JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
Anti-abortion protesters rally at Planned Parenthood sites-Reuters-AUG 23,15-YAHOONEWS
(Reuters) - Thousands of anti-abortion protesters on Saturday demonstrated at Planned Parenthood sites around the United States where they called for the federal government to end funding for the health organization.The protests staged at dozens of Planned Parenthood sites came after an anti-abortion group released an eighth video on Friday purporting to show Planned Parenthood officials negotiating prices for aborted fetal tissue.During the two-hour morning rallies, demonstrators prayed and chanted outside the facilities as they held signs condemning Planned Parenthood and its practices."Planned Parenthood sells baby parts," read one sign at a rally in St. Paul, Minnesota, according to a photos posted on social media."Today's nationwide demonstrations ... underscore the grassroots opposition to Planned Parenthood. It is time that Planned Parenthood closed its doors forever," said Jim Sedlak, a vice president at American Life League, an anti-abortion organization, in a statement.Vice President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America Eric Ferrero said in a statement that the rallies were meant "to intimidate and harass" the organization's patients." Unlike these protesters, compassion is at the center of what we do, and we will continue to provide care, and a safe, welcoming environment for our patients, no matter what," he said.Planned Parenthood has come under increasing scrutiny recently due to secretly recorded videos about its role in supplying aborted fetal tissue for medical research.Anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress has released a series of videos that it says prove Planned Parenthood staff sell fetal material from abortions for profit."Extremists who oppose Planned Parenthood's mission and services are making outrageous and completely false claims. They are engaged in a fraud, and other claims they've made have been discredited and disproven," Ferrero said.(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by James Dalgleish)
ABORTED BABIES BODIES SOLD BY PLANNED PARENTHOOD
http://ift.tt/1h684fh
http://ift.tt/1NHi1KC
http://ift.tt/1J806z3
http://ift.tt/1hAVvJj
http://ift.tt/1g4XkNB
http://ift.tt/1Ua30oJ
http://ift.tt/1KBU9KJ
http://ift.tt/1Ua32No
NORTH-SOUTH KOREA EXCHANGE FIRE
http://ift.tt/1h6852J
http://ift.tt/1JaPj3P
BIRD LANDS ON ERDOGAN-IS THIS A SIGN THAT MIGRATING BIRDS EAT ISLAM
http://ift.tt/1hxzg7j
WEST-NATO DRILLS-RUSSIA-CHINA DRILLS
http://ift.tt/1Ec4M4C;
THE LATEST ON THE KOREAS FIGHT
http://ift.tt/1I4eYr2
S. Korea slams North over submarine, artillery deployments-AFP-AUG 23,15-YAHOONEWS
Seoul (AFP) - North Korea has mobilised dozens of submarines and doubled its artillery units along the border, South Korea said Sunday, accusing Pyongyang of undermining top-level talks aimed at averting a military confrontation.A defense ministry spokesman said 70 percent of the North's total submarine fleet -- or around 50 vessels -- had left their bases and disappeared from Seoul's military radar.The movement of such a large number of submarines was "unprecedented," the spokesman said, adding that Seoul and Washington were beefing up their military surveillance in response."The number is nearly 10 times the normal level... we take the situation very seriously," he said.The North has also doubled the number of artillery units along the heavily-fortified land border with the South, he added.The move came as top officials from both Koreas resumed a talks aimed at easing military tensions after a marathon negotiating session the night before ended without final agreement."The North is adopting a two-faced stance with the talks going on," said the spokesman.Yonhap news agency, citing military officials, said the submarine deployment was the largest since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War."No one knows whether the North will attack our warships or commercial vessels... we are mobilising all our surveillance resources to locate them," it quoted one military official as saying.The North operates more than 70 submarines -- one of the world's largest fleets -- compared to about 10 in the South, according to Seoul's latest defense white paper.The South accused Pyongyang in 2010 of using a submarine to torpedo a Seoul warship resulting in the loss of 46 lives -- a charge the North denied.Tension flared on the Korean peninsula after Seoul accused Pyongyang of planting landmines across the border that earlier this month maimed two South Korean soldiers.Pyongyang denied involvement but Seoul retaliated by resuming loudspeaker propaganda broadcast hated by the North along the border on August 10.The North's leader Kim Jong-Un last week ordered his military to move to a war-footing after an exchange of artillery fire on Thursday that claimed no casualties but further escalated tension.
North, South Korea on alert amid talks in bid to end standoff-Reuters By Ju-min Park and Jack Kim-AUG 23,15-YAHOONEWS
SEOUL (Reuters) - Top aides to the leaders of North and South Korea negotiated into the evening on Sunday after talking through the previous night to try to ease tensions involving an exchange of artillery fire that brought the peninsula to the brink of armed conflict.The rare and unusually long meeting at the Panmunjom truce village inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) began on Saturday evening, shortly after North Korea's deadline for Seoul to halt anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts or face military action.It broke up before dawn on Sunday and restarted in the afternoon with the rivals on high military alert. The North had deployed twice the usual artillery strength at the border and had more than 50 submarines away from base, the South's defense ministry said.South Korea, also on high alert, said it had no plans to halt the propaganda broadcasts that triggered the latest standoff.The envoys, shown on TV exchanging handshakes and tight smiles at the start of their meeting on Saturday, discussed ways to resolve tension and improve ties, South Korea's presidential Blue House said in a brief statement early on Sunday."Both sides are under big pressure to get something out of this," said Jeon Young-sun, professor at the Institute of the Humanities for Unification at Konkuk University in Seoul, who said the length of the high-level meeting may be unprecedented.The talks took place in South Korea's Peace House, just south of Panmunjom's often-photographed sky-blue huts, and the same venue where lower-level talks between the bitter rivals took place in February 2014, without agreement.The negotiating session that began Saturday was interrupted with breaks for both sides to consult with their respective governments, and for snacks, the South's Yonhap News Agency reported."North Korea wants to stop broadcasts, while South Korea can't do it without achieving anything back," Jeon said.Sunday's talks were open-ended, with the South's Blue House expected to announce the results after they conclude."QUASI-STATE OF WAR"-North Korea and South Korea have remained technically in a state of war since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, and inter-Korean relations have been in a deep freeze since the deadly 2010 sinking of a South Korean warship. Pyongyang denied responsibility.The current tensions began early this month when two South Korean soldiers were wounded by landmines along the border. The North denies laying the mines. Days later, Seoul began its propaganda broadcasts in random three-hour bursts from 11 banks of loudspeakers, including news reports and K-pop music from the South, resuming a tactic both sides halted in 2004.The crisis escalated on Thursday when the North fired four shells into the South, according to Seoul, which responded with a barrage of 29 artillery rounds. North Korea declared a "quasi-state of war" in front-line areas and set an ultimatum for Seoul to halt its broadcasts.That deadline passed on Saturday without any reported incident.The United Nations, the United States and the North's lone major ally, China, have all called for calm.The United States, which has 28,500 soldiers based in South Korea, is conducting annual joint military exercises with the South. North Korea regularly condemns the maneuvers as a preparation for war.South Korean President Park Geun-hye's national security adviser, Kim Kwan-jin, and Unification Minister, Hong Yong-pyo, met with Hwang Pyong So, the top military aide to the North's leader, Kim Jong Un, and Kim Yang Gon, a veteran North Korean official in inter-Korean affairs, on Saturday, prompting hopes for a breakthrough.Pyongyang's two negotiators made an unexpected visit to the South last October to attend the closing ceremony of the Asian Games, where they met Kim Kwan-jin. Those talks raised hopes for an improvement in relations, but that did not materialize.North Korea has been hit with UN and U.S. sanctions because of repeated nuclear and missile tests, moves that Pyongyang sees as an attack on its sovereign right to defend itself.(Additional reporting by Tony Munroe and James Pearson; Editing by Nick Macfie and Philippa Fletcher)
Putin to be notable absentee at Ukraine crisis talks in Berlin-AFP By Dmitry Zaks-AUG 23,15-YAHOONEWS
Kiev (AFP) - The heads of Germany and France will meet Kiev's pro-Western leader in Berlin on Monday for Ukrainian crisis talks most notable for their diplomatically-charged exclusion of Russia's Vladimir Putin.German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande have put enormous political onus on resolving Ukraine's 16-month pro-Russian uprising and returning peace to the European Union's turbulent eastern front.They spent 17 hours locked up with Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in the Belarussian capital Minsk in February before emerging with a peace deal that promised to end the fighting quickly and resolve all political disputes by the end of the year.Yet the so-called Minsk II accord was broken by the warring sides instantly and repeatedly.The death toll estimated by the United Nations stood at more than 5,300 when the four leaders made their February attempt to end Europe's bloodiest and most destabilising conflict since the Balkans wars of the 1990s.It is steadily approaching 6,900 today.Poroshenko's decision to ask for Monday's meeting -- and the two EU leaders' agreement not to invite Putin -- is seen by many observers as a snub to Russia's increasingly anti-Western head of state.Poroshenko blames the Kremlin's allegedly unflinching backing of the pro-Russian insurgents for a recent spike in violence that caught the attention of EU leaders and drew a damning rebuke from NATO.The acting spokeswoman for the Western military alliance said "Russia has a special responsibility to find a political solution" to the conflict -- a phrase that overtly implies a link between the Kremlin and the rebel command.Ukraine, which for months has anticipated a new rebel offensive in late summer or early fall, now expects a "major escalation" in the fighting around the country's independence holiday, which happens to fall on Monday, Poroshenko said Saturday while dispatching more military vehicles and arms to his troops."The military threat from the East will remain for decades, it is not going to disappear soon," he said.- 'Important signal' to Putin -Meanwhile Merkel -- born in the former communist state of East Germany and a keen proponent of keeping lines of communication open with Moscow for security reasons -- has expressed growing frustration with Russia's approach to Ukraine.Putin flatly denies any involvement and calls Russian soldiers caught in the east Ukrainian war zone "volunteers" or off-duty servicemen.But Poroshenko made clear that his decision to ask for a meeting without Putin -- the first summit to address the crisis since Minsk -- was designed to show the Kremlin boss that Europe was abandoning its formal neutrality and aligning itself with Kiev."The key goal of the Ukrainian authorities is to create a powerful international community that forms a coalition and stops the aggressor," Poroshenko said in reference to Russia."The fact that (Merkel and Hollande) agreed to the meeting format proposed by Kiev sends a very important signal to both Putin and the Western audience," a senior Ukrainian diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity."It says that France and Germany are in the same boat as we are."Yet Berlin and Paris have so far refrained from publicly aligning themselves with Kiev or declaring the Kremlin a direct threat."It is clear that there can only be lasting, sustainable, stable security with Russia and not against Russia," German foreign ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer said on Friday.A diplomatic source in Paris also insisted that Merkel and Hollande were not trying to "distance" themselves from Putin."This is not the creation of some sort of troika that is meant to put up a diplomatic fight against Russia," the Paris official told reporters on Friday.- Putin watching closely -Russia has declined to formally address Putin's absence -- a position that underscores its refusal to admit Putin's growing isolation from Western countries that had been trying to win Moscow's cooperation since the end of the Cold War.But Moscow has made abundantly clear that Poroshenko should be the one held responsible in Berlin for failing to stop the war."We are keeping close tabs on this meeting's preparations and will also carefully monitor its outcome," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday."For us, the need to put additional pressure on Kiev is obvious," said Lavrov."We expect Germany and France -- the underwriters of the Minsk agreements -- to do everything possible to make sure that (the peace terms) are unconditionally fulfilled."
