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)
MARK OF THE BEAST
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
REVELATION 16:1-2
1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
EU proposes tougher privacy rules for online messaging By Nikolaj Nielsen-JAN 11,17-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:24-The EU commission is tightening privacy rules on messaging services like WhatsApp, Skype and web-based email.On Tuesday (10 January), it proposed to overhaul the e-privacy directive to bridge the gap between traditional telephone operators and the broadly US-based instant messaging services.The current directive, last reformed in 2009, only covers telecom operators. The reform expands the rules to online services, gives people more control over intrusive cookies, and evolves the directive into a much more powerful regulation.The EU commission says the reforms are also needed because over 90 percent of people in an EU survey want their emails and online messaging to remain confidential.The proposal involves giving people the choice to opt in or out of services provided by so-called Over-The-Top (OTT) applications such as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. But it also claims to open up new business opportunities for more traditional telecom operators by allowing them to commercialise data that was previously off limits."Consent of the user is paramount," EU digital economy commissioner Andrus Ansip told reporters.Ansip said the new rules would not only apply to traditional services like voice calls or SMS, but also to internet based communication services "or future based services that allow any type of communication".Consent will be required for anything from so-called metadata - the details of when and where a call was placed - to the content of communications.Email providers like Gmail regularly scan people's emails to help target adverts. Cookies are also required to provide Google's translation services of those emails.The Commission says the same services will now have to provide "effective consent", giving people a more readily available option of saying no instead of having to read through the small print in the terms and conditions.Gmail will also only be able to process the bare minimum of data needed to provide the email service for free.It means today's email scanning will be banned unless the user agrees. But saying no to email scans only prevents adverts from being personalised or relevant to the user. It does not stop adverts.Consent won't be needed for everything. Things like remembering shopping histories and filling in online forms will be exempted.One Finnish web developer recently discovered a "phishing" attack that specifically targets auto-fill, reported the Guardian.The developer found that some browsers like Google Chrome's auto-fill can be tricked into giving away personal information like email addresses through an auto-fill function that is not disabled by default.Brussels-based consumer lobby group Beuc argues that the Commission's proposal should have blocked cookies by default.“Consumers must have an alternative to being under 24/7 commercial surveillance when using digital services," said Beuc director Monique Goyens.Some are not happy, fearing it will cut into their advertising revenues."The approach to extend historic telephony rules to new services does not reflect today’s market realities," said the Brussels-based American Chamber of Commerce to the EU.Firms that break the rules could end up paying fines of up to 4 percent of their global turnover.The Brussels-executive is hoping to have the new rules up and running by the time the EU's data protection regulation, agreed last year, is fully operational by May 2018.-Data protection regulation and e-privacy-EU commission officials say their is no overlap between e-privacy and the general data protection regulation.They note that the regulation deals with processing of personal data, while e-privacy covers communication between people.OTTs under the old data protection rules were also able use a "legitimate interest" clause to process data without people's consent. The new rules remove that clause.The EU's digital economy in 2015 was worth €272 billion.
Trump denounces 'disgrace' of reports of Russian ties to him-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
NEW YORK — A defiant President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday adamantly denied reports that Russia had obtained compromising personal and financial information about him, calling it a "tremendous blot" on the record of the intelligence community if such material had been released.The incoming president, in his first news conference since late July, firmly chided news organizations for publishing the material late Tuesday night. Trump's extraordinary defence , just nine days before his inauguration, dominated a highly anticipated press conference in which the president-elect also announced a new Cabinet member, detailed his plans to disentangle himself from his sprawling global business empire, gave his outlook on the future of the "Obamacare" health care law and said he would soon nominate someone to fill the current vacancy on the Supreme Court."I think it's a disgrace that information would be let out. I saw the information, I read the information outside of that meeting," he said, a reference to a classified briefing he received from intelligence leaders. "It's all fake news, it's phoney stuff, it didn't happen," Trump said in a news conference that saw him repeatedly joust with reporters. "It was gotten by opponents of ours."Asked about his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump boasted that it is an improvement over what he called America's current "horrible relationship with Russia.""If Putin likes Donald Trump, guess what, folks, that's called an asset not a liability. I don't know if I'm going to get along with Vladimir Putin — I hope I do — but there's a good chance I won't."After weeks of scoffing at reports the Russians had hacked Democratic websites to pass along emails damaging to Hillary Clinton, he said yes, he thought Russia had hacked the Democratic National Committee.Trump, Vice-President-elect Mike Pence and incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer denounced the reports about Russia's influence on Trump, and the incoming president said the report never should have been released. He thanked some news organizations for showing restraint.A U.S. official told The Associated Press on Tuesday night that intelligence officials had informed Trump last week about an unsubstantiated report that Russia had obtained compromising personal and financial information about him. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official was not allowed to publicly discuss the matter.Trump and President Barack Obama were briefed on the intelligence community's findings last week, the official said.Media outlets reported on the document late Tuesday and Trump denounced it on Twitter before his news conference as "fake news," suggesting he was being persecuted for defeating other GOP presidential hopefuls and Democrat Hillary Clinton in the election.The dossier contains unproven information about close co-ordination between Trump's inner circle and Russians about hacking into Democratic accounts as well as unproven claims about unusual sexual activities by Trump among other suggestions attributed to anonymous sources. The Associated Press has not authenticated any of the claims.Pence said the decision by some media to publish the reports could "only be attributed to media bias" and an attempt to "demean" Trump.Trump's first news conference since his election covered a wide range of topics.Only days from his inauguration as the nation's 45th president, Trump announced that he would nominate David Shulkin to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, elevating him from his current role as VA undersecretary.He promised that a replacement for the health care overhaul would be offered "essentially simultaneously" with the repeal of Obama's signature health law — something that would be virtually impossible to quickly pass given the complexity of the policy changes. Republicans agree on repealing the law but nearly seven years after its passage have failed to reach agreement on its replacement.Trump has repeatedly said that repealing and replacing "Obamacare" was a top priority, but has never fully explained how he plans to do it. House Speaker Paul Ryan has said that the House would seek to take both steps "concurrently."Turning to his plans to build a border wall along the southern border, Trump said he would immediately begin negotiations with Mexico on funding his promised wall after he takes office. He again vowed that "Mexico will pay for the wall but it will be reimbursed."Trump also said he would probably name his choice to fill the vacancy left by the death of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia in about two weeks.And he announced his plans for the future of the Trump Organization, bringing to the podium attorney Sheri Dillon of Morgan Lewis, who worked with the Trump Organization on the arrangement.Dillon said the Trump Organization would continue to pursue deals in the U.S., though Trump will relinquish control of the company to his sons and an executive, put his business assets in a trust and take other steps to isolate himself from his business. She said Trump "should not be expected to destroy the company he built."The move appears to contradict a previous pledge by the president-elect. In a tweet last month, Trump vowed to do "no new deals" while in office.The lawyer who advised Trump also said that the Trump Organization will appoint an ethics adviser to its management team who must approve deals that could raise concerns about conflicts. Dillon said Trump would voluntarily donate all profits from foreign government payments to his hotels to the U.S. treasury.___Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC-Julie Pace, The Associated Press.
EU raises alarm on fake news and hacking-By Andrew Rettman-JAN 11,17-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:27-EU commissioners have raised fresh concerns about fake news and hacking in Europe, but warned that there are “no easy solutions”.Andrus Ansip, a former Estonian prime minister who is in charge of the digital single market, and Vera Jourova, a Czech politician who holds the justice portfolio, spoke to press in Brussels on Tuesday (10 January).“About fake news - it’s a popular topic, a hot topic, but [there are] no easy solutions”, Ansip said.“I believe in self-regulatory measures. Fake news is a bad thing, but according to my understanding, the ministry of truth is also bad,” he said, referring to a totalitarian institution in the dystopian novel 1984 by British writer George Orwell.Jourova also called for “good and responsible decisions in this sphere” by individual member states.“We both lived for a long time under the dictatorship of the ministries of truth and that’s why I think we’re both very sensitive about this”, she added, referring to communist-era and Soviet-era rule in her and in Ansip’s home countries.Ansip said that hacking could be more easily dealt with.He said that when Estonia suffered a cyber attack after it removed a Soviet monument from Tallinn in 2007 “cooperation between different services and computer response teams … were able to cut [the] majority of those attacks even before they crossed our borders."He added that “no single member state, it doesn't matter, big or small, is able to deal with cyber security issues alone”, however.He said the commission would like to spend €1.8 billion more on research into cyber security, that EU states should spend more of their military budgets on cyber defence, and that CERTs - national anti-hacking bodies - should work more closely together."If it’s clear what kind of weapons the bad guys are using then it’s also easier to defend ourselves,” he said.-Trump reports-The fake news trend hit the headlines on Tuesday when US president-elect Donald Trump denounced reports which said that Russian intelligence had material that it could use to blackmail him.The reports were based on leaked files that were purportedly written by a former British spy. One file said that Russian intelligence had filmed Trump watching prostitutes urinate on each other at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Moscow in 2013.-“FAKE NEWS – A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!”, Trump said on Twitter.Trump, as with the Brexit campaign and British tabloids, had earlier profited from fake stories designed to advance his cause.Trump also profited from alleged Russian hacking of his opponent's, Hilary Clinton’s, emails.Meanwhile, Russian and pro-Russian media this week ran fake reports that the US had sent more than 3,000 tanks to Europe as preparations for a “war” against Russia.The number of tanks was 87 and they were sent to deter Russian aggression.-Hack the EU-The risk that Russian hackers, media, and trolls would try to sway upcoming elections in the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Sweden was highlighted in a recent study by US intelligence services.British, French, German, and Swedish security chiefs and experts have also warned of a spike in Russian hacking in the EU.Julian King, the EU security commissioner, told the Financial Times newspaper on Monday that EU institutions are being targeted as well.He said there was a 20 percent spike in attempted hacks on European Commission servers last year.“It’s clear that many institutions across Europe and more widely, and that includes the European Commission, are subject to a continuously increasing number of cyber attacks from different sources,” he said.-Breitbart-Russia is not the only culprit on fake news.EU sources are equally concerned about misleading anti-EU stories in British tabloid newspapers.Breitbart, a US pro-Trump website that propagates hard-right views, is also expanding in Europe, with new offices in Berlin, Paris, and Rome.On 3 January, it reported that a “1,000-man mob” had chanted Islamist slogans, clashed with police, and set fire to a church in Dortmund, Germany, but that authorities had hushed it up.Dortmund police debunked the report, but Breitbart did not retract it.The Breitbart story echoed a fake Russian story last year that migrants had raped a German girl and that authorities had hushed it up.The EU foreign service has a small team of officials and diplomats tasked with debunking foreign propaganda, but calls by MEPs to expand the unit’s personnel and funding have fallen on deaf ears.
Federal government needs help tackling cyberthreats, internal report warns-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
OTTAWA — The Canadian government is "simply not up to the overall challenge" of fending off cyberthreats on its own and must partner with the private sector and the United States to tackle the problem, warns a federally commissioned report.Canada is a prime target for cybercrime, state-sponsored attacks and lone hackers, and government officials have a crucial role to play in helping fend them off, the authors conclude."The productivity and competitiveness of Canada in the digital age will require a strong defence of its critical information and technical infrastructure," the report says."Current efforts by government, industry and communities need to be better co-ordinated and more strategic."The Canadian Press used the Access to Information Act to obtain a final draft version of the April 2016 report on cyberthreat information-sharing protocols and policies in Canada and the United States.The report comes amid growing concern about damaging intrusions into computer systems that expose personal information, commercial secrets and sensitive government data — endangering everything from credit ratings to national security.The disclosure of pilfered Democratic Party emails proved embarrassing to presidential contender Hillary Clinton when published by WikiLeaks. The U.S. says Moscow led the attack, though Russia has denied involvement.Three years ago, the Canadian government blamed a sophisticated, Chinese state-sponsored actor for a breach of the National Research Council's networks that resulted in a shutdown of the research agency's information-technology system. Beijing accused Canada of making irresponsible allegations.However, Canada's spy agency has openly warned that China and Russia are out to steal national secrets.Under Canada's cybersecurity strategy, the federal government is responsible for securing its own systems, working with the provincial governments and private sector to keep other systems safe and helping Canadians to protect themselves online.The report, prepared for Public Safety Canada by consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, found the government information-technology community is already overwhelmed with challenges such as aging systems and a move to cloud computing.At the same time, few small businesses have full-time computer security staff.The latest federal budget promised $77 million in new money over five years to bolster cybersecurity.The report recommends broader engagement of the private sector, saying Canadian government budgets, resources and capabilities "are simply not up to the overall challenge."It calls for closer collaboration with the U.S. to take advantage of the billions of dollars Washington is spending on cybersecurity. It also urges more co-operation with small- and medium-sized businesses in developing solutions.The report also cautions that any effort to ramp up surveillance and information-gathering to counter threats in cyberspace must be balanced with respect for privacy and personal liberties. It says that means building in strict criteria on the use of information as well as sufficient oversight.Ottawa recently wrapped up a national cybersecurity consultation. The aim is to identify gaps and opportunities, come up with fresh ideas and capitalize on the advantages of new technology.The recommendations of the commissioned report will be taken into account as part of the cybersecurity review, said Public Safety spokeswoman Karine Martel."Keeping Canadians safe while protecting their privacy rights remains a priority for the government and will be reflected in the policy and program decisions that stem from this ongoing review."— Follow @JimBronskill on Twitter-Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS ETC) and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
Why the Halifax Port Authority gets to dump snow in the harbour-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
Halifax does not plan to get rid of excess snow by dumping it in the harbour, despite the port authority continuing to do so. The municipality has no control over what the port authority does because it is under federal jurisdiction. City spokesman Brendan Elliott said the municipality was advised by Environment Canada not to dump snow into the water, citing the Fisheries Act."It's safe to assume the kind of debris we collect in the course of gathering snow, whether it be salt or sand, traces of gasoline, oils — all of that would be considered dangerous to the environment, especially to fish," he said.-City finds other ways-Section 36 of the Fisheries Act does not specifically mention snow but it states that throwing certain substances overboard is prohibited, including ballast, coal ashes, stones or "other deleterious substances in any river, harbour or roadstead, or in any water where fishing is carried on."Elliott said the municipality has half a dozen designated spots where it takes excess snow."We're very careful to ensure the dumping places that we do have around the city are places where, when the snow melts, there's a filtration system in place to ensure that none of the gasoline or the traces of oil would seep into the ground," he said.-Municipality doesn't tell port what to do-Elliott said the municipality doesn't try to interfere with how the Halifax Port Authority gets rid of its extra snow.The port authority said it has long been dumping snow from its 105 hectares of federal land, including the ocean terminals, Richmond Terminals and the Halifax Seaport, into the harbour."We do have the jurisdiction and the ability to decide how we handle the snow removal process and that is what our process is," said spokesman Lane Farguson.-Snow finds its way to the harbour-"Most of our land is either paved or cobblestones and so during normal freeze-thaw cycles, that snow will melt and eventually find its way into the harbour anyway."Farguson said the snow is moved to the harbour once "piles become substantial.""We do our best to keep the areas we have jurisdiction over as clear as we possibly can and a lot of times that process works very, very well."
