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)
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)
THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.
Fish fall from sky with rain in northern Mexico-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-September 27, 2017
MEXICO CITY — Civil defence officials in northeast Mexico say a light rain was accompanied by small fish that fell from the sky.Tamaulipas civil defence says in a brief statement that rain Tuesday in the coastal city of Tampico included fish. Photos posted on the agency's Facebook page show four small fish in a bag and another on a sidewalk.According the U.S. Library of Congress, it's a phenomenon that has been reported since ancient times. Scientists believe that tornadoes over water — known as waterspouts — could be responsible for sucking fish into the air where they are blown around until being released to the ground.The Associated Press.
Quake and storm leave ruinous human, economic toll for Mexico-Agence France-Presse-YAHOONEWS-September 27, 2017
Mexico City (AFP) - A pair of devastating earthquakes and Tropical Storm Lidia in Mexico killed more than 400 people and toppled 150,000 houses and other buildings and structures, authorities said Wednesday.The damage included almost 12,000 ruined schools to the tune of 717 million dollars. And that was in addition to 1,500 national monument structures worth about $440 million dollars. All three disasters hit in September."The raw, preliminary numbers cross over from homes, to monuments, to thousands of schools that have to be completely rebuilt," President Enrique Pena Nieto told reporters after a meeting of his cabinet and local officials.In early September, Tropical Storm Lidia killed at least seven people in Baja California Sur, in northwestern Mexico.And on September 7, an 8.2 earthquake shook the nation and killed about 100 people mostly in the southern state of Oaxaca.Then on September 19 -- the 32nd anniversary of a huge 1985 quake that killed 10,000 people -- another 7.1 quake rocked the country. So far, 337 people have been killed, mostly in Mexico City.
U.S. Navy to deploy hospital ship Comfort to hurricane-battered Puerto Rico-[Reuters]-By Idrees Ali-YAHOONEWS-September 27, 2017
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy, under mounting public pressure instigated by Hillary Clinton, plans to send the hospital ship USNS Comfort on Friday to the hurricane-battered island of Puerto Rico, the vessel's first civilian disaster mission in seven years.The Comfort, equipped to carry as many as 1,000 hospital beds, 12 operating rooms and one of America's largest trauma units, is due to arrive in Puerto Rico by the middle of next week, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.The vessel's departure date was announced a week after Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico and three days after Clinton, the former Democratic presidential nominee, urged Republican U.S. President Donald Trump in a Twitter message to deploy the ship.Trump and Defense Secretary James Mattis "should send the Navy, including the USNS Comfort, to Puerto Rico now. These are American citizens," Clinton, who served as secretary of state under Trump's predecessor, Democrat Barack Obama, tweeted on Sunday.Some political pundits, as well as frustrated residents of the storm-ravaged U.S. territory, have accused the Trump administration of being slower to mobilize aid to Puerto Rico than it would be if it were addressing a disaster on the U.S. mainland.Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello has strongly praised Trump for his performance in the storm's aftermath.Still, critics of Trump's Puerto Rico response seized on the Clinton tweet, launching a petition drive via the website Change.org that drew some 260,000 supporters for deployment of the hospital ship and igniting a #SendtheComfort social media campaign.The Pentagon did not explain why Navy hospital ship was not dispatched sooner or say whether Clinton's admonition was a factor.But a Defense Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Comfort was not deployed before because the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), which is overseeing disaster relief on the island, had not requested it.The hospital ship will depart on Friday from its home port in Norfolk, Virginia, the Pentagon said. It takes up to four days to load and prepare the vessel.Asked why the Comfort was not prepositioned in case of a deployment request, the official said weather conditions in the Caribbean just before and after the storm would have made it difficult.Maria, the most powerful hurricane to strike Puerto Rico in nearly a century, cut a swath of destruction across the island last Wednesday with roof-ripping winds, torrential rains and pounding surf.The storm claimed at least 16 lives on the island, knocked out the territory's entire power grid, unleashed severe flooding and caused widespread heavy damage to homes and infrastructure. Rossello called it an unprecedented disaster for the island.Medical facilities were especially hard hit, many left wind-damaged, flooded and short-staffed. A majority of the island's 69 hospitals were without electricity or fuel to run backup generators, according to a Defense Department assessment.The 890-foot (270-meter) Comfort, originally designed to treat wounded U.S. combat personnel, has taken on a secondary mission as a major asset for the Navy to deploy in response to natural disasters.Its last civilian relief assignment was in Haiti following a devastating earthquake there in January 2010. The Comfort also was dispatched to the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and was sent on extended goodwill humanitarian missions through Latin America and the Caribbean in 2007 and 2011.The ship typically anchors offshore and takes aboard patients ferried to the vessel by helicopter or small boats.The Comfort will not be the only Navy ship sent to Puerto Rico. Two amphibious ships were previously deployed there - the USS Kearsarge and the USS Oak Hill.(Reporting by Idrees Ali in Washington; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Lisa Shumaker & Simon Cameron-Moore)
Cost of climate disasters to reach half of US growth in a decade: report-Agence France-Presse-YAHOONEWS-September 27, 2017
Washington (AFP) - Economic losses from severe storms, hurricanes, floods, drought and wildfires are projected to reach at least $360 billion a year in the next decade in America, about half of annual US growth, according to a report out Wednesday.Since some kinds of severe weather can be made worse or more frequent by climate change, action is needed to move the United States away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy, says the report by the Universal Ecological Fund, a non-governmental group based in Washington."Burning fossil fuels comes at a giant price tag which the US economy cannot afford and cannot sustain," said co-author Robert Watson, former chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the leading scientific body on climate change.The report looked at two kinds of costs -- economic losses caused by extreme weather events influenced by human-induced climate change, and health costs due to air pollution exposure caused by fossil fuel energy production.Currently, these costs total about $240 billion for 2017 -- not including disasters in August and September, including Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, it found."These annual average economic losses and health costs equal about forty percent of the current growth of the US economy," said the report, entitled "The Economic Case for Climate Action in the United States.""In the next decade, these economic losses and health costs are projected to reach at least $360 billion annually, equal to an estimated 55 percent of the US growth," it added."These escalating costs are due to the continued use of fossil fuels triggering the climate to continue to change."The study authors describe the report as a "partial assessment of the economic losses and costs of human-induced climate change and fossil fuel use on the United States economy," using government data.Its figures do not include climate-related economic losses in the agricultural sector, or costs associated with heat stress on humans, it said."We can expect extreme weather events and economic losses and costs associated with them to continue increasing unless we make dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions," said co-author James McCarthy, professor of oceanography at Harvard University.The report found that 80 percent of the energy produced and used in the United States comes from fossil fuels.McCarthy said President Donald Trump's administration's aim to "maximize the use of America's fossil fuels ?- coal, oil and natural gas ?- as well as to cut energy industry regulations... is taking us in the opposite direction."
EU leaders to debate Macron's grand plan-[AFP]-Alex PIGMAN-YAHOONEWS-September 27, 2017
Tallinn (AFP) - EU leaders will meet over dinner in Estonia on Thursday for a frank debate on the future of Europe, featuring first impressions of French President Emmanuel Macron's new vision for the bloc.Most of the European Union 28's leaders are coming to Tallinn, including British Prime Minister Theresa May, although Brexit negotiations are not expected to be on the menu.The discussion on the EU's future will take place over an informal supper Thursday with a second day on Friday devoted to digital issues, a priority for tiny Estonia, which holds the bloc's six-month rotating presidency.In a major speech in Paris on Tuesday, the 39-year old Macron called on his EU partners to recommit themselves to a stalled European project shackled by Brexit, the rise of populism and the migrant crisis.His speech came days after German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the EU's most powerful leader, won a fourth term in a vote which nevertheless saw historic inroads by the country's hard-right.Merkel and Macron will meet face to face on Thursday ahead of the summit, the French presidency said.With media in Tallinn kept at bay, the European leaders will be given an open forum for a "frank and informal" discussion, without any agenda, EU President Donald Tusk said in a letter inviting them to the meeting.The young French president will be the first to take the floor, which will then spark the discussion by the leaders, EU officials said.- 'Meaningful discussion' -"Clearly the ingredients for a meaningful discussion are there," said Margaritis Schinas, spokesman for European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.Juncker himself set out his own vision for a more deeply integrated European project in his annual State of the Union speech earlier this month, which shared many of the same themes as Macron's EU vision.The discussions will be held over a three-hour dinner at the Kadriorg Palace in Tallinn, Estonia, a former summer palace for the Russian Tsars that is now a national museum.Spain's Mariano Rajoy is expected to be the only major no-show due to the crisis over the independence referendum planned in Catalonia at the weekend.Macron's proposals for a post-Brexit shake-up of the EU include a finance minister, budget and parliament for the 19-member eurozone, as well as an EU-wide "rapid reaction force" to work with national armies.Merkel, who is now seeking new allies to rebuild a ruling coalition in Germany, on Wednesday welcomed the "European passion" in Macron's idea but said it was too soon to judge his concrete proposals.Germany has widely been seen as trying to get Macron to ease back on his most radical ideas.Macron also included a new type of tax on technology giants like Facebook and Apple -- based on how much value they create in a country rather than their profits -- a proposal that the leaders will discuss on Friday.- Too soon -Estonia bills itself as the avant-garde of the digital revolution and originally called the talks to help bring the rest of the bloc up to speed.However, the uncertain German vote, Macron's speech and the stalled divorce talks with Britain are foremost in European minds.May meets her EU counterparts as British and EU officials close a fourth round of negotiations in Brussels.Tusk, who coordinates EU summits, on Tuesday said divorce negotiations were still falling short and it would be too early at Tallinn to launch talks on future ties between Britain and the EU, a big demand by London.The talks in Tallinn follow other EU summits on the bloc's future in Bratislava, Malta and Rome which were all held without Britain.At the Rome summit in March, the EU's 27 remaining leaders renewed their vows, celebrating the troubled bloc's 60th anniversary with a commitment to a common future.
