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)
LUKE 21:28-29
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
Bill slashing PA funding over terror payouts clears first vote-Knesset plenary green-lights private proposal, but Defense Ministry's softened version of bill has yet to come to vote-By Marissa Newman-TOI-DEC 6,18
Fifty-two Knesset members voted in favor of the private bill by Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern and Likud MK Avi Dichter, which would deduct welfare payments paid out by the Palestinian Authority to Palestinian prisoners and their relatives from tax revenues Israel transfers annually to the PA.Another 10 MKs opposed the bill. The bill would need another two readings to become law.The Defense Ministry has also submitted a softened version of the legislation, which would allow the government to either deduct the funds, which would be irreversible, or “freeze” the payments, leaving the security cabinet with the final say.That proposal — which received coalition backing — has yet to come to plenary vote and will likely supplant Stern and Dichter’s bill.Under an economic agreement signed in 1994, Israel transfers to the PA tens of millions of dollars each year in customs duties levied on goods destined for Palestinian markets that transit through Israeli ports.Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said last month the withheld tax revenues would go toward compensating Israeli terror victims who cannot sue their attackers.“Soon, this theater of the absurd will come to an end, and the salaries of the terrorists that we will withhold from [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas will be used to prevent terrorism and compensate victims,” he said.Critics of the bill have warned it could bankrupt the PA, leading to its collapse.The PLO gives monthly payments to all Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel, no matter the reason for their incarceration, and also to families of so-called “martyrs” — a term used by the PLO to refer to anyone killed by an Israeli, including in the act of carrying out an attack.A recent report published by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli Defense Ministry agency responsible for administering civilian affairs in the West Bank and the crossings with Gaza, said that around one-third of the Palestinian prisoners are “directly responsible for the murder of Israelis.”According to the Defense Ministry, the Palestinian Authority in 2017 paid NIS 687 million ($198 million) to the so-called “martyrs’ families fund” and NIS 550 million ($160 million) to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club — some 7 percent of its overall budget.Palestinian prisoners serving 20-30 year sentences for carrying out terror attacks are eligible for a lifetime NIS 10,000 ($1,900) monthly stipend, the Defense Ministry said, citing PA figures. Those prisoners who receive a 3-5 year sentence get a monthly wage of NIS 2,000 ($580). Palestinian prisoners who are married, have children, live in Jerusalem, or hold Israeli citizenship receive additional payments.US lawmakers have also been advancing a similar bill, the Taylor Force Act — named for a US national killed in a Tel Aviv stabbing terror attack — which would cut US funding to the PA unless it discontinued its practice of paying monthly stipends to the families of terrorists who kill Israelis.The PA has refused to cease the payments to Palestinian prisoners.In June, Abbas, in a speech read by his foreign affairs adviser Nabil Shaath, argued that “payments to support the families are a social responsibility to look after innocent people affected by the incarceration or killing of their loved ones.“It’s quite frankly racist rhetoric to call all our political prisoners terrorists. They are, in effect, the victims of the occupation, not the creators of the occupation,” Abbas said.Dov Lieber contributed to this report
Norway ex-PM decries ‘double standard’ allowing Israel to have nukes-Former leader says Pakistan, India and Jewish state not being signatories to non-proliferation treaty undermines efforts to contain Iran-By JTA-TOI-DEC 6,18
MONACO — At a conference on tolerance in Europe, a former leader of Norway said that Israel was part of the problem undermining efforts to limit the proliferation of nuclear weapons.Kjell Magne Bondevik, whose last term as Norwegian prime minister ended in 2005, singled out Pakistan, India and the Jewish state in a speech Tuesday in Monaco’s Cafe de Paris during a conference on tolerance by the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation — a think tank headed by European Jewish Congress President Moshe Kantor and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.“We have used wars and occupation of Muslim countries,” Bondevik, a Lutheran pastor and founder of the Oslo Center, said in prefacing his comments about nuclear proliferation. “Of course this does not excuse terrorism but we need to be more consistent. The same can be said about nuclear proliferation, but how to approach countries like Pakistan, India and Israel? Is this a double standard? We have to question ourselves and we have to be aware that many in the Muslim world may use this as an excuse and talk of double standard in this regard.”Moshe Kantor, the president of the European Jewish Congress and of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation, said that Bondevik’s observation is part of “endless talk” on this subject, which he said does not help find practical solutions.“This attitude in which everything is seen as connected, if we continue we will never come to see the realization of our goal: Practical, on-the-ground recommendations for civil society,” Kantor said at the conference in Monaco, titled “Tackling Extremism and Intolerance in a Diverse Society.”In 2015, Iran signed a deal with six world powers that lifted international sanctions from the Islamic Republic in exchange for its dialing back of some elements of its nuclear program, which Western intelligence agencies said was aimed at achieving offensive capabilities.Unlike Iran, India, Pakistan and Israel have not signed the 1968 UN Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.Both southern Asian countries said they have nuclear weapons. Israel is believed to possess them, as well, but it has neither denied nor confirmed this.In a possible reference to Israel, Bondevik also said that a main reason for “extremism is humiliation, and occupation can create the feeling of humiliation.”
Dangerous’ to suggest Israel doesn’t want peace, US envoy says-Ambassador David Friedman tells AIPAC 'we owe' Trump a debt of gratitude for shift in US-Israel ties-By Tamar Pileggi-TOI-MAR 6,18
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman on Tuesday said that it was “dangerous” to say that Israel is not committed to Middle East peace, an apparent jab at left-wing groups.“Saying that you are pro-Israel and pro-peace is disingenuous,” he told the America Israel Public Affairs Committee annual conference in Washington, DC.“Using that phrase suggests Israel is not pro-peace. Saying pro-Israel and pro-peace is a redundancy,” he told the crowd of 18,000 attendees. “If you support Israel, you support peace and it’s dangerous to suggest otherwise.“Peace is a core Israeli value and a core American value,” he said.The comments were seemingly a dig at dovish Israel lobby J Street, whose motto is “pro-Israel, pro-peace.” Before becoming ambassador, Friedman came under fire for calling the group’s leadership “kapos,” referring to Jews who were forced to collaborate with Nazis in the Holocaust. He later apologized for the remark.In his AIPAC remarks, Friedman also praised the Trump administration for heralding a “fundamental change” in Israel-US relations.The recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital “represents a fundamental shift, a sea change in the way American relates to its closest ally in the Middle East, Israel,” he said.“We owe him a tremendous debt of attitude,” he said, apparently lumping himself in with the pro-Israel activists at the convention.On Monday, Trump’s envoy to the UN, Nikki Haley, also touted the administration’s stance toward Israel at the AIPAC Policy Conference.In her remarks, Haley said Trump administration’s insistence on fair treatment for Israel at the UN is “actually a demand for peace.”She said the UN’s bias against Israel, she said, has “long undermined peace by encouraging an illusion that Israel will simply go away.”But Israel, she stressed, “is not going away. When the world recognizes that, then peace becomes possible” because all sides will then “be dealing with realities, not fantasies” and “reasonable negotiated compromises can prevail over absolutist demands,” she said in a speech met with thunderous applause and frequent standing ovations.Speaking after Haley on Monday was US Vice President Mike Pence, who vowed that any future Israeli Palestinian peace deal brokered by Washington “will never compromise the safety and security of the Jewish state of Israel.”
Palestinian official: We did not run away from negotiations-[Associated Press]-YAHOONEWS-March 6, 2018
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — A senior Palestinian official has objected to President Donald Trump's assertion that the Palestinians have walked away from peace negotiations.Mohammed Ishtayeh, a top adviser to President Mahmoud Abbas, says the Trump administration has pushed the Palestinians away from any peace process by taking a series of steps in favor of Israel."When ... President Trump says the Palestinians are running away from the negotiating table, which negotiating table?" Ishtayeh told foreign journalists. "Since he came to power, there have been no negotiations whatsoever."Ishtayeh criticized the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to move its embassy there in May, as well as U.S. cuts in funding to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.He called for U.S. "confidence-building steps" and an internationally sponsored peace process.