Strong winds knock down trees that damage cars, down hydro wires across Toronto-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
Falling trees crushed numerous cars and knocked down hydro wires overnight during a wind warning that was in place for Toronto and parts of the GTA.Wind gusts at Pearson International Airport reached up to 102 km/h at 2 a.m.Emergency services were kept busy with multiple calls about fallen trees, downed hydro wires and blowing debris throughout the night and into the morning.A large tree fell onto a car causing heavy damage to the vehicle on Bushell Avenue near Pape and Gerrard.Another tree fell onto a car on Glengarry Avenue. The homeowner who surveyed the damage told CBC he was just happy nobody was hurt.On Pape Avenue, garbage cans and shopping carts were blown across the roadway. "We've also had some wires down where tree branches have fallen onto hydro wires," said Toronto Fire captain Adrian Ratushniak. "We respond to make sure that there's nobody injured by the electrical issue that unfolds thereafter."Strong winds also contributed to a power outage in Vaughan that affected 1,500 customers this morning. Power there has since been restored.The wind warning Environment Canada issued was lifted this morning.
Thousands without power in Ottawa area as high winds continue-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
About 18,000 hydro customers are without power in Ottawa, nearby eastern Ontario and the Outaouais as high winds continue throughout the region.Around 450 customers were without power in Hydro Ottawa jurisdiction as of 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, mainly in the Bay area.By 12:30 p.m. it had jumped to 1,750 customers.Hydro One reported 16,000 of its customers were without power as of 12:30 p.m. The hardest-hit areas include Bancroft, Brockville, Perth, Peterborough and Kingston.In the Outaouais, about 1,000 Hydro Quebec customers were without power early Wednesday morning.By 12:30 p.m. it had dropped to about 700.Some rural school buses cancelled-School buses are running in the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau, but they have been cancelled in rural areas after a messy storm brought snow, rain and high winds overnight.School bus service is cancelled for the following boards:- Upper Canada District School Board.- Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario.Some school buses are cancelled for the following boards:- Renfrew County public and Catholic school boards, but only in the Madawaska area.- Conseil des écoles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario as well as Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est, but only in Brockville, Merrickville, Kemptville, Carleton Place, Marionville and Prescott and Russell.
Terrifying' wind, huge waves leave Lark Harbour residents uneasy-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-January 10, 2017
A Lark Harbour woman whose property was damaged in a windstorm in December says she's now afraid to stay in her own home when the forecast is bad.Linda Humber was home alone on Dec. 30 when the community was hit by hurricane-force winds."It was unreal. It was terrifying," she told CBC Radio's Corner Brook Morning Show on Tuesday.Humber said she knew there would be trouble when she heard the forecast of a southeast wind.At times she said the "squalls" gusted to 170 kilometres an hour. The sky was "black, very scary" and there were big spouts of water."At one point in the morning, there was waves coming in what we call the harbour, about 20 feet high," Humber said. "As the tide got higher and higher and higher, the wind got worse."The storm leveled a nearby home. Fortunately, the two people inside were lucky enough to escape without injuries.Humber said her own house is still standing, but has some damage."I lost my chimney cap. I could hear it coming off. I could hear the roar of the wind. I didn't know what was going to happen next," she said.Humber had saltwater in her backyard. Her sister had water in the basement. When the winds hadn't died down by 2:30, a nephew came to their rescue."When it did stop, I didn't know what I was coming home to."Humber said the town needs better protection against the wind and high waves. She said the breakwater needs to be two or three feet higher, and there is talk of adding a jetty to the town wharf.In the meantime, she won't be staying in her house during the next storm."I will be staying somewhere else, I won't be staying in this house, because it is too terrifying."
West Coast gets more snow and rain, causing flooding and closing schools-[Reuters]-By Alex Dobuzinskis-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Heavy rain and snowfall hit parts of California, Nevada and Oregon early on Wednesday, forcing school closings and causing flooding along already swollen waterways, officials said.This was the latest round of extreme precipitation in the past month unleashed by a weather pattern meteorologists call an "atmospheric river" - a dense plume of moisture flowing from the tropical Pacific into California.Portland, Oregon, residents woke up on Wednesday to find roughly a foot (30 cm) of snow on the ground, meteorologist Bob Oravec of the Weather Prediction Center said.Schools throughout the region canceled Wednesday classes, including the Portland Public Schools district, which has about 50,000 students.The snow blanketed roadways, hampering travel in the Pacific Northwest city.Near California's state capital, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department on Tuesday advised residents of Wilton, a community of more than 5,000 people, to evacuate their homes because of anticipated flooding along the Cosumnes River.The extent of damage in Wilton was not immediately clear.During all the rainfall, a small tornado touched down in the Sacramento area on Tuesday, twisting two metal awnings and stripping limbs off trees, Oravec said.The heavy rains forced officials to open a series of floodgates on the Sacramento River for the first time in 11 years on Tuesday to divert high water around the capital city and into a special drainage channel, said Lauren Hersh, a spokeswoman for the state Water Resources Department.The National Weather Service had several flood advisories in effect on Wednesday for areas of Northern California.It also had a blizzard warning for ski resort towns in the greater Lake Tahoe area, including Truckee and South Lake Tahoe, California, and neighboring Nevada enclaves of Stateline and Incline Village.Snow accumulations of 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3 meters) were forecast for areas above elevations of 7,000 feet, with fierce wind gusts reaching 100 miles (160 km) per hour along the ridge of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, the weather service reported.An avalanche warning was issued for much of the same mountain regions.In Nevada, the Truckee River, which runs through Reno, was just above flood stage on Wednesday morning, but the water level was expected to go down soon, Oravec said.The rainfall along the U.S. West Coast was weakening on Wednesday, and the weather service expected it to end by Thursday night."There's definitely a break coming for the West Coast with respect to the very heavy rainfall and snowfall," Oravec said.The storms have brought some sorely needed replenishment to many reservoirs left low by five years of drought, while restoring California's mountain snowpack to 135 percent of its average water-content level for this time of year as of Tuesday, state water officials said.(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis, Additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Dominic Evans and Lisa Von Ahn)
Aid agencies sound alarm over freezing Balkans weather as migrant deaths reported-[Reuters]-By Astrid Zweynert-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Dozens of migrants are at risk of freezing to death in Europe after heavy snowfall and bitterly cold temperatures hit Greece and the Balkans, aid agencies said on Wednesday.Central and southeastern Europe have been gripped by freezing weather and snowstorms for days, with night-time temperatures dropping below minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit) in some areas.The Missing Migrants Project, set up by the U.N. migration agency (IOM), has recorded 11 migrants deaths in the Mediterranean since the start of the year, including four who died of hypothermia at Europe's land borders with Turkey.In the past 10 days a Somali woman was found dead from suspected hypothermia in Bulgaria and an Afghan man died in northern Greece, while last Friday two Iraqi men were found frozen to death near the Turkish-Bulgarian border, according to local media reports compiled by the project.As refugees and asylum seekers continue to pour into Europe, poor conditions in crowded migrant camps and informal settlements are putting their health at risk, Help Refugees said."The snowstorms are still going on and the situation is getting increasingly desperate as thousands are exposed to freezing conditions," Help Refugees co-founder Josie Naughton said by phone from Thessaloniki in northern Greece.The IOM said it was particularly concerned about more than 15,500 migrants and asylum seekers housed in camps without adequate facilities on the Greek islands, including many in places that have experienced heavy snowfall this week.-"DEADLY CONSEQUENCES"-The IOM's comments echo those of the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) which said last week migrants stranded on the islands should be quickly transferred to the mainland or other European countries.More than 7,500 people are also stranded in freezing conditions in Serbia, including dozens trapped near the Hungarian border..Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) told British broadcaster ITV on Tuesday it had treated the first cases of frostbite in Serbia and warned of "deadly consequences" due to hypothermia if people are not given adequate winter shelter.In the capital Belgrade about 1,500 migrants, including hundreds of unaccompanied children as young as 10, are sleeping rough in abandoned buildings, Save the Children said.The agencies urged European governments to act rapidly to avoid further loss of life."We call on governments, large organizations and international agencies to reassess their bureaucratic procedures and spend money where it's needed to prevent further loss of life," said Help Refugee's Naughton.IOM Director General William Lacy Swing said in a statement governments needed to respond to the dangers exposed by extreme weather conditions with food aid, shelter and other resources.Andreas Ring, Save the Children's Balkans representative, said European Union (EU) member countries had a duty to ensure safe migration routes for migrants."The EU's failure to respond is leaving thousands of refugees and migrants, including unaccompanied children, literally out in the cold," Ring said in a statement.(Reporting by Astrid Zweynert; Editing by Katie Nguyen. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories)
DRUG PUSHERS AND ADDICTS
1 PET 5:8
8 Be sober,(NOT DRUGED UP OR ALCOHOLICED) be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
REVELATION 18:23
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries (DRUGS) were all nations deceived.
REVELATION 9:21
21 Neither repented they of their murders,(KILLING) nor of their sorceries (DRUG ADDICTS AND DRUG PUSHERS), nor of their fornication,(SEX OUTSIDE MARRIAGE OR PROSTITUTION FOR MONEY) nor of their thefts.(STEALING)
Colombia seized record 378 tonnes of cocaine in 2016, murders down-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's armed forces seized a record 378.3 tonnes of cocaine in 2016, nearly 50 percent more than the year before, while murder were down by 4 percent, Defence Minister Luis Carlos Villegas said on Wednesday.Homicides fell to 12,252 last year, Villegas told journalists, as the government signed a peace deal with the Marxist Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels. Attacks on infrastructure were also down.Colombia, once infamous as the home of violent drug cartels, is one of the world's top producers of cocaine. The United Nations has said the country could produce up to 646 tonnes of the narcotic each year.Both leftist guerrilla groups and right-wing paramilitary gangs have filled their coffers with money from the drug trade."In the fight against narcotics trafficking there has been more efficient and organised work by law enforcement, with more interdiction on our two oceans and more intelligence provided to other countries," Villegas said.Last year the government of President Juan Manuel Santos inked a peace deal with the FARC in a bid to end 52 years of war that has killed more than 220,000 people. Under the agreement, the FARC is required to share knowledge about drug production and trafficking routes with officials.The deal led to a 55 percent reduction in guerrilla attacks, though smaller rebel group the National Liberation Army (ELN) is still active. Attacks against electrical towers, oil infrastructure, roadways and bridges were down 51 percent."2016 was the quietest year in the last four decades in Colombia," Villegas said. "We had 12,200 homicides, the first ever figure below 25,000."(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Helen Murphy and David Gregorio)
DISEASES
REVELATION 6:7-8
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, 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).
More bird flu outbreaks can be expected in Europe - animal health chief-[Reuters]-By Johnny Cotton-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
PARIS (Reuters) - Further bird flu outbreaks caused by migrating birds are likely to hit Europe in the future after a second outbreak in as many years on the continent that was down to chance, said the head of the world animal health body.A total of 18 European countries have been hit by the contagious H5N8 strain since mid-October, leading to the culling of over 1.5 million poultry so far.France, which has the largest poultry flock in the European Union, has ordered a massive cull of hundreds of thousands of ducks and geese in southwestern France to halt the spread of the virus. It widened the zone on Tuesday.[nL5N1F02OI]-"Bearing in mind that particularly in Asia there are always different viruses bubbling up -- no region is really safe from fresh contamination, particularly from migrating wild birds," Monique Eloit, director general of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), told Reuters.Even so, she said outbreak's like this year's one in Europe depended on the migratory routes of birds from Asia and there was therefore an element of chance as to whether the birds touched down in poultry-heavy areas."In Asia you have an almost permanent situation of influenza cases," she said. "In Europe, and particularly in western Europe, it's a situation that's particular to this year."Foie gras producers in southwestern France were particularly vulnerable however, she said, because ducks need to spend most of the time outdoors, raising the risk of contamination.Millions of birds have also been slaughtered in South Korea and Japan as a different strain of the virus spreads through Asia, where outbreaks are more common, Eloit said. In China, over 100 cases of human contamination of a different strain -- H7N9 -- have been detected leading to 20 deaths in December according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission. [nL4N1F136H]-But Eloit said the European strain had not been found in humans and there was little chance it would."Historically H5N8 has never been referenced as posing a potential risk to man," she said.Southwestern France was the centre of a severe outbreak of bird flu a year ago - although that turned out to be other strains of the virus - which led authorities to halt foie gras output for several months in a move that producers say cost them 500 million euros ($528.95 million).(Additional reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide; Editing by Richard Lough)
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)
Germany: 280,000 new migrants last year, far lower than 2015-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
BERLIN — Germany saw about 280,000 new asylum-seekers arrive last year, less than a third of the previous year's huge influx of 890,000, the interior minister said Wednesday.While new arrivals declined, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said that the number of rejected asylum-seekers who left Germany was up — though still not to authorities' satisfaction. In total, 80,000 people either left voluntarily or were deported, he said.Arrivals declined sharply with the closure of the Balkan migrant route in March and the subsequent agreement between the European Union and Turkey to stem the flow across the Aegean Sea to Greece.Asylum applications have lagged well behind arrivals and many people who came to Germany in 2015 applied only last year.Wednesday's figures showed that 745,545 formal asylum applications were made last year — 268,869 more than in 2015. Those included 268,866 applications from Syrians, 127,892 from Afghans and 97,162 from Iraqis, the biggest single groups by far.The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, which has been beefed up in the course of Europe's migrant crisis, decided last year on more than 695,000 asylum applications, more than twice as many as in 2015. Nearly 60 per cent of applicants were granted either full refugee status or a lesser form of protection.De Maiziere said that about 55,000 migrants returned home voluntarily last year, compared with the previous year's 35,000. Another 25,000 were forcibly deported.Chancellor Angela Merkel, who faces a national election later this year and still draws criticism for her welcoming approach to migrants in 2015, has promised a "national effort" to ensure that people who aren't entitled to stay go home.The number of returns is still too low, de Maiziere said, adding that talks are underway with state authorities — who are responsible for returns — to push it up.The Associated Press.
