Wednesday, April 03, 2013

UN APPROVES 1ST EVER GLOBAL ARMS TRADE TREATY

KING JESUS IS COMING FOR US ANY TIME NOW. THE RAPTURE. BE PREPARED TO GO.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.

JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth before them;(ATOMIC BOMB) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)

EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

U.N. approves first-ever global arms trade treaty

Reuters – 29 mins ago APR 2,13
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved on Tuesday the first-ever treaty on global arms trade that seeks to regulate the $70 billion international business in conventional arms ranging from light weapons to battle tanks and warships.There were 154 votes in favor, 3 against and 23 abstentions.Iran, Syria and North Korea last week prevented a treaty-drafting conference at U.N. headquarters from reaching the required consensus to adopt the treaty. That left delegations that support it no choice but to turn to a General Assembly vote to adopt it.The treaty will be open for signature June 3 and will enter into force 90 days after the 50th signatory ratifies it.Major arms producers China and Russia joined Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and other countries in abstaining. A number of countries complained that the treaty favors exporting over importing states.The United States, the world's No. 1 arms exporter, said last week it would vote in favor of the treaty despite opposition from the National Rifle Association, a powerful U.S. pro-gun lobbying group.The NRA opposes the treaty and has vowed to fight to prevent its ratification by the U.S. Senate when it reaches Washington. The NRA says the treaty would undermine domestic gun-ownership rights, a view the U.S. government rejects.Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari repeated that his government opposes the arms trade treaty because it does not ban the sale of weapons to non-state actors and "terrorists" like the ones active in Syria, where a two-year-old civil war has claimed at least 70,000 lives, according to U.N. estimates.Syria routinely refers to rebels trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad as "terrorists" supported by foreign governments.(Reporting By Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Philip Barbara)

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)

Hamas Law Bans 'Zionist' Ties, Co-Education in Gaza

A law banning “normalizing ties with the Zionist occupation” as well as co-education schooling in the Gaza Strip has entered into force.
By Arutz Sheva staff First Publish: 4/2/2013, 6:53 AM-Israelnationalnews

Arab schoolgirls
Arab schoolgirls-AFP file
A law banning “normalizing ties with the Zionist occupation” as well as co-education schooling in the Gaza Strip has entered into force, the education minister for Hamas, said on Monday.The law, which was issued on February 10, was approved by the Islamist movement's legislative council and went into effect on Sunday, Osama Mazini told a news conference.Article 46 of the law, obtained by the AFP news agency, will "ban the mixing of students from the two sexes in educational establishments after the age of nine, and work to 'feminize' girls' schools."Hamas has in the past moved to enforce conservative religious laws, including telling schoolgirls in Gaza to wear traditional full-length robes and headscarves.The newly approved education law also forbids the "receipt of gifts or aid aimed at normalizing (relations) with the Zionist occupation (Israel)."
The Hamas terrorist organization has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, after it won a victory in a Palestinian general election a year before against rival Fatah.