Opinion-West needs to get real on Ukraine By Roman Sohn and Ariana Gic-EUOBSERVER
KIEV and TORONTO, 27. Sep, 09:29-Ever since the EuroMaidan revolution in 2014, Ukraine's governments have been under close scrutiny to meet the expectations of the supporters of a pro-European, liberal, and democratic model.The expectations that Ukraine becomes a utopia set a very high bar to meet. The bar is so high, in fact, that it could not possibly be met even by wealthy western nations that have enjoyed peace and stability.Expecting the impossible meant that criticism of Ukraine's 'failure' to swiftly undertake sweeping social change was inevitable. In recent months, a mounting wave of criticism of the Ukrainian government has flooded the media in Ukraine and abroad.Unfortunately, these criticisms are often unreasonable, ignoring the reality of what can be achieved under even ideal circumstances, the vast difficulties of conducting reforms, the time required for meaningful institutional change to occur, and the challenge of reform during war time.Remarkably, Ukraine is expected to pursue its utopian programme at the same time as it is trying to defend itself against Russia's unprovoked, multi-vectored war.It is a war which includes a massive information assault to discredit the Ukrainian state, unrestrained hate propaganda to dehumanise Ukrainians, unprecedented economic pressure, political subversion, intimidation of Ukrainian citizens by kidnappings, unlawful prosecution, terrorist attacks, and military invasion on its territory.It is a war waged by a nuclear state whose population, economy, resources, and military force are several times larger than Ukraine's, and a war waged by a country which is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council with the power to manipulate the global agenda.Defending against an enemy like Russia is a gargantuan and all-consuming task on its own.-First, win the war-It is hard to imagine that any country in Ukraine's position would focus on anything other than the crucial goal of winning the war. Given the gross political, economic, and social instability Russia's war creates, it would be prudent to focus on fighting the enemy before pursuing the significant task of comprehensive reforms.This sentiment is shared by many in Ukraine. Ukraine's former president Viktor Yushchenko famously said that there are just three reforms that the post-EuroMaidan government has to prioritise: first - win the war, second - win the war, and third - win the war.It is arguably rational and imperative to mobilise all resources - political, economic, social - to win the war before turning attention to reforms. Reforms - even essential and beneficial ones - divert and scatter a country's resources, and have an unintended ripple effect of causing their own chaos and unrest.The turmoil resulting from the combination of war and fundamental reform imposes tremendous pressure on the country. It is not surprising that the two matters which top Ukrainian social polls as the main causes of everyday stress are Russia's ongoing war, and socio-economic instability.No matter how laudable the goals, a multitude of big reforms introduced in rapid succession within tight time restraints does not contribute to stability.In addition to concerns of maintaining societal stability during the period of reform, it is also essential to build long-lasting institutional change. For this to successfully occur, reforms must be carefully considered, crafted, and implemented.None of this can be achieved at the wave of a magic wand, and there is no ideal blueprint for Ukraine to emulate in order to become an overnight success story. It would be tragic to force fast change at a high cost to society only to see it unravel quickly, and discredit the country's pro-Western political course.Massive rapid changes also risk government instability. Exposing the government to political attacks regarding its social policies seems like a very risky proposition at a time of war - there are simply no reforms that make everyone happy, and populists and opportunists know that better than anyone.The ensuing social and political chaos undermines national unity - a vital factor in bringing about military victory.Unfortunately, Ukraine is under such immense pressure from well-meaning Western nations to put reform ahead of its right to defend against invasion, that reform efforts have come to dominate the government's agenda.This has also been harshly demanded by Ukraine's active civil society, which is hungry for changes after a heavy push-back on reforms by the pro-Russian government of former run-away president Viktor Yanukovych.-Win the war by reform-Reforms in exchange for a supportive Western alliance against Russia's invasion appears to have become the informal understanding forged between the West and Ukraine's political class.The "win the war by reform" approach is a comfortable position for the West. It takes pressure off Western governments to deal directly with the aggressive dictatorial regime in the Kremlin, and instead shifts the focus to demanding reforms from Ukraine - something which does not carry political or security risks to the West.It is often repeated that pursuing the course of "winning the war by reforming the country" will strengthen Ukrainian state institutions, including the army.It is argued that a well-functioning liberal democracy with limited corruption will be more resilient to Russian aggression, and that a more successful Ukraine will win the hearts and minds of the people in Ukraine's occupied territories, leading to protests that would undermine Russia's control and force Moscow to give up the occupied land.Yet the "win the war by reform" mantra collapses under the weight of the uncomfortable truth of reality: solid "non-corrupt" institutions of liberal Western democracies do not appear to be more capable of fending off Russian attacks any better than their "unreformed" Ukrainian counterparts.Western countries are also struggling with Russia's aggressive foreign policy. Russia is suspected of committing several serious cyber attacks, and meddling in the elections of a number of countries (most notably the United States).In pursuing its foreign agenda, Russia interferes in the domestic political processes of Western nations, corrupts Western political elites, institutions, businesses, media, and international organisations - including the UN.Though obvious, the hardships Ukraine's government encounters in pursuing reforms because of the war are largely ignored.Some critics go as far as trivialising the monumental challenge Ukraine's government is facing, saying that the ongoing war with Russia is nothing but an excuse to slow down or avoid reforms.Some even shamefully claim that the war is in the interest of Ukraine's elites. It seems not to matter to those commentators that their indefensible position perfectly aligns with the narrative of Kremlin propaganda, which seeks to weaken international support for Ukraine.-The challenges of reform-The hardships of war aside, what is also ignored by many is that Ukraine is not building its institutions from scratch, and that there are very few low-hanging fruit reforms left to pluck.Ukraine faces the complexity of overhauling systems which have been in place for a long time, as well as the challenge of balancing the interests of various social groups and stakeholders in creating a clear democratic mandate for change.One cannot expect a quick fix, or overnight reforms that provide immediate results. Big reforms need time to take root. Even in established and stable Western democracies, grand-scale reforms can take many years to design and implement.Many Ukrainians and westerners also appear to be (inexplicably) oblivious to the fact that just because an NGO has lobbied for a reform does not mean it should be put on the priority list of a national agenda.Lobbyists of laws and reforms should focus their efforts on social advocacy to popularise their ideas with Ukrainian citizens, not just on winning over Western institutions to strong-arm the national government into pursuing their causes by default.It should be an uncontroversial fact that a demand from an unaccountable group should not be forced upon any government. Ukraine's government should have a healthy attitude to this pressure, and be very cautious about pursuing especially large sectoral reforms without clear validation from the people.For their part, Western institutions need to remember that the models they insist Ukraine adopt - in exchange for aid and loans - are not necessarily ideal, nor the final word on how Ukraine can pursue change.New Zealand's former finance minister, Ruth Richardson, known for her reformist free-market policies, illustrated this point handsomely on her visit to Kiev in 2016, cautioning that Ukraine should not model policies after the EU, as they do not all seem to bring positive economic results.Ukraine's elites and civil society would be wise to understand this.Otherwise, by relying too heavily on foreign direction and assistance to run the country, Ukraine could risk finding itself in the unintended position of becoming a client state. Persisting in this is a self-defeating strategy. To get ahead, Ukraine should not repeat or emulate, but innovate and lead.All that glitters is not gold-Indeed, not everything that looks good on paper will eventually produce the expected results.A hotly contested matter of creating a separate system of anti-corruption courts in Ukraine could serve as an example. Despite the good intentions and commendable goal behind creating such a system, research into the subject proves evidence is too scarce to make an assessment about anti-corruption courts' effectiveness.Opposing such a system or offering a different approach is not an act of supporting corruption either, as is alleged by some anti-corruption groups lobbying for the law. It is a matter of vision on how to deal with corruption.What has been entirely lost sight of is that there is no one set of clear best practices. Every solution, every reform, has its advantages and disadvantages, and it should be up to the Ukrainian people to adopt the balance they find acceptable.No democratically unaccountable group - be it an oligarchic clan or reformist NGO - should have a monopoly over "true" reforms in Ukraine, nor should it set the country's reform agenda.