JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER.
1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
WORLD POWERS IN THE LAST DAYS (END OF AGE OF GRACE NOT THE WORLD)
EUROPEAN UNION-KING OF WEST-DAN 9:26-27,DAN 7:23-24,DAN 11:40,REV 13:1-10
EGYPT-KING OF THE SOUTH-DAN 11:40
RUSSIA-KING OF THE NORTH-EZEK 38:1-2,EZEK 39:1-3
CHINA-KING OF THE EAST-DAN 11:44,REV 9:16,18
VATICAN-RELIGIOUS LEADER-REV 13:11-18,REV 17:4-5,9,18
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS) man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
ISAIAH 14:12-14
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)
YES THE MUSLIMS WILL SURE BE GREAT FOR THE ECONOMY. FORGET THE ECONOMY-THATS THE EXCUSE ISLAM USES WHY THEY BEHEAD AND KILL INNOCENT PEOPLE.
Refugees will give EU economy huge boost, says NGO By Nikolaj Nielsen-MAY 18,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:27-Refugees in Europe are likely to double the money initially invested in them over a five-year period, an NGO has claimed.Investing in refugees will create jobs, increase trade, spur economic growth, and produce other benefits, suggests a 77-page report out on Wednesday (18 May) by the Tent Foundation, an NGO that helps people who have been forcibly displaced.Drafted by the EU commission's former economic adviser Philippe Legrain, the report draws its conclusions, in part, from calculations by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).The IMF notes that additional spending in the EU on refugees of 0.009 percent of GDP in 2015 and 0.11 percent in 2016 will raise its GDP by 0.13 percent in 2017.The report also concludes that an increase in net government debt of €68.8 billion by 2020 to fund investment in refugees would yield a total increase in GDP between 2015 and 2020 of €126.6 billion.More than one million refugees and asylum seekers arrived in the EU last year, most of whom headed to Germany and Sweden.But the EU is now turning back migrants from Greece to Turkey as part of a policy to manage a crisis that has cost the lives of thousands since 2014.More than 1,360 people have either died or gone missing so far this year in their efforts to reach the EU.Legrain, who is also a senior visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, says refugees should be seen as an opportunity."Refugees are often seen as a burden to be shared or shirked, when in fact they are an opportunity to be welcomed," he said in a statement."With a suitable upfront investment and wise policies, hard-working refugees of all skill levels have a lot to contribute to the economy, individual businesses and the public sector."Giving them greater access to the labour market means they will produce more tax revenue and act as a fiscal stimulus in economies where demand is depressed, notes the report.-US vs Sweden-The report also draws comparisons between refugees of the same nationality in the United States and those found in the EU.It notes, for instance, that while a Somali refugee in Sweden is often on welfare and unemployed, the same national in the US is more likely to be a small-business owner or employed."This suggests that Somalis’ lack of success in Sweden is due not to their cultural characteristics but to the fact they start off as outsiders in a labour market whose institutions privilege insiders," the report says.The report notes that the US system provides refugees with greater opportunities to become self-reliant.It means their reliance on social assistance declines more rapidly over time when compared with their EU-based counterparts.Working refugees also provide value for their families back home. By sending money back, they help boost local development. Remittances in Liberia amount to some 18.5 percent of its GDP.It also highlights the success of Sergey Brin, a child refugee who left the Soviet Union for the US, and then later co-founded Google.
Opinion-EU plans for Libya risk crossing migration 'red lines' By Judith Sunderland-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, 17. May, 09:28-There seems to be an inexorable momentum toward militarisation of the Mediterranean and of migration control.US president Barack Obama recently endorsed a European Union proposal for a Nato operation in the central Mediterranean, building on the coalition’s presence in the eastern Mediterranean (Aegean Sea) since February.EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is leading efforts to push the EU’s naval “anti-smuggling” mission, Operation Sophia, currently operating in international waters off the Libyan coast, into Libyan territorial waters.Let’s drop anchor for a moment to reflect on what this could mean for migrants and asylum seekers.This is the latest instalment in EU efforts to stem the flow of migrants and asylum seekers from North Africa.With a significant drop in crossings in the Aegean Sea, all eyes are now on the central Mediterranean, with around 30,000 having crossed, mainly from Libya, since the beginning of this year.Italian officials and even German chancellor Angela Merkel have gone so far as to suggest that the EU should strike a deal with Libya similar to the one with Turkey, which allows the return of asylum seekers on the presumption that they are “safe” there.The assessment that Turkey is safe for refugees and asylum seekers is wrong.But the idea that Libya, riven by warring factions and with a fledgling and contested government of national unity that the EU is desperate to legitimise, can provide a safe haven is positively mind-boggling.Given the daily dangers of life in Libya, it seems beyond the point to mention that Libya has not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention and has no domestic refugee law or asylum procedure.The dangers to migrants who find themselves in Libya pre-date even the civil war in the country; in 2006 Human Rights Watch published a report on the cruel treatment migrants experienced in detention centres there.Long-standing, well-documented abuses against migrants and asylum seekers in Libya led the European Court of Human Rights to condemn Italy unequivocally for intercepting migrant boats and pushing them back to Libya in 2009.The court’s ruling laid down clear red lines: once EU authorities have effective control or custody over migrants, regardless of where that occurs, they are bound by the European Convention on Human Rights.Italy had in this case violated a fundamental norm of EU and international law: the prohibition on returning someone to a place where they face threats to their lives and freedom, as the court found they did in Libya.In other words, European countries cannot wash their hands of responsibilities towards migrants and refugees, whether on the high seas or in the territorial waters of a non-EU country.Migrants and asylum seekers in Libya continue to face threats in Libya. Human Rights Watch again documented torture, overcrowding, dire sanitation conditions, and lack of access to medical care in migrant detention centres in 2014.