Hostilities flare along Israeli-Gaza border

By Jeffrey Heller | Reuters – 1 hr 46 mins ago APR 3,13
By Jeffrey Heller
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel pressed Hamas on Wednesday to rein in rocket-firing militants in the Gaza Strip after the most serious outbreak of cross-border hostilities since the ceasefire that ended an eight-day war in November.The flare-up, sparked by anger in Gaza over Tuesday's death from cancer of a Palestinian prisoner held by Israel, included the first Israeli air strike in the Hamas-run enclave since the truce.By afternoon, the frontier had fallen quiet, an indication that Israel and Hamas were weighing their moves carefully after four months of relative calm that has enabled Gaza residents to rebuild and Israelis near the border to live without the familiar blaring of sirens warning of incoming rockets.The Israeli military said two rockets fired from Gaza had struck southern Israel in a morning attack on Wednesday, causing no casualties, hours after its planes targeted "two extensive terror sites" in the north of the territory.Israel launched the air strike after three rockets hit its south on Tuesday. An al Qaeda-linked group, Magles Shoura al-Mujahadeen, claimed responsibility for that attack and Wednesday's salvo, saying it was responding to the death of the 64-year-old prisoner, Maysara Abu Hamdeya.Tuesday was the third time since the November truce that rockets from Gaza had struck Israel.But with a new government and defense minister now in place after weeks of coalition-building since a January election, Israel seemed keen to show resolve, putting the onus on Hamas to prevent any rocket fire."(Israel's armed forces) decided to attack overnight in order to signal to Hamas that we will not suffer any strike on the south. And any shooting will meet a response, in order to restore quiet for the south soon," Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai, the chief military spokesman, said on Army Radio."I assess that Hamas has no interest in seeing the situation deteriorate," he said. "Our goal is to maintain the quiet."
SYRIA SPILLOVER
Spillover from the civil war in Syria - mortar and machinegun fire toward Israeli troops in the occupied Golan Heights - has also heightened Israeli concern."We will absolutely not allow any sporadic fire toward our citizens and our forces," Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said in a statement, referring to the situations on the frontiers with both Gaza and Syria.Israeli tanks fired at a Syrian post on Tuesday after one such incident in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured in a 1967 Middle East war. Israel's military said it was unclear whether rebels or forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were manning the position.In Gaza, Hamas has at times cracked down on hardline Islamist Salafi groups, seeing them as a threat to the stability of the impoverished, Israeli-blockaded territory.But Hamdeya's death touched a nerve among Palestinians, who regard their brethren in Israeli jails as heroes in the fight for statehood.Palestinian officials accused Israel of failing to provide timely medical care for Hamdeya, who died in an Israeli hospital before a procedure for his early release on medical grounds was completed.Israel denied negligence in treating Hamdeya, who was serving a life term over an attempt to blow up an Israeli cafe in Jerusalem in 2002 during a Palestinian uprising.Commenting on the Gaza situation, Richard Serry, the U.N.'s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said it was of "paramount importance to refrain from violence".He said in a statement that renewed violations of the ceasefire threatened to unravel Egyptian-brokered understandings that included an easing of Israel's restrictions on imports into the Gaza Strip.Egypt mediated the truce after fighting in which some 170 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed. Israel launched its Gaza offensive with the declared aim of ending Palestinian rocket fire into its territory.Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement in 2007 after winning an election a year earlier.Palestinians want to establish a state in the enclave along with the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 war.(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Editing by Will Waterman)

Syrian jet flies into Lebanon, fires missile

Reuters – 2 hrs 16 mins ago APR 3,13
ARSAL, Lebanon (Reuters) - A Syrian jet flew 20 km (12 miles) into Lebanon and fired a missile into a field on the outskirts of the border town of Arsal on Wednesday but caused no casualties, witnesses said.
Lebanon has maintained a policy of "dissociation" from Syria's two-year-old conflict. But many Lebanese officials feel their country is increasingly at risk of being dragged into the civil war, which the United Nations says has killed 70,000 people.Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have fired mortars into and occasionally entered Lebanese territory in pursuit of rebels. They threatened to carry out air strikes in Lebanon last month.When a Syrian plane bombed Lebanese territory in mid-March, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman called it an "unacceptable violation" of Lebanese sovereignty.It was not immediately clear what the Syrian jet on Wednesday was targeting. Local residents said a Syrian army helicopter was also hovering near Arsal, in Lebanese airspace, at the time.Before dawn on Wednesday, Lebanese gunmen who back the uprising against Assad in Syria fired on a convoy of trucks heading to Syria in the port city of Tripoli, wounding the driver, a security source said.It was the latest in a string of attacks by anti-Assad Lebanese groups on supplies entering Syria from Lebanon, which had its own civil war from 1975 to 1990.
(Reporting by Afif Diab; Writing by Oliver Holmes; Editing by Pravin Char)