Egypt says it prevented 12,000 people from illegally migrating in 2016-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian border patrol and coast guard forces stopped more than 12,000 people of various nationalities from illegally entering or leaving the country in 2016, the military said on Wednesday, Migrants have tried to cross to Italy from the African coast, particularly from Libya, where people traffickers operate with relative impunity. But boats have increasingly departed from Egypt.The military listed "The arrest of 12,192 people of various nationalities and a total of 434 cases of illegal migration," in a statement on its achievements last year.Egypt passed legislation in October to crack down on people traffickers linked to a surge in the numbers of migrants departing from its Mediterranean coast on sea journeys to Europe.A boat carrying about 450 people capsized off the Egyptian coast in September. About 202 bodies were subsequently recovered from the sea and 169 people rescued. Some 320 migrants and refugees drowned off the Greek island of Crete in June and survivors said their boat had set sail from Egypt.A Reuters investigation published in December found that a fishing boat carrying hundreds of migrants that capsized in April had set sail from Egypt, not Libya as previously reported. About 500 people died, the largest loss of human life in the Mediterranean Sea in 2016.(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Muslim students can write their own sermons as Peel school board reverts to previous policy-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-January 10, 2017
Muslim parents and members of the faith community celebrated the Peel Regional School Board's decision Tuesday to allow students to write their own sermons — a return to a previous policy and one recently recommended by board staff."The board has always been committed to an inclusive approach in all activities related to religious accommodation for students and staff of all faiths," director of education Tony Pontes said in a statement released Tuesday night.The meeting marks the end of a controversy that began in September when the board advised students they could only use one of six pre-written sermons during Friday prayers, known as Jumu'ah in Islam. At least 10 local imams helped develop the sermons, the board said at the time.-'Creating a safe space'-But Muslim students and their parents protested the move, saying it limited the children's religious freedom — and also promoted a prejudiced view of Islam and its followers.After listening to the feedback from the community last year, board staff recommended a return to the previous policy on Friday. That meant students would have the choice to deliver sermons crafted themselves or those approved by the local imams."This was about creating a safe space for students, for students to feel equal to the rest of their peers," high school student Zoya Alam said. "So, this is a positive step for the school board to be creating this safe space and inclusive community."The sermons are delivered in English, except for verses quoted directly from the Qur'an, and will continue to be supervised by a staff member, according to the updated policy.Board trustee Nokha Dakroub had previously told CBC Toronto that a Muslim teacher would usually sit in on the sermons, noting she couldn't recall a teacher ever having to interrupt.Board spokesperson Ryan Reyes said in an email that there were "a few situations where staff had to intervene," but added that those instances were rare.Several police officers attended the meeting after some Muslim students noted they had been the target of hate speech as the discussion about their Friday prayers got more attention.Protesters appeared carrying signs with anti-Islamic messages, which board trustees told them to put away. Two police officers took a woman outside after she began a racially-charged outburst.The sentiments are "hurtful and hateful," Zoya said after the meeting. "It's definitely concerning, especially for the students who are still in school right now."
Bombed Mosul bridge still lifeline for long-suffering civilians-[Reuters]-By Stephen Kalin-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - The rubble of a bridge blown up by Islamic State in Mosul to block advancing Iraqi forces has become a lifeline for civilians as more and more of the northern city breaks loose from the grip of the ultra-hardline militants.Men and women, children and the elderly scramble down the banks of the Khosr River, a tributary of the Tigris some 30 meters wide and a meter deep which counter-terrorism forces crossed last week in a nighttime raid.Lumbering over ladders and pipes, civilians crawl onto the span of the bridge, which has collapsed into the murky water, and shimmy up the opposite bank along a dirt path.Those escaping east to Zuhur district drag suitcases along with strollers and wheelchairs. Those returning west to Muthanna carry sacks of rice, potatoes and onions, cartons of eggs and packs of baby diapers. The journey in either direction is usually several kilometers."Now there are people entering and people leaving," Major General Sami al-Aridi told Reuters this week after touring both sides of the river on foot."The ones who left are returning, and those who are leaving now are coming from ... neighborhoods where there are currently clashes."He said he expected the latest evacuees to return in a day or two as Iraqi forces pushed further west.The United Nations had warned that the U.S.-backed campaign to kick Islamic State out of Mosul, their largest urban stronghold in Iraq or Syria, could displace up to 1.5 million people.But with much of the eastern half of the city now under government control, most residents have stayed in their homes or moved in temporarily with relatives in other neighborhoods.That has complicated the task of the military, which must fight among civilians in built-up areas against an enemy that has targeted non-combatants and hidden among them.-HARSH CONDITIONS-The offensive, involving a 100,000-strong ground force of Iraqi troops, members of the autonomous Kurdish security forces and mainly Shi'ite militiamen, is the most complex battle in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.When it launched the offensive in October, the government hoped to have retaken the city by the end of 2016 but Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in December it could now take another three months to drive the militants out.Fawaz, a 46-year-old schoolteacher going back across the ruptured bridge to his family's home in Muthanna on Monday, held a jerry can filled with fuel in one hand and a bag of fresh food in the other."We spent two months without food, just what we had stored up," he said, describing the harsh conditions that many residents faced after the Mosul campaign began in mid-October. Fawaz said he lost some 30 kg (66 lb) in that period.He crossed the river earlier in the day to buy supplies and check in with his old workplace but was returning before nightfall to his neighborhood, where Iraqi forces are now in charge but mortars fired by Islamic State still land.He shrugged off the danger with a laugh and, expressing the deep faith that Mosul residents say sustained them through 2-1/2 years of brutal Islamic State rule, said: "God is present."-ACCUSTOMED TO VIOLENCE-Along a road running west towards the city's ancient ruins, black armored Humvees race down one side, transporting soldiers to and from the frontline where they're fighting Islamic State suicide attackers with machine guns, rockets and air strikes.Civilians, including infants and the disabled, pad along the other side. Many are fleeing clashes with only their most prized possessions but others are pursuing more mundane tasks such as shopping for groceries or reconnecting electricity cables.A Humvee rushes down the road to reinforce the troops. Behind, a man wearing a grey hoodie bicycles in the dust kicked up by the vehicle. Two more Humvees pass in the opposite direction carrying disabled civilians in their open beds."You see with your own eyes: one hand fights, one hand helps," said a soldier guarding a forward command post.A corner grocery has opened on the street and a school-age boy sells packets of sunflower seeds to soldiers.Young children, one grasping a Barbie doll, play in side streets where orange trees hang low under the weight of ripened fruit. A general clad in black uniform hands out chocolates.The kids do not flinch at the sound of explosions or gunfire. During a particularly heavy spell of clashes nearby, two boys no older than 10 stop in the road where stray bullets occasionally land. They scan the skyline."There, there is the Apache (attack helicopter). There, it's coming! It's going to work them in," said one, turning to add: "We've become accustomed."-AVOID CAMPS-Mosul residents say that despite the obvious dangers, they prefer their homes to camps outside the city where conditions are austere and movement heavily restricted.About 135,000 people have fled to camps outside Mosul run by the government and aid groups. Rapid advances have accelerated displacement in the past two weeks but the figures are still a fraction of the total population."We've haven't stayed in our homes and endured all this bombardment and everything just to live in tents," said Abu Ahmed, visiting his family in Zuhur at the weekend.The war raging just down the road doesn't worry him."God willing, there is nothing," he said before dropping to the ground and running for cover at the buzz of a missile overhead.The street he was standing in suddenly clears of civilians and soldiers. Fifteen seconds later, the rocket explodes about a kilometer away sending a plum of grey smoke into the sky.Cracks of gunfire replace the greetings and serendipitous reunions that had filled the street just moments earlier.Abu Ahmed stands up again with a chuckle and brushes himself off. "A rocket," he said. "Thanks and praise to God."(Editing by David Clarke)
More than 50 dead in Yemen fighting in two days-[AFP]-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
Aden (AFP) - Fighting in Yemen has killed 55 rebels and soldiers in two days after the government launched a major offensive in a coastal area near key shipping lanes, officials said Wednesday.Government forces began the assault Saturday in a bid to recapture the Dhubab district near the Bab al-Mandab strait which links the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.Troops clashed with Iran-backed Huthi Shiite rebels on Wednesday at a key military base in the region, leaving five soldiers and 12 rebels dead, loyalist military sources said.The Yemeni government and its allies say the presence of rebels near the key waterway poses a threat to international shipping.On Tuesday aircraft from the Saudi-led coalition supporting the Yemeni government attacked two Huthi boats in the Red Sea port of Salif, killing 31 fighters, a government military official said.The death toll was confirmed by a source at a military hospital in Hodeida who said many more rebels were wounded.In the southern province of Shabwa, seven government soldiers were killed and 12 wounded Wednesday in Katyusha rocket fire from a pocket of rebel territory, military sources said.More than 7,300 people have been killed and 39,000 wounded in Yemen since the Saudi-led coalition intervened against the Huthis in March 2015, according to the World Health Organization.
Turkey bogged down in Syria as it realigns with Russia-[Associated Press]-SARAH EL DEEB-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
BEIRUT (AP) — Nearly two months into the assault, Turkey has become bogged down in an unexpectedly bloody fight to retake the Islamic State group's last stronghold in northern Syria. It has been forced to pour in troops, take the lead in the battle from its Syrian allies and reach out to Russia for aerial support.The fight for al-Bab underscores the precarious path Ankara is treading with its foray in to Syria, aimed against both IS militants and Syrian Kurdish fighters. The assault on the town had already driven a wedge between Turkey and the United States, and now the realignment toward Moscow — which supports the government in Syria's civil war — further tests Ankara's alliance both with Washington and with the Syrian opposition.The battle itself has proven grueling.Nearly 50 Turkish soldiers have been killed in its Syria operation, most of them since the al-Bab assault began in mid-November — including 14 killed in a single day. The militants have dug in, surrounding the town with trenches, lining streets with land mines and carrying out painful ambushes and car bombings against the besieging forces. Each time Turkish-backed Syrian opposition fighters have thrust into the city, they've been driven out. More than 200 civilians are believed to have been killed since the attack began Nov. 13. Mud and cold rain have only made it more of a slog."The battle for al-Bab has been mostly about killing civilians and destroying the city, whether by Daesh or the Turks," said Mustafa Sultan, a resident of al-Bab and a media activist who has been covering the fight. He used the Arabic acronym for IS."The town is almost half destroyed. Daesh takes cover in hospitals, schools and these end up getting targeted," he said. The Turkish military says it takes great care not to harm civilians, halting operations that could endanger non-combatants.Capturing al-Bab is essential to Ankara's goals in Syria.Turkey, which for years supported the Syrian opposition drive to oust President Bashar Assad, has recalibrated its priorities toward fighting Islamic State militants who turned their terror against the Turkish state and thwarting Kurdish aspirations for autonomous rule along Syria's border with Turkey.If al-Bab is retaken, it would break the IS presence near the border and plant a Turkish-backed presence between Kurdish-held territory to the east and west, preventing them from linking.For the U.S., the al-Bab assault risks causing direct confrontation between Turkish troops and Syrian Kurdish forces, which are leading a U.S.-backed offensive toward the de facto IS capital, Raqqa. Washington supports and relies on the Kurds in the fight against IS the past two years.Last month, Ankara protested to Washington that its NATO ally was providing no help in al-Bab. A day later, Turkey said Russia carried out three airstrikes in the al-Bab area.In the short term, Turkey is likely to sending a message to the United States before President-elect Donald Trump takes office that it has other options if Washington keeps backing the Syrian Kurds, considered by Ankara as terrorists linked to a Kurdish faction that has carried out bombings in Turkey.In the long term, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may be exploring his options with Russia, which currently holds the key to Syria militarily and diplomatically. Russia helped Assad's forces crush the opposition enclave in the northern city of Aleppo in December. Then Moscow and Ankara joined to broker a ceasefire, which is supposed to lead to negotiations later this month.Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday the U.S. has seen no indication of Russian-Turkish coordination, only independent Russian airstrikes in al-Bab."I don't think the United States is very worried about Erdogan flipping from NATO to Moscow, but they are worried about Turkey's general drift into instability and rash decisions. Erdogan bungling his foreign policy to the point where he must turn to Putin for help is certainly part of that broader concern," said Aron Lund, a fellow at the New York-based Century Foundation.Following Turkey's protest, U.S. officials said discussions with Ankara continue over al-Bab, an important effort against IS. Turkey said on Dec. 30 that the U.S.-led coalition carried out an airstrike in the al-Bab region.The offensive has also revealed how unprepared Turkish-allied Syrian rebels are for a protracted fight against IS.Ankara increased its initial deployment of 600 soldiers — which included special forces and mechanized battalions — to at least 4,000 today, according to Metin Gurcan, a former Turkish military adviser who served in Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Iraq and is now an independent security analyst. Turkish troops now outnumber the Syrian opposition fighters who were supposed to be "the primary ground force," Gurcan wrote in Al-Monitor.He said some Syrian fighters have withdrawn, "and because of their lack of discipline in the field, Turkish commandos are now engaged in front-line fighting against IS."Unlike the IS-held town of Jarablus, which Turkey's allies entered almost without a fight in August, the militant group prepared to defend al-Bab. IS fighters have taken positions on hilltops, used drones and have repeatedly shown a capability in waging pitched battles.After Turkish troops and Syrian fighters secured a strategic hilltop on the town's edge in late December, IS launched a surprise counteroffensive, killing 14 Turkish soldiers and over two dozen Syrians.One Syrian opposition commander said there were three different battles around the hill. "We had to pull out more than once because they encircled us and we had many martyrs," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss battlefield details.Another battle on the eastern side of al-Bab lasted 15 hours, starting from hilltops and ending in a valley at close range with dozens killed and many damaged armored vehicles. Sultan, who arrived afterward, was startled by the silence as bodies were cleared away.The Turkish-backed fighters, who number around 2,000, have repeatedly entered al-Bab and each time are driven out by the militants, estimated to number around 3,000, said Sultan. "The fighters frankly are afraid of the mines, which cause most of the deaths," Sultan said.Al-Bab had a prewar population of 60,000 and it's not known how many remain there. Despite the tight IS seal, some still try to escape.A resident who goes by the name of Abul-Ful for fear for his safety said his sister and her family fled Monday after IS fighters took over their farmland north of the town to use as base. The family of seven moved from one farm to the next undetected until they reached shelter in a village north of al-Bab.She was lucky, Abul-Ful said. He said his older sister was killed 10 days earlier as she tried to escape with her family. While hiding in farmland, they were caught in crossfire: IS fired on Turkish-backed forces, then moved, and Turkish artillery responded, hitting the family and killing her.Her family buried her at the spot where she died, then continued their escape, he said.___Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey; Robert Burns in Washington and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.
