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
In eastern Europe, when Nazis killed Jews, a ‘carnival atmosphere’ prevailed-Father Patrick Desbois depicts in grim detail local bystanders' culpability while Nazis implemented the Final Solution in a new, second book about ‘Holocaust by bullets’-By Matt Lebovic-APR 10,18-TOI
For all intents and purposes, the first phase of the Holocaust was a communal undertaking, one that was jointly perpetrated by Nazi Germany and thousands of Eastern European collaborators.When the Nazis invaded Soviet lands in 1941, the notorious death camps had not yet been constructed in occupied Poland. To enact Germany’s “war of annihilation” against the Jews, mobile killing squads — called “Einsatzgruppen” — were deployed to conduct large-scale shooting massacres. In some towns, thousands of non-Jews turned out to watch the slaughter of Jews in festive atmospheres, belying the myth of a genocide carried out in secret.Typically, Einsatzgruppen “actions” were conducted in Jewish cemeteries or on the outskirts of town. Compared to the death camps more closely associated with the Holocaust, the mass shootings were well-documented with photographs and contemporary reports. Nearly two million Jews were murdered in these open-air massacres, comprising one-third of the genocide’s six million victims.“Today, it is still said in the former Soviet territories that the killings were done in secret,” wrote Father Patrick Desbois in his new book, “In Broad Daylight: The Secret Procedures Behind the Holocaust by Bullets.”Published in January, “In Broad Daylight” is the follow-up to Desbois’s 2008 book, “The Holocaust by Bullets,” based on the Roman Catholic priest’s investigations into the Einsatzgruppen massacres in Ukraine. For his new book, Desbois drew from research in seven countries where the Einsatzgruppen operated, with an emphasis on the non-German men and women who helped facilitate the shootings.Earlier this year, the author helped conduct a seminar for tour guides at the former death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, in Poland, where the Nazis murdered one million Jews in gas chambers. During the week-long training in January, 130 guides learned about the “Holocaust by bullets” killings that — in a matter of months — “evolved” into the construction of six purpose-built death camps.Although Desbois has identified hundreds of Holocaust mass shooting sites in Poland, the bulk of his work has been east of that country. Since 2004, his research team has interviewed nearly 4,000 eye-witnesses to Einsatzgruppen killings, including elderly men and women who admit to having collaborated with the Nazis.“Memory survived among these people,” Desbois has said of witnesses to the genocide, including those who were very young at the time.“In little Soviet villages, the children didn’t watch the genocide of the Jews on television. They went to the neighboring fields in order to see for themselves,” wrote Desbois, adding that boys were sometimes assigned the role of bringing bullets to the killers during mass shootings.“The capacity to see the mass murder of others without taking any responsibility predates mass media,” wrote the celebrated priest.-‘Stations of the Cross’-In 2004, Desbois founded the organization Yahad In-Unum (Together in One), based on his mission to locate and mark the Holocaust’s “Einsatzgruppen” killing fields. Since then, the priest and his researchers have also applied their methods in war-torn Iraq, interviewing Yazidi survivors of the Islamic State’s genocidal campaign.The book “In Broad Daylight” was organized according to a “typical” Einsatzgruppen operation, beginning with “The Night Before” and ending with “The Day After.” Within that timeline, some collaborators perform seemingly mundane tasks — the cooks and clerks — whereas others unleash horrors upon their Jewish neighbors, as depicted in a chapter called “The Rapes.”To identify potential eye-witnesses, Yahad In-Unum investigators usually began in German or Soviet archives. In hundreds of cases, testimony has led the team to determine not only where mass executions took place, but to uncover the remains of bullets in the ground.In contrast to the relatively secretive death camps, the Einsatzgruppen massacres were “an attraction” for many communities, according to Desbois. In some localities, the Holocaust unfolded with “carnival” or quasi-religious undertones, such as the organizing of bloody, Passion-like marches through town, or forcing Jews to perform on the edge of mass graves.“The Germans in the Eastern territories could not be unaware that the gawkers who rushed to see the Jews murdered, sometimes up to the graves’ edge, crossed themselves over and over,” wrote Desbois. “Consciously or not, they organized a tableau vivant, a living picture, of an inverted representation of the Stations of the Cross.”No role played by collaborators was too small to escape the author’s interest. In the chapter, “The Layer of Planks,” Desbois pondered the use of wooden planks placed over the ditches during executions. After conducting hundreds of interviews, he at last came upon a witness who mentioned these planks.“A board had been placed on the ditch on which the Jew had to go naked,” the witness told Desbois, referring to the 1941 massacre of 2,000 Jews in Bolekhov, Ukraine, which took place at the town’s Jewish cemetery.“I still remember that the Jewish families held hands on the plank,” said the witness. “Then they were shot in the head from behind and then they fell into the ditch. There were a few Jews down in the ditch who had to lay the dead bodies in rows.”-‘A human slaughterhouse’-In a chapter called “The Sanitizer,” Desbois explained how the SS murder squads engaged local communities in “cleaning up” after each massacre. Before Jewish homes and belongings could be pillaged, efforts were made to erase evidence that thousands of people had been murdered.“The personal bathtubs ripped out of Jewish houses became anonymous tubs for transporting the lime to the mass graves where the Jews had been murdered,” wrote Desbois. “For a few days, the entire village seems to have been transformed into a human slaughterhouse. A slaughterhouse needing to be sanitized after a crime.”According to Desbois, his investigations yielded many “grave fillers,” but few people who admit to transporting Jews to execution sites in trucks or wagons. For those in town who did not witness the massacres for themselves, evidence of what took place was visible on the streets for days.“It took a village-wide effort to get the Jewish furniture out of the houses and into the schoolyard where it was sold,” wrote Desbois. “Not only was the sale of Jewish goods not hidden or discreet, camouflaged, but it took place in broad daylight at the center of Soviet life. …In the place where everyone went to make daily purchases, the possessions of murdered Jews were sold shamelessly at auction.”
