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)
Mozambique plane debris believed to be from Boeing 777: Malaysia minister-Reuters-MAR 2,16-YAHOONEWS
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Debris believed to be part of a Boeing 777 jet has been found off Mozambique and will be taken to Australia to be examined by investigators involved in the search for the missing Flight MH370, Malaysia's transport minister said.Liow Tiong Lai said there is a "high possibility" that the piece of debris belonged to a 777 jet but added he could not conclude yet that it was from the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner."The debris will be taken to Australia for further examination," he told Reuters.An official in Mozambique's foreign ministry told Reuters the fragment was being flown to the capital Maputo from Inhambane province, 800 km (500 miles) to the north, and would arrive on Wednesday evening. It would be examined in Maputo by Malaysian and U.S. experts, the official said.Earlier on Wednesday NBC News said the piece could be a horizontal stabilizer from a Boeing 777, citing U.S., Malaysian and Australian investigators who looked at photos of the debris.The piece of debris was discovered off the east African coast between Mozambique and Madagascar.Flight MH370 disappeared two years ago when it was en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. Last year authorities found a piece of the plane's wing on the shore of Reunion island in the Indian Ocean on the other side of Madagascar."It is yet to be confirmed and verified....I urge everyone to avoid undue speculation as we are not able to conclude that the debris belongs to MH370 at this time," Liow said on his Twitter account.Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, with 239 passengers and crew on board, and is believed to have crashed in the Indian Ocean. An initial search of a 60,000 sq km (23,000 sq miles) area of sea floor has been extended to another 60,000 sq km.(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff and Manuel Mucari; Writing by Praveen Menon and Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by Dominic Evans)
US official: Debris from same type of plane as MH370-Associated Press By JOAN LOWY-MAR 2,16-YAHOONEWS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Debris that washed up in Mozambique has been tentatively identified as a part from the same type of aircraft as the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a U.S. official said Wednesday.Photos of the debris discovered over the weekend appear to show the fixed leading edge of the right-hand tail section of a Boeing 777, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly. Flight 370, which disappeared two years ago with 239 people aboard, is the only known missing 777.People who have handled the part, called a horizontal stabilizer, say it appears to be made of fiberglass composite on the outside, with aluminum honeycombing on the inside, the official said.The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is running the search for the plane in remote waters off Australia's west coast, said the part was expected to be transported to Australia for examination.Malaysian transport minister Liow Tiong Lai also confirmed in tweets about the discovery that it appears the debris may have come from the missing plane."Based on early reports, high possibility debris found in Mozambique belongs to a B777," Liow said in a series of tweets."It is yet to be confirmed & verified. @dca_malaysia working w Australian counterparts to retrieve the debris." He also urged "everyone to avoid undue speculation as we are not able to conclude that the debris belongs to #mh370 at this time."Australian officials have seen photographs of the debris and have been in communication with Blaine Gibson, the American man who found the part, said Dan O'Malley, a spokesman for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau."We're aware of these reports that debris has been found in Mozambique," O'Malley said. "We're working with officials in Mozambique and Malaysia to investigate."Australia will work with Malaysian investigators to examine the object once it arrives in Australia, he said. The ATSB hasn't made any determinations yet about the potential origins of the debris."We have to wait until we have the actual debris examined," O'Malley said. "We're not going to draw conclusions from the photos."Flight 370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. Radar data show the plane turned sharply around as it approached Vietnamese airspace, and then flew back across the Malay Peninsula until contact was lost off the coast of Thailand.Authorities who scrutinized data exchanged between the plane's engine and a satellite determined that the jetliner continued on a straight path across the Indian Ocean, leading them to believe that the plane flew on autopilot for hours before running out of fuel and crashing into the water.Despite an exhaustive search of the ocean west of Australia, where the plane is believed to have crashed, the only confirmed trace of the aircraft has been a wing part known as flaperon that washed ashore last July on the French island of Reunion off the east coast of Africa — about 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) from the current search area.The flaperon bore a stenciled internal marking "657 BB," which is consistent with a flaperon from a Boeing 777.Nothing of the passengers, their luggage or even things designed to float, such as life jackets, has been discovered despite the largest and most expensive search in aviation history.Australia has led the multinational search effort, which also includes the Malaysian and Chinese governments.The discovery in Mozambique is unlikely at this stage to impact the underwater search for the plane, taking place thousands of miles to the east, O'Malley said. Authorities have long predicted that any debris from the plane that isn't on the ocean floor would eventually be carried by currents to the east coast of Africa.With authorities unable to find the plane and its "black box" flight data and cockpit voice recorders, investigators are no closer than they were two years ago to discovering the cause of the aircraft's disappearance. There are many theories, including that a rogue pilot deliberately caused the $250 million jet to vanish, but little hard evidence.With the search tentatively scheduled to wrap up later this year, Flight 370 may become one of aviation's great unsolved mysteries.In the aftermath of the plane's disappearance, the airline industry and aviation authorities around the world pledged to find ways to better track airliners, especially over expanses of ocean where there's no radar coverage.___Associated Press writers Kristen Gelineau in Sydney, Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur and Emmanuel Camillo in Maputo, Mozambique, contributed to this report.___Follow Joan Lowy at twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/joan-lowy-___This story has been corrected to correct that search area is west of Australia, not east.
ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST
1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
GENESIS 12:1-3
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I (GOD) will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee,(ISRAELIS) and curse (DESTROY) him that curseth thee:(DESTROY THEM) and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
ISAIAH 41:11
11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee (ISRAEL) shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing;(DESTROYED) and they that strive with thee shall perish.(ISRAEL HATERS WILL BE TOTALLY DESTROYED)
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
U. of Missouri hit with third anti-Semitic incident in year-Poster with ‘Hitler rules’ hung on bulletin board in main campus; previous attacks included swastikas painted in feces, cigarette ash-By JTA March 2, 2016, 11:54 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
University of Missouri officials condemned an anti-Semitic incident at a campus residence hall, the second this school year and the third in less than a calendar year.A poster reading “Hitler rules” was hung Monday on a bulletin board in the Gateway Hall student residence on the university’s main campus in Columbia, according to the school’s newspaper, The Maneater.The school’s interim chancellor, Hank Foley, and interim vice chancellor for inclusion, diversity and equity, Chuck Henson, expressed anger at another anti-Semitic incident in a school residence hall.“This type of vandalism attacks everyone,” they said in a statement Tuesday. “Our core values — including that of Respect — must become more than words on paper or a banner. They are the foundation of who we desire to be as a campus community and the way we all need to conduct ourselves.”No one has been apprehended in the vandalism.On October 24, a swastika drawn in feces was found on the wall of a bathroom in a residence hall. And in April 2015, swastikas and anti-Semitic epithets were written in ash in the stairwell of a campus dormitory. A freshman at the university was arrested for the vandalism.The university’s Jewish Student Organization also released a statement Tuesday saying it “strongly condemns this expression of hatred.”“This type of hate speech isn’t merely an attack on religious minorities; it also targets other cultural and ethnic groups,” the group said. “This act occurred in a residence hall, a place students call home. Home should be a haven where people feel safe from hatred.”The statement added that the Jewish Student Organization was “humbled by the support from student leadership on campus since the incident was reported.”In November, the university’s chancellor and president resigned over questions about their leadership in the wake of racial tensions on campus, which led to a student hunger strike and football players threatening to boycott a game.
Carson says ‘no path forward,’ effectively ending White House bid-After poor Super Tuesday showing, retired surgeon and GOP hopeful says he’ll skip Detroit debate, but doesn’t officially drop out-By AFP March 2, 2016, 10:54 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
WASHINGTON — Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson said Wednesday he sees no viable path forward for himself in the 2016 Republican presidential primary race, essentially ending a campaign that soared last year only to steadily lose steam.“I do not see a political path forward in light of last evening’s Super Tuesday primary results,” Carson said in a statement, referring to the busiest day of the nomination process that saw 11 states vote for their Republican standard-bearer.The night was dominated by frontrunner Donald Trump, with Carson finishing fourth or fifth out of five candidates in every state.Carson, 64, said he would not participate in Thursday’s Republican debate in his home city of Detroit.Although his statement made no official mention of shutting down his campaign, it was a clear signal that he was dropping out of the race.“I appreciate the support, financial and otherwise, from all corners of America,” he said. “Gratefully, my campaign decisions are not constrained by finances; rather by what is in the best interests of the American people.”He said he remained committed to “saving America” for future generations, adding that “we must not depart from our goals to restore what God and our founders intended for this exceptional nation.”The religiously conservative Carson, the only African American in the race to succeed President Barack Obama, said he will discuss his political future on Friday in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, near Washington.The soft-spoken, mild-mannered Carson once rivaled the bombastic Trump in the quest for the nomination. He was the second-place candidate from early September through November, attracting substantial support from evangelical conservatives.But he struggled to maintain the momentum. Carson’s challenge for the White House stumbled over questions about the veracity of aspects of his compelling life story, notably his claim in books and speeches that he had been offered a scholarship to the prestigious West Point military academy.He placed fourth in the first nominating contest, in Iowa, and eighth in the second contest, in New Hampshire.
Ben Carson sees no ‘path forward’ in bid for White House-Dylan Stableford-Senior editor-March 2, 2016-YAHOONEWS
Following a poor performance on Super Tuesday, Ben Carson announced on Wednesday that he sees no “path forward” in the race for the Republican nomination and will not attend Thursday’s Fox News GOP debate in his hometown of Detroit.“I do not see a political path forward in light of last evening’s Super Tuesday primary results,” Carson said in a statement. “However, this grassroots movement on behalf of ‘We the People’ will continue. Along with millions of patriots who have supported my campaign for president, I remain committed to Saving America for Future Generations. We must not depart from our goals to restore what God and our Founders intended for this exceptional nation.”“Even though I will not be in my hometown of Detroit on Thursday, I remain deeply committed to my home nation, America,” he added.Carson said he will address his political future on Friday in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington, D.C.The soft-spoken retired neurosurgeon, who actually led Donald Trump in the Republican race in early polls, finished a disappointing fourth or fifth in all 11 of Tuesday’s GOP contests.Carson’s unlikely rise among the ranks of Republican hopefuls began in 2013 at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, where he criticized Obamacare with President Obama seated just a few feet away.“What we need to do is come up with something simple,” Carson said. “When a person is born, give him a birth certificate, an electronic medical record and a health savings account to which money can be contributed — pretax — from the time you’re born till the time you die.”As recently as November, Carson was neck and neck with Trump in several states, including South Carolina.But mounting questions surrounding the 64-year-old’s colorful biography, coupled with an admitted lack of foreign policy chops and a series of controversial comments on the campaign trail, ultimately derailed Carson.During the Iowa caucuses, Carson flew home to Florida for a “change of clothes” — a move that was interpreted by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s rival GOP campaign as Carson pulling out of the race, and broadcast by Cruz’s operatives.Cruz subsequently apologized, but Carson and other Republican candidates accused the Texas senator — who won Iowa — of playing dirty.“I’m not going to use this opportunity to savage the reputation of Sen. Cruz,” Carson said days later during a Republican debate. “I will say I was disappointed that members of his team thought so little of me that they thought after having hundreds, if not thousands, of volunteers and college students who sacrificed their time and were dedicated to the cause — one even died — to think that I would just walk away 10 minutes before the caucus.”On Tuesday night in Baltimore, Carson told his supporters he was not quite ready to quit.“As I’ve had an opportunity to study our system, it has become a little bit discouraging seeing all the relationships that exist there,” he said. “It is rotten to the core on both sides, Democrats and Republicans. And they have weaved such a complex web, it will be very, very difficult to untangle it. But I’m not ready to quit trying to untangle it yet.”
