JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER.
1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
JEREMEIAH 49:35-37 (IN IRAN AT THE BUSHEHR OR ARAK 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)
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 KILLED IN OVERNIGHT RAID) 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.(I belive ISIS-DAMASCUS GET NUKED BY ISRAEL)
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)
U.S. missile shield a threat to Russia's nuclear capability: Putin-Reuters-oct 22,15-yahoonews
SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - The expansion of the United States' ballistic missile defense system is a threat to Russia's nuclear capability, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.Putin added that U.S. ballistic missile shield bases in Eastern Europe could also be used to station offensive weapons and that he was worried about NATO military infrastructure moving closer to Russia's borders.(Reporting by Denis Dyomkin; Writing by Polina Devitt and Alexander Winning; Editing by Christian Lowe)
Putin says Syria's Assad is open to working with some rebels-Reuters By Denis Dyomkin and Maria Tsvetkova-oct 22,15-yahoonews
SOCHI, Russia/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad had told him he was ready to talk to armed opposition groups if they are genuinely committed to dialogue and to combating Islamic State.Speaking a day after Assad made a surprise visit to Moscow for talks with Putin -- underlining Moscow's new role as a central player in Syria's conflict -- Putin said the two men had talked about the need for a political solution.Some Western governments have portrayed Russia as an obstacle to a political deal, especially since it started air strikes on Islamist groups in Syria opposed to Assad, including some backed by the United States and its allies.But Putin said he believed that the military operation in Syria could create the right conditions for progress in talks on the future of the country."I will pull open the curtain a little on my talks with President Assad," Putin said at a forum in the Russian resort of Sochi on Thursday evening."I asked him: 'What view would you take if we found, now in Syria, an armed opposition which nonetheless was ready to oppose and really fight against terrorists, against Islamic State? What would be your view if we were to support their efforts in fighting Islamic State in the same way we are supporting the Syrian army'," Putin said."He answered: 'I would view that positively'," Putin said of Assad.The Russian president went on: "We are now thinking about this and are trying, if it works out, to reach these agreements."Putin also said that, at the root of the Syrian conflict was not just Islamist militancy but also internal tensions -- a recognition that at least some of the people who rebelled against Assad's rule had a legitimate grievance.Russia has rejected Western calls for Assad to step down. On Thursday, Putin repeated his view that Syria's leadership could only be decided by the Syrian people, not outside powers, via transparent elections.However, some observers believe Putin could use his enhanced influence over Damascus to pressure Assad into making concessions to the opposition, unblocking a peace process that has been at a virtual standstill for years.(Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Alison Williams)
Russia shows military might in Syria, also pushes diplomacy-Associated Press By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV-oct 22,15-yahoonews
HEMEIMEEM AIR BASE, Syria (AP) — As Russia unleashed waves of warplanes Thursday from this air base in western Syria to pound militant targets, President Vladimir Putin pushed diplomatic efforts with the West, stressing the need "to consider each other as allies in a common fight."Russia put its military muscle on display, bringing Moscow-based reporters to view a day's worth of fighter jets roaring off a runway in dozens of sorties as helicopter gunships patrolled the edges of the sprawling facility.Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Friday in Vienna, joined by their counterparts from Saudi Arabia and Turkey, both staunch critics of President Bashar Assad.Lavrov said he wanted to provide "firsthand information" about the Russian air campaign against Islamic State militants in Syria, but also talk about a future political process in the country that is now in its fifth year of civil war.The U.S. and other Western powers have questioned Russia's primary motive in the airstrikes that began Sept. 30 and have backed up a Syrian government offensive in central and northwestern regions. Moscow says it is fighting IS and other extremist groups like the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, but Washington and others say the intervention is to prop up Assad and is likely to fan the violence.The intervention is also allowing Russia to portray itself as a major global player, projecting its military power far from its borders.Assad met Tuesday with Putin in a surprise visit to Moscow to discuss the military operations. In a speech Thursday at a conference in Russia's southern resort of Sochi, Putin said Syria's leaders "should establish working contacts with those opposition forces that are ready for dialogue.""As I understood from my conversation with President Assad the day before yesterday, he is ready for such a dialogue," Putin added.A military victory over the militants "will not solve all problems, but it will create conditions for the main thing: a beginning of a political process to encompass all healthy, patriotic forces of the Syrian society," Putin said.His words echoed those of Syrian government officials who have expressed readiness to negotiate with the "patriotic" opposition — a term generally used to describe unarmed, mostly Damascus-based government critics who are tolerated by Assad.Putin also said Russia and the West are establishing contacts to coordinate their operations."We are close to the start of exchanging information with our Western counterparts on positions and movements of the militants. This is certainly a step in the right direction. The most important thing is to consider each other as allies in a common fight."Putin said he asked Assad about how he would view it if Russia identified Syrian armed opposition groups "prepared to oppose and really fight terrorists, IS. How would you regard it if we support their efforts in the fight with terrorism in the way that we are supporting the Syrian army?"He said Assad responded: "I regard this positively."The Kremlin said Putin also talked on the phone with the leaders of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan ahead of the Friday session.Lavrov said in televised remarks that Moscow is eager to invite other countries from the region to the talks, especially Iran — another supporter of Assad.Although Lavrov said that Russia had agreed to meet with the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Turkey, he reiterated that Moscow "remained convinced" that a settlement of the Syrian crisis had no future without the involvement of Iran.In Berlin, Kerry said the U.S., Iran, Russia and Europe agree Syria should be united and that Syrians should choose their own future leadership, but "one thing stands in the way of being able to rapidly move to implement that and it's a person called Assad, Bashar Assad."Kerry spoke alongside German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who said that finding a road to a political solution "depends on whether Washington and Moscow find bridges to each other."During Thursday's visit to the Hemeimeem base near the coastal city of Latakia, reporters saw dozens of sorties from early morning until late at night. Su-24s, Su-25s and Su-34s took off for bombing raids against militant targets, while Su-30 fighter jets provided cover. A giant An-124 Ruslan cargo plane landed, and two Il-76 military transports could be seen on the tarmac.Security forces with assault rifles guarded key facilities, and armored personnel carriers were parked nearby. Rows of prefabricated houses for servicemen were flanked by neatly kept canteens serving fish soup, pasta, beef and other dishes.Defense Ministry spokesman Maj.- Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that in the past 24 hours, Russian planes made 53 sorties, hitting 72 targets — mostly weapons and ammunition depots and other infrastructure.Konashenkov rejected Western allegations that Russia has mostly targeted other groups opposing Assad instead of the Islamic State. He said Russian planes were striking weapons depots and facilities making preparations for attacks by rigging cars with bombs and making suicide belts of explosives."I don't understand how terrorists could be divided into good and bad ones," he told reporters.He also dismissed reports that Russian planes were hitting civilians as lies and "sheer nonsense." He said the warplanes are not striking populated areas and are only aiming at infrastructure such as depots and bunkers — but only after the targets are repeatedly verified using various intelligence sources.In conducting the air campaign, Putin's apparent goals are to help cement the Syrian government's grip on the territory it still controls and to show that Assad cannot be unseated by force. Russia also wants to foster political talks that could preserve the Syrian state and allow Moscow to protect its interests in the region.Another Putin goal has been to bring Moscow and Washington together for a security dialogue in which Russia is treated as an equal. The hope is that this would improve ties with the West and end Russia's isolation that resulted from the crisis in Ukraine.State-owned pollster VTsIOM on Thursday released its latest survey on Putin's approval rating, which it said had reached an all-time high of nearly 90 percent. VTsIOM, which in the past has reported higher approval ratings for Putin than independent agencies, said the survey of 1,600 people was conducted Saturday and Sunday, and had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.___Associated Press writers Nataliya Vasilyeva and Jim Heintz in Moscow, Geir Moulson and Matthew Lee in Berlin, and Vladimir Kondrashov at Hemeimeem Air Base in Syria contributed to this report.
