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)
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)
REVELATION 17:9-13
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.(THE VATICAN IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS OR MOUNTAINS)
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen,(1-ASSYRIA,2-EGYPT,3-BABYLON,4-MEDO-PERSIA,5-GREECE) and one is,(IN POWER IN JOHNS AND JESUS DAY-6-ROME) and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.(7TH-REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE OR THE EUROPEAN UNION TODAY AND THE SHORT SPACE IS-7 YEARS.THE EUROPEAN UNION WILL HAVE WORLD CONTROL FOR THE LAST 3 1/2 YEARS.BUT WILL HAVE ITS MIGHTY WORLD POWER FOR THE FULL 7 YEARS OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD.AND THE WORLD DICTATOR WILL BE THE BEAST FROM THE EU.AND THE VATICAN POPE WILL BE THE WHORE THAT RIDES THE EUROPEAN UNION TO POWER.AND THE 2 EUROPEAN UNION POWER FREAKS WILL CONTROL AND DECIEVE THE WHOLE EARTH INTO THEIR DESTRUCTION.IF YOU ARE NOT SAVED BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS.YOU WILL BE DECIEVED BY THESE TWO.THE WORLD POLITICIAN-THE EUROPEAN UNION DICTATOR.AND THE FALSE PROPHET THAT DEFECTS CHRISTIANITY-THE FALSE VATICAN POPE.
11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he ( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant (PEACE TREATY) with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE ANIMAL SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
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.
Investigation-The discreet banker of African development By Adriana Homolova, Laurence Soustras and David Santiago Tarazona Patarroyo-EUOBSERVER
LUXEMBOURG, 2. Jun, 08:57-There is a cold wind whistling a tune through the flagpoles that stand at the entrance of the headquarters of the European Investment Bank (EIB). Accompanied by the quiet humming rhythms of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg’s traffic, the glass building does its best to look unassuming.After all, discretion has always been a highly-prized quality of the Luxembourg financial industry.And it seems that, over the last decades, it has perfectly suited how the EIB wants to appear: a quiet financial institution few people know about, “hidden in the Luxembourg woods”, as some of the oldest staff members described it.Today, the bank is not so hidden anymore.Past the building's glass facade, visitors can see an endless flow of busy, young employees rushing through the corridors. With its corporate touch, the bank doesn’t look much like an average member of the tightly-knit development community, but rather it shows all the signs of a fund management business.Nevertheless, €3 billion in European taxpayers’ money has been channelled through this glass building into the poorest countries in Africa and the Caribbean.-Sub-Saharan investments-For the first time, a small team of international data and financial journalists dug deep into the financial mechanisms of the EIB's investments in Sub-Saharan countries, analysing a mix of public and internal data provided by the bank.We worked together with local journalists from Kenya, Cameroon and Madagascar, who conducted interviews with dozens of witnesses impacted by EIB-funded projects.Our findings show that in several cases, large infrastructure projects, such as power plants and mines, have an adverse effect on the inhabitants of these countries. Insufficient scrutiny from the European institutions results in only a partial overview of the bank's activities and a lack of transparency around the projects.The main tool for those loans is the Investment Facility (IF). This is a €2.9 billion revolving fund (as of the end of 2016), designed to spur private sector involvement in development.Its management has been entrusted to the EIB by the European Union, following the implementation in 2003 of the Cotonou agreement between African, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union.The IF is financed by public money, part of the huge European Development Fund envelope, still outside of the European budget and largely beyond the scrutiny of the European Parliament and the European Court of Auditors – the guardians of the EU's finances.The money from member states is topped off by the EIB's own resources, which are funds that have been raised on the international markets.-Transparency games-Over the years, not everyone has been pleased with this silent arrangement.The ACP Group, which represents the recipient countries, has repeatedly complained of being left out of the process.“Once the decision was taken, we merely lost control over these funds, although according to the Cotonou agreement, development funds are supposed to be co-managed”, said Viwanou Gnassounou, assistant secretary general of the ACP Group, in charge of economic development and trade, when in an interview in his office earlier this year.But it is not as if the EIB isn't playing the transparency game.Every year, the ACP ambassadors make their way to Luxembourg to attend a day of presentations on the financed projects.Representatives from the EU parliament encounter the same sense of openness. Eider Gardiazabal Rubial, a member of the European Parliament’s budget committee, said that "the EIB has improved considerably in its transparency, access to information and communication with the European Parliament." Still, in its yearly report on the EIB activity, the EU parliament repeatedly asks for more transparency.But the institutions in Brussels, in their complexity, have not been very useful for monitoring the bank.The European Commission sits in the EIB's board of directors, alongside the 28 finance ministers, and is officially consulted on every IF project, whereas the ACP Group role is merely advisory.-Who is really in charge?-Who really is in charge is anyone's guess: it didn’t take long before Xavier Sol – director of the Brussels-based NGO Counter Balance and one of the rare experts on the EIB – noticed a “game between the European Commission and the EIB.”“The EIB says it has a stringent mandate, that it is controlled by the European Commission and that it is fully in line with that mandate, while the commission rather says that it tries to give instructions and the EIB ultimately acts as it wants. We think the truth is in the middle,” he says.Over the years, the EIB has certainly built an impressive loans portfolio in ACP countries.Its participation has already proved valuable in several areas, such as in access to clean water projects. In the last ten years, 23 percent of the EIB projects were aimed at job creation by providing credit lines to local financial institutions.-Results on the ground-But what is the result on the ground for the places where the EIB investments go? Our team's interviews and the data tell the story of the ambitious fight to channel money into the private sector to spur developing economies, but sometimes this comes with a painful environmental and human cost. This is partly due to the bank’s biggest projects.The EIB itself recognises that it has been associated with big infrastructure projects.Last year, half of the programmes signed in ACP countries – amounting to an envelope of €378 million – concerned eight of these large-scale projects.The problem is that quite a lot of those types of projects require resettlements, a complex process that not only involves physically moving people’s homes, but also changing living standards and inevitably interfering with their cultural heritage.Although compensation – most often financial or in the form of new settlements – makes up a part of the project design, issues regarding land valuation, property deeds, or new settlement facilities often lead to disputes.-Resettlement of thousands-After reviewing public registry documents for projects signed by the EIB over the last decade in ACP countries, we found that at least one quarter of projects that receive direct loans had triggered the resettlement of inhabitants.Some projects have even displaced – physically or economically – thousands of people. Most projects involving resettlement took place in, Uganda and Kenya – three per country.“I wouldn’t underwrite the idea that all our energy projects require resettlement and, when they do, we have very high requirements in terms of what needs to be achieved with the resettlement action plan”, says Heike Rüttgers, the EIB development and impact finance head of division.But in several countries, the EIB is walking a slippery path.“From a social perspective, resettlements are always problematic. Always. Even if you put more resources into it, you can do so many things wrongly, so people are later on very often worse-off than before,” notes Jeanne Schade, a researcher at the University of Bielefelds’ sociology department.Schade closely monitored a dispute between displaced people and the promoter of an energy-related project, which was co-financed by the EIB in Kenya.In northwest of Kenya's capital, Nairobi, lies the edge of the Great Rift Valley – a massive continental fault system where geothermal resources have been harvested since 1981. Geothermal power plants were built on the traditional territory of the Maasai, a local ethnic group.The 20,000-strong Olkaria Maasai community and KenGen, the company developing the Olkaria I and IV geothermal plants, are at odds over the compensation package.The resettlement process has left the community divided and the EIB had to set up a mediation process, which is still being contested by some of the parties involved.-Short on staff-Over the years, the EIB loans portfolio has been growing much faster than its resources to manage it, and that is a dilemma for the institution. Despite recent hirings, the bank remains very tight in terms of staff.“The EIB lends twice more than the World Bank with three or four times fewer staff”, says Sol.This results in arrangements where the EIB “relies heavily on the clients to ensure that their standards which are part of the financial contract are really implemented”, says Schade.The approach is common in development finance but would call for more scrutiny than the EIB can afford.Project promoters, the ones who borrow the money and are the customers of the bank, are hardly neutral parties. They hire their own experts and, since they pay for the resettlement compensation packages, they tend to sideline social and environmental issues.The EIB can interfere in the process, but there is a risk that when it finally does, pollution will have already occurred and communities have been left divided.In Madagascar, the EIB helped finance Ambatovy, a huge mining project with five components impacting 200 square kilometres of land and involving several multinational corporations. Since operations started in 2007, the inhabitants have complained of the negative effects of the projects on the surrounding environment.“Erosion has ruined the paddy fields and the forest, the water streams have dried up and the project has a negative impact on our health”, Abel, a local inhabitant told us.