AT LEAST 30 OF A POSSIBLE 40 PEOPLE OR MORE INCLUDING SODOMITES KILLED IN OAKLAND CALIFORNIA FIRE.OFFICIALS SENSITIVE ABOUT TRANSGENERS NAMES WHO DIED IN FIRE.

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)

MH370 families want investigation to focus more on debris from plane-[Reuters]-By Aislinn Laing-YAHOONEWS-December 4, 2016

ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - Family members of those lost aboard a Malaysia Airlines flight that went missing in 2014 criticised Malaysian investigators on Sunday for not doing enough to find debris, which could give more clues about what happened.Flight MH370, carrying 239 passengers and crew, disappeared on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, sparking a search in the southern Indian Ocean that continues.Grace Nathan, who lost her mother, said families wanted authorities to focus more on finding debris from the plane. The search has so far been entirely funded by well-wishers and the families of the missing, she said."There should not be a situation where the relatives of people on the plane have to keep funding the search," she told Reuters in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar.Aslam Khan, one of the Malaysian investigators who arrived in Antananarivo on Sunday, said it was incorrect to suggest the inquiry was winding down.He said criticism of the investigation team for failing to collect the debris was "fair comment.""We are here now," he said. "Once we have had a physical examination of it (the debris) we will be in a position to say more."Seven representatives of the families are expected to meet investigators on Monday and see the investigators take custody of six pieces of debris that have washed up on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar over the past six months.A total of 33 pieces suspected to be from the plane have been found so far, including parts of the wings and tail, in La Reunion, Mozambique, South Africa, Mauritius and Tanzania.Three pieces have been confirmed by the Malaysian authorities as belonging to MH370, including a flaperon from the tail which they said showed the pilots were not in control of the plane when it crashed.But more suspected pieces remain with local authorities.“The fact that in six months they haven’t collected this debris reflects their lack of seriousness about the search,” said Nathan.Blaine Gibson, an American lawyer turned self-funded sleuth, has spent more than a year combing beaches across the region where the plane disappeared.He found part of a wing in Mozambique that authorities confirmed was probably from MH370 and more than 10 pieces of debris in Madagascar, including a seat back.The wreckage could reveal how the plane was downed, he said."They can test for traces of explosive or any sort of shrapnel, if it was a high-speed forceful impact, which is what it looks like because the pieces are small and shredded," he said.For the past two years, the search for the body of the plane has focussed on a deep sea area of more than 120,000 square kilometres (46,300 square miles) in the Indian Ocean.Ghislain Wattrelos, a Frenchman who lost his wife and two teenage children in the crash, said the families wanted more focus on debris."We are spending quite a big amount of money trying to find a plane (in the sea) where it is not," he said. "I don’t know why they are spending so much money doing this when it’s easier to try and find the debris.”"It’s been 1,000 days and we still have no clue what happened to my family."(Editing by Katharine Houreld and Susan Fenton)

Still grieving, French man seeks clues to Flight 370 mystery-[Associated Press]-CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA-YAHOONEWS-December 4, 2016

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) — A Frenchman whose wife and two of his three children were on a Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared in 2014 said Sunday that he was still trying to find out what happened to the aircraft partly as a way of dealing with the emotional cost of his loss.Ghislain Wattrelos joined half a dozen relatives of some of the 239 people aboard Flight 370 on a weeklong visit to Madagascar to ask coastal residents to look out for debris from the missing plane that may have washed up after drifting across the Indian Ocean. Wattrelos said he was frustrated over the failure of a high-tech, expensive search by governments to turn up any hint of why the plane apparently crashed in the ocean, and wanted to do something for his spouse and children."It's been 1,000 days and we still have no clue of what happened — what happened to my family," Wattrelos, a business executive, said at a hotel in Antananarivo, Madagascar's capital, where he and relatives from Malaysia and China planned their itinerary to areas where they believe plane debris may have come ashore."It's part of the recovery process I'm going through," he said.The relatives, who formed an association called Voice 370, are becoming increasingly anxious because Malaysia, Australia and China are close to completing a deep-sea sonar search, so far fruitless, of 120,000 square kilometers (46,000 square miles) off Australia's southwest coast in the Indian Ocean. The plane is believed to have crashed there after deviating from its flight path from Malaysia to Beijing on March 8, 2014.Officials say they will suspend operations if there is no new evidence that could help pinpoint the crash site, but relatives of the missing travelers believe the discovery of plane debris around Africa since last year is a good reason to widen the search.Pieces confirmed to have come from the missing Boeing 777 include a wing flap known as a flaperon that was found on Reunion Island last year, and another wing flap that washed ashore on an island off Tanzania. Blaine Gibson, an American wreckage hunter, found a piece of debris in Mozambique that officials say was almost certainly a horizontal stabilizer from a Flight 370 wing, and he has found possible plane remains in Madagascar."The reason that I'm so focused on Madagascar is that this is the only place where more than one piece of debris has been found on the same beach," said Gibson, who is accompanying the relatives on their travels in Madagascar. He said he had also found "personal effects" — including a shoe, a slipper, the remains of a leather purse and part of a computer case — but acknowledged uncertainty over their origin."No passports, no ID cards, no baggage tags. Not yet," Gibson said.Wattrelos said he was troubled that the official search hasn't focused more on debris around Africa, and that it could be too late to find such wreckage a year from now."I will stop searching when I have a definite answer," he said. He doesn't want his surviving son, who is in his early 20s, to get involved."He should do something else," Wattrelos said. "I need to show him that life still goes on, that life can still be beautiful."___Follow Christopher Torchia on Twitter at www.twitter.com/torchiachris

FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

Two dozen bodies found after California loft fire, more deaths expected-[Reuters]-By Rory Carroll-YAHOONEWS-December 4, 2016

OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) - Recovery teams have found 24 bodies in the charred ruins of an Oakland, California loft building after a fire broke out during a weekend dance party, and the death toll is expected to rise, authorities said on Sunday.Sergeant Ray Kelly, a spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, said two dozen bodies were located as authorities sifted through the debris-filled shell of the two-story building, which was used by an artists' collective.He told a press briefing that the death toll would likely rise in what fire officials called the deadliest blaze in the city's history. He said the names of the victims would be released "in the coming hours" after their families were notified.“In regards to the amount of people that are still missing, yes, it’s a significant number, Kelly said."We’ve given you a number of 24," he said, referring to the dead. "That number will go up.”Only 20 percent of the building had been searched in the past 12 hours, said Melinda Drayton, battalion chief at the Oakland Fire Department. She said the origin of the fire had yet to be determined and the cause was still unknown.The recovery operation had been delayed for hours until workers could enter safely. The roof had collapsed onto the second floor and in some spots, the second story had fallen onto the first.Firefighters have gone through the building searching the debris, “bucket by bucket," Drayton said .“It was quiet, it was heartbreaking,” she said, referring to the search. “This will be a long and arduous process."The warehouse, which served as a base for the Ghost Ship Artists Collective, was one of many converted lofts in the city's Fruitvale district, a mostly Latino area where rents are generally lower than in the rest of Oakland.Many of the victims were believed to be in their 20s and 30s, and the fire sent ripples of anxiety through the Bay Area's large art and music community."I am still in disbelief, but I hope my friends who were in the Oakland Ghost Ship fire and are still unaccounted for are okay," Joanna Blanche Lioce, a bartender at Bottom of the Hill, a popular music venue in San Francisco, wrote on Facebook.The fire erupted at about 11:30 p.m. PST on Friday (0730 GMT Saturday) during the party featuring electronic dance music that dozens of people attended.Authorities had said on Saturday that about 25 people were believed to be missing, but on Sunday, officials did not provide a specific number.Police started searching outside of the fire scene in an effort to identify victims, focussing on cars parked near the venue that might belong to those who attended the party, Oakland Police Department spokeswoman Johnna Watson said.“Last night, Oakland police officers did what we call an area wide search," she said. "They looked at all of the parked vehicles, gathered licence plate numbers for any of the victims that may have driven to this location,” she said on Sunday.Authorities said they did not suspect arson, but investigators want to find out if the building had a history of code violations.Photos of the “Ghost Ship” venue posted online showed a space brimming with an elaborate array of musical instruments, religious statues and antiques and furnished with eclectic mix of overstuffed sofas and colourful carpets. The interior featured a maze of side rooms and nooks."The whole place was built like you are going to set up for a fire," said Matt Hummel, 46, who has worked in construction and helped renovate other warehouse spaces for artists.Hummel said the building had bedrooms and workspace and the uneven stairs to the second floor were like "climbing a fort."The party was taking place on the second floor of the building, which had just two exits, officials said. There was no evidence of any smoke detectors or sprinklers, officials said.The city had received complaints about "blight" and construction without permits inside the building and opened an investigation. An inspector was able to verify the "blight" complaint by observing piles of debris outside, but failed to gain access to verify the construction complaint, the city said in a statement. The inquiry remained open, it added.The statement said the building was designated for use as a warehouse only.The city was aware of reports that people were living there, but no permits had been issued for that purpose, Darin Ranelletti, the city's buildings and planning chief, said on Saturday. It was unclear, he said, whether special permits would be needed for the artists who had worked inside.(Additional reporting by Tim Mclaughlin in Chicago; Writing by Frank McGurty; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Alan Crosby)

Up to 40 feared dead in California warehouse fire-[AFP]-Glenn Chapman with Jocelyne Zablit in Los Angeles-YAHOONEWS-December 4, 2016

