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 IMPORTANT NEWS
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.
Highway 93 open despite Verdant Creek wildfire moving toward roadway-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-August 6, 2017
Highway 93 from Alberta to B.C. is open, despite the fact the Verdant Creek wildfire burning in Kootenay National Park has moved closer to the roadway.Parks Canada said the northern edge of the fire, burning close to Sunshine Village, has not increased in size. But winds have brought the fire closer to the highway and are blowing embers and igniting spot fires.The agency said in a news release that it continues to "work to contain these spot fires with crews and helicopters bucketing."-Expect disruptions-Highway 93 South, which had been closed, is open to traffic, but Parks Canada warns drivers to anticipate sudden closures and to prepare for reduced visibility from smoke in the area as well as disruptions from firefighting activities.Those travelling west from Alberta to B.C. can avoid Highway 93 by detouring to Golden, B.C. then travelling south on Highway 95. A fire ban remains in effect for Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks and there are still area closures due to the fire. "Visitors and residents should expect increased smoke as temperatures rise," said Parks Canada, referring to the Bow and Columbia valleys.Those travelling to B.C. should check Drive B.C. and Alberta 511 for up-to-date highway information.
Australian teen's feet bloodied by mystery sea creatures-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-August 7, 2017
MELBOURNE, Australia — A teenager who went for a swim at a Melbourne beach and emerged with his feet covered in blood has stumped marine experts.Sam Kanizay's legs felt sore after playing a game of football on Saturday, so he decided to soak them at the beach. About 30 minutes later, the 16-year-old walked out of the water with his feet and ankles covered in what looked like hundreds of little pin holes that were bleeding profusely. Upon returning home, his parents promptly took him to the hospital.Kanizay's father, Jarrod, said hospital staff had no idea what kind of creature could have caused the injuries. So Jarrod went back to the beach the following night with a pool net full of meat and captured the animals he believes could have been responsible. He took a video of dozens of the tiny bug-like creatures chomping on the chunks of meat."What is really clear is these little things really love meat," he said.Jeff Weir, executive director of the Dolphin Research Institute, believes the teen may have been attacked by crustaceans called amphipods, which usually eat decomposing plant and animal scraps.But Thomas Cribb, a parasite expert from the University of Queensland, said it would be very unusual for amphipods to cause such extensive bleeding."It's not a parasite I've ever come across," he said.Meanwhile, marine expert Michael Brown believes the small bugs eating the meat in the video could be jellyfish larvae."I've never seen anything like this," he told Channel Seven's Sunrise program.Sam was still hospitalized on Monday, but had been taken off antibiotics.The Associated Press.
Hong Kong cleans up greasy beaches after palm oil spill-Elaine YU-Agence France-Presse-YAHOONEWS-August 6, 2017
Hong Kong (AFP) - A clean-up operation was under way in Hong Kong Monday after a massive palm oil spillage from a ship collision in mainland Chinese waters clogged some of its most popular beaches.The coast was coated with rancid-smelling sticky white clumps of the oil as it washed in Sunday, with 11 beaches still closed to swimmers Monday at the height of a summer heatwave.There are still lumps of the solidified oil on the beaches and the sea water in some areas is greasy.Hong Kong comprises more than 200 islands with glittering bays, but there are increasing concerns about pollution and rubbish blighting its shores.On Pui O beach, on the island of Lantau, cleaners raked through the famous black sand Monday morning retrieving lumps of palm oil mixed with other trash, from plastic water bottles to children's toys.Although there is still a red flag up and the beach is officially closed, some people ventured into the water.One 61-year-old surfer, who gave his name as Simon and is a regular at the beach, said there was still oil in the sea."It got under my feet and on my board. It's all slippery," he told AFP."Yesterday there was big chunks along the beach and in the water."He added that there was often rubbish on the beach, often left by visitors."I live here now, I have to put up with it. I don't like it," said Simon, who is an airport worker originally from Hawaii.Beach announcements told determined swimmers at the closed beaches to get out of the water Monday.But Agnes Mercado, 49, a regular at secluded South Bay on Hong Kong Island, was determined to take her morning dip, although she said she would not submerge her upper body."Of course I'm worried about it, but it's even worse than this on some days," she said of the pollution.- Environmental impact -The Leisure and Cultural Services Department said beach workers were using absorbent strips to prevent the spread of the oil and government departments had been notified to clean up the water.In a statement late Sunday it described the palm oil as "harmless to the human body".But environmentalists still fear the potential impact and say the government has not done enough to contain the spillage."Whilst we may not see birds covered in black oil, palm oil is hazardous to wildlife in that it attracts bacteria," said Gary Stokes of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.Stokes added that the oil will dissolve and break down, which could also remove oxygen from the water and kill marine life.The leakage was caused by a collision between two vessels near the Pearl River estuary in southern China on Thursday, the marine department confirmed.It said it had sent nine vessels to clean up the palm oil lumps in waters off southwestern and southern Hong Kong.In a statement to AFP it added that the clean-up had started Saturday, but did not respond to the question of how much oil had been leaked.Authorities in neighbouring Guangdong province must give notification of oil spills, the department said.When asked why Hong Kong authorities had not been told of the Thursday spill until Saturday, the department said it was "because those substances may flow into Hong Kong waters after two days".Swathes of rubbish frequently clog the coastline with authorities and environmentalists pointing the finger at southern mainland China as the source.However, campaigners also say Hong Kong itself has a terrible track record on dumping of waste -- the city's landfills are groaning at capacity and there is no widespread recycling culture.
DISEASES
REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
DRUG PUSHERS AND ADDICTS
1 PET 5:8
8 Be sober,(NOT DRUGED UP OR ALCOHOLICED) be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
REVELATION 18:23
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries (DRUGS) were all nations deceived.
REVELATION 9:21
21 Neither repented they of their murders,(KILLING) nor of their sorceries (DRUG ADDICTS AND DRUG PUSHERS), nor of their fornication,(SEX OUTSIDE MARRIAGE OR PROSTITUTION FOR MONEY) nor of their thefts.(STEALING)
Of mice and mosquitoes: Lyme disease, West Nile risks up-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-August 7, 2017
Winnipeg has enjoyed a summer of blissfully low mosquito numbers so far, but that doesn't mean all pests have vanished.The hot, dry weather has kept mosquito trap counts down, but rodent populations are unusually high, according to Taz Stuart, director of technical operations and entomologist for Poulin's Pest Control Services."We've never had so many calls for mice. We're in a banner year for rodents," he said."And that's why other diseases, like Lyme disease, and black legged ticks are on the rise too. Because that's one of their first hosts they feed on, is the mice population."Other pests are on the rise too, including squirrels and racoons.The last year that saw similarly low mosquito counts was in 2007, Stuart said.-Older mosquitoes more dangerous-But, just because mosquito numbers are down, doesn't mean people shouldn't still take precautions. In August, female Culex tarsalis mosquitoes are older and more likely to be carrying the West Nile virus, Stuart said."Tarsalis is most active at dusk and dawn. And I say she's a sneaky biter," he said. "They are more dangerous. The actually have the virus in them, so they can actually transmit it. An older female is much more dangerous than a younger female."A significant rainfall could still cause a spike in the mosquito numbers."We live in in a clay pot, is the best way I describe Winnipeg. If you have an inch of rain, you're going to have water standing on there, because it doesn't absorb as fast. So therefore, there are a lot of small sites. I literally use the glass of water analogy — one glass of water, a thousand mosquitoes. It's just that easy."Mosquito eggs can remain dormant for up to seven years, and can hatch within seven to 10 days of a rainfall.Stuart recommends people use bug repellent and eliminate any standing water on their properties. He also says to avoid going outside at dusk and dawn and wear long clothing.