-A clear lens-There needs to be a sober look at the current situation in the country. On the one hand, the post-EuroMaidan governments have implemented reforms unprecedented in scope and number.On the other hand, as many social polls indicate, the majority of Ukrainians do not feel their country is moving in the right direction.While Ukraine's active civil society insists on more radical reforms, the majority of the population has difficulty dealing with the pace of reforms as it is - ordinary citizens are more concerned with social instability and uncertainty resulting from reforms.This creates a conundrum: the government pursues reforms that civil society and Western donors push for, but those very reforms erode support for a reformist government.It is hard to expect people to approve much-needed reforms that shift the financial burden from the government to the people. But these are the kind of changes often preferred by international financial institutions, providing loans and grants to Ukraine's government.A good example is the implementation of market prices for energy, which Ukraine's economy was in a dire need of. However, since Ukrainians felt this reform in their wallets quite acutely, energy reform has become one of the biggest points of criticism by ordinary Ukrainians of the post-EuroMaidan governments.Reforms that shake the foundations of established systems or hit people's wallets hard do not make one friends.People's perception of reforms translates into political risk. Political opponents, in particular raging Ukrainian populists like former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, exploit the resulting dissatisfaction to attack the government.This is why Western institutions should be cautious about promoting favourites in Ukrainian political games, where even 'independent' civil society groups are often highly politically engaged and partial.Such games are bound to backfire. As most social polls indicate, it will not be the pro-Western liberals or driven civil society activists, but corrupt populists, who will reap the electoral benefits from attacks on the government.-Objectivity of criticism-To be clear, the Ukrainian government is not above reproach. It does not deserve a free pass. It is undeniable that Ukraine's government at all levels makes missteps, and predictably, the whole system resists changes that undermine corrupt schemes serving to unjustly enrich politicians at the expense of Ukraine's citizens.Ukrainians deserve a well functioning state that respects the rule of law. But this will not happen overnight, and for every step forward, there will be steps back. Unfortunately, the path to reform is not a direct line, but an unpredictable zigzag.Observers should be realistic and reasonable about the challenges of reforming core mechanisms of Ukraine's social and political machinery.Reforms are not just a matter of political will, but also a matter of democratic mandate from society and the availability of financial and human resources. Considering the economic recession caused by Russia's war, even financing reforms present a substantial challenge for Ukraine's government.Emotional and knee-jerk anti-government criticism does no good, and serves to undermine the legitimacy of the Ukrainian state. The process of nation re-building, and fundamental reform is challenging. Criticism should be responsible, not reckless.The impact of reforms on society cannot go ignored. Not only should expectations about the progress of adoption of reforms correspond with reality, but Ukraine should be allowed to pursue reforms at a reasonable manner and pace.Society needs time to understand, process, accept, and grow accustomed to major reforms. That is why it is important for criticism to be accurate, fact-based, and grounded in reality.The hypocrisy of critics who are now riding the wave of hysteria they created is without ethical boundaries.It is wise to remember that not all who march under the banners of "de-oligarchisation" or "anti-corruption" actually intend to achieve such goals. The recent history of Ukraine teaches this lesson unambiguously.Carrying the flag is not equal to bearing its values. Sometimes, it is just a cover, as it is for those paid or funded by oligarchs who pretend to fight oligarchy and corruption.Criticism coming from politically biased groups should not be accepted without reservations.The West should not allow itself to be dragged into agendas advancing the interests of politically self-interested parties at the expense of stability in the country.The massively destabilising impact Russia's war has on the country cannot be ignored. The West can help Ukraine by fully acknowledging the truth about Russia's war and putting democratic values above shortsighted business interests in dealing with Putin's Russia.Generations of Ukrainians suffered too much to win their independence, and forsaking their fight for freedom and sovereignty is unforgivable.The fact is, reforms in Ukraine are underway. Despite many doomsday predictions about Ukraine's downward trajectory, external indicators of success are apparent.On 18 September, for the first time in five years, the Ukrainian government sold its bonds on the international market, where it raised $3 billion. The bond issue was oversubscribed by more than a factor of three.The 15-year dollar placement indicates international investors have confidence in Ukraine. Commentators and western allies should take note.Critics should also be reminded that reforms do not just happen, nor are they implemented by outspoken civil society lobbyists. Reforms are conducted by the government that takes action and carries the burden of political responsibility.However, according to some vocal critics, Ukraine's government only blocks and subverts reforms. Ukrainians and Western friends of Ukraine should be wary of such criticism, as it ignores the reality of government implementation of reforms. Criticism should be honest.-Get real about Ukraine-It is time for the West to get real about Ukraine.The progress of reforms needs to be acknowledged, and praised where deserved, especially as Ukraine pursues some impressive innovations regarding government transparency in public procurement, asset declarations, and access to public information, to name but a few.If positive changes are not acknowledged, the loud criticism by populists will drown out and devalue all reformist efforts.Ukraine is expected to pursue reforms ahead of defending its sovereignty. Under these circumstances, the least the West can do is manage its expectations of those reforms, helping Ukraine ensure it can walk its path towards a thriving democracy free from Russia's oppression.Roman Sohn is a civil society activist and a columnist for Ukrainska Pravda, an investigative website. Ariana Gic is a political analyst in Canada who is focused on Ukraine and who contributes to VOX Ukraine, a think tank in Kiev.
OZONE DEPLETION JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH DUE TO SIN
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold,(7X OR 7-DEGREES HOTTER) as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people,(ISRAEL) and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened,(DAY LIGHT HOURS SHORTENED) there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake (ISRAELS SAKE) those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)(THE ASTEROID HITS EARTH HERE)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
Liberals take the heat as temperatures in Windsor classrooms hit 30 C-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-September 27, 2017
Ontario's government is taking some heat for not having a policy in place for a maximum indoor temperature for schools.The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario says there's a minimum temperature mandated in the winter but no maximum temperature limit."I am getting reports back from teachers about not only the heat in classrooms, but that the humidity factor is also very high," said Adelina Cecchin, president of the Greater Essex County ETFO Teacher Local.Cecchin said she had reports of classrooms reaching temperatures of 30-32 C and teachers were concerned about the quality of learning for their students who were "tired, lethargic," and couldn't concentrate.She added schools across the border in Detroit dismissed classes early on Monday and Tuesday, because of the record-breaking heat temperatures that have swept through the region.The union's call was echoed by Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown at Queen's Park."Students are saying it's so hot in classrooms, they're having trouble breathing," Brown said. "This is unacceptable in Ontario. Will the premier commit here today that we will have a mandate for maximum temperatures for Ontario schools in the event of extreme heat?"Premier Kathleen Wynne responded to Brown's comments and said "I had to move meetings yesterday from my office to another room because actually I don't have air conditioning. Nor Mr. Speaker, as it happens, do I have air conditioning in my house. I recognize that it is very hot in schools that were built in a time when there weren't the kind of heat events that we have, but again I have a lot of faith in the educators in our schools to make sure that children and teachers are kept safe."-Air conditioner expense-Steve Fields, the communications coordinator at the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board said the board has many priorities when it comes to spending provincial funding, and air-conditioning is not necessarily at the top of that list."We only had one situation," said Fields, adding that the board had provided the school with extra fans and water to accommodate students."It's up to the teachers and the administrative staff there to monitor those situations closely," he said.The public relations officer for Greater Essex County District School Board, Scott Scantlebury, said he didn't know of any extreme-heat reports in classrooms, and that there are "common sense" steps staff would take in that situation."If there are blinds to pull them down to decrease the amount of direct sunlight coming into classrooms the use of fans," said Scantlebury. "Staff are encouraged to provide water breaks for students on a regular basis probably much more so than on a typical day."Both Fields and Scantlebury said that air conditioning units are expensive to install and maintain in schools."What we need to understand is this is going to be an ongoing issue moving forward," said Cecchin. "We can say we want to close the blinds, shut the lights maybe eliminate some recesses, but that's really not going to take care of what's happening in our classrooms around the learning and the teaching."The premier said the government has given school boards more than one billion dollars to make infrastructure improvements, and it's up to them on how that money is spent.
WORLD POWERS IN THE LAST DAYS (END OF AGE OF GRACE NOT THE WORLD)
EUROPEAN UNION-KING OF WEST-DAN 9:26-27,DAN 7:23-24,DAN 11:40,REV 13:1-10
EGYPT-KING OF THE SOUTH-DAN 11:40
RUSSIA-KING OF THE NORTH-EZEK 38:1-2,EZEK 39:1-3
CHINA-KING OF THE EAST-DAN 11:44,REV 9:16,18
VATICAN-RELIGIOUS LEADER-REV 13:11-18,REV 17:4-5,9,18
WORLD TERRORISM
OH BY THE WAY WHEN THE MEDIA SAYS ALLU-AK-BAR MEANS GOD IS GREAT LIE. IN ISLAM ALLU-AK-BAR MEANS OUR GOD IS GREATER OR GREATEST. THIS IS HOW THE MEDIA SUCK HOLES UP TO ISLAMIC-QURANIC-MUSLIMS. BY WATERING DOWN THE REAL MEANING OF THE SEX FOR MURDER DEATH CULT ISLAM. TO MAKE IT SOUND LIKE A PEACEFUL RELIGION (CULT OF DEATH AND WORLD DOMINATION).