Oakland (United States) (AFP) - Fire crews in California on Sunday were searching the charred remains of a warehouse gutted by a blaze during a rave party, with officials saying the death toll could reach 40.Relatives of dozens of people missing in the Friday night blaze in Oakland near San Francisco endured an anxious wait for news. Nine people have been confirmed dead so far.The converted two-story warehouse was used by artists as a living and work space but had no license for this, officials said, nor for the electronic dance party under way when the blaze broke out. The cause of the fire was not yet known.Firefighters said the building seemed to have no sprinklers or smoke detectors.Orange flames shot through the roof as the fire burned for hours and thick smoke billowed into the sky. The roof collapsed onto the second floor, which officials said was connected to the ground floor only by a makeshift system of wooden pallets.Firefighters had to withdraw from the building to shore it up when part of the fragile structure began to move.Sergeant Ray Kelly of the Alameda County Sheriff's department said Saturday evening that about two dozen people who were reported missing had been located.But at least two dozen more remain missing, he said."We don't know how far into the process we are, because we don't absolutely have a number of people that we know are deceased inside of there," Kelly said."There’s still a lot of the building that needs to be searched," Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed said.An official at the sheriff's office who declined to be named said early Sunday the death toll could rise to 40 or higher.Most of those who perished in the blaze that started about 11:30 pm Friday (0730 GMT Saturday) were thought to have died on the upper floor of the warehouse known as the Oakland Ghost Ship, Reed said.- 'Expecting the worst' -"It must have been a very fast-moving fire," she added.The electronic dance music party was attended by an estimated 50 to 100 people.The sheriff's office station in Oakland became a center for relatives of the missing. The Salvation Army dropped off 50 meals for them, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.Daniel Vega told the newspaper he is looking for his brother Alex and his girlfriend, who had said they were going to a rave in Oakland."If he is dead, if he is in the rubble, fine, I'll get over it. But I just want to find him," Vega told the Chronicle.Al Garcia, who owns a supply company across the street, said that when he learned of the fire and went to the scene, flames were coming out of the windows and roof."I knew people were dead," he told the Chronicle. "There was no way anyone could get out."Some of the missing were believed to be from overseas, making identification of the victims -- thought to be in their 20s and 30s -- more difficult.The warehouse had numerous partitions added to the original building.Some of the structural changes made it extremely difficult for people to escape, Reed said."There wasn't a real entry or exit path," Reed said.The clutter hampered firefighters' efforts to put out the blaze."It was filled end-to-end with furniture, whatnot, collections," Reed said. "It was like a maze, almost."Friends and families of partygoers took to social media to search for news about their loved ones, with some posting information on the event's Facebook page."Please tell me you are safe," one woman wrote, adding a friend's name, while others posted prayers."I literally felt my skin peeling and my lungs being suffocated by smoke," Bob Mule, a photographer who lives in the building, told Fox television affiliate KTVU. "I couldn't get the fire extinguisher to work."The fire was described as the deadliest incident in Oakland since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in northern California, which killed 63 people.The deadliest nightclub fire in the United States in recent decades occurred in 2003, when pyrotechnic effects by the rock band Great White set off an inferno at The Station nightclub in Rhode Island, killing about 100 people.

Firefighters battle major fire in Cambridge, Massachusetts-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-December 3, 2016

(Reuters) - Firefighters were battling a major, multiple-alarm fire of several buildings in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the city's fire department said on Twitter.At least one building was ablaze at Berkshire and Vandine Streets, the Cambridge Fire Department said in a string of tweets.The Boston Globe and local WCVB-TV reported that 10 alarms had been struck and that several buildings, as well as cars, were on fire.The newspaper said that the blaze broke out shortly before 3 p.m. eastern (2000 GMT) and that firefighters had been summoned from surrounding communities to help fight the flames.Globe employee Michael Workman, who lives across the street from the blaze, said that it erupted in a three-family residence that was undergoing renovations and that flames quickly jumped to another home as well as a former church building."It went up in a heartbeat. It was just raging ... It was just going so fast. I’ve never seen anything like that," Workman told the Globe-Images posted WCVB's website showed the street and sidewalk engulfed in flames, billowing thick black smoke, as firefighters poured water onto them from a truck.Cambridge, located across the Charles River from Boston, is home to both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Neither campus appeared to be threatened from the fire.(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Bill Rigby and Alistair Bell)

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)

Severe rain causes flooding in southern Spain, one woman dead-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-December 4, 2016

MADRID (Reuters) - The heaviest rainfall in years along Spain's southern coastline has flooded the streets of the city of Malaga and nearby towns, killing one woman and prompting the Spanish government to issue a public safety warning.A 26-year-old-woman was found dead in the town of Estepona on Spain's Costa del Sol, a spokeswoman for Malaga's local government said.Spain's meteorological service on Sunday issued a "red alert", its highest level of warning for "extreme risk", although it since lowered the warning one level to "important risk".TV footage showed rainwater cascading down streets in towns such as Estepona, reaching as high as the tops of cars.The local government said more than 600 emergency incidents had been reported due to weather and 300 rescue workers were working on Sunday to help people.(Reporting by Angus Berwick; editing by Jason Neely)

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)

LUKE 2:1-3
1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2  (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3  And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

Liberals ponder Verhofstadt's chances for parliament top post By Eric Maurice-EUOBSERVER

