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)
US, Chinese aircraft in 'unsafe' encounter over S. China Sea-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-February 10, 2017
BEIJING — A Chinese early warning aircraft and a U.S. Navy patrol plane had an "unsafe" encounter over the South China Sea this week, the U.S. Pacific Command said Friday, in the first such incident known to have taken place under President Donald Trump's administration.The interaction between a Chinese KJ-200 and a U.S. Navy P-3C plane took place on Wednesday in international airspace, Pacific Command spokesman Robert Shuford said. He did not say what was unsafe about the encounter, although the term usually implies planes flying too close to one another.Shuford says the U.S. plane was on a routine mission and operating according to international law. The Department of Defence and the Pacific Command "are always concerned about unsafe interactions with Chinese military forces," he said.The Chinese Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.However, the website of the Communist Party newspaper Global Times quoted an unidentified ministry official as saying that the Chinese pilot had responded in a "legal and professional manner.""We hope the U.S. side will focus on the relationship between the two countries and two militaries in their entirety, adopt concrete measures and eliminate the root causes of accidental incidents between the two countries on sea and in the air," the unidentified official was quoted as saying.Philippine Defence Department spokesman Arsenio Andolong also expressed concern because the incident happened near Scarborough Shoal, which is located within the Philippines' 200-mile exclusive economic zone but claimed by China, which seized it in 2012 after a tense standoff with Philippine vessels."We're worried of possible miscalculation and it's good to know that nothing untoward happened," Andolong said by telephone. If such foreign aircraft venture into Philippine airspace, "we deserved to be told out of courtesy."Such incidents have occurred occasionally over and within the South China Sea, which China claims virtually in its entirety. Although China says it respects freedom of navigation in the strategically vital area, it objects to U.S. military activities, especially the collection of signals intelligence by U.S. craft operating near the coast of its southern island province of Hainan, home to several military installations.In recent years, the sides have signed a pair of agreements aimed at preventing such encounters from sparking an international crisis, as happened in April 2001 when a Chinese jet fighter collided with a U.S. surveillance plane over the South China Sea, leading to the death of the Chinese pilot and China's detention of the 24 U.S. crew members for 10 days.___Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines contributed to this report.Gillian Wong, The Associated Press.
Hong Kong bishop hints at Vatican deal with China-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-February 10, 2017
BEIJING — The head of the Catholic church in Hong Kong has expressed optimism that the Vatican and Beijing can overcome the controversial issue of bishop appointments lying at the core of a decades-long dispute.Cardinal John Tong said in a lengthy essay published by the Hong Kong diocese that a "preliminary consensus has reportedly been reached" on the matter, and suggested that the pope could retain veto power over the ordination of mainland bishops under the new arrangement.China's officially atheistic Communist Party cut relations with the Vatican in 1951 and ordered Chinese Catholics to take their orders only from Beijing.The two sides have been negotiating on a resumption of ties, but a major stumbling block is Beijing's insistence that a party-controlled body have the authority to appoint Chinese bishops, a power the Holy See says belongs to the pope alone."The dialogue between China and the Holy See implies that changes have already taken place in Beijing's policy on the Catholic Church," Tong wrote in the Hong Kong diocese's Sunday Examiner publication last week. "It will now let the pope play a role in the nomination and ordination of Chinese bishops. Beijing will also recognize the pope's right of veto and that the pope is the highest and final authority in deciding on candidates for bishops in China."Diocese spokesman Fung Yat Ming said Friday that the cardinal was not available for comment and clarified that Tong's post reflected his opinion and was not intended as a progress report on the negotiations.Still, the Hong Kong bishop's writings have been closely followed by the Catholic world for hints about the contours of any emerging Sino-Vatican deal. Tong disclosed in August that the Chinese government was "willing to reach an understanding" on the issue of bishops.A number of government-backed bishops have been ordained in past years without the pope's approval, straining ties between Rome and Beijing. The community of as many as 12 million mainland Catholics is split between those who follow state-authorized churches outside the pope's authority and those who attend underground churches that swear fealty to the pope — sometimes at the risk of persecution.Pope Francis has repeatedly made clear his desire for rapprochement with Beijing.The Communist Party has long expressed wariness toward religious organizations and perceived foreign influences that could undermine its authority.The country's head of religious affairs Wang Zuo'an said in December that Beijing was open to constructive dialogue with the Vatican but only if China's Catholics "hold up high the flag of patriotism" and adapt Catholicism to Chinese society.Gerry Shih, The Associated Press.
