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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)
Israeli military on high alert amid Iran threats to avenge Syria
strike-Top Iranian official blames Israel, says Monday's missile barrage
'will not remain unanswered' after at least seven IRGC fighters are
said killed on air base-By Judah Ari Gross-APR 10,18
Israel’s
military has been put on high alert amid heightened tensions along the
northern border and with Iran threatening to avenge an airstrike on a
Syrian air base believed to have killed at least 14 people, including 7
Iranian military personnel.Russia, Syria, Iran and the United States
have all said Israel carried out the predawn Monday missile barrage on
the T-4 Air Base near Palmyra in central Syria. Israeli officials
refused to comment on the strike.On Tuesday, a top adviser to Iran’s
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened Israel.“The crimes will
not remain unanswered,” Ali Akbar Velayati said during a visit to
Syria, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.Iran’s
Foreign Ministry also accused Israel of “flagrant” aggression in Syria
following the attack.Israeli officials did not appear to be taking the
threat of a retaliatory attack lightly — either by Iran, or its proxy,
the Hezbollah terrorist group.On Tuesday, Defense Minister Avigdor
Liberman appeared to allude to the strike, saying that Israel “will not
allow Iranian entrenchment in Syria. Whatever the cost.”Keeping in line
with Israel’s stance of ambiguity on attacks outside the country’s
borders, the defense minister prefaced his remarks with a wry “I don’t
know what happened.”“Accepting Iranian entrenchment in Syria would be to
accept Iranians putting a chokehold on us. We cannot allow that,”
Liberman said.In a highly unusual move, Iran’s semi-official Fars news
agency acknowledged that “Iranian military advisers” were killed in
Monday’s attack on the military airfield.The Tasnim media outlet, which
has been affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps,
specified that seven IRGC members were killed in the strike, including
one high-ranking officer, Col. Mehdi Dehghan, who reportedly served in
one of the group’s drone units.Monday’s Iranian Foreign Ministry’s press
release made no mention of the dead.This appeared to be only the second
time that Iran has acknowledged casualties in Syria. The first was in
2015, when an IRGC general was killed in a strike directed against
Hezbollah leader Jihad Mughniyeh, which was also attributed to Israel.In
that case, the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group retaliated 10 days
later with an ambush, firing anti-tank missiles at two IDF jeeps,
killing two soldiers and injuring seven more.Tehran, along with Moscow,
is Syrian President Bashar Assad’s main ally, and has played an
important role in his recent victories.The Syrian regime and Moscow
blamed Israel for carrying out Monday’s strike, later that morning
saying two Israeli F-15 fighter jets fired eight missiles at the base,
some of which they said were shot down.The Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights, which monitors the country’s conflict, said 14 were killed,
including Syrian army officers and Iranian personnel. The Syrian regime
did not confirm the number of casualties, but said “there are martyrs
and wounded.”Later, American officials confirmed to NBC News that Israel
had conducted the strike and that they were notified of it in
advance.Israel is believed to have carried out numerous raids inside
Syria since 2013, targeting the regime and its Lebanese arch-foe
Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.Iran has deployed thousands of
fighters to Syria, presented as “volunteers” from Afghanistan and
Pakistan and trained locally by Iranian “military advisers.” It denies
having a military presence in the war-torn country.Iran does not
recognize the existence of Israel and routinely calls for and predicts
its demise. Israel views Tehran under the regime of the ayatollahs as an
existential threat that seeks nuclear arms and funds and arms terrorist
groups, notably Hezbollah, the Lebanese terror group on Israel’s
northern border.Israel has regularly expressed its concern about the
Iranian presence in Syria, fearing the long-term establishment of
hostile forces in the neighboring country.Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said Monday that Israel will hit anyone who intends to harm
the country, appearing to indirectly refer to the predawn missile
strike.“We have one clear and simple rule and we seek to express it
constantly: if someone tries to attack you — rise up and attack him,”
Netanyahu said.Israel conducted an airstrike against the T-4, also known
as Tiyas, base on February 10, after an Iranian operator working out of
it flew an Iranian-made drone into Israeli territory, according to the
army. That incursion sparked a series of aerial clashes that resulted in
the Iranian aircraft being shot down, an Israeli F-16I getting hit by
Syrian anti-aircraft fire and crashing in a field, and a significant
percentage of Syria’s air defenses being destroyed in retaliation.“Iran
and the [Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps’ special unit] Quds Force
for some time have been operating the T-4 Air Base in Syria next to
Palmyra, with support from the Syrian military and with permission from
the Syrian regime,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement at the
time.Construction Minister Yoav Galant, a former IDF major general and a
member of Israel’s security cabinet, would not comment directly on the
attack, but on Tuesday reiterated the “red lines” that Jerusalem
considers grounds for launching strikes.“In Syria, many forces, from
various bodies and coalitions, are operating. Each one says what it says
and denies what it denies,” he told Israel Radio. “We have clear
interests in Syria and we set red lines. We will not allow weapons to
pass from Syria to Lebanon, and we will not allow the establishment of
an Iranian base.”