Warsaw, 2. Dec, 18:00-Liberal leader Guy Verhofstadt has not decided yet to officially run for the European Parliament's presidency, but his party is pondering his chances.The question was not on the official agenda of the Alde congress that started on Friday (2 December) in Warsaw, but one party sourced noted "the elephant in the room."Verhofstadt himself didn't mention it openly, but in his speech to open the congress he said that he wanted to break "the unholy alliance" between the Socialists & Democrats (S&D) group and the center-right European People's Party (EPP) in the parliament.Last week, the current parliament chief, S&D's Martin Schulz, said he would not seek a third 2.5-year term. His soon to be vacant position is coveted by the center-right EPP.The EPP, the assembly's largest group, says that it should get the presidency by virtue of the gentleman's agreement by which the EPP and the S&D traditionally split the parliament's 5-year term in two.In Warsaw, Verhofstadt said that he rejected "a Europe mismanaged by the two big old parties" and wanted to put an end to "back room deals and mandates without a vision or without a project."The EPP will choose its candidate on 13 December. While Italian MEP Gianni Pittella said he was running for the S&D.Verhofstadt is "the top top candidate" for the position Czech MEP Pavel Telicka told EUobserver, arguing that he was a "heavyweight" in the parliament and "more inclusive" than Schulz or the candidates to replace him.He added that his leader would be "not just a speaker" and would "not be the defender of Alde's positions in the same way as Schulz has been the defender of S&D's positions."But beyond principles, the Alde is also trying to increase its influence.The party's president, Dutch MEP Hans van Baalen, pointed out that the EPP already had the top jobs at the European Council and European Commission, with Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker."There should be a liberal who is president of the European Parliament and there is one who can do it, it's Guy Verhofstadt," Van Baalen told EUobserver. "We'll give him all the support needed."Although Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister and recently appointed the parliament's Brexit coordinator, is a well-known figure, his group is only the fourth largest in the parliament.With 69 Alde MEPs, Verhofstadt needs 307 more votes to win the presidency, and will only run if he gets the backing of other groups against the EPP and the S&D.'His moment is now'-Alde sources told this website that the Green group and the radical-left GUE/NGL would be ready to support him.One of them also affirmed that some S&D MEPs were ready to back the liberal leader, rather than their own official candidate Pittella.Verhofstadt's attempt to break the EPP-S&D grand coalition could be what it takes to win support from other groups, at a time when Schulz's cosy relationship with Juncker, the EPP EU commission chief, will evaporate."We have a political commission, it's time to have a political parliament," an Alde source told this website.The longing for change among MEPs was acknowledged by an EPP top MEP."I wouldn't rule out Verhofstadt either," the MEP said in Brussels earlier this week. "His moment is now."But some in the Alde think, despite his political clout, Verhofstadt's personality could block him from leading the 751-strong chamber with its nine groups across the political spectrum.Verhofstadt is "too federalist and too provocative" to be elected, an MEP told EUobserver in Warsaw. "Many people like him, but many people hate him."-Low profile-The MEP pointed out that the group's leadership rushed to back him earlier this week after French MEP Sylvie Goulard announced she was running for president, and suggested that internal debate has been stifled ahead of the congress.For now, Telicka said Verhofstadt "has a strong mandate from the group to negotiate all the mid-term package," not only the parliament's presidency.He said that in negotiations with other group leaders Verhofstadt would try to change the way the parliament functions."If someone else is president, so be it," he said. "But it should be a strong head of parliament, who has the courage to address political issues and is more inclusive."Verhofstadt has until 16 January, the day before MEPs vote to choose their new president, to gather more who like him than who hate him.That's why the liberal leader, somehow unusually for him, kept a low profile on the issue in Warsaw.

EU nations to retain control of defence fund By Andrew Rettman and Eric Maurice-EUOBSERVER

BRUSSELS, 30. Nov, 17:14-National governments would retain control of military assets bought by a new European Defence Fund, under plans unveiled by the European Commission on Wednesday (30 November).The proposed fund is to have two elements - a military research and development (R&D) budget worth about €500 million a year and a joint procurement budget worth €5 billion a year.It would be steered by a “coordination board” made up by delegates from EU states, the EU foreign service, the commission, and private defence firms.EU institutions, including MEPs, would have a say on how to allocate the R&D funds.These would come from the EU budget and would be used to develop high-tech items, such as robotics, satellites, or cyberdefences.The question of who owns the patent of items to be rolled out into production is still under discussion.On the procurement side, groups of two or more EU states would also pool money to issue joint tenders for items such as drones or air-lift equipment in order to force down manufacturers’ prices.Each group would coalesce and dissolve around a single tender and the assets that it bought would go to national forces.The EU commission would act as a form of “treasury” that provided secretarial services for managing about €5 billion worth of various tenders each year.The defence fund is part of wider EU military integration plans, which have taken on added urgency due to Brexit and to the victory of Donald Trump, a Nato-sceptic, in the recent US elections.The fund is designed to stand alongside a new military HQ in the EU foreign service and alongside battlegroups - forces of about 1,000 men each - that could be parachuted into African or Middle Eastern countries.The new HQ would only conduct military training operations, while combat operations would be run out of national military HQs.The battlegroups would fight under an EU flag, but would be composed of soldiers from coalitions of EU states and commanded by the participating countries.The plans are part of a political balancing act between member states, Nato, and EU institutions.Britain, the Baltic countries, and Poland had previously complained that EU defence union would compete with Nato and would infringe on national prerogatives.Jyrki Katainen, the EU commissioner in charge of jobs and growth, said on Wednesday that those “who were quite critical of EU defence cooperation have, to some extent, changed their minds”.“It’s clear that our member states cannot afford to defend our citizens without deeper and better cooperation in defence … or without deeper cuts in other parts of their [national] budgets”, he said.-No European Commission army-“We’re not here to propose that we have an EU army, or a European Commission army … this is not about spending on the military instead of social security,” he added.Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign service chief, said she had lost count of how many times she had already issued the same assurance in press briefings.She said EU capitals would choose which kind of materiel to buy using the EU fund, that they would retain the assets they purchased, and that they would decide whether to use them in EU-flagged military operations.Elzbieta Bienkowska, the industry commissioner, who aims to shake up single market laws to make the joint purchases easier, said “this is not about taking over any competence from member states”.Some EU countries, including Germany and Italy, do see EU military integration as leading to a joint European armed forces down the line.-Defence bonds-The commission said the new defence fund could broaden its scope in future.Katainen said EU states could, if they chose to, pool capital in the fund, which would then issue “defence bonds” that participants could draw on.He said the commission could also pay “leasing fees” for jointly bought items, for instance, for surveillance drones, that would be owned by member states, but used by the EU’s border control agency.He said if there was enough “political will”, the commission could also draw up EU-wide industrial standards for defence equipment.-Joint command-Poland had in the past said that if there were to be joint EU forces, then they would have to be under joint command and not be led, in practice, by powerful EU states such as Germany.The new defence fund is to be governed by all 28 EU members.Mogherini said that could also change, however.She said on Wednesday that if a smaller coalition of willing EU states wanted to move ahead on the military HQ and battlegroups ideas, then that coalition might also end up running the joint procurement fund.The HQ and battlegroups vanguard would have “implications” for the “governance of the capability windows [joint procurement projects]”, she said.