North Korea pressures South by halting entry to industrial zone

By Ju-min Park | Reuters – 5 hrs ago APR 3,13
By Ju-min Park
PAJU, South Korea (Reuters) - North Korea closed access to a joint factory zone with South Korea on Wednesday, officials said, putting at risk $2 billion a year in trade that is vital for an impoverished state with a huge army, nuclear ambitions and a hungry population.The move marked an escalation in North Korea's months-long standoff with South Korea and its ally Washington. On Tuesday, Pyongyang said it would restart a mothballed nuclear reactor, drawing criticism from the international community, including China, its major benefactor and diplomatic friend.In Beijing, China's deputy foreign minister met ambassadors from the United States and both Koreas to express "serious concern" about the Korean peninsula, China's Foreign Ministry said, in a sign China is increasingly worried about events spinning out of control. The ministry said the meetings with Deputy Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui took place on Tuesday.South Korea demanded Pyongyang allow access to the Kaesong Industrial Park, which lies just inside North Korea.It said North Korea would allow the roughly 800 South Korean factory managers and workers in the zone to return home, but added that only 36 had opted to do so on Wednesday, indicating factories were still operating.
Those remaining in the zone were there by choice but could run out of food because all supplies needed to be trucked in from South Korea, said the Unification Ministry, which handles Seoul's matters with North Korea."If this issue is prolonged, the government is aware of such a situation materializing," ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk told reporters when asked about food shortages.The industrial park has not formally stopped operations since it was inaugurated in 2000 as part of efforts to improve ties between the two Koreas. It houses 123 companies and employs 50,000 North Koreans making cheap goods such as clothing.Some South Korean experts said the North's move might be temporary given the park is a financial lifeline to Pyongyang.At the South Korean border city of Paju, there was a sense of foreboding that Kaesong would be closed permanently, dealing a death blow to the one remaining example of cooperation between the two Koreas."Trust between North and South will fall apart, as well as the trust we have with our buyers. We're going to end up taking the damage from this," Lee Eun-haeng, who runs an apparel firm in Kaesong, told Reuters on the southern side of the border.Lee's business employs 600 North Koreans who earn $130 on average a month.The zone has major symbolic value for both North and South Korea. It generates cash for the North and acts as beacon for the economic prosperity of the South inside the grim, centrally planned North Korean economy where jobs are scarce."The North Korean workers there are said to have 300,000 family members," said Ahn Chan-il, a former North Korean military official who defected to the South in 1979."Does electricity go off in the Kaesong factories at any time? No. But North Korean factories see that happen to their facilities all the time."
WAR OF WORDS
North Korea's latest war of words with Seoul and Washington ratcheted up when the United Nations imposed fresh sanctions on the country for its February 12 nuclear test. At the same time, South Korea and the United States have been staging annual war games, which Pyongyang claims are a prelude to an invasion. Those exercises run throughout April.Despite the rhetoric and the cutting of telephone hot lines to the South, Pyongyang has not taken any military action and shows no sign of preparing its 1.2 million strong armed forces for war, Washington says.That would indicate much of the vitriol is intended for domestic consumption to bolster young leader Kim Jong-un ahead of celebrations marking the anniversary of the birthday of Kim Il-sung, the state's founder and the younger Kim's grandfather, on April 15.Kim has also used the rising tensions to cement his grip on power by appointing a key ally of his uncle and aunt as the country's prime minister."At least until the end of April, when drills end, the North is likely to keep up the tensions as it had done in previous years," said Cheong Seong-chang of the Sejong Institute think tank in Seoul.The 30-year old Kim was showing the North could stand up to the United States and to South Korea's new President Park Geun-hye, who took office just a week after the nuclear test, the country's third, said the defector Ahn.
"North Korea doesn't have the economic power that South Korea has but it's stressing its nuclear abilities to show that it can pull equal weight," he said.News of the Kaesong closure initially hurt South Korean financial markets. The won currency was trading at a six and a half-month low in early trade but later recovered.
North Korea is heavily reliant on Kaesong and China. Its powerful neighbor accounts for almost $6 billion in trade, according to estimates from Seoul.One South Korean worker who travels in and out of the zone each day said North Koreans there had become less friendly as tensions had risen in the past month."They used to smile at my jokes or the soldiers at customs liked to chit chat. They really liked South Korean duty-free cigarettes but this week it all looks different," said Jang Sun-woo.(Additional reporting by Christine Kim and Jack Kim in Seoul and Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by David Chance and Dean Yates)

