KING JESUS IS COMING FOR US ANY TIME NOW. THE RAPTURE. BE PREPARED TO GO.
IT WILL BE THIS CHIEF RABBI THAT WILL BE INVOLVED IN THE REBUILDING OF THE 3RD TEMPLE IN THE 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY OF DANIEL 9:27.
In an exclusive interview with Arutz Sheva, Rabbi
Yaakov Shapira, head of the religious Zionist flagship Merkaz Harav
Yeshiva in Jerusalem, member of the Rabbinic Council of the Chief
Rabbinate and a candidate for the position of Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi
of Israel, talks about the arduous campaign journey, about Bayit
Yehudi's support for Rabbi David Stav and details his vision for the
Chief Rabbinate.At the beginning of the
interview, Rabbi Shapira asked to share a story that he finds especially
meaningful during this period, one about a Gerer hassid who came to the
Alter Rebbe with a commercial need that he wished the holy sage to pray
for on his behalf. The Rebbe replied that what is really needed now is
the Holy Temple and it is only through really feeling this need in our
hearts that we can understand what else we lack.
"That is what you and I should be talking about during this period of the Three Weeks," Rabbi Shapira said, "but we all in this together, we all are aware that the campaign for the Chief Rabbinate is taking place and that the image of that position has been somewhat degraded; public relations and other means that were not acceptable before have been put into play, as if the rabbinate is a commercial product, some kind of brand name. This has been going on for over a year and without going into further details, there is no question that it has hurt the Chief Rabbinate's image.That is one of the reasons that made me decide, after consulting with Torah greats, to contend for the image of the Chief Rabbinate.
Q. When the elections were planned, did you expect such struggles to be part of the campaign?
Rav Shapira: There has always been a contest. But the means expended on it have never been of such magnitude, and many of those who are involved in the process now realize that this should not have happened and that it was a serious mistake to allow it to happen.
Q. The Jewish Home Party held a vote with a secret ballot and decided that Rabbi David Stav will be its candidate for the position of Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi. Do you think there should be another religious Zionist candidate?
Rabbi Shapira: It is always better to have just one candidate from a religious sector, but woe to the rabbinate that comes from a specific political party. That goes against my principles, it is the antithesis of the position's mission. Whoever becomes the Chief Rabbi must be above politics, because if the Chief Rabbi is seen as the representative of one political party, I do not believe that he will be able to achieve a wide enough consensus to function.
Q. You were against the Plan to Reform the Chief Rabbinate. Don't you think we need to change things so that more of the non-observant will feel connected to the rabbinate?
Rav Shapira: Change is always needed, but the word "reforma" in Hebrew is associated with total change, leaving nothing the same. One does not have to uproot everything. The Chief Rabbinate is not just a bureau for religious services, not just a service provider, it has inherent spiritual character. Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook zts"l (head of Merkaz Harav Yeshiva, son of Rabbi Avraham Hacohen Kook, Israel's first Chief Rabbi) asserted that the very existence of a Chief Rabbinate in the renewed Jewish State sanctifies the name of God. He who believes in the intrinsic spiritual value of this position knows that he must effect changes, but does not want to uproot the original basis of the institution from its source, rather build on the good.
Q. It is known that you have wide support from the hareidi and secular sectors as well as the religious Zionists.
Rav Shapira: "Let other voices praise you, not your own".(Proverbs, 27, ed.) I do not want to talk about myself, I don't believe I am the most worthy person there is and would be happy if those greater than I would contend for the position, but that is not the reality. One of the lessons I learned from the terrible terror attack on the yeshiva five and a half years ago is that one must not try to run away from difficulties. So if one has the ability to do things that can be of benefit – do them.I have the necessary experience as well, as I was privileged to be at the side of the late Rabbi Mordecai Eliyahu and my late father Rabbi Avraham Shapira during the 10 years, years full of accomplishment, that they were the two Chief Rabbis. I was there 24 hours a day, every day, and now if I am given the opportunity to lead the Rabbinate towards reaching its potential in its varied spheres of responsibility, I will thank Hashem for the chance to do my best.
Q. Can you give us an idea of what kind of Chief Rabbinate you would like to see?
Rav Shapira: One hope is that I would like to see the rabbinate function as our mentor Rabbi Avraham Kook saw it, to work on the connection between Torah study, Torah knowledge and a Rabbinate that reaches out and goes out to the people in the field. Not everything that is written in the media describes the reality here. The public is thirsty for the words of rabbinic leaders, wants to know more about its Judaic heritage and desires to live a life that is whole, a life of clear values, ethics and morals.
ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST
1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
ISAIAH 14:12-15
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 will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(SATAN HAS PROUD I PROBLEMS)
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
By David Lev-First Publish: 7/12/2013, 2:09 PM-israelnationalnews
Israel on Friday successfully
completed a test of a missile system the IDF termed a rocket propulsion
system. No other details were provided, but analysts said that the test
was very likely related to Israel's Jericho ballistic missile system.The Jericho system comes in several
varieties, with various ranges and capabilities. According to foreign
news reports, the most modern version of the system, the Jericho III,
has a range of between 5,000 and 11,000 kilometers, and can carry a
warhead of up to one ton. The last test of a Jericho III missile was in
November 2011.In a statement, the Defense Ministry
said that Israel on Friday “successfully conducted a launch of a rocket
propulsion system at the Palmachim army base.” The statement stressed
that the test was scheduled far in advance, and that it had not been
organized in response to any specific events.The launch was planned in advance by the security establishment and was carried out on schedule," said the Defense Ministry's statement.Speaking to Israel Radio,
analysts said that while the test could have been related to a mid- or
long-range missile, it could also have been related to an Israeli effort
to launch a satellite or rocket.
IT WILL BE THIS CHIEF RABBI THAT WILL BE INVOLVED IN THE REBUILDING OF THE 3RD TEMPLE IN THE 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY OF DANIEL 9:27.
A7 Talks to Rabbi Yaakov Shapira, Candidate for Chief Rabbi
"The existence of a Chief Rabbinate in a Jewish state is a sanctification of G-d's name," says the head of Merkaz Harav to A7.By Arutz Sheva Staff-First Publish: 7/12/2013, 7:03 PMIsraelnationalnews
הרב יעקב שפירא
חזקי עזר-
"That is what you and I should be talking about during this period of the Three Weeks," Rabbi Shapira said, "but we all in this together, we all are aware that the campaign for the Chief Rabbinate is taking place and that the image of that position has been somewhat degraded; public relations and other means that were not acceptable before have been put into play, as if the rabbinate is a commercial product, some kind of brand name. This has been going on for over a year and without going into further details, there is no question that it has hurt the Chief Rabbinate's image.That is one of the reasons that made me decide, after consulting with Torah greats, to contend for the image of the Chief Rabbinate.
Q. When the elections were planned, did you expect such struggles to be part of the campaign?
Rav Shapira: There has always been a contest. But the means expended on it have never been of such magnitude, and many of those who are involved in the process now realize that this should not have happened and that it was a serious mistake to allow it to happen.
Q. The Jewish Home Party held a vote with a secret ballot and decided that Rabbi David Stav will be its candidate for the position of Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi. Do you think there should be another religious Zionist candidate?
Rabbi Shapira: It is always better to have just one candidate from a religious sector, but woe to the rabbinate that comes from a specific political party. That goes against my principles, it is the antithesis of the position's mission. Whoever becomes the Chief Rabbi must be above politics, because if the Chief Rabbi is seen as the representative of one political party, I do not believe that he will be able to achieve a wide enough consensus to function.
Q. You were against the Plan to Reform the Chief Rabbinate. Don't you think we need to change things so that more of the non-observant will feel connected to the rabbinate?
Rav Shapira: Change is always needed, but the word "reforma" in Hebrew is associated with total change, leaving nothing the same. One does not have to uproot everything. The Chief Rabbinate is not just a bureau for religious services, not just a service provider, it has inherent spiritual character. Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook zts"l (head of Merkaz Harav Yeshiva, son of Rabbi Avraham Hacohen Kook, Israel's first Chief Rabbi) asserted that the very existence of a Chief Rabbinate in the renewed Jewish State sanctifies the name of God. He who believes in the intrinsic spiritual value of this position knows that he must effect changes, but does not want to uproot the original basis of the institution from its source, rather build on the good.
Q. It is known that you have wide support from the hareidi and secular sectors as well as the religious Zionists.
Rav Shapira: "Let other voices praise you, not your own".(Proverbs, 27, ed.) I do not want to talk about myself, I don't believe I am the most worthy person there is and would be happy if those greater than I would contend for the position, but that is not the reality. One of the lessons I learned from the terrible terror attack on the yeshiva five and a half years ago is that one must not try to run away from difficulties. So if one has the ability to do things that can be of benefit – do them.I have the necessary experience as well, as I was privileged to be at the side of the late Rabbi Mordecai Eliyahu and my late father Rabbi Avraham Shapira during the 10 years, years full of accomplishment, that they were the two Chief Rabbis. I was there 24 hours a day, every day, and now if I am given the opportunity to lead the Rabbinate towards reaching its potential in its varied spheres of responsibility, I will thank Hashem for the chance to do my best.
Q. Can you give us an idea of what kind of Chief Rabbinate you would like to see?
Rav Shapira: One hope is that I would like to see the rabbinate function as our mentor Rabbi Avraham Kook saw it, to work on the connection between Torah study, Torah knowledge and a Rabbinate that reaches out and goes out to the people in the field. Not everything that is written in the media describes the reality here. The public is thirsty for the words of rabbinic leaders, wants to know more about its Judaic heritage and desires to live a life that is whole, a life of clear values, ethics and morals.
ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST
1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
ISAIAH 14:12-15
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 will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(SATAN HAS PROUD I PROBLEMS)
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
Latest Israeli Missile Test a Success, IDF Says
Israel on Friday successfully completed a test of a missile system the IDF termed a rocket propulsion system
missile launch (illustration)-Reuters
EU and US reach last-minute derivatives deal
11.07.13 @ 20:54 By Benjamin Fox
BRUSSELS - EU and US financial services
officials have reached a last-minute agreement on rules governing the
complex derivatives market, after nearly a year of talks between
regulators.The agreement, which will see the sides recognising each other's
trading standards, will cover financial instruments and contracts that
form a global market worth an estimated $630 trillion (€500 trillion),
almost ten times the size of the global economy.A joint statement by EU commissioner Michel Barnier and Gary Gensler,
chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC),
described their systems as "essentially identical" in many respects.The accord will allow traders to choose which bloc's rulebook to
apply when dealing with so-called 'bilateral uncleared swaps' that are
too complex to be cleared through a central counterparty. It will also
allow US firms to use the EU's trading platforms until March 2014.The deal, widely seen as a climbdown by Gensler, was struck just
hours before controversial plans by the CFTC were due to come into force
that would have forced US financial services to comply solely with US
swaps rules.In a nod to Gensler's late change of heart, Barnier struck a conciliatory tone."Our discussions have been long and sometimes difficult, but they
have always been close, continuous and collaborative," he said.But the agreement will only last until early 2014 with the two parties set to resume talks in January on a future regime.International regulators have been under pressure to lower risk and
improve transparency in the lucrative but often opaque market since the
2008-9 financial crisis.Derivative contracts allow banks and businesses to hedge against
possible losses by tying the value of an investment to the value of
other entities such as oil or currencies.However, they are also used for financial speculation. And although
most trades go through a central counterparty, which is responsible for
scrutinising and clearing the contracts, the more technical and bespoke
contracts are 'uncleared', leading to problems if one party reneges on
the contract.
Oil giant defends its EU lobby transparency
Today @ 09:15 JULY 12,13
By Nikolaj Nielsen
BRUSSELS - Oil giant BP denies allegations it is under-reporting its lobbying efforts in Brussels.
A spokesperson for the oil giant told this website on Thursday (11 July) that it is completely transparent.
“We report our direct lobbying costs and also list our memberships of associations like Europia, Concawe, Eurogas,” the contact said by email.But for its part, the Brussels’ based advocacy group Friends of the Earth Europe (FoE), says both BP and Shell provide misleading information in the EU transparency register.
It says the two firms increased their declared lobbying budgets in the registry after FoE filed a complaint to the EU Ombudsman against the European Commission in 2012.FoE says Shell’s lobby budget in the register went from €400,000 to €4,000,000 in February 2012. They say BP also upped its declared lobbying expenditures in the registry in November 2012.BP notes that industry associations - such as Europia, Concawe and Eurogas - are also listed on the register and report the contributions they receive.“If we were to report our contributions to them, there would be double-counting of costs on the register, which would give a distorted picture of the industry’s lobbying efforts,” said the BP spokesperson.The UK-based company declares five lobbyists in the registry but has eight accredited to the European Parliament.
BP says the discrepancy is due to uncertainty of reporting full-time and part-time individuals and that the registers are not always up to date.FoE in 2010 tried to get the European Commission to disclose documents that revealed the true extent of the lobbying efforts by the companies.The commission refused full access, stating in February 2011 that some of the information requested by the group was “irrelevant”.
FoE then filed a complaint against the commission with EU Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros.On Thursday, Diamandouros released the conclusions of his investigation into FoE’s complaint.Diamandouros called on the commission to improve accuracy and monitoring of the transparency register.“This includes providing better guidance for companies and organisations which register themselves, so as to ensure that the information given is accurate,” he said in a statement.He added that the commission “had done all in its power to investigate the complaints and that its conclusions were reasonable,” but he critised the EU executive for failing to explain why it rejected FoE’s arguments in the first place.The commission’s institutional affairs spokesperson, Antony Gravili, said the decision relates to events which took place before the transparency register existed.“Very few countries in the world, including EU Member States, have such a robust system in place to bring transparency to those who seek to influence the decision-making process,” he said.FoE, for their part, says the ruling demonstrates that a voluntary-based EU transparency register is not credible.Shell was contacted on this story but has yet to respond.
ISAIAH 17:1,11-14
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
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 evening tide 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)
EGYPT
ISAIAH 19:1-5
1 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
5 And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
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.
By Maggie Fick and Yasmine Saleh-july12,13
CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamist supporters of Egypt's ousted president, Mohamed Mursi, protested in Cairo on Friday after a week of violence in which more than 90 people were killed in a bitterly divided nation.
Nine days after the army toppled Egypt's first elected leader following a wave of demonstrations against him, Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood is trying to mobilize popular support for his reinstatement, which for now looks like a lost cause.At a Cairo mosque where Mursi supporters have held vigil for more than two weeks, crowds swelled as people were bussed in from the provinces, where the Brotherhood has strongholds.
"We're here and we're not leaving," said Amer Ali, who drove the five-hour journey from the Nile city of Assiut with his wife and two young children to join tens of thousands of protesters."We came with our kids to support legitimacy, democracy, and our civilian president, the first freely elected president in the Arab world."