Trying to make sense of that ‘neutral,’ ‘totally pro-Israel’ Donald Trump-What to think of a candidate who courts Jewish Republicans but tells them, ‘I don’t want your money’; has a daughter who converted to Judaism but finds difficulty disavowing an ex-KKK leader?-By Eric Cortellessa March 2, 2016, 4:46 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
WASHINGTON — When Donald Trump addressed the Republican Jewish Coalition’s Presidential Forum last December, he proved again why the runaway success of his divisive campaign has upturned the expectations of so many.A Republican hopeful seeking the support of a room full of pro-Israel Republicans, he doubted Israel’s willingness to make peace and declined to call Jerusalem the undivided capital of the Jewish state, a position that is held by most other candidates in his party.But what most of the headlines coming out of the gathering highlighted was the manner in which Trump invoked what many consider to be offensive Jewish stereotypes, which included him saying, “You’re not gonna support me because I don’t want your money. You want to control your politicians, that’s fine.”When the crowd erupted with boos over his answer to the Jerusalem question, Trump tried to reassure them. “Do me a favor, just relax,” he said. “You’ll like me very much, believe me.”But following Trump’s strong Super Tuesday showing — in which he won eight of the 11 states that held GOP primary contests — people aren’t relaxing, and the question of what a Trump presidency would mean for Israel is becoming an increasingly pressing one for those who care about the country’s future.While Trump’s domination of the primary process has thus far impelled a number of pundits to predict that the Republican primary could lead to a brokered convention, something that hasn’t happened since 1948, his overwhelming performance Tuesday gives his candidacy a head of steam toward potentially securing the nomination.So where does the real-estate-magnate-turned-politician stand on the key issues relating to Israel? While Trump has refused to offer specifics over how he would achieve his largest goals concerning the Jewish state, mainly securing a two-state accommodation between Israelis and Palestinians and preventing the Iranian regime from acquiring a nuclear weapon, he has repeatedly referred to himself as “totally pro-Israel.”But there is a caveat when it comes to how far, and in what circumstances, he is willing to go in declaring himself a staunch ally of the Jewish state. Most notably, he has diverged from his party’s standard rhetoric on an emotionally charged foreign policy issue, by vowing to maintain neutrality on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.‘Let me be sort of a neutral guy’-Last month, Trump promised to “give it one hell of a shot” when asked what steps he would take to broker an elusive peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians. “It’s probably the toughest agreement of any kind to make,” he said at an MSNBC town hall event in Charleston, South Carolina.But pressed further by host Joe Scarborough over whether he felt either party was more at fault over the ongoing failure to reach an accord, Trump declined to take sides.“You know, I don’t want to get into it, because… If I win, I don’t want to be in a position where I’m saying to you and the other side now says, ‘We don’t want Trump involved,'” he told Scarborough. “Let me be sort of a neutral guy. A lot of people have gone down in flames trying to make that deal, so I don’t want to say whose fault is it. I don’t think it helps.”That answer created a firestorm over Israel policy in the Republican race and became fodder for a series of attacks from Trump’s rivals, including a testy exchange at the February 25 Republican presidential debate, when CNN’s Wolf Blitzer pressed Trump, “How do you remain neutral when the US considers Israel to be America’s closest ally in the Middle East?”“As president… there is nothing I would rather do than to bring peace to Israel and its neighbors generally,” Trump responded. “I think it serves no purpose to say that you have a good guy and a bad guy. Now, I may not be successful in doing it, it’s probably the toughest negotiation anywhere in the world of any kind. It doesn’t help if I start saying I’m very pro-Israel.”Trump’s two biggest Republican challengers, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, subsequently attacked Trump, with Rubio calling Trump’s position “anti-Israel.”“You cannot be an honest broker in a dispute between two sides in which one of the sides is constantly acting in bad faith,” Rubio said. “The Palestinian Authority has walked away from multiple efforts to make peace, very generous offers from the Israelis. Instead, here’s what they do. They teach their four-year-old children that killing Jews is a glorious thing.”While Trump has not commented publicly on previous attempts by Israeli prime ministers to strike a deal, he has expressed skepticism over the sincerity of Israel’s declarations of wanting to achieve a two-state outcome.“First thing you have to ask, do they both want to make it?” he said in a December 2015 interview with AP. “I have a real question as to whether both sides want to make it. I have a real question as to whether one side in particular whether or not they want to make it. I think one side actually would like a deal and I think the other one maybe doesn’t want a deal, to be honest.”When pushed to say which side he was talking about, Trump wouldn’t specify. But later in the interview he said, “In my opinion, if Israel wants a deal I think a deal can be made.”In that same interview, Trump said he had certain views on the conflict but would prefer to keep them private so as to not create any preconceived notions among the Israeli or Palestinian leadership. “We show our cards too much, so if I get into that, I don’t want to say this or that and then they’ll say, ‘Well Trump is biased one way or the other,'” he said.And yet, Trump has also expressed skepticism over the possibility of achieving a two-state solution, given the conditions of the conflict and the need for any agreement to be sustainable over time. He has also suggested that hostility between the two peoples was becoming an increasing obstacle to bridging differences, while also hinting at what he considers the root of the conflict.