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS) man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
ISAIAH 14:12-14
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)
Japan parliament dissolved, snap Oct. 22 election expected-[Reuters]-By Linda Sieg and Elaine Lies-YAHOONEWS-September 27, 2017
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's lower house was dissolved on Thursday ahead of an expected snap Oct. 22 election being called by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as he seeks to confirm his mandate in the face a rising challenge from a popular new conservative party.Abe, a conservative who returned to power in 2012, is hoping a boost in his voter support in recent months will help his Liberal Democratic Party-led (LDP) coalition maintain a simple majority. It currently holds a two-thirds "super" majority.A number of opposition lawmakers boycotted the session at which the lower house was dissolved in protest at Abe calling the election and creating a potential political vacuum at a time when tensions are high with North Korea."This will be a tough battle, but it's all about how we will protect Japan, and the lives and peaceful existence of the Japanese people," Abe told a group of lawmakers.Popular Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike's new Party of Hope -- only formally launched on Wednesday -- has upended the election outlook after she announced she would lead the group herself.Koike, a media-savvy former LDP lawmaker and defense minister often floated as a candidate to become Japan's first female prime minister, said on Wednesday she would not run for a seat herself, but speculation that she will persists.A survey by the Mainichi newspaper showed 18 percent of voters plan to vote for Koike's Party of Hope compared to 29 percent for Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).An Asahi newspaper poll showed 13 percent planned to vote for Koike's party versus 32 percent for the LDP. Both surveys asked voters their preference for proportional representation districts where ballots are cast for parties rather than specific candidates.Abe's personal ratings have risen to around 50 percent from around 30 percent in July, partly on the back of his leadership during the current North Korea crisis.The emergence of Koike's party - which she describes as pro-reform and conservative - has thrown the main opposition Democratic Party into turmoil. The Democrats are struggling with defections and single-digit ratings and now appear in danger of being absorbed by the Party of Hope.Democratic Party leader Seiji Maehara will propose that the party run no candidates in the election and let its members run under the Party of Hope flag, domestic media reports said.The proposal could end up splitting the party, an often fractious mix of conservatives and liberals whose rocky 2009-2012 reign tainted its image with many voters.Koike, 65, defied the LDP to run successfully for Tokyo governor last year and her novice local party then crushed the LDP in a metropolitan assembly election in July.Her Party of Hope shares policy space with the business-friendly LDP, but Koike has staked out different stances on two issues likely to appeal to voters.She wants to freeze a planned rise in the national sales tax to 10 percent from 8 percent in 2019. Abe says he will raise the tax but spend more revenue on child care and education instead of paying back public debt.Koike is also calling for Japan to abandon nuclear power, while Abe's government plans to keep atomic power as a key part of the energy mix despite public worries about safety after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis.Koike has also criticized Abe for risking a political vacuum by calling the snap poll at a time of rising regional tensions over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.Recent reforms will reduce the number of lower house seats to 465 from 475 in the coming election.(Additional reporting by Elaine Lies,; Editing by Michael Perry)
South Korea expects more North Korea provocations mid-October-[Reuters]-By Christine Kim-YAHOONEWS-September 27, 2017
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea expects North Korea to engage in more provocative action next month to coincide with the anniversary of the founding of its communist party and China's all-important Communist Party Congress.In a meeting with President Moon Jae-in on Thursday, national security adviser Chung Eui-yong said he expected Pyongyang to act around Oct. 10 and 18, but gave no details."(Chung's report) also said there are worries over military conflict being sparked by accidental incidents," said Park Wan-ju, lawmaker and head spokesman of the ruling Democratic Party."The president said the United States speaks of military and diplomatic options, but South Korea can't go through war again."Tensions on the Korean peninsula have escalated in recent weeks as North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump exchange bellicose threats and insults over the North's nuclear and missile development program.The North has accused Trump of declaring war after he warned Kim's regime would not last if he persisted in threatening the United States and its allies, having earlier warned North Korea would be totally destroyed in such an event.Pyongyang conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test on Sept. 3 and has launched dozens of missiles this year as it accelerates a program aimed at enabling it to target the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile.The United States and South Korea are technically still at war with North Korea because the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a truce and not a peace treaty.China, North Korea's main ally, would likely be extremely unhappy if Pyongyang tested a missile or carried out some other act during its Communist Party Congress, held once every five years.Park said President Moon told the meeting that Washington and Seoul agreed that pressure needed to be applied to North Korea, with the door to talks still open.In a separate speech on Thursday, Moon said cooperation with the international community to curb the North's nuclear ambitions was at its highest level ever and called for the strengthening of South Korea-U.S. defenses to rein in the North.Chung said the United States and South Korea had agreed on the rotational deployment of U.S. strategic assets to South Korea, possibly as soon as year-end, said lawmakers at the meeting.What kind of assets would be rotated was not specified.Moon added it was inappropriate to discuss the deployment of nuclear weapons in South Korea, the lawmakers said.The president said he had personally been against the deployment of U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea, but the decision was made as North Korea's missile capabilities were quickly improving.Regarding China's vehement opposition to the deployment of THAAD, Moon said "visible achievements" were to be expected soon as "the issue was reaching the end", quoted by the lawmakers.Beijing opposes THAAD because it believes its powerful radar could be used to look inside its territory. South Korea and the United States have said it is only to curb North Korea's missile threats.(Reporting by Christine Kim; Editing by Michael Perry)
Opposition says 150 civilians killed in Russian, Syrian raids on Idlib-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-September 27, 2017
AMMAN (Reuters) - Russian and Syrian jets killed at least 150 civilians and injured dozens in over a week of heavy bombing that shattered a six-month halt in intensive aerial raids in opposition-held northwestern parts of Syria, opposition rescue workers said on Wednesday.The renewed bombing campaign came after an array of jihadist rebels led by the former Qaeda offshoot in Syria last week waged a wide-scale offensive against government-controlled areas in northern Hama."We have pulled 152 bodies and we have rescued 279 civilians since the Russian and regime bombing campaign," said Salem Abu al Azem, a senior rescue worker from the opposition-run Civil Defence in Idlib, adding bodies were still being pulled out of the wreckage of buildings flattened by air raids.Russia's defense ministry says it is attacking hard-line Islamist militants. It denies accusations it has targeted infrastructure and medical centers to force rebels into local truces that effectively restore President Bashar al Assad's grip on the country.Civil defense officials and other humanitarian aid workers have documented the destruction of six hospitals, five defense centers, and power stations in the first few days of the bombing campaign alongside hitting camps where displaced civilians have been sheltering.Rebels and witnesses differentiate easily Russian jets from Syrian planes with the former flying in sorties at high altitudes making drops with devastating impact.The strikes began with intensive bombing of towns and cities in southern Idlib where the jihadists have a large presence but in recent days have spread to most towns across the province that borders Turkey.Thousands of families have fled from towns such as Jisr al Shqour and Jabal al Zawya to rural areas less exposed to daily bombing and shelling, aid workers said.The bombing campaign however comes shortly after a tripartite deal struck by Moscow, Ankara and Tehran to deploy an observer force in Idlib, a province where the former al Qaeda Syrian offshoot has cemented its control after it crushed opponents.The Kremlin said earlier this week Russia’s president Vladimir Putin was expected to meet his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan on a visit to Ankara on Thursday.Syrian rebel officials says Turkey wants to get the approval of Moscow, the power with the dominant role in Syria, to press ahead with its widely anticipated plan to deploy troops in Idlib.(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by James Dalgleish)
Putin heads to Turkey for talks on weapons deal, Syria-[AFP]-Stuart WILLIAMS-YAHOONEWS-September 27, 2017
Istanbul (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday meets his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks on Syria and a key weapons deal, hoping to strengthen an increasingly active relationship that has troubled the West.Despite a regional rivalry that goes back to the Ottoman Empire and the Romanov dynasty, Russia and Turkey have been working closely since a 2016 reconciliation ended a crisis caused by the shooting down of a Russian war plane over Syria."Russia and Turkey are cooperating very tightly," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said ahead of the one-day working visit by Putin to Ankara.Both Moscow and Ankara are pushing for the creation of four "de-escalation zones" in Syria to end the civil war that has raged since 2011.Meanwhile, Turkey, a NATO member, has signed a deal reportedly worth $2 billion to buy S-400 air defence systems from Russia, a move that has shocked its allies in the alliance.But while Putin and Erdogan are at pains to project an increasingly productive relationship, a shadow could be cast by Monday's independence referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan, which enraged Ankara but which Moscow stopped short of condemning.Turkey and Russia have been on opposing sides during the more than six years of war in Syria, with Russia the key backer of President Bashar al-Assad and Turkey supporting rebels seeking his ouster.But while Turkey's policy is officially unchanged, Ankara has notably cooled its attacks on the Damascus regime since its cooperation with Russia began to heat up.Economic cooperation is also beginning to flourish, with Russian tourists returning to Turkey and the two countries working on a Black Sea gas pipeline.- 'Loaded with contradictions' -Yet analysts say that while both countries share an interest in seeking to discomfort the West by showing off close cooperation, their relationship falls well short of a sincere strategic alliance."Relations between Turkey and Russia may appear to be friendly, but they are loaded with contradictions and set to remain unstable in the near term," Pavel Baev and Kemal Kirisci of the Brookings Institution wrote in a study this month.Russia's stance on the non-binding Kurdish independence vote is also troubling for Turkey, for whom opposing Kurdish statehood is a cornerstone of foreign policy due to its own Kurdish minority.The Russian foreign ministry said Wednesday that while Moscow supports the territorial integrity of Iraq, it "views the Kurds' national aspirations with respect".Erdogan will want to press Putin over the much-heralded S-400 deal, which while officially signed could still be years away from implementation.Timur Akhmetov, a Turkey expert at the Russian International Affairs Council, said deliveries of the S-400s could probably begin only after 2020-21 due to orders from China, while Ankara's insistence on a technology transfer as part of the deal may also create problems.But both Moscow and Ankara are, for now, happy to send a message to the West that they are serious about defence cooperation."They are trying to utilise the issue of the S-400 for their respective political interests," Akhmetov told AFP.
