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)
LUKE 21:28-29
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
Hamas demands $15 million per month in exchange for calm — report-Israeli security cabinet set to convene Sunday for a briefing on the situation in Gaza after weekend marked by salvos of rockets, IAF responses-By TOI staff 29 October 2018
Hamas on Saturday demanded that Israel transfer the Gaza-based terror group $15 million in cash from Qatar every month in order to prevent further escalation in the Palestinian enclave.In a document handed to Egypt, the terror group’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar added that the organization expects Israel to transfer the money by next Thursday, Hadashot TV reported.According to the news station, the demand for cash is intended to circumvent the Israeli coordination and supervision mechanism that was in place until now, according to which the Palestinian Authority would pay Gaza worker salaries transparently.Israel has not yet responded to the Hamas demand.The Israeli security cabinet is set to convene Sunday for a briefing on the situation in Gaza, as well as on the efforts being made by Egypt to broker a ceasefire between the Jewish state and Hamas.Earlier Saturday, the Islamic Jihad terror group announced it had agreed to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire to end an escalating exchange of fire with Israel, as Israeli jets struck sites in the Gaza Strip belonging to the Palestinian terror organization after salvos of rockets were fired at Israel late Friday and early Saturday.A spokesman for the group told the Gaza-based Safa news site that a ceasefire agreement went into effect following Egyptian communication with its leadership.He said Islamic Jihad would remain committed to the ceasefire as long as Israel did likewise.There was no immediate acknowledgment of the ceasefire declaration in Israel, which in the past has denied proclamations by Gaza-based terror groups regarding understandings to end fighting.Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman met with IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and other top security officials on Saturday.A few hours after Islamic Jihad announced the ceasefire, the Eshkol Regional Council lifted orders that residents must remain in close proximity to bomb shelters.Restrictions remained in place, however, limiting gatherings outdoors to 100 people and those indoors to 500.The declaration by Islamic Jihad to end the rocket fire came as the Israel Defense Forces said fighter jets struck eight targets tied to the Iran-backed terror group in three separate military facilities after Israel was hit by salvos of rockets from Gaza overnight and on Saturday morning.The Gaza targets included weapons production sites and a factory that makes parts for subterranean tunnels, the army said, adding that the later was near a school.The top IDF spokesperson earlier blamed Iran and Syria for the Islamic Jihad rocket attacks. Though he did not accuse Hamas of taking part in the launches, Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis reiterated that Israel considers the terror group responsible as Gaza’s rulers.Another IDF spokesman, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, said the rocket strikes were ordered by operatives from the overseas branch of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stationed in Syria and warned Israel may not limit its response to Gaza.“From our perspective, part of the address by which we will deal with this fire is also in Damascus and the Quds Force,” he said. “Our response is not limited geographically.” 2. We also struck this Islamic Jihad weapons manufacturing facility – they use their weapons to try to kill innocent Israeli civilians, we use our weapons to destroy their weapons. pic.twitter.com/bKqyBsaZwf— Israel Defense Forces (@IDFSpokesperson) October 27, 2018-Thirty-four rockets were fired at Israel overnight and Saturday morning, according to the IDF, 13 of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system. Two of the rockets fell in Gaza and the rest landed in open areas.The Defense Ministry’s liaison to the Palestinians said a mortar launched during the barrages struck the ambulance terminal at the Erez border crossing, the sole pedestrian passage between Gaza and Israel.In response to the rocket fire, Israeli aircraft and attack helicopters attacked 95 targets in Gaza belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad.The army said the targets included military and weapons manufacturing facilities through the Strip, a factory in Khan Younis producing cement used in subterranean tunnels and a four-story building in Gaza City headquartering Hamas security services.The IDF said in a statement Saturday morning it “views with great severity the rocket attacks tonight against Israeli communities.” It blamed Hamas for creating “a terror-enabling atmosphere…near the border fence which led terror groups in the Strip to carry out tonight’s attack.”Palestinian sources speaking to the Ynet news website claimed the attacks were carried out against the objections of the Hamas terror group that rules Gaza, though this had no official confirmation.Israel views Hamas as ultimately responsible for any attacks emanating from the territory it controls, regardless of the source.In response to the rocket barrages, the IDF’s Home Front Command overnight issued instructions restricting gatherings in the Gaza periphery: Up to 100 people in open areas and 500 people in closed spaces.The rocket fire comes amid a deadly flare-up in violence in the Gaza Strip. Earlier on Friday, thousands of Palestinians gathered at five locations along the border, burning tires and throwing rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops, who responded with tear gas and occasional live fire.Five protesters were killed and another 170 were injured in the clashes with IDF troops, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said. One of those killed was blown up by his own hand grenade, which exploded prematurely, witnesses said.Earlier this week, a rocket was launched at southern Israel from Gaza, triggering sirens in a number of communities in the Eshkol region, ending a week-long stretch of relative calm in the coastal enclave. In response to that attack, the IDF said it hit eight Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, including training bases and a weapons production facility.The ramped up tensions are likely to complicate the mission of Egyptian mediators, who have intensified their shuttle diplomacy to achieve calm and prevent a full-blown conflict between Gaza’s Hamas rulers and Israel.Weekly large-scale riots by Gazans, and clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers have become a mainstay along the Strip’s security fence since March 30, as part of a Hamas-led effort known as the “March of Return.”These demonstrations take place each Friday, regularly sending massive amounts of thick smoke into the Israeli communities nearby, as Palestinians burn tires along the border and send incendiary devices affixed to balloons into Israel to spark fires.The period since March 30 has also included a number of significant flare-ups and extended clashes. Another rocket launched from the Gaza Strip last week struck a home in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, causing significant damage, but no injuries as the family inside had reached their bomb shelter in time.In recent weeks, the situation along the border has grown more precarious, as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas — with the Egyptian military and United Nations acting as intermediaries — have reached a critical turning point.Israel has called for a cessation to all violence, including both the clashes on the border and the daily arson attacks that have burned large swaths of land in the south, in exchange for certain economic incentives and an easing of the blockade around the coastal enclave, which is imposed by Israel to prevent Hamas importing weapons.At least 160 Palestinians have been killed and thousands more have been injured in the clashes with IDF troops, according to AP figures. Hamas, an Islamist terror group that seized control of the Strip in 2007 and seeks to destroy Israel, has acknowledged that dozens of the dead were its members. One Israeli soldier was shot dead by a sniper on the border.The Associated Press and Adam Rasgon contributed to this report.
Trump faces complaints that new Iran sanctions are too weak-Lawmakers worried Tehran may be able to stay connected to international bank transfer system, bypassing punitive measures-By SUSANNAH GEORGE and Matthew Lee-TOI-29 October 2018
WASHINGTON (AP) — A battle is brewing between the Trump administration and some of the president’s biggest supporters in Congress who are concerned that sanctions to be re-imposed on Iran early next month won’t be tough enough.As President Donald Trump prepares to re-impose a second batch of Iran sanctions that had been eased under the 2015 nuclear deal, conservative lawmakers and outside advisers have become worried that the administration may break a promise to exert “maximum pressure” on Iran. They are angered by suggestions that measures to be announced Nov. 5 won’t include a provision cutting Iran off from a key component of the global financial system.The self-described Iran hawks are concerned enough that they have drafted legislation that would require the administration to demand that Iran be suspended from the international bank transfer system known as SWIFT.“The president asked for maximum pressure, not semi-maximum pressure,” said Richard Goldberg, a former aide to a Republican senator and senior adviser to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a group that supports punishing Iran with sanctions. “Maximum pressure includes disconnecting Iranian banks from SWIFT.”Trump pledged Thursday to do whatever it takes to pressure Iran to halt what he refers to as its “malign conduct” such as nuclear and missile development and support for terrorism and groups that destabilize the Middle East.“On Nov. 5th, all US sanctions against Iran lifted by the nuclear deal will be back in full force,” he told a gathering at the White House to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the 1983 attack on the Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, which is blamed on Iranian-backed extremists. “And they will be followed up with even more sanctions to address the full range of Iran’s malign conduct. We will not allow the world’s leading sponsor of terror to develop the world’s deadliest weapons. Will not happen.”The Nov. 5 sanctions cover Iran’s banking and energy sectors and will reinstate penalties for countries and companies in Europe, Asia, and elsewhere that do not halt Iranian oil imports. They could also include measures to force Iran out of SWIFT.Despite Trump’s tough stance, the hawks are worried about recent comments from Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin and his staff that suggest Iran will be able to stay connected to SWIFT. They are also concerned the administration will back down on its stated zero-tolerance policy for Iranian oil purchases by granting waivers to certain countries and companies that do not fully stop buying it.Iran deal supporters, like the other parties to the agreement, argue that pushing Iran out of SWIFT, the Belgium-based Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, will lead to the creation of alternate mechanisms that could supplant it as the leading global institution for financial institutions to send and receive information about banking transactions. They also say expulsion will make it harder for Iran to conduct transactions, such as humanitarian purchases, that will still be allowed after November 5.Allowing Iran to remain in SWIFT would make it easier for Tehran to import humanitarian goods like medicine permitted under US sanctions and “would help the United States make clear that its critique of Iran is directed at the regime, not the people of Iran,” said Elizabeth Rosenberg, a former Treasury official now with the Center for a New American Security. She added, though, that disconnection would be a “fast track” to isolation.The debate underscores the challenges the administration faces as it tries to isolate Iran without the full backing of other world powers who remain supportive of the nuclear deal.Although the hawks had been pleased by Trump’s decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal in May and cheered the August re-imposition of an initial set of sanctions, they are now seething that Treasury may opt to use existing safeguards to isolate Iran instead of hitting SWIFT members with sanctions if they don’t disconnect Tehran.Treasury has been coy about its intentions, saying only that Mnuchin and the agency have led “an intense economic pressure campaign against Iran as part of this administration’s comprehensive strategy to address the totality of Iran’s malign and destabilizing activity, with much more to come.”“Treasury has made it very clear that we will continue to cut off bad Iranian actors, including designated banks, from accessing the international financial system in a number of different ways,” it said. “We will also take action against those attempting to conduct prohibited transactions with sanctioned Iranian entities regardless of the mechanisms used.”That less-than-categorical position has rallied the hawks around the legislation prepared by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that would require the administration to impose sanctions on SWIFT members, including some US banks, should it not suspend Iran on its own.Federal law currently gives the administration authority to act against Iran’s central bank and other banks covered by terrorism and money laundering sanctions. Cruz’s legislation, however, would authorize the administration to hit all of Iran’s banks with sanctions and require it to act against SWIFT if it connects any Iranian bank under sanctions to its system, according to a copy seen by the AP.In August, Cruz led a group of 16 GOP senators, including Trump Republican allies Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Marco Rubio of Florida, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Barrasso of Wyoming, in demanding action against SWIFT if Iran is not suspended. Congressional aides say they believe support for his proposed legislation will be strong. “The administration’s maximum pressure campaign will not succeed if the Islamic Republic remains connected to SWIFT,” the senators told Mnuchin.