“A lot of people say an agreement can’t be made, which is okay. I mean, sometimes agreements can’t be made. Not good, but, you know, you have both sides really, but one side in particular, growing up and learning that these are the worst people,” he told Scarborough at the town hall event. “I was with a very prominent Israeli the other day. He says it’s impossible, because the other side has been trained from the time they’re children to hate Jewish people.”Trump has said he would know within his first six months in office whether a deal can be made.-Would not ‘rip up’ Iran deal, but would ‘police’ it-Trump has been an ardent critic of the nuclear deal struck between Iran and the US-led P5+1 group of world powers. A day after the deal was inked, in July 2015, Trump told Katy Tur of NBC News that President Barack Obama negotiated the agreement “from desperation” and that it was “terrible.”The deal was implemented in January and lifted a spate of crippling oil and financial sanctions on Iran, releasing more than $100 billion in frozen assets.“First of all, we’re giving them billions of dollars in this deal, which we shouldn’t have given them. We should have kept the money,” he said. “Second of all, we have four prisoners over there. We should have said, ‘Let the prisoners out. They shouldn’t be over there.'”The prisoners, including Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, have since been released, in exchange for seven people imprisoned or charged in the United States, just before sanctions were officially lifted.‘You know the Iranians are going to cheat,’ he said. ‘They’re great negotiators and you know they’re going to cheat’Trump insisted that any deal with the Islamic Republic should include a provision that allows inspectors to have anytime, anywhere access to all nuclear sites in Iran. “You know the Iranians are going to cheat,” he said. “They’re great negotiators and you know they’re going to cheat.”Despite saying that “never, ever, ever in my life have I seen any transaction so incompetently negotiated as our deal with Iran and I mean never,” Trump has differed from his GOP rivals in saying he would not “rip up” the deal were he to become president. Rather, he has vowed to “police” the deal to ensure that Iran does not violate the terms of the agreement.“I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘We’re going to rip up the deal.’ It’s very tough to do when you say, ‘We’re ripping it up,'” Trump told NBC’s Chuck Todd on the Sunday morning talk show “Meet The Press.”“You know, I’ve taken over some bad contracts. I buy contracts where people screwed up and they have bad contracts,” he continued. “But I’m really good at looking at a contract and finding things within a contract that, even if they’re bad, I would police that contract so tough that they don’t have a chance. As bad as the contract is, I will be so tough on that contract.”Trump is known for not being sparing with invective toward those he dislikes or disagrees with. Obama has been no exception, and Trump has repeatedly attacked the president over the nuclear accord with Iran and what he calls Obama’s poor treatment of Israel.“You look at what he’s done to Israel, with just this Iran deal, which is such a terrible deal. He’s been the worst thing that’s ever happened to Israel,” Trump said last week in an interview with Fox News. “Israel is so important. What Obama has done to Israel is a disgrace.”Ties to Israel and the Jewish community-Perhaps Donald Trump’s deepest tie to the Jewish community comes from his daughter, Ivanka Trump, who converted to Judaism in 2009 before marrying Jared Kushner.In an interview with Vogue magazine published last year, the billionaire businessman’s daughter revealed that she observes Shabbat and keeps a kosher diet, something Trump joked about when he addressed the Republican Jewish Coalition last December, saying he could no longer contact his daughter on Saturdays.Trump has also involved himself in Israel’s internal politics, which included him shooting a commercial in support of Netanyahu’s 2013 re-election campaign. Trump has referred to Netanyahu on multiple occasions as “a good friend.”He also often boasts of his connections to the State of Israel, in what may be attempts to reassure his audience of his pro-Israel bona fides.After being attacked by his opponents at the latest Republican presidential debate, Trump said: “I was the grand marshal down Fifth Avenue a number of years ago for the Israeli Day Parade, I have very close ties to Israel. I’ve received the Tree of Life Award and many of the greatest awards given by Israel.”But Trump has also clashed repeatedly with American Jewish organizations throughout the campaign, many of whom condemned his call to temporarily ban Muslim entry to the United States and who recently urged him to repudiate the endorsement of extremists, white supremacists and noted anti-Semites, including former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.Farrakhan, who has a long history of anti-Semitism, recently praised Trump for his refusal to take “Jewish money.”After Trump failed to unequivocally disavow Duke’s support and told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he didn’t “know anything” about his controversial backer, the Anti-Defamation League stepped in to help out. It released a candidates’ guide to racists.
One dead, 18 hurt as bus overturns in northern Israel-At least 2 people moderately injured when bus carrying 35 passengers flips in lower Galilee-By Times of Israel staff March 3, 2016, 12:16 am
One person was killed and at least 18 others were injured when a bus overturned near the village of Zarzir in northern Israel on Wednesday evening.There were 35 passengers on the vehicle when it flipped over. The cause of the accident was not immediately clear.Magen David Adom paramedics arrived at the scene and helped evacuate trapped passengers. According to Channel 10, most of the passengers could independently walk.One passenger, a 50-year-old man, was pronounced dead at the scene.Two passengers were moderately injured and 16 others suffered minor injuries.“When we got there we saw a bus lying on its side in the middle of the road and there was lot of commotion,” a medic told the Haaretz daily soon after the accident. “People were stopping on the side of the roads and others came from nearby villages to help. Some of the injured passengers were lying on the road, others were trapped in the bus. We arrived in large force and with the help of firefighters are extracting the injured and giving them medical treatment.”
