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)
CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL 2ND WAVE OF WW3 (200 MILLION MAN ARMY)
REVELATION 16:12-16
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THE TURKEY ATATURK DAM ON THE EUPHRATES CAN BE SHUT AND DRIED UP ALREADY BY TURKEY)
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.(ITS AT THIS TIME I BELIEVE WHEN AMERICA GETS NUKED BY RUSSIA ON THE WAY TO THE MIDEAST)
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(WORLDWIDE WAR)(TURKEY-IRAQ-SYRIA)(EUPHRATES RIVER CONSISTS OF 760 MILES IN TURKEY,440 MILES IN SYRIA AND 660 MILES IN IRAQ)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,(WORLDWIDE WAR) which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE-2 billion)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION MAY DIE IN WW3-BUT THE WORLD NEVER ENDS.AT LEAST 3 BILLION GOES INTO JESUS' LITERAL KINGDOM ON EARTH.SO DO NOT EVEN MENTION THIS END OF THE WORLD NONSENSE.
PROOF HALF ON EARTH DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD (8 BILLION ON EARTH)
REVELATION 6:7-8 (8 BILLION- 2 BILLION = 6 BILLION)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 BILLION) to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
REVELATION 9:15,18 (6 BILLION - 2 BILLION = 4 BILLION)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,
18 By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMBS)
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.(half earths population 4 billion die in the 7 yr trib)
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.
MATTHEW 24:37-42 (THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-SURE NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
North Korea fires three ballistic missiles in new show of force-[Reuters]-By Jack Kim and James Pearson-July 19, 2016-YAHOONEWS
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired three ballistic missiles on Tuesday which flew between 500 and 600 km (300-360 miles) into the sea off its east coast, South Korea's military said, the latest in a series of provocative moves by the isolated country.The U.S. military said it detected launches of what it believed were two Scud missiles and one Rodong, a home-grown missile based on Soviet-era Scud technology.North Korea has fired both types numerous times in recent years, an indication that unlike recent launches that were seen as efforts by the North to improve its missile capability, Tuesday's were meant as a show of force."This smells political rather than technical to me," said Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate at the U.S.-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California."I think the number and distance of the missiles lets them remind the ROK (Republic of Korea) of what they are up against," she said, referring to South Korea by its official name.North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. The North regularly threatens to destroy the Japan, South Korea and the South's main ally, the United States.The launches came nearly a week after South Korea and the United States chose a site in the South to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-missile system to counter threats from the North, which had prompted Pyongyang to threaten a "physical response"."Our assessment is that it was done as a show of force," a South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff official said at a briefing.The missiles were launched from an area in the North's western region called Hwangju between 5:45 a.m. South Korea time (04:45 p.m. EDT Monday) and 6:40 a.m., the South's military said, an indication that the North was confident they would not crash on its own territory."The ballistic missiles' flight went from 500 km to 600 km, which is a distance far enough to strike all of South Korea, including Busan," the South's military said in a statement.Busan is a South Korean port city in the south.North Korea has test-fired a series of ballistic missiles in recent months, in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions, including intermediate-range missiles in June and a submarine-launched missile this month."In addition to the basic goal of enhancing missile units' readiness to fight, it might be a way of reminding their southern neighbors that the site chosen for a THAAD battery in South Korea is within reach," Joshua Pollack, editor of the U.S.-based Nonproliferation Review, said of Tuesday's launches.South Korea announced last week the THAAD system would be deployed in the southeastern county of Seongju.In addition to the decision to base a THAAD system in South Korea, the United States recently angered North Korea by blacklisting its leader Kim Jong Un for human rights abuses."The threat to our national security is growing very quickly in a short period of time," South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn told parliament on Tuesday.-BOMBS, MISSILES AND SANCTIONS-North Korea conducted its fourth test of a nuclear device in January, and activity at its nuclear test site has increased recently, according to media reports in South Korea and Japan citing government officials, as well as a report by Washington-based North Korea monitoring project 38 North.Following the latest nuclear test and a February space rocket launch that was widely viewed as a missile test in disguise, the U.N. Security Council imposed tough new resolutions that further isolate North Korea.While China supported tougher sanctions against its neighbor and ally North Korea, it has sharply criticized the decision to base a THAAD battery in South Korea, saying the move would destabilize the security balance in the region."The situation on the Korean peninsula is severe and complex and all sides should avoid any actions that raise tensions," China's foreign ministry said, echoing previous statements.Japan denounced the launches."The latest launch is a breach of the UN Security Council resolution and is extremely hazardous to shipping and aircraft and we have strongly protested," the Japanese government said in a statement.(Additional reporting by Ju-min Park, Tim Kelly in Tokyo and Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Nick Macfie)
EU says North Korea missile launches "grave violation" of international obligations-[Reuters]-July 19, 2016-YAHOONEWS
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, said missile launches by North Korea on Tuesday were a "clear and grave violation" of Pyongyang's international obligations."Following its illegal nuclear test on 6 January, this latest act by (North Korea) will heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula and undermine the peace and security of the wider region," she said in a statement.North Korea earlier on Tuesday fired three ballistic missiles that flew between 500 and 600 km (300-360 miles) into the sea off its east coast, the latest in a series of provocative moves by the isolated country.United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the missile launches were "deeply troubling".(Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, editing by Larry King)
France fears Syria massacre, wants more pressure on Russia: Ayrault-[Reuters]-By John Irish-July 19, 2016-HYAOONEWS
LONDON (Reuters) - France is alarmed by the Syrian government's tightening siege of Aleppo and the risk it will carry out a bloodbath near Damascus, and will push this week for more pressure on Syria's ally Russia, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Tuesday."We are extremely concerned by the situation in Aleppo, but Daraya as well," Ayrault told Reuters, referring to a rebel-held Damascus suburb seen as the epicenter of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad."Daraya is a symbol and we fear a real massacre."Daraya is besieged by forces loyal to Assad, who until last month had refused to allow aid to starving residents since 2012.International aid convoys reached the town in June, but fighting continues and about 6,000 people are still trapped there.Outside Aleppo, Syria's army and allied militia fighters backed by Russian air power this week seized the only road into the rebel-held part of the northern city, tightening a siege that has trapped some 200,000 to 300,000 people."France will not close its eyes to the drama of Aleppo," Ayrault said before a meeting on Syria in London with his British, U.S., German, Italian and EU counterparts."What we cannot accept is to wait for election calendars," he said referring to the November presidential election in the United States. "We need to launch a call to help those besieged."As well as Western-backed rebels, Assad is also fighting the hardline Islamic State, which controls about a third of the country, and the local al Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front. The rebels of Aleppo and Daraya are supported by the same western countries that are conducting air strikes against Islamic State.Ayrault said more pressure needed to be put on Moscow so it would in turn lean on Assad, something that he wanted like-minded countries to discuss when the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State meets in Washington later this week.After last week's attack in Nice, Ayrault said Paris would reiterate its readiness to step efforts against Islamic State or Daesh, which should now focus on its sanctuary in Raqqa, Syria.Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Nice attack, in which a Tunisian man killed 84 people by plowing through a Bastille Day crowd with a truck."Our priority also, and this will be the objective in Washington, is that effort against Daesh is much stronger", Ayrault said.(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Andrew Callus and Mark Trevelyan)
DANIEL 7:23-24
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)
Five EU states gang up on Africa's last colony By Aleksandra Eriksson-euobserver
BRUSSELS, 18. Jul, 19:48-The European Court of Justice is due to hear a case on Tuesday (19 July) examining the EU's role in facilitating exploitation of Africa’s last colony by one of Europe's close allies.The General Court in Luxembourg last year outlawed a lucrative deal facilitating trade in agricultural produce between Morocco and the EU. The court found the Council was too meek when it came to ensuring the deal did not hurt the right of Sahrawis - the people of Western Sahara - to decide over and profit from the resources in their territory.Morocco illegally annexed the land south of its border in 1975 and has kept it under military control ever since.International law says an occupying power can only exploit natural resources if that benefits and is in accordance with the wish of the conquered people. Third parties also have to ensure that they do not enter any deal that goes against this principle.The case was brought by Polisario, the national liberation movement of the Sahrawi people, which celebrated the verdict.Morocco replied by breaking off diplomatic relations with the EU. These were only resumed after EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini came to Rabat and declared the case would be reconsidered.Amidst Moroccan wrath - the government launched an attack on EU justice, questioning the independence of EU judges and calling the ruling ”highly political” and ”against international law” - the European foreign service (EEAS) worked with its Moroccan counterpart throughout spring to prepare the EU Council’s appeal.But the EU high representative failed to clarify on what legal basis Morocco was involved, when prompted by a group of MEPs .The agricultural agreement has also remained in force, pending the outcome of the appeal.-Member states side with Morocco-The appeal is to be heard before a grand chamber of 15 judges, marking its importance. They have agreed to fast-track the judgment, which is expected before the end of the year.Five member states - Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal and Spain - have asked to speak before the court.Officially, they question the case on technical grounds.Polisario, they say, does not have the right to stand before the EU court, among other technical objections.Unofficially, the countries may have other reasons to act.France is Morocco’s main ally in the EU and the UN.Many agricultural companies in the occupied Sahrawi territory belong to French nationals. Most exports from occupied Western Sahara pass through Perpignan, in southern France.Spain - which remains the formal administrative power in Western Sahara, according to the UN and Spanish courts - is the main beneficiary of a fisheries agreement with Morocco, which is also facing a court challenge.Belgium and Germany signed readmission agreements for Moroccan nationals on the same day they announced they would intervene on Rabat’s behalf.Sweden, which also supported Rabat’s appeal, says that any ruling would be worth more if it was upheld by a higher court.-EU policy on Western Sahara-The case has shed light on the contradictions of EU policy on occupied territories in general, and Western Sahara in particular.In theory, the EU does not recognise the occupation of Western Sahara, but the degree of this non-recognition is much weaker than in the case of Crimea or Palestine, as shown by a comparative parliamentary study.EU formally recognises that Morocco holds the land illegally, but its position is largely restricted to quiet support for a UN solution to the problem (which is largely being blocked by Morocco and France).Both the Council and the European Commission acknowledged before the general court that they didn't recognise Morocco's sovereignty over the Western Sahara - a fact that will not be challenged in the appeal.But if EU judges upheld their earlier verdict, it would strain EU relations with one of its closest allies.-Sahrawi life-Most Sahrawi people have fled the occupied territory and live in refugee camps in the Devil's Garden - a desert in southern Algeria, where the temperature recently reached 57 degrees.Morocco built a 2,700 km long sand wall surrounded by millions of land mines to keep them there. Refugees are dependent on foreign aid for food, clothing and building materials.Those who stayed in occupied Western Sahara reportedly suffer from arbitrary arrests, torture, and infringements of the right of speech, association and assembly, the UN recent said in a special report .The US excludes products from Western Sahara from its trade agreement with Morocco.
Irish PM opens door to reunification vote By Aleksandra Eriksson-july 19,16-euobserver
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:29-Irish prime minister Enda Kenny has raised the possibility of a vote on Irish reunification in the wake of the Brexit referendum.The taoiseach said on Monday (18 July) that if people of Northern Ireland clearly showed the will to leave the UK and join the Republic, they should have the right to a referendum on the issue.He also called on the EU to prepare for the scenario. The centre-right Fine Gael party leader drew a parallel to German reunification following the fall of the Berlin Wall.“The discussion and negotiations that take place over the next period should take into account the possibility ... that if there is a clear evidence of a majority of people wishing to leave the United Kingdom and join the Republic that that should be catered for in the discussions that take place,” Kenny said.“Because if that possibility were to happen, you would have Northern Ireland wishing to leave the United Kingdom, not being a member of the European Union, and joining the Republic which will be a member of the EU.”The Irish leader also urged the bloc to curb attempts to punish Britain for its vote to leave the EU, warning that such an approach could inflame anti-EU sentiment across the continent."It is in nobody’s interests for the UK and the EU to have anything but the best possible future relations," he said.A majority of voters in Northern Ireland, and those in Scotland, voted to remain in the EU while most people in England and Wales voted to leave.The Irish leader campaigned to keep Britain in the EU.Immediately after the UK voted to leave the EU, the taoiseach replied to nationalist calls for a referendum by saying that relations between the Republic and Northern Ireland would "require careful consideration”, but they should be approached "in the same spirit of partnership that had underpinned the peace process" on the island for decades.Ireland has been hit hard by consequences of the Brexit vote.The UK is the second biggest destination for the country’s exports after the US, and the biggest for its services.Theresa May said before she became British prime minister that the details of the open border between Ireland and the UK would be discussed as part of Brexit talks with Brussels.The open border accord is widely seen as a tangible end of the sectarian violence that claimed more than 3,500 lives in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.The UK dismantled its military checkpoints and watchtowers on the border following the 1998 Good Friday accord, giving Catholics in Northern Ireland the freedom to maintain close ties with the southern Republic while staying part of Britain.
EUROPEAN UNION ARMY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI5_pMvLZd8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytWmPqY8TE0&feature=player_embedded
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)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 DIVSION REGION WORLD GOVERNMENT) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)
DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT-NEW AGE MOVEMENT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.
DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies,(UNITED NATIONS TROOPS) gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
After Nice, EU to redouble global fight against terrorism By Eric Maurice-euobserver
BRUSSELS, 18. Jul, 19:57-EU foreign ministers on Monday (18 July) expressed support to France in the wake of the last week's attack in Nice, but aired strategic ideas rather than specific initiatives against terrorism.After a minute of silence to honour the 84 people killed by a lorry last Thursday, ministers demonstrated "solidarity in principle," France's Jean-Marc Ayrault told journalists.EU diplomacy chief Federica Mogherini said at a separate press conference: “Our responsibility is not to have minutes of silence but to give efficient answers”.She said all ministers said they were ready to continue to support France on the basis of article 42.7, the "mutual defence clause" of the EU treaty.Article 42.7 was triggered last November’s Paris attacks to get military support for French operations in Sahel and the Middle East so that Franc could keep more soldiers on patrol at home.Effective assistance from other member states has so far been limited, however.When asked about it on Monday, Ayrault only mentioned German support in Mali and a contribution by the Czech Republic."France gets by, but it mobilises considerable resources and doesn't want to give up its responsibilities," he said to explain why France now needed further EU support.Speaking in broader terms, the French minister said the EU needed to have the resources to implement its new foreign policy strategy, which Mogherini presented last month."We must give it an operational framework," he said, adding that any new EU defence structures should be "connected and complementary" to Nato."We need to go further in a strategy for a defence at a European level," he said.Ayrault and Mogherini also stressed the need to work with countries in Africa on security issues.-'Overall work'-"It seems something not connected directly with the attack in Nice but … it is overall work that we need to do to eradicate the roots of the hatred that we have seen so many times, hitting Nice, but also other parts of the world," Mogherini said.She said EU counter-terrorism experts were already present in 11 EU delegations in the Arab world, Africa and Asia and that more would be sent to the Western Balkans, Sahel and Nigeria.Earlier in the day, after a meeting with the EU ministers, US chief of diplomacy John Kerry said that the "act of savagery" in Nice would "only strengthen our shared resolve to combat extremism everywhere".Mogherini’s common strategy will be discussed later this week at a "counter-Daesh" meeting of more than 30 defence ministers in Washington.
French lawmakers urged to unite on emergency rule after Nice attack-[Reuters]-By Brian Love-July 19, 2016-YAHOONEWS
PARIS (Reuters) - France's government, smarting from accusations that it did not do enough to prevent last week's deadly truck attack in Nice, asked lawmakers on Tuesday to extend a period of emergency rule that gives police greater search-and-arrest powers.President Francois Hollande said his government was planning a three-month extension but, in response to calls from political opponents, could accept calls for a rollover lasting six months."Protecting the French people is my duty," he said during a visit to Portugal.Polls since the attack in the Riviera coast city of Nice suggest confidence in his ability to fight terrorism has plunged after the third major attack in 18 months. Crowds jeered Prime Minister Manuel Valls at a remembrance ceremony on Monday."We need people to stay together, we want to move fast with broad backing," said government spokesman Stephane Le Foll as lawmakers prepared to debate the latest emergency powers bill.The debate came as Nice's seafront boulevard, the Promenade des Anglais, reopened after Thursday's attack, in which Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove a truck into crowds of Bastille Day revelers, killing 84, before being shot dead by police.Dozens more were hurt and 19 people remain on life support five days after the carnage French state prosecutor Francois Molins has described as a terrorist act.The Islamic State group that has seized control of parts of Syria and Iraq has claimed responsibility for the attack, although no hard evidence linking Bouhlel to the militant organization has been found.Hollande said French fighter jets had intensified bombing of Islamic State bases in Syria and Iraq in recent days.Molins said Bouhlel had shown sudden signs of interest in hardline Islamist propaganda in the days before he ran amok but up to then had no record of radicalization, noting that he ate pork, drank alcohol and engaged in "unbridled sexual activity".As tension ran high over risks of further attacks in France, police officials also confirmed that explosives had been found at the home of an arrested taxi driver who was on an intelligence services watchlist.They were also called in to investigate an incident in which a man attacked a woman and her three children with a knife at a holiday complex in southern France. Some witnesses said the assailant had accused the victims of dressing too scantily.The number of French people who believe Hollande is up to the task of tackling terrorism plunged to 33 percent after the attack in Nice, from confidence ratings of 50 percent or so in the wake of the two other big attacks in early and late 2015.France imposed emergency rule after the Nov. 13 attacks in which Islamist militants killed 130 people in Paris, giving the police powers to search homes and place people under immediate house arrest without advance clearance from judges.The bill to be debated in parliament on Tuesday night would also grant police and spy services greater powers to dig into suspects' computers and mobile phone communications.Another poll published on Tuesday asked voters who they did not want to see elected leader of France next June: 73 percent said Hollande, but the percentage hostile to far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who some believe will benefit from a climate of voter alienation, topped 60 percent.(Reporting by Brian Love, Marine Pennetier and Emmanuel Jarry in Paris, and Matthias Galante in Nice; Editing by Andrew Callus, Catherine Evans and Hugh Lawson)
WORLD POWERS IN THE LAST DAYS (END OF AGE OF GRACE NOT THE WORLD)
EUROPEAN UNION-KING OF WEST-DAN 9:26-27,DAN 7:23-24,DAN 11:40,REV 13:1-10
EGYPT-KING OF THE SOUTH-DAN 11:40
RUSSIA-KING OF THE NORTH-EZEK 38:1-2,EZEK 39:1-3
CHINA-KING OF THE EAST-DAN 11:44,REV 9:16,18
VATICAN-RELIGIOUS LEADER-REV 13:11-18,REV 17:4-5,9,18
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS) man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
ISAIAH 14:12-14
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)
German train axe attack puts Merkel migrant policy back in spotlight-[Reuters]-By Jens Hack-July 19, 2016-yahoonews
MUNICH (Reuters) - A young Afghan who attacked passengers on a train in Bavaria with an axe had entered Germany last summer with a wave of migrants, officials said on Tuesday, raising more questions about Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door refugee policy.The 17-year-old, who a witness said shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) during the attack, severely wounded four Hong Kong residents on the train late on Monday, then injured a local woman after fleeing, before police shot him dead.The case is likely to deepen worries about so-called "lone wolf" attacks in Europe and could put political pressure on Merkel, who has welcomed hundreds of thousands of migrants to Germany over the past year.The attacker came to Germany as an unaccompanied minor and was registered as a refugee on June 30 last year in Passau, officials said. Germany welcomed about 1 million migrants in 2015, many fleeing war in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq."In the minds of many people, his arrival is directly linked to Merkel and her liberal refugee policies," said Frank Decker, political scientist at Bonn University.The attack took place days after a Tunisian delivery man ploughed a truck into crowds of Bastille Day revellers in the southern French city of Nice, killing 84. Islamic State has also claimed responsibility for that incident.Public support for Merkel has risen since Britain voted on June 23 to leave the European Union, helping reverse a fall in her popularity caused by the refugee crisis. Decker said a Nice-style attack here could quickly end those gains."It would boost those who have called Merkel's policies a mistake," he said. "Merkel would be blamed."Unlike neighbours France and Belgium, Germany has not been the victim of a major attack by Islamic militants in recent years, although security officials say they have thwarted a large number of plots.A leader of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) said Merkel and her supporters were to blame for the dangerous security situation because their "welcoming policies had brought too many young, uneducated and radical Muslim men to Germany".Imam Arbab Ahmad, whose mosque in Wuerzburg lies about 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) from the scene of the attack, said he feared a backlash against Muslims after the attack."I am anxious," he said. "It was a totally inhumane attack on innocent people. Every human being should condemn it, not just Muslims."Police found a hand-painted Islamic State flag in the refugee's room at his foster family's home, along with a letter he appeared to have written to his father, which officials said read: "And now pray for me that I can get revenge on these non-believers, pray for me that I go to heaven."-SUICIDE VIDEO-Islamic State posted a video in which a man whom it identifies as the Afghan refugee vows to carry out a suicide mission and urges other Muslims to do the same.In the two minute and 20 second video, entitled "Germany – Video of the Islamic State Soldier Muhammad Riyad Who Carried out the Wuerzburg Attack", a young man wields a small knife, which he says he will use to slaughter infidels and avenge the deaths of men, women and children in Muslim countries."I will carry out a suicide operation in Germany," the young man says in the video. "I will slaughter you in your houses."German officials were checking if the man in the video was in fact the attacker. Merkel's chief of staff, Peter Altmaier, told ZDF television: "The security authorities expect that this video is in all likelihood authentic, and also the letter."Authorities have not released the attacker's name publicly, because he was a minor. They have said he was not on any of the intelligence services' watch lists.Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, according to its Amaq news agency. But Erik Ohlenschlager, public prosecutor in Bamberg, said there was no evidence the attacker had been in contact with Islamic State, though he said the IS flag the young man appeared to have painted suggested he had developed a sympathy for the group.Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said people who knew the attacker had described him as a "quiet and balanced person who went to the mosque for important holidays, but wasn't necessarily there every week."He was described as a devout Muslim, but not in any way one who was a radical or fanatic," Herrmann added.The young man started attacking his passengers with an axe and a knife around 9 p.m. local time as the train was approaching its last stop, the Bavarian city of Wuerzburg, Herrmann said.Ohlenschlager said the attacker, who had learned on Saturday that a friend of his had died in Afghanistan, struck his victims with full force in the body and head, adding: "The injuries are very bad". Two victims were in a critical condition.After a passenger pulled the train's emergency brake, the attacker fled and struck in the face a woman who was walking her dog. He was pursued by a police unit who shot him dead.(Additional reporting by Michael Nienaber, Noah Barkin, Andrea Shalal, Caroline Copley, Michelle Martin, Joseph Nasr and Gernot Heller, and Reuters TV; Writing by Andrea Shalal and Paul Carrel; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Larry King)
German train attacker vowed 'revenge on the infidels'-[The Canadian Press]-Kirsten Grieshaber, David Rising And Christoph Noelting, The Associated Press-July 19, 2016-yahoonews
WUERZBURG, Germany - A 17-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker received word that a friend had died in his home country days before he went on a rampage with an axe and knife on a German train, wounding five. He vowed in a note that he would "take revenge on these infidels," German investigators said Tuesday.The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the Monday night attack, but authorities say so far they have found no direct links to the group and believe the suspect, whose name was not released, self-radicalized.German officials didn't identify the victims, but Hong Kong's immigration department said that among those injured in the attack were four members of a family of five from the southern Chinese city. At least two of the five wounded were in a life-threatening condition.Investigator Lothar Koehler said the teenager's motivation appeared to be Islamic extremism based upon a passage, found among various notes in his apartment, which read: "Pray for me that I can take revenge on these infidels and pray for me that I will go to heaven."In the premeditated attack, the suspect boarded the regional train after 9 p.m. near the Bavarian city of Wuerzburg with an axe and knife concealed in a bag, according to Bamberg prosecutor Erik Ohlenschlager. He said that the suspect had learned on Saturday that a friend had died in Afghanistan, but didn't immediately give more details about the possible link.On the train, the suspect initially encountered an employee from the asylum shelter where he had lived until two weeks ago when he moved in with a foster family, and when she said something to him he didn't respond but left for another train car, Ohlenschlager said.He then concealed himself in a bathroom, and armed himself with his weapons."Then, without warning, he attacked the passengers using great force on their bodies and their heads," Ohlenschlager said.In an emergency call from the train, the suspect could be heard in the background shouting "Allahu akbar," Arabic for "God is great," as he hacked and slashed.Witnesses said the interior of the train was covered with blood and looked "like a slaughterhouse," the German news agency dpa reported. About 30 passengers were on the train at the time. More than a dozen were treated for shock.After the train made an emergency stop, the suspect fled and a few hundred meters (yards) away encountered two women walking a dog. He attacked one from behind, saying "I'll finish you" and yelling a vulgar term for a woman in German, as he hit her at least twice in the face with the axe.Shortly after, he encountered a police SWAT team that had been in the area on another mission but had been redirected, jumping out at them from bushes brandishing his axe. He was shot and killed.Ohlenschlager said that at least two victims were suffering from "acute life-threatening" wounds, including the woman attacked outside the train.Though the Islamic State group claimed responsibility through its Aamaq news agency and a hand-painted IS flag was found in the suspect's apartment, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said the suspect's handwritten notes indicated he may have been self-radicalized and there was "no indication" he was directly connected to the group.Aamaq released a video that purported to show the attacker, in which a young man waves a knife toward the camera and says "I will behead you with these knives and break your necks with these axes."In the video, the authenticity of which it wasn't immediately possible to verify, the man also says in Pashto he is a soldier "of the Islamic State and will be carrying out an attack in Germany today."Ohlenschlager said investigators were aware of a video and are currently evaluating it to determine whether it was made by the suspect.Herrmann said people close to the attacker told investigators he had seemed like a calm person, not overtly religious or an extremist.He said investigators were still looking into the evidence found in the teenager's room, saying it could be possible that the notes included a farewell letter to his father.Hong Kong's top official, Chief Executive Leung Chun-Ying, condemned the attack and extended his sympathies to the victims and their families.Herrmann said it was a tragedy that a "family from Hong Kong comes here as tourists to visit Wuerzburg ... and then becomes victim on a train here in Bavaria in an attack conducted by an offender who came from Afghanistan and who was originally seeking shelter here."The dpa news agency reported that the attacker wounded the 62-year-old father, the 58-year-old mother, their adult daughter and her boyfriend. The teenage son was not hurt. The father and the boyfriend had tried to defend the other family members, dpa said.The mayor of Wuerzburg condemned the attack."I'm shocked by this horrible act of violence," Christian Schuchardt said, adding that his thoughts were with the victims and other passengers "who have suffered severe injuries on their bodies and souls by this act of craziness."Correcting initial information that the suspect came to Germany some two years ago, Koehler said he had been first registered as a refugee in June 2015, when he crossed into the country from Austria.German authorities sent him to an asylum home for unaccompanied minors in Ochsenfurt near Wuerzburg where he lived until two weeks ago when he was placed with a foster family living in the county of Wuerzburg. He received asylum at the end of March and had the right of residency in Germany.Koehler said he hadn't committed any previous crimes that authorities in Germany were aware of.He was a Sunni Muslim who didn't go to the mosque regularly, but prayed regularly at home, Koehler said."He was active on social media, had his page there, but there were no hints of any extremist Islamist thought," Koehler said. "However, 24 hours ago, he posted a cryptic message that was about the enemies of Islam."Germany last year registered more than 1 million asylum seekers entering the country, including more than 150,000 Afghans.___David Rising and Kirsten Grieshaber reported from Berlin.