Dutch farmers 'powerless' in the face of contaminated eggs-Sophie MIGNON-Agence France-Presse-YAHOONEWS-August 6, 2017
Ede (Netherlands) (AFP) - In the dark and silent shed of a small Dutch poultry farm, 1.8 million eggs closely packed together wait to be destroyed.In the barn, the machine that sorts and packages the eggs has been shut off and its rolling belt is starting to gather dust. In the empty courtyard, the woman of the house and a worker perform small jobs.But the fields are empty and the chickens are invisible.Wim ten Ham's farm in the central Dutch town of Ede -- where dozens of poultry farms are reputed for their eggs -- is one of hundreds of farms whose eggs are suspected of having been contaminated by the insecticide fipronil.Contamination with the toxic chemical has prompted supermarkets in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany to remove millions of eggs from their shelves, including the discount supermarket giant Aldi which announced Friday it was pulling all Dutch eggs from stores in Germany.Authorities in Switzerland and Sweden also said they were tracking shipments and removing eggs, as the impact of the affair widened.The Dutch food authority (NVWA) also shuttered 138 poultry farms -- about a fifth of those in the country -- and warned that eggs from another 59 farms contained high enough levels of fipronil that it warned they should not be eaten by children.Fipronil is commonly used in veterinary products to get rid of fleas, lice and ticks. But it is banned from being used to treat animals destined for human consumption, such as chickens.In large quantities, the insecticide is considered to be "moderately hazardous" according to the World Health Organization, and can have dangerous effects on people's kidneys, liver and thyroid glands.- 'I feel powerless' -"We are closed and will remain closed until we are able to prove that fipronil has been eliminated from our chickens and is no longer present in our eggs," ten Ham said.When his farm's eggs were tested, authorities found that they contained 0.30 mg/kg of the toxic insecticide when only a level of 0.005 mg/kg is allowed.To eradicate fipronil from his farm, ten Ham has two choices: destroy all 68,000 of his chickens, which would cost 400,000 euros ($471,000), or induce a moult and evacuate the birds' droppings.According to members of the Dutch poultry union, fipronil is lodged in the chickens' abdominal fat and moulting can reduce it, as the agriculture site Boerderij reported.During the moulting, which generally begins in autumn due to the decrease in light, the bird sheds feathers and loses fat.Ten Ham has since plunged his nearly 70,000 chickens into darkness and put them on a modified diet to make it easier for them to lose fat.Chickens can remain contaminated for between six to eight weeks."I feel powerless," ten Ham said, adding that he understood rules needed to be upheld but lamented the strict regulations."It's trade protectionism," he said. "It's only to keep the economy going".Belgian officials admitted Saturday they knew in early June there was a potential problem over eggs contaminated with fipronil but kept it secret because of an ongoing fraud investigation.German Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt has pressed the authorities, particularly in Belgium and The Netherlands, to clear up the situation, which he said was done with "criminal intent".It is believed the toxic substance was introduced to poultry farms by a Dutch business named Chickfriend brought in to treat red lice, a nasty parasite in chickens.Dutch and Belgian media reports that the substance containing the insecticide was supplied to Chickfriend by a Belgian firm have not been confirmed.Belgium's food safety agency (AFSCA) has said a criminal probe, in cooperation with prosecutors, had been launched.- 'Talk about compensation' -With losses expected to run into millions of euros, it is another blow for Dutch poultry farmers after 190,000 ducks were culled in November amid a highly infectious strain of bird flu.Ten Ham has no choice but to wait until fipronil disappears and his eggs are back to containing acceptable levels of the insecticide before he can count up his losses."Those who decide pay: they determine the rules, they decide that these eggs are not good enough," the farmer said. "We have to at least talk about compensation. Or else the entire sector is doomed".Dutch authorities said Friday emergency aid had been released to help farmers affected by the scandal, according to the Dutch press agency ANP.Even if he has to destroy millions of eggs he feels are safe for consumption, ten Ham is hopeful that talks with authorities will yield "a clarification so farmers can keep their chickens".According to Dutch media, some 10 billion eggs were produced in the country last year by about 1,000 poultry farms, with many of them going across the border into Germany.
Sale of genetically modified salmon in Canada alarms environmentalists-Agence France-Presse-YAHOONEWS-August 7, 2017
Montreal (AFP) - Environmentalists charged Monday that genetically modified salmon are being marketed in Canada without warning labels and called on supermarkets to withdraw them from sale."The first genetically modified animals have arrived in the market and Canadian consumers are becoming, unwittingly, the first guinea pigs," said Thibault Rehn of the group Vigilance OGM.On Friday, US company AquaBounty Technologies announced that it has sold about five tonnes of genetically modified salmon filets in Canada, after receiving a green light from food and health authorities.The Health Ministry and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency ruled in May, after three years of testing, that the genetically modified salmon is "as safe and nutritious as conventional salmon.""No one except AquaBounty knows where the GM salmon are," said Lucy Sharrat, of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network."The company did not disclose where the GM salmon fillets were sold or for what purpose, and we're shocked to discover that they?ve entered the market at this time," she said.The genetically modified salmon are raised in Panama but AquaBounty plans to begin producing them in eastern Canadas' Prince Edward Island.The company has reached an agreement with the provincial government to build an aquaculture farm there, but it has not yet received permission from the Health Ministry.AquaBounty's genetically modified salmon has a growth hormone gene that enables it to grow more rapidly than conventional salmon.It can reach adult size in 16 to 18 months, compared to 30 months for natural Atlantic salmon. AquaBounty's salmon is an Atlantic salmon that has been modified with a growth gene from a Pacific chinook salmon.Consumer and environmental groups have been trying to persuade big supermarket chains to refuse to market the transgenic salmon.Costco, the giant American discount chain, indicated in 2016 that it would not offer the fish for sale in its supermarkets.
CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL 2ND WAVE OF WW3 (200 MILLION MAN ARMY)
REVELATION 16:12-16
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THE TURKEY ATATURK DAM ON THE EUPHRATES CAN BE SHUT AND DRIED UP ALREADY BY TURKEY)
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.(ITS AT THIS TIME I BELIEVE WHEN AMERICA GETS NUKED BY RUSSIA ON THE WAY TO THE MIDEAST)
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(WORLDWIDE WAR)(TURKEY-IRAQ-SYRIA)(EUPHRATES RIVER CONSISTS OF 760 MILES IN TURKEY,440 MILES IN SYRIA AND 660 MILES IN IRAQ)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,(WORLDWIDE WAR) which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE-2 billion)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
Welcome boost from China to global pressure on North Korea-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-August 6, 2017
MANILA, Philippines — A global pressure campaign on North Korea propelled by sharp new U.N. sanctions received a welcome boost Sunday from China, the North's economic lifeline, as Beijing called on its neighbour to halt its missile and nuclear tests.The Trump administration cautiously embraced China's apparent newfound co-operation , while putting it on notice that the U.S. would be watching closely to ensure it didn't ease up on North Korea if and when the world's attention is diverted elsewhere. But there were no signs the U.S. would acquiesce to China's call for a quick return to negotiations.The diplomatic wrangling sought to build on the sweeping new North Korea sanctions passed by the U.N. Security Council a day earlier — the strongest in a generation, the U.S. said.As diplomats gathered in the Philippines for an annual regional meeting, President Donald Trump was cheering the move. He cited the "very big financial impact" of the sanctions and noted optimistically that both China and Russia had joined in the unanimous vote. On Sunday, following a late-night conversation with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Trump tweeted: "Just completed call with President Moon of South Korea. Very happy and impressed with 15-0 United Nations vote on North Korea sanctions."In characteristically understated fashion, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said of the U.N. action, "It was a good outcome."For the U.S., it was a long-awaited sign of progress for Trump's strategy of trying to enlist Beijing's help to squeeze North Korea diplomatically and economically. