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)
ISAIAH 65:9,22
9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out
of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect (ISRAEL) shall
inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
22 They shall not
build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for
as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect (ISRAEL)
shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
1 CHRONICLES 17:9
9
Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel,(IN PALESTINE) and will
plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no
more;(ISRAEL-NEVER DESTROYED-FOREVER AN EARTHLY NATION) neither shall
the children of wickedness(ISHMAEL-ARAB/MUSLIMS-WORLD ISRAEL HATERS)
waste them any more, as at the beginning,(ARAB/MUSLIMS ATTACK ISRAEL ON
MAY 15,1948)
ISAIAH 56:5
5 Even unto them (ISRAELIS) will I
give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of
sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name,(ISRAEL)
that shall not be cut off.
ISAIAH 51:3-4
3 For the LORD shall
comfort Zion:(JERUSALEM) he will comfort all her waste places;(FROM
NUCLEAR WAR) and he will make her wilderness like Eden,(I BELIEVE THE
EZEKIEL-4TH TEMPLE WILL BE BUILT 25 MILES FROM THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT
AFTER JESUS RULE FOR THE 1,000 YRS FROM JERUSALEM) and her desert like
the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein,
thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.(PRAISE TO JESUS IN THE
DESERT-COULD BE THE NEW JERUSALEM-4TH TEMPLE BUILT 25 MILES INTO THE
DESERT FROM THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT.SINCE EZEKIELS TEMPLE IS WAY TO BIG
FOR THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT)
4 Hearken unto me, my people;(ISRAEL)
and give ear unto me, O my nation:(ISRAEL) for a law shall proceed from
me,(JESUS IN JERUSALEM) and I will make my judgment to rest for a light
of the people.(ISRAEL AND THE WORLD)
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
Palestinian leaders health scares spark succession talk-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-March 22, 2018
RAMALLAH,
Palestinian Territory — A series of recent health scares have raised
new concerns about octogenarian President Mahmoud Abbas, reviving
anxiety about a potentially chaotic, and even bloody, succession battle
that is bound to further weaken the Palestinian cause.In the latest sign
of Abbas' health troubles, officials and medical sources say a
cardiologist has moved into the presidential compound in Ramallah to
monitor the longtime leader.The move follows a mysterious hospital visit
in the United States after Abbas appeared weak in an address to the
United Nations Security Council.Abbas, a heavy smoker with long-standing
heart problems who turns 83 next week, insists he is fine. But after
more than a decade of avoiding discussion of the post-Abbas era,
Palestinian officials acknowledge that they are concerned, and potential
successors are quietly jockeying for position.The topic of succession
has been taboo in Palestinian official circles since Abbas took office
14 years ago. Abbas took over as a caretaker leader following the death
of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 2004, and was elected for what
was supposed to be a five-year term the following year. He has remained
in firm control since then, refusing to designate a successor while a
political split with rival Hamas prevented new elections.Abbas has a
long history of health issues, ranging from his heart troubles to a bout
with prostate cancer a decade ago. Last summer, he underwent a health
checkup at a Ramallah hospital and separately, dispelled rumours he had
suffered a stroke. Two years ago, he underwent an emergency heart
procedure after suffering exhaustion and chest pains. He suffers from
arterial plaque and has had stents implanted.Concerns deepened after
Abbas' Feb. 20 appearance before the U.N. Security Council, where he
appeared to struggle for breath at times.After the speech, he travelled
to Baltimore for a series of tests at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Feeling
fatigued, Abbas then decided to return to the West Bank rather than
continue on to Venezuela, as initially planned, according to three Abbas
aides who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are under strict
orders not to discuss his health.It was rare for the globe-trotting
Abbas to cancel a planned trip.Abbas said after his return that the
medical tests conducted in the U.S. yielded "positive and reassuring"
results, but did not elaborate.A Palestinian official and two medical
sources said a heart specialist is now present at the presidential
compound whenever Abbas is there. Abbas' regular physician visits the
compound every day as well.The medical sources spoke on condition of
anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss Abbas' health. One
said he requires medication and close attention.Aides said Abbas
complains of strong stomach pain and has told his staff this is a result
of stress and anger — two triggers doctors told him to avoid. They said
rumours that he is suffering from cancer are not true.The health scares
come at an especially difficult time.Abbas took office promising to
lead the Palestinians to independence with a message of nonviolence.
Fourteen years later, he has little to show for his efforts.Several
rounds of peace talks have failed, and relations with the U.S. are at a
low point following President Donald Trump's recognition last December
of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.The Palestinians, who seek
Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital, have accused Trump of
siding with Israel on the most sensitive topic in the conflict and have
largely frozen ties with the White House ahead of an expected U.S. peace
plan.Abbas' frustration boiled over in a speech on Monday in which he
called Trump's ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, a "son of a dog"
because of his support for Israel's West Bank settler movement.Abbas'
self-rule government, the Palestinian Authority, has suffered from
chronic financial woes, and has been unable to regain control of the
Gaza Strip, which was overrun by the militant Hamas group in 2007.Last
week, an explosion struck the convoy of Abbas' prime minister and
security chief while they visited Gaza. Abbas has accused Hamas of being
behind the blast and threatened to take tough new measures to further
squeeze the financially strapped militant group until it yields power.An
opinion poll released this week found that 68 per cent of the
Palestinian public wants Abbas to resign, and just 33 per cent of those
surveyed said they were satisfied with his performance.The poll,
conducted by the respected Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey
Research, surveyed 1,200 people and had a margin of error of 3
percentage points.A number of top officials in Abbas' Fatah movement
head the list of potential successors.Jibril Rajoub, a former security
chief, and Mahmoud Aloul, a veteran Fatah leader, are both members of
the party's decision-making Central Committee.Abbas' current security
chief, Majed Farraj, is another strong contender, with good
behind-the-scenes working relations with both Israel and the U.S.Marwan
Barghouti, a former Palestinian uprising leader serving multiple life
sentences in Israeli prison, tops public opinion polls. But his
incarceration would pose a strong obstacle to him taking office.Mohammed
Dahlan, an exiled rival of Abbas who now lives in the United Arab
Emirates, also enjoys some support, but the local leadership opposes
him.For now, Abbas refuses to designate a successor. That could set the
stage for bitter and potentially violent infighting down the
road.Whoever ultimately emerges as the next Palestinian leader will have
little to inherit, analysts say.Ghassan Khatib, a former Cabinet
minister, said that for all of his shortcomings, Abbas served as a
unifying figure and will be hard to replace."The Palestinian Authority
is eroding and dying," said Khatib. "There is no election, no changes,
and the gap with the people is getting wider and wider."Mohammed
Daraghmeh, The Associated Press.
Police search for suspect after Vaughan synagogue doors smashed in 'hate-motivated' crime-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-March 22, 2018
Police
in York Region are searching for a suspect after the doors of a Vaughan
synagogue were smashed with a rock in what they're calling a
"hate-motivated" crime.On Wednesday morning, police say a man approached
the place of worship in the Bathurst Street and Flamingo Road area,
throwing the rock at the door multiple times, breaking the glass."It is
both despicable and lamentable that someone would feel the need to
resort to such vile behaviour," said Michael Mostyn, chief executive
officer of B'nai Brith Canada, in a release. "We trust that police will
investigate this matter seriously."The suspect, last seen walking
northbound on Bathurst Street, is described as 20 to 30 years old, 5' 8"
to 5' 10" with a medium build. He is believed to have been wearing a
dark grey or black North Face-style fur-trimmed winter coat, grey jeans
and black sneakers with a Nike swoosh on the toe area.Police say they do
"not tolerate hate crime in any form."Anyone with information is asked
to contact York Regional Police #2 District's criminal investigation
bureau at 1-866-876-5423 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers
at 1-800-222-TIPS.