Israeli Labour party breaks off relations with Britain's Corbyn-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Labour Party said on Tuesday it had suspended relations with Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of Britain's Labour party, accusing him of sanctioning anti-Semitism and showing hostility towards Israeli policies.Corbyn, who unexpectedly became party head in 2015, is a supporter of Palestinian rights and a critic of Israel. He has repeatedly faced accusations of turning a blind eye to anti-Semitic comments in the party and among groups he supports."It is my responsibility to acknowledge the hostility you have shown to the Jewish community and the anti-Semitic statements and actions you have allowed as leader of the Labour party UK," Israeli Labour Party leader Avi Gabbay wrote in a letter to Corbyn, distributed to the media.Last month, British Jewish groups held a street protest outside parliament, accusing Corbyn of failing to tackle anti-Semitism in party ranks because of a far-left world view hostile to Jews.Corbyn has said he recognizes that anti-Semitism has surfaced within his party. He has apologized for the pain this has caused and pledged to redouble his efforts to stamp it out."Jeremy has pledged to be a militant opponent of anti-Semitism," a spokeswoman said on Tuesday."He has repeatedly emphasized the central role of the Jewish community in the Labour Party and the importance of ensuring it is a supportive and welcoming environment for all communities."Gabbay had said in his letter that Israel was reminded of the horrors of anti-Semitism in Europe as it approached Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day this week."As such, I write to inform you of the temporary suspension of all formal relations between the Israel Labour party and the leader of the Labour Party UK," he said.Gabbay said Corbyn had shown "very public hatred" towards Israeli government policies, including those where the opposition and the ruling coalition are aligned.Israeli Labour is part of the "Zionist Union" faction in Israel's Knesset, which controls 24 of the legislature's 120 seats.(Writing by Ori Lewis; additional reporting by Paul Sandle in London; Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Larry King)
Eurocontrol warns airlines of possible missile strikes into Syria-[Reuters]-By Jamie Freed-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Pan-European air traffic control agency Eurocontrol on Tuesday warned airlines to exercise caution in the eastern Mediterranean due to the possible launch of air strikes into Syria in next 72 hours.Eurocontrol said that air-to-ground and/or cruise missiles could be used within that period and there was a possibility of intermittent disruption of radio navigation equipment.U.S. President Donald Trump and Western allies are discussing possible military action to punish Syria's President Bashar Assad for a suspected poison gas attack on Saturday on a rebel-held town that long had held out against government forces.Trump on Tuesday canceled a planned trip to Latin America later this week to focus instead on responding to the Syria incident, the White House said. Trump had on Monday warned of a quick, forceful response once responsibility for the Syria attack was established.The Eurocontrol warning on its website did not specify the origin of any potential missile threat."Due to the possible launch of air strikes into Syria with air-to-ground and/or cruise missiles within the next 72 hours, and the possibility of intermittent disruption of radio navigation equipment, due consideration needs to be taken when planning flight operations in the Eastern Mediterranean/Nicosia FIR area," it said, referring to the designated airspace.Aviation regulators in countries including the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany have previously issued warnings against airlines entering Syrian airspace leading most carriers to avoid the area.The only commercial flights above Syria as of 1:15 am GMT on Wednesday were being flown by Syrian Air and Lebanon's Middle East Airlines, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.The Eurocontrol statement included a broader area outside the airspace controlled by Damascus.The Nicosia flight information region named in the Eurocontrol statement on Tuesday covers the island of Cyprus and surrounding waters, according to a map on the agency's website. The same map did not designate any specific territory as being the "Eastern Mediterranean" region.There has been heightened awareness by regulators and airlines of the risks that conflict zones pose to commercial jets since Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was downed by a surface-to-air missile over Ukraine in 2014, killing all 298 people on board.Last year, North Korea tested missiles without warning, leading some airlines to re-route flights to avoid portions of the Sea of Japan.Eurocontrol's warning cited a document from the European Aviation Safety Agency, Europe's safety regulator, a copy of which was not immediately available.(Reporting by Jamie Freed; Editing by Michael Perry)
Gradual deployment of US troops to Mexico border underway-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
ROMA, Texas — The deployment of National Guard members to the U.S.-Mexico border at President Donald Trump's request was underway Tuesday with a gradual ramp-up of troops under orders to help curb illegal immigration.The Trump administration also announced that Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen will visit this week a stretch of new border wall breaking ground in New Mexico, putting additional focus on what Trump has called a crisis of migrant crossings and crime.The construction and commitment of at least 1,600 Guard members from Arizona, New Mexico and Texas provoked fresh condemnation from immigrant activists and praise from border-state Republican governors, who will retain command-and-control of their state's Guard during a mission that for now has no firm end date.The only holdout border state was California, led by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, who has not announced whether troops from his state's National Guard will participate and has repeatedly clashed with Trump over immigration policy. The state was still reviewing Tuesday whether it join the effort, said Lt. Tom Keegan, a spokesman for the California National Guard.In Texas, where Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has pledged to put more than 1,000 Guard members into action, military officials said Tuesday that 300 troops would report to armouries this week for preparation and training. Texas has previously kept about 100 Guard members stationed on the border for years as part of its own border security efforts."What is different now it is happening in a different context and a different narrative," said Fernando Garcia, director of the Border Network for Human Rights, an immigrant advocacy group.Speaking from the Rio Grande Valley where immigrant crossings are the highest along the 2,000-mile (3, 200-kilometre ) U.S.-Mexico border, Garcia said, "When you hear the narrative of the president, it seems to him the enemy is the immigrant family."Abbott said in a statement Tuesday that the Guard has "proven to have a meaningful impact" in reducing immigration and crime.In the Texas border town of Roma, about a half-dozen uniformed Guard members were seen Tuesday near an international bridge along the Rio Grande. Children played just across the river in Mexico, and it wasn't clear whether the Guard members were new or part of Texas' earlier observe-and-report missions.One guard member was armed with an M4 rifle and used binoculars to peer across the river. Pickup trucks with guard members inside circled the town square along with border patrol vehicles. Mexican children who had attended school on the U.S. side of the border showed their passports and paid a toll to cross a bridge over the river and walk home to the Mexican community of Ciudad Miguel Aleman.Trump said last week he wants to send 2,000 to 4,000 National Guard members to the border, issuing a proclamation citing "the lawlessness that continues at our southern border."Trump administration officials have said that rising numbers of people being caught at the southern border, while in line with seasonal trends in recent years, require an immediate response.Monthly border arrests surpassed 50,000 in March for the first time since December 2016. The Border Patrol, which polices between but not at official crossings, made more than 37,000 of those arrests, including more than 14,000 in Texas' Rio Grande Valley, nearly 6,000 in its Tucson, Arizona, sector and more than 4,000 in San Diego.Inspectors at official crossings made nearly 13,000 arrests in March, led by the Laredo, Texas, field office with more than 4,800 and the San Diego field office with about 3,800.Apprehensions are still well below their historical trends during the terms of former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, both of whom also deployed the Guard to the border.Some Guard members will be armed if they are placed in potential danger, Abbott said, adding he wanted to downplay speculation that "our National Guard is showing up with military bayonets trying to take on anybody that's coming across the border, because that is not their role."There is no end date for the deployment, Abbott said: "We may be in this for the long haul."Trump has said he wants to use the military at the border until progress is made on his proposed border wall, which has mostly stalled in Congress. Defence Secretary James Mattis last Friday approved paying for up to 4,000 National Guard personnel from the Pentagon budget through the end of September.Mexico's foreign relations secretary said his government is evaluating its co-operation with the United States.___Weber reported from Austin, Texas. Associated Press Writer Kathleen Ronayne in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report.John L. Mone And Paul J. Weber, The Associated Press.