Czechs fear far-away Islam-"Killed in the name of Islam," read posters during an anti-Islam demonstration in Prague on May Day.By Mira Galanova-euobserver-july 19,16
Prague, Today, 15:32-“Islam bans the things we love - sitting in the grass on a beautiful day like this exposing skin to sun, with a beer and a sausage in hand,” said one of the speakers at a demonstration in Prague. “As soon as there are many Muslims here, they will not respect our rules.”The May Day protest, organised by the far-right group Bloc Against Islam, did not mention refugees. Those who joined insist that the people currently coming to Europe are not refugees, but economic migrants, or worse – Islamic invaders.“If they were really running away from war, they would stay in neighbouring countries,” said one of the participants.In the Czech Republic, the refugee crisis is widely framed as a danger of Muslim migration. Islam is a favourite argument of the outspoken president Milos Zeman against refugees.Last October he warned that the migrants would enforce Sharia law, stoning unfaithful wives and cutting off hands of thieves. “We will be robbed of the beauty of our women, because they will be covered head to toe in burka,” he said.In January he claimed the Muslim Brotherhood had organised the current exodus of refugees with funding from various Muslim countries and the goal of taking control of Europe.“The integration of Muslims is practically impossible,” he insisted. The fierce anti-migrant rhetoric has boosted Zeman’s approval rating to an all-time high, according to various opinion polls.The president is not the only one waging an anti-refugee campaign in the Czech Republic.In May, the investigative reporting website Hlidaci Pes (Watchdog) published testimonies of several journalists from the third most-watched TV channel, Prima, that the management had instructed them to portray refugees as a threat.A number of bogus stories about Muslims and refugees have been spreading on the internet.Last December a false news story broke that asylum seekers raped two little girls in Kostelec nad Orlici and that the police banned the media from reporting on it.With a refugee camp on the edge of the town, several other pieces of misinformation went around. In Kostelec, the mayor, Frantisek Kinsky, is eager to address any rumours that may cause panic. But elsewhere people do not know what to believe.Only a very small number of Czechs have met a Muslim. It is estimated that between 10,000 and 20,000 Muslims live in the country, which is less than 0.2 percent of the population.With the lack of personal experience, people are easily frightened by what they see on the internet. “Many share this content without even reading the whole story,” says Lukas Houdek of the initiative Hatefree, which specialises in exposing online hoaxes.-Muslims can do nothing right-While some are scared of refugees, others worry about radicalisation of society.“Various groups are gradually hardening their arguments, which may turn into something else,” says Martin Buchtik, a sociologist at the Czech Academy of Sciences’ Public Opinion Research Centre (CVVM), suggesting they could turn to violence.In April the media reported that a young woman was punched in a tram for apparently no other reason than speaking Arabic. In a separate incident, someone threw blood-like paint on the wall of a family centre and stuck on the window an obituary of its director, who had collected donations for refugees.“This would have caused an uproar four years ago. Today, the news has quickly faded,” says Buchtik.It appears that Muslims can do little to improve their image.A young Muslim woman,Eman Ghaleb, recently made headlines in the Czech Republic. Originally from Yemen, she has lived since the age of five in the northern spa town of Teplice, popular with clients from Gulf countries.Willing to ease tensions caused by picnicking habits of some visitors, she started to clean the rubbish left behind and circulated leaflets explaining the code of conduct in the country.Her initiative caught the public eye. But instead of praise, the head teacher of her school received dozens of emails calling for her dismissal. Writers argued that she wore a headscarf and accused her of spreading Islamic propaganda and being a danger for fellow students.-No tradition of public debate-So far there are few indications that Czechs need to worry about a Muslim invasion. The majority of asylum seekers are from the former Soviet Union.“Refugees from the Middle East are more likely to go to countries where they get support from their communities,” says Martin Rozumek, the head of the NGO Organisation for Aid to Refugees.“There are very few Muslims here and there is little risk that they will create ghettos.”Samir, a refugee from Syria is proof that Muslims have no problem integrating. Although the Czech Republic was not his original destination – he was heading to Sweden where his cousins and friends live and was returned to Prague under the Dublin regulation - now that he has got asylum in the country, he is determined to make it his home.He is keen to make Czech friends and learn Czech culture. He insisted that his three sons went to a normal Czech school, instead of an international one. “They now master Czech better than Arabic,” he says in impressive Czech.Samir’s family sticks to their religion, but they are ready to make concessions. “Back in Syria my wife wore a black headscarf. Now we have bought different colours so that she fits in better,” he smiles.The Czech Republic is not popular with refugees. A little over 90,000 have sought asylum there since the country’s independence in 1993 and just over 3,000 have succeeded. Fewer than 2,000 others have got subsidiary protection. At the end of the May, there were 313 asylum seekers in refugee camps across the country.”They are individuals rather than a refugee wave,“ says Rozumek. “We have a refugee crisis without refugees and people are scared of Islam, although we hardly have any Muslims here.”He argues that the Czech Republic, with unemployment of 4.1 percent, lower than Germany, should take advantage of refugees to fill gaps in the labour market. “There are a number of professions which we are not able to fill with Czech citizens,” he says.The issue of refugees has polarised Czech society. In a May poll by CVVM, 61 percent of respondents were against and 36% for accepting refugees under certain conditions.“The migrant crisis has become the most important issue in the country,” says Martin Buchtik. “Sharp differences of opinion on this topic lead to such quarrels that families and friends are unable to speak together even about other subjects.”Buchtik attributes this situation to the fact that Czechs do not have a long tradition of open public debate, which did not exist during Communism.“The refugee crisis is one of those key topics which split society. There will be other such issues in the future and this experience will set the standard of how far it can go,” he says.This article is the second in a series exploring the central European reaction to the migrant crisis. The first article was about Hungary.
Huge military aircraft visits St. John's International Airport-[CBC]-July 19, 2016-yahoonews
The St. John's Airport played host to a rather noticeable guest on Monday — a gigantic Canadian Forces Aircraft.The CC-177 Globemaster III, with a length of 53 metres and a wingspan of almost 52, landed at the St. John's Airport Monday afternoon for training, just after a stop in Stephenville. The aircraft normally jets around the world, but on Monday the 429 Transport Squadron from Trenton, Ont., were practicing approaches and landings in St. John's — as the plane can be diverted to the city's airport when necessary.The plane has a crew of 6, and four of them are Newfoundlanders, including Commanding Officer Lt.-Col. Bill Church who is from Corner Brook."It's a rare pleasure to be able to land my aircraft here," Church said. "This is the first time I`ve been able to bring a Globemaster into Newfoundland.""Of all four aircraft I've flown, I've now landed in Newfoundland in all of them."-Wide load-The Globemaster is a transport plane, used to fly troops and machines all throughout the world.Church says his plane has launched Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Teams in the Philippines and in Nepal. It's also been used to fly into Afghanistan and Iraq for the military's middle-eastern missions."We really leave nothing to chance, though," says Lt.-Col. Church. "Our training is superb, and the equipment that we have defensive systems really help us do the mission that we need to do in a safe manner."The plane can hold loads of 72,000 kg, and weighs about 125,000 kg on its own. For Church, who used to fly fighter jets, the plane is a bit of an adjustment."It doesn't quite handle as nimbly as one of the small jets, but it still has a lot of power," he said. "The thrust to weight ratio is very impressive."
Three quick facts about the government's new Canada child benefit-[The Canadian Press]-The Canadian Press-July 19, 2016-yahoonews
OTTAWA - The federal government's new child benefit will arrive in bank accounts and mailboxes starting Wednesday, and replaces the universal child care benefit, the Canada child tax benefit and the national child benefit supplement.Here are three things to know about the new program: 1) If you already receive the universal child care benefit, or the child tax benefit, you don't need to apply for the new one. Your information is already on file and all you have to do is file your 2015 tax return. Payments will be made by direct deposit if you're signed up for it, or by cheque if that is how you received the universal child care benefit around the 20th of each month. 2) The new child benefit won't count as income, meaning it won't count against your tax return next year and be taxed like the previous universal child care benefit. Provinces have also said they won't count the new money when calculating income-tested benefits like rent and child care supplements. 3) How much you receive is based on two things: the number of children under age 18 in your household and your net family income. Families with a net income of less than $30,000 receive the full benefit of $533 per month for a child under six and $450 per month for children six to 17. Benefit levels drop as income rises. Most families, on average, will receive about $191 per month. An extra $227 per month is added for a child who qualifies for a disability payment.
Liberals replace Tory political appointments in major diplomatic shuffle-[The Canadian Press]-Mike Blanchfield, The Canadian Press-July 19, 2016-yahoonews
OTTAWA - The Trudeau Liberals have replaced several high-profile political appointments made by the previous Conservative government with a major shuffle of the top ranks of Canada's foreign service.Almost all are career public servants, with three of them replacing political appointees of the Harper government in the United Kingdom, Iraq and Israel.Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion announced the appointment of 26 new ambassadors, high commissioners and others — 13 men, 13 women — in a major shuffle the government says is intended to ensure diplomats represent a wide diversity of Canadians.In the United Kingdom, former British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell is being replaced by the former clerk of the privy council, Janice Charette. Campbell's term was set expire last summer but he was given a one-year extension.Charette, who left the clerk's job in January after little more than a year, will arrive in London as the historic negotiations begin for the U.K. to leave the European Union after last month's referendum.In the Middle East, Dion is replacing the heads of two missions whose appointments both drew criticism for being too partisan.Former prime minister Stephen Harper had appointed the former head of his RCMP security detail, Bruno Saccomani, as the ambassador to Jordan but he is now being replaced. The Jordan mission oversaw neighbouring Iraq, where Canada has no embassy.Saccomani, who was appointed three years ago, spent much of his time in Iraq, as the diplomatic spearhead of Canada's military engagement in the U.S.-led military coalition fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.Prior to his appointment, Saccomani faced criticism for his management style while in charge of the more than 100 Mounties that made up the prime minister's security detail, but he quickly won the respect of many of his new diplomatic employees in the Middle East.His successor, Peter MacDougall, is a veteran public servant who most recently was the assistant secretary to the cabinet for foreign and defence policy, where he would have worked on the government's new mission to combat ISIL.Canada's ambassador to Israel, Vivian Bercovici, is also gone just two years after her controversial appointment by the Harper government. The Toronto lawyer and former top adviser to the former Ontario finance minister Ernie Eves was seen as a harsh critic of Palestinian leadership.Bercovici is being replaced by Deborah Lyons, who was previously Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan. Lyons joined the public service in 1983 and developed expertise across a wide spectrum of portfolios.All governments make political appointments to key posts, and the Liberals are no exception, giving two key posts — Washington and the United Nations in New York — to political supporters earlier this year. Both U.S. Ambassador David MacNaughton and UN Ambassador Marc-Andre Blanchard worked for Justin Trudeau during his prime ministerial bid.Patrick Parisot, who was appointed ambassador to Cuba Tuesday, worked for former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff.New Canadian heads of mission will also be arriving in other key posts, including Turkey, Pakistan, Japan, Colombia and Hong Kong.