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)
Coquihalla Highway reopens after closure leaves drivers stranded overnight-[CBC]-yahoonews-February 10, 2017
The Coquihalla (Highway 5) has reopened after a 20-hour closure that left hundreds of people trapped in their cars overnight.The road had been closed since 6 p.m. PT Thursday after freezing rain created treacherous driving conditions.North Vancouver's Joanna Hirner and her family had been stuck on the road since 8 p.m. on Thursday. They were trying to get to Big White Ski Resort near Kelowna."We did get some sleep last night. Just trying to make the best of it," she told CBC News. "We're lucky that we were going skiing, so we've got lots of warm clothes and we're OK."She said she's been impressed by her seven and nine-year-old daughters' attitudes to the situation."They've been really patient. They've got books and toys ... we'll just tough it out."-Highway closures-As of 2:00 PT, here's the status of each major highway: - Highway 5has been reopened. Drivers are asked to stay below 80 km/h. - Highway 3 is closed in both directions from Fernie to the Highway 93 junction. It is now open from Hope to Manning Park after being closed due to an avalanche hazard, as well as from Sparwood to the B.C.-Alberta border. - Highway 1 is closed from Yale to the Highway 12 junction at Lytton because of a high avalanche hazard. There is no estimated time of it reopening. A further update is expected at 8 a.m. PT on Friday. - Highway 1 has been reopened in Glacier National Park after a closure for avalanche control. - Highway 99 is reopened in both directions south of Highway 12 junction in Lillooet.The Coquihalla was initially closed Thursday around noon due to a series of car accidents. It was reopened at 4 p.m., only to be closed again two hours later.Many who were left trapped wondered why the Ministry of Transportation reopened the highway at all.Mike Lorimer, the ministry's regional director for the southern Interior, said the decision was made because their forecast only called for a bit of seasonal snow and rain."That's a pretty typical forecast for the Coquihalla, so that combined with the road conditions and the fact that we kept the travel advisory in place ... we felt comfortable getting that road open."Lorimer said the ministry would've made a different decision had it known about the freezing rain that was coming."[The forecast] didn't have those treacherous conditions when we made the decision to open ... if it had, we wouldn't have made that."-Stranded in truck-One couple was stranded in their truck on the Coquihalla near Coldwater, about 30 kilometres south of Merritt."We're prepared. We've got winter tires, we've got chains, lots of food... but you don't anticipate this to happen," Cassidy Carew told CBC News Thursday night.Sean Buker described the road as a sheet of ice."We talked to a couple truck drivers and they said in the 30 years this thing's been open, it's the worst conditions they've ever seen," he said.The pair said they were trying to get to Sun Peaks for the Family Day long weekend.With files from CBC's Farrah Merali
B.C.'s Highway 5 reopens after overnight closure trapped drivers in winter storm-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-February 10, 2017
VANCOUVER — Hundreds of people spent a frigid night sitting in cars, buses or transport trucks as snow and freezing rain pounded a British Columbia mountain pass, preventing drivers from moving.The Coquihalla, as Highway 5 is known, reopened between Hope and Merritt on Friday afternoon, said B.C.'s Transportation Ministry. It had been shut down for about 20 hours because of heavy snow, freezing rain and several crashes.Mike Lorimer, a ministry regional director, said although it was not the first time more than 1,000 vehicle have been stuck for several hours on the highway, the duration of this closure and the icy conditions was unprecedented."We saw hours of sustained freezing rain, that's not a typical event for the Coquihalla," he said.Crews are equipped for snowstorms that commonly affect the region, he said, but the icy conditions Thursday made it challenging for workers to weave through vehicle queues stretching seven kilometres along the highway to reach everyone."For the same reason they were stuck, it was the reason we couldn't get staff right into the thick of things," he said.By Friday morning, everyone was contacted and crews were able to offer water, food and fuel, he said.Although the highway officially reopened by 2 p.m., travellers took to Twitter complaining they weren't yet able to move.DriveBC, the Transportation Ministry's route advisory, tweeted that delays were expected to continue and warned drivers to be extremely cautious on the slick highway.Lorimer said he apologizes to those who were stuck for so long, adding the incident is a reminder for travellers to have an emergency kit in their vehicles with blankets, boots, and food.At the height of the storm Thursday, all mountain passes into the Interior had been closed because of a risk of avalanche or poor road conditions.The Canadian Press.
Nevada county declares emergency after earthen dam fails-[The Canadian Press]-yahoonews-February 9, 2017
ELKO, Nev. — A rural northeast Nevada county declared a state of emergency Thursday after an earthen dam failed, releasing fast-moving water that forced trains to reroute and closed part of a washed out state highway near the Utah line.A 65-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 93 from Wells north to the Idaho line also was closed due to flooding a day after the dam broke near Montello, state transportation officials said.Elko County Sheriff Jim Pitts said county commissioners approved the state of emergency as his deputies searched for anyone who might be stranded by floodwaters.No injuries have been reported, but authorities said there appeared to be extensive damage to several ranches and farms.About 30 residences have been impacted by the floodwaters in Montello since the Twentyone Mile Dam broke Wednesday afternoon, Pitts said. A 10-mile stretch of State Route 233 remained closed."The weather by Montello has calmed down, but we did lose a road with the reservoir failure," Pitts told reporters in Elko on Thursday."I have the undersheriff right now flying up to take a look at the rest of the reservoirs and other damage in that area," he said. He said the emergency declaration will make the county eligible for state assistance-Nevada Department of Transportation spokeswoman Meg Ragonese said Thursday afternoon there was no way of knowing how long State Route 233 would remain closed."An entire section of the road washed out," she told The Associated Press.Most of northeast Nevada remained under a flood warning into Friday as a wet winter storm battered much of the northern half of the state from California to Utah. In western Nevada, winds gusting in excess of 90 mph toppled multiple semi-trailers north of Reno and south of Carson City, and downed power lines, leaving more than 10,000 homes without power Thursday afternoon.Jason King, state engineer for Nevada's Water Resources Division, said Thursday the earthen dam that burst near the Utah line passed an inspection last summer.The dam used to hold water for rural irrigation in Elko County received a "fair" rating in June on a scale of "poor, fair and satisfactory," King said in an email to The Associated Press.Inspectors recommended some improvements, including the removal of deep-rooted vegetation and the monitoring of areas where seepage occurs, he said. But he said there were "no issues identified as needing immediate attention."The dam built in 1929 is considered a "low hazard structure," which means any breach would not be expected to cause any loss of life, King said.The flooding in Elko County forced delays or rerouting for more than a dozen freight and passenger trains on a main rail line that runs through the area, said Union Pacific spokesman Justin E. Jacobs. Crews have begun assessing washed out and damaged areas. It's unknown when service will be restored.The rural area affected is situated is near the Utah border and about 30 miles northeast of Wells, a key Nevada city along Interstate 80.The weather service said that a full breach and failure of the 21 Mile Dam sent water spilling out in a "dangerous and life-threatening situation."Kevin Hall, a captain with the East Elko Fire Protection District, said the flooding and the breach were due to heavy runoff and snowmelt.A postal spokesman for Nevada said the Elko Daily Free Press that the Montello Post Office was "swamped," but workers were able to retrieve all the mail."We're still assessing how we're going to deliver it," David Rupert told the newspaper.The Associated Press.