-No loans recalled-In those extreme cases, the EIB is often left to manage the negative effects of a project with not much more than the ultimate weapon of suspending or recalling loans. But in recent years of IF-funded projects, no instances of this happening could be found among information published by the bank.Meanwhile, fragile communities feel excluded. In Kribri, Cameroon, the EIB co-financed a gas-fired power plant, with the aim of reducing the electricity shortage crisis in the region. The inhabitants now complain of noise, water pollution and criticise the resettlement plan for having ignored those risks.“They should take our opinion into account”, complained an inhabitant when we visited Kribi.Recently there have been voices inside the EIB that suggest something similar: the bank should make sure that projects don’t fail because communities are divided about the compensation package.As observed in Olkaria: “there is an urgent need to find appropriate ways, during project preparation and as early as possible, to deal with and try to resolve the existing conflicts between the communities, between the community and the government, and between the communities and the company involved,” says Felismino Alcarpe, the head of the EIB Complaints Mechanism.-Migration gives new sense of urgency-Will the EIB management take the time to listen to its critics? There are signs of openings: the institution, through a newly established Impact Facility Envelope, is moving in the direction of agriculture investments and particularly, smaller loans – a long-standing request from the ACP group.But at the same time, the sword of Damocles – in the form of massive influxes of migrants – causes panic in the EU and gives the EIB development financing mandate a new sense of emergency.The EU commission is now working on an ambitious new External Investment Plan, which could be as high as €88 billion. This new framework – which aims to mobilise investments, step up technical assistance and improve the business environment in developing countries – is likely to increase the financing capacities of the EIB.The institution will fight hard to expand its role as Africa’s banker and this raises some issues, notes Dutch Green MEP Bas Eickhout: “We need to pay more attention to the EIB. While the World Bank changed under pressure, the EIB is still too much under the radar. Such a big player shouldn’t be unknown”.The question is: who will be the one to challenge this “invisible bank”? Adriana Homolova is Dutch data journalist, Laurence Soustras is a French freelance journalist specialised in development and international finance, specifically in Africa while David Tarazona is a freelance journalist working from Bogotá, Colombia. Their investigation was financed by Journalismfund.eu.-WHAT IS THE EIB?-The bank presents itself as the “European Union’s bank”, not managing monetary policy like the European Central Bank (ECB), but rather providing “finance and expertise for sustainable investment projects that contribute to EU policy objectives.”After the Second World War, the then modest bank started out issuing loans to projects that would rebuild Europe.By 2014, the institution had grown into the largest multilateral borrower and lender in the world with a capital of €275 billion, funding projects from its own resources, mainly by debt issuance and managing facilities entrusted by European institutions, such as the Investment Facility for ACP countries.Last year, EIB financing was €76 billion and it raised €66.4 billion in the global bonds market. It approved €794.2 million in new projects under the Investment Facility. 10% of the EIB portfolio is outside Europe.The institution currently employs 3,300 people.
Opinion-EU should put pressure on Belarus nuclear project By Petras Austrevicius-JUNE 5,17-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:33-If, one clear day, you went up in a hot air balloon over my beloved home town of Vilnius, a Unesco World Heritage site, you would see, not far off, a two-headed monster.Your eyes do not deceive you. There it is: the Ostrovets Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), with its two reactors, being built just 53km away on the other side of the EU border with Belarus.The construction started in 2009. One reactor is to go online in 2018 and a second one in 2020. Two more are apparently planned by 2025.It is being built in flagrant disregard of international safety standards.It is designed to serve Russia’s strategic interests and makes no commercial sense.It is also being built by an unpredictable dictator with potential nuclear weapons aspirations and the EU institutions, for their part, are doing nothing to try to stop it.Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission’s energy chief, went up in the balloon over the old town in Vilnius last month and he was privately astonished by the proximity of Ostrovets.When he came back down, he visited the Lithuanian parliament, where he spoke fine words about energy solidarity and independence, but he did not mention the NPP once, leaving MPs in shock.-Unique sight-What he saw was unique in Europe because, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, nuclear plants these days, after so many accidents, ought to be built much further away from population centres.From 2018 onward, the 1 million people who live in the Vilnius district, meaning one out of three Lithuanians, will have to live in constant readiness of evacuation in case there is an accident.From next year, the river Neris (called the Viliya in Belarus), which supplies drinking water to Vilnius, Kaunas, and other major Lithuanian cities, will be used to cool the plant’s atomic reactors.We know that Ostrovets is being built in a seismic zone, but we know very little else about it.Belarus has not respected the UN’s so called Espoo and Aarhus conventions on international oversight and impact assessments.It has refused to conduct Ostrovets stress tests in line with a European Commission agreement that already dates back six years. It has also refused to let MEPs, including a recent delegation that I was due to take part in, visit the site.Meanwhile, the information that has emerged is worrying.Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus’ autocratic leader, has boasted that: “Ostrovets NPP has to be the cheapest nuclear power plant in the world and must be built in the shortest possible period of time”.Poor safety culture has so far led to at least six incidents and several deaths at the construction site.On 10 July last year, for instance, the builders dropped a 330-tonne reactor shell while it was being moved.We know that only because a local resident and opposition activist posted details about it on social media, but, did the shell crack? Was it checked? They say yes, but we do not know if we can believe them.You might be thinking: “This project, somewhere deep in the forests of eastern Europe, has nothing to do with me”.Ostrovets is 430km from Warsaw, 610km from Helsinki, 860km from Berlin, and 1,500km from Brussels, but these distances are nothing in the nightmare scenario of a nuclear accident.When the Chernobyl accident occurred in Ukraine in 1986, the winds carried contaminated material to almost all corners of Europe and Scandinavia. It led to some 10,000 birth defects and 10,000 cases of thyroid cancer on the continent over the next three decades.When the Fukushima accident occurred in Japan in 2011, radioactive material reached the US west coast just two days later.-Russian strategy-Even assuming all goes well, the Ostrovets plant will increase Moscow’s power in a region that only recently broke free from its sphere of influence.It is being built and financed by Russia.Atomstroyexport, the general contractor, is a subsidiary of the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom), which loaned Lukashenko $9 billion (€8bn) of the plant’s $11 billion price tag.The first two reactors are to have a capacity of 2,340 MW of electricity and to create 1,000 permanent jobs in Belarus.The cheap Russian electricity, which can be cut off as a tool of political blackmail at any moment, is designed to keep the Baltic States hooked to the old Soviet grid and to undermine projects, such as liquid natural gas terminals, in the region designed to reduce energy dependence on Russia.Lithuania has taken steps to prevent this. The LNG terminal is already functioning in Klaipeda since end-2014. In April, Lithuania also passed a law that banned electricity imports from unsafe reactors.There is already a similar law in place in Sweden and one under consideration in Poland.Belarus does not need all that new electricity and EU states increasingly do not want it, but Rosatom is pressing ahead because Ostrovets is a political, rather than a commercial, project.-Autocratic states-It leaves me to add that the Lukashenko system executed at least one person this year and four last year.It is the only country in Europe that still has the death penalty.If you think this is irrelevant, take a look at post-revolutionary Iran. There, an autocratic state which also executes people in a sign of its disregard for international standards, turned civilian nuclear facilities into a clandestine weapons programme.Could the same happen in Europe? Belarus inherited Soviet nuclear warheads when the USSR collapsed, but it gave them back to Russia before Lukashenko came to power.He later said: “That was a grave mistake. We should not have done it. If we had nuclear weapons they [the West] would have treated us differently”.In the end, the EU and the US stopped Iran by imposing economic sanctions and by threatening military action.But when it comes to Ostrovets, the big EU countries and the EU institutions are happy to look the other way.Sefcovic is happy to walk off without saying a word.If the EU thinks that having properly regulated nuclear facilities in France, Germany, or Scandinavia is enough to keep Europe safe even as Russia builds a risky one right on the EU border, then it is kidding itself.Lithuania, as a condition of its EU entry, closed down the Ignalina NPP because it had unsafe, Chernobyl-type reactors.My country is still paying a high price for this and has a moral right to expect EU solidarity for its energy security.But what the Ignalina closure really showed was that nuclear safety is not a national, or bilateral, or even a regional issue - it is a continental one.-EU leverage-The EU has relaxed sanctions on Belarus and is pouring in grants and loans, for instance, from the European Investment Bank, to help local authorities and small businesses in the name of better relations.In fact, Lukashenko is using that EU financial help to keep economic protesters, such as those who demonstrated against his unemployment tax in March, off the streets. This is leverage.I call on EU leaders and on the European Commission to make Ostrovets NPP the main topic on the EU-Belarus agenda and to say: “Not a euro-cent more unless you halt this time-bomb of a project in the heart of Europe”.Lithuania and Poland cannot stop it by themselves, but without concerted EU leadership, we are all that stands between Minsk and Moscow’s political machinations and the safety of every man, woman, and child in Europe.Petras Austrevicius is a liberal MEP from Lithuania.