UN imposes toughest-ever North Korea sanctions-Obama welcomes measures as ‘a firm, united, and appropriate response’ to Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test and rocket launch-By Carole LANDRY March 2, 2016, 11:31 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — The United Nations on Wednesday adopted the toughest sanctions to date on North Korea in response to its fourth nuclear test and rocket launch, but all eyes were on China and Russia to see if they fully enact the sweeping measures.The Security Council unanimously passed a resolution imposing new sanctions after seven weeks of arduous negotiations between the United States and China, Pyongyang’s sole ally.Among the unprecedented measures is a new requirement that all countries must inspect cargo destined for and coming from North Korea, in all airports and sea ports.The resolution bans or restricts exports of coal, iron and iron ore and other minerals from North Korea, and prohibits the supply of aviation fuel including rocket fuel.North Korea earns about $1 billion per year in coal exports — a third of all export revenues — and about $200 million annually from iron ore sales, US Ambassador Samantha Power told the council.US President Barack Obama welcomed the measures as “a firm, united, and appropriate response” to the January 6 nuclear test and February 7 rocket launch.“The international community, speaking with one voice, has sent Pyongyang a simple message: North Korea must abandon these dangerous programs and choose a better path for its people,” Obama said in a statement.Banking restrictions will be tightened and governments will be required to ban flights of any plane suspected of carrying contraband destined for North Korea.The resolution tightens an arms embargo by banning sales of small arms and bars vessels suspected of carrying illegal goods for North Korea from ports.“These are among the toughest measures we have agreed against any country in the world, certainly the toughest ever against the DPRK,” said British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, referring to North Korea by its official acronym.Under the measure, UN member states will expel North Korean diplomats engaged in smuggling or other illegal activities.A total of 16 individuals and 12 entities were added to a UN sanctions blacklist, including North Korea’s NADA space agency and its spy agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau.Luxury watches, snowmobiles, recreational watercraft such as Sea-Doos and sports equipment are banned from sale to North Korea, in sanctions targeting Pyongyang’s elites.-Making sanctions bite-South Korean Ambassador Oh Joon said Pyongyang has spent an estimated $4 billion on its banned weapons program and argued that those funds could have covered the cost of humanitarian aid “for 40 years.”“It simply pains me, pains all of us, to think about how the regime has been developing weapons by people who are starving,” he added.Japanese Ambassador Motohide Yoshikawa described the resolution as “ground-breaking” but stressed that “the heart of the matter now is implementation” of the sanctions by China, North Korea’s largest trading partner, and other countries.Power also called for a “robust and unyielding” follow-up to ensure the sanctions bite and singled out Russia and China as important players in that effort.Chinese Ambassador Liu Jieyi said the resolution should “be a new starting point and a stepping stone” for renewed talks on dismantling North Korea’s nuclear program.Russia echoed that view, with Ambassador Vitaly Churkin saying the resolution is designed to “shut down as much as possible the financing” of North Korea’s weapons program to push Pyongyang back to the negotiating table.During the weeks of negotiations, China had been reluctant to endorse harsh sanctions out of concern that too much pressure would trigger the collapse of the pariah regime, creating chaos on its border.China’s ambassador renewed Beijing’s opposition to plans by South Korea and the United States to deploy a new missile defense system on the Korean peninsula, saying it undermines efforts to re-start Korea talks.The US Treasury Department separately announced sanctions against two entities and 10 individuals with ties to North Korea’s weapons programs, and the State Department added three entities and two individuals to its sanctions blacklist.The sanctions resolution did not target oil deliveries to North Korea and allows for exemptions to some export bans if a government can show that the revenue will not be used to develop North Korea’s military programs.China, and to a lesser extent Russia, “will find loopholes, they always have,” to avoid fully implementing UN sanctions, said Roberta Cohen, an expert on North Korea at the Brookings Institution.But Beijing “sees the mobilization of alliances, strong military alliances between the United States, South Korea and Japan and it sees that it can’t go on the way it has,” she added.The latest resolution ushered in the fifth set of UN sanctions to hit North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006.