The Latest: Cosby lawyer hints accuser enamoured with stardom-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — The Latest on the Bill Cosby sexual assault retrial (all times local):7:05 p.m.Bill Cosby's lawyers have worked to peel away the aww-shucks, country gal persona one of his accusers claims she had when she met him.Colorado music teacher Heidi Thomas testified Tuesday at Cosby's sexual-assault retrial in suburban Philadelphia. Thomas was an aspiring actress when her agent set her up to meet Cosby for career advice in Reno, Nevada, in 1984. She says Cosby gave her a drink and forced her to perform oral sex as she faded in and out of consciousness.Defence lawyer Kathleen Bliss hinted the woman who was crowned Miss Littleton, Colorado, in college was enamoured with stardom and was mesmerized by the bright lights of Reno.Testimony has ended for the day. Bliss will continue questioning Thomas on Wednesday. The defence is expected to probe inconsistencies in her account.Cosby is charged with drugging and assaulting another woman at his home in 2004. He says the encounter was consensual.___6:45 p.m.Testimony is finished for the day at Bill Cosby's suburban Philadelphia sexual-assault retrial.The trial took a far more combative turn Tuesday than the first go-round. Cosby's lawyers launched a scathing attack on his accuser, and prosecutors put the first in a parade of women on the stand to portray the comedian as a sexual predator.Colorado music teacher Heidi Thomas was an aspiring actress when her agent set her up to meet Cosby for career advice in 1984. She says Cosby gave her a drink and forced her to perform oral sex as she faded in and out of consciousness.The defence is expected to probe inconsistencies in her account during cross-examination. The trial resumes Wednesday.Cosby is charged with drugging and assaulting another woman at his home in 2004. He says the encounter was consensual.___5:50 p.m.Jurors at Bill Cosby's suburban Philadelphia sexual-assault retrial are hearing from a Colorado music teacher who says the comedian knocked her out with a potent glass of wine and forced her to perform oral sex when she was an aspiring actress in 1984.Heidi Thomas took the witness stand on Tuesday. She's the first of five additional accusers whom prosecutors plan to call as they make the case that Cosby has a history of drugging and assaulting women.Thomas says she met Cosby in Reno, Nevada, after her agent arranged for him to give her acting tips. She says Cosby assaulted her after she took a sip of white wine he had given her.Defence lawyers are cross-examining her.Cosby is charged with drugging and assaulting another woman in 2004. He says the encounter was consensual.___12:55 p.m.Prosecutors in the Bill Cosby retrial have called a sexual assault expert to help them blunt any skepticism about his accuser's behaviour after she says he drugged and molested her in 2004.Psychiatrist Barbara Ziv was the first witness to testify at Cosby's retrial Tuesday.She told jurors that it's common for victims to be reluctant to go to police and normal for them to maintain contact with perpetrators.Andrea Constand spoke with Cosby and saw him after the alleged assault at his suburban Philadelphia home, and waited more than a year before going to police with her allegations.Cosby says his sexual encounter with Constand was consensual.The Associated Press doesn't typically identify people who say they're victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.___10:45 a.m.Bill Cosby's lawyer has launched a fierce attack on the comedian's accuser, calling her a con artist who took advantage of Cosby's grief and loneliness over his son's murder to gain his trust before framing him for sexual assault.Lawyer Tom Mesereau delivered a blistering opening statement Tuesday in Cosby's retrial.He told jurors that accuser Andrea Constand wasn't attracted to Cosby, but was "madly in love" with his fame and money.He says she "hit the jackpot" when he paid her $3.4 million to settle a civil lawsuit over allegations he drugged and molested her in 2004.Prosecutors say it was Cosby who betrayed Constand's trust by giving her pills and then assaulting her.Cosby faces three counts of aggravated indecent assault, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison.The Associated Press doesn't typically identify people who say they're victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.___8:30 a.m.Comedian Bill Cosby has arrived for the second day of his sexual assault retrial amid heightened security.Security was stepped up on Tuesday outside of the courthouse in suburban Philadelphia after a topless protester jumped over a barricade on Monday and ran toward Cosby.Cosby was escorted into the courthouse by an attorney and his spokesman and surrounded by five sheriff's deputies.Another row of barricades was also added to the walkway.Monday's protester did not reach Cosby and he was unharmed. She was a member of a European feminist group known for staging topless protests and appeared as a child on "The Cosby Show."Cosby lawyer is set to deliver his opening statement on Tuesday.___1 a.m.The defence in Bill Cosby's sexual assault retrial is expected to use its opening statement to portray a hefty settlement paid to the woman he's charged with sexually assaulting as evidence of her greed.Cosby lawyer Tom Mesereau is set to deliver his remarks on Tuesday.Prosecutors opened the retrial on Monday in suburban Philadelphia with an answer to one of the case's biggest questions. But they failed to make clear why jurors should care that the comedian paid a $3.4 million settlement to accuser Andrea Constand.Mesereau has indicated he intends to use the settlement to argue that Constand falsely accused Cosby in hopes of landing a big payoff.The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.The Associated Press.
U.S., Russia clash at U.N. over chemical weapons attacks in Syria-[Reuters]-By Michelle Nichols and Ellen Francis-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
UNITED NATIONS/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russia and the United States tangled on Tuesday at the United Nations over the use of chemical weapons in Syria as Washington and its allies considered whether to strike at President Bashar al-Assad's forces over a suspected poison gas attack last weekend.Moscow and Washington halted attempts by each other in the U.N. Security Council to set up international investigations into chemical weapons attacks in Syria, which is in the throes of a seven-year-old civil war.U.S. President Donald Trump and Western allies are discussing possible military action to punish Assad for a suspected poison gas attack on Saturday on a rebel-held town that long had held out against government forces.Trump on Tuesday canceled a planned trip to Latin America later this week to focus instead on responding to the Syria incident, the White House said. Trump had on Monday warned of a quick, forceful response once responsibility for the Syria attack was established.On the diplomatic front, the United Nations Security Council failed to approve three draft resolutions on chemical weapons attacks in Syria. Russia vetoed a U.S. text, while two Russian-drafted resolutions failed to get a minimum nine votes to pass.Moscow opposes any Western strike on its close ally Assad and has vetoed Security Council action on Syria 12 times since the conflict started.U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the Security Council that adopting the U.S.-drafted resolution was the least that member nations could do."History will record that, on this day, Russia chose protecting a monster over the lives of the Syrian people," Haley said, referring to Assad.At least 60 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in Saturday's suspected chemical weapons attack on the town of Douma, according to a Syrian relief group.Doctors and witnesses have said victims showed symptoms of poisoning, possibly by a nerve agent, and reported the smell of chlorine gas.RUSSIA ACCUSES-Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Washington's decision to put forward its resolution could be a prelude to a Western strike on Syria."I would once again ask you, once again beseech you, to refrain from the plans that you’re currently developing for Syria," he said after the council failed to approve a third draft resolution on chemical weapons attacks in Syria.International chemical weapons experts are expected to go to Douma to investigate the suspected poison gas attack.France and Britain discussed with the Trump administration how to respond to the Douma attack. Both stressed that the culprit still needed to be confirmed.The Douma incident has thrust Syria's conflict back to the forefront of the international stage, pitting Washington and Moscow against each other once again.Trump said that he would make a decision about how to