AS THE ARAB MURDERERS CLAIM VICTORY OVER TEMPLE MOUNT METAL DETECTORS.IRAN LAUNCHES SATELLITE CARRYING ROCKET.

JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)

OTHER WEEKEND NEWS
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2017/07/astronomers-stunned-by-star-nursery-age.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2017/07/house-decisively-passes-sanctions-bill.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2017/07/the-pope-shuts-water-fountains-off-at.html 

LUKE 21:28-29
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)

JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)

EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE

Iran successfully launches satellite-carrying rocket — report-US has previously warned that technology in Thursday’s test could be used to develop long-range missiles-By AP and Times of Israel staff July 27, 2017, 5:05 pm

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran successfully launched a satellite-carrying rocket into space on Thursday, the country’s state media reported without elaborating.Iranian state television described the launch as involving a “Simorgh” rocket that is capable of carrying a satellite weighing 250 kilograms (550 pounds). The state media report did not elaborate on the rocket’s payload.“Simorgh” means “phoenix” in Persian.The website YJC.ir, which is affiliated with Iranian state television, as well as the semi-official Fars news agency, also reported the launch on Thursday, saying it was successful.The launch comes as the United States has criticized Iran’s ballistic missile tests.Such tests are allowed under the 2015 nuclear deal that Iran struck with world powers. However, American officials argue that they violate the spirit of the accord, which saw the Islamic Republic limit its uranium enrichment program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.Iran has pursued a satellite launch program for years. The US and its allies worry that the same technology could be used to develop long-range missiles.The country has sent several dummy satellites into orbit over the past decade, and in 2013 launched a monkey into space. But it recently abandoned plans to potentially send humans into orbit, saying in late May that the cost of doing so was prohibitive.Iran’s satellite-launch program falls under the responsibility of the defense ministry, which has denied that the space program is a cover for weapons development.The head of Iran’s space agency in October expressed for the first time interest in cooperating with NASA. Iran has offered to share its scientific findings and satellite data with other countries.In February 2015, Iran announced the launch of a satellite atop a different type of rocket, known as Fajr. That launch happened while Iran was negotiating the nuclear deal.On Tuesday, the US House of Representatives passed a new sanctions bill on Tuesday targeting Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, as well as Russia and North Korea.Thursday’s test also came as the Trump administration is pushing for inspections of suspicious Iranian military sites in a bid to test the strength of the nuclear deal that Trump desperately wants to cancel, senior US officials said.The inspections are one element of what is designed to be a more aggressive approach to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. While the Trump administration seeks to police the existing deal more strictly, it is also working to fix what Trump’s aides have called “serious flaws” in the landmark deal that — if not resolved quickly — will likely lead Trump to pull out.

Clashes erupt at Temple Mount as Muslim worshipers return to site-Thousands of Palestinians enter compound site after 12-day boycott; dozens said injured in riots-By Dov Lieber and Times of Israel staff July 27, 2017, 5:54 pm

Thousands of Muslim worshipers entered the Temple Mount on Thursday for the first time in nearly two weeks, as violent clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli security forces at the compound.Some 46 Palestinians were hurt in the clashes both inside the compound and in the surrounding area, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.After Israel removed the metal detectors and other security measures around the compound installed by police after a July 14 terror attack, Palestinians were given the all-clear by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Jerusalem’s Muslim religious authorities on Thursday to end their 12-day boycott of the holy site.However, a last-minute confrontation erupted at the Huta Gate where two Israeli policemen were killed on July 14 by three Arab Israeli gunmen who had smuggled weapons into the site. The Huta Gate was the final gate to remain closed as police rolled back the security measures this week.Witnesses next to the Huta gate told The Times of Israel that police had opened and closed it a few times before dispersing the crowd with stun grenades. It was then closed and police barricaded off the area.Thousands of worshipers started to pour onto the Temple Mount, mostly through the Gate of the Tribes, near the Lions Gate entrance into the Old City, believing the Huta Gate had been opened for good. Hundreds were still refusing to go onto the Temple Mount until the Huta Gate is reopened permanently.Crowds of worshipers lifted Jerusalem Mufti Mohammed Hussein on their shoulders at the Huta Gate as they proceeded to the Al-Aqsa Mosque for afternoon prayers.One protester told a police officer at the scene that “the story is over, you can go home now” and worshipers cried and shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest) as they entered the compound.Since the terror attack, the Palestinians have demanded Israel remove all the security measures, including railings and cameras, introduced at the site.People yelling not to enter as mufti of Jerusalem makes his way to gate of tribes. One gate still closed pic.twitter.com/viTVDVY6rk— Dov Lieber (@DovLieber) July 27, 2017-In addition to daily protests outside the Old City, uproar over the move also prompted violent clashes between police and the demonstrators, with five Palestinians killed in clashes.Tensions at the site were also cited by the Palestinian attacker who last week stabbed to death three members of the Salomon family during Shabbat dinner at their home in the West Bank settlement of Halamish.While Israel maintained that the new measures — which included metal detectors, security cameras and metal railings — were necessary to guarantee security at the site in the wake of the shooting, demonstrators charged that the move was a violation of the status quo in place since Israel captured the site in the 1967 Six Day War.Under the arrangement, Israel is responsible for security at the entrance’s to the Temple Mount, while the Jordanian-administered Waqf manages the holy site, which houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Jews are allowed to visit the Temple Mount but not to pray there.AFP contributed to this report.

Jerusalem mufti, Abbas announce return to prayers in Al-Aqsa-After police roll back all security measures implemented in wake of Temple Mount attack, Muslim leaders tells faithful it’s OK to return-By Dov Lieber and Raoul Wootliff July 27, 2017, 11:02 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

The mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammed Hussein, declared on Thursday that the Muslim boycott of the Temple Mount due to new Israeli security measures has ended, after police removed all infrastructure placed recently at entrances to the holy site.“Things have returned to what they were, so we will pray in Al-Aqsa,” he told the Saudi-based news station Al Arabiye.Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement calling for prayer services to be held in the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The call was echoed by Jerusalem’s Muslim religious authorities, which urged worshipers to pray on the Mount rather than at their local mosques.Muslims have been refusing to enter the site since security equipment, including metal detectors and cameras, was installed after a shooting attack on July 14, in which three Arab Israelis used weapons smuggled into the sacred compound to kill two Israeli policemen.The mufti’s statement came shortly after Israeli police said early Thursday that all the new security measures, which had driven deadly unrest in Jerusalem and the West Bank, had been removed.The tense two-week standoff between Israel and Muslim worshipers at the holy site persisted despite the removal of metal detectors on Tuesday, sparking concerns of major unrest surrounding Friday prayers.Deadly unrest erupted with the introduction of the new measures, with clashes breaking out around the compound and in the West Bank, leaving five Palestinians dead. A Palestinian also broke into a home in a settlement in the West Bank last week and stabbed four members of the Salomon family, killing three of them.The newly installed railings and scaffolding where cameras were previously mounted were also removed early on Thursday from the compound, which encompasses the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.“The police returned the security measures to how they were before the attack,” Israel Police spokeswoman Luba Samri told The Times of Israel. “The metal detectors, the cameras, the barriers, the scaffolding — everything that was added has now been taken down.”The removal of the installations overnight prompted Palestinian crowds to celebrate in the streets near the site.Muslims have refused to enter the site and have been praying in the streets outside since Israel implemented the measures. Palestinians said they viewed the move as Israel asserting further control.Israeli authorities said the metal detectors were needed because the July 14 attackers smuggled guns into the compound and emerged from it to attack the officers.Samri, the police spokeswoman, said Israeli authorities had “done absolutely everything in order to return the situation to its original state.” Still, she added, security assessments would continue and the additional security measures could be returned.“Everything is possible,” she said. “Yes, it could change again.”The decision to remove the new security measures was met with harsh criticism from both the Israeli right — which blasted it as a capitulation — and the left, which argued the measures shouldn’t have been introduced to begin with.While saying that he would not criticize Benjamin Netanyahu directly over the decision, the prime minister’s principal coalition rival, Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett, characterized the move as a “surrender” to terrorism that had weakened Israel.“Instead of sending a message about Israel’s sovereignty on the Temple Mount, we are sending a message that we can be questioned,” he said.In a rare attack on his party leader, Likud MK Oren Hazan said that Netanyahu “would not be forgiven for capitulating over Israel’s future security.”Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, declared in the wake of the installation of the new measures that he was severing security coordination with Israel. On Thursday he did not immediately say whether the removal of the last remaining installations meant he’d roll back that decision.“The issue of the Al-Aqsa Mosque was only one of the issues that led to the freezing of security coordination,” he said in televised comments. “In light of what is happening in Jerusalem, we continue our research and discussion… meaning, not all things have ended…. There are other issues.”The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism and is revered as the site of the biblical temples. It is also the third-holiest site in Islam, after Mecca and Medina, and is known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif. Under an arrangement in place since Israel captured the Old City in the Six Day War in 1967 and extended its sovereignty there, non-Muslims are allowed access to the site but are forbidden to pray there. Under that status quo, Israel is responsible for security at the site while the Jordanian trust — the Waqf — is in charge of administrative duties.AFP contributed to this report.

REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE

REVELATION 11:1-2
1 And there was given me a(MEASURING) reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out,(TO THE WORLD NATIONS) and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.(JERUSALEM DIVIDED BUT THE 3RD TEMPLE ALLOWED TO BE REBUILT)

DANIEL 9:27
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

MICAH 4:1-5
1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
2  And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
3  And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
4  But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
5  For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.