End Muslim Women’s Provocations on Temple Mount’

Temple Mount activists seek action on Muslim women’s anti-Jewish protests.
By Maayana Miskin First Publish: 4/3/2013, 3:04 PM-Israelnationalnews

Temple Mount: Jews restricted
Temple Mount: Jews restricted-Israel news photo: Flash 90
Temple Mount activists are seeking police action on recent anti-Jewish protests by Muslim women on the Temple Mount, which Judaism teaches is the holiest place on earth.During Passover a group of Muslim women attempted to physically block Jewish visitors from accessing the site.In an appeal to police commander Avi Biton, Manhigut Yehudit activist Michael Puah described the incident, noting that the Muslim women had yelled “Allah is great,” “You stink,” and “With our blood and soul we will free Palestine” at a visiting Jewish group.The women attempted to prevent Jews from accessing the holy site at all, but after speaking with police, agreed to move aside slightly so that Jews could pass through in a narrow chain, with the Muslim women yelling insults at them as they walked by.“I don’t understand why the Israel Police allows the presence of a group whose sole aim is to provoke tension on the Mount,” he wrote. “These women have been filmed both by the Israel Police and by us, and they need to face criminal charges for harassment and disturbing the peace.”“When it comes to Jews whose only crime was prayer, or giving a media interview, the Israel Police knows well how to bar them from entering the Mount for months or years without trial,” he added. “Why are the police powerless when it comes to Muslims?”Puah ended his letter with a request to know “how the Israel Police plans to act in this matter to ensure these provocations will not be repeated.”
Police responded to the original incident by closing the Temple Mount to all visitors for the rest of the morning.

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(THE FALSE POPE WHO DEFECTED FROM THE CHRISTIAN FAITH) causeth all,(IN THE WORLD ) both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(MICROCHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark,(MICROCHIP IMPLANT) or the name of the beast,(WORLD DICTATORS NAME INGRAVED ON YOUR SKIN OR TATTOOED ON YOU OR IN THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT) or the number of his name.(THE NUMBERS OF HIS NAME INGRAVED IN THE MICROCHIP IMLPLANT)-(ALL THESE WILL TELL THE WORLD DICTATOR THAT YOUR WITH HIM AND AGAINST KING JESUS-GOD)
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast:(WORLD LEADER) for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM (6006006)OR(60020202006)(SOME KIND OF NUMBER IMPLANTED IN THE MICROCHIP THAT TELLS THE WORLD DICTATOR AND THE NEW WORLD ORDER THAT YOU GIVE YOUR TOTAL ALLIGIENCE TO HIM AND NOT JESUS)(ITS AN ETERNAL DECISION YOU MAKE)(YOU CHOOSE YOUR OWN DESTINY)(YOU TAKE THE DICTATORS NAME OR NUMBER UNDER YOUR SKIN,YOUR DOOMED TO THE LAKE OF FIRE AND TORMENTS FOREVER,NEVER ENDING MEANT ONLY FOR SATAN AND HIS ANGELS,NOT HUMAN BEINGS).OR YOU REFUSE THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT AND GO ON THE SIDE OF KING JESUS AND RULE FOREVER WITH HIM ON EARTH.YOU CHOOSE,ITS YOUR DECISION.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYUgVL9PdxM&list=UU4SH8rh0OjYV3zwqnIfqNbA&index=1&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PX-vW4VccY&feature=player_embedded#!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/markets/indexes/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfPX59y4KxE&feature=related

