ‘couldn’t have killed himself,’ says inmate held in same cell
Michael Franzese, a former capo for the Colombo crime family in the 1980s who served time in the exact cell where Jeffrey Epstein died in 2019 rejects the claim that the convicted sex offender died by suicide. He says “there’s no way” that’s possible.
Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church
- HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page
When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.
But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)
“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB
THE BIG STORY
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END TIMES
CHRISLAM
FALSE TEACHERS
THE METAVERSE
REAL UFOS
ISRAEL
THE MOTB
CATHOLIC CHURCH
FAKE NEWS
ABORTION
THE THIRD TEMPLE
BILL GATES
GEORGE SOROS
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