Ukrainian insurgency leaders have also dismissed the Berlin gathering as meaningless because it fails to include Putin.
DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS-10 WORLD REGIONS/TRADE BLOCS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS-10 WORLD DIVISION WORLD GOVERNMENT) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(THE EU (EUROPEAN UNION) TAKES OVER IRAQ WHICH HAS SPLIT INTO 3-SUNNI-KURD-SHIA PARTS-AND THE REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE IS BROUGHT BACK TOGETHER-THE TWO LEGS OF DANIEL WESTERN LEG AND THE ISLAMIC LEG COMBINED AS 1)
OTHER STORIES
http://ift.tt/1h687aJ
Greek coalition process crawls as election calls grow-Reuters By Greg Roumeliotis and David Stamp-AUG 23,15-YAHOONEWS
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek opposition leaders took things easy on Sunday in their quest for a new coalition, ignoring calls from home and abroad for a rapid move to elections so the country can deal with its simultaneous economic and humanitarian crises.No face-to-face talks were scheduled for the day of rest, although conservative leader Evangelos Meimarakis planned to ring the head of the unreformed KKE communist party - a likely exercise in futility even if the call goes ahead.The leisurely pace of coalition negotiations since Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras resigned on Thursday - after only seven months in office - has prompted media calls for a caretaker leader to implement further austerity and reform policies that are essential to ensure Greece keeps getting vital funds under its new bailout deal.Without naming names, Tsipras denounced the tactics of Meimarakis and radical leftist Panagiotis Lafazanis - the man who led a walkout from Tsipras's Syriza party over the 86 billion euro ($98 billion) program."Don't bother with tricks aimed at delaying the elections. These won’t get anywhere and the people understand this," Tsipras told senior government and Syriza members on Saturday.He remains favorite to form the next government, but whoever leads Greece next faces daunting problems. The country narrowly avoided financial collapse and possible exit from the euro when Tsipras caved in to euro zone and IMF demands to secure the bailout.While the money has started flowing, it could stop if the creditors feel Athens is not sticking to its promises at a review in October. That would sink plans to rescue Greek banks brought to their knees by the crisis.Adding to the urgency for a stable government, Greece is struggling with thousands of migrants, many of them refugees from the Syrian civil war.They are landing on Greek islands in small boats, making their way to the mainland and heading to the Macedonian border where thousands are stuck in chaotic and squalid conditions, hoping to head for more prosperous countries in northern Europe.-LABYRINTHINE CONSTITUTION-Under Greece's labyrinthine constitution, the three biggest parties are offered three days each to try to form a new coalition should a government resign after less than a year.Only when these efforts have failed - something that is already a near certainty - can President Prokopis Pavlopoulos appoint a caretaker prime minister and call elections.Some believe Greece cannot wait for action until after elections, which Tsipras wants held before the end of September."The country needs an experienced caretaker prime minister," Kathimerini newspaper said. "Implementing the accord reached with the lenders, recapitalizing the banks and the migrant crisis are burning issues that cannot wait, not even one month."Even Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the chairman of euro zone finance ministers so often at odds with Athens during the bailout negotiations, has taken common cause with Tsipras over elections. "I hope that they are as quick as possible so that the least possible amount of time is wasted," he told reporters.Tsipras has turned down the opportunity to try to form a coalition after almost a third of his lawmakers rebelled in parliament over the bailout, depriving him of his majority and forcing him to rely on temporary support from the opposition.According to a government official, he rejected a request for a meeting on Sunday from Meimarakis, who is interim leader of the New Democracy party, saying he had no chance of pulling a coalition together with the present parliamentary arithmetic.Syriza's strategy is to use Tsipras's popularity to try to govern alone after elections. "Our goal is an absolute majority, an attainable goal, so that the next government can be stable and turbulence that the country does not need can be avoided," government spokeswoman Olga Gerovasili told Real radio.The opposition appears to be dragging out the process as voters return from the summer holidays to find their living standards cut yet further by value-added tax increases and the imposition of a "solidarity" income tax under the bailout.These, along with more pension cuts for the elderly, may start to wear down the popularity of Tsipras, who at the moment seems to have no serious rivals.If Meimarakis fails, Lafazanis - whose Popular Unity party immediately became the third biggest when it split from Syriza on Friday - is next in line.Lafazanis, whom Tsipras sacked as energy minister last month for rebelling, insists he will use his full three days but has ruled out dealing with anybody who supported the bailout.That reduces his possible partners to the communists and Golden Dawn, an ultra-right group shunned by all the other parties. This unlikely combination would muster just 57 votes in the 300-seat parliament, under the current party standings.($1 = 0.8778 euros)(additional reporting by Renee Maltezou; writing by David Stamp; Editing by Susan Fenton)
Tsipras calls early elections to boost mandate By Lisbeth Kirk-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, 21. Aug, 09:29-Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras resigned on Thursday (20 August), prompting snap elections in a move to out-play the opposition in his own left-wing Syriza party, which has, de facto, wiped out his parliamentary majority.In a televised speech to the nation on Thursday evening, he said he needs a new mandate from the Greek people and a stable government to implement reforms.No date has been set for the elections, but 20 September is said to be likely by Greek media, citing government sources.Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem told Reuters that he hopes the new elections would not delay or derail the bailout package which Athens has negotiated with its creditors."It is crucial that Greece maintains its commitments to the eurozone”, he said.“Swift elections in Greece can be a way to broaden support for the ESM programme just signed by PM Tsipras on behalf of Greece”, Martin Selmayr, a senior European Commission official said on Twitter, referring to the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), an EU anti-crisis fund.Tsipras' announcement came the same day the ESM paid Greece the first €23 billion tranche of its third eurozone bailout.With the fresh money, Greece was able to repay a €3.2 billion debt to the European Central Bank and to avoid a messy default.-Referendum on Tsipras?-The Greek election amounts to a referendum on the 41-year-old Tsipras and his bailout deal.The overall package is worth up to €86 billion over three years and was agreed on 13 July at an extraordinary eurozone summit in Brussels.After 18 hours of negotiations, culminating six months of wider talks, Tsipras obliged Greece to accept painful reforms and privatisations in return for staying in the euro.The deal came despite a Greek referendum in which people voted No to more austerity.It has caused a split in Tsipras’ ruling Syriza Party, with 32 Syriza members voting against the package and with 11 of them abstaining in a Greek parliament vote earlier this month.The voting reduced Tsipras’ strength to just 118 seats votes in the 300-member assembly.The Left Platform, a new Syriza faction formed last week and headed by former energy minister Panayiotis Lafazanis, announced on Thursday it will run in the upcoming elections on its own list.-Seven months in the eye of the storm-Tspiras became prime minister of Greece after elections on 25 January and has held the post for less than seven months.His time in office has however been one of the most dramatic periods in EU history, with Greece constantly in headlines amid speculation the eurozone could see its first-ever exit."The political mandate of the 25 January elections has exhausted its limits and now the Greek people have to have their say”, Tsipras said on Thursday."I want to be honest with you. We did not achieve the [bailout] agreement we expected before the January elections”.Support for Syriza stood at around 35 percent in July and it is still, by far, the most popular party. But it needs a coalition partner to retain power after the elections.By holding a snap vote before the painful EU reforms are carried out, Tsipras may still profit from his personal 60 percent approval rating.After the TV announcement, he went to Greek president Prokopis Pavlopoulos to submit his resignation.The Greek constitution grants the leaders of the largest three parties up to three days each to try to form a government.If they fail to do so or decide not to use their right, then a caretaker prime minister will be appointed to serve until the elections are over. This will be the head of the supreme court, Vassiliki Thanou-Christofilou.
Erdogan calls new election on 1 November-By EUOBSERVER
21. Aug, 19:18-Turkish president Erdogan has called snap elections for 1 November after his PM failed to agree a coalition. Erdogan's AKP party lost its majority in June elections, putting the brakes on Erdogan's plan to centralise power in the presidential office, amid EU concerns he is becoming increasingly authoritarian.
EU tells Berlin free movement is 'non-negotiable'-By EUOBSERVER
21. Aug, 14:49-A European Commission spokesman said Friday internal EU freedom of movement is "non-negotiable" after the German interior minister told the BBC the bloc's "Schengen" free-travel zone is at risk due to the migrant crisis. The commission noted that anything which amounts to "systematic" border controls is against EU law.