Putin accuses West of playing 'double game' with Syria terrorist groups-AFP-oct 22,15-yahoonews
Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused the West of playing a "double game" with terrorist groups in Syria, where both Moscow and a US-led coalition are conducting separate bombing campaigns."It's always difficult to play a double game: declaring a fight against terrorists while simultaneously trying to use some of them to arrange the pieces on the Middle East chess board in one's own interests," Putin said at a meeting of political scientists in Sochi known as the Valdai Club."It is impossible to prevail over terrorism if some of the terrorists are being used as a battering ram to overthrow undesirable regimes," Putin said.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is set to meet US Secretary of State John Kerry, as well as their Turkish and Saudi counterparts, in Vienna on Friday for crucial talks on the Syrian conflict, a four-year war that has killed more 250,000 people and forced millions from their homes.The high-level meeting follows the surprise visit of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Moscow for talks with Putin on Tuesday, the embattled leader's first foreign visit since 2011.Russia -- which has pledged to support Damascus militarily, much to the West's dismay -- has insisted the air strikes it has conducted since September 30 in the war-torn country are hitting the Islamic State and other "terrorist" groups, and are being conducted at the Syrian leadership's request.But the US and its allies, who are conducting a separate bombing campaign in the country, say Moscow's strikes are aimed at Western-backed moderate rebels fighting Assad."There is no need to play on words, to classify terrorists are moderate and non-moderate," Putin said."What is the difference?" he said, suggesting that "in the opinion of some experts... so-called moderate bandits behead people moderately or gently."During his encounter with Assad, Putin called for a political solution involving all groups to try to end the war, the Kremlin said.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later declined to comment on whether Assad's future in Syria had been discussed during the encounter.Assad, who last visited Russia in 2008, told Putin that the three-week Russian bombing campaign had helped to stop the spread of "terrorism" in his country.- Destroyed 'combat capability' -While the Syrian leadership sang the praises of Moscow, the White House castigated Russia's intervention, calling it "counterproductive."Russia's defence ministry said Thursday it had struck 72 "terrorist" targets in Syria over the past 24 hours, claiming to have destroyed the combat capability of the main terrorist groups operating in the country."As a result of Russian air strikes, the main forces of terrorist groups, made up of the best trained terrorists, have lost combat capability. Their command and resupply system has been disrupted," senior military official Andrei Kartapolov told Russian news agencies.Kartapolov said the strikes -- which targeted the provinces of Hama, Idlib, Latakia, Damascus, Aleppo and Deir Ezzor -- had destroyed a bridge over the Euphrates River used for moving supplies to fighters from neighbouring Iraq.Putin said that strikes had given a "positive result" but added: "Is it enough to be able to say that terrorism in Syria is defeated? No, we need to make more serious efforts in order to make such a claim."He praised Russian pilots carrying out strikes as "all heroes," saying: "I am proud of them."Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denied Thursday an earlier report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that at least 12 people including medical staff were killed when Russian warplanes struck a field hospital in the northwestern province of Idlib.The Russian strikes are reported to have killed 370 people so far, a third of them civilians, the British monitoring group said Tuesday.Humanitarian organisations have deplored the effect of the bombing campaigns, with the International Committee of the Red Cross saying air strikes in Syria were disrupting the delivery of desperately needed aid to civilians.Since the start of Moscow's intervention, Russian planes have carried out 934 sorties that have destroyed 819 "terrorist targets", Kartopolov said.
Western trio seeks UN action on Syria barrel bombs-AFP By Carole Landry-oct 22,15-yahoonews
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Britain, France and Spain will soon present a draft resolution to the UN Security Council on stopping the Syrian regime from using barrel bombs, the French envoy said Thursday.But it remains highly unlikely that Russia, Syria's ally, would support such a measure, which comes amid fierce Western criticism of Moscow's air war in Syria.French Ambassador Francois Delattre told the 14-member council that barrel bombs were a "weapon of terror" that was fueling the exodus of refugees to neighboring countries and to Europe."It is the immediate responsibility of the Security Council to take measures to effectively end the use of this terrible weapon in Syria," said Delattre."France, acting with Britain and Spain, will soon make concrete proposals to its partners to this end."A diplomat told AFP that a draft resolution will be presented to the council "before the end of the month."Russia maintains it is working with the Syrian regime to defeat Islamic State jihadists, but the West accuses Moscow of targeting rebel groups supported by the West.In an indirect swipe at Russia, Delattre said "supporting Bashar al-Assad to push back the terrorists is a false solution that will only strengthen Daesh (IS) and prolong the tragedy."- Number one killer -Human rights groups say barrel bombings by the regime are the number one killer in the four-year war, claiming more civilian lives than IS attacks.In September alone, the Assad regime dropped 1,715 barrel bombs, hitting mosques, hospitals, schools and other civilian sites, US Ambassador Samantha Power said, citing the Syrian Network for Human Rights.Power said the Russian campaign had "worsened an already dire situation" and that the conflict "will not end until Syria is free of Assad."More than 240,000 people have died in the conflict, and nearly 12 million people -- half of the country's population -- have been driven from their homes.The council adopted a resolution in February 2014 demanding an end to the bombings that the West says are carried out by Damascus using helicopters to drop barrels rigged with explosives.But there has been no action to enforce the measure by the council, where veto-wielding Russia has in the past blocked resolutions targeting Assad.Human rights groups have called for a no fly-zone to prevent the helicopters from dropping the barrel bombs, but that remains a difficult prospect during the Russian air campaign.Russian President Vladimir Putin last month proposed a draft resolution on strengthening the fight against IS but with the consent of the Syrian regime, a measure rejected by France, Britain and the United States.After weeks of negotiations, diplomats said Russia had failed to garner the nine votes necessary to pass the text at the council, even without a veto threat from the Western powers.
US-led forces strike IS-controlled oil field in Syria-Associated Press By VIVIAN SALAMA-oct 22,15-yahoonews
BAGHDAD (AP) — U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq and Syria carried out a large-scale attack on Syria's Omar oil field as part of its mission to target the Islamic State group's ability to generate money, a coalition spokesman said Thursday.Operations officer Maj. Michael Filanowski told journalists in Baghdad that airstrikes late Wednesday struck IS-controlled oil refineries, command and control centers and transportation nodes in the Omar oil field near the town of Deir el-Zour. Coalition spokesman Col. Steven Warren said the attack hit 26 targets, making it one of the largest set of strikes since launching the air campaign last year.The refinery generates between $1.7 and $5.1 million per month for the Islamic State group."It was very specific targets that would result in long-term incapacitation of their ability to sell oil, to get it out of the ground and transport it," Filanowski said.The Islamic State group seized a number of oil refineries and other infrastructure in Iraq and Syria as it sought to generate revenue to build a self-sufficient state. The group currently holds territory in just under a third of Iraq and Syria, and coalition forces continue to launch airstrikes in support of allied ground forces in both countries.Coalition officials said that Iraqi security forces, backed by the paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces and Iraqi federal police, continue to work to recapture and clear the western city of Ramadi and the city of Beiji, home to Iraq's largest oil refinery. They were being supported by airstrikes.Iraqi forces said Tuesday that they had driven Islamic State militants out of Beiji and were in full control of the town. But coalition officials said Thursday that the mission has not been completed."Beiji city is contested," Filanowski said. "They control the road but then the next phase of the operation will be to clear the actual city."Filanowski added that much of the area is littered with booby traps, and the militants have staged a number of counterattacks on advancing Iraqi forces as they look to control the town. He said that between 400 and 600 IS fighters are believed to have been fighting in Beiji — far less than the estimated 600 to 1,000 fighters in battling in Ramadi.Meanwhile, a study released Thursday by IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Center said that from July through the end of September this year, the Islamic State group claimed a total of 1,086 attacks worldwide, with a 42 percent increase in the average daily number of attacks by the group.The IHS report highlighted Islamic State activity across the area that it has claimed as its territory, including Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, the North Caucasus and Algeria, in addition to the group's operational heartland in Iraq and Syria. The study considers an attack any act of aggression that causes casualties or disruption, including foiled attacks claimed by the militant group.The report also noted that while most of the attacks happened in Iraq and Syria, Islamic State attacks in Nigeria during the third quarter yielded a higher death toll than those recorded in Syria, and had the highest average fatalities per attack of any of the group's self-declared states.