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, meeting with North Korea's top diplomat during the gathering in Manila, urged the North to "maintain calm" despite the U.N. vote."Do not violate the U.N.'s decision or provoke international society's goodwill by conducting missile launching or nuclear tests," Wang said, in an unusually direct admonition.Tillerson did not meet with North Korea's envoy, Ri Yong Ho. In fact, on his first day in Manila, Tillerson appeared to go out of his way to avoid crossing paths with Ri.In remarks to reporters Monday morning, Tillerson said the best signal North Korea could give that it was prepared for negotiations with the U.S. would be to halt its missile launches.Tillerson, in his most specific outline to date of what preconditions the U.S. had for talks with Pyongyang, said stopping the launches would be the "first and strongest signal." But he also said it was not as simple as North Korea stopping launches for a few days or weeks. He wouldn't give a concrete timeframe but said that the U.S. would "know it when we see it."The U.S. has "other means of communication" open to North Korea if the country wants to express to the U.S. a desire to talk, Tillerson said, but didn't offer specifics.Though Beijing repeated its call for the United States and North Korea to resume talks, the U.S. said that was still premature, and rejected yet again a Chinese call for the U.S. to freeze joint military exercises with South Korea in exchange for the North halting nuclear development. Pyongyang views the military exercises as rehearsals for an invasion.The U.S. also warned it planned to rigorously monitor China's compliance with the new penalties. Susan Thornton, the top U.S. diplomat for Asia, said Beijing had historically co-operated with sanctions after flagrant North Korean violations but then slipped back over time."We want to make sure China is continuing to implement fully the sanctions regime," Thornton told reporters in Manila. "Not this kind of episodic back and forth that we've seen."Infusing the diplomatic gathering with dramatic intrigue was the presence of Ri, the odd man out at a meeting dominated by concerns about his nation's nuclear proliferation. Indeed, the U.S. was floating a proposal to temporarily kick North Korea out of the 27-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum, although other member nations are divided about that idea.Would Tillerson interact with his North Korean counterpart, even informally, if they crossed paths in Manila? It was a question driving the hallway chatter at the gathering, but the U.S. shot down that prospect and said Tillerson had no plans to interact with Ri.Tillerson, who was scheduled to attend a gala dinner Sunday, skipped it. Ri did not. The North Korean was spotted at the gala smiling and toasting with the other foreign ministers.Tillerson aide R.C. Hammond said that after a productive first day, Tillerson spent several hours preparing for Day 2. Instead, the U.S. was represented at the dinner by Thornton, whose official title is acting assistant secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs.Though Tillerson has emphasized the Trump administration's willingness to sit down with North Korea for negotiations, he's said that won't happen until the North agrees to abandon its nuclear aspirations. Even with new U.N. sanctions in place intended to drive Pyongyang back to the table, conditions still aren't ripe for talks, U.S. diplomats said.But Wang, the Chinese envoy, cast Ri's presence in Manila as a positive, enabling him to "hear the voices from other sides." Speaking in Chinese, Wang said that Ri "also has the right to share his opinions."Ri hasn't spoken publicly since arriving in the Philippines. But a commentary in the ruling party's Rodong Sinmun newspaper said Washington had disregarded the warning the North sent with its intercontinental ballistic missile tests and was pursuing "desperate efforts" in the form of stepped-up sanctions."Now the U.S. mainland is on the crossroads of life and death," the commentary warned.The new sanctions could cut off roughly one-third of North Korea's estimated $3 billion in annual exports, ostensibly denying the nation of funds for its weapons programs. All countries are now banned from importing North Korean coal, iron, lead and seafood products, and from letting in more North Korean labourers whose remittances help fund Kim Jong Un's regime.The U.S. drafted the sanctions resolution and negotiated it with China following North Korea's unprecedented test of an ICBM in July and a follow-up test weeks later. Those tests sharply escalated U.S. fears that Pyongyang is a key step closer to mastering the technology needed to strike American soil with a nuclear-tipped missile.Yet despite deeming North Korea a top security threat, the young Trump administration has struggled to find a strategy that differs significantly from what the U.S. has tried in the past. Aside from calling for more sanctions, Trump's approach has centred on enlisting China — the North's biggest trading partner — and others to lessen ties to Pyongyang.Trump's initial optimism about China's willingness to help gave way to public exasperation, with Trump saying Chinese President Xi Jinping had "tried" but that it "has not worked out." Trump's administration began floating potential plans to punish China for its trade practices in what was widely perceived as a reaction to China's inaction on North Korea.But in recent days, the two powers have started to paper over some of those differences. Beijing praised Tillerson for declaring the U.S. wasn't seeking regime change in North Korea. Trump has held off, for now, on the trade actions. And China joined the 15-0 vote in the Security Council on the new sanctions."Who has been carrying out the U.N. Security Council resolutions concerning North Korea? It is China," Wang, the Chinese foreign minister, said Sunday. "Who bore the cost? It is also China."___Associated Press writers Jim Gomez and Teresa Cerojano contributed to this report.___Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP-Josh Lederman, The Associated Press.
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)
Opinion-Spain turns its back on migrant children's rights By International Commission of Jurists-AUG 7,17-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 07:35-At this very moment, some children in Spain are being held in adult immigration detention centres, pending return to their home countries.Other migrant children are living on the streets in Madrid and other Spanish cities, suffering from serious illnesses, or are prevented from applying for asylum. This is happening because they are not Spanish nationals and the authorities have not recognised them as children, but consider them to be adults.During the International Commission of Jurists' (ICJ's) capacity and coalition building activities with lawyers and civil society organisations to better defend migrant children's rights in various European countries, our Spanish partner, Fundacion Raices, raised attention to the dire situation of migrant children in Spain.In seven cases concerning migrant children in vulnerable circumstances, Fundacion Raices and other Spanish lawyers requested the United Nations committee on the rights of the child to issue interim measures, i.e. orders to the Spanish authorities, with a view to avoiding irreversible harm to these children.In states that, like Spain, are parties to the optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure, the committee on the rights of the child is empowered to examine individual communications by or on behalf of a child or group of children claiming that there has been a violation of their rights under the convention.-Irreversible damage-Pending its determination on the merits, the committee may request the state party to take interim measures, as may be necessary to avoid possible irreversible damage to the victim or victims of the alleged violations.In one of the seven cases mentioned above, a 16-year-old boy, who was hurt when crossing the border into Spain, requires urgent surgery.Since the boy is an unaccompanied child, the hospital treating him requires the consent of a responsible adult to authorise his surgery. However, until a guardian has been appointed, no consent to the child’s surgery can be given.Disregarding the boy’s own passport, which attests to his childhood, following a highly criticised age-assessment procedure, the public prosecutor decided that he is an adult.However, the boy is in a catch-22 situation since, as far as the hospital is concerned, there is no official document attesting to his age other than his own passport, according to which he is a child.Therefore, the boy has not had the surgery he so desperately needs. In addition, if considered an adult, he would have to pay for the surgery himself.The UN committee reacted swiftly to the lawyers’ demands and during the past 7 months requested the Spanish government in those seven cases to take interim measures.Under international law, respect for interim measures is essential for the protection of human rights.Existing international law and jurisprudence affirm that any state party’s non-compliance with a request for interim measures constitutes a breach of its legal obligations under international law.-Respecting international law-The binding nature of interim measures has been reaffirmed by the human rights committee in its general comment 33 on the individual complaints procedure.However, the Spanish government has ignored these requests and failed to comply with any of the requested interim measures. The Spanish government is thus in violation of the international obligation it has voluntarily undertaken - more significantly, the lives and well-being of dozens of highly vulnerable children are at risk.The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child obliges states to consider the best interests of the child as a primary consideration above any other. However, the Spanish authorities claim that the individuals in these cases are not children but adults.Yet, in the event of any remaining uncertainty, international law affirms that states must accord the individual the benefit of the doubt and treat him or her as a child - until effectively proven otherwise.Moreover, the Spanish supreme court has already expressed concern about the age-assessment procedure used by the Spanish authorities, in more than 10 judgments, as did the Spanish ombudsman and the United Nations high commissioner for human rights.Last month, six civil society organisations in Spain (Amnesty International, Fundacion Raices, the General Council of Spanish Lawyers, the Jesuit Mission for Migrants, Noves Vies and Save the Children) called on the Spanish Government to immediately implement the committee’s request for interim measures in each case.The ICJ is training lawyers in seven EU countries, including Spain, and supporting them in bringing their cases to international human rights mechanisms, such as the UN committee on the rights of the child, when no effective remedy is available domestically.The Spanish government is failing these children and is failing to respect its international law obligations.Respecting one's international obligations and ensuring that no harm is caused to children in violation of their rights should be high priorities for any states that are parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.The Spanish government should live up to its obligations, and immediately implement the committee on the rights of the child’s request for interim measures in these cases.The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is composed of 60 eminent judges and lawyers from all regions of the world and promotes and protects human rights through the rule of law, by using its unique legal expertise to develop and strengthen national and international justice systems.