Suspected incendiary balloon lands in Jerusalem area community-Police sappers arrive at Moshav Tarum to inspect third suspicious device to land in capital or its environs in as many days-By TOI staff-29 October 2018
A balloon carrying a suspected incendiary device landed near an agricultural community in the Jerusalem area Saturday, police said.Sappers were called to Moshav Tarum outside of Beit Shemesh to deal with the suspicious device, according to police.There were no reports of injuries or damage.The tactic of sending airborne incendiary devices into Israeli territory has been used almost daily by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the start of weekly border protests there in March, but it was unlikely this balloon device was launched from the coastal enclave.Gaza protesters have launched hundreds of such incendiary kites and balloons into Israel, sparking fires that have destroyed forests, burned crops and killed livestock. Thousands of acres of land have been burned, causing millions of shekels in damages, according to Israeli officials. Some balloons have carried improvised explosive devices.On a number of occasions over the past month suspicious balloons have been discovered in Jerusalem, the Givat Ze’ev settlement north of the city, Lod and the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam.Police have called for the public to be extremely careful around any such objects — balloons and kites — as they could contain dangerous explosive or inflammatory material.
Army: 'No one is immune, neither in the Strip or outside it'-Islamic Jihad claims Gaza rocket fire; IDF says Iran, Syria responsible-Israeli aircraft carry out fresh strikes in Strip as Iron Dome intercepts additional rockets launched from Palestinian enclave-By TOI staff-29 October 2018
Islamic Jihad on Saturday took responsibility for the rocket fire from the Gaza Strip overnight and threatened further launches, as the Israeli military accused the Palestinian terror group of carrying out the attacks on behalf of Iran and Syria.Though the Israel Defense Forces did not accuse Hamas of taking part in the rocket fire, it reiterated that it considers the terror group responsible as Gaza’s rulers.“We also view the regime in Syria and the Iranian Quds Force as the address for the incidents,” IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis said, referring to the overseas branch of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.“We sent clear messages in this spirit to those who need it and no one is immune, neither in the Strip or outside it,” he added.BREAKING: The Assad regime & Iranian Quds Force are behind the Islamic Jihad rocket attack on #Israel. Hamas is responsible for everything transpiring in #Gaza & emanates from it & will bear the consequences for the terror it seeks to inflict upon Israeli civilians. pic.twitter.com/gr8iVIzCwh— Israel Defense Forces (@IDFSpokesperson) October 27, 2018-Minutes after the IDF statement, a series of warning sirens were heard throughout communities in southern Israel. The army said five rockets were fired from Gaza in salvos, four of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system.In response, the military said Israeli fighter jets carried out airstrikes on eight Islamic Jihad targets in three separate military facilities, including weapons production sites and a factory that makes parts for subterranean tunnels.The rocket launches and retaliatory airstrikes came over an hour after Iron Dome interceptors destroyed another rocket launched from Gaza.Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman was set to meet with IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and other top security officials at military headquarters in Tel Aviv for a situational assessment, his office said.Due to the flareup, Ben Gurion Airport changed the runways for incoming flights, according to Hebrew media reports, though flight times were not expected to be affected.The latest exchange of fire came after Islamic Jihad’s military wing threatened further rocket launches.“The Palestinian resistance is considering expanding the response in number and type, if the enemy continues its ruthless action and aggression against our people,” the Al-Quds Brigades said in a statement.The army said some 30 rockets were launched at Israel overnight, around 10 of which were intercepted by Iron Dome. Two of the rockets fell in Gaza and the rest landed in open areas.The Defense Ministry’s liaison to the Palestinians, known by its acronym COGAT, said a mortar launched by terrorists struck the ambulance terminal at the Erez border crossing, the only pedestrian passage between Gaza and Israel.“To what low have the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip reached when they strike the ambulance crossing at the Erez Crossing? A crossing through which children in need of life-saving treatment, terminally ill patients for whom this is their last hope to extend their lives, and those in need of the progress of world medicine to provide a response to their diseases, enter Israel on a daily basis on their way to hospitals in Israel or in Judea and Samaria,” Maj. Gen. Kamil Abu Rokon wrote on COGAT’s Arabic-language Facebook page, using the biblical name for the West Bank.In response to the attacks, the IDF said fighter jets and attack helicopters struck 87 targets in the Strip, including two weapons-production facilities, five military sites, a training facility, a tunnel shaft and an observation post.The Israel Defense Forces later said aircraft also struck a four-story building in Gaza City’s Daraj neighborhood used as the headquarters of Hamas’ General Security Services.It said the building’s tenants received several warnings ahead of the strike to clear the premises.“The strike was carried out following the extensive attacks by the IDF in response to the [rocket] fire at communities in the Gaza area tonight. This strike was an expression of the intelligence and operational capabilities of the IDF, that will deepen and intensify as needed,” the army said.WATCH: We just struck Hamas' General Security Services‘ HQ in #Gaza in response to rockets fired at #Israel. We warned the building's occupants to evacuate several times prior to the strike. pic.twitter.com/Eb5nz80i4f— Israel Defense Forces (@IDFSpokesperson) October 27, 2018-Gaza’s health ministry said a hospital in northern Gaza known as the Indonesian Hospital was damaged by one of the strikes overnight, though photos of the damage did not appear to indicate a direct hit on the building. There were no reports of casualties.The IDF said in a statement Saturday morning it “views with great severity the rocket attack tonight against Israeli communities.” It blamed Hamas for creating “a terror-enabling atmosphere…near the border fence which led terror groups in the Strip to carry out tonight’s attack.”US Special Representative for International Negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, tweeted support for Israel overnight, saying: “More rockets from Gaza into Israel. Another night where parents are ushering terrified children to cover.”Palestinian sources speaking to the Ynet news website claimed the attacks were carried out against the objections of the Hamas terror group that rules Gaza, though this had no official confirmation.Israel views Hamas as ultimately responsible for any attacks emanating from the territory it controls, regardless of the source.In response to the rocket barrages, the IDF’s Home Front Command overnight issued instructions restricting gatherings in the Gaza periphery: up to 100 people in open areas and 500 people in closed spaces.The rocket fire comes amid a deadly flareup in violence in the Gaza Strip. Earlier on Friday, thousands of Palestinians gathered at five locations along the border, burning tires and throwing rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops who responded with tear gas and occasional live fire.Five protesters were killed and another 170 were injured in the clashes with IDF troops, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said.Earlier this week, a rocket was launched at southern Israel from Gaza, triggering sirens in a number of communities in the Eshkol region, ending a week-long stretch of relative calm in the coastal enclave. In response to that attack, the IDF said it hit eight Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, including training bases and a weapons production facility.The ramped up tensions are likely to complicate the mission of Egyptian mediators, who have intensified their shuttle diplomacy to achieve calm and prevent a full-blown conflict between Gaza’s Hamas rulers and Israel.Weekly large-scale riots by Gazans, and clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers, have become a mainstay along the Strip’s security fence since March 30, as part of a Hamas-led effort known as the “March of Return.”These demonstrations take place each Friday, regularly sending massive amounts of thick smoke into the Israeli communities nearby, as Palestinians burn tires along the border and send incendiary devices affixed to balloons into Israel to spark fires.The period since March 30 has also included a number of significant flareups and extended clashes. Another rocket launched from the Gaza Strip last week struck a home in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, causing significant damage, but no injuries as the family inside had reached their bomb shelter in time.In recent weeks, the situation along the border has grown more precarious, as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas — with the Egyptian military and United Nations acting as intermediaries — have reached a critical turning point.Israel has called for a cessation to all violence, including both the clashes on the border and the daily arson attacks that have burned large swaths of land in the south, in exchange for certain economic incentives and an easing of the blockade around the coastal enclave, which is imposed by Israel to prevent Hamas importing weapons.At least 160 Palestinians have been killed and thousands more have been injured in the clashes with IDF troops, according to AP figures. Hamas, an Islamist terror group that seized control of the Strip in 2007 and seeks to destroy Israel, has acknowledged that dozens of the dead were its members. One Israeli soldier was shot dead by a sniper on the border.
