Announcing the programme during a debate with MEPs, administration
commissioner Maros Sefcovic said the programme is aimed at "how the EU
can best contribute to what is our most pressing priority: reviving
growth and jobs."He added that: "2013 will be a decisive year for turning Europe around to face up to the crisis."The programme features around 50 new files to be tabled in the last
18 months of the legislative term. In the financial field, these will
include legislation on shadow banking and on the data used to calculate
Libor, which works out the inter-bank interest rate.In December the commission is expected to table plans for a Youth
Employment Guarantee Scheme with young people hardest hit by the
financial crisis and recession. It also intends to make proposals to
establish a European Employment Guarantee and a formal network of
European Public Employment Services.However, there was no place for legislation on tobacco advertising,
the draft bill at the heart of last week's departure health commissioner
John Dalli over allegations that an associate of his had demanded a €60
million bribe for changing the legislation.Internal market committee chair, UK conservative Malcolm Harbour,
complained that the text is "not the commission's work programme at all.
This is a list of new initiatives."While offering the programme qualified support, Harbour accused the
EU executive of failing to propose improvements to the quality of
legislative drafting as well as qualitative impact assessments.Critics say the commission uses it as an opportunity to re-jig already existing policy initiatives.Liberal MEP, Andrew Duff said: "It is of course splendid that we are
having more plans for lawmaking in the single market area, but we have
to appreciate that the present package of single market law is far from
complete."The 2013 work programme will be the last chance for the commission to
drive forward new legislation ahead of the 2014 European elections.With Parliament formally dissolved over a month before the June
election, the opening months of 2014 will see the EU institutions battle
to get new laws on the statute. Files that have not been adopted by
Parliament's dissolution are scrapped, with the emphasis on the
Commission to re-table the texts.
BRUSSELS - MEPs have rubber-stamped a
trade deal with Israel despite a warning by their own legal services
that it might clash with EU law.The European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday (23 October) passed
the so-called Acaa (Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of
Industrial Products) pact by 379 votes against 230 with 40 abstentions.Under the deal, most drugs certified by EU or Israeli authorities can
be sold in both territories without getting new permission from the
other side.Israel is a big exporter of medicines, such as Copaxone, a multiple sclerosis drug, and Lipitor, a blood pressure pill.The fact some of them are produced on occupied Palestinian land is not a problem for Acaa.Whether the drug is made in Israel, China or the US, Israeli
officials can go and inspect the producer and approve the drug without
implying any extension of Israeli sovereignty.The legal description of the Israeli body which certifies drugs for Acaa purposes could be a stumbling block, however.EU parliament lawyers spelled out their views in
a 10-page analysis dated 16 March this year.They said that if Israel's Acaa regulator - most likely its health
ministry - is described as having jurisdiction over occupied land then
the EU cannot recognise it and cannot implement the trade deal.Israel could say its Acaa regulator is only valid for Israel proper.
"If Israel nominates the responsible authority ... to be competent in
the whole of Israel, which in Israel's definition of territory includes
territories which came under Israeli administration in 1967, then the
commission is not in a position to acknowledge that nomination, but may
request that the nomination clearly limits the competence of the
nominated responsible authority so as not to cover those territories,"
the parliament lawyers noted.
But this would amount to political suicide for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.EUobserver on Wednesday asked the commission if the parliament lawyers have a point.Its experts said Israel can certify drugs no matter where they are
made but they said nothing on how to designate the Israeli regulator.