respond within a few days, adding that the United States had "a lot of options militarily" on Syria.Assad's government and Russia have said there was no evidence a gas attack had taken place and that the claim was bogus.Any U.S. strike is likely to involve naval assets, given the risk to aircraft from Russian and Syrian air defense systems. A U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer, the USS Donald Cook, is in the Mediterranean.A key issue being considered by U.S. defense and intelligence agencies and war planners is the effectiveness of Syrian air defenses and the extent to which Russia is helping to organize, and ultimately, direct Syrian air defense operations, according to two U.S. government sources.Last year, the United States launched strikes from two Navy destroyers against a Syrian air base.U.S. military action similar to last year's would likely not cause a shift in the direction of the war that has gone Assad's way since 2015 with massive aid from Iran and Russia.There was little expectation that members of Congress would object if Trump launched an attack on Syria, despite some calls for lawmakers to exert their power to authorize military action. Most members of Congress – Democrats as well as his fellow Republicans - praised Trump after the strike last year.French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that any strikes would not target the Syrian government's allies or anybody in particular, but would be aimed at the Syrian government's chemical facilities.CHEMICAL WEAPONS PROBE-The Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said Syria had been asked to make the necessary arrangements for the deployment of an investigation team."The team is preparing to deploy to Syria shortly," it said in a statement.The mission will aim to determine whether banned munitions were used but will not assign blame.The Assad government and Russia both urged the OPCW to investigate the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma, a move by the two countries that was apparently aimed at averting any U.S.-led action."Syria is keen on cooperating with the OPCW to uncover the truth behind the allegations that some Western sides have been advertising to justify their aggressive intentions," Syria's state news agency SANA said.A European source said European governments were waiting for the OPCW to carry out its investigation and for more solid forensic evidence from the attack to emerge. Any plan by Washington and its allies to take military action was likely to be on hold until then, the source said.In Syria, thousands of militants and their families arrived in rebel-held parts of the country's northwest after surrendering Douma to government forces.Their evacuation restored Assad's control over eastern Ghouta, formerly the biggest rebel bastion near Damascus, and gave him his biggest battlefield victory since 2016, when he took back Aleppo.Aggravating the volatile situation in the region, Iran - Assad's other main ally - threatened to respond to an air strike on a Syrian military base on Monday that Tehran, Damascus and Moscow have blamed on Israel.Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, meanwhile, said there was no threat of the situation in Syria resulting in a military clash between Russia and the United States. TASS news agency quoted him as saying he believed common sense would prevail.A Russian warplane flew over a French warship at low altitude in the eastern Mediterranean this weekend, a deliberate breach of international regulations, a French naval source said on Tuesday.The weekly magazine Le Point said the Russian plane had flown over the frigate Aquitaine and was fully armed. The Aquitaine is equipped with 16 cruise missiles and 16 surface-to-air missiles. It is currently operating off Lebanon alongside U.S. ships as part of France's military contingent fighting Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.Despite the international revulsion over chemical weapons attacks, the death toll from such incidents in Syria is only a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of combatants and civilians killed since the war began in 2011.(Reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations, Ellen Francis and Tom Perry in Beirut, Jack Stubbs and Maria Kiselyova in Moscow, Anthony Deutsch in Amsterdam, Beirut, Steve Holland, Idrees Ali, Mark Hosenball and Patricia Zengerle in Washington; writing by Alistair Bell; editing by Will Dunham, G Crosse and Cynthia Osterman)
Sinclair television stations release video attacking CNN (SEWER RAT LIBERAL FAKE NEWS EXPERTS)-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
NEW YORK — The Sinclair Broadcast Group is attacking CNN for what it considers hypocrisy about its directive to local news anchors to read a message denouncing fake news.News websites for local television stations owned by Sinclair on Tuesday posted a link to a four-minute video critical of CNN. The video calls the network reprehensible for reporting on a video message that Sinclair compelled its news anchors to read in recent weeks.Sinclair said that the message given by local anchors to be wary of fake news is similar to warnings that CNN and its media reporter Brian Stelter have been giving for years.Stelter tweeted that the difference is that he's not being given corporate directives on what to say.The Associated Press.
Give Saudi Arabia a chance, French president tells critics-[Reuters]-By John Irish-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
PARIS (Reuters) - France's President Emmanuel Macron took on critics of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday, saying it was too easy to criticize the young leader's haste to reform and urged detractors to give him time.Prince Mohammed, who was ending a three-day tour to France on Tuesday, has won Western plaudits for seeking to reduce Saudi Arabia's reliance on oil, tackle chronic corruption and transform the deeply conservative, mainly Sunni Muslim kingdom.But the severity and secrecy of an anti-corruption crackdown last November, after the prince ousted an older cousin as crown prince in a palace coup last June, has unnerved some investors.Human rights groups also question how far the kingdom has come.After a tense first exchange between the two leaders in Riyadh last November that was dominated by a difference of opinion on how to handle Riyadh's regional rival Iran, Macron and Prince Mohammed sought to get to know each other and work on what they have in common rather than their differences."I hear legitimate questions from civil society, journalists about human rights and various sensitive issues concerning your country, (but) I'm also looking at what's going on in the region. We have here a young leader who is going to be in the highest functions in a country where 70 percent of the population is under 30," Macron said alongside the 32-year-old prince."We can have the choice to stick to our traditional positions and we can decide that the first acts of modernization of his society are cosmetic. If we do that then we are leaving Prince Mohammed to face those in his area that think the opposite and decide to go backwards and keep to a political Islam or terrorism," he said.Under the reforms closely associated with the crown prince, social restrictions have been loosened, such as bans on cinemas and women driving. He has promised to promote a more moderate form of Islam.During his visit to Paris, he met interfaith leaders and pushed for a new strategic partnership that in essence focused heavily on France's cultural soft power and tourism know-how rather than signing billions of dollars worth of lucrative contracts as he had done in the United States and Britain."You and I are old in Saudi Arabia because 70 percent of the population is younger than us," Prince Mohammed joked during the news conference at the Elysee palace. Macron is only eight years older than the prince."The partnership between Saudi Arabia and France is very important, especially now that Europe and the Middle East are going through changes in the world."The two leaders also had some tense moments in November after Lebanese officials accused Saudi Arabia of holding Prime Minister Saad Hariri hostage in the kingdom.Macron eventually mediated a solution with Prince Mohammed to the problem, and on Tuesday the three dined at the Elysee palace with Hariri tweeting a selfie of the three of them.While Macron made no specific references to human rights or freedoms in the kingdom, he had perhaps opted to push a more subtle message two days earlier in a private dinner and tour of the Louvre museum, including an exhibition of revolutionary 19th-century French painter Eugene Delacroix.A picture on Macron's Twitter feed showed the two men contemplating Delacroix' most famous painting, Liberty Leading The People, a bare-breasted woman standing over revolutionary barricades holding a French tricolore flag."If there is one chance that his project succeeds, then it's the responsibility of France to accompany him," Macron said on Tuesday.(Reporting by John Irish; editing by Michel Rose and Hugh Lawson)
