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)
CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL 2ND WAVE OF WW3 (200 MILLION MAN ARMY)
REVELATION 16:12-16
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THE TURKEY ATATURK DAM ON THE EUPHRATES CAN BE SHUT AND DRIED UP ALREADY BY TURKEY)
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.(ITS AT THIS TIME I BELIEVE WHEN AMERICA GETS NUKED BY RUSSIA ON THE WAY TO THE MIDEAST)
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(WORLDWIDE WAR)(TURKEY-IRAQ-SYRIA)(EUPHRATES RIVER CONSISTS OF 760 MILES IN TURKEY,440 MILES IN SYRIA AND 660 MILES IN IRAQ)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,(WORLDWIDE WAR) which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE-2 billion)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
China says 'really needs' South China Sea defenses in face of United States-Reuters By Ben Blanchard-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
BEIJING (Reuters) - China "really needs" its defenses in the South China Sea in the face of a militarization process being pushed by the United States, and can deploy whatever equipment it wants on its own soil, China's Defence Ministry said on Thursday.China and the United States have sparred repeatedly over the past week following reports China is deploying advanced missiles, fighters and radar equipment on islands in the South China Sea, especially on Woody Island in the Paracels.The United States has accused China of militarizing the disputed waters. Beijing, for its part, has been angered by "freedom of navigation" air and sea patrols the United States has conducted near islands China claims in the South China Sea.Those have included one by two B-52 strategic bombers in November and by a U.S. Navy destroyer that sailed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island in the Paracels last month."The United States is the real promoter of the militarization of the South China Sea," defense ministry spokesman Wu Qian told a regular monthly news briefing."China's construction of military facilities on the islands and reefs of the South China Sea is really needed."The Paracel Islands are China's "inherent territory", he added."It is China's legitimate right to deploy defense facilities within our own territory, no matter in the past or at present, no matter temporarily or permanently, no matter what equipment it is," Wu said.People are being "dazzled" by the endless hyping up by U.S. media of equipment China is deploying in the South China Sea, he added."One minute it's air defense missiles, then radars, then various types of aircraft - who knows what tomorrow will bring in terms of new equipment being hyped up."Even the Americans have said some of this equipment had been placed there in the past, Wu said.China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.This week, coinciding with a visit to Washington by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Admiral Harry Harris, head of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Command, said the U.S. would step up freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea and that China was trying to militarily dominate East Asia.Wu said the U.S. was employing double standards, asking why U.S. patrols in the South China Sea should not also be considered militarization.There has been speculation that China might declare an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the South China Sea, similar to one it declared over the East China Sea in late 2013, to anger from Japan and the United States.Asked if this was the case, Wu repeated the ministry's previous line that it had every right to do so, but the move would depend on the level of aerial threat China faced."There are all sorts of factors that need consideration," Wu said, without elaborating.In Hanoi, a Vietnamese official said the militarization of the South China Sea was a very serious issue."Irrespective of the opposition and concern voiced by Vietnam and the international community, China continues to take actions that not only violate Vietnam's sovereignty, accelerate militarization of the East Sea, but also threaten peace and stability," foreign media spokesman Le Hai Binh told a briefing, employing the name Vietnam uses for the South China Sea.Annual trade between the communist neighbors exceeds $60 billion, but anti-China sentiment is strong in Vietnam, where people are embittered over what many see as a history of Chinese bullying and territorial infringements in the South China Sea.(Additional reporting by Martin Petty in HANOI; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
US, China agree on UN North Korea resolution-AFP-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
Washington (AFP) - The United States and China have agreed on a UN resolution on North Korea's nuclear "provocations," the White House announced Wednesday, with diplomats saying it would include fresh sanctions and could go to a Security Council vote soon.Diplomats at UN headquarters in New York said Washington and Beijing, Pyongyang's main backer, had agreed on a draft resolution that contained "very tough measures."The United States circulated the draft text to the other three permanent council members -- Britain, France and Russia -- on Wednesday and was set to formally present it to the full 15-member council soon, said the diplomats, who asked not to be named.Negotiations on the draft resolution began six weeks ago after North Korea carried out its fourth nuclear test on January 6, claiming it had successfully developed a thermonuclear device.During a meeting at the White House Wednesday, US National Security Advisor Susan Rice and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi agreed "on the importance of a strong and united international response to North Korea's provocations, including through a UN Security Council resolution that goes beyond previous resolutions," said a statement from National Security Council spokesman Ned Price."They agreed that they will not accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state," added the statement.Underscoring the importance that the US placed on the negotiations, the statement said that President Barack Obama dropped in on the meeting.- 'Significantly substantive text' -The announcement came despite substantial and very public disagreement between the US and China on the best way to handle North Korea.China wants its reclusive neighbor to halt its nuclear weapons program and return to six-party international talks, but it has insisted that dialogue is the only way to curb Pyongyang's behavior.The biggest obstacle to talks, it argues, is Washington's stubborn insistence that it will not sit down with North Korea until the country takes steps towards denuclearization.Washington, on the other hand, insists that China, which is one of Pyongyang's biggest trading partners, should pressure the intransigent country into behaving better.Beijing, however, fears that too much pressure could trigger the collapse of the pariah regime, creating a political and humanitarian crisis on its border and removing a buffer against US troops currently stationed in South Korea."There were a significant number of blockage points" between the United States and China, a Security Council diplomat said, adding that now "there is agreement.""There is good progress on the resolution and we are hopeful that there will be an adoption in the coming days," the diplomat said.One diplomat described the draft resolution as a "significantly substantive text", while another said it contained "a large number of very tough measures," as well as names to be added to the sanctions black list.However, it stopped short of the strongest measures proposed by the United States, which had met with strong resistance from China.- Xi to attend nuclear summit -The council has imposed four sets of sanctions on North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006.After North Korea carried out a rocket launch on February 6, the Security Council renewed its pledge to impose new sanctions on Pyongyang.There are 20 North Korean entities and 12 individuals on the UN sanctions blacklist, which provides for an assets freeze and a global travel ban.But a UN panel of experts said this month that sanctions had failed to prevent Pyongyang from scaling up its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.After a decade of sanctions, the panel said, it found "no indications that the country intends to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.""There are serious questions about the efficacy of the current United Nations sanctions regime," the experts said in a confidential report.The White House statement added that Obama joined the meeting between Rice and Yi "to underscore his interest in building a durable, constructive, and productive US-China relationship."The US leader also said he looked forward to welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping to a March 31-April 1 nuclear security summit in Washington and "working together towards its success," the statement said.
Australia unveils 'massive' increase in defence spending-AFP By Glenda Kwek-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
Australia unveiled a massive new investment in the nation's defence capabilities on Thursday to address what Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called "high stakes" and "momentous times" in Asia.Citing increased defence spending around the region and potential flashpoints in the South China Sea and the Korean peninsula, he said the government was committed to combating the most challenging strategic environment "we have faced in peacetime"."These are momentous times. The stakes are high. And as the opportunities expand, so does the cost of losing them," Turnbull said in launching a new Defence White Paper in Canberra."A stronger Australia supports a safer Australia, a safer region and a safer world."The government said it would spend Aus$195 billion (US$139 billion) over the next decade, including a doubling of its submarine fleet to 24, three additional destroyers, nine new frigates and 12 offshore patrol boats.Maritime surveillance would also be boosted by the purchase of seven US-made MQ-4C Triton drones and eight P-8A Poseidon aircraft.New air defence weapons would boost the force's capabilities with 72 F-35s, known as Joint Strike Fighters, added from 2020, while the army's equipment and armoured vehicle fleet will be upgraded.Some 2,500 new military roles will be created to expand the total defence force to 62,400 personnel, with 900 jobs focused on improved cyber, intelligence and space security.The cash injection would take Australia's defence spending to two percent of GDP by 2020-21, three years earlier than previously outlined, Turnbull said. The 2016-17 defence budget is Aus$32.4 billion, with the additional investment boosting the annual funding to Aus$58.7 billion in 2025-26.-- Regional tensions -The announcement comes with Australia's close ally the United States pursuing a foreign policy "pivot" towards Asia, while Beijing flexes its muscles in the region through a military build-up in the contested South China Sea.At the same time, tensions are high on the Korean peninsula after North Korea's January nuclear test and a rocket launch this month.Turnbull said that in the next two decades, there would be increased military capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region, including "half the world's submarines and half the world's combat aircraft"."We would be concerned if the competition for influence and the growth in military capability were to lead to instability and threaten Australia's interests, whether in the South China Sea, the Korean peninsula or further afield," he added."We have a strong, vital, vested interest in the maintenance of peace, stability and respect for the rule of law. The decisions we take now will impact on our defence capability and outlook for decades to come."At a regular press briefing Thursday, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that China was "dissatisfied" with statements it found "negative" in the white paper about its South China Sea policy."In the hopes of relieving tensions and the possibility of arms race, we hope that relevant countries can give up joint drills and stop increasing their military presence in the region," she said.John Blaxland, a military expert at the Australian National University's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, said Canberra's boost was consistent with other nations, adding that the global average for defence spending was between 2.1-2.3 percent of GDP."In a world where the clouds are getting darker and where power dynamics are shifting and that shifting is creating rub points that could turn into spark points, the insurance policy which is the... Australian Defence Force is becoming less politically contentious," Blaxland told AFP.Three international bidders -- DCNS of France, Germany's TKMS and the Japanese government -- are competing for a submarine project worth some Aus$50 billion (US$36 billion) to replace Australia's current diesel and electric-powered Collins Class submarines.A decision on the winner is due this year.Australia is part of the US-led campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq, contributing military jets and special forces. It also started carrying out air strikes against IS targets in Syria last year.
