ON SUKKOT TURNING OY INTO JOY

KING JESUS IS COMING FOR US ANY TIME NOW. THE RAPTURE. BE PREPARED TO GO.

On Sukkot, turning oy into the season of joy

Finding the energy to build a temporary home for a temporary family of guests is not always the easiest thing to do

By Edmon J. Rodman September 19, 2013, 6:34 am 0-The Times of Israel

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — In open opposition to Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), which tells us on Sukkot “there is nothing new under the sun,” I decided to build a solar sukkah this fall. To energize my plan, I went to the 99 Cent Store to buy some solar yard lights to adapt for use on the roof.However, while driving home and accessing the construction work required for the upcoming holiday, I realized that my sukkah was not the only thing that was low energy.I had put up our sukkah umpteen years in a row, and this year I was thinking about giving the shack building a rest. The solar idea was nice, but in the end it wasn’t enough — just an artificial way of rekindling my interest in what had become an annual task.Couldn’t we just manage an invite from a couple of the families we had invited into our sukkah in previous years? Not an option: Among our friends there was a sukkah shortage. Over time, it seems, people get so used to visiting your sukkah that they lose touch with building their own.Sukkot is supposed to be “the season of our joy,” but after the chest pounding, shofar blowing and pleading for my life, the joy this year was hard to find. Was there a way to reset my spiritual clock and get my sukkah built? Psychology tells us that motivation comes in two forms: “intrinsic,” an internal desire to perform a particular task that gives us pleasure, like knowing that putting up a sukkah is a mitzvah, and “extrinsic,” factors external and unrelated to a particular task, but a kind of reward, like praise from friends for putting up a sukkah.Searching for motivation, I read where a college rabbi at Duke had run a program called “Sex and the Sukkah.” It certainly piqued my interest (though I was confused as to whether the motivation was extrinsic or intrinsic). Apparently sex is part of the mitzvah of dwelling in the sukkah. But we don’t even sleep out there, and my wife wondered nervously about the neighbors.

Israeli family eating in the sukkah during the second night of Sukkot in the Jewish quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem. (photo credit: Serge Attal / Flash 90)

With our children in their 20s, the motivation of putting up the sukkah for them was missing, too. Balancing on a ladder in our shaky shack just so we could hang the decorations they made in school was no longer a starter.Hanging signs of their more recent achievements — term papers, pay stubs and renderings (one of them is studying to be an architect) — was an interesting updating of the tradition, but I didn’t think the public display would be appreciated.Since with each day the pile of weathered boards and rolls of bamboo seemed to be receding farther and farther into the depths of my garage, and wondering if others might be having a similar problem, I sat down to interview a psychologist.“A lack of motivation and apathy could be a sign of depression,” said Rae Freed, a clinical social worker in private practice in Los Angeles who sees patients of all ages. Depression could show itself through “a lack of energy, fatigue, in difficulty in making a decision or lack of focus.”As we talked about the social component of the sukkah — inviting over guests — Freed suggested that potential sukkah builders might think the effort requires “too much energy to participate in a social interaction.”“That sounded about right,” I thought, thinking of the effort it took in past years to call people to negotiate the “right” night.Freed also spoke about seasonal depression that comes with the shortening of days from a Jewish point of view.“You build up to the High Holy Days, spending time with family, and afterwards feel the loss,” she said.“Especially when they live on the other side of the county or have passed away,” I thought.Over time, “age and strength” become factors as well, Freed said.“Yeah, that too,” I thought, then asked, “How do you get over it?”For Freed, simply pretending and putting on a “mask of joy” was not going to cover it. She countered my question with questions: “Ask yourself, how did you feel in the past when you did that? Was it positive?”“Having guests over did make me feel good,” I thought.

‘Having guests over did make me feel good’Explaining further, Freed suggested that even if you don’t feel like doing something, it might be motivating to remember the pleasure the activity brought, especially the communal associations.Recall the “memories of earlier Sukkots,” said Freed, who pleasantly recalled that she had spent her teen years living in an art deco hotel run by her father that catered to vacationing Jews in south Miami Beach, Fla.I remembered having in several groups of people the previous year. It was kind of like running a sukkah hotel — tons of work, yet they sang, played instruments and filled our evenings with camaraderie.“People feel alone and isolated if they are not surrounded by family,” Freed said, and suggesting the sukkah is a way of “bringing together a temporary family.”“A temporary structure for a temporary family,” I thought.Later, thinking over Freed’s words, my low energy thoughts dissipated. Going into the recesses of my garage, I found what it would take to build my sukkah.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/160413#.UjrIR1MwneE

EUROPEAN UNION ARMY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytWmPqY8TE0&feature=player_embedded

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 DIVSION REGION WORLD GOVERNMENT) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)

DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT-NEW AGE MOVEMENT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.

DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.

REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies,(UNITED NATIONS TROOPS) gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)

UK and France going own way on military co-operation

Today @ 09:11-Sept 19,13

By Andrew Rettman

BRUSSELS - Britain is forging ahead on military co-operation with France, while warning about EU "interference" on defence.The two countries are the EU's leading military powers.They spent €92 billion on defence last year (more than Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain put together), according to Swedish NGO Sipri.They are also the most hawkish. They took the lead in wars in Libya and Mali and they were keen to join US strikes on Syria."As shown from our joint operations in Libya and Mali, the UK and France are natural partners and have a key role to play in leading and shaping the defence and security of Europe," a British defence ministry spokesman told EUobserver on Tuesday (17 September).In line with the 2010 Lancaster House Treaties, the British and French army, navy and air force regularly train together and some British officers serve full time on the French aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle.They are "on track" to create a Combined Joint Expeditionary Force (CJEF) with France by 2016 and they plan to test the CJEF's air component next month in an operation called Exercise Joint Venture.For its part, the EU also has "battlegroups," or rapid reaction battalions put together by two or three states. But they have never seen action.The European Union is aiming to agree on joint procurement of some military hardware at a defence summit in December.But here, France and the UK are also streets ahead.They are already building a "Future Combat Air System," due in 2030, with manufacturers to send in proposals this month."Our defence co-operation has grown both in importance and scope since then [the 2010 treaties]," the British spokesman said.He declined to say whether Britain favours bilateral co-operation over EU-level action.The UK's official line is that British-French military integration will help to win wars whether they fight them together or as part of EU or Nato structures.Some French officers are more outspoken, however.Colonel Michel Goya, a teacher at the Institut de Recherche Strategique de l'Ecole Militaire in Paris, told EUobserver at the time of the Mali conflict: "If you have to react quickly to events, it's better to do it at a national or bi-national level."
Meanwhile, with Britain to potentially quit the EU in a referendum in 2017, it is hard to imagine that it will endorse a far-reaching military deal at the EU's December summit.British defence minister Philip Hammond criticised the European Commission's ideas on defence reforms earlier this month.Speaking to arms firms at an event in London on 10 September, he said he backs the commission on "improving competition in the [EU] internal defence market, and supporting SMEs."But he added: "Interference in the export of defence equipment and government-to-government defence sales; or the creation of … 'specific European standards for military products' represent a significant potential extension of the commission’s role and are not necessarily in the UK defence industry’s best interests - and we will resist them."He promised to keep "a very careful eye on potential interference from Brussels" and to "protect" firms from EU "bureaucratic burdens."France aside, Hammond also asked: "Should British industry, in fact, be looking across the Atlantic, to our closest ally, for our future industrial partnerships?"A failed merger last year shows the limits of EU fellowship when it comes to jobs and national politics.The UK, France and Germany in 2012 came within a hair's breadth of merging the UK's BAE Systems with Franco-German firm Eads to create a European military-industrial giant.But German Chancellor Angela Merkel blocked the deal, in part because France declined to locate the new HQ in Germany.For Judy Dempsey, a Brussels-based analyst at the US foundation, the Carnegie Endowment, the bottom line was that Merkel feared losing German defence jobs in the run-up to German elections.Amid Britain's euroscepticism, Dempsey noted in a recent Carnegie paper that Germany is also a spoiler on EU defence."Of all the more recent German Chancellors, Angela Merkel is probably the one with the least interest in defence and security policy," she said."Having no security strategy of its own, Germany has discouraged the EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton from drawing up a new security strategy for Europe … [which] defeats any attempts within Nato or the EU to pool and share military resources in order to face ever-growing financial pressure," she added.