Some 2,000 people had gathered close to Cairo University on the weekly Muslim day of prayer, in the holy month of Ramadan.The youth-led Tamarud group, which brought millions of people to the streets to demand Mursi resign, has called for a Ramadan celebration in Tahrir Square, the cradle of the uprising that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.Officials say Mursi is still being held at the Republican Guard compound in Cairo, where troops killed 53 Islamist protesters on Monday in violence that intensified anger his allies already felt at the military's decision to oust him.Four members of the security forces were also killed in that confrontation, which the military blames on "terrorists". Mursi's supporters call it a massacre and say those who died were praying peacefully when troops opened fire.
SHOCK AND ANGER
Many of Egypt's 84 million people have been shocked by the shootings, graphic images of which have appeared on state and private news channels and social media. The incident occurred just three days after 35 people were killed in clashes between pro- and anti-Mursi demonstrators across the country.The Brotherhood contends it is the victim of a military crackdown, evoking memories of its suppression under Mubarak.But many of its opponents blame Islamists for the violence, and some have little sympathy for the demonstrators who died, underlining how deep the fissures in Egyptian society are.The unrest has also raised fear over security in the lawless Sinai peninsula bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip.Militant groups in North Sinai have promised more attacks and urged Islamists to take up arms, while the army has vowed to step up operations in the region, which is near the Suez Canal, the busy waterway linking Asia and Europe.An Egyptian military helicopter briefly crossed into Israeli-controlled airspace over the Gaza Strip, in a possible sign of increased security jitters.Security sources in Egypt and Israel both described the flyover as a navigational error, but it came shortly after militants killed an Egyptian policeman and wounded a second in an attack on a checkpoint in Sinai across the border from Gaza.
VIGIL ENTERS THIRD WEEK
Outside the Rabaa Adawiya mosque in northeastern Cairo, tens of thousands of Brotherhood supporters prayed and listened to speeches. Some of them have camped out in searing heat, fasting in the daytime since Ramadan began on Wednesday.In a wooden shack erected on a side street and emblazoned with portraits of Mursi, men prepared vats of rice and lamb. Others put the food in plastic bags to distribute after sundown, when Muslims break their fast.People squirted water from bottles to cool each other down. Others rested in the shade, dozing or reading the Koran.The night before, they had mourned Monday's dead, killed in the worst violence since Mubarak was toppled, apart from a 2012 soccer stadium riot. "Never before has blood been so cheap," said Saad Al-Husseini.The camp has become the de facto base of the Brotherhood, whose leaders live under the threat of detention after the public prosecutor ordered their arrests earlier in the week.Judicial sources say Mursi is likely to be charged, possibly for corruption or links to violence. Prosecutors are also looking again at an old case from 2011 when Mursi and other Brotherhood leaders escaped from prison after being detained during anti-Mubarak protests.His son Osama told CNN that he was proud of Mursi."We back any decision you take. Even if you decided to leave the office. Your family, we are all proud of you, God bless you," he said in English.The detentions and threats of arrest have drawn concern from the United States, which has walked a semantic tightrope to avoid calling Mursi's ouster a military coup.U.S. law bars aid to countries where a democratic government is removed in a coup. Washington, which gives Egypt's military $1.3 billion in aid each year, has said it is too early to say whether Mursi's removal by the army meets that description.The army has said it was enforcing the nation's will - meaning the huge crowds of people fed up with economic stagnation and suspicious of a Brotherhood power grab who took to the streets in late June to demand Mursi's departure.State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Wednesday Mursi's government "wasn't a democratic rule".German's foreign ministry demanded that Mursi be freed.
ALARM OVERSEAS
Crucial to longer-term stability will be holding parliamentary and presidential elections, which the transitional authorities are hoping to achieve in a matter of months.Adli Mansour, the interim president named by the general who removed Mursi, has announced a temporary constitution, plans to amend it to satisfy parties' demands and a faster-than-expected schedule for parliamentary elections in about six months.He has named liberal economist Hazem el-Beblawi as interim prime minister, and Beblawi said he had named center-left lawyer Ziad Bahaa el-Din as his deputy. Beblawi also said he expected to swear in a cabinet next week.
Negotiations are difficult, with the authorities trying to attract support from groups that range from secularists to ultra-orthodox Muslims, nearly all of whom expressed deep dissatisfaction with elements of the interim constitution.Underlining the level of concern overseas at Egypt's crisis, two U.S. Navy ships patrolling in the Middle East moved closer to Egypt's Red Sea coast in recent days, in what appeared to be a precautionary move following Mursi's ouster on July 3.The United States often sends Navy vessels close to countries in turmoil in case it needs to protect or evacuate U.S. citizens or give humanitarian assistance.Rich Gulf states have thrown Egypt a $12 billion lifeline in financial aid, which should help it stave off economic collapse.
