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)
OTHER NEWS
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2015/01/38th-victim-of-bill-cosby-sexual.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2015/01/here-comes-tax-everything-carbon-taxe.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2015/01/i-think-i-just-figured-out-what-stars.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2015/01/atlanta-fire-chief-persecuted-and-fired.html
REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE
REVELATION 11:1-2
1 And there was given me a(MEASURING) reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out,(TO THE WORLD NATIONS) and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.(JERUSALEM DIVIDED BUT THE 3RD TEMPLE ALLOWED TO BE REBUILT)
DANIEL 9:27
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
Law Finally Enforced in 'East Jerusalem' - Against a Synagogue-Municipality 'finally crosses Green Line to enforce law'; no, not the 57 illegal mosques - sukkah boards left up in synagogue yard.By Ari Yashar-First Publish: 1/15/2015, 8:40 PM-ISRAELNATIONALNEWS
"Good news from eastern Jerusalem!" reported Jerusalem Councilman Arieh King on Wednesday, sarcastically announcing that the Municipality finally enforced building laws in a region where illegal Arab construction is rampant; their target - sukkah boards left up at a synagogue.Writing on his Facebook page, King wrote sardonically "the Jerusalem Municipality and Jerusalem police are enforcing the law over the Green Line.""Hashaish Street was blocked in (the southern) neighborhood of Gilo, and dozens of officers and Municipality clerks arrived to the synagogue to destroy an 'illegal pergola' - excuse me, to remove the sukkah boards left since Sukkot (last October) in the synagogue yard," wrote King tongue-in-cheek, along with pictures of the demolition.The councilman continued mockingly "the boards were placed only three to four months ago, and already the law enforcement system carried out the law, great job! As a member of the Jerusalem city council I have to write that it really encourages me that the officers and Municipality clerks dared to cross the Green Line and enforce the law.""I am certain that after destroying the sukkah in the synagogue's yard, the convoy of law enforcers will continue to the (Arab majority) neighborhoods: Tzur Baher, Jabel Mukaber, Beit Safafa, and others. In these communities and others in eastern Jerusalem were built 57 illegal mosques already many years ago," he wrote.King concluded "so if you were looking for good news on this gray and wintry day, you got it: Municipality clerks are enforcing the law over the Green Line and the Jerusalem police even dared to accompany them."The comment is made all the more poignant by the fact that King has reported since Binyamin Netanyahu took office in 2009, police have not been sent to accompany building inspectors to enforce laws on rampant illegal Arab construction in the eastern part of the city, leading to a massive drop in demolitions conducted against illegal Arab building.There are currently over 40,000 illegal Arab housing units in eastern Jerusalem, reports King. He has warned that along with mayor Nir Barkat's push for massive Arab construction projects and Netanyahu's freeze of Jewish construction, the stage is set for a de facto division of the city.King has already noted that Jews have been forbidden from entering eight neighborhoods in Jerusalem since Barkat and Netanyahu took office in 2009, including the neighborhoods he mentioned where the 57 illegal mosques stand.
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
New Law Would - Finally - Move US Embassy to Jerusalem-Senators Ted Cruz and Dean Heller propose a law that would remove the president's authority to bar the embassy's relocation.By Moshe Cohen-First Publish: 1/15/2015, 9:35 AM-ISRAELNATIONALNEWS
The US Senate is taking another stab at changing the White House's policy of keeping the American Embassy to Israel out of Jerusalem.On Tuesday, US Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Dean Heller (R-NV) proposed a law that would remove the president's authority to invoke national security as a reason to ignore Congressional resolutions on moving the embassy to Jerusalem.According to the measure, called the Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act of 2015, the White House would be required to identify Jerusalem as the capital of Israel even before the embassy is physically moved.In 1995, both the Senate and House overwhelmingly passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, which required the relocation of the American Embassy to Israel from its current location in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. That law was passed with a proviso that allowed the President to, at his discretion, postpone the move on the basis of “National Security” concerns, which would be reviewed on a yearly basis. That proviso has been activated every year since the original Act was passed.The bill by Cruz and Heller would remove the proviso from the original Act, requiring the White House to immediately comply with the previously-passed law.Commenting on the move, Cruz said “It is my hope that members of Congress on both sides of the aisle support this important bill. It is long past due for our government to finally and unequivocally recognize Israel’s historical capital both in word and deed.”“This legislation further confirms America’s support for one of our strongest allies by recognizing Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel,” Heller said. “The United States must continue to stand beside Israel and this legislation honors promises our nation made years ago.”Cruz, one of the more colorful – and conservative – members of the Republican Congressional delegation, is considered a potential Republican candidate for president in 2016. He has not said yet whether or not he plans to run.
LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people(ISRAEL) and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.(UPROOTED ISRAELIS AND DIVIDED JERUSALEM)(THIS BRINGS ON WW3 BECAUSE JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED,WARNING TO ARABS-MUSLIMS AND THE WORLD).
THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS
Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week:(7 YEARS) and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.
DANIEL 11:21-23
21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he ( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant (PEACE TREATY) with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE ANIMAL SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
JEREMIAH 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
JEREMIAH 8:11
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:3
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
ISAIAH 33:8
8 The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant,(7 YR TREATY) he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.(THE WORLD LEADER-WAR MONGER CALLS HIMSELF GOD)
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
GENESIS 25:20-26
20 And Isaac was forty years old (A BIBLE GENERATION NUMBER=1967 + 40=2007+) when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.
21 And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22 And the children (2 NATIONS IN HER-ISRAEL-ARABS) struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels;(ISRAEL AND THE ARABS) and the one people shall be stronger than the other people;(ISRAEL STRONGER THAN ARABS) and the elder shall serve the younger.(LITERALLY ISRAEL THE YOUNGER RULES (ISSAC)(JACOB-LATER NAME CHANGED TO ISRAEL) OVER THE OLDER ARABS (ISHMAEL)(ESAU)
24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.(THE OLDER AN ARAB)
26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob:(THE YOUNGER-ISRAELI) and Isaac was threescore (60) years old when she bare them.(1967 + 60=2027)(COULD BE THE LAST GENERATION WHEN JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED AMOUNG THE 2 TWINS)(THE 2 TWINS WANT JERUSALEM-THE DIVISION OF JERUSALEM TODAY)(AND WHOS IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM TODAY-THE YOUNGER ISSAC-JACOB-ISRAEL)(AND WHO WANTS JERUSALEM DIVIDED-THE OLDER,ESAU-ISHMAEL (THE ARABS)
ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
US, UN, EU and Russia to meet on Mideast in late January-Associated Press-By EDITH M. LEDERER-JAN 15,15-YAHOONEWS
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Key Mideast mediators — the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia — will meet this month to discuss the way toward Israeli-Palestinian peace as tensions escalate in the decades-old conflict.U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power made the announcement during the U.N. Security Council's monthly Mideast debate, calling the status quo "unsustainable." She urged both sides "to exercise maximum restraint and avoid steps that threaten to push Israeli-Palestinian relations into a cycle of further escalation."The meeting of envoys from the so-called Quartet of Mideast mediators will be Jan. 26 in Brussels, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.It follows the council's recent rejection of a Palestinian-backed resolution demanding an end to Israeli occupation within three years and the Palestinians' subsequent decision to join the International Criminal Court. Relations also remain fraught following last summer's 50-day Gaza war between Israel and the Islamic militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and the earlier failure of U.S.-brokered peace talks.Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the Security Council that the Quartet, at ministerial level, "should be promptly reinvigorated."Chile's Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz, the current council president, said "a lot more" international engagement is needed including the Quartet, the Arab League and others.The Palestinians have made clear that they oppose further direct negotiations with Israel mediated by the U.S., saying 20 years of such talks have not produced results."We are willing to negotiate, but now in a different way, through an international conference or a collective process," Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, told a group of reporters last week.The perilous state of Israeli-Palestinian relations was evident at Thursday's meeting.Assistant Secretary-General Jens Anders Toyberg-Frandzen said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "is alarmed that the parties are now engaged in a downward spiral of actions.""Neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis have taken the challenging steps, or made the bold decisions, required to begin the process of reversing the ever-widening trust deficit between the two sides," he said. "Instead, we have witnessed developments which may unfortunately further reduce the likelihood of talks resuming in the future."Toyberg-Frandzen called on Israel to immediately transfer the estimated $127 million in tax revenues collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority for December. Israel froze the funds in response to actions that will make Palestine a member of the ICC on April 1. As a member of the court, the Palestinians will have standing to pursue war crimes charges against Israel.The Palestinians and Israelis say they remain committed to peace and accuse each other of blocking the road to a two-state solution.Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador, warned that the situation is "becoming more fragile and volatile by the day while a peaceful solution remains elusive due to lack of political will and the intransigence of Israel." In Jerusalem, which has seen clashes over access to holy sites, "tensions are raging as Israeli violations and crimes push the situation to a precipice," he warned.Israel's U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of remaining "committed to the three no's. He will not negotiate, he will not recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people and he will not make peace." He accused the Palestinian Authority of committing "every form of diplomatic treachery" last year by abandoning peace talks, forming a government with Hamas, honoring "convicted terrorists" and breaking its word by signing up to join dozens of treaties and conventions including the ICC.
FALSE POPE FROM THE VATICAN
ISAIAH 23:15-17
15 And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.
16 Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
17 And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.(COULD THIS BE 70 YEARS AFTER ISRAEL BECAME A NATION IN 1948)(IF SO THIS SATANIC ONE WORLD WHORE CHURCH WILL MINGLE TOGETHER BY 2018)(AND NOW ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY AND ALL RELIGIONS ARE MINGLING AS ONE PEACE-LOVE-JOY-GET ALONG RELIGION LEAD BY THE VATICAN RIGHT NOW 4 YEARS FROM THE 70 YEAR TIME WHEN ISRAEL BECAME A NATION).AND IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM.
REVELATION 13:11-13
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth;(FALSE VATICAN POPE) and he had two horns like a lamb,(JESUS IS THE LAMB OF GOD) and he spake as a dragon.(HES SATANICALLY INSPIRED,HES A CHRISTIAN DEFECTOR FROM THE FAITH)
12 And he (FALSE RELIGIOUS LEADER) exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him,(WORLD DICTATOR) and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.(THE WORLD DICTATOR CREATES A FALSE RESURRECTION AND IS CROWNED LEADER OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER).
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
REVELATION 17:1-5,9,15-18
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication,(VATICAN IN POLITICS) and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman (FALSE CHURCH) was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour,(VATICAN COLOURS)(ANOTHER REASON WE KNOW THE FALSE POPE COMES FROM THE VATICAN) and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.(THE VATICAN IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS OR MOUNTAINS)
15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.(VATICAN-CATHOLICS ALL AROUND THE WORLD OVER 1 BILLION)
16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.(BOMB OR NUKE THE VATICAN)
17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city,(VATICAN) which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
01/14/2015 -VATICAN INSIDER-Pope pays impromptu visit to Buddhist temple-Sri Lanka - the Pope is surrounded by crowds-Francis made up for the cancelled meeting with bishops on Tuesday morning and held a private meeting with Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa-ANDREA TORNIELLI
in Colombo-This evening was full of last minute surprises when Francis returned to Colombo after his visit to Madhu. The Pope received Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa – who was defeated in the recent elections held on January 8th – at the Apostolic Nunciature where he is staying. It was he who had invited the Pope to Sri Lanka, certain that he was going to win the elections called two years before the end of his presidential term. Rajapaksa, who was accompanied by his wife and brother, spoke to Francis for about twenty minutes.Francis then wanted to make up for the missed meeting with Sri Lanka’s bishops on Tuesday, which was cancelled due a delay in the schedule but above all due to the Pope’s tiredness after a 30 km drive under the sun. The Pope was supposed to pray and then lunch with the bishops in the Archbishop’s House, where Cardinal Malcom Ranjith resides. But the Pope was late back from Madhu and by the time he arrived the bishops were not there and were in fact headed toward another part of Colombo.Since the bishops were not there, the Pope decided on the spur of the moment to visit the Buddhist temple of Mahabodhi in Colombo, where the Buddhist monk Banagala Upatissa lives. The Pope had previously met the monk at the airport on the day of his arrival and at yesterday’s interreligious meeting. This is not the first time a Pope visits a Buddhist place of worship. John Paul II visited Bangkok’s Rajchaborpitsathitmahasrimaram temple during his trip to Thailand in 1984. The great “chiattiya”, a precious metal reliquary that is usually only opened once a year, was opened especially for the occasion. The monk recited a prayer and the Pope listened, in silent meditation.When he left the Buddhist temple, Francis was informed that the bishops had finally managed to reach the Archbishops’ House, so the papal retinue returned there once again and the missed meeting finally took place, completing a series of last minute schedule changes. After a busy two-day visit to Sri Lanka, which left a great impression on the locals – many non-Christians attended the ceremonies – the Pope will now move on to the Philippines.
