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)
CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL 2ND WAVE OF WW3 (200 MILLION MAN ARMY)
REVELATION 16:12-16
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THE TURKEY ATATURK DAM ON THE EUPHRATES CAN BE SHUT AND DRIED UP ALREADY BY TURKEY)
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.(ITS AT THIS TIME I BELIEVE WHEN AMERICA GETS NUKED BY RUSSIA ON THE WAY TO THE MIDEAST)
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(WORLDWIDE WAR)(TURKEY-IRAQ-SYRIA)(EUPHRATES RIVER CONSISTS OF 760 MILES IN TURKEY,440 MILES IN SYRIA AND 660 MILES IN IRAQ)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,(WORLDWIDE WAR) which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE-2 billion)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
PROOF HALF ON EARTH DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD (8 BILLION ON EARTH)
REVELATION 6:7-8 (8 BILLION- 2 BILLION = 6 BILLION)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 BILLION) to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
REVELATION 9:15,18 (6 BILLION - 2 BILLION = 4 BILLION)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,
18 By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMBS)
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.(half earths population 4 billion die in the 7 yr trib)
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.
MATTHEW 24:37-42 (THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-SURE NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
North Korea ramps up uranium enrichment, enough for six nuclear bombs a year: experts-[Reuters]-By Jack Kim and James Pearson-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea will have enough material for about 20 nuclear bombs by the end of this year, with ramped-up uranium enrichment facilities and an existing stockpile of plutonium, according to new assessments by weapons experts.The North has evaded a decade of U.N. sanctions to develop the uranium enrichment process, enabling it to run an effectively self-sufficient nuclear program that is capable of producing around six nuclear bombs a year, they said.The true nuclear capability of the isolated and secretive state is impossible to verify. But after Pyongyang conducted its fifth and most powerful nuclear test last week and, according to South Korea, was preparing for another, it appears to have no shortage of material to test with.North Korea has an abundance of uranium reserves and has been working covertly for well over a decade on a project to enrich the material to weapons-grade level, the experts say.That project, believed to have been expanded significantly, is likely the source of up to 150 kilograms (330 pounds) of highly enriched uranium a year, said Siegfried Hecker, a leading expert on the North's nuclear program.That quantity is enough for roughly six nuclear bombs, Hecker, who toured the North's main Yongbyon nuclear facility in 2010, wrote in a report on the 38 North website of Johns Hopkins University in Washington published on Monday.Added to an estimated 32- to 54 kilogram plutonium stockpile, the North will have sufficient fissile material for about 20 bombs by the end of 2016, Hecker said.North Korea said its latest test proved it was capable of mounting a nuclear warhead on a medium-range ballistic missile, but its claims to be able to miniaturize a nuclear device have never been independently verified. [nL3N1BL1ND] Assessments of the North's plutonium stockpile are generally consistent and believed to be accurate because experts and governments can estimate plutonium production levels from telltale signs of reactor operation in satellite imagery.South Korean Defence Minister Han Min-koo this year estimated the North's plutonium stockpile at about 40 kilograms.But Hecker, a former director of the U.S. Los Alamos National Laboratory, where nuclear weapons have been designed, has called North Korea's uranium enrichment program "their new nuclear wildcard," because Western experts do not know how advanced it is.-PAKISTAN CONNECTION-Jeffrey Lewis of the California-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies said North Korea had an unconstrained source of fissile material, both plutonium from the Yongbyon reactor and highly-enriched uranium from at least one and probably two sites."The primary constraint on its program is gone," Lewis said. Weapons-grade plutonium has to be extracted from spent fuel taken out of reactors and then reprocessed, and therefore would be limited in quantity. A uranium enrichment program greatly boosts production of material for weapons.The known history of the uranium enrichment project dates to 2003, when the North was confronted by the United States with evidence of a clandestine program to build a facility to enrich uranium with the help of Pakistan.Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said in his memoirs that A.Q. Khan, the father of that country's nuclear program, transferred two dozen centrifuges to the North and some technical expertise around 1999."It was also clear that the suspected Pakistani connection had taken place, as the centrifuge design resembled Pakistan's P-2 centrifuge," Hecker said in a report in May.Hecker reported being shown around a two-story building in the Yongbyon complex in November 2010 that a North Korean engineer said contained 2,000 centrifuges and a control room Hecker called "astonishingly modern."By 2009, the North had likely acquired the technology to be able to expand the uranium project indigenously, Joshua Pollack, editor of the U.S.-based Nonproliferation Review, has said.North Korea has not explicitly admitted to operating the centrifuges to produce weapons-enriched uranium, instead claiming they were intended to generate fuel for a light water reactor it was going to build.Despite sanctions, by now North Korea is probably largely self-sufficient in operating its nuclear program, although it may still struggle to produce some material and items, Lewis said."While we saw this work in Iran, over time countries can adjust to sanctions," he said.(Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
China will start up 20 solar thermal power plants by 2018: NEA-[Reuters]-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
BEIJING (Reuters) - China will start up its first batch of 20 solar thermal power projects online by 2018, said the National Energy Administration(NEA) on Wednesday.The projects with a total capacity of 1.35 gigawatt are concentrated in the five provinces that receive the most sunlight in the nation, Qinghai, Gansu, Hebei, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, said the NEA.Solar thermal power plant use solar arrays to heat water that produces steam that runs turbines to produce electricity.Power plants operators such as China General Nuclear Power Group, China Huaneng Group [HUANP.UL], China Guodian Corp [CNGUO.UL] and Zhejiang Supcon Solar Technology Co are involved, said the NEA.These projects will collect a higher price from grid operators than traditional solar projects using photovoltaic cells at 1.15 yuan ($0.17) per kilowatt hour.But that price level will be reduced in 2019 in accordance with the industry's development, said the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in a statement released earlier this month.(Reporting By Kathy Chen and David Stanway; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
Senior official says UK exploring national internet filter-[Associated Press]-RAPHAEL SATTER-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
LONDON (AP) — The head of Britain's newly formed cybersecurity agency says authorities are exploring the creation of a national internet filter to block malicious software and rogue websites, a proposal that has raised eyebrows among internet freedom advocates.Ciaran Martin, the chief executive of Britain's new National Cyber Security Center, told a conference in Washington that his agency was working on a flagship project which would block Britons from coming into contact with "known malware and bad addresses."According to a text of his speech published Wednesday , Martin said the system would allow consumers to opt-out — meaning that privacy and choice were "hardwired into our program."Those assurances didn't sit well with some activists.Martin said rogue websites would be blocked using DNS filtering, a venerable if clumsy censorship technique which prevents internet users from reaching a targeted server when they click a link or type out a web address. But the technique is imprecise, occasionally blocking an entire website over a single rogue link. The London-based Open Rights Group worried that the Cyber Security Center's mother body, signals intelligence agency GCHQ, risked tampering with the integrity of the internet . The Financial Times newspaper described the project as a "Great British Firewall" — a reference to China's vast internet censorship system.Joss Wright, of the Oxford Internet Institute, said that talk of a China-style firewall was overblown and that other forms of censorship — blocks on child pornography and copyright violators — were already around in any case."This is not the U.K. government turning into China or Iran and filtering the internet at its core," he said.Still, Wright said there was always room for concern when a government agency began drawing up lists of sites to block."When you start building filter lists or censorship lists, things start getting censored," he said.___Raphael Satter can be reached at: http://raphaelsatter.com
SIGNS OF THE END OF THE AGE (NOT THE WORLD) THE WORLD GOES ON FOREVER.