When asked again, trade spokesman John Clancy said: "I really don't
see the confusion ... This issue was discussed in detail with the
European Parliament. The latter accepted this approach by giving its
consent to Acaa."For Charles Shamas, a campaigner at the Brussels and Ramallah-based
NGO the Mattin Group, and for Franziska Brantner, a German Green MEP,
the commission response is no surprise."They have been trying to avoid answering this question for the past
six months in the hope they can fudge the agreement in some way," Shamas
said."Unless somebody takes them to [the EU's] court in Luxembourg, they will probably manage it," Brantner added.The Green, Socialist, Liberal and far-left GUE groups in parliament
had tabled a declaration to be attached to Acaa on the regulator issue.But it fell by the wayside because the centre-right EPP group did not
like it and the Liberal and Socialist groups started bickering over
Acaa in general.The legal problem also got buried by debate on Acaa political symbolism.In a week in which Israel opted to build another 797 settler units,
left-leaning MEPs said Acaa amounts to EU appeasement. Meanwhile,
centre-right MEPs and pro-Israeli lobbyists, such as the American Jewish
Committee, said Acaa is about "saving lives.""The opposition [to Acaa] is based on political signals - do we do
another thing with Israel or not? A lot of people [MEPs] don't
understand the legal issues," Shamas said.
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 12:25
25 For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord GOD.
EZEKIEL 5:17
17 So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it.
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
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 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:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
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.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8,11-18
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 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 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.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog (RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS) a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers (EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN JORDAN VALLEY) on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog (RUSSIAN) and all his multitude:(ARAB/MUSLIM HORDE) and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.(BURIEL SITE OF THE 300 MILLION,RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS)
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.(OF ISRAEL)
13 Yea, all the people of the land (OF ISRAEL) shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I (GOD-JESUS) shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.
14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment,(NUCLEAR BOMB EXPERTS) passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.
15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it,(WON'T TOUCH IT) till the buriers have buried it (PROPERLY) in the valley of Hamongog.(RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS NEW BURIEL SITE)
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.(OF THE ISRAEL-GOD HATERS)
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl,(500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS THREW ISRAEL EVERY SPRING,FALL) 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 THE RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIM ARMIES)
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 (MIGRATING BIRDS IN ISRAEL) shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.(RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS)
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 (GOD-JESUS) will set my glory among the heathen,(WORLD NATIONS) and all the heathen (WORLD NATIONS) shall see my judgment that I have executed,(AGAINST ISRAELS ENEMIES) and my (GODS) hand that I have laid upon them.(ISRAELS HATER ENEMIES)
JEREMEIAH 49:35-37 (IN IRAN AT THE BUSHEHR NUKE SITE SOME BELIEVE)
35 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,(IRAN/BUSHEHR NUCLEAR SITE) the chief of their might.(MOST DANGEROUS NUKE SITE IN IRAN)
36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven,(IRANIANS SCATTERED OR MASS IMIGARATION) and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.(WORLD IMMIGRATION)
37 For I will cause Elam (IRAN-BUSHEHR NUKE SITE) to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger,(ISRAELS NUKES POSSIBLY) saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:(IRAN AND ITS NUKE SITES DESTROYED)
ISAIAH 17:1,12-14
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
12 Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations,(USELESS U.N) that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14 And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not.(ASSAD) This is the portion of them that spoil us,(ISRAEL) and the lot of them that rob us.
JEREMEIAH 49:23-27
23 Concerning Damascus.(SYRIA) Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea;(WAR SHIPS WITH NUKES COMING ON SYRIA) it cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.
25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.
27 And I will kindle a fire (NUKES OR BOMBS) in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.(ASSADS PALACES POSSIBLY IN DAMASCUS)
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
JEREMIAH 47:1-7
1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines,(PALESTINIAN/ARABS) before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.
2 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north,(NORTHERN TSUNAMI POSSIBLY) and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl.
3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses,(ISRAELS ARMY) at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands;(ISRAEL POSSIBLY NUKES GAZA)
4 Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines,(PALESTINIAN FAKE ARABS) and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.