Netanyahu reportedly expects Trump to
launch attack on Syria-Based on this assessment, Foreign Ministry blamed
Assad for chemical attack in Douma, to give support for possible
military action-By TOI staff-10 April 2018
At a security
meeting on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu estimated that it
was “very likely” the US would launch an attack on Syria, Channel 10
reported Tuesday.A senior government official told the news site that
the prime minister thought US President Donald Trump would order the
strike in response to the chemical attack on civilians in Douma.The news
station said one practical result of that assessment was that the
Foreign Ministry on Monday issued a statement blaming the Syrian regime
for the attack.The official explained to Channel 10 that the
announcement was made to show support for possible US-led military
action and for a US diplomatic move at the UN Security Council.“Israel
strongly condemns the chemical weapons strike carried out by Syria on
April 7, one year after the mass murder carried out by the regime in
Khan Sheikun,” a Foreign Ministry statement said, referring to a widely
condemned chemical attack on a rebel-held town last year.“The Syrian
regime continues to perpetrate crimes against humanity in using these
outlawed weapons.”Saturday’s suspected poison gas attack took place in
the rebel-held town of Douma amid a resumed offensive by Syrian
government forces, after the collapse of a truce. At least 40 people
were reportedly killed, including children, and hundreds of others were
said to have been injured.Meanwhile the US has asked the UN Security
Council to vote on its proposal to set up an inquiry to investigate the
attack, but the measure is likely to face a veto from Russia, diplomats
said.In Washington, Trump on Tuesday cancelled plans to travel to South
America later this week, choosing to stay in the United States to manage
the response to the apparent chemical weapons attack, fueling
speculation that a strike may be imminent.Amid the tough talk from the
White House, the US military appeared to be in position to carry out any
attack order. A Navy destroyer, the USS Donald Cook, was underway in
the eastern Mediterranean after completing a port call in Cyprus. The
guided missile destroyer is armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, the
weapon of choice in a US attack one year ago on an airfield in Syria
following an alleged sarin gas attack on civilians.Agencies contributed
to this report.
Divided UN falters in response to alleged
Syria chemical attack-Russia vetoes resolution to investigate apparent
toxic gas assault; Nikki Haley: 'Russia has trashed the credibility of
the council'-By Carole LANDRY-TOI-APR 10,18
UNITED
NATIONS (AFP) — Russia on Tuesday vetoed a US-drafted United Nations
Security Council resolution that would have set up an investigation into
chemical weapons use in Syria following an alleged toxic gas attack in
rebel-held Douma.It was the 12th time that Russia has used its veto
power at the council to block action targeting its Syrian ally.A rival
measure put forward by Moscow failed to garner enough votes for
adoption, laying bare the divisions within the council over Syria as the
threat of Western military action loomed large.President Donald Trump
has warned that there will be a “big price to pay” for the alleged use
of toxic gas in Douma that killed at least 40 people, according to
Syrian medics and rescuers.As the showdown between Russia and the United
States got underway, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the
United States of “planting this resolution” as a “pretext” to justify
action against Syria.“We are using the veto in order to protect
international rule of law, peace and security, to make sure that you do
not drag the Security Council into your adventures,” Nebenzia said.US
Ambassador Nikki Haley shot back, saying “Russia has trashed the
credibility of the council.”“Whenever we propose anything meaningful on
Syria, Russia vetoes it. It is a travesty,” she said.Twelve of the 15
council members backed the US-drafted measure. Bolivia voted against it
alongside Russia, while China abstained.Britain, France and the United
States were among the seven countries that voted against the Russian
proposal which they argued would not create an independent panel to
investigate allegations of chemical weapons use.Haley dismissed the
Russian draft as “all about protecting the Assad regime” because of
provisions that would have required the Security Council to endorse its
findings.-Russia warns US over military action-After warning Monday of
“grave repercussions” of US military action, the Russian ambassador
urged the United States to “come to your senses” and refrain from
ordering strikes on Syria.“If you took the decision to carry out an
illegal military adventure — and we do hope that you will come to your
senses — well then you will have to bare responsibility for it,” said
Nebenzia.China backed Russia’s measure along with four other countries,
while two others abstained.A draft resolution requires nine votes to be
adopted in the 15-member council and no veto from the five permanent
members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.Russia
has presented a third draft resolution that would support an