-'Shame and frustration'-Detainees we interviewed told us guards beat them with iron rods, sticks, and rifle butts, and whipped them with cables, hose pipes, and rubber whips made of car tires and plastic tubes, sometimes over prolonged periods of time on the soles of their feet.In one centre five detainees said guards suspended them upside down from a tree and then whipped them. As recently as May 2015, migrants and asylum seekers I interviewed spoke of living in fear in Libya and recounted being robbed, beaten, and extorted by employers, common criminals, security forces and militias.The bottom line is that the EU and Nato should not push anyone back to Libya. That would expose people to the risk of serious violations, violate international and EU law, and undermine the EU’s global standing.EU cooperation with Libyan forces to prevent people from getting beyond Libyan territorial waters is no less fraught with ethical and legal questions if the consequence is torture, indefinite arbitrary detention in abysmal conditions or deportation to countries of origin where they may face persecution and worse.Mogherini recently said she felt “shame and frustration over the walls we see rising in Europe”. Yet a naval cordon on water is no less shameful than one of concrete and razor wire on land.In July, the EU is due to propose its next steps following an internal evaluation of Operation Sophia, and Nato will hold a summit in Warsaw. These will be defining moments.-First, save lives-What the EU and Nato should do is pretty simple. First, save lives. Regardless of who controls the waters, and whether a merchant, military, or leisure vessel, all ships are bound by the laws of the sea to respond to boats in distress.Overcrowded, unseaworthy migrant boats are by definition in distress. The laws of the sea also require that ship captains take rescued passengers to a safe place.So, second, bring people to EU countries. In an act of genuine solidarity, participating countries should commit to taking a portion of those rescued or intercepted, and to process their claims fairly and efficiently.They can return those who are not in need of international protection to their countries of origin, following a fair process that respects their rights. They should allow those in need of refuge to stay and give them a real shot at rebuilding their lives in dignity.No one deserves to be returned to, or stranded in, Libya.Judith Sunderland is associate director for Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia division
In Pakistan, 4 nations mull how to bring Taliban to talks-[Associated Press]-KATHY GANNON-May 18, 2016-YAHOONEWS
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Four nations — Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the United States — ended talks Wednesday much as they began, seeking peace in Afghanistan but with no real progress on how to get there or how to bring the most powerful of the country's insurgent groups, the Taliban, to the negotiating table.The session ended with a promise to pursue peace, and to pressure warring groups to engage in negotiations. It also condemned violence, with a specific reference to the ferocious April 19 attack in Kabul that killed 64 people.But there was nothing in the final communique to indicate how the quartet was going to get the Taliban, who have been insistent that they will not talk to the Afghan government, to embrace peace talks.It did, however, make a reference to those who carried out the April assault on Kabul warning, "those who perpetrate such acts of terrorism should be ready to face consequences of their actions."It did not specify the consequences and until now Pakistan has refused to launch any direct assault on the Haqqani network, which has been blamed by both Afghanistan and the United States for the April Kabul attack. The chief of the Haqqani network, Sirajuddin Haqqani, also is deputy to Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour, giving added muscle to the Taliban as it plots its battlefield strategies over the traditionally deadly summer months.The four-way talks, which have been held alternately in Pakistan and Afghanistan since the beginning of the year, had sought to capitalize on positive signals that emerged over the weekend in Afghanistan, where the outlawed militant group Hezb-i-Islami inched closer to a peace deal with Kabul.There are hopes this tentative deal — which still has to be approved by the Hezb-i-Islami leader Gulbuddin Helmatyar, a U.S.-designated terrorist — could be a template for an agreement between the Afghan government and the more powerful Taliban.But the Taliban have repeatedly said they first want to hold talks with the United States — something Washington has rejected.Pakistan's adviser on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz said previously that peace talks remain the only way to end the fighting in Afghanistan. Years of fighting the Taliban has not destroyed them, Aziz said, adding that now was the time to press for talks.Kabul sent no formal delegation to Wednesday's meeting in Islamabad, which was attended only by the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, Omar Zakhilwal.The apparent slight was to register Afghanistan's frustration with Pakistan over what Kabul considers inaction against Taliban operating on Pakistani soil, said Dawa Khan Menapal, deputy spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.Afghanistan and the U.S. are pushing Pakistan to do more to stop attacks in Afghanistan by militants with bases in Pakistan and to use its influence to force them off the battlefield and into talks.The draft deal with Hezb-i-Islami took months of meetings between Hekmatyar's representatives and those of the government to hammer out, said Mohammad Khan, first deputy for Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.Hekmatyar's battlefield strength, however, is largely restricted to a portion of northeastern Afghanistan and pales in comparison to the Taliban. His Hezb-i-Islami also harbors deep divisions with the Taliban, who drove Hekmatyar from Afghanistan in 1996 and forced him to live in exile in Iran for five years until 2001, when the U.S.-led coalition drove the Taliban from power.___Associated Press writer Lynne O'Donnell in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this report.
NATO, Montenegro to sign accession accord: Stoltenberg-[AFP]-May 18, 2016-YAHOONEWS
Brussels (AFP) - NATO will on Thursday sign an accession agreement with Montenegro, paving the way for the small Balkan country to become the transantlantic alliance's 29th member state, alliance head Jens Stoltenberg said.Montenegro's membership is "a clear sign that NATO countries continue to build stability and security in the western Balkans," Stoltenberg told a press briefing Wednesday ahead of a two-day NATO foreign ministers meeting at alliance HQ in Brussels.The move also shows that "NATO's door remains open," he added, as the alliance prepares for a set-piece summit in Warsaw in July which will sign off on a major NATO military revamp agreed in response to the Ukraine crisis and Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.Diplomatic sources say they expect it will take the 28 member states 18 months to ratify the Montenegro accession accord, which Russia has condemned as another case of NATO encroaching on its strategic interests.While ties with Russia are badly strained by the Ukraine crisis, Stoltenberg rejected any suggestion that NATO membership for Montenegro was a hostile move, insisting that all countries have the right to decide their own future."The fundamental principle is that every nation has the right to decide its own path... including to decide what security arrangements it wants to be part of," he said."Therefore any sanctions or reactions from Russia would be absolutely unjustified," he added.NATO formally invited Montenegro to join in December, sparking a warning from Moscow that it would have to respond to protect its security interests in the Balkans, home to several of its historic Slavic allies.Among the other states of the former Yugoslavia, Croatia and Slovenia have both joined NATO, while many of the former communist states in eastern Europe once ruled from Moscow have also become members.Russia sees this process, backed by a NATO military build-up in response to the Ukraine crisis, as a threat to its security.