Nato wants EU countries to buy more drones

Today @ 09:27-Sept 19,13

By Andrew Rettman

BRUSSELS - Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen wants EU countries to buy more drones, refuelling planes and naval radars.The head of the military alliance is expected to call for the measures at a speech in the Carnegie Europe foundation in Brussels on Thursday (19 September)."I believe that European nations can, and should, do more, to match America's commitment … [and] help to rebalance Nato," he aims to say.
"I would like to see European allies playing their part to acquire more drones to improve surveillance. More large transport and air-to-air refuelling aircraft to enhance their ability to deploy on operations. And more upgraded radars on their ships so they can be integrated into our Nato missile defence," he plans to add. Looking ahead to an EU summit on defence in December, he also plans to endorse European Commission ideas on how to create "a strong European defence industrial base."He is to say "the European defence industry remains too national and too fragmented."He also aims to urge EU leaders to "demonstrate strong political commitment" to spend more on defence when their economies recover from the crisis and "to assume more security responsibilities in Europe's neighbourhood."The EU commission in July published a draft blueprint for EU defence co-operation.It proposed a series of actions, including the creation of EU-level certification standards for military equipment, such as chemical and nuclear detection technology, airworthiness of aircraft and data encryption instruments.It aims to crack down on state aid and other market distortions in the sector.It intends to give more EU money to train defence sector workers and to fund research into military technology.It wants EU countries to pool buying of military and commercial satellite technology.It is also keen to launch an assessment of whether some kinds of assets, especially "dual-use" technology, which can be used in civilian or military missions, should be "directly purchased, owned and operated by the Union."The commission paper said EU countries' total defence budgets have gone from €251 billion a year to €194 billion since 2001, while total EU military R&D spending is just €9 billion, seven times less than the US.It noted that 80 percent of current defence spending is done at national level.It also said the future of the 1.36 million people who work in member states' military-related companies is at risk unless Europe makes the sector more competitive.Like Rasmussen, it noted that "the US is rebalancing its strategic focus towards Asia."It added: "Europe must be able to decide and to act without depending on the capabilities of third parties. Security of supply, access to critical technologies and operational sovereignty are therefore crucial."

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH(BECAUSE OF SIN AND GODLESS PEOPLE)

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

REVELATION 9:20-21
20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils,(OCCULT) and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries,(DRUG ADDICTIONS) nor of their fornication,(SEX OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE) nor of their thefts.(STEALING)

Stolen EU funds in the billions, top official says

18.09.13 @ 17:31

By Nikolaj Nielsen

BRUSSELS - The annual theft of EU funds is around €500 million, but a top European Commission official says the figure is likely in the billions.“We have reasons to believe that the real figure is closer to billions than to millions,” Francoise Le Bail, who heads the commission’s justice directorate-general, told the European Parliament's civil liberties committee on Wednesday (18 September).The current €500 million figure arises from statistics sent to Olaf, the EU anti-fraud office, by member states, but Le Bail said national authorities do not have the right tools to make an accurate estimate.Le Bail, along with Olaf boss Giovanni Kessler, spoke to MEPs to set out their case for tracking down those who steal EU money by setting up a new European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO).The EU-wide prosecutor would be mandated to investigate fraud of EU finances, although the Lisbon Treaty says the office's power could be expanded at a later date.
The top prosecutor would be composed of a central office along with deputies or prosecutors from different member states. Most member states would also have an EPPO branch staffed with prosecutors selected by the respective national governments.Kessler says the office is necessary because national authorities have a dismal track record when it comes to chasing down leads sent to them by Olaf.“There is a non-uniformity by member states in their capacity and willingness to deal effectively with these kinds of crimes,” he said.
Conviction rates sent to Olaf over the past 13 years vary from less than 5 percent in some member states to over 90 percent in others.Both Le Bail and Kessler said political will among some member states to stop the theft is either non-existent or primarily focused on a national perspective that fails to look at the transnational nature of the crime.“Crimes which are committed by authors at the same time by different actors in different member states like corruption, like fraud involving European funds, are likely not to be discovered, not to be even seen or perceived by national authorities which only have a national fragmented perspective,” said Kessler.Le Bail said the EPPO would be independent from national and institutional influence and would be accountable to budget overview by the European Parliament. The Court of Justice can also dismiss the prosecutor.Most member states have expressed interest in the idea. But Denmark has opted out, with both the UK and Ireland likely to do so as well, noted Le Bail.Deputies in the committee were largely supportive but questioned the scope of the proposal, its safeguards, and the new prosecutor's investigative powers.
Romanian Liberal MEP Renate Weber, who backs the idea, said there is a risk that a two-tier procedure on prosecution may emerge as a consequence.“I cannot imagine that a bunch of prosecutors working for the European prosecutor will apply a certain procedure regarding the European financial interest and a different one regarding other crimes within the country,” she said.For his part, German Green Jan Albrecht said his group backs the concept but noted that numerous questions remain, including the broad definition of investigative measures.The European commission tabled the proposal over the summer with an aim to have the office operational at the start of 2015.

ISAIAH 17:1,11-14
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
11  In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
12  Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations,(USELESS U.N) that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13  The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14  And behold at evening tide trouble; and before the morning he is not.(ASSAD) This is the portion of them that spoil us,(ISRAEL) and the lot of them that rob us.

AMOS 1:5
5  I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden:(IRAQ) and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir,(JORDAN) saith the LORD.

JEREMEIAH 49:23-27
23  Concerning Damascus.(SYRIA) Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea;(WAR SHIPS WITH NUKES COMING ON SYRIA) it cannot be quiet.
24  Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.
25  How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
26  Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.
27  And I will kindle a fire (NUKES OR BOMBS) in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.(ASSADS PALACES POSSIBLY IN DAMASCUS)

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

JEREMEIAH 49:35-37 (IN IRAN AT THE BUSHEHR NUKE SITE SOME BELIEVE)
35  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,(IRAN/BUSHEHR NUCLEAR SITE) the chief of their might.(MOST DANGEROUS NUKE SITE IN IRAN)
36  And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven,(IRANIANS SCATTERED OR MASS IMIGARATION) and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.(WORLD IMMIGRATION)
37  For I will cause Elam (IRAN-BUSHEHR NUKE SITE) to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger,(ISRAELS NUKES POSSIBLY) saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:(IRAN AND ITS NUKE SITES DESTROYED)

OTHER RECENT SYRIA NEWS
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2013/09/syria-un-says-chemical-weapons-were-used.html

FOX NEWS INTERVIEWS ASSAD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmMmGZQaVsc

Germany Admits Exporting Chemicals to Syria

Germany says it exported 111 tons of chemicals to Syria between 2002 and 2006 that could be used in the production of sarin gas.-By Elad Benari, Canada-First Publish: 9/18/2013, 10:16 PM-INN

German Chancellor Angela Merkel-Flash 90

Germany said on Wednesday that it exported 111 tons of chemicals to Syria between 2002 and 2006 that could be used in the production of sarin gas, according to a government document cited by Reuters.

The government, however, rejected a suggestion from an opposition lawmaker that Germany might thereby have inadvertently contributed to the August 21 sarin attack in Syria.The chemicals - sodium fluoride, hydrofluoric acid and ammonium hydrogen fluoride - are classified as "dual use" under European Union law, meaning they can be used for either civil or military purposes. They require special export permits.

In a written response to a parliamentary question from Germany's Left Party, the economy ministry said the chemicals sold between 2002 and 2003, in 2005 and 2006 had a total value of 174,000 euros ($232,300) and were sold for civilian use."Permits were granted after careful consideration of all possible risks, including of the goods' misuse or transfer into chemical weapons use. In all cases their planned civil use was considered to be plausible," the ministry stated, according to Reuters."The German government has no information to suggest that the delivered goods were later used for purposes other than the originally declared civilian purpose," it added.Chancellor Angela Merkel told ARD television, "We are of course looking into all allegations on this but from what we can see so far the export license was for civil use."

Jan van Aken, a spokesman for the Left party, condemned the sale of the chemicals to Syria, noting that it was a country which "the whole world knew had a huge chemical weapons program."On Monday, a UN team that visited Syria submitted a report which confirmed the use of sarin nerve agent in an August 21 poison gas attack outside the Syrian capital. The United States, Britain and France said the long-awaited UN report proved beyond any doubt that Syrian government forces were responsible.Russia, however, has dismissed the report and said Wednesday it has received evidence of the use of chemical weapons by Syrian rebels.Ake Sellstrom, the head of the inspection team that visited Syria, said on Wednesday that the investigators are planning to return to Syria to follow up on more allegations of chemical weapons use.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Sukkot in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)