Reductions in Pentagon's planned F-35 orders not significant: Lockheed-Reuters-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon's plans to defer some orders for F-35 fighter jets over the next five years should not have a significant impact on efforts to lower the jet's costs, said Jeff Babione, who manages the $391 billion program for Lockheed Martin Corp.Babione told reporters at the Air Force Association's annual Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando that the company and its key suppliers were continuing broad-based efforts to lower the cost of the new radar-evading warplane.Lockheed is continuing negotiations with the Pentagon's F-35 program office about a ninth batch of jets, Babione said. That deal would mean that the overall cost of the planes had been reduced by over 60 percent since the program's start in 2001.The U.S. Defense Department plans to spend $56.3 billion for 404 F-35 fighter jets over the next five years, deferring the purchase of about 24 jets until after fiscal 2021.Babione said Lockheed could save several billion dollars by starting a multiyear block buy agreement with international partners, but said details were still being worked with those countries and the United States.(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
How President Trump would govern-Matt Bai-National Political Columnist-February 25, 2016-YAHOONEWS
Cheer up, Republican leaders!-OK, it’s true, your grand old party, which not long ago stood for family values and dime-store flag pins, is now on the verge of being taken over by a man who once likened his risqué sex life to a tour in Vietnam. And yes, perhaps the 168 members of the Republican National Committee are about to find out how janitors get treated at the Trump Taj Mahal.But if Trump does become your nominee — and even I’m now persuaded, after months of being wrong, that it’s pretty likely — it doesn’t mean you’re destined for another Goldwater-type defeat in November.On the contrary, Trump would likely face Hillary Clinton, who would be an underwhelming candidate even if she weren’t swimming against a powerful historical current in seeking a third term for her party. And if Michael Bloomberg jumps in as an independent next month (because, you know, two New Yorkers and one billionaire aren’t enough), Clinton’s path only gets harder.No, the real question isn’t whether Republicans really have a chance to win with Trump, because they do. The question is what kind of president he would be. My guess is that President Trump wouldn’t actually be the reactionary, often venomous leader we’ve seen rallying the faithful these last few months.He might well turn out to be something worse.Let’s first dispense with the idea that Trump, should he continue his long march to the nomination unimpeded, will bring about the end times for politics as we’ve known it. I doubt that.Trump will never be an orthodox candidate (nor would any sane person look at the results thus far and conclude he should be), but he’s shrewd enough to understand that general election campaigns aren’t the same thing as raucous primaries and that only a handful of people really know how to wage them. By convention time, you can bet he’ll have added a coterie of trusted hands to his campaign, and you’ll see pictures of him with Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan on the Capitol steps, projecting the grim sobriety of an Amish deacon.Trump can play the game as well as anyone. He has no reason to overturn the board.But what if he were actually inaugurated? Does he really have a governing philosophy, and what can we extract from it? As Trump’s rivals never tire of pointing out (usually just before they flame out and quit the race), the full list of issues on which he’s radically changed course over the years is long. Thoughtful politicians evolve, of course, and we should applaud them for it, but this is less like an evolution than a brain transplant conducted by aliens.Here’s a sampling. Trump supported single-payer health care; now he wants government out of the business altogether. He called for a steep tax on the wealthy; now he would cut so many taxes, you just wouldn’t believe. He was pro-choice and pro-gun-regulation; now he’s neither. He was an independent leaning toward Democrats; now he’s a Republican leaning toward Know-Nothings.I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that Trump used to be a huge proponent of losing but has since come to embrace winning in all its myriad forms.But it’s not right to say that Trump has no discernible ideology. That’s true only in the binary context of our politics, where we tend to see all governing constructs through the prism of left versus right.Trump has an ideology, and it’s all about ratings. The one constant, through his careers as a celebrity developer and then a reality TV star and now as a politician, is that he measures his own success by sheer affirmation.Trump is, above all else, a supremely gifted entertainer, and like all entertainers, he must have your adoration, or at least your attention. He goes where the crowd is, and he finds it hard to respect anyone who doesn’t.This is why he can’t get through a single debate without reciting his poll numbers and mocking his opponents for theirs. Polls, Nielsen numbers, “most wealthy” lists, building names — external validation, in whatever form, is his life’s urgent work.And it’s why I suspect that, for all his nativist and anti-government rhetoric, Trump is no more of a right-wing culture crusader than I am an astronaut. He is, as I’ve written before, an emotional extremist, a reckless provocateur who wants to make you feel pride or love or revulsion — whatever it is, as long as you feel something visceral.President Trump could just as easily end up a liberal president as a conservative one, an interventionist or a peacemaker, depending on where the applause was leading him. He could just as easily fill Justice Scalia’s seat on the court with Judge Judy as with Ken Starr, if that would please the masses.You might take solace in the idea that Trump isn’t at heart a doctrinaire, anti-government nationalist. You might intuit in that a certain kind of pragmatism. You shouldn’t.The system, after all, is built to repel extreme doctrines. You can’t just walk into Washington and enact some militant, right-wing agenda, or a left-wing socialist one. The voters won’t follow an ideological zealot too far down that path before reversing course. (And no, before you start with me, Obama’s health care plan isn’t close to socialism — just ask Bernie Sanders.)-But a president who is a vehicle for the mob of the moment, no matter which direction it’s coming from, is something else entirely. A president who wakes up every morning asking if his latest speech beat “The Big Bang Theory,” or if it made him more popular than his adversaries in the overnight tracking poll, poses a different kind of peril. A president like that will say anything — do anything — to feel the love.All presidents are asked, at moments they can’t foresee, to act as a bulwark against what John Adams called the “tyranny of the majority.” (Had he lived in the social media age, Adams might have worried more about the tyranny of the loud.) Where George W. Bush sought to protect Muslim Americans from an outpouring of anger, Trump has already indulged it. Where Barack Obama moved cautiously to ease the racial tensions simmering in America’s cities, Trump might consciously inflame them.What worries me about Trump isn’t that he’s not capable of making wise decisions, but rather that his core ideology prevents him from telling his audience anything that isn’t immediately and emotionally satisfying. Which is pretty much the definition of a demagogue.All is not yet lost, Republicans. Trump could still turn out to be your savior.But just remember: If so, he’ll be your responsibility, too.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS-10 WORLD REGIONS/TRADE BLOCS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS-10 WORLD DIVISION WORLD GOVERNMENT) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(THE EU (EUROPEAN UNION) TAKES OVER IRAQ WHICH HAS SPLIT INTO 3-SUNNI-KURD-SHIA PARTS-AND THE REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE IS BROUGHT BACK TOGETHER-THE TWO LEGS OF DANIEL WESTERN LEG AND THE ISLAMIC LEG COMBINED AS 1)
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.
UK registers EU deal at UN-By EUOBSERVER-feb 25,16
Today, 09:12-Britain has registered at the UN last week's agreement for a new settlement with the EU. The move "puts beyond doubt the fact that the deal the prime minister agreed is legally binding and irreversible in international law", Matthew Rycroft, Britain's UN ambassador, said on Wednesday.
French court approves evacuation of Calais migrant camp-By EUOBSERVER-feb 25,16
Today, 17:17-The Lille administrative tribunal authorised Thursday the evacuation of a part of the Calais camp where around 4,000 migrants live. In response to the imminent evacuation, justified by authorities for sanitary reasons, Belgium reintroduced checks on its French border earlier this week to deter migrants from entering the country.
EU Parliament calls for arms embargo on Saudi Arabia-By EUOBSERVER-feb 25,16
Today, 17:14-The European Parliament approved a non-binding resolution Thursday, by 359 votes to 212, asking the EU Commission to organise an arms embargo against Saudi Arabia over its military involvement in Yemen. MEPs noted that the UK, Spain, France, Italy and Germany are selling arms to the Saudis.
Greek PM threatens to block EU decisions By Eszter Zalan-feb 25,16-euobserver
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:24-Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras has said he will block EU decisions at the next summit if Greece is left alone to deal with the migration crisis.He told parliament on Wednesday (24 February) he would not let Greece be turned into a "warehouse of souls"."Greece will no longer agree to any deal if the burdens and responsibilities are not shared proportionally," he said.Greece was not invited to a meeting on Wednesday in which Austria and other countries along the Western Balkan migration route agreed to tighten border controls.Austria last week announced a daily cap on the numbers of people allowed to apply for asylum or travel through to apply elsewhere, prompting some Balkan countries to introduce restrictions.As a result, migrants have been getting stranded in Greece, the main entry point into Europe.Tsipras said Austria's behaviour was "unacceptable".He said it was "shameful" that some countries were refusing to implement joint EU agreements and were instead acting unilaterally.Greece faces 'chaos'-Tsipras also said he would consult other parties to come to a joint stance ahead of the next EU summit focused on migration on 7 March."We need a larger political consensus on this issue," he told MPs, adding: "We will not allow our country to turn into a warehouse of souls, with Europe continuing to function as if nothing is happening."Tsipras made a similar threat at a summit in February to refuse his support for any agreement unless others pledge to keep borders open."We will not tolerate that a number of countries will be building fences and walls at the borders without accepting even a single refugee," Tsipras said, adding that his country would demand the mandatory participation of EU countries in the relocation of refugees.Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban announced on Wednesday that he would hold a referendum on mandatory relocation, which his government opposes.A day earlier, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi warned that border restrictions along the Balkan route go against international and European rules.“We are worried that these closings are happening and that there are no corresponding openings through relocation and resettlement,” Grandi said, adding that there was a risk of “chaos and confusion” in Greece.-’We want to go’-Earlier on Wednesday Tsipras spoke to German chancellor Angela Merkel on the phone and expressed anger over some EU countries failing to stick to common solutions.They agreed to intensify efforts to implement EU decisions, and begin Nato operations in the Aegean Sea immediately to counter smuggling networks.Meanwhile in Greece migrants with young children blocked a Greek motorway on Wednesday along the route to Macedonia, demanding to be allowed to travel further north.Families chanted "we want to go" after police stopped their convoy at Tempe in central Greece, Reuters reported.Hundreds are camping out at petrol stations and motels along the route from Athens to Macedonia, where authorities are letting 100 people through at a time.
Ireland goes to polls amid post-crisis uncertainty By Shona Murray-feb 25,16-euobserver
Dublin, Today, 09:28-Ireland goes to the polls on Friday (26 February) in the country’s first general election since completing the €85 billion EU-IMF bailout progamme it received in late 2010. Amid doubts about the true state of Irish society, the result is proving hard to call.Those dark and traumatic days the Irish want to leave behind, and on paper, economic projections for the Irish state say they will able to do just that.According to the Irish Central Bank, a “convincing recovery” is under way with the bank projecting growth of close to 5 percent for 2016, albeit with significant risks rising from the turbulence in international stock markets.But in practice, and for candidates and voters alike, the question is whether the so-called recovery is being distributed fairly amongst everyone. In the run up to Friday’s vote, the Irish public has had plenty to think about when considering this question.The coalition in power, led by prime minister Enda Kenny's Fine Gael, a centre-right party supported by its junior partner, Labour, claims it should be re-elected based on its apparent economic successes of the last 5 years, and that a vote for them is a vote to “keep the recovery going”.On the face of it, the latest unemployment figures from January, 8.8 percent, support this line and show a sizeable shift from peak unemployment of 15.2 percent recorded in January 2012 after the government took power.The coalition also boasts a net job creation figure of 135,000 jobs during its tenure, in contrast to a low in 2009 when the number of people working in the state fell by 160,000 in one year alone.Masking the true nature of the unemployment problem, however, are the mass emigration figures for young, well-educated members of the workforce, who moved to more auspicious economies in Canada, Australia, the US as well as London.During peak emigration in 2013, nearly 1,000 Irish people left every week according to The Central Statistics Office; over 40,000 of these were people aged 24-44. In addition, the coalition's job creation figures include thousands of part-time jobs and state-sponsored internship schemes.-Hung parliament-The timing of this year’s election is also significant. It chimes with the centenary of the 1916 ‘Easter Rising’ when Republican forces led a rebellion against the British occupation which eventually led to the creation of the Irish State in 1922.The next Taoiseach (prime minister) of Ireland will lead the country in commemoration of the 1916 Rising and thereby cast themselves in an honourable light in Irish history.The greatest threat to the current coalition lies not only with a resurgent Fianna Fail – the party in power for 12 years prior to the country’s economic collapse and whose recent legacy in politics remains that of being at the helm during the destruction of the once revered Celtic Tiger economy -, but also a coalition of left-wing parties including Sinn Fein – the former political wing of the IRA.This bulky caucus includes an alliance of groups such as the AAA (Anti-Austerity Alliance) and the PBP (People before Profit), whose raison d'etre has been to oppose the austerity measures imposed on consecutive budgets in conjunction with the troika during Ireland’s bailout.Sinn Fein is now on over 15 percent of the vote according to the results of the last 'Red C' opinion poll on the campaign issued on Tuesday (23 February). The AAA/PBP are showing at just over 5 percent.-Popularity at its lowest-Analysing the rest of the results, many commentators see only a hung parliament on the horizon. It shows the Labour Party now on 7 percent of the vote – a major fall from grace considering it entered government on its highest ever share, 19.2 per cent with a record 37 seats.Labour says it is unfairly receiving the majority of the blame for some of the unpopular measures the government took during straitened economic times, and says its finest hour - demanding a referendum which successfully delivered equal marriage rights for LGBT people as part of its programme for government - would never have happened had it not been for their influence.Fine Gael’s popularity has also fallen; it is currently on 30 percent after a high of 36 when it entered government with 76 seats. Fianna Fail has recovered hugely since its almost complete collapse in the last election of 2011 in which it lost 58 seats, dropping from 78 to 20 and falling to a meagre 17 percent of the vote - the lowest in their history by a considerable distance.-Old ghosts-In the last three weeks, voters have been subjected to three largely underwhelming leaders’ debates and a particularly long-lead up time in anticipation of the polling date. Alongside confusing economic forecasting and typical ‘auction politics’ emanating from all parties, it’s led to an overriding sense of election fatigue.The only matter to shake the discussion towards less mundane issues has been the impact of two major gangland assassinations in the space of three days, leading at one point for calls by leader of the right-wing ‘Renua Ireland’ party (2 percent) Lucinda Creighton to call for the campaign to be suspended.The first of the brutal attacks was particularly audacious and chilling. It occurred during broad daylight when up to six men, most of who were wearing paramilitary clothes and armed with AK-47’s, the other dressed as a woman and wearing a wig, burst into a conference room in a Dublin hotel and shot their target, a well-known, 34-year old gangland figure, David Byrne. They wounded two others in the process.The second incident was an expected retaliatory killing of the brother of the rival gang member three days later. The killings and the ostentatious and insolent nature of the funeral of David Byrne sparked widespread angst and fury at the lack of control the coalition appeared to have on the social aspects of being in government, particularly tackling organised crime.It also highlighted the harmful impact of austerity on society and communities, given how police resources had been significantly reduced during the economic crash, with a ban on the recruitment of new members of the force and the closure of the police training centre (just recently reopened) resulting in a depletion of morale in the force, which was at a “dangerously low” level according to the AGSI – the Irish police force representatives organisation.This mood shift was bad for all parties, drawing public opinion into a deeper air of despair towards politics as usual, in particular for Sinn Fein, as the nature of the killings was a stark reminder of the days of incorrigible para-militarism, with which Sinn Fein’s roots are heavily entangled.