Defying Russia, Montenegro finally joins NATO-[Associated Press]-PREDRAG MILIC-YAHOONEWS-June 5, 2017
BUDVA, Montenegro (AP) — Once the Balkan stronghold of pro-Russian sentiments, tiny Montenegro is on Monday silently celebrating its entry into NATO in a historic turn that has made the Kremlin furious.Despite the Russian anger and a deep split within the nation of some 620,000 people over the issue, Montenegro is formally becoming the 29th member of the Western military alliance at a ceremony in Washington on Monday.To get there, Montenegro has stood up against its former ally Russia, which has sought to maintain strong historic, political and cultural influence in the Slavic country it considers a special zone of interest.Bringing Montenegro into NATO further diminishes Russia's influence in southeast Europe, and blocks it from the so-called "warm seas" in Europe that could be used as staging grounds for military interventions in the Middle East.Russia has threatened economic and political retaliation, including a campaign to undermine the Montenegrin tourism industry, which relies heavily on Russian visitors. It has also banned imports of Montenegrin wine and recently deported a ranking official from a Moscow airport.Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova recently warned potential Russian tourists that "there is an anti-Russian hysteria in Montenegro.""We do not rule out the possibility of provocations, arrests for suspicious reasons or extradition to third countries" of Russians, Zakharova said.Her claim was dismissed by the president of the Russian-speaking diaspora in Montenegro, Alexander Khrgian, who runs his law office in the coastal resort of Budva.He said that about 15,000 Russian-speaking people who permanently live in Montenegro feel safe."I have been living in Russia for 25 years and now I am here for more than 10 years, and we love Montenegro. It is a wonderful country with wonderful climate," he said."People know that Russia and Montenegro have very close cultural links. That is why we are here like at home."Montenegro says Moscow was behind a foiled coup attempt in October that allegedly targeted former Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, who was the driving force behind the country's NATO bid. Russia denies involvement."One of the reasons we are joining NATO is to create greater stability, not only for Montenegrin citizens, but also for foreign investors and tourists," Djukanovic said. "Therefore, our goal is to bring even more Russian tourists."On the eve of the NATO accession, Montenegrins don't seem interested in their country's historic move and many of them want good relations with both Russia and the West."If we were neutral all the time, why shouldn't we continue with it so that we keep good relations with America, Russia and all the other countries?" said Mirko Bozovic from Podgorica.The pro-Russian opposition Democratic Front, whose top two leaders were indicted over allegedly planning the Russia-orchestrated coup, said the day when Montenegro joins NATO is one of the saddest days in its history."Today, Montenegro is being annexed like never before in its history," official Strahinja Bulajic said. "Today is one of the most shameful days in Montenegrin history."___AP Writer Dusan Stojanovic contributed from Belgrade, Serbia.
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
OH BY THE WAY WHEN THE MEDIA SAYS ALLU-AK-BAR MEANS GOD IS GREAT LIE. IN ISLAM ALLU-AK-BAR MEANS OUR GOD IS GREATER OR GREATEST. THIS IS HOW THE MEDIA SUCK HOLES UP TO ISLAMIC-QURANIC-MUSLIMS. BY WATERING DOWN THE REAL MEANING OF THE SEX FOR MURDER DEATH CULT ISLAM. TO MAKE IT SOUND LIKE A PEACEFUL RELIGION (CULT OF DEATH AND WORLD DOMINATION).
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)
NICEF: 100,000 children in dangerous conditions in Mosul-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-June 5, 2017
BAGHDAD — Mosul's children are bearing the brunt of the intensified fight between U.S.-backed government forces and the Islamic State group in the city's western half, the United Nations children's agency warned on Monday.Iraqi forces are in their last push to drive IS militants from the remaining pockets of territory they still hold in the Old City where narrow streets and a dense civilian population are complicating the fight.The UNICEF Representative in Iraq, Peter Hawkins, said the agency is receiving "alarming reports" of civilians being killed, including children, with some caught in the crossfire while trying to flee.Hawkins didn't give a specific number for killed children.He estimated that 100,000 girls and boys are still in the IS-held Old City neighbourhood and other areas, living under extremely dangerous conditions. He called on the warring parties to "protect the children and keep them out of harm's way at all times, in line with their obligations under humanitarian law.""Children's lives are on the line. Children are being killed, injured and used as human shields. Children are experiencing and witnessing terrible violence that no human being should ever witness," he said in a statement. "In some cases, they have been forced to participate in the fighting and violence," he added.Backed by the U.S.-led international coalition, Iraq last October launched a wide-scale military offensive to recapture Mosul and the surrounding areas, with various Iraqi military, police and paramilitary forces taking part in the operation. The city's eastern half was declared liberated in January, and the push for the city's western section, separated from the east by the Tigris River, began the following month.Meanwhile, an international human rights group reported Monday that at least 26 bodies of "blindfolded and handcuffed" men were found in government-controlled areas and around Mosul since the operation started.Human Rights Watch said local armed forces told foreign journalists that in 15 of the cases the men were extra-judicially killed by government forces who were holding them on suspicion of being affiliated with the IS.HRW added that in the remaining cases, that were reported by local and international sources, the sites of the apparent executions all in government held territory raise concerns about government responsibility for the killings."The bodies of bound and blindfolded men are being found one after the other in and around Mosul and in the Tigris River, raising serious concerns about extrajudicial killings by government forces," said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The lack of any apparent government action to investigate these deaths undermines the government's statements on protecting detainee rights."Extrajudicial executions during an armed conflict are war crimes and if widespread or systematic, carried out as part of policy, would constitute crimes against humanity, it said.Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul fell to IS in the summer of 2014 as the militants swept over much of the country's north and central areas. Weeks later the head of the Sunni extremist group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, announced the formation of a self-styled caliphate in Iraq and Syria from the pulpit of a Mosul mosque.___Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed from Beirut, Lebanon.Sinan Salaheddin, The Associated Press.
Canadian woman Christine Archibald identified as victim in London terror attack-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-June 4, 2017
OTTAWA — A Canadian woman killed in the terror attack in the United Kingdom that left seven people dead was remembered Sunday as someone who had a big heart and respected everyone.Family members said Christine Archibald, 30, from British Columbia was a victim of the attack on London Bridge and in a bustling market nearby.The attack began late Saturday night when three men drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge, police said.The attackers, wielding blades and knives, then ran down a set of stairs into Borough Market where they stabbed people in several different restaurants.Messages posted on Facebook by the brother and sister of Archibald's fiance, identified as Tyler Ferguson, said the couple was on London Bridge when Archibald was struck and killed by a van."I can't breath. You hear these things so often but it doesn't seem real. Last night in London my baby brother lost the love of his life on the London Bridge. In a split second his entire life was ripped away from him," Cassie Ferguson Rowe, Ferguson's sister posted on Facebook.Archibald's family in Castlegar, B.C. released a statement Sunday through the Canadian government saying she worked in a homeless shelter before she moved to Europe to be with her fiance."She had room in her heart for everyone and believed strongly that every person was to be valued and respected," the statement said. "She would have had no understanding of the callous cruelty that caused her death."The family asked that people honour her memory by making the community a better place."Volunteer your time and labour or donate to a homeless shelter," the statement said. "Tell them Chrissy sent you."Kathy Christiansen, executive director of Alpha House in Calgary, said Archibald had worked at the non-profit until recently and that she will remain in the hearts of her friends and colleagues.The young woman was a talented social worker and an "exceptional human being," Christiansen said in a statement."Chrissy was a bright light to many, and her generosity, kind spirit and huge heart for her work in responding to issues of addictions and homelessness at the centre inspired us all."Dr. David Docherty, president of Mount Royal University, where Archibald took courses, expressed his great sadness upon learning of her death."Christine Archibald was a truly outstanding student who completed her coursework at Mount Royal in 2014 and officially received her Social Work diploma in 2015," the Calgary university president said in a statement."Our deepest condolences go to her family and loved ones, as well as to members of our community who are grieving her loss.”B.C. Premier Christy Clark issued a statement saying her thoughts are with the Archibald family, and with everyone who knew and loved Chrissy."As her family and province mourn, we must never forget who we are — and the diversity that makes us strong," Clark said."The individuals who carry out these acts of hate want to change us. They want to sow fear and division. Ultimately, they want us to turn on each other. They will never succeed."B.C. New Democrat Leader John Horgan tweeted about Christine Archibald, saying "let's honour her & never let hate win."Police in London have said the attack lasted about eight minutes. In addition to the seven people who were killed, at least 48 others were sent to hospital.Police shot and killed the attackers, and 12 people were arrested in Barking in east London.Gov. Gen. David Johnston called the attack "evil and senseless."He said in a tweet that he was "heartbroken to learn that a Canadian is among those who lost their lives."Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would stand with the U.K. in the fight against terrorism."We grieve with the families and friends of those who have lost loved ones, and wish all those injured a speedy and full recovery," Trudeau said. "Londoners and people across the United Kingdom have always displayed strength and resilience in the face of adversity. We recently witnessed this after the attacks in Manchester and in the Westminster area of London. This time will be no different."Opposition leader Andrew Scheer said in a statement Sunday that Canada and the U.K. have historically stood "shoulder to shoulder" against threats."I do not want to see my children grow up in a world where they are afraid to go to the mall, or a concert, or travel the world," Scheer said. "This is why Canada, and our allies, must be fully committed to confronting and destroying this terrorist threat."This is the third attack in Britain in as many months. Two weeks ago, a suicide bomber blew himself up at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, in northwest England, killing 22 people and injuring dozens more. In March, a British convert to Islam ran down people with a vehicle on Westminster Bridge, killing four before fatally stabbing a police officer on Parliament's grounds.—With files from The Associated Press.The Canadian Press.