Gaza on the brink of explosion, Hamas warns-Terror group accuses PA of failing to lift sanctions on enclave, leading to humanitarian crisis-By Khaled Abu Toameh-TOI-DEC 6,18
Everyone “realizes that the Gaza Strip is sitting on a volcano,” Haniyeh cautioned while speaking to reporters in Gaza City.“No one knows what will be the consequences of the explosion or its impact on the region,” he said.The Hamas terror group, the de facto ruler in Gaza, and others have warned of an impending humanitarian crisis in the Strip, compounded by sanctions put on the coastal enclave by PA President Mahmoud Abbas.Last year, Abbas announced a series of sanctions on the Gaza Strip with the hope of undermining Hamas’s rule over the coastal enclave.The sanctions included, among other things, the suspension of payments for electricity supplied by Israel to the Gaza Strip, the forced early retirement of thousands of PA civil servants and halting welfare payments to hundreds of families.Hamas charged Monday that the PA’s refusal to lift the sanctions shows that it is not interested in ending the rift between his group and Abbas’s Fatah faction.“The PA and its government, headed by Rami Hamdallah, haven’t made a decision to embark on the path of national unity,” said Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem.The continued sanctions, he added, “prove that the leadership of Fatah insists on the logic of singularity in decision-making and excluding the logic of partnership.”The Hamas accusation came amid continued efforts by Egypt to end the dispute between the terror group and Fatah.Last month, a senior Hamas delegation headed by Ismail Haniyeh spent three weeks in Cairo in a bid to solve the crisis and pave the way for the implementation of the “reconciliation” agreement, which was signed in November 2017.Senior Egyptian security officials have held meetings in Gaza over the past week with representatives of Hamas and other Palestinian groups about the ongoing crisis.However, on Monday it became evident that the Egyptians had failed to make any significant progress.Haniyeh said that the visit of the Hamas delegation to Cairo has improved bilateral relations between the two sides. “We have overcome the crisis of confidence,” he added. “We are now in the process of building strong confidence with Egypt.”Haniyeh claimed that the Egyptians had expressed appreciation for Hamas’s efforts to secure the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. The Egyptians, he said, also demonstrated understanding for the “grave humanitarian crisis” in the Gaza Strip and expressed readiness to ease restrictions, including reopening the Rafah border crossing.The Hamas leader expressed hope that Abbas and the PA leadership would display enough “courage” to take real decisions to end the dispute between the two parties.Hamas, he said, has done its utmost to remove obstacles hindering the implementation of the “reconciliation” deal.Another top Hamas official, Khalil al Hayeh, said Hamas officials met last week with Nickolay Mladenov, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip.Hayeh said that Hamas demanded during the meeting that the UN join Egyptian efforts to implement the “reconciliation” agreement. He did not say whether the UN envoy had accepted the offer or not.The process of “reconciliation is moving at slow pace and what is needed is a political decision to achieve a breakthrough,” Hayeh said.
At Hezbollah event, Fatah official urges dialogue with Iran-Flanked by Lebanese terror group's second-in-command, Abbas Zaki denounces US and Israel, calls for rapprochement between Arab states and Tehran-By Khaled Abu Toameh-TOI-DEC 6,18
Abbas Zaki, a veteran member of the Palestinians’ ruling Fatah faction and former Palestinian Authority ambassador to Lebanon, made his comments during a Beirut event commemorating Iranian diplomat Mohammed Saleh al Husseini, who was killed in an ambush in the Lebanese capital in the early 1980s.Lebanese security sources said at the time they believed the Iranian official was killed by Iraqi agents.Zaki, whose views do not always dovetail with those held by the Fatah leadership. was the top Palestinian representative at the Hezbollah event. He appeared at the event sitting next to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem.The Lebanon-based terrorist group is supported by Iran and sworn to Israel’s destruction.Fatah leaders have in the past accused Iran of meddling in the internal affairs of the Palestinians by providing financial and military aid to rival party Hamas.In his address, Zaki, member of the Fatah Central Committee, called for an Arab-Iran dialogue “on the basis of good neighboring.”Iran, he noted approvingly, has become a key threat to Israel.Zaki accused the US “and its slaves” of working to transform the Israeli-Arab conflict into a conflict between Muslim Sunnis and Shias. These attempts, he stressed, will not distract the Palestinians and Arabs from their fight with Israel.The top Palestinian official lashed out at US President Donald Trump’s December 6 decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, dubbing it an “assault not only on the Palestinians, but on Arab dignity and pride as well.”Zaki called on the Arab countries to consider reviving the 1950 Treaty of Joint Defense. The pact considers any armed aggression made against any one or more of the Arab League members as directed against them all. It requires league members to take, individually and collectively, all steps available to repel the aggression.Reviving the defense agreement would allow the Arabs to depart from the path of “treason,” Zaki explained. He also expressed fear that the Arabs would continue to display apathy in the face of the mounting threats and “US-led conspiracies” against them.Zaki said that any Israeli military attack against Hezbollah would be an “attack on Lebanon and Palestine and all the Islamic and Arab holy sites.”Zaki’s remarks were reported by the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen television channel website.Qassem, Hezbollah’s second-in-command, said in a speech that Israel was the source of all unrest in the region.“Our region has been drowning in wars, unrest and instability for the past 70 years because of the Zionist entity,” he charged.Qassem also accused the US of seeking to “undermine the will and unity” of the Lebanese people by threatening more sanctions against Hezbollah.
EU agrees first defense projects, delays decision on British role-[Reuters]-By Robin Emmott-YAHOONEWS-March 6, 2018
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A group of European Union countries agreed on Tuesday to develop their first joint defense projects under a pact that excludes Britain, giving London a taste of life outside the bloc's foreign policy decision-making process.The 25 signatories to the pact also delayed a decision on whether to let non-member states join the projects, prolonging uncertainty over any future role for Britain after it leaves the EU next year.As Europe's biggest military power along with France, Britain is central to European security efforts but has long blocked defense integration, fearing the creation of an EU army.Nevertheless, Britain is concerned about being left outside the new cooperation pact and missing out on weapons projects. Prime Minister Theresa May wants to reach a "security treaty" with the EU by 2019.Defence ministers from the pact's signatory states, which comprise all but three of the current EU members, signed off in Brussels on 17 collaborative projects. These include a European armored infantry fighting vehicle, underwater anti-mine sensors and a European medical command.The eventual aim of the Permanent Structured Cooperation pact is to develop and deploy forces together, backed by a multi-billion-euro fund for defense research and development that is now under negotiation.Denmark, which has opted out of most EU military matters, and neutral Malta are the others not taking part.Its strongest backers - France, Germany, Italy and Spain - hope that by achieving a long-held ambition to develop national defenses together, the EU will save money by putting an end to competing national industries.Spanish Defence Minister Maria Dolores de Cospedal played down some U.S. concerns that Europe might overlap with what the transatlantic alliance is doing. "There is no suggestion of duplication with NATO," she said.But in some areas, the Europeans do seek "strategic autonomy" from the United States to be able to face threats on Europe's borders in North Africa and the Sahel.At their meeting, the ministers delayed until the end of this year any decision on whether to allow non-EU countries to join future defense projects. That was despite expectations of a decision by the end of June.One senior EU official said ministers want to see more progress in Britain's exit negotiations with Brussels given the sensitive nature of defense cooperation with London.In an EU document approved by ministers, any outside involvement in the pact will be "of an exceptional nature" and only if a country meets certain conditions, such as bringing sufficient financing and technical know-how.(Reporting by Robin Emmott; editing by David Stamp)
N.Ireland party rejects 'unacceptable' EU Brexit plan-[AFP]-YAHOONEWS-March 6, 2018
Brussels (AFP) - The Northern Irish party that props up British Prime Minister Theresa May's government on Tuesday rejected "unacceptable" EU plans for the Irish border after talks with the bloc's Brexit negotiator.Arlene Foster, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in the British-ruled province, said EU negotiator Michel Barnier had been "receptive" during a "very open and constructive" meeting in Brussels.But she said the pro-British DUP could not accept an EU draft divorce treaty unveiled last week, which says Northern Ireland must stay in a customs union with the rest of the bloc if no better way is found to avoid a hard border with EU-member Ireland."We feel that the current draft EU legal text is not a faithful or fair translation" of a preliminary withdrawal deal reached by Britain and the EU in December, Foster told a news conference in Brussels.Foster, the former first minister in Northern Ireland's currently suspended power-sharing government, added that the EU had proposed a document that "we found unacceptable and the government finds unacceptable".Barnier said on Twitter after the talks that the EU was "looking for practical solutions to avoiding a hard border, in full respect of the constitutional status of NI (Northern Ireland), as set out in the GFA (Good Friday agreement)."The 1998 Good Friday peace accords ended three decades of sectarian conflict between Protestants and Catholics that left 3,500 people dead in Northern Ireland.The DUP brought talks on the Brexit divorce deal to the brink of collapse in December by holding out until the EU promised that there would be no new internal customs border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.But the EU's draft text drops that assurance, focusing instead on the need for a "backstop" option that would effectively keep Northern Ireland in the customs union to avoid border checks after Brexit in March 2019.Foster urged May to come up with a British version of the draft providing "sensible" and "imaginative" solutions, noting that most of Northern Ireland's trade is with the rest of the UK.DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds meanwhile warned Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar against taking an "aggressive" stance in the talks, saying that Ireland would suffer most if there was no Brexit deal.
