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)
Spanish king to consult parties next week on forming government-[Reuters]-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
MADRID (Reuters) - King Felipe VI will hold a formal round of talks with Spain's political parties next week for the fourth time in a seven-month-old power deadlock, his office said on Thursday, as parties struggle to form a coalition administration.This time around, the king is widely expected to propose acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as a candidate to try and form a government.Rajoy's center-right People's Party (PP) won most of the votes in June, but fell 39 seats short of the majority he needed to govern, the second general election in six months to prove inconclusive.King Felipe will meet the PP, the Socialist Party, the left-wing Unidos Podemos and liberal Ciudadanos on July 28, and the smaller, regional groups, which include Catalan and Basque separatist parties, on July 26 and 27, his schedule showed.Rajoy on Wednesday edged potentially closer toward forming a government after cutting a deal with his most likely partner, liberal newcomers Ciudadanos, to elect one of his ministers to the post of parliament speaker."For my part, I am ready to govern. I'm aware of the responsibility that I have," Rajoy told reporters on Wednesday.However, such a pact would still fall short of the seats needed to form an administration.When a party wins fewer than the 176 seats needed to control the lower house of the 350-strong parliament, under Spanish law, the king holds talks with all parties across the political spectrum and proposes a candidate to become prime minister.The candidate will then submit a viable proposal for government to a confidence vote in parliament in which they must secure an absolute majority to avoid a second vote 48 hours later.King Felipe has already held three such consultations since the first election in December, of which two resulted in no proposal and one in the nomination of Socialist Party leader Pedro Sanchez, who did not pass the confidence vote that ensued.(Reporting by Amanda Cooper, Editing by Sonya Dowsett and Angus MacSwan)
Do more,' families of MH370 passengers tell Malaysia, China-[Reuters]-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Relatives of people aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 urged governments on Thursday to step up the hunt for the aircraft, a day before a meeting where ministers could decide to call off the search.Malaysian, Chinese and Australian ministers will meet in Kuala Lumpur on Friday to discuss the future of the search for MH370, which disappeared during a flight from the Malaysian capital to Beijing in March 2014, carrying 239 people.Almost A$180 million ($135 million) has been spent on an underwater search spanning 120,000 square kilometres in the southern Indian Ocean, the most expensive in aviation history.Jacquita Gonzales, the wife of MH370 steward Patrick Gomes, said China and Malaysia had not contributed enough to the search effort, which is coordinated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau."China, you could do more. I'm sorry for being so frank but you have the most at stake here," she said at a news conference. Most of the passengers aboard MH370 were Chinese nationals."(Malaysia), you need to do your bit and not just say 'I'm so sorry, we're short of funds, there's nowhere else to search'," Gonzales said.K.S. Narendran, whose wife was a passenger on MH370, called on the Malaysian government to seek help in securing funding."This country and its leadership have wealthy friends. And I suppose therefore, there really should be no argument for a paucity of funds," he said.The three governments had previously agreed that unless any new credible evidence arose, they would not extend the search which was originally scheduled to end in June but has been hampered by bad weather and is expected to resume in December.($1 = 1.3344 Australian dollars)(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
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)
S.L Events watch @prophecyguy777 10h10 hours ago-ALL MALE MUSLIMS MUST BE BANNED FROM ALL WESTERN COUNTRIES. #VOTETRUMP - #NOISLAMICMALESINWESTERNCOUNTRIES
S.L Events watch @prophecyguy777 16h16 hours ago-ISIS HAS TO BE DESTROYED FROM ALL THE EARTH. #VOTETRUMP #NEVERHITLARY #ISISGOTTAGOFORGOOD
Turkey declares 3-month state of emergency after failed coup-[The Canadian Press]-July 20, 2016-YAHOONEWS
ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey's president on Wednesday declared a three-month state of emergency following a botched coup attempt, declaring he would rid the military of the "virus" of subversion and giving the government sweeping powers to expand a crackdown that has already included mass arrests and the closure of hundreds of schools.President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was accused of autocratic conduct before the insurrection, said the measure would counter threats to Turkish democracy. Possibly anticipating investor jitters, Erdogan criticized Standard & Poor's for downgrading its credit rating for Turkey deeper into "junk" status and said the country would remain financially disciplined.The president did not announce details, but the security measure could facilitate longer detentions for many of the nearly 10,000 people who have been rounded up since loyalist security forces and protesters quashed the rebellion that started Friday night and was over by Saturday."This measure is in no way against democracy, the law and freedoms," Erdogan said in a national televised address after a meeting with Cabinet ministers and security advisers.The state of emergency announcement needs to be published in a state gazette and lawmakers have to approve it for it to take effect, according to analysts.Turkey imposed emergency rule in the southeast of Turkey in 1987, allowing officials to set curfews, issue search and arrest warrants and restrict gatherings as the security forces fought Kurdish rebels. The emergency rule was gradually lifted by 2002.The president suggested military purges would continue."As the commander in chief, I will also attend to it so that all the viruses within the armed forces will be cleansed," Erdogan said.In an apparent attempt to calm fears that the military's powers will be increased, the president said the military will be under the government-appointed governors' command and work closely with the regional governors.The pro-government death toll in the botched coup was 246. At least 24 coup plotters were also killed.Turkey also said it would close more than 600 private schools and dormitories following the attempted coup, spurring fears that the state's move against perceived enemies is undermining key institutions in the country.Erdogan's government said it has fired nearly 22,000 education ministry workers, mostly teachers, taken steps to revoke the licenses of 21,000 other teachers at private schools and sacked or detained half a dozen university presidents in a campaign to root out alleged supporters of a U.S.-based Muslim cleric blamed for the failed insurrection.The targeting of education ties in with Erdogan's belief that the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, whose followers run a network of schools worldwide, seeks to infiltrate the Turkish education system and other institutions in order to bend the country to his will. The cleric's movement, which espouses moderation and multi-faith harmony, says it is a scapegoat.While Erdogan is seeking to consolidate the power of his elected government after the rebellion, his crackdown could further polarize a country that once enjoyed a reputation for relative stability in the turbulent Middle East region. It also raises questions about the effectiveness of the military, courts and other institutions being purged."The fact that so many judges have been detained, never mind the workload at the courthouses, will render them inoperable," said Vildan Yirmibesoglu, a human rights lawyer.The education ministry said it decided to close 626 private schools and other establishments under investigation for "crimes against the constitutional order and the running of that order," the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.The agency said the schools are linked to Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan who lives in Pennsylvania and has denied accusations that he engineered the coup attempt.Turkey has demanded Gulen's extradition from the United States. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says Turkey must provide hard evidence that Gulen was behind the foiled coup, and that mere allegations of wrongdoing wouldn't suffice.The two allies co-operate in the U.S.-led war against the Islamic State group, with American military planes flying missions from Turkey's Incirlik air base into neighbouring Iraq and Syria.Turkey's domestic situation is increasingly a concern as the crackdown widens. Huseyin Ozev, an education union leader in Istanbul, said state education workers who were reported to have been fired had not received notices and that employees were "waiting at home or on vacation, anxiously," to see if they had lost their jobs.The fight against coup plotters "should not be turned into a witch hunt," Ozev said.In other moves, Turkey demanded the resignations of 1,577 university deans and halted foreign assignments for state-employed academics. A total of 50,000 civil service employees have been fired in the purges, which have reached Turkey's national intelligence service and the prime minister's office.The government has also revoked the press credentials of 34 journalists because of alleged ties to Gulen's movement, Turkish media reported.Authorities have rounded up about 9,000 people — including 115 generals, 350 officers, 4,800 other military personnel and 60 military high school students — for alleged involvement in the coup attempt. Turkey's defence ministry has also sacked at least 262 military court judges and prosecutors, according to Turkish media reports.Saban Ceylon, a taxi driver in Istanbul, said he expected his income to drop because of the state of emergency."Nothing is going to happen if I don't take money home during three months," Ceylon said. In a reference to the coup plotters, he said: "I just want this country to be rescued from those dishonourable people."__Torchia reported from Istanbul. Associated Press writer Cinar Kiper in Istanbul contributed to this report.
Fleeing Turkish troops fear death if sent home from Greece: lawyer-[Reuters]-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
ATHENS (Reuters) - Eight Turkish soldiers who fled to Greece in a military helicopter after last week's failed coup fear they will be killed if they are sent back home, one of their lawyers said on Thursday.The men - three majors, three captains and two sergeant majors - landed in the northern border city of Alexandroupolis on Saturday after issuing a distress signal. They were arrested and have sought political asylum."They believe that, one way or another, they will lose their lives (in Turkey)," said Vasiliki Ilia Marinaki, a lawyer representing four of the men, as they appeared in court with their faces covered."Regardless of whether the death penalty is imposed or not, they believe that in the end they will be killed," she said.They were found guilty on Thursday of entering Greece illegally and were handed a two-month suspended jail sentence. Their asylum requests are being examined and they are to appear before immigration authorities next week for further interviews.Turkey has branded the men "traitors" and "terrorist elements" and has asked Greece to extradite them. Greece says it will examine their asylum requests quickly.Turkey abolished capital punishment in 2004 but President Tayyip Erdogan has told crowds of supporters chanting for the death penalty that such demands may be discussed in parliament.Since the coup attempt crumbled on Saturday, the Turkish government has launched a purge of the armed forces and judiciary, rounding up thousands.The men say they did not know a coup was under way and they were obeying orders by their superiors to transport the wounded from the streets to ambulances, their lawyers say.They decided to flee when their Black Hawk helicopter came under fire by police on the ground."They were in a state of emergency and that is why they entered Greek territory," Marinaki said before the ruling."In any case, they entered Greece officially, meaning they landed officially at the airport, they disembarked and immediately requested political asylum."(Reporting by Karolina Tagaris; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Syria's Assad says Erdogan imposing Islamist agenda after coup-[Reuters]-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria accused Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday of exploiting a failed coup to implement a harsh Islamist agenda that endangers Turkey and its neighbors."(Erdogan) used the coup to implement an extremist agenda, the agenda of the Muslim Brotherhood inside Turkey," President Bashar al-Assad told a Cuban news agency, according to a Syrian presidency social media account. "This is dangerous for Turkey and for its neighboring countries, including Syria."Relations between Assad and Erdogan, once close allies, soured after the start of Syria's conflict in 2011. Damascus accuses Ankara of fuelling the civil war by supporting Islamist insurgents and allowing foreign jihadists to cross into Syria.(Reporting by Kinda Makiyeh; writing by Dominic Evans; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Turkey says no return to past repression despite state of emergency-[Reuters]-By Humeyra Pamuk and Seda Sezer-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey tried to assure its citizens and the outside world on Thursday that there will be no return to the deep repression of the past even though President Tayyip Erdogan has imposed the first nationwide state of emergency since the 1980s.With Erdogan cracking down on thousands of people in the judiciary, education, military and civil service after last weekend's failed military coup, a lawmaker from the main opposition party said the state of emergency created "a way of ruling that paves the way for abuse".An international lawyers' group warned Turkey against using the state of emergency to subvert the rule of law and human rights, pointing to allegations of torture and ill-treatment of people held in the mass roundup.Announcing the state of emergency late on Wednesday, Erdogan said it would last at least three months and allow his government to take swift measures against supporters of the coup, in which 246 people were killed and hundreds wounded.It will permit the president and cabinet to bypass parliament in enacting new laws and to limit or suspend rights and freedoms as they deem necessary.For some Turks, the move raised fears of a return to the days of martial law after a 1980 military coup, or the height of a Kurdish insurgency in the 1990s when much of the largely Kurdish southeast was under a state of emergency declared by the previous government.About 60,000 soldiers, police, judges, civil servants and teachers have been suspended, detained or have been placed under investigation since the coup was put down.Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek, who previously worked on Wall Street and is seen as one of the most investor-friendly politicians in the ruling AK Party, took to television and Twitter in an attempt to calm nervous financial markets and dispel comparisons with the past."The state of emergency in Turkey won't include restrictions on movement, gatherings and free press etc. It isn't martial law of 1990s," he wrote on Twitter. "I'm confident Turkey will come out of this with much stronger democracy, better functioning market economy & enhanced investment climate."-MARKETS SCEPTICAL-Markets were less than confident. The lira currency was near a new record low on Thursday, while the main stock index was down 3.6 percent. The cost of insuring Turkish debt against default also surged.Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said the state of emergency was aimed at averting a possible second military coup. Another deputy prime minister, Numan Kurtulmus, was quoted by broadcaster NTV as saying Turkey would invoke its right to suspend its obligations temporarily under the European Convention on Human Rights.Turkey's Western allies have expressed solidarity with the government over the coup attempt but have also voiced alarm at the scale and swiftness of the response, urging it to adhere to democratic values.German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on Turkey to restrict the state of emergency to the shortest period that was absolutely necessary.The Geneva-based jurists group ICJ weighed in, with its secretary general, Wilder Taylor, saying in a statement: "There are human rights that can never be restricted even in a state of emergency.""The current allegations of torture and ill-treatment of detainees and arbitrary arrests already point to serious violations of human rights," he said, without giving details of the allegations.Officials in Ankara say former air force chief Akin Ozturk, who has appeared in detention with his face and arms bruised and one ear bandaged, was a co-leader of the coup. Turkish media have reported that he denied this to prosecutors and that he said he tried to prevent the attempted putsch.Some detained soldiers have been shown in photographs stripped to their underpants and handcuffed on the floors of police buses and a sports hall.Erdogan blames a network of followers of an exiled U.S.-based cleric, Fethullah Gulen, for the attempted coup in which soldiers commandeered fighter jets, military helicopters and tanks in a failed effort to overthrow the government.Ankara has said it will seek the extradition of Gulen, who has denounced the coup attempt and denied any involvement.The putsch and the purge that has followed have unsettled the country of 80 million, a NATO member bordering Syria, Iraq and Iran, and a Western ally in the fight against Islamic State.The state of emergency went into effect after it was published in the government's official gazette early on Thursday. It still needs to pass a vote in parliament although that is assured because of the AK Party's majority.-'THREAT AGAINST DEMOCRACY'-Erdogan announced the state of emergency in a live broadcast in front of his government ministers after a nearly five-hour meeting of the National Security Council."The aim of the declaration of the state of emergency is to be able to take fast and effective steps against this threat against democracy, the rule of law and rights and freedoms of our citizens," he said.Erdogan has said the sweep was not yet over and that he believed foreign countries might have been involved in the attempt to overthrow him.A nationalist opposition party supported Erdogan but other opposition politicians were uneasy. "Once you obtain this mandate, you create a way of ruling that paves the way for abuse," Sezgin Tanrikulu, a lawmaker with the secular Republican People's Party (CHP) told Reuters."The coup attempt was rebuffed with parliament and opposition support, and the government could have fought this with more measured methods."-TRAVEL BAN-Academics have been banned from travelling abroad in what an official said was a temporary measure to prevent the risk of alleged coup plotters at universities from fleeing. TRT state television said 95 academics had been removed from their posts at Istanbul University alone.Erdogan, an Islamist who has led Turkey as prime minister or president since 2003, has vowed to clean the "virus" responsible for the plot from all state institutions.Around a third of Turkey's roughly 360 serving generals have been detained, a second senior official said, with 99 charged pending trial and 14 more being held.The Defence Ministry is investigating all military judges and prosecutors, and has suspended 262 of them, NTV reported, while 900 police officers in the capital, Ankara, were also suspended on Wednesday. The purge also extended to civil servants in the environment and sports ministries.Authorities have also shut media outlets deemed to be supportive of Gulen, while more than 20,000 teachers and administrators have been suspended from the Education Ministry.Those moves follow the detention of more than 6,000 members of the armed forces and the suspension of close to 3,000 judges and prosecutors. About 8,000 police officers have also been removed.One of the ruling party's most senior figures, Mustafa Sentop, on Wednesday called for the restoration of the death penalty for crimes aimed at changing the constitutional order.(Additional reporting by Gareth Jones and Asli Kandemir; Writing by David Dolan, Editing by David Stamp and Timothy Heritage)
EZEKIEL 38:1-7
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:TOBOLSK)
4 And I (GOD) will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY) of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
WHOS URGING TURKEY TO STOP THE STATE OF EMERGENCY.GERMANY OF COURSE. LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS-GERMANY AND TURKEY WILL BE AGAINST ISRAEL IN WAR.NOT WITH THE WEST.