London attack: More detentions in hunt for accomplices-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-June 5, 2017
LONDON — British counterterrorism investigators searched two homes Monday and detained "a number" of people in the investigation into a van and knife attack in the heart of London that left seven people dead.Dozens were injured, many of them critically, in the attack that started on the London Bridge, when three attackers swerved the vehicle into pedestrians then, armed with knives, rampaged through Borough Market, slashing and stabbing anyone they could find.The three men, who wore fake suicide vests, were shot to death by police. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility.London's police chief has said the attackers have been identified, but the names haven't been released. At least 12 people were arrested Sunday, including five men and seven women ranging in age from 19 to 60.Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said she wouldn't release further details in what she described as a fast-moving investigation, including whether authorities were familiar with the men before the attack.IS has claimed responsibility for three attacks in Britain since March, and Dick described the recent wave of violence as "unprecedented in my working life.""We in this country have faced a terrorist threat throughout my life — it changed and morphed and we will change and adapt to what appears to be a new reality for us," she said.Prime Minister Theresa May warned that the country faced a new threat from copycat attacks.The country's major political parties temporarily suspended campaigning with only days to go before the general election. May said the vote would take place as scheduled Thursday because "violence can never be allowed to disrupt the democratic process."Most of the London Underground stations reopened Monday in the neighbourhood where the attack took place, allowing life to resume after more than 24 hours of lockdown. Some residents cooped up inside all day Sunday emerged from their homes for the first time since the attacks."We were all stuck!" said Marcia Rainford, a 58-year-old who said she was sealed into her building complex with her mother and two children."We got blocked in. One whole day," she said. Luckily she had a full fridge. "I always stock up!"Lori Hinnant And Raphael Satter, The Associated Press.
Turkey to strip citizenship of 130 'fugitives' including cleric Gulen-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-June 5, 2017
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey said on Monday it would strip citizenship from 130 people suspected of militant links, including the U.S.-based cleric it blames for orchestrating last July's failed coup, unless they return to the country within three months.In a list of what it called fugitives from justice, the interior ministry named Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) lawmakers Faysal Sariyildiz and Tugba Hezer, and former HDP lawmaker Ozdal Ucer.Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, has denied involvement in the coup and condemned it.The notice said the suspects identified in the list would be stripped of Turkish citizenship unless they returned to Turkey within the time limit and applied to the "relevant authorities".Since the July coup attempt, authorities have arrested 50,000 people and sacked or suspended 150,000, including soldiers, police, teachers and public servants, over alleged links with terrorist groups.While Turkish officials say the steps are necessary due to the gravity of the coup attempt which killed 240 people, critics in Turkey and abroad say President Tayyip Erdogan is using the coup as a pretext to muzzle dissent and purge opponents.More than a dozen HDP lawmakers have also been jailed, mostly due to suspected links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey.The party's co-leaders, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, have also been jailed, handicapping its campaign against the April referendum where Turks narrowly voted for constitutional changes to grant Erdogan sweeping new powers.The HDP denies direct ties to the PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Turkey and the European Union.(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
U.S. poised to warn U.N. rights forum of possible withdrawal-[Reuters]-By Stephanie Nebehay-YAHOONEWS-June 5, 2017
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States is expected to signal on Tuesday that it might withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council unless reforms are ushered in including the removal of what it sees as an "anti-Israel bias", diplomats and activists said.U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, who holds cabinet rank in President Donald Trump's administration, said last week Washington would decide on whether to withdraw from the Council after its three-week session in Geneva ends this month.Under Trump, Washington has broken with decades of U.S. foreign policy by turning away from multilateralism. His decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement last week drew criticism from governments around the world.The Council's critical stance of Israel has been a major sticking point for its ally the United States. Washington boycotted the body for three years under President George W. Bush before rejoining under Barack Obama in 2009.Haley, writing in the Washington Post at the weekend, called for the Council to "end its practice of wrongly singling out Israel for criticism."The possibility of a U.S. withdrawal has raised alarm bells among Western allies and activists.Eight groups, including Freedom House and the Jacob Blaustein Institute, wrote to Haley in May saying a withdrawal would be counterproductive since it could lead to the Council "unfairly targeting Israel to an even greater degree."In the letter, seen by Reuters, the groups also said that during the period of the U.S. boycott, the Council's performance suffered "both with respect to addressing the world's worst violators and with respect to its anti-Israel bias."The Council has no powers other than to rebuke governments it deems as violating human rights and to order investigations but plays an important role in international diplomacy.Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory are a fixed item on the agenda of the 47-member body set up in 2006. Washington, Israel's main ally, often casts the only vote against the Arab-led resolutions."When the council passes more than 70 resolutions against Israel, a country with a strong human rights record, and just seven resolutions against Iran, a country with an abysmal human rights record, you know something is seriously wrong," wrote Haley.John Fisher, Geneva director of the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, did not appear to fear an immediate withdrawal."Our understanding is that it is going to be a message of engagement and reform," Fisher told reporters.However, Fisher said Israel's human rights record did warrant Council scrutiny, but the special focus was "a reasonable concern"."It is an anomaly that there is a dedicated agenda item in a way that there isn't for North Korea or Syria or anything else," he said.Haley also challenged the membership of Communist Cuba and Venezuela citing rights violations, proposing "competitive voting to keep the worst human rights abusers from obtaining seats". She made no mention of Egypt or Saudi Arabia, two U.S. allies elected despite quashing dissent.The U.S. envoy will host a panel on "Human Rights and Democracy in Venezuela" and address the Graduate Institute in Geneva before heading to Israel.(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
S. Korean official suspended over US missile defence report-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-June 5, 2017
SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — South Korea's presidential office says a senior defence official has been suspended for deliberately failing to report the arrival of several more launchers for a contentious U.S. missile defence system meant to deal with North Korean threats.President Moon Jae-in's office said last week that it wasn't briefed by defence officials about the arrival of four launchers for the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence system. Before taking office May 10, Moon had vowed to review the THAAD deployment.Moon's office said Monday that an investigation found Deputy Minister for Defence Policy Wee Seung Ho ordered officials not to write clearly about the four launchers in recent reports to the president's office.It said Wee did so because the South Korean and U.S. militaries decided not to publicize the launchers' arrivals.The Associated Press
India hopes new rocket can carry humans into space-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-June 5, 2017
NEW DELHI — India's space agency prepared Monday to launch its heaviest rocket carrying a communication satellite from a launch pad off the country's southeastern coast.The Indian Space Research Organization said the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk III rocket would lift off Monday afternoon from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh state.Scientists say the rocket could be used in the future to carry an astronaut into space, something that only Russia, the United States and China have done.India hopes the successful launch of the satellite, which weighs 3,136 kilograms (6,914 pounds), will expand its commercial launch business. In the past, India has used French rockets to launch its heavier communication satellites.The space agency's chairman, A.S. Kiran Kumar, says it is "the heaviest-ever rocket and satellite to be launched from the country."The rocket is powered by an indigenous engine that uses liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as propellants, Kumar told reporters.___This story has been corrected to show that satellite, not rocket, weighs 3,136 kilograms.The Associated Press.
