JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T
MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE
MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET
SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO
OTHER
I NEVER CHECKED MY E-MAILS SINCE APR 27TH.BUT I SEE ONE CHILD HAS BEEN RELEASED TO A LEV TAHOR MOTHER.THANK GOD FOR THAT.
Ontario judge orders Lev Tahor infant released to mother from foster care-CTV Windsor: Lev Tahor mother reunited with infant-A Lev Tahor mother at the centre of child custody dispute has been reunited with her infant. Rich Garton was on hand for the reunion.The Canadian Press-Published Monday, April 28, 2014 7:34PM EDT
CHATHAM, Ont. - An Ontario judge has ordered an infant with an ultra-orthodox Jewish sect to be released from foster care and placed in the care of the baby's 17-year-old mother.Justice Paul Kowalyshyn ordered Chatham-Kent Children's Services to release the Lev Tahor child, who with the mother was taken into custody in Calgary after fleeing Ontario ahead of a child custody appeal hearing.Kowalyshyn banned the infant's father from seeing the child until further notice and told the mother there would be "very specific terms of supervision," though details were not released.A custody hearing for another six children placed in foster care after being stopped in Trinidad and Tobago and then sent back to Canada will take place next week.A Superior Court judge ruled earlier this month that 13 children who are part of the group do not have to be sent back to Quebec, where much of the community fled late last year amid a child protection case.Certain families in the community face unproven allegations of mistreatment, and child marriages.
Read more: http://windsor.ctvnews.ca/ontario-judge-orders-lev-tahor-infant-released-to-mother-from-foster-care-1.1796763#ixzz30fMbHyMQ
Nigeria police: 276 abducted girls still missing
By HARUNA UMAR May 2, 2014 10:45 AM-YahooNews
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — The number of kidnapped schoolgirls missing in Nigeria has risen to 276, up by more than 30 from a previous estimate, police said, adding that the actual number abducted by Islamic extremists on April 14 was more than 300.Police Commissioner Tanko Lawan said the number of girls and young women who have escaped also has risen, to 53.He told a news conference Thursday night in Maiduguri, the northeastern capital of Borno state, that the figures keep increasing because students from other schools were brought into one school for final exams last month after all schools in Borno state were shut because of attacks by Islamic extremists. Communications are difficult with the military often cutting cell phone service under a state of emergency and travel made dangerous on roads frequently attacked by the militants."The students were drawn from schools in Izge, Lassa, Ashigashiya and Warabe A. and that is why, after the unfortunate incident, there were various numbers flying around as to the actual number of girls that were taken away," Lawan said.Hundreds of women protested in at least three cities this week to express their outrage that the girls have not been found.Two bombings in three weeks have also hit the nation's capital, Abuja.Reports this week indicated some have been forced into "marriage" with their extremist abductors, who paid a nominal bride price equivalent to $12. Other reports that also could not be verified said some have been taken across borders, to Chad, Cameroon and to an island in Lake Chad. The reports come from parents and legislators who are in touch with villagers who have seen the girls with their abductors.As the students, aged between 15 and 18, endure a third week of captivity President Goodluck Jonathan referred to them publicly for the first time at a May Day rally on Thursday. Jonathan, a southern Christian who has been accused of insensitivity to the plight of mainly Muslim residents of the northeast, vowed "we must find our missing girls" and "the perpetrators must be brought to book."He said "the cruel abduction of some innocent girls, our future mothers and leaders, in a very horrific and despicable situation in Borno state is quite regrettable.""We shall triumph over all this evil that wants to debase our humanity," he added.Girls who have escaped say their captors identified themselves as fighters in the Boko Haram terrorist network, though the extremists have not claimed responsibility for the abductions. Boko Haram — the name means "Western education is sinful" — believes Western influences have corrupted their society and only an Islamic state can restore purity to Africa's most populous nation of about 170 million people, divided almost equally between Muslims and Christians.---Associated Press writer Michelle Faul contributed to this report from Lagos, Nigeria.