DEAD ANIMALS
HOSEA 4:1-3
1 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land,(EARTH) because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
ZEPHANIAH 1:2-3
2 I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD.
3 I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.
Entire Bow River watershed infected with whirling disease, CFIA says-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-February 10, 2017
The entire Bow River Watershed has been infected with whirling disease, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has declared, prompting new province-wide measures to try to contain the spread.The disease can cause infected fish — predominantly trout and whitefish — to swim in a whirling pattern and die prematurely.The agency has also declared the rest of the province a "buffer zone" for the disease.Inside the buffer zone, provincial acquaculture facilities and Class A fish farms will have to test fish for whirling disease.They will also have to implement "approved biosecurity protocols" in order to obtain a permit from the agency to stock fish from the infected area — which includes all streams, creeks, lakes and rivers that feed into the Bow River.Last August, the first case of whirling disease was confirmed in Banff's Johnson Lake. Since then, cases of the disease have been detected at a number of additional locations in the Bow River in southern Alberta.The spread of the disease has led to quarantines for commercial fish operations and wreaked havoc on owners who make a living cultivating fish.The CFIA says its declaration does not currently affect fishing in the Bow River, and that there are no health concerns for people who use the bodies of water that contain whirling disease — or for those who eat fish that have contracted the disease.There is no treatment available for whirling disease. Rather, the CFIA says it is focused on containment and prevention.
Researchers: Warm Pacific water led to vast seabird die-off-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-February 10, 2017
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A year after tens of thousands of common murres, an abundant North Pacific seabird, starved and washed ashore on beaches from California to Alaska, researchers have pinned the cause to unusually warm ocean temperatures that affected the tiny fish they eat.Elevated temperatures in seawater affected wildlife in a pair of major marine ecosystems along the West Coast and Canada, said John Piatt, a research wildlife biologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. Common murres are an indicator of the regions' health."If tens of thousands of them are dying, it's because there's no fish out there, anywhere, over a very large area," Piatt said.To see such effect over two sizeable marine ecosystems is extraordinary, he said.Deaths of common murres in Alaska likely were multiplied when starving birds in December 2015 were hit by vicious Gulf of Alaska winter storms, Piatt said.Common murres look like thin penguins. They can fly miles in search of schools of finger-length fish and can dive and swim nearly 600 feet deep to capture them. However, the birds' high metabolism means they have to eat a lot. If they don't eat prey matching 10 to 30 per cent of their body mass daily, they can use up fat reserves and drop to a critical threshold for starvation within three days.Common murres eat small forage fish: capelin, from the smelt family, and juvenile pollock, which as adults are caught for fast-food fish sandwiches. Both fish were largely absent when the National Marine Fisheries Service conducted surveys in summer 2015.Common murres paid the price. Volunteers and federal researchers last year counted the carcasses of 46,000 dead murres in Alaska and another 6,000 in California, Oregon and Washington.Die-offs of seabirds occur periodically, but this one was spectacular. Only a fraction of the dead birds likely reached shore, Piatt said. And only a fraction of Alaska coastline was surveyed. A conservative extrapolation indicates 500,000 or more common murres died, Piatt said.Nearly all were emaciated. As birds starved, they consumed their own fat and protein until they lost deadly amounts of body mass and were unable to keep themselves heated."It's an agonizing, awful death," Piatt said. "And then on top of that, some of them probably drowned."Starting in 2014, the temperature in the upper 300 feet of water was as much as 4.5 degrees warmer than normal. NASA explained it like this: An unusually strong and persistent ridge of atmospheric high pressure appeared over the northeastern Pacific, weakening winds and easing normal, wind-driven churning, which promoted upwelling of deep, cold water to the surface. It led to a lens of unusually warm surface water that a University of Washington meteorologist dubbed "the Blob."Forage fish feed on zooplankton, and cold water produces the biggest, fattiest versions, said Shannon Atkinson, a physiologist and researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks."What that means is there's not as much energy, and the energy that's being transferred up the food web is not as energetically rich," Atkinson said.Warm ocean temperatures also affect big North Pacific fish such as halibut, cod, pollock and arrowtooth flounder, Piatt said. Their metabolism increases as the temperature increases, and they have to eat more."The dominant food for those fish is — get ready — juvenile pollock, capelin, sand lance," Piatt said. "These fish are in direct competition with the birds now, and typically in most of these northern ecosystems, the large, predatory fish eat an order of magnitude more of those forage prey than the birds and mammals combined."The rates of carcass recovery by volunteers monitoring beaches in the Gulf of Alaska returned to normal levels in July 2016, Piatt said. However, common murres continued to have trouble finding food, and it showed up in breeding, he said.Common murres lay eggs in approximately 230 Alaska cliff colonies. Heather Renner, supervisory wildlife biologist at the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, monitors some of the largest."In 2016, we had widespread breeding failure at all of the colonies in the Gulf of Alaska, as well as the Bering Sea," she said. "It was a highly unusual event. Murres don't fail regularly."Breeding was normal at colonies in the Arctic and the Aleutians, she said.There's no question for Piatt that Pacific warmth was the ultimate cause of the common murre die-off."They died of starvation because there was no food," Piatt said. "There was no food because there was no fish. And there was no fish because these warm waters did something to them."Dan Joling, The Associated Press.