12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
A look at the stakes if US moves Israel embassy to Jerusalem-[Associated Press]-KARIN LAUB-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The Palestinians are ringing alarm bells over Donald Trump's stated intention to relocate the U.S. Embassy in Israel to contested Jerusalem, fearing quick action once he takes office as U.S. president next week. They say an embassy move would kill any hopes for negotiating an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement and rile the region by undercutting Muslim and Christian claims to the holy city.WHY DOES IT MATTER? Jerusalem forms the core of rival, religiously tinged national narratives of Israelis and Palestinians. Both sides claim it as a capital, and disagreement over how to divide Jerusalem helped derail previous U.S.-led talks on establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel.From Israel's founding in 1948 until the 1967 Mideast war, Jerusalem was divided into a western sector that served as Israel's capital and an eastern, traditionally Arab sector run by Jordan. Israel captured east Jerusalem in 1967, along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and annexed an expanded east Jerusalem to its capital.Today, more than 37 percent of 850,000 city residents are Palestinians. East Jerusalem's Old City houses major Jewish, Muslim and Christian shrines revered by billions around the world. The Palestinians seek a state in the lands captured by Israel, with east Jerusalem as a capital. WHY ARE THE PALESTINIANS UPSET? The Palestinians argue that moving the embassy, now located in Israel's metropolis of Tel Aviv, amounts to U.S. recognition of all of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. They say this would close the door to negotiating a "two-state solution" because it would pre-judge the outcome of one of the most explosive disputes in the conflict and disqualify Washington as mediator. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he could never accept a deal in which Israel keeps the entire city. An embassy move could further weaken the 81-year-old Abbas politically. WHAT ABOUT ISRAEL? Many Jews view Jerusalem as their religious and cultural center. Israeli government spokesman David Keyes says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "thinks it would be great" for the embassy to move to Jerusalem. Netanyahu had tense relations with outgoing President Barack Obama, in part because of Israel's settlement expansion on occupied lands. Netanyahu has said he is willing to negotiate a border deal with the Palestinians, but that Jerusalem is off the table. Two of Netanyahu's predecessors had engaged in negotiations with the Palestinians on a partition of the city. AGGRIEVED JORDAN? In unusually blunt language, Jordan warned last week that an embassy move is a "red line" and would inflame the Arab and Muslim worlds. Jordan serves as custodian of the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, the third-holiest site of Islam, located in east Jerusalem on the same spot that Jews revere as the Temple Mount. The compound, home to the biblical Jewish Temples, is considered the holiest site in Judaism.A U.S. embassy move could be seen as diminishing Jordan's special religious role in Jerusalem, a pillar of legitimacy of the kingdom's Hashemite rulers who trace their ancestry back to Prophet Muhammed. Tensions with the U.S could undermine their military alliance, including the fight against Islamic State extremists in neighboring Syria and Iraq. Jordan's discreet security ties with Israel also could be at risk. WHAT ABOUT OTHER ARAB AND MUSLIM STATES? They have been less outspoken. Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit has said an embassy move would be a "huge setback" to peace efforts. League spokesman Hossam Zaki said the 22-state organization hopes Trump will become more aware of the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict once in office, but that "the new U.S. administration's positions toward Palestine don't look good." Egypt, the Arab world's most populous nation, has warm relations with both Israel and Trump and has remained silent. The 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation has urged the U.S. to refrain from steps that could create tensions in the region. IS TRUMP SERIOUS? Like presidential contenders before him, Trump made a campaign promise to relocate the embassy. Unlike the others, he has since signaled that he is serious about it. Adviser Kellyanne Conway has said that moving the embassy is a "very big priority" for Trump. A U.S. official has said Trump's transition team asked the State Department for logistics advice on a move. Trump's designated ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, backs an embassy move. DOES THIS GO AGAINST INTERNATIONAL CONSENSUS? The U.N. Security Council last month affirmed east Jerusalem's status as occupied territory, part of a resolution that condemned Israeli settlement activity as illegal. Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has warned that an embassy move could trigger "an absolute explosion in the region." On Sunday, representatives of dozens of countries, including Kerry, will affirm support for a negotiated two-state solution at a Mideast conference in France. DO THE PALESTINIANS HAVE A PLAN? For now, they hope to generate international pressure on Trump. Abbas asked Trump in a letter to reconsider and urged world leaders to intervene. On Saturday, Abbas is meeting Pope Francis in hopes of a supportive statement. The Vatican has said it seeks an internationally guaranteed status for Jerusalem that safeguards its sacred character. An Abbas aide heads to Moscow for talks Friday with Russia's foreign minister. The Palestinian foreign minister is to raise the issue at a Jan. 19 conference of OIC, the alliance of Islamic countries. This weekend, the Palestinians have called for regional mosque and church prayers in a show of protest.__AND IF THE EMBASSY IS MOVED? Palestinian officials say they would seriously consider voiding a 1993 mutual recognition agreement that created the basis for negotiations with Israel. The deal included a pledge to resolve all issues, including Jerusalem, through negotiations. It paved the way for the establishment of the Palestinian autonomy government in parts of the West Bank, and ending it would put the financial burden of providing services of some 2.3 million Palestinians on Israel.___Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Maggie Michael in Cairo, Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah and Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed reporting.
Chrystia Freeland becomes foreign minister as Trudeau shuffles cabinet-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-January 10, 2017
Chrystia Freeland will be appointed Canada’s new minister of foreign affairs in a sweeping Liberal cabinet shakeup to be announced later today, CBC News has learned.Freeland, who leaves the international trade portfolio, will replace Stéphane Dion, who is leaving politics to become Canada’s ambassador to the European Union and Germany, sources tell CBC News.Immigration Minister John McCallum is also leaving politics and will be named Canada’s ambassador to China.The swearing-in ceremony for the new ministers will take place at Rideau Hall at 2 p.m. and CBCNews.ca will carry it live.Other changes to be announced today, confirmed by CBC News:– François-Philippe Champagne will become minister of international trade.– Patty Hajdu will move from status of women to labour.– Maryam Monsef will transfer from democratic institutions to status of women.– Karina Gould will be named minister of democratic institutions.– Ahmed Hussen become minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship.Hussen, Canada’s first-ever MP of Somali descent, is a lawyer and community activist in the Toronto riding of York South-Weston.Gould, 29, a former trade and development worker who represents the riding of Burlington, Ont., was promoted from her previous role as parliamentary secretary to the minister of International Development.Champagne, a first-term MP for the Quebec riding of Saint-Maurice–Champlain, is a former businessman and lawyer. He was considered a strong performer as parliamentary secretary to Finance Minister Bill Morneau.-McCallum, Dion assume ambassador roles-McCallum, 65, served as defence minister under Jean Chrétien and presided over the veteran affairs file in Paul Martin’s cabinet.Dion, 61, was environment minister under Martin and then succeeded him as party leader, a position he held until shortly after the party lost 18 seats in a 2008 federal election defeat. Dion represents the Quebec riding of Saint-Laurent.Monsef, the Ontario MP for Peterborough-Kawartha, has taken criticism for her handling of the electoral reform file, and was forced to apologize last month for accusing MPs on the special committee studying the issue of shirking their duties.Sources also told CBC News MaryAnn Mihychuk will be shuffled out of her office as minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour.Trudeau’s cabinet was sworn in just over 14 months ago with an even number of men and women, but has already seen a few changes.Last May, former fisheries minister Hunter Tootoo was dropped from cabinet for personal reasons and replaced by former government House leader Dominic LeBlanc. In a midsummer move, Small Business and Tourism Minister Bardish Chagger was handed LeBlanc’s House leader duties.The inauguration next week of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has put new focus on the government’s handling of the Canada-U.S. relationship. A shuffle allows Trudeau to move perceived strong ministers into roles that are critical to that relationship while addressing some of the weaker performers.
Dylann Roof sentenced to death for killing 9 church members-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-January 10, 2017
CHARLESTON, S.C. — An unrepentant Dylann Roof was sentenced to death Tuesday for fatally shooting nine black church members during a Bible study session, becoming the first person ordered executed for a federal hate crime.A jury deliberated for about three hours before returning with the decision, capping a trial in which the 22-year-old avowed white supremacist did not fight for his life or show any remorse. He served as his own attorney during sentencing and never asked for forgiveness or mercy or explained the massacre.Hours earlier, Roof threw away one last chance to plead for his life, telling jurors, "I still feel like I had to do it."The slain included the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the church pastor and a state senator, as well as other pillars of the community: a high school track coach, the church sexton, a librarian and an aspiring poet. They all shared deep devotion to the church, known as Mother Emanuel, and passed that faith along to their families, many of whom offered Roof forgiveness when he appeared in court just days after the attack.As Roof spoke Tuesday for about five minutes, every juror looked directly at him. A few nodded as he reminded them that they said during jury selection they could fairly weigh the factors of his case. Only one of them, he noted, had to disagree to spare him from a lethal injection."I have the right to ask you to give me a life sentence, but I'm not sure what good it would do anyway," he said.When the verdict was read, he stood stoic. Several family members of victims wiped away quiet tears.Roof told FBI agents when they arrested him after the June 17, 2015, slayings that he wanted the shootings to bring back segregation or perhaps start a race war. Instead, the slayings had a unifying effect, as South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from its Statehouse for the first time in more than 50 years. Other states followed suit, taking down Confederate banners and monuments. Roof had posed with the flag in photos.Malcolm Graham, whose sister Cynthia Hurd was slain, said the jury made the right decision."There is no room in America's smallest jail cell for hatred, racism and discrimination," he said from his home in Charlotte, North Carolina. "The journey for me and my family today has come to an end."One of Hurd's other brothers, Melvin Graham, said the jury's decision "was a very hollow victory" because his sister is still gone."He decided the day, the hour and minute my sister was going to die. Now someone is going to do it for him," he said.Roof specifically selected Emanuel AME Church, the South's oldest black church, to carry out the cold, calculated slaughter, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Richardson said.The 12 people he targeted opened the door for a stranger with a smile, he said. Three people survived the attack."They welcomed a 13th person that night ... with a kind word, a Bible, a handout and a chair," Richardson said during his closing argument. "He had come with a hateful heart and a Glock .45."The gunman sat with the Bible study group for about 45 minutes. During the final prayer — when everyone's eyes were closed — he started firing. He stood over some of the fallen victims, shooting them again as they lay on the floor, Richardson said.The prosecutor reminded jurors about each one of the victims and the bloody scene that Roof left in the church's lower level.Nearly two dozen friends and relatives of the victims testified during the sentencing phase of the trial. They shared cherished memories and talked about a future without a mother, father, sister or brother. They shed tears, and their voices shook, but none of them said whether Roof should face the death penalty.The prosecutor reminded jurors that Clementa Pinckney would be remembered for singing goofy songs and watching cartoons with his young daughters. In a sign of perhaps how important that testimony was, jurors re-watched a speech by Pinckney in which he talked about the history of Emanuel and its mission.The jury convicted Roof last month of all 33 federal charges he faced, including hate crimes. He never explained his actions to jurors, saying only that "anyone who hates anything in their mind has a good reason for it."Roof insisted that he was not mentally ill and did not call any witnesses or present any evidence.In one of his journals, he wrote that he did not believe in psychology, calling it "a Jewish invention" that "does nothing but invent diseases and tell people they have problems when they don't."His attorneys said he did not want to present any evidence that might embarrass him or his family.After he was sentenced, Roof asked a judge to appoint him new attorneys, but the judge said he was not inclined to do so because they had performed "admirably.""We are sorry that, despite our best efforts, the legal proceedings have shed so little light on the reasons for this tragedy," the attorneys said in a veiled reference to the mental health issues they wanted to present.A judge will formally sentence him during a hearing Wednesday. Roof also faces a death penalty trial in state court.The last person sent to federal death row was Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in 2015.___Associated Press Writer Alex Sanz contributed to this report.___Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP. Read more of her work at http://ift.tt/201TEBK .Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at http://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP. His work can be found at http://ift.tt/1OWhurR .Meg Kinnard And Jeffrey Collins, The Associated Press.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
REVELATION 16:1-2
1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
EU proposes tougher privacy rules for online messaging By Nikolaj Nielsen-JAN 11,17-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:24-The EU commission is tightening privacy rules on messaging services like WhatsApp, Skype and web-based email.On Tuesday (10 January), it proposed to overhaul the e-privacy directive to bridge the gap between traditional telephone operators and the broadly US-based instant messaging services.The current directive, last reformed in 2009, only covers telecom operators. The reform expands the rules to online services, gives people more control over intrusive cookies, and evolves the directive into a much more powerful regulation.The EU commission says the reforms are also needed because over 90 percent of people in an EU survey want their emails and online messaging to remain confidential.The proposal involves giving people the choice to opt in or out of services provided by so-called Over-The-Top (OTT) applications such as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. But it also claims to open up new business opportunities for more traditional telecom operators by allowing them to commercialise data that was previously off limits."Consent of the user is paramount," EU digital economy commissioner Andrus Ansip told reporters.Ansip said the new rules would not only apply to traditional services like voice calls or SMS, but also to internet based communication services "or future based services that allow any type of communication".Consent will be required for anything from so-called metadata - the details of when and where a call was placed - to the content of communications.Email providers like Gmail regularly scan people's emails to help target adverts. Cookies are also required to provide Google's translation services of those emails.The Commission says the same services will now have to provide "effective consent", giving people a more readily available option of saying no instead of having to read through the small print in the terms and conditions.Gmail will also only be able to process the bare minimum of data needed to provide the email service for free.It means today's email scanning will be banned unless the user agrees. But saying no to email scans only prevents adverts from being personalised or relevant to the user. It does not stop adverts.Consent won't be needed for everything. Things like remembering shopping histories and filling in online forms will be exempted.One Finnish web developer recently discovered a "phishing" attack that specifically targets auto-fill, reported the Guardian.The developer found that some browsers like Google Chrome's auto-fill can be tricked into giving away personal information like email addresses through an auto-fill function that is not disabled by default.Brussels-based consumer lobby group Beuc argues that the Commission's proposal should have blocked cookies by default.“Consumers must have an alternative to being under 24/7 commercial surveillance when using digital services," said Beuc director Monique Goyens.Some are not happy, fearing it will cut into their advertising revenues."The approach to extend historic telephony rules to new services does not reflect today’s market realities," said the Brussels-based American Chamber of Commerce to the EU.Firms that break the rules could end up paying fines of up to 4 percent of their global turnover.The Brussels-executive is hoping to have the new rules up and running by the time the EU's data protection regulation, agreed last year, is fully operational by May 2018.-Data protection regulation and e-privacy-EU commission officials say their is no overlap between e-privacy and the general data protection regulation.They note that the regulation deals with processing of personal data, while e-privacy covers communication between people.OTTs under the old data protection rules were also able use a "legitimate interest" clause to process data without people's consent. The new rules remove that clause.The EU's digital economy in 2015 was worth €272 billion.