01/15/2015-VATICAN INSIDER-“Killing in the name of God is an aberration. But insulting religions is wrong”-Pope Francis speaking on the aeroplane-The Paris attacks, religious freedom and freedom of expression, responsibility. On the flight from Sri Lanka to the Philippines, Pope Francis explained: “Reacting with violence is not right, but if someone insults my mother, that’s asking for a punch. Benedict XVI spoke about a positivist mentality that considers religions as subcultures”-Andrea Tornielli
on the flight from Colombo to Manila-The Paris attacks, freedom of expression, responsibility: On the flight from Sri Lanka to the Philippines Pope Francis responded to a question put to him by a French journalist, regarding the debate that has flared up around the cruel massacre of Charlie Hebdo’s cartoonists. The Pope explained that “reacting with violence is not right,” in fact, “killing in the name of God is an aberration”. But as far as the freedom of expression goes, “there is a limit”. Using the example of an insult made against one’s mother, it seemed the Pope was trying to say that when you touch what is most dear to a person, you can end up unleashing all sorts of rash reactions.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND RELIGION
I think that both religious freedom and the freedom of expression are fundamental human rights. Let’s be frank, take Paris! One thing is true: each person has the right to practice their own religion freely, without causing offence to others. And that is what we all want. Secondly, offending or waging war, killing in the name of one’s own religion, in the name of God, is not right. We are shocked by what is happening now, but let us think back to our history, how many religious wars have been fought! Think of the [Massacre] of St. Bartholomew (when Huguenots were killed by Catholics, Ed.). As you see, we also committed such sins but killing in the name of God is not right, it is an aberration. [Religion must be practiced] freely but without causing offence.Regarding freedom of expression: not only does each person have the freedom and the right to say what they think for the common good, they have a duty to do so. If a member of parliament does not say what they think is the right path to take, they do not benefit the common good. So people must have this freedom but they must not cause offence, because while it is true that it is wrong to react with violence, if Mr. Gasbarri, who is a friend, insults my mother, that’s asking for a punch. Provoking and insulting other people’s faiths is not right. In one of his speeches (the Regensburg lecture delivered in 2006, Ed.), Pope Benedict XVI spoke of this post-positivist mentality, of a post-positivist metaphysics that led people to believe that religions or religious expressions are a kind of subculture. They are tolerated but they boil down to little, they are not part of a culture of enlightenment. And this is a legacy of the enlightement. So many people badmouth, make fun of and mock othe rpeople’s religions. They provoke and in doing so could get the kind of reaction Mr. Gasbarri would get if he said something bad about my mother. There is a limit, every religion has its dignity. I cannot mock a religion that respects human life and the human person. I used this example about limits to illustrate that freedom of expression has its limits, as in the example I gave of my mother.
MY SAFETY? I’M CONCERNED ABOUT THE SAFETY OF FAITHFUL
“The best way to react (to threats, Ed.) is with moderation, being moderate, humble, kind, without being aggressive. I am concerned about faithful, I really am, anbd I have spoke to Vatican security about this: Mr. Giani (the chief of Vatican police, Ed.) is on board this flight and he is in charge of this, he is well informed. I am quite concerned about this. But you know I have one weakness, I am quite reckless. Sometimes I ask myself: what if it happened to me? I have simply asked the Lord for the grace of not letting me come to harm because I am not courageous in the face of pain, I am very fearful.
KAMIKAZES AND CHILDREN
“Perhaps I am being disrespectful, but I am inclined to say that behind every suicide attack there is an element of human imbalance, I don’t know whether it is a mental imbalance but it is human. There is something that is not quite right with that person, that person has an imbalance in their life. They give their life but they do not give it in a good way. There are so many people who work, like the missionaries for example: they give their life, but in order to build something. Suicide killers, on the other hand, give their life in order to destroy. There is something not right here. I supervised a dissertation on Japanese kamikazes written by an Alitalia pilot. I was correcting the method part but the phenomenon is not understood fully and it is not only an Eastern phenomenon, it is linked to totalitarian and dictatorial systems that destroy life or the posibility of a future. But as I said before, this is not an exclusively Eastern phenomenon. Regarding the use of children in attacks (here the Pope was referring to young female suicide killers in Nigeria and the shocking video of the little boy who was filmed killing an IS victim Ed.): they are used everywhere for so many things, they are exploited at work, used as slaves and sexually abused. Some years ago some members of the Argentinean senate and I wanted to launch a campaign in top hotels to announce that in those hotels children were not exploited to serve tourists, but we were not able to… On the occasions I visited Germany I sometimes came across articles that talked about sex tourism in parts of South-East Asia and this involved children as well. Children are also used in suicide attacks. I dare not say more.”
ANOTHER INTERRELIGIOUS MEETING IN ASSISI
“It was suggested that another interreligious meeting against violence be held in Assisi. I know that some are working on this. I spoke to Cardinal Tauran and I know it is an issue that other religions are also concerned about.
THE POPE’S VISIT TO THE BUDDHIST TEMPLE
“The monk who is in charge of the temple managed to get himself an invitation from the government to go to the airport. He i salso a good friend of Cardinal Ranjith’s and when he greeted me he asked me to visit the temple. I spoke to the cardinal but there wasn’t enough time. When I arrived, I had to cancel my meeting with the bishops because I wasn’t feeling too well, after the 29-kilometre journey I was exhausted. When I got back from Madhu yesterday the opportunity presented itself. I telephoned and made my way there. The temple holds the relics of two of Buddha’s disciples. They had been in England before and the monks managed to have them returned to them. He came to the airport and I went to see him at home. Then, yesterday, I saw something I never expected to see in Madhu: there were not only Catholics there but also Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus. All of them go there to pray and they say they receive graces. Among the people, who are never wrong, there is something that unites them and if they are united in such a natural way as to go and pray together in a temple that is Christian but not only… How could I not go to the Buddhist temple? What happened at Madhu is very important, it reflected the sense of interreligiosity experienced in Sri Lanka. There are some fundamentalist groups but they are not with the people, they are theological elites… People may have once said that Buddhists went to hell but so did Protestants. When I was a child we were taught that they went to hell. I remember my first experience of ecumenism: I was four or five years old and I was walking along with my grandmother who was holding my hand. On the other pavement there were two women from the Salvation Army wearing that hat which they no longer wear and the bow. ‘Are those nuns granny?’ I asked. To which she replied: ‘No, they are Protestants, but they are good!’ That was the first time I heard someone speaking well of people who belonged to different religions. The Church’s respect for other religions has grown a great deal, the Second Vatican Council spoke about respect for their values. There have been dark times in the history of the Church, we must not be ashamed to say so because we are also on a journey, this interreligiosity is a gift.”
THE NEW ENCYCLICAL
“I don’t know if humans who mistreat nature are fully responsible for climate change but they are largely responsible for it. We have taken hold of nature, of mother Earth, to some extent. An elderly farmer once said to me: God forgives always, sometimes he forgives humans but he never forgives nature. We have exploited nature too much. I remember hearing bishops at Aparecida (at the meeting held by Latin American episcopates in 2007, Ed.) speak about deforestation in the Amazon, I didn’t really understand much. Then, five years ago, a human rights commission and I sent out an appeal to stop a terrible deforestation project in northern Argentina. Then there is the one-crop system: farmers know that after cultivating wheat for three years they have to change the crop type for a year to regenerate the soil. Today soy crops are cultivated until the soil is depleted. Mankind has gone overboard. Thankfully today a lot of people are talking about this and I would like to remind you of my beloved brother Bartholomew (the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Ed.) who has written a great deal on this topic and I have read a lot of what he has written to prepare my encyclical. The theologian Romano Guardini talked about a second “inculture”, which is when you take possession of creation, turning culture into “inculture”. Cardinal Turkson and his team have presented the first draft of the new encyclical. I then worked on this and now I have prepared the third draft which I have sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Secretariat of State and the theologian of the Papal Household so that they can make sure I am not talking nonsense. I will be taking a whole week off in March to finish it. I twill then be translated. I think that if all goes well, it should be out by June-July. The important thing is to ensure that there is an interval between its publication and the next climate meeting in Paris. I was disappointed by the last conference held in Peru. Let’s hope they are a bit more courageous in Paris. I think this is another issue that needs to be discussed with other religions and it is important for there to be an agreement based on a common feeling. I have talked about this with representatives of other religions and at least two theologians have already done this: it will not, however, be a common declaration, meetings with religions will come later.
THE THEMES OF THE PAPAL VISIT TO THE PHILIPPINES
“There is a risk of simplifying things here but the crux of the message will be the poor. The poor who want to move forward, the poor who suffered the effects of Typhoon Yolanda and are still suffering its consequences, the poor who have faith and hope. The people of God, the poor, the poor who are exploited by those who bring about so many social, spiritual and existential injustices. At home in St. Martha’s House the other day, the Ethiopians celebrated and invited about fifty or so members of staff. I was there with them and I looked at the Filipinos who had left their country, their fathers, mothers and children behind to come here to work… the poor. This is going to be the focus of this visit.
TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION IN SRI LANKA
“I do not really know what the truth commissions in Sri Lanka are like. I became familiar with the one in Argentina and I supported it because it was on a good path. I cannot say anything more specific. What I can say is that I support all balanced efforts to help facilitate mutual agreement. I heard the President of Sri Lanka say this: I would not want mine to be seen as a political comment. He told me he wants to push on with the work being done to promote peace and reconciliation. He then mentioned another word. He said: harmony needs to be created among the people. Harmony is more than peace and reconciliation, it is also musical. He added that this harmony will bring us happiness and joy. I was struck by this and I said: ‘it is good to hear this but it is not easy!’ To which he replied: ‘well yes, we have to get to people’s hearts.’ This makes me think before I answer: only by reaching the hearts of the people who know what injustice and the suffering inflicted by dictatorship is. Only by reaching people’s hearts can we find the right paths without compromises. The truth commissions are one of the elements that can be of help here but there are also other elements that help us achieve peace, reconciliation, harmony and to reach people’s hearts. I have borrowed the words used by Sri Lanka’s President.
FR. VAZ AND THE NEW CANONIZATIONS
“These were what we call equivalent canonizations: when a man or a woman have been blesseds for a long period of time and they are venerated as saints by the people of God, then the miracle process is skipped. I did this for Angela da Foligno and I also chose to canonize men and women who were great evangelisers. The first was Peter Fabre, a European evangeliser who died in the streets, evangelising. Then there were Canada’s evangelisers who founded the local Church. Then there was the Brazilian saint who founded São Paulo and now José Vaz, evangeliser of old Ceylon. In September I will canonize Junipero Serra in the United States. All these figures were powerful evangelisers and are in tune with the spirituality of the Evangelii Gaudium.
EARTH WORSHIP
DEUTERONOMY 17:3-4
3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:
DEUTORONOMY 4:15-19
15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
17 The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,
18 The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:
19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.
2 KINGS 23:5
5 And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
How can the EU's flagship climate tool be saved? By Peter Teffer-Brussels, Today, 19:20-JAN 15,15-EUOBSERVER
The future of the EU's most important instrument to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to be the topic of intense discussion in Brussels in the coming weeks, with both EU governments and members of the European Parliament divided over details of how to introduce a reserve for superfluous carbon permits.The EU launched its "flagship" emissions trading scheme (ETS) in 2005 as a way to put a price on emitting greenhouse gases, which increase global warming.Companies in a selection of sectors – power and heat generation, heavy industries like steel, cement and ceramics, and, since 2012, civil aviation – are obliged to hand in permits, so-called EU allowance units, for every tonne of carbon dioxide they emit.The idea is that polluters decide themselves the most cost-effective way to reduce emissions: by investing in cleaner or more efficient energy or by paying for such investments elsewhere via allowances.A year after the ETS was launched, the then environment commissioner Stavros Dimas was buoyant.“At the beginning of 2005 we were told by sceptics ... that the Emissions Trading System would never work”, Dimas said in a speech to members of the European Parliament in February 2006.“Emission trading started at the beginning of last year and the first experiences are very encouraging. … In short – the system works.”But a few years after Dimas' speech, Europe's economy fell into disarray, and so did the price for carbon.The slump in economic activity led to less need for energy and industrial materials, in turn leading to a lower demand for emission allowances. The allowances that companies had received from governments for free, were more than enough.However, the annual creation of new allowance units has continued, and now a surplus of already 2 billion allowances has been created.As a result, the price for an EU allowance unit (EUA) has dropped significantly.While in its first years EUAs were sometimes traded for as high as €30, the price for EUAs had dropped to its record low of €3 in 2013. Last year, the price fluctuated between €4.54 and €7.54.However, the EU wants to continue with the ETS, and improve it.When EU leaders met in October 2014 to agree on climate and energy goals for 2030, they reaffirmed the place of emissions trading in EU climate policy by calling it “the main European instrument” to achieve their targets.