For black families, hard questions from children over U.S. police killings-[Reuters]-By Letitia Stein-July 19, 2016-yahoonews
BATON ROUGE, La. (Reuters) - In the eyes of four-year-old Autumn Unaeze, her grandfather in his blue police uniform is a superhero protecting people.Yet, there are troubling realities about police that her mother knows she must begin sharing with her: first, how other officers could harm her black family, and then how law enforcement officers can be targets themselves, after three were killed in an attack near her Baton Rouge home on Sunday.Across the United States, African-American parents, teachers and other adults face a difficult decision - how and at what age to talk to children about a racially charged debate over policing and tensions over the shooting deaths of black men by officers in a country that struggles to end racism.That conversation has grown more urgent in recent weeks. In the tumult of social media, ever-younger children have been exposed to grainy videos of black men dying at the hands of law enforcement or to blanket news coverage of black-led protests over use of police force. Then they've seen the shock in communities whose officers are gunned down in the line of duty.Families that may have once discussed racial disparities in policing with older teens now face questions from preschoolers such as Autumn, who want to know why people are being so mean. Others ask why people are protesting or why police now face ambushes as in Baton Rouge and Dallas, where five officers were killed earlier this month."She's already seen enough," said mother Elizabeth Unaeze, 27, who finally just turned off the television news on Sunday, after learning that her father was safe. "I don't want to create an atmosphere of fear, even though we as parents are so afraid."Her daughter and two-year-old son already had picked up on sadness and grief at the grocery store, after the fatal police shooting on July 5 of Alton Sterling, 37, at a local convenience store ignited nationwide protests.Like other African-American parents here, Unaeze wants to reinforce their trust in authorities, but also knows caution could become an essential survival skill."There's no pamphlet. There's no guide. I am sure there are no colouring sheets," she said.-'PROTECT US'-Families in Baton Rouge are the latest to experience first-hand the aftermath of police killings of black men that have convulsed the nation in the past two years, following communities from New York and Baltimore to Ferguson, Missouri, where riots erupted after police fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown in 2014.A day after the death of Sterling, many children watched or caught glimpses of footage on Facebook from inside a car in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, where Philando Castile, a 32-year-old black man, lay bleeding in another fatal police shooting.Child psychologists say exposure to killings can shatter a sense of security for many African-American children: younger children may become fearful for parents and caretakers, while older youth can start to see themselves as the next target.When headlines explode with the next police-involved killing, some feel traumatized all over again."They don’t trust the world," said Jerry Dunn, a psychologist and executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Services of Greater St. Louis, near Ferguson. "It really sets up an unfortunate risk for a cycle that is difficult to break."Eleven-year-old Terrance Anderson last week held up a handwritten sign outside the store where Sterling was killed. "We are the children of the future," it read. "Protect us.""It's not fair that they are only killing black people," said the slender sixth-grader.His grandmother said she had wanted him to experience the peaceful crowds gathering nightly near a makeshift memorial of flowers, balloons and stuffed animals at the spot where Sterling died."I had to help him understand that all the world is not mean," said Denise Matthews, 60. "I hope he learns that life goes on."Walter McLaughlin said he knew it was time to talk when his 10-year-old daughter asked him during a drive home: are police racist? The 36-year-old father of three uses content filters to block inappropriate websites and television in his Baton Rouge home but was surprised at how much his daughter still absorbed recent events.He said he sat down with his 14-year-old son and offered advice on how to act around police and white people to make them comfortable: stand tall, make eye contact, avoid sullen facial expressions."These are things that are unfair, but this is the world that we live in," he explained. "Some of these are the right things to do. Some of them are the wise things to do. And some of them we are fighting, so we don’t have to do anymore."-'COULD BE ANYONE, ANY DAY'-Research released this month by the Center for Policing Equity at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York confirmed what many have long known anecdotally – police are far more likely to use force in interactions with blacks than with whites.From stun guns to batons and body contact, police used force on blacks at rates more than three times higher than for whites, the researchers found in a review of data from 12 police departments representing a cross-section of the United States. Even after factoring in higher arrest rates among blacks, racial disparities persisted in how force was applied.Explaining such systemic injustice was a conversation that Brandon Simmons, 38, had been afraid to initiate with his 10- and 13-year-olds. His childhood in southern Louisiana was defined by racial inequities, with a white girl spitting in his face in the third grade. He believes his children are growing up in a better, more accepting society."I don't want to paint a horrific perspective of what happened and almost rape them of their viewpoint of the world,” said Simmons, who showed them the video of Sterling's death at the urging of a friend who teaches middle school. "I was very cautious in my approach."Living blocks from Sterling's shooting in Baton Rouge, Wajeedah Jones, 37, debated how much to show her young children. Then her six-year-old son told her that he knew why she had been crying.An older relative had showed him the video. Her 13-year-old also had seen the footage, and he said it left him heartbroken."It could be anyone, any day," said her son, JaKairick Young. "We all know that."(Reporting by Letitia Stein; Editing by Jason Szep and Mary Milliken)
Baton Rouge shooter said he was member of anti-government group: documents-[Reuters]-By Ned Parker and Mark Hosenball-July 18, 2016-YAHOONEWS
(Reuters) - The gunman who killed three Baton Rouge police officers identified himself as a member of an African-American offshoot of the anti-government Sovereign Citizen Movement last year, documents showed.Gavin Long, a former U.S. Marine sergeant who was shot dead by police on Sunday, affiliated himself with the Washitaw Nation, an African-American group whose members view the federal government as illegitimate, in legal papers filed in a Missouri county. In an interview on Monday, a senior member of the Washitaw Nation denied that Long was a member of the group.In papers he filed in May 2015, Long also said he wanted to change his name from Gavin Eugene Long to Cosmo Ausar Setepenra as part of reclaiming what he described as his indigenous identity, according to Jackson County, Missouri, public records. But court officials said Long never completed the process of legally changing his name.Filing such papers is a common practice among members of the Sovereign Citizens Movement, according to Ryan Lenz, an expert from the Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit organization that tracks extremist groups. The center estimates there are 300,000 followers of Sovereign Citizens in the United States. “He is definitely a Sovereign," said Lenz. "That process is a Sovereign Citizen tactic dating back for years. There is no other ideology that such a process falls under except Sovereign Citizens.”Frederix Joe Washington, the senior member of the Washitaw Nation, said he did not know Long. He also said that people often use the group's name without its permission."We know nothing about this man," Washington said. "We don’t give cards out, IDs out, licenses or passports. None of this has been given out by us."A U.S. counter-terrorism official said investigators were examining Long's relationship with the Washitaw group. The official said U.S. agencies can only monitor such groups to a limited extent due to constitutional free speech guarantees and usually only do so when violence is threatened or committed.The Sovereign Citizen movement is largely made up of right-wing anti-government white Americans, who say the federal government has been corrupted since the 19th century, according to researchers. Since the 1990s, some black separatists have adopted the Sovereign Citizen ideology as well.-GROUP REJECTS FEDERAL AUTHORITY-Sovereign Citizens say they are allowed to ignore the federal government and often believe they can issue their own identification cards because they refuse to recognize federal law. The movement, which is more of an ideology than an organization, is highly decentralized and has little in the way of formal structure, researchers said.There were 24 cases of violence or threats committed by Sovereign Citizen followers from 2010 to 2014, and all but five occurred at government offices, during routine traffic stops or at adherents' homes, according to a Department of Homeland Security intelligence assessment leaked to the news media in 2015. Those episodes included people affiliated with the movement being charged with the 2012 killing of two policemen in Louisiana, convicted of the 2010 shootings of two policemen in Texas and the 2014 shootings of two law enforcement officers in California. A self-professed member of the movement was also convicted of plotting to kill a federal judge and an IRS official in Alaska in 2011.All told, federal and state prosecutors have brought over 100 cases against self-described Sovereign Citizens since 2000, according to J. J. MacNab, a fellow at George Washington University's Program on Extremism.Experts say that U.S. officials in both the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama put less emphasis on domestic terror threats in the aftermath of the 2001 al Qaeda attacks on the United States.During the Bush administration, the Department of Justice deactivated in 2001 its internal domestic terrorism task force, created after the 1995 Oklahoma City courthouse bombing. The Obama administration only reconstituted the task force in 2014.In 2009, the Homeland Security Department team that analyzed domestic terror threats issued a report predicting that anti-government attacks would rise. The report was criticized by members of Congress and the secretary of Homeland Security, who renounced its findings.But over the last decade and a half the number of extremist and armed anti-government groups in the United States has steadily grown, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The number of anti-government "patriot groups" grew from 217 in 1999 to 998 last year.One of the Washitaw Nation's principal doctrines is a claim that the purchase of Louisiana by the United States was illegitimate, experts said. Instead, they maintain that Washitaw Nation members are descendants of tribes in Missouri, and that they are therefore the real owners of Louisiana.(Reporting By Ned Parker and Mark Hosenball. Additional reporting by Julia Edwards and Julia Harte; Editing by Alan Crosby and Cynthia Osterman)
Gunman bypassed civilians as he ambushed Baton Rouge police-[Reuters]-By Andy Sullivan-July 19, 2016-YAHOONEWS
BATON ROUGE, La. (Reuters) - The three police officers shot dead in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, were deliberately "targeted and assassinated" by a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who appeared to go out of his way to spare civilians during his assault, authorities said.Former Sergeant Gavin Eugene Long of Kansas City, Missouri, an Iraq war veteran with ties to an African-American anti-government group, seemed determined to slay as many police officers as possible before a SWAT team marksman cut short his attack on Sunday, according to police officials' account the next day.The single gunshot that killed Long, 29, was fired by an officer from about 100 yards away, police said on Monday as they deepened their investigation into the second racially charged armed assault on U.S. law enforcement this month.The ambush came a week and a half after another former U.S. serviceman espousing militant black nationalist views cut down five Dallas officers in a sniper attack that shattered an otherwise peaceful protest denouncing the fatal police shootings of two black men days earlier, one of them in Baton Rouge.Police have declined to say what role race might have played in Sunday's rampage, which killed two white officers and one black officer. Three more officers were wounded, one of them critically.But Long, who was black, said in a series of social media messages posted in recent days, some from Dallas, that he was fed up with the mistreatment of African-Americans at the hands of law enforcement, and praised the attack on Dallas police.Legal papers filed in his home state of Missouri showed he was affiliated with Washitaw Nation, a black offshoot of the Sovereign Citizen movement, which challenges the legitimacy of the federal government.As evidence of Long's single-minded intent to level his violent rage exclusively at police, authorities on Monday cited video footage of the shooting that they said showed him hunting officers while bypassing civilians.-"CALCULATED ACT"-"There is no doubt whatsoever that these officers were intentionally targeted and assassinated," Louisiana State Police Superintendent Colonel Mike Edmonson told reporters. "It was a calculated act against those who work to protect this community every single day."The bloodshed has heightened security concerns at the Republican National Convention, which began on Monday in Cleveland, as well as for next week's Democratic convention in Philadelphia.Baton Rouge police said they believed that Long, armed with two rifles and a pistol, had intended to make his way to the their department's headquarters a short distance away to take more lives.The carnage rocked a city still shaken from angry protests over the fatal police shooting on July 5 of a 37-year-old black man, Alton Sterling, who was confronted by officers while selling CDs outside a Baton Rouge convenience store. Sterling was buried just last Friday.A day after his killing, another black man, Philando Castile, 32, was shot to death by a policeman during a traffic stop near St. Paul, Minnesota.The back-to-back killings reignited nationwide demonstrations over the use of force by police against minorities, including the rally in Dallas on July 7.Edmonson said Long had been in the Baton Rouge area for several days before the shooting and, while he acted alone in the ambush itself, police have not ruled out the possibility he might have had help planning the attack.Military records showed Long, listed as a data network specialist, served five years in the Marine Corps until his discharge in August 2010, including a six-month deployment to Iraq.The dead officers in Baton Rouge were named as Matthew Gerald, 41, also an Iraq war veteran and father of two; Montrell Jackson, 32, who was black and had served as a Baton Rouge police officer for a decade; and sheriff's deputy Brad Garafola, 45, a father of four.President Barack Obama offered his condolences in phone calls on Monday to the victims' loved ones as well as top law enforcement officials in the city.Hundreds of mourners held a candlelight vigil on Monday evening at a church in south Baton Rouge in memory of Gerald, a rookie on the police force who had served in both the U.S. Army and the Marines.(Additional reporting by Sam Karlin in Baton Rouge, David Alexander and Eric Walsh in Washington, Laila Kearney in New York; Writing by Grant McCool and Steve Gorman; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Bill Trott)
Differences abide in Baton Rouge after moment of shared sorrow-[Reuters]-By Andy Sullivan and Sam Karlin-July 19, 2016-YAHOONEWS
BATON ROUGE, La. (Reuters) - On the affluent south side of Baton Rouge, a clutch of plastic balloons bobs in front of the gas station where an ex-U.S. Marine shot dead three police officers.On the impoverished north side, a pile of flowers and a spray-painted portrait mark the spot where black resident Alton Sterling was killed by police two weeks ago.The impromptu shrines in Louisiana's state capital illustrate the heartache on both sides of a confrontation over police use of lethal force against mostly black men and targeted killings in Dallas and Baton Rouge by black gunmen bearing racial grievances against white officers.The differences between law enforcement and activists who have protested a series of police-involved shootings across the United States in the past two years seemed briefly to have been set aside in Baton Rouge in the immediate aftermath of Sunday's murders that officials described as assassinations.Public safety officials and civil rights leaders alike denounced the killer, identified as 29-year-old Gavin Long of Kansas City, Missouri, as a visitor without ties to Baton Rouge who came to their city with intent to do harm."People on all sides, people who were peacefully protesting the Sterling incident, are just as heartbroken over this as everyone in the law enforcement community," said State Representative Barry Ivey, a Republican who represents Baton Rouge.But some black residents worried the ambush could shift attention away from Sterling's July 5 death, which many saw as just the latest example of heavy-handed policing."How many more innocent people have to be killed before they bring those two officers to justice?" asked Quenton Williams, who described his own struggles with the court system as visitors took photos and laid flowers in front of the ramshackle convenience store where Sterling was killed.Civil rights leaders said they would continue to press for police reforms, even as they urged frustrated residents to refrain from street protests."Just getting a crowd begets tension in and of itself," said the Reverend Lee Wesley, a leader of an interfaith group called Together Baton Rouge.The Baton Rouge police department faces a federal investigation over Sterling's death, and is still operating under a decades-old agreement with the U.S. government to hire more black officers.-PROTESTS PETERED OUT-Residents said their city had been returning to normal before the killing of the officers, two white and one black.The protests following Sterling's death had petered out and police had not made any arrests for reasons of civil unrest for six days, officials said.But even as Sunday's attack prompted an outpouring of goodwill from locals determined to try to use it to soothe long-standing racial tensions, there were signs it may have hardened others' positions in the debate over police conduct.An emotional Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie said the military-style tactics that are criticized by activists made it possible for Long to be shot dead from 100 yards away before he could kill more police officers."We are up against a force that is not playing by the rules. They didn't play by the rules in Dallas, they didn't play by the rules here," Dabadie said.In Dallas on July 7, five police officers were killed near the scene of a peaceful demonstration by a black former U.S. Army reservist, Micah Johnson.Maxine Crump, executive director of Dialogue on Race Louisiana, said that since Sunday's attack she has been "inundated" with offers from people wanting to be part of discussions on how to improve race relations."I do not think this has set us back," Crump said.Some believe progress is unlikely to be made anytime soon."We won't heal this in a week or a month," said State Senator Mack "Bodi" White, a Republican running for mayor this year.(Additional reporting by Sam Karlin; Writing by Andy Sullivan; editing by Daniel Wallis and Grant McCool)
REVELATION 16:12-16
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THE TURKEY ATATURK DAM ON THE EUPHRATES CAN BE SHUT AND DRIED UP ALREADY BY TURKEY)
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.(ITS AT THIS TIME I BELIEVE WHEN AMERICA GETS NUKED BY RUSSIA ON THE WAY TO THE MIDEAST)
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(WORLDWIDE WAR)(TURKEY-IRAQ-SYRIA)(EUPHRATES RIVER CONSISTS OF 760 MILES IN TURKEY,440 MILES IN SYRIA AND 660 MILES IN IRAQ)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,(WORLDWIDE WAR) which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE-2 billion)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION MAY DIE IN WW3-BUT THE WORLD NEVER ENDS.AT LEAST 3 BILLION GOES INTO JESUS' LITERAL KINGDOM ON EARTH.SO DO NOT EVEN MENTION THIS END OF THE WORLD NONSENSE.