Germany urges swift end to state of emergency in Turkey-[Reuters]-By Andrea Shalal-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Thursday Turkey's crackdown on academics after a failed military coup did not appear to be in line with the country's laws, and urged Ankara to end a state of emergency as quickly as possible."Revoking the teaching credentials of university professors and preventing researchers from leaving the country - those are all measures that I cannot imagine are in accordance with the rule of law, and, more importantly, with the current laws in Turkey," Steinmeier told reporters."We continue to expect that Turkey will adhere to the rule of law and that it will lift the state of emergency after three months as planned," he said. "Everything else would exacerbate tensions inside Turkey and harm Turkey itself."Steinmeier's comments came ahead of a meeting Thursday of about 30 foreign and defense ministers at the State Department for an update on the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State militants.Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday imposed the first nationwide state of emergency since the 1980s, but his officials insisted there would be no return to the deep repression of the past.Steinmeier had issued a statement late on Wednesday in response to the declaration of emergency rule, urging the Turkish government to maintain both the rule of law and a sense of proportionality in its response to the coup attempt.Early on Thursday, Steinmeier told reporters he could not say if Turkey's state of emergency was an appropriate response to the attempted coup, since Germany had no independent data about how ingrained the coup supporters were in Turkish society.Germany had seen the brutality of coup supporters in video footage over the weekend but still urged Turkey to exercise restraint in its response, he said."Only provable involvement in illegal acts, not suspected political leanings, should trigger governmental action," Steinmeier said in a statement on Wednesday."It's also critical that the declaration of emergency be restricted to only the necessary duration and then be ended as quickly as possible," he said.Steinmeier said such an approach was in Turkey's interest, since anything else would tear the country apart and weaken Turkey both internally and externally.He discouraged Turkish authorities from fixating on theories that the coup was instigated from overseas."Turkey should process this politically and judicially. It doesn't help to blame dark powers overseas for what happened," he said.(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Tom Brown and Bernadette Baum)
Post-ISIL challenges come into focus as Canada attends Washington meeting-[The Canadian Press]-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
OTTAWA - With a military victory over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in sight, Canada and its allies are turning their attention to what comes next — keeping Iraq together and stopping the spread of terror.Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan were in Washington on Wednesday, where they and representatives from dozens of other countries heard that the fight against ISIL was going better than expected. A second day of meetings is scheduled for Thursday.U.S. officials said the militant group's forces had squeezed into the Iraqi city of Mosul and its Syrian stronghold, Raqqa. Preparations are currently underway to liberate Mosul, and while the effort isn't expected to be easy, success would eliminate the last real vestige of ISIL presence in Iraq.Sajjan, who said Canada will deploy up to 60 military personnel to a hospital in northern Iraq, wouldn't say how long he expects the fighting to last. But he did describe the pending battles for Mosul and Raqqa as the "final push" in the military campaign."We also need to keep in mind that even though Daesh will be defeated in that region, we want to make sure that the next step is also looked at," he said, using another name for ISIL. "That we look at the political situation. That we have political stability."Religious and ethnic divisions are not new to Iraq, but they did contribute to ISIL's rise as many Sunni Muslims grew angry at how the Shia-dominated government in Baghdad was treating them. Growing Kurdish aspirations for independence in the north have only made matters worse."As we look at defeating Daesh right now," Sajjan said, "we need to make sure the political stability is there so that we can help Iraq build a positive future so that a problem like this is not created again."U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry emphasized the same message following a meeting in which the international community pledged more than $2 billion in immediate aid and long-term assistance for Iraq. Canada promised up to $200 million in loans through the World Bank for economic reforms."Coming together as we are here is really an effort to support the aspirations and the hopes of the Iraqi people and, unequivocally, to also address the security concerns in each and every one of our countries," Kerry said. "If we do not succeed in Iraq, none of our countries will be safer."Yet underscoring the divisions in Iraq, a top Kurdish official complained Wednesday on Twitter about the "travesty" of Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq not being invited to the anti-ISIL meeting despite its role in fighting the militant group.The other challenge is halting the spread of terrorism and radical ideology. Speaking to The Canadian Press, Dion said wiping out ISIL's so-called caliphate will help eliminate much of the group's legitimacy and drawing power."But you have what we may call an ideology for people who think they will go to heaven if they kill people who don't share their beliefs," he said. "And this ideology is something we need to fight, with different tools though."Dion emphasized improved intelligence and police services, as well as de-radicalization efforts as key for fighting back against what he described as an ideology that is "conquering minds."— Follow @leeberthiaume on Twitter.
Brazil arrests group plotting 'acts of terrorism' before Olympics: source-[By Lisandra Paraguassu]-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's federal police on Thursday arrested members of a group that was preparing "acts of terrorism," a justice ministry source told Reuters, just over two weeks before the Olympics start in Rio de Janeiro.News site Globonews reported that the members of the group were linked to Islamic State (IS). It was not possible to immediately confirm this.It was unclear where the operation was taking place or what the specifics of the operation were. Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes was due to hold a news conference on the operation.Brazil's intelligence agency said on Tuesday it was investigating all threats to the Rio Olympics, which start on Aug. 5, after a presumed Brazilian Islamist group pledged allegiance to IS.The SITE Intelligence Group that monitors the internet reported the previously unknown group calling itself "Ansar al-Khilafah Brazil" said on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday that it followed IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and had promoted IS propaganda in Arabic, English and Portuguese.Brazilian authorities stepped up security measures following the truck massacre in Nice, France last week, planning security cordons, additional roadblocks and the frisking of visitors in Rio de Janeiro for the Olympics.(Writing by Stephen Eisenhammer; Editing by Paulo Prada, Daniel Flynn and Meredith Mazzilli)
Libya's U.N.-backed government condemns France for not coordinating military presence-[Reuters]-By Ahmed Elumami-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's U.N.-backed unity government has said that France did not coordinate with it over the presence of French troops in Libya and that it would not compromise on its sovereignty after France announced the deaths of three of its soldiers there.Special forces teams from countries including France, Britain and the United States are on the ground in western and eastern Libya to fight Islamist militants.The French have been working alongside forces loyal to eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar who have been battling Islamist militants and other opponents in Benghazi and elsewhere in the east. But Haftar has rejected the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, which is backed by major Western powers - including France.The GNA's Presidential Council said in a statement released late on Wednesday that it had asked France for an explanation after President Francois Hollande announced the soldiers' deaths during "dangerous intelligence operations"."The Presidential Council expresses its deep discontent at the French presence in eastern Libya without coordination with the Council, which was declared by the government of France," said the statement from the unity government.There could be "no compromise" over Libyan sovereignty, the council said in the statement.Hollande called the helicopter crash an accident, but Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB), an Islamist-leaning armed group fighting against forces loyal to Haftar, claimed it had shot the helicopter down. A military spokesman from Haftar's forces in eastern Libya said the French had died when their helicopter came down south of Benghazi on Sunday.The GNA is meant to replace two competing governments that were set up in Tripoli and the east in 2014, both backed by rival alliances of armed groups. But the GNA has acted cautiously and has so far failed to win formal endorsement from the east.News of the French deaths brought divisions to the surface, with demonstrations against the French presence on Wednesday in the western city of Misrata and in Tripoli. Some of the demonstrators were people displaced from Benghazi by Haftar's campaign.Libya's Grand Mufti Sadiq Ghoryani, a senior cleric who commands some respect in western Libya and has openly backed the BDB, described the French presence as an "invasion", which he called on all Libyans to resist.Western powers are hoping the GNA can end the turmoil and conflict that developed after Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in an uprising five years ago.They have said they are ready to help Libya tackle the threat from Islamic State, but the GNA says any assistance must follow its own request.(Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Hugh Lawson)
Black Lives Matter rally draws crowd at Manitoba Legislature-[CBC]-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
About 500 people attended a Black Lives Matter rally at the steps of the Manitoba Legislature in Winnipeg Wednesday night.Alexa Potashnik, head organizer for grassroots group Black Space in Winnipeg, helped put on the event. She formed the group in March following deadly incidents involving police and black Americans.There have been several other prominent fatal interactions between authorities and black men in the U.S. since then, which further underscored the need to bring attention to problems facing Winnipeg's black community, Potashnik said."Police brutality and institutionalized systemic racism is a real thing, and it doesn't stop at the Canada-U.S. border," she said."If anything, we deal with it here in a different way. Our racism is not treated so much directly with a gun, you're greeted with a smile. It's more polite, it's indirect."Shondell Babb spoke to the crowd at the event. She said while she has never been profiled by police in Winnipeg, that doesn't mean others haven't had intimidating encounters with officers."In the last three days I have heard about three horrible stories of men right here in Winnipeg that got profiled, one of them was a total nightmare," Babb said.Hearing those stories motivated Babb to show her support for the community by showing up at the rally and performing spoken word poetry."I didn't even know, and they [black men] carry this around with them," Babb said. "People don't realize or they think because it's Canada, it's Winnipeg.... It's not just a U.S. thing or a Canada thing, it's very real in Winnipeg as well."Potashnik added that while the systemic racism facing Manitoba's Indigenous population has thankfully become more widely acknowledged in recent years, the less blatant forms of discrimination facing blacks in the city also need to be brought to the fore."Often times with the Afro-Canadian narrative in Canada, we're swept under other issues, we're swept under this idealism of mosaic Canada, which we might be, but we're still an anti-black society," she said.Organizers said they were happy with the turnout at the rally and may hold another Black Lives Matter event in the future.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS-10 WORLD REGIONS/TRADE BLOCS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS-10 WORLD DIVISION WORLD GOVERNMENT) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(EITHER THE EUROPEAN UNION DICTATOR BOOTS 3 COUNTRIES FROM THE EU OR THE DICTATOR TAKES OVER THE WORLD ECONOMY BY CONTROLLING 3 WORLD TRADE BLOCS)
THE ECB WILL CONTINUE TO CONSIDER BAIL OUT THE BANKS WITH HELICOPTER CASH IF THEY GET IN TROUBLE.DRAGHI.
ECB ready to help eurozone further if Brexit hurts economy-[The Canadian Press]-David McHugh, The Associated Press-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
FRANKFURT - The European Central Bank says it's ready to give the eurozone a further dose of stimulus if Britain's vote to leave the European Union starts to weigh on the region's economy.But its president, Mario Draghi, stressed Thursday that the bank would need more time to monitor the situation and refrained from any clearer indications of what would push its hand.Britain's unprecedented vote to leave the EU could hurt trade in the region and weigh on business confidence as it could take years to establish new trade relations. While it's still early to tell what the full effect of the vote will be, many businesses in Europe are expressing concern.At its first meeting since the June 23 vote, the ECB decided to leave its key interest rates on hold at record lows. But at a subsequent news conference, Draghi said the central bank had the "readiness, willingness, ability" to help the eurozone economy."Over the coming months, when we have more information, including new staff projections, we will be in a better position to reassess the underlying macroeconomic conditions," he said.Analysts say the ECB could opt later this year — in the fall or winter — to extend its bond-buying stimulus program past its expiry date of March 2017. Under the program, the ECB currently buys 80 billion euros ($88 billion) in bonds a month. The step pumps newly created money into the banking system. The hope is that will increase lending and raise inflation to levels more consistent with steady growth.That program is ongoing and was stepped up as recently as March, meaning the ECB has not yet had a chance to see the full impact of the stimulus.Beyond the bond-buying, the central bank has lowered its benchmark interest rate for lending to banks is zero. And it has imposed a negative rate on deposits left with it by commercial banks of 0.4 per cent, a penalty intended to push them to lend the money.Europe is enjoying a modest economic recovery but inflation of 0.1 per cent is abnormally low and unemployment is falling too slowly to make people in countries such as Spain and Greece feel good about the economy.
Merkel backs May on extra time for EU exit talks By Eszter Zalan-JULY 21,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:27-Two of Europe’s most powerful women met in Berlin on Wednesday (20 July) for a first discussion on how and when the UK should start the painful process of leaving the EU.Despite earlier calls to trigger the article 50 exit procedure in the EU treaty, German chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday backed the UK’s new prime minister, Theresa May’s, plan to start official discussions only next year.“I find it absolutely understandable that there is a certain amount of time needed,” Merkel said at their joint press conference in the German capital.“No one wants this to be up in the air. I don’t think British citizens do, nor do EU member states. But we all have an interest in this matter being carefully prepared, positions being clearly defined and delineated,” she said.She added that it is in everybody’s interests for the UK to give clear details on its negotiating position and its views on future EU relations.May said that she wanted discussions to take place in a constructive spirit in order “to make this a sensible and orderly departure.”She also said that while Brexit meant the UK would leave the EU, it did not mean that Britain would disengage from its allies.“We are not walking away from European friends, and Germany will remain a vital partner, and special friend for us,” May said at the press conference.May and Merkel are both down to earth politicians with a no-nonsense style. They are also both daughters of preachers and very close in age and seem to have gotten on well in Berlin.At one point in the press conference, May said: “We have two women here who have got on and had a very constructive discussion. Two women who, if I may say so, get on with the job and want to deliver the best results for the people of the UK and the people of Germany.”Merkel responded: “Exactly. I can only subscribe to that.”May will have a tougher time in Paris, where she travels on Thursday.French president Francois Hollande has urged May to invoke article 50 as soon as possible.Meanwhile, EU officials are trying to set up guidelines and common rules for the article 50 provisions, so that there are no misunderstandings during the official Brexit talks about the procedure, the Financial Times reported.This could mean agreeing to a timetable, and an agreement on whether there would be parallel discussions on a future trade deal.
