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)
DOW DOWN OVER 1,000 POINTS BEFORE THE OPEN.ENDS UPS DOWN 1K POINTS AT THE END OF THE DAY.
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.(IN 1 HR THE STOCK MARKETS WORLDWIDE WILL CRASH)
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed:(CONFISCATED) their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
MARK OF THE BEAST (engraved microchip in your hand or forehead)
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, (SLAVE) to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
REVELATION 16:1-2
1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
I KNOW THIS MARK WILL BE A MICROCHIP IMPLANT UNDER THE SKIN. LETS LOOK UP WHAT THE WORD MARK SAYS IN REVELATION 13:16-18, 14:9,11, 15:2, 16:2, 19:20, 20:4-ALL THESE VERSES FROM THE BOOK OF REVELATION SPEAK OF THIS DICTATORS MARK. NOW LETS SEE WHAT IT MEANS FROM STRONGS EXAUSTIVE CONCORDANCE OF THE BIBLE. UNDER MARK PAGE 684.MARK UNDER MARK. THE OLD TESTAMENT IS UNDER HEBREW AND THE NEW TESTAMENT IS UNDER GREEK. SO WHEN WE LOOK UNDER REVELATION 13:16-17 WE SEE IT IS UNDER GREEK, SO WE GO TO GREEK IN THE BACK SECTION AND GO TO 5480 TO SEE WHAT IT SAYS THIS MARK WOULD BE. SO LETS GET TO IT.MARK IN STRONGS GREEK 5480 XAPAYUA CHARAGMA, KHAR-AG-MAH: FROM THE SAME AS 5482: A SCRATCH OR ETCHING, I.E STAMP (AS A BADGE OF SERVITUDE), OR SCULPTURED FIGURE-(STATUE):-GRAVEN, MARK FROM 5482 XAPAE CHARAX, KHAR-AX; FROM XAPAOOW CHARASSO (TO SHARPEN TO A POINT; AKIN TO 1125 THROUGH THE IDEA OF SCRATCHING); A STAKE, I.E (BYIMPL.) A PALISADE OR RAMPART (MILITARY MOUND FOR CIRCUMVALLATION IN A SIEGE): - TRENCH FROM 1125 YPAPOE GRAPHO, GRAF-0; A PRIM. VERB; TO "GRAVE", ESPEC. TO WRITE; FIG. TO DESCRIBE:-DESCRIBE, WRITE (-ING, -TEN).G5516-GO TO G4742-666 - STRONGS NT 4742: στίγμα - στίγμα, στιγματος, τό (from στίζω to prick; (cf. Latinstimulus, etc.; German stechen, English stick, sting, etc.; Curtius, § 226)), a mark pricked in or branded upon the body. According to ancient oriental usage, slaves and soldiers bore the name or stamp of their master or commander branded or pricked (cut) into their bodies to indicate what master or general they belonged to, and there were even some devotees who stamped themselves in this way with the token of their gods (cf. Deyling, Observations, iii., p. 423ff); hence, τά στίγματα τοῦ (κυρίου so Rec.) Ἰησοῦ, the marks of (the Lord) Jesus, which Paul in Galatians 6:17 says he bears branded on his body, are the traces left there by the perils, hardships, imprisonments, scourgings, endured by him for the cause of Christ, and which mark him as Christ's faithful and approved votary, servant, soldier (see Lightfoots Commentary on Galatians, the passage cited). (Herodotus 7, 233; Aristotle, Aelian, Plutarch, Lcian, others.)
THE INVENTOR OF THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT-CARL SANDERS MICROCHIP ENGINEER LEADER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgH9D6n4ZWo
THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT IN YOUR RIGHT HAND OR FOREHEAD.
LEVETICUS 19.28
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
AS I WRITE AT 9.15AM THE DOW IS DOWN 1,130 POINTS. I WILL SEE WHAT HAPPENS AT THE OPEN. AT 9.38AM ITS 1,173 POINTS DOWN.1,208 POINTS DOWN AT 9.36AM.AT 11.45AM THE DOW IS STILL DOWN 862 POINTS.AT 4PM THE STOCK MARKET FINISHED 1,033.99 POINTS.
Dow drops 1,000 points, and Japanese stocks suffer worst crash since 1987 as markets quake worldwide-Nearly everything on Wall Street is tumbling as fear of a slowing U.S. economy grows and sets off another sell-off for financial markets around the world.-By STAN CHOE-August 5, 2024
NEW YORK (AP) — A scary Monday that started with a plunge abroad reminiscent of 1987 ’s crash swept around the world and pummeled Wall Street with more steep losses, as fears worsened about a slowing U.S. economy.The S&P 500 dropped 3% for its worst day in nearly two years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average reeled by 1,033 points, or 2.6%, while the Nasdaq composite slid 3.4% as Apple, Nvidia and other Big Tech companies that used to be the stars of the stock market continued to wilt.The drops were the latest in a global sell-off that began last week. Japan’s Nikkei 225 helped begin Monday by plunging 12.4% for its worst day since the Black Monday crash of 1987.It was the first chance for traders in Tokyo to react to Friday’s report showing U.S. employers slowed their hiring last month by much more than economists expected. That was the latest piece of data on the U.S. economy to come in weaker than expected, and it’s all raised fear the Federal Reserve has pressed the brakes on the U.S. economy by too much for too long through high interest rates in hopes of stifling inflation.Professional investors cautioned that some technical factors could be amplifying the action in markets, and that the drops may be overdone, but the losses were still neck-snapping. South Korea’s Kospi index careened 8.8% lower, and bitcoin dropped below $54,000 from more than $61,000 on Friday.Even gold, which has a reputation for offering safety during tumultuous times, slipped about 1%.That’s in part because traders began wondering if the damage has been so severe that the Federal Reserve will have to cut interest rates in an emergency meeting, before its next scheduled decision on Sept. 18. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which closely tracks expectations for the Fed, briefly sank below 3.70% during the morning from 3.88% late Friday and from 5% in April. It later recovered and pulled back to 3.89%.“The Fed could ride in on a white horse to save the day with a big rate cut, but the case for an inter-meeting cut seems flimsy,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. “Those are usually reserved for emergencies, like COVID, and an unemployment rate of 4.3% doesn’t really seem like an emergency.”Of course, the U.S. economy is still growing, the U.S. stock market is still up a healthy amount for the year and a recession is far from a certainty. The Fed has been clear about the tightrope it began walking when it started hiking rates sharply in March 2022: Being too aggressive would choke the economy, but going too soft would give inflation more oxygen and hurt everyone.Goldman Sachs economist David Mericle sees a higher chance of a recession within the next 12 months following Friday’s jobs report. But he still sees only a 25% probability of that, up from 15%, in part “because the data look fine overall” and he does not “see major financial imbalances.”Some of Wall Street’s recent declines may simply be air coming out of a stock market that romped to dozens of all-time highs this year, in part on a frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology. Critics have been saying for a while that the stock market looked expensive after prices rose faster than corporate profits.“Markets tend to move higher like they’re climbing stairs, and they go down like they’re falling out a window,” according to JJ Kinahan, CEO of IG North America. He chalks much of the recent worries to euphoria around AI subsiding, with pressure rising on companies to show how AI is turning into profits, and “a market that was ahead of itself.”The only way for stocks to look less expensive is either for prices to fall or for their profits to strengthen. Expectations are still high for the latter, with growth for S&P 500 profits this past quarter looking to be the strongest since 2021.Professional investors also pointed to the Bank of Japan’s move last week to raise its main interest rate from nearly zero. Such a move helps boost the value of the Japanese yen, but it could also force traders to scramble out of deals where they borrowed money for virtually no cost in Japan and invested it elsewhere around the world.Treasury yields also pared their losses Monday after a report said growth for U.S. services businesses was a touch stronger than expected. Growth was led by arts, entertainment and recreation businesses, along with accommodations and food services, according to the Institute for Supply Management.Still, stocks of companies whose profits are most closely tied to the economy’s strength took sharp losses on