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)
THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.
Fish fall from sky with rain in northern Mexico-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-September 27, 2017
MEXICO CITY — Civil defence officials in northeast Mexico say a light rain was accompanied by small fish that fell from the sky.Tamaulipas civil defence says in a brief statement that rain Tuesday in the coastal city of Tampico included fish. Photos posted on the agency's Facebook page show four small fish in a bag and another on a sidewalk.According the U.S. Library of Congress, it's a phenomenon that has been reported since ancient times. Scientists believe that tornadoes over water — known as waterspouts — could be responsible for sucking fish into the air where they are blown around until being released to the ground.The Associated Press.
Quake and storm leave ruinous human, economic toll for Mexico-Agence France-Presse-YAHOONEWS-September 27, 2017
Mexico City (AFP) - A pair of devastating earthquakes and Tropical Storm Lidia in Mexico killed more than 400 people and toppled 150,000 houses and other buildings and structures, authorities said Wednesday.The damage included almost 12,000 ruined schools to the tune of 717 million dollars. And that was in addition to 1,500 national monument structures worth about $440 million dollars. All three disasters hit in September."The raw, preliminary numbers cross over from homes, to monuments, to thousands of schools that have to be completely rebuilt," President Enrique Pena Nieto told reporters after a meeting of his cabinet and local officials.In early September, Tropical Storm Lidia killed at least seven people in Baja California Sur, in northwestern Mexico.And on September 7, an 8.2 earthquake shook the nation and killed about 100 people mostly in the southern state of Oaxaca.Then on September 19 -- the 32nd anniversary of a huge 1985 quake that killed 10,000 people -- another 7.1 quake rocked the country. So far, 337 people have been killed, mostly in Mexico City.
U.S. Navy to deploy hospital ship Comfort to hurricane-battered Puerto Rico-[Reuters]-By Idrees Ali-YAHOONEWS-September 27, 2017
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy, under mounting public pressure instigated by Hillary Clinton, plans to send the hospital ship USNS Comfort on Friday to the hurricane-battered island of Puerto Rico, the vessel's first civilian disaster mission in seven years.The Comfort, equipped to carry as many as 1,000 hospital beds, 12 operating rooms and one of America's largest trauma units, is due to arrive in Puerto Rico by the middle of next week, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.The vessel's departure date was announced a week after Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico and three days after Clinton, the former Democratic presidential nominee, urged Republican U.S. President Donald Trump in a Twitter message to deploy the ship.Trump and Defense Secretary James Mattis "should send the Navy, including the USNS Comfort, to Puerto Rico now. These are American citizens," Clinton, who served as secretary of state under Trump's predecessor, Democrat Barack Obama, tweeted on Sunday.Some political pundits, as well as frustrated residents of the storm-ravaged U.S. territory, have accused the Trump administration of being slower to mobilize aid to Puerto Rico than it would be if it were addressing a disaster on the U.S. mainland.Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello has strongly praised Trump for his performance in the storm's aftermath.Still, critics of Trump's Puerto Rico response seized on the Clinton tweet, launching a petition drive via the website Change.org that drew some 260,000 supporters for deployment of the hospital ship and igniting a #SendtheComfort social media campaign.The Pentagon did not explain why Navy hospital ship was not dispatched sooner or say whether Clinton's admonition was a factor.But a Defense Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Comfort was not deployed before because the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), which is overseeing disaster relief on the island, had not requested it.The hospital ship will depart on Friday from its home port in Norfolk, Virginia, the Pentagon said. It takes up to four days to load and prepare the vessel.Asked why the Comfort was not prepositioned in case of a deployment request, the official said weather conditions in the Caribbean just before and after the storm would have made it difficult.Maria, the most powerful hurricane to strike Puerto Rico in nearly a century, cut a swath of destruction across the island last Wednesday with roof-ripping winds, torrential rains and pounding surf.The storm claimed at least 16 lives on the island, knocked out the territory's entire power grid, unleashed severe flooding and caused widespread heavy damage to homes and infrastructure. Rossello called it an unprecedented disaster for the island.Medical facilities were especially hard hit, many left wind-damaged, flooded and short-staffed. A majority of the island's 69 hospitals were without electricity or fuel to run backup generators, according to a Defense Department assessment.The 890-foot (270-meter) Comfort, originally designed to treat wounded U.S. combat personnel, has taken on a secondary mission as a major asset for the Navy to deploy in response to natural disasters.Its last civilian relief assignment was in Haiti following a devastating earthquake there in January 2010. The Comfort also was dispatched to the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and was sent on extended goodwill humanitarian missions through Latin America and the Caribbean in 2007 and 2011.The ship typically anchors offshore and takes aboard patients ferried to the vessel by helicopter or small boats.The Comfort will not be the only Navy ship sent to Puerto Rico. Two amphibious ships were previously deployed there - the USS Kearsarge and the USS Oak Hill.(Reporting by Idrees Ali in Washington; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Lisa Shumaker & Simon Cameron-Moore)
Cost of climate disasters to reach half of US growth in a decade: report-Agence France-Presse-YAHOONEWS-September 27, 2017
Washington (AFP) - Economic losses from severe storms, hurricanes, floods, drought and wildfires are projected to reach at least $360 billion a year in the next decade in America, about half of annual US growth, according to a report out Wednesday.Since some kinds of severe weather can be made worse or more frequent by climate change, action is needed to move the United States away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy, says the report by the Universal Ecological Fund, a non-governmental group based in Washington."Burning fossil fuels comes at a giant price tag which the US economy cannot afford and cannot sustain," said co-author Robert Watson, former chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the leading scientific body on climate change.The report looked at two kinds of costs -- economic losses caused by extreme weather events influenced by human-induced climate change, and health costs due to air pollution exposure caused by fossil fuel energy production.Currently, these costs total about $240 billion for 2017 -- not including disasters in August and September, including Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, it found."These annual average economic losses and health costs equal about forty percent of the current growth of the US economy," said the report, entitled "The Economic Case for Climate Action in the United States.""In the next decade, these economic losses and health costs are projected to reach at least $360 billion annually, equal to an estimated 55 percent of the US growth," it added."These escalating costs are due to the continued use of fossil fuels triggering the climate to continue to change."The study authors describe the report as a "partial assessment of the economic losses and costs of human-induced climate change and fossil fuel use on the United States economy," using government data.Its figures do not include climate-related economic losses in the agricultural sector, or costs associated with heat stress on humans, it said."We can expect extreme weather events and economic losses and costs associated with them to continue increasing unless we make dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions," said co-author James McCarthy, professor of oceanography at Harvard University.The report found that 80 percent of the energy produced and used in the United States comes from fossil fuels.McCarthy said President Donald Trump's administration's aim to "maximize the use of America's fossil fuels ?- coal, oil and natural gas ?- as well as to cut energy industry regulations... is taking us in the opposite direction."
EU leaders to debate Macron's grand plan-[AFP]-Alex PIGMAN-YAHOONEWS-September 27, 2017
Tallinn (AFP) - EU leaders will meet over dinner in Estonia on Thursday for a frank debate on the future of Europe, featuring first impressions of French President Emmanuel Macron's new vision for the bloc.Most of the European Union 28's leaders are coming to Tallinn, including British Prime Minister Theresa May, although Brexit negotiations are not expected to be on the menu.The discussion on the EU's future will take place over an informal supper Thursday with a second day on Friday devoted to digital issues, a priority for tiny Estonia, which holds the bloc's six-month rotating presidency.In a major speech in Paris on Tuesday, the 39-year old Macron called on his EU partners to recommit themselves to a stalled European project shackled by Brexit, the rise of populism and the migrant crisis.His speech came days after German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the EU's most powerful leader, won a fourth term in a vote which nevertheless saw historic inroads by the country's hard-right.Merkel and Macron will meet face to face on Thursday ahead of the summit, the French presidency said.With media in Tallinn kept at bay, the European leaders will be given an open forum for a "frank and informal" discussion, without any agenda, EU President Donald Tusk said in a letter inviting them to the meeting.The young French president will be the first to take the floor, which will then spark the discussion by the leaders, EU officials said.- 'Meaningful discussion' -"Clearly the ingredients for a meaningful discussion are there," said Margaritis Schinas, spokesman for European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.Juncker himself set out his own vision for a more deeply integrated European project in his annual State of the Union speech earlier this month, which shared many of the same themes as Macron's EU vision.The discussions will be held over a three-hour dinner at the Kadriorg Palace in Tallinn, Estonia, a former summer palace for the Russian Tsars that is now a national museum.Spain's Mariano Rajoy is expected to be the only major no-show due to the crisis over the independence referendum planned in Catalonia at the weekend.Macron's proposals for a post-Brexit shake-up of the EU include a finance minister, budget and parliament for the 19-member eurozone, as well as an EU-wide "rapid reaction force" to work with national armies.Merkel, who is now seeking new allies to rebuild a ruling coalition in Germany, on Wednesday welcomed the "European passion" in Macron's idea but said it was too soon to judge his concrete proposals.Germany has widely been seen as trying to get Macron to ease back on his most radical ideas.Macron also included a new type of tax on technology giants like Facebook and Apple -- based on how much value they create in a country rather than their profits -- a proposal that the leaders will discuss on Friday.- Too soon -Estonia bills itself as the avant-garde of the digital revolution and originally called the talks to help bring the rest of the bloc up to speed.However, the uncertain German vote, Macron's speech and the stalled divorce talks with Britain are foremost in European minds.May meets her EU counterparts as British and EU officials close a fourth round of negotiations in Brussels.Tusk, who coordinates EU summits, on Tuesday said divorce negotiations were still falling short and it would be too early at Tallinn to launch talks on future ties between Britain and the EU, a big demand by London.The talks in Tallinn follow other EU summits on the bloc's future in Bratislava, Malta and Rome which were all held without Britain.At the Rome summit in March, the EU's 27 remaining leaders renewed their vows, celebrating the troubled bloc's 60th anniversary with a commitment to a common future.