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)
REVELATION 17:9-13
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.(THE VATICAN IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS OR MOUNTAINS)
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen,(1-ASSYRIA,2-EGYPT,3-BABYLON,4-MEDO-PERSIA,5-GREECE) and one is,(IN POWER IN JOHNS AND JESUS DAY-6-ROME) and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.(7TH-REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE OR THE EUROPEAN UNION TODAY AND THE SHORT SPACE IS-7 YEARS.THE EUROPEAN UNION WILL HAVE WORLD CONTROL FOR THE LAST 3 1/2 YEARS.BUT WILL HAVE ITS MIGHTY WORLD POWER FOR THE FULL 7 YEARS OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD.AND THE WORLD DICTATOR WILL BE THE BEAST FROM THE EU.AND THE VATICAN POPE WILL BE THE WHORE THAT RIDES THE EUROPEAN UNION TO POWER.AND THE 2 EUROPEAN UNION POWER FREAKS WILL CONTROL AND DECIEVE THE WHOLE EARTH INTO THEIR DESTRUCTION.IF YOU ARE NOT SAVED BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS.YOU WILL BE DECIEVED BY THESE TWO.THE WORLD POLITICIAN-THE EUROPEAN UNION DICTATOR.AND THE FALSE PROPHET THAT DEFECTS CHRISTIANITY-THE FALSE VATICAN POPE.
11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he ( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant (PEACE TREATY) with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE ANIMAL SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
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.
Investigation-The discreet banker of African development By Adriana Homolova, Laurence Soustras and David Santiago Tarazona Patarroyo-EUOBSERVER
LUXEMBOURG, 2. Jun, 08:57-There is a cold wind whistling a tune through the flagpoles that stand at the entrance of the headquarters of the European Investment Bank (EIB). Accompanied by the quiet humming rhythms of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg’s traffic, the glass building does its best to look unassuming.After all, discretion has always been a highly-prized quality of the Luxembourg financial industry.And it seems that, over the last decades, it has perfectly suited how the EIB wants to appear: a quiet financial institution few people know about, “hidden in the Luxembourg woods”, as some of the oldest staff members described it.Today, the bank is not so hidden anymore.Past the building's glass facade, visitors can see an endless flow of busy, young employees rushing through the corridors. With its corporate touch, the bank doesn’t look much like an average member of the tightly-knit development community, but rather it shows all the signs of a fund management business.Nevertheless, €3 billion in European taxpayers’ money has been channelled through this glass building into the poorest countries in Africa and the Caribbean.-Sub-Saharan investments-For the first time, a small team of international data and financial journalists dug deep into the financial mechanisms of the EIB's investments in Sub-Saharan countries, analysing a mix of public and internal data provided by the bank.We worked together with local journalists from Kenya, Cameroon and Madagascar, who conducted interviews with dozens of witnesses impacted by EIB-funded projects.Our findings show that in several cases, large infrastructure projects, such as power plants and mines, have an adverse effect on the inhabitants of these countries. Insufficient scrutiny from the European institutions results in only a partial overview of the bank's activities and a lack of transparency around the projects.The main tool for those loans is the Investment Facility (IF). This is a €2.9 billion revolving fund (as of the end of 2016), designed to spur private sector involvement in development.Its management has been entrusted to the EIB by the European Union, following the implementation in 2003 of the Cotonou agreement between African, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union.The IF is financed by public money, part of the huge European Development Fund envelope, still outside of the European budget and largely beyond the scrutiny of the European Parliament and the European Court of Auditors – the guardians of the EU's finances.The money from member states is topped off by the EIB's own resources, which are funds that have been raised on the international markets.-Transparency games-Over the years, not everyone has been pleased with this silent arrangement.The ACP Group, which represents the recipient countries, has repeatedly complained of being left out of the process.“Once the decision was taken, we merely lost control over these funds, although according to the Cotonou agreement, development funds are supposed to be co-managed”, said Viwanou Gnassounou, assistant secretary general of the ACP Group, in charge of economic development and trade, when in an interview in his office earlier this year.But it is not as if the EIB isn't playing the transparency game.Every year, the ACP ambassadors make their way to Luxembourg to attend a day of presentations on the financed projects.Representatives from the EU parliament encounter the same sense of openness. Eider Gardiazabal Rubial, a member of the European Parliament’s budget committee, said that "the EIB has improved considerably in its transparency, access to information and communication with the European Parliament." Still, in its yearly report on the EIB activity, the EU parliament repeatedly asks for more transparency.But the institutions in Brussels, in their complexity, have not been very useful for monitoring the bank.The European Commission sits in the EIB's board of directors, alongside the 28 finance ministers, and is officially consulted on every IF project, whereas the ACP Group role is merely advisory.-Who is really in charge?-Who really is in charge is anyone's guess: it didn’t take long before Xavier Sol – director of the Brussels-based NGO Counter Balance and one of the rare experts on the EIB – noticed a “game between the European Commission and the EIB.”“The EIB says it has a stringent mandate, that it is controlled by the European Commission and that it is fully in line with that mandate, while the commission rather says that it tries to give instructions and the EIB ultimately acts as it wants. We think the truth is in the middle,” he says.Over the years, the EIB has certainly built an impressive loans portfolio in ACP countries.Its participation has already proved valuable in several areas, such as in access to clean water projects. In the last ten years, 23 percent of the EIB projects were aimed at job creation by providing credit lines to local financial institutions.-Results on the ground-But what is the result on the ground for the places where the EIB investments go? Our team's interviews and the data tell the story of the ambitious fight to channel money into the private sector to spur developing economies, but sometimes this comes with a painful environmental and human cost. This is partly due to the bank’s biggest projects.The EIB itself recognises that it has been associated with big infrastructure projects.Last year, half of the programmes signed in ACP countries – amounting to an envelope of €378 million – concerned eight of these large-scale projects.The problem is that quite a lot of those types of projects require resettlements, a complex process that not only involves physically moving people’s homes, but also changing living standards and inevitably interfering with their cultural heritage.Although compensation – most often financial or in the form of new settlements – makes up a part of the project design, issues regarding land valuation, property deeds, or new settlement facilities often lead to disputes.-Resettlement of thousands-After reviewing public registry documents for projects signed by the EIB over the last decade in ACP countries, we found that at least one quarter of projects that receive direct loans had triggered the resettlement of inhabitants.Some projects have even displaced – physically or economically – thousands of people. Most projects involving resettlement took place in, Uganda and Kenya – three per country.“I wouldn’t underwrite the idea that all our energy projects require resettlement and, when they do, we have very high requirements in terms of what needs to be achieved with the resettlement action plan”, says Heike Rüttgers, the EIB development and impact finance head of division.But in several countries, the EIB is walking a slippery path.“From a social perspective, resettlements are always problematic. Always. Even if you put more resources into it, you can do so many things wrongly, so people are later on very often worse-off than before,” notes Jeanne Schade, a researcher at the University of Bielefelds’ sociology department.Schade closely monitored a dispute between displaced people and the promoter of an energy-related project, which was co-financed by the EIB in Kenya.In northwest of Kenya's capital, Nairobi, lies the edge of the Great Rift Valley – a massive continental fault system where geothermal resources have been harvested since 1981. Geothermal power plants were built on the traditional territory of the Maasai, a local ethnic group.The 20,000-strong Olkaria Maasai community and KenGen, the company developing the Olkaria I and IV geothermal plants, are at odds over the compensation package.The resettlement process has left the community divided and the EIB had to set up a mediation process, which is still being contested by some of the parties involved.-Short on staff-Over the years, the EIB loans portfolio has been growing much faster than its resources to manage it, and that is a dilemma for the institution. Despite recent hirings, the bank remains very tight in terms of staff.“The EIB lends twice more than the World Bank with three or four times fewer staff”, says Sol.This results in arrangements where the EIB “relies heavily on the clients to ensure that their standards which are part of the financial contract are really implemented”, says Schade.The approach is common in development finance but would call for more scrutiny than the EIB can afford.Project promoters, the ones who borrow the money and are the customers of the bank, are hardly neutral parties. They hire their own experts and, since they pay for the resettlement compensation packages, they tend to sideline social and environmental issues.The EIB can interfere in the process, but there is a risk that when it finally does, pollution will have already occurred and communities have been left divided.In Madagascar, the EIB helped finance Ambatovy, a huge mining project with five components impacting 200 square kilometres of land and involving several multinational corporations. Since operations started in 2007, the inhabitants have complained of the negative effects of the projects on the surrounding environment.“Erosion has ruined the paddy fields and the forest, the water streams have dried up and the project has a negative impact on our health”, Abel, a local inhabitant told us.