EU blames China for WTO environmental trade talks collapse-[Reuters]-By Tom Miles-YAHOONEWS-December 4, 2016

GENEVA (Reuters) - Europe's trade negotiator blamed China on Sunday for scuppering a global environmental trade deal by submitting impossible late demands at World Trade Organization talks aimed at scrapping import tariffs on exports worth more than $1 trillion."China came in with their list, bringing in totally new elements of perspective, which was very late in the process," European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom told Reuters.The change of U.S. president also puts a big question mark over the future prospects for a deal.European resistance to Chinese bicycle imports has also been a stumbling block, although Malmstrom said bicycles had become totemic for China and nobody else, and the agreement went far wider, adding that the EU had "quite cheap bicycles already".Malmstrom was co-chair of the talks, which aimed to cut costs for environmentally beneficial goods by removing trade tariffs applied to them, with U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, who declined to comment as he left."Had that (China's list) come earlier we could have worked on this. But now this made it impossible to find an agreement, we were too far away from each other," Malmstrom said.China's Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that China had made great efforts to show the flexibility needed to effectively solve the participants' core concerns, but the meeting failed due to "differences on key issues".U.S. Ambassador to the WTO Michael Punke told reporters: “The United States worked hard to find a creative path to a successful EGA agreement. Unfortunately not all participants were ready to contribute to success.”WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell said it was disappointing that talks had not succeeded but many delegations were strongly committed to getting a deal and hoped for success in 2017.Malmstrom said she had no idea what U.S. President-elect Donald Trump thought about environmental matters, but she hoped the United States would be "on board". Any deal would need the backing of countries responsible for about 90 percent of the trade in the products, so a U.S. absence would kill the talks.But the participants, who include Canada, Japan, Israel, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand, have not yet decided which products should be part of the hoped-for Environmental Goods Agreement.The discussion included products for clean and renewable energy, energy efficiency, controlling air pollution, managing waste, treating waste water, monitoring the quality of the environment, and combatting noise pollution, the WTO said.(Editing by Jason Neely and Alexander Smith)

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)

Egypt brings in tougher penalties against female genital mutilation-[AFP]-YAHOONEWS-December 4, 2016

Cairo (AFP) - An amended law that toughens penalties for female genital mutilation to up to 15 years in jail has come into effect, the health ministry announced Sunday.Health ministry officials will monitor and oversee clinics and private hospitals to enforce the anti-FGM law that came into effect last Tuesday, the ministry said in a statement.The government had sent the bill to parliament on August 28, and lawmakers approved it days later.In Egypt, the partial or full removal of the external sex organs for no medical purposes, ostensibly to control women's sexuality, remains widespread, especially in rural areas.The procedure, common in some parts of the African continent, is practised by both Muslims and Christians in Egypt.Under the new law, those convicted of carrying out female circumcision can now be jailed for between five and seven years, from three months and two years under the former law.If the procedure leads to permanent disability or death, the perpetrators could be jailed for up to 15 years.The new law also calls for anyone who forces a female to undertake the procedure to be jailed for between one and three years, which could potentially apply to parents or family members.FGM can cause lifelong pain, including extreme discomfort during sexual intercourse, serious complications during childbirth and psychological trauma.In January 2015, an Egyptian doctor was sentenced to two years in jail for involuntary manslaughter and three months for practising FGM, after a 14-year-old girl died during an operation he performed.He served only the three-month sentence.However, "the latest figures from the Egypt Demographic and Health Survey show that we’re winning," the United Nations Development Programme said in a report last year."Mothers’ attitudes are changing, too," UNDP said.While 92 percent of mothers had undergone the procedure, only 35 percent of them "intend to circumcise their daughters", according to the UNDP report.According to the World Health Organisation, more than 200 million girls and women alive today have been cut, and over two million join their ranks each year.The WHO has categorised FGM a violation of human rights.

Women, children leave Islamic State holdout in Sirte: Libyan forces-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-December 4, 2016

MISRATA, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan forces said at least 10 women and children left the last cluster of buildings controlled by Islamic State in the group's former stronghold of Sirte on Sunday, adding that they had edged closer to taking full control of the city.Forces led by brigades from Misrata and backed by U.S. air strikes have surrounded Islamic State fighters in a small patch of ground close to Sirte's Mediterranean sea front.Several groups of women and children, as well as male civilian captives, have either escaped or been released from the shrinking area held by Islamic State in recent weeks.The presence of civilians has complicated the effort to dislodge militants from their holdout, and several women have walked from the area only to carry out deadly suicide attacks."One woman blew herself up while she was coming towards our forces with other women and children early in the morning," Rida Issa, a spokesman for the Misrata-led forces, said.The forces also took control of nine buildings out of about 60 that are still to be captured or secured, said Salah al-Taweel, another spokesman. One of their fighters died and 17 were wounded in clashes on Sunday, the officials said.Islamic State took over Sirte in early 2015, turning it into its most important base outside the Middle East and extending its control along about 250km (155 miles) of sparsely populated coastline.(Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Alexander Smith)