Market-stability reserve
They also agreed that a market stability reserve would be put in place, which was proposed in January 2014 by the European Commission.Such a reserve would be able to temporarily take allowances out of the market, to help boost the price, and thus provide an incentive to companies to improve their energy efficiency and/or switch to renewable energy sources.Climate and energy commissioner Miguel Arias Canete said in November 2014 that a market stability reserve "will (no doubt) stabilise the EU ETS and make it more resilient".On Tuesday (13 January) representatives of EU governments in Brussels discussed a Latvian amendment of the Commission proposal. Latvia took over the six-month EU presidency on 1 January.One of the main discussion points, which on Tuesday was not yet resolved, is when the market-stability reserve would be put in place.The commission had proposed 2021, but in the Latvian plan, seen by EUobserver, the starting year has been put between brackets, a sign it is still under discussion.Latvia has also introduced a discussion point on a batch of 900 million allowances, whose introduction into the system had been delayed.Instead of allocating the batch in 2019 and 2020, as originally intended, Latvia suggests that the 900 million allowances are put in the reserve.Germany and the United Kingdom have come out in favour of a kick-off in 2017, while Poland and the Czech Republic oppose an earlier launch of the reserve.
MEPs
Meanwhile, the European Parliament is also set to voice its opinion on how the reserve should look.MEPs are equally divided over the start date, sometimes even within a political group.While MEPs Marek Grobarczyk and Evzen Tosenovsky, respectively Polish and Czech members of the conservative ECR group, call for a 2023 introduction date, their fellow group member from the United Kingdom, Conservative MEP Ian Duncan, is calling for 2017.Amendments also show that there is no consensus yet on the amount of allowances that should be taken out of the system and put in the reserve.Parliament's environment committee, which has the lead in the dossier, is set to discuss the issue next Wednesday (21 January). A day later the industry committee is set to vote on a document outlining its opinion.Latvia is hoping parliament will quickly agree, so that negotiations for the ETS market-stability reserve can be introduced before the last day of the Latvian presidency on 30 June.The reserve is only the first step of a wider reform of the ETS, but the commission wants to have the reserve in place before it tables additional measures.
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:TOBOLSK)
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY) of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages;(ISRAEL) I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil,(OIL IS IN SPOIL) and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8,11-21
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back,(RUSSIA-ARAB MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS) and leave but the sixth part of thee,(5/6TH OR 300 MILLION DEAD RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS I BELIEVE) and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog (RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS) a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers (EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN JORDAN VALLEY) on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog (RUSSIAN) and all his multitude:(ARAB/MUSLIM HORDE) and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.(BURIEL SITE OF THE 300 MILLION,RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS)
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.(OF ISRAEL)
13 Yea, all the people of the land (OF ISRAEL) shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I (GOD-JESUS) shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.
14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB EXPERTS) passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.
15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it,(WON'T TOUCH IT) till the buriers have buried it (PROPERLY) in the valley of Hamongog.(RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS NEW BURIEL SITE)(EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN THE JORDAN VALLEY)
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.(OF THE ISRAEL-GOD HATERS)
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl,(500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS THREW ISRAEL EVERY SPRING,FALL) and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.(OF THE RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIM ARMIES)
18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 And ye (MIGRATING BIRDS IN ISRAEL) shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.(RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS)
20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
21 And I (GOD-JESUS) will set my glory among the heathen,(WORLD NATIONS) and all the heathen (WORLD NATIONS) shall see my judgment that I have executed,(AGAINST ISRAELS ENEMIES) and my (GODS) hand that I have laid upon them.(ISRAELS HATER ENEMIES)
JEREMEIAH 49:35-37 (IN IRAN AT THE BUSHEHR OR ARAK NUKE SITE SOME BELIEVE)
35 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,(IRAN/BUSHEHR NUCLEAR SITE) the chief of their might.(MOST DANGEROUS NUKE SITE IN IRAN)
36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven,(IRANIANS SCATTERED OR MASS IMIGARATION) and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.(WORLD IMMIGRATION)
37 For I will cause Elam (IRAN-BUSHEHR NUKE SITE) to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger,(ISRAELS NUKES POSSIBLY) saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:(IRAN AND ITS NUKE SITES DESTROYED)
ISAIAH 17:1,11-14
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
12 Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations,(USELESS U.N) that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14 And behold at evening tide trouble; and before the morning he is not.(ASSAD KILLED IN OVERNIGHT RAID) This is the portion of them that spoil us,(ISRAEL) and the lot of them that rob us.
AMOS 1:5
5 I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden:(IRAQ) and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir,(JORDAN) saith the LORD.(I belive ISIS-DAMASCUS GET NUKED BY ISRAEL)
JEREMEIAH 49:23-27
23 Concerning Damascus.(SYRIA) Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea;(WAR SHIPS WITH NUKES COMING ON SYRIA) it cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.
25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.
27 And I will kindle a fire (NUKES OR BOMBS) in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.(ASSADS PALACES POSSIBLY IN DAMASCUS)
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
EU mulls new measures to stop arms smuggling from Africa By Nikolaj Nielsen-BRUSSELS, Today, 20:40-JAN 15,15-EUOBSERVER
The EU is looking to set up a network of experts in north African countries to curb arms and ammunition smuggling into Europe.“The majority, the main sources of illegal weapons, come from Western Balkans and also north African countries, especially Libya,” an EU source close to the dossier told this website on Wednesday (14 January).In the Balkans, small arms are looted from weapons depots or manufactured illegally. Some are traded online and even delivered by mail order.But in places like Libya, they are a legacy of conflict.EU interior ministers along with their Western Balkan equivalents in December agreed a draft action plan on illicit trafficking in firearms between the EU and south-east Europe.The EU source said the north African scheme would be modeled on the Balkan one, where emphasis is placed on modernising law enforcement agencies, increasing mutual trust, and raising awareness.But it’s unclear if a new cell of EU experts could even be sent to Libya at this time.The EU’s border control mission, Eubam, left Tripoli for Tunisia last year because it was unsafe to stay.Traditionally, the illegal arms end up falling into the hands of the some 3,600 known criminal organisations operating in Europe.But, as the Charlie Hebdo murders in Paris showed, they can also be used in terrorist attacks.“Last year, illegal immigration was in the spotlight of the politicians, now they came back to terrorism, but this doesn’t mean we discovered the illicit trafficking of arms two days ago,” said the EU source.
Legal to illegal
At the same time, the European Commission wants to muscle up existing EU firearms laws.Two years ago, it laid out its policy plans to update the EU firearms directive with the intent to get something on the table this July.It covers firearms for civil use, not weapons for armed forces and police, and sets in place rules to support a EU industry worth €1.7 billion in 2013.But it noted that deactivated weapons are being illegally reactivated and resold, with alarm guns, air weapons and blank-firers are also being converted into lethal firearms.A commission-funded study in November, which evaluated the directive, said convertible guns be purchased without a licence in Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Turkey.In a memo set out last week, the commission pointed out that “terrorists are using weapons more and more, in addition to the traditional strategy which was based on the use of explosives”.The problem is acute in France where authorities recorded a 40 percent increase in seizures of stolen civilian and military weapons between 2010 and 2011.A study by Europol, the EU police agency, on some 152 terrorist attacks carried out in five member states in 2013, found France also had the most cases where firearms were used in assaults.The commission said the latest draft could call for stricter checks on some categories of weapons and prohibit the most dangerous types.But the call may meet resistance from major weapons producers.
Italy is biggest small arms producer
Italy dominates the EU market in firearms and accounts for around 37 percent of the overall production. Its top manufacturers are Beretta, Armi Perazzi, and Sabatti.Other major producers of firearms are Austria with an estimated share of around 32 percent, Germany with 9 percent and Belgium with 5 percent.Most are shipped out to places like the US and other non-EU countries.Still, the number of legally-held civilian firearms in the EU is relatively high.According to estimates cited by the commission, there are 80 million in the EU, of which half a million are unaccounted for.Germany has the most registered firearms at 5.3 million, followed by France at 3.8 million, and Spain with 3.4 million.Peter Squires, a professor of criminology at the University of Brighton, said recent gun laws imposed in Germany and Belgium has resulted in the disappearance of “millions of rifles and hand guns”.A 2012 report by the Flemish Peace Institute found that the annual average of lost guns in Belgium rose from 375 between 1991 and 2006 to more than 4,300 in the 3.5 years period after a more restrictive law was passed.“Most of these figures relate to defence guns and military firearms, permits for which could only be renewed under stricter conditions in the new legislation,” notes the report.
Russia to cut EU gas transit via Ukraine By Peter Teffer-Brussels, Today, 09:30-JAN 15,15-EUOBSERVER
Russia has said it will stop EU gas transit via Ukraine and do it via Turkey instead in the second shock announcement on energy in as many months.It said on Wednesday (14 January) that the EU should build new infrastructure to link up with a future Russia-Turkey pipeline or lose access to supplies.Gazprom head Alexei Miller issued the ultimatum during a visit to Russia by EU energy commissioner Maros Sefcovic, who said he was "very surprised" by the statement.The latest announcement comes after Russia said in December it won’t build the so-called South Stream pipeline via Bulgaria and Hungary to Italy in favour of a new project with Turkey.The European Commission blocked South Stream construction on grounds of non- compliance with EU energy law.But both South Stream and “Turkish Stream” have strategic implications because they bypass Ukraine, which earns billions from transit fees and which is on the edge of bankruptcy. Miller noted “the Turkish Stream is the only route along which 63 billion cubic metres of Russian gas can be supplied, which at present transit Ukraine. There are no other options”, AFP reports.He warned Sefcovic to start building “the necessary gas transport infrastructure from the Greek and Turkish border”."They have a couple of years at most to do this. It's a very, very tight deadline. In order to meet the deadline, the work on building new trunk gas pipelines in European Union countries must start immediately today”, he added." Otherwise, these volumes of gas could end up in other markets”.Sefcovic - who was on his first visit to Russia to meet with Miller, Russia's deputy minister Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich, and energy minister Alexander Novak - reacted frostily to the news.“I believe we can find a better solution,” he said.“We don’t work like this … the trading system and trading habits - how we do it today - are different”.About 80 percent of the EU's gas imports from Russia come via Ukraine.But political disputes between Kiev and Moscow have seen EU supplies interrupted on two occasions in recent years, with Moscow justifying the Turkey decision by saying Ukraine is “unreliable”.Meanwhile, Bulgaria had asked Sefcovic to use his visit to Russia to pitch a plan for the construction of a gas hub on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast.But it's unclear whether Sefcovic managed to raise the subject with his Russian interlocutors.
Afghan leader seeks to sideline powerful bloc in break with past-Reuters-By Hamid Shalizi and Kay Johnson-JAN 15,15-YAHOONEWS
KABUL (Reuters) - The Afghan cabinet, finalised this week after months of haggling, leaves a powerful faction that helped oust the Taliban in 2001 significantly weakened, in a bold but risky break from the past by President Ashraf Ghani.Known as "mujahideen" because many also fought the Soviets in the 1980s, the group is angry at being overlooked for key security posts and is threatening to block nominees when they are presented to parliament in the coming days.The outcome of that process is difficult to predict, but Ghani, faced with the daunting task of dragging Afghanistan out of war and poverty, appeared to believe his predecessor Hamid Karzai had been held back by factional rivalries."President Ghani didn't want to repeat past mistakes during Karzai's time," said a close aide to the leader, who, like his top security choices, is from the country's largest ethnic group, the Pashtuns."He wants to give a message to the international community and his people that the cabinet will be a different one," added the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity.The main loser is the ethnic Tajik wing of the former Northern Alliance, a group of fighters mainly from the north of the country who have long been criticized for carving out local fiefdoms and putting personal above national interests.Afghanistan is listed as the world's fourth most corrupt nation by the watchdog group Transparency International, although accusations of graft have been leveled at officials across the ethnic and political spectrum.Even under Karzai, a Pashtun, former Alliance members, particularly from the smaller ethnic Tajik community from the province of Panjshir, enjoyed sweeping powers.
ABDULLAH CALLED A "TRAITOR"
The ex-mujahideen's exclusion has prompted criticism of Abdullah Abdullah, Ghani's election rival-turned-government partner who draws his support mainly from the north.He was branded a "traitor" on social media after the cabinet was unveiled on Monday.During last year's bitterly contested election, Ghani and Abdullah, who is a Tajik, both promoted themselves as candidates who aimed to put aside ethnic-based patronage.But the outcry over the nominations shows it will not be easy to break with Afghanistan's recent past."Right now, 80 percent of influential and powerful people around the country are former mujahideen commanders, and they don't want to give up their power," said Farhad Sediqi, a parliamentarian from the north.Hazrat Ali, a former mujahideen and now lawmaker, said there was a risk that parliament could scupper the lengthy nomination process that has paralyzed parts of Afghan government."The parliament is dominated by mujahideen figures, and I don't think they will vote for many of these nominees," he said.Each nominee needs a simple majority, and parliament is expected to decide on the appointments as early as Jan. 24.