Trump denounces 'disgrace' of reports of Russian ties to him-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
NEW YORK — A defiant President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday adamantly denied reports that Russia had obtained compromising personal and financial information about him, calling it a "tremendous blot" on the record of the intelligence community if such material had been released.The incoming president, in his first news conference since late July, firmly chided news organizations for publishing the material late Tuesday night. Trump's extraordinary defence , just nine days before his inauguration, dominated a highly anticipated press conference in which the president-elect also announced a new Cabinet member, detailed his plans to disentangle himself from his sprawling global business empire, gave his outlook on the future of the "Obamacare" health care law and said he would soon nominate someone to fill the current vacancy on the Supreme Court."I think it's a disgrace that information would be let out. I saw the information, I read the information outside of that meeting," he said, a reference to a classified briefing he received from intelligence leaders. "It's all fake news, it's phoney stuff, it didn't happen," Trump said in a news conference that saw him repeatedly joust with reporters. "It was gotten by opponents of ours."Asked about his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump boasted that it is an improvement over what he called America's current "horrible relationship with Russia.""If Putin likes Donald Trump, guess what, folks, that's called an asset not a liability. I don't know if I'm going to get along with Vladimir Putin — I hope I do — but there's a good chance I won't."After weeks of scoffing at reports the Russians had hacked Democratic websites to pass along emails damaging to Hillary Clinton, he said yes, he thought Russia had hacked the Democratic National Committee.Trump, Vice-President-elect Mike Pence and incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer denounced the reports about Russia's influence on Trump, and the incoming president said the report never should have been released. He thanked some news organizations for showing restraint.A U.S. official told The Associated Press on Tuesday night that intelligence officials had informed Trump last week about an unsubstantiated report that Russia had obtained compromising personal and financial information about him. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official was not allowed to publicly discuss the matter.Trump and President Barack Obama were briefed on the intelligence community's findings last week, the official said.Media outlets reported on the document late Tuesday and Trump denounced it on Twitter before his news conference as "fake news," suggesting he was being persecuted for defeating other GOP presidential hopefuls and Democrat Hillary Clinton in the election.The dossier contains unproven information about close co-ordination between Trump's inner circle and Russians about hacking into Democratic accounts as well as unproven claims about unusual sexual activities by Trump among other suggestions attributed to anonymous sources. The Associated Press has not authenticated any of the claims.Pence said the decision by some media to publish the reports could "only be attributed to media bias" and an attempt to "demean" Trump.Trump's first news conference since his election covered a wide range of topics.Only days from his inauguration as the nation's 45th president, Trump announced that he would nominate David Shulkin to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, elevating him from his current role as VA undersecretary.He promised that a replacement for the health care overhaul would be offered "essentially simultaneously" with the repeal of Obama's signature health law — something that would be virtually impossible to quickly pass given the complexity of the policy changes. Republicans agree on repealing the law but nearly seven years after its passage have failed to reach agreement on its replacement.Trump has repeatedly said that repealing and replacing "Obamacare" was a top priority, but has never fully explained how he plans to do it. House Speaker Paul Ryan has said that the House would seek to take both steps "concurrently."Turning to his plans to build a border wall along the southern border, Trump said he would immediately begin negotiations with Mexico on funding his promised wall after he takes office. He again vowed that "Mexico will pay for the wall but it will be reimbursed."Trump also said he would probably name his choice to fill the vacancy left by the death of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia in about two weeks.And he announced his plans for the future of the Trump Organization, bringing to the podium attorney Sheri Dillon of Morgan Lewis, who worked with the Trump Organization on the arrangement.Dillon said the Trump Organization would continue to pursue deals in the U.S., though Trump will relinquish control of the company to his sons and an executive, put his business assets in a trust and take other steps to isolate himself from his business. She said Trump "should not be expected to destroy the company he built."The move appears to contradict a previous pledge by the president-elect. In a tweet last month, Trump vowed to do "no new deals" while in office.The lawyer who advised Trump also said that the Trump Organization will appoint an ethics adviser to its management team who must approve deals that could raise concerns about conflicts. Dillon said Trump would voluntarily donate all profits from foreign government payments to his hotels to the U.S. treasury.___Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC-Julie Pace, The Associated Press.
EU raises alarm on fake news and hacking-By Andrew Rettman-JAN 11,17-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:27-EU commissioners have raised fresh concerns about fake news and hacking in Europe, but warned that there are “no easy solutions”.Andrus Ansip, a former Estonian prime minister who is in charge of the digital single market, and Vera Jourova, a Czech politician who holds the justice portfolio, spoke to press in Brussels on Tuesday (10 January).“About fake news - it’s a popular topic, a hot topic, but [there are] no easy solutions”, Ansip said.“I believe in self-regulatory measures. Fake news is a bad thing, but according to my understanding, the ministry of truth is also bad,” he said, referring to a totalitarian institution in the dystopian novel 1984 by British writer George Orwell.Jourova also called for “good and responsible decisions in this sphere” by individual member states.“We both lived for a long time under the dictatorship of the ministries of truth and that’s why I think we’re both very sensitive about this”, she added, referring to communist-era and Soviet-era rule in her and in Ansip’s home countries.Ansip said that hacking could be more easily dealt with.He said that when Estonia suffered a cyber attack after it removed a Soviet monument from Tallinn in 2007 “cooperation between different services and computer response teams … were able to cut [the] majority of those attacks even before they crossed our borders."He added that “no single member state, it doesn't matter, big or small, is able to deal with cyber security issues alone”, however.He said the commission would like to spend €1.8 billion more on research into cyber security, that EU states should spend more of their military budgets on cyber defence, and that CERTs - national anti-hacking bodies - should work more closely together."If it’s clear what kind of weapons the bad guys are using then it’s also easier to defend ourselves,” he said.-Trump reports-The fake news trend hit the headlines on Tuesday when US president-elect Donald Trump denounced reports which said that Russian intelligence had material that it could use to blackmail him.The reports were based on leaked files that were purportedly written by a former British spy. One file said that Russian intelligence had filmed Trump watching prostitutes urinate on each other at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Moscow in 2013.-“FAKE NEWS – A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!”, Trump said on Twitter.Trump, as with the Brexit campaign and British tabloids, had earlier profited from fake stories designed to advance his cause.Trump also profited from alleged Russian hacking of his opponent's, Hilary Clinton’s, emails.Meanwhile, Russian and pro-Russian media this week ran fake reports that the US had sent more than 3,000 tanks to Europe as preparations for a “war” against Russia.The number of tanks was 87 and they were sent to deter Russian aggression.-Hack the EU-The risk that Russian hackers, media, and trolls would try to sway upcoming elections in the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Sweden was highlighted in a recent study by US intelligence services.British, French, German, and Swedish security chiefs and experts have also warned of a spike in Russian hacking in the EU.Julian King, the EU security commissioner, told the Financial Times newspaper on Monday that EU institutions are being targeted as well.He said there was a 20 percent spike in attempted hacks on European Commission servers last year.“It’s clear that many institutions across Europe and more widely, and that includes the European Commission, are subject to a continuously increasing number of cyber attacks from different sources,” he said.-Breitbart-Russia is not the only culprit on fake news.EU sources are equally concerned about misleading anti-EU stories in British tabloid newspapers.Breitbart, a US pro-Trump website that propagates hard-right views, is also expanding in Europe, with new offices in Berlin, Paris, and Rome.On 3 January, it reported that a “1,000-man mob” had chanted Islamist slogans, clashed with police, and set fire to a church in Dortmund, Germany, but that authorities had hushed it up.Dortmund police debunked the report, but Breitbart did not retract it.The Breitbart story echoed a fake Russian story last year that migrants had raped a German girl and that authorities had hushed it up.The EU foreign service has a small team of officials and diplomats tasked with debunking foreign propaganda, but calls by MEPs to expand the unit’s personnel and funding have fallen on deaf ears.
Federal government needs help tackling cyberthreats, internal report warns-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
OTTAWA — The Canadian government is "simply not up to the overall challenge" of fending off cyberthreats on its own and must partner with the private sector and the United States to tackle the problem, warns a federally commissioned report.Canada is a prime target for cybercrime, state-sponsored attacks and lone hackers, and government officials have a crucial role to play in helping fend them off, the authors conclude."The productivity and competitiveness of Canada in the digital age will require a strong defence of its critical information and technical infrastructure," the report says."Current efforts by government, industry and communities need to be better co-ordinated and more strategic."The Canadian Press used the Access to Information Act to obtain a final draft version of the April 2016 report on cyberthreat information-sharing protocols and policies in Canada and the United States.The report comes amid growing concern about damaging intrusions into computer systems that expose personal information, commercial secrets and sensitive government data — endangering everything from credit ratings to national security.The disclosure of pilfered Democratic Party emails proved embarrassing to presidential contender Hillary Clinton when published by WikiLeaks. The U.S. says Moscow led the attack, though Russia has denied involvement.Three years ago, the Canadian government blamed a sophisticated, Chinese state-sponsored actor for a breach of the National Research Council's networks that resulted in a shutdown of the research agency's information-technology system. Beijing accused Canada of making irresponsible allegations.However, Canada's spy agency has openly warned that China and Russia are out to steal national secrets.Under Canada's cybersecurity strategy, the federal government is responsible for securing its own systems, working with the provincial governments and private sector to keep other systems safe and helping Canadians to protect themselves online.The report, prepared for Public Safety Canada by consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, found the government information-technology community is already overwhelmed with challenges such as aging systems and a move to cloud computing.At the same time, few small businesses have full-time computer security staff.The latest federal budget promised $77 million in new money over five years to bolster cybersecurity.The report recommends broader engagement of the private sector, saying Canadian government budgets, resources and capabilities "are simply not up to the overall challenge."It calls for closer collaboration with the U.S. to take advantage of the billions of dollars Washington is spending on cybersecurity. It also urges more co-operation with small- and medium-sized businesses in developing solutions.The report also cautions that any effort to ramp up surveillance and information-gathering to counter threats in cyberspace must be balanced with respect for privacy and personal liberties. It says that means building in strict criteria on the use of information as well as sufficient oversight.Ottawa recently wrapped up a national cybersecurity consultation. The aim is to identify gaps and opportunities, come up with fresh ideas and capitalize on the advantages of new technology.The recommendations of the commissioned report will be taken into account as part of the cybersecurity review, said Public Safety spokeswoman Karine Martel."Keeping Canadians safe while protecting their privacy rights remains a priority for the government and will be reflected in the policy and program decisions that stem from this ongoing review."— Follow @JimBronskill on Twitter-Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS ETC) and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
Why the Halifax Port Authority gets to dump snow in the harbour-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
Halifax does not plan to get rid of excess snow by dumping it in the harbour, despite the port authority continuing to do so. The municipality has no control over what the port authority does because it is under federal jurisdiction. City spokesman Brendan Elliott said the municipality was advised by Environment Canada not to dump snow into the water, citing the Fisheries Act."It's safe to assume the kind of debris we collect in the course of gathering snow, whether it be salt or sand, traces of gasoline, oils — all of that would be considered dangerous to the environment, especially to fish," he said.-City finds other ways-Section 36 of the Fisheries Act does not specifically mention snow but it states that throwing certain substances overboard is prohibited, including ballast, coal ashes, stones or "other deleterious substances in any river, harbour or roadstead, or in any water where fishing is carried on."Elliott said the municipality has half a dozen designated spots where it takes excess snow."We're very careful to ensure the dumping places that we do have around the city are places where, when the snow melts, there's a filtration system in place to ensure that none of the gasoline or the traces of oil would seep into the ground," he said.-Municipality doesn't tell port what to do-Elliott said the municipality doesn't try to interfere with how the Halifax Port Authority gets rid of its extra snow.The port authority said it has long been dumping snow from its 105 hectares of federal land, including the ocean terminals, Richmond Terminals and the Halifax Seaport, into the harbour."We do have the jurisdiction and the ability to decide how we handle the snow removal process and that is what our process is," said spokesman Lane Farguson.-Snow finds its way to the harbour-"Most of our land is either paved or cobblestones and so during normal freeze-thaw cycles, that snow will melt and eventually find its way into the harbour anyway."Farguson said the snow is moved to the harbour once "piles become substantial.""We do our best to keep the areas we have jurisdiction over as clear as we possibly can and a lot of times that process works very, very well."