Schools in Nigeria capital closing for security
By MICHELLE FAUL 7 hours ago-MAY 3,14-YahooNews
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — All schools and government offices in Nigeria's capital will close during a three-day international conference next week, according to a presidential order that follows two bomb attacks in three weeks that killed nearly 100 people in Abuja.A statement Friday night said the measure "is to ease the flow of traffic" during the May 7-9 World Economic Forum on Africa to which hundreds of international personalities, business and African leaders are invited. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is the guest of honor.The government has said it is deploying 6,000 police and troops to help secure the event, and President Goodluck Jonathan has assured delegates they will be safe.Further indicating Nigeria's security threats, the U.S. Embassy warned Americans in an email Friday that extremists were planning "an unspecified attack" on a Sheraton hotel in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos.The hotel chain has two locally owned franchises in the southwestern city of about 20 million people. A duty manager at the $350-a-night Sheraton in Ikeja suburb, near the international airport, said he was unaware of any threat. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to reporters.Explosions on April 14 and May 1 in Abuja, in the center of the country, are blamed on the Islamic extremists Boko Haram terrorist network that has targeted schools and slaughtered hundreds of students. Militants of Boko Haram — the nickname means "Western education is sinful" — are holding some 276 teenage girls abducted from a northeastern school April 15.In response to national outrage and protests at the failure to rescue the girls, Jonathan on Friday announced a that presidential committee headed by a retired general will mobilize people in the area of the mass abduction and other citizens "for a rescue strategy and operation" and to "articulate a framework for a multi-stakeholder action for the rescue of the missing girls."Unverified reports this week that the militants are demanding ransoms for their release coincided with stories that some of the girls and young women — they are aged 15 to 18 — have been forced to "marry" their extremist abductors and some have been carried across borders into Chad and Cameroon.The attacks and the prolonged captivity of the girls have gravely undermined confidence in Jonathan and his government as Nigeria prepares for February 2015 elections.Nigeria is fighting a 5-year-old Islamic uprising by extremists whose stronghold is in the remote northeast but who are threatening attacks across Africa's biggest oil producer.
SINK HOLES
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
HOSEA 4:1-3
1 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
MATTHEW 7:24-27
24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
NUMBERS 16:30-32
30 But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD.
31 And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them:
32 And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.
NUMBERS 26:10
10 And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men: and they became a sign.
ISAIAH 28:18-19
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Afghan landslide rescue now focuses on displaced-By Mirwais Harooni and Jeremy Laurence 15 minutes ago-MAY 3,14-YahooNews-Thousands dead in Afghan landslide
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan officials gave up hope on Saturday of finding any survivors from a landslide in the remote northeast, with the number killed or missing put at between a few hundred and as many as 2,700.The United Nations said the focus now was on helping more than 4,000 displaced people. International organizations and Afghan officials said at least 300 mud brick homes were buried on Friday, but precise information on the number killed was hard to come by in the impoverished province bordering Tajikistan.The U.N. mission in Afghanistan said more than 350 people were killed, but a spokesman for the local governor put the number in excess of 2,100. The Geneva-based International Organization for Migration (IOM) said 2,700 were dead or missing."The scale of this landslide is absolutely devastating, with an entire village practically wiped away," IOM Afghanistan Chief of Mission Richard Danziger said. "Hundreds of families have lost everything and are in immense need of assistance."The United Nations said the focus was now on the more than 4,000 people displaced, either directly as a result of the landslide or as a precautionary measure from villages assessed to be at risk. The IOM said over 14,000 people were affected.Their main needs are water, medicine, food and emergency shelter, said Ari Gaitanis, a spokesman from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.Officials expressed concern the unstable hillside above the site of the disaster may cave in again, threatening the homeless as well as the U.N. and local rescue teams working there.Villagers and a few dozen police, equipped with only basic digging tools, resumed their search when daylight broke but it soon became clear there was no hope of finding survivors buried in the deep mud and rubble."Seven members of my family were here, four or five of them were killed ... I am also half alive, what can I do?" said an elderly woman, her hair covered in a pink shawl.Dotted with villages of mud-brick homes nestled in valleys beside bare slopes, Badakhshan province has been hit by several deadly landslides in recent years.