More than two years of turmoil have scared away tourists and investors, shriveled hard currency reserves and threatened Cairo's ability to import food and fuel.(Additional reporting by Noah Browning, Mike Collett-White, Peter Graff, Ali Saed, Seham el-Oraby and Yasmine Saleh in Cairo, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem; Writing by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Michael Roddy)
By Louis Charbonneau-july 12,13
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia's U.N. envoy on Thursday sharply criticized what he described as Western nations' "small propaganda storm in a glass of water" regarding allegations that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against its own people.Ambassador Vitaly Churkin on Tuesday presented U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon a Russian analysis that Churkin said showed how a projectile containing sarin that hit Khan al-Assal in the northern Aleppo province on March 19, killing 26 civilians and military personnel, was fired by rebels.That report came after Syria allowed Russian experts to visit the site and take environmental samples for analysis. Russia, along with Iran, is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's closest ally and chief arms supplier.The United States, France and Britain, which have informed Ban about at least nine more alleged chemical weapons attacks by the government, cast doubt on the Russian analysis and repeated their previous calls for a U.N. chemical investigation team to have unfettered access in Syria, not just Khan al-Assal.Churkin suggested that the three Western nations were making accusations that are not worth taking seriously."We need to be looking to credible allegations," he told reporters, adding that the insistence on looking into other incidents besides Khan al-Assal was a "small propaganda storm in a glass of water.""Unfortunately I think what our Western colleagues have been doing is trying to produce the maximum number of allegations with the minimum of credibility in an effort ... to create maximum problems for arranging such an investigation," he said.Syria has refused to allow the U.N. chemical investigation to visit anywhere but Khan al-Assal. Ban has insisted that the team, which is led by Ake Sellstrom of Sweden, be permitted to visit at least one other location, the city of Homs, site of an alleged chemical attack by the government in December 2012.U.S. Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo told reporters that the investigation should not be limited to Aleppo's Khan al-Assal."We have called for the investigation - as the secretary-general has by the way - to include any and all credible allegations," she said.Assad's government and the rebels deny using chemical weapons but have accused each other of repeatedly deploying them. The country's two-year civil war has killed as many as 100,000 people, according to U.N. figures.
DRAFT RESOLUTION DISPUTE
British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said on Wednesday it was "nice that the Syrian regime has given access to Russian experts to collect samples of alleged chemical weapons use.""But it is considerably more important that they give access to independent and credible U.N. investigators who are not directly involved in the conflict and who can be expected to produce a more impartial and credible report," he said.The access dispute has kept Sellstrom's team out of Syria.Churkin also criticized a statement by U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Wednesday, who said Russia was blocking U.N. Security Council efforts to push for "an independent and credible investigation" of chemical attacks in Syria.Churkin said Russia was working hard to bring about a proper U.N. probe, which he said was demonstrated by the fact that Sellstrom and U.N. disarmament chief Angela Kane have been invited by the Syrian government to Damascus to discuss their investigation. Sellstrom and Kane have accepted the invitation.Churkin also accused Britain of leaking "confidential" information to reporters about a draft resolution proposed by London and based on a statement Moscow supported at last month's Group of Eight (G8) developed nations' summit in Belfast.The G8 statement urged all parties to the conflict to grant access to the U.N. team "in order to conduct an objective investigation into reports of the use of chemical weapons." It also called for the investigators to "make their report and deliver it to the U.N. Security Council for their assessment."
Several Western diplomats on the 15-nation Security Council said Russia was blocking the draft resolution. Churkin confirmed that Moscow opposed it but said China had also rejected it."We thought that it was completely unreasonable and contrary to the G8 declaration," he said about the British draft resolution, noting that "you know how our British friends are - they even drive on the wrong side of the road."
(In paragraph 8, inserts dropped word "but," removes "by")(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; 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)
THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.
BEIJING/TAIPEI (Reuters) - China and Taiwan braced on Friday
for the impact of Typhoon Soulik as the toll of dead and missing from
torrential rain across a broad swath of China climbed beyond 200.Soulik is expected to hit northern Taiwan later in the day, before
crossing the narrow Taiwan Strait and slamming into China's provinces of
Fujian and Zhejiang on Saturday."Government departments must place saving people's lives as their
top priority," Chinese state media quoted Premier Li Keqiang as saying,
as officials scrambled to tackle the floods.The Taipei city government has ordered companies and schools to send
staff and pupils home early, although the financial markets will
operate normally.Taiwan's China Airlines and Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways
Ltd both warned of significant cancellations and disruption of flights
to and from Taiwan on their websites.The storm will also pass close to the far southern Japanese islands of Ishigaki and Miyako.China has ordered fishing boats to return to port and suspended ferry links to Taiwan, official news agency Xinhua said.The typhoon approaches as large parts of China are already being lashed by torrential rain.At least 36 people have died in flooding in the southwestern
province of Sichuan since the weekend, and 166 people are missing, the
China News Service said.State television has broadcast dramatic pictures of bridges and
houses being washed away around Beichuan and Dujiangyan in Sichuan, a
region that is still recovering from a massive earthquake in 2008 that
killed nearly 70,000 people.China's Ministry of Civil Affairs said flooding had also hit
Xinjiang in the far west as well as Tibet and Beijing, the capital. In