Venezuela protests against Maduro to test state of emergency-[AFP]-Marc Burleigh-May 18, 2016-YAHOONEWS
Caracas (AFP) - Public outrage over sweeping new emergency powers decreed this week by President Nicolas Maduro was expected to spill over onto the streets of Venezuela Wednesday, with nationwide protests planned.The demonstrations mark the strongest challenge yet to Maduro's controversial declaration of a state of emergency.Opposition-led marches in the capital Caracas and other major cities were to demand that authorities accept a recall referendum to determine Maduro's fate.The 53-year-old president on Tuesday dismissed the push against him as "not viable" and said a petition it was based on was riddled with "fraud," despite 1.8 million signatures seeking his ouster.The 60-day state of emergency was imposed beginning Monday to tackle what Maduro said were threats to security, as well as food and energy shortages.Many of the measures rely on Venezuela's army and police being deployed to carry them out.- Claim of US plot -It notably suspends many constitutional protections by opening the way to expropriations and almost any action deemed necessary to maintain public order.Individuals, companies and non-governmental organizations in Venezuela with links to foreign groups are also to be put under scrutiny and risk having their finances frozen, according to the decree.The opposition-controlled congress late Tuesday rejected the decree in a vote, saying it undermined democracy. But the Supreme Court may overrule that, as it has with other congressional decisions.Maduro has accused Washington of having "imperial" designs on Venezuela, and said that a US AWACS surveillance plane had twice violated his country's airspace last week.Maduro has separately ordered military exercises for Saturday.Despite his decree, there have so far been no signs of increased military presence in the streets.But Wednesday's demonstrations could face a robust police deployment. A Caracas march last week, before the emergency decree, was halted in its tracks by riot police firing tear gas.Venezuela's opposition has urged the public to defy the state of emergency and called on the army to decide whether it sides "with the constitution or with Maduro."The opposition, which controls congress but has little real power because of Maduro's sway over the government, Supreme Court and security forces, says the emergency decree is an attempt by the president to put himself above the constitution.- Limited time -"If Maduro wants to apply this decree he will have to bring out the warplanes and the tanks into the street, because he will have to apply it through force," opposition leader Henrique Capriles told a news conference on Tuesday.If the recall referendum does go ahead, it must be held before January 10, 2017 in order to trigger new elections, otherwise a successful recall vote would simply transfer power to vice president Aristobulo Isturiz.The opposition accuses the electoral authorities -- who are still evaluating the validity of the petition -- of stalling.With the country in the grip of hyperinflation, a shrinking economy, rampant crime, corruption, and food and electricity shortages, sentiment has turned against Maduro.Seventy percent of the population wants to see a new government, polls show.But Maduro said he and his government "are victims of a media, political and diplomatic attack that is behind the most serious threat our country has faced in the past 10 years."The United States has described reports of Venezuela's spiral downwards as "breathtaking" but has been careful not to make comments seen as meddlesome.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
British queen stays neutral in EU debate By Andrew Rettman-MAY 18,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 17:45-The British queen stayed neutral on the EU referendum in her annual speech, despite previous controversial reports that she wants the UK to leave.Her only reference to the EU was a factual remark that said: “My government will hold a referendum on membership of the European Union.”The speech, at an elaborate parliament ceremony on Wednesday (18 May), focused on domestic issues. But in broader foreign policy terms, Queen Elizabeth II also said that: “My government will continue to play a leading role in world affairs.”She said the UK “will continue to work to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. It will play a leading role in the campaign against Daesh [Islamic State] and to support international efforts to bring peace to Syria.”She said the UK would keep its promise to Nato on military spending and would modernise its nuclear arsenal.She also promised to honour pledges on development aid, humanitarian assistance and climate change.The British government the same day published an 85-page booklet to go into more detail on the legislative programme that the Queen outlined in her address.Coming just five weeks before the UK referendum on EU membership, on 23 June, the text also avoided taking a position on how people should vote.It mentioned the EU in a negative context when it promised laws to make sure that “fewer European visitors will be entitled to free NHS [National Health Service] care.”But it foreshadowed ongoing EU membership by saying it would help British expats to vote in the next European Parliament elections.It also indicated a wider commitment to Europe by saying that a new British bill on human rights would be based on the European Convention on Human Rights - a text adopted by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.The UK booklet made a strong statement on Ukraine.“We will … never recognise Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and the rules based international order”, it said.“We are clear that the blame for the Ukraine crisis lies squarely with Russia and the separatist proxies it continues to support.”-Significantly misleading-The Queen’s speech came out the same day that a British media watchdog censured a newspaper for its claim that she wants the UK to leave the EU.The Sun, one of Britain’s most popular tabloids, had in March published a story entitled: “Queen backs Brexit”.The Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) said that the headline was “significantly misleading”.“It was a factual assertion that the Queen had expressed a position in the referendum debate … [but] it did not follow from the comments the article reported,” it said.It said that had she expressed such a position it would constitute a “fundamental breach of the Queen's constitutional obligations” to remain neutral on the subject.The Sun published Ipso’s statement, but it said in an editorial comment that Ipso was wrong.The EU referendum debate has turned increasingly nasty in the run-up to the vote.-Nazis and jihadists-The British PM, David Cameron, and the head of the EU Council, Donald Tusk, earlier this week complained about former London mayor Boris Johnson after he said the UK should leave the EU because it is like Nazi-era Germany.Other anti-EU campaigners, such as Nigel Farage, a British MEP, attracted criticism in March for saying that the Brussels terrorist attacks meant the UK would be safer out of the EU.Farage endorsed the comments on Twitter moments after the first bomb exploded in Brussels airport killing 16 people.The anti-EU side has accused pro-EU politicians of false claims about the economic cost of Brexit in a campaign that it dubbed Project Fear.