Air force hits Hamas security HQ, weapons facilities-IDF strikes 80 Gaza targets overnight in response to multiple rocket barrages-Army says 30 projectiles fired at Israel Friday night; sirens blare once more on Saturday morning; Iron Dome intercepts 10 rockets, the rest cause no damage-By TOI staff and Jacob Magid-28 October 2018
The Israeli military carried out extensive air strikes in the Gaza Strip Friday night, striking around 80 terror targets in the enclave, after a night in which around 30 rockets were launched across the border, sending thousands of Israelis into shelters.The rocket barrages were launched between approximately 10 p.m. and 3 a.m., leading warning sirens to sound throughout Israeli communities multiple times throughout the night. There followed about 3 hours of quiet until 6 a.m., when sirens were once again activated by an apparent launch.Shortly after 8:00 a.m. additional warning sirens were heard in the Sha’ar Hanegev and Sdot Nnegev regional councils. The IDF said one rocket had been launched from Gaza that was shot down by Iron Dome interceptors.The Iron Dome aerial defense system intercepted 10 of the nighttime rockets, while two fell inside Gaza and the rest hit open fields and were thus not targeted by the system.There were no reports of direct Israeli casualties or damage. However, seven people were treated by medics for anxiety attacks. Two people were said lightly hurt while running to bomb shelters.In response, air force jets and helicopters bombarded various Hamas targets in the Strip, including two weapons-production facilities, five military sites, a training facility, a tunnel shaft and an observation post.The Israel Defense Forces later said aircraft also struck a four-story building in Gaza City’s Daraj neighborhood used as the headquarters of Hamas’ General Security Services.It said the building’s tenants received several warnings ahead of the strike to clear the premises.WATCH: We just struck Hamas' General Security Services‘ HQ in #Gaza in response to rockets fired at #Israel. We warned the building's occupants to evacuate several times prior to the strike. pic.twitter.com/Eb5nz80i4f— Israel Defense Forces (@IDFSpokesperson) October 27, 2018-Gaza’s health ministry said a hospital in northern Gaza known as the Indonesian Hospital was damaged by one of the strikes overnight, though photos of the damage did not appear to indicate a direct hit on the building. There were no reports of casualties.The IDF said in a statement Saturday morning it “views with great severity the rocket attack tonight against Israeli communities.” It blamed Hamas for creating “a terror-enabling atmosphere…near the border fence which led terror groups in the Strip to carry out tonight’s attack.”US Special Representative for International Negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, tweeted support for Israel overnight, saying: “More rockets from Gaza into Israel. Another night where parents are ushering terrified children to cover.”More rockets from Gaza into Israel. Another night where parents are ushering terrified children to cover. Violence will not build futures for anyone. Our plan, when released, will offer a path that doesn’t involve fear of rockets, but brighter futures for all in the region.— Jason D. Greenblatt (@jdgreenblatt45) October 26, 2018-Early Saturday, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group claimed responsibility for the overnight barrages. The terror organization stated that the assault was a response to deaths during Friday’s border protests, after five Palestinians were killed during riots, one by his own hand grenade.Palestinian sources speaking to the Ynet news website claimed the attacks were carried out against the objections of the Hamas terror group that rules Gaza, though this had no official confirmation.Israel views Hamas as ultimately responsible for any attacks emanating from the territory it controls, regardless of the source.IAF aircraft are now targeting terror facilities in Gaza, after at least 14 rockets were fired from Gaza at Israeli civilians. Iron Dome has so far intercepted 10, saving many lives. Reports of more rockets fired. More to follow.— Jonathan Conricus (@LTCJonathan) October 26, 2018-Meanwhile IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot held a security assessment at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv with senior officials from the military and the Shin Bet internal security agency.A spokesman for the city of Sderot said at least eight rockets were fired at his city, with the Iron Dome intercepting six of them, while two others fell in an open area.Residents reported the sounds of several explosions after the sirens went off and video showed interceptors streaming into the air to take down multiple rockets with huge explosions.In response to the rocket barrages, the IDF’s Home Front Command overnight issued instructions restricting gatherings in the Gaza periphery: up to 100 people in open areas and 500 people in closed spaces.The rocket fire comes amid a deadly flareup in violence in the Gaza Strip. Earlier on Friday, thousands of Palestinians gathered at five locations along the border, burning tires and throwing rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops who responded with tear gas and occasional live fire.Five protesters were killed and another 170 were injured in the clashes with IDF troops, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said.In a statement following the launching of rockets at Israel Friday night, the PIJ said: “The resistance can not stand idly by in the face of the continued killing of innocent people in cold blood by the occupation…and the continued shedding of the blood of peaceful civilians.”It would be the first time Gaza terror groups have explicitly used rocket attacks in response to deaths at the border since regular violent protests began in March, Hadashot news reported.Earlier this week, a rocket was launched at southern Israel from Gaza, triggering sirens in a number of communities in the Eshkol region, ending a week-long stretch of relative calm in the coastal enclave. In response to that attack, the IDF said it hit eight Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, including training bases and a weapons production facility.The ramped up tensions are likely to complicate the mission of Egyptian mediators, who have intensified their shuttle diplomacy to achieve calm and prevent a full-blown conflict between Gaza’s Hamas rulers and Israel.Weekly large-scale riots by Gazans, and clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers, have become a mainstay along the Strip’s security fence since March 30, as part of a Hamas-led effort known as the “March of Return.”These demonstrations take place each Friday, regularly sending massive amounts of thick smoke into the Israeli communities nearby, as Palestinians burn tires along the border and send incendiary devices affixed to balloons into Israel to spark fires.The period since March 30 has also included a number of significant flareups and extended clashes. Another rocket launched from the Gaza Strip last week struck a home in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, causing significant damage, but no injuries as the family inside had reached their bomb shelter in time.In recent weeks, the situation along the border has grown more precarious, as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas — with the Egyptian military and United Nations acting as intermediaries — have reached a critical turning point.Israel has called for a cessation to all violence, including both the clashes on the border and the daily arson attacks that have burned large swaths of land in the south, in exchange for certain economic incentives and an easing of the blockade around the coastal enclave, which is imposed by Israel to prevent Hamas importing weapons.Some 161 Palestinians have been killed and thousands more have been injured in the clashes with IDF troops, according to AP figures. Hamas, an Islamist terror group that seized control of the Strip in 2007 and seeks to destroy Israel, has acknowledged that dozens of the dead were its members. One Israeli soldier was shot dead by a sniper on the border.
Suspect a bodybuilder and booking agent for male strippers-US mail bomb suspect charged with five crimes-If put on trial and convicted, Cesar Sayoc faces up to 48 years in prison, Justice Department says-By AFP-TOI-28 October 2018
WASHINGTON — A suspect has been charged with five federal crimes in connection with more than a dozen suspicious packages sent in a US mail bombing spree, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday.The charges include interstate transportation of an explosive, mailing of explosives, threats against former presidents and threatening interstate communications, Sessions told a news conference.FBI chief Christopher Wray confirmed the suspect is 56-year-old Florida resident Cesar Sayoc.If put on trial and convicted, the suspect faces up to 48 years in prison, according to a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice.Thirteen improved explosive devices were sent to different individuals in the mail bombing spree, including PVC pipe, a small clock, a battery and wiring, Wray said.He said it was “too early” to publicly identify a motive for the bombing spree, while also warning there “may be” further packages.“It’s too early at this stage for us to be discussing motivation in this particular case,” Wray said. “We’re concerned about people committing acts of violence under any motivation.”According to pictures posted on social media and broadcast by US television, a van impounded in Florida in connection with the suspect, Cesar Sayoc, was covered in stickers denouncing Democrats and supportive of Donald Trump.The targets of the bombing spree were all prominent Trump critics.