Inner Mongolia at least five people have died, it added.(This story corrects the headline to show number of dead and missing)(Reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING and Faith Hung in TAIPEI;
Additional reporting by Elaine Lies in TOKYO; Editing by Clarence
Fernandez)
LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec (AP) — The first victim of a runaway oil
train's explosive derailment in a Quebec town was identified Thursday,
more than five days since the disaster, which left behind a scorched
scene so dangerous that it slowed the search for 50 people presumed
dead.Quebec's premier toured the traumatized town and sharply
criticized the U.S. railway's chief for not responding in person more
quickly to Canada's worst railway disaster in nearly 150 years.Police said four more bodies had been found, bringing the total found to 24.The
first victim to be identified by the coroner's office was 93-year-old
Eliane Parenteau, who lived in the disaster zone in downtown
Lac-Megantic. Those who knew her described her as being active for her
age.The devastated downtown remained dangerous for days after the
crash as responders put out fires and struggled to keep the remaining
oil tankers cool so they wouldn't explode. The hazardous conditions
delayed the search for the missing — and now for bodies.Officials also have warned that identifications would be made more difficult by the incinerated scene.Conditions
had at least improved enough for nearly all the 2,000 residents forced
to evacuate after the crash — a third of the population— to return home,
the town's mayor said.Quebec Premier Pauline Marois arrived in
town and renewed her criticism of Edward Burkhardt, president and CEO of
U.S.-based Rail World Inc., which owns the runaway train."The leader of this company should have been there from the beginning," Marois said at a news conference.Burkhardt arrived in town for the first time Wednesday with a police escort, facing jeers from residents.Burkhardt
has said he delayed his visit to deal with the crisis from his Chicago
office, saying he was better able to communicate from there."I understand the extreme anger," he said. "We owe an abject apology to the people in this town."He
has blamed the engineer for failing to set the brakes properly before
the unmanned train hurtled down a seven-mile (11-kilometer) incline,
derailed and ignited. All but one of its 73 cars was carrying oil, and
at least five exploded.Burkhardt said the engineer had been
suspended without pay and was under "police control." Burkhardt did not
name the engineer, though the company had previously identified the
employee as Tom Harding of Quebec. Harding has not spoken publicly since
the crash.Anger at the railway officials among residents appeared to mount Thursday.Lac-Megantic's mayor, Colette Roy-Laroche, said a hoped-for meeting with Burkhardt didn't materialize."I am angry with the fact that he did not communicate with me sooner," she said.At Burkhardt's head office, an aide said no snub of the mayor was intended."There's
been a misunderstanding on that issue," said Cathy Aldana. "Our people
have been in contact with mayor's office daily, and I know Mr. Burkhardt
wanted to see her personally."
Investigators are also looking at a fire on the same train just hours before the disaster. A fire official has said the train's power was shut down as standard operating procedure, meaning the train's air brakes would have been disabled. In that case, hand brakes on individual train cars would have been needed.The derailment is Canada's worst railway disaster since a train plunged into a Quebec river in 1864, killing 99.The crash has raised questions about the rapidly growing use of rail to transport oil in North America, especially in the booming North Dakota oil fields and Alberta oil sands far from the sea.___Associated Press writers Sean Farrell in Lac-Megantic, Charmaine Noronha in Toronto and Tammy Webber in Chicago contributed to this report.
A spokesperson for the oil giant told this website on Thursday (11 July) that it is completely transparent.
“We report our direct lobbying costs and also list our memberships of associations like Europia, Concawe, Eurogas,” the contact said by email.But for its part, the Brussels’ based advocacy group Friends of the Earth Europe (FoE), says both BP and Shell provide misleading information in the EU transparency register.
It says the two firms increased their declared lobbying budgets in the registry after FoE filed a complaint to the EU Ombudsman against the European Commission in 2012.FoE says Shell’s lobby budget in the register went from €400,000 to €4,000,000 in February 2012. They say BP also upped its declared lobbying expenditures in the registry in November 2012.BP notes that industry associations - such as Europia, Concawe and Eurogas - are also listed on the register and report the contributions they receive.“If we were to report our contributions to them, there would be double-counting of costs on the register, which would give a distorted picture of the industry’s lobbying efforts,” said the BP spokesperson.The UK-based company declares five lobbyists in the registry but has eight accredited to the European Parliament.
BP says the discrepancy is due to uncertainty of reporting full-time and part-time individuals and that the registers are not always up to date.FoE in 2010 tried to get the European Commission to disclose documents that revealed the true extent of the lobbying efforts by the companies.The commission refused full access, stating in February 2011 that some of the information requested by the group was “irrelevant”.
FoE then filed a complaint against the commission with EU Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros.On Thursday, Diamandouros released the conclusions of his investigation into FoE’s complaint.Diamandouros called on the commission to improve accuracy and monitoring of the transparency register.“This includes providing better guidance for companies and organisations which register themselves, so as to ensure that the information given is accurate,” he said in a statement.He added that the commission “had done all in its power to investigate the complaints and that its conclusions were reasonable,” but he critised the EU executive for failing to explain why it rejected FoE’s arguments in the first place.The commission’s institutional affairs spokesperson, Antony Gravili, said the decision relates to events which took place before the transparency register existed.“Very few countries in the world, including EU Member States, have such a robust system in place to bring transparency to those who seek to influence the decision-making process,” he said.FoE, for their part, says the ruling demonstrates that a voluntary-based EU transparency register is not credible.Shell was contacted on this story but has yet to respond.