Strong winds knock down trees that damage cars, down hydro wires across Toronto-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
Falling trees crushed numerous cars and knocked down hydro wires overnight during a wind warning that was in place for Toronto and parts of the GTA.Wind gusts at Pearson International Airport reached up to 102 km/h at 2 a.m.Emergency services were kept busy with multiple calls about fallen trees, downed hydro wires and blowing debris throughout the night and into the morning.A large tree fell onto a car causing heavy damage to the vehicle on Bushell Avenue near Pape and Gerrard.Another tree fell onto a car on Glengarry Avenue. The homeowner who surveyed the damage told CBC he was just happy nobody was hurt.On Pape Avenue, garbage cans and shopping carts were blown across the roadway. "We've also had some wires down where tree branches have fallen onto hydro wires," said Toronto Fire captain Adrian Ratushniak. "We respond to make sure that there's nobody injured by the electrical issue that unfolds thereafter."Strong winds also contributed to a power outage in Vaughan that affected 1,500 customers this morning. Power there has since been restored.The wind warning Environment Canada issued was lifted this morning.
Thousands without power in Ottawa area as high winds continue-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
About 18,000 hydro customers are without power in Ottawa, nearby eastern Ontario and the Outaouais as high winds continue throughout the region.Around 450 customers were without power in Hydro Ottawa jurisdiction as of 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, mainly in the Bay area.By 12:30 p.m. it had jumped to 1,750 customers.Hydro One reported 16,000 of its customers were without power as of 12:30 p.m. The hardest-hit areas include Bancroft, Brockville, Perth, Peterborough and Kingston.In the Outaouais, about 1,000 Hydro Quebec customers were without power early Wednesday morning.By 12:30 p.m. it had dropped to about 700.Some rural school buses cancelled-School buses are running in the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau, but they have been cancelled in rural areas after a messy storm brought snow, rain and high winds overnight.School bus service is cancelled for the following boards:- Upper Canada District School Board.- Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario.Some school buses are cancelled for the following boards:- Renfrew County public and Catholic school boards, but only in the Madawaska area.- Conseil des écoles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario as well as Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est, but only in Brockville, Merrickville, Kemptville, Carleton Place, Marionville and Prescott and Russell.
Terrifying' wind, huge waves leave Lark Harbour residents uneasy-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-January 10, 2017
A Lark Harbour woman whose property was damaged in a windstorm in December says she's now afraid to stay in her own home when the forecast is bad.Linda Humber was home alone on Dec. 30 when the community was hit by hurricane-force winds."It was unreal. It was terrifying," she told CBC Radio's Corner Brook Morning Show on Tuesday.Humber said she knew there would be trouble when she heard the forecast of a southeast wind.At times she said the "squalls" gusted to 170 kilometres an hour. The sky was "black, very scary" and there were big spouts of water."At one point in the morning, there was waves coming in what we call the harbour, about 20 feet high," Humber said. "As the tide got higher and higher and higher, the wind got worse."The storm leveled a nearby home. Fortunately, the two people inside were lucky enough to escape without injuries.Humber said her own house is still standing, but has some damage."I lost my chimney cap. I could hear it coming off. I could hear the roar of the wind. I didn't know what was going to happen next," she said.Humber had saltwater in her backyard. Her sister had water in the basement. When the winds hadn't died down by 2:30, a nephew came to their rescue."When it did stop, I didn't know what I was coming home to."Humber said the town needs better protection against the wind and high waves. She said the breakwater needs to be two or three feet higher, and there is talk of adding a jetty to the town wharf.In the meantime, she won't be staying in her house during the next storm."I will be staying somewhere else, I won't be staying in this house, because it is too terrifying."
West Coast gets more snow and rain, causing flooding and closing schools-[Reuters]-By Alex Dobuzinskis-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Heavy rain and snowfall hit parts of California, Nevada and Oregon early on Wednesday, forcing school closings and causing flooding along already swollen waterways, officials said.This was the latest round of extreme precipitation in the past month unleashed by a weather pattern meteorologists call an "atmospheric river" - a dense plume of moisture flowing from the tropical Pacific into California.Portland, Oregon, residents woke up on Wednesday to find roughly a foot (30 cm) of snow on the ground, meteorologist Bob Oravec of the Weather Prediction Center said.Schools throughout the region canceled Wednesday classes, including the Portland Public Schools district, which has about 50,000 students.The snow blanketed roadways, hampering travel in the Pacific Northwest city.Near California's state capital, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department on Tuesday advised residents of Wilton, a community of more than 5,000 people, to evacuate their homes because of anticipated flooding along the Cosumnes River.The extent of damage in Wilton was not immediately clear.During all the rainfall, a small tornado touched down in the Sacramento area on Tuesday, twisting two metal awnings and stripping limbs off trees, Oravec said.The heavy rains forced officials to open a series of floodgates on the Sacramento River for the first time in 11 years on Tuesday to divert high water around the capital city and into a special drainage channel, said Lauren Hersh, a spokeswoman for the state Water Resources Department.The National Weather Service had several flood advisories in effect on Wednesday for areas of Northern California.It also had a blizzard warning for ski resort towns in the greater Lake Tahoe area, including Truckee and South Lake Tahoe, California, and neighboring Nevada enclaves of Stateline and Incline Village.Snow accumulations of 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3 meters) were forecast for areas above elevations of 7,000 feet, with fierce wind gusts reaching 100 miles (160 km) per hour along the ridge of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, the weather service reported.An avalanche warning was issued for much of the same mountain regions.In Nevada, the Truckee River, which runs through Reno, was just above flood stage on Wednesday morning, but the water level was expected to go down soon, Oravec said.The rainfall along the U.S. West Coast was weakening on Wednesday, and the weather service expected it to end by Thursday night."There's definitely a break coming for the West Coast with respect to the very heavy rainfall and snowfall," Oravec said.The storms have brought some sorely needed replenishment to many reservoirs left low by five years of drought, while restoring California's mountain snowpack to 135 percent of its average water-content level for this time of year as of Tuesday, state water officials said.(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis, Additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Dominic Evans and Lisa Von Ahn)
Aid agencies sound alarm over freezing Balkans weather as migrant deaths reported-[Reuters]-By Astrid Zweynert-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Dozens of migrants are at risk of freezing to death in Europe after heavy snowfall and bitterly cold temperatures hit Greece and the Balkans, aid agencies said on Wednesday.Central and southeastern Europe have been gripped by freezing weather and snowstorms for days, with night-time temperatures dropping below minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit) in some areas.The Missing Migrants Project, set up by the U.N. migration agency (IOM), has recorded 11 migrants deaths in the Mediterranean since the start of the year, including four who died of hypothermia at Europe's land borders with Turkey.In the past 10 days a Somali woman was found dead from suspected hypothermia in Bulgaria and an Afghan man died in northern Greece, while last Friday two Iraqi men were found frozen to death near the Turkish-Bulgarian border, according to local media reports compiled by the project.As refugees and asylum seekers continue to pour into Europe, poor conditions in crowded migrant camps and informal settlements are putting their health at risk, Help Refugees said."The snowstorms are still going on and the situation is getting increasingly desperate as thousands are exposed to freezing conditions," Help Refugees co-founder Josie Naughton said by phone from Thessaloniki in northern Greece.The IOM said it was particularly concerned about more than 15,500 migrants and asylum seekers housed in camps without adequate facilities on the Greek islands, including many in places that have experienced heavy snowfall this week.-"DEADLY CONSEQUENCES"-The IOM's comments echo those of the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) which said last week migrants stranded on the islands should be quickly transferred to the mainland or other European countries.More than 7,500 people are also stranded in freezing conditions in Serbia, including dozens trapped near the Hungarian border..Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) told British broadcaster ITV on Tuesday it had treated the first cases of frostbite in Serbia and warned of "deadly consequences" due to hypothermia if people are not given adequate winter shelter.In the capital Belgrade about 1,500 migrants, including hundreds of unaccompanied children as young as 10, are sleeping rough in abandoned buildings, Save the Children said.The agencies urged European governments to act rapidly to avoid further loss of life."We call on governments, large organizations and international agencies to reassess their bureaucratic procedures and spend money where it's needed to prevent further loss of life," said Help Refugee's Naughton.IOM Director General William Lacy Swing said in a statement governments needed to respond to the dangers exposed by extreme weather conditions with food aid, shelter and other resources.Andreas Ring, Save the Children's Balkans representative, said European Union (EU) member countries had a duty to ensure safe migration routes for migrants."The EU's failure to respond is leaving thousands of refugees and migrants, including unaccompanied children, literally out in the cold," Ring said in a statement.(Reporting by Astrid Zweynert; Editing by Katie Nguyen. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories)
DRUG PUSHERS AND ADDICTS
1 PET 5:8
8 Be sober,(NOT DRUGED UP OR ALCOHOLICED) be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
REVELATION 18:23
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries (DRUGS) were all nations deceived.
REVELATION 9:21
21 Neither repented they of their murders,(KILLING) nor of their sorceries (DRUG ADDICTS AND DRUG PUSHERS), nor of their fornication,(SEX OUTSIDE MARRIAGE OR PROSTITUTION FOR MONEY) nor of their thefts.(STEALING)
Colombia seized record 378 tonnes of cocaine in 2016, murders down-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's armed forces seized a record 378.3 tonnes of cocaine in 2016, nearly 50 percent more than the year before, while murder were down by 4 percent, Defence Minister Luis Carlos Villegas said on Wednesday.Homicides fell to 12,252 last year, Villegas told journalists, as the government signed a peace deal with the Marxist Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels. Attacks on infrastructure were also down.Colombia, once infamous as the home of violent drug cartels, is one of the world's top producers of cocaine. The United Nations has said the country could produce up to 646 tonnes of the narcotic each year.Both leftist guerrilla groups and right-wing paramilitary gangs have filled their coffers with money from the drug trade."In the fight against narcotics trafficking there has been more efficient and organised work by law enforcement, with more interdiction on our two oceans and more intelligence provided to other countries," Villegas said.Last year the government of President Juan Manuel Santos inked a peace deal with the FARC in a bid to end 52 years of war that has killed more than 220,000 people. Under the agreement, the FARC is required to share knowledge about drug production and trafficking routes with officials.The deal led to a 55 percent reduction in guerrilla attacks, though smaller rebel group the National Liberation Army (ELN) is still active. Attacks against electrical towers, oil infrastructure, roadways and bridges were down 51 percent."2016 was the quietest year in the last four decades in Colombia," Villegas said. "We had 12,200 homicides, the first ever figure below 25,000."(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Helen Murphy and David Gregorio)
DISEASES
REVELATION 6:7-8
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, 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).
More bird flu outbreaks can be expected in Europe - animal health chief-[Reuters]-By Johnny Cotton-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
PARIS (Reuters) - Further bird flu outbreaks caused by migrating birds are likely to hit Europe in the future after a second outbreak in as many years on the continent that was down to chance, said the head of the world animal health body.A total of 18 European countries have been hit by the contagious H5N8 strain since mid-October, leading to the culling of over 1.5 million poultry so far.France, which has the largest poultry flock in the European Union, has ordered a massive cull of hundreds of thousands of ducks and geese in southwestern France to halt the spread of the virus. It widened the zone on Tuesday.[nL5N1F02OI]-"Bearing in mind that particularly in Asia there are always different viruses bubbling up -- no region is really safe from fresh contamination, particularly from migrating wild birds," Monique Eloit, director general of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), told Reuters.Even so, she said outbreak's like this year's one in Europe depended on the migratory routes of birds from Asia and there was therefore an element of chance as to whether the birds touched down in poultry-heavy areas."In Asia you have an almost permanent situation of influenza cases," she said. "In Europe, and particularly in western Europe, it's a situation that's particular to this year."Foie gras producers in southwestern France were particularly vulnerable however, she said, because ducks need to spend most of the time outdoors, raising the risk of contamination.Millions of birds have also been slaughtered in South Korea and Japan as a different strain of the virus spreads through Asia, where outbreaks are more common, Eloit said. In China, over 100 cases of human contamination of a different strain -- H7N9 -- have been detected leading to 20 deaths in December according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission. [nL4N1F136H]-But Eloit said the European strain had not been found in humans and there was little chance it would."Historically H5N8 has never been referenced as posing a potential risk to man," she said.Southwestern France was the centre of a severe outbreak of bird flu a year ago - although that turned out to be other strains of the virus - which led authorities to halt foie gras output for several months in a move that producers say cost them 500 million euros ($528.95 million).(Additional reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide; Editing by Richard Lough)
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)
Germany: 280,000 new migrants last year, far lower than 2015-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
BERLIN — Germany saw about 280,000 new asylum-seekers arrive last year, less than a third of the previous year's huge influx of 890,000, the interior minister said Wednesday.While new arrivals declined, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said that the number of rejected asylum-seekers who left Germany was up — though still not to authorities' satisfaction. In total, 80,000 people either left voluntarily or were deported, he said.Arrivals declined sharply with the closure of the Balkan migrant route in March and the subsequent agreement between the European Union and Turkey to stem the flow across the Aegean Sea to Greece.Asylum applications have lagged well behind arrivals and many people who came to Germany in 2015 applied only last year.Wednesday's figures showed that 745,545 formal asylum applications were made last year — 268,869 more than in 2015. Those included 268,866 applications from Syrians, 127,892 from Afghans and 97,162 from Iraqis, the biggest single groups by far.The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, which has been beefed up in the course of Europe's migrant crisis, decided last year on more than 695,000 asylum applications, more than twice as many as in 2015. Nearly 60 per cent of applicants were granted either full refugee status or a lesser form of protection.De Maiziere said that about 55,000 migrants returned home voluntarily last year, compared with the previous year's 35,000. Another 25,000 were forcibly deported.Chancellor Angela Merkel, who faces a national election later this year and still draws criticism for her welcoming approach to migrants in 2015, has promised a "national effort" to ensure that people who aren't entitled to stay go home.The number of returns is still too low, de Maiziere said, adding that talks are underway with state authorities — who are responsible for returns — to push it up.The Associated Press.