DRUG PUSHERS AND ADDICTS
1 PET 5:8
8
Be sober,(NOT DRUGED UP OR ALCOHOLICED) be vigilant; because your
adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he
may devour:
REVELATION 18:23
23 And the light of a candle
shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and
of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants
were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries (DRUGS) were all
nations deceived.
REVELATION 9:21
21 Neither repented they of
their murders,(KILLING) nor of their sorceries (DRUG ADDICTS AND DRUG
PUSHERS), nor of their fornication,(SEX OUTSIDE MARRIAGE OR PROSTITUTION
FOR MONEY) nor of their thefts.(STEALING)
Senate gives approval in principle to bill to legalize recreational marijuana-[The Canadian Press]-yahoonews-March 22, 2018
OTTAWA
— The Senate gave approval in principle Thursday evening to the federal
government's bill to legalize recreational marijuana, after a tense few
days of manoeuvring by Conservative senators hoping to derail one of
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's signature election promises.Bill C-45
passed at second reading by a vote of 44-29.That does not mean the bill
is out of the Senate woods, however. It will now be scrutinized by five
different Senate committees, which could recommend amendments, before
returning it to the upper house for a final debate and vote by June
7.Thursday's vote came hours after Trudeau issued a veiled warning to
senators that they should not attempt to thwart the will of Canadians or
the government they elected on a platform that included legalization of
cannabis.His warning reflected concern among Liberals that the bill
might not survive second reading — a concern triggered by Conservative
senators, who were hoping to deliver a double-barrelled embarrassment to
Trudeau: upending his promise to legalize marijuana while demonstrating
the folly of his efforts to reform the Senate into a less partisan,
more independent chamber.Ordinarily, approval in principle, known as a
second reading vote, is not a big hurdle and is dispensed with on the
basis of a quick voice vote so that a bill can be sent to committee.But,
in the case of C-45, the 33 Conservative senators vowed to vote as a
bloc against the bill and signalled their intention to insist upon a
standing vote, where each senator's vote is counted.Although the
Conservatives no longer dominate the 105-seat upper house, they had
evidently hoped a handful of independent senators would join them and
that — combined with a large number of absent independents who were
travelling on Senate committee business — would be enough to defeat the
bill.The leadership of the independent senators group scrambled to avoid
that outcome, sending a memo Wednesday urging all of its absent members
to return to Ottawa in time for the vote and warning that the
Conservatives would blame the independents if the bill was defeated.The
vast majority of independents did make it back in time and all of them
voted as a bloc, along with unaffiliated and Liberal independent
senators, to send the bill to committee.Conservative whip, Sen. Don
Plett, said that proves the independents really make up a partisan
caucus that's whipped to do the government's bidding, whereas he called
the Conservatives "the most independent caucus" even though they too
voted as a bloc.That said, Plett also predicted that some of the
independents will ultimately support amendments to the bill or even vote
against it.Sen. Yuen Pau Woo, the leader of the independent senators'
group, said it's "not extraordinary at all" that all independents would
vote to send the bill for thorough scrutiny by committees, which he
characterized as doing their constitutional duty to give legislation
sober second thought. But he too said that doesn't mean they'll all
necessarily support the bill in the end, at least not as currently
drafted."I fully expect that senators from different sides will discuss
amendments and that these will be considered seriously by the various
committees," he said.Sen. Peter Harder, the government's representative
in the Senate, also acknowledged that the bill still faces some
potentially big hurdles."This is a bill of high interest to the Senate.
There are many issues to be dealt with," he said.Prior to the vote,
Conservative Senate leader Larry Smith said if the bill was defeated, it
would be because Trudeau's reforms mean the government can no longer
rely on senators appointed by the prime minister to support government
legislation; it wouldn't be because of partisan games played by the
Conservatives."It has nothing to do with partisanship," Smith
insisted."It has everything to do with Sen. Harder, as the government
representative, trying to implement Prime Minister Trudeau's new system,
which has holes in it. ... They have to get their troops organized to
make sure they get the vote they want."Smith outlined five key areas of
concern to Conservative senators about the cannabis bill: its impact on
young people, public security and Indigenous people, the absence of a
public education campaign and the lack of police preparedness to enforce
a legalized pot regime, including the absence of a scientific test for
drug impaired driving.One Conservative senator, Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu,
bluntly described the bill as a "piece of s---." He later apologized
for his choice of words.Earlier in the day, Trudeau said he expects the
unelected Senate to scrutinize and suggest improvements to bills passed
by the House of Commons. But he reminded senators that Canadians voted
to end the criminal prohibition on cannabis when they elected his
Liberal government."It is very clear that this bill responds first to an
electoral promise that we made very clearly during the election
campaign and for which Canadians voted," he said following an event in
New Brunswick.The criminal cannabis regime has not protected Canadian
kids, who are among the highest under-age users of marijuana in
developed countries, and has put up to $7 billion every year in the
pockets of organized crime, Trudeau said."The current system does not
work. ... This is not something that Canadians want to see
continued."Joan Bryden , The Canadian Press.
Philippine police say 13 killed in one day of drug busts-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-March 22, 2018
MANILA
(Reuters) - Philippine police killed 13 suspected drug dealers and
arrested more than 100 people in dozens of anti-narcotics operations on
Wednesday in a province north of the capital, its police chief said.More
than 4,000 Filipinos have been killed by police during President
Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial 20-month-old war on drugs, and thousands
more by unidentified armed men. Most killings have been in rundown
areas of Metro Manila and the nearby provinces of Bulacan and
Cavite.Human rights groups and Duterte’s political opponents say
executions of drug users and small-time peddlers are widespread, but
police insist those killed were all dealers who put up violent
resistance.Police in Bulacan ran about 60 drugs "buy-bust", or sting,
operations in nine towns, the police chief said on Thursday.Bulacan is
where 32 people were killed in a single day in August last year. Last
month, an additional 10 drug suspects died in a bloody night of drug
busts."These operations are part of our stepped-up campaign against
drugs and all other forms of criminality in the province," Bulacan
police chief Romeo Caramat said in a statement."Unfortunately, 13 of the
suspects were killed when our officers fired in self-defense shortly
after the suspects who were armed with concealed guns sensed they were
being entrapped and started firing."More than 100 people were also
arrested and 19 firearms and about 250 packets of suspected drugs were
seized during the 24-hour operations, Caramat said.Last month, a
prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague opened
a preliminary examination into a complaint accusing Duterte and at
least 11 officials of crimes against humanity.The Philippines last week
notified the United Nations of its decision to withdraw from the ICC
because of what Duterte called outrageous attacks by U.N. officials and
violations of due process.(Reporting by Manuel Mogato; Editing by Nick
Macfie)
WORLD POWERS IN THE LAST DAYS (END OF AGE OF GRACE NOT THE WORLD)
EUROPEAN UNION-KING OF WEST-DAN 9:26-27,DAN 7:23-24,DAN 11:40,REV 13:1-10
EGYPT-KING OF THE SOUTH-DAN 11:40
RUSSIA-KING OF THE NORTH-EZEK 38:1-2,EZEK 39:1-3
CHINA-KING OF THE EAST-DAN 11:44,REV 9:16,18
VATICAN-RELIGIOUS LEADER-REV 13:11-18,REV 17:4-5,9,18
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with
violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13
And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the
earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and,
behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11
And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with
child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF
THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And
he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS)
man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be
against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against
him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL
ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his
brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
ISAIAH 14:12-14
12
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the
morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground,
which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine
heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars
of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the
sides of the north:
14 I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above
the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF
THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)
JOHN 16:2
2
They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that
whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM
MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)
THANK GOD DONALD TRUMP HIRED JOHN BOLTON AS NSA HEAD TODAY.