Assad: One year, $1 bn needed to destroy chem arms

Dave Clark 8 hours ago-sept 19,13-yahoonews

Defiant strongman Bashar Al-Assad promised he would surrender Syria's chemical weapons but warned it would take at least a year to do so and cost one billion dollars.His latest appearance came as UN envoys debated a draft resolution that would enshrine a joint US-Russian plan to secure and neutralize his banned weapons in international law.In a confident interview with US network Fox News, Assad insisted that Syria was not gripped by civil war but was the victim of infiltration by foreign-backed Al-Qaeda fighters.He insisted that his forces had not been behind an August 21 gas attack on the Damascus suburbs that left hundreds of civilians dead, but vowed nevertheless to hand over his deadly arsenal.It was Assad's second interview this month with US television, and one of a series of meetings with Western journalists to counter mounting political pressure from Western capitals.After last month's barrage of sarin-loaded rockets, which Western capitals say was clearly launched by the regime, US President Barack Obama called for US-led punitive military strikes.But -- with US lawmakers and the Western public not sold on the virtues of another Middle East military adventure -- Assad's ally Russia seized the opportunity to propose a diplomatic solution.Pushed by President Vladimir Putin, the White House agreed to hold fire while Russia and the international community -- with Assad's agreement -- draws up a disarmament plan.Assad reiterated his pledge to cooperate, but insisted he had not been forced to do so by US threats of US action."I think it's a very complicated operation, technically. And it needs a lot of money, about a billion," he told Fox."So it depends, you have to ask the experts what they mean by quickly. It has a certain schedule. It needs a year, or maybe a little bit more."Asked why he had used force to repress a popular uprising and triggered a two-and-a-half year war that has claimed 110,000 lives, Assad insisted Syria was a victim of terrorism.
"What we have is not civil war. What we have is war. It's a new kind of war," he said, alleging that Islamist guerrillas from more than 80 countries had joined the fight."We know that we have tens of thousands of jihadists... we are on the ground, we live in this country," he said, disputing an expert report that suggested 30,000 out of around 100,000 rebels were hardliners."What I can tell you is that ... 80 to 90 percent of the underground terrorists are Al-Qaeda and their offshoots."Assad admitted that at the start of the uprising there were non-jihadist rebels, but alleged that since the end of 2012, Islamic extremists had become a majority.He added that "tens of thousands of Syrians" and 15,000 government troops had been killed "mainly because of the terrorist attacks, assassinations and suicide bombers."While Assad pursued his media counterattack, the five UN Security Council powers held new talks on a resolution backing the Russia-US plan to destroy the chemical weapons.Western nations, who said they are not looking for an immediate threat of force against Assad, could seek a Security Council vote this weekend if Russia agrees.UN envoys from the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China held two hours of talks at the US mission."There is no accord yet, there will be more negotiations," said one UN diplomat.The disarmament plan will face its first big test on Saturday, the one-week deadline announced by Moscow and the United States for Assad to provide a list of his chemical facilities.Assad said in his interview that he could provide a list "tomorrow," and Moscow said it had received assurances that he would cooperate.Britain, France and the United States have prepared a draft resolution that would invoke Chapter VII of the UN Charter but would not explicitly threaten force or sanctions.Without giving details of the draft, Britain's UN ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said the Western powers want to use Chapter VII to make the Russia-US plan binding under international law.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said when he struck the deal with US Secretary of State John Kerry that it would be backed with a UN resolution under Chapter VII but has since questioned its use.

Meanwhile, the situation on the ground became still more complex and dangerous, when -- according to residents -- an Al-Qaeda front group overran a Syrian border town."The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has seized complete control of Azaz. They are in control of the town's entrances," said Abu Ahmad, an activist inside the town.The development in Azaz comes amid increasing reports of fighting in northern Syria between ISIS and non-jihadist rebels vying to bring down Assad's regime.Syria's conflict has grown highly localized, and ISIS has fought side by side with rebels against government troops in other areas of the country.The opposition is highly fragmented and Russia has supported Assad's claim that the rebels were behind the poison gas attacks.Washington rejects that claim out of hand.State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said: "We have seen no credible reporting, no credible evidence that the opposition used chemical weapons in Syria, period."And she warned Damascus must quickly "submit a full accounting" of its chemical stockpile.

Israeli nuclear chief warns of Iranian ‘deception’

Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency denies reports that Rouhani is willing to close the Fordo facility

By Yoel Goldman September 19, 2013, 1:59 am 1-The times of Israel

The head of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission accused Iran on Wednesday of “deception and concealment,” warning the international community that the Islamic Republic was looking to buy time for its nuclear program.Speaking at the annual meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Shaul Chorev said, “The picture that the Iranian representatives are portraying regarding openness and transparency of their nuclear program … stands in sharp contradiction with Iran’s actual actions and the facts on the ground.”The issue was not whether Iran has “modified its diplomatic vocabulary … but whether it is addressing seriously and in a timely manner outstanding issues that have remained unresolved for too long,” Chorev told representatives.The IAEA’s latest report on Iran said the country had prepared more than 1,000 advanced uranium enriching machines for start-up and installed a significant number of additional centrifuges.

Chorev castigated Iran for “deception and concealment, creating a false impression about the status of its engagement with the agency … with a view to buy more time in Iran’s daily inching forward in every aspect of its nuclear military program.”He also blasted Arab states for using the IAEA meeting to “repeatedly bash” Israel and urged members to reject an Arab-sponsored draft resolution calling on Israel to join a global anti-nuclear weapons pact, reported Reuters.In Tehran, meanwhile, Iran’s nuclear chief denied reports that recently elected President Hasan Rouhani was willing to shut down the underground Fordo nuclear facility in exchange for an easing of sanctions.“The closure of the Fordo site is a sheer lie,” Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted by the state-run Fars news agency as having told reporters on Wednesday.Citing intelligence sources, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported this week that Rouhani might consider closing down Fordo, near the holy city of Qom, and allowing international observers to supervise the destruction of its centrifuges, if the West were to lift the sanctions placed on Iran’s oil industry and central bank.Rouhani could make the offer later this month at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the report said.

Egypt troops surround Islamist stronghold by Cairo

Security forces backed by helicopters surround town after militants kill senior policeman

By MAGGIE MICHAEL September 19, 2013, 12:07 pm 0-The Times of Israel

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian security forces backed by helicopters surrounded a town outside Cairo known to be an Islamist stronghold after exchanging fire with armed men who killed a senior police officer early Thursday, state media reported.Egypt’s official news agency said Gen. Nabil Farrag, an aide to the police chief of the city of Giza, was killed when militants opened fire on security forces deployed early Thursday to the town of Kerdasa to drive off suspected Islamic militants. It said “terrorists and criminal elements” were responsible.Police arrested 32 suspects, a security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters. The interior ministry said gunmen firing from rooftops had killed Farrag after they took over several town buildings, including schools and mosques.Interior Ministry spokesman Gen. Hani Abdel-Latif said police now planned to besiege the town along with the army, which would then deploy special forces to round up the armed men.“There will be no retreat until it is cleansed of all terrorist and criminal hideouts,” he said in a statement.Armored vehicles have been stationed at town entrances, blocking off the main roads. State TV said security forces using loudspeakers urged residents to stay indoors to avoid the crossfire.Kerdasa witnessed a brutal assault on security forces last month when heavily armed suspected supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi killed 15 police officers and mutilated their bodies. The attack appeared to be in retaliation for a violent crackdown on pro-Morsi protest camps where hundreds of people were killed. That operation sparked days of unrest and riots that left more than 1,000 dead.Local media reported at the time that the suspected Morsi supporters drove police out of Kerdasa and blocked the main roads with sand bags. Residents and Authorities listed the names of more than 140 men wanted for suspected involvement in the policemen’s killings. Several were members of Egypt’s former militant group Gamaa Islamiya — which had waged an armed insurgency in the 1990s. The group later renounced violence and was a strong Morsi ally before and during his one-year presidency.

The August assault on the police station evoked the decades-old conflict between Egypt’s police and Islamists.

McCain answers Putin’s New York Times broadside

Veteran Republican senator unleashes a wide-ranging attack in Pravda article, telling Russians they deserve better than their president

By Donna Cassata September 19, 2013, 7:52 am 4-The Times of Israel

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. John McCain is accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of corruption, repression and self-serving rule in an opinion piece for Pravda that answers the Russian leader’s broadside published last week in an American newspaper.In an op-ed headlined “Russians Deserve Better That Putin,” McCain singles out Putin and his associates for punishing dissent, specifically the death in prison of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. The Russian presidential human rights council found in 2011 that Magnitsky, who had accused Russian officials of colluding with organized criminals, had been beaten and denied medical treatment.McCain also criticized Putin for siding with Syrian President Bashar Assad in the 2½-year civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people.McCain insists that he is not anti-Russian but rather “more pro-Russian than the regime that misrules you today.”“President Putin doesn’t believe … in you. He doesn’t believe that human nature at liberty can rise above its weaknesses and build just, peaceful, prosperous societies. Or, at least, he doesn’t believe Russians can. So he rules by using those weaknesses, by corruption, repression and violence. He rules for himself, not you,” McCain wrote.The senator submitted the editorial to Pravda and was told it would be posted on Thursday. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the editorial.McCain assailed Putin and his associates for writing laws that codify bigotry, specifically legislation on sexual orientation. A new Russian law imposes fines and up to 15 days in prison for people accused of spreading “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” to minors.On Syria, McCain said Putin is siding with a tyrant.“He is not enhancing Russia’s global reputation. He is destroying it. He has made her a friend to tyrants and an enemy to the oppressed, and untrusted by nations that seek to build a safer, more peaceful and prosperous world,” the Arizona senator said.McCain also criticized the imprisonment of the punk rock band Pussy Riot. The three women were convicted of hooliganism after staging an anti-Putin protest inside a Russian Orthodox Church.The article by McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, comes just days after the US and Russian officials reached an ambitious agreement that calls for an inventory of Syria’s chemical weapons program within a week, and its complete eradication by mid-2014. Diplomatic wrangling continues, however.Last week, Putin blamed opposition forces for the latest deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria and argued President Barack Obama’s remarks about America were self-serving in an opinion piece for The New York Times. Putin also said it was dangerous for America to think of itself as exceptional, a reference to a comment Obama made.McCain was not the first US lawmaker to respond to Putin. Republican House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon wrote in an editorial for the Moscow Times about the suppression of the Russian people and the disregard for basic human rights.