PLEA FOR HELP
The side of the mountain above Abi-Barak collapsed at around 11 a.m. (0630 GMT) on Friday as people were trying to recover belongings and livestock after a smaller landslip hit a few hours earlier.Hundreds of homes were destroyed in the landslides that were triggered by torrential rain. Officials worry another section of the mountainside could collapse at any time.The Afghan military flew rescue teams to the area on Saturday, as the remote mountain region is served by only narrow, poor roads which have themselves been damaged by more than a week of heavy rain."We have managed to get one excavator into the area, but digging looks hopeless," Colonel Abdul Qadeer Sayad, a deputy police chief of Badakhshan, told Reuters.He said the sheer size of the area affected, and the depth of the mud, meant that only modern machinery could help.NATO-led coalition troops are on standby to assist but on Saturday said the Afghan government had not asked for help."I call on the government to come and help our people, to take the bodies out," said a middle-aged man, standing on a hill overlooking the river of mud where his village once stood."We managed to take out only 10-15 people, the rest of our villagers here are trapped."
FREEZING
Hundreds of people camped out overnight in near freezing conditions, although some were given tents. Officials distributed food and water.Seasonal rains and spring snow melt have caused devastation across large swathes of northern Afghanistan, killing more than 100 people before this latest disaster.U.S. President Barack Obama said American forces were on standby to help. About 30,000 U.S. soldiers remain in Afghanistan, although that number is falling as Washington prepares to withdraw all combat troops who battled Taliban insurgents by the end of this year.Police said they had provided a security ring around the area, which has been relatively free of insurgent attacks. The Taliban said they were also willing to provide security.(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Writing by Jeremy Laurence; Editing by Robert Birsel and Stephen Powell)
S. Korea Ferry Incident: 8 more bodies recovered, death toll rises to 236
MAY 3,14-New Straits Times
SEOUL: Eight more bodies were recovered Saturday from the ferry that sank off South Korea last month, officials said, amid concern that some of the missing may never be found.
Seventeen days after the 6,825-tonne Sewol capsized and sank, 236 people have been confirmed dead with 66 still unaccounted for, a government anti-disaster headquarters said in a press statement.“Eight more bodies were retrieved today as rescuers successfully got access to the fourth floor near the bow”, it said.Earlier Saturday, the search had been suspended due to fast currents and high waves whipped up by gusty winds, according to a coastguard spokesman. Dive teams have been working in challenging and sometimes hazardous conditions. They have to grope their way down guiding ropes to the sunken ship, laying on its side on the seabed at a depth of 40 metres (132 feet).They have to struggle through narrow passageways and rooms littered with floating debris in silty water.Park Seung-Ki, spokesman for the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, said bedding materials from the ship were found as far as 30 kilometres (around 20 miles) from the disaster site on Friday.As days go by, personal belongings and debris from the ship have been spotted further and further away, fuelling concerns that strong currents may have swept some bodies into the open sea.One body was retrieved Friday by a fishing vessel four kilometres away from the recovery site, and another was found two kilometres away on Wednesday.As a precaution, recovery workers put rings of netting around the site days ago.The relatives of those still missing are insisting that all the bodies be recovered before efforts begin to raise the sunken ferry.The Sewol capsized on April 16 with 476 people on board — more than 300 of them from the same Danwon High School in Ansan city, just south of Seoul.It is one of South Korea’s worst peacetime disasters but public anger and frustration has been amplified due to greed and irresponsibility being blamed for the poor handling of the catastrophe.The captain and 14 of his crew have been arrested for being the first to leave the ship without helping all passengers to safety.The Sewol’s regular captain, who was off duty on the day of the accident, has told prosecutors that the ferry operator — Chonghaejin Marine Co — “brushed aside” repeated warnings that the 20-year-old ship had stability issues following a renovation in 2012.Two Chonghaejin officials were arrested on Friday on charges of having the ferry overloaded well beyond its legal limit.The ferry owners have also become the focus of an ever-widening probe.The government has come under strong criticism over the initially slow rescue response as well as lax safety standards and collusion between industry and regulators, which were partly blamed for the scale of the disaster. -- AFP
I NEVER CHECKED MY E-MAILS SINCE APR 27TH.BUT I SEE ONE CHILD HAS BEEN RELEASED TO A LEV TAHOR MOTHER.THANK GOD FOR THAT.