Germany still backs new Russia gas pipeline By Andrew Rettman-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, 5. Mar, 17:48-The latest Russia-Ukraine gas dispute has not dampened Germany's enthusiasm to build a new pipeline from Russia.The pipeline, Nord Stream 2, was a "purely commercial project", Steffen Seibert, chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, said in Berlin on Monday (5 March), according to the Reuters news agency.He urged Russia not to use Nord Stream 2 to cut off Ukraine in future.It was "in the interest of Germany and Europe that Ukraine continues to play a role as a transit country for Russian gas," he said.He also criticised Russia's handling of the gas dispute, saying it had "caused irritation" in Berlin, Brussels, and further afield.Seibert spoke after Russia, last week, refused to sell gas to Ukraine in a commercial disagreement, recalling the winter of 2009, when some EU states who imported Russian gas via Ukraine faced blackouts.The situation, nine years down the line, has changed.Russia has invaded south and east Ukraine, where it continues to wage low-intensity war.But Ukraine and EU states have built infrastructure to share Russian gas shipped to the EU via Germany and Poland, making it harder for Russia to exert pressure on Ukraine."Shipments from the EU, from Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary have increased ... the shortfall is covered in full," Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko said on Saturday."The times of Russia's gas blackmail are over," he added.Russia's energy minister, Alexander Novak, also told EU energy commissioner Maros Sefcovic on Monday that "transit of gas to EU member states [via Ukraine] is not endangered".He said the dispute could "take some time, [but] will not have immediate consequences on [EU] gas flows".The situation arose after Russia refused to pay Ukraine a €2bn gas trade award granted by an arbitration tribunal in Stockholm.It is unlikely to get out of hand, Stefan Meister, an expert at German think tank DGAP told EUobserver, because Russian leader Vladimir Putin had little to gain from escalation."They [the Russians] are finally earning money with the higher gas prices and the cold winter, which they really need. There are [Russian] elections and then the World soccer championship [in Russia] coming up. Putin doesn't need a substantial crisis with the EU at the moment," Meister said.Critics of Nord Stream 2 have said that, if built, it would enable Russia to blackmail Ukraine and eastern EU states once again by concentrating supplies in one route to Germany."Gazprom … is not a gas company but a platform for Russian coercion. How much more evidence do German politicians need to cancel Nord Stream 2?," Anders Fogh Rsmussen, a Danish politician who used to be head of Nato and who now works as a consultant for Ukraine, said on Saturday.DGAP's Meister said the latest Ukraine dispute would end up damaging confidence more in Ukraine than in Russia, no matter who was right, however."Everything stands for building Nord Stream 2, and the new/old Groko will support it," he said, referring to the new government coalition in Berlin."The situation in Ukraine will strengthen those groups [in Germany] who support Nord Stream 2 and Russia will use the argument that Ukraine made and makes problems and that we need Nord Stream 2," he said.
Italy votes to become more eurosceptic By Peter Teffer-EUOBSERVER
Brussels, 5. Mar, 09:19-Europe woke up to a new period of uncertainty on Monday, as Italian voters produced a new parliament with no clear majority and rewarded parties that criticised the establishment.Preliminary results on Monday morning (5 March) showed the eurosceptic Five Star Movement emerge as the largest single party, with 31 percent of the votes.The centre-right coalition of convicted tax fraudster and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi won 37 percent.The ruling centre-left bloc of another former prime minister, Matteo Renzi, received almost 24 percent.It will take until later on Monday before the composition of the parliament is truly clear.But it is likely that Italy will have a hung parliament with no clear majority, leaving a difficult task to Italian president Sergio Mattarella to lead coalition talks.What this means for European integration is also unclear, but it is possible that Italy's government will become less inclined to support the grand projects recently floated – just as Germany's centre-left Social Democrats gave a new grand coalition the go-ahead on Sunday.In any case, the results showed that many Italians were fed up with the political mainstream. The Five Star Movement grew from some 25 percent to 31 percent of the votes.The party started as a protest group set up by ex-comedian Beppe Grillo, and has in the past called for a referendum on eurozone membership.While the centre-right bloc of four parties emerged as the largest coalition, Berlusconi's Forza Italia received around 13 percent.The eurosceptic, anti-immigration, far-right Lega, formerly Lega Nord, received some 18 percent.The party is led by MEP Matteo Salvini, who in the past has called the introduction of the euro an "error" and wants a deep reform of the EU.In the European Parliament, the party has formed an alliance with the French anti-EU National Front. Following the vote, the president of that party, Marine le Pen, congratulated Salvini, and said that the European Union was about to have "a bad night".The 81-year-old Berlusconi meanwhile was interrupted at the ballot box by a topless protester of the Femen movement, who had 'your time has run out' painted on her body.The ruling Democratic Party has already acknowledged defeat."This is a very clear defeat for us," said Maurizio Martina, outgoing agriculture minister."We are expecting a result below our expectations... This is very clearly a negative result for us," he said.
CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL 2ND WAVE OF WW3 (200 MILLION MAN ARMY)
REVELATION 16:12-16
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THE TURKEY ATATURK DAM ON THE EUPHRATES CAN BE SHUT AND DRIED UP ALREADY BY TURKEY)
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.(ITS AT THIS TIME I BELIEVE WHEN AMERICA GETS NUKED BY RUSSIA ON THE WAY TO THE MIDEAST)
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(WORLDWIDE WAR)(TURKEY-IRAQ-SYRIA)(EUPHRATES RIVER CONSISTS OF 760 MILES IN TURKEY,440 MILES IN SYRIA AND 660 MILES IN IRAQ)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,(WORLDWIDE WAR) which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE-2 billion)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
China defends hike in military spending as proportionate and low-[Reuters]-By Ben BlanchardYAHOONEWS-March 6, 2018
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's increase in military spending for 2018, the biggest rise in three years, was proportionate and low, and Beijing had not been goaded into an arms race with the United States, state media said on Tuesday.China on Monday unveiled an 8.1 percent rise in defense spending at the opening of parliament, fuelling an ambitious military modernization program and making its neighbors, particularly Japan and self-ruled Taiwan, nervous.In an editorial, the official China Daily said the figure had prompted "finger-pointing from the usual suspects"."China's defense budget is neither the largest in size - it accounts for just one-fourth of the military spending of the United States - nor does it have the fastest growth rate," the English-language newspaper said."And if calculated in per capita terms, China's military lags well behind other major countries."The defense spending figure is closely watched worldwide for clues to China's strategic intentions as it develops new military capabilities, including stealth fighters, aircraft carriers and anti-satellite missiles.Commander of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet Admiral Scott Swift described China's lack of transparency as "troubling.""There are a lot of questions on the minds of countries in the region and extending beyond the region of what exactly does this mean. People shouldn’t be left guessing as to exactly what the objective of these increases is," he said at a press roundtable in Tokyo where he is meeting Japanese officials.China insists its military spending is transparent and that it poses a threat to nobody, simply needing to update old equipment and defend its legitimate interests, even as it is increasingly assertive over disputes in the East and South China Seas and on self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims.In the East and South China Seas, China is simply trying to stand up for itself, the China Daily said."The country has seen its maritime interests being increasingly infringed upon in recent years, and thus seeking a stronger military is natural for it to safeguard its interests and counter any threat that may materialize from the aggressive posturing of others upset by its rise."China has seen the United States as its biggest potential security threat, alarming Beijing with freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea the United States calling China a strategic competitor.U.S. President Donald Trump has proposed the largest military budget since 2011, focused on beefing up the United States' nuclear defenses and countering the growing strength of China and Russia.Official Chinese defense spending is about one-quarter that of the United States, though many foreign analysts and diplomats say China under-reports the figure.Widely-read Chinese tabloid the Global Times said if China really wanted to expand militarily, the defense budget should really be rising 20 to 30 percent."China has obviously not fallen into the mind-set of engaging in an arms race with the U.S. Otherwise it could totally realize double-digit increases in its defense expenditure," the paper said in its editorial.U.S. provocations in the South China Sea, tension in the Taiwan Strait and the United States, Japan, Australia and India forming alliances demand a rise in spending, it added."But Beijing has stuck to its own template and was not disturbed by external factors."Still, China has made no secret of its broader military ambitions, with President Xi Jinping promising last year to make China's armed forces world-class by the middle of the century.Xu Qiliang, a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, which runs the armed forces and Xi heads, told military delegates to parliament that China needed to "fully strengthen troop training and war preparedness and raise the ability to win", state news agency Xinhua said late on Monday.(Reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING, additional reporting by Tim Kelly in TOKYO; Editing by Michael Perry)
Russian cargo plane crashes in Syria, 32 dead-[Associated Press]-YAHOONEWS-March 6, 2018
MOSCOW (AP) — A military cargo plane crashed as it was descending to land at a Russian air base in Syria on Tuesday, killing all 32 people onboard, the Russian Defense Ministry said.The Russian military said an An-26, with 26 passengers and six crew members onboard, crashed just 500 meters (1,600 feet) from the runway. The military blamed the crash on a technical error.Russia, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, leases the Hemeimeem military base in Syria, near the Mediterranean coast.The base is far from the front lines of the conflict, but came under shelling in December. The Russian military insisted the cargo plane did not come under fire, while saying it would conduct a full investigation.
North Korea says willing to hold talks with U.S., halt nuclear tests-South-[Reuters]-By Christine Kim-YAHOONEWS-March 6, 2018
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea is willing to hold talks with the United States on denuclearisation and will suspend nuclear tests while those talks are under way, the South said on Tuesday after a delegation returned from the North where it met leader Kim Jong Un.North and South Korea, still technically at war but enjoying a sharp easing in tension since the Winter Olympics in the South last month, will also hold their first summit in more than a decade next month at the border village of Panmunjom, the head of the delegation, Chung Eui-yong, told a media briefing."North Korea made clear its willingness to denuclearize the Korean peninsula and the fact there is no reason for it to have a nuclear program if military threats against the North are resolved and its regime is secure," Chung said.Reacting to the news, U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted: "We will see what happens!"Chung cited the North as saying it would not carry out nuclear or missile tests while talks with the international community were under way. North Korea has not carried out any such tests since November last year."The North also said it can have frank talks with the United States on denuclearisation and the normalization of ties between North Korea and the United States," Chung said.The prospect of talks between the isolated North and the United States helped boost global stock markets, with the broadest gauge of global shares, MSCI's All Country World Index, rising 0.6 percent and U.S. stock futures pointing to a higher opening on Wall Street.TRADING THREATS-Washington and Pyongyang have been at loggerheads for months over the North's nuclear and missile programs, with Trump and Kim Jong Un trading insults and threatening war. North Korea has regularly vowed never to give up its nuclear program, which it sees as an essential deterrent and "treasured sword" against U.S. plans for invasion.The United States, which stations 28,500 troops in the South, a legacy of the Korean War, denies any such plans.To ensure close communication, the two Koreas, whose 1950-53 conflict ended in a mere truce, not a peace treaty, will set up a hotline between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un, Chung said.The last inter-Korean summit was in 2007 when late former president Roh Moo-hyun was in office.The agreement came on the heels of a visit made by a 10-member South Korean delegation led by Chung to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, on Monday in hopes of encouraging North Korea and the United States to talk to one another.Kim Jong Un met senior South Korean government officials for the first time and said it was his "firm will to vigorously advance" inter-Korean ties and pursue reunification, the North's official news agency said."Through this delegation visit, the South Korean government created a very important opportunity to manage North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, prevent war on the Korean peninsula and create military trust going forward," said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior research fellow at the Sejong Institute.Tensions between the two Koreas eased during the Olympics in South Korea, where Moon hosted a high-level North Korean delegation and the two sides presented a joint women's ice hockey team. Kim Jong Un had invited Moon to North Korea for a summit, which was the first such request from a North Korean leader to a South Korean president.Some U.S. lawmakers reacted with cautious optimism to signs of an opening for dialogue."This is encouraging," Democratic Senator Chris Coons said in an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday. "This suggests that diplomacy can be the follow on to confrontation."Republican Senator Jeff Flake told MSNBC: "This is encouraging news. It's not definitive. I mean, I'm not sure that this will hold, but it is encouraging to see that they're ready to talk."U.S.-S.KOREA DRILLS TO GO ON-North Korea has boasted of developing nuclear-tipped missiles capable of reaching the United States, in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions, but Pyongyang and Washington both say they want a diplomatic solution to the stand-off.The first inter-Korean talks in more than two years were held early this year to bring North Korea to the Winter Olympics, when South Korea and the United States also postponed an annual joint large-scale military exercise that North Korea views as a preparation for invasion.During this week's visit, a senior Blue House official said North Korea was informed it was not feasible to postpone the joint military drills between South Korea and the United States again and that Kim Jong Un acknowledged the situation.Kim Jong Un said he understood the drills, expected in April, would be of a similar scale seen in previous years, the official said. The North Korean leader also had a request for the world: that he be seriously acknowledged as a dialogue counterpart, said the official.The South's delegation leader, Chung, said he would travel to the United States to explain the outcome of the visit to North Korea and that he had a message from North Korea he would deliver to Trump.Chung will later visit China and Russia, while Suh Hoon, the head of South Korea's spy agency and another member of the delegation, will head to Japan.The United States has said before it is open to talks but its position has been that dialogue must be aimed at North Korea's denuclearisation, something Pyongyang has rejected.Moon has also remained vigilant against North Korea's weapons ambitions, saying on Tuesday South Korea should bolster its defenses in tandem with talks with Pyongyang.The Pentagon has nevertheless said it was "cautiously optimistic" about the North-South talks, which resumed in January for the first time in two years.(Reporting by Christine Kim; Additional reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Nick Macfie and Alex Richardson)