Geoglyphs in Amazon rainforest a mystery to scientists-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-February 10, 2017
Hundreds of circles in the ground of the Amazon rainforest that date back thousands of years have been discovered, but scientists don't know what purpose they served.The Amazon rainforest has long been thought of a pristine ecosystem that was untouched by humans before the Europeans arrived, but new research shows that people manipulated the landscape centuries before their arrival. Modern deforestation in the Amazon led to the discovery of more than 450 geometrically shaped ditches, known as geoglyphs, which occupy roughly 13,000 square kilometres in the Acre state of Brazil.These circular geoglyphs went unnoticed for centuries, because they were covered by trees. Years of deforestation in the region made them visible from the air.Researchers say they aren't certain what function the geopglyphs served.Archeologists didn't find enough artifacts to determine it was a village, and the design of the geoglyphs make a defensive or military purpose unlikely, the researchers said.They theorize they could have been ritual gathering spaces-Though the purpose of the geoglyphs is of interest, it was how they were made that was a focus of the research."We immediately wanted to know whether the region was already forested when the geoglyphs were built, and to what extent people impacted the landscape to build these earthworks," lead researcher Jennifer Watling said in a release. -Managed by indigenous peoples-Watling and the research team used technology to reconstruct 6,000 years of vegetation and fire history around two geoglyph sites. They found that humans had been altering the bamboo forests to create temporary clearings for the geoglyphs."Despite the huge number and density of geoglyph sites in the region, we can be certain that Acre's forests were never cleared as extensively, or for as long, as they have been in recent years," Watling said."Our evidence that Amazonian forests have been managed by indigenous peoples long before European contact should not be cited as justification for the destructive, unsustainable land-use practised today."It should instead serve to highlight the ingenuity of past subsistence regimes that did not lead to forest degradation, and the importance of indigenous knowledge for finding more sustainable land-use alternatives."The research was conducted by the universities of Exeter, Reading and Swansea, Sao Paolo, Belem and Acre and the published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
WORLD POWERS IN THE LAST DAYS (END OF AGE OF GRACE NOT THE WORLD)
EUROPEAN UNION-KING OF WEST-DAN 9:26-27,DAN 7:23-24,DAN 11:40,REV 13:1-10
EGYPT-KING OF THE SOUTH-DAN 11:40
RUSSIA-KING OF THE NORTH-EZEK 38:1-2,EZEK 39:1-3
CHINA-KING OF THE EAST-DAN 11:44,REV 9:16,18
VATICAN-RELIGIOUS LEADER-REV 13:11-18,REV 17:4-5,9,18
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS) man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
ISAIAH 14:12-14
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)
Germany: trust in Israel 'profoundly shaken' By Andrew Rettman-euobserver
BRUSSELS, 9. Feb, 09:29-Germany and France have spoken out in strident terms against Israel’s plan to confiscate privately-owned Palestinian land by legalising settler outposts.“The confidence we had in the Israeli government’s commitment to the two-state solution has been profoundly shaken,” the German foreign ministry said on Wednesday (8 February).It said that those people in Germany who felt friendly toward Israel had been “disappointed” and urged it to restore its “credibility” by restating its promise to establish a future Palestinian state alongside Israel and to “underpin this with practical steps”.It added that such a promise was also needed because members of the right-wing Israeli coalition had “openly called for the annexation of parts of the West Bank and are preparing bills to this end.”The French foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, and its ambassador to Israel, Helene Le Gal, also spoke out."I call on Israel to respect its international obligations and rescind the [settler outpost] law,” Ayrault said, adding that it “could exacerbate tensions in the region.”Le Gal said: “The international community is wondering if they should trust Israel when Israel is saying that [it] is ready for discussion with … the Palestinians, and to reach an agreement on the two-state solution.”She said the fact that Israel planned to financially compensate the Palestinian landowners did not make it any better.“If there is an agreement, of course, that these settlement blocs are within Israel, then of course there is no problem. But there is no discussion. It's only Israel who decides,” she said.Israel on Tuesday passed a law to retroactively legalise 3,900 outposts.Outposts, unlike settlements, are private initiatives by Jewish settler groups who pitch camp on Palestinian land protected by Israeli soldiers and claim it for their own on Biblical grounds.In January, Israel also announced plans to build 6,000 new official settler homes in East Jerusalem and the West Bank in a decision that equally flouted international law and drew foreign rebukes.A European diplomatic source told EUobserver that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been emboldened by the election of Donald Trump, a pro-Israeli hawk, in the US and that he was also using the settlement controversy to distract media attention from a corruption affair that could see him lose power.The US has stayed silent on his actions.--New German attitude-France is an outspoken critic of Israel and previously warned that it would unilaterally recognise Palestine if it lost faith in the peace process.The strong statement by Germany, which has in the past shied away from criticising Israel due, in part, to Germany’s Holocaust-era complex, was a new development, however.The UK, which has been trying to curry favour with Trump, and the Czech Republic, formerly a staunch Israeli ally, also attacked the outpost law.The legalisation “damages Israel's standing with its international partners”, Tobias Ellwood, British minister for the Middle East said.The EU foreign service was the first to react, already on Tuesday, saying that the outpost law “entrenched … a one-state reality”.EU foreign relations chief Federica Mogherini had planned to hold a summit with Netanyahu on 28 February, but EU foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels on Monday quietly decided to postpone the initiative due to the earlier announcement on the 6,000 settler homes.Speaking to EUobserver in an interview over the weekend, Saeb Erekat, the secretary general of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, said the EU’s verbal rebukes had little meaning unless they were backed up by sanctions, such as banning exports of settler products.“Lack of accountability, impunity, is what provides the Israeli government with enough confidence to move ahead with its plan to bury the prospects of the two-state solution,” he said.“The Netanyahu administration knows that no action will be taken,” he said.