"TRUST MY CHOICES"
An ethnic Tajik was put forward as foreign minister, but the defense and interior ministries have gone to Pashtuns, as did the top post at the National Directorate of Security.Other Tajiks among cabinet nominees had little connection to the mujahideen and Northern Alliance.It is not immediately clear whether the nominations will affect Ghani's push to re-start peace talks with the Pashtun-dominated Taliban.The Islamist militants have waged war on foreign and Afghan forces since 2001, and their campaign has become increasingly deadly over the last year, killing hundreds of civilians and thousands of security personnel. Shahzada Shahid, a lawmaker close to Abdullah, said Abdullah was under pressure from his traditional power base."It is not possible to include all those prominent figures in the cabinet, but there should have been a balance."Mujib Rahimi, a spokesman for Abdullah, said his office had no immediate comment on criticism of the nominations.During three months of negotiations over the cabinet, Abdullah nominated two ex- mujahideen leaders, both Tajiks from Panjshir, for interior minister, said sources in both camps.However, Ghani used his veto to reject the candidates because he said they lacked the necessary education and represented the old guard, the aides added.The disagreement over the key post was the final tussle in a protracted tug-of-war. Eventually, Abdullah put forward an ally who is Pashtun, Nur ul-Haq Ulumi, and Ghani accepted.For Panjshiris, the choice of Ulumi was especially contentious, since he was a general in the Soviet-backed army that fought the mujahideen in the 1980s.Abdullah met disgruntled Panjshiri allies on Wednesday evening to reassure them, saying that he was confident in his cabinet picks, according to one participant at the meeting.Abdullah was quoted as telling them: "If you trust me, you have to trust my choices."(Additional reporting by Abdul Saboor; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Maria Golovnina)
U.S.'s Kerry says may meet Iran's Zarif again this week-Reuters-JAN 15,15-YAHOONEWS
SOFIA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday he may meet Iran's foreign minister again this week to discuss Tehran's nuclear program following their roughly six hours of talks on Wednesday.Iran and six world powers have renewed their quest for an elusive nuclear deal - seen as crucial to reducing the risk of a wider Middle East war - after negotiators failed for the second time in November to meet a self-imposed deadline.The major powers hope to persuade Iran to curb its nuclear program, which the West suspects may seek to develop atomic weapons, in exchange for a gradual easing of economic sanctions. Iran says its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met for about six hours in Geneva on Wednesday."There is no final decision as to whether or not we will meet in Paris," Kerry told reporters in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, noting he and Zarif would both be in the French capital on Friday."It is possible, but nothing has been decided. It may also not happen," he added.Kerry sidestepped a question on whether it was possible for the United States to strike a nuclear deal while Iran continues to detain a number of U.S. citizens, saying only that Washington was making great efforts to secure their release.Zarif met with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Brussels on Thursday. The EU said in a statement that they both agreed that time cannot be wasted in trying to secure an agreement."We affirmed our strong commitment to a diplomatic solution which would fully address international concerns about the exclusively peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear issue," said Mogherini. "Negotiations have to be brought to a conclusion in line with the agreed time."The new deadline for a long-term nuclear agreement between Iran and the six powers - the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China - is June 30.Mogherini's predecessor Catherine Ashton is the EU envoy to the nuclear talks. The EU has been coordinating the meetings between Iran and the six powers. Senior foreign ministry officials from Iran and the powers resume talks on Jan. 18.(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed and Tsvetelia Tsolova in Sofia and Louis Charbonneau in New York; writing by Matthias Williams, Arshad Mohammed and Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Gareth Jones and Andrew Hay)
Nigerian president visits survivors of Boko Haram massacre-AFP-By Bukar Hussain-JAN 15,15-YAHOONEWS
Maiduguri (Nigeria) (AFP) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan paid a surprise visit Thursday to the heartland of the Boko Haram movement after satellite pictures showed massive destruction in two northern towns razed by the Islamist fighters.Jonathan spent three hours in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State, meeting with survivors of what is thought to be the worst attack in Boko Haram's six-year insurgency.On a visit to a camp sheltering about 5,000 people who fled the January 3 attack on Baga in northern Borno, he said his security chiefs had promised "all the areas under the control of Boko Haram will soon be recaptured"."I want to assure you that you will soon go back to your houses," Jonathan, who is seeking a second term in elections next month, told some of the displaced.The attack on Baga, part of an upsurge in violence ahead of February's presidential and parliamentary polls, is feared to have killed hundreds, if not more.Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch published separate satellite images Thursday that appeared to show massive destruction in both Baga and the adjacent town of Doron Baga, which is home to a regional military base.Amnesty's images showed aerial shots of the towns on January 2 -- the day before the attack -- and January 7.The group said the images suggested "devastation of catastrophic proportions", with more than 3,700 structures, mostly in Doron Baga, damaged or completely destroyed.HRW said 11 percent of Baga and 57 percent of Doron Baga was flattened, most likely by fire.HRW said the exact death toll was unknown and quoted one local resident as saying: "No one stayed back to count the bodies."We were all running to get out of town ahead of Boko Haram fighters who have since taken over the area."Nigeria's military, which often downplays death tolls, said that 150 died and dismissed as "sensational" claims that 2,000 may have lost their lives in the attacks.
- 'Crime against humanity' -
US Secretary of State John Kerry accused the Islamist insurgents of a "crime against humanity".The "evil" Boko Haram is a serious threat "to all of our values", Kerry said during a visit to Bulgaria, adding he had spoken to his British counterpart Philip Hammond about the possibility of "a special initiative" on Nigeria. He did not give details.Amnesty said Boko Haram reportedly targeted civilians who had helped the army after the fighters overran a Multinational Joint Task Force base for troops from Nigeria, Niger and Chad who have been involved in operations against them.Cameroon announced Thursday that neighbouring Chad will send troops to aid his country's army fight Boko Haram, though no date for the deployment or size of the contingent was given .Harrowing testimony has emerged from survivors of the killings in Borno, about the scale and brutality of the assault.Amnesty said on Thursday it had received accounts of the attackers of firing indiscriminately, killing small children as well as a woman who was giving birth."Half of the baby boy (was) out and she died like this," an unnamed witness was quoted as saying.A man in his fifties added: "They killed so many people. I saw maybe around 100 killed at that time in Baga. I ran to the bush. As we were running, they were shooting and killing."
- 'Stepping on bodies' -
Witnesses who spoke to AFP described seeing decomposing bodies in the streets.Amnesty cited reports of women being rounded up and detained at a school."The deliberate killing of civilians and destruction of their property by Boko Haram are war crimes and crimes against humanity and must be duly investigated," Amnesty added.Meanwhile Gordon Brown, UN special envoy for education, urged the world to condemn the use of young girls as suicide bombers by Boko Haram, calling it "barbaric."At least 19 people were killed last Saturday when a young girl, thought to be aged about 10, blew herself up at a crowded market in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the Red Cross and local vigilantes said.Jonathan's visit to Maiduguri -- his first since March 2013 -- was shrouded in secrecy and came after a previous trip to the restive region in May last year was cancelled at the last minute.Nigeria's leader has come under fierce criticism for his failure to crush Boko Haram's bid to establish a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria. Over 13,000 people have been killed in the violence since 2009.The bloodshed has raised concerns about the security of next month's elections.Nigeria's electoral commission said voting was "unlikely" to take place in rebel-controlled areas but that arrangements were being made to allow hundreds of thousands of displaced people to cast their ballots.
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.
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.
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.
LUKE 2:1-3
1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(THE FALSE POPE WHO DEFECTED FROM THE CHRISTIAN FAITH) causeth all,(IN THE WORLD ) both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(MICROCHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark,(MICROCHIP IMPLANT) or the name of the beast,(WORLD DICTATORS NAME INGRAVED ON YOUR SKIN OR TATTOOED ON YOU OR IN THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT) or the number of his name.(THE NUMBERS OF HIS NAME INGRAVED IN THE MICROCHIP IMLPLANT)-(ALL THESE WILL TELL THE WORLD DICTATOR THAT YOUR WITH HIM AND AGAINST KING JESUS-GOD)
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast:(WORLD LEADER) for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM (6006006)OR(60020202006)(SOME KIND OF NUMBER IMPLANTED IN THE MICROCHIP THAT TELLS THE WORLD DICTATOR AND THE NEW WORLD ORDER THAT YOU GIVE YOUR TOTAL ALLIGIENCE TO HIM AND NOT JESUS)(ITS AN ETERNAL DECISION YOU MAKE)(YOU CHOOSE YOUR OWN DESTINY)(YOU TAKE THE DICTATORS NAME OR NUMBER UNDER YOUR SKIN,YOUR DOOMED TO THE LAKE OF FIRE AND TORMENTS FOREVER,NEVER ENDING MEANT ONLY FOR SATAN AND HIS ANGELS,NOT HUMAN BEINGS).OR YOU REFUSE THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT AND GO ON THE SIDE OF KING JESUS AND RULE FOREVER WITH HIM ON EARTH.YOU CHOOSE,ITS YOUR DECISION.
Eurozone in danger of permanent stagnation, World Bank says By Benjamin Fox-BRUSSELS, 14. Jan, 09:26-EUOBSERVER
The eurozone is in danger of sliding into permanent stagnation, the World Bank has warned in a new report.“Weak consumption, anaemic investment and low inflation could feed on each other in a deflationary spiral,” across the single currency bloc, states the Global Economic Prospects report by the World Bank published on Wednesday (14 January).After growing by an estimated 2.6 percent in 2014, the global economy is projected to expand by 3 percent this year, far higher than the sluggish 1.1 percent forecast for the eurozone in 2015. The currency bloc saw a mere 0.8 percent growth rate in 2014.The report adds that “recovery has been sputtering in the Euro Area and Japan as legacies of the financial crisis linger”.“The global economy is still struggling to gain momentum as many high-income countries continue to grapple with the legacies of the global financial crisis and emerging economies are less dynamic than in the past,” said Kaushik Basu, the World Bank’s chief economist.“Worryingly, the stalled recovery in some high-income economies and even some middle-income countries may be a symptom of deeper structural malaise,” he noted, adding that “as population growth has slowed in many countries, the pool of younger workers is smaller, putting strains on productivity.”The bank believes that developing countries will be the strongest economic performers in 2015, benefiting from the recent slump in oil prices, a stronger US economy and low global interest rates.It also asserts that the collapse in oil prices, which has seen the price fall from over $100 a barrel last July to below $50, should lead to an uptick in demand in most oil-importing countries.The bank has also urged the European Central Bank (ECB) to embark on a money-creation programme to boost growth.The ECB’s governing council is poised to launch its own government bond-buying programme - known as quantitative easing (QE) - and could do so as early as its next meeting on 22 January.The Frankfurt-based bank’s president, Mario Draghi, has dropped several hints that the ECB will soon follow in the footsteps of the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England hoping that injecting more cash into the economy will increase demand.However, such a step is viewed by economists and market analysts as the ECB’s option of last resort, and several members of the ECB’s governing council, including German representatives Sabine Lautenschlager and Jens Wiedmann, remain deeply sceptical.
Euro falls after Switzerland abandons currency cap By Benjamin Fox-BRUSSELS, Today, 19:25-JAN 15,15-EUOBSERVER
The euro lost nearly 20 percent of its value against the Swiss franc on Thursday after the central bank abandoned the cap on the franc's value against the single currency.In a statement on Thursday (15 January) the Swiss National Bank (SNB) said that the minimum exchange rate of CHF 1.20 per euro, introduced in September 2011, was no longer justified and that “divergences between the monetary policies of the major currency areas have increased significantly”.The value of the Swiss franc increased by around 30 percent in the hours following the announcement, falling from 1.2 to 0.8 before reaching 1.04 at the close of trading.The euro also fell to new lows against the dollar and sterling.“The euro has depreciated substantially against the US dollar and this, in turn, has caused the Swiss franc to weaken against the US dollar,” said Thomas Jordan, the chairman of the Swiss National Bank.“In these circumstances, the SNB has concluded that enforcing and maintaining the minimum exchange rate for the Swiss franc against the euro is no longer justified,” he added.At the same time the SNB also reduced a key interest rate from -0.25% to -0.75%, increasing the amount investors have to pay to hold deposits in Swiss banks.The move is also a reflection of the eurozone’s weakness and a further indication that markets expect the European Central Bank to launch its own money-printing programme - known as quantitative easing - when its governing council meets next Thursday.However, a stronger franc will hurt Swiss exports, leading the country’s stock market to fall by 9 percent – its biggest fall since 1989.It is also bad news for the country's tourist industry at a peak time for the Alpine skiing season.Nick Hayek, chief executive of watchmaker Swatch, described the decision as a “tsunami" for Switzerland's economy.