Syrian army nears Aleppo's Old City, rebels tell U.S. they won't leave-[Reuters]-By Tom Perry-YAHOONEWS-December 4, 2016

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian army and allied militia advanced towards rebel-held areas of Aleppo's Old City on Sunday, thrusting deeper into opposition parts of the city in a relentless attack which a military source said would be over in a matter of weeks.A senior rebel official told Reuters rebel groups in Aleppo had told the United States they will not leave their besieged, shrinking enclave, responding to Russian call for talks with Washington over their withdrawal.But facing relentless bombardment and ground assaults, the rebels may eventually have no choice but to negotiate a withdrawal from eastern Aleppo, where tens of thousands of civilians are thought to be sheltering.The Western and regional states that have backed the rebellion appear unwilling or unable to do anything to prevent a major defeat for the opposition fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad, whose campaign to regain all Aleppo has been backed by the Russian air force and Iranian-sponsored militias.The army announced new advances, which were confirmed by a rebel official with the Jabha Shamiya group. The advancing forces may soon reach a strategically important eye hospital, the capture of which would threaten further gains near the Old City, the official said, speaking to Reuters from Turkey.Loud explosions were heard coming from eastern Aleppo as night fell, Reuters journalists in the government-held part of the city said. The Jabha Shamiya official said further advances may force a rebel withdrawal to the southwestern corner of their enclave. "The areas of Old Aleppo will be threatened to a great degree," said the official. "It is scorched earth."The U.N. Security Council is due to vote on Monday on a draft resolution that would demand an initial seven-day truce in Aleppo, which could then be renewed. But it was unclear if veto-power Moscow would block the resolution.Restoring full control over Aleppo would mark the biggest triumph yet for Assad in a war that spiraled from protests against his rule in 2011. The campaign waged by the Syrian army and its allies in Aleppo is one of the most ferocious of the war, with hundreds reported killed in recent weeks alone.Russia said on Saturday it was ready for talks with the United States over a full withdrawal of rebels from Aleppo.Speaking to Reuters from Turkey, senior rebel official Zakaria Malahifji of the Fastaqim group said rebels fighting in Aleppo told U.S. officials on Saturday they would not leave the city."Our response to the Americans was as follows: 'we cannot leave our city, our homes, to the mercenary militias that the regime has mobilized in Aleppo'," said Malahifji."They listened to the response and did not comment," he said, adding the rebel groups had reiterated calls for humanitarian corridors to be opened for the delivery of food and medicine into eastern Aleppo and the evacuation of the wounded.The United States has yet to comment on the proposal made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for talks on the withdrawal of all rebel fighters "without exclusion" from Aleppo.ARMY EXPECTS TO TAKE EASTERN ALEPPO "IN WEEKS"-The rebels said the Russians had retreated from proposals agreed at talks with rebel groups in Turkey that would have resulted in jihadist fighters leaving the city, a ceasefire and humanitarian aid deliveries.The Syrian army has vowed to crush the rebels in Aleppo."The expectation is weeks," the military source said, referring to the timeframe for taking back the whole city."The Syrian Arab Army will continue to implement its missions until the elimination of the terrorists and the recovery of control over all the eastern districts," he said.The United Nations estimates that close to 30,000 people have been displaced by the latest fighting, 18,000 of them leaving to government-held areas, a further 8,500 going to the Kurdish-controlled neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud and the rest moving within rebel-held areas.U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura has said more than 100,000 people may still be in the rebel-held area. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that reports on the war, said it could be as many as 200,000 people.Food and fuel supplies are critically low in eastern Aleppo, where hospitals have been repeatedly bombed out of operation.The rebels, including foreign-backed groups, say they have been abandoned to their fate in a war against better armed enemies including the highly trained Lebanese group Hezbollah.-PEOPLE INSPECT HOMES-In another blow to the rebels, the head of a new rebel alliance in Aleppo, "The Aleppo Army", was seriously wounded on Saturday, the rebel officials said.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the army or its allies were attacking in at least eight places in effort to deplete their ammunition and manpower.Observatory Director Rami Abdulrahman said the pro-government forces were seeking to drive another wedge into the rebel-held sector from Aleppo's ancient citadel southwards.Residents who fled eastern Aleppo for government-held areas early in the war began returning to the Hanano district recently captured from the rebels to inspect their homes.The government took journalists to the district of northeastern Aleppo on Sunday, using a road through the city center that was reopened two days ago.A Reuters journalist said buses leaving from western Aleppo were bringing a steady stream of people to inspect homes they had not seen in years. Russian military trucks also delivered aid to the captured eastern districts of eastern Aleppo.(Additional reporting by Firas Makdesi in Aleppo and Michelle Nichols in New York, and Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Clelia Oziel)

Turkish tenders in lira, Erdogan says in attempt to boost currency-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-December 4, 2016