Exclusive: Syria’s Assad rejects Trump’s call for ‘safe zones’-Michael Isikoff-Chief Investigative Correspondent-Yahoo News-February 10, 2017
DAMASCUS, SYRIA — Syrian President Bashar Assad, in an exclusive interview with Yahoo News, rejected President Trump’s idea to create “safe zones” inside Syria as “not a realistic idea at all.” He said he could see a role for American troops to fight the Islamic State in Syria, but only with his government’s approval and as part of a “rapprochement” with Russia.“So, if you want to start genuinely as United States to [defeat the Islamic State] it must be through the Syrian government,” said Assad, when asked about reports that Trump has directed the Pentagon to develop new plans to destroy the Islamic State that could include the deployment of more U.S. special forces troops and Apache helicopters inside Syria.“We are here, we are the Syrians. We own this country as Syrians, nobody else,” he added. “So, you cannot defeat the terrorism without cooperation with the people and the government of any country.”Assad’s comments during a 34-minute interview reflected his increasingly emboldened stance since Russian airstrikes helped drive rebels from eastern Aleppo, turning the tide in the country’s six-year-old civil war. He acknowledged regularly consulting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, and demanded that the U.S. lift economic sanctions against Syria as a first step to working with his military and Moscow to defeat terrorists.The interview turned contentious when Assad was questioned repeatedly about new allegations of torture and other human rights abuses by his government — allegations he dismissed as “lies” and part of a campaign by Amnesty International, the Persian Gulf states and even the U.S. FBI to “demonize the Syrian government.”The interview in Assad’s office was his first since President Trump took office. While he said he found Trump’s public statements about fighting terrorism “promising,” he was dismissive of the U.S. president’s recent assertion that he would “absolutely do safe zones in Syria for the people” endangered by the country’s fierce civil war.“But actually, it won’t [protect civilians], it won’t,” Assad said. “Safe zones for the Syrians could only happen when you have stability and security, where you don’t have terrorists, where you don’t have [the] flow and support of those terrorists by the neighboring countries or by Western countries. This is where you can have a natural safe zone, which is our country. They don’t need safe zones at all. It’s not a realistic idea at all.”Assad was pressed on his opposition to safe zones, considering that nearly half the population of Syria has been displaced by the war.“The first thing you have to ask: why were they displaced?” Assad replied. “If you don’t answer that question, you cannot answer the rest. They were displaced for two reasons: first of all, the terrorist acts and the support from the outside. Second, the [U.S.] embargo on Syria. Many people didn’t only leave Syria because of the security issues. As you can see, Damascus is safe today, it’s nearly normal life, not completely.“But they don’t find a way for life in Syria, so they have to travel abroad in order to find their living. So, if you lift the embargo, and if you stop supporting the terrorists … I’m talking about everyone who supported terrorists, including the United States during Obama’s administration. If you stop all these acts, most of those people will go back to their country.”_____As with all interviews granted by President Bashar Assad, this interview was filmed by his presidential press office. No editorial changes were made to the content.