Opinion-West needs to get real on Ukraine By Roman Sohn and Ariana Gic-EUOBSERVER
KIEV and TORONTO, 27. Sep, 09:29-Ever since the EuroMaidan revolution in 2014, Ukraine's governments have been under close scrutiny to meet the expectations of the supporters of a pro-European, liberal, and democratic model.The expectations that Ukraine becomes a utopia set a very high bar to meet. The bar is so high, in fact, that it could not possibly be met even by wealthy western nations that have enjoyed peace and stability.Expecting the impossible meant that criticism of Ukraine's 'failure' to swiftly undertake sweeping social change was inevitable. In recent months, a mounting wave of criticism of the Ukrainian government has flooded the media in Ukraine and abroad.Unfortunately, these criticisms are often unreasonable, ignoring the reality of what can be achieved under even ideal circumstances, the vast difficulties of conducting reforms, the time required for meaningful institutional change to occur, and the challenge of reform during war time.Remarkably, Ukraine is expected to pursue its utopian programme at the same time as it is trying to defend itself against Russia's unprovoked, multi-vectored war.It is a war which includes a massive information assault to discredit the Ukrainian state, unrestrained hate propaganda to dehumanise Ukrainians, unprecedented economic pressure, political subversion, intimidation of Ukrainian citizens by kidnappings, unlawful prosecution, terrorist attacks, and military invasion on its territory.It is a war waged by a nuclear state whose population, economy, resources, and military force are several times larger than Ukraine's, and a war waged by a country which is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council with the power to manipulate the global agenda.Defending against an enemy like Russia is a gargantuan and all-consuming task on its own.-First, win the war-It is hard to imagine that any country in Ukraine's position would focus on anything other than the crucial goal of winning the war. Given the gross political, economic, and social instability Russia's war creates, it would be prudent to focus on fighting the enemy before pursuing the significant task of comprehensive reforms.This sentiment is shared by many in Ukraine. Ukraine's former president Viktor Yushchenko famously said that there are just three reforms that the post-EuroMaidan government has to prioritise: first - win the war, second - win the war, and third - win the war.It is arguably rational and imperative to mobilise all resources - political, economic, social - to win the war before turning attention to reforms. Reforms - even essential and beneficial ones - divert and scatter a country's resources, and have an unintended ripple effect of causing their own chaos and unrest.The turmoil resulting from the combination of war and fundamental reform imposes tremendous pressure on the country. It is not surprising that the two matters which top Ukrainian social polls as the main causes of everyday stress are Russia's ongoing war, and socio-economic instability.No matter how laudable the goals, a multitude of big reforms introduced in rapid succession within tight time restraints does not contribute to stability.In addition to concerns of maintaining societal stability during the period of reform, it is also essential to build long-lasting institutional change. For this to successfully occur, reforms must be carefully considered, crafted, and implemented.None of this can be achieved at the wave of a magic wand, and there is no ideal blueprint for Ukraine to emulate in order to become an overnight success story. It would be tragic to force fast change at a high cost to society only to see it unravel quickly, and discredit the country's pro-Western political course.Massive rapid changes also risk government instability. Exposing the government to political attacks regarding its social policies seems like a very risky proposition at a time of war - there are simply no reforms that make everyone happy, and populists and opportunists know that better than anyone.The ensuing social and political chaos undermines national unity - a vital factor in bringing about military victory.Unfortunately, Ukraine is under such immense pressure from well-meaning Western nations to put reform ahead of its right to defend against invasion, that reform efforts have come to dominate the government's agenda.This has also been harshly demanded by Ukraine's active civil society, which is hungry for changes after a heavy push-back on reforms by the pro-Russian government of former run-away president Viktor Yanukovych.-Win the war by reform-Reforms in exchange for a supportive Western alliance against Russia's invasion appears to have become the informal understanding forged between the West and Ukraine's political class.The "win the war by reform" approach is a comfortable position for the West. It takes pressure off Western governments to deal directly with the aggressive dictatorial regime in the Kremlin, and instead shifts the focus to demanding reforms from Ukraine - something which does not carry political or security risks to the West.It is often repeated that pursuing the course of "winning the war by reforming the country" will strengthen Ukrainian state institutions, including the army.It is argued that a well-functioning liberal democracy with limited corruption will be more resilient to Russian aggression, and that a more successful Ukraine will win the hearts and minds of the people in Ukraine's occupied territories, leading to protests that would undermine Russia's control and force Moscow to give up the occupied land.Yet the "win the war by reform" mantra collapses under the weight of the uncomfortable truth of reality: solid "non-corrupt" institutions of liberal Western democracies do not appear to be more capable of fending off Russian attacks any better than their "unreformed" Ukrainian counterparts.Western countries are also struggling with Russia's aggressive foreign policy. Russia is suspected of committing several serious cyber attacks, and meddling in the elections of a number of countries (most notably the United States).In pursuing its foreign agenda, Russia interferes in the domestic political processes of Western nations, corrupts Western political elites, institutions, businesses, media, and international organisations - including the UN.Though obvious, the hardships Ukraine's government encounters in pursuing reforms because of the war are largely ignored.Some critics go as far as trivialising the monumental challenge Ukraine's government is facing, saying that the ongoing war with Russia is nothing but an excuse to slow down or avoid reforms.Some even shamefully claim that the war is in the interest of Ukraine's elites. It seems not to matter to those commentators that their indefensible position perfectly aligns with the narrative of Kremlin propaganda, which seeks to weaken international support for Ukraine.-The challenges of reform-The hardships of war aside, what is also ignored by many is that Ukraine is not building its institutions from scratch, and that there are very few low-hanging fruit reforms left to pluck.Ukraine faces the complexity of overhauling systems which have been in place for a long time, as well as the challenge of balancing the interests of various social groups and stakeholders in creating a clear democratic mandate for change.One cannot expect a quick fix, or overnight reforms that provide immediate results. Big reforms need time to take root. Even in established and stable Western democracies, grand-scale reforms can take many years to design and implement.Many Ukrainians and westerners also appear to be (inexplicably) oblivious to the fact that just because an NGO has lobbied for a reform does not mean it should be put on the priority list of a national agenda.Lobbyists of laws and reforms should focus their efforts on social advocacy to popularise their ideas with Ukrainian citizens, not just on winning over Western institutions to strong-arm the national government into pursuing their causes by default.It should be an uncontroversial fact that a demand from an unaccountable group should not be forced upon any government. Ukraine's government should have a healthy attitude to this pressure, and be very cautious about pursuing especially large sectoral reforms without clear validation from the people.For their part, Western institutions need to remember that the models they insist Ukraine adopt - in exchange for aid and loans - are not necessarily ideal, nor the final word on how Ukraine can pursue change.New Zealand's former finance minister, Ruth Richardson, known for her reformist free-market policies, illustrated this point handsomely on her visit to Kiev in 2016, cautioning that Ukraine should not model policies after the EU, as they do not all seem to bring positive economic results.Ukraine's elites and civil society would be wise to understand this.Otherwise, by relying too heavily on foreign direction and assistance to run the country, Ukraine could risk finding itself in the unintended position of becoming a client state. Persisting in this is a self-defeating strategy. To get ahead, Ukraine should not repeat or emulate, but innovate and lead.All that glitters is not gold-Indeed, not everything that looks good on paper will eventually produce the expected results.A hotly contested matter of creating a separate system of anti-corruption courts in Ukraine could serve as an example. Despite the good intentions and commendable goal behind creating such a system, research into the subject proves evidence is too scarce to make an assessment about anti-corruption courts' effectiveness.Opposing such a system or offering a different approach is not an act of supporting corruption either, as is alleged by some anti-corruption groups lobbying for the law. It is a matter of vision on how to deal with corruption.What has been entirely lost sight of is that there is no one set of clear best practices. Every solution, every reform, has its advantages and disadvantages, and it should be up to the Ukrainian people to adopt the balance they find acceptable.No democratically unaccountable group - be it an oligarchic clan or reformist NGO - should have a monopoly over "true" reforms in Ukraine, nor should it set the country's reform agenda.