DANIEL 11:31
31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.(3RD TEMPLE REBUILT)

DANIEL 12:11
11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away,(AT THE MIDPOINT OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD)(3RD TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED BY DICTATOR) and the abomination that maketh desolate set up,(TO WORSHIP THE DICTATOR OR DIE) there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.(1,290 DAYS)(AN EXTRA 30 DAYS AT THE END OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD FOR JESUS TO DESTROY THE ARMIES AGAINST JERUSALEM.AND TO JUDGE THE SHEEP AND GOAT NATIONS OF MATTHEW 25:31-46-HOW THEY TREATED ISRAEL DURING THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD.AND THEN I BELIEVE JESUS WILL REBUILD THE 4TH TEMPLE 25 MILES FROM THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT.AND THEN JESUS RULES FOR THE 1,000 YEARS-THEN FOREVER FROM THAT 4TH TEMPLE.)

MATTHEW 24:15-16
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)(THE DICTATOR SITS IN THE REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE CALLING HIMSELF GOD AT THE MIDPOINT OR 3 1/2 YEAR PERIOD OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD.OR 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY BETWEEN ISRAEL-ARABS AND MANY OF DANIEL 9:27)
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

Israel removes more security installations outside Temple Mount-Railings, scaffolding for cameras dismantled at entrance to sensitive holy site, a day after metal detectors were taken down-By Times of Israel staff and AFP July 27, 2017, 2:38 am

Israel late Wednesday removed minor security installations, including fairly flimsy metal railings, from an entrance to the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, a sensitive holy site that has been at the center of violence over the past two weeks in the wake of a terror attack in which two Israeli police officers were killed near the compound. The Muslim authorities who administer the site had demanded that the railings be removed, among other steps, in a list given to Israel Police earlier Wednesday.In response to the July 14 attack, in which three Arab Israelis killed the two officers near the Lions Gate with guns they had smuggled into the holy site, Israel installed security measures at the entrances, including metal detectors, which set off protests and deadly unrest in and around East Jerusalem and the West Bank.Early on Tuesday, Israel had removed the metal detectors. Late on Wednesday night, newly installed railings and scaffolding where cameras were previously mounted were also removed from the Lions Gate area near the entrance to the Mount.The removal of the railings and scaffolding late Wednesday prompted celebrations by Palestinians, who danced, whistled and honked their horns near the site.Young Palestinian men set of firecrackers as Israeli forces watched closely.One Palestinian man described the event as a “victory.”This is the mood now. People feel they won fight for #nogates full celebration pic.twitter.com/BYgUwwiqe0— Kaamil Ahmed (@KaamilAhmed) July 26, 2017-“For 12 days no one has slept, no one has done anything except the Al-Aqsa mosque,” Firas Abasi told AFP.A tense standoff has been underway between Israel and Muslim worshipers at the holy site despite the removal of the metal detectors, with concerns of major unrest later this week if no resolution is found.They've removed metal barriers and frame that had been holding cameras outside #alaqsa. Lions Gate appears same as before now pic.twitter.com/OoQ5LOHcqN— Kaamil Ahmed (@KaamilAhmed) July 26, 2017-Muslims have refused to enter the site and have prayed in the streets outside for more than a week after Israel installed the new security measures.It was not immediately clear whether Muslim authorities would now give their approval to re-enter the site. They had demanded that all security changes at access points to the compound be removed, and on Wednesday gave a list of such demands to Israel Police. The list included reopening five gates to the Temple Mount closed in the latest crisis, the removal of five new cameras installed in the Mount area, and the removal of the metal railings placed at the entrances.Palestinians perceived the security measures as a move by Israel to assert further control over the site, a charge Israel has repeatedly denied.Israeli authorities said the metal detectors were needed because the July 14 attackers were able to smuggle guns into the site.Protests and deadly unrest have erupted in the days since the measures were installed, with clashes breaking out around the compound in Jerusalem’s Old City and in the West Bank.Five Palestinians were killed in clashes between Palestinian rioters and Israeli police over the weekend.And I think a lot of people think this is the final farewell as equipment leaves the site pic.twitter.com/HJozZw8al5— Kaamil Ahmed (@KaamilAhmed) July 26, 2017-On Friday night, a Palestinian terrorist broke into a home of a family sitting down for Shabbat dinner in the West Bank settlement of Halamish, stabbing three of the family members to death.The Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas has frozen ties with Israel over the episode, and Abbas on Wednesday approved mass demonstrations on a “day of rage” scheduled for Friday. The Hamas terror group also called for protests on Friday.There have been concerns that Friday’s main weekly Muslim prayers — which typically draw thousands to the al-Aqsa mosque — will lead to more clashes between protesters and Israeli security forces.The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism and is revered as the site of the biblical temples. It is also the third-holiest site in Islam, after Mecca and Medina, and is known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif. Under an arrangement in place since Israel captured Jerusalem’s Old City in the Six Day War in 1967 and extended its sovereignty there, non-Muslims are allowed access to the site but are forbidden to pray there. Under this status quo, Israel is responsible for security at the site while the Jordanian trust — the Waqf — is in charge of administrative duties.

Waqf presents police with list of demands to end protests-Islamic authority wants access to Temple Mount returned to situation before July 14 attack — more gates open, no railings, no cameras-By Avi Issacharoff and Times of Israel staff July 26, 2017, 9:41 pm

The Islamic authority that administers the Temple Mount on Wednesday met with Israeli police representatives and renewed demands to remove all additional security measures placed by Israel at the holy site in the wake of a deadly July 14 attack.According to Palestinian sources, a meeting was held between a representative of the Waqf, which administers the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound atop the Temple Mount, and Jerusalem Police chief Deputy Commissioner Yoram Halevi.Sources said it was the second meeting between the two.The Waqf representative, an attorney charged with carrying out talks with Israeli officials, demanded that conditions at the site “return to what they were before” the July 14 terror attack in which three Israeli Arabs shot dead two Israel police officers with weapons they had smuggled into the site.Israel early on Monday removed metal detector gates it had installed outside the Temple Mount compound, but the Waqf has continued to urge Muslim worshipers to pray outside the site. The list of demands it presented Wednesday includes reopening five gates to the Temple Mount closed in the latest crisis, the removal of five new cameras installed in the Mount area, and the removal of metal railings placed at the entrances.In response, the Israel Police said it maintains regular contact with the Waqf over the situation at the Temple Mount, but denied any negotiations were taking place.With the amended security arrangements ordered by Israel’s cabinet late Monday now completed, the Mount is open to Muslim worshipers, and a few dozen worshipers are visiting the site on a private basis, police said Wednesday.A police spokesperson added that when the Waqf agrees to renew regular prayer at the site, it will enjoy the full cooperation of the authorities.In practice, however, Muslim worshipers have largely stayed away from the compound. Instead, they have held mass prayer protests outside the shrine, many of which devolved into clashes with Israeli security forces.Immediately following the July 14 attack, Israel took the rare step of closing the Temple Mount to Muslim worshipers on a Friday — the holiest day of the week in Islam — in order to search for weapons, before reopening it two days later after installing metal detectors at the entrances to the compound. Previously detectors had only been placed at the Mughrabi Gate, the entrance for non-Muslim visitors.The detectors were removed early Tuesday morning amid intense pressure from the Arab and Muslim world, although metal railings and scaffolding placed by the police in recent days are still in the area where the metal detectors once stood.Israel’s security cabinet said Monday night it would replace the metal detectors with “advanced technologies,” referring reportedly to cameras that can detect hidden objects, but said the process could take up to six months.A Waqf official told The Times of Israel that it was continuing the boycott of the Temple Mount until all security measures added after the attack are removed.The official noted that “the new high-tech cameras” would not be acceptable in place of the metal detectors.Waqf officials also pointed to the increased police presence as an example of security measures they demanded be rolled back along with the metal detectors.Earlier on Wednesday, both Hamas and Fatah called on Palestinians to step up their protests against Israel.At a Gaza military parade, Hamas called for a “day of rage” Friday in the West Bank, urging Palestinians to “respond to the ongoing events in order to deter Israel from continuing its violations against our people and holy places,” according to Channel 2.It was the second week in a row the Palestinian terrorist group made such a call.Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah party also called on its supporters, also for the second week in a row, to take to the streets in Jerusalem and the West Bank on Friday in opposition to the security measures at the holy site.Fatah’s youth movement later issued a statement vowing to expand the “circle of confrontation with the occupation forces, isolation of settlements and the opening of all fronts, in villages, cities and refugee camps.”The statement from the “Shabiba” movement said the planned actions would target all settlements and roads leading to them.

Jerusalem police chief threatens casualties if protests continue-‘Don’t test us,’ Yoram Halevi warns Muslim worshipers after removal of Temple Mount security measures and ahead of Friday prayers-By Raoul Wootliff July 27, 2017, 2:57 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