MEPs explore new ways to monitor EU commissioners By Aleksandra Eriksson-JULY 21,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 11:23-The European Parliament likes to give a hard time to commissioner candidates.It makes them pass a three-hour grilling that examines their political views, skills and financial interests before they can take up their seat at the Berlaymont, the European Commission headquarters.But MEPs lack any similar process to make sure that commissioners stick to their duties, as set out in the commission’s code of conduct, after they start work.The parliament’s largest group, the centre-right EPP, also is not keen too create a new procedure that would change the situation in a case linked to one of its own.EU climate change boss Miguel Arias Canete stirred debate when he was first nominated for the job in 2014 because he owned shares in two oil companies that he sold to his brother-in-law a few days before his parliament hearing.The criticism on conflict of interest has continued to dog his work.More recently, he was also put in the spot light of the Panama Papers leak on tax dodging when his wife Micaela Domecq Solis-Beaumont, was named as the owner of an offshore firm that Canete never mentioned in his EU financial declaration.The far-left GUE/NGL group, at the request of Spanish members from the Podemos party, has tried to summon Canete to the plenary to give explanations.-Closed meeting-But European Parliament (EP) group leaders and EP boss Martin Schulz ruled out holding a public grilling. Instead, Schulz asked the legal affairs committee [Juri] to question Canete for one hour behind closed doors.The meeting took place on 12 July and failed to satisfy Canete’s critics.He denied the allegations against him and said he had behaved in both a legal and moral way, according to EUobserver sources said.MEPs from different political groups who attended the meeting said they could neither confirm he had breached the code of conduct, nor clear his name, because they weren’t given the means to properly screen him.The legal committee’s coordinators agreed that each group could file beforehand three written questions that Canete would answer orally.Only selected MEPs from the legal committee were allowed to participate in the hearing. There was limited time for follow-up questions, and no record was take of the commissioner’s answers.Socialist MEP Evelyn Regner told this website Canete side-stepped her question on whether there were any investigations - either by national authorities or the European anti-fraud office, Olaf - going on against him.Green MEP Heidi Hautala added that the hearing had allowed to confirm that Canete’s wife still owned the shell company, which still didn’t figure in the commissioner’s declaration - he claimed this isn’t necessary, as the company is dormant.-No official accusations-Tadeusz Zwiefka, who is the EPP coordinator in the committee, warned against making too much of the hearing, however.”There are no official accusations against the commissioner. The fact that we held a hearing doesn’t mean there is anything to get excited about. The parliament invited Mr Canete to come over, so he did,” Zwiefka told EUobserver.Christofer Fjellner, another EPP member, said green and left-wing politicians had made Canete into a symbol that was convenient for them to attack.”I don’t think there is anything he can do to convince them,” he told this website.The EPP does not want to put in place a framework that would allow to scrutinise commissioners in a more neutral way, either.The group successfully stopped Juri coordinators from issuing a joint recommendation to the conference of presidents on how such a mechanism could look like.Each political faction instead presented individual recommendations, which were seen by EUobserver.Some groups - such as GUE/NGL and Greens - still want a plenary debate and resolution.Socialists ruled out a plenary hearing, but would like to cooperate with Olaf on Canete’s case.-Panama option-Several groups also wanted him to be heard by the parliament’s investigative committee on money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (Pana).Most political factions recommended that some kind of mechanism is worked out and the code of conduct for commissioners is revised. But the EPP has recommended closing the file, and was supported by the conservative ECR.Which of ideas will be implemented was left hanging in the air pending the parliament’s summer recess. Most MEPs left Brussels before the deadline for submitting recommendations, which expired last Friday (15 July).Canete's office told EUobserver that it is not aware of any investigations against the commissioner and that his declaration is duly fulfilled."The conference of presidents [EP political chiefs] considered that since some allegations had been made on the national press, the parliament could invite the commissioner and hear him. The commissioner accepted the invitation as he always does with the parliament," a spokesperson said.
More 'lone wolf' attacks expected, says Germany By Nikolaj Nielsen-JULY 21,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:29-Germany has warned that more violent attacks by militant individuals in the name of radical Islam are likely to take place in Europe.On Wednesday (20 July), German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere said the threat of terrorism remained “serious” in all EU states."Like several EU countries, like the whole EU, Germany is also in the target area of international terrorism ... the situation is serious," he said, reports Reuters.His warning followed an axe and knife assault by a 17-year old Afghan asylum seeker against train passengers in Germany on Monday.The minor is said to have carried out the non-lethal attack on behalf of the Islamic State (IS). He was shot dead on the scene by police.A German government spokesperson was quoted by Reuters saying that a "cruel attack carried out by an individual can't discredit a group of many thousands."The issue is sensitive due to Germany's open-door policy for asylum seekers, amid fears that the latest attack could inflame anti-refugee sentiment.Over 1 million people fleeing war in places like Syria entered the country last year.Two of the attackers in the Paris shootings on 13 November had entered Greece as refugees, but the EU police agency, Europol, in a report earlier this week noted there is no evidence that terrorists "systematically" use the flow of refugees to infiltrate Europe.Instead, it said "a real and imminent danger" is that Islamic extremist recruiters may attempt to radicalise vulnerable young Syrian refugees after they settled in the EU.So-called lone wolves, who have had no direct contact with established terrorist groups but who carry out attacks in their name also remained a major security risk, Europol said.The Afghan teenager in Germany appeared to fit this profile, said De Maiziere.Another 84 people were killed and over 300 injured in Nice on Bastille Day after Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 31-year old man of Tunisian origin, drove a lorry through a crowded boardwalk.Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had moved to France in 2005 and had shown no previous interest in religious ideology prior to the attack.The lone wolf threat is being exploited both by IS and by the al-Qaeda extremist group.The Europol report said Internet propaganda was being used to radicalise people and to incite them to carry out attacks in their home countries."IS continues to use their media activities to encourage aspiring terrorists to conduct lone-actor attacks," it said.Last year, IS spokesperson Abu Muhammad al-Adnani called upon followers to launch attacks against “crusaders" in their home countries.IS leader Abudkar al-Baghadadi made similar comments last May.The killings are not always linked back to attacks carried out in the name of a radical Islam.One of the most notorious lone wolves is Anders Behring Breivik, a Norwegian far-right sympathiser, who shot dead 69 people in 2011. He also carried out a bomb attack that killed another eight people.
Battered Trump faces test in convention finale-After confab that showcased party divisions and campaign blunders, GOP candidate looks to reboot with ‘America First’ theme-By Andrew BEATTY July 21, 2016, 4:13 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
CLEVELAND, Ohio (AFP) — Donald Trump takes center stage to deliver the speech of his political life Thursday, trying to salvage a fractious Republican convention that saw a key rival showered in boos for withholding his endorsement.Appearing before delegates, the most unorthodox and controversial presidential contender in modern times will accept the nomination of a party that has guided more candidates to the Oval Office than any other.But instead of sounding the starting gun on the general election and placing his candidacy in the sweep of American history, Trump faces a much more basic task.Before a television audience of tens of millions, the bombastic billionaire will have to prove to the American people that he is worthy of the White House and capable of being commander-in-chief.The four day-nominating convention, which ends in Cleveland on Thursday, has been plagued with deep party divisions and staggering campaign blunders.‘Vote your conscience’-What began on Monday with anti-Trump delegates voicing misgivings on the convention floor culminated in a moment of high political drama on the eve of Trump’s speech.Trump’s primary rival Ted Cruz threw the convention into chaos by provocatively telling delegates to “vote your conscience” in November.Ovations and adulations for the conservative Texas senator turned to jeers and boos as it became clear he had not come to Cleveland to endorse the party nominee.“We deserve leaders who stand for principle, who unite us all behind shared values, who cast aside anger for love,” said Cruz, effectively listing criticisms often leveled at Trump.In another dramatic twist, Trump decided to step on Cruz’s moment in the sun by entering the arena before the Texan had finished speaking.Cruz — who is widely expected to run in 2020 should Trump lose to Hillary Clinton — was forced to wave and smile before completing his remarks and exiting to more jeers.“Wow, Ted Cruz got booed off the stage, didn’t honor the pledge!” Trump tweeted later, referring to a pledge by Republican primary candidates to support whoever won the party’s nomination.The two men fought a bitter and at times deeply personal battle for the nomination, in which Trump mocked Cruz’s wife and tarred his rival with a nasty nickname: “Lyin’ Ted.”-Scandal and strife-Between the uncharacteristic public spasms of Republican disunity came the embarrassing revelation that a prime-time speech by Trump’s wife Melania had plagiarized remarks made by First Lady Michelle Obama.This was not how the convention was meant to go.In naming Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate, Trump had tried to smooth difficult relations with conservatives and unite the party.Trump’s caustic rhetoric on race, women and Islam had alienated many Republicans, to say nothing of swing voters.Pence did his bit, wooing the crowd with self-deprecating jokes and a clear conservative message in an acceptance speech.Trump, he joked, is “a man known for a large personality, a colorful style and lots of charisma and I guess he was just looking for some balance on the ticket.”The 57-year-old said he “joined this campaign in a heartbeat” because Republicans nominated Trump, a man “who never quits, who never backs down.”Throughout the convention Trump’s family members have also tried to soften his brash public image.Meanwhile, a string of Republican speakers savaged his Democratic opponent, describing Clinton as a liar who should be jailed.Trump’s roller-coaster campaign defeated 16 rivals and steamrolled stubborn party opposition after being written off as a joke, the real estate tycoon having never held elected office.His campaign defied political norms — embracing racially inflammatory policies, offending key voting blocs, eschewing big-spending advertising campaigns and relying on saturated media coverage above campaign structure.In an interview with the New York Times Wednesday, he raised anew questions about whether, as president, he would come to a NATO ally’s defense if it were attacked, saying it would depend “if they fulfill their commitments to us.”Trump told the Times he would press the theme of “America First” in his acceptance speech Thursday night.Polls following the convention will show whether Trump can continue to defy political gravity.Many candidates have seen a bump in the polls following the party convention.Democrats, who will hold their own convention from Monday, will do their utmost to make sure Trump enjoys no post-nomination bounce.Clinton is expected to steal the limelight on Friday or Saturday by announcing her vice presidential running mate.
Trump says he might not protect NATO countries against Russia-GOP candidate questions US obligation to Baltic states if they don’t give anything in return; backs Turkish crackdown after coup attempt-By AFP July 21, 2016, 11:21 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
CLEVELAND — Donald Trump has raised new questions about his commitment to the defense of NATO allies on the eve of his acceptance of the Republican presidential nomination, The New York Times reported.In an interview with the newspaper on Wednesday, Trump also expressed little willingness to speak out against purges or civil rights crackdowns by authoritarian allies like Turkey, the Times said.“I don’t think we have the right to lecture,” the Times quoted him as saying during the 45-minute interview in a downtown Cleveland hotel suite.“Look at what is happening in our country,” he said. “How are we going to lecture when people are shooting policemen in cold blood?”The Times said that Trump re-emphasized the hardline nationalist approach that he has taken during his campaign, describing how he would force allies to shoulder defense costs that the United States has borne for decades.Asked about Russian activities that have alarmed the Baltics, NATO’s newest members, Trump said that if Russia attacked them, he would decide whether to come to their aid only after reviewing whether those nations “have fulfilled their obligations to us.”“If they fulfill their obligations to us, the answer is yes,” he said.A cornerstone of the 28-member trans-Atlantic alliance is its Article 5 commitment that an attack on one member state is an attack on all, a pledge invoked after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.Presidents of Baltic states Estonia and Lithuania were quick to fire back Thursday.Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves insisted on Twitter that his nation of 1.3 million people bordering Russia was meeting all its NATO spending commitments.“Estonia is 1 of 5 NATO allies in Europe to meet its 2 percent defense expenditures commitment,” he said, adding Estonians had “fought, with no caveats” in NATO operations in Afghanistan.“We are equally committed to all our NATO allies, regardless of who they may be. That’s what makes them allies,” Ilves said.Sharp-tongued Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite told reporters in Vilnius “it’s not necessary to interpret the words of presidential candidate Mr. Trump.”“We know the US will always be our most important partner,” she said, adding that Lithuania would meet NATO spending obligations by 2018.Trump, who said he would press the theme of “America First” at his address Thursday night to the Republican National Convention, said allies would adjust to his approach.“I would prefer to be able to continue” existing agreements, he told the Times, but only if allies stop taking advantage of an era of American largesse that was no longer affordable.The remarks also drew fire from presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign, which said they showed Trump “is temperamentally unfit and fundamentally unprepared to be our commander-in-chief.”“It is fair to assume that Vladimir Putin is rooting for a Trump presidency,” said Clinton foreign policy adviser Jake Sullivan.