GENESIS 1:5,14
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:(ISRAELS HOLY DAYS AND SABBATH STARTS AT 6PM) And for SIGNS (PROPHECY SIGNS TO HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE, OUR DAY)
SIGNS IN THE SUN, MOON AND STARS-CHEMICAL WEAPONS
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences;(BIOLOGICAL/CHEMICAL/NUCLEAR) and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON THE MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS-PROPHECY SIGNS) 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)
Storm Julia blasts rain, wind on Georgia, South Carolina-[Reuters]-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
(Reuters) - Tropical Storm Julia dumped heavy rains along coastal Georgia and South Carolina on Wednesday, weakening as it drifted north along the U.S. Southeast coast, the National Hurricane Center said.The storm, centered around southeastern Georgia, had gusting winds as strong as 40 mph (65 kph). Heavy rain and high tides threatened low-lying coastal areas prone to flooding, such as parts of Charleston, South Carolina, forecasters said."It's weakening, but it will still continue to produce heavy rain and that is the main hazard that we are concerned with," said Bob Bright, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston.Julia, the 10th named storm of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season, is expected to weaken to a tropical depression on Wednesday as it moved north at 7 mph, the Miami-based hurricane center said.At 8 a.m. (1200 GMT), Julia was about 10 miles (16 km) west of Brunswick, Georgia, the hurricane center said.Northeast Florida felt the storm's strong blasts and bands of rain after it came ashore late on Tuesday around Cape Canaveral, forecasters said.The National Weather Service in Jacksonville, Florida, whose coverage area includes southeastern Georgia, had received reports of toppled trees, but not significant structural damage on Wednesday morning, meteorologist Scott Cordero said."We had some pretty good winds associated with it," he said. "She is starting to lose her tropical characteristics, as she is remaining mainly landlocked."(Reporting by Letitia Stein in Tampa, Fla., Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee, and Swati Verma in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Heavens and James Dalgleish)
U.S. Hurricane Center says 70 percent chance of cyclone developing near Florida-[Reuters]-September 13, 2016-YAHOONEWS
(Reuters) - An area of low pressure located just inland near St. Augustine, Florida, has a 70 percent chance of developing into a tropical cyclone in the next 48 hours, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Tuesday.The system is expected to move north-northwestward to northward at 10-15 miles per hour on Tuesday night, near and parallel to the northeast coast of Florida, the Miami-based weather forecaster added.(Reporting by Harshith Aranya in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Tropical Depression 12 forms over western Cape Verde Islands: NHC-[Reuters]-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
(Reuters) - Tropical Depression 12 has formed over the western Cape Verde Islands and is likely to strengthen over the next 24 hours, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Wednesday.The depression, forecast to become a tropical storm on Wednesday night, is located about 95 miles (155 KM) northwest of the Cape Verde Islands with maximum sustained winds of 35 miles per hour (55 kmph), the NHC added.(Reporting by Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
India's 2016 monsoon rains could be below average: forecasters-[Reuters]-By Rajendra Jadhav-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Monsoon rains in India, the world's second-biggest producer of rice and sugar, could be lighter than average this year in the absence of the La Nina weather pattern, two senior officials at the state-run weather department said on Wednesday.Rainfall in September could be up to 15 percent less than average, said the officials from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) who declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media.This year's below-average rains, after two straight years of drought that had dried up reservoirs and led to social tensions in parts of the country, could cut yields of summer-sown crops that are currently ripening for harvesting and also hit the planting of winter-sown crops like wheat and chickpeas.As of last Friday Indian farmers had cultivated summer crops on 105 million hectares of land, up 4.2 percent from a year ago, farm ministry data showed. Higher farm output is crucial to cut imports of staples like wheat for the country of 1.3 billion people.Last month, the IMD forecast above average monsoon rains, crucial for watering nearly half of the country's farmlands that lack irrigation facilities.The IMD had forecast surplus rains in August and September, largely because of the La Nina, a weather phenomenon that cools the waters of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America that typically causes stronger monsoons across Asia, said one of the senior IMD officials."La Nina didn't develop. Instead we got lower rains in the second half," the official said.Since the start of the monsoon season on June 1, rains have been 5 percent below average.But D.S. Pai, IMD's long-range forecast head, said the distribution of rainfall was good this year for crop growth and that more clarity will emerge about final rainfall figures in two weeks.India's weather office defines average, or normal, rainfall as between 96 percent and 104 percent of a 50-year average of 89 cm for the entire four-month season. The IMD in August forecast monsoon rains at 106 percent or above normal.Last week a U.S. government weather forecaster said La Nina conditions were no longer likely to develop. In June the agency said there was a 75 percent chance La Nina would develop.(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Greg Mahlich)
Milky Way Gaia probe 'maps more than a billion stars'-[AFP]-Marlowe Hood-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
Paris (AFP) - The Gaia space probe, launched in 2013, has mapped more than a billion stars in the Milky Way, vastly expanding the inventory of known stars in our galaxy, the European Space Agency said Wednesday.Released to eagerly waiting astronomers around the world, the initial catalogue of 1.15 billion stars is "both the largest and the most accurate full-sky map ever produced," said Francois Mignard, a member of the 450-strong Gaia mission team.In a webcast press conference at ESA's Astronomy Centre in Madrid, scientists unveiled a stunning map of the Milky Way, including stars up to half a million times less bright than those we can see with the naked eye.The images were captured by Gaia's twin telescopes -- scanning the heavens over and over -- and a billion-pixel camera, the biggest ever put into space.The resolution is sharp enough to gauge the diameter of a human hair at a distance of 1,000 kilometres (620 miles), said Anthony Brown, a researcher at Leiden University in the Netherlands and a member of Gaia's data processing and analysis team.He compared the images to those captured by NASA's $2.5-billion (2.2 billion-euro) Hubble Space Telescope, which has recorded some of the most detailed visible-light photographs of space, one section at a time."Imagine taking pictures with Hubble, except of the full sky -- that is effectively what you are seeing here," Brown said.Gaia maps the position of stars in the Milky Way, which straddles some 100,000 light years, in two ways.Not only does it pinpoint their location, the probe -- by scanning each star multiple times -- plots their movement as well.Wednesday's map showed the locations of over a billion stars, a bonanza for astronomers but still only one percent our galaxy's estimated stellar population.For two million of them, it also shows their trajectory.Over the course of Gaia's five-year mission, the catalogue of stars for which both sets of data are known is set to expand 500-fold.At the same time, it will collect vital data on temperature, luminosity and chemical composition, compiling what astronomers call the "ID card" of each individual star.Thousands of other previously undetected objects have also been discovered, including asteroids that may one day threaten Earth, planets circling nearby stars, and exploding supernovas.- 'How was our galaxy formed?' -Astrophysicists, meanwhile, hope to learn more about dark matter, the invisible substance thought to hold the observable Universe together.They also plan to test Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity by watching how light is deflected by the Sun and its planets."There is a new revolution coming," said Antonella Vallenari of Italy's National Institute for Astrophysics, and a member of the Gaia team."Gaia is meant to answer a fundamental question: How was our galaxy formed?"Tracking star clusters and how they move through space -- shedding stars along the way -- will provide crucial clues, she added."Stars remember that they were built together, and continue to move together in a single direction," she said.This makes it possible to pick out "lone stars" that only appear to be grouped with others.Some 2,500 such clusters -- the incubators of new stars -- have been identified in the Milky Way so far, but scientists suspect there are upwards of 100,000.Gaia should be able to track down all of them.Orbiting the Sun 1.5 million kilometres (nearly a million miles) beyond Earth's orbit, the European probe started collected data in July 2014.A first batch of scientific studies based on the new data -- made available to scientists beforehand -- was published Wednesday in a special edition of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.Today's release "opens a new chapter in astronomy," Mignard said, and is certain to generate hundreds more studies.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (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.(TRADING BLOCKS-10 WORLD REGIONS/TRADE BLOCS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS-10 WORLD DIVISION WORLD GOVERNMENT) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(EITHER THE EUROPEAN UNION DICTATOR BOOTS 3 COUNTRIES FROM THE EU OR THE DICTATOR TAKES OVER THE WORLD ECONOMY BY CONTROLLING 3 WORLD TRADE BLOCS)
LUKE 2:1-3
1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
EU border guard ready for October launch-By EUOBSERVER-sept 14,16
Today, 14:58-The Council of the EU, representing member states, on Wednesday ratified the creation of a European Border and Coast guard agency. The agency, which replaces the EU's border agency Frontex, is expected to be up and running in mid-October. The idea was first announced during EU commission president Juncker's state of the union speech last September. A pool of some 1,500 border guards will be at its disposal.
Juncker: EU is 'not at risk' of disintegration By Eszter Zalan-sept 14,16-euobserver
STRASBOURG, Today, 12:27-The EU is “not at risk” of disintegration after the Brexit vote, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said in a major policy speech on Wednesday (14 September) in Strasbourg.But he warned that the EU is, to some extent, facing an existential crisis.“Never before have I seen such little common ground between our member states, so few areas where they agree to work together,” Juncker told MEPs in his annual state of the union address.“Never before have I seen so much fragmentation,” he said.Juncker warned that the fragmentation between leaves room for populism. “Populism doesn’t solve problems, it creates them,” he said, adding that the commission does not want to get rid of nation states.“Never before have I seen national governments so weakened by the forces of populism and paralysed by the risk of defeat in the next elections,” he said.He acknowledged that EU institutions and member states are out of sync.“There is almost no intersection between the EU and its national capitals anymore,” he added, while calling on each of the 27 EU leaders to think of three reasons why the EU is needed before they meet for an informal summit in Bratislava on Friday.He also called on leaders to defend the decisions they take in Brussels at home, and not blame the EU for them.“We need to speak in a committed way about Europe in national parliaments too, not only here,” he said.-Brexit-Juncker urged the UK once again to trigger the exit talks as quickly as possible, but warned that access to the single market is conditionned to allowing free movement of people and goods."We respect and at the same time regret the UK decision, but the European Union as such is not at risk," Juncker told MEPs.“There can be no single market a la carte,” he said.In his second state of the union speech, Juncker, referring to his own speech from a year ago, said: “The EU still doesn’t have enough union in it.”-EU army-Juncker called for a common European military force that would cooperate with Nato.“It doesn’t mean less transatlantic cooperation,” Juncker said, adding that a defense fund would be proposed by the end of the year to encourage innovation in the European defense industry.Speaking from notes and starting in German, Juncker called for an EU foreign minister and a strategy for Syria. He also argued the EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, should have a seat at the table in negotiations on Syria’s future.He announced an investment plan, for Africa which is to raise € 44 billion to tackle root causes of migration.-Borders-“The next 12 months are decisive if we want to reunite our union, if we want to overcome division between east and west", warned Juncker in his address.Talking about the refugee crisis, and referring to reluctant member states, which have not taken in migrants, he said “solidarity must be given voluntarily, it must come from the heart, it cannot be forced.”He called on the Slovak presidency of the EU to bridge the gap between member states which are participating in relocation and resettlement of refugees and which are not.He pledged 200 border guards and 50 vehicles to Bulgaria to help protect the EU’s external border.Juncker also said the commission will propose by November a European information system, that will automatically determine who should be allowed to travel into Europe before they leave home.-Investments-He also announced the doubling of an earlier investment plan to stimulate growth and job creation.The €315 billion investment plan has raised €116 billion and 200,000 firms got loans. The fund should be beefed up to €500 billion by 2020 and € 630 billion by 2022, he said.In a surprise move, he called for free public internet in all European cities by 2020, and promised a new proposal on roaming next week, after he withdrew an earlier proposal by the commission only last week.Juncker also called for a more social Europe. In that context he defended the commission’s proposal on posted workers, in essence securing equal pay for eastern European workers in western Europe, which is opposed by almost a dozen member states.-Trade-“We should be aware that the world is watching us,” he warned.He expressed full support for continuing closing and negotiating trade deals, especially the deal with Canada due to be signed this October.“I am very much behind CETA, which us the best and most progressive trade deal we have ever entered into,” he said.He did not mention the controversial free-trade talks with the US, but he pledged to protect the European steel industry from Chinese dumping.