the fears about a slowdown. The small companies in the Russell 2000 index dropped 3.3%, washing out what had been a revival for it and other beaten-down areas of the market.Making things worse for Wall Street, Big Tech stocks tumbled as the market’s most popular trade for much of this year continued to unravel. Apple, Nvidia and a handful of other Big Tech stocks known as the “ Magnificent Seven ” had propelled the S&P 500 to record after record this year, even as high interest rates weighed down much of the rest of the stock market.But Big Tech’s momentum turned last month on worries investors had taken their prices too high and expectations for future growth are becoming too difficult to meet. A set of underwhelming profit reports that began with updates from Tesla and Alphabet added to the pessimism and accelerated the declines.Apple fell 4.8% Monday after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that it had slashed its ownership stake in the iPhone maker.Nvidia, the chip company that’s become the poster child of Wall Street’s AI bonanza, fell even more, 6.4%. Analysts cut their profit forecasts over the weekend for the company after a report from The Information said Nvidia’s new AI chip is delayed. The recent selling has trimmed Nvidia’s gain for the year to nearly 103% from 170% in the middle of June.Another Big Tech titan, Alphabet, fell 4.4% after a U.S. judge ruled Google’s search engine has been illegally exploiting its dominance to squash competition and stifle innovation.All told, the S&P 500 fell 160.23 points to 5,186.33. The Dow sank 1,033.99 to 38,703.27, and the Nasdaq composite tumbled 576.08 to 16,200.08.Worries outside corporate profits, interest rates and the economy are also weighing on the market. The Israel-Hamas war may be worsening, which beyond its human toll could cause sharp swings for the price of oil. That’s adding to broader worries about potential hotspots around the world, while upcoming U.S. elections could further scramble things.Wall Street has been concerned about how policies coming out of November could impact markets, but the sharp swings for stock prices could affect the election itself.The threat of a recession is likely to put Vice President Kamala Harris on the defensive. But slower growth could also further reduce inflation and force former President Donald Trump to pivot from his current focus on higher prices to outlining ways to revive the economy.“It comes down to jobs,” said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist for LPL Financial. Jobs drive spending by U.S. consumers, which in turn is the biggest part of the U.S. economy.“When we get to election day, the unemployment rate is going to be extremely important.”___AP Business Writers Elaine Kurtenbach, Matt Ott, Christopher Rugaber and Damian J. Troise contributed.
Crypto Plunges: Bitcoin Down 11% Overnight-Raw Egg Nationalist | Infowars.com-August 5th 2024, 4:01 am
Investors have been shedding riskier assets-Bitcoin's price is at the lowest since February-The overall value of cryptocurrency plunged on Sunday, falling by $270 billion as investors cashed out of risky assets.Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, recorded an 11% drop and Ether a 21% drop. Binance’s BNB is also down 15% and Solana is down 10%.The plunge in cryptocurrencies is part of a broader fall in equities in the Asia-Pacific market and US. Japan’s Nikkei 225 has fallen by 7% after losses last week and the Bank of Japan’s announcement that it would increase its interest rate to its highest level in 16 years. The US Nasdaq fell by 3.4%, with significant contributions to the decrease coming from Amazon and Nvidia. Disappointing economic performance in the US, including a poor jobs report, growing unemployment and decline in the manufacturing sector, is also to blame.Bitcoin’s price is now the lowest it’s been since February, at $54,000, which is still a 23% increase this year.Ether fell to around $2,300, wiping out all of the currency’s gains for the year.
The Canadian Press-Wall Street headed sharply lower again after Japan's Nikkei index tumbles to worst loss since 1987-Elaine Kurtenbach And Matt Ott-Mon, August 5, 2024 at 8:34 a.m. EDT-The Associated Press
U.S. stocks are set to open sharply lower Monday, adding to steep declines in Asia and Europe and deepening a sell-off tied to worries about a recession in the U.S. economy. Japan’s main index plunged more than 12%, its worst day since 1987.S&P 500 futures are down 3.1% and Nasdaq futures are sinking 4.7%. Investors are fleeing the Big Tech names that until recently had powered the U.S. market higher: Apple fell more than 7% and Meta was down 6% in premarket trading. Chipmaker Nvidia tumbled 12.5%.Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.1%.A report Friday showing hiring by U.S. employers slowed last month by much more than expected followed weak reports on manufacturing and construction and stoked fears the U.S. economy was finally bending under the pressure of high interest rates. Investors worldwide sold stocks and moved to the safety of bonds, pushing bond yields sharply lower.The shakeup began just a couple of days after U.S. stock indexes had jumped to their best day in months after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell set the stage for possible rate cuts to begin in September.But after Friday's jobs report, worries are rising the Fed may have kept its main interest rate at a two-decade high for too long, raising risks of a recession in the world’s largest economy. A rate cut would make it less expensive for U.S. households and companies to borrow money, but it could take time for the effects to boost the economy.Until Friday, there had been relatively few huge market swings in the past year.A bonanza around artificial intelligence technology helped drive Big Tech stocks higher, while other areas of the market held up amid rising hopes for coming cuts to interest rates by the Federal Reserve. But professional investors have been warning that shakier times may be ahead given uncertainty about how quickly the Fed will cut interest rates and other big questions.Monday’s plunge in the Nikkei followed a nearly 6% drop on Friday. In mid-July, the index had risen to all-time highs. Its worst single-day rout was a plunge of 3,836 points, or 14.9%, on Oct. 19, 1987, a global markets crash that was dubbed “Black Monday” but proved to be only a temporary setback despite fears it might have augured a worldwide downturn.On Monday, the Nikkei closed down 4,451.28 points at 31,458.42. It had dropped 5.8% on Friday, making this its worst two-day decline ever.Share prices have fallen in Tokyo since the Bank of Japan raised its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday.The Japanese yen also has fallen sharply, trading at 142.37 yen for one U.S. dollar, down from 146.45 late Friday and sharply below its level of over 160 yen a few weeks ago.Analysts said another factor contributing to the falling share prices was carry trades, where investors borrow money from a country with low interest rates and a relatively weak currency, like Japan, and invest those funds in places that will yield a high return. Investors have been selling stocks to repay those loans as their costs have risen with a stronger yen and higher interest rates.South Korea stocks sank almost 9%.In Europe, markets in London, Paris and Frankfurt each dropped more than 2%.The euro rose to $1.0951 from $1.0923.One of the few bright spots was Kellanova, formerly Kellogg’s, which gained 22% on reports that Snickers owner Mars was deep in talks to acquire the cereal and snackmaker.The latest setback has hit markets heavily weighted toward computer chipmakers like Samsung Electronics and other technology shares: on Monday, South Korea's Kospi plummeted more than 9% as Samsung's shares sank 10.3%. It closed 8.8% lower at 2,441.55.Taiwan's Taiex also crumbled, losing 8.4% as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's biggest chip maker, dropped 9.8%.