5 Baldness is come upon Gaza;(NUKED POSSIBLY) Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself?
6 O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.
7 How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? (MEDITTERANEAN SEA) there hath he appointed it.
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south ( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS-MUSLIMS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them,(BEFORE THE NUKE GOES OFF) and behind them a desolate wilderness;(AFTER THE ATOMIC BOMB GOES OFF) yea, and nothing shall escape them.(EVERYTHING NUKED)
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,ARAB,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate,(SIBERIAN DESERT) with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(FOR COMING AGAINST ISRAEL)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
JEREMIAH 8:7
7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times;(MIGRATION TIME) and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming;(IN MIGRATION SEASON) but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.(WW3 MIGRATING BIRDS EAT ISRAELS ENEMIES FLESH AND BLOOD)
Mortar shell explodes in Eshkol region, breaking fragile truce
No injuries reported; security forces searching for precise landing point to determine who is behind the fire
A single mortar shell fell in an
unpopulated area in the Eshkol region Thursday morning. The mortar,
fired by terrorists from the Gaza Strip, caused no damage or injuries,
but broke the relative calm of the previous few hours.The explosion was the first to be heard in the
area following roughly 10 hours of calm, a day after Gaza-based terror
groups fired more than 80 missiles at communities in the south of
Israel, injuring five people and causing damage to eight houses.The calm was a result of an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire that went into effect at midnight.The truce, believed to have been negotiated by
Egyptian intelligence officer Maj. Gen. Nader al-Aasr, stipulated that
the IDF would halt its retaliatory strikes into the Gaza Strip if Hamas
prevented rockets from being fired into Israel.But Amos Gilad, a top aide to Defense Minister
Ehud Barak, denied Thursday morning that Israel had reached an
agreement with Hamas.“There is no ceasefire agreement. There never
was and never will be an agreement with Hamas. It is a murderous
organization. The only thing that was settled was that there would be an
effort to bring about calm,” Gilad said in an interview to Army Radio.Egyptian security forces have “a very
impressive ability” to convey to the militants that it is in their
“supreme interest not to attack,” he said.“We are in regular contact with the Egyptians,
but they don’t need us to forge deals,” said Gilad. “Egypt sees
terrorism as a serious threat. Al-Qaeda killed Egyptian soldiers. Terror
is our common enemy.”A Palestinian official told reporters
Wednesday that Hamas had promised Cairo to calm the situation down and
Israel said it would refrain from attacks unless it was subject to
rocket fire.However, on Thursday morning Hamas spokesman
Fawzi Barhoun said that rocket fire at Israeli communities was a
“natural response to the crimes of the occupation” and announced that
armed forces in Gaza would react “with more strength” in the future.A security official told Channel 10 news Wednesday evening that the IDF preferred quiet to a ramping-up of tensions.“Military action would likely ignite the
region, which is a matter that will require a prolonged military
operation with casualties,” the official said.Sources in the Israeli government reported
that the Hamas leadership forwarded messages to Jerusalem through
Egyptian intermediaries requesting a ceasefire, Israel Radio reported
Wednesday night. The sources in Jerusalem believed that Hamas lacked the
will to be dragged into a prolonged conflict with Israel, and that
Israel inflicted serious damage to the group in airstrikes in the past
day.“An Egyptian-mediated truce is something that
repeats itself because of their interest in regional tranquility,” the
security source told Channel 10.“Hamas and the [Islamist] factions [in the
Gaza Strip] are interested in silence, according to our assessments, on
account of Eid al-Adha in the coming days. A mutual interest has been
created in which both we and they are interested in quiet,” the source
said, referring to the major Muslim holiday.Israeli leaders on Wednesday
threatened an extensive military response
if rocket fire continued. Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that a
ground incursion was a possibility, though not a preferable one.
Israel’s UN ambassador, Ron Prosor, wrote to the UN Security Council
warning members that if they don’t condemn the rocket attacks, “there
could be tragic consequences” because Hamas and other militants will
interpret the silence “as a green light for terror and provocation.”