Following the removal of recently added security infrastructure from entrances to the Temple Mount, Jerusalem police chief Yoram Halevi warned Thursday that further violence over access to the holy site would not be tolerated and threatened that “there will be casualties” if protesters attempt to disrupt the fragile peace.Muslims refused to enter the site for almost two weeks after security equipment, including metal detectors and cameras, was installed in the wake of a shooting attack on July 14, in which three Arab Israelis used weapons smuggled into the sacred compound to kill two Israeli policemen.Speaking at the Western Wall shortly after Muslim leaders declared an end to the boycott of the Temple Mount and announced Friday prayers would go ahead as normal, Halevi said that authorities would do all they could to prevent further unrest but protesters “should not be surprised” if police respond to disturbances with force.“No one should try to test us tomorrow,” he told reporters, promising calm if worshipers follow the instruction of their religious leaders to end the protests. But “if there are people who try tomorrow to disturb the peace, to harm police or citizens, they should not be surprised: There will be casualties and people injured,” he said, reiterating it two more times during the course of his public comments.“Don’t test us, because we know how to respond, and we know how to respond directly and forcefully,” Halevi added emphatically.The removal of the last installations overnight prompted Palestinian crowds to celebrate in the streets near the site. Palestinians had said they viewed them as an assertion of control by Israel, while Israeli authorities said the metal detectors were needed because the July 14 attackers smuggled guns into the compound and emerged from it to shoot the officers.Halevi said that while Friday prayers may see additional “victory celebrations,” Palestinians should keep in mind that police are still in charge of Temple Mount security.“Those who tried to claim differently should know there is Israeli sovereignty on the Mount,” he said. “This is a place that we will protect under all circumstances, at any stage, in any situation.”Despite the reduction in security measures, the police chief promised not to back down on checking worshipers entering the compound. “We will check anyone suspicious, anyone who we think could disturb the peace, anyone who could be an attacker. They will be stopped at the gate, they will be checked as we have done in the past,” Halevi said.The tense standoff between Israel and Muslim worshipers at the site has persisted despite the removal of metal detectors on Tuesday — Muslims said they would not return to the Mount until all of the new security measures were rolled back — sparking concerns of major unrest surrounding Friday prayers.Deadly unrest erupted with the introduction of the new measures, with clashes breaking out around the compound and in the West Bank, leaving five Palestinians dead. A Palestinian also broke into a home in a settlement in the West Bank last week and stabbed four members of the Salomon family, killing three of them.The decision to remove the new security measures was met with harsh criticism from both the Israeli right — which blasted it as a capitulation — and the left, which argued the measures shouldn’t have been introduced to begin with.Responding to reports that police opposed the removal of the increased security measures, Halevi did little to deny the disagreements but said that it was not his place to question orders.“We are people of uniform, people of action, and we will carry out the operational directions of the political echelon,” he said. “Of course, we also have our opinion and we have made that known but we follow the directions we are given.”The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism and is revered as the site of the biblical temples. It is also the third-holiest site in Islam, after Mecca and Medina, and is known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif. Under an arrangement in place since Israel captured the Old City in the Six Day War in 1967 and extended its sovereignty there, non-Muslims are allowed access to the site but are forbidden to pray there. Under that status quo, Israel is responsible for security at the site while the Jordanian trust — the Waqf — is in charge of administrative duties.

At the Temple Mount, it’s not about metal detectors, it’s about sovereignty-Abbas is calling for a return to the way things were before July 14’s deadly attack in which two Israeli cops were killed. The worshiper-protesters on the streets of the Old City have more ambitious goals-By Dov Lieber July 26, 2017, 4:44 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

The Israeli government missed the point of Palestinian anger directed at metal detectors placed at entrances to the Temple Mount and, having misdiagnosed the situation, made a decision that failed to resolve the crisis and has only made it worse. At least, that’s what many of the Muslim protesters in the streets of Jerusalem’s Old City have been saying since the metal detectors were removed early Tuesday morning.Israel thought it was making a concession by removing the detectors, which were installed after three Arab Israelis carried out a shooting attack at the Temple Mount, killing two policemen with weapons they had smuggled into Al-Aqsa Mosque. Instead, the security cabinet decided advanced monitoring equipment, at the cost of NIS 100 million (around $27 million), would eventually take their place. This would make physical access for Muslim worshipers to the mosque easier and quicker, and make the area outside the holy site look less like a military checkpoint.However, on Tuesday and Wednesday, many protesters in the Old City repeated the same line: “The smart cameras are worse.” Worse, they explained, because such cameras represent a more sophisticated way of controlling the entrances to the Temple Mount.And therein lies the real issue: The initial quarrel over metal detectors has evolved into a battle over sovereignty at what is possibly the world’s most sensitive holy site.Complicating matters for Israel is the fact that the thousands of Palestinians heading to pray in the streets of the Old City of Jerusalem every day have no clear leader.While the Jerusalem Waqf — a branch of the Jordanian government that administers Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem — may have initiated the boycott of the Temple Mount in protest at the metal detectors, the situation has spiraled out of its control.On Tuesday morning, for example, the head of the Waqf, Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib al-Tamimi, told The Times of Israel that no decision had been made about whether it would accept alternative security arrangements being put in place by Israel, including “smart cameras.”The Waqf tried to buy time by saying it would wait to make a decision until a full assessment of Israeli measures taken inside and at the entrances to the Temple Mount had been completed.But worshipers in the streets of the Old City that morning had already made up their minds. Some thought the smart cameras had already been set up. Many said they believed these cameras would show their naked bodies, or perhaps give them cancer. Whatever these cameras could or couldn’t do, many agreed, they couldn’t be tolerated.In Ramallah, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas waited until 7 p.m. to announce what had already been established on the streets in Jerusalem: No cameras, and no increased police presence at the site. Either things go back to the way they were at the Temple Mount before July 14 or, Abbas said, he would continue to freeze contacts with Israel, including security coordination.The protesters in Jerusalem are fond of saying that they are neither Fatah (Abbas’s party) nor rival party Hamas. They are, rather, they say, “the street, the people, the Jerusalemites. ”The Waqf, many have said this week, is no longer pulling the strings. It’s now the street controlling the Waqf.As one worshiper at nighttime prayers outside the Mount put it on Tuesday, “Do we have a leader? Yes. The unified voice of the people.”Because this is a clash over sacred space, the protests are more religious than nationalist in nature. Many Palestinians have become tired of politics, but their religion and its symbols remain a force of mass mobilization.Underlining this, Tuesday night saw the largest crowd of worshipers since the start of the crisis gather in the streets of the Old City and outside the Lions Gate for evening and nighttime prayers. When the evening prayers finished around 8 p.m., the mass of people waited around another hour and a half for the next prayer service to begin.Self-made preachers took up microphones, railing against “Jewish” measures at Al-Aqsa, and led chants with clear religious overtones.“We will not kneel, for Mohammad is our leader.”“Khayber, Khayber, Oh Jews, the army of Mohammad will return.” (Khayber was an Arabian Jewish town whose residents were slaughtered by Mohammad in the seventh century.) I asked one worshiper about the significance of this chant. “It’s a promise for the future,” he said.“Of war?” I asked. “Yes, of war.”Another man explained that the current Temple Mount crisis was the fulfillment of a Quranic prophecy about a struggle between Jews and Muslims at Al-Aqsa.That the current protests are literally just prayer services — at least before some of them devolve into clashes — adds to the religious fervor.For one whole minute during the Tuesday evening service, the crowd chanted “Oh God, Oh God” repeatedly with the fear of losing of Al-Aqsa likely at the forefront of its thoughts — however improbable this seems to Israelis, and no matter how many times Israel promises it won’t change the status quo at the site.Outside lions gate now. pic.twitter.com/wxwhwdtitv— Dov Lieber (@DovLieber) July 25, 2017-While five Palestinians died in clashes with Israeli security forces around Jerusalem on Friday and Saturday, and the Palestinian terrorist who killed three members of the Salomon family in Halamish on Friday night cited a determination to assert Muslim sovereignty at Al-Aqsa, the prayer-protests inside the Old City, just outside the Temple Mount, have been relatively peaceful.For the most part, the worshipers come, pray and, eventually, go home. But minor clashes have broken out almost every night; small incidents, such as a single water bottle being thrown into the air, can lead to police taking action, including with the use of stun grenades, sending thousands running in every direction.On Tuesday night, some in the crowd said this could all end if Israel fully restored conditions at the Temple Mount entrances to the July 14 status quo ante. But others believed it was too late for that now.Mohammas Rowais, from Ras al-Amud, said goals now included “for the police to be completely removed from the site, and for religious Jews to stop going up there.”“Maybe,” he added, more analytically than provocatively, “this is the beginning of a new uprising.”

Hamas declares Temple Mount ‘victory,’ calls new ‘day of rage’-Palestinian terror group joins Fatah in urging protests Friday against new security measures at Jerusalem holy site-By Times of Israel staff July 26, 2017, 5:05 pm

Some 2,000 members of the Hamas terror group marched in the Gaza Strip Wednesday to mark “victory” after Israel removed contested metal detectors from entrances to the Temple Mount a day earlier in a bid to calm tensions.The group also called for a fresh “day of rage” throughout the West Bank on Friday to protest continued Israeli security measures at the site.The group urged Palestinians to “respond to the ongoing events in order to deter Israel from continuing its violations against our people and holy places,” according to Israel’s Channel 2.It was the second week in a row the Palestinian terrorist group made such a call.On Wednesday, the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah party also called on its supporters, for the second week in a row, to take to the streets in Jerusalem and the West Bank on Friday in opposition to the security measures at the holy site.Fatah’s Central Committee said that it would continue protests over the security measures and called for this week’s Friday prayers to again take place outside of the compound.On Friday, a West Bank teenage terrorist affiliated with Hamas stabbed to death three members of a family having Shabbat dinner in their home in the settlement of Halamish, having written a Facebook post protesting the “defiling” of Al-Aqsa by Jews.The terror attack came during a weekend that saw violent clashes throughout the West Bank, with five Palestinians killed.Muslim worshipers have stayed out of the sacred Jerusalem compound since Israel installed metal detectors there last week, in the wake of a July 14 terror attack carried out with guns that had been smuggled onto the site. Instead, they have performed mass prayer protests outside the shrine, some of which devolved into clashes with Israeli security forces.Immediately following the shooting, Israel took the rare step of closing the Temple Mount to Muslim worshipers on a Friday — the holiest day of the week in Islam — in order to search for weapons, before reopening it two days later after installing metal detectors at the entrances to the compound. Previously detectors had only been placed at the Mughrabi Gate, the entrance for non-Muslim visitors.The detectors were removed early Tuesday morning amid intense pressure from the Arab and Muslim world, although metal railings and scaffolding placed by the police in recent days are still in the area where the metal detectors once stood, and Muslims have continued to stay away in protest.Early Tuesday, Israel’s security cabinet said it would replace the metal detectors with “advanced technologies,” referring reportedly to cameras that can detect hidden objects, but said the process could take up to six months.A Waqf official told The Times of Israel that it was continuing the boycott of the Temple Mount until all security measures added after the attack are removed.The official noted that “the new high tech cameras” would not be acceptable in place of the metal detectors.Waqf officials pointed to the increased police presence as an example of security measures they demanded be rolled back along with the metal detectors.Abbas said on Tuesday he would maintain a freeze on security coordination with Israel — an unprecedented step imposed in the wake of the placement of the metal detectors — “unless all measures go back to what they were before July 14.”The security cooperation between Israel and the Palestinians, in place for years despite near-frozen diplomatic ties, is seen as critical for both Israel and Abbas’s Fatah faction to keep a lid on violence in the West Bank, particularly from Hamas.Dov Lieber contributed to this report.