EU states favour Christian migrants from Middle East By Andrew Rettman-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, 21. Aug, 09:29-EU member states with a Roman Catholic heritage are showing a preference for taking in Christian migrants, despite their obligations under EU law.The Slovakian government was the latest to issue a statement.Its interior ministry told EUobserver on Thursday (20 August) that it’s “not a discriminatory country” and that “if some Muslim people come to Slovakia and decide to stay in our country and ask for asylum, they will be [put] in [a] normal asylum process”.But it added that, in practice, Muslims don’t want to live there and end up moving on to EU states with larger Muslim communities.“In Slovakia, we have a really tiny community of Muslim people. We even don't have mosques. That's the reason we want to choose people who really want to start a new life in Slovakia. And Slovakia, as a Christian country, can really help Christians from Syria to find a new home in Slovakia”.Its comment comes as EU institutions prepare to start relocating the first asylum seekers from Greece and Italy, as well as UN-registered refugees from camps in the Middle East, around Europe in September.Slovakia has volunteered to take in 100 asylum seekers and 100 refugees, out of the total 60,000 which the EU aims to redistribute.But it’s concerned that this is just the beginning.Frontex, the EU border control agency, says 107,500 irregular migrants arrived in the EU last month, while Germany expects 800,000 asylum applications this year.The European Commission also plans to propose a “permanent mechanism” for relocations in emergency situations by the end of the year, on top of its ad-hoc 60,000 scheme.“If we don´t stop the migrant wave, how many people will European countries have to relocate when we have 200,000 migrants, or maybe 1 million or 2 million?”, the Slovak ministry said.Political correctness-Cherry-picking migrants is against EU law.Its Charter of Fundamental Rights contains explicit clauses on non-discrimination.Its two asylum directives, from 2004 and 2013, which can trigger infringement proceedings for non-compliance, also say individuals who qualify for international protection on individual merit cannot be denied it.But the EU relocation mechanism, the final details of which are to be decided by EU officials and member states’ experts in a “forum for resettlement and relocation” next month, leaves wiggle room for national preference.In the draft format, Frontex officials will go to Greece and Italy to identify the people most in need of being moved. But, the commission says, “it is the independent justice tribunals of the host member state who take the decision (in accordance with UN, international, and EU law)” whether to accept them.EUobserver also contacted ministries in the Czech Republic, Ireland, Poland, and the Baltic States, all of which have a strong Catholic or Protestant heritage. None of them are willing to say quite what Slovakia is saying.The Czech Republic (to take in 1,500 asylum seekers and refugees) said it “is strictly neutral, religion-wise”.Poland (2,000 asylum seekers and refugees) said it “does not apply any preference in terms of the religion or race of asylum seekers”.-Political reality-But Ireland (120 refugees) did echo Slovakia.A justice ministry spokesman noted that “language skills, family links, or cultural ties relate to the capacity of the people relocated to integrate into their new host country, which is something to be taken into account in the relocation process”.A contact from one of the three Baltic States (725 asylum seekers and refugees in total) also noted the region is becoming increasingly anti- Muslim.“In Latvia and Lithuania, there is a nascent debate about [banning] the wearing of the burka”, the government source said.The Hungarian government could not be contacted for a comment on Thursday, a national holiday.But it's one of the few states which has so far not volunteered to take in any asylum seekers or refugees under the EU programme.Its right-wing PM, Viktor Orban, said, in July, that “We would like for Europe to keep belonging to the Europeans … to preserve the Hungarian Hungary”.The Czech president, Milos Zeman, has also attacked EU “political correctness”.He recently said “refugees from a completely different cultural background would not be in a good position in the Czech Republic” and said Muslim migrants are potential terrorists.Poland, in July, already took in some 60 Christian-only families from Syria.It did so under a non-EU initiative, organised by a British aid agency, Operation Safe Havens, which brought them over on privately-chartered flights.The Polish PM, Ewa Kopacz, in the run-up to the project, said Poland, “as a Christian country”, has a special responsibility to help Christians. The Polish opposition party, PiS, which is neck-and-neck in polls ahead of October elections, has said multiculturalism is a “failure” in Europe.Belgium, which also has a Catholic heritage, has volunteered to take 2,464 asylum seekers and refugees under the EU scheme.In July, it already took in some 200 Christians from Syria, in a separate NGO initiative.Discrimination?-For its part, Operation Safe Havens denies that it’s discriminatory.It is sponsored by Lord Weidenfeld, a wealthy British publisher of Jewish origin, who was rescued by Christian groups from Nazi-occupied Austria and who says he wants to repay his dues.Its spokesman, Andrew Carey, said on Thursday: “Our strong argument is that there are Christian minority communities in Syria and Iraq, which are particularly vulnerable and at risk, and we’d argue priority should be given to those. If that’s regarded as discriminatory, we think that’s wrong”.He added that Operation Safe Havens is in “advanced negotiations” to resettle a second group of Christian-only families in the EU next month.He asked EUobserver not to name the host state due to the sensitive timing of the talks, but it is also a Catholic country in eastern Europe.“The more secular countries quite often have the reaction that it [a Christian-only rescue mission] is discriminatory”, he said.A contact from another agency which works to highlight the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, who asked not to be named, told this website: “There are quite a few EU countries which have, for years, unofficially given preference to asylum applicants of Christian origin”.She named Belgium, Ireland, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Sweden, which has a strong Christian-democrat element in its establishment, as well as an increasingly popular anti-Muslim party, the Sweden Democrats. Sweden has volunteered to take 1,860 asylum seekers and refugees in the EU programme.It also hosts the highest number of protected migrants per capita in the EU.“No. That’s not true [that Sweden favours Christian applicants]. I can deny it. In Sweden, we don’t favour any religion. We treat applicants on individual merit”, Erik Boman, a spokesman for the ministry of justice, which handles asylum claims, said.
Danes to vote on EU justice opt-out 3 December-By EUOBSERVER
21. Aug, 13:50-Danish PM Lars Lokke Rasmussen announced on Friday a referendum on 3 December to replace Denmark's "opt-out" on EU justice and home affairs with an "opt-in" model. A large majority of five parties in the parliament back a Yes-vote, but the second biggest party, the Danish People's Party, recommends No.
Danish referendum on EU opt-outs to stir hornets’ nest-By EUOBSERVER
21. Aug, 10:41-Date of vote to be announced by government Friday on ending national opt-outs from EU justice and home affairs policies. The referendum comes amid growing euroscpetic and anti-immigrant sentiment, as well as EU plans to relocate thousands of asylum seekers and refugees from the Middle East to the Nordic country.
Danes to vote on EU relations in December referendum By Lisbeth Kirk-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, 21. Aug, 19:29-Danish PM, Lars Loekke Rasmussen, announced on Friday (21 August) a referendum on replacing Denmark's “opt-out” on EU justice and home affairs with an “opt-in” model, similar to the one used by Ireland and the UK.The decision to hold the referendum - on 3 December 2015 - follows a political agreement between five parties in parliament - the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, the Social Democrats, the Social Liberals, and the Socialist People's Party - from 10 December 2014.Under its opt-out, which dates back to 1993, Denmark automatically stays out of all supra-national EU justice and home affairs policy and doesn’t take part in EU Council votes in these areas.The EU dossier was slim in the early 1990s.But it has ballooned since then, including on EU police and judicial co-operation and on migration, with Denmark still on the outside.A Yes vote in December will let Denmark, in future, choose which home affairs policies and laws it takes part in.It will also let Denmark agree specific legislation in the area without the need for further referendums.The Yes-parties have already identified 22 existing EU initiatives they want Denmark to opt into.They’ve also promised Denmark won’t take part in 10 other EU initiatives - including the hot-button issue of asylum and immigration.-Big shift-The Yes would mark Denmark’s first important shift in EU relations since Danes, in a referendum, soundly rejected eurozone membership.In a less signigicant step, Danish voters, at the same time as the EU elections last May, agreed to join the EU's Unified Patent Court.Announced on a hot Friday afternoon, the public debate on the referendum is yet to start in earnest.But the last opinion polls, from June, show Yes on 53 percent, No on 24 percent, and 23 percent undecided.For its part, the second largest party in the Folketinget, the Danish People's Party, is to campaign for a No.It is critical of the EU and hostile to immigration. It sits with UK tories in the European Parliament and will be the major force in the No-side.-Trump card-It also has a trump card: Its European Parliament candidate in 2014, Morten Messerschmidt, won with an unprecedented 465,758 personal votes in a country of just 5.6 million people.The leftist Red-Green alliance will also campaign on the No-side, saying Denmark must have full sovereignty on divorce, child custody, and criminal sentencing, among other topics.Its EU spokesperson, Pernille Skipper, noted that Denmark doesn’t share values with some other EU states."The European Union includes countries banning abortion or so-called homosexual propaganda. The vote is thus about much more than Europol, contrary to what the EU-rave parties claim”, she said.The Yes side has chosen Europol as the corner stone of its campaign.The pro-Yes parties’ compromise agreement says: “Currently, the Council is negotiating a revision of the regulation on Europol. Once adopted under the new rules of the Lisbon Treaty, Denmark can no longer participate in this co-operation”."The perspective of Denmark having to leave Europol is the main reason behind the agreement to hold a referendum”.-Norwegian model-But the No side says Denmark could continue Europol co- operation via a voluntary parallel agreement, on the Norwegian model.Europol is the European Union’s joint police agency.Headquartered in The Hague, it works closely with law enforcement bodies in EU member states, as well as in Australia, Canada, Norway, and the US.By choosing to have the Danish poll on 3 December, the PM, Loekke Rasmussen, will, for the most part, avoid getting the campaign mixed up with the UK’s referendum on EU membership.An EU summit on 17 December is expected to discuss in greater details the UK prime minister, David Cameron's demands for EU reforms in the run-up to the British vote, due at the latest in 2017.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
OTHER STORM NEWS
http://ift.tt/1Ec4Lhe
Typhoon leaves 15 dead, 12 miners missing in Philippines-Associated Press By JIM GOMEZ-AUG 23,15-YAHOONEWS
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Typhoon Goni blew out of the northern Philippines on Sunday after leaving at least 15 people dead and several others missing, including a dozen miners whose work camps were buried by a huge mudslide in a mountain village, officials said.Goni was last tracked at sea about 430 kilometers (267 miles) northeast of Basco town in Batanes province on the archipelago's northernmost tip. It has sustained winds of 140 kilometers (87 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 170 kph (105 mph) and was forecast to lash southern Japan within 24 hours, government forecasters said.While approaching the country's mountainous north, Goni dumped heavy rain for three days then battered already-sodden upland villages with fierce winds, triggering landslides, officials said.In the hard-hit mountain province of Benguet, landslides killed at least 12 people, including four gold miners who were pulled out of a huge mudslide that buried three work camps in far-flung Taneg village in Mankayan town. A dozen miners remain missing and more than 100 policemen and fellow miners dug through the muddy heap Sunday amid fading hope that survivors would be found, officials said.Benguet Governor Nestor Fongwan said days of pounding rain and a swollen creek saturated a mountain slope, which cascaded down the gold-mining area at dawn Saturday." They were sleeping when a huge chunk of the mountain came down and buried their work sites," Fongwan said by phone. "We're still hoping that we'll find survivors. We're still calling it a search and rescue operation."Three people died elsewhere in the north after being hit by a landslide, a fallen tree and drowning in a river, while three others were missing after being separately swept away by river currents, according to the Office of Civil Defense.More than 32,000 people abandoned their homes for safer areas at the height of the typhoon, which damaged nearly 1,000 houses, said Alexander Pama, who heads the government's disaster-response agency.Several flights and ferry trips were canceled and classes were called off in several towns in metropolitan Manila and nearby provinces as the typhoon battered the north and intensified monsoon rains on the main northern island of Luzon.Goni is the ninth of about 20 storms and typhoons that are expected to batter the Philippines this year. Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most ferocious storms on record to hit land, devastated large areas of the central Philippines in November 2013, leaving more than 7,300 people dead or missing.