Republican Cruz says he's not Trump's 'servile puppy dog'-[Reuters]-By Emily Stephenson and Ginger Gibson-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
CLEVELAND (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Ted Cruz staunchly defended his decision not to endorse Donald Trump, saying on Thursday he was not the Republican presidential candidate's "servile puppy dog" in a damaging rift at the party's convention ahead of the Nov. 8 election.Cruz, who came in second to Trump in the race for the Republican nomination after a bitter and personal campaign, was booed by delegates at the gathering in Cleveland on Wednesday night when he gave a speech but did not endorse Trump.The conservative senator from Texas stood his ground on Thursday. He refused to say whether he would vote for Trump,who had maligned Cruz's wife for her physical appearance and had suggested that his father was linked to late President John F. Kennedy's assassin."I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father," he told a meeting of the Texas delegation in Cleveland.Republican candidates had pledged during the primary process to support the party's eventual nominee."That pledge was not a blanket commitment that if you go and slander and attack Heidi that I’m going to nonetheless come like a servile puppy dog and say ‘thank you very much for maligning my wife,’” Cruz said. He did say he would not vote for the Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton.The dispute was the latest misstep at the four-day party meeting, which was meant to be an occasion showing Republicans rallying behind Trump, a New York businessman who has never been elected to public office but who saw off 16 rivals in the primary contests.Trump, well known to Americans as a reality TV star, has upset many in the Republican establishment with his free-wheeling style, frequent insults to rivals and controversial policy proposals such as imposing a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country and building a wall along the border with Mexico.Hoping to close out the conference on a high note, Trump was due to give a prime-time speech on Thursday evening.The convention began on Monday but the highlight of the first day, a speech by Trump's wife, Melania, caused controversy because she used some lines that were similar to passages in an address by first lady Michelle Obama in 2008.Susan Hutchison, chair of the Washington delegation, said she confronted Cruz after his speech and called him a "traitor to the party."New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a close Trump adviser who was also a presidential rival, criticized Cruz's address."I just think it was an awful performance," Christie told MSNBC.Trump's campaign manager, Paul Manafort, sought to put the Cruz appearance in a positive light, telling reporters on Thursday that the booing of Cruz increased party unity, "in a backhanded way."Cruz was still one of the most talked about topics on social media, capturing attention ahead of Trump's big speech.On Google, "ted cruz speech" was the top trending query regarding the Republican National Convention and on Twitter, about 56 tweets mentioning his official Twitter handle @tedcruz were posted every minute.The overall tone of the tweets was more positive than negative, at a ratio of about 2.5 to 1, according to social media analytics firm Zoomph.(Additional reporting by Amy Tennery and Angela Moon; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Frances Kerry)
HOMOSEXUALS.(SODOMITE RAINBOW GROUPERS)
LEVITICUS 20:13
13 If a man also lie with mankind,(ANOTHER MAN) as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
LEVITICUS 18:22
22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind,(ANOTHER MAN) as with womankind: it is abomination.
2 TIMOTHY 3:3
3 Without natural affection,(HOMOSEXUALS) trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
1 CORINTHIANS 6:9,
9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,(HARDENED SODOMITE RAINBOW GROUPERRS) nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
PSALMS 14:1
1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
GOD CREATED THEM MALE AND FEMALE IN MARRIAGE
GENESIS 1:27-28
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply,(HAVE LOTS OF CHILDREN) and replenish the earth,(HOMOSEXUALS CAN NOT REPLENISH THE EARTH WITH CHILDREN)(BY HAVING SEX WITH EACH OTHER) and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
GENESIS 2:21-24
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
MATTHEW 19:4-6
4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Jerusalem’s gay pride parade kicks off under heavy security-Much of downtown closed off to traffic, pedestrians; mayor skips event but commemorates teen slain at last year’s march-By Luke Tress and Stuart Winer July 21, 2016, 5:17 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The fifteenth annual Jerusalem gay pride parade was set to begin marching through downtown Jerusalem under heavy security Thursday afternoon, a year after a religious extremist knifed a teenager to death and wounded six others at 2015’s march.Ten thousand people were on hand to march under the banner of LGBT pride, but also under the watchful eye of some 2,000 police on hand to secure the highly charged march.Parade-goers began congregating at Liberty Bell Park from 4:15 p.m., with the march scheduled to begin at 5:45, heading down King George and Keren Hayesod streets, turning onto Meir Shaham, Rabbi Akiva and Hillel streets, and concluding at Independence Park.Organizers have asked participants to bring flowers to place at the site on Keren Hayesod Street where 16-year-old Shira Banki was killed by Yishai Schlissel, who is serving a life sentence for her murder.Much of downtown Jerusalem was closed off to vehicular traffic on Thursday afternoon, and, amid the heightened security, even pedestrians complained that police prevented them from crossing some streets.A Times of Israel reporter saw only one entrance to the parade, where attendees were assembled to undergo two security checks. There were many police and medics on hand. Nine people were detained by police on suspicion that they intended to disrupt the event, Channel 2 reported.Earlier in the day, police said that Schlissel was arrested in prison and accused of plotting together with his brother Michael Schlissel to carry out an attack at this year’s event.Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, who announced earlier in the week that he would not attend the event in order not to offend religious residents of his city, said Thursday that he understands the resentment some felt over his decision, and called for the day to be seen as a tribute to freedom of expression and against incitement.Hours before the main event, Barkat joined Jerusalem Region Police commander Yarom Halevi at a memorial to Banki, who was stabbed to death at last year’s pride event, and laid a flower at the site, which is along the planned route of the march later in the day.“I understand the pain and the criticism of those who don’t agree with my decision not to participate in the parade,” he said. “I chose a different way to honor the memory of Shira Banki, a sweet young girl who was murdered because of hatred.”“I wish, with all my heart, that on this day we will know how to all unite against any show of incitement, violence, and for the right to freedom of expression of every person and community in Israel, regardless of religion, race, or gender,” he said.Barkat on Wednesday told the Yedioth Ahronoth daily that while he supported the LGBT community’s freedom of expression, he could not participate.“It is their right to march,” he told the popular tabloid. “The city of Jerusalem, myself and the police will do everything possible to allow them to enjoy that right. But they must know that it offends others. Tolerance means not only permitting people to march but also to find the way for them to do so without hurting the sensibilities or the feelings of others.”The comments set off an immediate firestorm, with at least one politician accusing Barkat of siding with Yishai Schlissel. Schlissel’s attack at the pride parade came just weeks after the ultra-Orthodox extremist was let out of prison, where he had served a 10-year sentence for a similar — albeit nonfatal — attack at the 2005 pride parade in which he stabbed three people.Police announced Tuesday they would beef up security around the annual march through central Jerusalem and perform security checks on all participants, measures intended to prevent a recurrence of the violence that marred 2015’s parade.Noam Eyal, a 31-year-old Jerusalem resident who works with the nonprofit Movement for Quality Government in Israel, was stabbed in the upper back at the parade last year. He said he did not know Banki but was walking next to her during the attack.“It was deep but it missed all the important stuff, no vital organs,” he told The Times of Israel. “We didn’t know how severe it was until I was in the ambulance because it was very deep.”He has been heavily involved in the LGBT community since, attending nearly every pride parade in Israel, and helped organize this year’s Jerusalem event.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Montague businessman offering free Pride signs after town refuses to fly flag-[CBC]-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
An Island sign manufacturer is offering 30 free Pride signs to Montague, P.E.I., area residents and businesses.Mike Savidant, general manager of Sign Craft lives in the Montague area, was upset to hear that the town of Montague won't be flying a rainbow Pride flag next week."All these communities are celebrating pride week next week, for one of the largest towns in P.E.I. not to be celebrating it just seems ludicrous to me."-Policy disappointing-The town of Montague has a policy not to fly any flags. Town officials say the Pride flag is no exception, a decision Savidant said is behind the times."It just seemed to bother me, the apparent closed-mindedness of the town. It almost seems like their reaction to not acknowledge Pride Week means that it doesn't exist, and I just thought that wasn't fair."On Wednesday morning, Savidant got to work designing a Pride sign just for Montague. He's offering the first 30 signs for free. After that, anyone who wants one can order one for $20 plus tax. But Savidant says it's not about the money."It's just about raising awareness and starting the conversation and letting the town council of Montague know just because you don't want to acknowledge something, doesn't mean it doesn't exist."-Positive response-Savidant said he's already received a tremendous response from community members asking for signs and all the feedback he's received so far as been positive.The signs will be available for pick-up at The Juice Box, a cafe in Montague owned by Jana Furness. She hopes that making Pride signs available will help foster acceptance and support in her community."I just did what I thought was right for the community and the organization," said Furness.
Leading rabbis champion peer who called LGBTs ‘deviants’-In letter of support for Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, 300 nationalist-Orthodox leaders say homosexuality ‘contravenes human morality’-By Elie Leshem July 21, 2016, 4:54 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
On the eve of a loaded Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem, some 300 religious Zionist rabbis signed a letter expressing support for a yeshiva head who called LGBT people “deviants” devoid of “the normalcy of life.”“There is no room for legitimizing phenomena and behaviors that seek to glorify a way of life that contravenes human morality and the way of the Torah,” the signatories, including top educators and city rabbis, wrote in the letter, published Wednesday. “Our love for every Jew, and the obligation to treat every human being with respect, cannot be a pretext for distorting the halachic truth or ‘cutting corners’ when it comes to forbidden acts.”They were responding to an outcry generated by Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, a co-head of a prestigious pre-army religious academy in the West Bank, who was filmed last week saying in a speech that “under the framework of pluralism, soldiers and officers are taught to refer to [LGBT people] as ‘proud,’ but I don’t dare call them that… ‘Deviants’ is what I call them.”He added, “There is a crazy movement of people who have simply lost the normalcy of life. This group is making the state crazy and is infiltrating the army with all its might. Nobody dares to open his mouth or make a sound against them. In the army training camp they gave lectures on deviancy.”In their letter, the rabbis — among whom were Aryeh Stern and Shmuel Eliyahu, the chief rabbis of Jerusalem and Safed, respectively; and Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, the influential head of the Ateret Yerushalayim yeshiva – said that they wished to “voice support for every rabbi who expresses his halachic and moral opinion… without pandering or apology.”They said that they represented a “silent majority, both religious and secular,” in Israel that is opposed to the LGBT lifestyle and activism.Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who heads the religious-nationalist Jewish Home party, was one of the Orthodox public figures who condemned Levinstein’s remarks. “This is not the way of religious Zionism,” he said this week. “Jewish law was meant to establish what is forbidden and what is permitted. It was not meant to be a divisive tool to mark people and communities. You cannot call an entire community derogatory names and hide behind [Jewish law].”One of the organizers of the letter came out against Bennett Wednesday, and accused him of betraying his constituency, telling the Ynet news site, “We find it hard to grasp how a political person, talented as he may be, takes it upon himself to repudiate the rabbis who for years shaped religious Zionism.”Rabbi Benny Lau, a prominent religious-Zionist rabbi whose cousin David Lau is the chief rabbi of Israel, denounced Levinstein earlier this week.“Who gave you permission to insult them? In the name of which Torah do you act like this?” he demanded in a video uploaded to Facebook.Lau spoke of an incident two years ago when Levinstein addressed students at Jerusalem’s Himmelfarb boys’ high school and mockingly compared gay people to animals. Lau recounted that “there was a student there at the back who ran out of the hall at the moment that you told your terrible joke. He intended to kill himself. They prevented him. One year ago… the same student said that he heard you making fun of him and he wanted to kill himself again.”The Israeli Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Association, known commonly as the Aguda, filed a police complaint against Levinstein for incitement.The rabbis’ letter is sure to raise hackles among liberal Israelis, ahead of what promises to be an emotional Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem on Thursday afternoon. It will be the first in the capital since last year’s march, during which Yishai Schlissel, an ultra-Orthodox man, went on a stabbing spree, killing 16-year-old Shira Banki and wounding several others. Last week saw an outcry at the cancellation of Beersheba’s first-ever pride parade over threats of violence.Aviner, one of the letter’s signatories, and Rabbi Tzvi Tau, who heads the elite Har Hamor yeshiva in Jerusalem, on Wednesday came out against the parade, according to a report in the Orthodox news site Srugim.“‘Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: It is abomination,'” they said in a statement, quoting a verse in Leviticus that is often cited as evidence of God’s abhorrence of homosexuals. “We condemn the existence of an abomination parade in our holy city Jerusalem,” Aviner and Tau went on to say, adding that the parade was a “terrible desecration of God’s name.”Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
MK: Knesset dropped transgender rights bill due to Haredi pressure-Amir Ohana accuses his party of ‘caving’ to threats by ‘most homophobic minister,’ Health Minister Yaakov Litzman-By Times of Israel staff July 20, 2016, 2:44 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Likud MK Amir Ohana blasted fellow coalition lawmakers on Wednesday after a bill protecting transgender people from hate crimes was taken off the parliament’s agenda.The bill sought to add “gender identity” to the categories recognized in Israel’s criminal code as potential targets for hate crimes, a step that would have allowed prosecutors to seek more severe punishments for attacks targeting transgendered individuals.According to Ohana, coalition chairman MK David Bitan (Likud) removed the bill from Wednesday’s agenda after pressure from Health Minister Yaakov Litzman of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party.Calling Litzman “the most homophobic minister” in the political system, Ohana blasted Bitan for “caving, not for the first time, to interests that aren’t Likud’s, values that aren’t Likud’s.”“Don’t count me with the coalition today,” Ohana, Likud’s first openly gay MK, said in the plenum Wednesday. “Today I won’t vote with the coalition. This is a sad day for the coalition and the Knesset.”The bill was slated to come up for a preliminary vote in the plenum Wednesday, amid a series of scandals involving religious opposition to LGBT rights.Litzman and Bitan have not responded to media requests for comment.
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)
Violent storm peels roof off Winnipeg apartment building-[CBC]-July 20, 2016-YAHOONEWS
The roof of an apartment complex in Winnipeg was peeled off the building like a sardine can as a storm and violent winds forced their way through the city Wednesday night.Police and emergency crews were called to a building in the 2000 block of Sinclair Street at about 8:45 p.m.Insulation from the building was strewn across lawns and boulevards near Leila Avenue at the northeast edge of the Garden City neighbourhood. The underside of the roof appeared to be flipped up and facing the sky, and a large part of the roof could be seen dangling over the edge of the top of the building.'Heard a big bang'-Len Bakalinsky lives on the fourth floor of the building and said he heard a loud noise but couldn't figure out where it came from."I didn't know what was happening until I heard a big bang and then all hell broke loose after that," he said.Then, his phone rang."My neighbour next door called me and said, 'Look at all the water in my apartment.' We didn't get any," Bakalinsky said, adding several other neighbours have said their suites have also taken on water.Building still 'fully encapsulated'-District fire Chief Bruce Melnyk said he has never seen anything like it in his career. The initial call that came in was for a possible building collapse.Upon arrival, crews determined that while a portion of the roof had been torn off, the building itself was still structurally intact, Melnyk said.While from the ground it looked like the top of the building may have been left exposed to the elements, Melnyk said a "It's fully encapsulated still."A concrete slab remains in place across the roof, although shingles, plywood, tar and other materials were damaged.No one was was injured, but the north side of the building was evacuated for the night, Melnyk said. Tenants on the south side were allowed to stay in their suites.Thousands without power-The storm brought wind gusts that left thousands of homes and buildings in Winnipeg and across southern Manitoba without power.Two tornadoes reportedly touched down in southwest Manitoba and much of the south had been under extreme heat warnings throughout the day in the lead up to the storms.Though the storm that hit Winnipeg packed a punch, CBC Manitoba meteorologist John Sauder confirmed no tornadoes or funnel clouds breached the city limits.