Israel says 79 rockets fired at it from Gaza
By Jeffrey Heller | Reuters – 17 hrs ago OCT 25,12
JERUSALEM
(Reuters) - Palestinians fired dozens of rockets into Israel from Gaza
on Wednesday and an Israeli air strike killed a militant, a day after
the Emir of Qatar made a rare visit to the enclave's Hamas leadership.Hamas claimed responsibility for some of the rocket and mortar bomb
attacks, prompting some Israelis to wonder whether it had been
emboldened by the Qatari visit on Tuesday that broke the Islamist
group's diplomatic isolation.In recent months, Hamas has largely held its fire when other
militant factions have launched cross-border rocket attacks, but the
sudden upsurge in violence stoked fears that the hostilities could
escalate further.Hamas accused Israel of stepping up air strikes in the Gaza Strip, a
move it said was meant to convey Israeli anger over Sheikh Hamad bin
Khalifa al-Thani's visit, and pledged to "continue to hold a gun ...
until Palestine is liberated".Israel said it was "astounding" that Qatar, a U.S.-allied Gulf
state, would take sides in the Palestinian dispute and endorse Hamas,
branded by the West as a terrorist group. Hamas seized the Gaza Strip in
2007 from fighters loyal to the Fatah faction of Western-backed
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Some analysts saw the Qatari ruler's trip, the first by any national
leader to Gaza since Hamas took over, as an attempt to build bridges
between the group and the West and coax it into the peace camp amid Arab
turmoil across the Middle East.
A Palestinian official said Egypt was trying to mediate a truce."The contacts Cairo made resulted in a verbal promise by Hamas to
calm the situation down and Israel said it was monitoring calm on the
ground and would refrain from attacks unless it was subject to rocket
fire from Gaza," said the official, who is close to the talks.Israeli officials had no immediate comment. Previous rounds of
cross-border attacks have usually fizzled out in days, with both Israel
and Hamas seemingly aware of the risks of ramping up the low-intensity
conflict.Israel's three-week-long invasion of the Gaza Strip, launched in
2008 with the declared aim of curbing rocket launches, drew
international criticism over a heavy Palestinian casualty toll.Though hostile to Israel, Hamas has mostly sought to avoid direct
clashes as it shores up its rule in the face of more radical challengers
and seeks potential allies abroad.
NETANYAHU VISITS ANTI-MISSILE SITE
In a second day of violence, a Hamas militant was killed on
Wednesday in an air strike, which Israel said was intended to stop
rocket launches. On Tuesday, Israel killed three Hamas men, saying they
had either launched attacks or were about to do so.In southern Israel, three agricultural workers were wounded when a Palestinian rocket exploded near them.An Israeli military spokeswoman, said 79 projectiles had been fired
at Israel and that the Iron Dome system had intercepted eight of them.
She said several homes had been damaged by Palestinian rockets.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is seeking a renewed mandate
in Israel's January 22 election, visited an Iron Dome anti-missile
battery near the southern city of Ashkelon on Wednesday and threatened
stronger Israeli military action in Gaza."We did not choose this escalation, nor did we initiate it, but if
it continues, we are prepared for a much wider and deeper operation," he
said, pledging to press on with "targeted attacks" against militants
preparing to fire rockets.Israel kept schools shut in communities near the fenced Gaza boundary and residents were urged to remain indoors.Hamas has refused to renounce
violence or recognize Israel's right to exist, and is ostracized by the
Quartet of Middle East mediators comprising the United States, United
Nations, European Union and Russia.However, Hamas has said it would accept a truce with Israel in return for a state in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Douglas Hamilton; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Andrew Osborn)
US Sudan embassy closed shortly after munitions factory explosion’
Hundreds chant ‘death to Israel’ in Khartoum; Sudanese minister says his country has the right to respond
The US embassy to Sudan was
reportedly closed on Wednesday, shortly after an explosion at a weapons
facility south of the capital Khartoum.Al-Hayat reported on Thursday that the
embassy, which stopped providing services in September after being
attacked by rioters protesting the anti-Islamic film “Innocence of
Muslims,” was completely closed following the alleged bombing, which was
blamed by the Sudanese government on Israel.The article quoted Sudanese sources, who said
that the US knew Israel was behind the attack and closed its embassy,
fearing retaliation for the alleged bombing.On Wednesday night, hundreds of people
gathered in the Sudanese capital holding anti-Israel signs after
Khartoum said Jerusalem had been behind the attack, which killed two
people.Some 300 demonstrators rallying against Israel
chanted slogans, including “Death to Israel” and “Remove Israel from
the map,” according to a report in the Iranian Press TV.