OTHER NEWS
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2015/01/38th-victim-of-bill-cosby-sexual.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2015/01/here-comes-tax-everything-carbon-taxe.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2015/01/i-think-i-just-figured-out-what-stars.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2015/01/atlanta-fire-chief-persecuted-and-fired.html
REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE
REVELATION 11:1-2
1 And there was given me a(MEASURING) reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out,(TO THE WORLD NATIONS) and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.(JERUSALEM DIVIDED BUT THE 3RD TEMPLE ALLOWED TO BE REBUILT)
DANIEL 9:27
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
Law Finally Enforced in 'East Jerusalem' - Against a Synagogue-Municipality 'finally crosses Green Line to enforce law'; no, not the 57 illegal mosques - sukkah boards left up in synagogue yard.By Ari Yashar-First Publish: 1/15/2015, 8:40 PM-ISRAELNATIONALNEWS
"Good news from eastern Jerusalem!" reported Jerusalem Councilman Arieh King on Wednesday, sarcastically announcing that the Municipality finally enforced building laws in a region where illegal Arab construction is rampant; their target - sukkah boards left up at a synagogue.Writing on his Facebook page, King wrote sardonically "the Jerusalem Municipality and Jerusalem police are enforcing the law over the Green Line.""Hashaish Street was blocked in (the southern) neighborhood of Gilo, and dozens of officers and Municipality clerks arrived to the synagogue to destroy an 'illegal pergola' - excuse me, to remove the sukkah boards left since Sukkot (last October) in the synagogue yard," wrote King tongue-in-cheek, along with pictures of the demolition.The councilman continued mockingly "the boards were placed only three to four months ago, and already the law enforcement system carried out the law, great job! As a member of the Jerusalem city council I have to write that it really encourages me that the officers and Municipality clerks dared to cross the Green Line and enforce the law.""I am certain that after destroying the sukkah in the synagogue's yard, the convoy of law enforcers will continue to the (Arab majority) neighborhoods: Tzur Baher, Jabel Mukaber, Beit Safafa, and others. In these communities and others in eastern Jerusalem were built 57 illegal mosques already many years ago," he wrote.King concluded "so if you were looking for good news on this gray and wintry day, you got it: Municipality clerks are enforcing the law over the Green Line and the Jerusalem police even dared to accompany them."The comment is made all the more poignant by the fact that King has reported since Binyamin Netanyahu took office in 2009, police have not been sent to accompany building inspectors to enforce laws on rampant illegal Arab construction in the eastern part of the city, leading to a massive drop in demolitions conducted against illegal Arab building.There are currently over 40,000 illegal Arab housing units in eastern Jerusalem, reports King. He has warned that along with mayor Nir Barkat's push for massive Arab construction projects and Netanyahu's freeze of Jewish construction, the stage is set for a de facto division of the city.King has already noted that Jews have been forbidden from entering eight neighborhoods in Jerusalem since Barkat and Netanyahu took office in 2009, including the neighborhoods he mentioned where the 57 illegal mosques stand.
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
New Law Would - Finally - Move US Embassy to Jerusalem-Senators Ted Cruz and Dean Heller propose a law that would remove the president's authority to bar the embassy's relocation.By Moshe Cohen-First Publish: 1/15/2015, 9:35 AM-ISRAELNATIONALNEWS
The US Senate is taking another stab at changing the White House's policy of keeping the American Embassy to Israel out of Jerusalem.On Tuesday, US Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Dean Heller (R-NV) proposed a law that would remove the president's authority to invoke national security as a reason to ignore Congressional resolutions on moving the embassy to Jerusalem.According to the measure, called the Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act of 2015, the White House would be required to identify Jerusalem as the capital of Israel even before the embassy is physically moved.In 1995, both the Senate and House overwhelmingly passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, which required the relocation of the American Embassy to Israel from its current location in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. That law was passed with a proviso that allowed the President to, at his discretion, postpone the move on the basis of “National Security” concerns, which would be reviewed on a yearly basis. That proviso has been activated every year since the original Act was passed.The bill by Cruz and Heller would remove the proviso from the original Act, requiring the White House to immediately comply with the previously-passed law.Commenting on the move, Cruz said “It is my hope that members of Congress on both sides of the aisle support this important bill. It is long past due for our government to finally and unequivocally recognize Israel’s historical capital both in word and deed.”“This legislation further confirms America’s support for one of our strongest allies by recognizing Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel,” Heller said. “The United States must continue to stand beside Israel and this legislation honors promises our nation made years ago.”Cruz, one of the more colorful – and conservative – members of the Republican Congressional delegation, is considered a potential Republican candidate for president in 2016. He has not said yet whether or not he plans to run.
LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people(ISRAEL) and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.(UPROOTED ISRAELIS AND DIVIDED JERUSALEM)(THIS BRINGS ON WW3 BECAUSE JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED,WARNING TO ARABS-MUSLIMS AND THE WORLD).
THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS
Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week:(7 YEARS) and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.
DANIEL 11:21-23
21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he ( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant (PEACE TREATY) with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE ANIMAL SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
JEREMIAH 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
JEREMIAH 8:11
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:3
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
ISAIAH 33:8
8 The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant,(7 YR TREATY) he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.(THE WORLD LEADER-WAR MONGER CALLS HIMSELF GOD)
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
GENESIS 25:20-26
20 And Isaac was forty years old (A BIBLE GENERATION NUMBER=1967 + 40=2007+) when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.
21 And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22 And the children (2 NATIONS IN HER-ISRAEL-ARABS) struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels;(ISRAEL AND THE ARABS) and the one people shall be stronger than the other people;(ISRAEL STRONGER THAN ARABS) and the elder shall serve the younger.(LITERALLY ISRAEL THE YOUNGER RULES (ISSAC)(JACOB-LATER NAME CHANGED TO ISRAEL) OVER THE OLDER ARABS (ISHMAEL)(ESAU)
24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.(THE OLDER AN ARAB)
26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob:(THE YOUNGER-ISRAELI) and Isaac was threescore (60) years old when she bare them.(1967 + 60=2027)(COULD BE THE LAST GENERATION WHEN JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED AMOUNG THE 2 TWINS)(THE 2 TWINS WANT JERUSALEM-THE DIVISION OF JERUSALEM TODAY)(AND WHOS IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM TODAY-THE YOUNGER ISSAC-JACOB-ISRAEL)(AND WHO WANTS JERUSALEM DIVIDED-THE OLDER,ESAU-ISHMAEL (THE ARABS)
ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
US, UN, EU and Russia to meet on Mideast in late January-Associated Press-By EDITH M. LEDERER-JAN 15,15-YAHOONEWS
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Key Mideast mediators — the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia — will meet this month to discuss the way toward Israeli-Palestinian peace as tensions escalate in the decades-old conflict.U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power made the announcement during the U.N. Security Council's monthly Mideast debate, calling the status quo "unsustainable." She urged both sides "to exercise maximum restraint and avoid steps that threaten to push Israeli-Palestinian relations into a cycle of further escalation."The meeting of envoys from the so-called Quartet of Mideast mediators will be Jan. 26 in Brussels, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.It follows the council's recent rejection of a Palestinian-backed resolution demanding an end to Israeli occupation within three years and the Palestinians' subsequent decision to join the International Criminal Court. Relations also remain fraught following last summer's 50-day Gaza war between Israel and the Islamic militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and the earlier failure of U.S.-brokered peace talks.Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the Security Council that the Quartet, at ministerial level, "should be promptly reinvigorated."Chile's Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz, the current council president, said "a lot more" international engagement is needed including the Quartet, the Arab League and others.The Palestinians have made clear that they oppose further direct negotiations with Israel mediated by the U.S., saying 20 years of such talks have not produced results."We are willing to negotiate, but now in a different way, through an international conference or a collective process," Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, told a group of reporters last week.The perilous state of Israeli-Palestinian relations was evident at Thursday's meeting.Assistant Secretary-General Jens Anders Toyberg-Frandzen said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "is alarmed that the parties are now engaged in a downward spiral of actions.""Neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis have taken the challenging steps, or made the bold decisions, required to begin the process of reversing the ever-widening trust deficit between the two sides," he said. "Instead, we have witnessed developments which may unfortunately further reduce the likelihood of talks resuming in the future."Toyberg-Frandzen called on Israel to immediately transfer the estimated $127 million in tax revenues collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority for December. Israel froze the funds in response to actions that will make Palestine a member of the ICC on April 1. As a member of the court, the Palestinians will have standing to pursue war crimes charges against Israel.The Palestinians and Israelis say they remain committed to peace and accuse each other of blocking the road to a two-state solution.Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador, warned that the situation is "becoming more fragile and volatile by the day while a peaceful solution remains elusive due to lack of political will and the intransigence of Israel." In Jerusalem, which has seen clashes over access to holy sites, "tensions are raging as Israeli violations and crimes push the situation to a precipice," he warned.Israel's U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of remaining "committed to the three no's. He will not negotiate, he will not recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people and he will not make peace." He accused the Palestinian Authority of committing "every form of diplomatic treachery" last year by abandoning peace talks, forming a government with Hamas, honoring "convicted terrorists" and breaking its word by signing up to join dozens of treaties and conventions including the ICC.
FALSE POPE FROM THE VATICAN
ISAIAH 23:15-17
15 And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.
16 Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
17 And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.(COULD THIS BE 70 YEARS AFTER ISRAEL BECAME A NATION IN 1948)(IF SO THIS SATANIC ONE WORLD WHORE CHURCH WILL MINGLE TOGETHER BY 2018)(AND NOW ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY AND ALL RELIGIONS ARE MINGLING AS ONE PEACE-LOVE-JOY-GET ALONG RELIGION LEAD BY THE VATICAN RIGHT NOW 4 YEARS FROM THE 70 YEAR TIME WHEN ISRAEL BECAME A NATION).AND IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM.
REVELATION 13:11-13
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth;(FALSE VATICAN POPE) and he had two horns like a lamb,(JESUS IS THE LAMB OF GOD) and he spake as a dragon.(HES SATANICALLY INSPIRED,HES A CHRISTIAN DEFECTOR FROM THE FAITH)
12 And he (FALSE RELIGIOUS LEADER) exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him,(WORLD DICTATOR) and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.(THE WORLD DICTATOR CREATES A FALSE RESURRECTION AND IS CROWNED LEADER OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER).
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
REVELATION 17:1-5,9,15-18
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication,(VATICAN IN POLITICS) and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman (FALSE CHURCH) was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour,(VATICAN COLOURS)(ANOTHER REASON WE KNOW THE FALSE POPE COMES FROM THE VATICAN) and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.(THE VATICAN IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS OR MOUNTAINS)
15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.(VATICAN-CATHOLICS ALL AROUND THE WORLD OVER 1 BILLION)
16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.(BOMB OR NUKE THE VATICAN)
17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city,(VATICAN) which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
01/14/2015 -VATICAN INSIDER-Pope pays impromptu visit to Buddhist temple-Sri Lanka - the Pope is surrounded by crowds-Francis made up for the cancelled meeting with bishops on Tuesday morning and held a private meeting with Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa-ANDREA TORNIELLI
in Colombo-This evening was full of last minute surprises when Francis returned to Colombo after his visit to Madhu. The Pope received Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa – who was defeated in the recent elections held on January 8th – at the Apostolic Nunciature where he is staying. It was he who had invited the Pope to Sri Lanka, certain that he was going to win the elections called two years before the end of his presidential term. Rajapaksa, who was accompanied by his wife and brother, spoke to Francis for about twenty minutes.Francis then wanted to make up for the missed meeting with Sri Lanka’s bishops on Tuesday, which was cancelled due a delay in the schedule but above all due to the Pope’s tiredness after a 30 km drive under the sun. The Pope was supposed to pray and then lunch with the bishops in the Archbishop’s House, where Cardinal Malcom Ranjith resides. But the Pope was late back from Madhu and by the time he arrived the bishops were not there and were in fact headed toward another part of Colombo.Since the bishops were not there, the Pope decided on the spur of the moment to visit the Buddhist temple of Mahabodhi in Colombo, where the Buddhist monk Banagala Upatissa lives. The Pope had previously met the monk at the airport on the day of his arrival and at yesterday’s interreligious meeting. This is not the first time a Pope visits a Buddhist place of worship. John Paul II visited Bangkok’s Rajchaborpitsathitmahasrimaram temple during his trip to Thailand in 1984. The great “chiattiya”, a precious metal reliquary that is usually only opened once a year, was opened especially for the occasion. The monk recited a prayer and the Pope listened, in silent meditation.When he left the Buddhist temple, Francis was informed that the bishops had finally managed to reach the Archbishops’ House, so the papal retinue returned there once again and the missed meeting finally took place, completing a series of last minute schedule changes. After a busy two-day visit to Sri Lanka, which left a great impression on the locals – many non-Christians attended the ceremonies – the Pope will now move on to the Philippines.