Trump calls ruling on travel ban a 'political decision'-[The Canadian Press]-yahoonews-February 9, 2017
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday's federal appellate court ruling against reinstating his refugee and immigration order was a "political decision" that jeopardized national security."We have a situation where the security of our country is at stake and it's a very, very serious situation so we look forward ... to seeing them in court," Trump said. "We're going to win the case."Trump, in a brief, impromptu appearance in the West Wing, did not specify what his administration's next legal steps would be and said he had not yet conferred with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who was sworn into office earlier Thursday.The president said he did not believe the decision undercut his presidency.In a unanimous decision, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined Thursday to block a lower-court ruling that suspended the executive order preventing travellers from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the U.S.The Justice Department said it was "reviewing the decision and considering its options." It could appeal the judge's restraining order to the U.S. Supreme Court or it could attempt to make the case for the travel ban in the district court.White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway suggested the next step would be to argue the merits of the executive order."The statute provides a president ... with great latitude and authority to protect the citizens and to protect the nation's national security," Conway said. "This was not argued on the merits. Now that we'll have an opportunity to argue on the merits we look forward to doing that. We look forward to prevailing."The ruling represented a setback for Trump's administration and the second legal defeat for the new president in the past week. Trump's decision to sign the executive order late last month has sparked protests at airports around the world as authorities barred scores of travellers from entering the country amid confusion over how to implement the details.The appellate decision brushed aside arguments by the Justice Department that the president has the constitutional power to restrict entry to the United States and that the courts cannot second-guess his determination that such a step was needed to prevent terrorism.Shortly after the ruling, Trump tweeted, "SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!"-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted Thursday that Trump "ought to see the writing on the wall" and abandon the proposal. The New York Democrat called on the president to "roll up his sleeves" and come up with "a real, bipartisan plan to keep us safe."House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California promised, "Democrats will continue to press for President Trump's dangerous and unconstitutional ban to be withdrawn." And Trump's former presidential rival Hillary Clinton offered a terse response on Twitter, noting the unanimous vote: "3-0."Congress' Republican leaders, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, declined to comment.U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle issued the temporary restraining order halting the ban last week after Washington state and Minnesota sued, leading to the federal government's appeal.The Trump administration has said the seven nations — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — have raised terrorism concerns. The states have argued that the executive order unconstitutionally blocked entry based on religion and the travel ban harmed individuals, businesses and universities.In a hallway conversation with reporters, Trump expressed confidence that he will prevail in court if the case is argued on the merits.He and his aides frequently refer to a ruling by a federal judge in Boston who declined last week to extend a temporary injunction against Trump's travel ban. In the separate federal ruling in Seattle that night, a different federal judge put the ban on hold nationwide; it is that judge's decision that the White House has challenged."It's a decision that we'll win, in my opinion, very easily and, by the way, we won that decision in Boston," Trump said.The president, in his third week in office, has criticized the judiciary's handling of the case. Last weekend, he labeled Robart a "so-called judge" and referred to the ruling as "ridiculous." Earlier this week he accused the appellate court considering his executive order of being "so political."Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch, has referred to the president's comments as "demoralizing and disheartening," according to a Democratic senator who asked him about Trump's response.Trump has yet to nominate a candidate to be solicitor general, the lawyer who argues before the Supreme Court on behalf of the United States. Trump told reporters he'll be making that decision over the next week.Ken Thomas And Darlene Superville, The Associated Press.
5th Canadian reports being denied entry to U.S. after questions about Moroccan roots, Muslim faith-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-February 10, 2017
Another Canadian with Moroccan roots has been refused entry at Quebec's border with the United States after being questioned for five hours and having his phone searched.Yassine Aber, a 19-year-old kinesiology student at the University of Sherbrooke, was denied entry Thursday while trying to cross the border at Stanstead, Que.Aber was travelling to a track meet in Boston with other members of the university's track-and-field team. He was born in Canada to parents who were originally from Morocco and was travelling on a valid Canadian passport.Four other Canadian citizens of Moroccan heritage were denied entry at a different border crossing into Vermont on Saturday after facing questions about their Moroccan roots and their Muslim faith.-Questioned about birthplace, faith-Aber was travelling in a vehicle with five other athletes from the school and their coach.Aber and the others in his car were made to wait five hours while he was questioned by border guards."They made me fill in papers and made me talk about myself, where I'm from, where I was born," he told CBC News.He was also asked about his parents and their origins, and what countries he's visited recently.He was then made to hand over his phone and give the agent his password. He was also fingerprinted.They returned after a while and took Aber in for another round of more pointed questions about his Muslim faith."They asked me, 'Do you go to the mosque?' I said, 'Yes, sometimes.' They said, 'How often? Which mosque do you go to?' They asked me about specific people," he said.In the end, he was told he wasn't allowed to enter the United States, but his teammates and coach were allowed through.Aber said he was denied entry on the pretext that he didn't have the right travel documents."I received an official paper saying I didn't have papers, a passport or an immigration visa that was valid. My passport is Canadian and it expires in 2026," he said.He said he requested more information but was not given any. "I was told it's a privilege for people from other countries to come to the United States and that privilege can be taken away at any time," Aber said."It sucks that I wasn't able to compete, but at least it was only me and not the whole team that was denied entry," he said.