Egypt military court refers 36 defendants to Mufti for death penalty-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
CAIRO (Reuters) - A military court has referred 36 defendants accused of taking part in deadly church bombings to Egypt's top religious authority for consideration of the death penalty, state television reported on Tuesday.The defendants are suspected of involvement in bombings that hit three Coptic churches - one at Cairo's Coptic Cathedral in December 2016 that killed at least 25, and two that hit churches in Alexandria and Tanta on the same day in April 2017 and killed more than 45 people.Islamic State claimed responsibility for all three attacks.Egypt requires that courts refer cases to the Grand Mufti for consideration of the death penalty ahead of a final verdict although his decision is non-binding.The court is expected to issue a verdict on May 15 and 11 of the 36 are being tried in absentia, a lawyer involved in the case told Reuters.Public prosecutor Nabil Sadek said previously that some of the suspects held leadership positions in Islamic State and formed cells in Cairo and the southern province of Qena to carry out the church attacks.Some of the defendants are also accused of carrying out an attack on a checkpoint in Egypt's Western Desert that killed at least eight policemen in 2017.Egypt is facing a more than three-year-old insurgency led by Islamic State that intensified after general-turned-president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi led the military in overthrowing Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.(Reporting by Mahmoud Mourad, Haitham Ahmed, and Mostafa Hashem, Writing by Eric Knecht, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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
In eastern Europe, when Nazis killed Jews, a ‘carnival atmosphere’ prevailed-Father Patrick Desbois depicts in grim detail local bystanders' culpability while Nazis implemented the Final Solution in a new, second book about ‘Holocaust by bullets’-By Matt Lebovic-APR 10,18-TOI
For all intents and purposes, the first phase of the Holocaust was a communal undertaking, one that was jointly perpetrated by Nazi Germany and thousands of Eastern European collaborators.When the Nazis invaded Soviet lands in 1941, the notorious death camps had not yet been constructed in occupied Poland. To enact Germany’s “war of annihilation” against the Jews, mobile killing squads — called “Einsatzgruppen” — were deployed to conduct large-scale shooting massacres. In some towns, thousands of non-Jews turned out to watch the slaughter of Jews in festive atmospheres, belying the myth of a genocide carried out in secret.Typically, Einsatzgruppen “actions” were conducted in Jewish cemeteries or on the outskirts of town. Compared to the death camps more closely associated with the Holocaust, the mass shootings were well-documented with photographs and contemporary reports. Nearly two million Jews were murdered in these open-air massacres, comprising one-third of the genocide’s six million victims.“Today, it is still said in the former Soviet territories that the killings were done in secret,” wrote Father Patrick Desbois in his new book, “In Broad Daylight: The Secret Procedures Behind the Holocaust by Bullets.”Published in January, “In Broad Daylight” is the follow-up to Desbois’s 2008 book, “The Holocaust by Bullets,” based on the Roman Catholic priest’s investigations into the Einsatzgruppen massacres in Ukraine. For his new book, Desbois drew from research in seven countries where the Einsatzgruppen operated, with an emphasis on the non-German men and women who helped facilitate the shootings.Earlier this year, the author helped conduct a seminar for tour guides at the former death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, in Poland, where the Nazis murdered one million Jews in gas chambers. During the week-long training in January, 130 guides learned about the “Holocaust by bullets” killings that — in a matter of months — “evolved” into the construction of six purpose-built death camps.Although Desbois has identified hundreds of Holocaust mass shooting sites in Poland, the bulk of his work has been east of that country. Since 2004, his research team has interviewed nearly 4,000 eye-witnesses to Einsatzgruppen killings, including elderly men and women who admit to having collaborated with the Nazis.“Memory survived among these people,” Desbois has said of witnesses to the genocide, including those who were very young at the time.“In little Soviet villages, the children didn’t watch the genocide of the Jews on television. They went to the neighboring fields in order to see for themselves,” wrote Desbois, adding that boys were sometimes assigned the role of bringing bullets to the killers during mass shootings.“The capacity to see the mass murder of others without taking any responsibility predates mass media,” wrote the celebrated priest.-‘Stations of the Cross’-In 2004, Desbois founded the organization Yahad In-Unum (Together in One), based on his mission to locate and mark the Holocaust’s “Einsatzgruppen” killing fields. Since then, the priest and his researchers have also applied their methods in war-torn Iraq, interviewing Yazidi survivors of the Islamic State’s genocidal campaign.The book “In Broad Daylight” was organized according to a “typical” Einsatzgruppen operation, beginning with “The Night Before” and ending with “The Day After.” Within that timeline, some collaborators perform seemingly mundane tasks — the cooks and clerks — whereas others unleash horrors upon their Jewish neighbors, as depicted in a chapter called “The Rapes.”To identify potential eye-witnesses, Yahad In-Unum investigators usually began in German or Soviet archives. In hundreds of cases, testimony has led the team to determine not only where mass executions took place, but to uncover the remains of bullets in the ground.In contrast to the relatively secretive death camps, the Einsatzgruppen massacres were “an attraction” for many communities, according to Desbois. In some localities, the Holocaust unfolded with “carnival” or quasi-religious undertones, such as the organizing of bloody, Passion-like marches through town, or forcing Jews to perform on the edge of mass graves.“The Germans in the Eastern territories could not be unaware that the gawkers who rushed to see the Jews murdered, sometimes up to the graves’ edge, crossed themselves over and over,” wrote Desbois. “Consciously or not, they organized a tableau vivant, a living picture, of an inverted representation of the Stations of the Cross.”No role played by collaborators was too small to escape the author’s interest. In the chapter, “The Layer of Planks,” Desbois pondered the use of wooden planks placed over the ditches during executions. After conducting hundreds of interviews, he at last came upon a witness who mentioned these planks.“A board had been placed on the ditch on which the Jew had to go naked,” the witness told Desbois, referring to the 1941 massacre of 2,000 Jews in Bolekhov, Ukraine, which took place at the town’s Jewish cemetery.“I still remember that the Jewish families held hands on the plank,” said the witness. “Then they were shot in the head from behind and then they fell into the ditch. There were a few Jews down in the ditch who had to lay the dead bodies in rows.”-‘A human slaughterhouse’-In a chapter called “The Sanitizer,” Desbois explained how the SS murder squads engaged local communities in “cleaning up” after each massacre. Before Jewish homes and belongings could be pillaged, efforts were made to erase evidence that thousands of people had been murdered.“The personal bathtubs ripped out of Jewish houses became anonymous tubs for transporting the lime to the mass graves where the Jews had been murdered,” wrote Desbois. “For a few days, the entire village seems to have been transformed into a human slaughterhouse. A slaughterhouse needing to be sanitized after a crime.”According to Desbois, his investigations yielded many “grave fillers,” but few people who admit to transporting Jews to execution sites in trucks or wagons. For those in town who did not witness the massacres for themselves, evidence of what took place was visible on the streets for days.“It took a village-wide effort to get the Jewish furniture out of the houses and into the schoolyard where it was sold,” wrote Desbois. “Not only was the sale of Jewish goods not hidden or discreet, camouflaged, but it took place in broad daylight at the center of Soviet life. …In the place where everyone went to make daily purchases, the possessions of murdered Jews were sold shamelessly at auction.”