U.N. council will examine details of Iran's missile test: Russia-Reuters By Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols-oct 22,15-yahoonews
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia's U.N. envoy on Thursday said the United Nations Security Council will examine the technical details of a ballistic missile test by Iran, which the United States and its European allies have said violated U.N. sanctions.The United States, Britain, France and Germany called on Wednesday for the council's Iran sanctions committee to take action over the launch, which they said involved a ballistic missile "inherently capable of delivering a nuclear weapon."Reporters asked Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin if Moscow believed it was a violation that would necessitate punitive steps by the committee."We need to be very careful about those things, we will look into technical details and then, of course, we need to take into account the political circumstances," Churkin said. "One has to be professional about it. It's not a sensational kind of issue."Iran said earlier this month that it tested a new precision-guided ballistic missile. It denies the missile was nuclear-capable.In an apparent reference to a Security Council resolution adopted in July that endorsed a nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers and called for future curbs on Iranian missile development, Churkin said it referred to missiles capable of delivering atomic warheads.But the United States, Britain, France and Germany said Iran violated a 2010 resolution that banned all ballistic missile tests by Iran.The resolution remains valid until the July 14 nuclear deal is fully implemented. The missile test was not a violation of the nuclear deal, U.S. officials have said.China's U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi was asked if Iran's test was a violation and if there should be further sanctions. He said the council was "looking at that."Western diplomats say it is possible for the sanctions committee to blacklist additional individuals or entities if it determined that the test breached the U.N. ban. They said, however, that Russia and China, which opposed the sanctions on Iran's missile program, might block any such moves. Under the July deal, sanctions on Iran would be lifted in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. Once in effect, Iran would still be "called upon" to refrain from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons for up to eight years.The deal allows for supply of ballistic missile technology to Tehran with Security Council approval, but Washington has pledged to veto any such requests. The deal was unlikely to be fully implemented before next year, U.S. and European officials have said.(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols; editing by Grant McCool)
U.S commando killed in raid to free hostages of ISIS in Iraq-Reuters By Phil Stewart and Isabel Coles-oct 22,15-yahoonews
WASHINGTON/ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - One member of a U.S. special operations force was killed during an overnight mission to rescue hostages held by Islamic State militants in northern Iraq, the first American to die in ground combat with the militant group, U.S. officials said on Thursday.Sixty-nine hostages were rescued in the action, which targeted an Islamic State prison around 7 kilometers north of the town of Hawija, according to the security council of the Kurdistan region, whose counterterrorism forces took part.Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said at a news briefing the operation did not mark a change in U.S. tactics in the war on Islamic State militants, who pose the biggest security threat to Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003."I would not suggest that this is something that is now going to happen on a regular basis, but I do think it is symbolic of the kinds of efforts that we are taking on behalf of our partners," he told reporters.It was the most significant raid against Islamic State since May, when American special operations forces killed one of its senior leaders, Abu Sayyaf from Tunisia, in a raid in Syria.The U.S. rescue mission unfolded amid mounting concerns in Washington over increasing Russian intervention in the Middle East.The hostages rescued in the raid were all Arabs, including local residents and Islamic State fighters held as suspected spies, a U.S. official said on Thursday.The official told Reuters that around 20 of the hostages were members of Iraqi security forces."Some of the remainder were Daesh (Islamic State) ... fighters that Daesh thought were spies," the official said. "The rest of them were citizens of the local town".More than 20 Islamic State militants were killed and six detained, the security council said.Islamic State called the operation "unsuccessful" but acknowledged casualties among its fighters.In a statement distributed online on Thursday by supporters, it said U.S. gunships had shelled areas around the prison to prevent the arrival of reinforcements, then clashed with militants for two hours.The statement confirmed U.S. claims that some guards had been killed and others detained in the operation."Dozens" of U.S. troops were involved in the mission, a U.S. defense official said, declining to be more specific about the number."It was a deliberately planned operation, but it was also done with the knowledge that imminent action was needed to save the lives of these people," the U.S. defense official said.The U.S. serviceman was shot during the mission and taken to the Kurdistan regional capital Erbil, where he died, the U.S. defense official said. He was the first American serviceman killed in ground combat in Iraq since the United States withdrew its forces in 2011.U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, said the possibility that Americans were among the hostages was not a consideration in carrying out the operation.Some of the rescued people said Islamic State militants had told them they would be executed after morning prayers, Warren said.The U.S. forces were acting as advisors then were sucked into the battle when Kurdish fighters came under heavy fire, he explained."They were pinned down and they were beginning to take casualties, so the Americans in the heat of battle made a decision," he said.Cook said he was not aware at this point that there were any Americans among those who were rescued. "My understanding is there was no indication there were specifically Americans present here."The understanding was that there were a number of hostages, although we were not sure exactly who was among that group, but that they had been held there for some time and again the information we had received ... was that those hostages did fear for their lives, that there was the threat of a mass execution perhaps within hours."He said the mission had been requested by the Kurdistan Regional Government.Sources in the Hawija area said they heard blasts and gunfire overnight and that Islamic State militants had withdrawn from view after the raid, apparently relocating their bases.Five U.S. helicopters launched from Erbil were involved in the mission, and the United States was providing helicopter lift, intelligence support, air strike support, and advisory support to the peshmerga, the U.S. defense official said.Air strikes were launched before and after the mission to block approaches to the prison and destroy it afterward, the U.S. defense official said.Hawija is a stronghold of Islamic State militants who have captured several dozen Kurdish peshmerga fighters in battle.Islamic State, also known as ISIS, has been for more than a year the target of daily air strikes in Iraq and Syria by a U.S.-led coalition.The United States' former Cold War foe Russia has been conducting airstrikes in Syria against opponents of its closest regional ally Bashar al-Assad, as Iraq questions American resolve to fight militants on its soil.Russia has also joined a Baghdad-based intelligence cell along with Iran, Iraq and Syria that has provided information on Islamic State targets.Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi faces intense pressure from the ruling coalition and powerful Shi'ite militias to request Russian air strikes on Islamic State, which controls a third of the major OPEC oil producer.(Additional reporting by Yeganeh Torbati and David Alexander in Washington and Stephen Kalin in Baghdad; Editing by Michael Georgy, Toni Reinhold)
Obama meets Pakistan's Sharif to stress nuclear worries, seek help on Taliban-Reuters By David Brunnstrom and Idrees Ali-oct 22,15-yahoonews
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama met Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday to stress concerns about Pakistan's expanding nuclear arsenal and seek help in bringing the Afghan Taliban back to peace talks.Washington has been trying to persuade Pakistan to make a unilateral declaration of "restraint" over its nuclear program but Pakistani officials said Islamabad will not accept limits on its use of small tactical nuclear weapons, given the threat it sees as posed by India.A joint statement after the White House meeting referred to nuclear security and said both leaders had stressed the need for "all sides" to act with restraint and work towards strategic stability in South Asia.It also said Obama and Sharif expressed their commitment to advance the Afghan peace and reconciliation process and called on Taliban leaders to enter direct talks with Kabul, which have stalled since inaugural discussions in Pakistan in July.Those talks broke down after the Afghan intelligence agency said Taliban leader Mullah Omar had been dead for two years.“It's a setback, no doubt, and it will take some time to overcome this setback, but we will try again," Sharif told reporters after his meeting with Obama.The Taliban insurgency has escalated since tens of thousands of U.S.-led NATO combat troops withdrew from Afghanistan ahead of an end-2014 deadline, hampering Obama's efforts to withdraw remaining U.S. troops.Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center think tank said that as well as seeking Pakistan's help on the talks, Obama would have stressed the need for it to do away with militant sanctuaries inside its borders used as bases from which to target the U.S.-backed Afghan government and U.S. forces."Obama knows that a political solution is needed to end the Afghan war, and for that you need help from the Pakistanis," he said.However, Bruce Riedel of the Brookings Institution said it was not clear Sharif had the clout with his own army to get military leaders to pressure the Taliban back into talks.Despite the tensions, the Obama administration is preparing to sell Islamabad eight F-16 fighter jets in a bid to bolster ties, a U.S. source familiar with the matter said.The joint statement made no mention of the sale, which Congress could block, but said Sharif "expressed satisfaction with the cooperation achieved in defense relations."U.S. concerns have been growing about Pakistan's nuclear arsenal amid a fresh round of tensions between Islamabad and India, Pakistan's nuclear-armed rival and neighbor.Pakistan argues that smaller tactical nuclear weapons are needed to deter a sudden attack by India, but Washington worries they may further destabilize an already volatile region as their smaller size makes them more tempting to use in a conventional war - and harder to prevent from falling into militant hands.The statement said the two leaders discussed the continuing threat of nuclear terrorism and stressed the importance of improvement in Pakistan-India relations."All sides should continuously act with maximum restraint and work jointly toward strengthening strategic stability in South Asia," it said.Pakistani officials say Washington is demanding unreasonable limits on its nuclear weapons while not offering much in return apart from a hazy promise to consider Pakistan as a recognized recipient of nuclear technology.The Federation of American Scientists said this week that since 2011, Pakistan has deployed two new nuclear-capable short- range ballistic missiles and a new medium-range ballistic missile and was developing two extended-range nuclear-capable ballistic missiles and two nuclear-capable cruise missiles.It estimated Pakistan's stockpile had grown to 110 to 130 warheads from 90 to 110 in 2011 and could reach 220 to 250 by 2025, making it the world’s fifth-largest nuclear-weapons state.(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Additional reporting by Julia Edwards, Roberta Rampton, Idrees Ali and Andrea Shalal; Editing by James Dalgleish)