Post-Brexit EU needs joint military HQ, Juncker says-[Reuters]-By Alastair Macdonald-September 14, 2016-yahoonews
STRASBOURG (Reuters) - The European Union's chief executive called on Wednesday for a joint command headquarters for EU military missions and greater defense cooperation, reviving long-running efforts to reduce reliance on the United States.In his annual speech to the European Parliament, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said no single EU government had a military big enough to deal with security challenges on Europe's doorstep, from Islamic militants to a more hostile Russia.The proposals, echoing a plan put forward this week by France and Germany, are part of a broader attempt to rally EU nations after Britain's vote to leave the bloc and to capitalize on its departure - London having opposed the idea."We must have a European headquarters and so we should work towards a common military force," Juncker told the European Parliament, although officials stressed this did not amount to an EU army. "This should be to complement NATO," he said, also outlining proposals for a common defense fund.EU leaders struggling for support have identified security as one of citizens' main concerns following militant attacks in Paris, Brussels and Nice over the last year. Washington is keen to see Europe do more in its own neighborhood and U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump has questioned whether NATO should support allies not seen to be spending enough on defense.Leaders must also compensate for Britain's departure from the bloc. As Europe's biggest-spending European power, the British exit could reduce the EU's military capacity by a quarter without steps to remedy the situation, analysts say.Even before Britain's decision to leave the EU, years of defense budget cuts, as well as militaries that work in isolation, have diminished Europe's ability to run missions including peace keeping, disaster relief and counter-terrorism operations at home and abroad.The plan, which follows failed attempts in the 1950s and the 1990s, would not mean soldiers all wear the same uniforms, EU officials say. It involves more cooperation among countries that wish to run missions together, while avoiding duplication in developing military assets at the industrial level.More than three-quarters of EU government defense contracts are awarded to their national industries, while the bloc has 19 types of armored infantry fighting vehicle, compared to just one in the United States, according to EU data."From an economic point of view, bringing together our military resources could be clearly justified," Juncker said. "The lack of cooperation is something that is costing Europe 20 to 100 billion euros a year," he said.Still, the United States is wary about a new EU military headquarters, worried it would replicate NATO's command center, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, in Belgium.Washington wants to see EU governments spend more money on equipment and not waste it on headquarters. One solution could be to turn an existing national army and navy command center in Germany or France into a European headquarters, experts say.(Reporting by Alastair Madonald, writing by Robin Emmott in Brussels; editing by Ralph Boulton)
Cyprus leaders ask UN support for unification By Eric Maurice-sept 14,16-euobserver
BRUSSELS, Today, 18:13-Leaders of the two parts of Cyprus will meet the UN secretary general at the end of the month in a push to reach an agreement on the island's reunification.After eight meetings in recent weeks, Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades and the leader of the Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus Mustafa Akinci said on Wednesday (14 September) they were "committed to continuing and intensifying their efforts".They will meet Ban Ki-moon in New York on 25 September to report on the progress in negotiations and ask him to "intensify his personal engagement".In a common statement read to journalists by UN envoy Espen Barth Eide, they said they are "cognisant of the remaining challenges" but are still aiming at "reaching a comprehensive agreement within 2016".They said they have achieved "significant progress" in areas such as "governance and power-sharing, economy, the EU matters and property" but they recognised that "certain substantial divergences still remain."Hopes of a settlement 42 years after Turkey invaded the island and created a Turkish entity (which no one but Turkey recognises) have been high since Anastasiades and Akinci said in January they would try to solve the issue this year."We need to get this done. Now," European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said in his state of the union speech also on Wednesday. He added that "Europe is a driving force that can help bring about the unification of Cyprus."The remaining stumbling points of the negotiations are the chapters on security and the so-called guarantees, and on territory.Since its independence in 1960, Cyprus' sovereignty is guaranted by the UK (the former colonial power), Greece, and Turkey.The Greek and Turkish Cypriots said they "exchanged views and positions, in a brainstorming manner" but could not yet agree. They said they still hope to resolve these issues "in a mutually acceptable manner".Greek Cypriots refuses that Turkey, an occupying power since 1974, keeps rights on a reunified island.The funding of a reunification plan will also be discussed during the UN meeting.
Schulz calls for stricter rules for EU commissioners By Nikolaj Nielsen-sept 14,16-euobserver
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:21-EU parliament chief Martin Schulz wants tougher conduct rules for EU commissioners, but similar efforts in his own assembly are being undermined."We should adapt the code of conduct to make it clearer what former EU Commission presidents and EU commissioners are permitted to do," he is quoted as saying by German newspaper Die Welt on Wednesday (14 September).Former European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has been heavily criticised for taking a job at US bank Goldman Sachs.But the parliament chief has also been accused of muffling allegations, for instance, that he used parliament resources during his campaign to become the president of the European Commission.His office has rejected the claims, noting that he had provided a detailed list of his travels and activities in "full transparency"."In addition the president has voluntarily forfeited his daily parliament allowance during the election campaign," Schulz's office told this website in an email in April.Before taking up his duties as EU parliament president, Schulz presided over the Socialist S&D group.Last April, the socialists and centre-right EPP removed demands, in a parliament report, on whether Schulz had chartered private flights in the first six months of the election year."It was approved by president Schulz personally," said Green Hungarian MEP Benedek Javor at the time.In exchange, the socialists agreed to EPP demands to allow MEPs to hold second or even third jobs.MEPs holding additional jobs in the private sector presents a whole host of thorny conflict of interest issues, especially if they legislate in the same industry in which they work.The issue arose again earlier this week when MEPs led by the EPP in the constitutional affairs committee, gained backing by their socialist cohorts, to postpone a vote on another report that again demanded an end to second jobs.Last year, a joint report by three transparency NGOs found that nine MEP held paid positions in companies that lobbied lawmakers.Among them was French centre-right Rachida Dati, who according to her latest declaration of interest earns more than €10,000 a month as a lawyer.In May, she received a personal invitiation from Qatar’s foreign ministry to attend the Doha Forum, which included broad issues on security, development, and energy. She attended the forum.UK conservative Nirj Deva and Danish centre-right MEP Bendt Bendtsen were also highlighted in the report, drafted by the pro-transparency NGOs Friends of the Earth Europe, Corporate Europe Observatory and LobbyControl.
Flint residents seek bottled water delivery as lead exposure persists-[Reuters]-By Serena Maria Daniels-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
DETROIT (Reuters) - Residents of Flint, Michigan, on Wednesday asked a federal judge to order bottled water or filters be provided to them to prevent further lead exposure, 2-1/2 years after the city's water supply was found to be contaminated.Attorneys for residents and for advocacy groups Concerned Pastors for Social Action, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan argued in U.S. District Court in Detroit that the city and state should be required to deliver bottled water to people's homes or launch a program to install water filters."After more than two years, Flint residents still cannot turn on their taps without worrying about lead exposure," Dimple Chaudhary, attorney for the NRDC, told Judge David Lawson in a hearing for a preliminary injunction the group is seeking to force the bottled water delivery. The hearing is scheduled to last two days.The crisis drew international attention, resulted in the filing of numerous lawsuits and led to calls by some critics for the resignation of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder due to the state's poor handling of the situation.Flint, a predominantly black city of 100,000, was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager when it switched its water source in April 2014 to the Flint River from Lake Huron. The more corrosive river water caused lead to leach from city pipes and into the drinking water.The city switched back last October after tests found high levels of lead in blood samples taken from children, but the drinking water has not returned fully to normal. Flint has been replacing lead pipes running to homes and state officials have said the water is safe to drink if properly filtered.The plaintiffs' attorneys argued transportation and other access issues have made it hard for many residents to acquire the water from government-run water distribution sites and Flint's water remains unsafe.The residents and advocacy groups sued the city and state in January, alleging violations of the federal Safe Water Drinking Act and seeking court intervention. The act requires water providers to meet federal safety standards and allows private lawsuits to seek injunctive relief enforcing it.Mike Murphy, attorney for the state, said the problems are being addressed, including replacing corroded lead water pipes. Officials previously said in court documents they are working on a planned water delivery program.Flint's interim chief financial officer, David Sabuda, said in court that delivering water would financially cripple the city.Also on Wednesday, former Michigan Department of Health and Human Services employee Corinne Miller entered into an agreement with state prosecutors, pleading no contest to the misdemeanor charge of willful neglect of duty by a public officer, avoiding jail time and agreeing to cooperate with investigators.(Reporting by Serena Maria Daniels; Additional reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis; Writing by Ben Klayman; Editing by James Dalgleish and Alden Bentley)
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)
Russia: Syria ceasefire violated 60 times in first 48 hours: Ifax-[Reuters]-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A ceasefire in Syria was violated 60 times in the first 48 hours after it was imposed, with most violations committed by the Ahrar al-Sham armed group, Interfax news agency quoted a senior Russian general as saying on Wednesday.Russia supports the extension of the ceasefire for another 48 hours, Interfax quoted Lieutenant-General Viktor Poznikhir, a senior officer at Russia's army general staff, as saying at a news briefing.(Reporting by Alexander Winning; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Christian Lowe)
Kremlin: Obama's Trump criticism anti-Russian, won't foster better ties-[Reuters]-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Wednesday it viewed U.S. President Barack Obama's recent statements on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as anti-Russian and said they were unlikely to improve fragile relations between Russia and the United States.Obama on Tuesday strongly criticized Trump for praising Russian President Vladimir Putin and for appearing on a TV channel, RT, funded by the Russian government."Unfortunately, we see continued displays of often hard-core Russophobia," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, commenting on Obama's intervention, told a conference call with reporters. "We can only express regret in this regard."This rhetoric, which is being formulated in electoral campaign style ... is unlikely to help fledgling fragile attempts to build at least some sort of mutual trust."(Reporting by Denis Pinchuk; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