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
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)
Russia 'weaponising' refugees against EU By Andrew Rettman-MAR 2,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:30-Russia is “weaponising migration” as part of a broader campaign to extend its influence in Europe, Nato’s military chief has said, echoing German and Turkish concern.Philip Breedlove, a US general who commands Nato forces forces in Europe, spoke out on Tuesday (1 March) in a hearing with the Senate’s armed services committee in Washington.“Together, Russia and the Assad regime are deliberately weaponising migration in an attempt to overwhelm European structures and break European resolve,” he said, referring to Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian leader and Russian ally.Commenting on their “indiscriminate” fire on civilians in north Syria, he said: “I can't find any other reason for [that] other than to cause refugees to be on the move and make them someone else's problem.”He issued the same warning to the House armed services committee last week.The number of people fleeing to Europe in January and February, not long after Russia began air strikes, reached 131,000 - vastly higher than for the same period last year - EU figures say.EU discord on how to handle the flow of people has prompted unilateral border restrictions and concern over a humanitarian crisis in Greece.If the Russian air support lets Assad conquer the city of Aleppo in north Syria, Turkish diplomats say “hundreds of thousands” more will come, creating a “security nightmare”.Norbert Roettgen, a German MP who chairs the Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee, recently told EUobserver that the refugee crisis was “a welcome side effect” for Russia.“The addressee of this problem is the EU as a whole,” he said.Selim Yenel, Turkey’s ambassador to the EU, told EUobserver: “If they [Aleppo refugees] go into the EU and let’s say that our ‘action plan’ [on migration] doesn’t work, then what happens in Europe - shutting down borders, chaos, [German leader Angela] Merkel weakening, losing elections, the right coming back to power?”.-Worse before better-Breedlove said on Tuesday the problems would “get worse before they get better” and that refugee numbers were likely to “continue to rise in 2016.”“There is a concern that criminals, terrorists, foreign fighters and other extremist organisations will recruit from the primarily Muslim populations arriving in Europe, potentially increasing the threat of terrorist attacks,” he said.“Continued weak economic growth [in Europe] … keeps unemployment rates high, specifically among young migrants susceptible to radicalisation,” he added.“Local nationalists opposed to a large-scale influx of foreigners could [also] become increasingly violent,” he said.Jack Reed, a Democratic party senator, told the US hearing: “The security implications of this [refugee] crisis are enormous, threatening to unravel a vision of Europe that has permeated the last two decades.”’New normal’-Breedlove said Russia’s refugee tactics are part of a broader strategy to restore Soviet-era influence.He said Russia was using the old and new conflicts in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine to coerce its neighbours.“We must not allow Russian actions in Syria to serve as a strategic distraction that leads the international community to give tacit acceptance to the situation in Ukraine as the ‘new normal’,” he said.Noting that Nato powers and Russia had been on a path of reconciliation in the 1990s, he said: “Europe is not the same continent it was when I took command.”-’Barrage of lies'-Konstantin Dolgov, a senior Russian diplomat, said in a statement on Tuesday that the refugee crisis had “naturally resulted from the irresponsible and short-sighted interference of Western countries in the internal affairs of sovereign states in the [Middle East] region”.Sergey Kopyrkin, Russia’s deputy EU ambassador, in separate remarks said there’s a “real risk” of an “enduring rift across the European continent”.Breedlove in his Senate testimony also warned of the dangerous appeal of Russia’s “false narratives”.“Russia overwhelms the information space with a barrage of lies that must be addressed by the United States more aggressively in both public and private sectors to effectively expose the false narratives,” he said.
US forces capture ‘significant’ IS operative in Iraq-Washington says detainee providing ‘good’ intelligence that could help locate other jihadist militants-By AFP March 2, 2016, 11:51 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
WASHINGTON — US commandos captured a major Islamic State operative in Iraq and his detention will likely lead to the apprehension of other IS targets, a US defense official told AFP Wednesday.The issue raises questions about what will happen to the detainee and others like him, given that President Barack Obama has ruled out sending any more terror suspects to Guantanamo Bay and the United States does not want to create a holding center for IS captives in Iraq.The US defense official, who asked not to be named, confirmed a New York Times report that said a “significant” operative had been captured.Officials told The Times that US interrogators were with the detainee at a temporary detention facility in Erbil in northern Iraq, and that he would eventually be handed over to Iraqi or Kurdish officials.The Times said its sources declined to identify the detainee or say how much he had cooperated, but the official AFP spoke to said the captive was providing useful information that could yield leads to other IS operatives.“They’re getting good stuff from him,” the official said.The detainee was captured by elite special operations troops who deployed to Iraq in recent weeks and whom the Pentagon calls a specialized expeditionary targeting force, or ETF.The Pentagon has until now been tight-lipped about the team’s operations, saying that discussing missions puts the elite fighters at risk.The Times said the 200-member special operations team is made up of many Delta Force commandos.Though it is small in number, it represents the first major US ground combat force since the official withdrawal of US troops at the end of 2011.Another 3,870 or so US troops are in Iraq on a mission to train and support Iraqi forces fighting the IS group.“The ETF has begun operations in Iraq. But we will not discuss the details of those missions when it risks compromising operational security,” Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told AFP.“One of the goals of the ETF is to capture ISIL leaders,” he added, using an alternative acronym for the IS group.“Any detention would be short-term and coordinated with Iraqi authorities.”Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Monday the ETF was an increasingly important component of the US-led coalition’s 19-month-old campaign to defeat the IS group in Iraq and Syria.“It’s a tool that we introduced … to conduct raids of various kinds, seizing places and people, freeing hostages and prisoners of ISIL, and making it such that ISIL has to fear that anywhere, anytime, it may be struck,” Carter said.Obama is trying to close the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison but is unlikely to succeed given staunch resistance in Congress.“We are not back in the business of having long-term detainees,” a second US defense official told AFP.
Volunteers on US’s Syria ceasefire hotline can’t speak Arabic-State Department acknowledges ‘some language issues’ in talking to witnesses on the ground, says reviewing staffing-By AFP March 3, 2016, 12:39 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
WASHINGTON, United States — The United States is to review staffing on a hotline to report ceasefire violations in Syria after some volunteers had trouble understanding Arabic speakers.State Department personnel in Washington are manning a line to allow witnesses in Syria to report breaches in a tentative truce between rebels and regime forces.But in recent days reports have surfaced that callers from the Middle East have found it hard to explain the details of alleged air and artillery strikes.According to non-profit news organization “Syria Direct” one US official mistook “Harbnifsah” — a frontline village — for “Harb Bebsi” or “Pepsi War.”The report said some reporters and activists have given up on the US line and are instead reporting breaches to the United Nations or to the opposition.On Wednesday, spokesman Mark Toner admitted that US staff — volunteers from other departments “some of whom speak Arabic” — had had some difficulties.“These are State Department employees who are doing this in addition to their usual jobs,” he said.“We are aware that there were some language issues, and we’re working to correct those, because it’s important that we have Arabic speakers that are able to field incoming calls.”A ceasefire was declared in Syria’s almost five-year civil war on Saturday, but there have already been many reports of violations.The United States, Russia and countries in the International Syria Support Group have set up a network of monitoring centers to probe the reports.The White House said Wednesday it was “concerned” about claims that Bashar Assad’s regime is again bombarding civilians with tank and artillery fire.