MADRID (Reuters) - King Felipe VI will hold a formal round of talks with Spain's political parties next week for the fourth time in a seven-month-old power deadlock, his office said on Thursday, as parties struggle to form a coalition administration.This time around, the king is widely expected to propose acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as a candidate to try and form a government.Rajoy's center-right People's Party (PP) won most of the votes in June, but fell 39 seats short of the majority he needed to govern, the second general election in six months to prove inconclusive.King Felipe will meet the PP, the Socialist Party, the left-wing Unidos Podemos and liberal Ciudadanos on July 28, and the smaller, regional groups, which include Catalan and Basque separatist parties, on July 26 and 27, his schedule showed.Rajoy on Wednesday edged potentially closer toward forming a government after cutting a deal with his most likely partner, liberal newcomers Ciudadanos, to elect one of his ministers to the post of parliament speaker."For my part, I am ready to govern. I'm aware of the responsibility that I have," Rajoy told reporters on Wednesday.However, such a pact would still fall short of the seats needed to form an administration.When a party wins fewer than the 176 seats needed to control the lower house of the 350-strong parliament, under Spanish law, the king holds talks with all parties across the political spectrum and proposes a candidate to become prime minister.The candidate will then submit a viable proposal for government to a confidence vote in parliament in which they must secure an absolute majority to avoid a second vote 48 hours later.King Felipe has already held three such consultations since the first election in December, of which two resulted in no proposal and one in the nomination of Socialist Party leader Pedro Sanchez, who did not pass the confidence vote that ensued.(Reporting by Amanda Cooper, Editing by Sonya Dowsett and Angus MacSwan)
Do more,' families of MH370 passengers tell Malaysia, China-[Reuters]-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Relatives of people aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 urged governments on Thursday to step up the hunt for the aircraft, a day before a meeting where ministers could decide to call off the search.Malaysian, Chinese and Australian ministers will meet in Kuala Lumpur on Friday to discuss the future of the search for MH370, which disappeared during a flight from the Malaysian capital to Beijing in March 2014, carrying 239 people.Almost A$180 million ($135 million) has been spent on an underwater search spanning 120,000 square kilometres in the southern Indian Ocean, the most expensive in aviation history.Jacquita Gonzales, the wife of MH370 steward Patrick Gomes, said China and Malaysia had not contributed enough to the search effort, which is coordinated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau."China, you could do more. I'm sorry for being so frank but you have the most at stake here," she said at a news conference. Most of the passengers aboard MH370 were Chinese nationals."(Malaysia), you need to do your bit and not just say 'I'm so sorry, we're short of funds, there's nowhere else to search'," Gonzales said.K.S. Narendran, whose wife was a passenger on MH370, called on the Malaysian government to seek help in securing funding."This country and its leadership have wealthy friends. And I suppose therefore, there really should be no argument for a paucity of funds," he said.The three governments had previously agreed that unless any new credible evidence arose, they would not extend the search which was originally scheduled to end in June but has been hampered by bad weather and is expected to resume in December.($1 = 1.3344 Australian dollars)(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
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)
S.L Events watch @prophecyguy777 10h10 hours ago-ALL MALE MUSLIMS MUST BE BANNED FROM ALL WESTERN COUNTRIES. #VOTETRUMP - #NOISLAMICMALESINWESTERNCOUNTRIES
S.L Events watch @prophecyguy777 16h16 hours ago-ISIS HAS TO BE DESTROYED FROM ALL THE EARTH. #VOTETRUMP #NEVERHITLARY #ISISGOTTAGOFORGOOD
Turkey declares 3-month state of emergency after failed coup-[The Canadian Press]-July 20, 2016-YAHOONEWS
ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey's president on Wednesday declared a three-month state of emergency following a botched coup attempt, declaring he would rid the military of the "virus" of subversion and giving the government sweeping powers to expand a crackdown that has already included mass arrests and the closure of hundreds of schools.President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was accused of autocratic conduct before the insurrection, said the measure would counter threats to Turkish democracy. Possibly anticipating investor jitters, Erdogan criticized Standard & Poor's for downgrading its credit rating for Turkey deeper into "junk" status and said the country would remain financially disciplined.The president did not announce details, but the security measure could facilitate longer detentions for many of the nearly 10,000 people who have been rounded up since loyalist security forces and protesters quashed the rebellion that started Friday night and was over by Saturday."This measure is in no way against democracy, the law and freedoms," Erdogan said in a national televised address after a meeting with Cabinet ministers and security advisers.The state of emergency announcement needs to be published in a state gazette and lawmakers have to approve it for it to take effect, according to analysts.Turkey imposed emergency rule in the southeast of Turkey in 1987, allowing officials to set curfews, issue search and arrest warrants and restrict gatherings as the security forces fought Kurdish rebels. The emergency rule was gradually lifted by 2002.The president suggested military purges would continue."As the commander in chief, I will also attend to it so that all the viruses within the armed forces will be cleansed," Erdogan said.In an apparent attempt to calm fears that the military's powers will be increased, the president said the military will be under the government-appointed governors' command and work closely with the regional governors.The pro-government death toll in the botched coup was 246. At least 24 coup plotters were also killed.Turkey also said it would close more than 600 private schools and dormitories following the attempted coup, spurring fears that the state's move against perceived enemies is undermining key institutions in the country.Erdogan's government said it has fired nearly 22,000 education ministry workers, mostly teachers, taken steps to revoke the licenses of 21,000 other teachers at private schools and sacked or detained half a dozen university presidents in a campaign to root out alleged supporters of a U.S.-based Muslim cleric blamed for the failed insurrection.The targeting of education ties in with Erdogan's belief that the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, whose followers run a network of schools worldwide, seeks to infiltrate the Turkish education system and other institutions in order to bend the country to his will. The cleric's movement, which espouses moderation and multi-faith harmony, says it is a scapegoat.While Erdogan is seeking to consolidate the power of his elected government after the rebellion, his crackdown could further polarize a country that once enjoyed a reputation for relative stability in the turbulent Middle East region. It also raises questions about the effectiveness of the military, courts and other institutions being purged."The fact that so many judges have been detained, never mind the workload at the courthouses, will render them inoperable," said Vildan Yirmibesoglu, a human rights lawyer.The education ministry said it decided to close 626 private schools and other establishments under investigation for "crimes against the constitutional order and the running of that order," the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.The agency said the schools are linked to Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan who lives in Pennsylvania and has denied accusations that he engineered the coup attempt.Turkey has demanded Gulen's extradition from the United States. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says Turkey must provide hard evidence that Gulen was behind the foiled coup, and that mere allegations of wrongdoing wouldn't suffice.The two allies co-operate in the U.S.-led war against the Islamic State group, with American military planes flying missions from Turkey's Incirlik air base into neighbouring Iraq and Syria.Turkey's domestic situation is increasingly a concern as the crackdown widens. Huseyin Ozev, an education union leader in Istanbul, said state education workers who were reported to have been fired had not received notices and that employees were "waiting at home or on vacation, anxiously," to see if they had lost their jobs.The fight against coup plotters "should not be turned into a witch hunt," Ozev said.In other moves, Turkey demanded the resignations of 1,577 university deans and halted foreign assignments for state-employed academics. A total of 50,000 civil service employees have been fired in the purges, which have reached Turkey's national intelligence service and the prime minister's office.The government has also revoked the press credentials of 34 journalists because of alleged ties to Gulen's movement, Turkish media reported.Authorities have rounded up about 9,000 people — including 115 generals, 350 officers, 4,800 other military personnel and 60 military high school students — for alleged involvement in the coup attempt. Turkey's defence ministry has also sacked at least 262 military court judges and prosecutors, according to Turkish media reports.Saban Ceylon, a taxi driver in Istanbul, said he expected his income to drop because of the state of emergency."Nothing is going to happen if I don't take money home during three months," Ceylon said. In a reference to the coup plotters, he said: "I just want this country to be rescued from those dishonourable people."__Torchia reported from Istanbul. Associated Press writer Cinar Kiper in Istanbul contributed to this report.
Fleeing Turkish troops fear death if sent home from Greece: lawyer-[Reuters]-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
ATHENS (Reuters) - Eight Turkish soldiers who fled to Greece in a military helicopter after last week's failed coup fear they will be killed if they are sent back home, one of their lawyers said on Thursday.The men - three majors, three captains and two sergeant majors - landed in the northern border city of Alexandroupolis on Saturday after issuing a distress signal. They were arrested and have sought political asylum."They believe that, one way or another, they will lose their lives (in Turkey)," said Vasiliki Ilia Marinaki, a lawyer representing four of the men, as they appeared in court with their faces covered."Regardless of whether the death penalty is imposed or not, they believe that in the end they will be killed," she said.They were found guilty on Thursday of entering Greece illegally and were handed a two-month suspended jail sentence. Their asylum requests are being examined and they are to appear before immigration authorities next week for further interviews.Turkey has branded the men "traitors" and "terrorist elements" and has asked Greece to extradite them. Greece says it will examine their asylum requests quickly.Turkey abolished capital punishment in 2004 but President Tayyip Erdogan has told crowds of supporters chanting for the death penalty that such demands may be discussed in parliament.Since the coup attempt crumbled on Saturday, the Turkish government has launched a purge of the armed forces and judiciary, rounding up thousands.The men say they did not know a coup was under way and they were obeying orders by their superiors to transport the wounded from the streets to ambulances, their lawyers say.They decided to flee when their Black Hawk helicopter came under fire by police on the ground."They were in a state of emergency and that is why they entered Greek territory," Marinaki said before the ruling."In any case, they entered Greece officially, meaning they landed officially at the airport, they disembarked and immediately requested political asylum."(Reporting by Karolina Tagaris; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Syria's Assad says Erdogan imposing Islamist agenda after coup-[Reuters]-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria accused Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday of exploiting a failed coup to implement a harsh Islamist agenda that endangers Turkey and its neighbors."(Erdogan) used the coup to implement an extremist agenda, the agenda of the Muslim Brotherhood inside Turkey," President Bashar al-Assad told a Cuban news agency, according to a Syrian presidency social media account. "This is dangerous for Turkey and for its neighboring countries, including Syria."Relations between Assad and Erdogan, once close allies, soured after the start of Syria's conflict in 2011. Damascus accuses Ankara of fuelling the civil war by supporting Islamist insurgents and allowing foreign jihadists to cross into Syria.(Reporting by Kinda Makiyeh; writing by Dominic Evans; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Turkey says no return to past repression despite state of emergency-[Reuters]-By Humeyra Pamuk and Seda Sezer-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey tried to assure its citizens and the outside world on Thursday that there will be no return to the deep repression of the past even though President Tayyip Erdogan has imposed the first nationwide state of emergency since the 1980s.With Erdogan cracking down on thousands of people in the judiciary, education, military and civil service after last weekend's failed military coup, a lawmaker from the main opposition party said the state of emergency created "a way of ruling that paves the way for abuse".An international lawyers' group warned Turkey against using the state of emergency to subvert the rule of law and human rights, pointing to allegations of torture and ill-treatment of people held in the mass roundup.Announcing the state of emergency late on Wednesday, Erdogan said it would last at least three months and allow his government to take swift measures against supporters of the coup, in which 246 people were killed and hundreds wounded.It will permit the president and cabinet to bypass parliament in enacting new laws and to limit or suspend rights and freedoms as they deem necessary.For some Turks, the move raised fears of a return to the days of martial law after a 1980 military coup, or the height of a Kurdish insurgency in the 1990s when much of the largely Kurdish southeast was under a state of emergency declared by the previous government.About 60,000 soldiers, police, judges, civil servants and teachers have been suspended, detained or have been placed under investigation since the coup was put down.Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek, who previously worked on Wall Street and is seen as one of the most investor-friendly politicians in the ruling AK Party, took to television and Twitter in an attempt to calm nervous financial markets and dispel comparisons with the past."The state of emergency in Turkey won't include restrictions on movement, gatherings and free press etc. It isn't martial law of 1990s," he wrote on Twitter. "I'm confident Turkey will come out of this with much stronger democracy, better functioning market economy & enhanced investment climate."-MARKETS SCEPTICAL-Markets were less than confident. The lira currency was near a new record low on Thursday, while the main stock index was down 3.6 percent. The cost of insuring Turkish debt against default also surged.Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said the state of emergency was aimed at averting a possible second military coup. Another deputy prime minister, Numan Kurtulmus, was quoted by broadcaster NTV as saying Turkey would invoke its right to suspend its obligations temporarily under the European Convention on Human Rights.Turkey's Western allies have expressed solidarity with the government over the coup attempt but have also voiced alarm at the scale and swiftness of the response, urging it to adhere to democratic values.German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on Turkey to restrict the state of emergency to the shortest period that was absolutely necessary.The Geneva-based jurists group ICJ weighed in, with its secretary general, Wilder Taylor, saying in a statement: "There are human rights that can never be restricted even in a state of emergency.""The current allegations of torture and ill-treatment of detainees and arbitrary arrests already point to serious violations of human rights," he said, without giving details of the allegations.Officials in Ankara say former air force chief Akin Ozturk, who has appeared in detention with his face and arms bruised and one ear bandaged, was a co-leader of the coup. Turkish media have reported that he denied this to prosecutors and that he said he tried to prevent the attempted putsch.Some detained soldiers have been shown in photographs stripped to their underpants and handcuffed on the floors of police buses and a sports hall.Erdogan blames a network of followers of an exiled U.S.-based cleric, Fethullah Gulen, for the attempted coup in which soldiers commandeered fighter jets, military helicopters and tanks in a failed effort to overthrow the government.Ankara has said it will seek the extradition of Gulen, who has denounced the coup attempt and denied any involvement.The putsch and the purge that has followed have unsettled the country of 80 million, a NATO member bordering Syria, Iraq and Iran, and a Western ally in the fight against Islamic State.The state of emergency went into effect after it was published in the government's official gazette early on Thursday. It still needs to pass a vote in parliament although that is assured because of the AK Party's majority.-'THREAT AGAINST DEMOCRACY'-Erdogan announced the state of emergency in a live broadcast in front of his government ministers after a nearly five-hour meeting of the National Security Council."The aim of the declaration of the state of emergency is to be able to take fast and effective steps against this threat against democracy, the rule of law and rights and freedoms of our citizens," he said.Erdogan has said the sweep was not yet over and that he believed foreign countries might have been involved in the attempt to overthrow him.A nationalist opposition party supported Erdogan but other opposition politicians were uneasy. "Once you obtain this mandate, you create a way of ruling that paves the way for abuse," Sezgin Tanrikulu, a lawmaker with the secular Republican People's Party (CHP) told Reuters."The coup attempt was rebuffed with parliament and opposition support, and the government could have fought this with more measured methods."-TRAVEL BAN-Academics have been banned from travelling abroad in what an official said was a temporary measure to prevent the risk of alleged coup plotters at universities from fleeing. TRT state television said 95 academics had been removed from their posts at Istanbul University alone.Erdogan, an Islamist who has led Turkey as prime minister or president since 2003, has vowed to clean the "virus" responsible for the plot from all state institutions.Around a third of Turkey's roughly 360 serving generals have been detained, a second senior official said, with 99 charged pending trial and 14 more being held.The Defence Ministry is investigating all military judges and prosecutors, and has suspended 262 of them, NTV reported, while 900 police officers in the capital, Ankara, were also suspended on Wednesday. The purge also extended to civil servants in the environment and sports ministries.Authorities have also shut media outlets deemed to be supportive of Gulen, while more than 20,000 teachers and administrators have been suspended from the Education Ministry.Those moves follow the detention of more than 6,000 members of the armed forces and the suspension of close to 3,000 judges and prosecutors. About 8,000 police officers have also been removed.One of the ruling party's most senior figures, Mustafa Sentop, on Wednesday called for the restoration of the death penalty for crimes aimed at changing the constitutional order.(Additional reporting by Gareth Jones and Asli Kandemir; Writing by David Dolan, Editing by David Stamp and Timothy Heritage)
EZEKIEL 38:1-7
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:TOBOLSK)
4 And I (GOD) will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY) of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
WHOS URGING TURKEY TO STOP THE STATE OF EMERGENCY.GERMANY OF COURSE. LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS-GERMANY AND TURKEY WILL BE AGAINST ISRAEL IN WAR.NOT WITH THE WEST.