COUNTRIES WITH ISRAEL AND THE ENEMIES OF THE WEST
EZEKIEL 38:10-19
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,(RUSSIA,ARAB,MUSLIMS) I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; 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, 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.
13 Sheba, and Dedan,(SAUDIA ARABIA)(JORDAN) and the merchants of Tarshish,(ENGLAND) with all the young lions thereof,(USA,CANADA,AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND,EU,ENGLAND,ENGLISH SPEAKING shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
PSALMS 83:3-7 (COUNTRIES AGAINST ISRAEL)(EXCEPT JORDAN)
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)
ISRAEL-WEST ENEMIES EZEK 38:4-6,15-19
4 And I (GOD) 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)
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts,(RUSSIA-ARAB/MUSLIMS) thou, and many people with thee,(AFRICAN ISLAMIC COUNTRIES) all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
DANIEL 11:44 (CHINA WITH RUSSIA-MUSLIMS)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
EZEKIEL 39:1-6 ISRAELS ENEMIES DESTROYED
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.
CIA chief: US and Russian spies still working closely By Andrew Rettman-feb 25,16-euobserver
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:29-Russian leader Vladimir Putin is “very aggressive” toward the West, US spy chief John Brennan has said, but insisted that anti-terrorism cooperation with Russia was highly “active”.Speaking to National Public Radio on Wednesday (24 February), the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said Putin believed Russia was a “superpower" that needed to have influence "not just in the near abroad, which involves those areas that border Russia, but far beyond it".He described Putin’s actions in Ukraine and in Syria as “very assertive, very aggressive”.“He sees that area [Ukraine] as almost a zero-sum game with the West. And I think he was concerned about which way Ukraine was leaning. And it clearly was leaning westward. That's why he took the actions that he did,” he said.He indicated that Russia’s hybrid war in east Ukraine was not going according to plan, however.“He [Putin] has found that he's in a bit of a quandary now inside of Ukraine, in terms of realising his objectives,” Brennan said.Brennan said Putin’s Syria campaign was designed “to protect his interests with a client state”.“Russia has had a relationship with the government in Damascus for the past 50 years, has invested a lot of money, and a lot of military support,” he said.But he said Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s “unspeakable acts of violence” against the Syrian people meant that he had “lost his eligibility, his legitimacy, to rule Syria, and to be part of Syria's future”.“I think his departure is inevitable,” he said.-Intelligence ‘chill’-Brennan said the geopolitical confrontation with Russia had caused a “chill … even in intelligence channels”.But he said the CIA had continued to work closely with Russian services to stop terrorists killing US and Russian citizens.Recalling the Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia last year, he said: “We worked very closely with them to try to prevent terrorist attacks, and very successfully.”He described it as a “very factual, informative exchange”.“If we get information about threats to Russian citizens or diplomats, we will share it with the Russians. And they do the same with us,” he said.He said Russia faced the same threat from “foreign fighters” as the West. “There are several thousand Russian citizens that have made their way into Syria and Iraq to support these forces of terrorism,” he said.He said Islamic State (IS) was now bigger than al-Qaeda.He said IS was “pursuing a strategy of global expansion”, with recruitment in places as far afield as Afghanistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Tunisia.But he warned that al-Qaeda remained “very capable” in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, and Yemen.-’No safe harbour’-Brennan spoke amid a US debate on whether law enforcement bodies should get access to the iPhone of one of the gunmen in the San Bernardino terrorist attack in December.The US debate mirrors one in Europe on how to protect EU companies’ data and EU nationals’ privacy while sharing information with US security services.Brennan said the digital sphere was “sort of a unique environment”.But he said that, given due judicial oversight, the CIA or sister agencies should have access to suspects’ communications.The EU court, last year, struck down the so called Safe Harbour deal on EU-US data exchange over US snooping concerns.Brennan said: “I don't think … that there should be a place where terrorists or criminals, or whomever is trying to violate the law, would have total safe harbour.”-Targeted assassination-Brennan also justified a recent US air strike in Libya, which, the US says, killed up to 40 IS militants.He said “the United States, and our partners and allies, will take action when we believe it is necessary” to prevent terrorist attacks, such as the “bloody massacre on the beaches of Tunisia” last year.The radio host asked him whether he thought the Libya targets might have been watching IS propaganda, or “martyrdom videos”, when the bombs hit.“Well, I think some of the individuals who were there didn't realise they might become a martyr so quickly,” Brennan said.
Austria criticises Germany on migrants, piles 'pressure' on EU By Eszter Zalan-euobserver
BRUSSELS, 24. Feb, 21:15-Austria has said Germany should stop sending mixed messages on migration at a meeting with Western Balkan states in Vienna on Wednesday (24 February)."Germany has to decide what signals Germany wants to send," Austrian interior minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner told press after talks with her counterparts from Western Balkan countries, where most migrants cross on their way from Greece to Germany."Currently they [Germany] are sending the following signals: that they are allowing Greece to agree to the open-door policy, and on the other hand they are demanding that Austria stop all those who want to travel to Germany," she said, according to the Reuters news agency."One must choose one of those strategies," she said.“We have to reduce the influx now. This is a question of survival for the EU,” she added."There is still no European solution in sight. For that reason it is necessary for us to take national measures," Austrian foreign minister Sebastian Kurz said earlier in the day.Neither Germany, which accepted over 1 million migrants last year, nor Greece, their main entry point into Europe, were invited to the meeting.The Vienna talks were criticised by both countries.But leaders in the states on the Balkan migration route called for the need to step up border restrictions in the absence of a common European solution.Mikl-Leitner noted that part of the reason for the Vienna event was also to generate “pressure” for a joint European approach.“A partnership with Balkan countries is not only in the interest of these countries but also of the EU. We want to generate pressure and urgency," she was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.Foreign and interior ministers from Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia were present in Vienna.In their joint statement, the countries said that migration on the Western Balkan route needed to be reduced substantially because they were overwhelmed.In a nod to international law, they highlighted the need to protect those who are in genuine need of asylum.But they said that refugees should be settled closest to their home countries and should not be allowed to chose their destination within Europe.They also said that accommodating migrants should be a shared European burden.They mentioned as an example that Slovakia is helping Austria by accommodating 500 asylum seekers.The initiative comes despite the fact Slovakia has filed a court challenge against a mandatory EU plan to relocate 120,000 people across Europe.In a dig at Greece, the Vienna statement also stressed the need to "get back to a situation where all members of the Schengen area apply fully the Schengen Borders Code and refuse entry at external borders to third country nationals who do not satisfy the entry conditions or who have not made an asylum application despite having had the opportunity".The Schengen area is the EU’s passport-free travel zone.Vienna signatories also urged for more communication efforts in the home countries of economic migrants to dissuade them from leaving.The Vienna event came shortly before EU justice and home affairs ministers meet in Brussels on Thursday.The meeting will also be preceded by a ministerial breakfast between Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia and Greece.Their discussion will feed into the meeting of the 28 ministers later in the day.Austria has been criticised for breaking ranks with common EU policies by imposing a unilateral cap on asylum applications.But some EU diplomats are quietly sympathetic to its plight."What Austria is doing is common sense, the so far agreed European solutions don't work. Patience and capacity has run out," an EU source said.
Saudi jets to arrive in Turkey to strike IS: Ankara-AFP-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
Ankara (AFP) - Saudi jets are due to arrive at a Turkish base this week take part in the air campaign against Islamic State jihadists in Syria, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday."We are expecting the planes to arrive today or tomorrow (Friday)," Cavusoglu told the state-run Anatolia news agency, adding that Saudi equipment and personnel had already arrived on the ground.The planes are to be stationed at the Incirlik base, which is already hosting US, British and French war planes taking part in the strikes against IS fighters in Syria.Private NTV television said four Saudi F-15 jets would arrive at Incirlik on Friday. It said that 30 ground personnel and equipment had already arrived aboard C-130 Hercules military transport planes on Tuesday.Saudi Arabia and Turkey both see the ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as essential for ending Syria's five-year civil war and are bitterly critical of Iran and Russia's support of the Syrian regime.The two overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim powers have in recent months moved to considerably tighten relations that had been damaged by Riyadh's role in the 2013 ousting of Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, a close ally of Ankara.Ankara has said it is in favour of a ground operation in Syria, but only if it is conducted in coordination with Saudi Arabia and other Western and Gulf members of the anti-IS coalition."We have since the beginning argued for the necessity of ground operations and all kinds of strategic moves to be carried out in addition to the air campaign," Cavusoglu said.
Syrian army retakes key town on road to Aleppo from IS-AFP-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
Beirut (AFP) - The Syrian army retook a strategic town from the Islamic State group on Thursday, paving the way for the reopening of its sole supply route to main northern city Aleppo.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said troops still needed to clear the jihadists from hills overlooking the key highway before it could be fully secured.The road through the town of Khanasser is the sole link between government-held areas in and around Aleppo and those in the rest of the country.State news agency SANA hailed its recapture just two days after its fall to the jihadists.The army's counteroffensive was backed by Russian air strikes which killed 20 IS fighters, said the Observatory, a Britain-based monitoring group.It is not the first time that the government's supply route to Aleppo has been cut. Rebels severed it in 2013 and IS also did so last year before being pushed back.The new fighting for the road comes with the army on the offensive north and west of Aleppo, where rebel forces in the east of the city are almost completely surrounded.That offensive is supposed to come to an end when a Russian and US-brokered ceasefire goes into effect at 2200 GMT on Friday.But the war against IS will go on as the group is specifically excluded from the planned truce, as is Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front.Turkey has pushed for the exclusion too of the main Syrian Kurdish militia, the People's Protection Units (YPG), which has also seized territory from rebels northwest of Aleppo in recent weeks.Turkish artillery shelled YPG-held territory in Aleppo province throughout Wednesday night, the Observatory said, without immediately reporting any casualties.The renewed bombardment came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday again lashed out at Western policy towards the YPG, charging that the militia were a "terror group" just like IS and Al-Qaeda.To the anger of Ankara, which regards the YPG as a branch of outlawed Turkish rebel group the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Washington has worked closely with what it regards as the most effective fighting force against IS in Syria.
DRUG PUSHERS AND ADDICTS
1 PET 5:8
8 Be sober,(NOT DRUGED UP OR ALCOHOLICED) be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
REVELATION 18:23
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries (DRUGS) were all nations deceived.