Minister of Information Ahmed Belal Osman told
reporters on Wednesday that four aircraft hit the Yarmouk Complex,
setting off a huge blast that rocked the capital before dawn.“Four planes coming from the east bombed the
Yarmouk industrial complex,” Belal said. “They used sophisticated
technology.” He didn’t elaborate further.Belal also referred to a 2009 attack on an
arms convoy that killed dozens in the Red Sea province in the east of
the country. The government then blamed the attack on Israel, which
believes Sudan is a conduit for arms shipments through Egypt to Gaza’s
militant Hamas rulers. Israel does not comment officially on the issue.Belal said the complex produces conventional weapons. He said his country has the right to respond.In a letter to the UN Security
Council, Sudan’s representative called the attack a “blatant violation”
of the UN charter and called for condemnation from the world body.Belal also said a technical team is inspecting
remains of the missiles used in the attack which he said suggest Israel
is behind the bombing. He didn’t provide any evidence.Israeli officials neither confirmed or denied Israel’s involvement.
At the same news conference, military
spokesman Sawarmy Khaled said two people were killed and another was
seriously injured in the blast. Earlier, officials said some people
suffered from smoke inhalation.
In New York, Sudan’s UN Ambassador Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali Osman called on the UN Security Council to condemn the attack,
accusing Israel of meddling in its internal affairs and providing
support to rebel groups.
The Cairo-based Arab League said it is closely
following the fallout from the attack. Deputy Arab League
Secretary-General Ahmed bin Helli said Sudanese officials are in touch
with the League and have provided initial reports about Israel’s alleged
involvement. “We are working to verify them,” he said.Sudanese activists on social media websites
criticized the government for placing a factory with such large
quantities of ammunition in a residential area.Sudan has been engaged in various armed conflicts for many years.
Sudan’s government has been at war with rebels
in the western region of Darfur and with its neighbors in South Sudan,
which broke away to become Africa’s newest country in
2011. Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, has been indicted by the
International Criminal Court on charges of genocide, war crimes and
crimes against humanity.Sudan was a major hub for al-Qaeda militants and remains a transit for weapon smugglers and African migrant traffickers.The US imposed economic, trade and financial
sanctions against Sudan in 1997, citing the Sudanese government’s
support for terrorism, including its sheltering of al-Qaeda founder
Osama bin Laden in Khartoum the mid-1990s.In 1998, American cruise missiles bombed a
Khartoum pharmaceutical factory suspected of links to al-Qaeda. That
followed the terror group’s bombings of US embassies in Kenya and
Tanzania that killed 224 people.The Yarmouk weapons complex was built in the
1996. Sudan prided itself in having a way to produce its own ammunition
and weapons despite international sanctions.Yarmouk is one of two known state-owned weapons manufacturing facilities in the Sudanese capital.Jonah Leff of the Geneva-based Small Arms
Survey told The Associated Press that the location of the two factories
is “certainly a hazard” to Khartoum’s population if the weapons inside
are not properly maintained or secured.A September report from the Small Arms Survey
said there was evidence from weapons packaging found in Darfur and in
South Kordofan that arms and ammunition from China are exported to
Yarmouk and then transported to the two embattled regions.Leff said that although the Small Arms Survey
has documented Sudanese military stocks of Iranian weapons and
ammunition, there is no evidence that Iranian weapons are being
assembled or manufactured in the two Khartoum factories.
Netanyahu: Nothing to Say about Sudan Explosion OCT 25,12 - INN
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said, Thursday, that Israel had
nothing to say about the Wednesday-evening explosion at a weapons
factory in Sudan.During a news conference with Prime Minister
Mario Monti of Italy, a reporter asked him if Israel denied Sudan's
accusations that Israel was behind the blast.