South Carolina passes bill banning abortion after 19 weeks-[Associated Press]-SEANNA ADCOX-May 18, 2016-YAHOONEWS
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina Legislature passed a bill Tuesday prohibiting abortion after 19 weeks, becoming the 17th state to pass the restrictive ban.The legislation will now head to Gov. Nikki Haley's desk. The Republican said in March she will almost certainly sign it, but wants to look at the details once it reaches her.Similar laws are in effect in 12 states. They've been blocked by court challenges in three others, and the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to rule on the ban's constitutionality. A South Dakota law signed in March takes effect this summer.In Utah, a related law, also signed in March, requires doctors to provide anesthesia to a fetus at least 20 weeks in the womb.The South Carolina bill is among several fronts abortion rights supporters say make having the procedure tougher. Abortion opponents have also passed laws in other states requiring clinics to get admitting privileges for doctors and banning a procedure commonly used in the second trimester, called the dilation and evacuation method.The sponsor of South Carolina's bill, Rep. Wendy Nanney, said she's hopeful the law is a step to eventually "get rid of abortion altogether.""I firmly believe life begins at conception and anything we can do to protect human life I'm all for," said Nanney, R-Greenville.The South Carolina House approved the compromise 79-29. The Senate approved it 36-9 in March.The ban allows exceptions only if the mother's life is in jeopardy or a doctor determines the fetus can't survive outside the womb. The measure's limited definition of "fetal anomaly" means it would be illegal to abort a fetus with a severe disability if the child could live.Such anomalies are generally detected around 20 weeks.That "fetal anomaly" exception was crucial for the bill clearing the Senate, where Democrats had blocked the legislation for years.Sen. Brad Hutto, a leading opponent, still believes it should be the woman's choice. But he called the compromise he's worked on since last year "the best we can get." As it initially passed the House, the bill gave an exception only for the mother's life.Only four of the 16 states to pass the restrictions since 2010 allow a legal abortion if a doctor determines the child will be stillborn or die upon birth. South Carolina legislators borrowed the wording for that exception from Georgia, where state court blocked enforcement of Georgia's 20-week ban in 2012.The South Carolina bill, like most of the similar laws, contains no exceptions for rape or incest.Supporters believe a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks. Opponents argue such later-term abortions involve wanted pregnancies that go horribly wrong, and politicians should play no role in the difficult decision."They are wanted pregnancies, but they find out there is a terrible abnormality," Rep. James Smith, a Democrat, said Tuesday. "Wouldn't it be interesting if we take dollar-for-dollar the money we're going to spend litigating unconstitutional bills and put it into something that makes a difference in South Carolina?"On average, fewer than 30 abortions yearly are performed at 20 weeks gestation or beyond, according to data since 1990 from the state's public health agency.The ban would affect only hospitals. None of the three abortion clinics in South Carolina provide abortions beyond 15 weeks. Most of the women are white, married and older than 24, according to the agency.A doctor who performs an illegal abortion under the bill would face up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine.House Judiciary Committee Chairman Greg Delleney said the law "prevents infanticide," noting it ties the fetus' age to conception, rather than a woman's monthly cycle, so the ban refers to what doctors generally consider a gestational age of 22 weeks.The nonprofit Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion laws, knows of only one person ever charged under the bans. In 2011, an Idaho woman was arrested after giving herself an abortion with pills she bought online. That charge ultimately resulted in Idaho's law being struck down last year by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The same court struck Arizona's law in 2013.Without citing a reason, the U.S. Supreme Court declined in January 2014 to hear an appeal from Arizona — which had banned abortion at 18 weeks past fertilization.Earlier Tuesday, a House subcommittee advanced a bill opponents say would essentially ban abortion past 13 weeks. It would make it a felony for a doctor to abort a fetus through "dismemberment" in the womb, punishable by at least a $5,000 fine and/or five years in prison.It has virtually no chance of passing this year.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS ETC) and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
Over 200 families feared buried by landslides in Sri Lanka-[Associated Press]-Krishan Francis, Associated Press-May 18, 2016-YAHOONEWS
ELANGAPITIYA VILLAGE, Sri Lanka (AP) -- Soldiers and police used sticks and bare hands Wednesday to dig through enormous piles of mud covering houses in three villages hit by massive landslides in central Sri Lanka, with hundreds of families reported missing.By evening, rescuers had pulled 17 bodies from the mud and debris unleashed by several days of heavy rain across the island nation. Officials said the extent of the tragedy was still unclear, but the Sri Lankan Red Cross said at least 220 families were unaccounted for."The task is to figure out what happened to them," the Red Cross said in a statement, noting that some people may have left after local officials warned earlier this week of possible landslides.Heavy fog, rain, electrical outages and the loose ground were complicating efforts to search for survivors. As night fell, the rescue operation was suspended until dawn. Officials warned that, with rain still falling, more landslides could occur in the area.Villagers said torrents of muddy water, tree branches and debris came crashing down around their homes Tuesday in the three villages, located at different heights on the same hill in Kegalle District, about 72 kilometers (45 miles) north of Colombo."I heard a huge sound like a plane crashing into the Earth," said 52-year-old A.G. Kamala, who had just returned to her house in one of the villages, Siripura, when the landslides hit. "I opened my door. I could not believe my eyes, as I saw something like a huge fireball rolling down the mountain."Near the village of Elangapitiya — furthest down the hill — soldiers carried bodies to a school, where families waited for news of missing loved ones.Farmer Hewapelige Lal said he had identified the body of his nephew, but that 18 other family members were possibly buried under the mud. He and his wife had left their home to take fruit to a daughter who lived elsewhere, but at some point his wife turned back."That was the last time I saw her," Lal said, sobbing. When he heard of the landslide, he rushed home but found the area covered with thick, heavy mud. "All I could do was scream."Officials could not give the populations of the villages of Siripura, Elangapitiya or Pallebage, but such villages typically include 1,000-1,500 residents.In Elangapitiya alone, where 14 bodies were recovered Wednesday, about 130 people were still missing, according to Maj. Gen. Sudantha Ranasinghe, who was coordinating rescue efforts.Hundreds of stunned villagers took shelter in four temporary camps set up in schools and a Buddhist temple, where they were being given food, blankets and basic medical treatment.At the Viyaneliya Temple, about 300 villagers shared a meal of brown bread and curried lentils. Local officials interviewed each one to learn about missing family members and possessions buried under the mud.Local media said President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe visited the disaster sites earlier Wednesday.In Siripura, 70-year-old A.G. Alice said all nine of her children were unaccounted for."I don't know what happened to me" after the landslides swept down, she said.A man said his wife, mother-in-law, son and daughter-in-law were all in his house in Siripura when the landslides hit. "I still can't locate my family," M.W. Dharmadasa said. "I still don't know what happened to them."The same rains that unleashed the mudslides also caused severe flooding in cities including Colombo, the capital, where tens of thousands of homes were at least partially inundated. Schools were closed due to the bad weather.Sri Lanka's disaster management center reported 11 deaths from lightning strikes and smaller landslides elsewhere in the country on Monday and Tuesday. Nearly 135,000 people have been displaced and are being housed in temporary shelters.Mudslides are common during the monsoon season, with heavy deforestation to clear land for agriculture leaving the countryside exposed.During heavy rains in December 2014, authorities evacuated more than 60,000 people from thousands of homes damaged or destroyed by floods or landslides. Two months before that, dozens of tea plantation workers were killed when mudslides buried their hillside homes.___Associated Press writers Bharatha Mallawarachi in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Katy Daigle in New Delhi contributed to this report.___This story has been corrected to fix spelling of village of Elangapitiya.