In bitter tirade, Jordan king slams Netanyahu’s ‘political showmanship’-Abdullah II calls for Israeli security guard to be prosecuted, says PM’s embracing him after embassy shooting ‘threatens regional security’-By Raphael Ahren July 27, 2017, 6:15 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Thursday launched a bitter tirade against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “absolutely unacceptable” warm reception of an Israeli security guard in Amman who shot dead two Jordanian citizens his week after one of them had attacked him with a screwdriver.The king called for the security guard to be tried and accused Netanyahu of “political showmanship” and of using “this crime to score personal political points,” after the Israeli leader posted photos of himself embracing the guard.The monarch also threatened the affair would have a negative affect on bilateral ties between Amman and Jerusalem.He also appeared to take sole credit for resolving the standoff between Israel and angry Muslim worshipers at the Temple Mount.“The Israeli prime minister is required to honor his responsibilities and take the necessary legal measures to ensure that the killer is tried and justice is served, rather than exhibiting political showmanship in dealing with this crime to score personal political points,” Abdullah said at a National Policies Council meeting at Al Husseiniya Palace, west of Amman.“Such conduct is utterly rejected and provocative. It angers us all, threatens regional security, and fuels extremism. It is absolutely unacceptable,” he said.On Tuesday, Netanyahu hosted the security guard, “Ziv” (whose last name has not been cleared for publication), and Israel’s ambassador to Jordan, Einat Shlain, in his Jerusalem office.“I am happy to see you here and that things ended the way they did. You acted well, calmly, and we also had an obligation to get you out,” Netanyahu said.Photos of the meeting, including some of Netanyahu hugging the security guard, were widely publicized by the Prime Minister’s Office, including via his Arabic language social media accounts.Citing self-defense, the security guard had shot dead a 19-year-old who was repairing furniture in his apartment adjacent to the embassy and attacked him. The landlord, who was also present, was hit by a bullet and later died of his wounds. The guard was accredited as an Israeli diplomat and thus was protected from arrest and interrogation. But the Jordanian authorities initially refused to let him and other embassy staff leave the country.Only after US intervention did Amman relent, allowing the Israelis to leave Jordan. However, Jordan said the Israeli diplomats will not be allowed to return unless the guard is put on trial, Jordanian media reported Thursday.In the presence of several top officials, King Abdullah on Thursday vowed to “dedicate all the efforts and resources of the Jordanian state to ensure that justice takes its course.”King Abdullah II: Israeli PM’s conduct is rejected & provocative. It angers us all, threatens regional security & fuels extremism #Jordan— RHC (@RHCJO) July 27, 2017-“And Israel’s handling of the case at the embassy, the killing of Judge Raed Zuaiter [who owned the apartment the Israeli guard lived on], and other cases will have a direct impact on our relations,” he added.The king said that Jordan “managed the crisis” surrounding the Temple Mount and succeeded in reopening the Al-Aqsa Mosque there “in its entirety through our common stand with our Palestinian brethren.”Also on Thursday, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman took credit for getting Israel to remove all the security measures it had installed after a July 14 terror attack on the holy site. It was the king’s outreach to US President Donald Trump that moved the Israelis to give in in the two-week long standoff, Riyadh claimed.

Leamington, Ont., Anglican church opens doors to Muslim worshippers-Relationship with Syrian refugees created strong bond between Christian and Muslim communities-Updated: Jul 27, 2017 12:15 PM ET

Muhammad Asghar kneeled on the floor alongside a couple of dozen fellow Muslims last week silently praying. When he looked up and turned his head, he smiled at the Anglican priest kneeling behind him."To my amazement, he came and joined me in the prayer," Asghar said.A Christian clergyman kneeling inside a mosque would normally be an unusual occurrence, but in Leamington — the small farming community in southwestern Ontario — it's become a common sight.Asghar and many others regularly pray at St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church, where the Muslim community has set up a mosque, thanks to a deal worked out between the two religious communities.-St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church-The emerging relationship between the groups can set an example for the entire community, said Taha Halabi, who also regularly attends prayer."We tried to show the community in Leamington, and everywhere in Ontario, that Muslims and Christians are hand to hand," he said.The arrangement started in September when the church invited Syrian refugees to its annual picnic. Everyone who showed up liked the community hall, which is regularly rented out to a host of different groups.At the time, Rev. Andrew Wilson offered the space to be used as a mosque after learning the Muslim community had been renting a tiny location that was not big enough for their needs.By the month of Ramadan, which started in late May, the hall was rented to serve as a mosque, and hundreds came to worship during the time of fasting. The mosque now regularly has 30 to 40 people coming in for the prayer service.For Wilson, the storyline smacks of the CBC television series Little Mosque on the Prairie."It's almost the exact same story," he said. "That always makes me giggle. We're kind of imitating art in a sort of way."-Learning from one another-Najam Jutt, who helps lead the prayers at the Leamington mosque, has heard of other churches and mosques sharing locations in an effort to help each other out."We absolutely love it," he said. "It highlights how we all work together for a common cause."-Muhammad Asghar-Muhammad Asghar and many others regularly pray at St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church, where the Muslim community has set up a mosque.When Asghar moved to Leamington from Toronto last month, he suspected the small town would not have a place for him to pray."I was so concerned that we did not have a mosque here in this area," he said. "I was amazed from the response from the church, response from the community."Parishioners at the Anglican church have welcomed their new tenants. Charlotte McDonald has been going to St. John the Evangelist for more than 50 years."We've welcomed refugees into our country as our brothers, sisters, neighbours and friends, and this is an opportunity to invite them into our church as well," she said.She too hopes people in the region can learn from the example the two communities have shown."We cannot gain peace in this world, until we can live together with one another in one community," she said. "That's just reaching out and saying here we are together — brothers and sisters of this Earth, regardless of religion, creed, colour, it doesn't matter."

U.S.-South Korean military chiefs discuss military options: U.S. military-[Reuters]-yahoonews-July 28, 2017

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. and South Korean military officials discussed military options after North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Friday, a spokesman for the top U.S. general said.Marine General Joseph Dunford was joined by the Commander of U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, when they called General Lee Sun-jin, chairman of the South Korean Joint Chief of Staff."During the call Dunford and Harris expressed the ironclad commitment to the U.S.-Republic of Korea alliance. The three leaders also discussed military response options," said Captain Greg Hicks, a spokesman for Dunford.(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by James Dalgleish)

North Korea fires missile, possibly ICBM, into sea off east coast-[Reuters]-By Jack Kim and Elaine Lies-yahoonews-July 28, 2017

SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea fired a missile on Friday in an unusual late-night test launch, and details from Japanese, South Korean and U.S. officials suggested it was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).Following the launch, South Korean President Moon Jae-in ordered discussions to be held with the United States on deploying additional THAAD anti-missile defense units, his office said.The launch from North Korea's northern Jangang province took place at 11:41 p.m. (1441 GMT), an official at South Korea's Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.The U.S. Defense Department confirmed the launch. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the missile flew for about 45 minutes before apparently landing in the waters of Japan's exclusive economic zone."As a result of their launches of ICBM-level missiles, this clearly shows the threat to our nation's safety is severe and real," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.Abe said he would convene Japan's National Security Council.Following a meeting of South Korea's National Security Council, Moon said he wanted the United Nations Security Council to discuss new and stronger sanctions against the North, the presidential Blue House said.The European Union called the launch "an outright violation" of international obligations and a "serious threat" to international peace and security, and urged North Korea to engage in dialogue to pursue denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini would discuss the matter with the foreign ministers of South Korea and other partners at the ASEAN ministerial meeting in Manila on Aug 6-7.-'U.S. CITIES WITHIN RANGE'-Japanese broadcaster NHK, citing a military official, said the missile reached an altitude of more than 3,000 km (1,860 miles).South Korean military said the missile was believed to be an ICBM-class, flying more than 1,000 km and reaching an altitude of 3,700 km. In Washington, the U.S. Pentagon also said it had assessed that the missile was an ICBM.Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said the launch had been expected and took place from Mupyong-ni, an arms plant in northern North Korea. Davis said the launch did not pose a threat to North America.The data on the trajectory indicate the missile was fired at a sharply lofted angle but packed more power than a missile launched earlier this month that U.S and South Korean officials said was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), potentially capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.Jeffrey Lewis of the California-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies said the launch showed Los Angeles was within range of a North Korean missile, with Chicago, New York and Washington DC just out of reach."They may not have demonstrated the full range. The computer models suggest it can hit all of those targets," he said.The North claimed after the July 4 launch that it had successfully tested an ICBM that flew 933 km (580 miles), reaching an altitude of 2,802 km over a flight time of 39 minutes and able to carry a large and heavy nuclear warhead.The night launch, which was not unprecedented, was significant in demonstrating the ability to disguise the launch, Lewis said."A launch from an unexpected place at night demonstrates that we can't find the missile before they fire it. My guess is the North Koreans wanted to show us that they weren't trying to hide the launch, but can if they want," Lewis said.(Reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul, Elaine Lies and William Mallard in Tokyo, Idrees Ali and David Brunnstrom in Washington, Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and John Stonestreet)