SV FALSE POPE FROM THE VATICAN

09/17/2013 VATICAN INSIDER

Nigeria’s bishops call for a farewell to arms

Nigeria

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria has said violence leads to violence. Boko Haram fundamentalists have been weakened by government action but there is still a great deal left to be done. The bishops also condemned the death penalty

Davide Demichelis Rome “We call on the Federal and State Governments to step-up security networks and measures to proactively arrest such insurgencies, than wait till they happen,” bishops said in their concluding communiqué at the end of the Nigerian Episcopal Conference’s 2^nd Plenary Assembly held in Otukpo in the south of the country.“We congratulate the government for the bold measures to combat terrorism which drastically reduce the Boko Haram terrorist attacks.” This group of Islamic fundamentalists that wants to impose Sharia law in northern Nigeria and poses the greatest threat to the country’s security. A few days ago a group of soldiers attacked some training grounds in the northern Nigerian state of Borno, killing ten terrorists, the army claims.In the last six weeks alone, Reuters news agency learnt of the deaths of 230 people who were involved in actions linked to Boko Haram. This is the most violent phase since last May, when President Jonathan declared a state of emergency in the three northern states where the fundamentalist presence is strongest: Adamawa, Borno and Yobe. Nigeria’s bishops said “a lot still needs to be done to obviate the menace of armed-robbery, kidnapping, etc., perpetrated throughout our land.” Violence risks spreading like an oil slick across the country. “We note the illegal importation and dangerous circulation of small-arms among our citizens,” the bishops’ communiqué read.The Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Nigeria denounces the plague of corruption in a country “abundantly blessed with resources which do not reflect in the lives of her children.” “Fraudulent use of public monies rob the citizens of basic amenities like quality education, befitting health services, pliable roads, steady electricity, portable water supply, etc.”Bishops invited clergy from the Diocese of Ahiara to welcome Bishop Peter Ebelechukwu Okpaleke despite the fact that he is not well liked by many priests. In its communiqué the Episcopal Conference expressed is appreciation for the Federal Senate’s condemnation of same-sex marriage but denounced the use of capital punishment, saying it “does not offer criminals the opportunity for repentance,” it is “the easiest way to rid the society of dangerous criminals” and “is improper.” In October, the Nigerian Church will be holding the first national summit on health. Catholic, lay and government agencies will discuss how to coordinate their work.

METEORS HIT THE EARTH

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

REVELATION 8:12-13
12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels,which are yet to sound!

Did a meteor cross over WMass?

Fireball is a cosmic rock enters our atmosphere

By    Nick Bannin

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Some people saw something interesting light up the skies Tuesday night.
Turns out a fireball, or meteor, was seen by many in the northeast at just after 9 o'clock Tuesday night.
Now, so far we haven't been able to track down any pictures or video of Tuesday’s fireball, but a much brighter meteor, was seen in the skies over Russia a few months ago.A fireball is when a cosmic rock enters our atmosphere, burning up upon entry creating brief, but bright light.We get occasional, regular meteor showers in the sky, but those come from predictable comet fragments; this fireball likely comes from a different source.Richard Sanderson, curator at the Springfield Museums, told 22News, "Many of the bright fireballs we see are chunks of asteroids that have been flung out of the asteroid belt when two asteroids collide and shatter each other and those can occur without warning at any time." Fireballs usually last for less than a minute and most of the pieces disintegrate before reaching the ground, at that point they would be called meteorites.If you have any pictures or video of Tuesday night’s meteor fireball, please send them to reportit@wwlp.com.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)

THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.

Property losses from Colorado flood projected at about $2 billion

Keith Coffman 5 hours ago-sept 19,13 - yahoonews

By Keith Coffman
DENVER (Reuters) - Property losses from deadly flooding in Colorado will total nearly $2 billion, about half from housing and half from the commercial and government sectors, catastrophe modeling firm Eqecat said on Wednesday in the first comprehensive estimate of the disaster's economic toll.State and county emergency management officials have hardly begun to prepare actual damage assessments from flooding that has ravaged thousands of homes and killed at least eight people in a disaster zone in and around Colorado's biggest urban centers.The projected losses for residential property alone are about $900 million - equivalent to more than $200 for each of the 4 million people who live in Colorado's 17 flood-stricken counties, based on 2012 census data. Most of the overall losses are uninsured, the firm said.The tally for residential losses includes damaged or destroyed housing, as well as lost furnishings and belongings and costs incurred by displaced residents to live elsewhere until their dwellings are repaired or replaced, Eqecat said.Another $1 billion is attributed to losses projected for commercial and government property, including roads and bridges, Eqecat senior vice president Tom Larsen told Reuters.The projection - small compared with Eqecat's initial estimate of $20 billion in total economic losses from Superstorm Sandy last year - came as Colorado was still coming to grips with widespread devastation from floods unleashed by torrential downpours last week.
Eqecat's loss projection for Sandy was later revised upward to $50 million, which Larsen said ended up being in the realm of most final estimates from that disaster.Carole Walker, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association, said the Eqecat figures struck her as credible.
'GOOD FIRST SNAPSHOT'
"This is a good first snapshot of the extent of the damage, based on the numbers of buildings damaged and destroyed that we're seeing," Walker said.She said the recent flooding in Colorado ranks as the state's most destructive natural disaster on record in terms of its geographic scope and severity of property damage.
The stage was set by heavy, unrelenting rains that drenched a 130-mile stretch of the eastern slopes of the Colorado Rockies for a solid week, starting last Monday night.Within three days, torrents of runoff were gushing down rain-saturated mountainsides through canyons that funneled the floodwaters straight into populated areas below. Foothills towns clustered at the base of Colorado's Front Range in Larimer and Boulder counties northwest of Denver bore the immediate brunt of the deluge.The flooding then progressed downstream and spread onto the prairie along the basin of the South Platte River, submerging large tracts of farmland and pastures, as well as oil and gas production well sites that dot the region.At least 1,700 homes have been destroyed, most of those in hard-hit Larimer County, and an estimated 16,300 dwellings have been damaged throughout the flood zone, according to preliminary estimates from state and county officials.
Rescue teams in helicopters and military vehicles scrambled again on Wednesday to reach the last pockets of survivors known to have been stranded by the historic floods.Even as evacuees continued to crowd into emergency shelters, more than 6,400 flood survivors have already applied for federal disaster assistance, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
RAVAGED ROADS AND BRIDGES
The U.S. Department of Transportation on Wednesday offered $30 million in additional flood relief to Colorado to help restore hundreds of miles of washed-out or weakened roads and bridges, though state and county officials say repair costs will ultimately run many times higher.A preliminary assessment of the state's infrastructure showed damage of $40 million to roads and $112 million to bridges, the U.S. Transportation Department said in a statement.But repair costs for state and county roads are likely to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, Colorado Department of Transportation spokeswoman Amy Ford said."This is truly unprecedented, what we're experiencing," she said, citing nearly three dozen state highway closures at the peak of the disaster, along with scores of damaged county roads and 50 bridges that were damaged or destroyed.She said the full extent of the devastation is hard to quantify just yet because "many of our assets are still under water" or require closer inspection."What looks like an OK road now on top might not be underneath," she said.She said the state's Transportation Commission has just allocated its entire $100 million contingency fund for emergency highway and bridge repairs and would seek reimbursement from the federal government.In Boulder County alone, another area that bore the brunt of flash floods last week, early estimates put the cost of repairing damaged roads and bridges at $150 million.Damage to railroad tracks west of Denver has forced both passenger and freight traffic to make detours while repairs are under way.
Passengers riding Amtrak's San Francisco-Chicago Zephyr line will be shuttled on buses from Salt Lake City to Denver, where they can then board eastbound trains for the rest of their trip, spokeswoman Kimberly Woods said.The Union Pacific has sustained damage to several of its tracks in the flood zone, spokesman Mark Davis said. The largest such disruption is forcing coal shipments on one line to make a 600-mile detour through Wyoming and Utah, delaying deliveries by 72 hours, he said.Sewage treatment plants and other utilities have been knocked out in a number of towns. And standing water left by floods on prairie farmlands east of the Rockies posed the threat of significant damage to crops already planted in the region.(Additional writing and reporting by Steve Gorman and Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, James Dalgleish, Bill Trott and Steve Orlofsky)

Desperate thousands try to escape cut-off Acapulco

MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN September 18, 2013 12:27 AM-yahoonews