investigation by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons, but would not create a mechanism to identify the perpetrators
of chemical attacks.Diplomats said that measure was not expected to pass
either.After both proposals failed to win adoption, Sweden called for a
closed-door meeting before the vote on the third measure to discuss the
way forward.Russia and Syria have called for the OPCW to send its
experts to the rebel-held town of Douma, where toxic gas was allegedly
used in an attack on Saturday that killed dozens.The OPCW has said the
team of experts will deploy to Syria shortly.The US proposal would have
revived the work of a previous panel, known as the Joint Investigative
Mechanism (JIM), that shut down in November when Russian vetoed the
renewal of its mandate.That panel had found that the Syrian air force
had dropped sarin on the village of Khan Sheikhun in April of last year.
Very urgent': Activists want global treaty to ban killer robots by 2019-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
Pitted
against the glacial pace of the UN's discussion process, activists
hoping for an international ban on killer robots have repeatedly been
left fuming and frustrated.Pitted against each other in the battlefield,
lethal autonomous weapons systems — or LAWS — could in short order
cause "absolute devastation," according to one of those activists.That
scenario, says the activist, Prof. Noel Sharkey of the University of
Sheffield, isn't as farfetched as it might have been even five years
ago, when he helped found the Coalition to Stop Killer Robots, a group
of 64 NGOs dedicated to the cause.And it's that belief that brings him
and other academics, scientists and activists back to Geneva this week
to yet more discussions involving more than 80 countries.Their hope is
that the UN process moves from discussion to formal direct negotiations
by next year to produce a pre-emptive treaty banning killer robots by
2019.The activists' chief concern isn't the military's delegation of
tasks to autonomous machines — which can be useful in search and rescue
and bomb disposal and myriad other tasks too dangerous or too onerous
for humans.Instead, the coalition and others pushing for a treaty
specifically want to ban LAWS with the "critical functions" of selecting
a target and then killing, without meaningful human control.More
autonomy-"I think it's very urgent that we do this now," says Sharkey,
describing the UN process as "frustrating." Countries that don't want a
ban just keep slowing it down, he says."Our mandate is to get a treaty
for emerging weapons … so if they slow us down long enough, they'll have
emerged and we'll have no chance."Thus far, no fully autonomous weapons
are known to have been unleashed in the battlefield, although the
development of precursors is well underway, with growing degrees of
autonomy and intelligence — even the ability to learn.In this video
below, the Coalition to Stop Killer Robots make its case to ban
autonomous weapons.Recently, such development has stirred controversy.
At Google, staff wrote an open letter last week to management demanding
they suspend work on a U.S. military project that involved drones and
artificial intelligence capability.And also last week, dozens of
scientists and academics wrote a letter to the Korea Advanced Institute
of Science and Technology in Seoul threatening a boycott for a project
developing artificial intelligence for military use. The university has
since promised it would not produce LAWS.Still, Sharkey goes as far as
describing what is happening now as a new arms race underway as
militaries and companies compete to acquire increasingly autonomous and
smarter weapons.Since the UN discussions started back in 2014,
lightning-fast advances in the fields of robotics and artificial
intelligence have made it possible to build LAWS in short order,
according to experts.Beyond science fiction-"You could build an
autonomous weapon system with open source technology now — the question
is if it's good enough to meet our standards as advanced nations," says
Ryan Gariepy, CTO of Clearpath Robotics, a Canadian firm that was the
first company to endorse a ban on killer robots.So the near future, says
Sharkey, could see wars starting automatically with battlefields too
fast for the pace of human decision-making, where "war starts
automatically, 10 minutes later, there's absolute devastation, nobody's
been able to stop it."That's most dangerous of all, he says."I'm not
talking about science fiction here. I'm not talking about AI [artificial
intelligence] suddenly becoming conscious," he said in an
interview."I'm talking about stupid humans developing weapons that they
can't control."There are ample examples out there of the growing role of
autonomous functions in military and policing.Autonomous fire-Put aside
for a moment the Terminator idea of human-like soldiers and consider
the Samsung Techwin SGR-A1.It patrols the South Korean border and has
the ability to autonomously fire if it senses an infiltrator. Right now,
it prompts an operator first.Or what about the Russian semi-autonomous
T14 Armata tank or the British BAE Systems' Taranis aircraft, both
human-controlled but both also capable of semi-autonomous operation.