N. Korea throws down gauntlet to Trump with second ICBM test-[AFP]-Park Chan-Kyong-yahoonews-July 28, 2017

Seoul (AFP) - North Korea on Friday carried out what appeared to be its second test this month of an intercontinental ballistic missile, doubling down on its threat to develop a nuclear strike capability against the US mainland in the face of severe warnings from President Donald Trump.South Korean, US and Japanese monitors all detected the unusual late-night test, with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saying the missile may have landed within Japan's maritime exclusive economic zone."We assess that this missile was an intercontinental ballistic missile," Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said, adding that the projectile travelled about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) before splashing down in the Sea of Japan.However, the Russian military said the launch appeared to be a "medium-range" ballistic missile.The launch came a day after North Korea celebrated what it calls "Victory Day" -- the anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Pyongyang regularly times its missile tests to coincide with symbolic dates.Condemnation was swift with Japan's top government spokesman, calling Friday's test another clear violation of UN resolutions."Our country will never tolerate it and made a severe protest to North Korea, condemning it in the strongest words," Suga said.In Seoul and Tokyo, the governments convened meetings of their national security councils.South Korean President Moon Jae-In said Seoul would respond with a "strong military show of force," including joint South Korea-US missile tests, according to a statement from the presidential Blue House.- Further sanctions -US military and South Korean intelligence officials had in recent days warned that North Korea appeared to be prepping another missile test -- likely of an ICBM.The ICBM test on July 4 had triggered global alarm, with experts saying the missile had a theoretical range to reach Alaska.North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, who personally oversaw that launch on America's Independence Day, described it as a gift to the "American bastards."It sent tensions soaring in the region, pitting Washington, Tokyo and Seoul against China, Pyongyang's last remaining major ally.The United States instigated a push at the United Nations for tougher measures against Pyongyang, with US President Donald Trump saying he was considering a "pretty severe" response.Joel Wit, a senior fellow at the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University and an expert on the North's nuclear weapons programme, said Friday's launch confirmed time was running out for Washington to find a way out of a pressing security crisis."Another North Korean test of what appears to be a missile that can reach the United States further emphasises the need for the Trump administration to focus like a laser on this increasingly dangerous situation," Wit said on the institute's 38 North website.Friday's launch came just hours after the US Senate passed bipartisan sanctions on Pyongyang, and Japan slapped its own sanctions on two Chinese firms, including a bank accused of laundering North Korean cash.North Korea's accelerated drive towards a credible nuclear strike capability poses a thorny policy challenge for Trump, who is at loggerheads with Beijing over how to handle Kim Jong-Un's regime."It's clear Kim Jong-Un remains undeterred by the threat of tightened sanctions, and is not listening to its one major ally, China. The longer the world waits to deal with North Korea, the more advanced Pyongyang's arsenal will become," said Jean Lee at the Wilson Center thinktank.Trump has repeatedly urged Pyongyang's chief backer Beijing to rein the Stalinist state in, but Beijing insists dialogue is the only practical way forward.There remain doubts whether the North can miniaturise a nuclear weapon to fit a missile nose cone, or if it has mastered the technology needed for the projectile to survive re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.But since Kim came to power there has been a series of technical advances, including three nuclear tests and a string of missile launches.- 'Frustrating' -Reacting to Friday's launch, United Nations spokesman Farhad Haq said it was "frustrating" that the UN secretary general's calls for all sides to de-escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula had gone unheeded.In an apparent reference to China, Haq said it was important for all parties to "use their particular influence to help resolve this."In all, six sets of UN sanctions have been imposed on North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006, but two resolutions adopted last year significantly toughened the sanctions regime.Meanwhile, the US military is preparing to conduct another test of a missile-intercept system in Alaska, perhaps as soon as Saturday.

ASTRONOMERS STUNNED BY STAR NURSERY AGE FIND.

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)

METEORS OR ASTEROID STARS HIT THE EARTH DURING THE 7 YR TRIB

AMOS 5:7,18-20-6:1
7  (WOE 1) Ye who turn judgment to wormwood,(POISON) and leave (CAST) off righteousness in the earth,(GROUND)
18 (Woe 2) unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
20 Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
AMOS 6:1
1 (Woe 3) to them that are at ease in Zion,(JERUSALEM) and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!(WOE 3 IS THIRD WAVE OF WW3 WHEN ALL NATIONS MARCH TO JERUSALEM FOR BATTLE)

JOB 9:6-9 (COMPARE TO REV 6:12-17)
6 Which shaketh the earth out of her place,(QUAKE) and the pillars thereof tremble.
7 Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not;(THE SUN BLACKEND) and sealeth up the stars.(WHICH NOW FALL FROM HEAVEN)
8 Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.(THESE SAME MEORITES MIGHT POISON ALL THE EARTHS WATERS ALSO)
9 Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.(AND IT IS INTERESTING GOD THRONE IS IN THE NORTH.AND FROM THE SOUTH THESE METEORITES WILL BE FALLING ON EARTH)

COULD THE FALLING STARS-PLANETS BE PLEIADES AND ORION-JUST MY THOUGHT
Historically, the Pleiades were seen as a group of seven stars – its brightest stars: Alcyone, Atlas, Electra, Maia, Merope, Taygeta and Pleione are visible to the keen naked eye. However modern observations show that this most famous of open clusters is comprised of several hundred stars wreathed in intricately structured nebulosity.As the Pleiades cluster is close to the ecliptic (within 4°) in the constellation of Taurus it is a spring and autumnal 'seasonal' object in both the northern and southern hemispheres. Being close to the ecliptic, there are frequent occultations of the cluster with the Moon and planets. To our superstitious ancestors these were, no doubt, portentious events. Likewise, the apparent annual motion of the cluster would have been highly significant. The heliacal (near dawn) rising of the Pleiades in spring in the northern hemisphere has from ancient times augured the opening of the seafaring and farming season: while its dawn autumnal setting marked the season's end.And also Spring and fall are Bird migration seasons in Israel.It would not surprise me if Israeli wars are not fought around the time of the Pleiades-Orion happenings.The Bible contains three direct references to the Pleiades in Job 9:9 and 38:31, and Amos 5:8, and a single indirect reference in the New Testament. This latter passage (Revelation 1:16) describes a vision of the coming of the Messiah – who holds, in his right hand, seven stars.Well since the meteors do hit the earth in the last 6 months of the 7 year tribulation period.I believe.Jesus' return will be only 6 months or so from happening.So this Pieades (meteorites) earth hit would be warning the world that Jesus is about to return to earth literally.
AMOS 5:8 (FORGET ABOUT PLANET X-NIBURU)(HERES THE FALLING STARS HERE)
8 Seek him (GOD) that maketh the seven stars (plieades) and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death (darkness) into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:

JOB 38:31-33
31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? (BIND AND LOOSE THESE STARS)(GOD GIVES US A HINT-THESE ARE THE ONES THAT FALL TO EARTH)
32 Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? (GOD TELLS US-I CAN THROW THESE STARS TO EARTH-I AM IN CONTROL OF ALL THINGS)

MATTHEW 24:29-31
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days (NEAR THE END OF THE TRIB)(IS THE ASTEROID HIT) shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,(AS A RESULT OF THE METEORITES OR ASTEROID HITTING THE GROUND-IT SHORTENS THE DAYLIGHT HOURS BECAUSE THE EARTHS GROUND STIRS UP DUST TO THE HEAVENS AND DARKENS THE SUN AND MOON.I BELIEVE WHEN THIS ASTEROID OR METEOR HITS THE EARTH-WE WILL ONLY HAVE 8 HOURS OF SUNLIGHT A DAY-SINCE THE BIBLE SAYS 1/3 OF THE SUN AND MOON WILL BE DARKENED) and the stars (METEORITES) shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.(JESUS AND THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS COME BACK TO EARTH AT THE END OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD)(AND SINCE ITS RIGHT NEAR THE END OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD-THE ASTEROID HITS.-THEN JESUS RETURNS TO EARTH)(SO WE KNOW NOW FOR SURE THAT THE ASTEROID HITS THE EARTH IN THE LAST 6 MONTHS OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD)(JUST BEFORE JESUS RETURNS TO EARTH)
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.(HERES THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS FROM 7 YEARS EARLIAR-BEING GATHERED TOGETHER TO RETURN BACK TO EARTH WITH JESUS)(FOR US TO LIVE ON EARTH FOREVER WITH JESUS)

REVELATION 6:12-17
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13 And the stars (METORITES) of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of his wrath is come;(LAST HALF OF THE 7 YR TRIB) and who shall be able to stand?

REVELATION 8:8-13
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.
10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star (ASTEROID) from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
11 And the name of the star (ASTEROID) is called Wormwood:(bitter,Poisoned) and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.(poisoned)
12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars;(LITERAL STARS) so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.(HERES WERE THE ASTEROID HIT BLOCKS THE SUN AND MOON-SHORTENING THE DAYLIGHT HOURS TO 8 HOURS A DAY ONLY)
13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe,(1) woe,(2) woe,(3) to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels,which are yet to sound!