ISAIAH 17:1,11-14
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
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 evening tide 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)
EGYPT
ISAIAH 19:1-5
1 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
5 And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
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.
Egypt's bruised Islamists protest after bloody week
CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamist supporters of Egypt's ousted president, Mohamed Mursi, protested in Cairo on Friday after a week of violence in which more than 90 people were killed in a bitterly divided nation.
Nine days after the army toppled Egypt's first elected leader following a wave of demonstrations against him, Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood is trying to mobilize popular support for his reinstatement, which for now looks like a lost cause.At a Cairo mosque where Mursi supporters have held vigil for more than two weeks, crowds swelled as people were bussed in from the provinces, where the Brotherhood has strongholds.
"We're here and we're not leaving," said Amer Ali, who drove the five-hour journey from the Nile city of Assiut with his wife and two young children to join tens of thousands of protesters."We came with our kids to support legitimacy, democracy, and our civilian president, the first freely elected president in the Arab world."
Some 2,000 people had gathered close to Cairo University on the weekly Muslim day of prayer, in the holy month of Ramadan.The youth-led Tamarud group, which brought millions of people to the streets to demand Mursi resign, has called for a Ramadan celebration in Tahrir Square, the cradle of the uprising that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.Officials say Mursi is still being held at the Republican Guard compound in Cairo, where troops killed 53 Islamist protesters on Monday in violence that intensified anger his allies already felt at the military's decision to oust him.Four members of the security forces were also killed in that confrontation, which the military blames on "terrorists". Mursi's supporters call it a massacre and say those who died were praying peacefully when troops opened fire.
SHOCK AND ANGER
Many of Egypt's 84 million people have been shocked by the shootings, graphic images of which have appeared on state and private news channels and social media. The incident occurred just three days after 35 people were killed in clashes between pro- and anti-Mursi demonstrators across the country.The Brotherhood contends it is the victim of a military crackdown, evoking memories of its suppression under Mubarak.But many of its opponents blame Islamists for the violence, and some have little sympathy for the demonstrators who died, underlining how deep the fissures in Egyptian society are.The unrest has also raised fear over security in the lawless Sinai peninsula bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip.Militant groups in North Sinai have promised more attacks and urged Islamists to take up arms, while the army has vowed to step up operations in the region, which is near the Suez Canal, the busy waterway linking Asia and Europe.An Egyptian military helicopter briefly crossed into Israeli-controlled airspace over the Gaza Strip, in a possible sign of increased security jitters.Security sources in Egypt and Israel both described the flyover as a navigational error, but it came shortly after militants killed an Egyptian policeman and wounded a second in an attack on a checkpoint in Sinai across the border from Gaza.
VIGIL ENTERS THIRD WEEK
Outside the Rabaa Adawiya mosque in northeastern Cairo, tens of thousands of Brotherhood supporters prayed and listened to speeches. Some of them have camped out in searing heat, fasting in the daytime since Ramadan began on Wednesday.In a wooden shack erected on a side street and emblazoned with portraits of Mursi, men prepared vats of rice and lamb. Others put the food in plastic bags to distribute after sundown, when Muslims break their fast.People squirted water from bottles to cool each other down. Others rested in the shade, dozing or reading the Koran.The night before, they had mourned Monday's dead, killed in the worst violence since Mubarak was toppled, apart from a 2012 soccer stadium riot. "Never before has blood been so cheap," said Saad Al-Husseini.The camp has become the de facto base of the Brotherhood, whose leaders live under the threat of detention after the public prosecutor ordered their arrests earlier in the week.Judicial sources say Mursi is likely to be charged, possibly for corruption or links to violence. Prosecutors are also looking again at an old case from 2011 when Mursi and other Brotherhood leaders escaped from prison after being detained during anti-Mubarak protests.His son Osama told CNN that he was proud of Mursi."We back any decision you take. Even if you decided to leave the office. Your family, we are all proud of you, God bless you," he said in English.The detentions and threats of arrest have drawn concern from the United States, which has walked a semantic tightrope to avoid calling Mursi's ouster a military coup.U.S. law bars aid to countries where a democratic government is removed in a coup. Washington, which gives Egypt's military $1.3 billion in aid each year, has said it is too early to say whether Mursi's removal by the army meets that description.The army has said it was enforcing the nation's will - meaning the huge crowds of people fed up with economic stagnation and suspicious of a Brotherhood power grab who took to the streets in late June to demand Mursi's departure.State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Wednesday Mursi's government "wasn't a democratic rule".German's foreign ministry demanded that Mursi be freed.
ALARM OVERSEAS
Crucial to longer-term stability will be holding parliamentary and presidential elections, which the transitional authorities are hoping to achieve in a matter of months.Adli Mansour, the interim president named by the general who removed Mursi, has announced a temporary constitution, plans to amend it to satisfy parties' demands and a faster-than-expected schedule for parliamentary elections in about six months.He has named liberal economist Hazem el-Beblawi as interim prime minister, and Beblawi said he had named center-left lawyer Ziad Bahaa el-Din as his deputy. Beblawi also said he expected to swear in a cabinet next week.