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
Bill slashing PA funding over terror payouts clears first vote-Knesset plenary green-lights private proposal, but Defense Ministry's softened version of bill has yet to come to vote-By Marissa Newman-TOI-DEC 6,18
Fifty-two Knesset members voted in favor of the private bill by Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern and Likud MK Avi Dichter, which would deduct welfare payments paid out by the Palestinian Authority to Palestinian prisoners and their relatives from tax revenues Israel transfers annually to the PA.Another 10 MKs opposed the bill. The bill would need another two readings to become law.The Defense Ministry has also submitted a softened version of the legislation, which would allow the government to either deduct the funds, which would be irreversible, or “freeze” the payments, leaving the security cabinet with the final say.That proposal — which received coalition backing — has yet to come to plenary vote and will likely supplant Stern and Dichter’s bill.Under an economic agreement signed in 1994, Israel transfers to the PA tens of millions of dollars each year in customs duties levied on goods destined for Palestinian markets that transit through Israeli ports.Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said last month the withheld tax revenues would go toward compensating Israeli terror victims who cannot sue their attackers.“Soon, this theater of the absurd will come to an end, and the salaries of the terrorists that we will withhold from [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas will be used to prevent terrorism and compensate victims,” he said.Critics of the bill have warned it could bankrupt the PA, leading to its collapse.The PLO gives monthly payments to all Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel, no matter the reason for their incarceration, and also to families of so-called “martyrs” — a term used by the PLO to refer to anyone killed by an Israeli, including in the act of carrying out an attack.A recent report published by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli Defense Ministry agency responsible for administering civilian affairs in the West Bank and the crossings with Gaza, said that around one-third of the Palestinian prisoners are “directly responsible for the murder of Israelis.”According to the Defense Ministry, the Palestinian Authority in 2017 paid NIS 687 million ($198 million) to the so-called “martyrs’ families fund” and NIS 550 million ($160 million) to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club — some 7 percent of its overall budget.Palestinian prisoners serving 20-30 year sentences for carrying out terror attacks are eligible for a lifetime NIS 10,000 ($1,900) monthly stipend, the Defense Ministry said, citing PA figures. Those prisoners who receive a 3-5 year sentence get a monthly wage of NIS 2,000 ($580). Palestinian prisoners who are married, have children, live in Jerusalem, or hold Israeli citizenship receive additional payments.US lawmakers have also been advancing a similar bill, the Taylor Force Act — named for a US national killed in a Tel Aviv stabbing terror attack — which would cut US funding to the PA unless it discontinued its practice of paying monthly stipends to the families of terrorists who kill Israelis.The PA has refused to cease the payments to Palestinian prisoners.In June, Abbas, in a speech read by his foreign affairs adviser Nabil Shaath, argued that “payments to support the families are a social responsibility to look after innocent people affected by the incarceration or killing of their loved ones.“It’s quite frankly racist rhetoric to call all our political prisoners terrorists. They are, in effect, the victims of the occupation, not the creators of the occupation,” Abbas said.Dov Lieber contributed to this report
Norway ex-PM decries ‘double standard’ allowing Israel to have nukes-Former leader says Pakistan, India and Jewish state not being signatories to non-proliferation treaty undermines efforts to contain Iran-By JTA-TOI-DEC 6,18
MONACO — At a conference on tolerance in Europe, a former leader of Norway said that Israel was part of the problem undermining efforts to limit the proliferation of nuclear weapons.Kjell Magne Bondevik, whose last term as Norwegian prime minister ended in 2005, singled out Pakistan, India and the Jewish state in a speech Tuesday in Monaco’s Cafe de Paris during a conference on tolerance by the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation — a think tank headed by European Jewish Congress President Moshe Kantor and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.“We have used wars and occupation of Muslim countries,” Bondevik, a Lutheran pastor and founder of the Oslo Center, said in prefacing his comments about nuclear proliferation. “Of course this does not excuse terrorism but we need to be more consistent. The same can be said about nuclear proliferation, but how to approach countries like Pakistan, India and Israel? Is this a double standard? We have to question ourselves and we have to be aware that many in the Muslim world may use this as an excuse and talk of double standard in this regard.”Moshe Kantor, the president of the European Jewish Congress and of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation, said that Bondevik’s observation is part of “endless talk” on this subject, which he said does not help find practical solutions.“This attitude in which everything is seen as connected, if we continue we will never come to see the realization of our goal: Practical, on-the-ground recommendations for civil society,” Kantor said at the conference in Monaco, titled “Tackling Extremism and Intolerance in a Diverse Society.”In 2015, Iran signed a deal with six world powers that lifted international sanctions from the Islamic Republic in exchange for its dialing back of some elements of its nuclear program, which Western intelligence agencies said was aimed at achieving offensive capabilities.Unlike Iran, India, Pakistan and Israel have not signed the 1968 UN Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.Both southern Asian countries said they have nuclear weapons. Israel is believed to possess them, as well, but it has neither denied nor confirmed this.In a possible reference to Israel, Bondevik also said that a main reason for “extremism is humiliation, and occupation can create the feeling of humiliation.”
Dangerous’ to suggest Israel doesn’t want peace, US envoy says-Ambassador David Friedman tells AIPAC 'we owe' Trump a debt of gratitude for shift in US-Israel ties-By Tamar Pileggi-TOI-MAR 6,18
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman on Tuesday said that it was “dangerous” to say that Israel is not committed to Middle East peace, an apparent jab at left-wing groups.“Saying that you are pro-Israel and pro-peace is disingenuous,” he told the America Israel Public Affairs Committee annual conference in Washington, DC.“Using that phrase suggests Israel is not pro-peace. Saying pro-Israel and pro-peace is a redundancy,” he told the crowd of 18,000 attendees. “If you support Israel, you support peace and it’s dangerous to suggest otherwise.“Peace is a core Israeli value and a core American value,” he said.The comments were seemingly a dig at dovish Israel lobby J Street, whose motto is “pro-Israel, pro-peace.” Before becoming ambassador, Friedman came under fire for calling the group’s leadership “kapos,” referring to Jews who were forced to collaborate with Nazis in the Holocaust. He later apologized for the remark.In his AIPAC remarks, Friedman also praised the Trump administration for heralding a “fundamental change” in Israel-US relations.The recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital “represents a fundamental shift, a sea change in the way American relates to its closest ally in the Middle East, Israel,” he said.“We owe him a tremendous debt of attitude,” he said, apparently lumping himself in with the pro-Israel activists at the convention.On Monday, Trump’s envoy to the UN, Nikki Haley, also touted the administration’s stance toward Israel at the AIPAC Policy Conference.In her remarks, Haley said Trump administration’s insistence on fair treatment for Israel at the UN is “actually a demand for peace.”She said the UN’s bias against Israel, she said, has “long undermined peace by encouraging an illusion that Israel will simply go away.”But Israel, she stressed, “is not going away. When the world recognizes that, then peace becomes possible” because all sides will then “be dealing with realities, not fantasies” and “reasonable negotiated compromises can prevail over absolutist demands,” she said in a speech met with thunderous applause and frequent standing ovations.Speaking after Haley on Monday was US Vice President Mike Pence, who vowed that any future Israeli Palestinian peace deal brokered by Washington “will never compromise the safety and security of the Jewish state of Israel.”
Palestinian official: We did not run away from negotiations-[Associated Press]-YAHOONEWS-March 6, 2018
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — A senior Palestinian official has objected to President Donald Trump's assertion that the Palestinians have walked away from peace negotiations.Mohammed Ishtayeh, a top adviser to President Mahmoud Abbas, says the Trump administration has pushed the Palestinians away from any peace process by taking a series of steps in favor of Israel."When ... President Trump says the Palestinians are running away from the negotiating table, which negotiating table?" Ishtayeh told foreign journalists. "Since he came to power, there have been no negotiations whatsoever."Ishtayeh criticized the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to move its embassy there in May, as well as U.S. cuts in funding to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.He called for U.S. "confidence-building steps" and an internationally sponsored peace process.