Boko Haram returns Nigeria girls, warns not to put in school-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-March 22, 2018
DAPCHI,
Nigeria — Boko Haram Islamic extremists brought back nearly all of the
110 girls they had kidnapped from a boarding school last month, dropping
them off in the middle of the night Wednesday with a warning: "Don't
ever put your daughters in school again."Several of the girls
interviewed by The Associated Press said they had been travelling for
days before the convoy of vehicles arrived in the centre of the town of
Dapchi around 2 a.m. Residents who had fled upon hearing that Boko Haram
was headed their way watched from hiding as dozens of girls descended
from the vehicles apparently unharmed."We were freed because we are
Muslim girls and they didn't want us to suffer. That is why they
released us," said Khadija Grema, one of the freed girls who said a
Christian classmate remained captive.The extraordinary development
brought elation to most of the families, but more heartache for the
relatives of the six girls still unaccounted for. The sister of one girl
fainted Wednesday upon hearing that she was not among those freed.One
14-year-old released by the fighters told reporters that five girls had
died. She did not provide other details and it was not immediately
possible to independently verify her claim.The abductions in Dapchi have
evoked painful memories of the tragedy in Chibok, where 276 girls were
kidnapped from their boarding school. Nearly four years later, about 100
of them have never returned home. Many had been forced to marry their
captors and had children fathered by them.The Nigerian government denied
that it had paid a ransom or made a prisoner swap in exchange for the
girls' freedom. The girls were released "through back-channel efforts
and with the help of some friends of the country, and it was
unconditional," Information Minister Lai Mohammed told journalists in
the capital, Abuja."No money changed hands. They only had one condition —
that they will return them to where they took them. So in the early
hours of today, they did return the girls and most of them went to their
parents," he said.The girls were meeting with counsellors at a nearby
hospital, and "will be quarantined and be counselled before they go back
to their schools," he added. Nigeria's government later said they were
being taken to the capital on a military plane.The fighters had rolled
into Dapchi in nine vehicles and the girls were left in the centre of
town. As terrified residents emerged from their homes, the extremists
issued an ominous warning, resident Ba'ana Musa told the AP."We did it
out of pity. And don't ever put your daughters in school again," the
residents said the extremists told them. Boko Haram means "Western
education is forbidden" in the Hausa language.Nigeria's government said
104 of the 110 schoolgirls had been confirmed freed.The latest mass
abduction is thought to have been carried out by a Boko Haram splinter
group aligned with the Islamic State group that has criticized the
leader of the main Boko Haram organization for targeting civilians and
has focused instead on military and Western targets.The release came a
day after an Amnesty International report accused the Nigerian military
of failing to heed several warnings of an imminent attack on Feb. 19
during which the girls were seized. The military has called the report
an "outright falsehood."Wednesday's miraculous development also brought
renewed focus to the 100 Chibok girls still missing since April 2014.
Coincidentally, some of the Chibok families had already made plans to
travel to Dapchi that day to lend their moral support before it was
known that most of the girls had been released.Some of the Chibok
families instead joined in rejoicing with the Dapchi parents, said Lawan
Zannah, secretary of the Chibok parents' association."This development
gives us light that ... we can take a message to our other colleagues at
home that yes, what we have seen will give us hope that our own (girls)
too will be released," Zannah said.___Larson reported from Dakar,
Senegal. Associated Press writers Jossy Ola in Dapchi, Nigeria; Ismail
Alfa Abdulrahim in Maiduguri, Nigeria; Ibrahim Abdulaziz in Yola,
Nigeria; Sam Olukoya in Lagos and Bashir Adigun in Abuja, Nigeria, also
contributed to this report.Haruna Umar And Krista Larson, The Associated
Press.
Defeated rebels begin leaving enclave near Syrian capital-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-March 22, 2018
BEIRUT
— Carrying their light arms, hundreds of defeated rebels began
evacuating with their families Thursday from a devastated town in
eastern Ghouta, an effective surrender under a deal with the government
after a long siege and bombing campaign of the enclave on the outskirts
of Damascus.The departure of the powerful Ahrar al-Sham group — the
first such arrangement for eastern Ghouta — could serve as a blueprint
for fighters in other towns, bringing President Bashar Assad's
government closer to ending years of rebellion in the territory just
east of the capital.As night fell, Syrian TV showed dozens of white
buses carrying opposition fighters and civilians pulling out in a long
convoy after being parked all day on a main highway. Among the 1,580
evacuees from the town of Harasta were 413 gunmen, it said.Earlier, a
few fighters with automatic rifles slung on their shoulders were seen
milling around the buses. As the sun set, a group of rebels knelt on the
Harasta highway and prayed.Ahrar al-Sham is a powerful,
ultra-conservative Islamic group in Syria. It is one of the smaller
rebel groups based in eastern Ghouta — and the first to acknowledge
defeat. Under the agreement with the Assad government, the group's
fighters and their relatives will leave their base in the town of
Harasta and head to opposition-controlled Idlib in northern Syria.The
deal will see 1,500 rebels and 6,000 civilians depart, according to the
state-affiliated Military Media Center.The convoy of buses from Harasta,
their headlights blazing, was reminiscent of those ferrying defeated
rebels out of eastern Aleppo in late 2016, following a similar agreement
with the government."They are leaving toward Idlib with no return,"
said Rabieh Dibeh, correspondent for state-affiliated al-Ikhbariya TV,
when the buses started moving.The deal is modeled on others that have
had rebels surrender swaths of territory around the capital and other
major cities to the government. In all cases, the arrangements followed
indiscriminate bombing campaigns against hospitals, markets and other
civilian targets, driving thousands from their homes.As Ahrar al-Sham
rebels prepared to leave Harasta, thousands of civilians streamed out of
other areas in eastern Ghouta that were still being bombed by the
government.Dozens of the civilians appeared to be wounded, some hobbling
on crutches, another with an eye injury. Several children were seen
crying in fear. A girl who appeared to be younger than 10, wearing a
yellow dress, struggled to walk while carrying a toddler and some
belongings.The government assault has sparked a tide of people trying to
escape the violence in the Damascus suburbs. Some have moved deeper
into the rebel-held enclave, while about 50,000 others have crossed the
front lines toward government-controlled areas.The air and ground
assault, which escalated Feb. 18, has seen the once- sprawling territory
at the edge of the capital shrink to three disconnected rebel-held
islands. That has made it only a question of when — not if — the
Russian-backed government forces would recapture the entire region.Also
on Thursday, the media arm of Lebanon's Hezbollah group and an
opposition activist group said the second-largest rebel group in eastern
Ghouta has declared a cease-fire in order to negotiate leaving the
area.The rebel group Failaq al-Rahman will abide by a cease-fire as of
midnight Thursday, according to Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV and the
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.There
was no immediate comment from Failaq al-Rahman. Hezbollah is fighting
alongside Assad's forces.The international medical charity Doctors
Without Borders said the advancing government forces had captured or
destroyed 19 of the 20 hospitals the group was supporting only a week
ago. Medical workers were fleeing the approaching front lines, it
said.Rebels now hold only one-fifth of the territory they controlled a
month ago in eastern Ghouta, according to the Observatory. But that
territory includes several densely populated residential zones,
including Douma, the largest town in the enclave.Iyad Abdelaziz, a
member of Douma's Local Council, said a civilian committee representing
the town is in talks with the Russians to reach a settlement. He said
the committee has presented a proposal to the Russians for their forces
to enter the town, while residents stay in place and restore state