“To put it mildly, the spike in volatility-of-volatility is a spectacle that underlines just how jittery markets have become,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary. “The real question now looms: Can the typical market reflex to sell volatility or buy the market dip prevail over the deep-seated anxiety brought on by this sudden and sharp recession scare?”The VIX, an index that measures how worried investors are about upcoming drops for the S&P 500, was up 105% as of early Monday. Bitcoin which recently had surged to nearly $70,000, was down nearly 17% at $52,100.00.Oil prices slipped, with U.S. benchmark crude oil giving up $1.41 to $72.11 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost $1.35 cents to $75.46 per barrel.Investors will be watching for data on the U.S. services sector from the U.S. Institute for Supply Management due later Monday that may help determine if the sell-offs around the world are an overreaction, Yeap Jun Rong of IG said in a report.Even though worries over weakness in the U.S. economy and volatile markets have rippled around the world, the U.S. economy is still growing, and a recession is far from a certainty.But the mood was decidedly dark.Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 2.2% to 16,579.97 and the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia declined 3.7% to 7,649.60.The Shanghai Composite index, which is somewhat insulated by capital controls from other world markets, edged higher but then gave way, losing 1.5% to 2,862.56.The S&P 500's 1.8% decline Friday was its first back-to-back loss of at least 1% since April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.5%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 2.4%, taking it to 10% below its record set last month. That level of drop is what traders call a “correction.”Elaine Kurtenbach And Matt Ott, The Associated Press.
BLACKROCK ALSO DUMPED 50% OF THEIR APPLE STOCKS.
Why Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Dumped 55.8% Of Its Apple Stock-Peter Cohan-Senior Contributor-Aug 3, 2024,01:58pm EDT-
Warren Buffett dumped 55.8% of Berkshire Hathaway’s holdings of Apple stock in the first six months of 2024, according to Reuters.Since the end of 2023 Berkshire has sold 505 million Apple shares — 115 million in the first quarter and another 390 million in the second quarter. As of June 30, that represents a 55.8% reduction in Berkshire’s Apple holdings since the beginning of the year, Reuters noted.Why did he sell so much Apple stock? Should other investors follow suit? I do not know why Buffett sold such a huge chunk of Berkshire’s Apple stock. However, Apple’s tepid growth rate and high valuation suggest the famed investor may have concluded the stock’s prospects are not great.While Apple’s AI offerings could give consumers a reason to upgrade, the iPhone maker’s declining revenues in China, its regulatory woes, and the absence of a compelling growth vector — particularly if Apple Intelligence does not prove to be a killer app — could mean Apple will be lucky to achieve low single digit revenue growth.I suspect other investors will take a cue from Buffett.WWE SummerSlam 2024 Results: Roman Reigns Returns In Bloodline Rules-Apple has been a good investment. Since Buffett began buying the iPhone maker’s stock in 2016, Berkshire has spent roughly $40 billion. Apple shares have delivered a total return of nearly 800% since Berkshire first disclosed its stake, noted the Financial Times.Investing Digest: Know what's moving the financial markets and what smart money is buying with Forbes Investing Digest.By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Service, and you acknowledge our Privacy Statement. Forbes is protected by reCAPTCHA, and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.Although Buffett has praised the company this year, his actions make me wonder whether the words were aimed at getting a higher price for his Apple shares.How so? Buffett slashed Berkshire’s Apple stake 13% in the first quarter of 2024 and jettisoned another 49% in the second quarter, ending June with an Apple position worth $84.2 billion, noted the Wall Street Journal — citing Berkshire regulatory filings.Buffett’s kind words for Apple came in May at Berkshire’s annual meeting. There he called Apple “an even better business” than two other large Berkshire holdings — American Express and Coca-Cola, noted the Journal.At the meeting, he also alluded to tax rates as a reason to take profits in Apple. How so? Selling “a little Apple” this year would benefit Berkshire shareholders should the U.S. raise capital gains taxes in the future “to plug a climbing fiscal deficit,” he said, according to CNBC.Should You Follow Buffett And Sell Your Apple Stock? This raises questions: Now that he has sold more than half his stake in 2024, was Buffett kidding when he referred to selling a “little” Apple? Is the possibility of future capital gains rate increases the real reason he sold so much Apple stock in the first half? Should you follow Buffett and dump your Apple stock?-Reasons To Buy Apple Stock-The best reason to buy Apple stock is the company’s AI strategy — hinging on a revamped Siri digital assistant — which could motivate more people to upgrade their iPhones.The refreshed Siri would “work across apps and retrieve information from messages, emails, calendar, photos and other apps; summarize emails and webpages and transcribe calls; and generate custom emojis and other images,” noted Investor’s Business Daily.The most significant arguments in favor of owning Apple stock include:AI iPhones could give people a reason to upgrade. Some Wall Street analysts think AI capabilities will encourage consumers to upgrade to the iPhone 16 series this fall, IBD reported. The upgrade cycle for AI iPhones will be “stronger for longer,” Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani told IBD because Apple is staggering its rollout of AI features for the iPhone, he added.Old iPhones and satellite connectivity could drive iPhone sales. Many iPhone handsets have not been upgraded for more than four years. Some 270 million iPhones — 18% of the worldwide installed base — were last upgraded more than four years ago, noted Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives. Meanwhile, Apple's plan to add satellite connectivity to its iMessage app this fall “could spur iPhone sales,” LightShed Partners analyst Walter Piecyk told IBD.Reasons To Sell Apple Stock-A significant reason investors owned Apple in recent years was knowing the iPhone maker was Buffett’s largest holding. Therefore, his decision to sell such a large percentage of his Apple stock — with the possibility he will sell more this year — should give investors a reason to think about what is motivating Buffett.Meanwhile, Apple faces significant headwinds:Apple’s decelerating revenue. Between 2010 and 2020, Apple revenue grew at a 15.5% average annual rate. During the pandemic, Apple enjoyed a surge in revenue — growing at a nearly 20% annual rate in 2021 and 2022. Sadly, between 2022 and March 2024, Apple’s revenue declined almost every quarter. Apple’s revenue broke that pattern — rising 5% in the June-2024 ending quarter, according to Apple.Apple’s AI strategy may not add much revenue growth. Apple Intelligence may not represent a significant improvement to the features of AI chatbots now on the market, about which I wrote in my new book Brain Rush. The iPhone is a 17-year-old product whose revenues fell 10% in the first quarter of 2024, according to the company. Upgrading Siri slightly may not be a good enough reason for users to go out and buy new Apple devices — for that, they will need a generative AI killer app — as the iTunes store was for the iPod, according to a June 2024 Forbes post.Apple’s declining iPhone sales in China. In the June-ending quarter, a 14% increase in services revenue offset the 5.7% drop in Apple’s iPhone sales in China. To be sure, as of July 2024, Apple had the biggest smartphone market share in the U.S., with 55.91%, according to Oberlo. However, Apple's market share in China’s smartphone market had dropped to 14% — putting the iPhone in sixth place in the second quarter of 2024, CNBC noted.Apple’s legal woes. On June 24, European Union regulators accused Apple of violating the EU’s Digital Markets Act with its App Store policies, IBD reported. Moreover, Apple faces