01/15/2015-VATICAN INSIDER-“Killing in the name of God is an aberration. But insulting religions is wrong”-Pope Francis speaking on the aeroplane-The Paris attacks, religious freedom and freedom of expression, responsibility. On the flight from Sri Lanka to the Philippines, Pope Francis explained: “Reacting with violence is not right, but if someone insults my mother, that’s asking for a punch. Benedict XVI spoke about a positivist mentality that considers religions as subcultures”-Andrea Tornielli
on the flight from Colombo to Manila-The Paris attacks, freedom of expression, responsibility: On the flight from Sri Lanka to the Philippines Pope Francis responded to a question put to him by a French journalist, regarding the debate that has flared up around the cruel massacre of Charlie Hebdo’s cartoonists. The Pope explained that “reacting with violence is not right,” in fact, “killing in the name of God is an aberration”. But as far as the freedom of expression goes, “there is a limit”. Using the example of an insult made against one’s mother, it seemed the Pope was trying to say that when you touch what is most dear to a person, you can end up unleashing all sorts of rash reactions.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND RELIGION
I think that both religious freedom and the freedom of expression are fundamental human rights. Let’s be frank, take Paris! One thing is true: each person has the right to practice their own religion freely, without causing offence to others. And that is what we all want. Secondly, offending or waging war, killing in the name of one’s own religion, in the name of God, is not right. We are shocked by what is happening now, but let us think back to our history, how many religious wars have been fought! Think of the [Massacre] of St. Bartholomew (when Huguenots were killed by Catholics, Ed.). As you see, we also committed such sins but killing in the name of God is not right, it is an aberration. [Religion must be practiced] freely but without causing offence.Regarding freedom of expression: not only does each person have the freedom and the right to say what they think for the common good, they have a duty to do so. If a member of parliament does not say what they think is the right path to take, they do not benefit the common good. So people must have this freedom but they must not cause offence, because while it is true that it is wrong to react with violence, if Mr. Gasbarri, who is a friend, insults my mother, that’s asking for a punch. Provoking and insulting other people’s faiths is not right. In one of his speeches (the Regensburg lecture delivered in 2006, Ed.), Pope Benedict XVI spoke of this post-positivist mentality, of a post-positivist metaphysics that led people to believe that religions or religious expressions are a kind of subculture. They are tolerated but they boil down to little, they are not part of a culture of enlightenment. And this is a legacy of the enlightement. So many people badmouth, make fun of and mock othe rpeople’s religions. They provoke and in doing so could get the kind of reaction Mr. Gasbarri would get if he said something bad about my mother. There is a limit, every religion has its dignity. I cannot mock a religion that respects human life and the human person. I used this example about limits to illustrate that freedom of expression has its limits, as in the example I gave of my mother.
MY SAFETY? I’M CONCERNED ABOUT THE SAFETY OF FAITHFUL
“The best way to react (to threats, Ed.) is with moderation, being moderate, humble, kind, without being aggressive. I am concerned about faithful, I really am, anbd I have spoke to Vatican security about this: Mr. Giani (the chief of Vatican police, Ed.) is on board this flight and he is in charge of this, he is well informed. I am quite concerned about this. But you know I have one weakness, I am quite reckless. Sometimes I ask myself: what if it happened to me? I have simply asked the Lord for the grace of not letting me come to harm because I am not courageous in the face of pain, I am very fearful.
KAMIKAZES AND CHILDREN
“Perhaps I am being disrespectful, but I am inclined to say that behind every suicide attack there is an element of human imbalance, I don’t know whether it is a mental imbalance but it is human. There is something that is not quite right with that person, that person has an imbalance in their life. They give their life but they do not give it in a good way. There are so many people who work, like the missionaries for example: they give their life, but in order to build something. Suicide killers, on the other hand, give their life in order to destroy. There is something not right here. I supervised a dissertation on Japanese kamikazes written by an Alitalia pilot. I was correcting the method part but the phenomenon is not understood fully and it is not only an Eastern phenomenon, it is linked to totalitarian and dictatorial systems that destroy life or the posibility of a future. But as I said before, this is not an exclusively Eastern phenomenon. Regarding the use of children in attacks (here the Pope was referring to young female suicide killers in Nigeria and the shocking video of the little boy who was filmed killing an IS victim Ed.): they are used everywhere for so many things, they are exploited at work, used as slaves and sexually abused. Some years ago some members of the Argentinean senate and I wanted to launch a campaign in top hotels to announce that in those hotels children were not exploited to serve tourists, but we were not able to… On the occasions I visited Germany I sometimes came across articles that talked about sex tourism in parts of South-East Asia and this involved children as well. Children are also used in suicide attacks. I dare not say more.”
ANOTHER INTERRELIGIOUS MEETING IN ASSISI
“It was suggested that another interreligious meeting against violence be held in Assisi. I know that some are working on this. I spoke to Cardinal Tauran and I know it is an issue that other religions are also concerned about.
THE POPE’S VISIT TO THE BUDDHIST TEMPLE
“The monk who is in charge of the temple managed to get himself an invitation from the government to go to the airport. He i salso a good friend of Cardinal Ranjith’s and when he greeted me he asked me to visit the temple. I spoke to the cardinal but there wasn’t enough time. When I arrived, I had to cancel my meeting with the bishops because I wasn’t feeling too well, after the 29-kilometre journey I was exhausted. When I got back from Madhu yesterday the opportunity presented itself. I telephoned and made my way there. The temple holds the relics of two of Buddha’s disciples. They had been in England before and the monks managed to have them returned to them. He came to the airport and I went to see him at home. Then, yesterday, I saw something I never expected to see in Madhu: there were not only Catholics there but also Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus. All of them go there to pray and they say they receive graces. Among the people, who are never wrong, there is something that unites them and if they are united in such a natural way as to go and pray together in a temple that is Christian but not only… How could I not go to the Buddhist temple? What happened at Madhu is very important, it reflected the sense of interreligiosity experienced in Sri Lanka. There are some fundamentalist groups but they are not with the people, they are theological elites… People may have once said that Buddhists went to hell but so did Protestants. When I was a child we were taught that they went to hell. I remember my first experience of ecumenism: I was four or five years old and I was walking along with my grandmother who was holding my hand. On the other pavement there were two women from the Salvation Army wearing that hat which they no longer wear and the bow. ‘Are those nuns granny?’ I asked. To which she replied: ‘No, they are Protestants, but they are good!’ That was the first time I heard someone speaking well of people who belonged to different religions. The Church’s respect for other religions has grown a great deal, the Second Vatican Council spoke about respect for their values. There have been dark times in the history of the Church, we must not be ashamed to say so because we are also on a journey, this interreligiosity is a gift.”
THE NEW ENCYCLICAL
“I don’t know if humans who mistreat nature are fully responsible for climate change but they are largely responsible for it. We have taken hold of nature, of mother Earth, to some extent. An elderly farmer once said to me: God forgives always, sometimes he forgives humans but he never forgives nature. We have exploited nature too much. I remember hearing bishops at Aparecida (at the meeting held by Latin American episcopates in 2007, Ed.) speak about deforestation in the Amazon, I didn’t really understand much. Then, five years ago, a human rights commission and I sent out an appeal to stop a terrible deforestation project in northern Argentina. Then there is the one-crop system: farmers know that after cultivating wheat for three years they have to change the crop type for a year to regenerate the soil. Today soy crops are cultivated until the soil is depleted. Mankind has gone overboard. Thankfully today a lot of people are talking about this and I would like to remind you of my beloved brother Bartholomew (the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Ed.) who has written a great deal on this topic and I have read a lot of what he has written to prepare my encyclical. The theologian Romano Guardini talked about a second “inculture”, which is when you take possession of creation, turning culture into “inculture”. Cardinal Turkson and his team have presented the first draft of the new encyclical. I then worked on this and now I have prepared the third draft which I have sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Secretariat of State and the theologian of the Papal Household so that they can make sure I am not talking nonsense. I will be taking a whole week off in March to finish it. I twill then be translated. I think that if all goes well, it should be out by June-July. The important thing is to ensure that there is an interval between its publication and the next climate meeting in Paris. I was disappointed by the last conference held in Peru. Let’s hope they are a bit more courageous in Paris. I think this is another issue that needs to be discussed with other religions and it is important for there to be an agreement based on a common feeling. I have talked about this with representatives of other religions and at least two theologians have already done this: it will not, however, be a common declaration, meetings with religions will come later.
THE THEMES OF THE PAPAL VISIT TO THE PHILIPPINES
“There is a risk of simplifying things here but the crux of the message will be the poor. The poor who want to move forward, the poor who suffered the effects of Typhoon Yolanda and are still suffering its consequences, the poor who have faith and hope. The people of God, the poor, the poor who are exploited by those who bring about so many social, spiritual and existential injustices. At home in St. Martha’s House the other day, the Ethiopians celebrated and invited about fifty or so members of staff. I was there with them and I looked at the Filipinos who had left their country, their fathers, mothers and children behind to come here to work… the poor. This is going to be the focus of this visit.
TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION IN SRI LANKA
“I do not really know what the truth commissions in Sri Lanka are like. I became familiar with the one in Argentina and I supported it because it was on a good path. I cannot say anything more specific. What I can say is that I support all balanced efforts to help facilitate mutual agreement. I heard the President of Sri Lanka say this: I would not want mine to be seen as a political comment. He told me he wants to push on with the work being done to promote peace and reconciliation. He then mentioned another word. He said: harmony needs to be created among the people. Harmony is more than peace and reconciliation, it is also musical. He added that this harmony will bring us happiness and joy. I was struck by this and I said: ‘it is good to hear this but it is not easy!’ To which he replied: ‘well yes, we have to get to people’s hearts.’ This makes me think before I answer: only by reaching the hearts of the people who know what injustice and the suffering inflicted by dictatorship is. Only by reaching people’s hearts can we find the right paths without compromises. The truth commissions are one of the elements that can be of help here but there are also other elements that help us achieve peace, reconciliation, harmony and to reach people’s hearts. I have borrowed the words used by Sri Lanka’s President.
FR. VAZ AND THE NEW CANONIZATIONS
“These were what we call equivalent canonizations: when a man or a woman have been blesseds for a long period of time and they are venerated as saints by the people of God, then the miracle process is skipped. I did this for Angela da Foligno and I also chose to canonize men and women who were great evangelisers. The first was Peter Fabre, a European evangeliser who died in the streets, evangelising. Then there were Canada’s evangelisers who founded the local Church. Then there was the Brazilian saint who founded São Paulo and now José Vaz, evangeliser of old Ceylon. In September I will canonize Junipero Serra in the United States. All these figures were powerful evangelisers and are in tune with the spirituality of the Evangelii Gaudium.
EARTH WORSHIP
DEUTERONOMY 17:3-4
3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:
DEUTORONOMY 4:15-19
15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
17 The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,
18 The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:
19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.
2 KINGS 23:5
5 And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
How can the EU's flagship climate tool be saved? By Peter Teffer-Brussels, Today, 19:20-JAN 15,15-EUOBSERVER
The future of the EU's most important instrument to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to be the topic of intense discussion in Brussels in the coming weeks, with both EU governments and members of the European Parliament divided over details of how to introduce a reserve for superfluous carbon permits.The EU launched its "flagship" emissions trading scheme (ETS) in 2005 as a way to put a price on emitting greenhouse gases, which increase global warming.Companies in a selection of sectors – power and heat generation, heavy industries like steel, cement and ceramics, and, since 2012, civil aviation – are obliged to hand in permits, so-called EU allowance units, for every tonne of carbon dioxide they emit.The idea is that polluters decide themselves the most cost-effective way to reduce emissions: by investing in cleaner or more efficient energy or by paying for such investments elsewhere via allowances.A year after the ETS was launched, the then environment commissioner Stavros Dimas was buoyant.“At the beginning of 2005 we were told by sceptics ... that the Emissions Trading System would never work”, Dimas said in a speech to members of the European Parliament in February 2006.“Emission trading started at the beginning of last year and the first experiences are very encouraging. … In short – the system works.”But a few years after Dimas' speech, Europe's economy fell into disarray, and so did the price for carbon.The slump in economic activity led to less need for energy and industrial materials, in turn leading to a lower demand for emission allowances. The allowances that companies had received from governments for free, were more than enough.However, the annual creation of new allowance units has continued, and now a surplus of already 2 billion allowances has been created.As a result, the price for an EU allowance unit (EUA) has dropped significantly.While in its first years EUAs were sometimes traded for as high as €30, the price for EUAs had dropped to its record low of €3 in 2013. Last year, the price fluctuated between €4.54 and €7.54.However, the EU wants to continue with the ETS, and improve it.When EU leaders met in October 2014 to agree on climate and energy goals for 2030, they reaffirmed the place of emissions trading in EU climate policy by calling it “the main European instrument” to achieve their targets.