institutions there. Abdelaziz said he did not have further
details."Until now, there's been no response from the Russians, but
today we received a reply of rockets and bombs," he said.Commenting on
Thursday's evacuations from Harasta, Douma-based Syrian opposition
activist Haitham Bakkar accused the government of forcefully removing
its opponents from some areas and replacing them with Assad
supporters."This is a demographic change par excellence," he said.Rebels
and the government exchanged 18 prisoners ahead of the Harasta
evacuation, according to pro-government media.The 13 men released by the
rebels identified themselves to the media outside Harasta as soldiers
and civilians attached to the Syrian army who were captured in the
fighting for the town. Crying in relief, they thanked God, the Syrian
army and Assad for their freedom.Monther Fares, a spokesman for the
rebel faction Ahrar al-Sham, confirmed that his group's fighters were
preparing to depart. Fares said the rebels agreed to leave because of
"civilian pressure" resulting from intense airstrikes and "warplanes
that do not leave the sky," adding that Harasta residents have spent the
last three months in shelters.But the arrangement leaves other fighters
for the Failaq al-Rahman group still inside. They government is
threatening to move on them if they do not also agree to depart.In
violence elsewhere, an airstrike on a market in the village of Harem in
northwestern Syria killed at least 28 people, according to observers and
the opposition's Civil Defence group.The Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights said the dead included 11 children and women, and the overall
death toll could still rise since many others were critically
wounded.The Syrian Civil Defence , also known as White Helmets, said the
airstrike killed 37, mostly women or children.Harem is in Idlib
province, which is mostly controlled by rebels and has been subjected to
intense airstrikes recently.___Associated Press writers Philip Issa in
Beirut, Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow and an AP writer in Damascus,
Syria, contributed.Bassem Mroue And Zeina Karam, The Associated Press.
Turkey says will drive Kurdish YPG from Syrian border area if no deal with U.S.[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-March 22, 2018
ANKARA
(Reuters) - Turkey will drive the Kurdish YPG militia away from the
Syrian border if it does not reach agreement with the United States on a
plan to remove the group from Syria's Manbij region, Foreign Minister
Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday."If this plan is not realised, the
only option left will be clearing away terrorists. This is not just
valid for Syria, but also for Iraq," he said in interview with state-run
Anadolu news agency.He added that President Tayyip Erdogan and
President Donald Trump will speak by telephone on Thursday.(Reporting by
Tuvan Gumrukcu; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by David Dolan)
AP Explains: How a phone may have steered hunt for bomber-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-March 22, 2018
SAN
FRANCISCO — Most people who own a smartphone take it wherever they go, a
fact of modern life that enabled authorities to hunt down the man
suspected in five Texas bombings before he blew himself up Wednesday.The
search for the suspect, identified as Mark Anthony Conditt, drew upon
technology that connects mobile phones to cellular towers and transmits
the device's location. It's similar to the same way that an app
installed on your phone can know where you are and, in some cases, even
learn more about your favourite places to shop, buy coffee or just hang
out.But some of the methods law enforcement officials have used to track
people's location through their phones have raised legal issues, even
when the target is suspected of committing heinous crimes like Conditt
is. That's because their location-tracking techniques cast a wide net
that also can capture personal information about innocent
bystanders.___GETTING THE CELL NUMBER-Officials in Texas said they were
able to obtain Conditt's phone number. This breakthrough came after he
was linked through a license plate number to a red truck spotted on
surveillance video at a FedEx store where he is suspected to have
dropped off a parcel bomb.Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the same phone
number showed up at the bomb sites. But he did not elaborate on how
investigators obtained the information to reach that conclusion.In the
most likely scenario, investigators may have asked telecommunication
carriers for historical records of all traffic on certain cell towers on
specific dates, said Mike Chapple, associate teaching professor of
information technology, analytics and operations at the University of
Notre Dame.A warrant usually accompanies requests, known as "tower
dumps," but not always. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently reviewing a
case involving the pulling of 127 days of cellphone information without a
warrant to pinpoint the location of a robbery suspect. The question
being debated is whether the investigation violated the Fourth Amendment
against unreasonable searches.___TRACKING THE PHONE NUMBER-Once
investigators had Conditt's phone number, they most likely contacted his
carrier to track where the device's signal was connecting to towers.But
the authorities also may have tried to get an even more precise
location by using "cell-site simulators" that act as fake towers. These
simulators, also known as "StingRays," broadcast radio signals stronger
than legitimate cell towers to force all phones within a targeted area
to connect to them.Some simulators can fit in the trunk of a police car
that can cruise around a neighbourhood in an effort to find a certain
phone. But in the process they can also scoop up the locations of other
phones, as well as personal data stored on them, said Stephanie
Lacambra, a criminal defence staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, a digital rights group."All bystanders in a certain radius
can have their information hoovered up without their consent with some
of these investigative techniques," Lacambra said.___AP writer Paul J.
Weber in Austin, Texas, contributed to this story.Michael Liedtke, The
Associated Press.
Texas bomber 'not sorry' on confession tape: report-[AFP]-YAHOONEWS-March 22, 2018
Chicago
(AFP) - The man behind a series of package bombs that terrorized Texas
state capital Austin left a recorded confession expressing no remorse
and describing himself as a "psychopath," a newspaper reported
Thursday.Mark Conditt, who was wanted for a series of bombings over
three weeks that killed two people and injured several others, died
after detonating a bomb in his car Wednesday as police closed in.Police
said the 23-year-old left a video recording on his phone, characterizing
it as a "confession." They have not released the recording or described
its contents in detail, citing an ongoing investigation.The Austin
American-Statesman newspaper, citing anonymous sources briefed on the
approximately 25-minute recording's contents, said Conditt threatened
more attacks."I wish I were sorry but I am not," Conditt said, according
to the newspaper.Conditt described himself as a "psychopath," said he
had been disturbed since childhood, and threatened to blow himself up
inside a crowded McDonald's restaurant if he thought he was about to be
caught, the newspaper reported.The Austin Police Department did not
immediately respond to a request for comment.Investigators are still
working to determine a motive for the bombings and whether there were
accomplices.They released the second of Conditt's two roommates on
Thursday, after questioning them both. The first was released Wednesday
and police said neither was under arrest.Investigators are also trying
to determine how Conditt, described as an unemployed young man who had
not completed college, learned to make the bombs that police said had a
degree of sophistication in their construction.Austin police chief Brian
Manley told a news conference Wednesday night that Conditt did not
reveal his motives on his confession tape, but did describe all of the
seven package bombs that he had built."What is clear from listening to
that video, is this was a very troubled young man who was talking about
challenges in his life that led him to the point where he took the
actions that he took," Manley said."And there were also indications of
actions he was willing to take in the future," he added.The bombings
that began on March 2 terrorized Austin -- a city of nearly one million
people. Hundreds of federal and local law enforcement officers conducted
a massive manhunt to find the bomber.A major break came when Conditt
shipped two explosive packages via an Austin FedEx office, allowing
authorities to capture enough information to identify a suspect.