Germany to restart sending migrants back to Greece By Eszter Zalan-AUG 7,17-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 17:56-Germany is to send back asylum seekers to Greece, ending a five-year suspension of the EU’s asylum rules on transfers because of poor reception conditions.Greek migration minister Yiannis Mouzalas, speaking to the German public television channel ARD, in a program due to air on Tuesday (8 August), has confirmed that Greek authorities received 392 requests.Mouzalas said Athens approved the return of a "small number" of asylum seekers from Germany and other EU countries.The move would end a five-year suspension of the so-called Dublin regulations, the EU’s asylum rules.Under the the union’s asylum rules, the EU country where the individual first enters the bloc needs to process the asylum request. If the asylum seeker has travelled on to other EU countries, they must be returned to their first point of entry.At the peak of the migration influx in 2015, hundreds of thousands of people made their way to Germany and other EU nations through Greece, making use of the passport-free Schengen area.The transfers to Greece will only affect asylum seekers who arrived in Germany and other EU countries from mid-March this year, in line with a recommendation issued by the European Commission last December.The exact date of the transfers depends on the Greek authorities.Returns to Greece were halted by EU states in 2011, following two judgments by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and another by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), partly due to the poor treatment of people by Greek authorities.The EU commission said last year that the "Dublin returns" to Greece could start in March on condition that EU member states relocate their promised share of asylum seekers from Greece under the EU’s quota scheme.But earlier this year, the EU executive backed down despite member states failing to relocate a significant number of asylum seekers from Greece and Italy.According to the latest figures, 25,438 people have been relocated out of the 160,000 that member states pledged to take in from Greece and Italy - the two main frontline countries."There was pressure from several EU countries to resume returns. I understand that governments want to show some results to their voters," Mouzalas said.In September, German voters will head to the polls for general elections. German chancellor Angela Merkel, whose welcoming policy towards migrants has been criticised, will run for a fourth term in office.Harsh conditions in Greek reception centres have repeatedly been criticised. Riots have also broken out occasionally because of the bureaucratic delays and poor conditions.
Syrian army steps up strikes on capital's last rebel enclave-[Reuters]-By Suleiman Al-Khalidi-YAHOONEWS-August 7, 2017
AMMAN (Reuters) - The Syrian army stepped up shelling and air strikes on the last rebel-held enclaves in the Syrian capital on Monday, its heaviest bombardment in a two-month campaign, rebels and witnesses said.From the strategic Qasyoun Heights that overlooks Damascus, elite units of the army pounded Jobar district, some 2 km (1.2 miles) east of the Old City wall and Ain Terma just to the south.The army's offensive has dented a Russian-sponsored ceasefire announced two weeks ago in the Eastern Ghouta area to the east of Damascus.Moscow has said it is negotiating with mainstream rebel groups in several areas across Syria to create new de-escalation zones and calm fighting.Rebels and residents said Moscow had already begun deploying some military police in certain checkpoints that border the rebel-held northern Homs countryside and in southwestern Syria where "de-escalation" zones have been announced.Residents and rescuers say the Syrian army has intensified shelling of civilian areas in the Eastern Ghouta region where rebels are holed up, many in underground tunnels, out of frustration at the lack of progress.At least 15 civilians have been killed and scores of others injured in three days of sustained bombardment.The U.K. based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which monitors the conflict said at least 20 army soldiers were either killed, injured or taken prisoner in the past 24 hours, confirming rebel estimates.Less intense shelling has hit Zamalka, Harasta and Kafr Btna, also in Eastern Ghouta. Social media videos downloaded by activists showed sorties of jets pounding areas in Ain Tarma and Jobar, with fire erupting in places and large plumes of smoke rising into the air.Eastern Ghouta has been under opposition control for much of the six-year conflict. Jobar is in northeast Damascus and borders the Eastern Ghouta district of Ain Terma.The army is also using more elephant rockets - inaccurate and improvised munitions often made from gas canisters and fired on a high trajectory - insurgents said."The elephant rockets are not having mercy on us. We have dug tunnels and fortified our positions so they are unable to advance," said Abu Obada al Shami, a commander from Failaq al Rahman, the rebel group whose fighters are drawn from the area.The rebels, for their part, are trying to hang on to their last foothold in Damascus following the loss earlier this year of Qaboun and Barzeh districts, located north of Jobar.Before the war began in 2011, more than half a million people lived in Eastern Ghouta, a sprawling mix of towns and farmland.Two residents said Ain Terma was now a ghost town, with only a few hundred families taking shelter in basements after most former residents fled to other towns in Eastern Ghouta."Life is non-existent. Permanent terror and people are not coming out of their basements," said Abdullah al-Khatib, a former electrician, who lives there with his eight-member family.Rebels accuse the Syrian army and its Iran-backed allies of breaking the Russia-brokered truce in Eastern Ghouta to throw its full weight against Jobar and Ain Terma.The government has said it will abide by the truces which Russia has brokered but says it continues to target Islamist militant factions not covered by the agreement."This truce is a lie. The regime has not implemented it. They are shelling us without interruption using all types of weapons," Abu Hamza, another rebel fighter said.(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi, editing by Richard Balmforth)
Atheists thought immoral, even by fellow atheists: study-Agence France-Presse-YAHOONEWS-August 7, 2017
Paris (AFP) - A unusual social study has revealed that atheists are more easily suspected of vile deeds than Christians, Muslims, Hindus or Buddhists -- strikingly, even by fellow atheists, researchers said Monday.This suggests that in an increasingly secular world, many -- including some atheists -- still hold the view that people will do bad things unless they fear punishment from all-seeing gods.The results of the study "show that across the world, religious belief is intuitively viewed as a necessary safeguard against the temptations of grossly immoral conduct," an international team wrote in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.And it revealed that "atheists are broadly perceived as potentially morally depraved and dangerous."The study measured the attitudes of more than 3,000 people in 13 countries on five continents.They ranged from "very secular" countries such as China and the Netherlands, to countries with high numbers of believers such as the United Arab Emirates, United States, and India.The countries had populations that were either predominantly Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim or non-religious.Participants were given a description of a fictional evildoer who tortured animals as a child, then grows up to become a teacher who murders and mutilates five homeless people.Half of the group were asked how likely it was that the perpetrator was a religious believer, and the other half how likely that he was an atheist.- Dangerous bias -The team found that people were about twice as likely to assume that the serial killer was an atheist."It is striking that even atheists appear to hold the same intuitive anti-atheist bias," study co-author Will Gervais, a psychology professor at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, told AFP."I suspect that this stems from the prevalence of deeply entrenched pro-religious norms. Even in places that are currently quite overtly secular, people still seem to intuitively hold on to the believe that religion is a moral safeguard."Only in Finland and New Zealand, two secular countries, did the experiment not yield conclusive evidence of anti-atheist prejudice, said the team.Distrust of atheists was "very strong in the most highly religious states like the United States, United Arab Emirates and India," said Gervais, and lower in more secular countries.Such research was about more than stigma alone, he added."In many places, atheism can be dangerous, if not fatal."In a comment carried by the journal, Adam Cohen and Jordan Moon of the Arizona State University's psychology department, said the study marked "an important advance in explaining the prevalence of anti-atheist attitudes."