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey is taking steps towards launching state tenders in the lira currency, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday, the government's latest effort to shore up the tumbling currency.Erdogan has called on Turks to cash in their foreign exchange holdings and buy lira and said Turkey was considering measures to allow commerce with China, Russia and Iran to be conducted in local currencies.The lira has lost a fifth of its value this year, hit by a resurgent dollar and widening concern about a crackdown following the July 15 failed coup.In a speech to flag-waving crowds in the central city of Kayseri, Erdogan said that Prime Minister Binali Yildirim would bring up the issue with Moscow during a forthcoming trip to Russia.While the lira is Turkey's official currency, tenders - and a lot of business deals - are often conducted in foreign currencies such as the dollar, making it easier for overseas companies to participate in deals with the state.Most Turks are attuned to daily fluctuations in the dollar rate. It is also common for landlords in Istanbul, the country's biggest city, to ask for rent in euro or dollars.(Reporting by Yesim Dikmen; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Clelia Oziel)

Bergdahl seeks pardon from Obama to avert desertion trial-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-December 3, 2016

WASHINGTON — U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the former prisoner of war who's accused of endangering comrades by walking off his post in Afghanistan, is asking President Barack Obama to pardon him before leaving office.White House and Justice Department officials said Saturday that Bergdahl had submitted copies of the clemency request seeking leniency. If granted by Obama, it would allow Bergdahl to avert a military trial scheduled for April where he faces charges of desertion and misbehaviour before the enemy. The misbehaviour charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.If the pardon isn't granted, Bergdahl's defence team said it will expand its legal strategy to the new administration by filing a motion arguing President-elect Donald Trump violated his due process rights with scathing public comments about the case.The pardon request to Obama, first reported by The New York Times and Fox News, was confirmed by White House and Justice Department officials who weren't authorized to discuss the matter by name.Bergdahl, of Hailey, Idaho, walked off his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and was held captive by the Taliban and its allies for five years.The Obama administration's decision in May 2014 to exchange him for five Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prompted criticism that included some Republicans accusing Obama of jeopardizing nation's safety. Some lawmakers were outraged that the administration didn't give Congress a 30-day notice about transferring the detainees, as required by law.Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump was Bergdahl's most vocal critic, saying repeatedly the soldier is a traitor who would have been executed in the "old days."During a July speech in Indiana, Trump lamented that Bergdahl could wind up with a light punishment."Remember the old days? A deserter, what happened?" he said before pantomiming pulling a trigger and adding: "Bang."Bergdahl's lead defence lawyer, Eugene Fidell, declined to comment Saturday on the pardon request.But Fidell said he plans to file a motion seeking dismissal of the charges against Bergdahl shortly after the January inauguration, arguing Trump violated Bergdahl's constitutional due-process rights.The defence has been noting Trump's comments about Bergdahl in what they've dubbed the "Trump Defamation Log." A version included in the court record lists 40 such instances as of August."All of these things put together and repeated rally upon rally for basically a year have a cumulative effect that I think is totally at odds with the right to a fair trial," Fidell said in a phone interview.A spokeswoman for Trump didn't respond to emails seeking comment.There is precedent for a military judge to decide a president's comments have tainted a military prosecution.In 2013, a Navy judge cited comments by Obama when he issued a pretrial order that two defendants in sexual assault cases couldn't be punitively discharged if they were found guilty. The judge wrote that Obama's public comments about cracking down on sexual assault, specifically referencing dishonourable discharges, appeared to be demand particular results from military courts."People in the military do what their commanders tell them to do," said Eric Carpenter, a law professor at Florida International University who served as an Army lawyer. He said there's a risk that military jurors could punish Bergdahl because they think it's what their commander in chief wants, rather than deciding strictly on the evidence.Carpenter said he'd be surprised if the Army judge dismissed the charges entirely, but he could give the defence leeway to question potential jurors and reject them based on their answers about Trump.Bergdahl, who faces trial at Fort Bragg, has said he walked off his post in Afghanistan because he wanted to cause an alarm and draw attention to what he saw as problems with his unit.___Drew reported from Raleigh, North Carolina. Associated Press writers Darlene Superville and Hope Yen in Washington contributed to this report.Eric Tucker And Jonathan Drew, The Associated Press

MIGRATING BIRDS IN ISRAEL EATS HUMANS FLESH FOR COMING AGAINST ISRAEL-JERUSALEM

EZEKIEL 39:17-21
17  And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.(OF RUSSIAN/ISLAMIC HORDES AGAINST ISRAEL)
18  Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19  And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
20  Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
21  And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
22  So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.

REVELATION 19:17-18
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;(AGAINST ALL NATIONS ARMIES THAT COME AGAINST JERUSALEM AND ISRAEL)
18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

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.

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back,(RUSSIA-ARAB MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS) and leave but the sixth part of thee,(5/6TH OR 300 MILLION DEAD RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS I BELIEVE) and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

Netanyahu says will discuss with Trump 'bad' Iran nuclear deal-[Reuters]-By Jeffrey Heller-YAHOONEWS-December 4, 2016