EU unveils €700m refugee fund with Greece in mind By Eszter Zalan-MAR 2,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 18:08-The European Commission unveiled Wednesday (2 March) plans for an emergency fund of €700 million over the next three years to help EU countries struggling with the huge influx of refugees.While the EU has been providing humanitarian assistance to countries outside the bloc for decades, this is the first time the EU will do the same for its own members.“The fund will reduce humanitarian suffering of refugees in Europe,” commissioner for aid Christos Stylianides told journalists.He said there’s no “magic formula” for the crisis, but said the new fund “will help to ensure that we can provide a European solution.”The planned help, which is to provide quick and targeted assistance, will be available to all 28 member states, but is aimed at EU countries overwhelmed by the influx of refugees, especially Greece.“This assistance, to a great extent, will go to Greece, it goes without saying, because that’s where we recently have the biggest humanitarian crisis due to the new circumstances which have developed,” Stylianides said.“Front line member states will be first beneficiaries,” an EU source added.The money will only be available once EU member states and the European Parliament amend the bloc’s budget to make €300 million ready this year, and to earmark €200 million each for 2017 and 2018.Officials said they would prepare the paperwork in the next two weeks. They don’t know yet which other parts of the existing budget the money will be taken from.But they say overall ceilings won’t go up, in a decision immediately welcomed by financial hawks, such as the UK.Stylianides also declined to say how much money will go to Greece.But Athens has already requested €480 million to help shelter 100,000 people, amid a build-up of refugees caused by border restrictions in Austria, Macedonia, and Serbia.EU officials said they are assessing the Greek request in time for the EU-Turkey summit on Monday. Sources added that the money to meet the Greek request would have to come from a mixture of sources.According to commission estimates, 25,000 people are stuck in Greece and up to 3,000 more are arriving each day.The situation is acute at the Greek-Macedonia crossing of Idomeni, where 10,000 people are camping in the open to be let through.On Wednesday, Macedonia allowed some 170 Syrian and Iraqi refugees to cross. It was the first such group since Monday, when local police teargassed migrants, including children, after some tried to force their way through a fence.-Basic needs-EU officials also say work on potential aid projects is to start immediately, to be ready to act once the money is available.“We are preparing the actual operations with partners on the ground within the next few weeks rather than months,” an EU source said.The assistance will not go to member states’ governments directly, but will be used by aid organisations or UN agencies on the ground.It will pay for food, shelter, medicine, clean water, sanitation, and basic health and education services.Other EU funds on migration and internal security have already been used for dealing with the refugee problem, with €327 million in assistance previously allocated to EU states.Greece was awarded €148 million, while non-EU members Serbia and Macedonia received €20 million.Another €22 million was allocated for humanitarian aid to the Western Balkans on a regional basis.
EU court backs refugees' free movement, in most cases By Nikolaj Nielsen-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, 1. Mar, 19:16-People granted international protection can freely live and move anywhere they want in a member state but may be ordered to reside at a specific address in limited cases.The European Court of Justice on Tuesday (3 March) ruled "a place-of-residence condition" can be imposed if the person is somehow unable to integrate.In practice, the restriction would apply in few cases.The residency restriction is narrow, can't be imposed on refugees, and can't be justified on the basis that the burden of social assistance should be distributed across the state.It also applies only if the person has a subsidiary protection status and receives welfare benefits at the same time.Subsidiary protection limits residency permits of an asylum seeker to one year.Few fulfil such conditions in Germany, where the case was first filed by two Syrian nationals.Out of the 282,726 asylum decisions made in Germany last year, only 0.6 percent (1,707) led to a subsidiary protection status. And not everyone with the subsidiary status is on welfare.The limitations are likely to stir controversy after Germany lost track of some 130,000 registered asylum seekers last year.Central EU states and Austria are instead pushing to clamp down on borders along the Western Balkan route. Around 8,500 are currently stranded on the Greek side of the Macedonian border.The UN agency for refugees (UNHCR) said on Tuesday Europe is now "on the cusp of a largely self-induced humanitarian crisis" as result of the Greek asylum build-up on the border.Pro-migrant rights groups have praised the court's ruling because people with international protection are now broadly allowed to live and move anywhere in the EU state."It clarifies that the freedom of movement encompasses both the right to move freely and choose the place of residence within the member state that granted international protection," Julia Zelvenska, a senior legal officer at the Brussels-based European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), told this website.She noted that the "residence restriction is permissible only in very specific situations and only with a view of facilitating the integration for those granted subsidiary protection."People with subsidiary protection status in Germany receive a temporary residence permit for at least for one year and in most cases for two years.After fives years of residence, they can apply for a permanent permit.-Integration unanswered-But the court's ruling leaves some outstanding issues.It is now up to the German federal administrative court to determine what defines the integration difficulties that underpin the "place-of-residence condition".Integration rights of people with subsidiary status protection is outlined in the EU's qualification directive.It notes they should have access to integration facilities "taking into account specific integration needs".The Luxembourg-based court's ruling is also unlikely to have much bearing on the EU's relocation scheme to distribute people arriving in Greece and Italy among other member states.The EU plan, launched last September, intends to distribute some 160,000 asylum seekers. Asylum seekers, which under EU law have no freedom of movement, only obtain international protection once granted such status by the hosting member state.The European Commission, for its part, said it will review the ruling."The ruling clarifies that it is possible to impose residency requirements and this is important in the context of possible secondary movements," commission spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud told reporters in Brussels.