-A clear lens-There needs to be a sober look at the current situation in the country. On the one hand, the post-EuroMaidan governments have implemented reforms unprecedented in scope and number.On the other hand, as many social polls indicate, the majority of Ukrainians do not feel their country is moving in the right direction.While Ukraine's active civil society insists on more radical reforms, the majority of the population has difficulty dealing with the pace of reforms as it is - ordinary citizens are more concerned with social instability and uncertainty resulting from reforms.This creates a conundrum: the government pursues reforms that civil society and Western donors push for, but those very reforms erode support for a reformist government.It is hard to expect people to approve much-needed reforms that shift the financial burden from the government to the people. But these are the kind of changes often preferred by international financial institutions, providing loans and grants to Ukraine's government.A good example is the implementation of market prices for energy, which Ukraine's economy was in a dire need of. However, since Ukrainians felt this reform in their wallets quite acutely, energy reform has become one of the biggest points of criticism by ordinary Ukrainians of the post-EuroMaidan governments.Reforms that shake the foundations of established systems or hit people's wallets hard do not make one friends.People's perception of reforms translates into political risk. Political opponents, in particular raging Ukrainian populists like former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, exploit the resulting dissatisfaction to attack the government.This is why Western institutions should be cautious about promoting favourites in Ukrainian political games, where even 'independent' civil society groups are often highly politically engaged and partial.Such games are bound to backfire. As most social polls indicate, it will not be the pro-Western liberals or driven civil society activists, but corrupt populists, who will reap the electoral benefits from attacks on the government.-Objectivity of criticism-To be clear, the Ukrainian government is not above reproach. It does not deserve a free pass. It is undeniable that Ukraine's government at all levels makes missteps, and predictably, the whole system resists changes that undermine corrupt schemes serving to unjustly enrich politicians at the expense of Ukraine's citizens.Ukrainians deserve a well functioning state that respects the rule of law. But this will not happen overnight, and for every step forward, there will be steps back. Unfortunately, the path to reform is not a direct line, but an unpredictable zigzag.Observers should be realistic and reasonable about the challenges of reforming core mechanisms of Ukraine's social and political machinery.Reforms are not just a matter of political will, but also a matter of democratic mandate from society and the availability of financial and human resources. Considering the economic recession caused by Russia's war, even financing reforms present a substantial challenge for Ukraine's government.Emotional and knee-jerk anti-government criticism does no good, and serves to undermine the legitimacy of the Ukrainian state. The process of nation re-building, and fundamental reform is challenging. Criticism should be responsible, not reckless.The impact of reforms on society cannot go ignored. Not only should expectations about the progress of adoption of reforms correspond with reality, but Ukraine should be allowed to pursue reforms at a reasonable manner and pace.Society needs time to understand, process, accept, and grow accustomed to major reforms. That is why it is important for criticism to be accurate, fact-based, and grounded in reality.The hypocrisy of critics who are now riding the wave of hysteria they created is without ethical boundaries.It is wise to remember that not all who march under the banners of "de-oligarchisation" or "anti-corruption" actually intend to achieve such goals. The recent history of Ukraine teaches this lesson unambiguously.Carrying the flag is not equal to bearing its values. Sometimes, it is just a cover, as it is for those paid or funded by oligarchs who pretend to fight oligarchy and corruption.Criticism coming from politically biased groups should not be accepted without reservations.The West should not allow itself to be dragged into agendas advancing the interests of politically self-interested parties at the expense of stability in the country.The massively destabilising impact Russia's war has on the country cannot be ignored. The West can help Ukraine by fully acknowledging the truth about Russia's war and putting democratic values above shortsighted business interests in dealing with Putin's Russia.Generations of Ukrainians suffered too much to win their independence, and forsaking their fight for freedom and sovereignty is unforgivable.The fact is, reforms in Ukraine are underway. Despite many doomsday predictions about Ukraine's downward trajectory, external indicators of success are apparent.On 18 September, for the first time in five years, the Ukrainian government sold its bonds on the international market, where it raised $3 billion. The bond issue was oversubscribed by more than a factor of three.The 15-year dollar placement indicates international investors have confidence in Ukraine. Commentators and western allies should take note.Critics should also be reminded that reforms do not just happen, nor are they implemented by outspoken civil society lobbyists. Reforms are conducted by the government that takes action and carries the burden of political responsibility.However, according to some vocal critics, Ukraine's government only blocks and subverts reforms. Ukrainians and Western friends of Ukraine should be wary of such criticism, as it ignores the reality of government implementation of reforms. Criticism should be honest.-Get real about Ukraine-It is time for the West to get real about Ukraine.The progress of reforms needs to be acknowledged, and praised where deserved, especially as Ukraine pursues some impressive innovations regarding government transparency in public procurement, asset declarations, and access to public information, to name but a few.If positive changes are not acknowledged, the loud criticism by populists will drown out and devalue all reformist efforts.Ukraine is expected to pursue reforms ahead of defending its sovereignty. Under these circumstances, the least the West can do is manage its expectations of those reforms, helping Ukraine ensure it can walk its path towards a thriving democracy free from Russia's oppression.Roman Sohn is a civil society activist and a columnist for Ukrainska Pravda, an investigative website. Ariana Gic is a political analyst in Canada who is focused on Ukraine and who contributes to VOX Ukraine, a think tank in Kiev.
OZONE DEPLETION JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH DUE TO SIN
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold,(7X OR 7-DEGREES HOTTER) as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people,(ISRAEL) and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened,(DAY LIGHT HOURS SHORTENED) there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake (ISRAELS SAKE) those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)(THE ASTEROID HITS EARTH HERE)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
Liberals take the heat as temperatures in Windsor classrooms hit 30 C-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-September 27, 2017
Ontario's government is taking some heat for not having a policy in place for a maximum indoor temperature for schools.The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario says there's a minimum temperature mandated in the winter but no maximum temperature limit."I am getting reports back from teachers about not only the heat in classrooms, but that the humidity factor is also very high," said Adelina Cecchin, president of the Greater Essex County ETFO Teacher Local.Cecchin said she had reports of classrooms reaching temperatures of 30-32 C and teachers were concerned about the quality of learning for their students who were "tired, lethargic," and couldn't concentrate.She added schools across the border in Detroit dismissed classes early on Monday and Tuesday, because of the record-breaking heat temperatures that have swept through the region.The union's call was echoed by Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown at Queen's Park."Students are saying it's so hot in classrooms, they're having trouble breathing," Brown said. "This is unacceptable in Ontario. Will the premier commit here today that we will have a mandate for maximum temperatures for Ontario schools in the event of extreme heat?"Premier Kathleen Wynne responded to Brown's comments and said "I had to move meetings yesterday from my office to another room because actually I don't have air conditioning. Nor Mr. Speaker, as it happens, do I have air conditioning in my house. I recognize that it is very hot in schools that were built in a time when there weren't the kind of heat events that we have, but again I have a lot of faith in the educators in our schools to make sure that children and teachers are kept safe."-Air conditioner expense-Steve Fields, the communications coordinator at the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board said the board has many priorities when it comes to spending provincial funding, and air-conditioning is not necessarily at the top of that list."We only had one situation," said Fields, adding that the board had provided the school with extra fans and water to accommodate students."It's up to the teachers and the administrative staff there to monitor those situations closely," he said.The public relations officer for Greater Essex County District School Board, Scott Scantlebury, said he didn't know of any extreme-heat reports in classrooms, and that there are "common sense" steps staff would take in that situation."If there are blinds to pull them down to decrease the amount of direct sunlight coming into classrooms the use of fans," said Scantlebury. "Staff are encouraged to provide water breaks for students on a regular basis probably much more so than on a typical day."Both Fields and Scantlebury said that air conditioning units are expensive to install and maintain in schools."What we need to understand is this is going to be an ongoing issue moving forward," said Cecchin. "We can say we want to close the blinds, shut the lights maybe eliminate some recesses, but that's really not going to take care of what's happening in our classrooms around the learning and the teaching."The premier said the government has given school boards more than one billion dollars to make infrastructure improvements, and it's up to them on how that money is spent.
WORLD POWERS IN THE LAST DAYS (END OF AGE OF GRACE NOT THE WORLD)
EUROPEAN UNION-KING OF WEST-DAN 9:26-27,DAN 7:23-24,DAN 11:40,REV 13:1-10
EGYPT-KING OF THE SOUTH-DAN 11:40
RUSSIA-KING OF THE NORTH-EZEK 38:1-2,EZEK 39:1-3
CHINA-KING OF THE EAST-DAN 11:44,REV 9:16,18
VATICAN-RELIGIOUS LEADER-REV 13:11-18,REV 17:4-5,9,18
WORLD TERRORISM
OH BY THE WAY WHEN THE MEDIA SAYS ALLU-AK-BAR MEANS GOD IS GREAT LIE. IN ISLAM ALLU-AK-BAR MEANS OUR GOD IS GREATER OR GREATEST. THIS IS HOW THE MEDIA SUCK HOLES UP TO ISLAMIC-QURANIC-MUSLIMS. BY WATERING DOWN THE REAL MEANING OF THE SEX FOR MURDER DEATH CULT ISLAM. TO MAKE IT SOUND LIKE A PEACEFUL RELIGION (CULT OF DEATH AND WORLD DOMINATION).