-No loans recalled-In those extreme cases, the EIB is often left to manage the negative effects of a project with not much more than the ultimate weapon of suspending or recalling loans. But in recent years of IF-funded projects, no instances of this happening could be found among information published by the bank.Meanwhile, fragile communities feel excluded. In Kribri, Cameroon, the EIB co-financed a gas-fired power plant, with the aim of reducing the electricity shortage crisis in the region. The inhabitants now complain of noise, water pollution and criticise the resettlement plan for having ignored those risks.“They should take our opinion into account”, complained an inhabitant when we visited Kribi.Recently there have been voices inside the EIB that suggest something similar: the bank should make sure that projects don’t fail because communities are divided about the compensation package.As observed in Olkaria: “there is an urgent need to find appropriate ways, during project preparation and as early as possible, to deal with and try to resolve the existing conflicts between the communities, between the community and the government, and between the communities and the company involved,” says Felismino Alcarpe, the head of the EIB Complaints Mechanism.-Migration gives new sense of urgency-Will the EIB management take the time to listen to its critics? There are signs of openings: the institution, through a newly established Impact Facility Envelope, is moving in the direction of agriculture investments and particularly, smaller loans – a long-standing request from the ACP group.But at the same time, the sword of Damocles – in the form of massive influxes of migrants – causes panic in the EU and gives the EIB development financing mandate a new sense of emergency.The EU commission is now working on an ambitious new External Investment Plan, which could be as high as €88 billion. This new framework – which aims to mobilise investments, step up technical assistance and improve the business environment in developing countries – is likely to increase the financing capacities of the EIB.The institution will fight hard to expand its role as Africa’s banker and this raises some issues, notes Dutch Green MEP Bas Eickhout: “We need to pay more attention to the EIB. While the World Bank changed under pressure, the EIB is still too much under the radar. Such a big player shouldn’t be unknown”.The question is: who will be the one to challenge this “invisible bank”? Adriana Homolova is Dutch data journalist, Laurence Soustras is a French freelance journalist specialised in development and international finance, specifically in Africa while David Tarazona is a freelance journalist working from Bogotá, Colombia. Their investigation was financed by Journalismfund.eu.-WHAT IS THE EIB?-The bank presents itself as the “European Union’s bank”, not managing monetary policy like the European Central Bank (ECB), but rather providing “finance and expertise for sustainable investment projects that contribute to EU policy objectives.”After the Second World War, the then modest bank started out issuing loans to projects that would rebuild Europe.By 2014, the institution had grown into the largest multilateral borrower and lender in the world with a capital of €275 billion, funding projects from its own resources, mainly by debt issuance and managing facilities entrusted by European institutions, such as the Investment Facility for ACP countries.Last year, EIB financing was €76 billion and it raised €66.4 billion in the global bonds market. It approved €794.2 million in new projects under the Investment Facility. 10% of the EIB portfolio is outside Europe.The institution currently employs 3,300 people.
Opinion-EU should put pressure on Belarus nuclear project By Petras Austrevicius-JUNE 5,17-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:33-If, one clear day, you went up in a hot air balloon over my beloved home town of Vilnius, a Unesco World Heritage site, you would see, not far off, a two-headed monster.Your eyes do not deceive you. There it is: the Ostrovets Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), with its two reactors, being built just 53km away on the other side of the EU border with Belarus.The construction started in 2009. One reactor is to go online in 2018 and a second one in 2020. Two more are apparently planned by 2025.It is being built in flagrant disregard of international safety standards.It is designed to serve Russia’s strategic interests and makes no commercial sense.It is also being built by an unpredictable dictator with potential nuclear weapons aspirations and the EU institutions, for their part, are doing nothing to try to stop it.Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission’s energy chief, went up in the balloon over the old town in Vilnius last month and he was privately astonished by the proximity of Ostrovets.When he came back down, he visited the Lithuanian parliament, where he spoke fine words about energy solidarity and independence, but he did not mention the NPP once, leaving MPs in shock.-Unique sight-What he saw was unique in Europe because, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, nuclear plants these days, after so many accidents, ought to be built much further away from population centres.From 2018 onward, the 1 million people who live in the Vilnius district, meaning one out of three Lithuanians, will have to live in constant readiness of evacuation in case there is an accident.From next year, the river Neris (called the Viliya in Belarus), which supplies drinking water to Vilnius, Kaunas, and other major Lithuanian cities, will be used to cool the plant’s atomic reactors.We know that Ostrovets is being built in a seismic zone, but we know very little else about it.Belarus has not respected the UN’s so called Espoo and Aarhus conventions on international oversight and impact assessments.It has refused to conduct Ostrovets stress tests in line with a European Commission agreement that already dates back six years. It has also refused to let MEPs, including a recent delegation that I was due to take part in, visit the site.Meanwhile, the information that has emerged is worrying.Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus’ autocratic leader, has boasted that: “Ostrovets NPP has to be the cheapest nuclear power plant in the world and must be built in the shortest possible period of time”.Poor safety culture has so far led to at least six incidents and several deaths at the construction site.On 10 July last year, for instance, the builders dropped a 330-tonne reactor shell while it was being moved.We know that only because a local resident and opposition activist posted details about it on social media, but, did the shell crack? Was it checked? They say yes, but we do not know if we can believe them.You might be thinking: “This project, somewhere deep in the forests of eastern Europe, has nothing to do with me”.Ostrovets is 430km from Warsaw, 610km from Helsinki, 860km from Berlin, and 1,500km from Brussels, but these distances are nothing in the nightmare scenario of a nuclear accident.When the Chernobyl accident occurred in Ukraine in 1986, the winds carried contaminated material to almost all corners of Europe and Scandinavia. It led to some 10,000 birth defects and 10,000 cases of thyroid cancer on the continent over the next three decades.When the Fukushima accident occurred in Japan in 2011, radioactive material reached the US west coast just two days later.-Russian strategy-Even assuming all goes well, the Ostrovets plant will increase Moscow’s power in a region that only recently broke free from its sphere of influence.It is being built and financed by Russia.Atomstroyexport, the general contractor, is a subsidiary of the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom), which loaned Lukashenko $9 billion (€8bn) of the plant’s $11 billion price tag.The first two reactors are to have a capacity of 2,340 MW of electricity and to create 1,000 permanent jobs in Belarus.The cheap Russian electricity, which can be cut off as a tool of political blackmail at any moment, is designed to keep the Baltic States hooked to the old Soviet grid and to undermine projects, such as liquid natural gas terminals, in the region designed to reduce energy dependence on Russia.Lithuania has taken steps to prevent this. The LNG terminal is already functioning in Klaipeda since end-2014. In April, Lithuania also passed a law that banned electricity imports from unsafe reactors.There is already a similar law in place in Sweden and one under consideration in Poland.Belarus does not need all that new electricity and EU states increasingly do not want it, but Rosatom is pressing ahead because Ostrovets is a political, rather than a commercial, project.-Autocratic states-It leaves me to add that the Lukashenko system executed at least one person this year and four last year.It is the only country in Europe that still has the death penalty.If you think this is irrelevant, take a look at post-revolutionary Iran. There, an autocratic state which also executes people in a sign of its disregard for international standards, turned civilian nuclear facilities into a clandestine weapons programme.Could the same happen in Europe? Belarus inherited Soviet nuclear warheads when the USSR collapsed, but it gave them back to Russia before Lukashenko came to power.He later said: “That was a grave mistake. We should not have done it. If we had nuclear weapons they [the West] would have treated us differently”.In the end, the EU and the US stopped Iran by imposing economic sanctions and by threatening military action.But when it comes to Ostrovets, the big EU countries and the EU institutions are happy to look the other way.Sefcovic is happy to walk off without saying a word.If the EU thinks that having properly regulated nuclear facilities in France, Germany, or Scandinavia is enough to keep Europe safe even as Russia builds a risky one right on the EU border, then it is kidding itself.Lithuania, as a condition of its EU entry, closed down the Ignalina NPP because it had unsafe, Chernobyl-type reactors.My country is still paying a high price for this and has a moral right to expect EU solidarity for its energy security.But what the Ignalina closure really showed was that nuclear safety is not a national, or bilateral, or even a regional issue - it is a continental one.-EU leverage-The EU has relaxed sanctions on Belarus and is pouring in grants and loans, for instance, from the European Investment Bank, to help local authorities and small businesses in the name of better relations.In fact, Lukashenko is using that EU financial help to keep economic protesters, such as those who demonstrated against his unemployment tax in March, off the streets. This is leverage.I call on EU leaders and on the European Commission to make Ostrovets NPP the main topic on the EU-Belarus agenda and to say: “Not a euro-cent more unless you halt this time-bomb of a project in the heart of Europe”.Lithuania and Poland cannot stop it by themselves, but without concerted EU leadership, we are all that stands between Minsk and Moscow’s political machinations and the safety of every man, woman, and child in Europe.Petras Austrevicius is a liberal MEP from Lithuania.