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS WED APRIL 03,2013

09:30 AM -2.43
10:00 AM -35.56
10:30 AM -32.44
11:00 AM -31.11
11:30 AM -58.64
12:00 PM -54.60
12:30 PM -60.67
01:00 PM -71.25
01:30 PM -73.40
02:00 PM -112.77
02:30 PM -99.86
03:00 PM -82.68
03:30 PM -90.20
04:00 PM -111.66 14,550.35

S&P 500 1553.69 -16.56

NASDAQ 3218.60 -36.25

GOLD 1,559.20 -16.10

OIL 94.27 -2.32

TSE 300 12,422.12 -250.98

CDNX 1038.62 -30.48

S&P/TSX/60 713.10 -15.86

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +13 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -58 points at low today.
Dow +13 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,571.70.OIL opens at $96.81 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -114 points at low today so far.
Dow +13 points at high today so far.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -114 points at low today.
Dow +13 points at high today.

GOLD ALLTIME HIGH $1,902.60 (NOT AT CLOSE)

CRUDE OIL +2.7 MILLION BARRELS
GASOLINE -572,000 BARRELS
DISTILLATE INVENTORIES -2.27 MILLION BARRELS

Economic crisis helping EU to fight global warming

Today @ 09:44 APR 3,13
By Benjamin Fox
BRUSSELS - Carbon emissions in the EU fell by 1.4 percent in 2012, raising hope the bloc will hit its targets on global warming gasses.The European Commission released the figures on Tuesday (2 April), with data from 89 percent of the roughly 12,000 installations in the EU emission's trading scheme (ETS) indicating that emissions fell to 1.79 billion tonnes last year.The figures, which will be confirmed in May, show two consecutive reductions in carbon emissions after a 2.8 percent dip in 2011.The results put the EU on track to meet its existing targets for a 20 percent reduction in overall emissions by 2020 from 1990 levels.It is also aiming for a 20 percent increase in renewable energy and a 20 percent increase in energy efficiency in the same time frame.That said, economic analysts claim that the decline in emissions is partly the result of reduced manufacturing output in Europe caused by the recession and financial crisis.According to the data, emissions from the industrial sector fell by 3.9 percent in 2012.At the same time, EU countries which rely heavily on coal - among the cheapest of fuels, saw emissions increase - with Britain, France and Germany seeing a rise of 4.7 percent, 3.9 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.Economic stagnation in Europe has also hit the ETS itself, which allows firms to buy permits for CO2 emissions and trade them with other gas-emitting firms.The crisis has seen the price of the allowances tumble from a peak of €30 to just €3 today, putting the viability of the project in doubt.The EU parliament is preparing to vote in April on a plan to rescue the ETS.Lawmakers are also bidding to set ambitious new targets for emission reduction. Last week the European Commission released a Green paper with a view to agreeing on binding emissions targets for 2030.But with the European economy expected to remain in recession for most of 2013, whatever happens in Brussels, the EU's overall output of CO2 is likely to go down again next year.