Vatican meeting ends with call for greater role for women in Church-[Reuters]-By Philip Pullella-YAHOONEWS-October 28, 2018
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A major meeting of Catholic bishops ended on Saturday with a call for women to play a greater role in Church decision making as a "duty of justice", but appeared to water down language that would have been more welcoming to gays.The role of women took center stage at the synod, which was focused on reaching out to young people but has been overshadowed by the scandal over sex abuse in the Church and acrimony between social conservatives and reformers.In a sign of the divisions, the synod used what appeared to be compromise language on the topic of homosexuality, saying people could not be identified solely by sexual orientation.A working paper for the gathering, which began on Oct. 3, had used the acronym LGBT, but this did not appear in the 60-page final document.The document also called for stricter measures to combat sexual abuse, including more transparency in Church structures, and denounced a culture of elitism among some Church leaders which it said can facilitate cover-up and corruption.All three issues were among the subjects debated at the gathering, officially titled "Young People, Faith and Discernment of Vocation" and attended by some 300 bishops, priests, nuns and lay participants.Only "synod fathers", including bishops and some other male representatives, were allowed to vote on the final document. It will be sent to the pope, who will take it into consideration when he writes his own document.Attention was drawn to the issue of women's rights by the synod's own rules, under which two non-ordained monks who lead religious orders were permitted to vote, while a nun with a similar role was not. [L8N1X366M]-The Catholic Church restricts the priesthood to men, but allows people of both sexes who are not priests to hold positions of authority in other areas. However, none of the Vatican's 60 departments is headed by a women and only six women hold decision making roles in the Vatican bureaucracy.Young people, the document said, believed the Church still lagged in attempts to give women "space in decision making processes" in jobs not restricted to priests.-CHANGE UNAVOIDABLE-"The synod recommends making everyone (in the Church) aware of the urgency of an unavoidable change ...," the document says.It called for "a female presence in church roles at all levels, even in positions of responsibility," which it described as a "duty of justice".The three sections on sexuality in the document were not as strong or as inclusive as some young people had wanted, although it renewed the Church's "commitment against all sexually-based discrimination and violence".The acronym LGBT appeared for the first time in a Vatican document in the working paper for synod issued in May. That working paper said: "Some LGBT youths wish to benefit from greater closeness and experience greater care by the Church."But conservative bishops, including those from Africa and at least one from the United States, opposed the mention."There is no such thing as an 'LGBTQ Catholic' or a 'transgender Catholic' or a 'heterosexual Catholic,' as if our sexual appetites defined who we are ...," Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput said in his address to the synod.The Church teaches that having homosexual urges is not sinful but people must not act on them.In its sections on sexual abuse scandals that have scarred the Church in a number of countries, the document called for "strong preventive measures to prevent any repeat" and supported calls for a stricter selection of men who want to be priests.(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Peter Graff)
Merkel's government braces for high-stakes German state election-[Reuters]-By Paul Carrel-YAHOONEWS-October 28, 2018
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition faces its second test in as many weeks on Sunday when voters go to the polls in the western state of Hesse for a regional election that could torpedo the national government.Should Merkel's conservative ally in Hesse, Volker Bouffier, lose his post as state premier, the chancellor's enemies will be emboldened ahead of her Christian Democrats' (CDU) party congress in early December and may try to hasten her demise.The other risk for Merkel is that her SPD coalition partners come third in Hesse, which is home to financial hub Frankfurt. Such an outcome would increase pressure from the SPD's rank-and-file for the party to pull out of the coalition with Merkel in Berlin.A growing swell of SPD members feel their party is tarnished by its alliance with Merkel and would be best to rebuild in opposition - a scenario SPD leader Andreas Nahles has resisted."It is not advisable for the SPD to act hastily or recklessly," Nahles said ahead of the vote.Voting began at 8 a.m. (0700 GMT) and polls are open until 6 p.m. (1700 GMT), when exit polls will give a first indication of the result.Merkel's preferred successor as leader of her conservatives, CDU Secretary General Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, has warned the SPD that pulling out of the ruling coalition after the Hesse vote would trigger a federal election.Polls show the SPD would suffer heavily in a national vote.In Hesse, support for the CDU is running at 28 percent, a survey by pollster Forschungsgruppe Wahlen for broadcaster ZDF showed on Thursday. But the CDU and ecologist Greens may lack sufficient support to renew their ruling alliance in the state.The SPD and Greens were tied on 20 percent, the poll showed, with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) on 12 points, and the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) and far-left Linke both on 8 points.The Greens could figure in a number of potential coalitions in Hesse should they and the CDU lack sufficient support to remain in power.The CDU and Greens could team up with the FDP; the Greens, SPD and FDP could, in theory, join forces - though the FDP is not keen; or the Greens and SPD could work with the far-left Linke.The Greens' half-Yemeni leader in Hesse, Tarek Al-Wazir, is not committing to any coalition until after the vote.(Reporting by Paul Carrel; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Elaine Hardcastle)
Japan, India leaders build ties amid trade, security worries-[Associated Press]-YAHOONEWS-October 28, 2018
TOKYO (AP) — The leaders of Japan and India are reaffirming their ties amid growing worries about trade and regional stability.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived Saturday, was meeting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a resort area near Mount Fuji on Sunday. Modi is also visiting a nearby plant of major Japanese robot maker Fanuc.Relations with China are a major issue shared by Modi and Abe, as their cooperation may balance China's growing regional influence and military assertiveness."The India-Japan partnership has been fundamentally transformed and it has been strengthened as a 'special strategic and global partnership,'" Modi told Kyodo News service. "There are no negatives but only opportunities in this relationship which are waiting to be seized."Modi chose Japan among the first nations to visit after taking power four years ago. He has been urging countries in the Indo-Pacific region to unite against protectionism and cross-border tensions.In another sign of closer relations, India and Japan are also set to hold their first joint military exercises involving ground forces, starting next month.Abe has just returned from China, where he met President Xi Jinping and agreed the two nations were "sharing more common interests and concerns."President Donald Trump's policies that have targeted mostly China with tariffs, but also Japan and other nations, accusing them of unfair trade practices, are working to prod India and Japan to promote their economic ties.The Japanese Foreign Ministry said the leaders had lunch at a hotel in Yamanashi Prefecture, west of Tokyo, and exchanged a wide range of views on pursuing "a free and open" Indo-Pacific region. Abe told Modi about his recent trip to China, and both sides agreed on the need to cooperate closely on getting North Korea to drop nuclear weapons development, the ministry said in a statement.Japan's investment in India still has room to grow. Japan is helping India build a super-fast railway system.Abe has made bolstering and opening the nation's economy central to his policies called "Abenomics," and has encouraged trade, foreign investment and tourism.Although Japan has long seen the U.S. as its main ally, especially in defense, Abe is courting other ties. He has also been vocal about free trade, which runs counter to Trump's moves to raise tariffs.Earlier this year, Japan signed a landmark deal with the European Union that will eliminate nearly all tariffs on products they trade. European and Japanese leaders pledged to strengthen their partnership in defense, climate change and human exchange, to send what they called a clear message against protectionism.Abe and Modi will hold a more formal summit Monday in Tokyo.___Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama-On Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/yurikageyama/?hl=en
Georgia ruling party faces test in presidential vote-[AFP]-Irakli METREVELI-YAHOONEWS-October 28, 2018
Tbilisi (AFP) - Georgians on Sunday went to the polls to elect a figurehead president in a vote seen as a crucial test for the increasingly unpopular ruling party.The hotly contested race has pitted ex-French ambassador and Georgia's former foreign minister Salome Zurabishvili, supported by the ruling Georgian Dream party, against opposition leader Grigol Vashadze, also a former foreign minister.The two have an almost equal chance of being elected, but neither is expected to get the necessary 50 percent plus one vote to win in the first round, according to opinion polls conducted in the run-up to the vote.Vashadze -- backed by exiled ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili's United National Movement (UNM) and 10 other opposition groups -- has been boosted by growing popular discontent over the government's failure to tackle poverty.Over a fraught campaign Vashadze has lashed out against what he says is official graft and political meddling in the judiciary.On the campaign trail, Zurabishvili and Georgian Dream have slammed the UNM for alleged human rights abuses during its previous stretch in power.Vashadze has also criticised the "informal oligarch rule" of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire leader of the Georgian Dream party.Georgia's richest man, Ivanishvili stepped down as premier in 2013 after just a year in office, but is still widely believed to rule the country of 4.5 million people from behind the scenes.- 'Rehearsal for battle' -The presidential campaign saw the ruling party and the opposition cross arms in what is a prelude to their decisive stand-off during parliamentary polls scheduled for 2020, analysts said."Over the last several months, the Georgian Dream and the opposition have been rehearsing their pitched battle, which will take place during the legislative elections," political analyst Tornike Sharashenidze told AFP.Another analyst, Ghia Nodia, said: "The ruling party knows that its defeat in presidential polls will be the beginning of its end.""The camp that wins the presidential vote gets an upper hand in the parliamentary election," he added.If elected, Vashadze has promised to mount a campaign demanding snap parliamentary polls.- Rival diplomats –Zurabishvili, a stylish 66-year-old independent MP, is the daughter of refugees who fled Georgia in 1921 for Paris after the country's annexation by the Red Army.Her career in France's foreign ministry culminated in her posting to Tbilisi.From that position Saakashvili appointed her foreign minister -- after approving the move with then French leader Jacques Chirac.But she quickly made enemies in the ranks of the parliamentary majority, with MPs and a number of senior diplomats publicly accusing her of arrogance and impulsivity.She was sacked after a year on the job, though thousands took to the streets of the capital to protest her dismissal.She then joined the opposition and became one of Saakashvili's fiercest critics.Her main rival Vashadze is a respected career diplomat who served in the Soviet foreign ministry where he helped craft the Soviet-US treaty on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms.The 60-year-old was Saakashvili's foreign minister from 2008-2012.Vashadze is married to the world-renowned prima ballerina Nina Ananiashvili, who has been described in the foreign press as one of the greatest ballet dancers of all time.Both candidates have campaigned on similar promises to bring Georgia closer to full membership of the European Union and NATO.The tiny Black Sea nation has knocked on NATO's doors for more than a decade but the bloc has not yet put Tbilisi on a formal membership path, despite a pledge in 2008 that it will at some point be admitted to the club.- Last direct ballot -The vote is Georgia's last direct leadership poll as it transitions to a parliamentary form of governance following a controversial constitutional reform.The inauguration of a new president will pave the way for the new constitution to enter into force, making the head of state a largely ceremonial figure.Georgia's next president will be elected in 2024 by a 300-member electoral college.The constitutional change was adopted in September 2017, a move protested by all opposition parties, which denounced it as favouring the ruling party.Georgia's outgoing President, Giorgi Margvelashvili, refused to run for a second term, saying he is not interested in assuming the reduced role.Over 3.5 million people are eligible to vote in the election, which will be monitored by international observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.If the vote goes to a run-off, a second round will be held by December 1.Polls will close at 1600 GMT, with results expected to start coming in overnight.