EUROPEAN UNION-KING OF WEST-DAN 9:26-27,DAN 7:23-24,DAN 11:40,REV 13:1-10
EGYPT-KING OF THE SOUTH-DAN 11:40
RUSSIA-KING OF THE NORTH-EZEK 38:1-2,EZEK 39:1-3
CHINA-KING OF THE EAST-DAN 11:44,REV 9:16,18
VATICAN-RELIGIOUS LEADER-REV 13:11-18,REV 17:4-5,9,18
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS) man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
ISAIAH 14:12-14
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)
YES THE MUSLIMS WILL SURE BE GREAT FOR THE ECONOMY. FORGET THE ECONOMY-THATS THE EXCUSE ISLAM USES WHY THEY BEHEAD AND KILL INNOCENT PEOPLE.
Refugees will give EU economy huge boost, says NGO By Nikolaj Nielsen-MAY 18,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:27-Refugees in Europe are likely to double the money initially invested in them over a five-year period, an NGO has claimed.Investing in refugees will create jobs, increase trade, spur economic growth, and produce other benefits, suggests a 77-page report out on Wednesday (18 May) by the Tent Foundation, an NGO that helps people who have been forcibly displaced.Drafted by the EU commission's former economic adviser Philippe Legrain, the report draws its conclusions, in part, from calculations by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).The IMF notes that additional spending in the EU on refugees of 0.009 percent of GDP in 2015 and 0.11 percent in 2016 will raise its GDP by 0.13 percent in 2017.The report also concludes that an increase in net government debt of €68.8 billion by 2020 to fund investment in refugees would yield a total increase in GDP between 2015 and 2020 of €126.6 billion.More than one million refugees and asylum seekers arrived in the EU last year, most of whom headed to Germany and Sweden.But the EU is now turning back migrants from Greece to Turkey as part of a policy to manage a crisis that has cost the lives of thousands since 2014.More than 1,360 people have either died or gone missing so far this year in their efforts to reach the EU.Legrain, who is also a senior visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, says refugees should be seen as an opportunity."Refugees are often seen as a burden to be shared or shirked, when in fact they are an opportunity to be welcomed," he said in a statement."With a suitable upfront investment and wise policies, hard-working refugees of all skill levels have a lot to contribute to the economy, individual businesses and the public sector."Giving them greater access to the labour market means they will produce more tax revenue and act as a fiscal stimulus in economies where demand is depressed, notes the report.-US vs Sweden-The report also draws comparisons between refugees of the same nationality in the United States and those found in the EU.It notes, for instance, that while a Somali refugee in Sweden is often on welfare and unemployed, the same national in the US is more likely to be a small-business owner or employed."This suggests that Somalis’ lack of success in Sweden is due not to their cultural characteristics but to the fact they start off as outsiders in a labour market whose institutions privilege insiders," the report says.The report notes that the US system provides refugees with greater opportunities to become self-reliant.It means their reliance on social assistance declines more rapidly over time when compared with their EU-based counterparts.Working refugees also provide value for their families back home. By sending money back, they help boost local development. Remittances in Liberia amount to some 18.5 percent of its GDP.It also highlights the success of Sergey Brin, a child refugee who left the Soviet Union for the US, and then later co-founded Google.
Opinion-EU plans for Libya risk crossing migration 'red lines' By Judith Sunderland-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, 17. May, 09:28-There seems to be an inexorable momentum toward militarisation of the Mediterranean and of migration control.US president Barack Obama recently endorsed a European Union proposal for a Nato operation in the central Mediterranean, building on the coalition’s presence in the eastern Mediterranean (Aegean Sea) since February.EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is leading efforts to push the EU’s naval “anti-smuggling” mission, Operation Sophia, currently operating in international waters off the Libyan coast, into Libyan territorial waters.Let’s drop anchor for a moment to reflect on what this could mean for migrants and asylum seekers.This is the latest instalment in EU efforts to stem the flow of migrants and asylum seekers from North Africa.With a significant drop in crossings in the Aegean Sea, all eyes are now on the central Mediterranean, with around 30,000 having crossed, mainly from Libya, since the beginning of this year.Italian officials and even German chancellor Angela Merkel have gone so far as to suggest that the EU should strike a deal with Libya similar to the one with Turkey, which allows the return of asylum seekers on the presumption that they are “safe” there.The assessment that Turkey is safe for refugees and asylum seekers is wrong.But the idea that Libya, riven by warring factions and with a fledgling and contested government of national unity that the EU is desperate to legitimise, can provide a safe haven is positively mind-boggling.Given the daily dangers of life in Libya, it seems beyond the point to mention that Libya has not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention and has no domestic refugee law or asylum procedure.The dangers to migrants who find themselves in Libya pre-date even the civil war in the country; in 2006 Human Rights Watch published a report on the cruel treatment migrants experienced in detention centres there.Long-standing, well-documented abuses against migrants and asylum seekers in Libya led the European Court of Human Rights to condemn Italy unequivocally for intercepting migrant boats and pushing them back to Libya in 2009.The court’s ruling laid down clear red lines: once EU authorities have effective control or custody over migrants, regardless of where that occurs, they are bound by the European Convention on Human Rights.Italy had in this case violated a fundamental norm of EU and international law: the prohibition on returning someone to a place where they face threats to their lives and freedom, as the court found they did in Libya.In other words, European countries cannot wash their hands of responsibilities towards migrants and refugees, whether on the high seas or in the territorial waters of a non-EU country.Migrants and asylum seekers in Libya continue to face threats in Libya. Human Rights Watch again documented torture, overcrowding, dire sanitation conditions, and lack of access to medical care in migrant detention centres in 2014.-'Shame and frustration'-Detainees we interviewed told us guards beat them with iron rods, sticks, and rifle butts, and whipped them with cables, hose pipes, and rubber whips made of car tires and plastic tubes, sometimes over prolonged periods of time on the soles of their feet.In one centre five detainees said guards suspended them upside down from a tree and then whipped them. As recently as May 2015, migrants and asylum seekers I interviewed spoke of living in fear in Libya and recounted being robbed, beaten, and extorted by employers, common criminals, security forces and militias.The bottom line is that the EU and Nato should not push anyone back to Libya. That would expose people to the risk of serious violations, violate international and EU law, and undermine the EU’s global standing.EU cooperation with Libyan forces to prevent people from getting beyond Libyan territorial waters is no less fraught with ethical and legal questions if the consequence is torture, indefinite arbitrary detention in abysmal conditions or deportation to countries of origin where they may face persecution and worse.Mogherini recently said she felt “shame and frustration over the walls we see rising in Europe”. Yet a naval cordon on water is no less shameful than one of concrete and razor wire on land.In July, the EU is due to propose its next steps following an internal evaluation of Operation Sophia, and Nato will hold a summit in Warsaw. These will be defining moments.