REVELATION 9:21
21 Neither repented they of their murders,(KILLING) nor of their sorceries (DRUG ADDICTS AND DRUG PUSHERS), nor of their fornication,(SEX OUTSIDE MARRIAGE OR PROSTITUTION FOR MONEY) nor of their thefts.(STEALING)
Emergency trips soar in Colorado after marijuana legalized-AFP-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
Miami (AFP) - People visiting Colorado, one of four US states where marijuana is legal, are heading to the emergency room in soaring numbers after smoking or consuming too much weed, researchers said Wednesday.Twice as many out-of-state visitors wound up in the emergency room for marijuana-related symptoms in 2014 -- the year Colorado legalized retail sales of the drug -- compared to two years earlier, said the report in the New England Journal of Medicine.Researchers recorded 163 marijuana cases per 10,000 visits by people from out-of-state in 2014, up from 78 per 10,000 visits in 2012.More Colorado residents went to the emergency room for pot-related reasons too, but the rise was far smaller -- just 44 percent, or 70 per 10,000 in 2012 compared to 101 two years later.The study was based on visits for marijuana-related symptoms at the emergency department of UCHealth's University of Colorado Hospital."Anecdotally, we noticed that most out-of-towners were in Colorado for other reasons, such as visiting friends or on business," said lead author Howard Kim, an emergency medicine physician at Northwestern Medicine."They ended up in the ER because they decided to try some marijuana," added Kim, who began the study when he was a resident at the University of Colorado School of Medicine."This may indicate that out-of-state visitors are unprepared for the adverse effects of marijuana use."Side effects of cannabis can include anxiety, hallucinations, high blood pressure, heart palpitations, stomach pain and vomiting.Eating too much edible marijuana products, like cookies or brownies, can also lead to adverse effects."People eating marijuana products often don't feel any effect immediately, leading them to eat another edible," Kim said."Then they've ingested multiple products, so when the effect finally kicks in, it is much stronger."Most of the cases were mild. Patients were given "supportive care and went home after a few hours, but some were admitted for further observation," the study said.Researchers said other states in which recreational marijuana is legal -- including Alaska, Oregon and Washington -- may be experiencing similar spikes in emergency room visits.Senior author Andrew Monte, assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, urged other states considering legalization to adopt pre-emptive public health education campaigns.
DISEASES
REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
There is 'promising pathway' for vaccine against Zika: Obama-Reuters-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama expressed optimism on Thursday about the possibilities for a vaccine against Zika, a virus he said turned out to be not especially complicated."We just had a meeting about Zika, where we actually think there's a promising pathway for diagnostics and vaccines on this," Obama said during a panel discussion about precision medicine. "It’s not a real complicated virus, apparently."(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Susan Heavey)
1/3RD OF SHIPS DESTROYED
REVELATION 8:8-9
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
Rough waters strand fishing vessel, capsize rescue boat off New York-Reuters By Barbara Goldberg-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rough seas and dense fog stranded a 76-foot commercial fishing vessel off New York's Rockaway Beach, about 13 miles southeast of downtown Manhattan, and capsized a U.S. Coast Guard boat that rushed to help on Thursday, but no one was injured, a U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman said.All seven crew members of the Carolina Queen 3 were rescued in baskets dangling from two helicopters, assisted by a rescue swimmer in the water, said U.S. Coast Guard Operations Specialist First Class Morgan Gallapis.The crew of the scallop fishing boat from New York called for help at 2 a.m. local time, when it got stuck in shallow waters amid six-foot seas and heavy fog at the entrance to East Rockaway Inlet, in the Queens Borough of New York."They ran aground and their vessel started to take on water, they feared it would capsize," Gallapis said.A Coast Guard fleet rushed to assist, including a 25-foot vessel which capsized in the rough seas, forcing four crew members to swim about 200 yards back to Jones Beach, where they are stationed on New York's Long Island. The rescue boat was about a quarter of a mile from the fishing vessel when it capsized."We are still in the process of salvaging both vessels," Gallapis said. There were no injuries or serious medical conditions reported, she said.The incident was blamed on a storm system that moved through the area overnight with high winds and low visibility, said Gallapis, who noted there were no violations issued."It’s hard to control Mother Nature," Gallapis said.(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Bill Rigby)
REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6 For they(False World Church and Dictator) have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
Michigan Senate approves $30 million to help pay Flint water bills-Reuters-February 23, 2016 1:14 PM-YAHOONEWS
(Reuters) - Residents of Flint, Michigan, one of the poorest cities in the United States, will get $30 million to help pay their water bills after a lead contamination crisis, under a bill unanimously approved by the Michigan Senate on Tuesday.Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, plans to sign the bill, which had been passed unanimously by the state's House last week."The safety and well-being of Flint families remains our top priority," said Snyder, whose administration has faced harsh criticism for its response to the contamination crisis in the city of about 100,000 residents.As a cost-cutting measure in 2014, Flint switched its water system from Detroit to a local river. The more corrosive water from the river leached lead from water system pipes, leading to unacceptably high levels of lead in hundreds of homes.The funding would provide Flint residents credits to cover residential water bills from April 2014 through this April or until the water is clean, Snyder's spokeswoman Laura Biehl said.Flint residents have been using bottled, rather than tap, water because of the lead contamination. Snyder said the state will work with city leaders on how the credits are applied.Children are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning, which could cause developmental problems.The contamination, which could have been prevented with anti-corrosion treatment of the water, has become a political scandal as emails and documents have emerged showing that Michigan officials tried to play down and cover up the problem for months.Snyder said in a statement that the newly approved bill would bring total emergency state funding for Flint to $70 million.Snyder has been called to testify on the matter before a U.S. congressional committee next month. The issue has also become a focus of the U.S. presidential campaign.Also on Tuesday, Michigan Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof and House Speaker Kevin Cotter, both Republicans, announced the creation of a joint committee to review the Flint water crisis.The committee will hear testimony on mistakes that led to this situation and explore ways to prevent such a disaster in the future, the Michigan Legislature said in a statement.(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Richard Chang)
MIGRATING BIRDS IN ISRAEL EATS HUMANS FLESH FOR COMING AGAINST ISRAEL-JERUSALEM
EZEKIEL 39:17-21
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, 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 RUSSIAN/ISLAMIC HORDES AGAINST ISRAEL)
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 shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
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 will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
REVELATION 19:17-18
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;(AGAINST ALL NATIONS ARMIES THAT COME AGAINST JERUSALEM AND ISRAEL)
18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
Thirteen bald eagles found dead in Maryland-Reuters-February 22, 2016 3:59 PM-YAHOONEWS
(Reuters) - Authorities are investigating the deaths of 13 bald eagles discovered on a Maryland farm in the state's largest die-off of the national bird in 30 years, officials said on Monday.Maryland Natural Resources police received a call on Saturday from a man reporting four dead eagles near Federalsburg in the eastern part of the state, said spokeswoman Candy Thomson. Officers arrived and discovered nine more dead birds nearby.Catherine Hibbard, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is investigating the deaths, said the cause of death was unknown pending a medical examination.The maximum fine for harming a bald eagle is $100,000 and up to one year in prison, she said.The bald eagle, which almost disappeared from the United States decades ago, was removed from the federal endangered species list in August 2007 after the banning of the pesticide DDT and habitat protection led to its recovery, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.The bald eagle is a symbol of the federal government and is featured in the presidential seal and on U.S. currency. The bird is federally protected.Thomson said the 13 birds represented Maryland's largest bald eagle die-off in 30 years.(Reporting by John Clarke in Washington; Editing by Sandra Maler)
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS ETC) and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
Rescue crews, residents comb wreckage from U.S. storm system that left eight dead-Reuters By Gary Robertson-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
WAVERLY, Va. (Reuters) - Residents and rescue crews on Thursday combed through wreckage left by storms that lashed the United States from the Gulf Coast all the way up to Maine, killing at least eight people and injuring scores across several states, officials said.The National Weather Service said the storm system would continue to push northward into Canada on Thursday. Snow and gusty winds were forecast across part of the Appalachian Mountains, the Great Lakes and New England, it said.The storm system on Wednesday pounded the Carolinas and Virginia with high winds, hail and heavy rain, while flood warnings were in place from Maryland to Maine. The National Weather Service said there also had been 19 reports of tornadoes in Virginia, North Carolina and Florida on Wednesday.William Brown, 71, of Petersburg, Virginia, said he was knocked unconscious when a tree fell on his truck as he tried to escape the storm in Waverly, among the hardest-hit areas.When he came to, he found that the mobile home he had been next to was demolished. Two men and a two-year-old boy who had been in it were killed, their bodies found about 300 yards (274 meters) away."I am grateful to God," said Brown as he watched a crane try to lift the tree off his vehicle. "Every once in a while God lets us know who is in charge of things."Storm debris, downed trees and fallen power lines choked streets in the town of 2,300 people about 130 miles (210 km) south of Washington. Household goods were scattered across roads and lawns, and parts of houses were lying in an open field.A spokesman for the Virginia emergency management agency said National Guard crews had been deployed across the state to clear downed trees and open roads.In South Carolina, a 58-year-old man died on Wednesday when he was struck by a falling tree. Several tornadoes pummeled Louisiana and Mississippi on Tuesday, killing at least three people and injuring dozens.The emergency management spokesman said at least 40 people in Virginia had been injured. Up to 64 homes or businesses had been destroyed and about 180 had been damaged, he said.Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency to hasten delivery of disaster relief.High seas also grounded a fishing boat off New York's Rockaway Beach and capsized a U.S. Coast Guard boat that rushed to help on Thursday, but no one was injured.(Additional reporting by Harriet McLeod in Charleston, S.Carolina, writing by Ian Simpson; editing by Bill Trott, G Crosse)
Storm kills 4 in Virginia day after Gulf Coast tornadoes-Reuters By Gary Robertson-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
RICHMOND, Va. (Reuters) - Violent thunderstorms and tornadoes lashed the U.S. Southeast and mid-Atlantic region on Wednesday, killing at least four people in Virginia a day after twisters claimed three lives along the Gulf Coast, authorities said.The National Weather Service (NWS) warned of tornado activity along a line of storms stretching from Raleigh, North Carolina, north to parts of Virginia, Maryland and the Washington, D.C. area."We're swamped with tornadoes on the ground here," said Weather Service forecaster Brandon Dunston in Raleigh, North Carolina.Three people were confirmed dead in Waverly, Virginia, a town of some 2,300 residents about 45 miles southeast of Richmond, the state capital, where at least three structures sustained heavy damage in a mid-afternoon storm, state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said.State police later said the three victims - two men, aged 50 and 26, and a 2-year-old boy, were killed when their mobile home was demolished in the storm. Their bodies were all found about 300 yards (meters) from the trailer site, police said.The body of a fourth person, an adult male, was recovered late on Wednesday in the Evergreen community of Appomattox County, near Lynchburg, after a funnel cloud was reported over the area, police said.Two highways leading into Waverly, U.S. Route 460 and State Route 40, were left impassable by heavy debris from the storm, state police said. Authorities also were responding to widespread reports of local flooding.Virginia state police reported severe storm damage and numerous injuries in the riverfront Essex County town of Tappahannock, northeast of Richmond, and in Appomattox County.Richmond station WWBT-TV reported more than 20 people injured in Tappahannock, some possibly trapped in storm wreckage. And seven people were hurt, two seriously, in the Evergreen community, state police said.Tornado watches were posted through much of Virginia, and Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency to hasten delivery of disaster relief to stricken areas.A storm earlier on Wednesday destroyed a mobile home in Wayne County in central North Carolina and wind gusts of up to 53 miles per hour were reported at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport in South Carolina, the NWS said.Just north of Oxford, North Carolina, near the Virginia border, high winds damaged several houses, one of them blown "completely apart," Granville County Sheriff Brindell Wilkins said, adding that power outages were widespread. He said a number of people suffered minor injuries.Schools in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida canceled classes or shifted hours ahead of severe weather forecasts.Wednesday's severe weather came as rescue teams combed through debris left by several tornadoes that pummeled southern Louisiana and Mississippi on Tuesday, claiming at least three lives and injuring dozens more.Among the hardest hit was the Mississippi River hamlet of Convent, Louisiana, about 60 miles west of New Orleans, where a mobile home park was largely demolished. In neighboring Assumption Parish, more than 100 homes and businesses were damaged and several were destroyed, authorities said.Florida Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for two counties lashed by a tornado on Tuesday night. Several people were injured and about 70 homes damaged when a tornado ripped through Pensacola, Florida, local media reported.(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, N.C.; additional reporting by Harriet McLeod in Charleston, S.C. and Letitia Stein in Atlanta; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Tom Brown and Andrew Hay)