Ontario judge orders Lev Tahor infant released to mother from foster care-CTV Windsor: Lev Tahor mother reunited with infant-A Lev Tahor mother at the centre of child custody dispute has been reunited with her infant. Rich Garton was on hand for the reunion.The Canadian Press-Published Monday, April 28, 2014 7:34PM EDT
CHATHAM, Ont. - An Ontario judge has ordered an infant with an ultra-orthodox Jewish sect to be released from foster care and placed in the care of the baby's 17-year-old mother.Justice Paul Kowalyshyn ordered Chatham-Kent Children's Services to release the Lev Tahor child, who with the mother was taken into custody in Calgary after fleeing Ontario ahead of a child custody appeal hearing.Kowalyshyn banned the infant's father from seeing the child until further notice and told the mother there would be "very specific terms of supervision," though details were not released.A custody hearing for another six children placed in foster care after being stopped in Trinidad and Tobago and then sent back to Canada will take place next week.A Superior Court judge ruled earlier this month that 13 children who are part of the group do not have to be sent back to Quebec, where much of the community fled late last year amid a child protection case.Certain families in the community face unproven allegations of mistreatment, and child marriages.
Read more: http://windsor.ctvnews.ca/ontario-judge-orders-lev-tahor-infant-released-to-mother-from-foster-care-1.1796763#ixzz30fMbHyMQ
Nigeria police: 276 abducted girls still missing
By HARUNA UMAR May 2, 2014 10:45 AM-YahooNews
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — The number of kidnapped schoolgirls missing in Nigeria has risen to 276, up by more than 30 from a previous estimate, police said, adding that the actual number abducted by Islamic extremists on April 14 was more than 300.Police Commissioner Tanko Lawan said the number of girls and young women who have escaped also has risen, to 53.He told a news conference Thursday night in Maiduguri, the northeastern capital of Borno state, that the figures keep increasing because students from other schools were brought into one school for final exams last month after all schools in Borno state were shut because of attacks by Islamic extremists. Communications are difficult with the military often cutting cell phone service under a state of emergency and travel made dangerous on roads frequently attacked by the militants."The students were drawn from schools in Izge, Lassa, Ashigashiya and Warabe A. and that is why, after the unfortunate incident, there were various numbers flying around as to the actual number of girls that were taken away," Lawan said.Hundreds of women protested in at least three cities this week to express their outrage that the girls have not been found.Two bombings in three weeks have also hit the nation's capital, Abuja.Reports this week indicated some have been forced into "marriage" with their extremist abductors, who paid a nominal bride price equivalent to $12. Other reports that also could not be verified said some have been taken across borders, to Chad, Cameroon and to an island in Lake Chad. The reports come from parents and legislators who are in touch with villagers who have seen the girls with their abductors.As the students, aged between 15 and 18, endure a third week of captivity President Goodluck Jonathan referred to them publicly for the first time at a May Day rally on Thursday. Jonathan, a southern Christian who has been accused of insensitivity to the plight of mainly Muslim residents of the northeast, vowed "we must find our missing girls" and "the perpetrators must be brought to book."He said "the cruel abduction of some innocent girls, our future mothers and leaders, in a very horrific and despicable situation in Borno state is quite regrettable.""We shall triumph over all this evil that wants to debase our humanity," he added.Girls who have escaped say their captors identified themselves as fighters in the Boko Haram terrorist network, though the extremists have not claimed responsibility for the abductions. Boko Haram — the name means "Western education is sinful" — believes Western influences have corrupted their society and only an Islamic state can restore purity to Africa's most populous nation of about 170 million people, divided almost equally between Muslims and Christians.---Associated Press writer Michelle Faul contributed to this report from Lagos, Nigeria.