Aid for Syria waits on Turkish border as warring sides bicker-[Reuters]-By Osman Orsal and John Davison-September 14, 2016-yahoonews
CILVEGOZU, Turkey/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two convoys of aid for the Syrian city of Aleppo were waiting in no-man's land on Wednesday after crossing the Turkish border, held up by security fears and disagreements between combatants on the third day of a ceasefire.The convoys, each of around 20 trucks carrying mostly food and flour, set off from the Turkish border town of Cilvegozu, 40 km (25 miles) west of Aleppo, on Tuesday but made it little further than the Turkish customs post on the Syrian border.The delay was a sign of the difficulties facing the ceasefire, brokered by the United States and Russia on Friday and which Washington hopes will revive peace talks aimed at ending Syria's civil war.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syrian conflict through contacts on the ground, said it had recorded no deaths from fighting in the first 48 hours of the ceasefire, which came into effect on Monday night.Russia will recommend persisting with the ceasefire and is preparing for the Syrian army and rebel fighters to begin a staged withdrawal from an Aleppo road expected to be used for aid deliveries on Thursday, the Russian military said.Zakaria Malahifji, of the Aleppo-based rebel group Fastaqim, told Reuters that rebel groups intend to comply with the plan to withdraw 500 metres from the Castello Road in order to make it a neutral space, but the government must also pull back.The aid is badly needed. The U.N. estimates that well over half a million people are living under siege in Syria, whose five-year conflict has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced more than 11 million.On Wednesday, both Moscow and Washington spoke positively about the deal, with the Kremlin saying it raised hopes for a peaceful solution to the crisis and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arguing it was a "last chance" to keep Syria together.However, a prominent opposition politician, George Sabra, said the many violations which marked a previous truce had undermined confidence in this one and it was too early to talk about a resumption of peace talks that were abandoned in April.Speaking to Reuters, he lamented a lack of mechanisms to enforce the ceasefire and accused the government and its allies of committing minor violations "to impede the other goals of the truce, such as delivering necessary aid to besieged areas".-VIOLATIONS-The Syrian army has meanwhile accused rebels of numerous violations since the ceasefire took effect.The Russian army, in comments carried by Interfax, said there had been 60 such violations, adding that most were the work of Ahrar al-Sham, a hardline Islamist rebel group which Moscow says has not accepted the ceasefire.The international community's first goal is to get aid to Aleppo, the scene of Syria's fiercest fighting in recent months and divided into sectors held by the government and insurgents.Aided by Russian air power and Shi'ite militias, the Syrian army this month renewed its siege on rebel-held eastern Aleppo, home to at least 250,000 people. Capturing the opposition-held area of Syria's biggest city would be a major boost for President Bashar al-Assad's war effort.-'READY TO GO'-"Things are taking longer than we'd hoped," David Swanson, spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs told Reuters. He said 20 U.N. trucks were waiting at the border "ready to go".Disagreements between the warring sides were blocking aid getting into opposition-held eastern Aleppo, Swanson added. "Some groups are looking to gain political mileage out of this, and this is something we need to put aside," he said.A second U.N. official said that deliveries to Aleppo had to cross numerous checkpoints operated by both opposition and government forces, and it was still unclear whether the aid could get through safely.But the opposition's Sabra blamed Damascus, saying the government's insistence on controlling aid was obstructing its delivery to Aleppo under the agreement.The Syrian government has said it will reject any aid deliveries to the city not coordinated through itself and the United Nations, particularly from Turkey, which has backed the rebels fighting Assad.The U.N. says it must get permission for most of its aid deliveries from Damascus. The U.N. has repeatedly criticized the Syrian government for restricting access, especially to besieged areas, and for removing vital items from convoys. (nL5N1733S8)As a result, most supplies to opposition-held areas are delivered across rebel controlled border points, sidestepping government approval.That allows them to bring in supplies despite the political constraints, but exposes them to greater danger and still does not address the suffering of those in inaccessible, heavily besieged areas which the U.N. aims to reach through the truce.The ceasefire has drastically reduced fighting across the country between Syrian government forces and insurgents. But a similar truce in February gradually broke down and violence escalated sharply, particularly around Aleppo.The U.N. special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said on Tuesday that the U.N. was still waiting for Damascus to issue letters authorising aid deliveries. A Turkish official said no further trucks were expected to cross the border on Wednesday until the situation became clearer.Swanson said the U.N. was also ready to deliver aid to "other besieged and hard-to-reach locations ... but only once access is possible."(Additional reporting by Tom Miles in Geneva, Yesim Dikmen in Istanbul, Ellen Francis and Lisa Barrington in Beirut and Denis Pinchuk in Moscow; Writing by Nick Tattersall and Angus McDowall; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Giles Elgood)
Syrian opposition politician says not confident truce will last-[Reuters]-September 14, 2016-yahoonews
(Reuters) - A Syrian opposition politician said on Wednesday he did not have great confidence that a truce brokered by the United States and Russia would last longer than a previous one that temporarily curbed the fighting earlier this year."There is not great confidence that this truce can last longer than the previous one," George Sabra told Reuters in a telephone interview. He also said the Syrian government's insistence on controlling aid was obstructing its delivery to Aleppo under the agreement.Sabra also said it was too early to talk about any resumption of peace talks, and that this hinged on the implementation of humanitarian clauses of a U.N. resolution passed last year.(Reporting by Ellen Francis; Editing by Tom Perry, Larry King)
Indonesian Islamic council issues fatwa on forest fires-[Reuters]-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's highest Islamic council has issued a fatwa on burning land and forests, a government official said on Wednesday, in an effort to halt the toxic smog that blankets the region each year.The fatwa is not legally binding but is aimed at discouraging plantation companies and farmers from clearing land using slash-and-burn methods in Southeast Asia's biggest economy."There was a meeting between the environment minister and the Indonesian Clerics' Council, which issued fatwa no 30/2016 about forest and land burning law," said ministry spokesman Novrizal Tahar."The point is that an act (of burning) that causes environmental damage, according to (the council) decision, is illegitimate."The council was not immediately available for comment and it was unclear why it had waited so long to make the ruling.Every year, Indonesia faces criticism from its neighbours Singapore and Malaysia over the smog, euphemistically known as "haze", and its failure to stop the fires from being lit.Last year's fires were among the worst in the region's history, with billions of dollars worth of environmental damage, weeks of flight and school disruptions and thousands suffering from respiratory disease.(Reporting by Berndatte Christina Munthe; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Germany sends 650 troops to fight IS arms smuggling in Mediterranean-[Reuters]-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
BERLIN (Reuters) - The German cabinet gave the green light on Wednesday to send up to 650 troops to join a new NATO mission to combat arms smuggling by the Islamic State militant group in the Mediterranean Sea.The German involvement in NATO's operation Sea Guardian will last until the end of 2017. In exceptional emergencies, it will be possible to temporarily increase the number of German soldiers involved in the mission.The deployment is part of a broader shift by Germany to expand its military role in Europe and NATO. Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen has sought to rebuild equipment and troop levels of the armed forces after years of declines.NATO members agreed to launch the new maritime mission at a summit in Poland in July. German ships are also participating in a European Union military mission called Sophia to try to combat the smuggling of weapons and people off the Libyan coast.(Reporting by Thorsten Severin; Writing by Caroline Copley; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
French police hold three teens over jihadist links-[AFP]-Pauline Talagrand and Simon Valmary-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
Paris (AFP) - Three teenagers linked to an Islamic State group jihadist have been arrested around Paris in the past week as investigators probe the use of an encrypted messaging app to plot attacks in France, judicial sources said Wednesday.On Wednesday, a teenager was arrested in a dawn raid on his home in northeastern Paris as part of an investigation into the network of French extremist Rachid Kassim.Investigators said the youth, aged 14 or 15, was in touch with Kassim on the encrypted Telegram app and had "put himself forward for a terrorist act".His arrest came four days after a 15-year-old picked up in the upmarket western Paris suburb of Rueil-Malmaison was remanded in custody on terror charges, a source confirmed to AFP.The 15-year-old, who was already on a watchlist of known radicals, was also arrested over his links to Kassim, who is suspected of using Telegram to direct attacks on France from IS-controlled territory in Iraq or Syria.The source said the youth's online messages suggested he may have been planning to stage an attack. Earlier this year he was charged with disseminating IS propaganda on the internet.Their arrests bring to three the number of minors detained in various parts of the French capital within a week as the authorities scramble to tamp down home-grown jihadist violence that is increasingly drawing in teens.On Monday, a 15-year-old from eastern Paris was charged with conspiring to commit terrorist acts after describing plans on Telegram to carry out a knife attack, sources said.Kassim, a 29-year-old former social worker from the Loire valley who has appeared in several IS propaganda videos, is believed to have been a key influence on all three youths.He is also suspected of ordering or inciting the killing of a police couple in their home west of Paris in June as well as the murder of an elderly priest in a Normandy church in July.- 'Younger and younger' -Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Wednesday that the intelligence services were "working harder than ever" to prevent assaults incited by "a number of characters in Syria who used encrypted methods" to spur on supporters, who are "getting younger and younger."Kassim was also in contact with an all-female gang of radicals who have been charged with planning another attack after an apparent failed attempt to blow up a car packed with gas cylinders near Paris's Notre Dame cathedral.The three women were also believed to be planning an attack on a train station or on the police. Two of them had previously been on a police watchlist for their extremist views.Islamic extremists have targeted France repeatedly in the last two years.An assault on satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in January 2015 was followed by a rampage by IS gunmen and suicide bombers in Paris in November that killed 130 people.More recently, a grisly truck attack on a crowd in Nice in July left 86 dead.French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Sunday said the terror threat was at a "maximum" and that the authorities were foiling attacks and smashing jihadist networks "every day".Valls said that around 15,000 people were known to police in France as having been radicalised, up from a previous estimate of 10,000.Former president Nicolas Sarkozy, who is seeking the conservative nomination in next year's presidential election, has called for all known radicals to be placed in detention.Cazeneuve dismissed the idea on Wednesday."Once you let people know they are under surveillance they go to ground."