a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice — which in March charged Apple’s “restrictive iPhone and App Store policies” with violating antitrust laws. In a statement, Apple said it will “vigorously defend against the lawsuit” which the company said is “wrong on the facts and the law,” reported IBD. Analysts expect the lawsuit to create “headline risk” during its two to three year duration.Apple has little else to propel its growth. In late February, Apple canceled its autonomous EV project, about which I co-authored a business school case, Apple’s Electric Vehicle, after a decade of work and an estimated $10 billion investment. Investment bank Needham called Apple's near-term growth outlook “anemic to negative in a recent report” featured by IBD.Buffett’s reasons for dumping so much Apple could be a simple matter of valuation. When Berkshire began buying, Apple traded for less than 15 times projected earnings — now the iPhone maker trades “around 30 times projected profits in its fiscal year ending in September 2025,” Barron’s reported.The scale of Buffett’s Apple selling in the first half of 2024 suggests he may sell more. “I would have thought it would be really far-fetched for him to sell his remaining stake in Apple, but that doesn’t seem really far-fetched anymore,” Edward Jones analyst Jim Shanahan told Bloomberg in reference to Buffett’s Apple stock sales. “I don’t think zero’s out of the question now.”I am skeptical about whether consumers will find Apple Intelligence sufficiently compelling to spark a wave of iPhone upgrades. If Buffett agrees, he could sell more Apple shares this quarter.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
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.
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.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences;(BIOLOGICAL/CHEMICAL/NUCLEAR) and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
At least 4 killed as tropical storm Debby slams into southeastern U.S.More flooding possible in Florida even as storm moves north to Georgia and S. Carolina, governor warns-The Associated Press · Posted: Aug 05, 2024 6:46 PM EDT
Tropical storm Debby slammed Florida with torrential rain and high winds, contributing to at least four deaths as it turned menacingly toward the Eastern Seaboard's low-lying regions and threatened to flood some of America's most historic Southern cities.
Record-setting rain was expected to cause flash flooding, with up to 76 centimetres possible in some areas, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The potential for high water threatened the historic cities of Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S.C. Up to 46 centimetres was forecast in central and north Florida.An aerial view shows houses and streets flooded.Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned that just because the storm is moving into Georgia, it doesn't mean the state won't continue to see threats as waterways north of the state border fill up and flow south."It is a very saturating, wet storm," he said during an afternoon briefing at the state's emergency operations centre. "When they crest and the water that's going to come down from Georgia, it's just something that we're going to be on alert for not just throughout today, but for the next week."Debby made landfall along the Gulf Coast of Florida early Monday as a Category 1 hurricane. It has since weakened to a tropical storm and is moving slowly, covering roads with water and contributing to at least four deaths.Tropical storm Debby walloped Florida's Big Bend region Monday morning, bringing a torrential downpour that flooded roads and knocked out power to over 235,000 homes and businesses.Children among the dead-A truck driver died on Interstate 75 in the Tampa, Fla., area after he lost control of his tractor-trailer, which flipped over a concrete wall and dangled over the edge before the cab dropped into the water below. Sheriff's office divers located the driver, a 64-year-old man from Mississippi, in the cab 12 metres below the surface, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.A 13-year-old boy died Monday morning after a tree fell on a mobile home southwest of Gainesville, Fla., according to the Levy County Sheriff's Office.And in Dixie County, just east of where the storm made landfall, a 38-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy died in a car crash on wet roads Sunday night. The Florida Highway Patrol said a 14-year-old boy who was a passenger was hospitalized with serious injuries.swirls of a storm-Power outages, flight delays-More than 300,000 customers remained without power in Florida and Georgia on Monday afternoon, down from a peak of more than 350,000, according to PowerOutage.us and Georgia Electric Membership Corp.DeSantis said some 17,000 linemen were working to restore electricity. He warned residents in affected areas to stay off the roads until conditions are safe.Airports were also affected. More than 1,600 flights had been cancelled across the U.S., many of them to and from Florida airports, according to FlightAware.com. One out of every five flights scheduled to leave Orlando International Airport was cancelled Monday. Nearly 30 per cent of flights scheduled to depart Tampa International Airport were cancelled.Twice as much rain as predicted-Sarasota, Fla., a beach city popular with tourists, was one of the hardest hit by flooding."Essentially, we've had twice the amount of the rain that was predicted for us to have," said Sarasota County Fire Chief David Rathbun in a social media update.The storm made landfall near Steinhatchee, a tiny community in northern Florida of less than 1,000 residents.Rescuers wade through a flooded street.Taylor County, where Steinhatchee is located, closed several roads due to flooding, Sheriff Wayne Padgett said. Trees and power lines had also fallen across some roads.Padgett advised anyone who had evacuated from low-lying or coastal areas to wait before returning to their homes because the tide had not come in, and it was unclear how deep floodwaters might get later.U.S. President Joe Biden was briefed on Debby's progress while at his home in Wilmington, Del., the White House said.Vice-President Kamala Harris has postponed a scheduled trip to Georgia amid the ongoing effects of tropical storm Debby. Harris' presidential campaign said her stop planned in Savannah, Ga., on Thursday, was being put off due to the storm.Local leaders in Savannah said flooding could happen in areas that don't usually get high water if Debby stalls out over the city."This type of rain hovering over us, coming with the intensity that they tell us it is coming, it's going to catch a whole lot of people by surprise," said Chatham County Chairman Chester Ellis.'Historic and potentially unprecedented'In South Carolina, Charleston County interim emergency director Ben Webster called Debby a "historic and potentially unprecedented event" three times in a 90-second briefing Monday morning.The city of Charleston has an emergency plan in place that includes sandbags for residents, opening parking garages so residents can park their cars above floodwaters, and an online mapping system that shows which roads are closed due to flooding.North Carolina and South Carolina have dealt with three catastrophic floods from tropical systems in the past nine years, all causing more than $1 billion US in damage.In 2015, rainfall fed by moisture as Hurricane Joaquin passed well offshore caused massive flooding.In 2016, flooding from Hurricane Matthew caused 24 deaths in the two states and rivers set record crests. Those records were broken in 2018 with Hurricane Florence, which set rainfall records in both Carolinas, flooded many of the same places and was responsible for 42 deaths in North Carolina and nine in South Carolina.What is rapid intensification in hurricanes, and is it happening more often? In Savannah, Jim Froncak piled sandbags into his pickup truck on Monday, as rain was already falling. He said a recent thunderstorm caused so much flooding that he and a friend were able to kayak down a street."That was just a thunderstorm," he said. "So, who knows what could happen with this?"