Israeli Official: Sudan is a 'Terrorist State'
A
top Israeli defense official said that Sudan was a terrorist state, and
that its accusations against Israel could not be taken seriously.By David Lev First Publish: 10/25/2012, 11:02 AM
Amos Gilad-Flash 90
Israel hit back at Sudan Thursday, after Khartoum on Wednesday accused Israel of attacking a military
installation
in the country. A top Israeli defense official told Army Radio that
Sudan was a terrorist state, and that its accusations that Israel
engaged in terrorism against that country could not be taken seriously.
“Sudan is a dangerous terrorist state. To
know exactly what happened (there), it will take some time to
understand," said Amos Gilad, director of policy and political-military
affairs at the Defense Ministry. "There are different versions of the
Sudanese side, so there is no reason to go into details," Gilad
responded to questions of Israeli involvement in the attack.Sudan says it has evidence that Israeli
warplanes carried out the attack, although it has so far failed to
present that evidence. Sudan claimed that four Israeli aircraft fired
missiles that hit a military factory and killed two people in Khartoum.
The explosion at the military factory in Sudan's capital before dawn
Wednesday sent detonating ammunition flying through the air, causing
panic among residents, the official news agency and local media reports
said. Sudan has demanded that the UN Security Council condemn Israel for
the raid. A Sudanese official, Bilal Osman, said that a response by
Sudan for the attack would be forthcoming, although “we reserve the
right to react at a place and time we choose."Israeli officials have long been following
the situation in Sudan, which security officials said was a major
source of weapons for Gaza Arab terrorists. Gangs of terrorists trained
and set up areas of influence in the remote parts of the country, with
large weapons warehouses.
According to security officials, Sudan is a major hub on the route of
smugglers moving weapons from Iran and Syria to terror groups in Gaza, Lebanon, and elsewhere. Several months ago, a car
carrying several weapons smugglers and a large amount of weapons
exploded at Port Sudan. Sudan accused Israel of involvement in that
attack as well.
Meanwhile, a report in Arab media Thursday
said that the U.S. had closed its embassy in Khartoum, Sudan's capital,
on Tuesday – just before the attack took place, as if the U.S. had
advanced knowledge of the attack. Hundreds of Sudanese gathered outside
the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum calling for “death to Israel” and “death to
America,” as they burned American and Israeli flags.
Fighting rages in Syria before Brahimi's truce
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis | Reuters – 1 hr 6 mins ago OCT 25,12
AMMAN (Reuters) -
Syrian troops bombarded a town near
Damascus on Thursday and fighting raged in and around the northern city of
Aleppo, a day before a proposed truce for a four-day Muslim religious holiday.
President Bashar al-Assad's government was expected to make a statement later in the day on whether it accepts the temporary
ceasefire advocated by U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.
The Syrian authorities said on Wednesday they were
still studying the plan, but Russia's envoy to the United Nations said
Damascus had indicated to Moscow that it would agree to it.China urged all sides to respect a ceasefire, an idea also backed by
Syria's
main regional ally Iran, but there was no sign on the ground of any
let-up in the violence on the eve of Eid al-Adha, the biggest feast on
the Muslim religious calendar.
Syrian troops pounded Harasta, near Damascus, with tank
and rocket fire, killing five people, after rebels overran two army
roadblocks on the edge of the town, on the main highway from the capital
to the north, opposition campaigners said.Rebels tried to maintain pressure on two army bases on
main roads leading to the contested city of Aleppo, a key prize in the
19-month-old uprising against Assad's authoritarian rule.
"No one is taking the ceasefire seriously," said Moaz al-Shami, an opposition activist in Damascus."How can there be a ceasefire with tanks roaming the
streets, roadblocks every few hundred meters and the army having no
qualms about hitting civilian neighborhoods with heavy artillery? This
is a regime that has lost all credibility."Even if Assad accepts a truce, there may be no unified
response from Syria's fractured opposition. Some armed groups have said
they will abide by a ceasefire. Others, including the Islamist militant
Al Nusra Front, have rejected it.In Aleppo, where
opposition activists
reported more fighting and shelling, the rebel Shining Aleppo Division
said it would observe the ceasefire despite "doubts over the credibility
of the regime" if Assad stopped moving armored units, halted air raids
and released thousands of prisoners held without trial.