Gaza on the brink of explosion, Hamas warns-Terror group accuses PA of failing to lift sanctions on enclave, leading to humanitarian crisis-By Khaled Abu Toameh-TOI-DEC 6,18
Everyone “realizes that the Gaza Strip is sitting on a volcano,” Haniyeh cautioned while speaking to reporters in Gaza City.“No one knows what will be the consequences of the explosion or its impact on the region,” he said.The Hamas terror group, the de facto ruler in Gaza, and others have warned of an impending humanitarian crisis in the Strip, compounded by sanctions put on the coastal enclave by PA President Mahmoud Abbas.Last year, Abbas announced a series of sanctions on the Gaza Strip with the hope of undermining Hamas’s rule over the coastal enclave.The sanctions included, among other things, the suspension of payments for electricity supplied by Israel to the Gaza Strip, the forced early retirement of thousands of PA civil servants and halting welfare payments to hundreds of families.Hamas charged Monday that the PA’s refusal to lift the sanctions shows that it is not interested in ending the rift between his group and Abbas’s Fatah faction.“The PA and its government, headed by Rami Hamdallah, haven’t made a decision to embark on the path of national unity,” said Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem.The continued sanctions, he added, “prove that the leadership of Fatah insists on the logic of singularity in decision-making and excluding the logic of partnership.”The Hamas accusation came amid continued efforts by Egypt to end the dispute between the terror group and Fatah.Last month, a senior Hamas delegation headed by Ismail Haniyeh spent three weeks in Cairo in a bid to solve the crisis and pave the way for the implementation of the “reconciliation” agreement, which was signed in November 2017.Senior Egyptian security officials have held meetings in Gaza over the past week with representatives of Hamas and other Palestinian groups about the ongoing crisis.However, on Monday it became evident that the Egyptians had failed to make any significant progress.Haniyeh said that the visit of the Hamas delegation to Cairo has improved bilateral relations between the two sides. “We have overcome the crisis of confidence,” he added. “We are now in the process of building strong confidence with Egypt.”Haniyeh claimed that the Egyptians had expressed appreciation for Hamas’s efforts to secure the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. The Egyptians, he said, also demonstrated understanding for the “grave humanitarian crisis” in the Gaza Strip and expressed readiness to ease restrictions, including reopening the Rafah border crossing.The Hamas leader expressed hope that Abbas and the PA leadership would display enough “courage” to take real decisions to end the dispute between the two parties.Hamas, he said, has done its utmost to remove obstacles hindering the implementation of the “reconciliation” deal.Another top Hamas official, Khalil al Hayeh, said Hamas officials met last week with Nickolay Mladenov, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip.Hayeh said that Hamas demanded during the meeting that the UN join Egyptian efforts to implement the “reconciliation” agreement. He did not say whether the UN envoy had accepted the offer or not.The process of “reconciliation is moving at slow pace and what is needed is a political decision to achieve a breakthrough,” Hayeh said.
At Hezbollah event, Fatah official urges dialogue with Iran-Flanked by Lebanese terror group's second-in-command, Abbas Zaki denounces US and Israel, calls for rapprochement between Arab states and Tehran-By Khaled Abu Toameh-TOI-DEC 6,18
Abbas Zaki, a veteran member of the Palestinians’ ruling Fatah faction and former Palestinian Authority ambassador to Lebanon, made his comments during a Beirut event commemorating Iranian diplomat Mohammed Saleh al Husseini, who was killed in an ambush in the Lebanese capital in the early 1980s.Lebanese security sources said at the time they believed the Iranian official was killed by Iraqi agents.Zaki, whose views do not always dovetail with those held by the Fatah leadership. was the top Palestinian representative at the Hezbollah event. He appeared at the event sitting next to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem.The Lebanon-based terrorist group is supported by Iran and sworn to Israel’s destruction.Fatah leaders have in the past accused Iran of meddling in the internal affairs of the Palestinians by providing financial and military aid to rival party Hamas.In his address, Zaki, member of the Fatah Central Committee, called for an Arab-Iran dialogue “on the basis of good neighboring.”Iran, he noted approvingly, has become a key threat to Israel.Zaki accused the US “and its slaves” of working to transform the Israeli-Arab conflict into a conflict between Muslim Sunnis and Shias. These attempts, he stressed, will not distract the Palestinians and Arabs from their fight with Israel.The top Palestinian official lashed out at US President Donald Trump’s December 6 decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, dubbing it an “assault not only on the Palestinians, but on Arab dignity and pride as well.”Zaki called on the Arab countries to consider reviving the 1950 Treaty of Joint Defense. The pact considers any armed aggression made against any one or more of the Arab League members as directed against them all. It requires league members to take, individually and collectively, all steps available to repel the aggression.Reviving the defense agreement would allow the Arabs to depart from the path of “treason,” Zaki explained. He also expressed fear that the Arabs would continue to display apathy in the face of the mounting threats and “US-led conspiracies” against them.Zaki said that any Israeli military attack against Hezbollah would be an “attack on Lebanon and Palestine and all the Islamic and Arab holy sites.”Zaki’s remarks were reported by the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen television channel website.Qassem, Hezbollah’s second-in-command, said in a speech that Israel was the source of all unrest in the region.“Our region has been drowning in wars, unrest and instability for the past 70 years because of the Zionist entity,” he charged.Qassem also accused the US of seeking to “undermine the will and unity” of the Lebanese people by threatening more sanctions against Hezbollah.
EU agrees first defense projects, delays decision on British role-[Reuters]-By Robin Emmott-YAHOONEWS-March 6, 2018
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A group of European Union countries agreed on Tuesday to develop their first joint defense projects under a pact that excludes Britain, giving London a taste of life outside the bloc's foreign policy decision-making process.The 25 signatories to the pact also delayed a decision on whether to let non-member states join the projects, prolonging uncertainty over any future role for Britain after it leaves the EU next year.As Europe's biggest military power along with France, Britain is central to European security efforts but has long blocked defense integration, fearing the creation of an EU army.Nevertheless, Britain is concerned about being left outside the new cooperation pact and missing out on weapons projects. Prime Minister Theresa May wants to reach a "security treaty" with the EU by 2019.Defence ministers from the pact's signatory states, which comprise all but three of the current EU members, signed off in Brussels on 17 collaborative projects. These include a European armored infantry fighting vehicle, underwater anti-mine sensors and a European medical command.The eventual aim of the Permanent Structured Cooperation pact is to develop and deploy forces together, backed by a multi-billion-euro fund for defense research and development that is now under negotiation.Denmark, which has opted out of most EU military matters, and neutral Malta are the others not taking part.Its strongest backers - France, Germany, Italy and Spain - hope that by achieving a long-held ambition to develop national defenses together, the EU will save money by putting an end to competing national industries.Spanish Defence Minister Maria Dolores de Cospedal played down some U.S. concerns that Europe might overlap with what the transatlantic alliance is doing. "There is no suggestion of duplication with NATO," she said.But in some areas, the Europeans do seek "strategic autonomy" from the United States to be able to face threats on Europe's borders in North Africa and the Sahel.At their meeting, the ministers delayed until the end of this year any decision on whether to allow non-EU countries to join future defense projects. That was despite expectations of a decision by the end of June.One senior EU official said ministers want to see more progress in Britain's exit negotiations with Brussels given the sensitive nature of defense cooperation with London.In an EU document approved by ministers, any outside involvement in the pact will be "of an exceptional nature" and only if a country meets certain conditions, such as bringing sufficient financing and technical know-how.(Reporting by Robin Emmott; editing by David Stamp)
N.Ireland party rejects 'unacceptable' EU Brexit plan-[AFP]-YAHOONEWS-March 6, 2018
Brussels (AFP) - The Northern Irish party that props up British Prime Minister Theresa May's government on Tuesday rejected "unacceptable" EU plans for the Irish border after talks with the bloc's Brexit negotiator.Arlene Foster, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in the British-ruled province, said EU negotiator Michel Barnier had been "receptive" during a "very open and constructive" meeting in Brussels.But she said the pro-British DUP could not accept an EU draft divorce treaty unveiled last week, which says Northern Ireland must stay in a customs union with the rest of the bloc if no better way is found to avoid a hard border with EU-member Ireland."We feel that the current draft EU legal text is not a faithful or fair translation" of a preliminary withdrawal deal reached by Britain and the EU in December, Foster told a news conference in Brussels.Foster, the former first minister in Northern Ireland's currently suspended power-sharing government, added that the EU had proposed a document that "we found unacceptable and the government finds unacceptable".Barnier said on Twitter after the talks that the EU was "looking for practical solutions to avoiding a hard border, in full respect of the constitutional status of NI (Northern Ireland), as set out in the GFA (Good Friday agreement)."The 1998 Good Friday peace accords ended three decades of sectarian conflict between Protestants and Catholics that left 3,500 people dead in Northern Ireland.The DUP brought talks on the Brexit divorce deal to the brink of collapse in December by holding out until the EU promised that there would be no new internal customs border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.But the EU's draft text drops that assurance, focusing instead on the need for a "backstop" option that would effectively keep Northern Ireland in the customs union to avoid border checks after Brexit in March 2019.Foster urged May to come up with a British version of the draft providing "sensible" and "imaginative" solutions, noting that most of Northern Ireland's trade is with the rest of the UK.DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds meanwhile warned Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar against taking an "aggressive" stance in the talks, saying that Ireland would suffer most if there was no Brexit deal.