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — Thousands of exhausted, hungry and increasingly despondent tourists lined up late into the night on a muddy road outside a military base for a chance to get home on one of two precious air bridges out of this famed beach resort isolated by landslides set off by Tropical Storm Manuel.
With the twin roads to Mexico City closed down, at least 40,000 tourists saw a long holiday beach weekend degenerate into a desperate struggle to get weeping children, elderly parents and even a few damp, bedraggled dogs back home.Two of Mexico's largest airlines were running about two flights an hour from Acapulco's still-flooded international airport Tuesday, with priority for those with tickets, the elderly and families with young children.Everyone else who couldn't wait for the government's promise to reopen the roads within two days flocked to Air Base 7 about 20 minutes north of Acapulco, where a military air bridge made up of barely more than a dozen aircraft ferried tourists to Mexico City. The normally quiet beach-front installation was transformed into a scene from a conflict zone.Families in shorts and sandals waited for as long as eight hours outside the gates of the base, held at bay by rifle-toting soldiers until they were allowed to drag suitcases, pet carriers and red-eyed children across the tarmac, where they jostled furiously for a chance at one of the 150 seats on the next departing Air Force Boeing 727.Military officials said only two of the passenger planes were in service, although a few hundred people got seats on one of the five helicopters or seven cargo planes also pressed into air bridge duty.Many told of horror stories of spending the weekend trapped by torrential rains inside their hotels, emerging to discover there was no way back home."It's probably one of the worst holidays I've ever been on," said David Jefferson Gled, a 28-year-old from Bristol, England who teaches English at a private school in Mexico City. "It wasn't really a holiday, more of an incarceration."By sunset Tuesday night, 24 hours after most vacationers were supposed to be back, less than 700 people had been flown out to Mexico City. Many times that number waited miserably on the runway or, worse, with thousands of other sweating, blank-eyed people in a roughly quarter-mile-long line outside the base."It's horrible. We haven't eaten anything since nine in the morning," said Lizbeth Sasia, a 25-year-old teacher from Cuernavaca. "They keep telling us we'll be on the next flight, but the next flight never comes."Adding insult to injury, a few immaculately dressed families skipped the line and were escorted to private jets by soldiers, to the incredulous stares of the sweltering masses."We're cooking here, burnt. We're tired, desperate," said Irma Antonio Martinez, a 43-year-old housewife from suburban Mexico City who came to celebrate the three-day Independence Day weekend with 12 relatives. "We just want to get home to our poor house. Our families are waiting for us."Asked how she felt, Juana Colin Escamilla cradled her toddler daughter and was able to get out one word, "bad" before she burst into tears.A handful of big-box stores were looted Tuesday and cash machines along Acapulco's coastal boulevard were low on bills but most of the city's tourist zone otherwise appeared back to normal, with roads clear, restaurants and hotel open and brightly light and tourists strolling along the bay in an attempt to recover some of the leisure time lost to three days of incessant rains.Gavin McLoughlin, 27, another teacher at Mexico City's Greengates School, said he went to Acapulco on a late night bus Thursday with about 30 other teachers at the school, many of whom are in their 20s."We had no idea of the weather," the Englishman said. "We knew there was a hurricane on the other side but not this side."Officials said it had been more than 50 years since Mexico was hit by two tropical storm-strength weather systems and the death toll rose to 47 Tuesday from the unusual one-two punch of Manuel and Ingrid, which briefly became a hurricane as it pounded the Gulf Coast.
Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong told the Radio Formula that 27 people had died because of Manuel in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, where Acapulco is located. Osorio Chong said 20 more people died nationwide, many as a result of Ingrid, which struck the Gulf coast on Monday. Mexican meteorologists said it was the first time since 1958 that two tropical storms or hurricanes had hit both the country's coasts within 24 hours.Federal officials said it could take at least another two days to open the main highway to Acapulco, which was hit by more than 13 landslides from surrounding hills, and to bring food and relief supplies into the city of more than 800,000 people.The situation was grim in parts of the city's low-income periphery, where steep hills funneled rainwater into neighborhoods of cinderblock houses.City officials said about 23,000 homes, mostly on Acapulco's outskirts, were without electricity and water. Stores were nearly emptied by residents who rushed to stock up on basic goods. Landslides and flooding damaged an unknown number of homes.The coastal town of Coyuca de Benitez and beach resorts further west of Acapulco were cut off after a river washed out a bridge on the main coastal highway.Remnants of Manuel continued to drench Mexico further up the Pacific coast and the U.S. National Hurricane Center said it was expected to become a tropical storm by Tuesday night or Wednesday morning near resorts at the tip of the Baja California Peninsula.___Michael Weissenstein on Twitter: —https://twitter.com/mweissenstein

EARTHQUAKES

ISAIAH 42:15
15  I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

1 Day, Magnitude 2.5+ Worldwide

31 earthquakes - DownloadUpdated: 2013-09-19 06:00:54 UTC-04:00Showing event times using Local System Time (UTC-04:00)31 earthquakes in map area

1. 5.5 43km N of Agrihan, Northern Mariana Islands 2013-09-18 12:48:56 UTC-04:00 138.3 km
2. 5.4 75km ENE of Wewak, Papua New Guinea 2013-09-18 16:53:31 UTC-04:00 6.5 km
3. 4.9 75km N of Visokoi Island, 2013-09-19 00:01:49 UTC-04:00 87.8 km
4. 4.9 115km WSW of Binjai, Indonesia 2013-09-18 10:29:16 UTC-04:00 89.2 km
5. 4.9 36km WNW of Taltal, Chile 2013-09-18 08:42:39 UTC-04:00 10.8 km
6. 4.6 55km SSE of Sinabang, Indonesia 2013-09-18 12:22:07 UTC-04:00 26.3 km
7. 4.5 71km S of Azna, Iran 2013-09-18 12:26:51 UTC-04:00 10.0 km
8. 4.3 8km W of Ishikawa, Japan 2013-09-18 18:44:58 UTC-04:00 50.3 km
9. 4.2 2km SW of La Masica, Honduras 2013-09-19 04:29:21 UTC-04:00 4.5 km
10. 4.0 16km SSE of Yunaska Island, Alaska 2013-09-18 06:36:37 UTC-04:00 76.0 km
11. 3.7 9km E of Kadirli, Turkey 2013-09-18 17:10:04 UTC-04:00 7.8 km
12. 3.4 59km ESE of Boca de Yuma, Dominican Republic 2013-09-18 18:54:31 UTC-04:00 84.0 km
13. 3.3 137km NNE of Vieques, Puerto Rico 2013-09-19 02:47:42 UTC-04:00 57.0 km
14. 3.3 113km N of Road Town, British Virgin Islands 2013-09-19 00:03:25 UTC-04:00 59.0 km
15. 3.2 76km N of Road Town, British Virgin Islands 2013-09-19 03:52:49 UTC-04:00 63.0 km
16. 3.2 84km N of Road Town, British Virgin Islands 2013-09-18 15:30:44 UTC-04:00 71.0 km
17. 3.2 26km ENE of Pine Valley, California 2013-09-18 08:53:36 UTC-04:00 4.7 km
18. 3.2 32km NNW of Culebra, Puerto Rico 2013-09-18 06:10:30 UTC-04:00 60.0 km
19. 3.0 98km N of Road Town, British Virgin Islands 2013-09-19 00:47:35 UTC-04:00 38.0 km
20. 3.0 107km N of San Juan, Puerto Rico 2013-09-18 13:38:37 UTC-04:00 25.0 km
21. 3.0 172km E of Chitina, Alaska 2013-09-18 07:41:13 UTC-04:00 0.0 km
22. 3.0 94km N of Road Town, British Virgin Islands 2013-09-18 06:50:42 UTC-04:00 50.0 km
23. 2.9 74km SSW of King Salmon, Alaska 2013-09-18 19:15:50 UTC-04:00 100.0 km
24. 2.9 39km E of Redoubt Volcano, Alaska 2013-09-18 12:02:01 UTC-04:00 95.2 km
25. 2.7 4km N of Sky Valley, California 2013-09-18 12:44:53 UTC-04:00 8.0 km
26. 2.7 57km NNW of Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands 2013-09-18 11:36:35 UTC-04:00 19.0 km
27. 2.6 59km W of Anchor Point, Alaska 2013-09-18 20:56:12 UTC-04:00 5.0 km
28. 2.6 6km W of Cobb, California 2013-09-18 17:14:51 UTC-04:00 1.8 km
29. 2.6 157km S of False Pass, Alaska 2013-09-18 16:17:24 UTC-04:00 48.5 km
30. 2.5 17km SE of Volcano, Hawaii 2013-09-18 20:01:42 UTC-04:00 3.2 km
31. 2.5 16km NNE of Pahala, Hawaii 2013-09-18 12:41:20 UTC-04:00 9.7 km

SUKKOT IN ISRAEL TODAY FROM SEPT 18-25,2013

KING JESUS IS COMING FOR US ANY TIME NOW. THE RAPTURE. BE PREPARED TO GO.