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.
Highway 93 open despite Verdant Creek wildfire moving toward roadway-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-August 6, 2017
Highway 93 from Alberta to B.C. is open, despite the fact the Verdant Creek wildfire burning in Kootenay National Park has moved closer to the roadway.Parks Canada said the northern edge of the fire, burning close to Sunshine Village, has not increased in size. But winds have brought the fire closer to the highway and are blowing embers and igniting spot fires.The agency said in a news release that it continues to "work to contain these spot fires with crews and helicopters bucketing."-Expect disruptions-Highway 93 South, which had been closed, is open to traffic, but Parks Canada warns drivers to anticipate sudden closures and to prepare for reduced visibility from smoke in the area as well as disruptions from firefighting activities.Those travelling west from Alberta to B.C. can avoid Highway 93 by detouring to Golden, B.C. then travelling south on Highway 95. A fire ban remains in effect for Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks and there are still area closures due to the fire. "Visitors and residents should expect increased smoke as temperatures rise," said Parks Canada, referring to the Bow and Columbia valleys.Those travelling to B.C. should check Drive B.C. and Alberta 511 for up-to-date highway information.
Australian teen's feet bloodied by mystery sea creatures-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-August 7, 2017
MELBOURNE, Australia — A teenager who went for a swim at a Melbourne beach and emerged with his feet covered in blood has stumped marine experts.Sam Kanizay's legs felt sore after playing a game of football on Saturday, so he decided to soak them at the beach. About 30 minutes later, the 16-year-old walked out of the water with his feet and ankles covered in what looked like hundreds of little pin holes that were bleeding profusely. Upon returning home, his parents promptly took him to the hospital.Kanizay's father, Jarrod, said hospital staff had no idea what kind of creature could have caused the injuries. So Jarrod went back to the beach the following night with a pool net full of meat and captured the animals he believes could have been responsible. He took a video of dozens of the tiny bug-like creatures chomping on the chunks of meat."What is really clear is these little things really love meat," he said.Jeff Weir, executive director of the Dolphin Research Institute, believes the teen may have been attacked by crustaceans called amphipods, which usually eat decomposing plant and animal scraps.But Thomas Cribb, a parasite expert from the University of Queensland, said it would be very unusual for amphipods to cause such extensive bleeding."It's not a parasite I've ever come across," he said.Meanwhile, marine expert Michael Brown believes the small bugs eating the meat in the video could be jellyfish larvae."I've never seen anything like this," he told Channel Seven's Sunrise program.Sam was still hospitalized on Monday, but had been taken off antibiotics.The Associated Press.
Hong Kong cleans up greasy beaches after palm oil spill-Elaine YU-Agence France-Presse-YAHOONEWS-August 6, 2017
Hong Kong (AFP) - A clean-up operation was under way in Hong Kong Monday after a massive palm oil spillage from a ship collision in mainland Chinese waters clogged some of its most popular beaches.The coast was coated with rancid-smelling sticky white clumps of the oil as it washed in Sunday, with 11 beaches still closed to swimmers Monday at the height of a summer heatwave.There are still lumps of the solidified oil on the beaches and the sea water in some areas is greasy.Hong Kong comprises more than 200 islands with glittering bays, but there are increasing concerns about pollution and rubbish blighting its shores.On Pui O beach, on the island of Lantau, cleaners raked through the famous black sand Monday morning retrieving lumps of palm oil mixed with other trash, from plastic water bottles to children's toys.Although there is still a red flag up and the beach is officially closed, some people ventured into the water.One 61-year-old surfer, who gave his name as Simon and is a regular at the beach, said there was still oil in the sea."It got under my feet and on my board. It's all slippery," he told AFP."Yesterday there was big chunks along the beach and in the water."He added that there was often rubbish on the beach, often left by visitors."I live here now, I have to put up with it. I don't like it," said Simon, who is an airport worker originally from Hawaii.Beach announcements told determined swimmers at the closed beaches to get out of the water Monday.But Agnes Mercado, 49, a regular at secluded South Bay on Hong Kong Island, was determined to take her morning dip, although she said she would not submerge her upper body."Of course I'm worried about it, but it's even worse than this on some days," she said of the pollution.- Environmental impact -The Leisure and Cultural Services Department said beach workers were using absorbent strips to prevent the spread of the oil and government departments had been notified to clean up the water.In a statement late Sunday it described the palm oil as "harmless to the human body".But environmentalists still fear the potential impact and say the government has not done enough to contain the spillage."Whilst we may not see birds covered in black oil, palm oil is hazardous to wildlife in that it attracts bacteria," said Gary Stokes of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.Stokes added that the oil will dissolve and break down, which could also remove oxygen from the water and kill marine life.The leakage was caused by a collision between two vessels near the Pearl River estuary in southern China on Thursday, the marine department confirmed.It said it had sent nine vessels to clean up the palm oil lumps in waters off southwestern and southern Hong Kong.In a statement to AFP it added that the clean-up had started Saturday, but did not respond to the question of how much oil had been leaked.Authorities in neighbouring Guangdong province must give notification of oil spills, the department said.When asked why Hong Kong authorities had not been told of the Thursday spill until Saturday, the department said it was "because those substances may flow into Hong Kong waters after two days".Swathes of rubbish frequently clog the coastline with authorities and environmentalists pointing the finger at southern mainland China as the source.However, campaigners also say Hong Kong itself has a terrible track record on dumping of waste -- the city's landfills are groaning at capacity and there is no widespread recycling culture.
DISEASES
REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
DRUG PUSHERS AND ADDICTS
1 PET 5:8
8 Be sober,(NOT DRUGED UP OR ALCOHOLICED) be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
REVELATION 18:23
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries (DRUGS) were all nations deceived.
REVELATION 9:21
21 Neither repented they of their murders,(KILLING) nor of their sorceries (DRUG ADDICTS AND DRUG PUSHERS), nor of their fornication,(SEX OUTSIDE MARRIAGE OR PROSTITUTION FOR MONEY) nor of their thefts.(STEALING)
Of mice and mosquitoes: Lyme disease, West Nile risks up-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-August 7, 2017
Winnipeg has enjoyed a summer of blissfully low mosquito numbers so far, but that doesn't mean all pests have vanished.The hot, dry weather has kept mosquito trap counts down, but rodent populations are unusually high, according to Taz Stuart, director of technical operations and entomologist for Poulin's Pest Control Services."We've never had so many calls for mice. We're in a banner year for rodents," he said."And that's why other diseases, like Lyme disease, and black legged ticks are on the rise too. Because that's one of their first hosts they feed on, is the mice population."Other pests are on the rise too, including squirrels and racoons.The last year that saw similarly low mosquito counts was in 2007, Stuart said.-Older mosquitoes more dangerous-But, just because mosquito numbers are down, doesn't mean people shouldn't still take precautions. In August, female Culex tarsalis mosquitoes are older and more likely to be carrying the West Nile virus, Stuart said."Tarsalis is most active at dusk and dawn. And I say she's a sneaky biter," he said. "They are more dangerous. The actually have the virus in them, so they can actually transmit it. An older female is much more dangerous than a younger female."A significant rainfall could still cause a spike in the mosquito numbers."We live in in a clay pot, is the best way I describe Winnipeg. If you have an inch of rain, you're going to have water standing on there, because it doesn't absorb as fast. So therefore, there are a lot of small sites. I literally use the glass of water analogy — one glass of water, a thousand mosquitoes. It's just that easy."Mosquito eggs can remain dormant for up to seven years, and can hatch within seven to 10 days of a rainfall.Stuart recommends people use bug repellent and eliminate any standing water on their properties. He also says to avoid going outside at dusk and dawn and wear long clothing.