Weakening Tropical Storm Danny heads to Puerto Rico, USVI-Associated Press By DANICA COTO-AUG 23,15-YAHOONEWS
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A weakening Tropical Storm Danny swirled toward the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, where a prolonged drought has led to hopes that it would bring rain.But forecasters said the storm would become a tropical depression before reaching Puerto Rico and bring little relief to the U.S. territory.Late Saturday night, Danny was located 480 miles (775 kilometers) east of the Leeward Islands, with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. It was traveling west at 15 mph (24 kph).The hurricane center said it expected Danny to be near the Leeward Islands by Sunday night or Monday morning, and reach Puerto Rico early Tuesday."The biggest threats to land are the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Hispaniola," said hurricane center specialist Robbie Berg.Meteorologists said it was too early to predict how much rainfall Danny would generate over Puerto Rico, which has implemented extreme water-rationing measures since May as it struggles with one of the worst droughts in its history."This storm has created a lot of expectations," said Carlos Anselmi with the National Weather Service in San Juan. "But we cannot talk about how much rainfall is expected because the storm is quite small. There's a lot of uncertainty still."The news was disheartening for Puerto Rico residents such as 88-year-old Gloria Rodriguez, who has struggled with water-rationing measures in which hundreds of thousands of people receive water only twice a week."We're asking God to bring us water and not destruction," she said. "This is what we're all hoping for."Nearly 25 percent of Puerto Rico is considered to be in an extreme drought, and another 45 percent is under a severe one, according to The National Drought Mitigation Center. A total of 2.9 million people in Puerto Rico have been affected, and U.S. officials have declared at least 20 of the island's 78 municipalities as disaster zones. Anselmi said Danny was expected to dump more rain over the U.S. Virgin Islands than Puerto Rico.U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Kenneth Mapp said officials were distributing sandbags and had opened shelters as a precaution.The approaching storm forced Antigua-based airline LIAT to cancel nearly 40 flights from Sunday to Tuesday, and officials with regional carrier Seaborne Airlines also warned of delays and cancelations. Several cruise ships scheduled to visit the U.S. Virgin Islands have canceled or delayed their trips.A tropical storm watch was in effect for Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla, St. Maarten, Saba, St. Eustatius, Guadeloupe, St. Barthelemy and St. Martin.___Danica Coto on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/danicacoto
Storm Kilo to strengthen in Pacific, Danny to weaken in Atlantic-Reuters By Karin Stanton-AUG 23,15-YAHOONEWS
KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii (Reuters) - Weather system Kilo weakened into a depression by early Saturday but is expected to become a hurricane as it travels across the central Pacific towards the Hawaiian islands over the next several days, the National Weather Service said.Kilo, with sustained winds of up to 30 miles per hour (48 kilometers per hour), was centered roughly 520 miles (835 km) south of Honolulu by Saturday at 5 a.m. EDT , moving west-northwest at about 17 mph (28 kph), the NWS said.Kilo is expected to strengthen and slow over the weekend, as it begins to turn northwest. Because it is tracking over warm water, south of the islands, it will likely avoid a wind shear that weakened two hurricanes earlier this month.Forecasters say Kilo will not make a direct hit on any of the islands but Kauai appears to be the most vulnerable.Flash-flood warnings are in effect for Maui and Hawaii's Big Island through Monday.Danny, the first hurricane of the 2015 Atlantic season, was downgraded to a tropical storm after weakening overnight and through the day, registering winds of up to 85 mph (136 kph) by Saturday, down from 115 mph (185 kph) the evening before.The hurricane is about 520 miles east (840 km) of the Leeward Islands and moving west at 14 mph (22 kph), the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory on Saturday evening.The center of Danny is expected to be near the Leeward Islands by Sunday night or Monday morning. Danny is expected to produce 2 (5 cm) inches to 4 inches (10 cm) of rain over the Leeward Islands through Monday.The French government has issued a tropical storm watch for Caribbean islands including Guadeloupe, St. Barthelemy and St. Martin.Hurricanes can bring destructive high winds, torrential rain and big waves, the National Weather Service said.(Reporting by Laila Kearney and Brendan O'Brien; Editing by Robin Pomeroy, James Dalgleish and Alan Crosby)
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Smoke blankets parts of Washington state as firefighters guard town from flames-Reuters By Alex Dobuzinskis-AUG 23,15-YAHOONEWS
(Reuters) - Firefighters battling a group of fierce wildfires in central Washington state labored on Saturday to expand containment lines outside a lakeside resort town, as large blazes scorched dry land in other parts of the U.S. West.The continuing fight against a complex of fires near the town of Chelan came a day after President Barack Obama signed a federal declaration of emergency for Washington state to coordinate relief efforts in 11 counties and several Indian reservations hard hit by wildfires.When flames advanced late last week toward Chelan, a town of about 4,000 people, authorities evacuated many residents from the area. About 1,000 people remained evacuated on Saturday, but sheriff's deputies were escorting some residents to check on their properties, said Brian Lawatch, a fire information officer for the team fighting the blaze. Heavy smoke hung over the central Washington state region, creating a visibility and breathing hazard for firefighters. They also had low humidity to worry about, with increased likelihood dry timber and grass would fuel the so-called Chelan Complex of blazes that officials say have burned over 86,000 acres (34,803 hectares) and are 35 percent contained.With roughly 560 firefighters deployed against the fires, crews took advantage of light winds to extend containment lines west of the town center along Lake Chelan in the area of a yacht club and at a nearby ridge, officials said.About 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Chelan, another group of blazes called the Okanogan Complex has burned more than 162,000 acres (65,559 hectares). The complex includes the so-called Twisp River fire, which killed three firefighters and injured four others on Wednesday night after forcing thousands of households to evacuate in the towns of Twisp and Winthrop.The most badly hurt of the surviving firefighters remained in critical condition on Saturday at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, a day after undergoing surgery to treat his burns, Susan Gregg, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said in an email.Washington state, while it has seen some of the West's most intense fire activity of the past week, is not alone in battling blazes.At least 70 large wildfires have been raging during that time through several bone-dry Western states, including Oregon, Idaho, California and Montana, the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise reported.More than 100 homes and dozens of outbuildings have been lost from those fires.(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by James Dalgleish)
Wildfires rage in U.S. Northwest, army and foreign crews called in-Reuters By Eric M. Johnson-August 21, 2015 12:17 AM-YAHOONEWS
SEATTLE (Reuters) - U.S. crews battling a flurry of wildfires raging unchecked across the Pacific Northwest contended with high winds on Thursday, a day after three firefighters were killed and four others were injured in Washington state.Authorities late Thursday ordered the immediate evacuation of the small community of Tonasket, nestled along the bank of the Okanogan River in north-central Washington, impacting about 1,000 people.On Wednesday, some 4,000 households in the riverfront towns of Twisp and Winthrop, in the foothills of the Cascade mountains about 75 miles (120 km) southwest of Tonasket, were also forced to flee the encroaching blaze.The Twisp blaze is just one of more than 70 large wildfires or clusters of fires in several drought-stricken Western states, the bulk of them in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California and Montana, the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise reported.Dozens of homes have been reduced to ruins in Idaho and Oregon in recent days.The fires have stretched civilian firefighting resources, prompting authorities to call the U.S. Army and Canadian crews to help, as well as mobilize personnel from Australia and New Zealand for the first time since 2008. Seventy-one fire managers and specialists from those two countries were due to arrive in Idaho on Aug. 23.U.S. wildland blazes have claimed the lives of at least 13 firefighters and support personnel so far this year, four more than died in the line of duty during all of 2014, the interagency fire center said.President Barack Obama has directed his administration to consult with local and state officials while the threat persists.ERRATIC WINDS COMPLICATE EFFORTS-The Twisp blaze has proven the deadliest. Three U.S. Forest Service firefighters in an engine crew died on Wednesday while battling the flames, which overtook their position after they were involved in a vehicle accident, Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers said.Among the dead was Thomas Zbyszewski, a physics major and actor at Whitman College in southeastern Washington. Four other firefighters were injured, one of them hospitalized in critical condition with burns over 60 percent of his body.The Twisp-area fire, part of a larger cluster of fires dubbed the Okanogan Complex, has burnt 7,873 acres (3,194 hectares) of rural brush and dry timber about 115 miles (185 km) northeast of Seattle since erupting on Wednesday, said Rick Scriven, a spokesman authorized to speak about the blaze.As of late Thursday afternoon, crews had yet to establish firm containment lines around the blaze, Scriven said, adding that suppression efforts across the Northwest had been complicated by "sporadic and erratic winds."The blaze near Twisp was burning in Okanogan County, the same area impacted by last July's massive Carlton Complex fire, the state's largest on record, which destroyed about 300 homes as it blackened 250,000 acres (100,000 hectares).About 50 miles (80 km) south of Twisp, the so-called First Creek fire was posing a renewed threat to populated areas after engulfing more than 68,000 acres (27,000 hectares), with 39 homes and 28 outbuildings destroyed days ago near the resort town of Chelan, according to sheriff's spokesman Rich Magnussen.The First Creek blaze jumped containment lines on Wednesday evening, triggering road closures and prompting authorities to extend evacuation orders to some 800 people, Magnussen said.Speaking in Chelan, U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell told reporters his agency expects to exhaust its firefighting budget by early September but said necessary funds and assets would continue to be made available where needed.The governors of Oregon and Idaho joined Washington state in calling up state National Guard troops backed by military aircraft to help combat blazes.(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle and Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Shelby Sebens in Portland, Oregon and Victoria Cavaliere in Los Angeles; Editing by Eric Walsh and Jeremy Laurence)
114 DEAD-722 INJURED-80 MISSING IN CHINA PORT CITY EXPLOSION
http://ift.tt/1h687aM
http://ift.tt/1JaPkVs
http://ift.tt/1JhnEex
http://ift.tt/1HStZMA
http://ift.tt/1JlvBWj
http://ift.tt/1TKVCxK
EARTHQUAKES
ISAIAH 42:15
15 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places,(DIFFERNT PLACES AT THE SAME TIME) and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
1 Day, Magnitude 2.5+ Worldwide
21 earthquakes - DownloadUpdated: 2015-08-23 14:23:13 UTCShowing event times using UTC21 earthquakes in map area
3.1 20km W of Perry, Oklahoma 2015-08-23 13:53:07 UTC 4.0 km
4.6 Kermadec Islands region 2015-08-23 12:28:50 UTC 43.1 km
4.8 157km ESE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia 2015-08-23 10:17:08 UTC 33.8 km
5.0 15km SE of Kodari, Nepal 2015-08-23 09:02:09 UTC 35.0 km
3.4 76km N of Road Town, British Virgin Islands 2015-08-23 08:31:51 UTC 128.0 km
2.7 36km ESE of Pecos, Texas 2015-08-23 07:04:12 UTC 5.0 km
4.1 9km W of Mazatan, Mexico 2015-08-23 06:19:49 UTC 86.3 km
2.9 50km W of Puerto Real, Puerto Rico 2015-08-23 04:57:04 UTC 60.0 km
5.2 67km SW of Acajutla, El Salvador 2015-08-23 04:48:49 UTC 49.3 km
3.2 13km ESE of Alva, Oklahoma 2015-08-23 04:30:13 UTC 5.0 km
3.0 8km NE of Redwood Valley, California 2015-08-23 03:42:06 UTC 0.0 km
2.8 87km NNW of Talkeetna, Alaska 2015-08-23 03:27:06 UTC 114.8 km
4.6 25km S of Ofunato, Japan 2015-08-23 02:08:43 UTC 76.4 km
3.3 58km WNW of Valdez, Alaska 2015-08-22 23:18:52 UTC 3.2 km
3.1 64km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic 2015-08-22 21:56:19 UTC 63.0 km
4.5 156km SSE of Ndoi Island, Fiji 2015-08-22 19:31:55 UTC 378.3 km
2.9 38km NE of Road Town, British Virgin Islands 2015-08-22 19:10:58 UTC 64.0 km
2.9 49km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic 2015-08-22 18:19:59 UTC 91.0 km
4.6 233km ESE of Lambasa, Fiji 2015-08-22 17:38:38 UTC 543.2 km
3.0 100km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico 2015-08-22 15:28:46 UTC 45.0 km
2.5 76km SSW of Unalaska, Alaska 2015-08-22 14:24:44 UTC 21.6 km