PROOF HALF ON EARTH DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD (8 BILLION ON EARTH)
REVELATION 6:7-8 (8 BILLION- 2 BILLION = 6 BILLION)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 BILLION) to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
REVELATION 9:15,18 (6 BILLION - 2 BILLION = 4 BILLION)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,
18 By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMBS)
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.(half earths population 4 billion die in the 7 yr trib)
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.
MATTHEW 24:37-42 (THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-SURE NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
North Korea fires three ballistic missiles in new show of force-[Reuters]-By Jack Kim and James Pearson-July 19, 2016-YAHOONEWS
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired three ballistic missiles on Tuesday which flew between 500 and 600 km (300-360 miles) into the sea off its east coast, South Korea's military said, the latest in a series of provocative moves by the isolated country.The U.S. military said it detected launches of what it believed were two Scud missiles and one Rodong, a home-grown missile based on Soviet-era Scud technology.North Korea has fired both types numerous times in recent years, an indication that unlike recent launches that were seen as efforts by the North to improve its missile capability, Tuesday's were meant as a show of force."This smells political rather than technical to me," said Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate at the U.S.-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California."I think the number and distance of the missiles lets them remind the ROK (Republic of Korea) of what they are up against," she said, referring to South Korea by its official name.North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. The North regularly threatens to destroy the Japan, South Korea and the South's main ally, the United States.The launches came nearly a week after South Korea and the United States chose a site in the South to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-missile system to counter threats from the North, which had prompted Pyongyang to threaten a "physical response"."Our assessment is that it was done as a show of force," a South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff official said at a briefing.The missiles were launched from an area in the North's western region called Hwangju between 5:45 a.m. South Korea time (04:45 p.m. EDT Monday) and 6:40 a.m., the South's military said, an indication that the North was confident they would not crash on its own territory."The ballistic missiles' flight went from 500 km to 600 km, which is a distance far enough to strike all of South Korea, including Busan," the South's military said in a statement.Busan is a South Korean port city in the south.North Korea has test-fired a series of ballistic missiles in recent months, in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions, including intermediate-range missiles in June and a submarine-launched missile this month."In addition to the basic goal of enhancing missile units' readiness to fight, it might be a way of reminding their southern neighbors that the site chosen for a THAAD battery in South Korea is within reach," Joshua Pollack, editor of the U.S.-based Nonproliferation Review, said of Tuesday's launches.South Korea announced last week the THAAD system would be deployed in the southeastern county of Seongju.In addition to the decision to base a THAAD system in South Korea, the United States recently angered North Korea by blacklisting its leader Kim Jong Un for human rights abuses."The threat to our national security is growing very quickly in a short period of time," South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn told parliament on Tuesday.-BOMBS, MISSILES AND SANCTIONS-North Korea conducted its fourth test of a nuclear device in January, and activity at its nuclear test site has increased recently, according to media reports in South Korea and Japan citing government officials, as well as a report by Washington-based North Korea monitoring project 38 North.Following the latest nuclear test and a February space rocket launch that was widely viewed as a missile test in disguise, the U.N. Security Council imposed tough new resolutions that further isolate North Korea.While China supported tougher sanctions against its neighbor and ally North Korea, it has sharply criticized the decision to base a THAAD battery in South Korea, saying the move would destabilize the security balance in the region."The situation on the Korean peninsula is severe and complex and all sides should avoid any actions that raise tensions," China's foreign ministry said, echoing previous statements.Japan denounced the launches."The latest launch is a breach of the UN Security Council resolution and is extremely hazardous to shipping and aircraft and we have strongly protested," the Japanese government said in a statement.(Additional reporting by Ju-min Park, Tim Kelly in Tokyo and Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Nick Macfie)
EU says North Korea missile launches "grave violation" of international obligations-[Reuters]-July 19, 2016-YAHOONEWS
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, said missile launches by North Korea on Tuesday were a "clear and grave violation" of Pyongyang's international obligations."Following its illegal nuclear test on 6 January, this latest act by (North Korea) will heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula and undermine the peace and security of the wider region," she said in a statement.North Korea earlier on Tuesday fired three ballistic missiles that flew between 500 and 600 km (300-360 miles) into the sea off its east coast, the latest in a series of provocative moves by the isolated country.United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the missile launches were "deeply troubling".(Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, editing by Larry King)
France fears Syria massacre, wants more pressure on Russia: Ayrault-[Reuters]-By John Irish-July 19, 2016-HYAOONEWS
LONDON (Reuters) - France is alarmed by the Syrian government's tightening siege of Aleppo and the risk it will carry out a bloodbath near Damascus, and will push this week for more pressure on Syria's ally Russia, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Tuesday."We are extremely concerned by the situation in Aleppo, but Daraya as well," Ayrault told Reuters, referring to a rebel-held Damascus suburb seen as the epicenter of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad."Daraya is a symbol and we fear a real massacre."Daraya is besieged by forces loyal to Assad, who until last month had refused to allow aid to starving residents since 2012.International aid convoys reached the town in June, but fighting continues and about 6,000 people are still trapped there.Outside Aleppo, Syria's army and allied militia fighters backed by Russian air power this week seized the only road into the rebel-held part of the northern city, tightening a siege that has trapped some 200,000 to 300,000 people."France will not close its eyes to the drama of Aleppo," Ayrault said before a meeting on Syria in London with his British, U.S., German, Italian and EU counterparts."What we cannot accept is to wait for election calendars," he said referring to the November presidential election in the United States. "We need to launch a call to help those besieged."As well as Western-backed rebels, Assad is also fighting the hardline Islamic State, which controls about a third of the country, and the local al Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front. The rebels of Aleppo and Daraya are supported by the same western countries that are conducting air strikes against Islamic State.Ayrault said more pressure needed to be put on Moscow so it would in turn lean on Assad, something that he wanted like-minded countries to discuss when the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State meets in Washington later this week.After last week's attack in Nice, Ayrault said Paris would reiterate its readiness to step efforts against Islamic State or Daesh, which should now focus on its sanctuary in Raqqa, Syria.Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Nice attack, in which a Tunisian man killed 84 people by plowing through a Bastille Day crowd with a truck."Our priority also, and this will be the objective in Washington, is that effort against Daesh is much stronger", Ayrault said.(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Andrew Callus and Mark Trevelyan)
DANIEL 7:23-24
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)
Five EU states gang up on Africa's last colony By Aleksandra Eriksson-euobserver
BRUSSELS, 18. Jul, 19:48-The European Court of Justice is due to hear a case on Tuesday (19 July) examining the EU's role in facilitating exploitation of Africa’s last colony by one of Europe's close allies.The General Court in Luxembourg last year outlawed a lucrative deal facilitating trade in agricultural produce between Morocco and the EU. The court found the Council was too meek when it came to ensuring the deal did not hurt the right of Sahrawis - the people of Western Sahara - to decide over and profit from the resources in their territory.Morocco illegally annexed the land south of its border in 1975 and has kept it under military control ever since.International law says an occupying power can only exploit natural resources if that benefits and is in accordance with the wish of the conquered people. Third parties also have to ensure that they do not enter any deal that goes against this principle.The case was brought by Polisario, the national liberation movement of the Sahrawi people, which celebrated the verdict.Morocco replied by breaking off diplomatic relations with the EU. These were only resumed after EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini came to Rabat and declared the case would be reconsidered.Amidst Moroccan wrath - the government launched an attack on EU justice, questioning the independence of EU judges and calling the ruling ”highly political” and ”against international law” - the European foreign service (EEAS) worked with its Moroccan counterpart throughout spring to prepare the EU Council’s appeal.But the EU high representative failed to clarify on what legal basis Morocco was involved, when prompted by a group of MEPs .The agricultural agreement has also remained in force, pending the outcome of the appeal.-Member states side with Morocco-The appeal is to be heard before a grand chamber of 15 judges, marking its importance. They have agreed to fast-track the judgment, which is expected before the end of the year.Five member states - Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal and Spain - have asked to speak before the court.Officially, they question the case on technical grounds.Polisario, they say, does not have the right to stand before the EU court, among other technical objections.Unofficially, the countries may have other reasons to act.France is Morocco’s main ally in the EU and the UN.Many agricultural companies in the occupied Sahrawi territory belong to French nationals. Most exports from occupied Western Sahara pass through Perpignan, in southern France.Spain - which remains the formal administrative power in Western Sahara, according to the UN and Spanish courts - is the main beneficiary of a fisheries agreement with Morocco, which is also facing a court challenge.Belgium and Germany signed readmission agreements for Moroccan nationals on the same day they announced they would intervene on Rabat’s behalf.Sweden, which also supported Rabat’s appeal, says that any ruling would be worth more if it was upheld by a higher court.-EU policy on Western Sahara-The case has shed light on the contradictions of EU policy on occupied territories in general, and Western Sahara in particular.In theory, the EU does not recognise the occupation of Western Sahara, but the degree of this non-recognition is much weaker than in the case of Crimea or Palestine, as shown by a comparative parliamentary study.EU formally recognises that Morocco holds the land illegally, but its position is largely restricted to quiet support for a UN solution to the problem (which is largely being blocked by Morocco and France).Both the Council and the European Commission acknowledged before the general court that they didn't recognise Morocco's sovereignty over the Western Sahara - a fact that will not be challenged in the appeal.But if EU judges upheld their earlier verdict, it would strain EU relations with one of its closest allies.-Sahrawi life-Most Sahrawi people have fled the occupied territory and live in refugee camps in the Devil's Garden - a desert in southern Algeria, where the temperature recently reached 57 degrees.Morocco built a 2,700 km long sand wall surrounded by millions of land mines to keep them there. Refugees are dependent on foreign aid for food, clothing and building materials.Those who stayed in occupied Western Sahara reportedly suffer from arbitrary arrests, torture, and infringements of the right of speech, association and assembly, the UN recent said in a special report .The US excludes products from Western Sahara from its trade agreement with Morocco.
Irish PM opens door to reunification vote By Aleksandra Eriksson-july 19,16-euobserver
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:29-Irish prime minister Enda Kenny has raised the possibility of a vote on Irish reunification in the wake of the Brexit referendum.The taoiseach said on Monday (18 July) that if people of Northern Ireland clearly showed the will to leave the UK and join the Republic, they should have the right to a referendum on the issue.He also called on the EU to prepare for the scenario. The centre-right Fine Gael party leader drew a parallel to German reunification following the fall of the Berlin Wall.“The discussion and negotiations that take place over the next period should take into account the possibility ... that if there is a clear evidence of a majority of people wishing to leave the United Kingdom and join the Republic that that should be catered for in the discussions that take place,” Kenny said.“Because if that possibility were to happen, you would have Northern Ireland wishing to leave the United Kingdom, not being a member of the European Union, and joining the Republic which will be a member of the EU.”The Irish leader also urged the bloc to curb attempts to punish Britain for its vote to leave the EU, warning that such an approach could inflame anti-EU sentiment across the continent."It is in nobody’s interests for the UK and the EU to have anything but the best possible future relations," he said.A majority of voters in Northern Ireland, and those in Scotland, voted to remain in the EU while most people in England and Wales voted to leave.The Irish leader campaigned to keep Britain in the EU.Immediately after the UK voted to leave the EU, the taoiseach replied to nationalist calls for a referendum by saying that relations between the Republic and Northern Ireland would "require careful consideration”, but they should be approached "in the same spirit of partnership that had underpinned the peace process" on the island for decades.Ireland has been hit hard by consequences of the Brexit vote.The UK is the second biggest destination for the country’s exports after the US, and the biggest for its services.Theresa May said before she became British prime minister that the details of the open border between Ireland and the UK would be discussed as part of Brexit talks with Brussels.The open border accord is widely seen as a tangible end of the sectarian violence that claimed more than 3,500 lives in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.The UK dismantled its military checkpoints and watchtowers on the border following the 1998 Good Friday accord, giving Catholics in Northern Ireland the freedom to maintain close ties with the southern Republic while staying part of Britain.
EUROPEAN UNION ARMY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI5_pMvLZd8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytWmPqY8TE0&feature=player_embedded
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)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 DIVSION REGION WORLD GOVERNMENT) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)
DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT-NEW AGE MOVEMENT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.
DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies,(UNITED NATIONS TROOPS) gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
After Nice, EU to redouble global fight against terrorism By Eric Maurice-euobserver
BRUSSELS, 18. Jul, 19:57-EU foreign ministers on Monday (18 July) expressed support to France in the wake of the last week's attack in Nice, but aired strategic ideas rather than specific initiatives against terrorism.After a minute of silence to honour the 84 people killed by a lorry last Thursday, ministers demonstrated "solidarity in principle," France's Jean-Marc Ayrault told journalists.EU diplomacy chief Federica Mogherini said at a separate press conference: “Our responsibility is not to have minutes of silence but to give efficient answers”.She said all ministers said they were ready to continue to support France on the basis of article 42.7, the "mutual defence clause" of the EU treaty.Article 42.7 was triggered last November’s Paris attacks to get military support for French operations in Sahel and the Middle East so that Franc could keep more soldiers on patrol at home.Effective assistance from other member states has so far been limited, however.When asked about it on Monday, Ayrault only mentioned German support in Mali and a contribution by the Czech Republic."France gets by, but it mobilises considerable resources and doesn't want to give up its responsibilities," he said to explain why France now needed further EU support.Speaking in broader terms, the French minister said the EU needed to have the resources to implement its new foreign policy strategy, which Mogherini presented last month."We must give it an operational framework," he said, adding that any new EU defence structures should be "connected and complementary" to Nato."We need to go further in a strategy for a defence at a European level," he said.Ayrault and Mogherini also stressed the need to work with countries in Africa on security issues.-'Overall work'-"It seems something not connected directly with the attack in Nice but … it is overall work that we need to do to eradicate the roots of the hatred that we have seen so many times, hitting Nice, but also other parts of the world," Mogherini said.She said EU counter-terrorism experts were already present in 11 EU delegations in the Arab world, Africa and Asia and that more would be sent to the Western Balkans, Sahel and Nigeria.Earlier in the day, after a meeting with the EU ministers, US chief of diplomacy John Kerry said that the "act of savagery" in Nice would "only strengthen our shared resolve to combat extremism everywhere".Mogherini’s common strategy will be discussed later this week at a "counter-Daesh" meeting of more than 30 defence ministers in Washington.
French lawmakers urged to unite on emergency rule after Nice attack-[Reuters]-By Brian Love-July 19, 2016-YAHOONEWS
PARIS (Reuters) - France's government, smarting from accusations that it did not do enough to prevent last week's deadly truck attack in Nice, asked lawmakers on Tuesday to extend a period of emergency rule that gives police greater search-and-arrest powers.President Francois Hollande said his government was planning a three-month extension but, in response to calls from political opponents, could accept calls for a rollover lasting six months."Protecting the French people is my duty," he said during a visit to Portugal.Polls since the attack in the Riviera coast city of Nice suggest confidence in his ability to fight terrorism has plunged after the third major attack in 18 months. Crowds jeered Prime Minister Manuel Valls at a remembrance ceremony on Monday."We need people to stay together, we want to move fast with broad backing," said government spokesman Stephane Le Foll as lawmakers prepared to debate the latest emergency powers bill.The debate came as Nice's seafront boulevard, the Promenade des Anglais, reopened after Thursday's attack, in which Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove a truck into crowds of Bastille Day revelers, killing 84, before being shot dead by police.Dozens more were hurt and 19 people remain on life support five days after the carnage French state prosecutor Francois Molins has described as a terrorist act.The Islamic State group that has seized control of parts of Syria and Iraq has claimed responsibility for the attack, although no hard evidence linking Bouhlel to the militant organization has been found.Hollande said French fighter jets had intensified bombing of Islamic State bases in Syria and Iraq in recent days.Molins said Bouhlel had shown sudden signs of interest in hardline Islamist propaganda in the days before he ran amok but up to then had no record of radicalization, noting that he ate pork, drank alcohol and engaged in "unbridled sexual activity".As tension ran high over risks of further attacks in France, police officials also confirmed that explosives had been found at the home of an arrested taxi driver who was on an intelligence services watchlist.They were also called in to investigate an incident in which a man attacked a woman and her three children with a knife at a holiday complex in southern France. Some witnesses said the assailant had accused the victims of dressing too scantily.The number of French people who believe Hollande is up to the task of tackling terrorism plunged to 33 percent after the attack in Nice, from confidence ratings of 50 percent or so in the wake of the two other big attacks in early and late 2015.France imposed emergency rule after the Nov. 13 attacks in which Islamist militants killed 130 people in Paris, giving the police powers to search homes and place people under immediate house arrest without advance clearance from judges.The bill to be debated in parliament on Tuesday night would also grant police and spy services greater powers to dig into suspects' computers and mobile phone communications.Another poll published on Tuesday asked voters who they did not want to see elected leader of France next June: 73 percent said Hollande, but the percentage hostile to far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who some believe will benefit from a climate of voter alienation, topped 60 percent.(Reporting by Brian Love, Marine Pennetier and Emmanuel Jarry in Paris, and Matthias Galante in Nice; Editing by Andrew Callus, Catherine Evans and Hugh Lawson)
WORLD POWERS IN THE LAST DAYS (END OF AGE OF GRACE NOT THE WORLD)
EUROPEAN UNION-KING OF WEST-DAN 9:26-27,DAN 7:23-24,DAN 11:40,REV 13:1-10
EGYPT-KING OF THE SOUTH-DAN 11:40
RUSSIA-KING OF THE NORTH-EZEK 38:1-2,EZEK 39:1-3
CHINA-KING OF THE EAST-DAN 11:44,REV 9:16,18
VATICAN-RELIGIOUS LEADER-REV 13:11-18,REV 17:4-5,9,18
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS) man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
ISAIAH 14:12-14
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)
German train axe attack puts Merkel migrant policy back in spotlight-[Reuters]-By Jens Hack-July 19, 2016-yahoonews
MUNICH (Reuters) - A young Afghan who attacked passengers on a train in Bavaria with an axe had entered Germany last summer with a wave of migrants, officials said on Tuesday, raising more questions about Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door refugee policy.The 17-year-old, who a witness said shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) during the attack, severely wounded four Hong Kong residents on the train late on Monday, then injured a local woman after fleeing, before police shot him dead.The case is likely to deepen worries about so-called "lone wolf" attacks in Europe and could put political pressure on Merkel, who has welcomed hundreds of thousands of migrants to Germany over the past year.The attacker came to Germany as an unaccompanied minor and was registered as a refugee on June 30 last year in Passau, officials said. Germany welcomed about 1 million migrants in 2015, many fleeing war in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq."In the minds of many people, his arrival is directly linked to Merkel and her liberal refugee policies," said Frank Decker, political scientist at Bonn University.The attack took place days after a Tunisian delivery man ploughed a truck into crowds of Bastille Day revellers in the southern French city of Nice, killing 84. Islamic State has also claimed responsibility for that incident.Public support for Merkel has risen since Britain voted on June 23 to leave the European Union, helping reverse a fall in her popularity caused by the refugee crisis. Decker said a Nice-style attack here could quickly end those gains."It would boost those who have called Merkel's policies a mistake," he said. "Merkel would be blamed."Unlike neighbours France and Belgium, Germany has not been the victim of a major attack by Islamic militants in recent years, although security officials say they have thwarted a large number of plots.A leader of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) said Merkel and her supporters were to blame for the dangerous security situation because their "welcoming policies had brought too many young, uneducated and radical Muslim men to Germany".Imam Arbab Ahmad, whose mosque in Wuerzburg lies about 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) from the scene of the attack, said he feared a backlash against Muslims after the attack."I am anxious," he said. "It was a totally inhumane attack on innocent people. Every human being should condemn it, not just Muslims."Police found a hand-painted Islamic State flag in the refugee's room at his foster family's home, along with a letter he appeared to have written to his father, which officials said read: "And now pray for me that I can get revenge on these non-believers, pray for me that I go to heaven."-SUICIDE VIDEO-Islamic State posted a video in which a man whom it identifies as the Afghan refugee vows to carry out a suicide mission and urges other Muslims to do the same.In the two minute and 20 second video, entitled "Germany – Video of the Islamic State Soldier Muhammad Riyad Who Carried out the Wuerzburg Attack", a young man wields a small knife, which he says he will use to slaughter infidels and avenge the deaths of men, women and children in Muslim countries."I will carry out a suicide operation in Germany," the young man says in the video. "I will slaughter you in your houses."German officials were checking if the man in the video was in fact the attacker. Merkel's chief of staff, Peter Altmaier, told ZDF television: "The security authorities expect that this video is in all likelihood authentic, and also the letter."Authorities have not released the attacker's name publicly, because he was a minor. They have said he was not on any of the intelligence services' watch lists.Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, according to its Amaq news agency. But Erik Ohlenschlager, public prosecutor in Bamberg, said there was no evidence the attacker had been in contact with Islamic State, though he said the IS flag the young man appeared to have painted suggested he had developed a sympathy for the group.Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said people who knew the attacker had described him as a "quiet and balanced person who went to the mosque for important holidays, but wasn't necessarily there every week."He was described as a devout Muslim, but not in any way one who was a radical or fanatic," Herrmann added.The young man started attacking his passengers with an axe and a knife around 9 p.m. local time as the train was approaching its last stop, the Bavarian city of Wuerzburg, Herrmann said.Ohlenschlager said the attacker, who had learned on Saturday that a friend of his had died in Afghanistan, struck his victims with full force in the body and head, adding: "The injuries are very bad". Two victims were in a critical condition.After a passenger pulled the train's emergency brake, the attacker fled and struck in the face a woman who was walking her dog. He was pursued by a police unit who shot him dead.(Additional reporting by Michael Nienaber, Noah Barkin, Andrea Shalal, Caroline Copley, Michelle Martin, Joseph Nasr and Gernot Heller, and Reuters TV; Writing by Andrea Shalal and Paul Carrel; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Larry King)
German train attacker vowed 'revenge on the infidels'-[The Canadian Press]-Kirsten Grieshaber, David Rising And Christoph Noelting, The Associated Press-July 19, 2016-yahoonews
WUERZBURG, Germany - A 17-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker received word that a friend had died in his home country days before he went on a rampage with an axe and knife on a German train, wounding five. He vowed in a note that he would "take revenge on these infidels," German investigators said Tuesday.The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the Monday night attack, but authorities say so far they have found no direct links to the group and believe the suspect, whose name was not released, self-radicalized.German officials didn't identify the victims, but Hong Kong's immigration department said that among those injured in the attack were four members of a family of five from the southern Chinese city. At least two of the five wounded were in a life-threatening condition.Investigator Lothar Koehler said the teenager's motivation appeared to be Islamic extremism based upon a passage, found among various notes in his apartment, which read: "Pray for me that I can take revenge on these infidels and pray for me that I will go to heaven."In the premeditated attack, the suspect boarded the regional train after 9 p.m. near the Bavarian city of Wuerzburg with an axe and knife concealed in a bag, according to Bamberg prosecutor Erik Ohlenschlager. He said that the suspect had learned on Saturday that a friend had died in Afghanistan, but didn't immediately give more details about the possible link.On the train, the suspect initially encountered an employee from the asylum shelter where he had lived until two weeks ago when he moved in with a foster family, and when she said something to him he didn't respond but left for another train car, Ohlenschlager said.He then concealed himself in a bathroom, and armed himself with his weapons."Then, without warning, he attacked the passengers using great force on their bodies and their heads," Ohlenschlager said.In an emergency call from the train, the suspect could be heard in the background shouting "Allahu akbar," Arabic for "God is great," as he hacked and slashed.Witnesses said the interior of the train was covered with blood and looked "like a slaughterhouse," the German news agency dpa reported. About 30 passengers were on the train at the time. More than a dozen were treated for shock.After the train made an emergency stop, the suspect fled and a few hundred meters (yards) away encountered two women walking a dog. He attacked one from behind, saying "I'll finish you" and yelling a vulgar term for a woman in German, as he hit her at least twice in the face with the axe.Shortly after, he encountered a police SWAT team that had been in the area on another mission but had been redirected, jumping out at them from bushes brandishing his axe. He was shot and killed.Ohlenschlager said that at least two victims were suffering from "acute life-threatening" wounds, including the woman attacked outside the train.Though the Islamic State group claimed responsibility through its Aamaq news agency and a hand-painted IS flag was found in the suspect's apartment, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said the suspect's handwritten notes indicated he may have been self-radicalized and there was "no indication" he was directly connected to the group.Aamaq released a video that purported to show the attacker, in which a young man waves a knife toward the camera and says "I will behead you with these knives and break your necks with these axes."In the video, the authenticity of which it wasn't immediately possible to verify, the man also says in Pashto he is a soldier "of the Islamic State and will be carrying out an attack in Germany today."Ohlenschlager said investigators were aware of a video and are currently evaluating it to determine whether it was made by the suspect.Herrmann said people close to the attacker told investigators he had seemed like a calm person, not overtly religious or an extremist.He said investigators were still looking into the evidence found in the teenager's room, saying it could be possible that the notes included a farewell letter to his father.Hong Kong's top official, Chief Executive Leung Chun-Ying, condemned the attack and extended his sympathies to the victims and their families.Herrmann said it was a tragedy that a "family from Hong Kong comes here as tourists to visit Wuerzburg ... and then becomes victim on a train here in Bavaria in an attack conducted by an offender who came from Afghanistan and who was originally seeking shelter here."The dpa news agency reported that the attacker wounded the 62-year-old father, the 58-year-old mother, their adult daughter and her boyfriend. The teenage son was not hurt. The father and the boyfriend had tried to defend the other family members, dpa said.The mayor of Wuerzburg condemned the attack."I'm shocked by this horrible act of violence," Christian Schuchardt said, adding that his thoughts were with the victims and other passengers "who have suffered severe injuries on their bodies and souls by this act of craziness."Correcting initial information that the suspect came to Germany some two years ago, Koehler said he had been first registered as a refugee in June 2015, when he crossed into the country from Austria.German authorities sent him to an asylum home for unaccompanied minors in Ochsenfurt near Wuerzburg where he lived until two weeks ago when he was placed with a foster family living in the county of Wuerzburg. He received asylum at the end of March and had the right of residency in Germany.Koehler said he hadn't committed any previous crimes that authorities in Germany were aware of.He was a Sunni Muslim who didn't go to the mosque regularly, but prayed regularly at home, Koehler said."He was active on social media, had his page there, but there were no hints of any extremist Islamist thought," Koehler said. "However, 24 hours ago, he posted a cryptic message that was about the enemies of Islam."Germany last year registered more than 1 million asylum seekers entering the country, including more than 150,000 Afghans.___David Rising and Kirsten Grieshaber reported from Berlin.