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
Hamas demands $15 million per month in exchange for calm — report-Israeli security cabinet set to convene Sunday for a briefing on the situation in Gaza after weekend marked by salvos of rockets, IAF responses-By TOI staff 29 October 2018
Hamas on Saturday demanded that Israel transfer the Gaza-based terror group $15 million in cash from Qatar every month in order to prevent further escalation in the Palestinian enclave.In a document handed to Egypt, the terror group’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar added that the organization expects Israel to transfer the money by next Thursday, Hadashot TV reported.According to the news station, the demand for cash is intended to circumvent the Israeli coordination and supervision mechanism that was in place until now, according to which the Palestinian Authority would pay Gaza worker salaries transparently.Israel has not yet responded to the Hamas demand.The Israeli security cabinet is set to convene Sunday for a briefing on the situation in Gaza, as well as on the efforts being made by Egypt to broker a ceasefire between the Jewish state and Hamas.Earlier Saturday, the Islamic Jihad terror group announced it had agreed to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire to end an escalating exchange of fire with Israel, as Israeli jets struck sites in the Gaza Strip belonging to the Palestinian terror organization after salvos of rockets were fired at Israel late Friday and early Saturday.A spokesman for the group told the Gaza-based Safa news site that a ceasefire agreement went into effect following Egyptian communication with its leadership.He said Islamic Jihad would remain committed to the ceasefire as long as Israel did likewise.There was no immediate acknowledgment of the ceasefire declaration in Israel, which in the past has denied proclamations by Gaza-based terror groups regarding understandings to end fighting.Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman met with IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and other top security officials on Saturday.A few hours after Islamic Jihad announced the ceasefire, the Eshkol Regional Council lifted orders that residents must remain in close proximity to bomb shelters.Restrictions remained in place, however, limiting gatherings outdoors to 100 people and those indoors to 500.The declaration by Islamic Jihad to end the rocket fire came as the Israel Defense Forces said fighter jets struck eight targets tied to the Iran-backed terror group in three separate military facilities after Israel was hit by salvos of rockets from Gaza overnight and on Saturday morning.The Gaza targets included weapons production sites and a factory that makes parts for subterranean tunnels, the army said, adding that the later was near a school.The top IDF spokesperson earlier blamed Iran and Syria for the Islamic Jihad rocket attacks. Though he did not accuse Hamas of taking part in the launches, Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis reiterated that Israel considers the terror group responsible as Gaza’s rulers.Another IDF spokesman, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, said the rocket strikes were ordered by operatives from the overseas branch of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stationed in Syria and warned Israel may not limit its response to Gaza.“From our perspective, part of the address by which we will deal with this fire is also in Damascus and the Quds Force,” he said. “Our response is not limited geographically.” 2. We also struck this Islamic Jihad weapons manufacturing facility – they use their weapons to try to kill innocent Israeli civilians, we use our weapons to destroy their weapons. pic.twitter.com/bKqyBsaZwf— Israel Defense Forces (@IDFSpokesperson) October 27, 2018-Thirty-four rockets were fired at Israel overnight and Saturday morning, according to the IDF, 13 of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system. Two of the rockets fell in Gaza and the rest landed in open areas.The Defense Ministry’s liaison to the Palestinians said a mortar launched during the barrages struck the ambulance terminal at the Erez border crossing, the sole pedestrian passage between Gaza and Israel.In response to the rocket fire, Israeli aircraft and attack helicopters attacked 95 targets in Gaza belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad.The army said the targets included military and weapons manufacturing facilities through the Strip, a factory in Khan Younis producing cement used in subterranean tunnels and a four-story building in Gaza City headquartering Hamas security services.The IDF said in a statement Saturday morning it “views with great severity the rocket attacks tonight against Israeli communities.” It blamed Hamas for creating “a terror-enabling atmosphere…near the border fence which led terror groups in the Strip to carry out tonight’s attack.”Palestinian sources speaking to the Ynet news website claimed the attacks were carried out against the objections of the Hamas terror group that rules Gaza, though this had no official confirmation.Israel views Hamas as ultimately responsible for any attacks emanating from the territory it controls, regardless of the source.In response to the rocket barrages, the IDF’s Home Front Command overnight issued instructions restricting gatherings in the Gaza periphery: Up to 100 people in open areas and 500 people in closed spaces.The rocket fire comes amid a deadly flare-up in violence in the Gaza Strip. Earlier on Friday, thousands of Palestinians gathered at five locations along the border, burning tires and throwing rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops, who responded with tear gas and occasional live fire.Five protesters were killed and another 170 were injured in the clashes with IDF troops, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said. One of those killed was blown up by his own hand grenade, which exploded prematurely, witnesses said.Earlier this week, a rocket was launched at southern Israel from Gaza, triggering sirens in a number of communities in the Eshkol region, ending a week-long stretch of relative calm in the coastal enclave. In response to that attack, the IDF said it hit eight Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, including training bases and a weapons production facility.The ramped up tensions are likely to complicate the mission of Egyptian mediators, who have intensified their shuttle diplomacy to achieve calm and prevent a full-blown conflict between Gaza’s Hamas rulers and Israel.Weekly large-scale riots by Gazans, and clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers have become a mainstay along the Strip’s security fence since March 30, as part of a Hamas-led effort known as the “March of Return.”These demonstrations take place each Friday, regularly sending massive amounts of thick smoke into the Israeli communities nearby, as Palestinians burn tires along the border and send incendiary devices affixed to balloons into Israel to spark fires.The period since March 30 has also included a number of significant flare-ups and extended clashes. Another rocket launched from the Gaza Strip last week struck a home in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, causing significant damage, but no injuries as the family inside had reached their bomb shelter in time.In recent weeks, the situation along the border has grown more precarious, as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas — with the Egyptian military and United Nations acting as intermediaries — have reached a critical turning point.Israel has called for a cessation to all violence, including both the clashes on the border and the daily arson attacks that have burned large swaths of land in the south, in exchange for certain economic incentives and an easing of the blockade around the coastal enclave, which is imposed by Israel to prevent Hamas importing weapons.At least 160 Palestinians have been killed and thousands more have been injured in the clashes with IDF troops, according to AP figures. Hamas, an Islamist terror group that seized control of the Strip in 2007 and seeks to destroy Israel, has acknowledged that dozens of the dead were its members. One Israeli soldier was shot dead by a sniper on the border.The Associated Press and Adam Rasgon contributed to this report.
Trump faces complaints that new Iran sanctions are too weak-Lawmakers worried Tehran may be able to stay connected to international bank transfer system, bypassing punitive measures-By SUSANNAH GEORGE and Matthew Lee-TOI-29 October 2018
WASHINGTON (AP) — A battle is brewing between the Trump administration and some of the president’s biggest supporters in Congress who are concerned that sanctions to be re-imposed on Iran early next month won’t be tough enough.As President Donald Trump prepares to re-impose a second batch of Iran sanctions that had been eased under the 2015 nuclear deal, conservative lawmakers and outside advisers have become worried that the administration may break a promise to exert “maximum pressure” on Iran. They are angered by suggestions that measures to be announced Nov. 5 won’t include a provision cutting Iran off from a key component of the global financial system.The self-described Iran hawks are concerned enough that they have drafted legislation that would require the administration to demand that Iran be suspended from the international bank transfer system known as SWIFT.“The president asked for maximum pressure, not semi-maximum pressure,” said Richard Goldberg, a former aide to a Republican senator and senior adviser to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a group that supports punishing Iran with sanctions. “Maximum pressure includes disconnecting Iranian banks from SWIFT.”Trump pledged Thursday to do whatever it takes to pressure Iran to halt what he refers to as its “malign conduct” such as nuclear and missile development and support for terrorism and groups that destabilize the Middle East.“On Nov. 5th, all US sanctions against Iran lifted by the nuclear deal will be back in full force,” he told a gathering at the White House to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the 1983 attack on the Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, which is blamed on Iranian-backed extremists. “And they will be followed up with even more sanctions to address the full range of Iran’s malign conduct. We will not allow the world’s leading sponsor of terror to develop the world’s deadliest weapons. Will not happen.”The Nov. 5 sanctions cover Iran’s banking and energy sectors and will reinstate penalties for countries and companies in Europe, Asia, and elsewhere that do not halt Iranian oil imports. They could also include measures to force Iran out of SWIFT.Despite Trump’s tough stance, the hawks are worried about recent comments from Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin and his staff that suggest Iran will be able to stay connected to SWIFT. They are also concerned the administration will back down on its stated zero-tolerance policy for Iranian oil purchases by granting waivers to certain countries and companies that do not fully stop buying it.Iran deal supporters, like the other parties to the agreement, argue that pushing Iran out of SWIFT, the Belgium-based Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, will lead to the creation of alternate mechanisms that could supplant it as the leading global institution for financial institutions to send and receive information about banking transactions. They also say expulsion will make it harder for Iran to conduct transactions, such as humanitarian purchases, that will still be allowed after November 5.Allowing Iran to remain in SWIFT would make it easier for Tehran to import humanitarian goods like medicine permitted under US sanctions and “would help the United States make clear that its critique of Iran is directed at the regime, not the people of Iran,” said Elizabeth Rosenberg, a former Treasury official now with the Center for a New American Security. She added, though, that disconnection would be a “fast track” to isolation.The debate underscores the challenges the administration faces as it tries to isolate Iran without the full backing of other world powers who remain supportive of the nuclear deal.Although the hawks had been pleased by Trump’s decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal in May and cheered the August re-imposition of an initial set of sanctions, they are now seething that Treasury may opt to use existing safeguards to isolate Iran instead of hitting SWIFT members with sanctions if they don’t disconnect Tehran.Treasury has been coy about its intentions, saying only that Mnuchin and the agency have led “an intense economic pressure campaign against Iran as part of this administration’s comprehensive strategy to address the totality of Iran’s malign and destabilizing activity, with much more to come.”“Treasury has made it very clear that we will continue to cut off bad Iranian actors, including designated banks, from accessing the international financial system in a number of different ways,” it said. “We will also take action against those attempting to conduct prohibited transactions with sanctioned Iranian entities regardless of the mechanisms used.”That less-than-categorical position has rallied the hawks around the legislation prepared by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that would require the administration to impose sanctions on SWIFT members, including some US banks, should it not suspend Iran on its own.Federal law currently gives the administration authority to act against Iran’s central bank and other banks covered by terrorism and money laundering sanctions. Cruz’s legislation, however, would authorize the administration to hit all of Iran’s banks with sanctions and require it to act against SWIFT if it connects any Iranian bank under sanctions to its system, according to a copy seen by the AP.In August, Cruz led a group of 16 GOP senators, including Trump Republican allies Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Marco Rubio of Florida, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Barrasso of Wyoming, in demanding action against SWIFT if Iran is not suspended. Congressional aides say they believe support for his proposed legislation will be strong. “The administration’s maximum pressure campaign will not succeed if the Islamic Republic remains connected to SWIFT,” the senators told Mnuchin.