REVELATION 16:12-16
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THE TURKEY ATATURK DAM ON THE EUPHRATES CAN BE SHUT AND DRIED UP ALREADY BY TURKEY)
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.(ITS AT THIS TIME I BELIEVE WHEN AMERICA GETS NUKED BY RUSSIA ON THE WAY TO THE MIDEAST)
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(WORLDWIDE WAR)(TURKEY-IRAQ-SYRIA)(EUPHRATES RIVER CONSISTS OF 760 MILES IN TURKEY,440 MILES IN SYRIA AND 660 MILES IN IRAQ)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,(WORLDWIDE WAR) which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE-2 billion)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
China says 'really needs' South China Sea defenses in face of United States-Reuters By Ben Blanchard-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
BEIJING (Reuters) - China "really needs" its defenses in the South China Sea in the face of a militarization process being pushed by the United States, and can deploy whatever equipment it wants on its own soil, China's Defence Ministry said on Thursday.China and the United States have sparred repeatedly over the past week following reports China is deploying advanced missiles, fighters and radar equipment on islands in the South China Sea, especially on Woody Island in the Paracels.The United States has accused China of militarizing the disputed waters. Beijing, for its part, has been angered by "freedom of navigation" air and sea patrols the United States has conducted near islands China claims in the South China Sea.Those have included one by two B-52 strategic bombers in November and by a U.S. Navy destroyer that sailed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island in the Paracels last month."The United States is the real promoter of the militarization of the South China Sea," defense ministry spokesman Wu Qian told a regular monthly news briefing."China's construction of military facilities on the islands and reefs of the South China Sea is really needed."The Paracel Islands are China's "inherent territory", he added."It is China's legitimate right to deploy defense facilities within our own territory, no matter in the past or at present, no matter temporarily or permanently, no matter what equipment it is," Wu said.People are being "dazzled" by the endless hyping up by U.S. media of equipment China is deploying in the South China Sea, he added."One minute it's air defense missiles, then radars, then various types of aircraft - who knows what tomorrow will bring in terms of new equipment being hyped up."Even the Americans have said some of this equipment had been placed there in the past, Wu said.China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.This week, coinciding with a visit to Washington by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Admiral Harry Harris, head of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Command, said the U.S. would step up freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea and that China was trying to militarily dominate East Asia.Wu said the U.S. was employing double standards, asking why U.S. patrols in the South China Sea should not also be considered militarization.There has been speculation that China might declare an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the South China Sea, similar to one it declared over the East China Sea in late 2013, to anger from Japan and the United States.Asked if this was the case, Wu repeated the ministry's previous line that it had every right to do so, but the move would depend on the level of aerial threat China faced."There are all sorts of factors that need consideration," Wu said, without elaborating.In Hanoi, a Vietnamese official said the militarization of the South China Sea was a very serious issue."Irrespective of the opposition and concern voiced by Vietnam and the international community, China continues to take actions that not only violate Vietnam's sovereignty, accelerate militarization of the East Sea, but also threaten peace and stability," foreign media spokesman Le Hai Binh told a briefing, employing the name Vietnam uses for the South China Sea.Annual trade between the communist neighbors exceeds $60 billion, but anti-China sentiment is strong in Vietnam, where people are embittered over what many see as a history of Chinese bullying and territorial infringements in the South China Sea.(Additional reporting by Martin Petty in HANOI; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
US, China agree on UN North Korea resolution-AFP-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
Washington (AFP) - The United States and China have agreed on a UN resolution on North Korea's nuclear "provocations," the White House announced Wednesday, with diplomats saying it would include fresh sanctions and could go to a Security Council vote soon.Diplomats at UN headquarters in New York said Washington and Beijing, Pyongyang's main backer, had agreed on a draft resolution that contained "very tough measures."The United States circulated the draft text to the other three permanent council members -- Britain, France and Russia -- on Wednesday and was set to formally present it to the full 15-member council soon, said the diplomats, who asked not to be named.Negotiations on the draft resolution began six weeks ago after North Korea carried out its fourth nuclear test on January 6, claiming it had successfully developed a thermonuclear device.During a meeting at the White House Wednesday, US National Security Advisor Susan Rice and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi agreed "on the importance of a strong and united international response to North Korea's provocations, including through a UN Security Council resolution that goes beyond previous resolutions," said a statement from National Security Council spokesman Ned Price."They agreed that they will not accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state," added the statement.Underscoring the importance that the US placed on the negotiations, the statement said that President Barack Obama dropped in on the meeting.- 'Significantly substantive text' -The announcement came despite substantial and very public disagreement between the US and China on the best way to handle North Korea.China wants its reclusive neighbor to halt its nuclear weapons program and return to six-party international talks, but it has insisted that dialogue is the only way to curb Pyongyang's behavior.The biggest obstacle to talks, it argues, is Washington's stubborn insistence that it will not sit down with North Korea until the country takes steps towards denuclearization.Washington, on the other hand, insists that China, which is one of Pyongyang's biggest trading partners, should pressure the intransigent country into behaving better.Beijing, however, fears that too much pressure could trigger the collapse of the pariah regime, creating a political and humanitarian crisis on its border and removing a buffer against US troops currently stationed in South Korea."There were a significant number of blockage points" between the United States and China, a Security Council diplomat said, adding that now "there is agreement.""There is good progress on the resolution and we are hopeful that there will be an adoption in the coming days," the diplomat said.One diplomat described the draft resolution as a "significantly substantive text", while another said it contained "a large number of very tough measures," as well as names to be added to the sanctions black list.However, it stopped short of the strongest measures proposed by the United States, which had met with strong resistance from China.- Xi to attend nuclear summit -The council has imposed four sets of sanctions on North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006.After North Korea carried out a rocket launch on February 6, the Security Council renewed its pledge to impose new sanctions on Pyongyang.There are 20 North Korean entities and 12 individuals on the UN sanctions blacklist, which provides for an assets freeze and a global travel ban.But a UN panel of experts said this month that sanctions had failed to prevent Pyongyang from scaling up its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.After a decade of sanctions, the panel said, it found "no indications that the country intends to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.""There are serious questions about the efficacy of the current United Nations sanctions regime," the experts said in a confidential report.The White House statement added that Obama joined the meeting between Rice and Yi "to underscore his interest in building a durable, constructive, and productive US-China relationship."The US leader also said he looked forward to welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping to a March 31-April 1 nuclear security summit in Washington and "working together towards its success," the statement said.
Australia unveils 'massive' increase in defence spending-AFP By Glenda Kwek-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
Australia unveiled a massive new investment in the nation's defence capabilities on Thursday to address what Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called "high stakes" and "momentous times" in Asia.Citing increased defence spending around the region and potential flashpoints in the South China Sea and the Korean peninsula, he said the government was committed to combating the most challenging strategic environment "we have faced in peacetime"."These are momentous times. The stakes are high. And as the opportunities expand, so does the cost of losing them," Turnbull said in launching a new Defence White Paper in Canberra."A stronger Australia supports a safer Australia, a safer region and a safer world."The government said it would spend Aus$195 billion (US$139 billion) over the next decade, including a doubling of its submarine fleet to 24, three additional destroyers, nine new frigates and 12 offshore patrol boats.Maritime surveillance would also be boosted by the purchase of seven US-made MQ-4C Triton drones and eight P-8A Poseidon aircraft.New air defence weapons would boost the force's capabilities with 72 F-35s, known as Joint Strike Fighters, added from 2020, while the army's equipment and armoured vehicle fleet will be upgraded.Some 2,500 new military roles will be created to expand the total defence force to 62,400 personnel, with 900 jobs focused on improved cyber, intelligence and space security.The cash injection would take Australia's defence spending to two percent of GDP by 2020-21, three years earlier than previously outlined, Turnbull said. The 2016-17 defence budget is Aus$32.4 billion, with the additional investment boosting the annual funding to Aus$58.7 billion in 2025-26.-- Regional tensions -The announcement comes with Australia's close ally the United States pursuing a foreign policy "pivot" towards Asia, while Beijing flexes its muscles in the region through a military build-up in the contested South China Sea.At the same time, tensions are high on the Korean peninsula after North Korea's January nuclear test and a rocket launch this month.Turnbull said that in the next two decades, there would be increased military capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region, including "half the world's submarines and half the world's combat aircraft"."We would be concerned if the competition for influence and the growth in military capability were to lead to instability and threaten Australia's interests, whether in the South China Sea, the Korean peninsula or further afield," he added."We have a strong, vital, vested interest in the maintenance of peace, stability and respect for the rule of law. The decisions we take now will impact on our defence capability and outlook for decades to come."At a regular press briefing Thursday, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that China was "dissatisfied" with statements it found "negative" in the white paper about its South China Sea policy."In the hopes of relieving tensions and the possibility of arms race, we hope that relevant countries can give up joint drills and stop increasing their military presence in the region," she said.John Blaxland, a military expert at the Australian National University's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, said Canberra's boost was consistent with other nations, adding that the global average for defence spending was between 2.1-2.3 percent of GDP."In a world where the clouds are getting darker and where power dynamics are shifting and that shifting is creating rub points that could turn into spark points, the insurance policy which is the... Australian Defence Force is becoming less politically contentious," Blaxland told AFP.Three international bidders -- DCNS of France, Germany's TKMS and the Japanese government -- are competing for a submarine project worth some Aus$50 billion (US$36 billion) to replace Australia's current diesel and electric-powered Collins Class submarines.A decision on the winner is due this year.Australia is part of the US-led campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq, contributing military jets and special forces. It also started carrying out air strikes against IS targets in Syria last year.