-First, save lives-What the EU and Nato should do is pretty simple. First, save lives. Regardless of who controls the waters, and whether a merchant, military, or leisure vessel, all ships are bound by the laws of the sea to respond to boats in distress.Overcrowded, unseaworthy migrant boats are by definition in distress. The laws of the sea also require that ship captains take rescued passengers to a safe place.So, second, bring people to EU countries. In an act of genuine solidarity, participating countries should commit to taking a portion of those rescued or intercepted, and to process their claims fairly and efficiently.They can return those who are not in need of international protection to their countries of origin, following a fair process that respects their rights. They should allow those in need of refuge to stay and give them a real shot at rebuilding their lives in dignity.No one deserves to be returned to, or stranded in, Libya.Judith Sunderland is associate director for Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia division
In Pakistan, 4 nations mull how to bring Taliban to talks-[Associated Press]-KATHY GANNON-May 18, 2016-YAHOONEWS
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Four nations — Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the United States — ended talks Wednesday much as they began, seeking peace in Afghanistan but with no real progress on how to get there or how to bring the most powerful of the country's insurgent groups, the Taliban, to the negotiating table.The session ended with a promise to pursue peace, and to pressure warring groups to engage in negotiations. It also condemned violence, with a specific reference to the ferocious April 19 attack in Kabul that killed 64 people.But there was nothing in the final communique to indicate how the quartet was going to get the Taliban, who have been insistent that they will not talk to the Afghan government, to embrace peace talks.It did, however, make a reference to those who carried out the April assault on Kabul warning, "those who perpetrate such acts of terrorism should be ready to face consequences of their actions."It did not specify the consequences and until now Pakistan has refused to launch any direct assault on the Haqqani network, which has been blamed by both Afghanistan and the United States for the April Kabul attack. The chief of the Haqqani network, Sirajuddin Haqqani, also is deputy to Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour, giving added muscle to the Taliban as it plots its battlefield strategies over the traditionally deadly summer months.The four-way talks, which have been held alternately in Pakistan and Afghanistan since the beginning of the year, had sought to capitalize on positive signals that emerged over the weekend in Afghanistan, where the outlawed militant group Hezb-i-Islami inched closer to a peace deal with Kabul.There are hopes this tentative deal — which still has to be approved by the Hezb-i-Islami leader Gulbuddin Helmatyar, a U.S.-designated terrorist — could be a template for an agreement between the Afghan government and the more powerful Taliban.But the Taliban have repeatedly said they first want to hold talks with the United States — something Washington has rejected.Pakistan's adviser on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz said previously that peace talks remain the only way to end the fighting in Afghanistan. Years of fighting the Taliban has not destroyed them, Aziz said, adding that now was the time to press for talks.Kabul sent no formal delegation to Wednesday's meeting in Islamabad, which was attended only by the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, Omar Zakhilwal.The apparent slight was to register Afghanistan's frustration with Pakistan over what Kabul considers inaction against Taliban operating on Pakistani soil, said Dawa Khan Menapal, deputy spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.Afghanistan and the U.S. are pushing Pakistan to do more to stop attacks in Afghanistan by militants with bases in Pakistan and to use its influence to force them off the battlefield and into talks.The draft deal with Hezb-i-Islami took months of meetings between Hekmatyar's representatives and those of the government to hammer out, said Mohammad Khan, first deputy for Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.Hekmatyar's battlefield strength, however, is largely restricted to a portion of northeastern Afghanistan and pales in comparison to the Taliban. His Hezb-i-Islami also harbors deep divisions with the Taliban, who drove Hekmatyar from Afghanistan in 1996 and forced him to live in exile in Iran for five years until 2001, when the U.S.-led coalition drove the Taliban from power.___Associated Press writer Lynne O'Donnell in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this report.
NATO, Montenegro to sign accession accord: Stoltenberg-[AFP]-May 18, 2016-YAHOONEWS
Brussels (AFP) - NATO will on Thursday sign an accession agreement with Montenegro, paving the way for the small Balkan country to become the transantlantic alliance's 29th member state, alliance head Jens Stoltenberg said.Montenegro's membership is "a clear sign that NATO countries continue to build stability and security in the western Balkans," Stoltenberg told a press briefing Wednesday ahead of a two-day NATO foreign ministers meeting at alliance HQ in Brussels.The move also shows that "NATO's door remains open," he added, as the alliance prepares for a set-piece summit in Warsaw in July which will sign off on a major NATO military revamp agreed in response to the Ukraine crisis and Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.Diplomatic sources say they expect it will take the 28 member states 18 months to ratify the Montenegro accession accord, which Russia has condemned as another case of NATO encroaching on its strategic interests.While ties with Russia are badly strained by the Ukraine crisis, Stoltenberg rejected any suggestion that NATO membership for Montenegro was a hostile move, insisting that all countries have the right to decide their own future."The fundamental principle is that every nation has the right to decide its own path... including to decide what security arrangements it wants to be part of," he said."Therefore any sanctions or reactions from Russia would be absolutely unjustified," he added.NATO formally invited Montenegro to join in December, sparking a warning from Moscow that it would have to respond to protect its security interests in the Balkans, home to several of its historic Slavic allies.Among the other states of the former Yugoslavia, Croatia and Slovenia have both joined NATO, while many of the former communist states in eastern Europe once ruled from Moscow have also become members.Russia sees this process, backed by a NATO military build-up in response to the Ukraine crisis, as a threat to its security.