Suspected incendiary balloon lands in Jerusalem area community-Police sappers arrive at Moshav Tarum to inspect third suspicious device to land in capital or its environs in as many days-By TOI staff-29 October 2018
A balloon carrying a suspected incendiary device landed near an agricultural community in the Jerusalem area Saturday, police said.Sappers were called to Moshav Tarum outside of Beit Shemesh to deal with the suspicious device, according to police.There were no reports of injuries or damage.The tactic of sending airborne incendiary devices into Israeli territory has been used almost daily by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the start of weekly border protests there in March, but it was unlikely this balloon device was launched from the coastal enclave.Gaza protesters have launched hundreds of such incendiary kites and balloons into Israel, sparking fires that have destroyed forests, burned crops and killed livestock. Thousands of acres of land have been burned, causing millions of shekels in damages, according to Israeli officials. Some balloons have carried improvised explosive devices.On a number of occasions over the past month suspicious balloons have been discovered in Jerusalem, the Givat Ze’ev settlement north of the city, Lod and the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam.Police have called for the public to be extremely careful around any such objects — balloons and kites — as they could contain dangerous explosive or inflammatory material.
Army: 'No one is immune, neither in the Strip or outside it'-Islamic Jihad claims Gaza rocket fire; IDF says Iran, Syria responsible-Israeli aircraft carry out fresh strikes in Strip as Iron Dome intercepts additional rockets launched from Palestinian enclave-By TOI staff-29 October 2018
Islamic Jihad on Saturday took responsibility for the rocket fire from the Gaza Strip overnight and threatened further launches, as the Israeli military accused the Palestinian terror group of carrying out the attacks on behalf of Iran and Syria.Though the Israel Defense Forces did not accuse Hamas of taking part in the rocket fire, it reiterated that it considers the terror group responsible as Gaza’s rulers.“We also view the regime in Syria and the Iranian Quds Force as the address for the incidents,” IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis said, referring to the overseas branch of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.“We sent clear messages in this spirit to those who need it and no one is immune, neither in the Strip or outside it,” he added.BREAKING: The Assad regime & Iranian Quds Force are behind the Islamic Jihad rocket attack on #Israel. Hamas is responsible for everything transpiring in #Gaza & emanates from it & will bear the consequences for the terror it seeks to inflict upon Israeli civilians. pic.twitter.com/gr8iVIzCwh— Israel Defense Forces (@IDFSpokesperson) October 27, 2018-Minutes after the IDF statement, a series of warning sirens were heard throughout communities in southern Israel. The army said five rockets were fired from Gaza in salvos, four of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system.In response, the military said Israeli fighter jets carried out airstrikes on eight Islamic Jihad targets in three separate military facilities, including weapons production sites and a factory that makes parts for subterranean tunnels.The rocket launches and retaliatory airstrikes came over an hour after Iron Dome interceptors destroyed another rocket launched from Gaza.Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman was set to meet with IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and other top security officials at military headquarters in Tel Aviv for a situational assessment, his office said.Due to the flareup, Ben Gurion Airport changed the runways for incoming flights, according to Hebrew media reports, though flight times were not expected to be affected.The latest exchange of fire came after Islamic Jihad’s military wing threatened further rocket launches.“The Palestinian resistance is considering expanding the response in number and type, if the enemy continues its ruthless action and aggression against our people,” the Al-Quds Brigades said in a statement.The army said some 30 rockets were launched at Israel overnight, around 10 of which were intercepted by Iron Dome. Two of the rockets fell in Gaza and the rest landed in open areas.The Defense Ministry’s liaison to the Palestinians, known by its acronym COGAT, said a mortar launched by terrorists struck the ambulance terminal at the Erez border crossing, the only pedestrian passage between Gaza and Israel.“To what low have the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip reached when they strike the ambulance crossing at the Erez Crossing? A crossing through which children in need of life-saving treatment, terminally ill patients for whom this is their last hope to extend their lives, and those in need of the progress of world medicine to provide a response to their diseases, enter Israel on a daily basis on their way to hospitals in Israel or in Judea and Samaria,” Maj. Gen. Kamil Abu Rokon wrote on COGAT’s Arabic-language Facebook page, using the biblical name for the West Bank.In response to the attacks, the IDF said fighter jets and attack helicopters struck 87 targets in the Strip, including two weapons-production facilities, five military sites, a training facility, a tunnel shaft and an observation post.The Israel Defense Forces later said aircraft also struck a four-story building in Gaza City’s Daraj neighborhood used as the headquarters of Hamas’ General Security Services.It said the building’s tenants received several warnings ahead of the strike to clear the premises.“The strike was carried out following the extensive attacks by the IDF in response to the [rocket] fire at communities in the Gaza area tonight. This strike was an expression of the intelligence and operational capabilities of the IDF, that will deepen and intensify as needed,” the army said.WATCH: We just struck Hamas' General Security Services‘ HQ in #Gaza in response to rockets fired at #Israel. We warned the building's occupants to evacuate several times prior to the strike. pic.twitter.com/Eb5nz80i4f— Israel Defense Forces (@IDFSpokesperson) October 27, 2018-Gaza’s health ministry said a hospital in northern Gaza known as the Indonesian Hospital was damaged by one of the strikes overnight, though photos of the damage did not appear to indicate a direct hit on the building. There were no reports of casualties.The IDF said in a statement Saturday morning it “views with great severity the rocket attack tonight against Israeli communities.” It blamed Hamas for creating “a terror-enabling atmosphere…near the border fence which led terror groups in the Strip to carry out tonight’s attack.”US Special Representative for International Negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, tweeted support for Israel overnight, saying: “More rockets from Gaza into Israel. Another night where parents are ushering terrified children to cover.”Palestinian sources speaking to the Ynet news website claimed the attacks were carried out against the objections of the Hamas terror group that rules Gaza, though this had no official confirmation.Israel views Hamas as ultimately responsible for any attacks emanating from the territory it controls, regardless of the source.In response to the rocket barrages, the IDF’s Home Front Command overnight issued instructions restricting gatherings in the Gaza periphery: up to 100 people in open areas and 500 people in closed spaces.The rocket fire comes amid a deadly flareup in violence in the Gaza Strip. Earlier on Friday, thousands of Palestinians gathered at five locations along the border, burning tires and throwing rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops who responded with tear gas and occasional live fire.Five protesters were killed and another 170 were injured in the clashes with IDF troops, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said.Earlier this week, a rocket was launched at southern Israel from Gaza, triggering sirens in a number of communities in the Eshkol region, ending a week-long stretch of relative calm in the coastal enclave. In response to that attack, the IDF said it hit eight Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, including training bases and a weapons production facility.The ramped up tensions are likely to complicate the mission of Egyptian mediators, who have intensified their shuttle diplomacy to achieve calm and prevent a full-blown conflict between Gaza’s Hamas rulers and Israel.Weekly large-scale riots by Gazans, and clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers, have become a mainstay along the Strip’s security fence since March 30, as part of a Hamas-led effort known as the “March of Return.”These demonstrations take place each Friday, regularly sending massive amounts of thick smoke into the Israeli communities nearby, as Palestinians burn tires along the border and send incendiary devices affixed to balloons into Israel to spark fires.The period since March 30 has also included a number of significant flareups and extended clashes. Another rocket launched from the Gaza Strip last week struck a home in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, causing significant damage, but no injuries as the family inside had reached their bomb shelter in time.In recent weeks, the situation along the border has grown more precarious, as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas — with the Egyptian military and United Nations acting as intermediaries — have reached a critical turning point.Israel has called for a cessation to all violence, including both the clashes on the border and the daily arson attacks that have burned large swaths of land in the south, in exchange for certain economic incentives and an easing of the blockade around the coastal enclave, which is imposed by Israel to prevent Hamas importing weapons.At least 160 Palestinians have been killed and thousands more have been injured in the clashes with IDF troops, according to AP figures. Hamas, an Islamist terror group that seized control of the Strip in 2007 and seeks to destroy Israel, has acknowledged that dozens of the dead were its members. One Israeli soldier was shot dead by a sniper on the border.