Reductions in Pentagon's planned F-35 orders not significant: Lockheed-Reuters-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon's plans to defer some orders for F-35 fighter jets over the next five years should not have a significant impact on efforts to lower the jet's costs, said Jeff Babione, who manages the $391 billion program for Lockheed Martin Corp.Babione told reporters at the Air Force Association's annual Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando that the company and its key suppliers were continuing broad-based efforts to lower the cost of the new radar-evading warplane.Lockheed is continuing negotiations with the Pentagon's F-35 program office about a ninth batch of jets, Babione said. That deal would mean that the overall cost of the planes had been reduced by over 60 percent since the program's start in 2001.The U.S. Defense Department plans to spend $56.3 billion for 404 F-35 fighter jets over the next five years, deferring the purchase of about 24 jets until after fiscal 2021.Babione said Lockheed could save several billion dollars by starting a multiyear block buy agreement with international partners, but said details were still being worked with those countries and the United States.(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
How President Trump would govern-Matt Bai-National Political Columnist-February 25, 2016-YAHOONEWS
Cheer up, Republican leaders!-OK, it’s true, your grand old party, which not long ago stood for family values and dime-store flag pins, is now on the verge of being taken over by a man who once likened his risqué sex life to a tour in Vietnam. And yes, perhaps the 168 members of the Republican National Committee are about to find out how janitors get treated at the Trump Taj Mahal.But if Trump does become your nominee — and even I’m now persuaded, after months of being wrong, that it’s pretty likely — it doesn’t mean you’re destined for another Goldwater-type defeat in November.On the contrary, Trump would likely face Hillary Clinton, who would be an underwhelming candidate even if she weren’t swimming against a powerful historical current in seeking a third term for her party. And if Michael Bloomberg jumps in as an independent next month (because, you know, two New Yorkers and one billionaire aren’t enough), Clinton’s path only gets harder.No, the real question isn’t whether Republicans really have a chance to win with Trump, because they do. The question is what kind of president he would be. My guess is that President Trump wouldn’t actually be the reactionary, often venomous leader we’ve seen rallying the faithful these last few months.He might well turn out to be something worse.Let’s first dispense with the idea that Trump, should he continue his long march to the nomination unimpeded, will bring about the end times for politics as we’ve known it. I doubt that.Trump will never be an orthodox candidate (nor would any sane person look at the results thus far and conclude he should be), but he’s shrewd enough to understand that general election campaigns aren’t the same thing as raucous primaries and that only a handful of people really know how to wage them. By convention time, you can bet he’ll have added a coterie of trusted hands to his campaign, and you’ll see pictures of him with Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan on the Capitol steps, projecting the grim sobriety of an Amish deacon.Trump can play the game as well as anyone. He has no reason to overturn the board.But what if he were actually inaugurated? Does he really have a governing philosophy, and what can we extract from it? As Trump’s rivals never tire of pointing out (usually just before they flame out and quit the race), the full list of issues on which he’s radically changed course over the years is long. Thoughtful politicians evolve, of course, and we should applaud them for it, but this is less like an evolution than a brain transplant conducted by aliens.Here’s a sampling. Trump supported single-payer health care; now he wants government out of the business altogether. He called for a steep tax on the wealthy; now he would cut so many taxes, you just wouldn’t believe. He was pro-choice and pro-gun-regulation; now he’s neither. He was an independent leaning toward Democrats; now he’s a Republican leaning toward Know-Nothings.I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that Trump used to be a huge proponent of losing but has since come to embrace winning in all its myriad forms.But it’s not right to say that Trump has no discernible ideology. That’s true only in the binary context of our politics, where we tend to see all governing constructs through the prism of left versus right.Trump has an ideology, and it’s all about ratings. The one constant, through his careers as a celebrity developer and then a reality TV star and now as a politician, is that he measures his own success by sheer affirmation.Trump is, above all else, a supremely gifted entertainer, and like all entertainers, he must have your adoration, or at least your attention. He goes where the crowd is, and he finds it hard to respect anyone who doesn’t.This is why he can’t get through a single debate without reciting his poll numbers and mocking his opponents for theirs. Polls, Nielsen numbers, “most wealthy” lists, building names — external validation, in whatever form, is his life’s urgent work.And it’s why I suspect that, for all his nativist and anti-government rhetoric, Trump is no more of a right-wing culture crusader than I am an astronaut. He is, as I’ve written before, an emotional extremist, a reckless provocateur who wants to make you feel pride or love or revulsion — whatever it is, as long as you feel something visceral.President Trump could just as easily end up a liberal president as a conservative one, an interventionist or a peacemaker, depending on where the applause was leading him. He could just as easily fill Justice Scalia’s seat on the court with Judge Judy as with Ken Starr, if that would please the masses.You might take solace in the idea that Trump isn’t at heart a doctrinaire, anti-government nationalist. You might intuit in that a certain kind of pragmatism. You shouldn’t.The system, after all, is built to repel extreme doctrines. You can’t just walk into Washington and enact some militant, right-wing agenda, or a left-wing socialist one. The voters won’t follow an ideological zealot too far down that path before reversing course. (And no, before you start with me, Obama’s health care plan isn’t close to socialism — just ask Bernie Sanders.)-But a president who is a vehicle for the mob of the moment, no matter which direction it’s coming from, is something else entirely. A president who wakes up every morning asking if his latest speech beat “The Big Bang Theory,” or if it made him more popular than his adversaries in the overnight tracking poll, poses a different kind of peril. A president like that will say anything — do anything — to feel the love.All presidents are asked, at moments they can’t foresee, to act as a bulwark against what John Adams called the “tyranny of the majority.” (Had he lived in the social media age, Adams might have worried more about the tyranny of the loud.) Where George W. Bush sought to protect Muslim Americans from an outpouring of anger, Trump has already indulged it. Where Barack Obama moved cautiously to ease the racial tensions simmering in America’s cities, Trump might consciously inflame them.What worries me about Trump isn’t that he’s not capable of making wise decisions, but rather that his core ideology prevents him from telling his audience anything that isn’t immediately and emotionally satisfying. Which is pretty much the definition of a demagogue.All is not yet lost, Republicans. Trump could still turn out to be your savior.But just remember: If so, he’ll be your responsibility, too.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS-10 WORLD REGIONS/TRADE BLOCS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS-10 WORLD DIVISION WORLD GOVERNMENT) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(THE EU (EUROPEAN UNION) TAKES OVER IRAQ WHICH HAS SPLIT INTO 3-SUNNI-KURD-SHIA PARTS-AND THE REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE IS BROUGHT BACK TOGETHER-THE TWO LEGS OF DANIEL WESTERN LEG AND THE ISLAMIC LEG COMBINED AS 1)
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.
UK registers EU deal at UN-By EUOBSERVER-feb 25,16
Today, 09:12-Britain has registered at the UN last week's agreement for a new settlement with the EU. The move "puts beyond doubt the fact that the deal the prime minister agreed is legally binding and irreversible in international law", Matthew Rycroft, Britain's UN ambassador, said on Wednesday.
French court approves evacuation of Calais migrant camp-By EUOBSERVER-feb 25,16
Today, 17:17-The Lille administrative tribunal authorised Thursday the evacuation of a part of the Calais camp where around 4,000 migrants live. In response to the imminent evacuation, justified by authorities for sanitary reasons, Belgium reintroduced checks on its French border earlier this week to deter migrants from entering the country.
EU Parliament calls for arms embargo on Saudi Arabia-By EUOBSERVER-feb 25,16
Today, 17:14-The European Parliament approved a non-binding resolution Thursday, by 359 votes to 212, asking the EU Commission to organise an arms embargo against Saudi Arabia over its military involvement in Yemen. MEPs noted that the UK, Spain, France, Italy and Germany are selling arms to the Saudis.
Greek PM threatens to block EU decisions By Eszter Zalan-feb 25,16-euobserver
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:24-Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras has said he will block EU decisions at the next summit if Greece is left alone to deal with the migration crisis.He told parliament on Wednesday (24 February) he would not let Greece be turned into a "warehouse of souls"."Greece will no longer agree to any deal if the burdens and responsibilities are not shared proportionally," he said.Greece was not invited to a meeting on Wednesday in which Austria and other countries along the Western Balkan migration route agreed to tighten border controls.Austria last week announced a daily cap on the numbers of people allowed to apply for asylum or travel through to apply elsewhere, prompting some Balkan countries to introduce restrictions.As a result, migrants have been getting stranded in Greece, the main entry point into Europe.Tsipras said Austria's behaviour was "unacceptable".He said it was "shameful" that some countries were refusing to implement joint EU agreements and were instead acting unilaterally.Greece faces 'chaos'-Tsipras also said he would consult other parties to come to a joint stance ahead of the next EU summit focused on migration on 7 March."We need a larger political consensus on this issue," he told MPs, adding: "We will not allow our country to turn into a warehouse of souls, with Europe continuing to function as if nothing is happening."Tsipras made a similar threat at a summit in February to refuse his support for any agreement unless others pledge to keep borders open."We will not tolerate that a number of countries will be building fences and walls at the borders without accepting even a single refugee," Tsipras said, adding that his country would demand the mandatory participation of EU countries in the relocation of refugees.Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban announced on Wednesday that he would hold a referendum on mandatory relocation, which his government opposes.A day earlier, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi warned that border restrictions along the Balkan route go against international and European rules.“We are worried that these closings are happening and that there are no corresponding openings through relocation and resettlement,” Grandi said, adding that there was a risk of “chaos and confusion” in Greece.-’We want to go’-Earlier on Wednesday Tsipras spoke to German chancellor Angela Merkel on the phone and expressed anger over some EU countries failing to stick to common solutions.They agreed to intensify efforts to implement EU decisions, and begin Nato operations in the Aegean Sea immediately to counter smuggling networks.Meanwhile in Greece migrants with young children blocked a Greek motorway on Wednesday along the route to Macedonia, demanding to be allowed to travel further north.Families chanted "we want to go" after police stopped their convoy at Tempe in central Greece, Reuters reported.Hundreds are camping out at petrol stations and motels along the route from Athens to Macedonia, where authorities are letting 100 people through at a time.
Ireland goes to polls amid post-crisis uncertainty By Shona Murray-feb 25,16-euobserver
Dublin, Today, 09:28-Ireland goes to the polls on Friday (26 February) in the country’s first general election since completing the €85 billion EU-IMF bailout progamme it received in late 2010. Amid doubts about the true state of Irish society, the result is proving hard to call.Those dark and traumatic days the Irish want to leave behind, and on paper, economic projections for the Irish state say they will able to do just that.According to the Irish Central Bank, a “convincing recovery” is under way with the bank projecting growth of close to 5 percent for 2016, albeit with significant risks rising from the turbulence in international stock markets.But in practice, and for candidates and voters alike, the question is whether the so-called recovery is being distributed fairly amongst everyone. In the run up to Friday’s vote, the Irish public has had plenty to think about when considering this question.The coalition in power, led by prime minister Enda Kenny's Fine Gael, a centre-right party supported by its junior partner, Labour, claims it should be re-elected based on its apparent economic successes of the last 5 years, and that a vote for them is a vote to “keep the recovery going”.On the face of it, the latest unemployment figures from January, 8.8 percent, support this line and show a sizeable shift from peak unemployment of 15.2 percent recorded in January 2012 after the government took power.The coalition also boasts a net job creation figure of 135,000 jobs during its tenure, in contrast to a low in 2009 when the number of people working in the state fell by 160,000 in one year alone.Masking the true nature of the unemployment problem, however, are the mass emigration figures for young, well-educated members of the workforce, who moved to more auspicious economies in Canada, Australia, the US as well as London.During peak emigration in 2013, nearly 1,000 Irish people left every week according to The Central Statistics Office; over 40,000 of these were people aged 24-44. In addition, the coalition's job creation figures include thousands of part-time jobs and state-sponsored internship schemes.-Hung parliament-The timing of this year’s election is also significant. It chimes with the centenary of the 1916 ‘Easter Rising’ when Republican forces led a rebellion against the British occupation which eventually led to the creation of the Irish State in 1922.The next Taoiseach (prime minister) of Ireland will lead the country in commemoration of the 1916 Rising and thereby cast themselves in an honourable light in Irish history.The greatest threat to the current coalition lies not only with a resurgent Fianna Fail – the party in power for 12 years prior to the country’s economic collapse and whose recent legacy in politics remains that of being at the helm during the destruction of the once revered Celtic Tiger economy -, but also a coalition of left-wing parties including Sinn Fein – the former political wing of the IRA.This bulky caucus includes an alliance of groups such as the AAA (Anti-Austerity Alliance) and the PBP (People before Profit), whose raison d'etre has been to oppose the austerity measures imposed on consecutive budgets in conjunction with the troika during Ireland’s bailout.Sinn Fein is now on over 15 percent of the vote according to the results of the last 'Red C' opinion poll on the campaign issued on Tuesday (23 February). The AAA/PBP are showing at just over 5 percent.-Popularity at its lowest-Analysing the rest of the results, many commentators see only a hung parliament on the horizon. It shows the Labour Party now on 7 percent of the vote – a major fall from grace considering it entered government on its highest ever share, 19.2 per cent with a record 37 seats.Labour says it is unfairly receiving the majority of the blame for some of the unpopular measures the government took during straitened economic times, and says its finest hour - demanding a referendum which successfully delivered equal marriage rights for LGBT people as part of its programme for government - would never have happened had it not been for their influence.Fine Gael’s popularity has also fallen; it is currently on 30 percent after a high of 36 when it entered government with 76 seats. Fianna Fail has recovered hugely since its almost complete collapse in the last election of 2011 in which it lost 58 seats, dropping from 78 to 20 and falling to a meagre 17 percent of the vote - the lowest in their history by a considerable distance.-Old ghosts-In the last three weeks, voters have been subjected to three largely underwhelming leaders’ debates and a particularly long-lead up time in anticipation of the polling date. Alongside confusing economic forecasting and typical ‘auction politics’ emanating from all parties, it’s led to an overriding sense of election fatigue.The only matter to shake the discussion towards less mundane issues has been the impact of two major gangland assassinations in the space of three days, leading at one point for calls by leader of the right-wing ‘Renua Ireland’ party (2 percent) Lucinda Creighton to call for the campaign to be suspended.The first of the brutal attacks was particularly audacious and chilling. It occurred during broad daylight when up to six men, most of who were wearing paramilitary clothes and armed with AK-47’s, the other dressed as a woman and wearing a wig, burst into a conference room in a Dublin hotel and shot their target, a well-known, 34-year old gangland figure, David Byrne. They wounded two others in the process.The second incident was an expected retaliatory killing of the brother of the rival gang member three days later. The killings and the ostentatious and insolent nature of the funeral of David Byrne sparked widespread angst and fury at the lack of control the coalition appeared to have on the social aspects of being in government, particularly tackling organised crime.It also highlighted the harmful impact of austerity on society and communities, given how police resources had been significantly reduced during the economic crash, with a ban on the recruitment of new members of the force and the closure of the police training centre (just recently reopened) resulting in a depletion of morale in the force, which was at a “dangerously low” level according to the AGSI – the Irish police force representatives organisation.This mood shift was bad for all parties, drawing public opinion into a deeper air of despair towards politics as usual, in particular for Sinn Fein, as the nature of the killings was a stark reminder of the days of incorrigible para-militarism, with which Sinn Fein’s roots are heavily entangled.