Venezuela protests against Maduro to test state of emergency-[AFP]-Marc Burleigh-May 18, 2016-YAHOONEWS
Caracas (AFP) - Public outrage over sweeping new emergency powers decreed this week by President Nicolas Maduro was expected to spill over onto the streets of Venezuela Wednesday, with nationwide protests planned.The demonstrations mark the strongest challenge yet to Maduro's controversial declaration of a state of emergency.Opposition-led marches in the capital Caracas and other major cities were to demand that authorities accept a recall referendum to determine Maduro's fate.The 53-year-old president on Tuesday dismissed the push against him as "not viable" and said a petition it was based on was riddled with "fraud," despite 1.8 million signatures seeking his ouster.The 60-day state of emergency was imposed beginning Monday to tackle what Maduro said were threats to security, as well as food and energy shortages.Many of the measures rely on Venezuela's army and police being deployed to carry them out.- Claim of US plot -It notably suspends many constitutional protections by opening the way to expropriations and almost any action deemed necessary to maintain public order.Individuals, companies and non-governmental organizations in Venezuela with links to foreign groups are also to be put under scrutiny and risk having their finances frozen, according to the decree.The opposition-controlled congress late Tuesday rejected the decree in a vote, saying it undermined democracy. But the Supreme Court may overrule that, as it has with other congressional decisions.Maduro has accused Washington of having "imperial" designs on Venezuela, and said that a US AWACS surveillance plane had twice violated his country's airspace last week.Maduro has separately ordered military exercises for Saturday.Despite his decree, there have so far been no signs of increased military presence in the streets.But Wednesday's demonstrations could face a robust police deployment. A Caracas march last week, before the emergency decree, was halted in its tracks by riot police firing tear gas.Venezuela's opposition has urged the public to defy the state of emergency and called on the army to decide whether it sides "with the constitution or with Maduro."The opposition, which controls congress but has little real power because of Maduro's sway over the government, Supreme Court and security forces, says the emergency decree is an attempt by the president to put himself above the constitution.- Limited time -"If Maduro wants to apply this decree he will have to bring out the warplanes and the tanks into the street, because he will have to apply it through force," opposition leader Henrique Capriles told a news conference on Tuesday.If the recall referendum does go ahead, it must be held before January 10, 2017 in order to trigger new elections, otherwise a successful recall vote would simply transfer power to vice president Aristobulo Isturiz.The opposition accuses the electoral authorities -- who are still evaluating the validity of the petition -- of stalling.With the country in the grip of hyperinflation, a shrinking economy, rampant crime, corruption, and food and electricity shortages, sentiment has turned against Maduro.Seventy percent of the population wants to see a new government, polls show.But Maduro said he and his government "are victims of a media, political and diplomatic attack that is behind the most serious threat our country has faced in the past 10 years."The United States has described reports of Venezuela's spiral downwards as "breathtaking" but has been careful not to make comments seen as meddlesome.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
British queen stays neutral in EU debate By Andrew Rettman-MAY 18,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 17:45-The British queen stayed neutral on the EU referendum in her annual speech, despite previous controversial reports that she wants the UK to leave.Her only reference to the EU was a factual remark that said: “My government will hold a referendum on membership of the European Union.”The speech, at an elaborate parliament ceremony on Wednesday (18 May), focused on domestic issues. But in broader foreign policy terms, Queen Elizabeth II also said that: “My government will continue to play a leading role in world affairs.”She said the UK “will continue to work to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. It will play a leading role in the campaign against Daesh [Islamic State] and to support international efforts to bring peace to Syria.”She said the UK would keep its promise to Nato on military spending and would modernise its nuclear arsenal.She also promised to honour pledges on development aid, humanitarian assistance and climate change.The British government the same day published an 85-page booklet to go into more detail on the legislative programme that the Queen outlined in her address.Coming just five weeks before the UK referendum on EU membership, on 23 June, the text also avoided taking a position on how people should vote.It mentioned the EU in a negative context when it promised laws to make sure that “fewer European visitors will be entitled to free NHS [National Health Service] care.”But it foreshadowed ongoing EU membership by saying it would help British expats to vote in the next European Parliament elections.It also indicated a wider commitment to Europe by saying that a new British bill on human rights would be based on the European Convention on Human Rights - a text adopted by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.The UK booklet made a strong statement on Ukraine.“We will … never recognise Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and the rules based international order”, it said.“We are clear that the blame for the Ukraine crisis lies squarely with Russia and the separatist proxies it continues to support.”-Significantly misleading-The Queen’s speech came out the same day that a British media watchdog censured a newspaper for its claim that she wants the UK to leave the EU.The Sun, one of Britain’s most popular tabloids, had in March published a story entitled: “Queen backs Brexit”.The Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) said that the headline was “significantly misleading”.“It was a factual assertion that the Queen had expressed a position in the referendum debate … [but] it did not follow from the comments the article reported,” it said.It said that had she expressed such a position it would constitute a “fundamental breach of the Queen's constitutional obligations” to remain neutral on the subject.The Sun published Ipso’s statement, but it said in an editorial comment that Ipso was wrong.The EU referendum debate has turned increasingly nasty in the run-up to the vote.-Nazis and jihadists-The British PM, David Cameron, and the head of the EU Council, Donald Tusk, earlier this week complained about former London mayor Boris Johnson after he said the UK should leave the EU because it is like Nazi-era Germany.Other anti-EU campaigners, such as Nigel Farage, a British MEP, attracted criticism in March for saying that the Brussels terrorist attacks meant the UK would be safer out of the EU.Farage endorsed the comments on Twitter moments after the first bomb exploded in Brussels airport killing 16 people.The anti-EU side has accused pro-EU politicians of false claims about the economic cost of Brexit in a campaign that it dubbed Project Fear.