Market-stability reserve
They also agreed that a market stability reserve would be put in place, which was proposed in January 2014 by the European Commission.Such a reserve would be able to temporarily take allowances out of the market, to help boost the price, and thus provide an incentive to companies to improve their energy efficiency and/or switch to renewable energy sources.Climate and energy commissioner Miguel Arias Canete said in November 2014 that a market stability reserve "will (no doubt) stabilise the EU ETS and make it more resilient".On Tuesday (13 January) representatives of EU governments in Brussels discussed a Latvian amendment of the Commission proposal. Latvia took over the six-month EU presidency on 1 January.One of the main discussion points, which on Tuesday was not yet resolved, is when the market-stability reserve would be put in place.The commission had proposed 2021, but in the Latvian plan, seen by EUobserver, the starting year has been put between brackets, a sign it is still under discussion.Latvia has also introduced a discussion point on a batch of 900 million allowances, whose introduction into the system had been delayed.Instead of allocating the batch in 2019 and 2020, as originally intended, Latvia suggests that the 900 million allowances are put in the reserve.Germany and the United Kingdom have come out in favour of a kick-off in 2017, while Poland and the Czech Republic oppose an earlier launch of the reserve.
MEPs
Meanwhile, the European Parliament is also set to voice its opinion on how the reserve should look.MEPs are equally divided over the start date, sometimes even within a political group.While MEPs Marek Grobarczyk and Evzen Tosenovsky, respectively Polish and Czech members of the conservative ECR group, call for a 2023 introduction date, their fellow group member from the United Kingdom, Conservative MEP Ian Duncan, is calling for 2017.Amendments also show that there is no consensus yet on the amount of allowances that should be taken out of the system and put in the reserve.Parliament's environment committee, which has the lead in the dossier, is set to discuss the issue next Wednesday (21 January). A day later the industry committee is set to vote on a document outlining its opinion.Latvia is hoping parliament will quickly agree, so that negotiations for the ETS market-stability reserve can be introduced before the last day of the Latvian presidency on 30 June.The reserve is only the first step of a wider reform of the ETS, but the commission wants to have the reserve in place before it tables additional measures.
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:TOBOLSK)
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY) of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages;(ISRAEL) I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil,(OIL IS IN SPOIL) and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8,11-21
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back,(RUSSIA-ARAB MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS) and leave but the sixth part of thee,(5/6TH OR 300 MILLION DEAD RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS I BELIEVE) and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog (RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS) a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers (EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN JORDAN VALLEY) on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog (RUSSIAN) and all his multitude:(ARAB/MUSLIM HORDE) and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.(BURIEL SITE OF THE 300 MILLION,RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS)
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.(OF ISRAEL)
13 Yea, all the people of the land (OF ISRAEL) shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I (GOD-JESUS) shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.
14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB EXPERTS) passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.
15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it,(WON'T TOUCH IT) till the buriers have buried it (PROPERLY) in the valley of Hamongog.(RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS NEW BURIEL SITE)(EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN THE JORDAN VALLEY)
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.(OF THE ISRAEL-GOD HATERS)
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl,(500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS THREW ISRAEL EVERY SPRING,FALL) and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.(OF THE RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIM ARMIES)
18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 And ye (MIGRATING BIRDS IN ISRAEL) shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.(RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS)
20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
21 And I (GOD-JESUS) will set my glory among the heathen,(WORLD NATIONS) and all the heathen (WORLD NATIONS) shall see my judgment that I have executed,(AGAINST ISRAELS ENEMIES) and my (GODS) hand that I have laid upon them.(ISRAELS HATER ENEMIES)
JEREMEIAH 49:35-37 (IN IRAN AT THE BUSHEHR OR ARAK NUKE SITE SOME BELIEVE)
35 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,(IRAN/BUSHEHR NUCLEAR SITE) the chief of their might.(MOST DANGEROUS NUKE SITE IN IRAN)
36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven,(IRANIANS SCATTERED OR MASS IMIGARATION) and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.(WORLD IMMIGRATION)
37 For I will cause Elam (IRAN-BUSHEHR NUKE SITE) to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger,(ISRAELS NUKES POSSIBLY) saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:(IRAN AND ITS NUKE SITES DESTROYED)
ISAIAH 17:1,11-14
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
12 Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations,(USELESS U.N) that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14 And behold at evening tide trouble; and before the morning he is not.(ASSAD KILLED IN OVERNIGHT RAID) This is the portion of them that spoil us,(ISRAEL) and the lot of them that rob us.
AMOS 1:5
5 I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden:(IRAQ) and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir,(JORDAN) saith the LORD.(I belive ISIS-DAMASCUS GET NUKED BY ISRAEL)
JEREMEIAH 49:23-27
23 Concerning Damascus.(SYRIA) Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea;(WAR SHIPS WITH NUKES COMING ON SYRIA) it cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.
25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.
27 And I will kindle a fire (NUKES OR BOMBS) in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.(ASSADS PALACES POSSIBLY IN DAMASCUS)
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
EU mulls new measures to stop arms smuggling from Africa By Nikolaj Nielsen-BRUSSELS, Today, 20:40-JAN 15,15-EUOBSERVER
The EU is looking to set up a network of experts in north African countries to curb arms and ammunition smuggling into Europe.“The majority, the main sources of illegal weapons, come from Western Balkans and also north African countries, especially Libya,” an EU source close to the dossier told this website on Wednesday (14 January).In the Balkans, small arms are looted from weapons depots or manufactured illegally. Some are traded online and even delivered by mail order.But in places like Libya, they are a legacy of conflict.EU interior ministers along with their Western Balkan equivalents in December agreed a draft action plan on illicit trafficking in firearms between the EU and south-east Europe.The EU source said the north African scheme would be modeled on the Balkan one, where emphasis is placed on modernising law enforcement agencies, increasing mutual trust, and raising awareness.But it’s unclear if a new cell of EU experts could even be sent to Libya at this time.The EU’s border control mission, Eubam, left Tripoli for Tunisia last year because it was unsafe to stay.Traditionally, the illegal arms end up falling into the hands of the some 3,600 known criminal organisations operating in Europe.But, as the Charlie Hebdo murders in Paris showed, they can also be used in terrorist attacks.“Last year, illegal immigration was in the spotlight of the politicians, now they came back to terrorism, but this doesn’t mean we discovered the illicit trafficking of arms two days ago,” said the EU source.
Legal to illegal
At the same time, the European Commission wants to muscle up existing EU firearms laws.Two years ago, it laid out its policy plans to update the EU firearms directive with the intent to get something on the table this July.It covers firearms for civil use, not weapons for armed forces and police, and sets in place rules to support a EU industry worth €1.7 billion in 2013.But it noted that deactivated weapons are being illegally reactivated and resold, with alarm guns, air weapons and blank-firers are also being converted into lethal firearms.A commission-funded study in November, which evaluated the directive, said convertible guns be purchased without a licence in Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Turkey.In a memo set out last week, the commission pointed out that “terrorists are using weapons more and more, in addition to the traditional strategy which was based on the use of explosives”.The problem is acute in France where authorities recorded a 40 percent increase in seizures of stolen civilian and military weapons between 2010 and 2011.A study by Europol, the EU police agency, on some 152 terrorist attacks carried out in five member states in 2013, found France also had the most cases where firearms were used in assaults.The commission said the latest draft could call for stricter checks on some categories of weapons and prohibit the most dangerous types.But the call may meet resistance from major weapons producers.
Italy is biggest small arms producer
Italy dominates the EU market in firearms and accounts for around 37 percent of the overall production. Its top manufacturers are Beretta, Armi Perazzi, and Sabatti.Other major producers of firearms are Austria with an estimated share of around 32 percent, Germany with 9 percent and Belgium with 5 percent.Most are shipped out to places like the US and other non-EU countries.Still, the number of legally-held civilian firearms in the EU is relatively high.According to estimates cited by the commission, there are 80 million in the EU, of which half a million are unaccounted for.Germany has the most registered firearms at 5.3 million, followed by France at 3.8 million, and Spain with 3.4 million.Peter Squires, a professor of criminology at the University of Brighton, said recent gun laws imposed in Germany and Belgium has resulted in the disappearance of “millions of rifles and hand guns”.A 2012 report by the Flemish Peace Institute found that the annual average of lost guns in Belgium rose from 375 between 1991 and 2006 to more than 4,300 in the 3.5 years period after a more restrictive law was passed.“Most of these figures relate to defence guns and military firearms, permits for which could only be renewed under stricter conditions in the new legislation,” notes the report.
Russia to cut EU gas transit via Ukraine By Peter Teffer-Brussels, Today, 09:30-JAN 15,15-EUOBSERVER
Russia has said it will stop EU gas transit via Ukraine and do it via Turkey instead in the second shock announcement on energy in as many months.It said on Wednesday (14 January) that the EU should build new infrastructure to link up with a future Russia-Turkey pipeline or lose access to supplies.Gazprom head Alexei Miller issued the ultimatum during a visit to Russia by EU energy commissioner Maros Sefcovic, who said he was "very surprised" by the statement.The latest announcement comes after Russia said in December it won’t build the so-called South Stream pipeline via Bulgaria and Hungary to Italy in favour of a new project with Turkey.The European Commission blocked South Stream construction on grounds of non- compliance with EU energy law.But both South Stream and “Turkish Stream” have strategic implications because they bypass Ukraine, which earns billions from transit fees and which is on the edge of bankruptcy. Miller noted “the Turkish Stream is the only route along which 63 billion cubic metres of Russian gas can be supplied, which at present transit Ukraine. There are no other options”, AFP reports.He warned Sefcovic to start building “the necessary gas transport infrastructure from the Greek and Turkish border”."They have a couple of years at most to do this. It's a very, very tight deadline. In order to meet the deadline, the work on building new trunk gas pipelines in European Union countries must start immediately today”, he added." Otherwise, these volumes of gas could end up in other markets”.Sefcovic - who was on his first visit to Russia to meet with Miller, Russia's deputy minister Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich, and energy minister Alexander Novak - reacted frostily to the news.“I believe we can find a better solution,” he said.“We don’t work like this … the trading system and trading habits - how we do it today - are different”.About 80 percent of the EU's gas imports from Russia come via Ukraine.But political disputes between Kiev and Moscow have seen EU supplies interrupted on two occasions in recent years, with Moscow justifying the Turkey decision by saying Ukraine is “unreliable”.Meanwhile, Bulgaria had asked Sefcovic to use his visit to Russia to pitch a plan for the construction of a gas hub on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast.But it's unclear whether Sefcovic managed to raise the subject with his Russian interlocutors.
Afghan leader seeks to sideline powerful bloc in break with past-Reuters-By Hamid Shalizi and Kay Johnson-JAN 15,15-YAHOONEWS
KABUL (Reuters) - The Afghan cabinet, finalised this week after months of haggling, leaves a powerful faction that helped oust the Taliban in 2001 significantly weakened, in a bold but risky break from the past by President Ashraf Ghani.Known as "mujahideen" because many also fought the Soviets in the 1980s, the group is angry at being overlooked for key security posts and is threatening to block nominees when they are presented to parliament in the coming days.The outcome of that process is difficult to predict, but Ghani, faced with the daunting task of dragging Afghanistan out of war and poverty, appeared to believe his predecessor Hamid Karzai had been held back by factional rivalries."President Ghani didn't want to repeat past mistakes during Karzai's time," said a close aide to the leader, who, like his top security choices, is from the country's largest ethnic group, the Pashtuns."He wants to give a message to the international community and his people that the cabinet will be a different one," added the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity.The main loser is the ethnic Tajik wing of the former Northern Alliance, a group of fighters mainly from the north of the country who have long been criticized for carving out local fiefdoms and putting personal above national interests.Afghanistan is listed as the world's fourth most corrupt nation by the watchdog group Transparency International, although accusations of graft have been leveled at officials across the ethnic and political spectrum.Even under Karzai, a Pashtun, former Alliance members, particularly from the smaller ethnic Tajik community from the province of Panjshir, enjoyed sweeping powers.
ABDULLAH CALLED A "TRAITOR"
The ex-mujahideen's exclusion has prompted criticism of Abdullah Abdullah, Ghani's election rival-turned-government partner who draws his support mainly from the north.He was branded a "traitor" on social media after the cabinet was unveiled on Monday.During last year's bitterly contested election, Ghani and Abdullah, who is a Tajik, both promoted themselves as candidates who aimed to put aside ethnic-based patronage.But the outcry over the nominations shows it will not be easy to break with Afghanistan's recent past."Right now, 80 percent of influential and powerful people around the country are former mujahideen commanders, and they don't want to give up their power," said Farhad Sediqi, a parliamentarian from the north.Hazrat Ali, a former mujahideen and now lawmaker, said there was a risk that parliament could scupper the lengthy nomination process that has paralyzed parts of Afghan government."The parliament is dominated by mujahideen figures, and I don't think they will vote for many of these nominees," he said.Each nominee needs a simple majority, and parliament is expected to decide on the appointments as early as Jan. 24.