Czechs fear far-away Islam-"Killed in the name of Islam," read posters during an anti-Islam demonstration in Prague on May Day.By Mira Galanova-euobserver-july 19,16
Prague, Today, 15:32-“Islam bans the things we love - sitting in the grass on a beautiful day like this exposing skin to sun, with a beer and a sausage in hand,” said one of the speakers at a demonstration in Prague. “As soon as there are many Muslims here, they will not respect our rules.”The May Day protest, organised by the far-right group Bloc Against Islam, did not mention refugees. Those who joined insist that the people currently coming to Europe are not refugees, but economic migrants, or worse – Islamic invaders.“If they were really running away from war, they would stay in neighbouring countries,” said one of the participants.In the Czech Republic, the refugee crisis is widely framed as a danger of Muslim migration. Islam is a favourite argument of the outspoken president Milos Zeman against refugees.Last October he warned that the migrants would enforce Sharia law, stoning unfaithful wives and cutting off hands of thieves. “We will be robbed of the beauty of our women, because they will be covered head to toe in burka,” he said.In January he claimed the Muslim Brotherhood had organised the current exodus of refugees with funding from various Muslim countries and the goal of taking control of Europe.“The integration of Muslims is practically impossible,” he insisted. The fierce anti-migrant rhetoric has boosted Zeman’s approval rating to an all-time high, according to various opinion polls.The president is not the only one waging an anti-refugee campaign in the Czech Republic.In May, the investigative reporting website Hlidaci Pes (Watchdog) published testimonies of several journalists from the third most-watched TV channel, Prima, that the management had instructed them to portray refugees as a threat.A number of bogus stories about Muslims and refugees have been spreading on the internet.Last December a false news story broke that asylum seekers raped two little girls in Kostelec nad Orlici and that the police banned the media from reporting on it.With a refugee camp on the edge of the town, several other pieces of misinformation went around. In Kostelec, the mayor, Frantisek Kinsky, is eager to address any rumours that may cause panic. But elsewhere people do not know what to believe.Only a very small number of Czechs have met a Muslim. It is estimated that between 10,000 and 20,000 Muslims live in the country, which is less than 0.2 percent of the population.With the lack of personal experience, people are easily frightened by what they see on the internet. “Many share this content without even reading the whole story,” says Lukas Houdek of the initiative Hatefree, which specialises in exposing online hoaxes.-Muslims can do nothing right-While some are scared of refugees, others worry about radicalisation of society.“Various groups are gradually hardening their arguments, which may turn into something else,” says Martin Buchtik, a sociologist at the Czech Academy of Sciences’ Public Opinion Research Centre (CVVM), suggesting they could turn to violence.In April the media reported that a young woman was punched in a tram for apparently no other reason than speaking Arabic. In a separate incident, someone threw blood-like paint on the wall of a family centre and stuck on the window an obituary of its director, who had collected donations for refugees.“This would have caused an uproar four years ago. Today, the news has quickly faded,” says Buchtik.It appears that Muslims can do little to improve their image.A young Muslim woman,Eman Ghaleb, recently made headlines in the Czech Republic. Originally from Yemen, she has lived since the age of five in the northern spa town of Teplice, popular with clients from Gulf countries.Willing to ease tensions caused by picnicking habits of some visitors, she started to clean the rubbish left behind and circulated leaflets explaining the code of conduct in the country.Her initiative caught the public eye. But instead of praise, the head teacher of her school received dozens of emails calling for her dismissal. Writers argued that she wore a headscarf and accused her of spreading Islamic propaganda and being a danger for fellow students.-No tradition of public debate-So far there are few indications that Czechs need to worry about a Muslim invasion. The majority of asylum seekers are from the former Soviet Union.“Refugees from the Middle East are more likely to go to countries where they get support from their communities,” says Martin Rozumek, the head of the NGO Organisation for Aid to Refugees.“There are very few Muslims here and there is little risk that they will create ghettos.”Samir, a refugee from Syria is proof that Muslims have no problem integrating. Although the Czech Republic was not his original destination – he was heading to Sweden where his cousins and friends live and was returned to Prague under the Dublin regulation - now that he has got asylum in the country, he is determined to make it his home.He is keen to make Czech friends and learn Czech culture. He insisted that his three sons went to a normal Czech school, instead of an international one. “They now master Czech better than Arabic,” he says in impressive Czech.Samir’s family sticks to their religion, but they are ready to make concessions. “Back in Syria my wife wore a black headscarf. Now we have bought different colours so that she fits in better,” he smiles.The Czech Republic is not popular with refugees. A little over 90,000 have sought asylum there since the country’s independence in 1993 and just over 3,000 have succeeded. Fewer than 2,000 others have got subsidiary protection. At the end of the May, there were 313 asylum seekers in refugee camps across the country.”They are individuals rather than a refugee wave,“ says Rozumek. “We have a refugee crisis without refugees and people are scared of Islam, although we hardly have any Muslims here.”He argues that the Czech Republic, with unemployment of 4.1 percent, lower than Germany, should take advantage of refugees to fill gaps in the labour market. “There are a number of professions which we are not able to fill with Czech citizens,” he says.The issue of refugees has polarised Czech society. In a May poll by CVVM, 61 percent of respondents were against and 36% for accepting refugees under certain conditions.“The migrant crisis has become the most important issue in the country,” says Martin Buchtik. “Sharp differences of opinion on this topic lead to such quarrels that families and friends are unable to speak together even about other subjects.”Buchtik attributes this situation to the fact that Czechs do not have a long tradition of open public debate, which did not exist during Communism.“The refugee crisis is one of those key topics which split society. There will be other such issues in the future and this experience will set the standard of how far it can go,” he says.This article is the second in a series exploring the central European reaction to the migrant crisis. The first article was about Hungary.
Huge military aircraft visits St. John's International Airport-[CBC]-July 19, 2016-yahoonews
The St. John's Airport played host to a rather noticeable guest on Monday — a gigantic Canadian Forces Aircraft.The CC-177 Globemaster III, with a length of 53 metres and a wingspan of almost 52, landed at the St. John's Airport Monday afternoon for training, just after a stop in Stephenville. The aircraft normally jets around the world, but on Monday the 429 Transport Squadron from Trenton, Ont., were practicing approaches and landings in St. John's — as the plane can be diverted to the city's airport when necessary.The plane has a crew of 6, and four of them are Newfoundlanders, including Commanding Officer Lt.-Col. Bill Church who is from Corner Brook."It's a rare pleasure to be able to land my aircraft here," Church said. "This is the first time I`ve been able to bring a Globemaster into Newfoundland.""Of all four aircraft I've flown, I've now landed in Newfoundland in all of them."-Wide load-The Globemaster is a transport plane, used to fly troops and machines all throughout the world.Church says his plane has launched Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Teams in the Philippines and in Nepal. It's also been used to fly into Afghanistan and Iraq for the military's middle-eastern missions."We really leave nothing to chance, though," says Lt.-Col. Church. "Our training is superb, and the equipment that we have defensive systems really help us do the mission that we need to do in a safe manner."The plane can hold loads of 72,000 kg, and weighs about 125,000 kg on its own. For Church, who used to fly fighter jets, the plane is a bit of an adjustment."It doesn't quite handle as nimbly as one of the small jets, but it still has a lot of power," he said. "The thrust to weight ratio is very impressive."
Three quick facts about the government's new Canada child benefit-[The Canadian Press]-The Canadian Press-July 19, 2016-yahoonews
OTTAWA - The federal government's new child benefit will arrive in bank accounts and mailboxes starting Wednesday, and replaces the universal child care benefit, the Canada child tax benefit and the national child benefit supplement.Here are three things to know about the new program: 1) If you already receive the universal child care benefit, or the child tax benefit, you don't need to apply for the new one. Your information is already on file and all you have to do is file your 2015 tax return. Payments will be made by direct deposit if you're signed up for it, or by cheque if that is how you received the universal child care benefit around the 20th of each month. 2) The new child benefit won't count as income, meaning it won't count against your tax return next year and be taxed like the previous universal child care benefit. Provinces have also said they won't count the new money when calculating income-tested benefits like rent and child care supplements. 3) How much you receive is based on two things: the number of children under age 18 in your household and your net family income. Families with a net income of less than $30,000 receive the full benefit of $533 per month for a child under six and $450 per month for children six to 17. Benefit levels drop as income rises. Most families, on average, will receive about $191 per month. An extra $227 per month is added for a child who qualifies for a disability payment.
Liberals replace Tory political appointments in major diplomatic shuffle-[The Canadian Press]-Mike Blanchfield, The Canadian Press-July 19, 2016-yahoonews
OTTAWA - The Trudeau Liberals have replaced several high-profile political appointments made by the previous Conservative government with a major shuffle of the top ranks of Canada's foreign service.Almost all are career public servants, with three of them replacing political appointees of the Harper government in the United Kingdom, Iraq and Israel.Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion announced the appointment of 26 new ambassadors, high commissioners and others — 13 men, 13 women — in a major shuffle the government says is intended to ensure diplomats represent a wide diversity of Canadians.In the United Kingdom, former British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell is being replaced by the former clerk of the privy council, Janice Charette. Campbell's term was set expire last summer but he was given a one-year extension.Charette, who left the clerk's job in January after little more than a year, will arrive in London as the historic negotiations begin for the U.K. to leave the European Union after last month's referendum.In the Middle East, Dion is replacing the heads of two missions whose appointments both drew criticism for being too partisan.Former prime minister Stephen Harper had appointed the former head of his RCMP security detail, Bruno Saccomani, as the ambassador to Jordan but he is now being replaced. The Jordan mission oversaw neighbouring Iraq, where Canada has no embassy.Saccomani, who was appointed three years ago, spent much of his time in Iraq, as the diplomatic spearhead of Canada's military engagement in the U.S.-led military coalition fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.Prior to his appointment, Saccomani faced criticism for his management style while in charge of the more than 100 Mounties that made up the prime minister's security detail, but he quickly won the respect of many of his new diplomatic employees in the Middle East.His successor, Peter MacDougall, is a veteran public servant who most recently was the assistant secretary to the cabinet for foreign and defence policy, where he would have worked on the government's new mission to combat ISIL.Canada's ambassador to Israel, Vivian Bercovici, is also gone just two years after her controversial appointment by the Harper government. The Toronto lawyer and former top adviser to the former Ontario finance minister Ernie Eves was seen as a harsh critic of Palestinian leadership.Bercovici is being replaced by Deborah Lyons, who was previously Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan. Lyons joined the public service in 1983 and developed expertise across a wide spectrum of portfolios.All governments make political appointments to key posts, and the Liberals are no exception, giving two key posts — Washington and the United Nations in New York — to political supporters earlier this year. Both U.S. Ambassador David MacNaughton and UN Ambassador Marc-Andre Blanchard worked for Justin Trudeau during his prime ministerial bid.Patrick Parisot, who was appointed ambassador to Cuba Tuesday, worked for former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff.New Canadian heads of mission will also be arriving in other key posts, including Turkey, Pakistan, Japan, Colombia and Hong Kong.