Egypt says it prevented 12,000 people from illegally migrating in 2016-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian border patrol and coast guard forces stopped more than 12,000 people of various nationalities from illegally entering or leaving the country in 2016, the military said on Wednesday, Migrants have tried to cross to Italy from the African coast, particularly from Libya, where people traffickers operate with relative impunity. But boats have increasingly departed from Egypt.The military listed "The arrest of 12,192 people of various nationalities and a total of 434 cases of illegal migration," in a statement on its achievements last year.Egypt passed legislation in October to crack down on people traffickers linked to a surge in the numbers of migrants departing from its Mediterranean coast on sea journeys to Europe.A boat carrying about 450 people capsized off the Egyptian coast in September. About 202 bodies were subsequently recovered from the sea and 169 people rescued. Some 320 migrants and refugees drowned off the Greek island of Crete in June and survivors said their boat had set sail from Egypt.A Reuters investigation published in December found that a fishing boat carrying hundreds of migrants that capsized in April had set sail from Egypt, not Libya as previously reported. About 500 people died, the largest loss of human life in the Mediterranean Sea in 2016.(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Muslim students can write their own sermons as Peel school board reverts to previous policy-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-January 10, 2017
Muslim parents and members of the faith community celebrated the Peel Regional School Board's decision Tuesday to allow students to write their own sermons — a return to a previous policy and one recently recommended by board staff."The board has always been committed to an inclusive approach in all activities related to religious accommodation for students and staff of all faiths," director of education Tony Pontes said in a statement released Tuesday night.The meeting marks the end of a controversy that began in September when the board advised students they could only use one of six pre-written sermons during Friday prayers, known as Jumu'ah in Islam. At least 10 local imams helped develop the sermons, the board said at the time.-'Creating a safe space'-But Muslim students and their parents protested the move, saying it limited the children's religious freedom — and also promoted a prejudiced view of Islam and its followers.After listening to the feedback from the community last year, board staff recommended a return to the previous policy on Friday. That meant students would have the choice to deliver sermons crafted themselves or those approved by the local imams."This was about creating a safe space for students, for students to feel equal to the rest of their peers," high school student Zoya Alam said. "So, this is a positive step for the school board to be creating this safe space and inclusive community."The sermons are delivered in English, except for verses quoted directly from the Qur'an, and will continue to be supervised by a staff member, according to the updated policy.Board trustee Nokha Dakroub had previously told CBC Toronto that a Muslim teacher would usually sit in on the sermons, noting she couldn't recall a teacher ever having to interrupt.Board spokesperson Ryan Reyes said in an email that there were "a few situations where staff had to intervene," but added that those instances were rare.Several police officers attended the meeting after some Muslim students noted they had been the target of hate speech as the discussion about their Friday prayers got more attention.Protesters appeared carrying signs with anti-Islamic messages, which board trustees told them to put away. Two police officers took a woman outside after she began a racially-charged outburst.The sentiments are "hurtful and hateful," Zoya said after the meeting. "It's definitely concerning, especially for the students who are still in school right now."
Bombed Mosul bridge still lifeline for long-suffering civilians-[Reuters]-By Stephen Kalin-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - The rubble of a bridge blown up by Islamic State in Mosul to block advancing Iraqi forces has become a lifeline for civilians as more and more of the northern city breaks loose from the grip of the ultra-hardline militants.Men and women, children and the elderly scramble down the banks of the Khosr River, a tributary of the Tigris some 30 meters wide and a meter deep which counter-terrorism forces crossed last week in a nighttime raid.Lumbering over ladders and pipes, civilians crawl onto the span of the bridge, which has collapsed into the murky water, and shimmy up the opposite bank along a dirt path.Those escaping east to Zuhur district drag suitcases along with strollers and wheelchairs. Those returning west to Muthanna carry sacks of rice, potatoes and onions, cartons of eggs and packs of baby diapers. The journey in either direction is usually several kilometers."Now there are people entering and people leaving," Major General Sami al-Aridi told Reuters this week after touring both sides of the river on foot."The ones who left are returning, and those who are leaving now are coming from ... neighborhoods where there are currently clashes."He said he expected the latest evacuees to return in a day or two as Iraqi forces pushed further west.The United Nations had warned that the U.S.-backed campaign to kick Islamic State out of Mosul, their largest urban stronghold in Iraq or Syria, could displace up to 1.5 million people.But with much of the eastern half of the city now under government control, most residents have stayed in their homes or moved in temporarily with relatives in other neighborhoods.That has complicated the task of the military, which must fight among civilians in built-up areas against an enemy that has targeted non-combatants and hidden among them.-HARSH CONDITIONS-The offensive, involving a 100,000-strong ground force of Iraqi troops, members of the autonomous Kurdish security forces and mainly Shi'ite militiamen, is the most complex battle in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.When it launched the offensive in October, the government hoped to have retaken the city by the end of 2016 but Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in December it could now take another three months to drive the militants out.Fawaz, a 46-year-old schoolteacher going back across the ruptured bridge to his family's home in Muthanna on Monday, held a jerry can filled with fuel in one hand and a bag of fresh food in the other."We spent two months without food, just what we had stored up," he said, describing the harsh conditions that many residents faced after the Mosul campaign began in mid-October. Fawaz said he lost some 30 kg (66 lb) in that period.He crossed the river earlier in the day to buy supplies and check in with his old workplace but was returning before nightfall to his neighborhood, where Iraqi forces are now in charge but mortars fired by Islamic State still land.He shrugged off the danger with a laugh and, expressing the deep faith that Mosul residents say sustained them through 2-1/2 years of brutal Islamic State rule, said: "God is present."-ACCUSTOMED TO VIOLENCE-Along a road running west towards the city's ancient ruins, black armored Humvees race down one side, transporting soldiers to and from the frontline where they're fighting Islamic State suicide attackers with machine guns, rockets and air strikes.Civilians, including infants and the disabled, pad along the other side. Many are fleeing clashes with only their most prized possessions but others are pursuing more mundane tasks such as shopping for groceries or reconnecting electricity cables.A Humvee rushes down the road to reinforce the troops. Behind, a man wearing a grey hoodie bicycles in the dust kicked up by the vehicle. Two more Humvees pass in the opposite direction carrying disabled civilians in their open beds."You see with your own eyes: one hand fights, one hand helps," said a soldier guarding a forward command post.A corner grocery has opened on the street and a school-age boy sells packets of sunflower seeds to soldiers.Young children, one grasping a Barbie doll, play in side streets where orange trees hang low under the weight of ripened fruit. A general clad in black uniform hands out chocolates.The kids do not flinch at the sound of explosions or gunfire. During a particularly heavy spell of clashes nearby, two boys no older than 10 stop in the road where stray bullets occasionally land. They scan the skyline."There, there is the Apache (attack helicopter). There, it's coming! It's going to work them in," said one, turning to add: "We've become accustomed."-AVOID CAMPS-Mosul residents say that despite the obvious dangers, they prefer their homes to camps outside the city where conditions are austere and movement heavily restricted.About 135,000 people have fled to camps outside Mosul run by the government and aid groups. Rapid advances have accelerated displacement in the past two weeks but the figures are still a fraction of the total population."We've haven't stayed in our homes and endured all this bombardment and everything just to live in tents," said Abu Ahmed, visiting his family in Zuhur at the weekend.The war raging just down the road doesn't worry him."God willing, there is nothing," he said before dropping to the ground and running for cover at the buzz of a missile overhead.The street he was standing in suddenly clears of civilians and soldiers. Fifteen seconds later, the rocket explodes about a kilometer away sending a plum of grey smoke into the sky.Cracks of gunfire replace the greetings and serendipitous reunions that had filled the street just moments earlier.Abu Ahmed stands up again with a chuckle and brushes himself off. "A rocket," he said. "Thanks and praise to God."(Editing by David Clarke)
More than 50 dead in Yemen fighting in two days-[AFP]-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
Aden (AFP) - Fighting in Yemen has killed 55 rebels and soldiers in two days after the government launched a major offensive in a coastal area near key shipping lanes, officials said Wednesday.Government forces began the assault Saturday in a bid to recapture the Dhubab district near the Bab al-Mandab strait which links the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.Troops clashed with Iran-backed Huthi Shiite rebels on Wednesday at a key military base in the region, leaving five soldiers and 12 rebels dead, loyalist military sources said.The Yemeni government and its allies say the presence of rebels near the key waterway poses a threat to international shipping.On Tuesday aircraft from the Saudi-led coalition supporting the Yemeni government attacked two Huthi boats in the Red Sea port of Salif, killing 31 fighters, a government military official said.The death toll was confirmed by a source at a military hospital in Hodeida who said many more rebels were wounded.In the southern province of Shabwa, seven government soldiers were killed and 12 wounded Wednesday in Katyusha rocket fire from a pocket of rebel territory, military sources said.More than 7,300 people have been killed and 39,000 wounded in Yemen since the Saudi-led coalition intervened against the Huthis in March 2015, according to the World Health Organization.
Turkey bogged down in Syria as it realigns with Russia-[Associated Press]-SARAH EL DEEB-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
BEIRUT (AP) — Nearly two months into the assault, Turkey has become bogged down in an unexpectedly bloody fight to retake the Islamic State group's last stronghold in northern Syria. It has been forced to pour in troops, take the lead in the battle from its Syrian allies and reach out to Russia for aerial support.The fight for al-Bab underscores the precarious path Ankara is treading with its foray in to Syria, aimed against both IS militants and Syrian Kurdish fighters. The assault on the town had already driven a wedge between Turkey and the United States, and now the realignment toward Moscow — which supports the government in Syria's civil war — further tests Ankara's alliance both with Washington and with the Syrian opposition.The battle itself has proven grueling.Nearly 50 Turkish soldiers have been killed in its Syria operation, most of them since the al-Bab assault began in mid-November — including 14 killed in a single day. The militants have dug in, surrounding the town with trenches, lining streets with land mines and carrying out painful ambushes and car bombings against the besieging forces. Each time Turkish-backed Syrian opposition fighters have thrust into the city, they've been driven out. More than 200 civilians are believed to have been killed since the attack began Nov. 13. Mud and cold rain have only made it more of a slog."The battle for al-Bab has been mostly about killing civilians and destroying the city, whether by Daesh or the Turks," said Mustafa Sultan, a resident of al-Bab and a media activist who has been covering the fight. He used the Arabic acronym for IS."The town is almost half destroyed. Daesh takes cover in hospitals, schools and these end up getting targeted," he said. The Turkish military says it takes great care not to harm civilians, halting operations that could endanger non-combatants.Capturing al-Bab is essential to Ankara's goals in Syria.Turkey, which for years supported the Syrian opposition drive to oust President Bashar Assad, has recalibrated its priorities toward fighting Islamic State militants who turned their terror against the Turkish state and thwarting Kurdish aspirations for autonomous rule along Syria's border with Turkey.If al-Bab is retaken, it would break the IS presence near the border and plant a Turkish-backed presence between Kurdish-held territory to the east and west, preventing them from linking.For the U.S., the al-Bab assault risks causing direct confrontation between Turkish troops and Syrian Kurdish forces, which are leading a U.S.-backed offensive toward the de facto IS capital, Raqqa. Washington supports and relies on the Kurds in the fight against IS the past two years.Last month, Ankara protested to Washington that its NATO ally was providing no help in al-Bab. A day later, Turkey said Russia carried out three airstrikes in the al-Bab area.In the short term, Turkey is likely to sending a message to the United States before President-elect Donald Trump takes office that it has other options if Washington keeps backing the Syrian Kurds, considered by Ankara as terrorists linked to a Kurdish faction that has carried out bombings in Turkey.In the long term, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may be exploring his options with Russia, which currently holds the key to Syria militarily and diplomatically. Russia helped Assad's forces crush the opposition enclave in the northern city of Aleppo in December. Then Moscow and Ankara joined to broker a ceasefire, which is supposed to lead to negotiations later this month.Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday the U.S. has seen no indication of Russian-Turkish coordination, only independent Russian airstrikes in al-Bab."I don't think the United States is very worried about Erdogan flipping from NATO to Moscow, but they are worried about Turkey's general drift into instability and rash decisions. Erdogan bungling his foreign policy to the point where he must turn to Putin for help is certainly part of that broader concern," said Aron Lund, a fellow at the New York-based Century Foundation.Following Turkey's protest, U.S. officials said discussions with Ankara continue over al-Bab, an important effort against IS. Turkey said on Dec. 30 that the U.S.-led coalition carried out an airstrike in the al-Bab region.The offensive has also revealed how unprepared Turkish-allied Syrian rebels are for a protracted fight against IS.Ankara increased its initial deployment of 600 soldiers — which included special forces and mechanized battalions — to at least 4,000 today, according to Metin Gurcan, a former Turkish military adviser who served in Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Iraq and is now an independent security analyst. Turkish troops now outnumber the Syrian opposition fighters who were supposed to be "the primary ground force," Gurcan wrote in Al-Monitor.He said some Syrian fighters have withdrawn, "and because of their lack of discipline in the field, Turkish commandos are now engaged in front-line fighting against IS."Unlike the IS-held town of Jarablus, which Turkey's allies entered almost without a fight in August, the militant group prepared to defend al-Bab. IS fighters have taken positions on hilltops, used drones and have repeatedly shown a capability in waging pitched battles.After Turkish troops and Syrian fighters secured a strategic hilltop on the town's edge in late December, IS launched a surprise counteroffensive, killing 14 Turkish soldiers and over two dozen Syrians.One Syrian opposition commander said there were three different battles around the hill. "We had to pull out more than once because they encircled us and we had many martyrs," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss battlefield details.Another battle on the eastern side of al-Bab lasted 15 hours, starting from hilltops and ending in a valley at close range with dozens killed and many damaged armored vehicles. Sultan, who arrived afterward, was startled by the silence as bodies were cleared away.The Turkish-backed fighters, who number around 2,000, have repeatedly entered al-Bab and each time are driven out by the militants, estimated to number around 3,000, said Sultan. "The fighters frankly are afraid of the mines, which cause most of the deaths," Sultan said.Al-Bab had a prewar population of 60,000 and it's not known how many remain there. Despite the tight IS seal, some still try to escape.A resident who goes by the name of Abul-Ful for fear for his safety said his sister and her family fled Monday after IS fighters took over their farmland north of the town to use as base. The family of seven moved from one farm to the next undetected until they reached shelter in a village north of al-Bab.She was lucky, Abul-Ful said. He said his older sister was killed 10 days earlier as she tried to escape with her family. While hiding in farmland, they were caught in crossfire: IS fired on Turkish-backed forces, then moved, and Turkish artillery responded, hitting the family and killing her.Her family buried her at the spot where she died, then continued their escape, he said.___Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey; Robert Burns in Washington and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.