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS) man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
ISAIAH 14:12-14
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)
Japan parliament dissolved, snap Oct. 22 election expected-[Reuters]-By Linda Sieg and Elaine Lies-YAHOONEWS-September 27, 2017
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's lower house was dissolved on Thursday ahead of an expected snap Oct. 22 election being called by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as he seeks to confirm his mandate in the face a rising challenge from a popular new conservative party.Abe, a conservative who returned to power in 2012, is hoping a boost in his voter support in recent months will help his Liberal Democratic Party-led (LDP) coalition maintain a simple majority. It currently holds a two-thirds "super" majority.A number of opposition lawmakers boycotted the session at which the lower house was dissolved in protest at Abe calling the election and creating a potential political vacuum at a time when tensions are high with North Korea."This will be a tough battle, but it's all about how we will protect Japan, and the lives and peaceful existence of the Japanese people," Abe told a group of lawmakers.Popular Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike's new Party of Hope -- only formally launched on Wednesday -- has upended the election outlook after she announced she would lead the group herself.Koike, a media-savvy former LDP lawmaker and defense minister often floated as a candidate to become Japan's first female prime minister, said on Wednesday she would not run for a seat herself, but speculation that she will persists.A survey by the Mainichi newspaper showed 18 percent of voters plan to vote for Koike's Party of Hope compared to 29 percent for Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).An Asahi newspaper poll showed 13 percent planned to vote for Koike's party versus 32 percent for the LDP. Both surveys asked voters their preference for proportional representation districts where ballots are cast for parties rather than specific candidates.Abe's personal ratings have risen to around 50 percent from around 30 percent in July, partly on the back of his leadership during the current North Korea crisis.The emergence of Koike's party - which she describes as pro-reform and conservative - has thrown the main opposition Democratic Party into turmoil. The Democrats are struggling with defections and single-digit ratings and now appear in danger of being absorbed by the Party of Hope.Democratic Party leader Seiji Maehara will propose that the party run no candidates in the election and let its members run under the Party of Hope flag, domestic media reports said.The proposal could end up splitting the party, an often fractious mix of conservatives and liberals whose rocky 2009-2012 reign tainted its image with many voters.Koike, 65, defied the LDP to run successfully for Tokyo governor last year and her novice local party then crushed the LDP in a metropolitan assembly election in July.Her Party of Hope shares policy space with the business-friendly LDP, but Koike has staked out different stances on two issues likely to appeal to voters.She wants to freeze a planned rise in the national sales tax to 10 percent from 8 percent in 2019. Abe says he will raise the tax but spend more revenue on child care and education instead of paying back public debt.Koike is also calling for Japan to abandon nuclear power, while Abe's government plans to keep atomic power as a key part of the energy mix despite public worries about safety after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis.Koike has also criticized Abe for risking a political vacuum by calling the snap poll at a time of rising regional tensions over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.Recent reforms will reduce the number of lower house seats to 465 from 475 in the coming election.(Additional reporting by Elaine Lies,; Editing by Michael Perry)
South Korea expects more North Korea provocations mid-October-[Reuters]-By Christine Kim-YAHOONEWS-September 27, 2017
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea expects North Korea to engage in more provocative action next month to coincide with the anniversary of the founding of its communist party and China's all-important Communist Party Congress.In a meeting with President Moon Jae-in on Thursday, national security adviser Chung Eui-yong said he expected Pyongyang to act around Oct. 10 and 18, but gave no details."(Chung's report) also said there are worries over military conflict being sparked by accidental incidents," said Park Wan-ju, lawmaker and head spokesman of the ruling Democratic Party."The president said the United States speaks of military and diplomatic options, but South Korea can't go through war again."Tensions on the Korean peninsula have escalated in recent weeks as North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump exchange bellicose threats and insults over the North's nuclear and missile development program.The North has accused Trump of declaring war after he warned Kim's regime would not last if he persisted in threatening the United States and its allies, having earlier warned North Korea would be totally destroyed in such an event.Pyongyang conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test on Sept. 3 and has launched dozens of missiles this year as it accelerates a program aimed at enabling it to target the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile.The United States and South Korea are technically still at war with North Korea because the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a truce and not a peace treaty.China, North Korea's main ally, would likely be extremely unhappy if Pyongyang tested a missile or carried out some other act during its Communist Party Congress, held once every five years.Park said President Moon told the meeting that Washington and Seoul agreed that pressure needed to be applied to North Korea, with the door to talks still open.In a separate speech on Thursday, Moon said cooperation with the international community to curb the North's nuclear ambitions was at its highest level ever and called for the strengthening of South Korea-U.S. defenses to rein in the North.Chung said the United States and South Korea had agreed on the rotational deployment of U.S. strategic assets to South Korea, possibly as soon as year-end, said lawmakers at the meeting.What kind of assets would be rotated was not specified.Moon added it was inappropriate to discuss the deployment of nuclear weapons in South Korea, the lawmakers said.The president said he had personally been against the deployment of U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea, but the decision was made as North Korea's missile capabilities were quickly improving.Regarding China's vehement opposition to the deployment of THAAD, Moon said "visible achievements" were to be expected soon as "the issue was reaching the end", quoted by the lawmakers.Beijing opposes THAAD because it believes its powerful radar could be used to look inside its territory. South Korea and the United States have said it is only to curb North Korea's missile threats.(Reporting by Christine Kim; Editing by Michael Perry)
Opposition says 150 civilians killed in Russian, Syrian raids on Idlib-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-September 27, 2017
AMMAN (Reuters) - Russian and Syrian jets killed at least 150 civilians and injured dozens in over a week of heavy bombing that shattered a six-month halt in intensive aerial raids in opposition-held northwestern parts of Syria, opposition rescue workers said on Wednesday.The renewed bombing campaign came after an array of jihadist rebels led by the former Qaeda offshoot in Syria last week waged a wide-scale offensive against government-controlled areas in northern Hama."We have pulled 152 bodies and we have rescued 279 civilians since the Russian and regime bombing campaign," said Salem Abu al Azem, a senior rescue worker from the opposition-run Civil Defence in Idlib, adding bodies were still being pulled out of the wreckage of buildings flattened by air raids.Russia's defense ministry says it is attacking hard-line Islamist militants. It denies accusations it has targeted infrastructure and medical centers to force rebels into local truces that effectively restore President Bashar al Assad's grip on the country.Civil defense officials and other humanitarian aid workers have documented the destruction of six hospitals, five defense centers, and power stations in the first few days of the bombing campaign alongside hitting camps where displaced civilians have been sheltering.Rebels and witnesses differentiate easily Russian jets from Syrian planes with the former flying in sorties at high altitudes making drops with devastating impact.The strikes began with intensive bombing of towns and cities in southern Idlib where the jihadists have a large presence but in recent days have spread to most towns across the province that borders Turkey.Thousands of families have fled from towns such as Jisr al Shqour and Jabal al Zawya to rural areas less exposed to daily bombing and shelling, aid workers said.The bombing campaign however comes shortly after a tripartite deal struck by Moscow, Ankara and Tehran to deploy an observer force in Idlib, a province where the former al Qaeda Syrian offshoot has cemented its control after it crushed opponents.The Kremlin said earlier this week Russia’s president Vladimir Putin was expected to meet his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan on a visit to Ankara on Thursday.Syrian rebel officials says Turkey wants to get the approval of Moscow, the power with the dominant role in Syria, to press ahead with its widely anticipated plan to deploy troops in Idlib.(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by James Dalgleish)
Putin heads to Turkey for talks on weapons deal, Syria-[AFP]-Stuart WILLIAMS-YAHOONEWS-September 27, 2017
Istanbul (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday meets his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks on Syria and a key weapons deal, hoping to strengthen an increasingly active relationship that has troubled the West.Despite a regional rivalry that goes back to the Ottoman Empire and the Romanov dynasty, Russia and Turkey have been working closely since a 2016 reconciliation ended a crisis caused by the shooting down of a Russian war plane over Syria."Russia and Turkey are cooperating very tightly," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said ahead of the one-day working visit by Putin to Ankara.Both Moscow and Ankara are pushing for the creation of four "de-escalation zones" in Syria to end the civil war that has raged since 2011.Meanwhile, Turkey, a NATO member, has signed a deal reportedly worth $2 billion to buy S-400 air defence systems from Russia, a move that has shocked its allies in the alliance.But while Putin and Erdogan are at pains to project an increasingly productive relationship, a shadow could be cast by Monday's independence referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan, which enraged Ankara but which Moscow stopped short of condemning.Turkey and Russia have been on opposing sides during the more than six years of war in Syria, with Russia the key backer of President Bashar al-Assad and Turkey supporting rebels seeking his ouster.But while Turkey's policy is officially unchanged, Ankara has notably cooled its attacks on the Damascus regime since its cooperation with Russia began to heat up.Economic cooperation is also beginning to flourish, with Russian tourists returning to Turkey and the two countries working on a Black Sea gas pipeline.- 'Loaded with contradictions' -Yet analysts say that while both countries share an interest in seeking to discomfort the West by showing off close cooperation, their relationship falls well short of a sincere strategic alliance."Relations between Turkey and Russia may appear to be friendly, but they are loaded with contradictions and set to remain unstable in the near term," Pavel Baev and Kemal Kirisci of the Brookings Institution wrote in a study this month.Russia's stance on the non-binding Kurdish independence vote is also troubling for Turkey, for whom opposing Kurdish statehood is a cornerstone of foreign policy due to its own Kurdish minority.The Russian foreign ministry said Wednesday that while Moscow supports the territorial integrity of Iraq, it "views the Kurds' national aspirations with respect".Erdogan will want to press Putin over the much-heralded S-400 deal, which while officially signed could still be years away from implementation.Timur Akhmetov, a Turkey expert at the Russian International Affairs Council, said deliveries of the S-400s could probably begin only after 2020-21 due to orders from China, while Ankara's insistence on a technology transfer as part of the deal may also create problems.But both Moscow and Ankara are, for now, happy to send a message to the West that they are serious about defence cooperation."They are trying to utilise the issue of the S-400 for their respective political interests," Akhmetov told AFP.