Texas bomber's roommates released by police after questioning-[Reuters]-By Jon Herskovitz-YAHOONEWS-March 22, 2018
AUSTIN,
Texas (Reuters) - Two roommates of the 23-year-old man behind this
month's deadly bombing spree that unnerved Austin have been questioned
and released from custody, police in the Texas capital said on
Thursday.The move came as law enforcement officials searched for what
motivated Mark Conditt, an unemployed man from the Austin suburb of
Pflugerville, to commit the attacks that killed two people. Authorities
are also anxious to learn whether anyone helped him build or plant his
bombs.Police say Conditt confessed to a three-week string of bombings in
a 25-minute video made on his cellphone hours before he blew himself
up, as law enforcement closed in on him Wednesday.One of the two
roommates was questioned and released on Wednesday and the other
released after that. Police did not say exactly when the second roommate
was freed."Their names will not be released because they are not under
arrest at this time," the department said on its Twitter feed.Conditt's
bombs, which also injured five people, primarily targeted Austin. Three
were left as parcels outside victims' homes, one by a sidewalk with a
trip-wire mechanism attached and two shipped as FedEx parcels, which
helped investigators unmask the bomber's identity."Even though the
bomber's dead, our focus is to ensure that he wasn't working with anyone
else," said Michelle Lee, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of
Investigation's San Antonio office.The second and third bombs went off
while Austin was hosting its annual South by Southwest music, movies and
tech festival, which draws about half a million people.The confession
video showed a troubled young man, police said, but did not outline a
clear motive for the attacks that began March 2."We may never get a
clear picture of what motivated the Austin bomber," Fred Burton, chief
security officer for security consultancy Stratfor, said in a phone
interview.Austin police were unlikely to make the video public while the
investigation continued, said spokeswoman Destiny Wilson.Investigators
sought further clues on Thursday from the Pflugerville home Conditt
shared with his roommates. Bomb-making material was found in a room
there.Conditt and his three siblings were home-schooled through high
school, his mother wrote on Facebook. He attended classes at Austin
Community College between 2010 and 2012, but did not graduate.(Reporting
by Jon Herskovitz; Additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles
and Jonathan Allen in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Tom Brown)
Maryland high school shooting victim to be taken off life support: mother-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-March 22, 2018
(Reuters)
- A 16-year-old girl who was critically wounded this week when she was
shot by a fellow student at her high school in Maryland will be taken
off life support on Thursday evening, her mother said.Melissa Willey
told a news briefing at Prince George's Hospital Center in Cheverly,
Maryland, that she would take her daughter, Jaelynn Willey, off life
support because she was brain dead."She will not make it. We will be
taking her off life support this evening. She is brain dead and has
nothing, no life left in her," Melissa Willey told reporters.A tearful
Melissa Willey held one of her younger children as her husband, Daniel,
stood beside her while she spoke about Jaelynn, the second eldest of her
nine children.The fundraising website YouCaring showed on Thursday
night that more than $72,500 of a goal of $75,000 had been raised to pay
medical expenses.Austin Rollins, a 17-year-old student at Great Mills
High School, is suspected of bringing his father's handgun to the school
on Tuesday morning and shooting Willey in a hallway, according to the
St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office.Rollins had been in a relationship
with Willey that recently ended, the sheriff's office said in a
statement on Wednesday.School resource officer Blaine Gaskill confronted
Rollins and fired one shot at him as Rollins simultaneously fired a
shot, according to police. Rollins died hours later at a hospital. The
officer was not harmed.An autopsy is being carried out on Rollins to
determine whether he was killed by a shot fired by the officer or from a
self-inflicted gunshot. Investigators also remain uncertain over who
fired a shot that hit a 14-year-old student in the leg, a spokeswoman
for the sheriff's office said.(Reporting by Andrew Hay; Editing by
Sandra Maler, Lisa Shumaker and Paul Tait)
Duclos defends gender-neutral language amid criticism from opposition-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-March 22, 2018
MONTREAL
— Canadian activists praised Service Canada's decision to ask its
employees to adopt gender-neutral language when interacting with the
public as a step toward greater inclusivity, while members of the
political opposition mocked the policy mercilessly.Families Minister
Jean-Yves Duclos defended the federal institution's internal directive
Wednesday, saying it was a matter of respect and an effort "to adapt to
the reality of 21st-century families."According to the directive issued
to managers and team leaders in January, Service Canada employees are
asked to use gender-neutral or gender-inclusive language to avoid
"portraying a perceived bias toward a particular sex or gender."Workers
are instructed to use a client's full name or ask how they would prefer
to be addressed instead of using honorifics such as Mr., Mrs. or Ms.,
which "can be seen as gender specific by a client," reads the memo,
which was first obtained by Radio-Canada.They are also being asked to
eschew the terms "father" and "mother" in favour of "parent."Some
members of the opposition were quick to criticize the directive,
including Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, who described it as
"ridiculous."Rheal Fortin, the former Bloc Quebecois MP who now sits as
an Independent, concurred, saying, "it's bordering on harebrained.""I
almost want to say I'm glad they don't have any bigger problems than
that at Service Canada," he joked.But Duclos told reporters that Service
Canada's policies are a matter of respect.He specified in a tweet the
government department is not eliminating the use of Mr. or Ms."Let us be
clear, @ServiceCanada_E will continue to use Mr/Ms when interacting
with Canadians," he wrote on social media."We are only confirming how
people want to be addressed as a matter of respect."Two prominent
activists praised the initiative, describing it as a positive step
toward inclusivity.Helen Kennedy, executive director of national LGBTQ
human rights organization Egale Canada, praised the directive as "a good
first step" but said it needs to be accompanied with more awareness
training and education around non-binary and gender-neutral
language."Some people may be very well-intentioned but they may not have
the understanding or knowledge that they need in order to ask the right
question in a manner that's not going to be offensive," she said in a
phone interview.The backlash from the opposition is a sign of how far
Canadian society still has to come when it comes to inclusion, she
said."Issues around gender-neutral language are extremely important, and
they may not be important to the opposition but I can tell you they're
very important to members of our community," Kennedy said.Gabrielle
Bouchard, the first transgender president of Quebec's main women's
federation, called the move a step toward "making sure all Canadians can
start an interaction with civil servants in the right way."In a phone
interview, she said neither she nor the policy were advocating for an
end to the use of gendered pronouns, noting that some transgender people
prefer to use "Mr." or "Ms." as a way of reaffirming their gender."What
we want isn't the elimination of choice, what we want is to add more
choice," she said.Duclos' press secretary, Emilie Gauduchon-Campbell,
said the directive was issued in response to requests from members of
the public who criticized Service Canada for a lack of inclusivity,
including same-sex parents who complained about the mother/father
designation.She added Duclos did not see the internal directive before
it was circulated Jan. 18.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declined to
respond Wednesday morning to the initial Radio-Canada report, saying he
needed more time to look into the matter.-- With files from Melanie
Marquis in Ottawa-Morgan Lowrie , The Canadian Press.