12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
A look at the stakes if US moves Israel embassy to Jerusalem-[Associated Press]-KARIN LAUB-YAHOONEWS-January 11, 2017
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The Palestinians are ringing alarm bells over Donald Trump's stated intention to relocate the U.S. Embassy in Israel to contested Jerusalem, fearing quick action once he takes office as U.S. president next week. They say an embassy move would kill any hopes for negotiating an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement and rile the region by undercutting Muslim and Christian claims to the holy city.WHY DOES IT MATTER? Jerusalem forms the core of rival, religiously tinged national narratives of Israelis and Palestinians. Both sides claim it as a capital, and disagreement over how to divide Jerusalem helped derail previous U.S.-led talks on establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel.From Israel's founding in 1948 until the 1967 Mideast war, Jerusalem was divided into a western sector that served as Israel's capital and an eastern, traditionally Arab sector run by Jordan. Israel captured east Jerusalem in 1967, along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and annexed an expanded east Jerusalem to its capital.Today, more than 37 percent of 850,000 city residents are Palestinians. East Jerusalem's Old City houses major Jewish, Muslim and Christian shrines revered by billions around the world. The Palestinians seek a state in the lands captured by Israel, with east Jerusalem as a capital. WHY ARE THE PALESTINIANS UPSET? The Palestinians argue that moving the embassy, now located in Israel's metropolis of Tel Aviv, amounts to U.S. recognition of all of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. They say this would close the door to negotiating a "two-state solution" because it would pre-judge the outcome of one of the most explosive disputes in the conflict and disqualify Washington as mediator. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he could never accept a deal in which Israel keeps the entire city. An embassy move could further weaken the 81-year-old Abbas politically. WHAT ABOUT ISRAEL? Many Jews view Jerusalem as their religious and cultural center. Israeli government spokesman David Keyes says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "thinks it would be great" for the embassy to move to Jerusalem. Netanyahu had tense relations with outgoing President Barack Obama, in part because of Israel's settlement expansion on occupied lands. Netanyahu has said he is willing to negotiate a border deal with the Palestinians, but that Jerusalem is off the table. Two of Netanyahu's predecessors had engaged in negotiations with the Palestinians on a partition of the city. AGGRIEVED JORDAN? In unusually blunt language, Jordan warned last week that an embassy move is a "red line" and would inflame the Arab and Muslim worlds. Jordan serves as custodian of the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, the third-holiest site of Islam, located in east Jerusalem on the same spot that Jews revere as the Temple Mount. The compound, home to the biblical Jewish Temples, is considered the holiest site in Judaism.A U.S. embassy move could be seen as diminishing Jordan's special religious role in Jerusalem, a pillar of legitimacy of the kingdom's Hashemite rulers who trace their ancestry back to Prophet Muhammed. Tensions with the U.S could undermine their military alliance, including the fight against Islamic State extremists in neighboring Syria and Iraq. Jordan's discreet security ties with Israel also could be at risk. WHAT ABOUT OTHER ARAB AND MUSLIM STATES? They have been less outspoken. Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit has said an embassy move would be a "huge setback" to peace efforts. League spokesman Hossam Zaki said the 22-state organization hopes Trump will become more aware of the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict once in office, but that "the new U.S. administration's positions toward Palestine don't look good." Egypt, the Arab world's most populous nation, has warm relations with both Israel and Trump and has remained silent. The 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation has urged the U.S. to refrain from steps that could create tensions in the region. IS TRUMP SERIOUS? Like presidential contenders before him, Trump made a campaign promise to relocate the embassy. Unlike the others, he has since signaled that he is serious about it. Adviser Kellyanne Conway has said that moving the embassy is a "very big priority" for Trump. A U.S. official has said Trump's transition team asked the State Department for logistics advice on a move. Trump's designated ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, backs an embassy move. DOES THIS GO AGAINST INTERNATIONAL CONSENSUS? The U.N. Security Council last month affirmed east Jerusalem's status as occupied territory, part of a resolution that condemned Israeli settlement activity as illegal. Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has warned that an embassy move could trigger "an absolute explosion in the region." On Sunday, representatives of dozens of countries, including Kerry, will affirm support for a negotiated two-state solution at a Mideast conference in France. DO THE PALESTINIANS HAVE A PLAN? For now, they hope to generate international pressure on Trump. Abbas asked Trump in a letter to reconsider and urged world leaders to intervene. On Saturday, Abbas is meeting Pope Francis in hopes of a supportive statement. The Vatican has said it seeks an internationally guaranteed status for Jerusalem that safeguards its sacred character. An Abbas aide heads to Moscow for talks Friday with Russia's foreign minister. The Palestinian foreign minister is to raise the issue at a Jan. 19 conference of OIC, the alliance of Islamic countries. This weekend, the Palestinians have called for regional mosque and church prayers in a show of protest.__AND IF THE EMBASSY IS MOVED? Palestinian officials say they would seriously consider voiding a 1993 mutual recognition agreement that created the basis for negotiations with Israel. The deal included a pledge to resolve all issues, including Jerusalem, through negotiations. It paved the way for the establishment of the Palestinian autonomy government in parts of the West Bank, and ending it would put the financial burden of providing services of some 2.3 million Palestinians on Israel.___Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Maggie Michael in Cairo, Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah and Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed reporting.
Chrystia Freeland becomes foreign minister as Trudeau shuffles cabinet-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-January 10, 2017
Chrystia Freeland will be appointed Canada’s new minister of foreign affairs in a sweeping Liberal cabinet shakeup to be announced later today, CBC News has learned.Freeland, who leaves the international trade portfolio, will replace Stéphane Dion, who is leaving politics to become Canada’s ambassador to the European Union and Germany, sources tell CBC News.Immigration Minister John McCallum is also leaving politics and will be named Canada’s ambassador to China.The swearing-in ceremony for the new ministers will take place at Rideau Hall at 2 p.m. and CBCNews.ca will carry it live.Other changes to be announced today, confirmed by CBC News:– François-Philippe Champagne will become minister of international trade.– Patty Hajdu will move from status of women to labour.– Maryam Monsef will transfer from democratic institutions to status of women.– Karina Gould will be named minister of democratic institutions.– Ahmed Hussen become minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship.Hussen, Canada’s first-ever MP of Somali descent, is a lawyer and community activist in the Toronto riding of York South-Weston.Gould, 29, a former trade and development worker who represents the riding of Burlington, Ont., was promoted from her previous role as parliamentary secretary to the minister of International Development.Champagne, a first-term MP for the Quebec riding of Saint-Maurice–Champlain, is a former businessman and lawyer. He was considered a strong performer as parliamentary secretary to Finance Minister Bill Morneau.-McCallum, Dion assume ambassador roles-McCallum, 65, served as defence minister under Jean Chrétien and presided over the veteran affairs file in Paul Martin’s cabinet.Dion, 61, was environment minister under Martin and then succeeded him as party leader, a position he held until shortly after the party lost 18 seats in a 2008 federal election defeat. Dion represents the Quebec riding of Saint-Laurent.Monsef, the Ontario MP for Peterborough-Kawartha, has taken criticism for her handling of the electoral reform file, and was forced to apologize last month for accusing MPs on the special committee studying the issue of shirking their duties.Sources also told CBC News MaryAnn Mihychuk will be shuffled out of her office as minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour.Trudeau’s cabinet was sworn in just over 14 months ago with an even number of men and women, but has already seen a few changes.Last May, former fisheries minister Hunter Tootoo was dropped from cabinet for personal reasons and replaced by former government House leader Dominic LeBlanc. In a midsummer move, Small Business and Tourism Minister Bardish Chagger was handed LeBlanc’s House leader duties.The inauguration next week of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has put new focus on the government’s handling of the Canada-U.S. relationship. A shuffle allows Trudeau to move perceived strong ministers into roles that are critical to that relationship while addressing some of the weaker performers.
Dylann Roof sentenced to death for killing 9 church members-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-January 10, 2017
CHARLESTON, S.C. — An unrepentant Dylann Roof was sentenced to death Tuesday for fatally shooting nine black church members during a Bible study session, becoming the first person ordered executed for a federal hate crime.A jury deliberated for about three hours before returning with the decision, capping a trial in which the 22-year-old avowed white supremacist did not fight for his life or show any remorse. He served as his own attorney during sentencing and never asked for forgiveness or mercy or explained the massacre.Hours earlier, Roof threw away one last chance to plead for his life, telling jurors, "I still feel like I had to do it."The slain included the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the church pastor and a state senator, as well as other pillars of the community: a high school track coach, the church sexton, a librarian and an aspiring poet. They all shared deep devotion to the church, known as Mother Emanuel, and passed that faith along to their families, many of whom offered Roof forgiveness when he appeared in court just days after the attack.As Roof spoke Tuesday for about five minutes, every juror looked directly at him. A few nodded as he reminded them that they said during jury selection they could fairly weigh the factors of his case. Only one of them, he noted, had to disagree to spare him from a lethal injection."I have the right to ask you to give me a life sentence, but I'm not sure what good it would do anyway," he said.When the verdict was read, he stood stoic. Several family members of victims wiped away quiet tears.Roof told FBI agents when they arrested him after the June 17, 2015, slayings that he wanted the shootings to bring back segregation or perhaps start a race war. Instead, the slayings had a unifying effect, as South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from its Statehouse for the first time in more than 50 years. Other states followed suit, taking down Confederate banners and monuments. Roof had posed with the flag in photos.Malcolm Graham, whose sister Cynthia Hurd was slain, said the jury made the right decision."There is no room in America's smallest jail cell for hatred, racism and discrimination," he said from his home in Charlotte, North Carolina. "The journey for me and my family today has come to an end."One of Hurd's other brothers, Melvin Graham, said the jury's decision "was a very hollow victory" because his sister is still gone."He decided the day, the hour and minute my sister was going to die. Now someone is going to do it for him," he said.Roof specifically selected Emanuel AME Church, the South's oldest black church, to carry out the cold, calculated slaughter, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Richardson said.The 12 people he targeted opened the door for a stranger with a smile, he said. Three people survived the attack."They welcomed a 13th person that night ... with a kind word, a Bible, a handout and a chair," Richardson said during his closing argument. "He had come with a hateful heart and a Glock .45."The gunman sat with the Bible study group for about 45 minutes. During the final prayer — when everyone's eyes were closed — he started firing. He stood over some of the fallen victims, shooting them again as they lay on the floor, Richardson said.The prosecutor reminded jurors about each one of the victims and the bloody scene that Roof left in the church's lower level.Nearly two dozen friends and relatives of the victims testified during the sentencing phase of the trial. They shared cherished memories and talked about a future without a mother, father, sister or brother. They shed tears, and their voices shook, but none of them said whether Roof should face the death penalty.The prosecutor reminded jurors that Clementa Pinckney would be remembered for singing goofy songs and watching cartoons with his young daughters. In a sign of perhaps how important that testimony was, jurors re-watched a speech by Pinckney in which he talked about the history of Emanuel and its mission.The jury convicted Roof last month of all 33 federal charges he faced, including hate crimes. He never explained his actions to jurors, saying only that "anyone who hates anything in their mind has a good reason for it."Roof insisted that he was not mentally ill and did not call any witnesses or present any evidence.In one of his journals, he wrote that he did not believe in psychology, calling it "a Jewish invention" that "does nothing but invent diseases and tell people they have problems when they don't."His attorneys said he did not want to present any evidence that might embarrass him or his family.After he was sentenced, Roof asked a judge to appoint him new attorneys, but the judge said he was not inclined to do so because they had performed "admirably.""We are sorry that, despite our best efforts, the legal proceedings have shed so little light on the reasons for this tragedy," the attorneys said in a veiled reference to the mental health issues they wanted to present.A judge will formally sentence him during a hearing Wednesday. Roof also faces a death penalty trial in state court.The last person sent to federal death row was Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in 2015.___Associated Press Writer Alex Sanz contributed to this report.___Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP. Read more of her work at http://ift.tt/201TEBK .Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at http://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP. His work can be found at http://ift.tt/1OWhurR .Meg Kinnard And Jeffrey Collins, The Associated Press.
via EVENTS IN TIME (BIBLE PROPHECY LITERALLY FULFILLED)(BY GOD) http://ift.tt/2j38RQs
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