MATTHEW 24:29 STAR MEANS ASTER OR ASTEROID ALSO-http://biblehub.com/text/matthew/24-29.htm
REVELATION 6:13 STAR MEANS ASTER OR ASTEROID ALSO.-http://biblehub.com/text/revelation/6-13.htm
REVELATION 8:10 STAR MEANS ASTER OR ASTEROID ALSO.-http://biblehub.com/text/revelation/8-10.htm
REVELATION 8:11 STAR MEANS ASTER OR ASTEROID ALSO-http://biblehub.com/text/revelation/8-11.htm
REVELATION 8:12 STARS MEAN LITERAL STARS NOT ASTEROIDS-http://biblehub.com/greek/792.htm
JOB 9:7 STAR MEANS - LITERAL STARS NOT ASTEROIDS.-http://biblehub.com/text/job/9-7.htm - http://biblehub.com/hebrew/strongs_3556.htm
AMOS 5:8 STAR MEANS - LITERAL STARS NOT ASTEROIDS-http://biblehub.com/text/amos/5-8.htm

Astronomers stunned by star 'nursery' age find-Agence France-Presse-yahoonews-July 27, 2017

Paris (AFP) - Surprised astronomers have found stars of three different ages in a stellar "nursery" in the Milky Way, throwing into question the scientific consensus on how stars are formed.The European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope in Chile spotted three distinct groups of baby stars in the Orion nebula -- the closest star "factory" to Earth, a team reported Thursday."Looking at the data for the first time was one of those 'Wow!' moments that happen only once or twice in an astronomer's lifetime," ESO astronomer Giacomo Beccari said in a statement.The images reveal "without any doubt that we are seeing three distinct populations of stars in the central parts of Orion."Previously, it was thought that all stars in a young nebulae were formed simultaneously. Now it appears that star birth happens in bursts, "and more quickly than had been previously thought," said the team.Based on the brightness and colour of the stars in the Orion nebula, the team determined that three different groups of stars were born within a span of three million years.Nebulas are massive clouds of gas and dust where stars originate. The best known to us is the Orion nebula some 1,350 light years from Earth.It is visible with the naked eye as the brightest spot around the "belt" of the Orion constellation.

In US first, scientists edit genes of human embryos-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-July 27, 2017

For the first time in the United States, scientists have edited the genes of human embryos, a controversial step toward someday helping babies avoid inherited diseases.The experiment was just an exercise in science — the embryos were not allowed to develop for more than a few days and were never intended to be implanted into a womb, according to MIT Technology Review, which first reported the news.Officials at Oregon Health & Science University confirmed Thursday that the work took place there and said results would be published in a journal soon. It is thought to be the first such work in the U.S.; previous experiments like this have been reported from China. How many embryos were created and edited in the experiments has not been revealed.The Oregon scientists reportedly used a technique called CRISPR, which allows specific sections of DNA to be altered or replaced. It's like using a molecular scissors to cut and paste DNA, and is much more precise than some types of gene therapy that cannot ensure that desired changes will take place exactly where and as intended. With gene editing, these so-called "germline" changes are permanent and would be passed down to any offspring.The approach holds great potential to avoid many genetic diseases, but has raised fears of "designer babies" if done for less lofty reasons, such as producing desirable traits.Last year, Britain said some of its scientists could edit embryo genes to better understand human development.And earlier this year in the U.S., the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine said in a report that altering the genes of embryos might be OK if done under strict criteria and aimed at preventing serious disease."This is the kind of research that the report discussed," University of Wisconsin-Madison bioethicist R. Alta Charo said of the report of Oregon's work. She co-led the National Academies panel but was not commenting on its behalf Thursday."This was purely laboratory-based work that is incredibly valuable for helping us understand how one might make these germline changes in a way that is precise and safe. But it's only a first step," she said."We still have regulatory barriers in the United States to ever trying this to achieve a pregnancy. The public has plenty of time" to weigh in on whether that should occur, she said.One prominent genetics expert, Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute in La Jolla, California, said gene editing of embryos is "an unstoppable, inevitable science, and this is more proof it can be done."Experiments are in the works now in the U.S. using gene-edited cells to try to treat people with various diseases, but "in order to really have a cure, you want to get this at the embryo stage," he said. "If it isn't done in this country, it will be done elsewhere."___Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP-Marilynn Marchione, The Associated Press.

OZONE DEPLETION JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH DUE TO SIN

ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold,(7X OR 7-DEGREES HOTTER) as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people,(ISRAEL) and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened,(DAY LIGHT HOURS SHORTENED) there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake (ISRAELS SAKE) those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)(THE ASTEROID HITS EARTH HERE)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

Wildfire forces evacuations, threatens structures near Kamloops, B.C.[The Canadian Press]-yahoonews-July 26, 2017

KAMLOOPS, B.C. — A rapidly-moving wildfire has forced people to flee dozens of properties east of Kamloops, B.C.The Thompson-Nicola Regional District issued an evacuation order for 39 properties in Monte Lake Wednesday night, saying a fire burning in the area posed an "imminent threat" to people and property.Another 58 properties were put on evacuation alert, warned that they may need to leave at a moment's notice.Evacuees have been told to head to Kamloops, where thousands of others have taken refugee as more than 150 fires burn across the province.The BC Wildfire Service said the fire was about 60 hectares in size Wednesday night, and was threatening multiple structures.The agency said 31 firefighters were working to tackle the blaze and airtankers were working on containment.Officials with the wildfire service have warned that persistent hot, dry weather in southern parts of the province is likely to make the fire situation worse in coming weeks.There are still approximately 19,100 people displaced, and Robert Turner of Emergency Management BC said more support is coming for Kamloops and Prince George, the communities that have helped most of those residents forced out of their homes."The commitment and dedication of these people has seen some truly heroic efforts and I think we're finding now with the situation going on for so long that a lot of them are getting tired," Turner said, adding the relentless fire conditions are also taking a toll on fire crews and volunteers.He said the province is working with local governments to ensure any additional support needed, including human resources, will be made available as people remain out of their homes.For the first time in days, a new evacuation order was issued by the Thompson-Nicola Regional District late Tuesday night for residents on a handful of properties northeast of Clinton, about 350 kilometres north of Vancouver.The 615-square kilometre wildfire has been threatening the region for nearly three weeks and already destroyed dozens of homes from Ashcroft north to Loon Lake, east of Clinton.RCMP announced Wednesday that a wildfire that raced through a Lake Country neighbourhood in the Okanagan and destroyed eight homes was arson.Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said police want to speak with a group of adults who were using the recreational area near where the fire started on July 15 and are also encouraging anyone with photos or video footage to contact police.He said several residents suffered substantial financial and emotional damage and it was lucky that no one was injured or killed by the fast-moving flames.Fires have charred about 3,790 square kilometres of timber, bush and grassland in B.C., since April 1, and crews are continuing to try to bring more than 150 wildfires under control.The Canadian Press.

Spanish PM denies knowledge of party corruption-By EUOBSERVER-july 27,17

Today, 08:33-Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy told a Madrid court on Tuesday that he "never heard anything" about corruption in his Popular Party (PP) because he was "not in charge of accounting" in the party. Rajoy was heard at the National Court as a witness in the so-called Gürtel case, in which 37 PP officials and businessmen stand accused of bribery, money laundering and tax evasion.

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

OH BY THE WAY WHEN THE MEDIA SAYS ALLU-AK-BAR MEANS GOD IS GREAT LIE. IN ISLAM ALLU-AK-BAR MEANS OUR GOD IS GREATER OR GREATEST. THIS IS HOW THE MEDIA SUCK HOLES UP TO ISLAMIC-QURANIC-MUSLIMS. BY WATERING DOWN THE REAL MEANING OF THE SEX FOR MURDER DEATH CULT ISLAM. TO MAKE IT SOUND LIKE A PEACEFUL RELIGION (CULT OF DEATH AND WORLD DOMINATION).

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)

Macron creates confusion over Libyan 'hotspots' By Eric Maurice-july 27,17-euobserver

BRUSSELS, Today, 17:09-A reported French plan to create "hotspots" in Libya this summer, to check asylum seekers before they try to come to Europe, remains unclear amid legal and practical difficulties."The idea is to create hotspots to avoid people taking crazy risks when they are not all eligible for asylum," French president Emmanuel Macron was quoted as saying by Agence France Presse (AFP) on Thursday (27 July).According to AFP, he said that he would send staff from Ofpra, the French office for the protection of refugees and stateless persons, to Italy, Libya, and, possibly, to Niger."I intend to do it this summer," he added.He noted that "other European countries are very reluctant" and that France would "do it" even without the EU.The announcement - made while visiting a refugee facility in Orleans, in central France - appears to have been premature."Security conditions must be met, however. Today they are not," the president's office later told AFP, casting doubt on whether his intentions would be followed by action.A French source told EUobserver that Macron meant asylum requests should be treated as closely as possible to the migrants' countries of origin.In a speech he gave during the visit, the French leader said he wanted that the EU "is able to go process asylum seekers as close as possible to the ground, in the safest third country, close to the country of origin".He said France would send Ofpra missions to Italy and "on African soil, in safe countries," and did not specifically mention Libya.In his speech, he referred to Libya to point out that 800,000 to 1 million people lived in camps there and would not all be eligible for asylum. He also said that he wanted to "politically stabilise" the country.The idea of opening hotspots in Libya caught the EU by surprise.A spokeswoman for the European Commission, Natasha Bertaud, said that the EU executive would need time to "define exactly what is being proposed."-Too much in a word-"We're open to discussing with any and all of our member states how we can improve the situation along the central Mediterranean route," said Bertaud.The use of the word "hotspots" by Macron also created confusion.The so-called EU hotspots, established in Greece and Italy, are facilities where migrants are identified, registered, and where they can request asylum.Bertaud noted that "many things are comprised in the word 'hotspot'," and stressed that it was difficult to see what it could refer to in the case of a non-EU country like Libya.Creating hotspots in Libya, an EU source pointed out, would suppose they followed the rules of Eurodac, the EU's fingerprint database, for identifying applicants, and would mean bringing in judges to supervise the process.Processing asylum seekers in Libya would also mean that EU countries, and at least France, accepted relocating them."I don't think that's what Macron has in mind," the source said.A spokesman for Austrian foreign minister Sebastian Kurz welcomed Macron’s ”important contribution to the closure of the Mediterranean route and stopping illegal migration".-Refugee camps-Kurz, as well as the Hungarian government, have been pushing for the opening of refugee camps in Libya in order to prevent people from coming to Europe.Some 30 camps already exist in Libya for migrants and displaced people. The UNHCR, the UN's refugee agency, and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), operate in about 20 of them.Bertaud said, for now, the EU was working with the UNHCR and the IOM to improve conditions in the camps and to resettle asylum seekers in the EU.Macron's announcement comes two days after he hosted Libya's rival political leaders, Fayez al-Sarraj and Khalifa Haftar, for a meeting in which they agreed to a ceasefire and to elections next year.Meanwhile, the EU continues its effort to prevent smugglers transporting people across the Mediterranean.On Tuesday, it extended the Sophia EU maritime mission until the end of 2018 and, on Thursday, a commission spokesman said that the EU was "ready to move to the next phase”, in which EU ships would intervene in Libyan waters.