COUNTRIES WITH ISRAEL AND THE ENEMIES OF THE WEST
EZEKIEL 38:10-19
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,(RUSSIA,ARAB,MUSLIMS) I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; 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, 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.
13 Sheba, and Dedan,(SAUDIA ARABIA)(JORDAN) and the merchants of Tarshish,(ENGLAND) with all the young lions thereof,(USA,CANADA,AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND,EU,ENGLAND,ENGLISH SPEAKING shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
PSALMS 83:3-7 (COUNTRIES AGAINST ISRAEL)(EXCEPT JORDAN)
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)
ISRAEL-WEST ENEMIES EZEK 38:4-6,15-19
4 And I (GOD) 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)
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts,(RUSSIA-ARAB/MUSLIMS) thou, and many people with thee,(AFRICAN ISLAMIC COUNTRIES) all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
DANIEL 11:44 (CHINA WITH RUSSIA-MUSLIMS)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
EZEKIEL 39:1-6 ISRAELS ENEMIES DESTROYED
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.
CIA chief: US and Russian spies still working closely By Andrew Rettman-feb 25,16-euobserver
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:29-Russian leader Vladimir Putin is “very aggressive” toward the West, US spy chief John Brennan has said, but insisted that anti-terrorism cooperation with Russia was highly “active”.Speaking to National Public Radio on Wednesday (24 February), the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said Putin believed Russia was a “superpower" that needed to have influence "not just in the near abroad, which involves those areas that border Russia, but far beyond it".He described Putin’s actions in Ukraine and in Syria as “very assertive, very aggressive”.“He sees that area [Ukraine] as almost a zero-sum game with the West. And I think he was concerned about which way Ukraine was leaning. And it clearly was leaning westward. That's why he took the actions that he did,” he said.He indicated that Russia’s hybrid war in east Ukraine was not going according to plan, however.“He [Putin] has found that he's in a bit of a quandary now inside of Ukraine, in terms of realising his objectives,” Brennan said.Brennan said Putin’s Syria campaign was designed “to protect his interests with a client state”.“Russia has had a relationship with the government in Damascus for the past 50 years, has invested a lot of money, and a lot of military support,” he said.But he said Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s “unspeakable acts of violence” against the Syrian people meant that he had “lost his eligibility, his legitimacy, to rule Syria, and to be part of Syria's future”.“I think his departure is inevitable,” he said.-Intelligence ‘chill’-Brennan said the geopolitical confrontation with Russia had caused a “chill … even in intelligence channels”.But he said the CIA had continued to work closely with Russian services to stop terrorists killing US and Russian citizens.Recalling the Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia last year, he said: “We worked very closely with them to try to prevent terrorist attacks, and very successfully.”He described it as a “very factual, informative exchange”.“If we get information about threats to Russian citizens or diplomats, we will share it with the Russians. And they do the same with us,” he said.He said Russia faced the same threat from “foreign fighters” as the West. “There are several thousand Russian citizens that have made their way into Syria and Iraq to support these forces of terrorism,” he said.He said Islamic State (IS) was now bigger than al-Qaeda.He said IS was “pursuing a strategy of global expansion”, with recruitment in places as far afield as Afghanistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Tunisia.But he warned that al-Qaeda remained “very capable” in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, and Yemen.-’No safe harbour’-Brennan spoke amid a US debate on whether law enforcement bodies should get access to the iPhone of one of the gunmen in the San Bernardino terrorist attack in December.The US debate mirrors one in Europe on how to protect EU companies’ data and EU nationals’ privacy while sharing information with US security services.Brennan said the digital sphere was “sort of a unique environment”.But he said that, given due judicial oversight, the CIA or sister agencies should have access to suspects’ communications.The EU court, last year, struck down the so called Safe Harbour deal on EU-US data exchange over US snooping concerns.Brennan said: “I don't think … that there should be a place where terrorists or criminals, or whomever is trying to violate the law, would have total safe harbour.”-Targeted assassination-Brennan also justified a recent US air strike in Libya, which, the US says, killed up to 40 IS militants.He said “the United States, and our partners and allies, will take action when we believe it is necessary” to prevent terrorist attacks, such as the “bloody massacre on the beaches of Tunisia” last year.The radio host asked him whether he thought the Libya targets might have been watching IS propaganda, or “martyrdom videos”, when the bombs hit.“Well, I think some of the individuals who were there didn't realise they might become a martyr so quickly,” Brennan said.
Austria criticises Germany on migrants, piles 'pressure' on EU By Eszter Zalan-euobserver
BRUSSELS, 24. Feb, 21:15-Austria has said Germany should stop sending mixed messages on migration at a meeting with Western Balkan states in Vienna on Wednesday (24 February)."Germany has to decide what signals Germany wants to send," Austrian interior minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner told press after talks with her counterparts from Western Balkan countries, where most migrants cross on their way from Greece to Germany."Currently they [Germany] are sending the following signals: that they are allowing Greece to agree to the open-door policy, and on the other hand they are demanding that Austria stop all those who want to travel to Germany," she said, according to the Reuters news agency."One must choose one of those strategies," she said.“We have to reduce the influx now. This is a question of survival for the EU,” she added."There is still no European solution in sight. For that reason it is necessary for us to take national measures," Austrian foreign minister Sebastian Kurz said earlier in the day.Neither Germany, which accepted over 1 million migrants last year, nor Greece, their main entry point into Europe, were invited to the meeting.The Vienna talks were criticised by both countries.But leaders in the states on the Balkan migration route called for the need to step up border restrictions in the absence of a common European solution.Mikl-Leitner noted that part of the reason for the Vienna event was also to generate “pressure” for a joint European approach.“A partnership with Balkan countries is not only in the interest of these countries but also of the EU. We want to generate pressure and urgency," she was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.Foreign and interior ministers from Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia were present in Vienna.In their joint statement, the countries said that migration on the Western Balkan route needed to be reduced substantially because they were overwhelmed.In a nod to international law, they highlighted the need to protect those who are in genuine need of asylum.But they said that refugees should be settled closest to their home countries and should not be allowed to chose their destination within Europe.They also said that accommodating migrants should be a shared European burden.They mentioned as an example that Slovakia is helping Austria by accommodating 500 asylum seekers.The initiative comes despite the fact Slovakia has filed a court challenge against a mandatory EU plan to relocate 120,000 people across Europe.In a dig at Greece, the Vienna statement also stressed the need to "get back to a situation where all members of the Schengen area apply fully the Schengen Borders Code and refuse entry at external borders to third country nationals who do not satisfy the entry conditions or who have not made an asylum application despite having had the opportunity".The Schengen area is the EU’s passport-free travel zone.Vienna signatories also urged for more communication efforts in the home countries of economic migrants to dissuade them from leaving.The Vienna event came shortly before EU justice and home affairs ministers meet in Brussels on Thursday.The meeting will also be preceded by a ministerial breakfast between Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia and Greece.Their discussion will feed into the meeting of the 28 ministers later in the day.Austria has been criticised for breaking ranks with common EU policies by imposing a unilateral cap on asylum applications.But some EU diplomats are quietly sympathetic to its plight."What Austria is doing is common sense, the so far agreed European solutions don't work. Patience and capacity has run out," an EU source said.
Saudi jets to arrive in Turkey to strike IS: Ankara-AFP-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
Ankara (AFP) - Saudi jets are due to arrive at a Turkish base this week take part in the air campaign against Islamic State jihadists in Syria, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday."We are expecting the planes to arrive today or tomorrow (Friday)," Cavusoglu told the state-run Anatolia news agency, adding that Saudi equipment and personnel had already arrived on the ground.The planes are to be stationed at the Incirlik base, which is already hosting US, British and French war planes taking part in the strikes against IS fighters in Syria.Private NTV television said four Saudi F-15 jets would arrive at Incirlik on Friday. It said that 30 ground personnel and equipment had already arrived aboard C-130 Hercules military transport planes on Tuesday.Saudi Arabia and Turkey both see the ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as essential for ending Syria's five-year civil war and are bitterly critical of Iran and Russia's support of the Syrian regime.The two overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim powers have in recent months moved to considerably tighten relations that had been damaged by Riyadh's role in the 2013 ousting of Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, a close ally of Ankara.Ankara has said it is in favour of a ground operation in Syria, but only if it is conducted in coordination with Saudi Arabia and other Western and Gulf members of the anti-IS coalition."We have since the beginning argued for the necessity of ground operations and all kinds of strategic moves to be carried out in addition to the air campaign," Cavusoglu said.
Syrian army retakes key town on road to Aleppo from IS-AFP-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
Beirut (AFP) - The Syrian army retook a strategic town from the Islamic State group on Thursday, paving the way for the reopening of its sole supply route to main northern city Aleppo.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said troops still needed to clear the jihadists from hills overlooking the key highway before it could be fully secured.The road through the town of Khanasser is the sole link between government-held areas in and around Aleppo and those in the rest of the country.State news agency SANA hailed its recapture just two days after its fall to the jihadists.The army's counteroffensive was backed by Russian air strikes which killed 20 IS fighters, said the Observatory, a Britain-based monitoring group.It is not the first time that the government's supply route to Aleppo has been cut. Rebels severed it in 2013 and IS also did so last year before being pushed back.The new fighting for the road comes with the army on the offensive north and west of Aleppo, where rebel forces in the east of the city are almost completely surrounded.That offensive is supposed to come to an end when a Russian and US-brokered ceasefire goes into effect at 2200 GMT on Friday.But the war against IS will go on as the group is specifically excluded from the planned truce, as is Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front.Turkey has pushed for the exclusion too of the main Syrian Kurdish militia, the People's Protection Units (YPG), which has also seized territory from rebels northwest of Aleppo in recent weeks.Turkish artillery shelled YPG-held territory in Aleppo province throughout Wednesday night, the Observatory said, without immediately reporting any casualties.The renewed bombardment came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday again lashed out at Western policy towards the YPG, charging that the militia were a "terror group" just like IS and Al-Qaeda.To the anger of Ankara, which regards the YPG as a branch of outlawed Turkish rebel group the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Washington has worked closely with what it regards as the most effective fighting force against IS in Syria.
DRUG PUSHERS AND ADDICTS
1 PET 5:8
8 Be sober,(NOT DRUGED UP OR ALCOHOLICED) be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
REVELATION 18:23
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries (DRUGS) were all nations deceived.