OSCE warns of implications for media pluralism in Georgia-Reuters By Margarita Antidze-oct 22,15-yahoonews
TBILISI (Reuters) - The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) voiced concern on Thursday over an ownership dispute involving Georgia's biggest independent TV company, Rustavi 2, and said it could harm media freedom.Hundreds of viewers and supporters of Rustavi 2 rallied outside the Tbilisi city court building and the broadcaster's studio building in a gesture of support.A court in Tbilisi earlier this month ordered a seizure of shares in the company that owns Rustavi 2, which government officials have often accused of bias, until a final verdict on the ownership dispute.Former co-owner Kibar Khalvashi is seeking to claim back his shares in the broadcaster, one of the most popular in the former Soviet republic.The court ordered a freeze on Rustavi 2's property in August. Its managers say Khalvashi's lawsuit and the court's decisions were politically motivated and accused the government of being behind Khalvashi's bid."According to reports, Rustavi 2 is experiencing significant financial and logistical constraints, effectively limiting its capacity to operate freely," Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE representative on freedom of the media, said in a statement."If not lifted soon, the court order will entail serious restrictions on the diversity and plurality of the media in the country."She said the situation was especially worrisome as a parliamentary election in Georgia is scheduled for next year."Democracy requires that people have access to diverse sources of information," Mijatović said.Hearings on the case will resume on Monday.Opposition politicians and many independent experts say the process is an attempt to silence an independent media in the country of 3.7 million. Government officials deny any involvement in this case."My government fully supports a pluralistic media environment...I am saddened to witness the recent attempts to politicize the legal dispute between two private parties regarding the ownership of Rustavi 2," Georgian Prime Minister Irakly Garibashvili said on Thursday.(Editing by Angus MacSwan)
DISEASES
REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
Iraq set for cholera vaccine campaign amid fear of international spread: WHO-AFP By Nina Larson-oct 22,15-yahoonews
Geneva (AFP) - Iraq plans to hold a mass vaccination campaign to halt a cholera outbreak that has infected more than 1,800 people amid fears it could spread among refugees in the region and beyond, the World Health Organization said Thursday."We are going to start a vaccination campaign to try to prevent a further spread of the disease," Dominique Legros, head of WHO's cholera unit, told reporters.He said a half million doses of the oral cholera vaccine -- enough to treat some 250,000 people -- were being shipped to Iraq and "should arrive today or tomorrow," with the immunisation campaign set to get underway by October 31.Iraq has confirmed 1,811 cases of the acute diarrhoeal disease since early September across 15 of the country's 18 governorates, including most recently in the northern autonomous Kurdish region.The arrival of cholera in the northern Kurdish region is particularly concerning due to the large numbers of Syrian refugees there, Legros said, pointing out that conditions in refugee camps are particularly conducive to the spread of the disease.According to Iraqi authorities, the disease has killed six people so far, including four in the Abu Ghraib region at the very beginning of the outbreak, before health authorities had set up a response plan."The case management is well carried out, (and) cases are declining," Legros said, adding that the situation in Iraq seemed to be "under control".The big concern now, Legros said, was "a spread towards the Middle East, towards Syria and refugee camps."- Spread to Europe? -Already a few cases have popped up in Kuwait and Bahrain, but the situations there are under control.He said other countries in the region had been alerted to the danger, and acknowledged that those infected risked bringing cholera with them to Europe.Cases of cholera are imported to Europe each year, but since sanitation conditions on the continent tend to be good, there is usually no risk of the disease spreading.Legros acknowledged though that the large numbers of refugees and migrants moving through Europe and stuck at borders with rudimentary shelter ran a greater risk."Whether you put a refugee camp in Europe or in Nigeria or in Syria, the problem remains the same," he said, pointing out that if people "don't have access to safe water and someone contaminates the water and someone else drinks it, they get cholera."Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by eating contaminated food or water, with children facing a particularly high risk of infection. It can kill in a matter of hours due to rapid dehydration.Legros said the Iraqi vaccination campaign would focus on the refugee camps in the north and camps for displaced Iraqis in the south.The vaccine used to fight cholera epidemics is scarce and can only be used in rare cases to urgently stop the spread of the disease.Last year the sole producer of the vaccine, Indian firm Shantha Biotechnics, made just two million doses -- enough to protect one million people.WHO estimates that around 40 million people in Africa alone live in areas where they are exposed to cholera.
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)
Major drug tunnel found on US-Mexico border in California-Associated Press By ELLIOT SPAGAT-oct 22,15-yahoonews
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Authorities seized 12 tons of marijuana and arrested 22 people after discovering one of the longest cross-border tunnels ever dug between the U.S. and Mexico, officials said Thursday.The passage connecting warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, was about 2,400 feet long and 30 feet deep. It was lit, ventilated and equipped with a rail system — hallmarks of the most sophisticated tunnels found along the border.Near-simultaneous police stings on Wednesday resulted in six arrests in San Diego and 16 in Mexico. Authorities recovered two tons of marijuana in the U.S. and 10 tons in Mexico.U.S. authorities said smugglers tried to move the first load of drugs through the tunnel on Wednesday but nothing got through undetected.The sting came after an undercover agent for U.S. Homeland Security Investigations agreed to provide the drug smugglers with drivers and the use of the San Diego warehouse in exchange for a $10,000 payment for each truckload of drugs that moved, according to a probable cause statement.The discovery demonstrates the enduring appeal of tunnels to smugglers, despite the significant time and money required to build one. Dozens of tunnels have been found along the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years, some equipped with hydraulic lifts and electric rail cars.The San Diego-Tijuana region is popular because its clay-like soil is relatively easy to dig with shovels and pneumatic tools, and both sides of the border have warehouses that provide cover for trucks and heavy equipment.It was unclear which drug trafficking organization orchestrated the latest passage but the region is largely controlled by Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, whose leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman escaped from a maximum-security prison in Mexico in July through an elaborate tunnel.Mexican federal police said in a press release that those arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking told authorities that they had ties to a criminal group that operates in the state of Jalisco — an apparent reference to the Jalisco New Generation cartel, which controls that part of western Mexico.The Mexican suspects were caught off-guard when authorities arrived at the Tijuana warehouse with a search warrant, police said. No shots were fired.The drugs found were wrapped in 873 packages covered with plastic and tape.On the U.S. side, the tunnel entry point in a warehouse had no stairs or ladder. U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said smugglers were believed to be using pulleys.David Shaw, head of Homeland Security Investigations in San Diego, said traffic to and from the San Diego warehouse was unusually heavy before the sting. The agency began investigating in May, he said.Isaias Enriquez, 53, and Isidro Silva, 27, both of Tijuana, were charged with conspiracy in U.S. federal court. Four others were to be charged in state court.Enriquez agreed in recorded conversations to pay the undercover agent $10,000 a truckload to provide the San Diego warehouse and drivers, according to the statement of probable cause.Two agents unloaded boxes containing 249 packages of marijuana at the warehouse on Wednesday, and one met later with Enriquez and Silva at a San Diego restaurant to arrange another shipment, the document said.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS ETC) and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
Patricia grows into major hurricane threatening Mexico-AFP By Jennifer Gonzalez Covarrubias-oct 22,15-yahoonews
The US National Hurricane Center said "preparations should be rushed to completion" as Patricia increased ominously from a category two to a category four storm in the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale.Packing maximum sustained winds of 215 kilometers (130 miles) per hour, the hurricane was expected to strike the coast on Friday afternoon or evening, the Miami-based center said."Some strengthening is forecast tonight and Patricia is expected to remain an extremely dangerous hurricane through landfall," it said in a statement. Emergency services personnel were being moved from other states to the threatened region, said Mexico's National Water Commission director Roberto de la Parra."It is moving much faster than hurricanes we have had in the past," de la Parra told a news conference.Mexican officials closed schools in Colima and Guerrero state.Two dams in Jalisco and Michoacan were being drained to prevent flooding while residents were advised to protect their windows with large tape in the form of a cross.The Jalisco state government urged the coastal population to avoid the coast.The region includes the major port of Manzanillo, Colima state, and the tourist resort of Puerto Vallarta in Jalisco.At 2100 GMT, Patricia was 400 kilometers south of Manzanillo, according to the US hurricane center.The storm was moving west-northwest at 20 kilometers per hour.Patricia is expected to produce six to 12 inches (15 to 30 centimeters) of rainfall accumulations over the states of Jalisco, Colima, Michoacan and Guerrero, which could produce flash floods and mudslides, the US center said.The storm surge could also produce coastal flooding, accompanied by "large and destructive waves," it warned.The water commission warned that rivers could rise and roads could be affected by the bad weather.-- Wind force causes concern -Mexico's interior ministry activated its emergency response committee to coordinate the response.Officials said nearly 1,800 shelters for 259,000 are available, but no evacuations have been ordered so far."The amount of water and the strength of the wind worry us," national civil protection coordinator Luis Felipe Puente told a news conference.Jalisco, Michoacan, Colima and Nayarit are expected to get the equivalent of 40 percent of their annual rainfall in the next 48 hours, the water commission said.Mexico faces the double threat of Atlantic and Pacific tropical storms during the hurricane season, which ends November 30.In 2013, twin storms Ingrid and Manuel nearly simultaneously struck each coast, leaving 157 people dead in a rare double onslaught.