Sacre bleu!' New post-Brexit British passport to be made by Franco-Dutch firm-[Reuters]-By Costas Pitas-YAHOONEWS-March 22, 2018
LONDON
(Reuters) - The new blue British passports that Prime Minister Theresa
May hailed as "an expression of our independence and sovereignty" after
Brexit will be made by a Franco-Dutch firm, the boss of the British
company which lost the contract said on Thursday.The news produced
awkward headlines for May, who announced in December that Britain, which
adopted burgundy passports in 1988 in line with EU recommendations,
would switch back to the "iconic" dark blue it had used for
decades.British passports are now made by De La Rue, which despite its
French name is a British company that prints them in northern England.
The company's CEO said it lost the tender for the new version after
being undercut on price.Franco-Dutch company Gemalto won the contract,
the Sun newspaper said. Gemalto would neither confirm nor deny it."I'm
going to have to go and face those workers, look them in the whites of
the eyes and try and explain to them why the British government thinks
it's a sensible decision to buy French passports not British passports,"
De La Rue CEO Martin Sutherland told BBC radio."I'd like to invite
Theresa May or (interior minister) Amber Rudd to come to my factory and
explain to my dedicated workforce why they think this is a sensible
decision to offshore the manufacture of a British icon.""Sacre Bleu!"
headlined the pro-Brexit Daily Mail tabloid.When May announced the
switch back to blue passports in December, she said on Twitter: "The UK
passport is an expression of our independence and sovereignty –
symbolizing our citizenship of a proud, great nation. That's why we have
announced that the iconic #bluepassport will return after we leave the
European Union in 2019."The European Union does not require any
particular color of passport but recommends member states adopt
burgundy. Croatia, which joined the EU in 2013, retained its blue
passport with no plans to change its color scheme.De La Rue's contract,
which ends in July 2019, is worth 400 million pounds ($566 million). Its
shares fell 5 percent in early trading.Britain's interior ministry
defended the decision."The preferred bidder has been selected following a
rigorous, fair and open competition," it said in a statement."The
chosen company demonstrated that they will be best able to meet the
needs of our passport service with a high quality and secure product at
the best value for money for our customers and the taxpayer."The Sun
reported that Gemalto had been awarded the passport deal worth 490
million pounds. Gemalto said in a statement it would not comment for
now, as "the process is still ongoing and the terms of engagement are
confidential".Britain's biggest trade union Unite hit out at the
government's choice and said the French government would never have made
such a move."It wouldn’t happen in France because of national security
and it shouldn’t happen in the UK," said national officer Louisa
Bull."Ministers need to reverse this decision and start supporting
British business and UK workers through public procurement and an
industrial strategy which is more than just soundbites."(Additional
repoting by Estelle Shirbon in London, Igor Ilic in Zagreb and Michel
Rose and Bate Felix in Paris; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Peter
Graff)
Britain unveils new fintech plans, including cryptocurrencies-[Reuters]-By Huw Jones and Emma Rumney-YAHOONEWS-March 22, 2018
LONDON
(Reuters) - Britain announced a task force on Thursday to exploit the
technology underpinning cryptoassets, such as bitcoin and other
cryptocurrencies, as part of new plans to help fintech companies find
more customers.British finance minister Philip Hammond said he was
committed to helping fintech grow and flourish by taking a series of
domestic steps and forging links overseas."As part of that, a new task
force will help the UK to manage the risks around cryptoassets, as well
as harnessing the potential benefits of the underlying technology,"
Hammond told a fintech conference hosted by the finance
ministry.Investors have flocked to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin despite
wild price swings.Regulators have warned that investors could lose all
their money, but see promise in the blockchain technology that underpins
cryptoassets.Britain's announcement comes after finance ministers from
the Group of 20 richest economies (G20) were unable this week to find
enough consensus for global regulation of cryptocurrencies.Britain's
financial services minister John Glen said he expected an interim report
on cryptoassets soon, though initial guidance is that the scale of
activity does not pose any significant risks."Regulation could be an
enabler of a stable, flourishing cryptocurrency sector," Glen told
reporters.Bank of England Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden said the central
bank has set up a new fintech hub to consider both how the Bank
understands and how it applies fintech, relevant to its mission.Ramsden
said the hub would be a central point of contact for the fintech sector
and would play a role in the new taskforce announced by Hammond.BREXIT
DISTRACTION-Britain has become a major center for fintech and wants to
reassure the sector of its support ahead of the country's departure from
the European Union next March.The EU has also stepped up efforts to
make itself more attractive as a location for fintech firms.France plans
to create a legal framework for raising funds via cryptocurrencies and
aims to become a leading center for offerings in bitcoin-style digital
currencies, its finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, wrote on a news
website.Glen said despite French President Emmanuel Macron rolling out
the red carpet to fintech firms, he saw no significant evidence of a
serious appetite among firms in London to move to new
jurisdictions.While Brexit could be a distraction, there was also no
evidence it was impeding investment in UK fintech, Glen said."We are
still seeing great buoyancy and I expect that to continue. In fintech we
see global opportunities," Glen added.But HSBC Chairman Mark Tucker
told the conference that Britain also faces considerable challenges from
other financial centers, highlighting China's leadership in the mobile
and digital economies."Even with London’s pre-eminent position,
commercial advantage must be constantly worked for and renewed," Tucker
said.Hammond said the fintech strategy would include schemes to pilot
"robo regulation", or the use of software by fintech firms to comply
with regulation to save time and money.New industry standards will
enable fintech firms to team up with banks more easily to offer complex
services and reach more customers, he said.Industry and government will
create "shared platforms" to remove barriers faced by fintech firms
setting up new systems, Hammond said.Hammond and Australian Treasurer
Scott Morrison signed a "fintech bridge" agreement to help UK-based
fintech firms sell products and services in Australia and promote
regulatory cooperation.Ramsden said the rise of fintech could help
Britain improve its long-standing problem of weak productivity growth as
well as help the BoE improve its internal infrastructure.(Additional
reporting by William Schomberg; Editing by Catherine Evans)
Vatican media chief resigns over doctored letter scandal-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-March 22, 2018
VATICAN
CITY — The head of the Vatican's communications department resigned
Wednesday after he mischaracterized a private letter from retired Pope
Benedict XVI, then had a photo of it digitally manipulated and sent out
to the media.A week after The Associated Press exposed the doctored
photo, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Monsignor Dario Vigano
and named his deputy to run the Secretariat for Communications for now.