Kalashnikov has also built some prototypes with "neural networks"
modelled on the human brain.The U.S. military tests relentlessly. The
Pentagon has experimented with swarms — drones made to learn to think
and react collectively.Though no country admits actually pursuing LAWS,
proponents have several arguments in their favour: they could make wars
more efficient and accurate, lowering costs as well as civilian
casualties. Delegating killing to machines could ultimately also spare
soldiers any moral consequences of killing, even in self-defence, such
as PTSD."It will spare the lives of soldiers, it will spare conscience
of soldiers, it will spare soldiers from the threat of suicide," said
Prof. Duncan MacIntosh, a Dalhousie University philosophy professor who
is a leading adviser on the ethics of autonomous weapons. He made the
comments in his openings statement during a debate with Sharkey at St.
Mary's University in Halifax last month."You can make sure for instance
that a machine will not kill from fear, anger lust, revenge, political
prejudice, confusion, fog of war."Automation used in the "right way
could make war more precise and more humane," says Paul Scharre, a
former U.S. Army ranger who is currently at the Center for a New
American Security.Is that a real weapon? That doesn't help things "for
actors that don't care about civilian casualties, or trying to kill
civilians," says Scharre. But for militaries who "care about
humanitarian law and avoiding civilian harm, these technologies can
allow them to be more precise and distinguish better between enemy and
civilians."For example, AI-enabled systems could be used to tell whether
someone is carrying a weapon or something that just looks like a
weapon."We absolutely could do that. In fact we know that we can build
machine learning systems today that can identify objects very well and
actually beat humans at some benchmark tests for image recognition,"
says Scharre, whose book Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future
of War, comes out this month.For Scharre, it's too soon to call what is
happening now an "arms race."He agrees the unchecked proliferation of
autonomous weapons should be avoided, but that finding global agreement
on a definition of meaningful human control of autonomous weapons is
preferable to an outright ban. The U.S. position is to work within
existing laws.Activists say several countries interested in autonomous
weapons, such as Russia, China, Britain and Israel, are resistant to an
outright ban. Some accuse some of those countries of obfuscation and
footdragging — and quibbling over definitions — in UN meetings to
prevent progress towards a treaty.Some officials have insisted you can't
ban something that doesn't exist, to the exasperation of activists."Can
we afford incremental movement forward, as technology spirals to God
knows where?" asked American Nobel laureate Jody Williams in a statement
in 2016.There are many calls for a killer robot treaty similar to that
Williams helped orchestrate to produce a global ban on anti-personnel
landmines back in the 1990s — and for Canada to lead the way."Canada has
already played past leadership roles, most significantly in the control
and banning of landmines. I think there's a very similar role that
Canada can play in this discussion as well," says Gariepy.Canada is also
being pushed to articulate a clear position on killer robots and back
the ban.Compromise instead of treaty? France, now apparently supported
by Germany, is in favour of a compromise that sees a political
declaration and international law as preferable to a new treaty.
Activists criticize the two countries for failing to stand behind a ban
that even Germany's Angela Merkel once said she supported.Some 22
countries support an outright ban.Signatories to the UN's Convention on
Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) held three conferences on the topic
of killer robots before appointing a Group of Governmental Experts to
discuss them. The first meeting of that group was held last fall.This
week's meeting is one of two planned for this year."There will be some
sort of agreement," says Gariepy, who has attended the UN meetings in
the past.But whether that agreement is in place before these weapons
begin to proliferate, and whether it "actually addresses the need to
have meaningful human control … is an open question."In a letter ahead
of this week's meeting, the Coalition to Stop Killer Robots stressed
"the window for credible preventative action in the CCW is fast
closing."