Anti-abortion protesters rally at Planned Parenthood sites-Reuters-AUG 23,15-YAHOONEWS
(Reuters) - Thousands of anti-abortion protesters on Saturday demonstrated at Planned Parenthood sites around the United States where they called for the federal government to end funding for the health organization.The protests staged at dozens of Planned Parenthood sites came after an anti-abortion group released an eighth video on Friday purporting to show Planned Parenthood officials negotiating prices for aborted fetal tissue.During the two-hour morning rallies, demonstrators prayed and chanted outside the facilities as they held signs condemning Planned Parenthood and its practices."Planned Parenthood sells baby parts," read one sign at a rally in St. Paul, Minnesota, according to a photos posted on social media."Today's nationwide demonstrations ... underscore the grassroots opposition to Planned Parenthood. It is time that Planned Parenthood closed its doors forever," said Jim Sedlak, a vice president at American Life League, an anti-abortion organization, in a statement.Vice President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America Eric Ferrero said in a statement that the rallies were meant "to intimidate and harass" the organization's patients." Unlike these protesters, compassion is at the center of what we do, and we will continue to provide care, and a safe, welcoming environment for our patients, no matter what," he said.Planned Parenthood has come under increasing scrutiny recently due to secretly recorded videos about its role in supplying aborted fetal tissue for medical research.Anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress has released a series of videos that it says prove Planned Parenthood staff sell fetal material from abortions for profit."Extremists who oppose Planned Parenthood's mission and services are making outrageous and completely false claims. They are engaged in a fraud, and other claims they've made have been discredited and disproven," Ferrero said.(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by James Dalgleish)
ABORTED BABIES BODIES SOLD BY PLANNED PARENTHOOD
http://ift.tt/1h684fh
http://ift.tt/1NHi1KC
http://ift.tt/1J806z3
http://ift.tt/1hAVvJj
http://ift.tt/1g4XkNB
http://ift.tt/1Ua30oJ
http://ift.tt/1KBU9KJ
http://ift.tt/1Ua32No
NORTH-SOUTH KOREA EXCHANGE FIRE
http://ift.tt/1h6852J
http://ift.tt/1JaPj3P
BIRD LANDS ON ERDOGAN-IS THIS A SIGN THAT MIGRATING BIRDS EAT ISLAM
http://ift.tt/1hxzg7j
WEST-NATO DRILLS-RUSSIA-CHINA DRILLS
http://ift.tt/1Ec4M4C;
THE LATEST ON THE KOREAS FIGHT
http://ift.tt/1I4eYr2
S. Korea slams North over submarine, artillery deployments-AFP-AUG 23,15-YAHOONEWS
Seoul (AFP) - North Korea has mobilised dozens of submarines and doubled its artillery units along the border, South Korea said Sunday, accusing Pyongyang of undermining top-level talks aimed at averting a military confrontation.A defense ministry spokesman said 70 percent of the North's total submarine fleet -- or around 50 vessels -- had left their bases and disappeared from Seoul's military radar.The movement of such a large number of submarines was "unprecedented," the spokesman said, adding that Seoul and Washington were beefing up their military surveillance in response."The number is nearly 10 times the normal level... we take the situation very seriously," he said.The North has also doubled the number of artillery units along the heavily-fortified land border with the South, he added.The move came as top officials from both Koreas resumed a talks aimed at easing military tensions after a marathon negotiating session the night before ended without final agreement."The North is adopting a two-faced stance with the talks going on," said the spokesman.Yonhap news agency, citing military officials, said the submarine deployment was the largest since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War."No one knows whether the North will attack our warships or commercial vessels... we are mobilising all our surveillance resources to locate them," it quoted one military official as saying.The North operates more than 70 submarines -- one of the world's largest fleets -- compared to about 10 in the South, according to Seoul's latest defense white paper.The South accused Pyongyang in 2010 of using a submarine to torpedo a Seoul warship resulting in the loss of 46 lives -- a charge the North denied.Tension flared on the Korean peninsula after Seoul accused Pyongyang of planting landmines across the border that earlier this month maimed two South Korean soldiers.Pyongyang denied involvement but Seoul retaliated by resuming loudspeaker propaganda broadcast hated by the North along the border on August 10.The North's leader Kim Jong-Un last week ordered his military to move to a war-footing after an exchange of artillery fire on Thursday that claimed no casualties but further escalated tension.
North, South Korea on alert amid talks in bid to end standoff-Reuters By Ju-min Park and Jack Kim-AUG 23,15-YAHOONEWS
SEOUL (Reuters) - Top aides to the leaders of North and South Korea negotiated into the evening on Sunday after talking through the previous night to try to ease tensions involving an exchange of artillery fire that brought the peninsula to the brink of armed conflict.The rare and unusually long meeting at the Panmunjom truce village inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) began on Saturday evening, shortly after North Korea's deadline for Seoul to halt anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts or face military action.It broke up before dawn on Sunday and restarted in the afternoon with the rivals on high military alert. The North had deployed twice the usual artillery strength at the border and had more than 50 submarines away from base, the South's defense ministry said.South Korea, also on high alert, said it had no plans to halt the propaganda broadcasts that triggered the latest standoff.The envoys, shown on TV exchanging handshakes and tight smiles at the start of their meeting on Saturday, discussed ways to resolve tension and improve ties, South Korea's presidential Blue House said in a brief statement early on Sunday."Both sides are under big pressure to get something out of this," said Jeon Young-sun, professor at the Institute of the Humanities for Unification at Konkuk University in Seoul, who said the length of the high-level meeting may be unprecedented.The talks took place in South Korea's Peace House, just south of Panmunjom's often-photographed sky-blue huts, and the same venue where lower-level talks between the bitter rivals took place in February 2014, without agreement.The negotiating session that began Saturday was interrupted with breaks for both sides to consult with their respective governments, and for snacks, the South's Yonhap News Agency reported."North Korea wants to stop broadcasts, while South Korea can't do it without achieving anything back," Jeon said.Sunday's talks were open-ended, with the South's Blue House expected to announce the results after they conclude."QUASI-STATE OF WAR"-North Korea and South Korea have remained technically in a state of war since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, and inter-Korean relations have been in a deep freeze since the deadly 2010 sinking of a South Korean warship. Pyongyang denied responsibility.The current tensions began early this month when two South Korean soldiers were wounded by landmines along the border. The North denies laying the mines. Days later, Seoul began its propaganda broadcasts in random three-hour bursts from 11 banks of loudspeakers, including news reports and K-pop music from the South, resuming a tactic both sides halted in 2004.The crisis escalated on Thursday when the North fired four shells into the South, according to Seoul, which responded with a barrage of 29 artillery rounds. North Korea declared a "quasi-state of war" in front-line areas and set an ultimatum for Seoul to halt its broadcasts.That deadline passed on Saturday without any reported incident.The United Nations, the United States and the North's lone major ally, China, have all called for calm.The United States, which has 28,500 soldiers based in South Korea, is conducting annual joint military exercises with the South. North Korea regularly condemns the maneuvers as a preparation for war.South Korean President Park Geun-hye's national security adviser, Kim Kwan-jin, and Unification Minister, Hong Yong-pyo, met with Hwang Pyong So, the top military aide to the North's leader, Kim Jong Un, and Kim Yang Gon, a veteran North Korean official in inter-Korean affairs, on Saturday, prompting hopes for a breakthrough.Pyongyang's two negotiators made an unexpected visit to the South last October to attend the closing ceremony of the Asian Games, where they met Kim Kwan-jin. Those talks raised hopes for an improvement in relations, but that did not materialize.North Korea has been hit with UN and U.S. sanctions because of repeated nuclear and missile tests, moves that Pyongyang sees as an attack on its sovereign right to defend itself.(Additional reporting by Tony Munroe and James Pearson; Editing by Nick Macfie and Philippa Fletcher)
Putin to be notable absentee at Ukraine crisis talks in Berlin-AFP By Dmitry Zaks-AUG 23,15-YAHOONEWS
Kiev (AFP) - The heads of Germany and France will meet Kiev's pro-Western leader in Berlin on Monday for Ukrainian crisis talks most notable for their diplomatically-charged exclusion of Russia's Vladimir Putin.German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande have put enormous political onus on resolving Ukraine's 16-month pro-Russian uprising and returning peace to the European Union's turbulent eastern front.They spent 17 hours locked up with Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in the Belarussian capital Minsk in February before emerging with a peace deal that promised to end the fighting quickly and resolve all political disputes by the end of the year.Yet the so-called Minsk II accord was broken by the warring sides instantly and repeatedly.The death toll estimated by the United Nations stood at more than 5,300 when the four leaders made their February attempt to end Europe's bloodiest and most destabilising conflict since the Balkans wars of the 1990s.It is steadily approaching 6,900 today.Poroshenko's decision to ask for Monday's meeting -- and the two EU leaders' agreement not to invite Putin -- is seen by many observers as a snub to Russia's increasingly anti-Western head of state.Poroshenko blames the Kremlin's allegedly unflinching backing of the pro-Russian insurgents for a recent spike in violence that caught the attention of EU leaders and drew a damning rebuke from NATO.The acting spokeswoman for the Western military alliance said "Russia has a special responsibility to find a political solution" to the conflict -- a phrase that overtly implies a link between the Kremlin and the rebel command.Ukraine, which for months has anticipated a new rebel offensive in late summer or early fall, now expects a "major escalation" in the fighting around the country's independence holiday, which happens to fall on Monday, Poroshenko said Saturday while dispatching more military vehicles and arms to his troops."The military threat from the East will remain for decades, it is not going to disappear soon," he said.- 'Important signal' to Putin -Meanwhile Merkel -- born in the former communist state of East Germany and a keen proponent of keeping lines of communication open with Moscow for security reasons -- has expressed growing frustration with Russia's approach to Ukraine.Putin flatly denies any involvement and calls Russian soldiers caught in the east Ukrainian war zone "volunteers" or off-duty servicemen.But Poroshenko made clear that his decision to ask for a meeting without Putin -- the first summit to address the crisis since Minsk -- was designed to show the Kremlin boss that Europe was abandoning its formal neutrality and aligning itself with Kiev."The key goal of the Ukrainian authorities is to create a powerful international community that forms a coalition and stops the aggressor," Poroshenko said in reference to Russia."The fact that (Merkel and Hollande) agreed to the meeting format proposed by Kiev sends a very important signal to both Putin and the Western audience," a senior Ukrainian diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity."It says that France and Germany are in the same boat as we are."Yet Berlin and Paris have so far refrained from publicly aligning themselves with Kiev or declaring the Kremlin a direct threat."It is clear that there can only be lasting, sustainable, stable security with Russia and not against Russia," German foreign ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer said on Friday.A diplomatic source in Paris also insisted that Merkel and Hollande were not trying to "distance" themselves from Putin."This is not the creation of some sort of troika that is meant to put up a diplomatic fight against Russia," the Paris official told reporters on Friday.- Putin watching closely -Russia has declined to formally address Putin's absence -- a position that underscores its refusal to admit Putin's growing isolation from Western countries that had been trying to win Moscow's cooperation since the end of the Cold War.But Moscow has made abundantly clear that Poroshenko should be the one held responsible in Berlin for failing to stop the war."We are keeping close tabs on this meeting's preparations and will also carefully monitor its outcome," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday."For us, the need to put additional pressure on Kiev is obvious," said Lavrov."We expect Germany and France -- the underwriters of the Minsk agreements -- to do everything possible to make sure that (the peace terms) are unconditionally fulfilled."