Top Russian defense official in Tehran to cultivate stronger security ties-Ex-defense minister and head of national security council Sergei Shoigu to meet Pezeshkian, counterparts; Moscow condemned Haniyeh killing, relies on Iranian-made arms in Ukraine-By Agencies and ToI Staff Today, 5:43 pm-AUG 5,24
Russia’s National Security Council secretary Sergei Shoigu arrived in Tehran Monday for a series of meetings with Iranian counterparts, Russian and Iranian news agencies reported, amid fears of a wider war in the region following last week’s killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran.Russia’s state Tass and RIA Novosti news agencies reported that Shoigu, Russia’s former defense secretary, was scheduled to meet with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian; the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Akbar Ahmadian; and chief of the Iranian military’s General Staff, Mohammad Bagheri.The visit was at the invitation of Ahmadian, Iran’s local Tasnim news agency reported. It said the visit’s aim was “strengthening interactions, the examination of regional and international issues, and bilateral political security relations.”Russia on Friday “strongly condemned” the killing of Haniyeh, head of the Hamas terror group’s Doha-based political bureau, in Tehran Wednesday. Moscow warned against “the extremely dangerous consequences of such actions.”Diplomatic efforts have increased to avert an all-out war after Iran vowed to exact “harsh punishment” on Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied its part in the assassination. On Sunday, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi made a rare visit to Tehran to discuss “regional developments.”Pezeshkian has described Russia as a “valued strategic ally.” Russia has cultivated closer ties with Iran since the start of its war with Ukraine and has said it is preparing to sign a wide-ranging cooperation agreement with the Islamic Republic.Reuters reported in February that Iran had provided Russia with a large number of powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles.The United States said in June that Russia appeared to be deepening its defense cooperation with Iran and had received hundreds of one-way Iranian-made attack drones that it was using to strike Ukraine, something Moscow denies.A July 19 Wall Street Journal report, which cited US officials, said Russia was considering supplying anti-ship missiles to Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who like Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah are part of the so-called Axis of Resistance network of Iranian proxies.According to the report, Russian President Vladimir Putin has floated the idea in response to the White House’s approval for Ukraine to strike Russia using American-made arms. Two US officials indicated Russia would transfer arms to Yemen via Iranian smuggling routes.The report came after an Iranian-made drone launched by the Houthis killed one person and injured at least eight others in Tel Aviv.Shoigu’s visit to one of Russia’s key political allies underlines his continued significant role even as he has faced criticism over military setbacks in Ukraine and members of his close circle appear to have fallen out of favor.As defense minister, Shoigu visited Iran in September last year. Nikolai Patrushev, Shoigu’s predecessor at the Security Council and a longstanding ally of Putin, visited Iran in late 2022.The former defense minister had been widely criticized for Russia’s setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine and was accused of incompetence and corruption by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who launched a brief mutiny in June 2023 to demand his dismissal. Prigozhin died in a plane crash two months later.Shoigu was dismissed as defense minister in May, shortly after Putin’s inauguration for a new term.Shoigu, a former general of Russia’s army who had personal ties with Putin, was given the high-profile post of secretary of Russia’s Security Council.First footage of Sergei Shoigu, Secretary of Russia’s Security Council, meeting with Ali Akbar Ahmadian, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in Tehran pic.twitter.com/mJ0THxHZGP— Nicole Grajewski (@NicoleGrajewski) August 5, 2024However, several top military officers who were members of Shoigu’s close entourage lost their jobs and many of them were arrested.On Monday, the director of the Russian military’s main congress center and a top Defense Ministry official were arrested on fraud charges. Timur Ivanov, a top associate and deputy of Shoigu, has been jailed on bribery charges since April.
Analysis-Hamas officials’ ties with Iran could determine who will replace Haniyeh-Ruling out Mashaal, analysts say slain leader’s replacement must have good relations with Shiite powers, as Hamas looks to Iran for post-war support-By Reuters and ToI Staff Today, 8:24 pm-AUG 5,24
In choosing its next leader, the Hamas terror group will be looking for a candidate who can safeguard deep ties with Tehran, as Iranian support will be more important than ever to help the group recover after the Gaza war, analysts say.Hamas has several potential replacements for Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran last week in an attack widely blamed on Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement. They include former leader Khaled Mashaal, who led Hamas for 13 years from outside the Palestinian territories, before passing the baton to Haniyeh in 2017.But experts believe his chances could be hurt by past friction with Shiite Iran and its regional allies, notably Syrian President Bashar Assad. Mashaal was Hamas leader when the group turned on Damascus during the Arab Spring and declared sympathy with the Sunni-led rebellion against him.Iran’s support will be doubly important to Hamas as it seeks to rebuild once the guns fall silent in Gaza. The territory has been devastated by the fighting in the months since October 7 of last year, when thousands of terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, taking 251 hostages, and sparking the ongoing war.While Hamas continues to fight in Gaza, 10 months of pummeling by Israel have hit it hard.This consideration seems likely to boost the prospects of candidates deemed closer to Tehran, including Khalil al-Hayya, currently serving as Hamas’s deputy leader for Gaza, though he left the territory some years ago.“There might have been some retreat in Mashaal’s chances of taking the place of Haniyeh, because he doesn’t enjoy much support from Iran since he was the one who turned against the Syrian regime and ended the Hamas presence in Damascus,” said Ashraf Abouelhoul, a specialist on Palestinian issues and managing editor of the Egyptian state-owned paper Al-Ahram.“Also the armed wing, which is keen on the concept of rebuilding when the war is over, will be thinking of a candidate whose relations with Iran are strong enough to ensure the rebuilding takes place,” he said.One Hamas official told Reuters the succession had not been settled yet and the deliberations are underway.Hayya says Hamas leadership united-Hayya was known to be very close to Haniyeh. He accompanied him to Tehran for the visit during which the Hamas leader was killed in July.Hayya led Hamas’s negotiating team for hostage-ceasefire talks under Haniyeh’s supervision and also led reconciliation talks with Hamas’s Palestinian rival Fatah in past years.Like Haniyeh, he maintained strong relations with Iran and in 2022, he led a Hamas delegation to Damascus to mend ties with Assad, declaring it a historic meeting.Speaking as Hamas received condolences for Haniyeh’s death in Qatar, Hayya said the movement’s leadership remained united.“Our will is strong and can’t be broken by the martyrdom of one leader or two or three,” he said. “God willing, within days, we will conclude our consultations to choose a new leader.”Hani al-Masri, a Palestinian political analyst, said that in less extraordinary times the group’s Gaza leader, Yahya Sinwar, would have been a candidate.A mastermind of the October 7 attack, Sinwar is widely believed to still be running Hamas’s war from tunnels under Gaza.Hayya’s chances are helped by his good ties to the Shiite terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon, the region’s most powerful Iran-aligned faction, which has been trading fire with Israel throughout the Gaza war.Masri noted Mashaal’s leadership qualities and experience, but said his prospects hinged on healing the rift with Iran: “His weak point is his negative relationships with Iran, Syria and Hezbollah at a time when there is… a joint war.”