Air force hits Hamas security HQ, weapons facilities-IDF strikes 80 Gaza targets overnight in response to multiple rocket barrages-Army says 30 projectiles fired at Israel Friday night; sirens blare once more on Saturday morning; Iron Dome intercepts 10 rockets, the rest cause no damage-By TOI staff and Jacob Magid-28 October 2018
The Israeli military carried out extensive air strikes in the Gaza Strip Friday night, striking around 80 terror targets in the enclave, after a night in which around 30 rockets were launched across the border, sending thousands of Israelis into shelters.The rocket barrages were launched between approximately 10 p.m. and 3 a.m., leading warning sirens to sound throughout Israeli communities multiple times throughout the night. There followed about 3 hours of quiet until 6 a.m., when sirens were once again activated by an apparent launch.Shortly after 8:00 a.m. additional warning sirens were heard in the Sha’ar Hanegev and Sdot Nnegev regional councils. The IDF said one rocket had been launched from Gaza that was shot down by Iron Dome interceptors.The Iron Dome aerial defense system intercepted 10 of the nighttime rockets, while two fell inside Gaza and the rest hit open fields and were thus not targeted by the system.There were no reports of direct Israeli casualties or damage. However, seven people were treated by medics for anxiety attacks. Two people were said lightly hurt while running to bomb shelters.In response, air force jets and helicopters bombarded various Hamas targets in the Strip, including two weapons-production facilities, five military sites, a training facility, a tunnel shaft and an observation post.The Israel Defense Forces later said aircraft also struck a four-story building in Gaza City’s Daraj neighborhood used as the headquarters of Hamas’ General Security Services.It said the building’s tenants received several warnings ahead of the strike to clear the premises.WATCH: We just struck Hamas' General Security Services‘ HQ in #Gaza in response to rockets fired at #Israel. We warned the building's occupants to evacuate several times prior to the strike. pic.twitter.com/Eb5nz80i4f— Israel Defense Forces (@IDFSpokesperson) October 27, 2018-Gaza’s health ministry said a hospital in northern Gaza known as the Indonesian Hospital was damaged by one of the strikes overnight, though photos of the damage did not appear to indicate a direct hit on the building. There were no reports of casualties.The IDF said in a statement Saturday morning it “views with great severity the rocket attack tonight against Israeli communities.” It blamed Hamas for creating “a terror-enabling atmosphere…near the border fence which led terror groups in the Strip to carry out tonight’s attack.”US Special Representative for International Negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, tweeted support for Israel overnight, saying: “More rockets from Gaza into Israel. Another night where parents are ushering terrified children to cover.”More rockets from Gaza into Israel. Another night where parents are ushering terrified children to cover. Violence will not build futures for anyone. Our plan, when released, will offer a path that doesn’t involve fear of rockets, but brighter futures for all in the region.— Jason D. Greenblatt (@jdgreenblatt45) October 26, 2018-Early Saturday, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group claimed responsibility for the overnight barrages. The terror organization stated that the assault was a response to deaths during Friday’s border protests, after five Palestinians were killed during riots, one by his own hand grenade.Palestinian sources speaking to the Ynet news website claimed the attacks were carried out against the objections of the Hamas terror group that rules Gaza, though this had no official confirmation.Israel views Hamas as ultimately responsible for any attacks emanating from the territory it controls, regardless of the source.IAF aircraft are now targeting terror facilities in Gaza, after at least 14 rockets were fired from Gaza at Israeli civilians. Iron Dome has so far intercepted 10, saving many lives. Reports of more rockets fired. More to follow.— Jonathan Conricus (@LTCJonathan) October 26, 2018-Meanwhile IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot held a security assessment at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv with senior officials from the military and the Shin Bet internal security agency.A spokesman for the city of Sderot said at least eight rockets were fired at his city, with the Iron Dome intercepting six of them, while two others fell in an open area.Residents reported the sounds of several explosions after the sirens went off and video showed interceptors streaming into the air to take down multiple rockets with huge explosions.In response to the rocket barrages, the IDF’s Home Front Command overnight issued instructions restricting gatherings in the Gaza periphery: up to 100 people in open areas and 500 people in closed spaces.The rocket fire comes amid a deadly flareup in violence in the Gaza Strip. Earlier on Friday, thousands of Palestinians gathered at five locations along the border, burning tires and throwing rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops who responded with tear gas and occasional live fire.Five protesters were killed and another 170 were injured in the clashes with IDF troops, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said.In a statement following the launching of rockets at Israel Friday night, the PIJ said: “The resistance can not stand idly by in the face of the continued killing of innocent people in cold blood by the occupation…and the continued shedding of the blood of peaceful civilians.”It would be the first time Gaza terror groups have explicitly used rocket attacks in response to deaths at the border since regular violent protests began in March, Hadashot news reported.Earlier this week, a rocket was launched at southern Israel from Gaza, triggering sirens in a number of communities in the Eshkol region, ending a week-long stretch of relative calm in the coastal enclave. In response to that attack, the IDF said it hit eight Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, including training bases and a weapons production facility.The ramped up tensions are likely to complicate the mission of Egyptian mediators, who have intensified their shuttle diplomacy to achieve calm and prevent a full-blown conflict between Gaza’s Hamas rulers and Israel.Weekly large-scale riots by Gazans, and clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers, have become a mainstay along the Strip’s security fence since March 30, as part of a Hamas-led effort known as the “March of Return.”These demonstrations take place each Friday, regularly sending massive amounts of thick smoke into the Israeli communities nearby, as Palestinians burn tires along the border and send incendiary devices affixed to balloons into Israel to spark fires.The period since March 30 has also included a number of significant flareups and extended clashes. Another rocket launched from the Gaza Strip last week struck a home in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, causing significant damage, but no injuries as the family inside had reached their bomb shelter in time.In recent weeks, the situation along the border has grown more precarious, as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas — with the Egyptian military and United Nations acting as intermediaries — have reached a critical turning point.Israel has called for a cessation to all violence, including both the clashes on the border and the daily arson attacks that have burned large swaths of land in the south, in exchange for certain economic incentives and an easing of the blockade around the coastal enclave, which is imposed by Israel to prevent Hamas importing weapons.Some 161 Palestinians have been killed and thousands more have been injured in the clashes with IDF troops, according to AP figures. Hamas, an Islamist terror group that seized control of the Strip in 2007 and seeks to destroy Israel, has acknowledged that dozens of the dead were its members. One Israeli soldier was shot dead by a sniper on the border.
Suspect a bodybuilder and booking agent for male strippers-US mail bomb suspect charged with five crimes-If put on trial and convicted, Cesar Sayoc faces up to 48 years in prison, Justice Department says-By AFP-TOI-28 October 2018
WASHINGTON — A suspect has been charged with five federal crimes in connection with more than a dozen suspicious packages sent in a US mail bombing spree, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday.The charges include interstate transportation of an explosive, mailing of explosives, threats against former presidents and threatening interstate communications, Sessions told a news conference.FBI chief Christopher Wray confirmed the suspect is 56-year-old Florida resident Cesar Sayoc.If put on trial and convicted, the suspect faces up to 48 years in prison, according to a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice.Thirteen improved explosive devices were sent to different individuals in the mail bombing spree, including PVC pipe, a small clock, a battery and wiring, Wray said.He said it was “too early” to publicly identify a motive for the bombing spree, while also warning there “may be” further packages.“It’s too early at this stage for us to be discussing motivation in this particular case,” Wray said. “We’re concerned about people committing acts of violence under any motivation.”According to pictures posted on social media and broadcast by US television, a van impounded in Florida in connection with the suspect, Cesar Sayoc, was covered in stickers denouncing Democrats and supportive of Donald Trump.The targets of the bombing spree were all prominent Trump critics.