Schools in Nigeria capital closing for security
By MICHELLE FAUL 7 hours ago-MAY 3,14-YahooNews
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — All schools and government offices in Nigeria's capital will close during a three-day international conference next week, according to a presidential order that follows two bomb attacks in three weeks that killed nearly 100 people in Abuja.A statement Friday night said the measure "is to ease the flow of traffic" during the May 7-9 World Economic Forum on Africa to which hundreds of international personalities, business and African leaders are invited. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is the guest of honor.The government has said it is deploying 6,000 police and troops to help secure the event, and President Goodluck Jonathan has assured delegates they will be safe.Further indicating Nigeria's security threats, the U.S. Embassy warned Americans in an email Friday that extremists were planning "an unspecified attack" on a Sheraton hotel in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos.The hotel chain has two locally owned franchises in the southwestern city of about 20 million people. A duty manager at the $350-a-night Sheraton in Ikeja suburb, near the international airport, said he was unaware of any threat. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to reporters.Explosions on April 14 and May 1 in Abuja, in the center of the country, are blamed on the Islamic extremists Boko Haram terrorist network that has targeted schools and slaughtered hundreds of students. Militants of Boko Haram — the nickname means "Western education is sinful" — are holding some 276 teenage girls abducted from a northeastern school April 15.In response to national outrage and protests at the failure to rescue the girls, Jonathan on Friday announced a that presidential committee headed by a retired general will mobilize people in the area of the mass abduction and other citizens "for a rescue strategy and operation" and to "articulate a framework for a multi-stakeholder action for the rescue of the missing girls."Unverified reports this week that the militants are demanding ransoms for their release coincided with stories that some of the girls and young women — they are aged 15 to 18 — have been forced to "marry" their extremist abductors and some have been carried across borders into Chad and Cameroon.The attacks and the prolonged captivity of the girls have gravely undermined confidence in Jonathan and his government as Nigeria prepares for February 2015 elections.Nigeria is fighting a 5-year-old Islamic uprising by extremists whose stronghold is in the remote northeast but who are threatening attacks across Africa's biggest oil producer.
SINK HOLES
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
HOSEA 4:1-3
1 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
MATTHEW 7:24-27
24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
NUMBERS 16:30-32
30 But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD.
31 And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them:
32 And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.
NUMBERS 26:10
10 And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men: and they became a sign.
ISAIAH 28:18-19
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Afghan landslide rescue now focuses on displaced-By Mirwais Harooni and Jeremy Laurence 15 minutes ago-MAY 3,14-YahooNews-Thousands dead in Afghan landslide
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan officials gave up hope on Saturday of finding any survivors from a landslide in the remote northeast, with the number killed or missing put at between a few hundred and as many as 2,700.The United Nations said the focus now was on helping more than 4,000 displaced people. International organizations and Afghan officials said at least 300 mud brick homes were buried on Friday, but precise information on the number killed was hard to come by in the impoverished province bordering Tajikistan.The U.N. mission in Afghanistan said more than 350 people were killed, but a spokesman for the local governor put the number in excess of 2,100. The Geneva-based International Organization for Migration (IOM) said 2,700 were dead or missing."The scale of this landslide is absolutely devastating, with an entire village practically wiped away," IOM Afghanistan Chief of Mission Richard Danziger said. "Hundreds of families have lost everything and are in immense need of assistance."The United Nations said the focus was now on the more than 4,000 people displaced, either directly as a result of the landslide or as a precautionary measure from villages assessed to be at risk. The IOM said over 14,000 people were affected.Their main needs are water, medicine, food and emergency shelter, said Ari Gaitanis, a spokesman from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.Officials expressed concern the unstable hillside above the site of the disaster may cave in again, threatening the homeless as well as the U.N. and local rescue teams working there.Villagers and a few dozen police, equipped with only basic digging tools, resumed their search when daylight broke but it soon became clear there was no hope of finding survivors buried in the deep mud and rubble."Seven members of my family were here, four or five of them were killed ... I am also half alive, what can I do?" said an elderly woman, her hair covered in a pink shawl.Dotted with villages of mud-brick homes nestled in valleys beside bare slopes, Badakhshan province has been hit by several deadly landslides in recent years.