But Francis kept Vigano on in the department in a lesser capacity,
indicating that he doesn't believe the problem was all that grave.The
so-called "Lettergate" scandal erupted last week when Vigano read aloud
part of a private letter from Benedict at a book launch for a
Vatican-published, 11-volume set of books about Francis'
theology.Marking Francis' fifth anniversary as pope, Vigano had held up
Benedict's letter as a sign of the continuity between the two popes, to
blunt critics who complain that Francis' mercy-over-morals papacy
represents a theological break from Benedict's doctrine-minded,
theology-heavy papacy.Vigano didn't read the whole letter, and omitted
the part where Benedict objected to one of the authors in the volume
because he had been a longtime critic of Benedict and St. John Paul II. A
press release sent out by Vigano's office only contained Benedict's
words of praise for Francis and the book initiative, without mentioning
that he hadn't even read the books and had no plans to.The AP reported
that the photograph of the letter that accompanied the press release had
digitally blurred out the lines where Benedict began to explain that he
didn't have time to read the books and wouldn't comment on them, as
requested by Vigano. The photo manipulation violated basic
photojournalism ethical standards that forbid such distortion,
especially when it misrepresents the content of the image.The scandal
embarrassed the Vatican and led to accusations that the pope's own
communications office was spreading "fake news," just weeks after
Francis dedicated his annual media message to denouncing "fake news" and
the intentional distortion of information. Francis has frequently
chided journalists for only giving half of the story.In his resignation
letter dated March 19, Vigano said he wanted to step aside so that his
presence "wouldn't delay, damage or block" Francis' reform of the
Vatican's communications operations.He didn't acknowledge that he had
misrepresented Benedict's letter or doctored the photo, saying only that
he realized that his actions — despite his intentions — had created
controversy and destabilized the communications reform.In his own letter
accepting the resignation, Francis said he was removing Vigano
reluctantly and praised him for his humility and willingness to work for
the good of the church. He asked Vigano to stay on in the
communications secretariat in the new position of "assessor," which in
Vatican offices usually amounts to the No. 3 spot.The current No. 2,
Monsignor Lucio Adrian Ruiz, will run the office until a new prefect is
named.It is rare for the Vatican press office to release such an
exchange of letters, suggesting that the pope wanted to make clear that
he still has faith in Vigano to help oversee the consolidation of the
Vatican's vast media operations.Francis named Vigano, an expert in film,
to head the new Secretariat for Communications in 2015. The department
was created to bring under one umbrella the Vatican's various media
operations, to cut costs and improve efficiency. But Vigano's reforms
and management style soured relations with many longtime employees.After
the AP revealed the doctored photo and another Vatican commentator,
Sandro Magister, hinted that there was even more in the letter that
Vigano had concealed, the communications office released the full text
of Benedict's letter, which had been sent to Vigano by the retired pope
as "personal" and "reserved," suggesting that it was never meant to be
made public.The previously concealed part of the letter provided the
full explanation why Benedict had declined Vigano's request that he
write a commentary on the books: In addition to saying he didn't have
time, Benedict noted that one of the authors involved in the project,
German theologian Peter Huenermann, had launched "virulent" and
"anti-papist" attacks against papal teaching during Benedict's papacy.
He wrote that he was surprised the Vatican had chosen the theologian to
be included in the 11-volume "The Theology of Pope Francis."In the parts
of Benedict's letter that Vigano read during the book launch and
included in the press release, Benedict confirmed that Francis has a
solid theological and philosophical training and he praised the book
initiative for showing the "interior continuity" between the two
papacies. He wrote it was "foolish prejudice" to paint Francis as only a
practical man devoid of theology and Benedict as a mere academic who
knew nothing of the lives of ordinary faithful.But Benedict's full
caveat about his refusal to comment on the volume was never made public
in Vigano's presentation, press release or accompanying photo. That
omission left the impression that the 91-year-old retired pope had read
the volume and fully endorsed it, when in fact he hadn't.As a result,
Vigano's effort to show papal continuity effectively backfired.
Benedict's harsh criticism of Huenermann laid bare the differences in
theological approaches of the two popes, and showed the retired pope
still bore something of a grudge.Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press.
Zuckerberg apology fails to quiet Facebook storm-[AFP]-Glenn Chapman, with Robin Millard in London-YAHOONEWS-March 22, 2018
San
Francisco (AFP) - A public apology by Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg
failed Thursday to quell outrage over the hijacking of personal data
from millions of people, as critics demanded that the social media giant
go much further to protect user privacy.Speaking out for the first time
about the harvesting of Facebook user data by a British firm linked to
Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, Zuckerberg admitted Wednesday to betraying
the trust of its two billion users, and promised to "step up."Vowing to
stop data leaking to outside developers and to give users more control
over their information, Zuckerberg also said he was ready to testify
before US lawmakers -- which a powerful congressional committee promptly
asked him to do.With pressure ratcheting up on the 33-year-old CEO over
a scandal that has wiped some $60 billion off Facebook's value, the
initial response suggested his promise of self-regulation had failed to
convince."Frankly I don't think those changes go far enough," Britain's
culture and digital minister Matt Hancock told the BBC."It shouldn't be
for a company to decide what is the appropriate balance between privacy
and innovation and use of data," he said."The big tech companies need to
abide by the law and we are strengthening the law."In Brussels,
European leaders were sending the same message as they prepared to push
for tougher safeguards on personal data online, while Israel became the
latest country to launch an investigation into Facebook.The data scandal
erupted at the weekend when a whistleblower revealed that British
consultant Cambridge Analytica (CA) had created psychological profiles
on 50 million Facebook users via a personality prediction app, developed
by a researcher named Aleksandr Kogan.The app was downloaded by 270,000
people, but also scooped up their friends' data without consent -- as
was possible under Facebook's rules at the time.- 'Breach of trust'
-Facebook says it discovered last week that Cambridge Analytica may not
have deleted the data as it certified -- although the British firm
denies wrongdoing."This was a major breach of trust and I'm really sorry
that this happened," Zuckerberg said in an interview with CNN, after
publishing a blog post outlining his response to the scandal."Our
responsibility now is to make sure this doesn't happen again."With
Facebook already under fire for allowing fake news to proliferate during
the US election, Zuckerberg also said "we need to make sure that we up
our game" ahead of midterm Congressional elections in November, in which
American officials have warned Russia can be expected to meddle as it
did two years ago.Cambridge Analytica has maintained it did not use
Facebook data in the Trump campaign, but its now-suspended CEO boasted
in secret recordings that his company was deeply involved in the
race.And US special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian
interference in the 2016 presidential race, is reportedly looking into
the consultant's role in the Trump effort.- 'Abused and misused'
-Zuckerberg's apology followed a days-long stream of damaging
accusations against the world's biggest social network, which now faces
probes on both sides of the Atlantic.In Washington on Thursday, leaders
of the House Energy and Commerce Committee urged Zuckerberg to testify
without delay, saying a briefing a day earlier by Facebook officials had
left "many questions" unanswered."We believe, as CEO of Facebook, he is
the right witness to provide answers to the American people," said a
statement from the panel, calling for a hearing "in the near
future."America's Federal Trade Commission is reportedly investigating
Facebook over the scandal, while Britain's information commissioner is
seeking to determine whether it did enough to secure its data.On
Thursday, Israel's privacy protection agency said it had informed
Facebook of a probe into the Cambridge Analytica revelations, and was
looking into "the possibility of other infringements of the privacy law
regarding Israelis."Meanwhile, EU leaders were due to press digital
giants "to guarantee transparent practices and full protection of
citizens' privacy and personal data," according to a draft summit
statement obtained by AFP.A movement to quit the social network has
already gathered momentum -- with the co-founder of the WhatsApp
messaging service among those vowing to #deletefacebook -- while a
handful of lawsuits risk turning into class actions in a costly
distraction for the company.World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee
described it as a "serious moment for the web's future"."I can imagine
Mark Zuckerberg is devastated that his creation has been abused and
misused," tweeted the British scientist."I would say to him: You can fix
it. It won't be easy but if companies work with governments, activists,
academics and web users we can make sure platforms serve
humanity."burs-ec/sst.