Israeli Labour party breaks off relations with Britain's Corbyn-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Labour Party said on Tuesday it had suspended relations with Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of Britain's Labour party, accusing him of sanctioning anti-Semitism and showing hostility towards Israeli policies.Corbyn, who unexpectedly became party head in 2015, is a supporter of Palestinian rights and a critic of Israel. He has repeatedly faced accusations of turning a blind eye to anti-Semitic comments in the party and among groups he supports."It is my responsibility to acknowledge the hostility you have shown to the Jewish community and the anti-Semitic statements and actions you have allowed as leader of the Labour party UK," Israeli Labour Party leader Avi Gabbay wrote in a letter to Corbyn, distributed to the media.Last month, British Jewish groups held a street protest outside parliament, accusing Corbyn of failing to tackle anti-Semitism in party ranks because of a far-left world view hostile to Jews.Corbyn has said he recognizes that anti-Semitism has surfaced within his party. He has apologized for the pain this has caused and pledged to redouble his efforts to stamp it out."Jeremy has pledged to be a militant opponent of anti-Semitism," a spokeswoman said on Tuesday."He has repeatedly emphasized the central role of the Jewish community in the Labour Party and the importance of ensuring it is a supportive and welcoming environment for all communities."Gabbay had said in his letter that Israel was reminded of the horrors of anti-Semitism in Europe as it approached Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day this week."As such, I write to inform you of the temporary suspension of all formal relations between the Israel Labour party and the leader of the Labour Party UK," he said.Gabbay said Corbyn had shown "very public hatred" towards Israeli government policies, including those where the opposition and the ruling coalition are aligned.Israeli Labour is part of the "Zionist Union" faction in Israel's Knesset, which controls 24 of the legislature's 120 seats.(Writing by Ori Lewis; additional reporting by Paul Sandle in London; Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Larry King)
Eurocontrol warns airlines of possible missile strikes into Syria-[Reuters]-By Jamie Freed-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Pan-European air traffic control agency Eurocontrol on Tuesday warned airlines to exercise caution in the eastern Mediterranean due to the possible launch of air strikes into Syria in next 72 hours.Eurocontrol said that air-to-ground and/or cruise missiles could be used within that period and there was a possibility of intermittent disruption of radio navigation equipment.U.S. President Donald Trump and Western allies are discussing possible military action to punish Syria's President Bashar Assad for a suspected poison gas attack on Saturday on a rebel-held town that long had held out against government forces.Trump on Tuesday canceled a planned trip to Latin America later this week to focus instead on responding to the Syria incident, the White House said. Trump had on Monday warned of a quick, forceful response once responsibility for the Syria attack was established.The Eurocontrol warning on its website did not specify the origin of any potential missile threat."Due to the possible launch of air strikes into Syria with air-to-ground and/or cruise missiles within the next 72 hours, and the possibility of intermittent disruption of radio navigation equipment, due consideration needs to be taken when planning flight operations in the Eastern Mediterranean/Nicosia FIR area," it said, referring to the designated airspace.Aviation regulators in countries including the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany have previously issued warnings against airlines entering Syrian airspace leading most carriers to avoid the area.The only commercial flights above Syria as of 1:15 am GMT on Wednesday were being flown by Syrian Air and Lebanon's Middle East Airlines, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.The Eurocontrol statement included a broader area outside the airspace controlled by Damascus.The Nicosia flight information region named in the Eurocontrol statement on Tuesday covers the island of Cyprus and surrounding waters, according to a map on the agency's website. The same map did not designate any specific territory as being the "Eastern Mediterranean" region.There has been heightened awareness by regulators and airlines of the risks that conflict zones pose to commercial jets since Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was downed by a surface-to-air missile over Ukraine in 2014, killing all 298 people on board.Last year, North Korea tested missiles without warning, leading some airlines to re-route flights to avoid portions of the Sea of Japan.Eurocontrol's warning cited a document from the European Aviation Safety Agency, Europe's safety regulator, a copy of which was not immediately available.(Reporting by Jamie Freed; Editing by Michael Perry)
Gradual deployment of US troops to Mexico border underway-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
ROMA, Texas — The deployment of National Guard members to the U.S.-Mexico border at President Donald Trump's request was underway Tuesday with a gradual ramp-up of troops under orders to help curb illegal immigration.The Trump administration also announced that Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen will visit this week a stretch of new border wall breaking ground in New Mexico, putting additional focus on what Trump has called a crisis of migrant crossings and crime.The construction and commitment of at least 1,600 Guard members from Arizona, New Mexico and Texas provoked fresh condemnation from immigrant activists and praise from border-state Republican governors, who will retain command-and-control of their state's Guard during a mission that for now has no firm end date.The only holdout border state was California, led by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, who has not announced whether troops from his state's National Guard will participate and has repeatedly clashed with Trump over immigration policy. The state was still reviewing Tuesday whether it join the effort, said Lt. Tom Keegan, a spokesman for the California National Guard.In Texas, where Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has pledged to put more than 1,000 Guard members into action, military officials said Tuesday that 300 troops would report to armouries this week for preparation and training. Texas has previously kept about 100 Guard members stationed on the border for years as part of its own border security efforts."What is different now it is happening in a different context and a different narrative," said Fernando Garcia, director of the Border Network for Human Rights, an immigrant advocacy group.Speaking from the Rio Grande Valley where immigrant crossings are the highest along the 2,000-mile (3, 200-kilometre ) U.S.-Mexico border, Garcia said, "When you hear the narrative of the president, it seems to him the enemy is the immigrant family."Abbott said in a statement Tuesday that the Guard has "proven to have a meaningful impact" in reducing immigration and crime.In the Texas border town of Roma, about a half-dozen uniformed Guard members were seen Tuesday near an international bridge along the Rio Grande. Children played just across the river in Mexico, and it wasn't clear whether the Guard members were new or part of Texas' earlier observe-and-report missions.One guard member was armed with an M4 rifle and used binoculars to peer across the river. Pickup trucks with guard members inside circled the town square along with border patrol vehicles. Mexican children who had attended school on the U.S. side of the border showed their passports and paid a toll to cross a bridge over the river and walk home to the Mexican community of Ciudad Miguel Aleman.Trump said last week he wants to send 2,000 to 4,000 National Guard members to the border, issuing a proclamation citing "the lawlessness that continues at our southern border."Trump administration officials have said that rising numbers of people being caught at the southern border, while in line with seasonal trends in recent years, require an immediate response.Monthly border arrests surpassed 50,000 in March for the first time since December 2016. The Border Patrol, which polices between but not at official crossings, made more than 37,000 of those arrests, including more than 14,000 in Texas' Rio Grande Valley, nearly 6,000 in its Tucson, Arizona, sector and more than 4,000 in San Diego.Inspectors at official crossings made nearly 13,000 arrests in March, led by the Laredo, Texas, field office with more than 4,800 and the San Diego field office with about 3,800.Apprehensions are still well below their historical trends during the terms of former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, both of whom also deployed the Guard to the border.Some Guard members will be armed if they are placed in potential danger, Abbott said, adding he wanted to downplay speculation that "our National Guard is showing up with military bayonets trying to take on anybody that's coming across the border, because that is not their role."There is no end date for the deployment, Abbott said: "We may be in this for the long haul."Trump has said he wants to use the military at the border until progress is made on his proposed border wall, which has mostly stalled in Congress. Defence Secretary James Mattis last Friday approved paying for up to 4,000 National Guard personnel from the Pentagon budget through the end of September.Mexico's foreign relations secretary said his government is evaluating its co-operation with the United States.___Weber reported from Austin, Texas. Associated Press Writer Kathleen Ronayne in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report.John L. Mone And Paul J. Weber, The Associated Press.