Feast of Tabernacles, or of the Ingathering.OR SUKKOT WEEK LONG HOLIDAY STARTS IN ISRAEL TODAY AT 6PM ISRAEL TIME OR 11AM CANADA EST.
http://torahportions.org/
http://www.jewfaq.org/holidayg.htm
http://www.chabad.org/calendar/view/month.htm

Sukkot: This festival of booths commemorates the Biblical period of wandering in the desert, and is commemorated by building a temporary shelter (called a sukkah, usually rhymes with "book a") in the yard and eating meals in it. Some spend considerable time in the sukkah, even sleeping there. Sukkot begins on the fifth day after Yom Kippur, in late September or October, and lasts for 7 days. From the perspective of the Bible and Jewish law, this holiday is every bit as important as Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but most American Jews don't see it that way. About 10% of Jews do not work on the first two days of this holiday (one day for some branches), in accordance with Jewish law, and will not want to travel during this holiday, because they want to be able to have meals in the sukkah.

Shemini Atzeret / Simchat Torah: These two holidays fall immediately after Sukkot. Shemini Atzeret is sort of an extra day tacked onto the end of Sukkot; Simchat Torah celebrates the completion of the annual cycle of Bible readings in sabbath services. About 10% of Jews will take both of these days off from work. Some branches celebrate these two holidays on the same day, which is the first day after Sukkot.

OBAMA TESTS IRAN WILLINGNESS FOR TALKS

KING JESUS IS COMING FOR US ANY TIME NOW. THE RAPTURE. BE PREPARED TO GO.

ISAIAH 17:1,11-14
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
11  In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
12  Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations,(USELESS U.N) that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13  The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14  And behold at evening tide trouble; and before the morning he is not.(ASSAD) This is the portion of them that spoil us,(ISRAEL) and the lot of them that rob us.

AMOS 1:5
5  I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden:(IRAQ) and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir,(JORDAN) saith the LORD.

DANIEL 12:4
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION FROM FLEEING WARS) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS MICROCHIPS ETC)

Syria in Ruins: Video Shows Effects of War

Video shot from moving car shows huge extent of destruction along highway in eastern Damascus.

By Dalit Halevy-First Publish: 9/18/2013, 8:08 AM-Israelnationalnews

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTuTTLMD82s 

Syria in ruins-Screenshot

The civil war that has been ravaging Syria since March of 2011 has cost more than 110,000 lives thus far. Hundreds of thousands of people have been injured and more than two million people have been displaced inside Syria, or are refugees in Turkey and Jordan.The results of war are easily visible in Syria's large cities, including the capital, Damascus. A video shot from a moving car documented the huge extent of devastation along the highway in Damascus's eastern suburbs.Homes and shops have been turned into piles of rubble and economic activity is largely paralyzed. Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has been using military force unsparingly, including attacks from the air, artillery shelling and tank columns that fire shells ahead of them at anything that looks like a suspicious hideout, as they advance.The scenes of destruction are characteristic of other cities in Syria, which will require many years of rebuilding when the civil war is over. The Syrian regime has lost control over most of the Haleb region in the north, of Haska and al-Raka, and also of most of Deir a-Zor in the east and Dera'a in the south.Around Damascus, heavy fighting continues, and the regime is putting great effort into attempts to block the rebels, who are trying to advance into the capital in house-to-house fighting. The Syrian Army has pounded the neighborhoods of Daria and Maazmia al-Sham, next to the Al-Maza military airfield, with heavy shelling, but has not yet been able to suppress the rebel forces holing up inside them.Stubborn fighting is raging in two other strategic areas. The rebels are less than 50 km away from Assad's home town of Kardaha, in the Alawite enclave in western Syria, while in the mountainous area west of Damascus, rebels are attempting to break through the Syrian military's lines. They have succeeded several times in destroying regime tanks.

SIGNS OF THE END OF THE AGE (NOT THE WORLD) THE WORLD GOES ON FOREVER.

GENESIS 1:5,14
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:(ISRAELS HOLY DAYS AND SABBATH STARTS AT 6PM) And for SIGNS (PROPHECY SIGNS TO HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE, OUR DAY)

10 BEST PLACES IN JERUSALEM TO SEE SUKKOT
http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/10-best-places-to-see-sukkot-in-jerusalem/

Ariel Youth Movement 'Floods' Paths of the Patriarchs

Over a thousand girls from the Ariel movement came to the land of Netzer to renew the pioneering enterprise of the land of Israel.-By Kochava Rozenbaum-First Publish: 9/18/2013, 8:31 AM-Israelnationalnews

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/172045#.UjlV31MwneE (PICYURES)

High morale in Netzer

Women in Green

A flood of youth in the form of 1,200 girls from the Ariel youth movement traveled to Gush Etzion on Monday to identify with the renewed pioneering enterprise in the expanses of the land of Israel.
The participants came from around the country and swept over the paths of Netzer and Derech HaAvot (Path of the Patriarchs) located in Gush Etzion.Yehudit Katzover and Nadia Matar, co-directors of the "Women in Green" grassroots Zionist organisation, which campaigns to uphold Jewish rights in the land of Israel, greeted the girls who came to the lands of Netzer. "Many hundreds of girls, from dozens of branches, and with spirits so high they reached the heavens, filled the agricultural plots at Netzer, those agricultural lands that were saved from Arab takeover by the Women in Green movement and the activists of the Netzer Group," they said."The girls turned over the soil of the plots with their hands and with hoes, and watered the trees with water that they brought there in buckets," they said, adding that "the tree is like the soldier in the field who guards the lands of Israel." Katsover and Matar hoped to transmit the message of awareness and inner feeling that "every place on which the girls tread belongs to us, to the Jewish people.""The girls felt how, by their activity and their presence at the site, they continue in the steps of the Patriarchs when they establish facts on the ground for future generations." The trip was organized in exemplary fashion by the Ariel movement, and inculcated in the girls educational messages and values of love of Israel.The trip ended for the girls and the organizers with a sense of raised spirits which was expressed in the promise to return and volunteer in the Women in Green agricultural camp for youth, held at Netzer during the year.Yossi Vardi, the Director General of the Ariel movement, shared how the connection between the movement and Women in Green began. "When we were on the road, preparing the Sukkot trip in the Gush Etzion region, we passed through Netzer and we discovered the tremendous activity that is being done by Women in Green for the redemption of lands, and we decided to bring the girls there, as one of the stops on the trip."In the stops on their trip, the members of the Ariel youth movement go to different sites where emphasis is placed on a central value from the life of the Jewish people. Among the other stops, they learned of the values of the sanctity of the Jewish people at a site with a mikveh (ritual bath) from the Second Temple period, the value of aliyah le-regel, or pilgrimage to the Temple (Jews walked along this very route on their way to Jerusalem), and additional values.On the meeting itself between the movement's girls, youth leaders, and branch leaders with Women in Green, he relates: "After we discovered the place, we contacted Women in Green and asked how we can help. The girls worked at removing stones, hoeing, clearing the area, and watering and caring for the trees. We intend to continue this connection with Women in Green. We will sit together and see how we are continuing together, and strengthen the connection of the members of the Ariel movement to the Land of Israel, to the Torah of Israel, and to the redemption of the land.""We are happy for having merited seeing this wonderful and pure youth that grows naturally in its land, Eretz Israel," Katsover and Matar sum up the entire event and invite the public to come to Netzer on the intermediate days of the holiday of Sukkot. A kosher sukkah set up by Women in Green will be waiting there for visitors and hikers.

Mubarak: Netanyahu wanted to resettle Palestinians in Sinai

Former Egyptian president dishes out dirt on regional leaders in new recordings

By Naama Barak September 17, 2013, 5:34 pm 3-The Times of Israel

An Egyptian newspaper has published transcripts based on recordings of the country’s ousted president Hosni Mubarak airing his opinions of regional leaders during the last stretch of his prison sentence before his release in late August.In the recordings, posted Sunday to the website of al-Youm al-Sabaa, the former president also speaks of his relationships with the American and Israeli governments.Mubarak noted that a few months before he was removed from power he was approached by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who suggested that the population of Gaza be resettled in Sinai. Mubarak said he turned down the offer.Mubarak was also recorded referring to “intensive trade” between Israel and Egypt in the days when Yitzhak Rabin served as prime minister.The former president told those around him that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan “has no friends,” adding that “he used to be good friends with the Syrian regime, but things have turned.”Mubarak also divulged that Egypt had prevented an assassination attempt on the Saudi Arabian King, Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz, ordered by his long-time foe, Muammar Gaddafi, Libya’s former leader.The new material, which includes a description by Mubarak of his strained relationship with Washington during his time in power, follows recordings published by another Egyptian newspaper in June in which Mubarak blamed US President Barack Obama for pressing him to relinquish his power during the 2011 uprisings against him.Mubarak was recorded saying that he told the American president, “I do not take orders from you, and not from anyone, as far as the people of Egypt are concerned.”Mubarak was released from prison in August after an appeal overturned his sentence, but is now facing another trial on charges related to the killings of some 900 protesters in the 2011 uprising.