Germany still backs new Russia gas pipeline By Andrew Rettman-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, 5. Mar, 17:48-The latest Russia-Ukraine gas dispute has not dampened Germany's enthusiasm to build a new pipeline from Russia.The pipeline, Nord Stream 2, was a "purely commercial project", Steffen Seibert, chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, said in Berlin on Monday (5 March), according to the Reuters news agency.He urged Russia not to use Nord Stream 2 to cut off Ukraine in future.It was "in the interest of Germany and Europe that Ukraine continues to play a role as a transit country for Russian gas," he said.He also criticised Russia's handling of the gas dispute, saying it had "caused irritation" in Berlin, Brussels, and further afield.Seibert spoke after Russia, last week, refused to sell gas to Ukraine in a commercial disagreement, recalling the winter of 2009, when some EU states who imported Russian gas via Ukraine faced blackouts.The situation, nine years down the line, has changed.Russia has invaded south and east Ukraine, where it continues to wage low-intensity war.But Ukraine and EU states have built infrastructure to share Russian gas shipped to the EU via Germany and Poland, making it harder for Russia to exert pressure on Ukraine."Shipments from the EU, from Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary have increased ... the shortfall is covered in full," Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko said on Saturday."The times of Russia's gas blackmail are over," he added.Russia's energy minister, Alexander Novak, also told EU energy commissioner Maros Sefcovic on Monday that "transit of gas to EU member states [via Ukraine] is not endangered".He said the dispute could "take some time, [but] will not have immediate consequences on [EU] gas flows".The situation arose after Russia refused to pay Ukraine a €2bn gas trade award granted by an arbitration tribunal in Stockholm.It is unlikely to get out of hand, Stefan Meister, an expert at German think tank DGAP told EUobserver, because Russian leader Vladimir Putin had little to gain from escalation."They [the Russians] are finally earning money with the higher gas prices and the cold winter, which they really need. There are [Russian] elections and then the World soccer championship [in Russia] coming up. Putin doesn't need a substantial crisis with the EU at the moment," Meister said.Critics of Nord Stream 2 have said that, if built, it would enable Russia to blackmail Ukraine and eastern EU states once again by concentrating supplies in one route to Germany."Gazprom … is not a gas company but a platform for Russian coercion. How much more evidence do German politicians need to cancel Nord Stream 2?," Anders Fogh Rsmussen, a Danish politician who used to be head of Nato and who now works as a consultant for Ukraine, said on Saturday.DGAP's Meister said the latest Ukraine dispute would end up damaging confidence more in Ukraine than in Russia, no matter who was right, however."Everything stands for building Nord Stream 2, and the new/old Groko will support it," he said, referring to the new government coalition in Berlin."The situation in Ukraine will strengthen those groups [in Germany] who support Nord Stream 2 and Russia will use the argument that Ukraine made and makes problems and that we need Nord Stream 2," he said.
Italy votes to become more eurosceptic By Peter Teffer-EUOBSERVER
Brussels, 5. Mar, 09:19-Europe woke up to a new period of uncertainty on Monday, as Italian voters produced a new parliament with no clear majority and rewarded parties that criticised the establishment.Preliminary results on Monday morning (5 March) showed the eurosceptic Five Star Movement emerge as the largest single party, with 31 percent of the votes.The centre-right coalition of convicted tax fraudster and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi won 37 percent.The ruling centre-left bloc of another former prime minister, Matteo Renzi, received almost 24 percent.It will take until later on Monday before the composition of the parliament is truly clear.But it is likely that Italy will have a hung parliament with no clear majority, leaving a difficult task to Italian president Sergio Mattarella to lead coalition talks.What this means for European integration is also unclear, but it is possible that Italy's government will become less inclined to support the grand projects recently floated – just as Germany's centre-left Social Democrats gave a new grand coalition the go-ahead on Sunday.In any case, the results showed that many Italians were fed up with the political mainstream. The Five Star Movement grew from some 25 percent to 31 percent of the votes.The party started as a protest group set up by ex-comedian Beppe Grillo, and has in the past called for a referendum on eurozone membership.While the centre-right bloc of four parties emerged as the largest coalition, Berlusconi's Forza Italia received around 13 percent.The eurosceptic, anti-immigration, far-right Lega, formerly Lega Nord, received some 18 percent.The party is led by MEP Matteo Salvini, who in the past has called the introduction of the euro an "error" and wants a deep reform of the EU.In the European Parliament, the party has formed an alliance with the French anti-EU National Front. Following the vote, the president of that party, Marine le Pen, congratulated Salvini, and said that the European Union was about to have "a bad night".The 81-year-old Berlusconi meanwhile was interrupted at the ballot box by a topless protester of the Femen movement, who had 'your time has run out' painted on her body.The ruling Democratic Party has already acknowledged defeat."This is a very clear defeat for us," said Maurizio Martina, outgoing agriculture minister."We are expecting a result below our expectations... This is very clearly a negative result for us," he said.
CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL 2ND WAVE OF WW3 (200 MILLION MAN ARMY)
REVELATION 16:12-16
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THE TURKEY ATATURK DAM ON THE EUPHRATES CAN BE SHUT AND DRIED UP ALREADY BY TURKEY)
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.(ITS AT THIS TIME I BELIEVE WHEN AMERICA GETS NUKED BY RUSSIA ON THE WAY TO THE MIDEAST)
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(WORLDWIDE WAR)(TURKEY-IRAQ-SYRIA)(EUPHRATES RIVER CONSISTS OF 760 MILES IN TURKEY,440 MILES IN SYRIA AND 660 MILES IN IRAQ)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,(WORLDWIDE WAR) which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE-2 billion)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
China defends hike in military spending as proportionate and low-[Reuters]-By Ben BlanchardYAHOONEWS-March 6, 2018
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's increase in military spending for 2018, the biggest rise in three years, was proportionate and low, and Beijing had not been goaded into an arms race with the United States, state media said on Tuesday.China on Monday unveiled an 8.1 percent rise in defense spending at the opening of parliament, fuelling an ambitious military modernization program and making its neighbors, particularly Japan and self-ruled Taiwan, nervous.In an editorial, the official China Daily said the figure had prompted "finger-pointing from the usual suspects"."China's defense budget is neither the largest in size - it accounts for just one-fourth of the military spending of the United States - nor does it have the fastest growth rate," the English-language newspaper said."And if calculated in per capita terms, China's military lags well behind other major countries."The defense spending figure is closely watched worldwide for clues to China's strategic intentions as it develops new military capabilities, including stealth fighters, aircraft carriers and anti-satellite missiles.Commander of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet Admiral Scott Swift described China's lack of transparency as "troubling.""There are a lot of questions on the minds of countries in the region and extending beyond the region of what exactly does this mean. People shouldn’t be left guessing as to exactly what the objective of these increases is," he said at a press roundtable in Tokyo where he is meeting Japanese officials.China insists its military spending is transparent and that it poses a threat to nobody, simply needing to update old equipment and defend its legitimate interests, even as it is increasingly assertive over disputes in the East and South China Seas and on self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims.In the East and South China Seas, China is simply trying to stand up for itself, the China Daily said."The country has seen its maritime interests being increasingly infringed upon in recent years, and thus seeking a stronger military is natural for it to safeguard its interests and counter any threat that may materialize from the aggressive posturing of others upset by its rise."China has seen the United States as its biggest potential security threat, alarming Beijing with freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea the United States calling China a strategic competitor.U.S. President Donald Trump has proposed the largest military budget since 2011, focused on beefing up the United States' nuclear defenses and countering the growing strength of China and Russia.Official Chinese defense spending is about one-quarter that of the United States, though many foreign analysts and diplomats say China under-reports the figure.Widely-read Chinese tabloid the Global Times said if China really wanted to expand militarily, the defense budget should really be rising 20 to 30 percent."China has obviously not fallen into the mind-set of engaging in an arms race with the U.S. Otherwise it could totally realize double-digit increases in its defense expenditure," the paper said in its editorial.U.S. provocations in the South China Sea, tension in the Taiwan Strait and the United States, Japan, Australia and India forming alliances demand a rise in spending, it added."But Beijing has stuck to its own template and was not disturbed by external factors."Still, China has made no secret of its broader military ambitions, with President Xi Jinping promising last year to make China's armed forces world-class by the middle of the century.Xu Qiliang, a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, which runs the armed forces and Xi heads, told military delegates to parliament that China needed to "fully strengthen troop training and war preparedness and raise the ability to win", state news agency Xinhua said late on Monday.(Reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING, additional reporting by Tim Kelly in TOKYO; Editing by Michael Perry)
Russian cargo plane crashes in Syria, 32 dead-[Associated Press]-YAHOONEWS-March 6, 2018
MOSCOW (AP) — A military cargo plane crashed as it was descending to land at a Russian air base in Syria on Tuesday, killing all 32 people onboard, the Russian Defense Ministry said.The Russian military said an An-26, with 26 passengers and six crew members onboard, crashed just 500 meters (1,600 feet) from the runway. The military blamed the crash on a technical error.Russia, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, leases the Hemeimeem military base in Syria, near the Mediterranean coast.The base is far from the front lines of the conflict, but came under shelling in December. The Russian military insisted the cargo plane did not come under fire, while saying it would conduct a full investigation.
North Korea says willing to hold talks with U.S., halt nuclear tests-South-[Reuters]-By Christine Kim-YAHOONEWS-March 6, 2018
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea is willing to hold talks with the United States on denuclearisation and will suspend nuclear tests while those talks are under way, the South said on Tuesday after a delegation returned from the North where it met leader Kim Jong Un.North and South Korea, still technically at war but enjoying a sharp easing in tension since the Winter Olympics in the South last month, will also hold their first summit in more than a decade next month at the border village of Panmunjom, the head of the delegation, Chung Eui-yong, told a media briefing."North Korea made clear its willingness to denuclearize the Korean peninsula and the fact there is no reason for it to have a nuclear program if military threats against the North are resolved and its regime is secure," Chung said.Reacting to the news, U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted: "We will see what happens!"Chung cited the North as saying it would not carry out nuclear or missile tests while talks with the international community were under way. North Korea has not carried out any such tests since November last year."The North also said it can have frank talks with the United States on denuclearisation and the normalization of ties between North Korea and the United States," Chung said.The prospect of talks between the isolated North and the United States helped boost global stock markets, with the broadest gauge of global shares, MSCI's All Country World Index, rising 0.6 percent and U.S. stock futures pointing to a higher opening on Wall Street.TRADING THREATS-Washington and Pyongyang have been at loggerheads for months over the North's nuclear and missile programs, with Trump and Kim Jong Un trading insults and threatening war. North Korea has regularly vowed never to give up its nuclear program, which it sees as an essential deterrent and "treasured sword" against U.S. plans for invasion.The United States, which stations 28,500 troops in the South, a legacy of the Korean War, denies any such plans.To ensure close communication, the two Koreas, whose 1950-53 conflict ended in a mere truce, not a peace treaty, will set up a hotline between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un, Chung said.The last inter-Korean summit was in 2007 when late former president Roh Moo-hyun was in office.The agreement came on the heels of a visit made by a 10-member South Korean delegation led by Chung to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, on Monday in hopes of encouraging North Korea and the United States to talk to one another.Kim Jong Un met senior South Korean government officials for the first time and said it was his "firm will to vigorously advance" inter-Korean ties and pursue reunification, the North's official news agency said."Through this delegation visit, the South Korean government created a very important opportunity to manage North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, prevent war on the Korean peninsula and create military trust going forward," said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior research fellow at the Sejong Institute.Tensions between the two Koreas eased during the Olympics in South Korea, where Moon hosted a high-level North Korean delegation and the two sides presented a joint women's ice hockey team. Kim Jong Un had invited Moon to North Korea for a summit, which was the first such request from a North Korean leader to a South Korean president.Some U.S. lawmakers reacted with cautious optimism to signs of an opening for dialogue."This is encouraging," Democratic Senator Chris Coons said in an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday. "This suggests that diplomacy can be the follow on to confrontation."Republican Senator Jeff Flake told MSNBC: "This is encouraging news. It's not definitive. I mean, I'm not sure that this will hold, but it is encouraging to see that they're ready to talk."U.S.-S.KOREA DRILLS TO GO ON-North Korea has boasted of developing nuclear-tipped missiles capable of reaching the United States, in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions, but Pyongyang and Washington both say they want a diplomatic solution to the stand-off.The first inter-Korean talks in more than two years were held early this year to bring North Korea to the Winter Olympics, when South Korea and the United States also postponed an annual joint large-scale military exercise that North Korea views as a preparation for invasion.During this week's visit, a senior Blue House official said North Korea was informed it was not feasible to postpone the joint military drills between South Korea and the United States again and that Kim Jong Un acknowledged the situation.Kim Jong Un said he understood the drills, expected in April, would be of a similar scale seen in previous years, the official said. The North Korean leader also had a request for the world: that he be seriously acknowledged as a dialogue counterpart, said the official.The South's delegation leader, Chung, said he would travel to the United States to explain the outcome of the visit to North Korea and that he had a message from North Korea he would deliver to Trump.Chung will later visit China and Russia, while Suh Hoon, the head of South Korea's spy agency and another member of the delegation, will head to Japan.The United States has said before it is open to talks but its position has been that dialogue must be aimed at North Korea's denuclearisation, something Pyongyang has rejected.Moon has also remained vigilant against North Korea's weapons ambitions, saying on Tuesday South Korea should bolster its defenses in tandem with talks with Pyongyang.The Pentagon has nevertheless said it was "cautiously optimistic" about the North-South talks, which resumed in January for the first time in two years.(Reporting by Christine Kim; Additional reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Nick Macfie and Alex Richardson)