WAR CRIMES
Brahimi's predecessor, former U.N. chief Kofi Annan,
declared a ceasefire in Syria on April 12, but it soon became a dead
letter, along with the rest of his six-point peace plan.Violence has intensified since then, with daily death
tolls compiled by opposition monitoring groups often exceeding 200."Harasta is being pummeled by tanks and rocket
launchers deployed on the highway. The rebels are putting up a fight and
it does not seem the army will be able to enter the town this time,"
said a Damascus resident, who gave his name as Mohammed.Assad's force pushed into Harasta a month ago in an operation which opposition activists said killed 70 people.In Geneva, U.N. war crimes investigators said they had
asked to meet Assad to seek access for their team, which has been
excluded from Syria since it began work a year ago. There was no word on
how the Syrian leader would respond.The inquiry led by Brazilian expert Paulo Pinheiro has been investigating atrocities by both sides in the conflictIn their latest report in August, the investigators
said that Syrian government forces and allied militia had committed war
crimes including murder and torture of civilians in what appeared to be a
state-directed policy.In Harasta, an opposition group described the town as a
"disaster zone" after the shelling. "An (army) roadblock had been set
up next to the main bakery. There is no water, no food, no medicine and
prolonged power cuts," it said in a statement.Activists also reported army artillery on the town of
Anadan northwest of Aleppo. To the southwest of the city, rebels have
been surrounding army barracks at the town of Orum al-Sughra, on the
road between Aleppo and the Turkish border.Assad's forces appear to have curbed a two-week-old
rebel offensive against an army base at Wadi al-Deif to the south, near
Maarat al-Numaan on the Aleppo-Damascus highway.Rebel commanders said an armored column sent to defend
the base 10 days ago had arrived near Maarat al-Numaan despite rebel
attacks. The column, now deployed just south for the town, is bombarding
rebel forces operating near Wadi al-Deif.(Editing by Alistair Lyon)
POISONED WATERS
REVELATION 8:8-11
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood:(bitter,Poisoned) and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.(poisoned)
REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6 For they(False World Church and Dictator) have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
AP Interview: Japan nuke plant water worries rise
By MARI YAMAGUCHI | Associated Press – 1 hr 52 mins ago OCT 25,12
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's crippled
nuclear power plant is struggling to find space to store tens of thousands of tons of highly
contaminated water used to cool the broken reactors, the manager of the
water treatment team said.About 200,000 tons of
radioactive water
— enough to fill more than 50 Olympic-sized swimming pools — are being
stored in hundreds of gigantic tanks built around the Fukushima Dai-ichi
plant.
Operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.
has already chopped down trees to make room for more tanks and predicts
the volume of water will more than triple within three years."It's
a pressing issue because our land is limited and we would eventually
run out of storage space," the water-treatment manager,
Yuichi Okamura, told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview this week.
TEPCO
is close to running a new treatment system that could make the water
safe enough to release into the ocean. But in the meantime its tanks are
filling up — mostly because leaks in reactor facilities are allowing
ground water pour in.Outside
experts worry that if contaminated water is released, there will be
lasting impact on the environment. And they fear that because of the
reactor leaks and water flowing from one part of the plant to another,
that may already be happening.