JEREMEIAH 49:35-37 (IN IRAN AT THE BUSHEHR NUKE SITE SOME BELIEVE)
35  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,(IRAN/BUSHEHR NUCLEAR SITE) the chief of their might.(MOST DANGEROUS NUKE SITE IN IRAN)
36  And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven,(IRANIANS SCATTERED OR MASS IMIGARATION) and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.(WORLD IMMIGRATION)
37  For I will cause Elam (IRAN-BUSHEHR NUKE SITE) to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger,(ISRAELS NUKES POSSIBLY) saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:(IRAN AND ITS NUKE SITES DESTROYED)

Obama wants to ‘test’ Iranian willingness for dialogue

US president says he hopes Tehran ‘takes advantage’ of new opportunities; Jerusalem warns diplomacy must be coupled with military threat

By Times of Israel staff September 18, 2013, 9:41 am 0-The Times of Israel

Iran’s new administration is seemingly open to dialogue with the West and their willingness to do so should be tested, US President Barack Obama said Tuesday, only days after it was revealed that he has exchanged letters with Iran’s recently elected president Hassan Rouhani.“There are indication that Rouhani, the new president, is somebody who is looking to open dialogue with the West and with the United States, in a way that we haven’t seen in the past. And so we should test it,” Obama said in widely reported comments to Spanish-language network Telemundo.“There is an opportunity here for diplomacy, and I hope the Iranians take advantage of it,” the president said.PMO spokesperson Mark Regev said Wednesday that any dialogue had to be coupled with a threat of force should diplomatic efforts fail.“We believe that diplomacy only has a realistic chance to succeed if it is coupled with a credible military threat,” he told the Times of Israel. “We’ve been saying this all along, but it was shown clearly recently in Syria: when you’re dealing with rogue regimes, the stick is often more important than the carrot.”On Tuesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Iran is not opposed to dialogue with the West concerning its nuclear program and will show flexibility in negotiations.A day earlier, German news magazine Der Spiegel reported that Rouhani was prepared to shut down Iran’s uranium enrichment facility at Fordo in exchange for eased Western sanctions.

Obama said the US is interested “in resolving this nuclear issue in a way that would allow Iran to rejoin the international community” but Iran will have to prove to the world “that it’s not trying to weaponize nuclear power.”On Sunday, Obama revealed that he had exchanged letters with the recently elected Iranian president, a fact confirmed by Tehran on Tuesday.The two leaders will both attend next week’s United Nations General Assembly in New York, with Obama expected to address the plenum on Tuesday morning, and Rouhani speaking on Tuesday afternoon. Officials says no meeting has been scheduled between them, although White House press secretary Jay Carney said Tuesday that he doubted Obama would “duck into another hall” to avoid the Iranian president should they encounter each other in the halls of the UN.On Monday, Iran’s nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, said the chances for a breakthrough have improved thanks to unity among the new Iranian leadership over what it will seek in the next round of negotiations. He did not elaborate. But Iran wants an end to the economic and political sanctions it faces over fears it is progressing to nuclear weapons ability.Rouhani is seen by many as more moderate than his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, though Israeli leaders have warned that Iran is merely putting on a friendlier face to the West while continuing enrichment of nuclear materials.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to meet with Obama in Washington DC later this month, ahead of his scheduled address at the UN General Assembly in New York, and will urge a stepping up of pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear drive.“In a week and a half, I will go to the United Nations General Assembly, and before that I will meet with President Obama. I intend to focus on stopping Iranian nuclear program. Really stopping the nuclear program,” Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting Tuesday.The prime minister presented four criteria for doing so: “1. Halting all uranium enrichment; 2. Removing all enriched uranium; 3. Closing [the Fordo enrichment facility at] Qom; and 4. Stopping the plutonium track.”Evidently responding to suggestions that the US might be willing to lift or reduce some sanctions on Iran in return for diplomatic progress, Netanyahu added: “Until it is genuinely stopped, the pressure on Iran must be stepped up, not eased or reduced.”Raphael Ahren and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

JEREMIAH 47:1-7
1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines,(PALESTINIAN/ARABS) before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.
2  Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north,(NORTHERN TSUNAMI POSSIBLY) and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl.
3  At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses,(ISRAELS ARMY) at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands;(ISRAEL POSSIBLY NUKES GAZA)
4  Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines,(PALESTINIAN FAKE ARABS) and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.
5  Baldness is come upon Gaza;(NUKED POSSIBLY) Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself?
6  O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.
7  How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? (MEDITTERANEAN SEA) there hath he appointed it.

Arabs Attack Police on Temple Mount

Two policemen were slightly hurt by rocks. Visits to Mount are continuing.

By Gil Ronen-First Publish: 9/18/2013, 8:46 AM-Israelnationalnews

Temple Mount disturbance-Michael Fuah

Arabs attacked police forces that patrolled on the Temple Mount Wednesday morning.The patrol was carried out on the basis of intelligence, according to which Arabs intend to throw rocks from one of the mosques. The patrol was then attacked in precisely that way, with rocks thrown from within a mosque.
Two policemen were slightly hurt by rocks and received treatment on the spot. One was evacuated for further treatment.The forces dispersed several dozen rioters, but several dozen other rioting youths entered the mosque. Police are not letting them come out of the mosque, at the moment.Three suspects have been arrested – one for incitement and two for rioting. Quiet has been restored and visits to the Temple Mount continue as usual.The Temple Mount is the site of the two Holy Temples of Jerusalem, the last of which was destroyed by the Romans in 70CE, and is Judaism's holiest place.Yet despite that fact Jews are banned from carrying out any forms of religious worship on the Mount, for fear of offending Muslim worshippers at the Al Aqsa Islamic complex which today sits upon the ruins of the Temples.Muslim extremists regularly incite against Jewish visitors to the Mount, and Jewish visitors are sometimes face harassment and physical attacks at the hands of Muslim worshippers.

09/17/2013 VATICAN INSIDER

The engine of Curia reform is warming up

The Curia

The Council of eight cardinals meets with the Pope between 1 and 3 October. All heads of Holy See dicasteries have presented proposals

Andrea Tornielli vatican city The programme for the meeting of eight cardinals in charge of advising the Pope on the “government of the universal Church” and studying " a project of revision of the Apostolic Constitution Pastor bonus on the Roman Curia” has been set. But before the three-day work session with Francis (1-3 October) begins, next week cardinals will hold a number of informal meetings to set straight as many details as possible and make the meetings in which the Pope will actually be present, more fruitful.Readers will recall that last 13 April, exactly a month after his election to the papacy, Bergoglio appointed a group of eight cardinals from across all continents: Giuseppe Bertello (the group's only Italian Curia member), Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa (the group’s only emeritus member), Oswald Gracias, Reinhard Marx, Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, Sean Patrick O’Malley, George Pell and Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga. Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga is also the group coordinator, while Marcello Semeraro, Bishop of Albano (Italy), will function as secretary.Over the past few months, cardinals have been in touch with one another, bouncing ideas and suggestions off each other and above all, collecting material and requests from their respective Episcopates. But the Pope’s closest collaborators, the members of the Roman Curia were not excluded from this process either. All heads of dicasteries presented reform proposals or at least proposals to improve coordination between Curia offices and their activities. At last Tuesday’s inter-dicasterial meeting, convened by Francis, everyone present gave a summary of the proposals given. So the Curia itself is playing a key part in the global rethinking of its activities.There are two main issues the group of eight cardinals is set to discuss with the Pope. The first is to do with some questions relating to Church life: collegiality, the relationship between the central Church in Rome and local Churches and between the Curia and Episcopal Conferences and the potential reform of the Synod of Bishops. Episcopates from across all continents have gathered heaps of material, requests and suggestions regarding this issue.The second big issue is the reform of the Roman Curia, which does not include the reform of the Vatican bank (IOR). The IOR issue is something the group of eight cardinals will not be dealing with directly as there is another commission in charge of this, headed by Cardinal Raffaele Farina. The ideas being discussed include streamlining the Curia which has often been seen as a central government body of the Church instead of a body there to assist the Bishop of Rome in his universal ministry. The streamlining process could involve the merging of some pontifical councils (some of these could, for example, could be merged into a new Congregation for the Laity). The Secretariat of State’s structure is another issue.During their meeting with the Pope, the eight cardinals will also have to decide whether to create a new role, that of the moderator curiae, as proposed by Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio. There are others who are in favour of this. Such a figure would share the Vatican Secretariat of State’s responsibilities in that the latter would be in charge of international relations, while the moderator curiae As press conference on the return flight to Rome after World Youth Day in Rio, Francis answered a question about remarried divorcees, saying: “I believe that we need to look at this within the larger context of the entire pastoral care of marriage. And so … one of the themes to be examined with the eight members of the Council of Cardinals with whom I will meet on 1-3 October is how to move forward in the pastoral care of marriage, and this problem will come up there.” The Pope also added that the pastoral care of marriage was an issue that should have been examined further in a Synod.

DRUG PUSHERS AND ADDICTS

1 PET 5:8
8 Be sober,(NOT DRUGED UP OR ALCOHOLICED) be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

REVELATION 18:23
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries (DRUGS) were all nations deceived.