JEREMEIAH 49:35-37 (IN IRAN AT THE BUSHEHR OR ARAK 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)
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 KILLED IN OVERNIGHT RAID) 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.(I belive ISIS-DAMASCUS GET NUKED BY ISRAEL)
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)
U.S. missile shield a threat to Russia's nuclear capability: Putin-Reuters-oct 22,15-yahoonews
SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - The expansion of the United States' ballistic missile defense system is a threat to Russia's nuclear capability, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.Putin added that U.S. ballistic missile shield bases in Eastern Europe could also be used to station offensive weapons and that he was worried about NATO military infrastructure moving closer to Russia's borders.(Reporting by Denis Dyomkin; Writing by Polina Devitt and Alexander Winning; Editing by Christian Lowe)
Putin says Syria's Assad is open to working with some rebels-Reuters By Denis Dyomkin and Maria Tsvetkova-oct 22,15-yahoonews
SOCHI, Russia/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad had told him he was ready to talk to armed opposition groups if they are genuinely committed to dialogue and to combating Islamic State.Speaking a day after Assad made a surprise visit to Moscow for talks with Putin -- underlining Moscow's new role as a central player in Syria's conflict -- Putin said the two men had talked about the need for a political solution.Some Western governments have portrayed Russia as an obstacle to a political deal, especially since it started air strikes on Islamist groups in Syria opposed to Assad, including some backed by the United States and its allies.But Putin said he believed that the military operation in Syria could create the right conditions for progress in talks on the future of the country."I will pull open the curtain a little on my talks with President Assad," Putin said at a forum in the Russian resort of Sochi on Thursday evening."I asked him: 'What view would you take if we found, now in Syria, an armed opposition which nonetheless was ready to oppose and really fight against terrorists, against Islamic State? What would be your view if we were to support their efforts in fighting Islamic State in the same way we are supporting the Syrian army'," Putin said."He answered: 'I would view that positively'," Putin said of Assad.The Russian president went on: "We are now thinking about this and are trying, if it works out, to reach these agreements."Putin also said that, at the root of the Syrian conflict was not just Islamist militancy but also internal tensions -- a recognition that at least some of the people who rebelled against Assad's rule had a legitimate grievance.Russia has rejected Western calls for Assad to step down. On Thursday, Putin repeated his view that Syria's leadership could only be decided by the Syrian people, not outside powers, via transparent elections.However, some observers believe Putin could use his enhanced influence over Damascus to pressure Assad into making concessions to the opposition, unblocking a peace process that has been at a virtual standstill for years.(Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Alison Williams)
Russia shows military might in Syria, also pushes diplomacy-Associated Press By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV-oct 22,15-yahoonews
HEMEIMEEM AIR BASE, Syria (AP) — As Russia unleashed waves of warplanes Thursday from this air base in western Syria to pound militant targets, President Vladimir Putin pushed diplomatic efforts with the West, stressing the need "to consider each other as allies in a common fight."Russia put its military muscle on display, bringing Moscow-based reporters to view a day's worth of fighter jets roaring off a runway in dozens of sorties as helicopter gunships patrolled the edges of the sprawling facility.Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Friday in Vienna, joined by their counterparts from Saudi Arabia and Turkey, both staunch critics of President Bashar Assad.Lavrov said he wanted to provide "firsthand information" about the Russian air campaign against Islamic State militants in Syria, but also talk about a future political process in the country that is now in its fifth year of civil war.The U.S. and other Western powers have questioned Russia's primary motive in the airstrikes that began Sept. 30 and have backed up a Syrian government offensive in central and northwestern regions. Moscow says it is fighting IS and other extremist groups like the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, but Washington and others say the intervention is to prop up Assad and is likely to fan the violence.The intervention is also allowing Russia to portray itself as a major global player, projecting its military power far from its borders.Assad met Tuesday with Putin in a surprise visit to Moscow to discuss the military operations. In a speech Thursday at a conference in Russia's southern resort of Sochi, Putin said Syria's leaders "should establish working contacts with those opposition forces that are ready for dialogue.""As I understood from my conversation with President Assad the day before yesterday, he is ready for such a dialogue," Putin added.A military victory over the militants "will not solve all problems, but it will create conditions for the main thing: a beginning of a political process to encompass all healthy, patriotic forces of the Syrian society," Putin said.His words echoed those of Syrian government officials who have expressed readiness to negotiate with the "patriotic" opposition — a term generally used to describe unarmed, mostly Damascus-based government critics who are tolerated by Assad.Putin also said Russia and the West are establishing contacts to coordinate their operations."We are close to the start of exchanging information with our Western counterparts on positions and movements of the militants. This is certainly a step in the right direction. The most important thing is to consider each other as allies in a common fight."Putin said he asked Assad about how he would view it if Russia identified Syrian armed opposition groups "prepared to oppose and really fight terrorists, IS. How would you regard it if we support their efforts in the fight with terrorism in the way that we are supporting the Syrian army?"He said Assad responded: "I regard this positively."The Kremlin said Putin also talked on the phone with the leaders of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan ahead of the Friday session.Lavrov said in televised remarks that Moscow is eager to invite other countries from the region to the talks, especially Iran — another supporter of Assad.Although Lavrov said that Russia had agreed to meet with the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Turkey, he reiterated that Moscow "remained convinced" that a settlement of the Syrian crisis had no future without the involvement of Iran.In Berlin, Kerry said the U.S., Iran, Russia and Europe agree Syria should be united and that Syrians should choose their own future leadership, but "one thing stands in the way of being able to rapidly move to implement that and it's a person called Assad, Bashar Assad."Kerry spoke alongside German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who said that finding a road to a political solution "depends on whether Washington and Moscow find bridges to each other."During Thursday's visit to the Hemeimeem base near the coastal city of Latakia, reporters saw dozens of sorties from early morning until late at night. Su-24s, Su-25s and Su-34s took off for bombing raids against militant targets, while Su-30 fighter jets provided cover. A giant An-124 Ruslan cargo plane landed, and two Il-76 military transports could be seen on the tarmac.Security forces with assault rifles guarded key facilities, and armored personnel carriers were parked nearby. Rows of prefabricated houses for servicemen were flanked by neatly kept canteens serving fish soup, pasta, beef and other dishes.Defense Ministry spokesman Maj.- Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that in the past 24 hours, Russian planes made 53 sorties, hitting 72 targets — mostly weapons and ammunition depots and other infrastructure.Konashenkov rejected Western allegations that Russia has mostly targeted other groups opposing Assad instead of the Islamic State. He said Russian planes were striking weapons depots and facilities making preparations for attacks by rigging cars with bombs and making suicide belts of explosives."I don't understand how terrorists could be divided into good and bad ones," he told reporters.He also dismissed reports that Russian planes were hitting civilians as lies and "sheer nonsense." He said the warplanes are not striking populated areas and are only aiming at infrastructure such as depots and bunkers — but only after the targets are repeatedly verified using various intelligence sources.In conducting the air campaign, Putin's apparent goals are to help cement the Syrian government's grip on the territory it still controls and to show that Assad cannot be unseated by force. Russia also wants to foster political talks that could preserve the Syrian state and allow Moscow to protect its interests in the region.Another Putin goal has been to bring Moscow and Washington together for a security dialogue in which Russia is treated as an equal. The hope is that this would improve ties with the West and end Russia's isolation that resulted from the crisis in Ukraine.State-owned pollster VTsIOM on Thursday released its latest survey on Putin's approval rating, which it said had reached an all-time high of nearly 90 percent. VTsIOM, which in the past has reported higher approval ratings for Putin than independent agencies, said the survey of 1,600 people was conducted Saturday and Sunday, and had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.___Associated Press writers Nataliya Vasilyeva and Jim Heintz in Moscow, Geir Moulson and Matthew Lee in Berlin, and Vladimir Kondrashov at Hemeimeem Air Base in Syria contributed to this report.