Defying Russia, Montenegro finally joins NATO-[Associated Press]-PREDRAG MILIC-YAHOONEWS-June 5, 2017
BUDVA, Montenegro (AP) — Once the Balkan stronghold of pro-Russian sentiments, tiny Montenegro is on Monday silently celebrating its entry into NATO in a historic turn that has made the Kremlin furious.Despite the Russian anger and a deep split within the nation of some 620,000 people over the issue, Montenegro is formally becoming the 29th member of the Western military alliance at a ceremony in Washington on Monday.To get there, Montenegro has stood up against its former ally Russia, which has sought to maintain strong historic, political and cultural influence in the Slavic country it considers a special zone of interest.Bringing Montenegro into NATO further diminishes Russia's influence in southeast Europe, and blocks it from the so-called "warm seas" in Europe that could be used as staging grounds for military interventions in the Middle East.Russia has threatened economic and political retaliation, including a campaign to undermine the Montenegrin tourism industry, which relies heavily on Russian visitors. It has also banned imports of Montenegrin wine and recently deported a ranking official from a Moscow airport.Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova recently warned potential Russian tourists that "there is an anti-Russian hysteria in Montenegro.""We do not rule out the possibility of provocations, arrests for suspicious reasons or extradition to third countries" of Russians, Zakharova said.Her claim was dismissed by the president of the Russian-speaking diaspora in Montenegro, Alexander Khrgian, who runs his law office in the coastal resort of Budva.He said that about 15,000 Russian-speaking people who permanently live in Montenegro feel safe."I have been living in Russia for 25 years and now I am here for more than 10 years, and we love Montenegro. It is a wonderful country with wonderful climate," he said."People know that Russia and Montenegro have very close cultural links. That is why we are here like at home."Montenegro says Moscow was behind a foiled coup attempt in October that allegedly targeted former Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, who was the driving force behind the country's NATO bid. Russia denies involvement."One of the reasons we are joining NATO is to create greater stability, not only for Montenegrin citizens, but also for foreign investors and tourists," Djukanovic said. "Therefore, our goal is to bring even more Russian tourists."On the eve of the NATO accession, Montenegrins don't seem interested in their country's historic move and many of them want good relations with both Russia and the West."If we were neutral all the time, why shouldn't we continue with it so that we keep good relations with America, Russia and all the other countries?" said Mirko Bozovic from Podgorica.The pro-Russian opposition Democratic Front, whose top two leaders were indicted over allegedly planning the Russia-orchestrated coup, said the day when Montenegro joins NATO is one of the saddest days in its history."Today, Montenegro is being annexed like never before in its history," official Strahinja Bulajic said. "Today is one of the most shameful days in Montenegrin history."___AP Writer Dusan Stojanovic contributed from Belgrade, Serbia.
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
OH BY THE WAY WHEN THE MEDIA SAYS ALLU-AK-BAR MEANS GOD IS GREAT LIE. IN ISLAM ALLU-AK-BAR MEANS OUR GOD IS GREATER OR GREATEST. THIS IS HOW THE MEDIA SUCK HOLES UP TO ISLAMIC-QURANIC-MUSLIMS. BY WATERING DOWN THE REAL MEANING OF THE SEX FOR MURDER DEATH CULT ISLAM. TO MAKE IT SOUND LIKE A PEACEFUL RELIGION (CULT OF DEATH AND WORLD DOMINATION).
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)
NICEF: 100,000 children in dangerous conditions in Mosul-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-June 5, 2017
BAGHDAD — Mosul's children are bearing the brunt of the intensified fight between U.S.-backed government forces and the Islamic State group in the city's western half, the United Nations children's agency warned on Monday.Iraqi forces are in their last push to drive IS militants from the remaining pockets of territory they still hold in the Old City where narrow streets and a dense civilian population are complicating the fight.The UNICEF Representative in Iraq, Peter Hawkins, said the agency is receiving "alarming reports" of civilians being killed, including children, with some caught in the crossfire while trying to flee.Hawkins didn't give a specific number for killed children.He estimated that 100,000 girls and boys are still in the IS-held Old City neighbourhood and other areas, living under extremely dangerous conditions. He called on the warring parties to "protect the children and keep them out of harm's way at all times, in line with their obligations under humanitarian law.""Children's lives are on the line. Children are being killed, injured and used as human shields. Children are experiencing and witnessing terrible violence that no human being should ever witness," he said in a statement. "In some cases, they have been forced to participate in the fighting and violence," he added.Backed by the U.S.-led international coalition, Iraq last October launched a wide-scale military offensive to recapture Mosul and the surrounding areas, with various Iraqi military, police and paramilitary forces taking part in the operation. The city's eastern half was declared liberated in January, and the push for the city's western section, separated from the east by the Tigris River, began the following month.Meanwhile, an international human rights group reported Monday that at least 26 bodies of "blindfolded and handcuffed" men were found in government-controlled areas and around Mosul since the operation started.Human Rights Watch said local armed forces told foreign journalists that in 15 of the cases the men were extra-judicially killed by government forces who were holding them on suspicion of being affiliated with the IS.HRW added that in the remaining cases, that were reported by local and international sources, the sites of the apparent executions all in government held territory raise concerns about government responsibility for the killings."The bodies of bound and blindfolded men are being found one after the other in and around Mosul and in the Tigris River, raising serious concerns about extrajudicial killings by government forces," said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The lack of any apparent government action to investigate these deaths undermines the government's statements on protecting detainee rights."Extrajudicial executions during an armed conflict are war crimes and if widespread or systematic, carried out as part of policy, would constitute crimes against humanity, it said.Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul fell to IS in the summer of 2014 as the militants swept over much of the country's north and central areas. Weeks later the head of the Sunni extremist group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, announced the formation of a self-styled caliphate in Iraq and Syria from the pulpit of a Mosul mosque.___Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed from Beirut, Lebanon.Sinan Salaheddin, The Associated Press.
Canadian woman Christine Archibald identified as victim in London terror attack-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-June 4, 2017
OTTAWA — A Canadian woman killed in the terror attack in the United Kingdom that left seven people dead was remembered Sunday as someone who had a big heart and respected everyone.Family members said Christine Archibald, 30, from British Columbia was a victim of the attack on London Bridge and in a bustling market nearby.The attack began late Saturday night when three men drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge, police said.The attackers, wielding blades and knives, then ran down a set of stairs into Borough Market where they stabbed people in several different restaurants.Messages posted on Facebook by the brother and sister of Archibald's fiance, identified as Tyler Ferguson, said the couple was on London Bridge when Archibald was struck and killed by a van."I can't breath. You hear these things so often but it doesn't seem real. Last night in London my baby brother lost the love of his life on the London Bridge. In a split second his entire life was ripped away from him," Cassie Ferguson Rowe, Ferguson's sister posted on Facebook.Archibald's family in Castlegar, B.C. released a statement Sunday through the Canadian government saying she worked in a homeless shelter before she moved to Europe to be with her fiance."She had room in her heart for everyone and believed strongly that every person was to be valued and respected," the statement said. "She would have had no understanding of the callous cruelty that caused her death."The family asked that people honour her memory by making the community a better place."Volunteer your time and labour or donate to a homeless shelter," the statement said. "Tell them Chrissy sent you."Kathy Christiansen, executive director of Alpha House in Calgary, said Archibald had worked at the non-profit until recently and that she will remain in the hearts of her friends and colleagues.The young woman was a talented social worker and an "exceptional human being," Christiansen said in a statement."Chrissy was a bright light to many, and her generosity, kind spirit and huge heart for her work in responding to issues of addictions and homelessness at the centre inspired us all."Dr. David Docherty, president of Mount Royal University, where Archibald took courses, expressed his great sadness upon learning of her death."Christine Archibald was a truly outstanding student who completed her coursework at Mount Royal in 2014 and officially received her Social Work diploma in 2015," the Calgary university president said in a statement."Our deepest condolences go to her family and loved ones, as well as to members of our community who are grieving her loss.”B.C. Premier Christy Clark issued a statement saying her thoughts are with the Archibald family, and with everyone who knew and loved Chrissy."As her family and province mourn, we must never forget who we are — and the diversity that makes us strong," Clark said."The individuals who carry out these acts of hate want to change us. They want to sow fear and division. Ultimately, they want us to turn on each other. They will never succeed."B.C. New Democrat Leader John Horgan tweeted about Christine Archibald, saying "let's honour her & never let hate win."Police in London have said the attack lasted about eight minutes. In addition to the seven people who were killed, at least 48 others were sent to hospital.Police shot and killed the attackers, and 12 people were arrested in Barking in east London.Gov. Gen. David Johnston called the attack "evil and senseless."He said in a tweet that he was "heartbroken to learn that a Canadian is among those who lost their lives."Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would stand with the U.K. in the fight against terrorism."We grieve with the families and friends of those who have lost loved ones, and wish all those injured a speedy and full recovery," Trudeau said. "Londoners and people across the United Kingdom have always displayed strength and resilience in the face of adversity. We recently witnessed this after the attacks in Manchester and in the Westminster area of London. This time will be no different."Opposition leader Andrew Scheer said in a statement Sunday that Canada and the U.K. have historically stood "shoulder to shoulder" against threats."I do not want to see my children grow up in a world where they are afraid to go to the mall, or a concert, or travel the world," Scheer said. "This is why Canada, and our allies, must be fully committed to confronting and destroying this terrorist threat."This is the third attack in Britain in as many months. Two weeks ago, a suicide bomber blew himself up at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, in northwest England, killing 22 people and injuring dozens more. In March, a British convert to Islam ran down people with a vehicle on Westminster Bridge, killing four before fatally stabbing a police officer on Parliament's grounds.—With files from The Associated Press.The Canadian Press.