REVELATION 9:21
21 Neither repented they of their murders,(KILLING) nor of their sorceries (DRUG ADDICTS AND DRUG PUSHERS), nor of their fornication,(SEX OUTSIDE MARRIAGE OR PROSTITUTION FOR MONEY) nor of their thefts.(STEALING)

EU commission attacks 'legal highs'

17.09.13 @ 20:03

By Andrew Rettman

BRUSSELS - The European Commission has proposed to make it easier to ban "legal highs" and for countries to jail people who ignore the bans.Legal highs are chemicals which replicate the effects of illicit drugs such as cocaine, ecstasy or marijuana.There is a long list of them available in some high street shops or on the internet, and the list is getting ever longer.In 2005, member states notified just over 20 new psychoactive substances to the EU's anti-drugs agency, the EMCDDA in Lisbon. But in 2011, they flagged up 49. In 2012, they notified 73.So far, EU countries have banned just nine substances on the basis of EMCDDA recommendations.One reason for the low number is the long time it takes - around two years - for the EU process to work.But under Tuesday's proposals, the ECMDDA and the EU's joint police body, Europol, in the Hague, can impose a temporary ban on sales to consumers "within weeks" if a substance is deemed risky.They can also impose a permanent ban on sales to consumers and industry within 10 months if a substance is deemed to pose a "severe risk."In a parallel legal proposal, the commission recommended that EU countries impose jail sentences of between one and 10 years on people who sell "severe risk" chemicals after an EU ban.A recent commission survey noted that young people in Ireland, Poland, Latvia and the UK are the biggest users.But EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding tried to put individual faces on the problem in Brussels on Tuesday (17 September) by naming two people who recently died.She named Sean, a 22-year-old from Belfast who died after taking "China White" which he bought in a high street shop, and Alex, a 19-year-old from Edinburgh, who died after someone gave him "Benzo Fury" at a festival.
Reding noted the new measure is flexible because around one fifth of legal highs are used in industry or medical research.She said chemicals deemed to be of "moderate risk" will still be available to companies and to research institutes, unlike the total ban on "high risk" substances.She noted she has already done "political work" on EU countries' governments, so that relatively lenient states, such as the Netherlands and Spain, are on board.She acknowledged it will be "difficult" to stop internet sales even if her law gets through, however.
Asked by one journalist if prohibition risks creating a new black market, Reding dismissed the idea out of hand.She said she had a debate on prohibition in her home country in Luxembourg 33 years ago and that "I am not going to continue this discussion 33 years later."

FAMINE

EZEKIEL 5:16
16  When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:

REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

U.S. poverty rises despite economic recovery

sept 18,13-yahoonews

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. residents living in poverty edged up to 46.5 million last year, the latest sign that an economic recovery marked by a stock market boom has not trickled down to ordinary Americans.The figures from the Census Bureau on Tuesday highlighted the lingering scars from the 2007-2009 recession and added fresh fuel to debates over government austerity and widening income inequality. It could also renew calls to raise the minimum wage.Although the number of people in poverty went up from 46.2 million in 2011, the national poverty rate was unchanged at 15 percent, the annual report said. The poverty threshold in 2012 was an income of $23,492 for a family of four."Today's data underscore that it is time for Congress to pivot from a focus on austerity to an agenda emphasizing jobs and shared economic growth," said Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, a liberal policy group in Washington.The recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s has been marked by a jump in stock prices to record highs, aided in part by the Federal Reserve's ultra easy monetary policy.While the Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 16 percent on a total return basis last year, including reinvested dividends, the Census Bureau report showed median household income slipped to $51,017 from of $51,100 in 2011.
The economy has struggled to sustain growth rates of more than 2.5 percent since the recession ended.
Although the bulk of the more than 8 million jobs lost during the downturn have been recouped, many of the jobs have been in services industries such as retail and restaurants that typically do not pay well.Belt-tightening in Washington to slash the government's budget deficit has significantly shrunk the social safety net.
About 16.1 million children and 3.9 million people aged 65 years and older were living in poverty last year.
"Millions are struggling to keep their heads above water, while the richest one percent is doing better than ever," said Joan Entmacher, vice president of Family Economic Security at the National Women's Law Center in Washington.
MORE HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE
There was some encouraging news in the report. About 48 million people did not have health insurance last year, down slightly from 48.6 million in 2011.The number with health insurance rose to 263.2 million in 2012 from 260.2 million the prior year. The rate of uninsured people declined for a second straight year since President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010.Much of the decline was due to an increase in enrollment in the Medicare program for Older Americans as the population aged, said Brett O'Hara, chief of the health and disability statistics branch of the Census Bureau. O'Hara also cited expansion of government-paid coverage for children.The U.S. government expects further declines in the uninsured rate. About 9 million people are expected to gain insurance through the expansion of the Medicaid program for the poor in 2014, now planned in about half of U.S. states.An additional 7 million people are expected to buy insurance in 2014 on subsidized, state-based public exchanges set up under the law.Employment-based insurance coverage fell to 54.9 percent from 55.1 percent. The rate of people insured through government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid rose to 32.6 percent from 32.2 percent.In 2012, the uninsured rate for households with annual income less than $25,000 was 24.9 percent compared with a 7.9 percent rate for those households with income of $75,000 or more, the report said.The uninsured rate for children in poverty was 12.9 percent compared with 7.7 percent for children not in poverty, the Census found.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani, Caroline Humer and Susan Heavey; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)

THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.

Colorado evacuations continue as flood crest moves downstream

Keith Coffman 13 hours ago-sept 17,13-yahoonews-By Keith Coffman

DENVER (Reuters) - Colorado authorities coping with the aftermath of last week's deadly downpours stepped up the search for victims left stranded in the foothills of the Rockies and evacuations of prairie towns in danger of being swamped as the flood crest moved downstream.As of Tuesday, eight people were confirmed dead from flash floods triggered by a week of historically heavy rains that drenched a 130-mile (210-km) stretch of the eastern slopes of the Colorado Rockies, with at least 1,600 homes destroyed.
Clusters of towns in the foothills of Larimer and Boulder counties northwest of Denver bore the brunt of the disaster, as floodwaters roared down rain-saturated mountainsides through canyons that funneled the torrent into populated areas below.The flooding has since progressed downstream and spread out onto the prairie, submerging large tracts of farmland as well as oil and gas well sites in the region as high water rolled eastward toward Nebraska.The overall flood zone ultimately grew to encompass 17 Colorado counties, including the state's biggest urban centers, across a normally semi-arid region about the size of Delaware.
As the skies finally cleared on Monday, search-and-rescue teams fanned out on foot, in National Guard military vehicles and in helicopters to reach thousands of people cut off in communities isolated by washed-out roads and bridges.At the same time, emergency management officials in counties further to the east grappled with downstream flooding along the newly engorged South Platte River, which has carried much of the runoff from last week's torrential rains.Emergency management officials ordered the evacuation early on Tuesday of the tiny riverside town of Crook in northeastern Colorado, where firefighters went door to door asking residents to leave.High water along the South Platte also forced the closure of every bridge on the river in Logan County, essentially cutting the county in half, officials said. The flood crest was expected to reach the larger riverside town of Julesburg on the Nebraska border on Tuesday afternoon.
LOOKING FOR STRANDED SURVIVORS
Meanwhile, search-and-rescue teams continued to comb through canyon areas hit by flash floods at the height of the disaster, looking for more stranded survivors, said Micki Trost, a spokeswoman for the state Office of Emergency Management.She said local police and fire personnel as well as search teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency were taking part in the ground operations.Nearly 12,000 people have been evacuated to shelters since last week, but at least 1,000 more had yet to be reached on Monday in Larimer County alone.Trost said the number of people unaccounted for throughout the flood zone had declined to fewer than 500, many of them believed to be merely cut off in remote areas without telephone or Internet service.In addition to some 1,500 homes destroyed and 4,500 damaged in Larimer County, 200 businesses have been lost and 500 damaged, officials there said. Boulder County officials said more than 100 homes were destroyed in the hard-hit town of Lyons but had no countywide property loss figures.
President Barack Obama declared the area a major disaster over the weekend, freeing up federal funds and resources to aid state and local governments.Meanwhile, standing water left by the floods was expected to cause significant damage to crops in the predominantly agricultural communities of Morgan County, northeast of Denver.Oil and natural gas production also was disrupted in the fossil-fuel-rich region of eastern Colorado known as the Denver-Julesburg Basin, with roughly 1,000 wells shut down by flooding, several energy companies reported on Monday.Local environmental activists have raised concerns about potential leaks of gas, oil and hazardous materials from well sites and other energy facilities compromised by flooding. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission said it was working with health authorities to assess environmental impacts.Last week's downpour, the heaviest to hit the region in four decades, experts said, dumped up to 21 inches of rain in parts of Boulder city, northwest of Denver, nearly double the area's average annual rainfall.The last multi-day rainfall to spawn widespread flooding in Colorado's Front Range occurred in 1969. But a single-night downpour from a 1976 thunderstorm triggered a flash flood that killed more than 140 people in Big Thompson Canyon.(Reporting by Keith Coffman; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by James Dalgleish)