Pope visits St. Peter's tomb under Vatican

By FRANCES D'EMILIO | Associated Press – APR 2,13
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Monday took an emotional, close-up look at the tomb of Peter, the church's first pontiff, buried beneath St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican said.By doing so, Francis became the first pontiff to visit the necropolis, where pagans and early Christians were buried, since extensive archaeological excavations were conducted at the ancient site decades ago, the Vatican said.The 45-minute "visit of devotion to the tomb of St. Peter" was private, the Vatican said, but it later released a video of it.
The basilica was built over the location where early Christians would gather in secret, at a time of persecution in ancient Rome, to pray at an unmarked tomb believed to be that of Peter, the apostle Jesus chose to lead his church.The Vatican first said Francis would pray at Peter's tomb, but later said he prayed instead in the basilica.The new pope "paused in silent prayer, in profound and emotional meditation" in the Clementine Chapel in the vast basilica that is "the closest place (in the basilica) to the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles," it said.During a tour of the necropolis conducted by its director and an Italian cardinal, the pope "climbed up a bit, got closer to the place where the tomb of St. Peter lies, exactly under the central altar and the dome of the basilica," the Vatican said.Francis walked down the entire main street of the ancient city of the dead, the statement said. The streets of the necropolis are similar to those of ancient Rome, only they are flanked by tombs instead of shops and apartments.The Vatican said Francis walked to the necropolis entrance from the hotel on the Vatican grounds where he lives, took the tour and later — after paying homage at the tombs of several popes in another underground level known as the grottoes, including Pius XII, Paul VI and John Paul I — strolled back to his residence.The underground excursion was a sharp departure from how popes in past years often spent the day after Easter, known in Italy as "little Easter." Those pontiffs would head to Castel Gandolfo, the Vatican palace in the Alban Hills, a short drive from Rome.But that oasis of sprawling gardens and strolling paths in the quaint hill town is occupied by the predecessor of Francis, Benedict XVI, who spent the last hours of his papacy there before becoming the first pope in 600 years to retire. Benedict is staying in Castel Gandolfo until a monastery at the Vatican in Rome can be readied for him.Many Italians spend "little Easter" by having a picnic lunch in the countryside or in city parks, and Francis told Romans and tourists who gathered in St. Peter's Square at noon Monday to see him to "have a good lunch." Francis said he was praying that Easter would inspire the faithful so that "hatred gives way to love, lies to truth," and that it would especially comfort those in "most need of trust and hope."He spoke to them from the studio window of the apartment in the Apostolic Palace overlooking the square. Benedict and popes before him lived there, but so far Francis, who stresses simplicity, has declined to move into the quarters.Instead, he has continued to stay at the Vatican hotel, where, as Buenos Aires archbishop, he stayed with fellow cardinals to elect Benedict's successor. They chose him, Jorge Bergoglio, the first pontiff from South America.St. Peter's mission was to continue to preach the message of Jesus and reach more souls. Francis, as a Jesuit, is steeped in the evangelizing mission of the church, and the necropolis tour brings him back to the origins of the church in its simplest years as a community of Christians professing their faith in defiance of the crackdown by Roman emperors.Peter himself was among the Christian martyrs during Nero's reign. He is believed to have been crucified, head down, on the Vatican hill.Constantine, the first Christian emperor, had an early basilica built on the slopes of the Vatican Hill, burying the pagan and Christian cemetery — necropolis means 'city of the dead' — that surrounded Peter's burial site.The current basilica, named after St. Peter, was constructed over the earlier basilica that was deemed unsafe and demolished in the late 15th century.The Baroque master architect Bernini designed the bronze canopy over the central altar over the spot of Peter's burial site. The current basilica was planned as an awe-inspiring monument that would project the image of a powerful church.Under popes of the last century, extensive excavations were carried out of the sprawling necropolis. In 1965, archaeologists said they had found the bones of Peter in an area near an ancient Greek inscription saying "Peter is here."Part of a nearby necropolis came to light in 2003 during construction of a parking lot.
A few years ago, the Vatican unveiled the largest and most luxurious of the pagan tombs under St. Peter's Basilica — that of a family of former slaves.Guided tours of the necropolis, upon appointment, have been one of the most sought-after attractions for tourists to the Vatican.