Ukrainian insurgency leaders have also dismissed the Berlin gathering as meaningless because it fails to include Putin.
DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS-10 WORLD REGIONS/TRADE BLOCS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS-10 WORLD DIVISION WORLD GOVERNMENT) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(THE EU (EUROPEAN UNION) TAKES OVER IRAQ WHICH HAS SPLIT INTO 3-SUNNI-KURD-SHIA PARTS-AND THE REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE IS BROUGHT BACK TOGETHER-THE TWO LEGS OF DANIEL WESTERN LEG AND THE ISLAMIC LEG COMBINED AS 1)
OTHER STORIES
http://ift.tt/1h687aJ
Greek coalition process crawls as election calls grow-Reuters By Greg Roumeliotis and David Stamp-AUG 23,15-YAHOONEWS
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek opposition leaders took things easy on Sunday in their quest for a new coalition, ignoring calls from home and abroad for a rapid move to elections so the country can deal with its simultaneous economic and humanitarian crises.No face-to-face talks were scheduled for the day of rest, although conservative leader Evangelos Meimarakis planned to ring the head of the unreformed KKE communist party - a likely exercise in futility even if the call goes ahead.The leisurely pace of coalition negotiations since Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras resigned on Thursday - after only seven months in office - has prompted media calls for a caretaker leader to implement further austerity and reform policies that are essential to ensure Greece keeps getting vital funds under its new bailout deal.Without naming names, Tsipras denounced the tactics of Meimarakis and radical leftist Panagiotis Lafazanis - the man who led a walkout from Tsipras's Syriza party over the 86 billion euro ($98 billion) program."Don't bother with tricks aimed at delaying the elections. These won’t get anywhere and the people understand this," Tsipras told senior government and Syriza members on Saturday.He remains favorite to form the next government, but whoever leads Greece next faces daunting problems. The country narrowly avoided financial collapse and possible exit from the euro when Tsipras caved in to euro zone and IMF demands to secure the bailout.While the money has started flowing, it could stop if the creditors feel Athens is not sticking to its promises at a review in October. That would sink plans to rescue Greek banks brought to their knees by the crisis.Adding to the urgency for a stable government, Greece is struggling with thousands of migrants, many of them refugees from the Syrian civil war.They are landing on Greek islands in small boats, making their way to the mainland and heading to the Macedonian border where thousands are stuck in chaotic and squalid conditions, hoping to head for more prosperous countries in northern Europe.-LABYRINTHINE CONSTITUTION-Under Greece's labyrinthine constitution, the three biggest parties are offered three days each to try to form a new coalition should a government resign after less than a year.Only when these efforts have failed - something that is already a near certainty - can President Prokopis Pavlopoulos appoint a caretaker prime minister and call elections.Some believe Greece cannot wait for action until after elections, which Tsipras wants held before the end of September."The country needs an experienced caretaker prime minister," Kathimerini newspaper said. "Implementing the accord reached with the lenders, recapitalizing the banks and the migrant crisis are burning issues that cannot wait, not even one month."Even Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the chairman of euro zone finance ministers so often at odds with Athens during the bailout negotiations, has taken common cause with Tsipras over elections. "I hope that they are as quick as possible so that the least possible amount of time is wasted," he told reporters.Tsipras has turned down the opportunity to try to form a coalition after almost a third of his lawmakers rebelled in parliament over the bailout, depriving him of his majority and forcing him to rely on temporary support from the opposition.According to a government official, he rejected a request for a meeting on Sunday from Meimarakis, who is interim leader of the New Democracy party, saying he had no chance of pulling a coalition together with the present parliamentary arithmetic.Syriza's strategy is to use Tsipras's popularity to try to govern alone after elections. "Our goal is an absolute majority, an attainable goal, so that the next government can be stable and turbulence that the country does not need can be avoided," government spokeswoman Olga Gerovasili told Real radio.The opposition appears to be dragging out the process as voters return from the summer holidays to find their living standards cut yet further by value-added tax increases and the imposition of a "solidarity" income tax under the bailout.These, along with more pension cuts for the elderly, may start to wear down the popularity of Tsipras, who at the moment seems to have no serious rivals.If Meimarakis fails, Lafazanis - whose Popular Unity party immediately became the third biggest when it split from Syriza on Friday - is next in line.Lafazanis, whom Tsipras sacked as energy minister last month for rebelling, insists he will use his full three days but has ruled out dealing with anybody who supported the bailout.That reduces his possible partners to the communists and Golden Dawn, an ultra-right group shunned by all the other parties. This unlikely combination would muster just 57 votes in the 300-seat parliament, under the current party standings.($1 = 0.8778 euros)(additional reporting by Renee Maltezou; writing by David Stamp; Editing by Susan Fenton)
Tsipras calls early elections to boost mandate By Lisbeth Kirk-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, 21. Aug, 09:29-Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras resigned on Thursday (20 August), prompting snap elections in a move to out-play the opposition in his own left-wing Syriza party, which has, de facto, wiped out his parliamentary majority.In a televised speech to the nation on Thursday evening, he said he needs a new mandate from the Greek people and a stable government to implement reforms.No date has been set for the elections, but 20 September is said to be likely by Greek media, citing government sources.Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem told Reuters that he hopes the new elections would not delay or derail the bailout package which Athens has negotiated with its creditors."It is crucial that Greece maintains its commitments to the eurozone”, he said.“Swift elections in Greece can be a way to broaden support for the ESM programme just signed by PM Tsipras on behalf of Greece”, Martin Selmayr, a senior European Commission official said on Twitter, referring to the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), an EU anti-crisis fund.Tsipras' announcement came the same day the ESM paid Greece the first €23 billion tranche of its third eurozone bailout.With the fresh money, Greece was able to repay a €3.2 billion debt to the European Central Bank and to avoid a messy default.-Referendum on Tsipras?-The Greek election amounts to a referendum on the 41-year-old Tsipras and his bailout deal.The overall package is worth up to €86 billion over three years and was agreed on 13 July at an extraordinary eurozone summit in Brussels.After 18 hours of negotiations, culminating six months of wider talks, Tsipras obliged Greece to accept painful reforms and privatisations in return for staying in the euro.The deal came despite a Greek referendum in which people voted No to more austerity.It has caused a split in Tsipras’ ruling Syriza Party, with 32 Syriza members voting against the package and with 11 of them abstaining in a Greek parliament vote earlier this month.The voting reduced Tsipras’ strength to just 118 seats votes in the 300-member assembly.The Left Platform, a new Syriza faction formed last week and headed by former energy minister Panayiotis Lafazanis, announced on Thursday it will run in the upcoming elections on its own list.-Seven months in the eye of the storm-Tspiras became prime minister of Greece after elections on 25 January and has held the post for less than seven months.His time in office has however been one of the most dramatic periods in EU history, with Greece constantly in headlines amid speculation the eurozone could see its first-ever exit."The political mandate of the 25 January elections has exhausted its limits and now the Greek people have to have their say”, Tsipras said on Thursday."I want to be honest with you. We did not achieve the [bailout] agreement we expected before the January elections”.Support for Syriza stood at around 35 percent in July and it is still, by far, the most popular party. But it needs a coalition partner to retain power after the elections.By holding a snap vote before the painful EU reforms are carried out, Tsipras may still profit from his personal 60 percent approval rating.After the TV announcement, he went to Greek president Prokopis Pavlopoulos to submit his resignation.The Greek constitution grants the leaders of the largest three parties up to three days each to try to form a government.If they fail to do so or decide not to use their right, then a caretaker prime minister will be appointed to serve until the elections are over. This will be the head of the supreme court, Vassiliki Thanou-Christofilou.
Erdogan calls new election on 1 November-By EUOBSERVER
21. Aug, 19:18-Turkish president Erdogan has called snap elections for 1 November after his PM failed to agree a coalition. Erdogan's AKP party lost its majority in June elections, putting the brakes on Erdogan's plan to centralise power in the presidential office, amid EU concerns he is becoming increasingly authoritarian.
EU tells Berlin free movement is 'non-negotiable'-By EUOBSERVER
21. Aug, 14:49-A European Commission spokesman said Friday internal EU freedom of movement is "non-negotiable" after the German interior minister told the BBC the bloc's "Schengen" free-travel zone is at risk due to the migrant crisis. The commission noted that anything which amounts to "systematic" border controls is against EU law.