Putin accuses West of playing 'double game' with Syria terrorist groups-AFP-oct 22,15-yahoonews
Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused the West of playing a "double game" with terrorist groups in Syria, where both Moscow and a US-led coalition are conducting separate bombing campaigns."It's always difficult to play a double game: declaring a fight against terrorists while simultaneously trying to use some of them to arrange the pieces on the Middle East chess board in one's own interests," Putin said at a meeting of political scientists in Sochi known as the Valdai Club."It is impossible to prevail over terrorism if some of the terrorists are being used as a battering ram to overthrow undesirable regimes," Putin said.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is set to meet US Secretary of State John Kerry, as well as their Turkish and Saudi counterparts, in Vienna on Friday for crucial talks on the Syrian conflict, a four-year war that has killed more 250,000 people and forced millions from their homes.The high-level meeting follows the surprise visit of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Moscow for talks with Putin on Tuesday, the embattled leader's first foreign visit since 2011.Russia -- which has pledged to support Damascus militarily, much to the West's dismay -- has insisted the air strikes it has conducted since September 30 in the war-torn country are hitting the Islamic State and other "terrorist" groups, and are being conducted at the Syrian leadership's request.But the US and its allies, who are conducting a separate bombing campaign in the country, say Moscow's strikes are aimed at Western-backed moderate rebels fighting Assad."There is no need to play on words, to classify terrorists are moderate and non-moderate," Putin said."What is the difference?" he said, suggesting that "in the opinion of some experts... so-called moderate bandits behead people moderately or gently."During his encounter with Assad, Putin called for a political solution involving all groups to try to end the war, the Kremlin said.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later declined to comment on whether Assad's future in Syria had been discussed during the encounter.Assad, who last visited Russia in 2008, told Putin that the three-week Russian bombing campaign had helped to stop the spread of "terrorism" in his country.- Destroyed 'combat capability' -While the Syrian leadership sang the praises of Moscow, the White House castigated Russia's intervention, calling it "counterproductive."Russia's defence ministry said Thursday it had struck 72 "terrorist" targets in Syria over the past 24 hours, claiming to have destroyed the combat capability of the main terrorist groups operating in the country."As a result of Russian air strikes, the main forces of terrorist groups, made up of the best trained terrorists, have lost combat capability. Their command and resupply system has been disrupted," senior military official Andrei Kartapolov told Russian news agencies.Kartapolov said the strikes -- which targeted the provinces of Hama, Idlib, Latakia, Damascus, Aleppo and Deir Ezzor -- had destroyed a bridge over the Euphrates River used for moving supplies to fighters from neighbouring Iraq.Putin said that strikes had given a "positive result" but added: "Is it enough to be able to say that terrorism in Syria is defeated? No, we need to make more serious efforts in order to make such a claim."He praised Russian pilots carrying out strikes as "all heroes," saying: "I am proud of them."Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denied Thursday an earlier report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that at least 12 people including medical staff were killed when Russian warplanes struck a field hospital in the northwestern province of Idlib.The Russian strikes are reported to have killed 370 people so far, a third of them civilians, the British monitoring group said Tuesday.Humanitarian organisations have deplored the effect of the bombing campaigns, with the International Committee of the Red Cross saying air strikes in Syria were disrupting the delivery of desperately needed aid to civilians.Since the start of Moscow's intervention, Russian planes have carried out 934 sorties that have destroyed 819 "terrorist targets", Kartopolov said.
Western trio seeks UN action on Syria barrel bombs-AFP By Carole Landry-oct 22,15-yahoonews
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Britain, France and Spain will soon present a draft resolution to the UN Security Council on stopping the Syrian regime from using barrel bombs, the French envoy said Thursday.But it remains highly unlikely that Russia, Syria's ally, would support such a measure, which comes amid fierce Western criticism of Moscow's air war in Syria.French Ambassador Francois Delattre told the 14-member council that barrel bombs were a "weapon of terror" that was fueling the exodus of refugees to neighboring countries and to Europe."It is the immediate responsibility of the Security Council to take measures to effectively end the use of this terrible weapon in Syria," said Delattre."France, acting with Britain and Spain, will soon make concrete proposals to its partners to this end."A diplomat told AFP that a draft resolution will be presented to the council "before the end of the month."Russia maintains it is working with the Syrian regime to defeat Islamic State jihadists, but the West accuses Moscow of targeting rebel groups supported by the West.In an indirect swipe at Russia, Delattre said "supporting Bashar al-Assad to push back the terrorists is a false solution that will only strengthen Daesh (IS) and prolong the tragedy."- Number one killer -Human rights groups say barrel bombings by the regime are the number one killer in the four-year war, claiming more civilian lives than IS attacks.In September alone, the Assad regime dropped 1,715 barrel bombs, hitting mosques, hospitals, schools and other civilian sites, US Ambassador Samantha Power said, citing the Syrian Network for Human Rights.Power said the Russian campaign had "worsened an already dire situation" and that the conflict "will not end until Syria is free of Assad."More than 240,000 people have died in the conflict, and nearly 12 million people -- half of the country's population -- have been driven from their homes.The council adopted a resolution in February 2014 demanding an end to the bombings that the West says are carried out by Damascus using helicopters to drop barrels rigged with explosives.But there has been no action to enforce the measure by the council, where veto-wielding Russia has in the past blocked resolutions targeting Assad.Human rights groups have called for a no fly-zone to prevent the helicopters from dropping the barrel bombs, but that remains a difficult prospect during the Russian air campaign.Russian President Vladimir Putin last month proposed a draft resolution on strengthening the fight against IS but with the consent of the Syrian regime, a measure rejected by France, Britain and the United States.After weeks of negotiations, diplomats said Russia had failed to garner the nine votes necessary to pass the text at the council, even without a veto threat from the Western powers.
US-led forces strike IS-controlled oil field in Syria-Associated Press By VIVIAN SALAMA-oct 22,15-yahoonews
BAGHDAD (AP) — U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq and Syria carried out a large-scale attack on Syria's Omar oil field as part of its mission to target the Islamic State group's ability to generate money, a coalition spokesman said Thursday.Operations officer Maj. Michael Filanowski told journalists in Baghdad that airstrikes late Wednesday struck IS-controlled oil refineries, command and control centers and transportation nodes in the Omar oil field near the town of Deir el-Zour. Coalition spokesman Col. Steven Warren said the attack hit 26 targets, making it one of the largest set of strikes since launching the air campaign last year.The refinery generates between $1.7 and $5.1 million per month for the Islamic State group."It was very specific targets that would result in long-term incapacitation of their ability to sell oil, to get it out of the ground and transport it," Filanowski said.The Islamic State group seized a number of oil refineries and other infrastructure in Iraq and Syria as it sought to generate revenue to build a self-sufficient state. The group currently holds territory in just under a third of Iraq and Syria, and coalition forces continue to launch airstrikes in support of allied ground forces in both countries.Coalition officials said that Iraqi security forces, backed by the paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces and Iraqi federal police, continue to work to recapture and clear the western city of Ramadi and the city of Beiji, home to Iraq's largest oil refinery. They were being supported by airstrikes.Iraqi forces said Tuesday that they had driven Islamic State militants out of Beiji and were in full control of the town. But coalition officials said Thursday that the mission has not been completed."Beiji city is contested," Filanowski said. "They control the road but then the next phase of the operation will be to clear the actual city."Filanowski added that much of the area is littered with booby traps, and the militants have staged a number of counterattacks on advancing Iraqi forces as they look to control the town. He said that between 400 and 600 IS fighters are believed to have been fighting in Beiji — far less than the estimated 600 to 1,000 fighters in battling in Ramadi.Meanwhile, a study released Thursday by IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Center said that from July through the end of September this year, the Islamic State group claimed a total of 1,086 attacks worldwide, with a 42 percent increase in the average daily number of attacks by the group.The IHS report highlighted Islamic State activity across the area that it has claimed as its territory, including Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, the North Caucasus and Algeria, in addition to the group's operational heartland in Iraq and Syria. The study considers an attack any act of aggression that causes casualties or disruption, including foiled attacks claimed by the militant group.The report also noted that while most of the attacks happened in Iraq and Syria, Islamic State attacks in Nigeria during the third quarter yielded a higher death toll than those recorded in Syria, and had the highest average fatalities per attack of any of the group's self-declared states.