Germany urges swift end to state of emergency in Turkey-[Reuters]-By Andrea Shalal-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Thursday Turkey's crackdown on academics after a failed military coup did not appear to be in line with the country's laws, and urged Ankara to end a state of emergency as quickly as possible."Revoking the teaching credentials of university professors and preventing researchers from leaving the country - those are all measures that I cannot imagine are in accordance with the rule of law, and, more importantly, with the current laws in Turkey," Steinmeier told reporters."We continue to expect that Turkey will adhere to the rule of law and that it will lift the state of emergency after three months as planned," he said. "Everything else would exacerbate tensions inside Turkey and harm Turkey itself."Steinmeier's comments came ahead of a meeting Thursday of about 30 foreign and defense ministers at the State Department for an update on the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State militants.Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday imposed the first nationwide state of emergency since the 1980s, but his officials insisted there would be no return to the deep repression of the past.Steinmeier had issued a statement late on Wednesday in response to the declaration of emergency rule, urging the Turkish government to maintain both the rule of law and a sense of proportionality in its response to the coup attempt.Early on Thursday, Steinmeier told reporters he could not say if Turkey's state of emergency was an appropriate response to the attempted coup, since Germany had no independent data about how ingrained the coup supporters were in Turkish society.Germany had seen the brutality of coup supporters in video footage over the weekend but still urged Turkey to exercise restraint in its response, he said."Only provable involvement in illegal acts, not suspected political leanings, should trigger governmental action," Steinmeier said in a statement on Wednesday."It's also critical that the declaration of emergency be restricted to only the necessary duration and then be ended as quickly as possible," he said.Steinmeier said such an approach was in Turkey's interest, since anything else would tear the country apart and weaken Turkey both internally and externally.He discouraged Turkish authorities from fixating on theories that the coup was instigated from overseas."Turkey should process this politically and judicially. It doesn't help to blame dark powers overseas for what happened," he said.(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Tom Brown and Bernadette Baum)
Post-ISIL challenges come into focus as Canada attends Washington meeting-[The Canadian Press]-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
OTTAWA - With a military victory over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in sight, Canada and its allies are turning their attention to what comes next — keeping Iraq together and stopping the spread of terror.Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan were in Washington on Wednesday, where they and representatives from dozens of other countries heard that the fight against ISIL was going better than expected. A second day of meetings is scheduled for Thursday.U.S. officials said the militant group's forces had squeezed into the Iraqi city of Mosul and its Syrian stronghold, Raqqa. Preparations are currently underway to liberate Mosul, and while the effort isn't expected to be easy, success would eliminate the last real vestige of ISIL presence in Iraq.Sajjan, who said Canada will deploy up to 60 military personnel to a hospital in northern Iraq, wouldn't say how long he expects the fighting to last. But he did describe the pending battles for Mosul and Raqqa as the "final push" in the military campaign."We also need to keep in mind that even though Daesh will be defeated in that region, we want to make sure that the next step is also looked at," he said, using another name for ISIL. "That we look at the political situation. That we have political stability."Religious and ethnic divisions are not new to Iraq, but they did contribute to ISIL's rise as many Sunni Muslims grew angry at how the Shia-dominated government in Baghdad was treating them. Growing Kurdish aspirations for independence in the north have only made matters worse."As we look at defeating Daesh right now," Sajjan said, "we need to make sure the political stability is there so that we can help Iraq build a positive future so that a problem like this is not created again."U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry emphasized the same message following a meeting in which the international community pledged more than $2 billion in immediate aid and long-term assistance for Iraq. Canada promised up to $200 million in loans through the World Bank for economic reforms."Coming together as we are here is really an effort to support the aspirations and the hopes of the Iraqi people and, unequivocally, to also address the security concerns in each and every one of our countries," Kerry said. "If we do not succeed in Iraq, none of our countries will be safer."Yet underscoring the divisions in Iraq, a top Kurdish official complained Wednesday on Twitter about the "travesty" of Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq not being invited to the anti-ISIL meeting despite its role in fighting the militant group.The other challenge is halting the spread of terrorism and radical ideology. Speaking to The Canadian Press, Dion said wiping out ISIL's so-called caliphate will help eliminate much of the group's legitimacy and drawing power."But you have what we may call an ideology for people who think they will go to heaven if they kill people who don't share their beliefs," he said. "And this ideology is something we need to fight, with different tools though."Dion emphasized improved intelligence and police services, as well as de-radicalization efforts as key for fighting back against what he described as an ideology that is "conquering minds."— Follow @leeberthiaume on Twitter.
Brazil arrests group plotting 'acts of terrorism' before Olympics: source-[By Lisandra Paraguassu]-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's federal police on Thursday arrested members of a group that was preparing "acts of terrorism," a justice ministry source told Reuters, just over two weeks before the Olympics start in Rio de Janeiro.News site Globonews reported that the members of the group were linked to Islamic State (IS). It was not possible to immediately confirm this.It was unclear where the operation was taking place or what the specifics of the operation were. Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes was due to hold a news conference on the operation.Brazil's intelligence agency said on Tuesday it was investigating all threats to the Rio Olympics, which start on Aug. 5, after a presumed Brazilian Islamist group pledged allegiance to IS.The SITE Intelligence Group that monitors the internet reported the previously unknown group calling itself "Ansar al-Khilafah Brazil" said on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday that it followed IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and had promoted IS propaganda in Arabic, English and Portuguese.Brazilian authorities stepped up security measures following the truck massacre in Nice, France last week, planning security cordons, additional roadblocks and the frisking of visitors in Rio de Janeiro for the Olympics.(Writing by Stephen Eisenhammer; Editing by Paulo Prada, Daniel Flynn and Meredith Mazzilli)
Libya's U.N.-backed government condemns France for not coordinating military presence-[Reuters]-By Ahmed Elumami-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's U.N.-backed unity government has said that France did not coordinate with it over the presence of French troops in Libya and that it would not compromise on its sovereignty after France announced the deaths of three of its soldiers there.Special forces teams from countries including France, Britain and the United States are on the ground in western and eastern Libya to fight Islamist militants.The French have been working alongside forces loyal to eastern Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar who have been battling Islamist militants and other opponents in Benghazi and elsewhere in the east. But Haftar has rejected the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, which is backed by major Western powers - including France.The GNA's Presidential Council said in a statement released late on Wednesday that it had asked France for an explanation after President Francois Hollande announced the soldiers' deaths during "dangerous intelligence operations"."The Presidential Council expresses its deep discontent at the French presence in eastern Libya without coordination with the Council, which was declared by the government of France," said the statement from the unity government.There could be "no compromise" over Libyan sovereignty, the council said in the statement.Hollande called the helicopter crash an accident, but Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB), an Islamist-leaning armed group fighting against forces loyal to Haftar, claimed it had shot the helicopter down. A military spokesman from Haftar's forces in eastern Libya said the French had died when their helicopter came down south of Benghazi on Sunday.The GNA is meant to replace two competing governments that were set up in Tripoli and the east in 2014, both backed by rival alliances of armed groups. But the GNA has acted cautiously and has so far failed to win formal endorsement from the east.News of the French deaths brought divisions to the surface, with demonstrations against the French presence on Wednesday in the western city of Misrata and in Tripoli. Some of the demonstrators were people displaced from Benghazi by Haftar's campaign.Libya's Grand Mufti Sadiq Ghoryani, a senior cleric who commands some respect in western Libya and has openly backed the BDB, described the French presence as an "invasion", which he called on all Libyans to resist.Western powers are hoping the GNA can end the turmoil and conflict that developed after Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in an uprising five years ago.They have said they are ready to help Libya tackle the threat from Islamic State, but the GNA says any assistance must follow its own request.(Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Hugh Lawson)
Black Lives Matter rally draws crowd at Manitoba Legislature-[CBC]-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
About 500 people attended a Black Lives Matter rally at the steps of the Manitoba Legislature in Winnipeg Wednesday night.Alexa Potashnik, head organizer for grassroots group Black Space in Winnipeg, helped put on the event. She formed the group in March following deadly incidents involving police and black Americans.There have been several other prominent fatal interactions between authorities and black men in the U.S. since then, which further underscored the need to bring attention to problems facing Winnipeg's black community, Potashnik said."Police brutality and institutionalized systemic racism is a real thing, and it doesn't stop at the Canada-U.S. border," she said."If anything, we deal with it here in a different way. Our racism is not treated so much directly with a gun, you're greeted with a smile. It's more polite, it's indirect."Shondell Babb spoke to the crowd at the event. She said while she has never been profiled by police in Winnipeg, that doesn't mean others haven't had intimidating encounters with officers."In the last three days I have heard about three horrible stories of men right here in Winnipeg that got profiled, one of them was a total nightmare," Babb said.Hearing those stories motivated Babb to show her support for the community by showing up at the rally and performing spoken word poetry."I didn't even know, and they [black men] carry this around with them," Babb said. "People don't realize or they think because it's Canada, it's Winnipeg.... It's not just a U.S. thing or a Canada thing, it's very real in Winnipeg as well."Potashnik added that while the systemic racism facing Manitoba's Indigenous population has thankfully become more widely acknowledged in recent years, the less blatant forms of discrimination facing blacks in the city also need to be brought to the fore."Often times with the Afro-Canadian narrative in Canada, we're swept under other issues, we're swept under this idealism of mosaic Canada, which we might be, but we're still an anti-black society," she said.Organizers said they were happy with the turnout at the rally and may hold another Black Lives Matter event in the future.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS-10 WORLD REGIONS/TRADE BLOCS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS-10 WORLD DIVISION WORLD GOVERNMENT) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(EITHER THE EUROPEAN UNION DICTATOR BOOTS 3 COUNTRIES FROM THE EU OR THE DICTATOR TAKES OVER THE WORLD ECONOMY BY CONTROLLING 3 WORLD TRADE BLOCS)
THE ECB WILL CONTINUE TO CONSIDER BAIL OUT THE BANKS WITH HELICOPTER CASH IF THEY GET IN TROUBLE.DRAGHI.
ECB ready to help eurozone further if Brexit hurts economy-[The Canadian Press]-David McHugh, The Associated Press-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
FRANKFURT - The European Central Bank says it's ready to give the eurozone a further dose of stimulus if Britain's vote to leave the European Union starts to weigh on the region's economy.But its president, Mario Draghi, stressed Thursday that the bank would need more time to monitor the situation and refrained from any clearer indications of what would push its hand.Britain's unprecedented vote to leave the EU could hurt trade in the region and weigh on business confidence as it could take years to establish new trade relations. While it's still early to tell what the full effect of the vote will be, many businesses in Europe are expressing concern.At its first meeting since the June 23 vote, the ECB decided to leave its key interest rates on hold at record lows. But at a subsequent news conference, Draghi said the central bank had the "readiness, willingness, ability" to help the eurozone economy."Over the coming months, when we have more information, including new staff projections, we will be in a better position to reassess the underlying macroeconomic conditions," he said.Analysts say the ECB could opt later this year — in the fall or winter — to extend its bond-buying stimulus program past its expiry date of March 2017. Under the program, the ECB currently buys 80 billion euros ($88 billion) in bonds a month. The step pumps newly created money into the banking system. The hope is that will increase lending and raise inflation to levels more consistent with steady growth.That program is ongoing and was stepped up as recently as March, meaning the ECB has not yet had a chance to see the full impact of the stimulus.Beyond the bond-buying, the central bank has lowered its benchmark interest rate for lending to banks is zero. And it has imposed a negative rate on deposits left with it by commercial banks of 0.4 per cent, a penalty intended to push them to lend the money.Europe is enjoying a modest economic recovery but inflation of 0.1 per cent is abnormally low and unemployment is falling too slowly to make people in countries such as Spain and Greece feel good about the economy.
Merkel backs May on extra time for EU exit talks By Eszter Zalan-JULY 21,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:27-Two of Europe’s most powerful women met in Berlin on Wednesday (20 July) for a first discussion on how and when the UK should start the painful process of leaving the EU.Despite earlier calls to trigger the article 50 exit procedure in the EU treaty, German chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday backed the UK’s new prime minister, Theresa May’s, plan to start official discussions only next year.“I find it absolutely understandable that there is a certain amount of time needed,” Merkel said at their joint press conference in the German capital.“No one wants this to be up in the air. I don’t think British citizens do, nor do EU member states. But we all have an interest in this matter being carefully prepared, positions being clearly defined and delineated,” she said.She added that it is in everybody’s interests for the UK to give clear details on its negotiating position and its views on future EU relations.May said that she wanted discussions to take place in a constructive spirit in order “to make this a sensible and orderly departure.”She also said that while Brexit meant the UK would leave the EU, it did not mean that Britain would disengage from its allies.“We are not walking away from European friends, and Germany will remain a vital partner, and special friend for us,” May said at the press conference.May and Merkel are both down to earth politicians with a no-nonsense style. They are also both daughters of preachers and very close in age and seem to have gotten on well in Berlin.At one point in the press conference, May said: “We have two women here who have got on and had a very constructive discussion. Two women who, if I may say so, get on with the job and want to deliver the best results for the people of the UK and the people of Germany.”Merkel responded: “Exactly. I can only subscribe to that.”May will have a tougher time in Paris, where she travels on Thursday.French president Francois Hollande has urged May to invoke article 50 as soon as possible.Meanwhile, EU officials are trying to set up guidelines and common rules for the article 50 provisions, so that there are no misunderstandings during the official Brexit talks about the procedure, the Financial Times reported.This could mean agreeing to a timetable, and an agreement on whether there would be parallel discussions on a future trade deal.