Member states relocate 3,000 migrants in June-By EUOBSERVER

26. Jul, 13:13-Over 2,000 migrants that had arrived in Greece were relocated to other EU member states in June, and almost 1,000 migrants from Italy. On Wednesday, the total number of relocations was 24,676, far lower than the EU's initial target of 160,000. The new target is 33,000, which the commission said on Wednesday "remains feasible before September". A separate scheme, involving resettling refugees from Turkey, reached 17,179 resettlements (of 22,504).

EU judges rule to keep Hamas funds frozen-By EUOBSERVER

26. Jul, 10:24-The EU court in Luxembourg has set aside a previous judgment from 2014, which said that Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, should not be designated as a terrorist entity and should have its funds unfrozen. The 2014 ruling said the EU had wrongly listed Hamas on the basis of media reports, but Wednesday's verdict said member states were entitled to use outside sources as well as their own information.

Israel removes railings, overhead bridge near holy site-[The Canadian Press]-yahoonews-July 26, 2017

JERUSALEM — Israel removed railings and an overhead metal bridge it had recently installed near a contested Jerusalem holy site, meeting a demand by Muslim protesters and causing thousands of Palestinians to celebrate in the streets early Thursday.Muslim leaders said they would decide later in the day whether worshippers could return to the shrine for prayers and end a crisis that Israel hoped it had resolved by making concessions at the site.The head of the Supreme Islamic Committee, Ikrema Sabri, had said previously that worshippers would not return to the shrine until Israel removed the new railings and cameras it installed after a deadly attack there.Sabri said that even after Israel removed metal detectors, more steps were required to restore calm. He said mass prayer protests would continue until the gates of the compound are opened, metal railings and an iron bridge removed and newly installed cameras removed."We will not enter the mosque until these things are implemented," Sabri told The Associated Press. "Now we are awaiting the response of the police."The demands set off the prospect of a renewed showdown ahead of Friday prayers, when a large number of worshippers arrive for the centerpiece of the Muslim prayer week.It was unclear whether Israel's removal of the railings and overhead bridge would meet the demands, but Palestinians danced, chanted "God is Great" and set off fireworks early Thursday.Israel installed the new security measures earlier this month after Arab gunmen shot and killed two police officers from within the site. It said they were necessary to prevent more attacks, while Palestinians claimed Israel was trying to expand its control over the site. The issue sparked some of the worst street clashes in years and threatened to draw Israel into conflict with other Arab and Muslim nations.Under intense pressure, Israel removed the metal detectors and said it planned to install sophisticated security cameras instead.But Palestinian politicians and Muslim clerics say that isn't enough and are demanding Israel restore the situation at the shrine in Jerusalem's Old City to what it was before the July 14 attack.Israel's decision to add security measures there triggered Muslim protests, and low-level clashes have continued in and around Jerusalem in the days since. The Red Crescent said 13 people were treated Tuesday night after being hit by rubber bullets during protests.The continued standoff highlighted the deep distrust between Israel and the Palestinians when it comes to the shrine — the third-holiest in Islam and the most sacred in Judaism.The 37-acre (15-hectare) compound, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount, has been a lightning rod for the rival religious and national narratives of the two sides and has triggered major confrontations in the past.The latest development could put Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a tough spot, as he tries to tamp out a wave of unrest that has triggered international pressure while not appearing to his hard-line base as capitulating.His government has faced a growing backlash at home for what critics said was hasty decision-making and embarrassing policy reversals. Even Israel Hayom, a free daily owned by Netanyahu's billionaire patron Sheldon Adelson, denounced Israel's response to the crisis as "feeble and frightened."In an unprecedented headline, the paper — which has been an unequivocal source of support for the prime minister — led with "Netanyahu's demonstration of helplessness."In a face-saving compromise, and after Netanyahu spoke to Jordan's King Abdullah II and others, Israel's security Cabinet announced on Monday that in place of the metal detectors, it would employ nonintrusive "advanced technologies" — reportedly smart cameras that can detect hidden objects. The new security system is said to be set up in the next six months at a cost of $28 million.Netanyahu appeared to be doubling back again Wednesday when he instructed police forces to conduct thorough inspections at the site.Israeli police, meanwhile, acknowledged their forces have been preventing journalists from entering parts of Jerusalem's Old City. Reporters have said they were being blocked this week from covering the unrest around the shrine while tourists have been able to freely move about the city and film with their mobile phones.Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said "journalists are being prevented from coming in those specific areas where there have been disturbances and riots." He said it was a decision made by the Jerusalem police district.The Foreign Press Association derided the move, calling it "a kind of innovative censorship that is surprising in a country that prides itself on press freedom."Israel has also found itself in a new scuffle with Turkey, whose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been among its fiercest critics. On Tuesday, Erdogan accused Israel of using security measures as a pretext to take over holy sites in Jerusalem.Israel's foreign ministry responded by calling the comments "delusional, baseless and distorted.""The days of the Ottoman Empire are over," it said. "He who lives in a palace of glass would be better off not throwing stones."Netanyahu's office also chimed in, saying it wondered what Erdogan would have to say to Kurds and residents of north Cyprus. "Erdogan is the last one who can preach to Israel," it said in a statement.On Wednesday, Turkey's foreign ministry called the Israeli statements "arrogant."____Daraghmeh reported from Ramallah, West Bank.Aron Heller And Mohammed Daraghmeh, The Associated Press.

US-backed Syrian fighters now control almost half of IS city-[The Canadian Press]-yahoonews-July 27, 2017

RAQQA, Syria — U.S.-backed Syrian fighters have captured almost half of the Islamic State group's de facto capital of Raqqa, but the push into the city in northern Syria has slowed due to stiff resistance and large amounts of explosives planted by the extremists, a spokeswoman for the fighters and monitors said Thursday.The assault on Raqqa by the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led fighting coalition, began June 6, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and U.S. troops advising the local forces.Since then, the SDF has made steady advances from the eastern and western sides of the city, reaching the walled old quarter.The fall of Raqqa, IS' self-proclaimed capital, would be a huge loss for the extremist group, which earlier this month lost the Iraqi city of Mosul. But much tougher fighting still lies ahead.Army Col. Ryan Dillon, the spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, said 45 per cent of Raqqa is now under the control of the SDF.In a series of tweets, he said the SDF cleared about 9 square miles of terrain this past week fighting against "stiff, sporadic resistance" from IS militants entrenched in Raqqa.Nisreen Abdullah, the Kurdish spokeswoman, told The Associated Press that the pace of the advance into Raqqa has slowed because of massive amounts of explosives laid by IS fighters.As the extremists become more surrounded, they have increased their suicide attacks against fighters of the SDF, she added."Raqqa has become a booby-trapped city and this shows their (IS') weakness," said Abdullah, of the Women's Protection Units or YPJ, speaking from northern Syria. "They are also using civilians as human shields and this is slowing the push as well."She said the Syrian Democratic Forces, which includes the Kurdish YPJ women fighters, now controls 45 per cent of Raqqa. She added that since the offensive began, SDF fighters have fully captured eight neighbourhoods .Plumes of smoke could be seen behind buildings in Raqqa a day earlier as the coalition pounded IS targets in the city. Syrian children looked on as U.S. armoured vehicles drove by. One American soldier on a vehicle made the victory sign.Mustafa Bali, who heads the SDF media centre , confirmed on Thursday that the group now has half of Raqqa and said the most important areas liberated in the past four days were the Nazlet Shehadeh and Panorama Square neighbourhoods — both on the southwestern part of the city.But he said there are IS counterattacks, militant sleeper cells and tunnels in the area."It was not easy, we have casualties and martyrs," he said, adding that the fighting was ongoing.In the eastern front, where SDF forces breached IS defences on the edge of the old city about a month ago, fighters have now reached the old citadel, an SDF commander in charge of one sector in the front told the AP."As we move forward we find a tunnel every 100 metres ," Jihad Khabat said. He said the enemy, "besieged and in distress," hides in deep and long tunnels under the city, from where they can hit Syrian fighters in daily counterattacks.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said SDF fighters control half of Raqqa. The attacks on the city have claimed many casualties among the tens of thousands of civilians who are still trapped in areas controlled by IS.The Observatory said 29 people, including eight children, were killed in airstrikes on the city on Wednesday. The activist-operated Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently group said 36 people were killed and more than 50 wounded in airstrikes and shelling.The reports could not be independently confirmed.In central Syria, fighting edged closer to the IS stronghold of Sukhna, the last major town held by IS in the Homs province, according to the Observatory and the government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media.SCMM said Syrian troops killed and wounded a number of IS fighters in battles near a mountain that overlooks the area. The Observatory said troops are now about 5 kilometres (3 miles) from Sukhna, which has been held by IS since the summer of 2015.Near the border with Lebanon, a cease-fire went into effect between the militant Hezbollah group and al-Qaida-linked fighters on Thursday morning as negotiations were underway to reach a deal that would eventually lead to the evacuation of Syrian fighters to the northwestern rebel-held province of Idlib.The truce followed a six-day offensive by Hezbollah and Syrian troops who besieged al-Qaida-linked fighters in a small border area.Senior Lebanese security official, Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, who is leading the negotiations, told reporters in Beirut that the details of the deal will remain secret, adding that fighters and their families who decide to leave for Idlib will do it under the supervision of Lebanese authorities.Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV said the deal will include the release of five members of the Shiite group who are held by insurgents in Syria.___Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.Sarah El Deeb, The Associated Press.