U.N. council will examine details of Iran's missile test: Russia-Reuters By Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols-oct 22,15-yahoonews
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia's U.N. envoy on Thursday said the United Nations Security Council will examine the technical details of a ballistic missile test by Iran, which the United States and its European allies have said violated U.N. sanctions.The United States, Britain, France and Germany called on Wednesday for the council's Iran sanctions committee to take action over the launch, which they said involved a ballistic missile "inherently capable of delivering a nuclear weapon."Reporters asked Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin if Moscow believed it was a violation that would necessitate punitive steps by the committee."We need to be very careful about those things, we will look into technical details and then, of course, we need to take into account the political circumstances," Churkin said. "One has to be professional about it. It's not a sensational kind of issue."Iran said earlier this month that it tested a new precision-guided ballistic missile. It denies the missile was nuclear-capable.In an apparent reference to a Security Council resolution adopted in July that endorsed a nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers and called for future curbs on Iranian missile development, Churkin said it referred to missiles capable of delivering atomic warheads.But the United States, Britain, France and Germany said Iran violated a 2010 resolution that banned all ballistic missile tests by Iran.The resolution remains valid until the July 14 nuclear deal is fully implemented. The missile test was not a violation of the nuclear deal, U.S. officials have said.China's U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi was asked if Iran's test was a violation and if there should be further sanctions. He said the council was "looking at that."Western diplomats say it is possible for the sanctions committee to blacklist additional individuals or entities if it determined that the test breached the U.N. ban. They said, however, that Russia and China, which opposed the sanctions on Iran's missile program, might block any such moves. Under the July deal, sanctions on Iran would be lifted in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. Once in effect, Iran would still be "called upon" to refrain from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons for up to eight years.The deal allows for supply of ballistic missile technology to Tehran with Security Council approval, but Washington has pledged to veto any such requests. The deal was unlikely to be fully implemented before next year, U.S. and European officials have said.(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols; editing by Grant McCool)
U.S commando killed in raid to free hostages of ISIS in Iraq-Reuters By Phil Stewart and Isabel Coles-oct 22,15-yahoonews
WASHINGTON/ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - One member of a U.S. special operations force was killed during an overnight mission to rescue hostages held by Islamic State militants in northern Iraq, the first American to die in ground combat with the militant group, U.S. officials said on Thursday.Sixty-nine hostages were rescued in the action, which targeted an Islamic State prison around 7 kilometers north of the town of Hawija, according to the security council of the Kurdistan region, whose counterterrorism forces took part.Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said at a news briefing the operation did not mark a change in U.S. tactics in the war on Islamic State militants, who pose the biggest security threat to Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003."I would not suggest that this is something that is now going to happen on a regular basis, but I do think it is symbolic of the kinds of efforts that we are taking on behalf of our partners," he told reporters.It was the most significant raid against Islamic State since May, when American special operations forces killed one of its senior leaders, Abu Sayyaf from Tunisia, in a raid in Syria.The U.S. rescue mission unfolded amid mounting concerns in Washington over increasing Russian intervention in the Middle East.The hostages rescued in the raid were all Arabs, including local residents and Islamic State fighters held as suspected spies, a U.S. official said on Thursday.The official told Reuters that around 20 of the hostages were members of Iraqi security forces."Some of the remainder were Daesh (Islamic State) ... fighters that Daesh thought were spies," the official said. "The rest of them were citizens of the local town".More than 20 Islamic State militants were killed and six detained, the security council said.Islamic State called the operation "unsuccessful" but acknowledged casualties among its fighters.In a statement distributed online on Thursday by supporters, it said U.S. gunships had shelled areas around the prison to prevent the arrival of reinforcements, then clashed with militants for two hours.The statement confirmed U.S. claims that some guards had been killed and others detained in the operation."Dozens" of U.S. troops were involved in the mission, a U.S. defense official said, declining to be more specific about the number."It was a deliberately planned operation, but it was also done with the knowledge that imminent action was needed to save the lives of these people," the U.S. defense official said.The U.S. serviceman was shot during the mission and taken to the Kurdistan regional capital Erbil, where he died, the U.S. defense official said. He was the first American serviceman killed in ground combat in Iraq since the United States withdrew its forces in 2011.U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, said the possibility that Americans were among the hostages was not a consideration in carrying out the operation.Some of the rescued people said Islamic State militants had told them they would be executed after morning prayers, Warren said.The U.S. forces were acting as advisors then were sucked into the battle when Kurdish fighters came under heavy fire, he explained."They were pinned down and they were beginning to take casualties, so the Americans in the heat of battle made a decision," he said.Cook said he was not aware at this point that there were any Americans among those who were rescued. "My understanding is there was no indication there were specifically Americans present here."The understanding was that there were a number of hostages, although we were not sure exactly who was among that group, but that they had been held there for some time and again the information we had received ... was that those hostages did fear for their lives, that there was the threat of a mass execution perhaps within hours."He said the mission had been requested by the Kurdistan Regional Government.Sources in the Hawija area said they heard blasts and gunfire overnight and that Islamic State militants had withdrawn from view after the raid, apparently relocating their bases.Five U.S. helicopters launched from Erbil were involved in the mission, and the United States was providing helicopter lift, intelligence support, air strike support, and advisory support to the peshmerga, the U.S. defense official said.Air strikes were launched before and after the mission to block approaches to the prison and destroy it afterward, the U.S. defense official said.Hawija is a stronghold of Islamic State militants who have captured several dozen Kurdish peshmerga fighters in battle.Islamic State, also known as ISIS, has been for more than a year the target of daily air strikes in Iraq and Syria by a U.S.-led coalition.The United States' former Cold War foe Russia has been conducting airstrikes in Syria against opponents of its closest regional ally Bashar al-Assad, as Iraq questions American resolve to fight militants on its soil.Russia has also joined a Baghdad-based intelligence cell along with Iran, Iraq and Syria that has provided information on Islamic State targets.Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi faces intense pressure from the ruling coalition and powerful Shi'ite militias to request Russian air strikes on Islamic State, which controls a third of the major OPEC oil producer.(Additional reporting by Yeganeh Torbati and David Alexander in Washington and Stephen Kalin in Baghdad; Editing by Michael Georgy, Toni Reinhold)
Obama meets Pakistan's Sharif to stress nuclear worries, seek help on Taliban-Reuters By David Brunnstrom and Idrees Ali-oct 22,15-yahoonews
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama met Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday to stress concerns about Pakistan's expanding nuclear arsenal and seek help in bringing the Afghan Taliban back to peace talks.Washington has been trying to persuade Pakistan to make a unilateral declaration of "restraint" over its nuclear program but Pakistani officials said Islamabad will not accept limits on its use of small tactical nuclear weapons, given the threat it sees as posed by India.A joint statement after the White House meeting referred to nuclear security and said both leaders had stressed the need for "all sides" to act with restraint and work towards strategic stability in South Asia.It also said Obama and Sharif expressed their commitment to advance the Afghan peace and reconciliation process and called on Taliban leaders to enter direct talks with Kabul, which have stalled since inaugural discussions in Pakistan in July.Those talks broke down after the Afghan intelligence agency said Taliban leader Mullah Omar had been dead for two years.“It's a setback, no doubt, and it will take some time to overcome this setback, but we will try again," Sharif told reporters after his meeting with Obama.The Taliban insurgency has escalated since tens of thousands of U.S.-led NATO combat troops withdrew from Afghanistan ahead of an end-2014 deadline, hampering Obama's efforts to withdraw remaining U.S. troops.Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center think tank said that as well as seeking Pakistan's help on the talks, Obama would have stressed the need for it to do away with militant sanctuaries inside its borders used as bases from which to target the U.S.-backed Afghan government and U.S. forces."Obama knows that a political solution is needed to end the Afghan war, and for that you need help from the Pakistanis," he said.However, Bruce Riedel of the Brookings Institution said it was not clear Sharif had the clout with his own army to get military leaders to pressure the Taliban back into talks.Despite the tensions, the Obama administration is preparing to sell Islamabad eight F-16 fighter jets in a bid to bolster ties, a U.S. source familiar with the matter said.The joint statement made no mention of the sale, which Congress could block, but said Sharif "expressed satisfaction with the cooperation achieved in defense relations."U.S. concerns have been growing about Pakistan's nuclear arsenal amid a fresh round of tensions between Islamabad and India, Pakistan's nuclear-armed rival and neighbor.Pakistan argues that smaller tactical nuclear weapons are needed to deter a sudden attack by India, but Washington worries they may further destabilize an already volatile region as their smaller size makes them more tempting to use in a conventional war - and harder to prevent from falling into militant hands.The statement said the two leaders discussed the continuing threat of nuclear terrorism and stressed the importance of improvement in Pakistan-India relations."All sides should continuously act with maximum restraint and work jointly toward strengthening strategic stability in South Asia," it said.Pakistani officials say Washington is demanding unreasonable limits on its nuclear weapons while not offering much in return apart from a hazy promise to consider Pakistan as a recognized recipient of nuclear technology.The Federation of American Scientists said this week that since 2011, Pakistan has deployed two new nuclear-capable short- range ballistic missiles and a new medium-range ballistic missile and was developing two extended-range nuclear-capable ballistic missiles and two nuclear-capable cruise missiles.It estimated Pakistan's stockpile had grown to 110 to 130 warheads from 90 to 110 in 2011 and could reach 220 to 250 by 2025, making it the world’s fifth-largest nuclear-weapons state.(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Additional reporting by Julia Edwards, Roberta Rampton, Idrees Ali and Andrea Shalal; Editing by James Dalgleish)