South Carolina passes bill banning abortion after 19 weeks-[Associated Press]-SEANNA ADCOX-May 18, 2016-YAHOONEWS
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina Legislature passed a bill Tuesday prohibiting abortion after 19 weeks, becoming the 17th state to pass the restrictive ban.The legislation will now head to Gov. Nikki Haley's desk. The Republican said in March she will almost certainly sign it, but wants to look at the details once it reaches her.Similar laws are in effect in 12 states. They've been blocked by court challenges in three others, and the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to rule on the ban's constitutionality. A South Dakota law signed in March takes effect this summer.In Utah, a related law, also signed in March, requires doctors to provide anesthesia to a fetus at least 20 weeks in the womb.The South Carolina bill is among several fronts abortion rights supporters say make having the procedure tougher. Abortion opponents have also passed laws in other states requiring clinics to get admitting privileges for doctors and banning a procedure commonly used in the second trimester, called the dilation and evacuation method.The sponsor of South Carolina's bill, Rep. Wendy Nanney, said she's hopeful the law is a step to eventually "get rid of abortion altogether.""I firmly believe life begins at conception and anything we can do to protect human life I'm all for," said Nanney, R-Greenville.The South Carolina House approved the compromise 79-29. The Senate approved it 36-9 in March.The ban allows exceptions only if the mother's life is in jeopardy or a doctor determines the fetus can't survive outside the womb. The measure's limited definition of "fetal anomaly" means it would be illegal to abort a fetus with a severe disability if the child could live.Such anomalies are generally detected around 20 weeks.That "fetal anomaly" exception was crucial for the bill clearing the Senate, where Democrats had blocked the legislation for years.Sen. Brad Hutto, a leading opponent, still believes it should be the woman's choice. But he called the compromise he's worked on since last year "the best we can get." As it initially passed the House, the bill gave an exception only for the mother's life.Only four of the 16 states to pass the restrictions since 2010 allow a legal abortion if a doctor determines the child will be stillborn or die upon birth. South Carolina legislators borrowed the wording for that exception from Georgia, where state court blocked enforcement of Georgia's 20-week ban in 2012.The South Carolina bill, like most of the similar laws, contains no exceptions for rape or incest.Supporters believe a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks. Opponents argue such later-term abortions involve wanted pregnancies that go horribly wrong, and politicians should play no role in the difficult decision."They are wanted pregnancies, but they find out there is a terrible abnormality," Rep. James Smith, a Democrat, said Tuesday. "Wouldn't it be interesting if we take dollar-for-dollar the money we're going to spend litigating unconstitutional bills and put it into something that makes a difference in South Carolina?"On average, fewer than 30 abortions yearly are performed at 20 weeks gestation or beyond, according to data since 1990 from the state's public health agency.The ban would affect only hospitals. None of the three abortion clinics in South Carolina provide abortions beyond 15 weeks. Most of the women are white, married and older than 24, according to the agency.A doctor who performs an illegal abortion under the bill would face up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine.House Judiciary Committee Chairman Greg Delleney said the law "prevents infanticide," noting it ties the fetus' age to conception, rather than a woman's monthly cycle, so the ban refers to what doctors generally consider a gestational age of 22 weeks.The nonprofit Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion laws, knows of only one person ever charged under the bans. In 2011, an Idaho woman was arrested after giving herself an abortion with pills she bought online. That charge ultimately resulted in Idaho's law being struck down last year by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The same court struck Arizona's law in 2013.Without citing a reason, the U.S. Supreme Court declined in January 2014 to hear an appeal from Arizona — which had banned abortion at 18 weeks past fertilization.Earlier Tuesday, a House subcommittee advanced a bill opponents say would essentially ban abortion past 13 weeks. It would make it a felony for a doctor to abort a fetus through "dismemberment" in the womb, punishable by at least a $5,000 fine and/or five years in prison.It has virtually no chance of passing this year.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS ETC) and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
Over 200 families feared buried by landslides in Sri Lanka-[Associated Press]-Krishan Francis, Associated Press-May 18, 2016-YAHOONEWS
ELANGAPITIYA VILLAGE, Sri Lanka (AP) -- Soldiers and police used sticks and bare hands Wednesday to dig through enormous piles of mud covering houses in three villages hit by massive landslides in central Sri Lanka, with hundreds of families reported missing.By evening, rescuers had pulled 17 bodies from the mud and debris unleashed by several days of heavy rain across the island nation. Officials said the extent of the tragedy was still unclear, but the Sri Lankan Red Cross said at least 220 families were unaccounted for."The task is to figure out what happened to them," the Red Cross said in a statement, noting that some people may have left after local officials warned earlier this week of possible landslides.Heavy fog, rain, electrical outages and the loose ground were complicating efforts to search for survivors. As night fell, the rescue operation was suspended until dawn. Officials warned that, with rain still falling, more landslides could occur in the area.Villagers said torrents of muddy water, tree branches and debris came crashing down around their homes Tuesday in the three villages, located at different heights on the same hill in Kegalle District, about 72 kilometers (45 miles) north of Colombo."I heard a huge sound like a plane crashing into the Earth," said 52-year-old A.G. Kamala, who had just returned to her house in one of the villages, Siripura, when the landslides hit. "I opened my door. I could not believe my eyes, as I saw something like a huge fireball rolling down the mountain."Near the village of Elangapitiya — furthest down the hill — soldiers carried bodies to a school, where families waited for news of missing loved ones.Farmer Hewapelige Lal said he had identified the body of his nephew, but that 18 other family members were possibly buried under the mud. He and his wife had left their home to take fruit to a daughter who lived elsewhere, but at some point his wife turned back."That was the last time I saw her," Lal said, sobbing. When he heard of the landslide, he rushed home but found the area covered with thick, heavy mud. "All I could do was scream."Officials could not give the populations of the villages of Siripura, Elangapitiya or Pallebage, but such villages typically include 1,000-1,500 residents.In Elangapitiya alone, where 14 bodies were recovered Wednesday, about 130 people were still missing, according to Maj. Gen. Sudantha Ranasinghe, who was coordinating rescue efforts.Hundreds of stunned villagers took shelter in four temporary camps set up in schools and a Buddhist temple, where they were being given food, blankets and basic medical treatment.At the Viyaneliya Temple, about 300 villagers shared a meal of brown bread and curried lentils. Local officials interviewed each one to learn about missing family members and possessions buried under the mud.Local media said President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe visited the disaster sites earlier Wednesday.In Siripura, 70-year-old A.G. Alice said all nine of her children were unaccounted for."I don't know what happened to me" after the landslides swept down, she said.A man said his wife, mother-in-law, son and daughter-in-law were all in his house in Siripura when the landslides hit. "I still can't locate my family," M.W. Dharmadasa said. "I still don't know what happened to them."The same rains that unleashed the mudslides also caused severe flooding in cities including Colombo, the capital, where tens of thousands of homes were at least partially inundated. Schools were closed due to the bad weather.Sri Lanka's disaster management center reported 11 deaths from lightning strikes and smaller landslides elsewhere in the country on Monday and Tuesday. Nearly 135,000 people have been displaced and are being housed in temporary shelters.Mudslides are common during the monsoon season, with heavy deforestation to clear land for agriculture leaving the countryside exposed.During heavy rains in December 2014, authorities evacuated more than 60,000 people from thousands of homes damaged or destroyed by floods or landslides. Two months before that, dozens of tea plantation workers were killed when mudslides buried their hillside homes.___Associated Press writers Bharatha Mallawarachi in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Katy Daigle in New Delhi contributed to this report.___This story has been corrected to fix spelling of village of Elangapitiya.