Dutch farmers 'powerless' in the face of contaminated eggs-Sophie MIGNON-Agence France-Presse-YAHOONEWS-August 6, 2017
Ede (Netherlands) (AFP) - In the dark and silent shed of a small Dutch poultry farm, 1.8 million eggs closely packed together wait to be destroyed.In the barn, the machine that sorts and packages the eggs has been shut off and its rolling belt is starting to gather dust. In the empty courtyard, the woman of the house and a worker perform small jobs.But the fields are empty and the chickens are invisible.Wim ten Ham's farm in the central Dutch town of Ede -- where dozens of poultry farms are reputed for their eggs -- is one of hundreds of farms whose eggs are suspected of having been contaminated by the insecticide fipronil.Contamination with the toxic chemical has prompted supermarkets in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany to remove millions of eggs from their shelves, including the discount supermarket giant Aldi which announced Friday it was pulling all Dutch eggs from stores in Germany.Authorities in Switzerland and Sweden also said they were tracking shipments and removing eggs, as the impact of the affair widened.The Dutch food authority (NVWA) also shuttered 138 poultry farms -- about a fifth of those in the country -- and warned that eggs from another 59 farms contained high enough levels of fipronil that it warned they should not be eaten by children.Fipronil is commonly used in veterinary products to get rid of fleas, lice and ticks. But it is banned from being used to treat animals destined for human consumption, such as chickens.In large quantities, the insecticide is considered to be "moderately hazardous" according to the World Health Organization, and can have dangerous effects on people's kidneys, liver and thyroid glands.- 'I feel powerless' -"We are closed and will remain closed until we are able to prove that fipronil has been eliminated from our chickens and is no longer present in our eggs," ten Ham said.When his farm's eggs were tested, authorities found that they contained 0.30 mg/kg of the toxic insecticide when only a level of 0.005 mg/kg is allowed.To eradicate fipronil from his farm, ten Ham has two choices: destroy all 68,000 of his chickens, which would cost 400,000 euros ($471,000), or induce a moult and evacuate the birds' droppings.According to members of the Dutch poultry union, fipronil is lodged in the chickens' abdominal fat and moulting can reduce it, as the agriculture site Boerderij reported.During the moulting, which generally begins in autumn due to the decrease in light, the bird sheds feathers and loses fat.Ten Ham has since plunged his nearly 70,000 chickens into darkness and put them on a modified diet to make it easier for them to lose fat.Chickens can remain contaminated for between six to eight weeks."I feel powerless," ten Ham said, adding that he understood rules needed to be upheld but lamented the strict regulations."It's trade protectionism," he said. "It's only to keep the economy going".Belgian officials admitted Saturday they knew in early June there was a potential problem over eggs contaminated with fipronil but kept it secret because of an ongoing fraud investigation.German Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt has pressed the authorities, particularly in Belgium and The Netherlands, to clear up the situation, which he said was done with "criminal intent".It is believed the toxic substance was introduced to poultry farms by a Dutch business named Chickfriend brought in to treat red lice, a nasty parasite in chickens.Dutch and Belgian media reports that the substance containing the insecticide was supplied to Chickfriend by a Belgian firm have not been confirmed.Belgium's food safety agency (AFSCA) has said a criminal probe, in cooperation with prosecutors, had been launched.- 'Talk about compensation' -With losses expected to run into millions of euros, it is another blow for Dutch poultry farmers after 190,000 ducks were culled in November amid a highly infectious strain of bird flu.Ten Ham has no choice but to wait until fipronil disappears and his eggs are back to containing acceptable levels of the insecticide before he can count up his losses."Those who decide pay: they determine the rules, they decide that these eggs are not good enough," the farmer said. "We have to at least talk about compensation. Or else the entire sector is doomed".Dutch authorities said Friday emergency aid had been released to help farmers affected by the scandal, according to the Dutch press agency ANP.Even if he has to destroy millions of eggs he feels are safe for consumption, ten Ham is hopeful that talks with authorities will yield "a clarification so farmers can keep their chickens".According to Dutch media, some 10 billion eggs were produced in the country last year by about 1,000 poultry farms, with many of them going across the border into Germany.
Sale of genetically modified salmon in Canada alarms environmentalists-Agence France-Presse-YAHOONEWS-August 7, 2017
Montreal (AFP) - Environmentalists charged Monday that genetically modified salmon are being marketed in Canada without warning labels and called on supermarkets to withdraw them from sale."The first genetically modified animals have arrived in the market and Canadian consumers are becoming, unwittingly, the first guinea pigs," said Thibault Rehn of the group Vigilance OGM.On Friday, US company AquaBounty Technologies announced that it has sold about five tonnes of genetically modified salmon filets in Canada, after receiving a green light from food and health authorities.The Health Ministry and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency ruled in May, after three years of testing, that the genetically modified salmon is "as safe and nutritious as conventional salmon.""No one except AquaBounty knows where the GM salmon are," said Lucy Sharrat, of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network."The company did not disclose where the GM salmon fillets were sold or for what purpose, and we're shocked to discover that they?ve entered the market at this time," she said.The genetically modified salmon are raised in Panama but AquaBounty plans to begin producing them in eastern Canadas' Prince Edward Island.The company has reached an agreement with the provincial government to build an aquaculture farm there, but it has not yet received permission from the Health Ministry.AquaBounty's genetically modified salmon has a growth hormone gene that enables it to grow more rapidly than conventional salmon.It can reach adult size in 16 to 18 months, compared to 30 months for natural Atlantic salmon. AquaBounty's salmon is an Atlantic salmon that has been modified with a growth gene from a Pacific chinook salmon.Consumer and environmental groups have been trying to persuade big supermarket chains to refuse to market the transgenic salmon.Costco, the giant American discount chain, indicated in 2016 that it would not offer the fish for sale in its supermarkets.
CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL 2ND WAVE OF WW3 (200 MILLION MAN ARMY)
REVELATION 16:12-16
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THE TURKEY ATATURK DAM ON THE EUPHRATES CAN BE SHUT AND DRIED UP ALREADY BY TURKEY)
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.(ITS AT THIS TIME I BELIEVE WHEN AMERICA GETS NUKED BY RUSSIA ON THE WAY TO THE MIDEAST)
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(WORLDWIDE WAR)(TURKEY-IRAQ-SYRIA)(EUPHRATES RIVER CONSISTS OF 760 MILES IN TURKEY,440 MILES IN SYRIA AND 660 MILES IN IRAQ)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,(WORLDWIDE WAR) which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE-2 billion)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
Welcome boost from China to global pressure on North Korea-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-August 6, 2017
MANILA, Philippines — A global pressure campaign on North Korea propelled by sharp new U.N. sanctions received a welcome boost Sunday from China, the North's economic lifeline, as Beijing called on its neighbour to halt its missile and nuclear tests.The Trump administration cautiously embraced China's apparent newfound co-operation , while putting it on notice that the U.S. would be watching closely to ensure it didn't ease up on North Korea if and when the world's attention is diverted elsewhere. But there were no signs the U.S. would acquiesce to China's call for a quick return to negotiations.The diplomatic wrangling sought to build on the sweeping new North Korea sanctions passed by the U.N. Security Council a day earlier — the strongest in a generation, the U.S. said.As diplomats gathered in the Philippines for an annual regional meeting, President Donald Trump was cheering the move. He cited the "very big financial impact" of the sanctions and noted optimistically that both China and Russia had joined in the unanimous vote. On Sunday, following a late-night conversation with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Trump tweeted: "Just completed call with President Moon of South Korea. Very happy and impressed with 15-0 United Nations vote on North Korea sanctions."In characteristically understated fashion, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said of the U.N. action, "It was a good outcome."For the U.S., it was a long-awaited sign of progress for Trump's strategy of trying to enlist Beijing's help to squeeze North Korea diplomatically and economically. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, meeting with North Korea's top diplomat during the gathering in Manila, urged the North to "maintain calm" despite the U.N. vote."Do not violate the U.N.'s decision or provoke international society's goodwill by conducting missile launching or nuclear tests," Wang said, in an unusually direct admonition.Tillerson did not meet with North Korea's envoy, Ri Yong Ho. In fact, on his first day in Manila, Tillerson appeared to go out of his way to avoid crossing paths with Ri.In remarks to reporters Monday morning, Tillerson said the best signal North Korea could give that it was prepared for negotiations with the U.S. would be to halt its missile launches.Tillerson, in his most specific outline to date of what preconditions the U.S. had for talks with Pyongyang, said stopping the launches would be the "first and strongest signal." But he also said it was not as simple as North Korea stopping launches for a few days or weeks. He wouldn't give a concrete timeframe but said that the U.S. would "know it when we see it."The U.S. has "other means of communication" open to North Korea if the country wants to express to the U.S. a desire to talk, Tillerson said, but didn't offer specifics.Though Beijing repeated its call for the United States and North Korea to resume talks, the U.S. said that was still premature, and rejected yet again a Chinese call for the U.S. to freeze joint military exercises with South Korea in exchange for the North halting nuclear development. Pyongyang views the military exercises as rehearsals for an invasion.The U.S. also warned it planned to rigorously monitor China's compliance with the new penalties. Susan Thornton, the top U.S. diplomat for Asia, said Beijing had historically co-operated with sanctions after flagrant North Korean violations but then slipped back over time."We want to make sure China is continuing to implement fully the sanctions regime," Thornton told reporters in Manila. "Not this kind of episodic back and forth that we've seen."Infusing the diplomatic gathering with dramatic intrigue was the presence of Ri, the odd man out at a meeting dominated by concerns about his nation's nuclear proliferation. Indeed, the U.S. was floating a proposal to temporarily kick North Korea out of the 27-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum, although other member nations are divided about that idea.Would Tillerson interact with his North Korean counterpart, even informally, if they crossed paths in Manila? It was a question driving the hallway chatter at the gathering, but the U.S. shot down that prospect and said Tillerson had no plans to interact with Ri.Tillerson, who was scheduled to attend a gala dinner Sunday, skipped it. Ri did not. The North Korean was spotted at the gala smiling and toasting with the other foreign ministers.Tillerson aide R.C. Hammond said that after a productive first day, Tillerson spent several hours preparing for Day 2. Instead, the U.S. was represented at the dinner by Thornton, whose official title is acting assistant secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs.Though Tillerson has emphasized the Trump administration's willingness to sit down with North Korea for negotiations, he's said that won't happen until the North agrees to abandon its nuclear aspirations. Even with new U.N. sanctions in place intended to drive Pyongyang back to the table, conditions still aren't ripe for talks, U.S. diplomats said.But Wang, the Chinese envoy, cast Ri's presence in Manila as a positive, enabling him to "hear the voices from other sides." Speaking in Chinese, Wang said that Ri "also has the right to share his opinions."Ri hasn't spoken publicly since arriving in the Philippines. But a commentary in the ruling party's Rodong Sinmun newspaper said Washington had disregarded the warning the North sent with its intercontinental ballistic missile tests and was pursuing "desperate efforts" in the form of stepped-up sanctions."Now the U.S. mainland is on the crossroads of life and death," the commentary warned.The new sanctions could cut off roughly one-third of North Korea's estimated $3 billion in annual exports, ostensibly denying the nation of funds for its weapons programs. All countries are now banned from importing North Korean coal, iron, lead and seafood products, and from letting in more North Korean labourers whose remittances help fund Kim Jong Un's regime.The U.S. drafted the sanctions resolution and negotiated it with China following North Korea's unprecedented test of an ICBM in July and a follow-up test weeks later. Those tests sharply escalated U.S. fears that Pyongyang is a key step closer to mastering the technology needed to strike American soil with a nuclear-tipped missile.Yet despite deeming North Korea a top security threat, the young Trump administration has struggled to find a strategy that differs significantly from what the U.S. has tried in the past. Aside from calling for more sanctions, Trump's approach has centred on enlisting China — the North's biggest trading partner — and others to lessen ties to Pyongyang.Trump's initial optimism about China's willingness to help gave way to public exasperation, with Trump saying Chinese President Xi Jinping had "tried" but that it "has not worked out." Trump's administration began floating potential plans to punish China for its trade practices in what was widely perceived as a reaction to China's inaction on North Korea.But in recent days, the two powers have started to paper over some of those differences. Beijing praised Tillerson for declaring the U.S. wasn't seeking regime change in North Korea. Trump has held off, for now, on the trade actions. And China joined the 15-0 vote in the Security Council on the new sanctions."Who has been carrying out the U.N. Security Council resolutions concerning North Korea? It is China," Wang, the Chinese foreign minister, said Sunday. "Who bore the cost? It is also China."___Associated Press writers Jim Gomez and Teresa Cerojano contributed to this report.___Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP-Josh Lederman, The Associated Press.
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)
Opinion-Spain turns its back on migrant children's rights By International Commission of Jurists-AUG 7,17-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 07:35-At this very moment, some children in Spain are being held in adult immigration detention centres, pending return to their home countries.Other migrant children are living on the streets in Madrid and other Spanish cities, suffering from serious illnesses, or are prevented from applying for asylum. This is happening because they are not Spanish nationals and the authorities have not recognised them as children, but consider them to be adults.During the International Commission of Jurists' (ICJ's) capacity and coalition building activities with lawyers and civil society organisations to better defend migrant children's rights in various European countries, our Spanish partner, Fundacion Raices, raised attention to the dire situation of migrant children in Spain.In seven cases concerning migrant children in vulnerable circumstances, Fundacion Raices and other Spanish lawyers requested the United Nations committee on the rights of the child to issue interim measures, i.e. orders to the Spanish authorities, with a view to avoiding irreversible harm to these children.In states that, like Spain, are parties to the optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure, the committee on the rights of the child is empowered to examine individual communications by or on behalf of a child or group of children claiming that there has been a violation of their rights under the convention.-Irreversible damage-Pending its determination on the merits, the committee may request the state party to take interim measures, as may be necessary to avoid possible irreversible damage to the victim or victims of the alleged violations.In one of the seven cases mentioned above, a 16-year-old boy, who was hurt when crossing the border into Spain, requires urgent surgery.Since the boy is an unaccompanied child, the hospital treating him requires the consent of a responsible adult to authorise his surgery. However, until a guardian has been appointed, no consent to the child’s surgery can be given.Disregarding the boy’s own passport, which attests to his childhood, following a highly criticised age-assessment procedure, the public prosecutor decided that he is an adult.However, the boy is in a catch-22 situation since, as far as the hospital is concerned, there is no official document attesting to his age other than his own passport, according to which he is a child.Therefore, the boy has not had the surgery he so desperately needs. In addition, if considered an adult, he would have to pay for the surgery himself.The UN committee reacted swiftly to the lawyers’ demands and during the past 7 months requested the Spanish government in those seven cases to take interim measures.Under international law, respect for interim measures is essential for the protection of human rights.Existing international law and jurisprudence affirm that any state party’s non-compliance with a request for interim measures constitutes a breach of its legal obligations under international law.-Respecting international law-The binding nature of interim measures has been reaffirmed by the human rights committee in its general comment 33 on the individual complaints procedure.However, the Spanish government has ignored these requests and failed to comply with any of the requested interim measures. The Spanish government is thus in violation of the international obligation it has voluntarily undertaken - more significantly, the lives and well-being of dozens of highly vulnerable children are at risk.The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child obliges states to consider the best interests of the child as a primary consideration above any other. However, the Spanish authorities claim that the individuals in these cases are not children but adults.Yet, in the event of any remaining uncertainty, international law affirms that states must accord the individual the benefit of the doubt and treat him or her as a child - until effectively proven otherwise.Moreover, the Spanish supreme court has already expressed concern about the age-assessment procedure used by the Spanish authorities, in more than 10 judgments, as did the Spanish ombudsman and the United Nations high commissioner for human rights.Last month, six civil society organisations in Spain (Amnesty International, Fundacion Raices, the General Council of Spanish Lawyers, the Jesuit Mission for Migrants, Noves Vies and Save the Children) called on the Spanish Government to immediately implement the committee’s request for interim measures in each case.The ICJ is training lawyers in seven EU countries, including Spain, and supporting them in bringing their cases to international human rights mechanisms, such as the UN committee on the rights of the child, when no effective remedy is available domestically.The Spanish government is failing these children and is failing to respect its international law obligations.Respecting one's international obligations and ensuring that no harm is caused to children in violation of their rights should be high priorities for any states that are parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.The Spanish government should live up to its obligations, and immediately implement the committee on the rights of the child’s request for interim measures in these cases.The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is composed of 60 eminent judges and lawyers from all regions of the world and promotes and protects human rights through the rule of law, by using its unique legal expertise to develop and strengthen national and international justice systems.