Aleppo district shows Assad's delicate dance with Kurds-[Reuters]-By Angus McDowall-yahoonews-July 27, 2017

ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) - Kurdish fighters wearing the blue eagle insignia of the Asayish security force stopped the taxi entering the Sheikh Maqsoud district in Aleppo, checking papers and searching for contraband.When they waved it on into the Kurdish-controlled district, it stayed inside the city while leaving, in effect, the Syrian Arab Republic of President Bashar al-Assad.Inside Sheikh Maqsoud, Kurdish banners flutter from the rooftops and Assad's image is replaced by that of a Kurdish leader."We won't give up Sheikh Maqsoud unless they kill us all," said Souad Hassan, a senior Kurdish politician.That the government tolerates Kurdish rule in the enclave, generally allowing movement in and out, shows its willingness to accept, for now, a Kurdish movement whose vision for Syria directly rivals its own, but which is not an immediate enemy.But friction between Sheikh Maqsoud - population 40,000 - and the government points to potential future problems.It is an uneasy relationship, complicated by a web of international alliances and enmities, that will grow more important as both sides seize more ground from Islamic State.Assad's government trumpeted the defeat of rebels in Aleppo as his greatest victory of the war so far, the return of state control to a city that was once the country's biggest.But he has made no move to regain Sheikh Maqsoud, which sits on a hilltop surrounded by areas held by the army.There is no military presence around the district except a Syrian army checkpoint on the road in. Many government workers and students inside Sheikh Maqsoud commute daily into the city.Still, Asayish leaders there complained to Reuters that government checkpoints hinder the movement of goods and services into Sheikh Maqsoud.-LEFTIST IDEOLOGY-In an upstairs room of the local "Democratic Community Academy", 15 men and women, note pads and pens on their laps, attended a lecture on the YPG's leftist, federalist ideology.A woman rose to speak and the man and woman giving the course nodded approvingly before correcting a point of doctrine.A wall-sized photograph of Abdullah Ocalan, founder of the PKK in Turkey, and political lodestar of the YPG and the main Syrian Kurdish political party, the PYD, dominated the room.Graffiti in Sheikh Maqsoud included several references to the PKK and to "Apo", as Ocalan is known. Street posters of martyrs included not just those killed with the YPG in Syria, but some who had died fighting for the PKK in Turkey.Those ties to the PKK alarm Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, whose intervention in Syria is based partly on stopping a Kurdish mini-state emerging along the border.They have also complicated the YPG's relationship with the United States, which backs it as the spearhead of its fight against Islamic State in Syria, but which regards the PKK as a terrorist organization.The Kurds have forsworn independence from Syria. Instead they want a decentralized state in which communities elect local councils, led by both men and women, with representation from all ethnic and religious groups.Critics say the governing structures they have set up under this model in northern Syria are less democratic than they appear, and are dominated by officials committed to the PKK.Still, their vision is at odds with Assad's Syrian state, which is highly centralized and emphasizes the country's Arab roots.Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem has suggested that an "accommodation" could be reached with the Kurds, and Assad has indicated he accepts their bearing arms for now.But Assad has also vowed to take back "every inch" of the country and described Kurdish governing bodies as "temporary structures".-FIGHTING-One reason for Assad's tolerance of the YPG is clear: its enmity with rebel groups that are his own main foe.The Kurds' front against the rebels helped Assad when his forces retook east Aleppo last year. Their fight against Islamic State has also deprived the jihadists of resources they might have used against the Syrian government.The Syrian government has also benefited from Turkish anxiety about the YPG's links to the PKK. Ankara's involvement in Syria, where it was a main supporter of rebels, is now focused on containing Kurdish influence.The Kurds have allowed government enclaves to persist near Hasaka and Qamishli, two cities they control in northeast Syria, but they have also clashed with the army there.Reuters visited Sheikh Maqsoud with a Syrian government official and was escorted by a truck of Asayish soldiers.Mohammed Ali, the head of the Asayish in Sheikh Maqsoud, was very critical of the Syrian government, saying it often obstructed passage between Sheikh Maqsoud and other areas, blocking humanitarian supplies."This is wrong behavior by the Syrian government. It looks at Sheikh Maqsoud as if it is a military area, not a civilian one," he said.Reuters did not see any of the Kurdish YPG militia fighters in Sheikh Maqsoud, only the armed security service the Asayish, although YPG flags were flying.-CHECKPOINTS-There are only two primary schools and no high schools in Sheikh Maqsoud, Ali said. Older children and people in the district with jobs in other parts of Aleppo must commute into government territory.However, he said the checkpoint was only open from 8am-5pm in summer and until 3pm in winter. Reuters saw some traffic cross later than this.All supplies including food, medicine and diesel for electricity generators - needed to power pumps to raise water from wells - come from outside.Produce in Sheikh Maqsoud street stalls was all purchased from the central Aleppo fruit and vegetable market each morning, the barrow men said - but charged 50 lira ($0.10) per kilo by the checkpoint soldiers.Sheikh Maqsoud is about 17km (10 miles) from the nearest Kurdish-run territory in Syria - Afrin. Civilians are able to pass without much difficulty, but Kurdish fighters are not. Young men risk forcible conscription at army checkpoints.The checkpoints sometimes refused shipments attempting to enter Sheikh Maqsoud without warning and seemingly without reason, Ali said, noting a recent diesel shipment denied entry.Heavy trucks and construction machinery, such as bulldozers, required to lift the rubble in badly damaged areas were also forbidden entrance, he added.-DEPENDENCE-In the main ward of Sheikh Maqsoud's only clinic, a former school, a motionless soldier and an old man lay on two of the four chipped metal beds.A plastic cupboard against one wall was untidily piled with old medical equipment and supplies. A half-full plastic bin bag lay open in a corner with discarded surgical gloves inside.The hospital cannot perform surgery under anesthetic and usually just provides first aid before moving patients to private hospitals in government-held Aleppo.This apparent dependence on links to government areas is reflected in other Kurdish areas in Syria, where their other borders, with Turkey and Iraq, are hostile.There was no sign in Sheikh Maqsoud of the ties between the YPG and the U.S. But Reuters saw a Russian armored vehicle slowly driving down one road.Moscow is Assad's biggest ally in the war but the presence of Russian forces in the Kurdish Afrin region has also helped avert possible Turkish attacks there, Kurds believe.Still, Kurdish leaders in Sheikh Maqsoud say they see no reason to accept rule by Damascus unless their people want it."Around 30-40 percent of Syrian land is under our control and the will of the people is what is strongest," said Mohammed Haj Mustafa, head of the PYD in Sheikh Maqsoud.(Editing by Giles Elgood)

EU warns of possible delays to Brexit talks, London confident of schedule-[Reuters]-By Jan Strupczewski and Gabriela Baczynska-yahoonews-July 27, 2017

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Talks between Britain and the European Union on their future relationship are now less likely to start in October, the EU's top negotiator has said, due to a lack of progress on Brexit divorce issues so far, EU officials said.The EU's top Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier on Wednesday briefed ambassadors from the 27 countries that will remain in the EU after Britain leaves in March 2019 on the outcome of the July round of the monthly divorce talks with London last week."He said the likelihood of starting the future relationship talks in October appeared to be decreasing," one EU official involved in the Brexit talks said.Britain's Brexit government department responded by saying it was confident it would make enough progress by October to move on to talks about the future relationship with the bloc."We have already made good progress on a number of issues, ... government officials are working at pace, and we are confident we will have made sufficient progress by October to advance the talks to the next phase," a spokesman for the department said.Barnier had earlier hoped that sufficient progress on the key divorce issues -- a financial settlement, citizens rights and a solution for a non-physical border between Northern Ireland and Ireland -- could be made by October.This would allow EU leaders to give their consent to starting talks with London on the main aspects of the relationship after Brexit -- a discussion Britain is keen to start as soon as possible to provide more clarity to businesses.But with no progress on the financial settlement except Britain's general admission that it would owe the EU an unspecified amount, and little to no real progress on other issues, the odds of a future trade relationship discussion starting in two months are declining."On the financial settlement, we have been clear that we recognize the UK has obligations to the EU and that the EU also has obligations to the UK," the Brexit department spokesman said.EU officials said progress was difficult not because Britain had unacceptable demands, but because it had no position at all on many issues."Barnier expressed concerns that sufficient progress in October looked difficult now. Mainly because Britain has no position on finances, but also because they don't have positions on other issues as well," a second EU official said."The more they drag on, the less time is left for (the) second phase and special relationship they want," the second official said.The EU's rough estimate is that Britain may owe it around 60 billion euros after it leaves in various legal commitments London has made as a member of the bloc, but talks are to focus on the methodology of calculation rather than the sum itself."There has still been no kick-off on money, Britain still refuses to accept anything – either the methodology, or the sum. This blocs everything else, there won’t be any real progress over the next two months, clearly that won’t create grounds for opening phase two on trade," a third EU diplomat said."On citizens' acquired rights, it’s a mixed picture. We have a list of things we agree on, disagree on and are some way in between. But that at least allows us to negotiate," the third official added.Diplomats said that on Ireland, talks have not moved beyond restating positions that have already been presented in public."They have actually not discussed the Irish border in any detail, there were no technical talks at all," a fourth official said.The next round of talks is scheduled for late August.(Additional reporting by Kylie MacLellan in London; Reporting by Jan Strupczewski and Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Catherine Evans and Hugh Lawson)