Vatican meeting ends with call for greater role for women in Church-[Reuters]-By Philip Pullella-YAHOONEWS-October 28, 2018
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A major meeting of Catholic bishops ended on Saturday with a call for women to play a greater role in Church decision making as a "duty of justice", but appeared to water down language that would have been more welcoming to gays.The role of women took center stage at the synod, which was focused on reaching out to young people but has been overshadowed by the scandal over sex abuse in the Church and acrimony between social conservatives and reformers.In a sign of the divisions, the synod used what appeared to be compromise language on the topic of homosexuality, saying people could not be identified solely by sexual orientation.A working paper for the gathering, which began on Oct. 3, had used the acronym LGBT, but this did not appear in the 60-page final document.The document also called for stricter measures to combat sexual abuse, including more transparency in Church structures, and denounced a culture of elitism among some Church leaders which it said can facilitate cover-up and corruption.All three issues were among the subjects debated at the gathering, officially titled "Young People, Faith and Discernment of Vocation" and attended by some 300 bishops, priests, nuns and lay participants.Only "synod fathers", including bishops and some other male representatives, were allowed to vote on the final document. It will be sent to the pope, who will take it into consideration when he writes his own document.Attention was drawn to the issue of women's rights by the synod's own rules, under which two non-ordained monks who lead religious orders were permitted to vote, while a nun with a similar role was not. [L8N1X366M]-The Catholic Church restricts the priesthood to men, but allows people of both sexes who are not priests to hold positions of authority in other areas. However, none of the Vatican's 60 departments is headed by a women and only six women hold decision making roles in the Vatican bureaucracy.Young people, the document said, believed the Church still lagged in attempts to give women "space in decision making processes" in jobs not restricted to priests.-CHANGE UNAVOIDABLE-"The synod recommends making everyone (in the Church) aware of the urgency of an unavoidable change ...," the document says.It called for "a female presence in church roles at all levels, even in positions of responsibility," which it described as a "duty of justice".The three sections on sexuality in the document were not as strong or as inclusive as some young people had wanted, although it renewed the Church's "commitment against all sexually-based discrimination and violence".The acronym LGBT appeared for the first time in a Vatican document in the working paper for synod issued in May. That working paper said: "Some LGBT youths wish to benefit from greater closeness and experience greater care by the Church."But conservative bishops, including those from Africa and at least one from the United States, opposed the mention."There is no such thing as an 'LGBTQ Catholic' or a 'transgender Catholic' or a 'heterosexual Catholic,' as if our sexual appetites defined who we are ...," Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput said in his address to the synod.The Church teaches that having homosexual urges is not sinful but people must not act on them.In its sections on sexual abuse scandals that have scarred the Church in a number of countries, the document called for "strong preventive measures to prevent any repeat" and supported calls for a stricter selection of men who want to be priests.(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Peter Graff)
Merkel's government braces for high-stakes German state election-[Reuters]-By Paul Carrel-YAHOONEWS-October 28, 2018
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition faces its second test in as many weeks on Sunday when voters go to the polls in the western state of Hesse for a regional election that could torpedo the national government.Should Merkel's conservative ally in Hesse, Volker Bouffier, lose his post as state premier, the chancellor's enemies will be emboldened ahead of her Christian Democrats' (CDU) party congress in early December and may try to hasten her demise.The other risk for Merkel is that her SPD coalition partners come third in Hesse, which is home to financial hub Frankfurt. Such an outcome would increase pressure from the SPD's rank-and-file for the party to pull out of the coalition with Merkel in Berlin.A growing swell of SPD members feel their party is tarnished by its alliance with Merkel and would be best to rebuild in opposition - a scenario SPD leader Andreas Nahles has resisted."It is not advisable for the SPD to act hastily or recklessly," Nahles said ahead of the vote.Voting began at 8 a.m. (0700 GMT) and polls are open until 6 p.m. (1700 GMT), when exit polls will give a first indication of the result.Merkel's preferred successor as leader of her conservatives, CDU Secretary General Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, has warned the SPD that pulling out of the ruling coalition after the Hesse vote would trigger a federal election.Polls show the SPD would suffer heavily in a national vote.In Hesse, support for the CDU is running at 28 percent, a survey by pollster Forschungsgruppe Wahlen for broadcaster ZDF showed on Thursday. But the CDU and ecologist Greens may lack sufficient support to renew their ruling alliance in the state.The SPD and Greens were tied on 20 percent, the poll showed, with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) on 12 points, and the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) and far-left Linke both on 8 points.The Greens could figure in a number of potential coalitions in Hesse should they and the CDU lack sufficient support to remain in power.The CDU and Greens could team up with the FDP; the Greens, SPD and FDP could, in theory, join forces - though the FDP is not keen; or the Greens and SPD could work with the far-left Linke.The Greens' half-Yemeni leader in Hesse, Tarek Al-Wazir, is not committing to any coalition until after the vote.(Reporting by Paul Carrel; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Elaine Hardcastle)
Japan, India leaders build ties amid trade, security worries-[Associated Press]-YAHOONEWS-October 28, 2018
TOKYO (AP) — The leaders of Japan and India are reaffirming their ties amid growing worries about trade and regional stability.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived Saturday, was meeting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a resort area near Mount Fuji on Sunday. Modi is also visiting a nearby plant of major Japanese robot maker Fanuc.Relations with China are a major issue shared by Modi and Abe, as their cooperation may balance China's growing regional influence and military assertiveness."The India-Japan partnership has been fundamentally transformed and it has been strengthened as a 'special strategic and global partnership,'" Modi told Kyodo News service. "There are no negatives but only opportunities in this relationship which are waiting to be seized."Modi chose Japan among the first nations to visit after taking power four years ago. He has been urging countries in the Indo-Pacific region to unite against protectionism and cross-border tensions.In another sign of closer relations, India and Japan are also set to hold their first joint military exercises involving ground forces, starting next month.Abe has just returned from China, where he met President Xi Jinping and agreed the two nations were "sharing more common interests and concerns."President Donald Trump's policies that have targeted mostly China with tariffs, but also Japan and other nations, accusing them of unfair trade practices, are working to prod India and Japan to promote their economic ties.The Japanese Foreign Ministry said the leaders had lunch at a hotel in Yamanashi Prefecture, west of Tokyo, and exchanged a wide range of views on pursuing "a free and open" Indo-Pacific region. Abe told Modi about his recent trip to China, and both sides agreed on the need to cooperate closely on getting North Korea to drop nuclear weapons development, the ministry said in a statement.Japan's investment in India still has room to grow. Japan is helping India build a super-fast railway system.Abe has made bolstering and opening the nation's economy central to his policies called "Abenomics," and has encouraged trade, foreign investment and tourism.Although Japan has long seen the U.S. as its main ally, especially in defense, Abe is courting other ties. He has also been vocal about free trade, which runs counter to Trump's moves to raise tariffs.Earlier this year, Japan signed a landmark deal with the European Union that will eliminate nearly all tariffs on products they trade. European and Japanese leaders pledged to strengthen their partnership in defense, climate change and human exchange, to send what they called a clear message against protectionism.Abe and Modi will hold a more formal summit Monday in Tokyo.___Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama-On Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/yurikageyama/?hl=en
Georgia ruling party faces test in presidential vote-[AFP]-Irakli METREVELI-YAHOONEWS-October 28, 2018
Tbilisi (AFP) - Georgians on Sunday went to the polls to elect a figurehead president in a vote seen as a crucial test for the increasingly unpopular ruling party.The hotly contested race has pitted ex-French ambassador and Georgia's former foreign minister Salome Zurabishvili, supported by the ruling Georgian Dream party, against opposition leader Grigol Vashadze, also a former foreign minister.The two have an almost equal chance of being elected, but neither is expected to get the necessary 50 percent plus one vote to win in the first round, according to opinion polls conducted in the run-up to the vote.Vashadze -- backed by exiled ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili's United National Movement (UNM) and 10 other opposition groups -- has been boosted by growing popular discontent over the government's failure to tackle poverty.Over a fraught campaign Vashadze has lashed out against what he says is official graft and political meddling in the judiciary.On the campaign trail, Zurabishvili and Georgian Dream have slammed the UNM for alleged human rights abuses during its previous stretch in power.Vashadze has also criticised the "informal oligarch rule" of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire leader of the Georgian Dream party.Georgia's richest man, Ivanishvili stepped down as premier in 2013 after just a year in office, but is still widely believed to rule the country of 4.5 million people from behind the scenes.- 'Rehearsal for battle' -The presidential campaign saw the ruling party and the opposition cross arms in what is a prelude to their decisive stand-off during parliamentary polls scheduled for 2020, analysts said."Over the last several months, the Georgian Dream and the opposition have been rehearsing their pitched battle, which will take place during the legislative elections," political analyst Tornike Sharashenidze told AFP.Another analyst, Ghia Nodia, said: "The ruling party knows that its defeat in presidential polls will be the beginning of its end.""The camp that wins the presidential vote gets an upper hand in the parliamentary election," he added.If elected, Vashadze has promised to mount a campaign demanding snap parliamentary polls.- Rival diplomats –Zurabishvili, a stylish 66-year-old independent MP, is the daughter of refugees who fled Georgia in 1921 for Paris after the country's annexation by the Red Army.Her career in France's foreign ministry culminated in her posting to Tbilisi.From that position Saakashvili appointed her foreign minister -- after approving the move with then French leader Jacques Chirac.But she quickly made enemies in the ranks of the parliamentary majority, with MPs and a number of senior diplomats publicly accusing her of arrogance and impulsivity.She was sacked after a year on the job, though thousands took to the streets of the capital to protest her dismissal.She then joined the opposition and became one of Saakashvili's fiercest critics.Her main rival Vashadze is a respected career diplomat who served in the Soviet foreign ministry where he helped craft the Soviet-US treaty on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms.The 60-year-old was Saakashvili's foreign minister from 2008-2012.Vashadze is married to the world-renowned prima ballerina Nina Ananiashvili, who has been described in the foreign press as one of the greatest ballet dancers of all time.Both candidates have campaigned on similar promises to bring Georgia closer to full membership of the European Union and NATO.The tiny Black Sea nation has knocked on NATO's doors for more than a decade but the bloc has not yet put Tbilisi on a formal membership path, despite a pledge in 2008 that it will at some point be admitted to the club.- Last direct ballot -The vote is Georgia's last direct leadership poll as it transitions to a parliamentary form of governance following a controversial constitutional reform.The inauguration of a new president will pave the way for the new constitution to enter into force, making the head of state a largely ceremonial figure.Georgia's next president will be elected in 2024 by a 300-member electoral college.The constitutional change was adopted in September 2017, a move protested by all opposition parties, which denounced it as favouring the ruling party.Georgia's outgoing President, Giorgi Margvelashvili, refused to run for a second term, saying he is not interested in assuming the reduced role.Over 3.5 million people are eligible to vote in the election, which will be monitored by international observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.If the vote goes to a run-off, a second round will be held by December 1.Polls will close at 1600 GMT, with results expected to start coming in overnight.