Israeli hospitals declare themselves prepared for mass casualty events-Since the start of war, hospitals have conducted drills, stockpiled supplies, and moved wards underground, readying themselves for worst-case scenarios, with MDA cooperation-By Diana Bletter-Today, 7:53 pm-AUG 5,24
Across Israel, hospitals are on heightened alert, bracing for a war with Iran and Hezbollah that could see mass casualty events.Health Minister Uriel Buso convened a series of medical readiness assessments with hospital directors and health maintenance organization executives last week following the double assassinations of Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh in Teheran and Hezbollah military head Fuad Shukr in Beirut.Buso discussed emergency preparedness, including information on safe areas, emergency supplies, cyber defense, mental healthcare, and ways to immediately raise readiness levels.He directed all personnel to check medical equipment inventory to guarantee “operational continuity,” adding that “the healthcare system has been operating in emergency mode since October 7.”MDA-Magen David Adom (MDA) held a three-day drill in northern Israel last week that simulated a missile strike on a building populated by dozens of people.The MDA reinforcement unit was mobilized along with regular MDA teams practicing a “blackout scenario” focusing on satellite resources. The drill simulated treatment for casualties, and the use of special technological and logistical tools, including dedicated vehicles.Part of the drill involved MDA’s blood services, focusing on emergency blood donations in the event of infrastructure shortages.MDA chief of staff Uri Shacham said that the organization would utilize its fleet of about 600 medicycles — medically equipped motorcycles and motor scooters — to deliver blood from MDA’s blood vault, which is protected against chemical, missile, and cyber attacks, to Israeli hospitals.If roads are destroyed, Shacham said MDA has all-terrain vehicles, known as Unimogs, that can travel off-road to reach their destinations.“The drill was successful, preparing us for a total communications blackout,” said Eli Bin, director general of MDA.Central Israel hospitals-At medical centers throughout the country, there is a sense of increased readiness.At Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, a spokesperson said that 350 hospital beds are ready in the recently expanded fortified underground complex.The 5,000 square meter complex on two floors of an underground parking lot includes intensive care units, surgery departments, orthopedics, internal medicine departments, and a dialysis unit.“The complex is ready for full operation at short notice,” said a hospital spokesperson.The emergency department is fully fortified, including the trauma room and blood bank, with a total of about 100 treatment stations.A spokesperson at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center said the hospital “is accustomed to providing immediate medical response in emergency events.”The staff has undergone “training, drills, and of course, intensive actual work” since the beginning of the war and has provided medical care to over 1,000 people who have been wounded.In the first months of the war, the hospital established two underground treatment complexes in Hadassah Ein Kerem and Hadassah Mount Scopus, to provide a medical treatment solution for hundreds of patients that would continue without interruption during an emergency or a threat to Jerusalem.Like many other hospitals, Sheba Medical Center has an emergency backup generator to keep the hospital functioning, along with “people’s monitors and heart pacemakers.”“We prepare and drill all the time, throughout the year,” said a Sheba hospital spokesperson. “We are on 24/7 alert but there’s nothing out of the ordinary.”Sheba has seen “four or five soldiers at a time going into the trauma center and the emergency room since October 7,” the spokesperson said. “As the largest hospital in Israel, we are always ready for a mass casualty event.”Rambam Medical Center-At Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, a spokesperson said that the hospital has not canceled vacations, surgeries, or clinic appointments.Yet the underground floor at the hospital is ready with 1,200 beds. If necessary, 700 patients from the aboveground hospital can be moved to the underground hospital within 6 to 8 hours.The hospital can also provide an additional 2,200 beds in the fortified area.In April, the hospital conducted a drill of a mass casualty event from a missile hitting an apartment building. The drill was conducted in cooperation with the IDF Home Front Command and MDA emergency response services.The two northernmost hospitals.Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war against the Hamas terror group there.So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 25 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 18 IDF soldiers and reservists.In Nahariya, six miles from the Lebanese border, Galilee Medical Center director Prof. Masad Barhoum said that since October 7, his hospital has been “preparing for the Third Lebanon War.”The almost daily attacks have given medical personnel at his hospital as well as Ziv Medical Center in Safed a grim, limited glimpse into what it might be like during a full-scale war.During the 2006 Lebanon War, Hezbollah fired close to 4,000 rockets into Israel, resulting in the deaths of 49 Israeli civilians and 121 IDF soldiers; some Hezbollah rockets damaged Galilee Medical Center’s fourth-floor ophthalmology ward.Within days of October 7, even before the Health Ministry and the IDF Homefront Command issued directives for the hospitals, the hospital staff moved babies in the neonatal intensive care unit down to the hospital’s fortified underground facility. Other units followed.So far, the hospital has treated about 1,500 wounded, most of them soldiers.In Safed, Ziv Medical Center director Prof. Salman Zarka said the facility has been combining care for residents of the north along with taking care of war casualties. Since October 7, the hospital has taken in more than 290 wounded civilians and soldiers. The hospital treated eight of the 12 children wounded in the Hezbollah attack on Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights.Zarka said that the hospital has stockpiled food, medication, and oxygen to last for several days “in case we become a ‘separate island.’”In the south, Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, the closest hospital to the border with Gaza, has treated more than 3,000 wounded soldiers and civilians since the war began on October 7.“There hasn’t been any change in readiness,” said a hospital spokesperson. “We have been on full alert since the beginning of the war.”