MEPs explore new ways to monitor EU commissioners By Aleksandra Eriksson-JULY 21,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 11:23-The European Parliament likes to give a hard time to commissioner candidates.It makes them pass a three-hour grilling that examines their political views, skills and financial interests before they can take up their seat at the Berlaymont, the European Commission headquarters.But MEPs lack any similar process to make sure that commissioners stick to their duties, as set out in the commission’s code of conduct, after they start work.The parliament’s largest group, the centre-right EPP, also is not keen too create a new procedure that would change the situation in a case linked to one of its own.EU climate change boss Miguel Arias Canete stirred debate when he was first nominated for the job in 2014 because he owned shares in two oil companies that he sold to his brother-in-law a few days before his parliament hearing.The criticism on conflict of interest has continued to dog his work.More recently, he was also put in the spot light of the Panama Papers leak on tax dodging when his wife Micaela Domecq Solis-Beaumont, was named as the owner of an offshore firm that Canete never mentioned in his EU financial declaration.The far-left GUE/NGL group, at the request of Spanish members from the Podemos party, has tried to summon Canete to the plenary to give explanations.-Closed meeting-But European Parliament (EP) group leaders and EP boss Martin Schulz ruled out holding a public grilling. Instead, Schulz asked the legal affairs committee [Juri] to question Canete for one hour behind closed doors.The meeting took place on 12 July and failed to satisfy Canete’s critics.He denied the allegations against him and said he had behaved in both a legal and moral way, according to EUobserver sources said.MEPs from different political groups who attended the meeting said they could neither confirm he had breached the code of conduct, nor clear his name, because they weren’t given the means to properly screen him.The legal committee’s coordinators agreed that each group could file beforehand three written questions that Canete would answer orally.Only selected MEPs from the legal committee were allowed to participate in the hearing. There was limited time for follow-up questions, and no record was take of the commissioner’s answers.Socialist MEP Evelyn Regner told this website Canete side-stepped her question on whether there were any investigations - either by national authorities or the European anti-fraud office, Olaf - going on against him.Green MEP Heidi Hautala added that the hearing had allowed to confirm that Canete’s wife still owned the shell company, which still didn’t figure in the commissioner’s declaration - he claimed this isn’t necessary, as the company is dormant.-No official accusations-Tadeusz Zwiefka, who is the EPP coordinator in the committee, warned against making too much of the hearing, however.”There are no official accusations against the commissioner. The fact that we held a hearing doesn’t mean there is anything to get excited about. The parliament invited Mr Canete to come over, so he did,” Zwiefka told EUobserver.Christofer Fjellner, another EPP member, said green and left-wing politicians had made Canete into a symbol that was convenient for them to attack.”I don’t think there is anything he can do to convince them,” he told this website.The EPP does not want to put in place a framework that would allow to scrutinise commissioners in a more neutral way, either.The group successfully stopped Juri coordinators from issuing a joint recommendation to the conference of presidents on how such a mechanism could look like.Each political faction instead presented individual recommendations, which were seen by EUobserver.Some groups - such as GUE/NGL and Greens - still want a plenary debate and resolution.Socialists ruled out a plenary hearing, but would like to cooperate with Olaf on Canete’s case.-Panama option-Several groups also wanted him to be heard by the parliament’s investigative committee on money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion (Pana).Most political factions recommended that some kind of mechanism is worked out and the code of conduct for commissioners is revised. But the EPP has recommended closing the file, and was supported by the conservative ECR.Which of ideas will be implemented was left hanging in the air pending the parliament’s summer recess. Most MEPs left Brussels before the deadline for submitting recommendations, which expired last Friday (15 July).Canete's office told EUobserver that it is not aware of any investigations against the commissioner and that his declaration is duly fulfilled."The conference of presidents [EP political chiefs] considered that since some allegations had been made on the national press, the parliament could invite the commissioner and hear him. The commissioner accepted the invitation as he always does with the parliament," a spokesperson said.
More 'lone wolf' attacks expected, says Germany By Nikolaj Nielsen-JULY 21,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:29-Germany has warned that more violent attacks by militant individuals in the name of radical Islam are likely to take place in Europe.On Wednesday (20 July), German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere said the threat of terrorism remained “serious” in all EU states."Like several EU countries, like the whole EU, Germany is also in the target area of international terrorism ... the situation is serious," he said, reports Reuters.His warning followed an axe and knife assault by a 17-year old Afghan asylum seeker against train passengers in Germany on Monday.The minor is said to have carried out the non-lethal attack on behalf of the Islamic State (IS). He was shot dead on the scene by police.A German government spokesperson was quoted by Reuters saying that a "cruel attack carried out by an individual can't discredit a group of many thousands."The issue is sensitive due to Germany's open-door policy for asylum seekers, amid fears that the latest attack could inflame anti-refugee sentiment.Over 1 million people fleeing war in places like Syria entered the country last year.Two of the attackers in the Paris shootings on 13 November had entered Greece as refugees, but the EU police agency, Europol, in a report earlier this week noted there is no evidence that terrorists "systematically" use the flow of refugees to infiltrate Europe.Instead, it said "a real and imminent danger" is that Islamic extremist recruiters may attempt to radicalise vulnerable young Syrian refugees after they settled in the EU.So-called lone wolves, who have had no direct contact with established terrorist groups but who carry out attacks in their name also remained a major security risk, Europol said.The Afghan teenager in Germany appeared to fit this profile, said De Maiziere.Another 84 people were killed and over 300 injured in Nice on Bastille Day after Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 31-year old man of Tunisian origin, drove a lorry through a crowded boardwalk.Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had moved to France in 2005 and had shown no previous interest in religious ideology prior to the attack.The lone wolf threat is being exploited both by IS and by the al-Qaeda extremist group.The Europol report said Internet propaganda was being used to radicalise people and to incite them to carry out attacks in their home countries."IS continues to use their media activities to encourage aspiring terrorists to conduct lone-actor attacks," it said.Last year, IS spokesperson Abu Muhammad al-Adnani called upon followers to launch attacks against “crusaders" in their home countries.IS leader Abudkar al-Baghadadi made similar comments last May.The killings are not always linked back to attacks carried out in the name of a radical Islam.One of the most notorious lone wolves is Anders Behring Breivik, a Norwegian far-right sympathiser, who shot dead 69 people in 2011. He also carried out a bomb attack that killed another eight people.
Battered Trump faces test in convention finale-After confab that showcased party divisions and campaign blunders, GOP candidate looks to reboot with ‘America First’ theme-By Andrew BEATTY July 21, 2016, 4:13 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
CLEVELAND, Ohio (AFP) — Donald Trump takes center stage to deliver the speech of his political life Thursday, trying to salvage a fractious Republican convention that saw a key rival showered in boos for withholding his endorsement.Appearing before delegates, the most unorthodox and controversial presidential contender in modern times will accept the nomination of a party that has guided more candidates to the Oval Office than any other.But instead of sounding the starting gun on the general election and placing his candidacy in the sweep of American history, Trump faces a much more basic task.Before a television audience of tens of millions, the bombastic billionaire will have to prove to the American people that he is worthy of the White House and capable of being commander-in-chief.The four day-nominating convention, which ends in Cleveland on Thursday, has been plagued with deep party divisions and staggering campaign blunders.‘Vote your conscience’-What began on Monday with anti-Trump delegates voicing misgivings on the convention floor culminated in a moment of high political drama on the eve of Trump’s speech.Trump’s primary rival Ted Cruz threw the convention into chaos by provocatively telling delegates to “vote your conscience” in November.Ovations and adulations for the conservative Texas senator turned to jeers and boos as it became clear he had not come to Cleveland to endorse the party nominee.“We deserve leaders who stand for principle, who unite us all behind shared values, who cast aside anger for love,” said Cruz, effectively listing criticisms often leveled at Trump.In another dramatic twist, Trump decided to step on Cruz’s moment in the sun by entering the arena before the Texan had finished speaking.Cruz — who is widely expected to run in 2020 should Trump lose to Hillary Clinton — was forced to wave and smile before completing his remarks and exiting to more jeers.“Wow, Ted Cruz got booed off the stage, didn’t honor the pledge!” Trump tweeted later, referring to a pledge by Republican primary candidates to support whoever won the party’s nomination.The two men fought a bitter and at times deeply personal battle for the nomination, in which Trump mocked Cruz’s wife and tarred his rival with a nasty nickname: “Lyin’ Ted.”-Scandal and strife-Between the uncharacteristic public spasms of Republican disunity came the embarrassing revelation that a prime-time speech by Trump’s wife Melania had plagiarized remarks made by First Lady Michelle Obama.This was not how the convention was meant to go.In naming Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate, Trump had tried to smooth difficult relations with conservatives and unite the party.Trump’s caustic rhetoric on race, women and Islam had alienated many Republicans, to say nothing of swing voters.Pence did his bit, wooing the crowd with self-deprecating jokes and a clear conservative message in an acceptance speech.Trump, he joked, is “a man known for a large personality, a colorful style and lots of charisma and I guess he was just looking for some balance on the ticket.”The 57-year-old said he “joined this campaign in a heartbeat” because Republicans nominated Trump, a man “who never quits, who never backs down.”Throughout the convention Trump’s family members have also tried to soften his brash public image.Meanwhile, a string of Republican speakers savaged his Democratic opponent, describing Clinton as a liar who should be jailed.Trump’s roller-coaster campaign defeated 16 rivals and steamrolled stubborn party opposition after being written off as a joke, the real estate tycoon having never held elected office.His campaign defied political norms — embracing racially inflammatory policies, offending key voting blocs, eschewing big-spending advertising campaigns and relying on saturated media coverage above campaign structure.In an interview with the New York Times Wednesday, he raised anew questions about whether, as president, he would come to a NATO ally’s defense if it were attacked, saying it would depend “if they fulfill their commitments to us.”Trump told the Times he would press the theme of “America First” in his acceptance speech Thursday night.Polls following the convention will show whether Trump can continue to defy political gravity.Many candidates have seen a bump in the polls following the party convention.Democrats, who will hold their own convention from Monday, will do their utmost to make sure Trump enjoys no post-nomination bounce.Clinton is expected to steal the limelight on Friday or Saturday by announcing her vice presidential running mate.
Trump says he might not protect NATO countries against Russia-GOP candidate questions US obligation to Baltic states if they don’t give anything in return; backs Turkish crackdown after coup attempt-By AFP July 21, 2016, 11:21 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
CLEVELAND — Donald Trump has raised new questions about his commitment to the defense of NATO allies on the eve of his acceptance of the Republican presidential nomination, The New York Times reported.In an interview with the newspaper on Wednesday, Trump also expressed little willingness to speak out against purges or civil rights crackdowns by authoritarian allies like Turkey, the Times said.“I don’t think we have the right to lecture,” the Times quoted him as saying during the 45-minute interview in a downtown Cleveland hotel suite.“Look at what is happening in our country,” he said. “How are we going to lecture when people are shooting policemen in cold blood?”The Times said that Trump re-emphasized the hardline nationalist approach that he has taken during his campaign, describing how he would force allies to shoulder defense costs that the United States has borne for decades.Asked about Russian activities that have alarmed the Baltics, NATO’s newest members, Trump said that if Russia attacked them, he would decide whether to come to their aid only after reviewing whether those nations “have fulfilled their obligations to us.”“If they fulfill their obligations to us, the answer is yes,” he said.A cornerstone of the 28-member trans-Atlantic alliance is its Article 5 commitment that an attack on one member state is an attack on all, a pledge invoked after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.Presidents of Baltic states Estonia and Lithuania were quick to fire back Thursday.Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves insisted on Twitter that his nation of 1.3 million people bordering Russia was meeting all its NATO spending commitments.“Estonia is 1 of 5 NATO allies in Europe to meet its 2 percent defense expenditures commitment,” he said, adding Estonians had “fought, with no caveats” in NATO operations in Afghanistan.“We are equally committed to all our NATO allies, regardless of who they may be. That’s what makes them allies,” Ilves said.Sharp-tongued Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite told reporters in Vilnius “it’s not necessary to interpret the words of presidential candidate Mr. Trump.”“We know the US will always be our most important partner,” she said, adding that Lithuania would meet NATO spending obligations by 2018.Trump, who said he would press the theme of “America First” at his address Thursday night to the Republican National Convention, said allies would adjust to his approach.“I would prefer to be able to continue” existing agreements, he told the Times, but only if allies stop taking advantage of an era of American largesse that was no longer affordable.The remarks also drew fire from presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign, which said they showed Trump “is temperamentally unfit and fundamentally unprepared to be our commander-in-chief.”“It is fair to assume that Vladimir Putin is rooting for a Trump presidency,” said Clinton foreign policy adviser Jake Sullivan.