Negotiations are difficult, with the authorities trying to attract support from groups that range from secularists to ultra-orthodox Muslims, nearly all of whom expressed deep dissatisfaction with elements of the interim constitution.Underlining the level of concern overseas at Egypt's crisis, two U.S. Navy ships patrolling in the Middle East moved closer to Egypt's Red Sea coast in recent days, in what appeared to be a precautionary move following Mursi's ouster on July 3.The United States often sends Navy vessels close to countries in turmoil in case it needs to protect or evacuate U.S. citizens or give humanitarian assistance.Rich Gulf states have thrown Egypt a $12 billion lifeline in financial aid, which should help it stave off economic collapse.
More than two years of turmoil have scared away tourists and investors, shriveled hard currency reserves and threatened Cairo's ability to import food and fuel.(Additional reporting by Noah Browning, Mike Collett-White, Peter Graff, Ali Saed, Seham el-Oraby and Yasmine Saleh in Cairo, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem; Writing by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Michael Roddy)
Russia slams West's 'propaganda storm' on Syria chemical arms
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia's U.N. envoy on Thursday sharply criticized what he described as Western nations' "small propaganda storm in a glass of water" regarding allegations that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against its own people.Ambassador Vitaly Churkin on Tuesday presented U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon a Russian analysis that Churkin said showed how a projectile containing sarin that hit Khan al-Assal in the northern Aleppo province on March 19, killing 26 civilians and military personnel, was fired by rebels.That report came after Syria allowed Russian experts to visit the site and take environmental samples for analysis. Russia, along with Iran, is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's closest ally and chief arms supplier.The United States, France and Britain, which have informed Ban about at least nine more alleged chemical weapons attacks by the government, cast doubt on the Russian analysis and repeated their previous calls for a U.N. chemical investigation team to have unfettered access in Syria, not just Khan al-Assal.Churkin suggested that the three Western nations were making accusations that are not worth taking seriously."We need to be looking to credible allegations," he told reporters, adding that the insistence on looking into other incidents besides Khan al-Assal was a "small propaganda storm in a glass of water.""Unfortunately I think what our Western colleagues have been doing is trying to produce the maximum number of allegations with the minimum of credibility in an effort ... to create maximum problems for arranging such an investigation," he said.Syria has refused to allow the U.N. chemical investigation to visit anywhere but Khan al-Assal. Ban has insisted that the team, which is led by Ake Sellstrom of Sweden, be permitted to visit at least one other location, the city of Homs, site of an alleged chemical attack by the government in December 2012.U.S. Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo told reporters that the investigation should not be limited to Aleppo's Khan al-Assal."We have called for the investigation - as the secretary-general has by the way - to include any and all credible allegations," she said.Assad's government and the rebels deny using chemical weapons but have accused each other of repeatedly deploying them. The country's two-year civil war has killed as many as 100,000 people, according to U.N. figures.
DRAFT RESOLUTION DISPUTE
British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said on Wednesday it was "nice that the Syrian regime has given access to Russian experts to collect samples of alleged chemical weapons use.""But it is considerably more important that they give access to independent and credible U.N. investigators who are not directly involved in the conflict and who can be expected to produce a more impartial and credible report," he said.The access dispute has kept Sellstrom's team out of Syria.Churkin also criticized a statement by U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Wednesday, who said Russia was blocking U.N. Security Council efforts to push for "an independent and credible investigation" of chemical attacks in Syria.Churkin said Russia was working hard to bring about a proper U.N. probe, which he said was demonstrated by the fact that Sellstrom and U.N. disarmament chief Angela Kane have been invited by the Syrian government to Damascus to discuss their investigation. Sellstrom and Kane have accepted the invitation.Churkin also accused Britain of leaking "confidential" information to reporters about a draft resolution proposed by London and based on a statement Moscow supported at last month's Group of Eight (G8) developed nations' summit in Belfast.The G8 statement urged all parties to the conflict to grant access to the U.N. team "in order to conduct an objective investigation into reports of the use of chemical weapons." It also called for the investigators to "make their report and deliver it to the U.N. Security Council for their assessment."
Several Western diplomats on the 15-nation Security Council said Russia was blocking the draft resolution. Churkin confirmed that Moscow opposed it but said China had also rejected it."We thought that it was completely unreasonable and contrary to the G8 declaration," he said about the British draft resolution, noting that "you know how our British friends are - they even drive on the wrong side of the road."
(In paragraph 8, inserts dropped word "but," removes "by")(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; 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)
THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.
China, Taiwan brace for typhoon as flood toll exceeds 200
Police: 24 bodies now found in Quebec train crash
Investigators are also looking at a fire on the same train just hours before the disaster. A fire official has said the train's power was shut down as standard operating procedure, meaning the train's air brakes would have been disabled. In that case, hand brakes on individual train cars would have been needed.The derailment is Canada's worst railway disaster since a train plunged into a Quebec river in 1864, killing 99.The crash has raised questions about the rapidly growing use of rail to transport oil in North America, especially in the booming North Dakota oil fields and Alberta oil sands far from the sea.___Associated Press writers Sean Farrell in Lac-Megantic, Charmaine Noronha in Toronto and Tammy Webber in Chicago contributed to this report.