REVELATION 16:12-16
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THE TURKEY ATATURK DAM ON THE EUPHRATES CAN BE SHUT AND DRIED UP ALREADY BY TURKEY)
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.(ITS AT THIS TIME I BELIEVE WHEN AMERICA GETS NUKED BY RUSSIA ON THE WAY TO THE MIDEAST)
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(WORLDWIDE WAR)(TURKEY-IRAQ-SYRIA)(EUPHRATES RIVER CONSISTS OF 760 MILES IN TURKEY,440 MILES IN SYRIA AND 660 MILES IN IRAQ)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,(WORLDWIDE WAR) which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE-2 billion)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
PROOF HALF ON EARTH DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD (8 BILLION ON EARTH)
REVELATION 6:7-8 (8 BILLION- 2 BILLION = 6 BILLION)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 BILLION) to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
REVELATION 9:15,18 (6 BILLION - 2 BILLION = 4 BILLION)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,
18 By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMBS)
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.(half earths population 4 billion die in the 7 yr trib)
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.
MATTHEW 24:37-42 (THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-SURE NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
North Korea ramps up uranium enrichment, enough for six nuclear bombs a year: experts-[Reuters]-By Jack Kim and James Pearson-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea will have enough material for about 20 nuclear bombs by the end of this year, with ramped-up uranium enrichment facilities and an existing stockpile of plutonium, according to new assessments by weapons experts.The North has evaded a decade of U.N. sanctions to develop the uranium enrichment process, enabling it to run an effectively self-sufficient nuclear program that is capable of producing around six nuclear bombs a year, they said.The true nuclear capability of the isolated and secretive state is impossible to verify. But after Pyongyang conducted its fifth and most powerful nuclear test last week and, according to South Korea, was preparing for another, it appears to have no shortage of material to test with.North Korea has an abundance of uranium reserves and has been working covertly for well over a decade on a project to enrich the material to weapons-grade level, the experts say.That project, believed to have been expanded significantly, is likely the source of up to 150 kilograms (330 pounds) of highly enriched uranium a year, said Siegfried Hecker, a leading expert on the North's nuclear program.That quantity is enough for roughly six nuclear bombs, Hecker, who toured the North's main Yongbyon nuclear facility in 2010, wrote in a report on the 38 North website of Johns Hopkins University in Washington published on Monday.Added to an estimated 32- to 54 kilogram plutonium stockpile, the North will have sufficient fissile material for about 20 bombs by the end of 2016, Hecker said.North Korea said its latest test proved it was capable of mounting a nuclear warhead on a medium-range ballistic missile, but its claims to be able to miniaturize a nuclear device have never been independently verified. [nL3N1BL1ND] Assessments of the North's plutonium stockpile are generally consistent and believed to be accurate because experts and governments can estimate plutonium production levels from telltale signs of reactor operation in satellite imagery.South Korean Defence Minister Han Min-koo this year estimated the North's plutonium stockpile at about 40 kilograms.But Hecker, a former director of the U.S. Los Alamos National Laboratory, where nuclear weapons have been designed, has called North Korea's uranium enrichment program "their new nuclear wildcard," because Western experts do not know how advanced it is.-PAKISTAN CONNECTION-Jeffrey Lewis of the California-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies said North Korea had an unconstrained source of fissile material, both plutonium from the Yongbyon reactor and highly-enriched uranium from at least one and probably two sites."The primary constraint on its program is gone," Lewis said. Weapons-grade plutonium has to be extracted from spent fuel taken out of reactors and then reprocessed, and therefore would be limited in quantity. A uranium enrichment program greatly boosts production of material for weapons.The known history of the uranium enrichment project dates to 2003, when the North was confronted by the United States with evidence of a clandestine program to build a facility to enrich uranium with the help of Pakistan.Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said in his memoirs that A.Q. Khan, the father of that country's nuclear program, transferred two dozen centrifuges to the North and some technical expertise around 1999."It was also clear that the suspected Pakistani connection had taken place, as the centrifuge design resembled Pakistan's P-2 centrifuge," Hecker said in a report in May.Hecker reported being shown around a two-story building in the Yongbyon complex in November 2010 that a North Korean engineer said contained 2,000 centrifuges and a control room Hecker called "astonishingly modern."By 2009, the North had likely acquired the technology to be able to expand the uranium project indigenously, Joshua Pollack, editor of the U.S.-based Nonproliferation Review, has said.North Korea has not explicitly admitted to operating the centrifuges to produce weapons-enriched uranium, instead claiming they were intended to generate fuel for a light water reactor it was going to build.Despite sanctions, by now North Korea is probably largely self-sufficient in operating its nuclear program, although it may still struggle to produce some material and items, Lewis said."While we saw this work in Iran, over time countries can adjust to sanctions," he said.(Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
China will start up 20 solar thermal power plants by 2018: NEA-[Reuters]-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
BEIJING (Reuters) - China will start up its first batch of 20 solar thermal power projects online by 2018, said the National Energy Administration(NEA) on Wednesday.The projects with a total capacity of 1.35 gigawatt are concentrated in the five provinces that receive the most sunlight in the nation, Qinghai, Gansu, Hebei, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, said the NEA.Solar thermal power plant use solar arrays to heat water that produces steam that runs turbines to produce electricity.Power plants operators such as China General Nuclear Power Group, China Huaneng Group [HUANP.UL], China Guodian Corp [CNGUO.UL] and Zhejiang Supcon Solar Technology Co are involved, said the NEA.These projects will collect a higher price from grid operators than traditional solar projects using photovoltaic cells at 1.15 yuan ($0.17) per kilowatt hour.But that price level will be reduced in 2019 in accordance with the industry's development, said the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in a statement released earlier this month.(Reporting By Kathy Chen and David Stanway; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
Senior official says UK exploring national internet filter-[Associated Press]-RAPHAEL SATTER-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
LONDON (AP) — The head of Britain's newly formed cybersecurity agency says authorities are exploring the creation of a national internet filter to block malicious software and rogue websites, a proposal that has raised eyebrows among internet freedom advocates.Ciaran Martin, the chief executive of Britain's new National Cyber Security Center, told a conference in Washington that his agency was working on a flagship project which would block Britons from coming into contact with "known malware and bad addresses."According to a text of his speech published Wednesday , Martin said the system would allow consumers to opt-out — meaning that privacy and choice were "hardwired into our program."Those assurances didn't sit well with some activists.Martin said rogue websites would be blocked using DNS filtering, a venerable if clumsy censorship technique which prevents internet users from reaching a targeted server when they click a link or type out a web address. But the technique is imprecise, occasionally blocking an entire website over a single rogue link. The London-based Open Rights Group worried that the Cyber Security Center's mother body, signals intelligence agency GCHQ, risked tampering with the integrity of the internet . The Financial Times newspaper described the project as a "Great British Firewall" — a reference to China's vast internet censorship system.Joss Wright, of the Oxford Internet Institute, said that talk of a China-style firewall was overblown and that other forms of censorship — blocks on child pornography and copyright violators — were already around in any case."This is not the U.K. government turning into China or Iran and filtering the internet at its core," he said.Still, Wright said there was always room for concern when a government agency began drawing up lists of sites to block."When you start building filter lists or censorship lists, things start getting censored," he said.___Raphael Satter can be reached at: http://raphaelsatter.com
SIGNS OF THE END OF THE AGE (NOT THE WORLD) THE WORLD GOES ON FOREVER.