The Latest: Cosby lawyer hints accuser enamoured with stardom-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — The Latest on the Bill Cosby sexual assault retrial (all times local):7:05 p.m.Bill Cosby's lawyers have worked to peel away the aww-shucks, country gal persona one of his accusers claims she had when she met him.Colorado music teacher Heidi Thomas testified Tuesday at Cosby's sexual-assault retrial in suburban Philadelphia. Thomas was an aspiring actress when her agent set her up to meet Cosby for career advice in Reno, Nevada, in 1984. She says Cosby gave her a drink and forced her to perform oral sex as she faded in and out of consciousness.Defence lawyer Kathleen Bliss hinted the woman who was crowned Miss Littleton, Colorado, in college was enamoured with stardom and was mesmerized by the bright lights of Reno.Testimony has ended for the day. Bliss will continue questioning Thomas on Wednesday. The defence is expected to probe inconsistencies in her account.Cosby is charged with drugging and assaulting another woman at his home in 2004. He says the encounter was consensual.___6:45 p.m.Testimony is finished for the day at Bill Cosby's suburban Philadelphia sexual-assault retrial.The trial took a far more combative turn Tuesday than the first go-round. Cosby's lawyers launched a scathing attack on his accuser, and prosecutors put the first in a parade of women on the stand to portray the comedian as a sexual predator.Colorado music teacher Heidi Thomas was an aspiring actress when her agent set her up to meet Cosby for career advice in 1984. She says Cosby gave her a drink and forced her to perform oral sex as she faded in and out of consciousness.The defence is expected to probe inconsistencies in her account during cross-examination. The trial resumes Wednesday.Cosby is charged with drugging and assaulting another woman at his home in 2004. He says the encounter was consensual.___5:50 p.m.Jurors at Bill Cosby's suburban Philadelphia sexual-assault retrial are hearing from a Colorado music teacher who says the comedian knocked her out with a potent glass of wine and forced her to perform oral sex when she was an aspiring actress in 1984.Heidi Thomas took the witness stand on Tuesday. She's the first of five additional accusers whom prosecutors plan to call as they make the case that Cosby has a history of drugging and assaulting women.Thomas says she met Cosby in Reno, Nevada, after her agent arranged for him to give her acting tips. She says Cosby assaulted her after she took a sip of white wine he had given her.Defence lawyers are cross-examining her.Cosby is charged with drugging and assaulting another woman in 2004. He says the encounter was consensual.___12:55 p.m.Prosecutors in the Bill Cosby retrial have called a sexual assault expert to help them blunt any skepticism about his accuser's behaviour after she says he drugged and molested her in 2004.Psychiatrist Barbara Ziv was the first witness to testify at Cosby's retrial Tuesday.She told jurors that it's common for victims to be reluctant to go to police and normal for them to maintain contact with perpetrators.Andrea Constand spoke with Cosby and saw him after the alleged assault at his suburban Philadelphia home, and waited more than a year before going to police with her allegations.Cosby says his sexual encounter with Constand was consensual.The Associated Press doesn't typically identify people who say they're victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.___10:45 a.m.Bill Cosby's lawyer has launched a fierce attack on the comedian's accuser, calling her a con artist who took advantage of Cosby's grief and loneliness over his son's murder to gain his trust before framing him for sexual assault.Lawyer Tom Mesereau delivered a blistering opening statement Tuesday in Cosby's retrial.He told jurors that accuser Andrea Constand wasn't attracted to Cosby, but was "madly in love" with his fame and money.He says she "hit the jackpot" when he paid her $3.4 million to settle a civil lawsuit over allegations he drugged and molested her in 2004.Prosecutors say it was Cosby who betrayed Constand's trust by giving her pills and then assaulting her.Cosby faces three counts of aggravated indecent assault, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison.The Associated Press doesn't typically identify people who say they're victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.___8:30 a.m.Comedian Bill Cosby has arrived for the second day of his sexual assault retrial amid heightened security.Security was stepped up on Tuesday outside of the courthouse in suburban Philadelphia after a topless protester jumped over a barricade on Monday and ran toward Cosby.Cosby was escorted into the courthouse by an attorney and his spokesman and surrounded by five sheriff's deputies.Another row of barricades was also added to the walkway.Monday's protester did not reach Cosby and he was unharmed. She was a member of a European feminist group known for staging topless protests and appeared as a child on "The Cosby Show."Cosby lawyer is set to deliver his opening statement on Tuesday.___1 a.m.The defence in Bill Cosby's sexual assault retrial is expected to use its opening statement to portray a hefty settlement paid to the woman he's charged with sexually assaulting as evidence of her greed.Cosby lawyer Tom Mesereau is set to deliver his remarks on Tuesday.Prosecutors opened the retrial on Monday in suburban Philadelphia with an answer to one of the case's biggest questions. But they failed to make clear why jurors should care that the comedian paid a $3.4 million settlement to accuser Andrea Constand.Mesereau has indicated he intends to use the settlement to argue that Constand falsely accused Cosby in hopes of landing a big payoff.The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.The Associated Press.
U.S., Russia clash at U.N. over chemical weapons attacks in Syria-[Reuters]-By Michelle Nichols and Ellen Francis-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
UNITED NATIONS/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russia and the United States tangled on Tuesday at the United Nations over the use of chemical weapons in Syria as Washington and its allies considered whether to strike at President Bashar al-Assad's forces over a suspected poison gas attack last weekend.Moscow and Washington halted attempts by each other in the U.N. Security Council to set up international investigations into chemical weapons attacks in Syria, which is in the throes of a seven-year-old civil war.U.S. President Donald Trump and Western allies are discussing possible military action to punish Assad for a suspected poison gas attack on Saturday on a rebel-held town that long had held out against government forces.Trump on Tuesday canceled a planned trip to Latin America later this week to focus instead on responding to the Syria incident, the White House said. Trump had on Monday warned of a quick, forceful response once responsibility for the Syria attack was established.On the diplomatic front, the United Nations Security Council failed to approve three draft resolutions on chemical weapons attacks in Syria. Russia vetoed a U.S. text, while two Russian-drafted resolutions failed to get a minimum nine votes to pass.Moscow opposes any Western strike on its close ally Assad and has vetoed Security Council action on Syria 12 times since the conflict started.U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the Security Council that adopting the U.S.-drafted resolution was the least that member nations could do."History will record that, on this day, Russia chose protecting a monster over the lives of the Syrian people," Haley said, referring to Assad.At least 60 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in Saturday's suspected chemical weapons attack on the town of Douma, according to a Syrian relief group.Doctors and witnesses have said victims showed symptoms of poisoning, possibly by a nerve agent, and reported the smell of chlorine gas.RUSSIA ACCUSES-Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Washington's decision to put forward its resolution could be a prelude to a Western strike on Syria."I would once again ask you, once again beseech you, to refrain from the plans that you’re currently developing for Syria," he said after the council failed to approve a third draft resolution on chemical weapons attacks in Syria.International chemical weapons experts are expected to go to Douma to investigate the suspected poison gas attack.France and Britain discussed with the Trump administration how to respond to the Douma attack. Both stressed that the culprit still needed to be confirmed.The Douma incident has thrust Syria's conflict back to the forefront of the international stage, pitting Washington and Moscow against each other once again.Trump said that he would make a decision about how to respond within a few days, adding that the United States had "a lot of options militarily" on Syria.Assad's government and Russia have said there was no evidence a gas attack had taken place and that the claim was bogus.Any U.S. strike is likely to involve naval assets, given the risk to aircraft from Russian and Syrian air defense systems. A U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer, the USS Donald Cook, is in the Mediterranean.A key issue being considered by U.S. defense and intelligence agencies and war planners is the effectiveness of Syrian air defenses and the extent to which Russia is helping to organize, and ultimately, direct Syrian air defense operations, according to two U.S. government sources.Last year, the United States launched strikes from two Navy destroyers against a Syrian air base.U.S. military action similar to last year's would likely not cause a shift in the direction of the war that has gone Assad's way since 2015 with massive aid from Iran and Russia.There was little expectation that members of Congress would object if Trump launched an attack on Syria, despite some calls for lawmakers to exert their power to authorize military action. Most members of Congress – Democrats as well as his fellow Republicans - praised Trump after the strike last year.French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that any strikes would not target the Syrian government's allies or anybody in particular, but would be aimed at the Syrian government's chemical facilities.CHEMICAL WEAPONS PROBE-The Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said Syria had been asked to make the necessary arrangements for the deployment of an investigation team."The team is preparing to deploy to Syria shortly," it said in a statement.The mission will aim to determine whether banned munitions were used but will not assign blame.The Assad government and Russia both urged the OPCW to investigate the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma, a move by the two countries that was apparently aimed at averting any U.S.