Zuckerberg discloses Facebook working with Russia probe-[The Canadian Press]-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
WASHINGTON
— Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg disclosed Tuesday his company is
"working with" special counsel Robert Mueller in the federal probe of
Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign — and working
hard to change its own operations after the harvesting of users' private
information by a Trump campaign-affiliated data-mining company.The
founder of the social media giant publicly apologized for his company's
errors in failing to better protect the personal information of its
millions of users, a controversy that has brought a flood of bad
publicity and sent the company's stock value plunging. He seemed to
achieve a measure of success: Facebook shares surged 4.5 per cent for
the day, the biggest gain in two years.Zuckerberg told the Senate
Judiciary and Commerce committees that he has not been personally
interviewed by Mueller's team, but "I know we're working with them." He
offered no details, citing a concern about confidentiality rules of the
investigation.Earlier this year Mueller charged 13 Russian individuals
and three Russian companies in a plot to interfere in the 2016
presidential election through a social media propaganda effort that
included online ad purchases using U.S. aliases and politicking on U.S.
soil. A number of the Russian ads were on Facebook.During Tuesday's
at-times-contentious hearing, Zuckerberg said it had been "clearly a
mistake" to believe the data-mining company Cambridge Analytica had
deleted user data that it had harvested in an attempt to sway elections.
He said Facebook had considered the data collection "a closed case"
because it thought the information had been discarded.Facebook also
didn't alert the Federal Trade Commission, Zuckerberg said, and he
assured senators the company would handle the situation differently
today.He began a two-day congressional inquisition with a public apology
for the way Facebook handled the data-mining of its users' data. He
took responsibility for failing to prevent Cambridge Analytica, which
was affiliated with Donald Trump's presidential campaign, from gathering
personal information from 87 million users.Separately, the company
began alerting some of its users that their data was gathered by
Cambridge Analytica. A notification that appeared on Facebook for some
users Tuesday told them that "one of your friends" used Facebook to log
into a now-banned personality quiz app called "This Is Your Digital
Life." The notice says the app misused the information, including public
profiles, page likes, birthdays and current cities, by sharing it with
Cambridge Analytica.Zuckerberg had apologized many times already, to
users and the public, but this was the first time before Congress. He
also is to testify Wednesday before the House Energy and Commerce
Committee.Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the Commerce Committee chairman, told
Zuckerberg his company had a 14-year history of apologizing for
"ill-advised decisions" related to user privacy. "How is today's apology
different?" Thune asked."We have made a lot of mistakes in running the
company," Zuckerberg responded. "I think it's pretty much impossible, I
believe, to start a company in your dorm room and then grow it to be at
the scale that we're at now without making some mistakes."Zuckerberg
said Facebook is going through "a broader philosophical shift in how we
approach our responsibility as a company." He said the company needs to
take a "more proactive role" that includes ensuring the tools it creates
are used in "good and healthy" ways.Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said
Zuckerberg's appearance marked the most intense hearing for a tech
company since entrepreneur and businessman Bill Gates testified before
Congress in March 1998.Many of the senators' questions seemed to focus
on Facebook's basic functions, such as its privacy settings and what it
does and doesn't do with user data. Because each of the 44 senators had
just 5 minutes to ask questions, there was little time for tough
follow-ups. On some subjects, that allowed Zuckerberg to tell the
lawmakers that his people would get back to them with more
information.In the hearings, Zuckerberg is trying to both restore public
trust in his company and stave off federal regulations that some
lawmakers have floated. In his opening statement, he also apologized for
his company's involvement in facilitating fake news and Russian
interference in the elections.Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida
said he believes Zuckerberg was taking the congressional hearings
seriously "because he knows there is going to be a hard look at
regulation."Democrats like Nelson have argued that federal laws might be
necessary to ensure user privacy. Republicans have yet to get behind
any such legislation, but that could change.Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.,
asked Zuckerberg if he would be willing to work with lawmakers to
examine what "regulations you think are necessary in your
industry."Absolutely, Zuckerberg responded, saying later in an exchange
with Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, that "I'm not the type of person who
thinks that all regulation is bad." He called for a "full conversation
about what is the right regulation not whether it should be or shouldn't
be."And Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Judiciary panel and the
No. 2 Republican in the Senate, appeared open to regulation in a speech
ahead of the hearing. Cornyn said apologies are "not enough" and
suggested legislation could eventually be needed to give consumers more
control over their data privacy."This is a serious matter, and I think
people expect us to take action," Cornyn told reporters after his
speech.At the hearing, Zuckerberg said, "We didn't take a broad enough
view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake. It was my
mistake, and I'm sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I'm
responsible for what happens here."After resisting previous calls to
testify, Zuckerberg agreed to come to Capitol Hill this month after
reports surfaced — and the company confirmed — that Cambridge Analytica
had gathered Facebook users' data. Zuckerberg said his company has a
responsibility to make sure that doesn't happen again.He acknowledged
that the company was too slow to respond to Russian election
interference and said it was "working hard to get better." The company
has said that as many as 146 million people may have received
information from a Russian agency that's accused of orchestrating much
of the cyber meddling in the election.He outlined steps the company has
taken to restrict outsiders' access to people's personal information. He
also said the company is investigating every app that had access to a
large amount of information before the company moved to prevent such
access in 2014 — actions that came too late in the Cambridge Analytica
case.___Associated Press writer Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
Ortutay reported from New York.___For complete coverage of the Facebook
privacy scandal, visit
https://apnews.com/tag/FacebookPrivacyScandalMary Clare Jalonick And
Barbara Ortutay, The Associated Press.
Poisoning victim Yulia Skripal released from hospital-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
Yulia
Skripal, who along with her father, an ex-Russian spy, was poisoned
with a nerve agent in Britain last month, has been discharged from
hospital, British media reported.The BBC said Yulia Skripal was released
on Monday and was in a secure location.A statement from hospital
officials is expected later on Tuesday.A spokesman for the hospital
declined to comment.On Friday, doctors said the health of Yulia, 33, and
her father Sergei Skripal had improved rapidly in the last few weeks
after they were found unconscious on a bench on March 4 in the southern
English city of Salisbury.Britain says they were poisoned with a
military-grade nerve agent and has blamed Russia for the attack. Moscow
has denied any involvement in the incident which has plunged its
relations with the West to a post-Cold War low.Last week, Yulia Skripal
issued a statement to say her strength was growing daily while her
66-year-old father is no longer in a critical condition.
Ghouta in four weeks: U.N.-[ReMore than 130,000 have fled Syria's uters]-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
GENEVA
(Reuters) - The United Nations voiced alarm on Tuesday at "spiraling
new displacement" from the Syrian enclave of eastern Ghouta, after more
than 133,000 people were estimated to have fled in four weeks, and where
U.N. aid agencies still do not have access.About 45,000 of those
displaced are staying in eight collective shelters in the Damascus
countryside. Roughly the same number of women, children and elderly men
have left the overcrowded shelters after screening by government
authorities."We are aware of screening taking place as civilians are
leaving eastern Ghouta, but as you know we are not part of current
evacuation deals or its implementation," Andrej Mahecic, spokesman of
the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, told a briefing.(Reporting by Stephanie
Nebehay, editing by Tom Miles)
Seven Iranians were killed in strike on Syrian air base: Tasnim-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
LONDON
(Reuters) - Seven Iranian military personnel were killed in Sunday's
air strike on a Syrian air base, Tasnim news agency said, almost double
the number originally reported.Syria's government and its ally Iran have
accused Israel of carrying out the attack on the Tiyas, or T-4, air
base near Homs - something that Israel has not confirmed or denied.The
bodies of the Iranians, described as military advisers, had been flown
back to Iran and funerals would take place later on Tuesday, Tasnim
said. Earlier Iranian media reports said four personnel were killed.The
attack took place hours after U.S. President Donald Trump warned there
would be a "big price to pay" following the reports of a poison gas
attack on the Syrian rebel-held town of Douma. Syria's government has
denied any involvement in that attack."It seems the U.S. government is
looking for an excuse for military intervention," Iran's foreign
minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said has he arrived in Brazil early on
Tuesday, according to state media."Iran's stance on chemical weapons is
clear and we condemn any use of them against any target," Zarif
added.The Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s most powerful military force,
have been fighting in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for
several years. More than 1,000 Iranians have been killed in Syria's
civil war, including senior members of the Guards.(Reporting by
Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
Sex trafficking is rampant in Toronto's city-licensed spas, massage parlours, activists say-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
When
Casandra Diamond was lured into the world of licensed Toronto massage
parlours as a teenager, she thought it would give her control and
financial freedom.Instead, she lived in fear for the next 10
years.Forced to provide sexual services to a dozen men each night,
Diamond routinely endured requests that were degrading or violent. Then
she would go home to her "boyfriend" — the man who was trafficking her,
cutting her off from family and friends and keeping her money.When city
bylaw officers inspected the parlour she worked at, Diamond knew they
weren't there to help, but to see if anyone was breaking the rules. Even
speaking to them for too long could lead to punishment from her
trafficker, she recalled."There are no mechanisms in place to ensure the
safety of trafficked women," Diamond said.After escaping that life in
2004, Diamond became an advocate for other sex trafficking survivors
through her Newmarket-based charity, BridgeNorth.She's now among those
calling for more support for victims in Toronto, and questioning why the
city is in the business of licensing spas and massage parlours where
sex trafficking is proliferating right under bylaw officers' noses."It
felt like everybody knew what was going on, and it was okay," Diamond
said. "It was socially sanctioned — it made you think it was safer — but
it wasn't. Not at all."City reviewing licensing of spas, body rub
parlours-Sex trafficking is one piece of the conversation surrounding a
review of licensing for body rub parlours and holistic spas at city
council's licensing and standards committee on Tuesday.According to a
new report from the city's Municipal Licensing and Standards division,
there are 25 licenses for body-rub parlours right now in Toronto — a cap
that's existed since 1975 — and 410 licensed holistic centres.Last
year, a report from Toronto's auditor general found that more than a
quarter of those holistic centres appear to advertise erotic massages
and other services that may violate city bylaws.Those illicit activities
are one thing, but sex trafficking is the bigger issue, according to
Barbara Gosse, CEO of the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking, one
of the groups presenting to the committee."We're tired of the anemic
response this issue is getting," she said, noting how for years, there
has been talk of reviewing city bylaws."There needs to be much more work
done to improve the existing lax regulatory system for victims and
survivors who are trafficked."Since the city's human trafficking unit
was created in 2014, Toronto Police have encountered more than 200
victims.While the focus is often on those found in roadside motels and
private apartments, police say many are also trafficked within
city-licensed establishments.Later this year, Toronto Police will be one
piece of a working group led by Municipal Licensing and Standards,
which will support consultation with various stakeholder groups,
including the operators of body rub parlours, holistic spas, and
organizations that work with sex workers.According to the report, a
piece of this work will also be identifying long-term support services
for sex trafficking survivors and developing prevention
strategies.'Bigger question' than city can answer-Councillor Jim
Karygiannis, vice-chair of the municipal licensing and standards
committee, welcomes more discussion about how to prevent sex trafficking
in Toronto, but says the role the city can play is "very
limited."Instead, he believes there should be more provincial or federal
oversight of the regulatory bodies for spas and massage parlours. "It's
definitely a much bigger question than the city can answer," he
said.Still, it's one Municipal Licensing and Standards does hope to
tackle, with another report proposing bylaw changes and enforcement
strategies expected in 2019 following the research and consultation this
year.The review will allow city staff a "full opportunity" to make
recommendations on issues including trafficking, said Mayor John Tory on
Tuesday.Whatever the city decides, Diamond worries that licensing
illicit businesses will allow sex trafficking to continue in a way that
appears "sanctioned" by the city itself."I remember thinking, 'These
people know about what's going on, because they're licensing this,'" she
said."I perceived that [Municipal Licensing and Standards] understood
that some guy was hitting me, spitting on me, punching and kicking and
slapping. It's like they knew that these requests were being made and
were saying, 'It's okay.'"