Thousands to march in U.S. gun protests, but will they vote?-[Reuters]-By Katanga Johnson-YAHOONEWS-March 22, 2018
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - As hundreds of thousands of young people protest for
stricter gun laws at "March For Our Lives" demonstrations across the
United States on Saturday, the Democratic Party and nonpartisan groups
plan to register first-time voters.That could be the easy part.The hard
part will be ensuring that they go to the polls in November to vote in
midterm congressional elections."It's on us," said Sabrina Singh, a
spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee. "We have to make sure
that even after young people march across the country, they take time
to vote, to register and to actually turn out to do it."Organizers of
the voter registration drive hope to sign up at least 25,000 people at
more than 800 marches, a potentially big boost for Democrats who
generally favor more stringent gun control, including over sales of
assault-type weapons, bump stocks that allow semiautomatics to fire like
automatic weapons, and tighter access to guns by young people and
people who are mentally ill.In America's history of mass murders
involving firearms, the February massacre of 17 students and staff at
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida has had at least one
unusual outcome: it has prompted students to take a high-profile stand
on gun control.Their public statements, organized protests and upcoming
marches planned for 80 U.S. cities have cast partisan politics over U.S.
gun laws in a harsh light. They have also sent a message to Washington
that many students are eligible to vote this year and more future voters
are right behind them."March For Our Lives might just be the largest
audience of exclusively first-time voters anywhere," said Tappan
Vickery, a volunteer coordinator with the nonprofit voter registration
group, HeadCount.Vickery has a team of nearly 5,000 volunteers mobilized
to sign up first-time voters in 30 cities on Saturday."There are 4
million Americans who are turning 18 this year. Match that with the good
deal of 19- to 21-year-olds who have never registered to vote. We're
looking at a sum that is one massive number of prospects nationwide,"
said the group's spokesman and mobilization trainer Aaron
Ghitelman.Other groups with plans to register voters on Saturday include
Everytown for Gun Safety, NextGen and Giffords, named for former U.S.
Representative Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head in an attempted
assassination in 2011.Participation in U.S. elections by young voters is
often low. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday showed that 64
percent of 18- to 29-year-olds said they would vote on Nov. 6; 27
percent said they would not. Nine percent said they were uncertain or
declined to answer."The trend among young, first-time voters in midterm
elections has never been anything great," said Dr. Kei
Kawashima-Ginsberg, director of the Center for Information and Research
on Civic Learning and Engagement at Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic
Life at Tufts University.The turnout has been steadily declining since
1990 and hit the lowest level, at 20 percent, in 2014, according to the
U.S. Current Population Survey.Yet Kawashima-Ginsberg said it is still
important to maintain "conscious optimism about young people's
vote.""They feel the need to make a difference and because of that,
Saturday's march becomes an opportunity for their activism to impact
their parents and relatives, whether they themselves turn out to the
polls or not."Democrats said they intend to follow up with newly
registered young voters mainly by text messages.(This version of the
story corrects to reflect that young voter turnout has been declining
since 1990 instead of since 2014, paragraph 14, changes source of that
information to U.S. Current Population Survey instead of
Kawashima-Ginsberg, corrects title of Tappan Vickery to volunteer
coordinator instead of volunteer, paragraph 8)(Reporting by Katanga
Johnson; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh)
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25
And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in
the moon,(MAN ON MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS ETC)
and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION)
the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing
them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those
things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of
heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the
seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the
great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.
Southern California evacuation orders lifted as mudslide threat eases-[Reuters]-By Alex Dobuzinskis-YAHOONEWS-March 22, 2018
LOS
ANGELES (Reuters) - Authorities in Southern California lifted
evacuation orders on Thursday for more than 60,000 people living
adjacent to fire-scarred foothills and mountain slopes along the Santa
Barbara coast as rains and the threat of dangerous mudslides abated.The
evacuation was put into effect on Tuesday in the same general area where
torrential rains in January unleashed cascades of mud, boulders and
other debris that killed 21 people, injured dozens of others and damaged
or destroyed hundreds of homes.Most of that devastation occurred in the
affluent hillside community of Montecito, 85 miles (137 km) northwest
of Los Angeles, in a region where vast swaths of the coastal landscape
were stripped of vegetation by huge wildfires in December.In the
aftermath of that disaster, authorities instituted a policy of enforced
evacuations in slide-prone areas of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties
whenever forecasts call for downpours that might exceed the capacity of
the region's catchment and drainage systems to control flash floods.The
latest Pacific storm, the third in two weeks, had been expected to
drench local mountainsides with up to 10 inches (25 cm) of rain, and
some street flooding occurred in Montecito, said Amber Anderson, a
spokeswoman for the unified incident command.By late Thursday, showers
had subsided with no severe mudslides or debris flows reported,
officials said."We haven't had any significant problems and the bulk of
the rain has passed through the area, so there doesn't appear to be any
significant threat," Ventura County sheriff's spokesman Sergeant Eric
Buschow told Reuters.A Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office notice said
minor debris flows were still possible "but will not threaten populated
areas."All evacuation orders were lifted as of 5 p.m., Buschow said.
But the showers were not without consequences.In northern California,
heavy rains caused a small dam on the Moccasin Reservoir, east of San
Francisco, to overflow, prompting the National Weather Service to warn
that the structure was in danger of imminent collapse.Local authorities
evacuated areas below the dam, including a campground, a fish hatchery
and a marina, and said that even if the dam failed, its water would flow
harmlessly downstream into the much larger Don Pedro Reservoir, the
sixth-largest in the state.Several roadways in coastal counties
northwest of Los Angeles were flooded, and there have been a number of
car crashes on slick roadways, though no deaths, California Highway
Patrol spokesman Danny Maher said.As rains soaked parts of California,
the East Coast was digging out from the fourth major snowstorm this
month, which closed schools, grounded flights and halted bus and train
service across the region. Two people died in separate traffic crashes,
local media reported.(Additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien in
Milwaukee; editing by Dan Grebler and Leslie Adler)
Fourth U.S. Northeast storm in March snarls air traffic-[Reuters]-By Alana Wise-YAHOONEWS-March 21, 2018
NEW
YORK (Reuters) - Airlines canceled thousands of flights in the U.S.
Northeast on Wednesday as a swirl of strong winds, snow, sleet and ice
from the fourth major storm this month crippled the region.Airlines
scrapped more than 4,400 flights within, to or from the United States,
according to flight tracking website FlightAware, and more than 3,000
other U.S. flights were delayed as the latest "nor'easter" dumped snow
and ice on New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington.The
cancellations piled on to thousands more canceled flights due to an
unrelenting series of late-winter storms.In addition to creating
headaches for passengers, these storms can rack up millions of dollars
in costs for airlines, as carriers reallocate aircraft and crew, and
swallow the cost of passengers who don't re-book travel."This has been a
much harsher late winter than we've seen for quite some time. It does
have an impact on carriers' bottom lines," CFRA Research analyst Jim
Corridore said.While the full financial impact of the storms was not yet
known, Corridore said accurate weather forecasts helped carriers
quickly move planes and crew as well as plan for resuming normal
operations."There is a small silver lining in that it does help load
factors and yields," he said, noting that passengers from canceled
flights often help fill later flights that would have otherwise sat
empty.U.S. carriers are offering change-fee waivers from flights in the
affected regions, including from New York's three major airports,
Philadelphia International and Boston Logan International.LaGuardia
Airport in New York City said on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon that
airlines had canceled all remaining flights at the facility for the rest
of the day.(Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles and
Bernie Woodall in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Editing by James Dalgleish and
Sandra Maler)