London attack: More detentions in hunt for accomplices-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-June 5, 2017
LONDON — British counterterrorism investigators searched two homes Monday and detained "a number" of people in the investigation into a van and knife attack in the heart of London that left seven people dead.Dozens were injured, many of them critically, in the attack that started on the London Bridge, when three attackers swerved the vehicle into pedestrians then, armed with knives, rampaged through Borough Market, slashing and stabbing anyone they could find.The three men, who wore fake suicide vests, were shot to death by police. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility.London's police chief has said the attackers have been identified, but the names haven't been released. At least 12 people were arrested Sunday, including five men and seven women ranging in age from 19 to 60.Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said she wouldn't release further details in what she described as a fast-moving investigation, including whether authorities were familiar with the men before the attack.IS has claimed responsibility for three attacks in Britain since March, and Dick described the recent wave of violence as "unprecedented in my working life.""We in this country have faced a terrorist threat throughout my life — it changed and morphed and we will change and adapt to what appears to be a new reality for us," she said.Prime Minister Theresa May warned that the country faced a new threat from copycat attacks.The country's major political parties temporarily suspended campaigning with only days to go before the general election. May said the vote would take place as scheduled Thursday because "violence can never be allowed to disrupt the democratic process."Most of the London Underground stations reopened Monday in the neighbourhood where the attack took place, allowing life to resume after more than 24 hours of lockdown. Some residents cooped up inside all day Sunday emerged from their homes for the first time since the attacks."We were all stuck!" said Marcia Rainford, a 58-year-old who said she was sealed into her building complex with her mother and two children."We got blocked in. One whole day," she said. Luckily she had a full fridge. "I always stock up!"Lori Hinnant And Raphael Satter, The Associated Press.
Turkey to strip citizenship of 130 'fugitives' including cleric Gulen-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-June 5, 2017
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey said on Monday it would strip citizenship from 130 people suspected of militant links, including the U.S.-based cleric it blames for orchestrating last July's failed coup, unless they return to the country within three months.In a list of what it called fugitives from justice, the interior ministry named Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) lawmakers Faysal Sariyildiz and Tugba Hezer, and former HDP lawmaker Ozdal Ucer.Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, has denied involvement in the coup and condemned it.The notice said the suspects identified in the list would be stripped of Turkish citizenship unless they returned to Turkey within the time limit and applied to the "relevant authorities".Since the July coup attempt, authorities have arrested 50,000 people and sacked or suspended 150,000, including soldiers, police, teachers and public servants, over alleged links with terrorist groups.While Turkish officials say the steps are necessary due to the gravity of the coup attempt which killed 240 people, critics in Turkey and abroad say President Tayyip Erdogan is using the coup as a pretext to muzzle dissent and purge opponents.More than a dozen HDP lawmakers have also been jailed, mostly due to suspected links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey.The party's co-leaders, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, have also been jailed, handicapping its campaign against the April referendum where Turks narrowly voted for constitutional changes to grant Erdogan sweeping new powers.The HDP denies direct ties to the PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Turkey and the European Union.(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
U.S. poised to warn U.N. rights forum of possible withdrawal-[Reuters]-By Stephanie Nebehay-YAHOONEWS-June 5, 2017
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States is expected to signal on Tuesday that it might withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council unless reforms are ushered in including the removal of what it sees as an "anti-Israel bias", diplomats and activists said.U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, who holds cabinet rank in President Donald Trump's administration, said last week Washington would decide on whether to withdraw from the Council after its three-week session in Geneva ends this month.Under Trump, Washington has broken with decades of U.S. foreign policy by turning away from multilateralism. His decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement last week drew criticism from governments around the world.The Council's critical stance of Israel has been a major sticking point for its ally the United States. Washington boycotted the body for three years under President George W. Bush before rejoining under Barack Obama in 2009.Haley, writing in the Washington Post at the weekend, called for the Council to "end its practice of wrongly singling out Israel for criticism."The possibility of a U.S. withdrawal has raised alarm bells among Western allies and activists.Eight groups, including Freedom House and the Jacob Blaustein Institute, wrote to Haley in May saying a withdrawal would be counterproductive since it could lead to the Council "unfairly targeting Israel to an even greater degree."In the letter, seen by Reuters, the groups also said that during the period of the U.S. boycott, the Council's performance suffered "both with respect to addressing the world's worst violators and with respect to its anti-Israel bias."The Council has no powers other than to rebuke governments it deems as violating human rights and to order investigations but plays an important role in international diplomacy.Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory are a fixed item on the agenda of the 47-member body set up in 2006. Washington, Israel's main ally, often casts the only vote against the Arab-led resolutions."When the council passes more than 70 resolutions against Israel, a country with a strong human rights record, and just seven resolutions against Iran, a country with an abysmal human rights record, you know something is seriously wrong," wrote Haley.John Fisher, Geneva director of the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, did not appear to fear an immediate withdrawal."Our understanding is that it is going to be a message of engagement and reform," Fisher told reporters.However, Fisher said Israel's human rights record did warrant Council scrutiny, but the special focus was "a reasonable concern"."It is an anomaly that there is a dedicated agenda item in a way that there isn't for North Korea or Syria or anything else," he said.Haley also challenged the membership of Communist Cuba and Venezuela citing rights violations, proposing "competitive voting to keep the worst human rights abusers from obtaining seats". She made no mention of Egypt or Saudi Arabia, two U.S. allies elected despite quashing dissent.The U.S. envoy will host a panel on "Human Rights and Democracy in Venezuela" and address the Graduate Institute in Geneva before heading to Israel.(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
S. Korean official suspended over US missile defence report-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-June 5, 2017
SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — South Korea's presidential office says a senior defence official has been suspended for deliberately failing to report the arrival of several more launchers for a contentious U.S. missile defence system meant to deal with North Korean threats.President Moon Jae-in's office said last week that it wasn't briefed by defence officials about the arrival of four launchers for the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence system. Before taking office May 10, Moon had vowed to review the THAAD deployment.Moon's office said Monday that an investigation found Deputy Minister for Defence Policy Wee Seung Ho ordered officials not to write clearly about the four launchers in recent reports to the president's office.It said Wee did so because the South Korean and U.S. militaries decided not to publicize the launchers' arrivals.The Associated Press
India hopes new rocket can carry humans into space-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-June 5, 2017
NEW DELHI — India's space agency prepared Monday to launch its heaviest rocket carrying a communication satellite from a launch pad off the country's southeastern coast.The Indian Space Research Organization said the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk III rocket would lift off Monday afternoon from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh state.Scientists say the rocket could be used in the future to carry an astronaut into space, something that only Russia, the United States and China have done.India hopes the successful launch of the satellite, which weighs 3,136 kilograms (6,914 pounds), will expand its commercial launch business. In the past, India has used French rockets to launch its heavier communication satellites.The space agency's chairman, A.S. Kiran Kumar, says it is "the heaviest-ever rocket and satellite to be launched from the country."The rocket is powered by an indigenous engine that uses liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as propellants, Kumar told reporters.___This story has been corrected to show that satellite, not rocket, weighs 3,136 kilograms.The Associated Press.