PLEA FOR HELP
The side of the mountain above Abi-Barak collapsed at around 11 a.m. (0630 GMT) on Friday as people were trying to recover belongings and livestock after a smaller landslip hit a few hours earlier.Hundreds of homes were destroyed in the landslides that were triggered by torrential rain. Officials worry another section of the mountainside could collapse at any time.The Afghan military flew rescue teams to the area on Saturday, as the remote mountain region is served by only narrow, poor roads which have themselves been damaged by more than a week of heavy rain."We have managed to get one excavator into the area, but digging looks hopeless," Colonel Abdul Qadeer Sayad, a deputy police chief of Badakhshan, told Reuters.He said the sheer size of the area affected, and the depth of the mud, meant that only modern machinery could help.NATO-led coalition troops are on standby to assist but on Saturday said the Afghan government had not asked for help."I call on the government to come and help our people, to take the bodies out," said a middle-aged man, standing on a hill overlooking the river of mud where his village once stood."We managed to take out only 10-15 people, the rest of our villagers here are trapped."
FREEZING
Hundreds of people camped out overnight in near freezing conditions, although some were given tents. Officials distributed food and water.Seasonal rains and spring snow melt have caused devastation across large swathes of northern Afghanistan, killing more than 100 people before this latest disaster.U.S. President Barack Obama said American forces were on standby to help. About 30,000 U.S. soldiers remain in Afghanistan, although that number is falling as Washington prepares to withdraw all combat troops who battled Taliban insurgents by the end of this year.Police said they had provided a security ring around the area, which has been relatively free of insurgent attacks. The Taliban said they were also willing to provide security.(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Writing by Jeremy Laurence; Editing by Robert Birsel and Stephen Powell)
S. Korea Ferry Incident: 8 more bodies recovered, death toll rises to 236
MAY 3,14-New Straits Times
SEOUL: Eight more bodies were recovered Saturday from the ferry that sank off South Korea last month, officials said, amid concern that some of the missing may never be found.
Seventeen days after the 6,825-tonne Sewol capsized and sank, 236 people have been confirmed dead with 66 still unaccounted for, a government anti-disaster headquarters said in a press statement.“Eight more bodies were retrieved today as rescuers successfully got access to the fourth floor near the bow”, it said.Earlier Saturday, the search had been suspended due to fast currents and high waves whipped up by gusty winds, according to a coastguard spokesman. Dive teams have been working in challenging and sometimes hazardous conditions. They have to grope their way down guiding ropes to the sunken ship, laying on its side on the seabed at a depth of 40 metres (132 feet).They have to struggle through narrow passageways and rooms littered with floating debris in silty water.Park Seung-Ki, spokesman for the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, said bedding materials from the ship were found as far as 30 kilometres (around 20 miles) from the disaster site on Friday.As days go by, personal belongings and debris from the ship have been spotted further and further away, fuelling concerns that strong currents may have swept some bodies into the open sea.One body was retrieved Friday by a fishing vessel four kilometres away from the recovery site, and another was found two kilometres away on Wednesday.As a precaution, recovery workers put rings of netting around the site days ago.The relatives of those still missing are insisting that all the bodies be recovered before efforts begin to raise the sunken ferry.The Sewol capsized on April 16 with 476 people on board — more than 300 of them from the same Danwon High School in Ansan city, just south of Seoul.It is one of South Korea’s worst peacetime disasters but public anger and frustration has been amplified due to greed and irresponsibility being blamed for the poor handling of the catastrophe.The captain and 14 of his crew have been arrested for being the first to leave the ship without helping all passengers to safety.The Sewol’s regular captain, who was off duty on the day of the accident, has told prosecutors that the ferry operator — Chonghaejin Marine Co — “brushed aside” repeated warnings that the 20-year-old ship had stability issues following a renovation in 2012.Two Chonghaejin officials were arrested on Friday on charges of having the ferry overloaded well beyond its legal limit.The ferry owners have also become the focus of an ever-widening probe.The government has come under strong criticism over the initially slow rescue response as well as lax safety standards and collusion between industry and regulators, which were partly blamed for the scale of the disaster. -- AFP