Arizona city poised to pass state's first civil union ordinance

By Tim Gaynor | Reuters – 6 hrs ago APR 2,13
By Tim Gaynor
BISBEE, Arizona (Reuters) - A former Arizona copper mining town reborn as an artists' community is poised to become on Tuesday the first city in the conservative southwestern state to allow civil unions between same-sex couples.The City Council in Bisbee, a city of 5,600 residents in southeast Arizona, is set to pass an ordinance allowing any couple regardless of their sex or sexual orientation to join in a civil ceremony.The Council approved it at a first reading last month by a unanimous vote, and officials expect it to pass at a second reading on Tuesday night, making the city a standout in the state whose constitution recognizes marriage as a union of one man and one woman."We're here and we're forging ahead ... We're not going to wait," said Gene Conners, an enthusiastic first-term Council member who proposed the measure."To me this is about civil rights. It's about the opportunities and benefits that we all have, and why deny it to that particular group?" he added.A city founded on a mountain of copper ore in 1902, Bisbee reinvented itself as a laid-back artists' enclave after the local Phelps Dodge mine shut in 1975.The Council's vote comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing whether to strike down a law that denies federal benefits to legally married same-sex couples, in a move that would reflect growing support in the United States for gay marriage.A Reuters/Ipsos poll last month found that 55 percent of Americans surveyed said married gay and lesbian couples should be able to qualify for Social Security survivor payments and other benefits provided to married heterosexual couples.The proposed ordinance in Bisbee, which a popular local bumper sticker describes as a "liberal oasis in conservative desert," draws on language in a state civil union bill currently stalled in the Republican-controlled Arizona legislature.
CITY HALL CERTIFICATES
If passed, the ordinance would come into effect in May. Couples would be able to go to City Hall and pay $76 - the cost of a marriage license at the county courthouse - for a civil union certificate.It would only be valid within the limits of the city, a picturesque trove of landmark buildings, galleries, coffee shops and old miners' cottages perched in the folds of the Mule Mountains overlooking Mexico.Benefits extended to couples would include the right to visit their sick partner in the hospital, obtain a family pass for the city swimming pool, and, for city employees, the chance for their partner to buy into their benefits - rights that they do not currently have."It's a wonderful community, and it's very welcoming. To me it makes perfect sense to eliminate some of the obstacles that prevent people from participating," Mayor Adriana Badal told Reuters.Several people have written to the Council to protest the measure, among them at least one business owner who felt that it could hurt local tourism, while others opposed it on religious grounds, including Ralph Bedolla, a pastor from the local Fountains of Living Waters Christian Church."Why is this being called a Civil Union ordinance? If all were up front it would be called what it really is, a Marriage ordinance. It is not called this because I believe that you ... really know that it is wrong," Bedolla wrote the mayor and City Council last week.He said the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman "is by far the truth. Nowhere in the history of the Bible or this nation for that fact has that ever been changed."But other residents have embraced the ordinance, among them Melissa Reaves and her partner of 13 years, Jennifer Garland, who are the first in line to be joined in civil union should the measure be passed."The biggest thing that it would mean for me as a part of the gay community ... is being one step closer to not being a second-class citizen," said Reaves, a popular local musician."Then of course logistics, the right for my partner, God forbid, to come into the hospital and see me if anything ever happened to me," she added.(Reporting by Tim Gaynor; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Beech)

Georgia town passes law requiring residents to own guns

Reuters – 14 hrs ago APR 2,13
ATLANTA (Reuters) - A small Georgia town on Monday passed a law requiring the head of each household to own a gun as a way to keep crime down.The ordinance, approved unanimously by the City Council in Nelson, is symbolic, however, because there is no penalty for violating it, according to Councilman Duane Cronic, who introduced the measure last month.It serves as an expression of support for gun rights and sends a message to would-be criminals, Cronic said.The measure was passed amid the debate over gun laws in the United States following the December shooting rampage in which a gunman killed 26 people at a Connecticut elementary school.The Nelson ordinance exempts convicted felons, residents with physical and mental disabilities and those who do not believe in owning firearms, Cronic said.Crime in Nelson, which has only one police officer, consists mainly of petty theft, Cronic said. Some 1,300 people live in the town, about 50 miles north of Atlanta.Last month similar proposed gun ordinances were rejected in the small towns of Byron and Sabbatus in Maine.(Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Mohammad Zargham)
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