UN says 9 UNRWA employees ‘may have been involved’ in Oct 7 attack, have been fired-Israeli ambassador to UN calls investigation a ‘disgrace,’ alleges that ‘thousands’ of UNRWA employees are ‘involved to various degrees in Hamas’s terror activities’-By Jeremy Sharon-and Jacob Magid-Today, 11:21 pm-AUG 5,24
The United Nations announced on Monday night that nine employees of the UNRWA agency for Palestinian refugees “may have been involved” in Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel and will be fired from the organization.The Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), an independent body of the United Nations Secretariat, said in a terse press release that it had completed its investigation into 19 UNRWA staff members alleged by Israel to have taken part in the October 7 atrocities and concluded that in nine cases, the evidence obtained by the organization “indicated that the UNRWA staff members may have been involved in the armed attacks of 7 October 2023.”Added the OIOS, “The employment of these individuals will be terminated in the interests of the Agency.”In nine other cases, the OIOS claimed that the evidence of involvement was insufficient, and in one case, it said there was no evidence.In response, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan branded the OIOS investigation “a disgrace,” noting that it had focused only on 19 UNRWA employees, despite Israel having provided the UN with “detailed information” about 100 UNRWA employees that Erdan said were Hamas members.A probe was launched by UNRWA in January into allegations that seven staff members had participated in the October 7 attack, and an additional probe into another 12 employees was initiated in March.On January 26, UNRWA said it had fired an unspecified number of staffers, after Israeli authorities provided information that pointed to their active participation in the October 7 terror onslaught.The nine employees that UNRWA said on Monday had been dismissed included staff members fired back in January.“The UN investigation, which focused solely on 19 UNRWA employees, is a disgrace!” said Erdan following the UN announcement on Monday.“It is too little, too late – ignoring thousands of agency employees involved to various degrees in Hamas’s terror activities,” he continued.“Israel provided the UN with detailed information regarding over 100 UNRWA employees who were direct members of the terrorist organization Hamas,” he said. “Despite Israel’s extensive cooperation with, and provision of information to, the UN, its investigation’s conclusions are yet another disgrace.”In February, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant alleged that at least 12 of UNRWA’s employees were directly involved in the October 7 atrocities, another 30 assisted or facilitated those crimes, and as much as 12 percent of the organization’s staff are affiliated with terror organizations.The accusations led numerous countries to suspend their funding to the organization, although many have since renewed it, citing the difficult humanitarian situation in the Strip.In April, a review of UNRWA by an independent panel said Israel had yet to provide supporting evidence for its claims that a significant number of agency staff were members of terrorist organizations and argued that UNRWA had “robust” policies in place to ensure staff neutrality.Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected that review as well, stating that Hamas’s penetration of the UN agency was so deep that “it is impossible to say where UNRWA ends and Hamas begins.”“If more than 2,135 UNRWA employees are members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and 1/5 of the principals of UNRWA schools are Hamas activists, the problem with UNRWA-Gaza is not a problem of a few bad apples,” the ministry said in a statement, rejecting the review’s conclusions. “It is a poisoned and rotten tree whose roots are Hamas.”Israel and pro-Israel lobbying groups have for years accused UNRWA staff of antisemitism and the glorification of terrorism, particularly within UNRWA’s extensive education system.Several past reports by such organizations have found that UNRWA schools and teachers continue to teach hatred of Jews and glorify terrorism, including a 2022 report by the IMPACT-SE organization that UNRWA textbooks continue to contain incitement, and a 2023 report by the same organization along with the UN Watch group citing dozens of examples of social media posts by UNRWA employees that “glorify terrorism, encourage martyrdom, demonize Israelis and incite antisemitism.”
Hamas’s central Gaza battalions still effective, believed to hold hostages – report-Eight battalions across Gaza still combat-ready as of July 1, CNN analysis claims; IDF rejects report, says most of terror group’s units dismantled-By ToI Staff and Emanuel Fabian-Today, 9:38 pm-AUG 5,24
The Israeli military has not adequately “dealt” with Hamas battalions in the central Gaza strip, due to concerns that the terror group is holding many Israeli hostages there, according to Israeli sources quoted in a report Monday, which the Israeli military rejected.The CNN report, based in part on analyses by the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project and the Institute for the Study of War using data running up to July 1, found that eight of the 24 Hamas battalions in the enclave were still “combat effective,” or able to carry out missions against Israeli troops.A further 13 battalions were “degraded,” but still partly operational, the report found, and only three were totally “combat ineffective.”Responding to a query about the report, the Israel Defense Forces rejected its conclusions, saying “the claims made in the article contradict the achievements of the forces on the ground, and create a false representation of the situation of Hamas in Gaza.”“From the intelligence and findings on the ground, most of the Hamas brigades have been dismantled. It is estimated that most of the battalions are at a low level of competency and can no longer function as a military framework,” the IDF said.“The commanders of the IDF and its troops work day and night to achieve the goals of the war and reach unprecedented achievements in the fight against the Hamas terror organization,” the military added.According to the CNN report, some seven Hamas battalions have managed to reconstitute at least once since being severely degraded earlier in the war, either by merging severely degraded cells into new, combat-effective forces, or by recruiting new fighters.The military has acknowledged returning in some instances to areas in Gaza that its forces had previously evacuated after identifying Hamas forces regrouping there.Israeli defense officials have said this was part of the military’s strategy from the beginning of the ground operation in the Strip, saying it would shift from a large-scale intensive offensive to intelligence-based pinpoint raids after several months in each part of Gaza.“[Hamas] recruitment started three or four months ago, and they got a few thousand. I don’t know exactly how many,” one retired high-ranking Israeli officer told CNN.The officer noted, however, that “Hamas’s biggest difficulty is not at the level of soldiers, but at the level of commanders, some [of] whom are not easy to replace.”The battalions that have suffered the least damage, according to the CNN report, are those in central Gaza.Israel believes these forces are holding many of those taken captive on October 7, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists burst into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, starting the ongoing war.It is believed that 111 captives abducted on October 7, including the bodies of 39 confirmed dead by the IDF, remain in the enclave.In June, four hostages were rescued in a daring daytime raid in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp. The hostages were held in the homes of Hamas-affiliated families, believed to have been paid by the terror group.Negotiations for the return of the remaining hostages, in exchange for a ceasefire and prisoner release, are ongoing.Monday’s CNN report challenged the Israeli military strategy of repeated raids in areas where Hamas capability has been degraded, and suggested that the absence of a new government to replace the terror group has made victory over Hamas impossible to accomplish.“Hamas’s presence in northern Gaza is stronger than you can imagine,” a Palestinian source told CNN. “They’re among civilians. It helps them rebuild their forces.” Another Palestinian source reported seeing a Hamas-run makeshift jail in Gaza City.A high-ranking Israeli officer, quoted anonymously because he was not authorized to speak, told CNN that Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza is like “a marathon runner who doesn’t know where the stadium is. You run and you don’t know if you’re headed in the right direction.“Everywhere Hamas rears its head, we will enter. Can this ping pong stay forever? No. Our society is not built for this. And neither is the international community,” the officer said.“If the Hamas battalions were largely destroyed, Israeli forces wouldn’t still be fighting,” retired United States Army Col. Peter Mansoor told CNN, adding, “The ability of Hamas to reconstitute its fighting forces is undiminished.“The fact that they’re still in Gaza, still trying to rout out elements of the Hamas battalions shows me that Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu is wrong” when he says that victory is in sight, Mansoor said.The retired colonel helped to oversee the US’s surge of 30,000 troops into Iraq in 2007, to fight an insurgency there in the wake of the American invasion in 2003.Hamas has been described by the IDF as in “survival mode” in recent months, and not the same military organization as it was before October 7. Israeli assessments claim that Hamas is suffering from severe morale issues as the fighting goes on, and thousands are fleeing army operations and choosing not to fight.The IDF has said that just over half of Hamas’s military wing leadership in Gaza has been confirmed killed so far during the fighting. Those who remain include the commanders of the Rafah and Gaza City brigades, and the heads of the terror group’s intelligence, operations, manufacturing, and combat enforcement divisions.Hamas has also been running into weapon shortages, according to Israeli assessments. The IDF recently recovered a document listing the current inventory of the Shejaiya Battalion in Gaza City, according to which it had lost more than two-thirds of its members, and was running low on RPGs, assault rifles, and explosives.Last month, a major Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza killed Mohammad Deif, the commander of Hamas’s military wing, according to the IDF, though Hamas has not confirmed his death. His deputy, Marwan Issa, was killed by Israel in March.