Republican Cruz says he's not Trump's 'servile puppy dog'-[Reuters]-By Emily Stephenson and Ginger Gibson-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
CLEVELAND (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Ted Cruz staunchly defended his decision not to endorse Donald Trump, saying on Thursday he was not the Republican presidential candidate's "servile puppy dog" in a damaging rift at the party's convention ahead of the Nov. 8 election.Cruz, who came in second to Trump in the race for the Republican nomination after a bitter and personal campaign, was booed by delegates at the gathering in Cleveland on Wednesday night when he gave a speech but did not endorse Trump.The conservative senator from Texas stood his ground on Thursday. He refused to say whether he would vote for Trump,who had maligned Cruz's wife for her physical appearance and had suggested that his father was linked to late President John F. Kennedy's assassin."I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father," he told a meeting of the Texas delegation in Cleveland.Republican candidates had pledged during the primary process to support the party's eventual nominee."That pledge was not a blanket commitment that if you go and slander and attack Heidi that I’m going to nonetheless come like a servile puppy dog and say ‘thank you very much for maligning my wife,’” Cruz said. He did say he would not vote for the Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton.The dispute was the latest misstep at the four-day party meeting, which was meant to be an occasion showing Republicans rallying behind Trump, a New York businessman who has never been elected to public office but who saw off 16 rivals in the primary contests.Trump, well known to Americans as a reality TV star, has upset many in the Republican establishment with his free-wheeling style, frequent insults to rivals and controversial policy proposals such as imposing a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country and building a wall along the border with Mexico.Hoping to close out the conference on a high note, Trump was due to give a prime-time speech on Thursday evening.The convention began on Monday but the highlight of the first day, a speech by Trump's wife, Melania, caused controversy because she used some lines that were similar to passages in an address by first lady Michelle Obama in 2008.Susan Hutchison, chair of the Washington delegation, said she confronted Cruz after his speech and called him a "traitor to the party."New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a close Trump adviser who was also a presidential rival, criticized Cruz's address."I just think it was an awful performance," Christie told MSNBC.Trump's campaign manager, Paul Manafort, sought to put the Cruz appearance in a positive light, telling reporters on Thursday that the booing of Cruz increased party unity, "in a backhanded way."Cruz was still one of the most talked about topics on social media, capturing attention ahead of Trump's big speech.On Google, "ted cruz speech" was the top trending query regarding the Republican National Convention and on Twitter, about 56 tweets mentioning his official Twitter handle @tedcruz were posted every minute.The overall tone of the tweets was more positive than negative, at a ratio of about 2.5 to 1, according to social media analytics firm Zoomph.(Additional reporting by Amy Tennery and Angela Moon; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Frances Kerry)
HOMOSEXUALS.(SODOMITE RAINBOW GROUPERS)
LEVITICUS 20:13
13 If a man also lie with mankind,(ANOTHER MAN) as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
LEVITICUS 18:22
22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind,(ANOTHER MAN) as with womankind: it is abomination.
2 TIMOTHY 3:3
3 Without natural affection,(HOMOSEXUALS) trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
1 CORINTHIANS 6:9,
9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,(HARDENED SODOMITE RAINBOW GROUPERRS) nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
PSALMS 14:1
1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
GOD CREATED THEM MALE AND FEMALE IN MARRIAGE
GENESIS 1:27-28
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply,(HAVE LOTS OF CHILDREN) and replenish the earth,(HOMOSEXUALS CAN NOT REPLENISH THE EARTH WITH CHILDREN)(BY HAVING SEX WITH EACH OTHER) and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
GENESIS 2:21-24
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
MATTHEW 19:4-6
4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Jerusalem’s gay pride parade kicks off under heavy security-Much of downtown closed off to traffic, pedestrians; mayor skips event but commemorates teen slain at last year’s march-By Luke Tress and Stuart Winer July 21, 2016, 5:17 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The fifteenth annual Jerusalem gay pride parade was set to begin marching through downtown Jerusalem under heavy security Thursday afternoon, a year after a religious extremist knifed a teenager to death and wounded six others at 2015’s march.Ten thousand people were on hand to march under the banner of LGBT pride, but also under the watchful eye of some 2,000 police on hand to secure the highly charged march.Parade-goers began congregating at Liberty Bell Park from 4:15 p.m., with the march scheduled to begin at 5:45, heading down King George and Keren Hayesod streets, turning onto Meir Shaham, Rabbi Akiva and Hillel streets, and concluding at Independence Park.Organizers have asked participants to bring flowers to place at the site on Keren Hayesod Street where 16-year-old Shira Banki was killed by Yishai Schlissel, who is serving a life sentence for her murder.Much of downtown Jerusalem was closed off to vehicular traffic on Thursday afternoon, and, amid the heightened security, even pedestrians complained that police prevented them from crossing some streets.A Times of Israel reporter saw only one entrance to the parade, where attendees were assembled to undergo two security checks. There were many police and medics on hand. Nine people were detained by police on suspicion that they intended to disrupt the event, Channel 2 reported.Earlier in the day, police said that Schlissel was arrested in prison and accused of plotting together with his brother Michael Schlissel to carry out an attack at this year’s event.Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, who announced earlier in the week that he would not attend the event in order not to offend religious residents of his city, said Thursday that he understands the resentment some felt over his decision, and called for the day to be seen as a tribute to freedom of expression and against incitement.Hours before the main event, Barkat joined Jerusalem Region Police commander Yarom Halevi at a memorial to Banki, who was stabbed to death at last year’s pride event, and laid a flower at the site, which is along the planned route of the march later in the day.“I understand the pain and the criticism of those who don’t agree with my decision not to participate in the parade,” he said. “I chose a different way to honor the memory of Shira Banki, a sweet young girl who was murdered because of hatred.”“I wish, with all my heart, that on this day we will know how to all unite against any show of incitement, violence, and for the right to freedom of expression of every person and community in Israel, regardless of religion, race, or gender,” he said.Barkat on Wednesday told the Yedioth Ahronoth daily that while he supported the LGBT community’s freedom of expression, he could not participate.“It is their right to march,” he told the popular tabloid. “The city of Jerusalem, myself and the police will do everything possible to allow them to enjoy that right. But they must know that it offends others. Tolerance means not only permitting people to march but also to find the way for them to do so without hurting the sensibilities or the feelings of others.”The comments set off an immediate firestorm, with at least one politician accusing Barkat of siding with Yishai Schlissel. Schlissel’s attack at the pride parade came just weeks after the ultra-Orthodox extremist was let out of prison, where he had served a 10-year sentence for a similar — albeit nonfatal — attack at the 2005 pride parade in which he stabbed three people.Police announced Tuesday they would beef up security around the annual march through central Jerusalem and perform security checks on all participants, measures intended to prevent a recurrence of the violence that marred 2015’s parade.Noam Eyal, a 31-year-old Jerusalem resident who works with the nonprofit Movement for Quality Government in Israel, was stabbed in the upper back at the parade last year. He said he did not know Banki but was walking next to her during the attack.“It was deep but it missed all the important stuff, no vital organs,” he told The Times of Israel. “We didn’t know how severe it was until I was in the ambulance because it was very deep.”He has been heavily involved in the LGBT community since, attending nearly every pride parade in Israel, and helped organize this year’s Jerusalem event.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Montague businessman offering free Pride signs after town refuses to fly flag-[CBC]-July 21, 2016-YAHOONEWS
An Island sign manufacturer is offering 30 free Pride signs to Montague, P.E.I., area residents and businesses.Mike Savidant, general manager of Sign Craft lives in the Montague area, was upset to hear that the town of Montague won't be flying a rainbow Pride flag next week."All these communities are celebrating pride week next week, for one of the largest towns in P.E.I. not to be celebrating it just seems ludicrous to me."-Policy disappointing-The town of Montague has a policy not to fly any flags. Town officials say the Pride flag is no exception, a decision Savidant said is behind the times."It just seemed to bother me, the apparent closed-mindedness of the town. It almost seems like their reaction to not acknowledge Pride Week means that it doesn't exist, and I just thought that wasn't fair."On Wednesday morning, Savidant got to work designing a Pride sign just for Montague. He's offering the first 30 signs for free. After that, anyone who wants one can order one for $20 plus tax. But Savidant says it's not about the money."It's just about raising awareness and starting the conversation and letting the town council of Montague know just because you don't want to acknowledge something, doesn't mean it doesn't exist."-Positive response-Savidant said he's already received a tremendous response from community members asking for signs and all the feedback he's received so far as been positive.The signs will be available for pick-up at The Juice Box, a cafe in Montague owned by Jana Furness. She hopes that making Pride signs available will help foster acceptance and support in her community."I just did what I thought was right for the community and the organization," said Furness.
Leading rabbis champion peer who called LGBTs ‘deviants’-In letter of support for Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, 300 nationalist-Orthodox leaders say homosexuality ‘contravenes human morality’-By Elie Leshem July 21, 2016, 4:54 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
On the eve of a loaded Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem, some 300 religious Zionist rabbis signed a letter expressing support for a yeshiva head who called LGBT people “deviants” devoid of “the normalcy of life.”“There is no room for legitimizing phenomena and behaviors that seek to glorify a way of life that contravenes human morality and the way of the Torah,” the signatories, including top educators and city rabbis, wrote in the letter, published Wednesday. “Our love for every Jew, and the obligation to treat every human being with respect, cannot be a pretext for distorting the halachic truth or ‘cutting corners’ when it comes to forbidden acts.”They were responding to an outcry generated by Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, a co-head of a prestigious pre-army religious academy in the West Bank, who was filmed last week saying in a speech that “under the framework of pluralism, soldiers and officers are taught to refer to [LGBT people] as ‘proud,’ but I don’t dare call them that… ‘Deviants’ is what I call them.”He added, “There is a crazy movement of people who have simply lost the normalcy of life. This group is making the state crazy and is infiltrating the army with all its might. Nobody dares to open his mouth or make a sound against them. In the army training camp they gave lectures on deviancy.”In their letter, the rabbis — among whom were Aryeh Stern and Shmuel Eliyahu, the chief rabbis of Jerusalem and Safed, respectively; and Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, the influential head of the Ateret Yerushalayim yeshiva – said that they wished to “voice support for every rabbi who expresses his halachic and moral opinion… without pandering or apology.”They said that they represented a “silent majority, both religious and secular,” in Israel that is opposed to the LGBT lifestyle and activism.Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who heads the religious-nationalist Jewish Home party, was one of the Orthodox public figures who condemned Levinstein’s remarks. “This is not the way of religious Zionism,” he said this week. “Jewish law was meant to establish what is forbidden and what is permitted. It was not meant to be a divisive tool to mark people and communities. You cannot call an entire community derogatory names and hide behind [Jewish law].”One of the organizers of the letter came out against Bennett Wednesday, and accused him of betraying his constituency, telling the Ynet news site, “We find it hard to grasp how a political person, talented as he may be, takes it upon himself to repudiate the rabbis who for years shaped religious Zionism.”Rabbi Benny Lau, a prominent religious-Zionist rabbi whose cousin David Lau is the chief rabbi of Israel, denounced Levinstein earlier this week.“Who gave you permission to insult them? In the name of which Torah do you act like this?” he demanded in a video uploaded to Facebook.Lau spoke of an incident two years ago when Levinstein addressed students at Jerusalem’s Himmelfarb boys’ high school and mockingly compared gay people to animals. Lau recounted that “there was a student there at the back who ran out of the hall at the moment that you told your terrible joke. He intended to kill himself. They prevented him. One year ago… the same student said that he heard you making fun of him and he wanted to kill himself again.”The Israeli Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Association, known commonly as the Aguda, filed a police complaint against Levinstein for incitement.The rabbis’ letter is sure to raise hackles among liberal Israelis, ahead of what promises to be an emotional Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem on Thursday afternoon. It will be the first in the capital since last year’s march, during which Yishai Schlissel, an ultra-Orthodox man, went on a stabbing spree, killing 16-year-old Shira Banki and wounding several others. Last week saw an outcry at the cancellation of Beersheba’s first-ever pride parade over threats of violence.Aviner, one of the letter’s signatories, and Rabbi Tzvi Tau, who heads the elite Har Hamor yeshiva in Jerusalem, on Wednesday came out against the parade, according to a report in the Orthodox news site Srugim.“‘Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: It is abomination,'” they said in a statement, quoting a verse in Leviticus that is often cited as evidence of God’s abhorrence of homosexuals. “We condemn the existence of an abomination parade in our holy city Jerusalem,” Aviner and Tau went on to say, adding that the parade was a “terrible desecration of God’s name.”Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
MK: Knesset dropped transgender rights bill due to Haredi pressure-Amir Ohana accuses his party of ‘caving’ to threats by ‘most homophobic minister,’ Health Minister Yaakov Litzman-By Times of Israel staff July 20, 2016, 2:44 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Likud MK Amir Ohana blasted fellow coalition lawmakers on Wednesday after a bill protecting transgender people from hate crimes was taken off the parliament’s agenda.The bill sought to add “gender identity” to the categories recognized in Israel’s criminal code as potential targets for hate crimes, a step that would have allowed prosecutors to seek more severe punishments for attacks targeting transgendered individuals.According to Ohana, coalition chairman MK David Bitan (Likud) removed the bill from Wednesday’s agenda after pressure from Health Minister Yaakov Litzman of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party.Calling Litzman “the most homophobic minister” in the political system, Ohana blasted Bitan for “caving, not for the first time, to interests that aren’t Likud’s, values that aren’t Likud’s.”“Don’t count me with the coalition today,” Ohana, Likud’s first openly gay MK, said in the plenum Wednesday. “Today I won’t vote with the coalition. This is a sad day for the coalition and the Knesset.”The bill was slated to come up for a preliminary vote in the plenum Wednesday, amid a series of scandals involving religious opposition to LGBT rights.Litzman and Bitan have not responded to media requests for comment.
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)
Violent storm peels roof off Winnipeg apartment building-[CBC]-July 20, 2016-YAHOONEWS
The roof of an apartment complex in Winnipeg was peeled off the building like a sardine can as a storm and violent winds forced their way through the city Wednesday night.Police and emergency crews were called to a building in the 2000 block of Sinclair Street at about 8:45 p.m.Insulation from the building was strewn across lawns and boulevards near Leila Avenue at the northeast edge of the Garden City neighbourhood. The underside of the roof appeared to be flipped up and facing the sky, and a large part of the roof could be seen dangling over the edge of the top of the building.'Heard a big bang'-Len Bakalinsky lives on the fourth floor of the building and said he heard a loud noise but couldn't figure out where it came from."I didn't know what was happening until I heard a big bang and then all hell broke loose after that," he said.Then, his phone rang."My neighbour next door called me and said, 'Look at all the water in my apartment.' We didn't get any," Bakalinsky said, adding several other neighbours have said their suites have also taken on water.Building still 'fully encapsulated'-District fire Chief Bruce Melnyk said he has never seen anything like it in his career. The initial call that came in was for a possible building collapse.Upon arrival, crews determined that while a portion of the roof had been torn off, the building itself was still structurally intact, Melnyk said.While from the ground it looked like the top of the building may have been left exposed to the elements, Melnyk said a "It's fully encapsulated still."A concrete slab remains in place across the roof, although shingles, plywood, tar and other materials were damaged.No one was was injured, but the north side of the building was evacuated for the night, Melnyk said. Tenants on the south side were allowed to stay in their suites.Thousands without power-The storm brought wind gusts that left thousands of homes and buildings in Winnipeg and across southern Manitoba without power.Two tornadoes reportedly touched down in southwest Manitoba and much of the south had been under extreme heat warnings throughout the day in the lead up to the storms.Though the storm that hit Winnipeg packed a punch, CBC Manitoba meteorologist John Sauder confirmed no tornadoes or funnel clouds breached the city limits.