GENESIS 1:5,14
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:(ISRAELS HOLY DAYS AND SABBATH STARTS AT 6PM) And for SIGNS (PROPHECY SIGNS TO HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE, OUR DAY)
SIGNS IN THE SUN, MOON AND STARS-CHEMICAL WEAPONS
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences;(BIOLOGICAL/CHEMICAL/NUCLEAR) and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON THE MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS-PROPHECY SIGNS) 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)
Storm Julia blasts rain, wind on Georgia, South Carolina-[Reuters]-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
(Reuters) - Tropical Storm Julia dumped heavy rains along coastal Georgia and South Carolina on Wednesday, weakening as it drifted north along the U.S. Southeast coast, the National Hurricane Center said.The storm, centered around southeastern Georgia, had gusting winds as strong as 40 mph (65 kph). Heavy rain and high tides threatened low-lying coastal areas prone to flooding, such as parts of Charleston, South Carolina, forecasters said."It's weakening, but it will still continue to produce heavy rain and that is the main hazard that we are concerned with," said Bob Bright, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston.Julia, the 10th named storm of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season, is expected to weaken to a tropical depression on Wednesday as it moved north at 7 mph, the Miami-based hurricane center said.At 8 a.m. (1200 GMT), Julia was about 10 miles (16 km) west of Brunswick, Georgia, the hurricane center said.Northeast Florida felt the storm's strong blasts and bands of rain after it came ashore late on Tuesday around Cape Canaveral, forecasters said.The National Weather Service in Jacksonville, Florida, whose coverage area includes southeastern Georgia, had received reports of toppled trees, but not significant structural damage on Wednesday morning, meteorologist Scott Cordero said."We had some pretty good winds associated with it," he said. "She is starting to lose her tropical characteristics, as she is remaining mainly landlocked."(Reporting by Letitia Stein in Tampa, Fla., Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee, and Swati Verma in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Heavens and James Dalgleish)
U.S. Hurricane Center says 70 percent chance of cyclone developing near Florida-[Reuters]-September 13, 2016-YAHOONEWS
(Reuters) - An area of low pressure located just inland near St. Augustine, Florida, has a 70 percent chance of developing into a tropical cyclone in the next 48 hours, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Tuesday.The system is expected to move north-northwestward to northward at 10-15 miles per hour on Tuesday night, near and parallel to the northeast coast of Florida, the Miami-based weather forecaster added.(Reporting by Harshith Aranya in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Tropical Depression 12 forms over western Cape Verde Islands: NHC-[Reuters]-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
(Reuters) - Tropical Depression 12 has formed over the western Cape Verde Islands and is likely to strengthen over the next 24 hours, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Wednesday.The depression, forecast to become a tropical storm on Wednesday night, is located about 95 miles (155 KM) northwest of the Cape Verde Islands with maximum sustained winds of 35 miles per hour (55 kmph), the NHC added.(Reporting by Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
India's 2016 monsoon rains could be below average: forecasters-[Reuters]-By Rajendra Jadhav-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Monsoon rains in India, the world's second-biggest producer of rice and sugar, could be lighter than average this year in the absence of the La Nina weather pattern, two senior officials at the state-run weather department said on Wednesday.Rainfall in September could be up to 15 percent less than average, said the officials from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) who declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media.This year's below-average rains, after two straight years of drought that had dried up reservoirs and led to social tensions in parts of the country, could cut yields of summer-sown crops that are currently ripening for harvesting and also hit the planting of winter-sown crops like wheat and chickpeas.As of last Friday Indian farmers had cultivated summer crops on 105 million hectares of land, up 4.2 percent from a year ago, farm ministry data showed. Higher farm output is crucial to cut imports of staples like wheat for the country of 1.3 billion people.Last month, the IMD forecast above average monsoon rains, crucial for watering nearly half of the country's farmlands that lack irrigation facilities.The IMD had forecast surplus rains in August and September, largely because of the La Nina, a weather phenomenon that cools the waters of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America that typically causes stronger monsoons across Asia, said one of the senior IMD officials."La Nina didn't develop. Instead we got lower rains in the second half," the official said.Since the start of the monsoon season on June 1, rains have been 5 percent below average.But D.S. Pai, IMD's long-range forecast head, said the distribution of rainfall was good this year for crop growth and that more clarity will emerge about final rainfall figures in two weeks.India's weather office defines average, or normal, rainfall as between 96 percent and 104 percent of a 50-year average of 89 cm for the entire four-month season. The IMD in August forecast monsoon rains at 106 percent or above normal.Last week a U.S. government weather forecaster said La Nina conditions were no longer likely to develop. In June the agency said there was a 75 percent chance La Nina would develop.(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Greg Mahlich)
Milky Way Gaia probe 'maps more than a billion stars'-[AFP]-Marlowe Hood-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
Paris (AFP) - The Gaia space probe, launched in 2013, has mapped more than a billion stars in the Milky Way, vastly expanding the inventory of known stars in our galaxy, the European Space Agency said Wednesday.Released to eagerly waiting astronomers around the world, the initial catalogue of 1.15 billion stars is "both the largest and the most accurate full-sky map ever produced," said Francois Mignard, a member of the 450-strong Gaia mission team.In a webcast press conference at ESA's Astronomy Centre in Madrid, scientists unveiled a stunning map of the Milky Way, including stars up to half a million times less bright than those we can see with the naked eye.The images were captured by Gaia's twin telescopes -- scanning the heavens over and over -- and a billion-pixel camera, the biggest ever put into space.The resolution is sharp enough to gauge the diameter of a human hair at a distance of 1,000 kilometres (620 miles), said Anthony Brown, a researcher at Leiden University in the Netherlands and a member of Gaia's data processing and analysis team.He compared the images to those captured by NASA's $2.5-billion (2.2 billion-euro) Hubble Space Telescope, which has recorded some of the most detailed visible-light photographs of space, one section at a time."Imagine taking pictures with Hubble, except of the full sky -- that is effectively what you are seeing here," Brown said.Gaia maps the position of stars in the Milky Way, which straddles some 100,000 light years, in two ways.Not only does it pinpoint their location, the probe -- by scanning each star multiple times -- plots their movement as well.Wednesday's map showed the locations of over a billion stars, a bonanza for astronomers but still only one percent our galaxy's estimated stellar population.For two million of them, it also shows their trajectory.Over the course of Gaia's five-year mission, the catalogue of stars for which both sets of data are known is set to expand 500-fold.At the same time, it will collect vital data on temperature, luminosity and chemical composition, compiling what astronomers call the "ID card" of each individual star.Thousands of other previously undetected objects have also been discovered, including asteroids that may one day threaten Earth, planets circling nearby stars, and exploding supernovas.- 'How was our galaxy formed?' -Astrophysicists, meanwhile, hope to learn more about dark matter, the invisible substance thought to hold the observable Universe together.They also plan to test Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity by watching how light is deflected by the Sun and its planets."There is a new revolution coming," said Antonella Vallenari of Italy's National Institute for Astrophysics, and a member of the Gaia team."Gaia is meant to answer a fundamental question: How was our galaxy formed?"Tracking star clusters and how they move through space -- shedding stars along the way -- will provide crucial clues, she added."Stars remember that they were built together, and continue to move together in a single direction," she said.This makes it possible to pick out "lone stars" that only appear to be grouped with others.Some 2,500 such clusters -- the incubators of new stars -- have been identified in the Milky Way so far, but scientists suspect there are upwards of 100,000.Gaia should be able to track down all of them.Orbiting the Sun 1.5 million kilometres (nearly a million miles) beyond Earth's orbit, the European probe started collected data in July 2014.A first batch of scientific studies based on the new data -- made available to scientists beforehand -- was published Wednesday in a special edition of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.Today's release "opens a new chapter in astronomy," Mignard said, and is certain to generate hundreds more studies.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (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.(TRADING BLOCKS-10 WORLD REGIONS/TRADE BLOCS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS-10 WORLD DIVISION WORLD GOVERNMENT) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(EITHER THE EUROPEAN UNION DICTATOR BOOTS 3 COUNTRIES FROM THE EU OR THE DICTATOR TAKES OVER THE WORLD ECONOMY BY CONTROLLING 3 WORLD TRADE BLOCS)
LUKE 2:1-3
1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
EU border guard ready for October launch-By EUOBSERVER-sept 14,16
Today, 14:58-The Council of the EU, representing member states, on Wednesday ratified the creation of a European Border and Coast guard agency. The agency, which replaces the EU's border agency Frontex, is expected to be up and running in mid-October. The idea was first announced during EU commission president Juncker's state of the union speech last September. A pool of some 1,500 border guards will be at its disposal.
Juncker: EU is 'not at risk' of disintegration By Eszter Zalan-sept 14,16-euobserver
STRASBOURG, Today, 12:27-The EU is “not at risk” of disintegration after the Brexit vote, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said in a major policy speech on Wednesday (14 September) in Strasbourg.But he warned that the EU is, to some extent, facing an existential crisis.“Never before have I seen such little common ground between our member states, so few areas where they agree to work together,” Juncker told MEPs in his annual state of the union address.“Never before have I seen so much fragmentation,” he said.Juncker warned that the fragmentation between leaves room for populism. “Populism doesn’t solve problems, it creates them,” he said, adding that the commission does not want to get rid of nation states.“Never before have I seen national governments so weakened by the forces of populism and paralysed by the risk of defeat in the next elections,” he said.He acknowledged that EU institutions and member states are out of sync.“There is almost no intersection between the EU and its national capitals anymore,” he added, while calling on each of the 27 EU leaders to think of three reasons why the EU is needed before they meet for an informal summit in Bratislava on Friday.He also called on leaders to defend the decisions they take in Brussels at home, and not blame the EU for them.“We need to speak in a committed way about Europe in national parliaments too, not only here,” he said.-Brexit-Juncker urged the UK once again to trigger the exit talks as quickly as possible, but warned that access to the single market is conditionned to allowing free movement of people and goods."We respect and at the same time regret the UK decision, but the European Union as such is not at risk," Juncker told MEPs.“There can be no single market a la carte,” he said.In his second state of the union speech, Juncker, referring to his own speech from a year ago, said: “The EU still doesn’t have enough union in it.”-EU army-Juncker called for a common European military force that would cooperate with Nato.“It doesn’t mean less transatlantic cooperation,” Juncker said, adding that a defense fund would be proposed by the end of the year to encourage innovation in the European defense industry.Speaking from notes and starting in German, Juncker called for an EU foreign minister and a strategy for Syria. He also argued the EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, should have a seat at the table in negotiations on Syria’s future.He announced an investment plan, for Africa which is to raise € 44 billion to tackle root causes of migration.-Borders-“The next 12 months are decisive if we want to reunite our union, if we want to overcome division between east and west", warned Juncker in his address.Talking about the refugee crisis, and referring to reluctant member states, which have not taken in migrants, he said “solidarity must be given voluntarily, it must come from the heart, it cannot be forced.”He called on the Slovak presidency of the EU to bridge the gap between member states which are participating in relocation and resettlement of refugees and which are not.He pledged 200 border guards and 50 vehicles to Bulgaria to help protect the EU’s external border.Juncker also said the commission will propose by November a European information system, that will automatically determine who should be allowed to travel into Europe before they leave home.-Investments-He also announced the doubling of an earlier investment plan to stimulate growth and job creation.The €315 billion investment plan has raised €116 billion and 200,000 firms got loans. The fund should be beefed up to €500 billion by 2020 and € 630 billion by 2022, he said.In a surprise move, he called for free public internet in all European cities by 2020, and promised a new proposal on roaming next week, after he withdrew an earlier proposal by the commission only last week.Juncker also called for a more social Europe. In that context he defended the commission’s proposal on posted workers, in essence securing equal pay for eastern European workers in western Europe, which is opposed by almost a dozen member states.-Trade-“We should be aware that the world is watching us,” he warned.He expressed full support for continuing closing and negotiating trade deals, especially the deal with Canada due to be signed this October.“I am very much behind CETA, which us the best and most progressive trade deal we have ever entered into,” he said.He did not mention the controversial free-trade talks with the US, but he pledged to protect the European steel industry from Chinese dumping.