Cannabis grow-op registry needed to protect homebuyers, association urges-[CBC]-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
The
Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) wants the province to introduce
more protections for homebuyers from properties damaged by cannabis
grow-ops — and it wants those changes made before recreational cannabis
is legalized later this year."Make no bones about it, as of this summer
more people will be growing pot at home," warned OREA president David
Reid at a media conference at the Ontario legislature Monday.Reid
pointed to statistics from police in Denver, Colorado — where the drug
has been legal since 2014 — suggesting one in 10 homes in that city is
being used to grow cannabis."Ontario must take steps to protect
homeowners and prospective homebuyers about the health and safety risks
associated with former marijuana grow-ops," said Reid.The head of the
Ottawa Real Estate Board, Ralph Shaw, said he's seen what can happen to
homes damaged by cannabis grow-ops."It's the mould and the fungus and
the moisture that causes the problem ... and it can destroy the frame
structure of a house. So you're into not just tens of thousands, but
certainly $50,000 to $100,000 isn't uncommon to clean up and retrofit a
home that's been used as a grow-op, so it's very serious," Shaw said.5
possible fixes-An OREA report asks for these five changes to Ontario
law: - Changing the building code to designate illegal drug operations
as unsafe buildings requiring remediation. - Requiring municipal
inspections of designated unsafe buildings. - Registering municipal work
orders for remediation on the Ontario land title system. - Training
home inspectors to spot damage caused by grow-ops. - Reducing the
allowable number of personal plants from four to one in multi-unit
dwellings smaller than 1,000 square feet. OREA has tried before to lobby
the province to introduce a registry, and supported a 2013 private
member's bill from Nepean—Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod, which did not pass
through the legislature.OREA now suggests with legalization looming a
registry is more important than ever, saying that the number of illegal
grow-ops rose in Colorado following legalization there.Colorado agents
worry registry could hurt values-However, Kelly Moye, a spokesperson for
the Colorado Association of Realtors, said the association hasn't
called for a registry in that state.Although Moye said she likes the
idea of rules protecting homeowners and buyers by mandating remediation,
a registry could permanently stigmatize homes and neighbourhoods.Under
Colorado law, for example, homeowners don't have to disclose former meth
labs as long as they're cleaned up according to state regulations, Moye
said."So meth is certainly a lot more toxic than any type of marijuana
growing, and we allow that disclosure to end once it's cleaned up, so it
would seem fair that disclosures of marijuana should end so it doesn't
impact the property forever."Ontario to consider new rules-A
spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney General did not close the
door to OREA's suggestions."As we approach the federal government's
legalization of cannabis, we will continue to work with all sectors,
including realtors, homeowners, landlords to ensure that people have the
necessary information and protections in place to make informed
decisions about buying and selling a home," wrote spokesperson Brian
Gray.The province is already set to revamp training and expectations for
home inspectors and the ministry "is currently developing regulations
to set qualifications for home inspectors and will consider OREA's
proposal as a part of this work."The province sounded less interested in
limiting the number of plants grown in smaller residences, as suggested
by Gray: "The federal government and their task force recommended four
plants for legal home cultivation. We have aligned with that approach
(...)"
Google appeals Indian antitrust watchdog's 'search bias' verdict: sources-[Reuters]-By Aditi Shah-YAHOONEWS-April 10, 2018
NEW
DELHI (Reuters) - Online search giant Google has filed an appeal at the
National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against a judgment from
India's competition watchdog that found it guilty of "search bias", two
sources aware of the matter told Reuters.The appeal was filed on
Monday, one of the sources said.In February, the Competition Commission
of India (CCI) imposed a 1.36 billion rupees ($20.95 million) fine on
Google, saying it was abusing its dominance in online web search and
online search advertising markets.Google, the core unit of U.S. firm
Alphabet Inc , did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for
comment.A CCI official said that its judgment was "robust" and that the
competition watchdog plans to defend its verdict at the NCLAT."Google
was found to be indulging in practices of search bias and by doing so,
it causes harm to its competitors as well as to users," the CCI said in
its 190-page judgment.The Indian watchdog's judgment is the latest
antitrust setback for the world's most popular search engine. Last year,
The European Commission imposed a record 2.4 billion euro ($3 billion)
fine on the company for favoring its shopping service and demoting rival
offerings. Google has appealed against the verdict.In India, the
Commission found that Google, through its search design, had placed its
commercial flight search function at a prominent position on the search
results page to the disadvantage of businesses trying to gain market
access.The CCI ruling brought to an end a probe first started by the
watchdog in 2012 on complaints filed by matchmaking website Bharat
Matrimony and a not-for-profit organization, Consumer Unity and Trust
Society (CUTS).(Reporting by Aditi Shah; Additional reporting by Aditya
Kalra; Editing by Euan Rocha)