-led action."Syria is keen on cooperating with the OPCW to uncover the truth behind the allegations that some Western sides have been advertising to justify their aggressive intentions," Syria's state news agency SANA said.A European source said European governments were waiting for the OPCW to carry out its investigation and for more solid forensic evidence from the attack to emerge. Any plan by Washington and its allies to take military action was likely to be on hold until then, the source said.In Syria, thousands of militants and their families arrived in rebel-held parts of the country's northwest after surrendering Douma to government forces.Their evacuation restored Assad's control over eastern Ghouta, formerly the biggest rebel bastion near Damascus, and gave him his biggest battlefield victory since 2016, when he took back Aleppo.Aggravating the volatile situation in the region, Iran - Assad's other main ally - threatened to respond to an air strike on a Syrian military base on Monday that Tehran, Damascus and Moscow have blamed on Israel.Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, meanwhile, said there was no threat of the situation in Syria resulting in a military clash between Russia and the United States. TASS news agency quoted him as saying he believed common sense would prevail.A Russian warplane flew over a French warship at low altitude in the eastern Mediterranean this weekend, a deliberate breach of international regulations, a French naval source said on Tuesday.The weekly magazine Le Point said the Russian plane had flown over the frigate Aquitaine and was fully armed. The Aquitaine is equipped with 16 cruise missiles and 16 surface-to-air missiles. It is currently operating off Lebanon alongside U.S. ships as part of France's military contingent fighting Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.Despite the international revulsion over chemical weapons attacks, the death toll from such incidents in Syria is only a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of combatants and civilians killed since the war began in 2011.(Reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations, Ellen Francis and Tom Perry in Beirut, Jack Stubbs and Maria Kiselyova in Moscow, Anthony Deutsch in Amsterdam, Beirut, Steve Holland, Idrees Ali, Mark Hosenball and Patricia Zengerle in Washington; writing by Alistair Bell; editing by Will Dunham, G Crosse and Cynthia Osterman)
Sinclair television stations release video attacking CNN (SEWER RAT LIBERAL FAKE NEWS EXPERTS)-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
NEW YORK — The Sinclair Broadcast Group is attacking CNN for what it considers hypocrisy about its directive to local news anchors to read a message denouncing fake news.News websites for local television stations owned by Sinclair on Tuesday posted a link to a four-minute video critical of CNN. The video calls the network reprehensible for reporting on a video message that Sinclair compelled its news anchors to read in recent weeks.Sinclair said that the message given by local anchors to be wary of fake news is similar to warnings that CNN and its media reporter Brian Stelter have been giving for years.Stelter tweeted that the difference is that he's not being given corporate directives on what to say.The Associated Press.
Give Saudi Arabia a chance, French president tells critics-[Reuters]-By John Irish-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
PARIS (Reuters) - France's President Emmanuel Macron took on critics of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday, saying it was too easy to criticize the young leader's haste to reform and urged detractors to give him time.Prince Mohammed, who was ending a three-day tour to France on Tuesday, has won Western plaudits for seeking to reduce Saudi Arabia's reliance on oil, tackle chronic corruption and transform the deeply conservative, mainly Sunni Muslim kingdom.But the severity and secrecy of an anti-corruption crackdown last November, after the prince ousted an older cousin as crown prince in a palace coup last June, has unnerved some investors.Human rights groups also question how far the kingdom has come.After a tense first exchange between the two leaders in Riyadh last November that was dominated by a difference of opinion on how to handle Riyadh's regional rival Iran, Macron and Prince Mohammed sought to get to know each other and work on what they have in common rather than their differences."I hear legitimate questions from civil society, journalists about human rights and various sensitive issues concerning your country, (but) I'm also looking at what's going on in the region. We have here a young leader who is going to be in the highest functions in a country where 70 percent of the population is under 30," Macron said alongside the 32-year-old prince."We can have the choice to stick to our traditional positions and we can decide that the first acts of modernization of his society are cosmetic. If we do that then we are leaving Prince Mohammed to face those in his area that think the opposite and decide to go backwards and keep to a political Islam or terrorism," he said.Under the reforms closely associated with the crown prince, social restrictions have been loosened, such as bans on cinemas and women driving. He has promised to promote a more moderate form of Islam.During his visit to Paris, he met interfaith leaders and pushed for a new strategic partnership that in essence focused heavily on France's cultural soft power and tourism know-how rather than signing billions of dollars worth of lucrative contracts as he had done in the United States and Britain."You and I are old in Saudi Arabia because 70 percent of the population is younger than us," Prince Mohammed joked during the news conference at the Elysee palace. Macron is only eight years older than the prince."The partnership between Saudi Arabia and France is very important, especially now that Europe and the Middle East are going through changes in the world."The two leaders also had some tense moments in November after Lebanese officials accused Saudi Arabia of holding Prime Minister Saad Hariri hostage in the kingdom.Macron eventually mediated a solution with Prince Mohammed to the problem, and on Tuesday the three dined at the Elysee palace with Hariri tweeting a selfie of the three of them.While Macron made no specific references to human rights or freedoms in the kingdom, he had perhaps opted to push a more subtle message two days earlier in a private dinner and tour of the Louvre museum, including an exhibition of revolutionary 19th-century French painter Eugene Delacroix.A picture on Macron's Twitter feed showed the two men contemplating Delacroix' most famous painting, Liberty Leading The People, a bare-breasted woman standing over revolutionary barricades holding a French tricolore flag."If there is one chance that his project succeeds, then it's the responsibility of France to accompany him," Macron said on Tuesday.(Reporting by John Irish; editing by Michel Rose and Hugh Lawson)
Egypt military court refers 36 defendants to Mufti for death penalty-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
CAIRO (Reuters) - A military court has referred 36 defendants accused of taking part in deadly church bombings to Egypt's top religious authority for consideration of the death penalty, state television reported on Tuesday.The defendants are suspected of involvement in bombings that hit three Coptic churches - one at Cairo's Coptic Cathedral in December 2016 that killed at least 25, and two that hit churches in Alexandria and Tanta on the same day in April 2017 and killed more than 45 people.Islamic State claimed responsibility for all three attacks.Egypt requires that courts refer cases to the Grand Mufti for consideration of the death penalty ahead of a final verdict although his decision is non-binding.The court is expected to issue a verdict on May 15 and 11 of the 36 are being tried in absentia, a lawyer involved in the case told Reuters.Public prosecutor Nabil Sadek said previously that some of the suspects held leadership positions in Islamic State and formed cells in Cairo and the southern province of Qena to carry out the church attacks.Some of the defendants are also accused of carrying out an attack on a checkpoint in Egypt's Western Desert that killed at least eight policemen in 2017.Egypt is facing a more than three-year-old insurgency led by Islamic State that intensified after general-turned-president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi led the military in overthrowing Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.(Reporting by Mahmoud Mourad, Haitham Ahmed, and Mostafa Hashem, Writing by Eric Knecht, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