Post-Brexit EU needs joint military HQ, Juncker says-[Reuters]-By Alastair Macdonald-September 14, 2016-yahoonews
STRASBOURG (Reuters) - The European Union's chief executive called on Wednesday for a joint command headquarters for EU military missions and greater defense cooperation, reviving long-running efforts to reduce reliance on the United States.In his annual speech to the European Parliament, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said no single EU government had a military big enough to deal with security challenges on Europe's doorstep, from Islamic militants to a more hostile Russia.The proposals, echoing a plan put forward this week by France and Germany, are part of a broader attempt to rally EU nations after Britain's vote to leave the bloc and to capitalize on its departure - London having opposed the idea."We must have a European headquarters and so we should work towards a common military force," Juncker told the European Parliament, although officials stressed this did not amount to an EU army. "This should be to complement NATO," he said, also outlining proposals for a common defense fund.EU leaders struggling for support have identified security as one of citizens' main concerns following militant attacks in Paris, Brussels and Nice over the last year. Washington is keen to see Europe do more in its own neighborhood and U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump has questioned whether NATO should support allies not seen to be spending enough on defense.Leaders must also compensate for Britain's departure from the bloc. As Europe's biggest-spending European power, the British exit could reduce the EU's military capacity by a quarter without steps to remedy the situation, analysts say.Even before Britain's decision to leave the EU, years of defense budget cuts, as well as militaries that work in isolation, have diminished Europe's ability to run missions including peace keeping, disaster relief and counter-terrorism operations at home and abroad.The plan, which follows failed attempts in the 1950s and the 1990s, would not mean soldiers all wear the same uniforms, EU officials say. It involves more cooperation among countries that wish to run missions together, while avoiding duplication in developing military assets at the industrial level.More than three-quarters of EU government defense contracts are awarded to their national industries, while the bloc has 19 types of armored infantry fighting vehicle, compared to just one in the United States, according to EU data."From an economic point of view, bringing together our military resources could be clearly justified," Juncker said. "The lack of cooperation is something that is costing Europe 20 to 100 billion euros a year," he said.Still, the United States is wary about a new EU military headquarters, worried it would replicate NATO's command center, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, in Belgium.Washington wants to see EU governments spend more money on equipment and not waste it on headquarters. One solution could be to turn an existing national army and navy command center in Germany or France into a European headquarters, experts say.(Reporting by Alastair Madonald, writing by Robin Emmott in Brussels; editing by Ralph Boulton)
Cyprus leaders ask UN support for unification By Eric Maurice-sept 14,16-euobserver
BRUSSELS, Today, 18:13-Leaders of the two parts of Cyprus will meet the UN secretary general at the end of the month in a push to reach an agreement on the island's reunification.After eight meetings in recent weeks, Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades and the leader of the Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus Mustafa Akinci said on Wednesday (14 September) they were "committed to continuing and intensifying their efforts".They will meet Ban Ki-moon in New York on 25 September to report on the progress in negotiations and ask him to "intensify his personal engagement".In a common statement read to journalists by UN envoy Espen Barth Eide, they said they are "cognisant of the remaining challenges" but are still aiming at "reaching a comprehensive agreement within 2016".They said they have achieved "significant progress" in areas such as "governance and power-sharing, economy, the EU matters and property" but they recognised that "certain substantial divergences still remain."Hopes of a settlement 42 years after Turkey invaded the island and created a Turkish entity (which no one but Turkey recognises) have been high since Anastasiades and Akinci said in January they would try to solve the issue this year."We need to get this done. Now," European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said in his state of the union speech also on Wednesday. He added that "Europe is a driving force that can help bring about the unification of Cyprus."The remaining stumbling points of the negotiations are the chapters on security and the so-called guarantees, and on territory.Since its independence in 1960, Cyprus' sovereignty is guaranted by the UK (the former colonial power), Greece, and Turkey.The Greek and Turkish Cypriots said they "exchanged views and positions, in a brainstorming manner" but could not yet agree. They said they still hope to resolve these issues "in a mutually acceptable manner".Greek Cypriots refuses that Turkey, an occupying power since 1974, keeps rights on a reunified island.The funding of a reunification plan will also be discussed during the UN meeting.
Schulz calls for stricter rules for EU commissioners By Nikolaj Nielsen-sept 14,16-euobserver
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:21-EU parliament chief Martin Schulz wants tougher conduct rules for EU commissioners, but similar efforts in his own assembly are being undermined."We should adapt the code of conduct to make it clearer what former EU Commission presidents and EU commissioners are permitted to do," he is quoted as saying by German newspaper Die Welt on Wednesday (14 September).Former European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has been heavily criticised for taking a job at US bank Goldman Sachs.But the parliament chief has also been accused of muffling allegations, for instance, that he used parliament resources during his campaign to become the president of the European Commission.His office has rejected the claims, noting that he had provided a detailed list of his travels and activities in "full transparency"."In addition the president has voluntarily forfeited his daily parliament allowance during the election campaign," Schulz's office told this website in an email in April.Before taking up his duties as EU parliament president, Schulz presided over the Socialist S&D group.Last April, the socialists and centre-right EPP removed demands, in a parliament report, on whether Schulz had chartered private flights in the first six months of the election year."It was approved by president Schulz personally," said Green Hungarian MEP Benedek Javor at the time.In exchange, the socialists agreed to EPP demands to allow MEPs to hold second or even third jobs.MEPs holding additional jobs in the private sector presents a whole host of thorny conflict of interest issues, especially if they legislate in the same industry in which they work.The issue arose again earlier this week when MEPs led by the EPP in the constitutional affairs committee, gained backing by their socialist cohorts, to postpone a vote on another report that again demanded an end to second jobs.Last year, a joint report by three transparency NGOs found that nine MEP held paid positions in companies that lobbied lawmakers.Among them was French centre-right Rachida Dati, who according to her latest declaration of interest earns more than €10,000 a month as a lawyer.In May, she received a personal invitiation from Qatar’s foreign ministry to attend the Doha Forum, which included broad issues on security, development, and energy. She attended the forum.UK conservative Nirj Deva and Danish centre-right MEP Bendt Bendtsen were also highlighted in the report, drafted by the pro-transparency NGOs Friends of the Earth Europe, Corporate Europe Observatory and LobbyControl.
Flint residents seek bottled water delivery as lead exposure persists-[Reuters]-By Serena Maria Daniels-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
DETROIT (Reuters) - Residents of Flint, Michigan, on Wednesday asked a federal judge to order bottled water or filters be provided to them to prevent further lead exposure, 2-1/2 years after the city's water supply was found to be contaminated.Attorneys for residents and for advocacy groups Concerned Pastors for Social Action, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan argued in U.S. District Court in Detroit that the city and state should be required to deliver bottled water to people's homes or launch a program to install water filters."After more than two years, Flint residents still cannot turn on their taps without worrying about lead exposure," Dimple Chaudhary, attorney for the NRDC, told Judge David Lawson in a hearing for a preliminary injunction the group is seeking to force the bottled water delivery. The hearing is scheduled to last two days.The crisis drew international attention, resulted in the filing of numerous lawsuits and led to calls by some critics for the resignation of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder due to the state's poor handling of the situation.Flint, a predominantly black city of 100,000, was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager when it switched its water source in April 2014 to the Flint River from Lake Huron. The more corrosive river water caused lead to leach from city pipes and into the drinking water.The city switched back last October after tests found high levels of lead in blood samples taken from children, but the drinking water has not returned fully to normal. Flint has been replacing lead pipes running to homes and state officials have said the water is safe to drink if properly filtered.The plaintiffs' attorneys argued transportation and other access issues have made it hard for many residents to acquire the water from government-run water distribution sites and Flint's water remains unsafe.The residents and advocacy groups sued the city and state in January, alleging violations of the federal Safe Water Drinking Act and seeking court intervention. The act requires water providers to meet federal safety standards and allows private lawsuits to seek injunctive relief enforcing it.Mike Murphy, attorney for the state, said the problems are being addressed, including replacing corroded lead water pipes. Officials previously said in court documents they are working on a planned water delivery program.Flint's interim chief financial officer, David Sabuda, said in court that delivering water would financially cripple the city.Also on Wednesday, former Michigan Department of Health and Human Services employee Corinne Miller entered into an agreement with state prosecutors, pleading no contest to the misdemeanor charge of willful neglect of duty by a public officer, avoiding jail time and agreeing to cooperate with investigators.(Reporting by Serena Maria Daniels; Additional reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis; Writing by Ben Klayman; Editing by James Dalgleish and Alden Bentley)
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)
Russia: Syria ceasefire violated 60 times in first 48 hours: Ifax-[Reuters]-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A ceasefire in Syria was violated 60 times in the first 48 hours after it was imposed, with most violations committed by the Ahrar al-Sham armed group, Interfax news agency quoted a senior Russian general as saying on Wednesday.Russia supports the extension of the ceasefire for another 48 hours, Interfax quoted Lieutenant-General Viktor Poznikhir, a senior officer at Russia's army general staff, as saying at a news briefing.(Reporting by Alexander Winning; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Christian Lowe)
Kremlin: Obama's Trump criticism anti-Russian, won't foster better ties-[Reuters]-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Wednesday it viewed U.S. President Barack Obama's recent statements on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as anti-Russian and said they were unlikely to improve fragile relations between Russia and the United States.Obama on Tuesday strongly criticized Trump for praising Russian President Vladimir Putin and for appearing on a TV channel, RT, funded by the Russian government."Unfortunately, we see continued displays of often hard-core Russophobia," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, commenting on Obama's intervention, told a conference call with reporters. "We can only express regret in this regard."This rhetoric, which is being formulated in electoral campaign style ... is unlikely to help fledgling fragile attempts to build at least some sort of mutual trust."(Reporting by Denis Pinchuk; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