Germany to restart sending migrants back to Greece By Eszter Zalan-AUG 7,17-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 17:56-Germany is to send back asylum seekers to Greece, ending a five-year suspension of the EU’s asylum rules on transfers because of poor reception conditions.Greek migration minister Yiannis Mouzalas, speaking to the German public television channel ARD, in a program due to air on Tuesday (8 August), has confirmed that Greek authorities received 392 requests.Mouzalas said Athens approved the return of a "small number" of asylum seekers from Germany and other EU countries.The move would end a five-year suspension of the so-called Dublin regulations, the EU’s asylum rules.Under the the union’s asylum rules, the EU country where the individual first enters the bloc needs to process the asylum request. If the asylum seeker has travelled on to other EU countries, they must be returned to their first point of entry.At the peak of the migration influx in 2015, hundreds of thousands of people made their way to Germany and other EU nations through Greece, making use of the passport-free Schengen area.The transfers to Greece will only affect asylum seekers who arrived in Germany and other EU countries from mid-March this year, in line with a recommendation issued by the European Commission last December.The exact date of the transfers depends on the Greek authorities.Returns to Greece were halted by EU states in 2011, following two judgments by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and another by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), partly due to the poor treatment of people by Greek authorities.The EU commission said last year that the "Dublin returns" to Greece could start in March on condition that EU member states relocate their promised share of asylum seekers from Greece under the EU’s quota scheme.But earlier this year, the EU executive backed down despite member states failing to relocate a significant number of asylum seekers from Greece and Italy.According to the latest figures, 25,438 people have been relocated out of the 160,000 that member states pledged to take in from Greece and Italy - the two main frontline countries."There was pressure from several EU countries to resume returns. I understand that governments want to show some results to their voters," Mouzalas said.In September, German voters will head to the polls for general elections. German chancellor Angela Merkel, whose welcoming policy towards migrants has been criticised, will run for a fourth term in office.Harsh conditions in Greek reception centres have repeatedly been criticised. Riots have also broken out occasionally because of the bureaucratic delays and poor conditions.
Syrian army steps up strikes on capital's last rebel enclave-[Reuters]-By Suleiman Al-Khalidi-YAHOONEWS-August 7, 2017
AMMAN (Reuters) - The Syrian army stepped up shelling and air strikes on the last rebel-held enclaves in the Syrian capital on Monday, its heaviest bombardment in a two-month campaign, rebels and witnesses said.From the strategic Qasyoun Heights that overlooks Damascus, elite units of the army pounded Jobar district, some 2 km (1.2 miles) east of the Old City wall and Ain Terma just to the south.The army's offensive has dented a Russian-sponsored ceasefire announced two weeks ago in the Eastern Ghouta area to the east of Damascus.Moscow has said it is negotiating with mainstream rebel groups in several areas across Syria to create new de-escalation zones and calm fighting.Rebels and residents said Moscow had already begun deploying some military police in certain checkpoints that border the rebel-held northern Homs countryside and in southwestern Syria where "de-escalation" zones have been announced.Residents and rescuers say the Syrian army has intensified shelling of civilian areas in the Eastern Ghouta region where rebels are holed up, many in underground tunnels, out of frustration at the lack of progress.At least 15 civilians have been killed and scores of others injured in three days of sustained bombardment.The U.K. based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which monitors the conflict said at least 20 army soldiers were either killed, injured or taken prisoner in the past 24 hours, confirming rebel estimates.Less intense shelling has hit Zamalka, Harasta and Kafr Btna, also in Eastern Ghouta. Social media videos downloaded by activists showed sorties of jets pounding areas in Ain Tarma and Jobar, with fire erupting in places and large plumes of smoke rising into the air.Eastern Ghouta has been under opposition control for much of the six-year conflict. Jobar is in northeast Damascus and borders the Eastern Ghouta district of Ain Terma.The army is also using more elephant rockets - inaccurate and improvised munitions often made from gas canisters and fired on a high trajectory - insurgents said."The elephant rockets are not having mercy on us. We have dug tunnels and fortified our positions so they are unable to advance," said Abu Obada al Shami, a commander from Failaq al Rahman, the rebel group whose fighters are drawn from the area.The rebels, for their part, are trying to hang on to their last foothold in Damascus following the loss earlier this year of Qaboun and Barzeh districts, located north of Jobar.Before the war began in 2011, more than half a million people lived in Eastern Ghouta, a sprawling mix of towns and farmland.Two residents said Ain Terma was now a ghost town, with only a few hundred families taking shelter in basements after most former residents fled to other towns in Eastern Ghouta."Life is non-existent. Permanent terror and people are not coming out of their basements," said Abdullah al-Khatib, a former electrician, who lives there with his eight-member family.Rebels accuse the Syrian army and its Iran-backed allies of breaking the Russia-brokered truce in Eastern Ghouta to throw its full weight against Jobar and Ain Terma.The government has said it will abide by the truces which Russia has brokered but says it continues to target Islamist militant factions not covered by the agreement."This truce is a lie. The regime has not implemented it. They are shelling us without interruption using all types of weapons," Abu Hamza, another rebel fighter said.(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi, editing by Richard Balmforth)
Atheists thought immoral, even by fellow atheists: study-Agence France-Presse-YAHOONEWS-August 7, 2017
Paris (AFP) - A unusual social study has revealed that atheists are more easily suspected of vile deeds than Christians, Muslims, Hindus or Buddhists -- strikingly, even by fellow atheists, researchers said Monday.This suggests that in an increasingly secular world, many -- including some atheists -- still hold the view that people will do bad things unless they fear punishment from all-seeing gods.The results of the study "show that across the world, religious belief is intuitively viewed as a necessary safeguard against the temptations of grossly immoral conduct," an international team wrote in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.And it revealed that "atheists are broadly perceived as potentially morally depraved and dangerous."The study measured the attitudes of more than 3,000 people in 13 countries on five continents.They ranged from "very secular" countries such as China and the Netherlands, to countries with high numbers of believers such as the United Arab Emirates, United States, and India.The countries had populations that were either predominantly Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim or non-religious.Participants were given a description of a fictional evildoer who tortured animals as a child, then grows up to become a teacher who murders and mutilates five homeless people.Half of the group were asked how likely it was that the perpetrator was a religious believer, and the other half how likely that he was an atheist.- Dangerous bias -The team found that people were about twice as likely to assume that the serial killer was an atheist."It is striking that even atheists appear to hold the same intuitive anti-atheist bias," study co-author Will Gervais, a psychology professor at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, told AFP."I suspect that this stems from the prevalence of deeply entrenched pro-religious norms. Even in places that are currently quite overtly secular, people still seem to intuitively hold on to the believe that religion is a moral safeguard."Only in Finland and New Zealand, two secular countries, did the experiment not yield conclusive evidence of anti-atheist prejudice, said the team.Distrust of atheists was "very strong in the most highly religious states like the United States, United Arab Emirates and India," said Gervais, and lower in more secular countries.Such research was about more than stigma alone, he added."In many places, atheism can be dangerous, if not fatal."In a comment carried by the journal, Adam Cohen and Jordan Moon of the Arizona State University's psychology department, said the study marked "an important advance in explaining the prevalence of anti-atheist attitudes."