- No accusation of racial profiling-Aber said the experience was frustrating, but he did not accuse the border guards of racial profiling."I really can't say what their motives are, so I do not want to put anybody in any boxes. I do not think it's my race or my religion. Sure, the questions were aimed at that, that's a fact. But I can't say for sure if that's the reason and I don't want to make statements about things I cannot say for sure," he said.Aber said he was more frustrated that he couldn't participate in the track meet."We train hard, we trained for a long time to show what we're able to do," he said.He's been to the U.S. for other competitions and this was the first time he's been turned away.Though the border agent told him he wasn't banned, Aber now worries about being able to get back into the United States for a training camp in the spring.Aber said he's working with team officials to get information on what happened and why."We're looking into what we need to do. Do we need a special visa, special authorization?" he said, noting that as a university athlete he often has to compete in the U.S.-2 cousins, 2 children denied entry-Aber is the fifth Canadian with Moroccan roots to be denied entry at one of Quebec's border points with Vermont.Last Saturday, two cousins travelling with two children on a day trip to Vermont were denied entry after facing questions about their Muslim faith and Moroccan origins.The Canadian government is looking into what happened in their case.On Thursday, Public Security Minister Ralph Goodale encouraged Canadians who experience a similar refusal to "appeal through the normal processes" and he promised to take up their cases with the U.S. government.Canada's Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, Marie-Claude Bibeau, who represents the riding of Compton-Stanstead, where the border station is located, said Goodale will be looking into Aber's case."This shouldn't happen with a Canadian passport. We have been given the assurance that there will not be a problem to cross the border, so our minister of public security will follow up on this case and work with American authorities for this not to happen again," she said. -Travel ban faces court battle-The refusals come during a court battle in the United States over an executive ordered issued by President Donald Trump that would temporarily ban all refugees and visitors from seven predominantly Muslim countries.Morocco, however, is not one of those countries.Trump has said the travel ban would be a first step in the introduction of "extreme vetting" for visitors and immigrants from regions of the world his administration considers dangerous.In an unprecedented move, a union representing 16,500 U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, the National Border Patrol Council, endorsed Trump's bid for president.That endorsement was condemned by groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union.In response to questions about the Canadians who were denied entry last Saturday, a spokesman for the border protection agency said its officers' decisions are cross-checked by supervisors and higher-level managers."Although front-line officers do have some discretion in carrying out their duties, they ultimately work with a team of personnel within a chain-of-command construct to achieve CBP's mission," said David Long."CBP takes allegations of unprofessional or inappropriate behavior seriously, and will investigate all incidents appropriately."
Iraqi officials: Suicide bombings in eastern Mosul kill 5-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-February 10, 2017
BAGHDAD — Two suicide bombings in the eastern half of the Iraqi city of Mosul, including one that hit a popular restaurant, killed at least five people on Friday and wounded over a dozen others, Iraqi military and medical officials said.The Islamic State group, which still firmly controls western Mosul, a more densely populated urban area, claimed responsibility for the attacks.Late Friday, a parked car packed with explosives detonated on a commercial street in the Alam district of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, killing six civilians and wounding 18, police and hospital officials said.Iraqi forces declared eastern Mosul liberated from IS weeks ago, allowing for a semblance of normalcy to slowly return to that part of the city — including residents playing soccer games and walking about without the restrictions imposed by the Sunni militant group. IS had ruled the entire city and large swaths of northern and western Iraq for over two years, imposing its harsh interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia.The restaurant targeted on Friday — the popular Sayda Jamila, located near a traffic circle by the same name — was among a few that had recently reopened. Shops selling clothing, mobile phones and fresh produce trucked in from nearby Irbil have also opened their doors, though clean drinking water and other services remain in short supply in eastern Mosul.Along with four people killed in the restaurant blast, seven were wounded, Iraqi military and security officials said.The second attack on Friday targeted a checkpoint in the Nour neighbourhood and killed one solider and wounded seven people, according to military officials. Three soldiers were among those wounded in the checkpoint attack.Officers on the ground appealed for better intelligence to prevent attacks like Friday's, apparently meant to undermine the Iraqi forces' efforts to maintain security in eastern Mosul ahead for the much larger battle that awaits, the one for the city's western half."We need support from the central government for intelligence work," said Brig. Gen. Wathaq al-Hamdani, Nineveh's police chief. Al-Hamdani said the area of the restaurant attack has since been closed off and blamed the attack on an IS sleeper cell.Within hours, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement carried by the IS-affiliated Aamaq news agency. However, the militant statement claimed IS had launched three suicide attacks, one with an explosives-laden car and two with bombers on foot, carrying explosives' vests. It said the attacks took place the neighbourhoods of Nour, al-Zuhour and al-Ziraei.Iraqi and U.S. officials have repeatedly warned of the threats of IS insurgents in territory declared liberated from the militants.Also Late Friday, a would-be suicide bomber wearing an explosives belt tried to attack security forces in a northern part of eastern Mosul but was shot to death before he could reach them, according to security officials.The Iraqi officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters___Associated Press writer Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report.Qassim Abdul-Zahra, The Associated Press.