Nuclear engineer and college
lecturer Masashi Goto said the contaminated water buildup poses a
long-term health and environmental threat. He worries that the
radioactive water in the basements may already be getting into the
underground water system, where it could reach far beyond the plant,
possibly the ocean or public water supplies."You never know where
it's leaking out and once it's out you can never put it back in place,"
he said. "It's just outrageous and shows how big a disaster the
accident is."The concerns are less severe than the nightmare
scenario TEPCO faced in the weeks after the March 11, 2011, earthquake
and tsunami knocked out power and cooling systems at the plant, leading
to explosions and meltdowns of three reactor cores in the world's worst
nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. The plant released radiation into the
surrounding air, soil and ocean and displaced more than 100,000
residents who are uncertain when — or if — they will be able to return
to their homes.Dumping massive amounts of water into the melting reactors was the only way to avoid an even bigger catastrophe.Okamura
remembers frantically trying to find a way to get water to spent fuel
pools located on the highest floor of the 50-meter-high reactor
buildings. Without water, the spent fuel likely would have overheated
and melted, sending radioactive smoke for miles and affecting possibly
millions of people."The water would keep evaporating, and the
pools would have dried up if we had left them alone," he said. "That
would have been the end of it."Attempts to dump water from
helicopters were ineffective. Spraying water from fire trucks into the
pools didn't work either. Okamura then helped bring in a huge,
German-made concrete-making pump with a remote-controlled arm that was
long enough to spray water into the fuel pools.The plan worked — just in time, Okamura said.Those
measures and others helped bring the plant under tenuous control, but
it will take decades to clean up the radioactive material. And those
desperate steps created another huge headache for the utility: What to
do with all that radioactive water that leaked out of the damaged
reactors and collected in the basements of reactor buildings and nearby
facilities.Some of the water ran into the ocean, raising concerns
about contamination of marine life and seafood. Waters within a
20-kilometer (12-mile) zone are still off-limits, and high levels of
contamination have been found in seabed sediment and fish tested in the
area.Okamura was tasked with setting up a treatment system that
would make the water clean enough for reuse as a coolant, and was also
aimed at reducing health risks for workers and environmental damage.At first, the utility shunted the tainted water into existing storage tanks
near the reactors. Meanwhile, Okamura's 55-member team scrambled to get
a treatment unit up and running within three months of the accident — a
project that would normally take about two years, he said."Accomplishing that was a miracle," he said, adding that a cheer went up from his men when the first unit started working.Using
that equipment, TEPCO was able to circulate reprocessed water back into
the reactor cores. But even though the reactors now are being cooled
exclusively with recycled water, the volume of contaminated water is
still increasing, mostly because ground water is seeping through cracks
into the reactor and turbine basements.Next month, Okamura's
group plans to flip the switch on new purifying equipment using Toshiba
Corp. technology that is supposedly able to decontaminate the water by
removing strontium and other nuclides, potentially below detectable
levels, he said.TEPCO claims the treated water from this new
system is clean enough to be potentially released into the ocean,
although it hasn't said whether it would do that. Doing so would require
the permission of authorities and local consent and would also likely
trigger harsh criticism at home and abroad.To deal with the
excess tainted water, the utility has channeled it to more than 300 huge
storage tanks placed around the plant. The utility has plans to install
storage tanks for up to 700,000 tons — or about three more years' worth
— of contaminated water. If that maxes out, it could build additional
space for roughly two more years' worth of storage, said Mayumi Yoshida,
a company spokeswoman.But those forecasts hinge on plans to
detect and plug holes in the damaged reactors to minimize leaks over the
next two years. The utility also plans to take steps to keep ground
water from seeping into the reactor basements.Both are tasks that
TEPCO is still not sure how to accomplish: Those areas remain so highly
radioactive that it is unclear how humans or even robots could work
there.There's also a risk the storage tanks and the jury-rigged
pipe system connecting them could be damaged if the area is struck by
another earthquake or tsunami.Goto, the nuclear engineer,
believes it will take far longer than TEPCO's goal of two years to
repair all the holes in the reactors. The plant also would have to deal
with contaminated water until all the melted fuel and other debris is
removed from the reactor — a process that will easily take more than a
decade.He said TEPCO's roadmap for dealing with the problem is "wishful thinking.""The longer it takes, the more contaminated water they get," he said.___Associated Press Writer Malcolm Foster contributed to this report.