EU states favour Christian migrants from Middle East By Andrew Rettman-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, 21. Aug, 09:29-EU member states with a Roman Catholic heritage are showing a preference for taking in Christian migrants, despite their obligations under EU law.The Slovakian government was the latest to issue a statement.Its interior ministry told EUobserver on Thursday (20 August) that it’s “not a discriminatory country” and that “if some Muslim people come to Slovakia and decide to stay in our country and ask for asylum, they will be [put] in [a] normal asylum process”.But it added that, in practice, Muslims don’t want to live there and end up moving on to EU states with larger Muslim communities.“In Slovakia, we have a really tiny community of Muslim people. We even don't have mosques. That's the reason we want to choose people who really want to start a new life in Slovakia. And Slovakia, as a Christian country, can really help Christians from Syria to find a new home in Slovakia”.Its comment comes as EU institutions prepare to start relocating the first asylum seekers from Greece and Italy, as well as UN-registered refugees from camps in the Middle East, around Europe in September.Slovakia has volunteered to take in 100 asylum seekers and 100 refugees, out of the total 60,000 which the EU aims to redistribute.But it’s concerned that this is just the beginning.Frontex, the EU border control agency, says 107,500 irregular migrants arrived in the EU last month, while Germany expects 800,000 asylum applications this year.The European Commission also plans to propose a “permanent mechanism” for relocations in emergency situations by the end of the year, on top of its ad-hoc 60,000 scheme.“If we don´t stop the migrant wave, how many people will European countries have to relocate when we have 200,000 migrants, or maybe 1 million or 2 million?”, the Slovak ministry said.Political correctness-Cherry-picking migrants is against EU law.Its Charter of Fundamental Rights contains explicit clauses on non-discrimination.Its two asylum directives, from 2004 and 2013, which can trigger infringement proceedings for non-compliance, also say individuals who qualify for international protection on individual merit cannot be denied it.But the EU relocation mechanism, the final details of which are to be decided by EU officials and member states’ experts in a “forum for resettlement and relocation” next month, leaves wiggle room for national preference.In the draft format, Frontex officials will go to Greece and Italy to identify the people most in need of being moved. But, the commission says, “it is the independent justice tribunals of the host member state who take the decision (in accordance with UN, international, and EU law)” whether to accept them.EUobserver also contacted ministries in the Czech Republic, Ireland, Poland, and the Baltic States, all of which have a strong Catholic or Protestant heritage. None of them are willing to say quite what Slovakia is saying.The Czech Republic (to take in 1,500 asylum seekers and refugees) said it “is strictly neutral, religion-wise”.Poland (2,000 asylum seekers and refugees) said it “does not apply any preference in terms of the religion or race of asylum seekers”.-Political reality-But Ireland (120 refugees) did echo Slovakia.A justice ministry spokesman noted that “language skills, family links, or cultural ties relate to the capacity of the people relocated to integrate into their new host country, which is something to be taken into account in the relocation process”.A contact from one of the three Baltic States (725 asylum seekers and refugees in total) also noted the region is becoming increasingly anti- Muslim.“In Latvia and Lithuania, there is a nascent debate about [banning] the wearing of the burka”, the government source said.The Hungarian government could not be contacted for a comment on Thursday, a national holiday.But it's one of the few states which has so far not volunteered to take in any asylum seekers or refugees under the EU programme.Its right-wing PM, Viktor Orban, said, in July, that “We would like for Europe to keep belonging to the Europeans … to preserve the Hungarian Hungary”.The Czech president, Milos Zeman, has also attacked EU “political correctness”.He recently said “refugees from a completely different cultural background would not be in a good position in the Czech Republic” and said Muslim migrants are potential terrorists.Poland, in July, already took in some 60 Christian-only families from Syria.It did so under a non-EU initiative, organised by a British aid agency, Operation Safe Havens, which brought them over on privately-chartered flights.The Polish PM, Ewa Kopacz, in the run-up to the project, said Poland, “as a Christian country”, has a special responsibility to help Christians. The Polish opposition party, PiS, which is neck-and-neck in polls ahead of October elections, has said multiculturalism is a “failure” in Europe.Belgium, which also has a Catholic heritage, has volunteered to take 2,464 asylum seekers and refugees under the EU scheme.In July, it already took in some 200 Christians from Syria, in a separate NGO initiative.Discrimination?-For its part, Operation Safe Havens denies that it’s discriminatory.It is sponsored by Lord Weidenfeld, a wealthy British publisher of Jewish origin, who was rescued by Christian groups from Nazi-occupied Austria and who says he wants to repay his dues.Its spokesman, Andrew Carey, said on Thursday: “Our strong argument is that there are Christian minority communities in Syria and Iraq, which are particularly vulnerable and at risk, and we’d argue priority should be given to those. If that’s regarded as discriminatory, we think that’s wrong”.He added that Operation Safe Havens is in “advanced negotiations” to resettle a second group of Christian-only families in the EU next month.He asked EUobserver not to name the host state due to the sensitive timing of the talks, but it is also a Catholic country in eastern Europe.“The more secular countries quite often have the reaction that it [a Christian-only rescue mission] is discriminatory”, he said.A contact from another agency which works to highlight the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, who asked not to be named, told this website: “There are quite a few EU countries which have, for years, unofficially given preference to asylum applicants of Christian origin”.She named Belgium, Ireland, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Sweden, which has a strong Christian-democrat element in its establishment, as well as an increasingly popular anti-Muslim party, the Sweden Democrats. Sweden has volunteered to take 1,860 asylum seekers and refugees in the EU programme.It also hosts the highest number of protected migrants per capita in the EU.“No. That’s not true [that Sweden favours Christian applicants]. I can deny it. In Sweden, we don’t favour any religion. We treat applicants on individual merit”, Erik Boman, a spokesman for the ministry of justice, which handles asylum claims, said.
Danes to vote on EU justice opt-out 3 December-By EUOBSERVER
21. Aug, 13:50-Danish PM Lars Lokke Rasmussen announced on Friday a referendum on 3 December to replace Denmark's "opt-out" on EU justice and home affairs with an "opt-in" model. A large majority of five parties in the parliament back a Yes-vote, but the second biggest party, the Danish People's Party, recommends No.
Danish referendum on EU opt-outs to stir hornets’ nest-By EUOBSERVER
21. Aug, 10:41-Date of vote to be announced by government Friday on ending national opt-outs from EU justice and home affairs policies. The referendum comes amid growing euroscpetic and anti-immigrant sentiment, as well as EU plans to relocate thousands of asylum seekers and refugees from the Middle East to the Nordic country.
Danes to vote on EU relations in December referendum By Lisbeth Kirk-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, 21. Aug, 19:29-Danish PM, Lars Loekke Rasmussen, announced on Friday (21 August) a referendum on replacing Denmark's “opt-out” on EU justice and home affairs with an “opt-in” model, similar to the one used by Ireland and the UK.The decision to hold the referendum - on 3 December 2015 - follows a political agreement between five parties in parliament - the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, the Social Democrats, the Social Liberals, and the Socialist People's Party - from 10 December 2014.Under its opt-out, which dates back to 1993, Denmark automatically stays out of all supra-national EU justice and home affairs policy and doesn’t take part in EU Council votes in these areas.The EU dossier was slim in the early 1990s.But it has ballooned since then, including on EU police and judicial co-operation and on migration, with Denmark still on the outside.A Yes vote in December will let Denmark, in future, choose which home affairs policies and laws it takes part in.It will also let Denmark agree specific legislation in the area without the need for further referendums.The Yes-parties have already identified 22 existing EU initiatives they want Denmark to opt into.They’ve also promised Denmark won’t take part in 10 other EU initiatives - including the hot-button issue of asylum and immigration.-Big shift-The Yes would mark Denmark’s first important shift in EU relations since Danes, in a referendum, soundly rejected eurozone membership.In a less signigicant step, Danish voters, at the same time as the EU elections last May, agreed to join the EU's Unified Patent Court.Announced on a hot Friday afternoon, the public debate on the referendum is yet to start in earnest.But the last opinion polls, from June, show Yes on 53 percent, No on 24 percent, and 23 percent undecided.For its part, the second largest party in the Folketinget, the Danish People's Party, is to campaign for a No.It is critical of the EU and hostile to immigration. It sits with UK tories in the European Parliament and will be the major force in the No-side.-Trump card-It also has a trump card: Its European Parliament candidate in 2014, Morten Messerschmidt, won with an unprecedented 465,758 personal votes in a country of just 5.6 million people.The leftist Red-Green alliance will also campaign on the No-side, saying Denmark must have full sovereignty on divorce, child custody, and criminal sentencing, among other topics.Its EU spokesperson, Pernille Skipper, noted that Denmark doesn’t share values with some other EU states."The European Union includes countries banning abortion or so-called homosexual propaganda. The vote is thus about much more than Europol, contrary to what the EU-rave parties claim”, she said.The Yes side has chosen Europol as the corner stone of its campaign.The pro-Yes parties’ compromise agreement says: “Currently, the Council is negotiating a revision of the regulation on Europol. Once adopted under the new rules of the Lisbon Treaty, Denmark can no longer participate in this co-operation”."The perspective of Denmark having to leave Europol is the main reason behind the agreement to hold a referendum”.-Norwegian model-But the No side says Denmark could continue Europol co- operation via a voluntary parallel agreement, on the Norwegian model.Europol is the European Union’s joint police agency.Headquartered in The Hague, it works closely with law enforcement bodies in EU member states, as well as in Australia, Canada, Norway, and the US.By choosing to have the Danish poll on 3 December, the PM, Loekke Rasmussen, will, for the most part, avoid getting the campaign mixed up with the UK’s referendum on EU membership.An EU summit on 17 December is expected to discuss in greater details the UK prime minister, David Cameron's demands for EU reforms in the run-up to the British vote, due at the latest in 2017.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
OTHER STORM NEWS
http://ift.tt/1Ec4Lhe
Typhoon leaves 15 dead, 12 miners missing in Philippines-Associated Press By JIM GOMEZ-AUG 23,15-YAHOONEWS
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Typhoon Goni blew out of the northern Philippines on Sunday after leaving at least 15 people dead and several others missing, including a dozen miners whose work camps were buried by a huge mudslide in a mountain village, officials said.Goni was last tracked at sea about 430 kilometers (267 miles) northeast of Basco town in Batanes province on the archipelago's northernmost tip. It has sustained winds of 140 kilometers (87 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 170 kph (105 mph) and was forecast to lash southern Japan within 24 hours, government forecasters said.While approaching the country's mountainous north, Goni dumped heavy rain for three days then battered already-sodden upland villages with fierce winds, triggering landslides, officials said.In the hard-hit mountain province of Benguet, landslides killed at least 12 people, including four gold miners who were pulled out of a huge mudslide that buried three work camps in far-flung Taneg village in Mankayan town. A dozen miners remain missing and more than 100 policemen and fellow miners dug through the muddy heap Sunday amid fading hope that survivors would be found, officials said.Benguet Governor Nestor Fongwan said days of pounding rain and a swollen creek saturated a mountain slope, which cascaded down the gold-mining area at dawn Saturday." They were sleeping when a huge chunk of the mountain came down and buried their work sites," Fongwan said by phone. "We're still hoping that we'll find survivors. We're still calling it a search and rescue operation."Three people died elsewhere in the north after being hit by a landslide, a fallen tree and drowning in a river, while three others were missing after being separately swept away by river currents, according to the Office of Civil Defense.More than 32,000 people abandoned their homes for safer areas at the height of the typhoon, which damaged nearly 1,000 houses, said Alexander Pama, who heads the government's disaster-response agency.Several flights and ferry trips were canceled and classes were called off in several towns in metropolitan Manila and nearby provinces as the typhoon battered the north and intensified monsoon rains on the main northern island of Luzon.Goni is the ninth of about 20 storms and typhoons that are expected to batter the Philippines this year. Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most ferocious storms on record to hit land, devastated large areas of the central Philippines in November 2013, leaving more than 7,300 people dead or missing.