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he will discuss with Donald Trump the West's "bad" nuclear deal with Iran after the U.S. president-elect enters the White House.During the U.S. election campaign, Trump, a Republican, called last year's nuclear pact a "disaster" and "the worst deal ever negotiated". But the businessman-turned-politician has also said it would be hard to overturn an agreement enshrined in a United Nations resolution."Israel is committed to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. That has not changed and will not change. As far as President-elect Trump, I look forward to speaking to him about what to do about this bad deal," Netanyahu told the Saban Forum, a conference on the Middle East, in Washington, via satellite from Jerusalem.Netanyahu has been a harsh critic of the nuclear deal, a legacy foreign policy achievement for President Barack Obama. But he had largely refrained from attacking the pact in recent months as Israeli and U.S. negotiators finalised a 10-year, $38 billion military aid package for Israel.Before the nuclear agreement, Netanyahu, a conservative, further strained relations with the White House by addressing the U.S. Congress in 2015 and cautioning against agreeing to the pact.The Obama administration promoted the deal as a way to suspend Tehran's suspected drive to develop atomic weapons. In return Obama, a Democrat, agreed to lifting most sanctions against Iran. Iran denies ever having considered developing nuclear arms."I opposed the deal because it doesn't prevent Iran from getting nukes; it paves the way for Iran to get nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said in Sunday's question-and-answer session.Under the deal, Iran committed to reducing the number of its centrifuges by two-thirds, capping its level of uranium enrichment well below the level needed for bomb-grade material, reducing its enriched uranium stockpile from around 10,000 kg to 300 kg for 15 years, and submitting to international inspections to verify its compliance."The problem isn't so much that Iran will break the deal, but that Iran will keep it because it just can walk in within a decade, and even less ... to industrial-scale enrichment of uranium to make the core of an arsenal of nuclear weapons," Netanyahu told the forum."So the problem how to deal with this deal is something that I will discuss with ... President Trump when he takes office."Netanyahu telephoned Trump after his election victory in November and said the president-elect had invited him to meet in the United States "at the first opportunity". The two talked in New York in September, when Netanyahu also saw then-Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton."He (Trump) has a clear vision of America's role in dominance in the world. I don't think he's going to put the world aside, I don't see that at all. In fact, I think the contrary is true," Netanyahu said on Sunday.(Reporting by Jeffrey Heller, Larry King)

The recount war: why Stein, Trump supporters are fighting out it in court-[Christian Science Monitor]-Ben Rosen-YAHOONEWS-December 4, 2016

As President-elect Donald Trump and his allies attempt to block recounts in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, Jill Stein will bring the battle over the “Rust Belt” to federal court.The Green Party candidate and her lawyers said late Saturday night they will seek an emergency federal court order on Monday for a recount in Pennsylvania. The announcement came hours after Dr. Stein dropped a case in a Pennsylvania court because a state judge ordered the campaign post a $1 million bond for a statewide recount to proceed.Recounts are underway in some Pennsylvania counties and in Wisconsin. They could begin in Michigan next week, barring court action.It is highly unlikely the recounts will upend the results of the presidential election, as Hillary Clinton would need to win all three states to reverse Mr. Trump’s victory Nov. 8. But Stein’s efforts to audit the vote and the Trump side’s attempts to block it are shaping up to be a battle over the integrity of the election. Stein has said the recount is necessary to ensure “the integrity and accuracy of the vote,” suggesting voting machines were susceptible to hacking. Trump and his allies have called the recount effort a “scam,” saying it could undermine or call into the question the votes of millions.The Green Party-backed efforts for a recount in these three states are in response to Trump winning the traditionally Democratic states by the slimmest of margins. Trump’s lead in Pennsylvania has shrunk to 49,000, from 71,000. That puts his lead at 0.8 percent there, down from over 1 percent, out of 6 million votes cast. In Michigan, Trump won with a margin of about 10,700 votes over Clinton. In Wisconsin, he won by a margin of roughly 22,000 votes over Clinton.A victory in any of the three states are a key step to the White House. But Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate, would have to have the results overturned in all three states in order to overturn Trump’s victory, an outcome Edward Foley, director of the Election Law Project at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law, told The New York Times is “essentially zero or infinitesimal.”While Clinton’s lead in the popular has extended to more than 2.5 million votes, according to the independent Cook Political Report, Trump won 306 of the necessary 270 electoral votes.But Stein has said the recount effort is as much about ensuring “our votes are safe and secure.” These concerns have come after hackers accessed the emails of the Democratic National Committee and several Clinton staffers. US security officials have alleged Russian hackers orchestrated the email hacks, a charge Russia has denied.But the Trump side has said recounts would do nothing but delegitimize the votes of millions of Americans. In Pennsylvania, lawyers for Trump and the state Republican Party argued there was no evidence, or even allegations, that tampering with the state voting system had occurred.In Michigan, the Republican attorney general said recounting all of the state’s votes could remove Michigan's voice from the Electoral College, because the state must finalize its results by the Dec. 13 federal deadline.“This court cannot allow a dilatory and frivolous request for a recount by an aggrieved party to silence all Michigan votes for president,” Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette wrote in a court filing on Friday, as reported by The New York Times.Mr. Schuette, who is widely mentioned as a possible candidate for governor in 2018, filed a lawsuit Friday to halt the request for a recount in the state, which is expected to begin on Wednesday, after the state’s board of canvassers deadlocked 2-2 on Friday on a motion objecting to the recount.Clinton’s campaign has said it would take part in recounts in Pennsylvania to ensure her campaign is legally represented. It said it would do the same if necessary in Michigan and Pennsylvania.As the Stein and Trump camps battle out the recounts in court, J. Alex Halderman, who suggested the idea of a recount in a post on Medium on Nov. 23, said it could be a good thing, even if it reveals nothing.“Examining the physical evidence in these states – even if it finds nothing amiss – will help allay doubt and give voters justified confidence that the results are accurate,” wrote Dr. Halderman, director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society.This report contains material from the Associated Press and Reuters.