For black families, hard questions from children over U.S. police killings-[Reuters]-By Letitia Stein-July 19, 2016-yahoonews
BATON ROUGE, La. (Reuters) - In the eyes of four-year-old Autumn Unaeze, her grandfather in his blue police uniform is a superhero protecting people.Yet, there are troubling realities about police that her mother knows she must begin sharing with her: first, how other officers could harm her black family, and then how law enforcement officers can be targets themselves, after three were killed in an attack near her Baton Rouge home on Sunday.Across the United States, African-American parents, teachers and other adults face a difficult decision - how and at what age to talk to children about a racially charged debate over policing and tensions over the shooting deaths of black men by officers in a country that struggles to end racism.That conversation has grown more urgent in recent weeks. In the tumult of social media, ever-younger children have been exposed to grainy videos of black men dying at the hands of law enforcement or to blanket news coverage of black-led protests over use of police force. Then they've seen the shock in communities whose officers are gunned down in the line of duty.Families that may have once discussed racial disparities in policing with older teens now face questions from preschoolers such as Autumn, who want to know why people are being so mean. Others ask why people are protesting or why police now face ambushes as in Baton Rouge and Dallas, where five officers were killed earlier this month."She's already seen enough," said mother Elizabeth Unaeze, 27, who finally just turned off the television news on Sunday, after learning that her father was safe. "I don't want to create an atmosphere of fear, even though we as parents are so afraid."Her daughter and two-year-old son already had picked up on sadness and grief at the grocery store, after the fatal police shooting on July 5 of Alton Sterling, 37, at a local convenience store ignited nationwide protests.Like other African-American parents here, Unaeze wants to reinforce their trust in authorities, but also knows caution could become an essential survival skill."There's no pamphlet. There's no guide. I am sure there are no colouring sheets," she said.-'PROTECT US'-Families in Baton Rouge are the latest to experience first-hand the aftermath of police killings of black men that have convulsed the nation in the past two years, following communities from New York and Baltimore to Ferguson, Missouri, where riots erupted after police fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown in 2014.A day after the death of Sterling, many children watched or caught glimpses of footage on Facebook from inside a car in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, where Philando Castile, a 32-year-old black man, lay bleeding in another fatal police shooting.Child psychologists say exposure to killings can shatter a sense of security for many African-American children: younger children may become fearful for parents and caretakers, while older youth can start to see themselves as the next target.When headlines explode with the next police-involved killing, some feel traumatized all over again."They don’t trust the world," said Jerry Dunn, a psychologist and executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Services of Greater St. Louis, near Ferguson. "It really sets up an unfortunate risk for a cycle that is difficult to break."Eleven-year-old Terrance Anderson last week held up a handwritten sign outside the store where Sterling was killed. "We are the children of the future," it read. "Protect us.""It's not fair that they are only killing black people," said the slender sixth-grader.His grandmother said she had wanted him to experience the peaceful crowds gathering nightly near a makeshift memorial of flowers, balloons and stuffed animals at the spot where Sterling died."I had to help him understand that all the world is not mean," said Denise Matthews, 60. "I hope he learns that life goes on."Walter McLaughlin said he knew it was time to talk when his 10-year-old daughter asked him during a drive home: are police racist? The 36-year-old father of three uses content filters to block inappropriate websites and television in his Baton Rouge home but was surprised at how much his daughter still absorbed recent events.He said he sat down with his 14-year-old son and offered advice on how to act around police and white people to make them comfortable: stand tall, make eye contact, avoid sullen facial expressions."These are things that are unfair, but this is the world that we live in," he explained. "Some of these are the right things to do. Some of them are the wise things to do. And some of them we are fighting, so we don’t have to do anymore."-'COULD BE ANYONE, ANY DAY'-Research released this month by the Center for Policing Equity at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York confirmed what many have long known anecdotally – police are far more likely to use force in interactions with blacks than with whites.From stun guns to batons and body contact, police used force on blacks at rates more than three times higher than for whites, the researchers found in a review of data from 12 police departments representing a cross-section of the United States. Even after factoring in higher arrest rates among blacks, racial disparities persisted in how force was applied.Explaining such systemic injustice was a conversation that Brandon Simmons, 38, had been afraid to initiate with his 10- and 13-year-olds. His childhood in southern Louisiana was defined by racial inequities, with a white girl spitting in his face in the third grade. He believes his children are growing up in a better, more accepting society."I don't want to paint a horrific perspective of what happened and almost rape them of their viewpoint of the world,” said Simmons, who showed them the video of Sterling's death at the urging of a friend who teaches middle school. "I was very cautious in my approach."Living blocks from Sterling's shooting in Baton Rouge, Wajeedah Jones, 37, debated how much to show her young children. Then her six-year-old son told her that he knew why she had been crying.An older relative had showed him the video. Her 13-year-old also had seen the footage, and he said it left him heartbroken."It could be anyone, any day," said her son, JaKairick Young. "We all know that."(Reporting by Letitia Stein; Editing by Jason Szep and Mary Milliken)
Baton Rouge shooter said he was member of anti-government group: documents-[Reuters]-By Ned Parker and Mark Hosenball-July 18, 2016-YAHOONEWS
(Reuters) - The gunman who killed three Baton Rouge police officers identified himself as a member of an African-American offshoot of the anti-government Sovereign Citizen Movement last year, documents showed.Gavin Long, a former U.S. Marine sergeant who was shot dead by police on Sunday, affiliated himself with the Washitaw Nation, an African-American group whose members view the federal government as illegitimate, in legal papers filed in a Missouri county. In an interview on Monday, a senior member of the Washitaw Nation denied that Long was a member of the group.In papers he filed in May 2015, Long also said he wanted to change his name from Gavin Eugene Long to Cosmo Ausar Setepenra as part of reclaiming what he described as his indigenous identity, according to Jackson County, Missouri, public records. But court officials said Long never completed the process of legally changing his name.Filing such papers is a common practice among members of the Sovereign Citizens Movement, according to Ryan Lenz, an expert from the Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit organization that tracks extremist groups. The center estimates there are 300,000 followers of Sovereign Citizens in the United States. “He is definitely a Sovereign," said Lenz. "That process is a Sovereign Citizen tactic dating back for years. There is no other ideology that such a process falls under except Sovereign Citizens.”Frederix Joe Washington, the senior member of the Washitaw Nation, said he did not know Long. He also said that people often use the group's name without its permission."We know nothing about this man," Washington said. "We don’t give cards out, IDs out, licenses or passports. None of this has been given out by us."A U.S. counter-terrorism official said investigators were examining Long's relationship with the Washitaw group. The official said U.S. agencies can only monitor such groups to a limited extent due to constitutional free speech guarantees and usually only do so when violence is threatened or committed.The Sovereign Citizen movement is largely made up of right-wing anti-government white Americans, who say the federal government has been corrupted since the 19th century, according to researchers. Since the 1990s, some black separatists have adopted the Sovereign Citizen ideology as well.-GROUP REJECTS FEDERAL AUTHORITY-Sovereign Citizens say they are allowed to ignore the federal government and often believe they can issue their own identification cards because they refuse to recognize federal law. The movement, which is more of an ideology than an organization, is highly decentralized and has little in the way of formal structure, researchers said.There were 24 cases of violence or threats committed by Sovereign Citizen followers from 2010 to 2014, and all but five occurred at government offices, during routine traffic stops or at adherents' homes, according to a Department of Homeland Security intelligence assessment leaked to the news media in 2015. Those episodes included people affiliated with the movement being charged with the 2012 killing of two policemen in Louisiana, convicted of the 2010 shootings of two policemen in Texas and the 2014 shootings of two law enforcement officers in California. A self-professed member of the movement was also convicted of plotting to kill a federal judge and an IRS official in Alaska in 2011.All told, federal and state prosecutors have brought over 100 cases against self-described Sovereign Citizens since 2000, according to J. J. MacNab, a fellow at George Washington University's Program on Extremism.Experts say that U.S. officials in both the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama put less emphasis on domestic terror threats in the aftermath of the 2001 al Qaeda attacks on the United States.During the Bush administration, the Department of Justice deactivated in 2001 its internal domestic terrorism task force, created after the 1995 Oklahoma City courthouse bombing. The Obama administration only reconstituted the task force in 2014.In 2009, the Homeland Security Department team that analyzed domestic terror threats issued a report predicting that anti-government attacks would rise. The report was criticized by members of Congress and the secretary of Homeland Security, who renounced its findings.But over the last decade and a half the number of extremist and armed anti-government groups in the United States has steadily grown, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The number of anti-government "patriot groups" grew from 217 in 1999 to 998 last year.One of the Washitaw Nation's principal doctrines is a claim that the purchase of Louisiana by the United States was illegitimate, experts said. Instead, they maintain that Washitaw Nation members are descendants of tribes in Missouri, and that they are therefore the real owners of Louisiana.(Reporting By Ned Parker and Mark Hosenball. Additional reporting by Julia Edwards and Julia Harte; Editing by Alan Crosby and Cynthia Osterman)
Gunman bypassed civilians as he ambushed Baton Rouge police-[Reuters]-By Andy Sullivan-July 19, 2016-YAHOONEWS
BATON ROUGE, La. (Reuters) - The three police officers shot dead in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, were deliberately "targeted and assassinated" by a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who appeared to go out of his way to spare civilians during his assault, authorities said.Former Sergeant Gavin Eugene Long of Kansas City, Missouri, an Iraq war veteran with ties to an African-American anti-government group, seemed determined to slay as many police officers as possible before a SWAT team marksman cut short his attack on Sunday, according to police officials' account the next day.The single gunshot that killed Long, 29, was fired by an officer from about 100 yards away, police said on Monday as they deepened their investigation into the second racially charged armed assault on U.S. law enforcement this month.The ambush came a week and a half after another former U.S. serviceman espousing militant black nationalist views cut down five Dallas officers in a sniper attack that shattered an otherwise peaceful protest denouncing the fatal police shootings of two black men days earlier, one of them in Baton Rouge.Police have declined to say what role race might have played in Sunday's rampage, which killed two white officers and one black officer. Three more officers were wounded, one of them critically.But Long, who was black, said in a series of social media messages posted in recent days, some from Dallas, that he was fed up with the mistreatment of African-Americans at the hands of law enforcement, and praised the attack on Dallas police.Legal papers filed in his home state of Missouri showed he was affiliated with Washitaw Nation, a black offshoot of the Sovereign Citizen movement, which challenges the legitimacy of the federal government.As evidence of Long's single-minded intent to level his violent rage exclusively at police, authorities on Monday cited video footage of the shooting that they said showed him hunting officers while bypassing civilians.-"CALCULATED ACT"-"There is no doubt whatsoever that these officers were intentionally targeted and assassinated," Louisiana State Police Superintendent Colonel Mike Edmonson told reporters. "It was a calculated act against those who work to protect this community every single day."The bloodshed has heightened security concerns at the Republican National Convention, which began on Monday in Cleveland, as well as for next week's Democratic convention in Philadelphia.Baton Rouge police said they believed that Long, armed with two rifles and a pistol, had intended to make his way to the their department's headquarters a short distance away to take more lives.The carnage rocked a city still shaken from angry protests over the fatal police shooting on July 5 of a 37-year-old black man, Alton Sterling, who was confronted by officers while selling CDs outside a Baton Rouge convenience store. Sterling was buried just last Friday.A day after his killing, another black man, Philando Castile, 32, was shot to death by a policeman during a traffic stop near St. Paul, Minnesota.The back-to-back killings reignited nationwide demonstrations over the use of force by police against minorities, including the rally in Dallas on July 7.Edmonson said Long had been in the Baton Rouge area for several days before the shooting and, while he acted alone in the ambush itself, police have not ruled out the possibility he might have had help planning the attack.Military records showed Long, listed as a data network specialist, served five years in the Marine Corps until his discharge in August 2010, including a six-month deployment to Iraq.The dead officers in Baton Rouge were named as Matthew Gerald, 41, also an Iraq war veteran and father of two; Montrell Jackson, 32, who was black and had served as a Baton Rouge police officer for a decade; and sheriff's deputy Brad Garafola, 45, a father of four.President Barack Obama offered his condolences in phone calls on Monday to the victims' loved ones as well as top law enforcement officials in the city.Hundreds of mourners held a candlelight vigil on Monday evening at a church in south Baton Rouge in memory of Gerald, a rookie on the police force who had served in both the U.S. Army and the Marines.(Additional reporting by Sam Karlin in Baton Rouge, David Alexander and Eric Walsh in Washington, Laila Kearney in New York; Writing by Grant McCool and Steve Gorman; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Bill Trott)
Differences abide in Baton Rouge after moment of shared sorrow-[Reuters]-By Andy Sullivan and Sam Karlin-July 19, 2016-YAHOONEWS
BATON ROUGE, La. (Reuters) - On the affluent south side of Baton Rouge, a clutch of plastic balloons bobs in front of the gas station where an ex-U.S. Marine shot dead three police officers.On the impoverished north side, a pile of flowers and a spray-painted portrait mark the spot where black resident Alton Sterling was killed by police two weeks ago.The impromptu shrines in Louisiana's state capital illustrate the heartache on both sides of a confrontation over police use of lethal force against mostly black men and targeted killings in Dallas and Baton Rouge by black gunmen bearing racial grievances against white officers.The differences between law enforcement and activists who have protested a series of police-involved shootings across the United States in the past two years seemed briefly to have been set aside in Baton Rouge in the immediate aftermath of Sunday's murders that officials described as assassinations.Public safety officials and civil rights leaders alike denounced the killer, identified as 29-year-old Gavin Long of Kansas City, Missouri, as a visitor without ties to Baton Rouge who came to their city with intent to do harm."People on all sides, people who were peacefully protesting the Sterling incident, are just as heartbroken over this as everyone in the law enforcement community," said State Representative Barry Ivey, a Republican who represents Baton Rouge.But some black residents worried the ambush could shift attention away from Sterling's July 5 death, which many saw as just the latest example of heavy-handed policing."How many more innocent people have to be killed before they bring those two officers to justice?" asked Quenton Williams, who described his own struggles with the court system as visitors took photos and laid flowers in front of the ramshackle convenience store where Sterling was killed.Civil rights leaders said they would continue to press for police reforms, even as they urged frustrated residents to refrain from street protests."Just getting a crowd begets tension in and of itself," said the Reverend Lee Wesley, a leader of an interfaith group called Together Baton Rouge.The Baton Rouge police department faces a federal investigation over Sterling's death, and is still operating under a decades-old agreement with the U.S. government to hire more black officers.-PROTESTS PETERED OUT-Residents said their city had been returning to normal before the killing of the officers, two white and one black.The protests following Sterling's death had petered out and police had not made any arrests for reasons of civil unrest for six days, officials said.But even as Sunday's attack prompted an outpouring of goodwill from locals determined to try to use it to soothe long-standing racial tensions, there were signs it may have hardened others' positions in the debate over police conduct.An emotional Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie said the military-style tactics that are criticized by activists made it possible for Long to be shot dead from 100 yards away before he could kill more police officers."We are up against a force that is not playing by the rules. They didn't play by the rules in Dallas, they didn't play by the rules here," Dabadie said.In Dallas on July 7, five police officers were killed near the scene of a peaceful demonstration by a black former U.S. Army reservist, Micah Johnson.Maxine Crump, executive director of Dialogue on Race Louisiana, said that since Sunday's attack she has been "inundated" with offers from people wanting to be part of discussions on how to improve race relations."I do not think this has set us back," Crump said.Some believe progress is unlikely to be made anytime soon."We won't heal this in a week or a month," said State Senator Mack "Bodi" White, a Republican running for mayor this year.(Additional reporting by Sam Karlin; Writing by Andy Sullivan; editing by Daniel Wallis and Grant McCool)
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