Weakening Tropical Storm Danny heads to Puerto Rico, USVI-Associated Press By DANICA COTO-AUG 23,15-YAHOONEWS
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A weakening Tropical Storm Danny swirled toward the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, where a prolonged drought has led to hopes that it would bring rain.But forecasters said the storm would become a tropical depression before reaching Puerto Rico and bring little relief to the U.S. territory.Late Saturday night, Danny was located 480 miles (775 kilometers) east of the Leeward Islands, with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. It was traveling west at 15 mph (24 kph).The hurricane center said it expected Danny to be near the Leeward Islands by Sunday night or Monday morning, and reach Puerto Rico early Tuesday."The biggest threats to land are the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Hispaniola," said hurricane center specialist Robbie Berg.Meteorologists said it was too early to predict how much rainfall Danny would generate over Puerto Rico, which has implemented extreme water-rationing measures since May as it struggles with one of the worst droughts in its history."This storm has created a lot of expectations," said Carlos Anselmi with the National Weather Service in San Juan. "But we cannot talk about how much rainfall is expected because the storm is quite small. There's a lot of uncertainty still."The news was disheartening for Puerto Rico residents such as 88-year-old Gloria Rodriguez, who has struggled with water-rationing measures in which hundreds of thousands of people receive water only twice a week."We're asking God to bring us water and not destruction," she said. "This is what we're all hoping for."Nearly 25 percent of Puerto Rico is considered to be in an extreme drought, and another 45 percent is under a severe one, according to The National Drought Mitigation Center. A total of 2.9 million people in Puerto Rico have been affected, and U.S. officials have declared at least 20 of the island's 78 municipalities as disaster zones. Anselmi said Danny was expected to dump more rain over the U.S. Virgin Islands than Puerto Rico.U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Kenneth Mapp said officials were distributing sandbags and had opened shelters as a precaution.The approaching storm forced Antigua-based airline LIAT to cancel nearly 40 flights from Sunday to Tuesday, and officials with regional carrier Seaborne Airlines also warned of delays and cancelations. Several cruise ships scheduled to visit the U.S. Virgin Islands have canceled or delayed their trips.A tropical storm watch was in effect for Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla, St. Maarten, Saba, St. Eustatius, Guadeloupe, St. Barthelemy and St. Martin.___Danica Coto on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/danicacoto
Storm Kilo to strengthen in Pacific, Danny to weaken in Atlantic-Reuters By Karin Stanton-AUG 23,15-YAHOONEWS
KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii (Reuters) - Weather system Kilo weakened into a depression by early Saturday but is expected to become a hurricane as it travels across the central Pacific towards the Hawaiian islands over the next several days, the National Weather Service said.Kilo, with sustained winds of up to 30 miles per hour (48 kilometers per hour), was centered roughly 520 miles (835 km) south of Honolulu by Saturday at 5 a.m. EDT , moving west-northwest at about 17 mph (28 kph), the NWS said.Kilo is expected to strengthen and slow over the weekend, as it begins to turn northwest. Because it is tracking over warm water, south of the islands, it will likely avoid a wind shear that weakened two hurricanes earlier this month.Forecasters say Kilo will not make a direct hit on any of the islands but Kauai appears to be the most vulnerable.Flash-flood warnings are in effect for Maui and Hawaii's Big Island through Monday.Danny, the first hurricane of the 2015 Atlantic season, was downgraded to a tropical storm after weakening overnight and through the day, registering winds of up to 85 mph (136 kph) by Saturday, down from 115 mph (185 kph) the evening before.The hurricane is about 520 miles east (840 km) of the Leeward Islands and moving west at 14 mph (22 kph), the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory on Saturday evening.The center of Danny is expected to be near the Leeward Islands by Sunday night or Monday morning. Danny is expected to produce 2 (5 cm) inches to 4 inches (10 cm) of rain over the Leeward Islands through Monday.The French government has issued a tropical storm watch for Caribbean islands including Guadeloupe, St. Barthelemy and St. Martin.Hurricanes can bring destructive high winds, torrential rain and big waves, the National Weather Service said.(Reporting by Laila Kearney and Brendan O'Brien; Editing by Robin Pomeroy, James Dalgleish and Alan Crosby)
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Smoke blankets parts of Washington state as firefighters guard town from flames-Reuters By Alex Dobuzinskis-AUG 23,15-YAHOONEWS
(Reuters) - Firefighters battling a group of fierce wildfires in central Washington state labored on Saturday to expand containment lines outside a lakeside resort town, as large blazes scorched dry land in other parts of the U.S. West.The continuing fight against a complex of fires near the town of Chelan came a day after President Barack Obama signed a federal declaration of emergency for Washington state to coordinate relief efforts in 11 counties and several Indian reservations hard hit by wildfires.When flames advanced late last week toward Chelan, a town of about 4,000 people, authorities evacuated many residents from the area. About 1,000 people remained evacuated on Saturday, but sheriff's deputies were escorting some residents to check on their properties, said Brian Lawatch, a fire information officer for the team fighting the blaze. Heavy smoke hung over the central Washington state region, creating a visibility and breathing hazard for firefighters. They also had low humidity to worry about, with increased likelihood dry timber and grass would fuel the so-called Chelan Complex of blazes that officials say have burned over 86,000 acres (34,803 hectares) and are 35 percent contained.With roughly 560 firefighters deployed against the fires, crews took advantage of light winds to extend containment lines west of the town center along Lake Chelan in the area of a yacht club and at a nearby ridge, officials said.About 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Chelan, another group of blazes called the Okanogan Complex has burned more than 162,000 acres (65,559 hectares). The complex includes the so-called Twisp River fire, which killed three firefighters and injured four others on Wednesday night after forcing thousands of households to evacuate in the towns of Twisp and Winthrop.The most badly hurt of the surviving firefighters remained in critical condition on Saturday at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, a day after undergoing surgery to treat his burns, Susan Gregg, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said in an email.Washington state, while it has seen some of the West's most intense fire activity of the past week, is not alone in battling blazes.At least 70 large wildfires have been raging during that time through several bone-dry Western states, including Oregon, Idaho, California and Montana, the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise reported.More than 100 homes and dozens of outbuildings have been lost from those fires.(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by James Dalgleish)
Wildfires rage in U.S. Northwest, army and foreign crews called in-Reuters By Eric M. Johnson-August 21, 2015 12:17 AM-YAHOONEWS
SEATTLE (Reuters) - U.S. crews battling a flurry of wildfires raging unchecked across the Pacific Northwest contended with high winds on Thursday, a day after three firefighters were killed and four others were injured in Washington state.Authorities late Thursday ordered the immediate evacuation of the small community of Tonasket, nestled along the bank of the Okanogan River in north-central Washington, impacting about 1,000 people.On Wednesday, some 4,000 households in the riverfront towns of Twisp and Winthrop, in the foothills of the Cascade mountains about 75 miles (120 km) southwest of Tonasket, were also forced to flee the encroaching blaze.The Twisp blaze is just one of more than 70 large wildfires or clusters of fires in several drought-stricken Western states, the bulk of them in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California and Montana, the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise reported.Dozens of homes have been reduced to ruins in Idaho and Oregon in recent days.The fires have stretched civilian firefighting resources, prompting authorities to call the U.S. Army and Canadian crews to help, as well as mobilize personnel from Australia and New Zealand for the first time since 2008. Seventy-one fire managers and specialists from those two countries were due to arrive in Idaho on Aug. 23.U.S. wildland blazes have claimed the lives of at least 13 firefighters and support personnel so far this year, four more than died in the line of duty during all of 2014, the interagency fire center said.President Barack Obama has directed his administration to consult with local and state officials while the threat persists.ERRATIC WINDS COMPLICATE EFFORTS-The Twisp blaze has proven the deadliest. Three U.S. Forest Service firefighters in an engine crew died on Wednesday while battling the flames, which overtook their position after they were involved in a vehicle accident, Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers said.Among the dead was Thomas Zbyszewski, a physics major and actor at Whitman College in southeastern Washington. Four other firefighters were injured, one of them hospitalized in critical condition with burns over 60 percent of his body.The Twisp-area fire, part of a larger cluster of fires dubbed the Okanogan Complex, has burnt 7,873 acres (3,194 hectares) of rural brush and dry timber about 115 miles (185 km) northeast of Seattle since erupting on Wednesday, said Rick Scriven, a spokesman authorized to speak about the blaze.As of late Thursday afternoon, crews had yet to establish firm containment lines around the blaze, Scriven said, adding that suppression efforts across the Northwest had been complicated by "sporadic and erratic winds."The blaze near Twisp was burning in Okanogan County, the same area impacted by last July's massive Carlton Complex fire, the state's largest on record, which destroyed about 300 homes as it blackened 250,000 acres (100,000 hectares).About 50 miles (80 km) south of Twisp, the so-called First Creek fire was posing a renewed threat to populated areas after engulfing more than 68,000 acres (27,000 hectares), with 39 homes and 28 outbuildings destroyed days ago near the resort town of Chelan, according to sheriff's spokesman Rich Magnussen.The First Creek blaze jumped containment lines on Wednesday evening, triggering road closures and prompting authorities to extend evacuation orders to some 800 people, Magnussen said.Speaking in Chelan, U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell told reporters his agency expects to exhaust its firefighting budget by early September but said necessary funds and assets would continue to be made available where needed.The governors of Oregon and Idaho joined Washington state in calling up state National Guard troops backed by military aircraft to help combat blazes.(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle and Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Shelby Sebens in Portland, Oregon and Victoria Cavaliere in Los Angeles; Editing by Eric Walsh and Jeremy Laurence)
114 DEAD-722 INJURED-80 MISSING IN CHINA PORT CITY EXPLOSION
http://ift.tt/1h687aM
http://ift.tt/1JaPkVs
http://ift.tt/1JhnEex
http://ift.tt/1HStZMA
http://ift.tt/1JlvBWj
http://ift.tt/1TKVCxK
EARTHQUAKES
ISAIAH 42:15
15 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places,(DIFFERNT PLACES AT THE SAME TIME) and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
1 Day, Magnitude 2.5+ Worldwide
21 earthquakes - DownloadUpdated: 2015-08-23 14:23:13 UTCShowing event times using UTC21 earthquakes in map area
3.1 20km W of Perry, Oklahoma 2015-08-23 13:53:07 UTC 4.0 km
4.6 Kermadec Islands region 2015-08-23 12:28:50 UTC 43.1 km
4.8 157km ESE of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia 2015-08-23 10:17:08 UTC 33.8 km
5.0 15km SE of Kodari, Nepal 2015-08-23 09:02:09 UTC 35.0 km
3.4 76km N of Road Town, British Virgin Islands 2015-08-23 08:31:51 UTC 128.0 km
2.7 36km ESE of Pecos, Texas 2015-08-23 07:04:12 UTC 5.0 km
4.1 9km W of Mazatan, Mexico 2015-08-23 06:19:49 UTC 86.3 km
2.9 50km W of Puerto Real, Puerto Rico 2015-08-23 04:57:04 UTC 60.0 km
5.2 67km SW of Acajutla, El Salvador 2015-08-23 04:48:49 UTC 49.3 km
3.2 13km ESE of Alva, Oklahoma 2015-08-23 04:30:13 UTC 5.0 km
3.0 8km NE of Redwood Valley, California 2015-08-23 03:42:06 UTC 0.0 km
2.8 87km NNW of Talkeetna, Alaska 2015-08-23 03:27:06 UTC 114.8 km
4.6 25km S of Ofunato, Japan 2015-08-23 02:08:43 UTC 76.4 km
3.3 58km WNW of Valdez, Alaska 2015-08-22 23:18:52 UTC 3.2 km
3.1 64km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic 2015-08-22 21:56:19 UTC 63.0 km
4.5 156km SSE of Ndoi Island, Fiji 2015-08-22 19:31:55 UTC 378.3 km
2.9 38km NE of Road Town, British Virgin Islands 2015-08-22 19:10:58 UTC 64.0 km
2.9 49km NE of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic 2015-08-22 18:19:59 UTC 91.0 km
4.6 233km ESE of Lambasa, Fiji 2015-08-22 17:38:38 UTC 543.2 km
3.0 100km N of Culebra, Puerto Rico 2015-08-22 15:28:46 UTC 45.0 km
2.5 76km SSW of Unalaska, Alaska 2015-08-22 14:24:44 UTC 21.6 km
via EVENTS IN TIME (BIBLE PROPHECY LITERALLY FULFILLED)(BY GOD) http://ift.tt/1Ec4Lhg
No comments:
Post a Comment