Inside story-Hostage talks on hold until after Iran response, replacement of Haniyeh — officials-Hamas expected to harden stances, but mediators still plan to try and advance negotiations, which were on verge of breakthrough before assassination, two sources tell ToI-By Jacob Magid-Today, 9:36 pm-AUG 5,24
DOHA, Qatar — The negotiations between Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire-hostage release deal are on hold and will not pick up until after Iran retaliates for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and until after the terror group selects a replacement for the slain politburo chief, two officials familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel Monday.The Iranian response against Israel, which was allegedly behind Haniyeh’s killing, could happen as early as Monday night, while Hamas is expected to announce a new leader in the coming days, said two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.Qatari, Egyptian, and US mediators will then be able to resume efforts to negotiate a deal, though they believe it will be much more difficult following Haniyeh’s assassination, the officials said, adding that Hamas has not shown any interest in returning to the table in the interim.An Israeli negotiating team was in Cairo over the weekend, but that was largely for bilateral talks with Egypt over the IDF’s presence in the Philadelphi Corridor and the Rafah Crossing, one of the officials said, noting that Hamas was not part of the discussions, even indirectly, and that no progress was made either.Qatar also did not send representatives to the Saturday meeting in Cairo, as the focus was not on the hostage file, the officials said.While the mediators sought to separate the IDF’s presence along the Egyptian border from the hostage talks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has included the issue among a series of new demands that the Israeli negotiating team formally presented on July 27, the officials said.The new conditions brought the talks to another impasse just days after the mediators managed to convince Hamas to back off its main demand for an up-front Israeli commitment for a permanent ceasefire.Netanyahu insists that he has not moved from the ceasefire proposal he authorized on May 27, though the text of the offer obtained by The Times of Israel indicates otherwise.The premier’s stance has frustrated the Biden administration, as wellas the Israeli security establishment, which feels that the proposal Hamas had most recently agreed to should be accepted, one of the officials confirmed.While the mediators viewed the latest Israeli response submitted in Rome on July 27 as a setback, follow-up meetings were still planned.But the July 31 assassination of Haniyeh turned the impasse into a “full-blown crisis,” one of the officials said.Hamas said it would hold internal deliberations to select an interim leader, with Haniyeh’s deputy Khalil Al-Hayya, his predecessor Khaled Mashal, and senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzook named as potential replacements.
Erdogan slams ‘digital fascism’ as Turkey said to ban Instagram over Haniyeh posts-Turkish president accuses social media of censoring ‘Palestinian martyrs’; Ankara holding talks with Meta-owned company as e-commerce losing millions daily since Aug. 2 shutdown-By Agencies and ToI Staff Today, 8:35 pm-AUG 5,24
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused social media platforms of “digital fascism” on Monday for allegedly censoring photographs of Palestinian “martyrs.”The Turkish leader’s comments came as Turkish officials were engaged in discussions with representatives of the social media platform, Instagram, to reinstate access to millions of its users in Turkey.The Information and Communication Technologies Authority barred access to Instagram on August 2 without providing a reason. Government officials said the ban was imposed because Instagram failed to abide by Turkish regulations.Several media reports said, however, that the action was in response to Instagram removing posts by Turkish users that expressed condolences over the killing of the Hamas terror group’s leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday, July 31.The Instagram shutdown was the latest instance of a clampdown on websites in Turkey, which has a track record of censoring social media and other online platforms.“They cannot even tolerate photographs of Palestinian martyrs and immediately ban them,” Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara on Monday. “We are confronted with a digital fascism that is disguised as freedom.”“They are resorting to every means to hide Israel’s cruelty and muzzle the Palestinian people’s voices. Especially social media companies have literally become militants,” he said.Erdogan, who was speaking at an event on human rights education hosted by his Islamist AKP political party, went on to state that social media websites were allegedly allowing all kinds of propaganda by groups considered terrorists in Turkey.“We have tried to establish a line of dialogue through our relevant institutions. However, we have not yet been able to achieve the desired cooperation,” Erdogan said.Turkey’s transportation and infrastructure minister, Abdulkadir Uraloglu, said Turkish authorities met with representatives of Instagram last week and were holding a fresh round of talks on Monday.Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote on social media on August 2 that the decision to block Instagram demonstrated how Erdogan “is turning Turkey into a dictatorship just because of his support for the murderers and rapists of Hamas, against the stance of the entire free world.”At the end of his post, Katz tagged Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the leading opposition figure to Erdogan. İmamoğlu’s secularist CHP party scored a stunning victory against Erdogan’s AKP in Turkey’s March 31 municipal elections.Unlike its Western allies, Turkey does not consider Hamas a terror organization. A strong critic of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, Erdogan, who met with Haniyeh in Istanbul in April, has described Hamas as a liberation movement, and repeatedly compared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.The Turkish strongman appeared to threaten to invade Israel last week, saying at a meeting of his political party that Turkey must be “very strong so that Israel can’t do these things to the Palestinians.” In early May, Erdogan halted his country’s robust trade ties with Israel.Soon after the war in Gaza began, Turkey, a NATO member, began blocking any cooperation between NATO and Israel, which holds partner status in the military alliance, Reuters reported last week.The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, when thousands of terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill nearly 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.Instagram has more than 57 million users in Turkey, a nation of 85 million people, according to the We Are Social media company.The Electronic Commerce Operators’ Association estimates that the Meta-owned app and other social media platforms generate about 930 million Turkish lira ($27 million) worth of e-commerce per day.