REVELATION 9:21
21 Neither repented they of their murders,(KILLING) nor of their sorceries (DRUG ADDICTS AND DRUG PUSHERS), nor of their fornication,(SEX OUTSIDE MARRIAGE OR PROSTITUTION FOR MONEY) nor of their thefts.(STEALING)
Emergency trips soar in Colorado after marijuana legalized-AFP-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
Miami (AFP) - People visiting Colorado, one of four US states where marijuana is legal, are heading to the emergency room in soaring numbers after smoking or consuming too much weed, researchers said Wednesday.Twice as many out-of-state visitors wound up in the emergency room for marijuana-related symptoms in 2014 -- the year Colorado legalized retail sales of the drug -- compared to two years earlier, said the report in the New England Journal of Medicine.Researchers recorded 163 marijuana cases per 10,000 visits by people from out-of-state in 2014, up from 78 per 10,000 visits in 2012.More Colorado residents went to the emergency room for pot-related reasons too, but the rise was far smaller -- just 44 percent, or 70 per 10,000 in 2012 compared to 101 two years later.The study was based on visits for marijuana-related symptoms at the emergency department of UCHealth's University of Colorado Hospital."Anecdotally, we noticed that most out-of-towners were in Colorado for other reasons, such as visiting friends or on business," said lead author Howard Kim, an emergency medicine physician at Northwestern Medicine."They ended up in the ER because they decided to try some marijuana," added Kim, who began the study when he was a resident at the University of Colorado School of Medicine."This may indicate that out-of-state visitors are unprepared for the adverse effects of marijuana use."Side effects of cannabis can include anxiety, hallucinations, high blood pressure, heart palpitations, stomach pain and vomiting.Eating too much edible marijuana products, like cookies or brownies, can also lead to adverse effects."People eating marijuana products often don't feel any effect immediately, leading them to eat another edible," Kim said."Then they've ingested multiple products, so when the effect finally kicks in, it is much stronger."Most of the cases were mild. Patients were given "supportive care and went home after a few hours, but some were admitted for further observation," the study said.Researchers said other states in which recreational marijuana is legal -- including Alaska, Oregon and Washington -- may be experiencing similar spikes in emergency room visits.Senior author Andrew Monte, assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, urged other states considering legalization to adopt pre-emptive public health education campaigns.
DISEASES
REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
There is 'promising pathway' for vaccine against Zika: Obama-Reuters-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama expressed optimism on Thursday about the possibilities for a vaccine against Zika, a virus he said turned out to be not especially complicated."We just had a meeting about Zika, where we actually think there's a promising pathway for diagnostics and vaccines on this," Obama said during a panel discussion about precision medicine. "It’s not a real complicated virus, apparently."(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Susan Heavey)
1/3RD OF SHIPS DESTROYED
REVELATION 8:8-9
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
Rough waters strand fishing vessel, capsize rescue boat off New York-Reuters By Barbara Goldberg-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rough seas and dense fog stranded a 76-foot commercial fishing vessel off New York's Rockaway Beach, about 13 miles southeast of downtown Manhattan, and capsized a U.S. Coast Guard boat that rushed to help on Thursday, but no one was injured, a U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman said.All seven crew members of the Carolina Queen 3 were rescued in baskets dangling from two helicopters, assisted by a rescue swimmer in the water, said U.S. Coast Guard Operations Specialist First Class Morgan Gallapis.The crew of the scallop fishing boat from New York called for help at 2 a.m. local time, when it got stuck in shallow waters amid six-foot seas and heavy fog at the entrance to East Rockaway Inlet, in the Queens Borough of New York."They ran aground and their vessel started to take on water, they feared it would capsize," Gallapis said.A Coast Guard fleet rushed to assist, including a 25-foot vessel which capsized in the rough seas, forcing four crew members to swim about 200 yards back to Jones Beach, where they are stationed on New York's Long Island. The rescue boat was about a quarter of a mile from the fishing vessel when it capsized."We are still in the process of salvaging both vessels," Gallapis said. There were no injuries or serious medical conditions reported, she said.The incident was blamed on a storm system that moved through the area overnight with high winds and low visibility, said Gallapis, who noted there were no violations issued."It’s hard to control Mother Nature," Gallapis said.(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Bill Rigby)
REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6 For they(False World Church and Dictator) have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
Michigan Senate approves $30 million to help pay Flint water bills-Reuters-February 23, 2016 1:14 PM-YAHOONEWS
(Reuters) - Residents of Flint, Michigan, one of the poorest cities in the United States, will get $30 million to help pay their water bills after a lead contamination crisis, under a bill unanimously approved by the Michigan Senate on Tuesday.Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, plans to sign the bill, which had been passed unanimously by the state's House last week."The safety and well-being of Flint families remains our top priority," said Snyder, whose administration has faced harsh criticism for its response to the contamination crisis in the city of about 100,000 residents.As a cost-cutting measure in 2014, Flint switched its water system from Detroit to a local river. The more corrosive water from the river leached lead from water system pipes, leading to unacceptably high levels of lead in hundreds of homes.The funding would provide Flint residents credits to cover residential water bills from April 2014 through this April or until the water is clean, Snyder's spokeswoman Laura Biehl said.Flint residents have been using bottled, rather than tap, water because of the lead contamination. Snyder said the state will work with city leaders on how the credits are applied.Children are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning, which could cause developmental problems.The contamination, which could have been prevented with anti-corrosion treatment of the water, has become a political scandal as emails and documents have emerged showing that Michigan officials tried to play down and cover up the problem for months.Snyder said in a statement that the newly approved bill would bring total emergency state funding for Flint to $70 million.Snyder has been called to testify on the matter before a U.S. congressional committee next month. The issue has also become a focus of the U.S. presidential campaign.Also on Tuesday, Michigan Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof and House Speaker Kevin Cotter, both Republicans, announced the creation of a joint committee to review the Flint water crisis.The committee will hear testimony on mistakes that led to this situation and explore ways to prevent such a disaster in the future, the Michigan Legislature said in a statement.(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Richard Chang)
MIGRATING BIRDS IN ISRAEL EATS HUMANS FLESH FOR COMING AGAINST ISRAEL-JERUSALEM
EZEKIEL 39:17-21
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, 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 RUSSIAN/ISLAMIC HORDES AGAINST ISRAEL)
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 shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
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 will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
REVELATION 19:17-18
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;(AGAINST ALL NATIONS ARMIES THAT COME AGAINST JERUSALEM AND ISRAEL)
18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
Thirteen bald eagles found dead in Maryland-Reuters-February 22, 2016 3:59 PM-YAHOONEWS
(Reuters) - Authorities are investigating the deaths of 13 bald eagles discovered on a Maryland farm in the state's largest die-off of the national bird in 30 years, officials said on Monday.Maryland Natural Resources police received a call on Saturday from a man reporting four dead eagles near Federalsburg in the eastern part of the state, said spokeswoman Candy Thomson. Officers arrived and discovered nine more dead birds nearby.Catherine Hibbard, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is investigating the deaths, said the cause of death was unknown pending a medical examination.The maximum fine for harming a bald eagle is $100,000 and up to one year in prison, she said.The bald eagle, which almost disappeared from the United States decades ago, was removed from the federal endangered species list in August 2007 after the banning of the pesticide DDT and habitat protection led to its recovery, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.The bald eagle is a symbol of the federal government and is featured in the presidential seal and on U.S. currency. The bird is federally protected.Thomson said the 13 birds represented Maryland's largest bald eagle die-off in 30 years.(Reporting by John Clarke in Washington; Editing by Sandra Maler)
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS ETC) and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
Rescue crews, residents comb wreckage from U.S. storm system that left eight dead-Reuters By Gary Robertson-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
WAVERLY, Va. (Reuters) - Residents and rescue crews on Thursday combed through wreckage left by storms that lashed the United States from the Gulf Coast all the way up to Maine, killing at least eight people and injuring scores across several states, officials said.The National Weather Service said the storm system would continue to push northward into Canada on Thursday. Snow and gusty winds were forecast across part of the Appalachian Mountains, the Great Lakes and New England, it said.The storm system on Wednesday pounded the Carolinas and Virginia with high winds, hail and heavy rain, while flood warnings were in place from Maryland to Maine. The National Weather Service said there also had been 19 reports of tornadoes in Virginia, North Carolina and Florida on Wednesday.William Brown, 71, of Petersburg, Virginia, said he was knocked unconscious when a tree fell on his truck as he tried to escape the storm in Waverly, among the hardest-hit areas.When he came to, he found that the mobile home he had been next to was demolished. Two men and a two-year-old boy who had been in it were killed, their bodies found about 300 yards (274 meters) away."I am grateful to God," said Brown as he watched a crane try to lift the tree off his vehicle. "Every once in a while God lets us know who is in charge of things."Storm debris, downed trees and fallen power lines choked streets in the town of 2,300 people about 130 miles (210 km) south of Washington. Household goods were scattered across roads and lawns, and parts of houses were lying in an open field.A spokesman for the Virginia emergency management agency said National Guard crews had been deployed across the state to clear downed trees and open roads.In South Carolina, a 58-year-old man died on Wednesday when he was struck by a falling tree. Several tornadoes pummeled Louisiana and Mississippi on Tuesday, killing at least three people and injuring dozens.The emergency management spokesman said at least 40 people in Virginia had been injured. Up to 64 homes or businesses had been destroyed and about 180 had been damaged, he said.Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency to hasten delivery of disaster relief.High seas also grounded a fishing boat off New York's Rockaway Beach and capsized a U.S. Coast Guard boat that rushed to help on Thursday, but no one was injured.(Additional reporting by Harriet McLeod in Charleston, S.Carolina, writing by Ian Simpson; editing by Bill Trott, G Crosse)
Storm kills 4 in Virginia day after Gulf Coast tornadoes-Reuters By Gary Robertson-FEB 25,16-YAHOONEWS
RICHMOND, Va. (Reuters) - Violent thunderstorms and tornadoes lashed the U.S. Southeast and mid-Atlantic region on Wednesday, killing at least four people in Virginia a day after twisters claimed three lives along the Gulf Coast, authorities said.The National Weather Service (NWS) warned of tornado activity along a line of storms stretching from Raleigh, North Carolina, north to parts of Virginia, Maryland and the Washington, D.C. area."We're swamped with tornadoes on the ground here," said Weather Service forecaster Brandon Dunston in Raleigh, North Carolina.Three people were confirmed dead in Waverly, Virginia, a town of some 2,300 residents about 45 miles southeast of Richmond, the state capital, where at least three structures sustained heavy damage in a mid-afternoon storm, state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said.State police later said the three victims - two men, aged 50 and 26, and a 2-year-old boy, were killed when their mobile home was demolished in the storm. Their bodies were all found about 300 yards (meters) from the trailer site, police said.The body of a fourth person, an adult male, was recovered late on Wednesday in the Evergreen community of Appomattox County, near Lynchburg, after a funnel cloud was reported over the area, police said.Two highways leading into Waverly, U.S. Route 460 and State Route 40, were left impassable by heavy debris from the storm, state police said. Authorities also were responding to widespread reports of local flooding.Virginia state police reported severe storm damage and numerous injuries in the riverfront Essex County town of Tappahannock, northeast of Richmond, and in Appomattox County.Richmond station WWBT-TV reported more than 20 people injured in Tappahannock, some possibly trapped in storm wreckage. And seven people were hurt, two seriously, in the Evergreen community, state police said.Tornado watches were posted through much of Virginia, and Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency to hasten delivery of disaster relief to stricken areas.A storm earlier on Wednesday destroyed a mobile home in Wayne County in central North Carolina and wind gusts of up to 53 miles per hour were reported at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport in South Carolina, the NWS said.Just north of Oxford, North Carolina, near the Virginia border, high winds damaged several houses, one of them blown "completely apart," Granville County Sheriff Brindell Wilkins said, adding that power outages were widespread. He said a number of people suffered minor injuries.Schools in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida canceled classes or shifted hours ahead of severe weather forecasts.Wednesday's severe weather came as rescue teams combed through debris left by several tornadoes that pummeled southern Louisiana and Mississippi on Tuesday, claiming at least three lives and injuring dozens more.Among the hardest hit was the Mississippi River hamlet of Convent, Louisiana, about 60 miles west of New Orleans, where a mobile home park was largely demolished. In neighboring Assumption Parish, more than 100 homes and businesses were damaged and several were destroyed, authorities said.Florida Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for two counties lashed by a tornado on Tuesday night. Several people were injured and about 70 homes damaged when a tornado ripped through Pensacola, Florida, local media reported.(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, N.C.; additional reporting by Harriet McLeod in Charleston, S.C. and Letitia Stein in Atlanta; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Tom Brown and Andrew Hay)