Manitoba NDP joins call to end controversial Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-February 10, 2017
The provincial New Democrats want Premier Brian Pallister to demand the federal government immediately suspend or revoke a controversial refugee pact between Canada and the United States.The call to scrap the Safe Third Country Pact follows similar requests from advocates and immigration lawyers, along with law students at the University of Manitoba, who say it compels asylum seeks to risk their lives crossing the border.The PC government told CBC they have no pans to lobby the federal government to bow out of the international agreement."The Safe Third Country Agreement is supported by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to prevent so-called 'asylum shopping.' The Manitoba government supports the government of Canada's position to uphold this agreement in order to preserve the integrity and fairness of the immigration system," said Manitoba's Immigration Minister Ian Wishart in a written statement.Under the agreement, which came into effect in 2004, asylum seekers must apply for refugee status in the first "safe" country they arrive in unless they meet specific exemptions, such as having family in Canada.Refugees can circumvent the Safe Third Country Pact if they enter Canada from a location that is not an official port of entry, such a private field that may straddle the Canada-U.S. border.Once refugees have entered Canada this way, Canada Border Services cannot turn them back to the United States.People who have arrived as part of a recent surge of asylum seekers in Emerson, Man., including the 22 who arrived on the weekend, are refugees utilizing this loophole.-Manitobans outraged, say NDP-NDP immigration critic Nahanni Fontaine said scrapping the agreement will allow these refugees to enter Canada through an official port of entry, which is a much safer route, especially in winter."We believe that this will be an immediate and tangible way to effectively deal with the influx of refugees that are forced to take very treacherous journeys to Canada seeking asylum," said Fontaine on Friday."I know that Manitobans who read that story of that little two-year-old who would rather die in the snow than continue to walk on this journey are outraged by that."Scrapping the pact will also help the people of Emerson, she said, who are dealing with what she called a "critical situation."She said she expects more refugees to flow into the small community of fewer than 700 people, especially as temperatures warm up.Fontaine also called on the federal government to provide more material supports to Emerson."When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that we were welcoming and we are inclusive, I think that we all had this collective moment of pride as Canadians. But we have to go beyond that," she said."We need to be able to provide additional resources to Emerson."Manitoba's premier said Monday the province continues to welcome refugees but the federal government needs to provide more resources to make their settlement successful."We are a society that very much understands the importance of valuing diversity and we treasure it here," Pallister said."We also need the federal government to act as a partner with us. In the case, for example, of the Syrian refugees, one-year funding is simply not adequate."Fontaine added she believes the premier should ask Trudeau to do away with a cap on refugees arriving from Syria and Iraq.In December, the federal government put a cap of 1,000 new applicants under a particular type of private sponsorship for 2017.The Progressive Conservatives say Manitoba received about 2,200 privately sponsored refugees last year and would be able to accommodate about the same number again this year.
France thwarts 'imminent attack;' 4 arrests, explosive found-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-February 10, 2017
PARIS — Anti-terrorism forces arrested four people Friday in southern France, including a 16-year-old girl, and uncovered a makeshift laboratory with the explosive TATP and other ingredients for fabricating a bomb. France's top security official said the raid thwarted an "imminent attack."A police official said the teen had pledged loyalty to the Islamic State group in a recent video.The prosecutor's office said around 70 grams (2.5 ounces) of TATP were seized in the Montpellier-area home of a 20-year-old man, along with a litre each of acetone, oxygenated water and sulfuric acid. TATP, which can be made from readily available materials, was used in the deadly November 2015 attacks in Paris and the March 2016 attack in Brussels carried out by Islamic State extremists.Two other men were arrested, a 33-year-old and a 26-year-old, along with the teenage girl, according to the prosecutor's office, which handles terrorism investigations in France.The police official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation, said one of the suspects was believed to be planning a suicide attack but that the investigation had not yet uncovered a specific target.He said person in the group had tried to reach Syria in 2015 and was known to intelligence services. The group — notably the girl — attracted new attention with their social media postings, he said.Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux said the arrests in three locations in the Montpellier area "thwarted an imminent attack on French soil."The country's prime minister praised the work of anti-terror investigators."Faced with the heightened threat, there has been an extremely strong mobilization of our intelligence services to ensure the French are protected to the utmost," said Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.France is still under a state of emergency after several deadly attacks in 2015 and 2016.Lori Hinnant, The Associated Press.
Germany says U.S. demand for more NATO burden-sharing is 'fair'-[Reuters]-By Sabine Siebold-YAHOONEWS-February 10, 2017
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. call for NATO partners to step up funding for the transatlantic alliance is "a fair demand," German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday after what she called a positive first meeting with Defense Secretary James Mattis.Germany and other European powers were unnerved when President Donald Trump during the election campaign accused NATO allies of failing to pay their way, and described the alliance shortly before he took office last month as "obsolete."Trump offered some reassurance this week when he told U.S. forces: "We strongly support NATO."Von der Leyen said Germany, which spends less than the NATO target of 2 percent of economic output on defence, understood it needed to increase that amount."I think it's a fair demand," von der Leyen said. "If we want to jointly master the crises in the world, namely the fight against terrorism, and also put the alliance on solid footing, then everyone has to pay their share."She told reporters she welcomed an offer from Mattis to deepen the strategic dialogue between the two countries. He had also reiterated his clear and deep commitment to NATO.Admiring comments from Trump about Russian President Vladimir Putin have raised concerns among some European countries that the United States might relax sanctions imposed against Moscow over its 2014 annexation of Crimea and its support for violent separatists in eastern Ukraine.Von der Leyen said it was critical that NATO members remained unified. "It is ... very important that we speak with one voice."She said she and Mattis agreed that many global problems, including the war in Syria, could not be solved without Russia, but Moscow needed to respect international law and the borders of other sovereign countries.They had agreed it was important to "continue to act from a position of strength to extend an outstretched hand to Russia and work out our mutual problems at the negotiating table and then solve them."The Pentagon said in a statement that Mattis thanked von der Leyen for Germany's leadership in NATO and acknowledged the role it plays in fighting terrorism, specifically in the coalition fighting Islamic State.Both look forward to working together at the NATO Defense Ministerial and Munich Security Conference next week, the statement said.Von der Leyen's meeting with Mattis lasted for about an hour, twice as long as planned. She was the first European defence minister to visit him at the Pentagon.(Reporting by Sabine Siebold and Reuters TV; Additional reporting by Idrees Ali; Writing by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Erik Kirschbaum, Mark Trevelyan and Leslie Adler)