OSCE warns of implications for media pluralism in Georgia-Reuters By Margarita Antidze-oct 22,15-yahoonews
TBILISI (Reuters) - The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) voiced concern on Thursday over an ownership dispute involving Georgia's biggest independent TV company, Rustavi 2, and said it could harm media freedom.Hundreds of viewers and supporters of Rustavi 2 rallied outside the Tbilisi city court building and the broadcaster's studio building in a gesture of support.A court in Tbilisi earlier this month ordered a seizure of shares in the company that owns Rustavi 2, which government officials have often accused of bias, until a final verdict on the ownership dispute.Former co-owner Kibar Khalvashi is seeking to claim back his shares in the broadcaster, one of the most popular in the former Soviet republic.The court ordered a freeze on Rustavi 2's property in August. Its managers say Khalvashi's lawsuit and the court's decisions were politically motivated and accused the government of being behind Khalvashi's bid."According to reports, Rustavi 2 is experiencing significant financial and logistical constraints, effectively limiting its capacity to operate freely," Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE representative on freedom of the media, said in a statement."If not lifted soon, the court order will entail serious restrictions on the diversity and plurality of the media in the country."She said the situation was especially worrisome as a parliamentary election in Georgia is scheduled for next year."Democracy requires that people have access to diverse sources of information," Mijatović said.Hearings on the case will resume on Monday.Opposition politicians and many independent experts say the process is an attempt to silence an independent media in the country of 3.7 million. Government officials deny any involvement in this case."My government fully supports a pluralistic media environment...I am saddened to witness the recent attempts to politicize the legal dispute between two private parties regarding the ownership of Rustavi 2," Georgian Prime Minister Irakly Garibashvili said on Thursday.(Editing by Angus MacSwan)
DISEASES
REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
Iraq set for cholera vaccine campaign amid fear of international spread: WHO-AFP By Nina Larson-oct 22,15-yahoonews
Geneva (AFP) - Iraq plans to hold a mass vaccination campaign to halt a cholera outbreak that has infected more than 1,800 people amid fears it could spread among refugees in the region and beyond, the World Health Organization said Thursday."We are going to start a vaccination campaign to try to prevent a further spread of the disease," Dominique Legros, head of WHO's cholera unit, told reporters.He said a half million doses of the oral cholera vaccine -- enough to treat some 250,000 people -- were being shipped to Iraq and "should arrive today or tomorrow," with the immunisation campaign set to get underway by October 31.Iraq has confirmed 1,811 cases of the acute diarrhoeal disease since early September across 15 of the country's 18 governorates, including most recently in the northern autonomous Kurdish region.The arrival of cholera in the northern Kurdish region is particularly concerning due to the large numbers of Syrian refugees there, Legros said, pointing out that conditions in refugee camps are particularly conducive to the spread of the disease.According to Iraqi authorities, the disease has killed six people so far, including four in the Abu Ghraib region at the very beginning of the outbreak, before health authorities had set up a response plan."The case management is well carried out, (and) cases are declining," Legros said, adding that the situation in Iraq seemed to be "under control".The big concern now, Legros said, was "a spread towards the Middle East, towards Syria and refugee camps."- Spread to Europe? -Already a few cases have popped up in Kuwait and Bahrain, but the situations there are under control.He said other countries in the region had been alerted to the danger, and acknowledged that those infected risked bringing cholera with them to Europe.Cases of cholera are imported to Europe each year, but since sanitation conditions on the continent tend to be good, there is usually no risk of the disease spreading.Legros acknowledged though that the large numbers of refugees and migrants moving through Europe and stuck at borders with rudimentary shelter ran a greater risk."Whether you put a refugee camp in Europe or in Nigeria or in Syria, the problem remains the same," he said, pointing out that if people "don't have access to safe water and someone contaminates the water and someone else drinks it, they get cholera."Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by eating contaminated food or water, with children facing a particularly high risk of infection. It can kill in a matter of hours due to rapid dehydration.Legros said the Iraqi vaccination campaign would focus on the refugee camps in the north and camps for displaced Iraqis in the south.The vaccine used to fight cholera epidemics is scarce and can only be used in rare cases to urgently stop the spread of the disease.Last year the sole producer of the vaccine, Indian firm Shantha Biotechnics, made just two million doses -- enough to protect one million people.WHO estimates that around 40 million people in Africa alone live in areas where they are exposed to cholera.
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)
Major drug tunnel found on US-Mexico border in California-Associated Press By ELLIOT SPAGAT-oct 22,15-yahoonews
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Authorities seized 12 tons of marijuana and arrested 22 people after discovering one of the longest cross-border tunnels ever dug between the U.S. and Mexico, officials said Thursday.The passage connecting warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, was about 2,400 feet long and 30 feet deep. It was lit, ventilated and equipped with a rail system — hallmarks of the most sophisticated tunnels found along the border.Near-simultaneous police stings on Wednesday resulted in six arrests in San Diego and 16 in Mexico. Authorities recovered two tons of marijuana in the U.S. and 10 tons in Mexico.U.S. authorities said smugglers tried to move the first load of drugs through the tunnel on Wednesday but nothing got through undetected.The sting came after an undercover agent for U.S. Homeland Security Investigations agreed to provide the drug smugglers with drivers and the use of the San Diego warehouse in exchange for a $10,000 payment for each truckload of drugs that moved, according to a probable cause statement.The discovery demonstrates the enduring appeal of tunnels to smugglers, despite the significant time and money required to build one. Dozens of tunnels have been found along the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years, some equipped with hydraulic lifts and electric rail cars.The San Diego-Tijuana region is popular because its clay-like soil is relatively easy to dig with shovels and pneumatic tools, and both sides of the border have warehouses that provide cover for trucks and heavy equipment.It was unclear which drug trafficking organization orchestrated the latest passage but the region is largely controlled by Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, whose leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman escaped from a maximum-security prison in Mexico in July through an elaborate tunnel.Mexican federal police said in a press release that those arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking told authorities that they had ties to a criminal group that operates in the state of Jalisco — an apparent reference to the Jalisco New Generation cartel, which controls that part of western Mexico.The Mexican suspects were caught off-guard when authorities arrived at the Tijuana warehouse with a search warrant, police said. No shots were fired.The drugs found were wrapped in 873 packages covered with plastic and tape.On the U.S. side, the tunnel entry point in a warehouse had no stairs or ladder. U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said smugglers were believed to be using pulleys.David Shaw, head of Homeland Security Investigations in San Diego, said traffic to and from the San Diego warehouse was unusually heavy before the sting. The agency began investigating in May, he said.Isaias Enriquez, 53, and Isidro Silva, 27, both of Tijuana, were charged with conspiracy in U.S. federal court. Four others were to be charged in state court.Enriquez agreed in recorded conversations to pay the undercover agent $10,000 a truckload to provide the San Diego warehouse and drivers, according to the statement of probable cause.Two agents unloaded boxes containing 249 packages of marijuana at the warehouse on Wednesday, and one met later with Enriquez and Silva at a San Diego restaurant to arrange another shipment, the document said.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS ETC) and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
Patricia grows into major hurricane threatening Mexico-AFP By Jennifer Gonzalez Covarrubias-oct 22,15-yahoonews
The US National Hurricane Center said "preparations should be rushed to completion" as Patricia increased ominously from a category two to a category four storm in the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale.Packing maximum sustained winds of 215 kilometers (130 miles) per hour, the hurricane was expected to strike the coast on Friday afternoon or evening, the Miami-based center said."Some strengthening is forecast tonight and Patricia is expected to remain an extremely dangerous hurricane through landfall," it said in a statement. Emergency services personnel were being moved from other states to the threatened region, said Mexico's National Water Commission director Roberto de la Parra."It is moving much faster than hurricanes we have had in the past," de la Parra told a news conference.Mexican officials closed schools in Colima and Guerrero state.Two dams in Jalisco and Michoacan were being drained to prevent flooding while residents were advised to protect their windows with large tape in the form of a cross.The Jalisco state government urged the coastal population to avoid the coast.The region includes the major port of Manzanillo, Colima state, and the tourist resort of Puerto Vallarta in Jalisco.At 2100 GMT, Patricia was 400 kilometers south of Manzanillo, according to the US hurricane center.The storm was moving west-northwest at 20 kilometers per hour.Patricia is expected to produce six to 12 inches (15 to 30 centimeters) of rainfall accumulations over the states of Jalisco, Colima, Michoacan and Guerrero, which could produce flash floods and mudslides, the US center said.The storm surge could also produce coastal flooding, accompanied by "large and destructive waves," it warned.The water commission warned that rivers could rise and roads could be affected by the bad weather.-- Wind force causes concern -Mexico's interior ministry activated its emergency response committee to coordinate the response.Officials said nearly 1,800 shelters for 259,000 are available, but no evacuations have been ordered so far."The amount of water and the strength of the wind worry us," national civil protection coordinator Luis Felipe Puente told a news conference.Jalisco, Michoacan, Colima and Nayarit are expected to get the equivalent of 40 percent of their annual rainfall in the next 48 hours, the water commission said.Mexico faces the double threat of Atlantic and Pacific tropical storms during the hurricane season, which ends November 30.In 2013, twin storms Ingrid and Manuel nearly simultaneously struck each coast, leaving 157 people dead in a rare double onslaught.
First century BCE Greek inscription from Jerusalem's Temple Mount
forbidding the entry of Gentiles to the Temple precinct, reading “..no
foreigner shall enter…” (© The Israel Museum, Jerusalem)