Aid for Syria waits on Turkish border as warring sides bicker-[Reuters]-By Osman Orsal and John Davison-September 14, 2016-yahoonews
CILVEGOZU, Turkey/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two convoys of aid for the Syrian city of Aleppo were waiting in no-man's land on Wednesday after crossing the Turkish border, held up by security fears and disagreements between combatants on the third day of a ceasefire.The convoys, each of around 20 trucks carrying mostly food and flour, set off from the Turkish border town of Cilvegozu, 40 km (25 miles) west of Aleppo, on Tuesday but made it little further than the Turkish customs post on the Syrian border.The delay was a sign of the difficulties facing the ceasefire, brokered by the United States and Russia on Friday and which Washington hopes will revive peace talks aimed at ending Syria's civil war.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syrian conflict through contacts on the ground, said it had recorded no deaths from fighting in the first 48 hours of the ceasefire, which came into effect on Monday night.Russia will recommend persisting with the ceasefire and is preparing for the Syrian army and rebel fighters to begin a staged withdrawal from an Aleppo road expected to be used for aid deliveries on Thursday, the Russian military said.Zakaria Malahifji, of the Aleppo-based rebel group Fastaqim, told Reuters that rebel groups intend to comply with the plan to withdraw 500 metres from the Castello Road in order to make it a neutral space, but the government must also pull back.The aid is badly needed. The U.N. estimates that well over half a million people are living under siege in Syria, whose five-year conflict has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced more than 11 million.On Wednesday, both Moscow and Washington spoke positively about the deal, with the Kremlin saying it raised hopes for a peaceful solution to the crisis and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arguing it was a "last chance" to keep Syria together.However, a prominent opposition politician, George Sabra, said the many violations which marked a previous truce had undermined confidence in this one and it was too early to talk about a resumption of peace talks that were abandoned in April.Speaking to Reuters, he lamented a lack of mechanisms to enforce the ceasefire and accused the government and its allies of committing minor violations "to impede the other goals of the truce, such as delivering necessary aid to besieged areas".-VIOLATIONS-The Syrian army has meanwhile accused rebels of numerous violations since the ceasefire took effect.The Russian army, in comments carried by Interfax, said there had been 60 such violations, adding that most were the work of Ahrar al-Sham, a hardline Islamist rebel group which Moscow says has not accepted the ceasefire.The international community's first goal is to get aid to Aleppo, the scene of Syria's fiercest fighting in recent months and divided into sectors held by the government and insurgents.Aided by Russian air power and Shi'ite militias, the Syrian army this month renewed its siege on rebel-held eastern Aleppo, home to at least 250,000 people. Capturing the opposition-held area of Syria's biggest city would be a major boost for President Bashar al-Assad's war effort.-'READY TO GO'-"Things are taking longer than we'd hoped," David Swanson, spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs told Reuters. He said 20 U.N. trucks were waiting at the border "ready to go".Disagreements between the warring sides were blocking aid getting into opposition-held eastern Aleppo, Swanson added. "Some groups are looking to gain political mileage out of this, and this is something we need to put aside," he said.A second U.N. official said that deliveries to Aleppo had to cross numerous checkpoints operated by both opposition and government forces, and it was still unclear whether the aid could get through safely.But the opposition's Sabra blamed Damascus, saying the government's insistence on controlling aid was obstructing its delivery to Aleppo under the agreement.The Syrian government has said it will reject any aid deliveries to the city not coordinated through itself and the United Nations, particularly from Turkey, which has backed the rebels fighting Assad.The U.N. says it must get permission for most of its aid deliveries from Damascus. The U.N. has repeatedly criticized the Syrian government for restricting access, especially to besieged areas, and for removing vital items from convoys. (nL5N1733S8)As a result, most supplies to opposition-held areas are delivered across rebel controlled border points, sidestepping government approval.That allows them to bring in supplies despite the political constraints, but exposes them to greater danger and still does not address the suffering of those in inaccessible, heavily besieged areas which the U.N. aims to reach through the truce.The ceasefire has drastically reduced fighting across the country between Syrian government forces and insurgents. But a similar truce in February gradually broke down and violence escalated sharply, particularly around Aleppo.The U.N. special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said on Tuesday that the U.N. was still waiting for Damascus to issue letters authorising aid deliveries. A Turkish official said no further trucks were expected to cross the border on Wednesday until the situation became clearer.Swanson said the U.N. was also ready to deliver aid to "other besieged and hard-to-reach locations ... but only once access is possible."(Additional reporting by Tom Miles in Geneva, Yesim Dikmen in Istanbul, Ellen Francis and Lisa Barrington in Beirut and Denis Pinchuk in Moscow; Writing by Nick Tattersall and Angus McDowall; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Giles Elgood)
Syrian opposition politician says not confident truce will last-[Reuters]-September 14, 2016-yahoonews
(Reuters) - A Syrian opposition politician said on Wednesday he did not have great confidence that a truce brokered by the United States and Russia would last longer than a previous one that temporarily curbed the fighting earlier this year."There is not great confidence that this truce can last longer than the previous one," George Sabra told Reuters in a telephone interview. He also said the Syrian government's insistence on controlling aid was obstructing its delivery to Aleppo under the agreement.Sabra also said it was too early to talk about any resumption of peace talks, and that this hinged on the implementation of humanitarian clauses of a U.N. resolution passed last year.(Reporting by Ellen Francis; Editing by Tom Perry, Larry King)
Indonesian Islamic council issues fatwa on forest fires-[Reuters]-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's highest Islamic council has issued a fatwa on burning land and forests, a government official said on Wednesday, in an effort to halt the toxic smog that blankets the region each year.The fatwa is not legally binding but is aimed at discouraging plantation companies and farmers from clearing land using slash-and-burn methods in Southeast Asia's biggest economy."There was a meeting between the environment minister and the Indonesian Clerics' Council, which issued fatwa no 30/2016 about forest and land burning law," said ministry spokesman Novrizal Tahar."The point is that an act (of burning) that causes environmental damage, according to (the council) decision, is illegitimate."The council was not immediately available for comment and it was unclear why it had waited so long to make the ruling.Every year, Indonesia faces criticism from its neighbours Singapore and Malaysia over the smog, euphemistically known as "haze", and its failure to stop the fires from being lit.Last year's fires were among the worst in the region's history, with billions of dollars worth of environmental damage, weeks of flight and school disruptions and thousands suffering from respiratory disease.(Reporting by Berndatte Christina Munthe; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Germany sends 650 troops to fight IS arms smuggling in Mediterranean-[Reuters]-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
BERLIN (Reuters) - The German cabinet gave the green light on Wednesday to send up to 650 troops to join a new NATO mission to combat arms smuggling by the Islamic State militant group in the Mediterranean Sea.The German involvement in NATO's operation Sea Guardian will last until the end of 2017. In exceptional emergencies, it will be possible to temporarily increase the number of German soldiers involved in the mission.The deployment is part of a broader shift by Germany to expand its military role in Europe and NATO. Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen has sought to rebuild equipment and troop levels of the armed forces after years of declines.NATO members agreed to launch the new maritime mission at a summit in Poland in July. German ships are also participating in a European Union military mission called Sophia to try to combat the smuggling of weapons and people off the Libyan coast.(Reporting by Thorsten Severin; Writing by Caroline Copley; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
French police hold three teens over jihadist links-[AFP]-Pauline Talagrand and Simon Valmary-September 14, 2016-YAHOONEWS
Paris (AFP) - Three teenagers linked to an Islamic State group jihadist have been arrested around Paris in the past week as investigators probe the use of an encrypted messaging app to plot attacks in France, judicial sources said Wednesday.On Wednesday, a teenager was arrested in a dawn raid on his home in northeastern Paris as part of an investigation into the network of French extremist Rachid Kassim.Investigators said the youth, aged 14 or 15, was in touch with Kassim on the encrypted Telegram app and had "put himself forward for a terrorist act".His arrest came four days after a 15-year-old picked up in the upmarket western Paris suburb of Rueil-Malmaison was remanded in custody on terror charges, a source confirmed to AFP.The 15-year-old, who was already on a watchlist of known radicals, was also arrested over his links to Kassim, who is suspected of using Telegram to direct attacks on France from IS-controlled territory in Iraq or Syria.The source said the youth's online messages suggested he may have been planning to stage an attack. Earlier this year he was charged with disseminating IS propaganda on the internet.Their arrests bring to three the number of minors detained in various parts of the French capital within a week as the authorities scramble to tamp down home-grown jihadist violence that is increasingly drawing in teens.On Monday, a 15-year-old from eastern Paris was charged with conspiring to commit terrorist acts after describing plans on Telegram to carry out a knife attack, sources said.Kassim, a 29-year-old former social worker from the Loire valley who has appeared in several IS propaganda videos, is believed to have been a key influence on all three youths.He is also suspected of ordering or inciting the killing of a police couple in their home west of Paris in June as well as the murder of an elderly priest in a Normandy church in July.- 'Younger and younger' -Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Wednesday that the intelligence services were "working harder than ever" to prevent assaults incited by "a number of characters in Syria who used encrypted methods" to spur on supporters, who are "getting younger and younger."Kassim was also in contact with an all-female gang of radicals who have been charged with planning another attack after an apparent failed attempt to blow up a car packed with gas cylinders near Paris's Notre Dame cathedral.The three women were also believed to be planning an attack on a train station or on the police. Two of them had previously been on a police watchlist for their extremist views.Islamic extremists have targeted France repeatedly in the last two years.An assault on satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in January 2015 was followed by a rampage by IS gunmen and suicide bombers in Paris in November that killed 130 people.More recently, a grisly truck attack on a crowd in Nice in July left 86 dead.French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Sunday said the terror threat was at a "maximum" and that the authorities were foiling attacks and smashing jihadist networks "every day".Valls said that around 15,000 people were known to police in France as having been radicalised, up from a previous estimate of 10,000.Former president Nicolas Sarkozy, who is seeking the conservative nomination in next year's presidential election, has called for all known radicals to be placed in detention.Cazeneuve dismissed the idea on Wednesday."Once you let people know they are under surveillance they go to ground."