"TRUST MY CHOICES"
An ethnic Tajik was put forward as foreign minister, but the defense and interior ministries have gone to Pashtuns, as did the top post at the National Directorate of Security.Other Tajiks among cabinet nominees had little connection to the mujahideen and Northern Alliance.It is not immediately clear whether the nominations will affect Ghani's push to re-start peace talks with the Pashtun-dominated Taliban.The Islamist militants have waged war on foreign and Afghan forces since 2001, and their campaign has become increasingly deadly over the last year, killing hundreds of civilians and thousands of security personnel. Shahzada Shahid, a lawmaker close to Abdullah, said Abdullah was under pressure from his traditional power base."It is not possible to include all those prominent figures in the cabinet, but there should have been a balance."Mujib Rahimi, a spokesman for Abdullah, said his office had no immediate comment on criticism of the nominations.During three months of negotiations over the cabinet, Abdullah nominated two ex- mujahideen leaders, both Tajiks from Panjshir, for interior minister, said sources in both camps.However, Ghani used his veto to reject the candidates because he said they lacked the necessary education and represented the old guard, the aides added.The disagreement over the key post was the final tussle in a protracted tug-of-war. Eventually, Abdullah put forward an ally who is Pashtun, Nur ul-Haq Ulumi, and Ghani accepted.For Panjshiris, the choice of Ulumi was especially contentious, since he was a general in the Soviet-backed army that fought the mujahideen in the 1980s.Abdullah met disgruntled Panjshiri allies on Wednesday evening to reassure them, saying that he was confident in his cabinet picks, according to one participant at the meeting.Abdullah was quoted as telling them: "If you trust me, you have to trust my choices."(Additional reporting by Abdul Saboor; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Maria Golovnina)
U.S.'s Kerry says may meet Iran's Zarif again this week-Reuters-JAN 15,15-YAHOONEWS
SOFIA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday he may meet Iran's foreign minister again this week to discuss Tehran's nuclear program following their roughly six hours of talks on Wednesday.Iran and six world powers have renewed their quest for an elusive nuclear deal - seen as crucial to reducing the risk of a wider Middle East war - after negotiators failed for the second time in November to meet a self-imposed deadline.The major powers hope to persuade Iran to curb its nuclear program, which the West suspects may seek to develop atomic weapons, in exchange for a gradual easing of economic sanctions. Iran says its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met for about six hours in Geneva on Wednesday."There is no final decision as to whether or not we will meet in Paris," Kerry told reporters in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, noting he and Zarif would both be in the French capital on Friday."It is possible, but nothing has been decided. It may also not happen," he added.Kerry sidestepped a question on whether it was possible for the United States to strike a nuclear deal while Iran continues to detain a number of U.S. citizens, saying only that Washington was making great efforts to secure their release.Zarif met with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Brussels on Thursday. The EU said in a statement that they both agreed that time cannot be wasted in trying to secure an agreement."We affirmed our strong commitment to a diplomatic solution which would fully address international concerns about the exclusively peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear issue," said Mogherini. "Negotiations have to be brought to a conclusion in line with the agreed time."The new deadline for a long-term nuclear agreement between Iran and the six powers - the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China - is June 30.Mogherini's predecessor Catherine Ashton is the EU envoy to the nuclear talks. The EU has been coordinating the meetings between Iran and the six powers. Senior foreign ministry officials from Iran and the powers resume talks on Jan. 18.(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed and Tsvetelia Tsolova in Sofia and Louis Charbonneau in New York; writing by Matthias Williams, Arshad Mohammed and Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Gareth Jones and Andrew Hay)
Nigerian president visits survivors of Boko Haram massacre-AFP-By Bukar Hussain-JAN 15,15-YAHOONEWS
Maiduguri (Nigeria) (AFP) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan paid a surprise visit Thursday to the heartland of the Boko Haram movement after satellite pictures showed massive destruction in two northern towns razed by the Islamist fighters.Jonathan spent three hours in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State, meeting with survivors of what is thought to be the worst attack in Boko Haram's six-year insurgency.On a visit to a camp sheltering about 5,000 people who fled the January 3 attack on Baga in northern Borno, he said his security chiefs had promised "all the areas under the control of Boko Haram will soon be recaptured"."I want to assure you that you will soon go back to your houses," Jonathan, who is seeking a second term in elections next month, told some of the displaced.The attack on Baga, part of an upsurge in violence ahead of February's presidential and parliamentary polls, is feared to have killed hundreds, if not more.Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch published separate satellite images Thursday that appeared to show massive destruction in both Baga and the adjacent town of Doron Baga, which is home to a regional military base.Amnesty's images showed aerial shots of the towns on January 2 -- the day before the attack -- and January 7.The group said the images suggested "devastation of catastrophic proportions", with more than 3,700 structures, mostly in Doron Baga, damaged or completely destroyed.HRW said 11 percent of Baga and 57 percent of Doron Baga was flattened, most likely by fire.HRW said the exact death toll was unknown and quoted one local resident as saying: "No one stayed back to count the bodies."We were all running to get out of town ahead of Boko Haram fighters who have since taken over the area."Nigeria's military, which often downplays death tolls, said that 150 died and dismissed as "sensational" claims that 2,000 may have lost their lives in the attacks.
- 'Crime against humanity' -
US Secretary of State John Kerry accused the Islamist insurgents of a "crime against humanity".The "evil" Boko Haram is a serious threat "to all of our values", Kerry said during a visit to Bulgaria, adding he had spoken to his British counterpart Philip Hammond about the possibility of "a special initiative" on Nigeria. He did not give details.Amnesty said Boko Haram reportedly targeted civilians who had helped the army after the fighters overran a Multinational Joint Task Force base for troops from Nigeria, Niger and Chad who have been involved in operations against them.Cameroon announced Thursday that neighbouring Chad will send troops to aid his country's army fight Boko Haram, though no date for the deployment or size of the contingent was given .Harrowing testimony has emerged from survivors of the killings in Borno, about the scale and brutality of the assault.Amnesty said on Thursday it had received accounts of the attackers of firing indiscriminately, killing small children as well as a woman who was giving birth."Half of the baby boy (was) out and she died like this," an unnamed witness was quoted as saying.A man in his fifties added: "They killed so many people. I saw maybe around 100 killed at that time in Baga. I ran to the bush. As we were running, they were shooting and killing."
- 'Stepping on bodies' -
Witnesses who spoke to AFP described seeing decomposing bodies in the streets.Amnesty cited reports of women being rounded up and detained at a school."The deliberate killing of civilians and destruction of their property by Boko Haram are war crimes and crimes against humanity and must be duly investigated," Amnesty added.Meanwhile Gordon Brown, UN special envoy for education, urged the world to condemn the use of young girls as suicide bombers by Boko Haram, calling it "barbaric."At least 19 people were killed last Saturday when a young girl, thought to be aged about 10, blew herself up at a crowded market in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the Red Cross and local vigilantes said.Jonathan's visit to Maiduguri -- his first since March 2013 -- was shrouded in secrecy and came after a previous trip to the restive region in May last year was cancelled at the last minute.Nigeria's leader has come under fierce criticism for his failure to crush Boko Haram's bid to establish a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria. Over 13,000 people have been killed in the violence since 2009.The bloodshed has raised concerns about the security of next month's elections.Nigeria's electoral commission said voting was "unlikely" to take place in rebel-controlled areas but that arrangements were being made to allow hundreds of thousands of displaced people to cast their ballots.
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.
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.
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.
LUKE 2:1-3
1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(THE FALSE POPE WHO DEFECTED FROM THE CHRISTIAN FAITH) causeth all,(IN THE WORLD ) both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(MICROCHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark,(MICROCHIP IMPLANT) or the name of the beast,(WORLD DICTATORS NAME INGRAVED ON YOUR SKIN OR TATTOOED ON YOU OR IN THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT) or the number of his name.(THE NUMBERS OF HIS NAME INGRAVED IN THE MICROCHIP IMLPLANT)-(ALL THESE WILL TELL THE WORLD DICTATOR THAT YOUR WITH HIM AND AGAINST KING JESUS-GOD)
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast:(WORLD LEADER) for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM (6006006)OR(60020202006)(SOME KIND OF NUMBER IMPLANTED IN THE MICROCHIP THAT TELLS THE WORLD DICTATOR AND THE NEW WORLD ORDER THAT YOU GIVE YOUR TOTAL ALLIGIENCE TO HIM AND NOT JESUS)(ITS AN ETERNAL DECISION YOU MAKE)(YOU CHOOSE YOUR OWN DESTINY)(YOU TAKE THE DICTATORS NAME OR NUMBER UNDER YOUR SKIN,YOUR DOOMED TO THE LAKE OF FIRE AND TORMENTS FOREVER,NEVER ENDING MEANT ONLY FOR SATAN AND HIS ANGELS,NOT HUMAN BEINGS).OR YOU REFUSE THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT AND GO ON THE SIDE OF KING JESUS AND RULE FOREVER WITH HIM ON EARTH.YOU CHOOSE,ITS YOUR DECISION.
Eurozone in danger of permanent stagnation, World Bank says By Benjamin Fox-BRUSSELS, 14. Jan, 09:26-EUOBSERVER
The eurozone is in danger of sliding into permanent stagnation, the World Bank has warned in a new report.“Weak consumption, anaemic investment and low inflation could feed on each other in a deflationary spiral,” across the single currency bloc, states the Global Economic Prospects report by the World Bank published on Wednesday (14 January).After growing by an estimated 2.6 percent in 2014, the global economy is projected to expand by 3 percent this year, far higher than the sluggish 1.1 percent forecast for the eurozone in 2015. The currency bloc saw a mere 0.8 percent growth rate in 2014.The report adds that “recovery has been sputtering in the Euro Area and Japan as legacies of the financial crisis linger”.“The global economy is still struggling to gain momentum as many high-income countries continue to grapple with the legacies of the global financial crisis and emerging economies are less dynamic than in the past,” said Kaushik Basu, the World Bank’s chief economist.“Worryingly, the stalled recovery in some high-income economies and even some middle-income countries may be a symptom of deeper structural malaise,” he noted, adding that “as population growth has slowed in many countries, the pool of younger workers is smaller, putting strains on productivity.”The bank believes that developing countries will be the strongest economic performers in 2015, benefiting from the recent slump in oil prices, a stronger US economy and low global interest rates.It also asserts that the collapse in oil prices, which has seen the price fall from over $100 a barrel last July to below $50, should lead to an uptick in demand in most oil-importing countries.The bank has also urged the European Central Bank (ECB) to embark on a money-creation programme to boost growth.The ECB’s governing council is poised to launch its own government bond-buying programme - known as quantitative easing (QE) - and could do so as early as its next meeting on 22 January.The Frankfurt-based bank’s president, Mario Draghi, has dropped several hints that the ECB will soon follow in the footsteps of the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England hoping that injecting more cash into the economy will increase demand.However, such a step is viewed by economists and market analysts as the ECB’s option of last resort, and several members of the ECB’s governing council, including German representatives Sabine Lautenschlager and Jens Wiedmann, remain deeply sceptical.
Euro falls after Switzerland abandons currency cap By Benjamin Fox-BRUSSELS, Today, 19:25-JAN 15,15-EUOBSERVER
The euro lost nearly 20 percent of its value against the Swiss franc on Thursday after the central bank abandoned the cap on the franc's value against the single currency.In a statement on Thursday (15 January) the Swiss National Bank (SNB) said that the minimum exchange rate of CHF 1.20 per euro, introduced in September 2011, was no longer justified and that “divergences between the monetary policies of the major currency areas have increased significantly”.The value of the Swiss franc increased by around 30 percent in the hours following the announcement, falling from 1.2 to 0.8 before reaching 1.04 at the close of trading.The euro also fell to new lows against the dollar and sterling.“The euro has depreciated substantially against the US dollar and this, in turn, has caused the Swiss franc to weaken against the US dollar,” said Thomas Jordan, the chairman of the Swiss National Bank.“In these circumstances, the SNB has concluded that enforcing and maintaining the minimum exchange rate for the Swiss franc against the euro is no longer justified,” he added.At the same time the SNB also reduced a key interest rate from -0.25% to -0.75%, increasing the amount investors have to pay to hold deposits in Swiss banks.The move is also a reflection of the eurozone’s weakness and a further indication that markets expect the European Central Bank to launch its own money-printing programme - known as quantitative easing - when its governing council meets next Thursday.However, a stronger franc will hurt Swiss exports, leading the country’s stock market to fall by 9 percent – its biggest fall since 1989.It is also bad news for the country's tourist industry at a peak time for the Alpine skiing season.Nick Hayek, chief executive of watchmaker Swatch, described the decision as a “tsunami" for Switzerland's economy.
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