'Allah ordered' child beheading, nanny says at Moscow court-AFP By Maria Panina-MAR 2,16-YAHOONEWS
Moscow (AFP) - A nanny accused of decapitating a young girl in her care then walking through the street brandishing the head, on Wednesday said "Allah ordered" the killing as she appeared at a Moscow court.Suspect Gyulchekhra Bobokulova from Muslim-majority Uzbekistan -- whom the press have dubbed "the bloody nanny" -- was detained on Monday as she was waving the child's severed head outside a metro station in northwestern Moscow. She was sent for psychiatric examinations."It was what Allah ordered," the 38-year-old told journalists as she was brought into the district court to have her arrest confirmed and extended.With shoulder-length black hair parted in the centre, she wore a royal blue pinafore over a black tracksuit top.At times, she smiled, other times she grimaced, flashing a few golden teeth.Speaking in broken Russian from the suspect's cage, Bobokulova said: "Allah is sending a second prophet to give news of peace" and also complained that she was "hungry", had not been fed and would "die in a week""Hi to everyone," said the mother-of-three, waving at the crowd of journalists in the courtroom.Investigator Olga Lapteva, who was clearly emotional, told the court that Bobokulova was suspected of committing an "extremely serious crime" and that she should face "a mandatory prison sentence of considerably more than three years."The court confirmed the nanny's arrest and ordered her held in custody for two months as investigations continued.Investigators would push to have Bobokulova charged on March 4, Lapteva said.- Brainwashed schizophrenic? -Investigators are trying to establish whether Bobokulova had any accomplices.State news agency RIA Novosti, citing a law enforcement source, said Bobokulova had recently been brainwashed by her Tajik lover, who was apparently a radical Muslim himself.The mass-circulation Moskovsky Komsomolets, citing Uzbek police, said the woman had suffered from schizophrenia for about 15 years.Komsomolskaya Pravda, citing a close family friend, said the live-in nanny had recently become very religious, spent a lot of time online and had brought home a prayer mat.Bobokulova has been undergoing psychiatric examinations since her detention over the murder of the girl, Nastya, whom the judge said was born in 2011. Investigators had initially estimated she was three or four years old.She is suspected of butchering the girl, who had suffered from learning disabilities and epilepsy, at the family's apartment in northwestern Moscow, before torching it and fleeing the scene.Witnesses reported seeing an agitated woman dressed in black who threatened to "blow everyone up," with one media report saying she shouted "Allahu Akbar" -- Arabic for "God is greatest" -- as she paced up and down outside a metro station.- Fundraising for the family -The shocking incident has shaken usually hard-bitten Muscovites and people have flocked to the Oktyabrskoe Pole metro station to lay flowers and pray.A friend of the bereaved family, Andrei Mishchenkov, said on Facebook that some 2.5 million rubles ($33,780/31,000 euros) had so far been collected from the public in a drive to help the parents.Russia's national television channels have refused to cover the killing in a controversial move that the Kremlin defended, saying the subject was "probably too monstrous to be shown on television".Some have questioned the professionalism of police after Bobokulova was allowed to pace up and down outside the metro station with the head for about 20 minutes.A spokeswoman for the Office of the General Prosecutor said a probe would be launched into the matter.
Jordan foils IS attacks, kills jihadists-AFP By Imed Lamloum-MAR 2,16-YAHOONEWS
Amman (AFP) - Jordan said Wednesday that it had thwarted planned attacks by the Islamic State group on its soil, killing seven suspected jihadists in a major security operation near the Syrian frontier.The kingdom, which also borders Iraq, has for years struggled with homegrown Islamists and is part of a US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against jihadists.The operation, which began late Tuesday in the northern city of Irbid, 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Amman, was the most significant of its kind since Jordan joined the coalition in 2014.One member of Jordan's security forces was killed and three wounded in clashes that raged for several hours until dawn, the authorities said. Two civilians were also hurt.Jordan's intelligence services said IS had been plotting "attacks against civilian and military sites in order to destabilise national security"."The terrorists refused to surrender and put up strong resistance using automatic weapons," it said, adding that the dead jihadists were wearing suicide vests.Twenty-two suspects were arrested during the operation and automatic weapons and explosives were seized, according to security officials.They said that investigations before the raid had led to the arrest of 13 others linked to the jihadists.Jordan has reinforced security along its frontiers since the conflict erupted in Syria five years ago.- 'Turning point' -The US ally stepped up its air strikes on IS in February 2015 after the Sunni extremist group burned alive one of its air force pilots who crashed in Syria while on a mission.The kingdom also faces a danger from within -- nearly 4,000 Jordanians belong to jihadists groups, mostly IS, Islamist sources estimate.More than 400 Jordanians have been killed fighting in jihadist ranks in Syria and Iraq since 2011, according to the sources.The Irbid operation marks a turning point in the fight against jihadists, said Mohammad Abu Rumman, a researcher at the University of Jordan's Centre for Strategic Studies.Initially the fear was about "lone wolf" sympathisers travelling to Syria and Iraq to join IS.But Wednesday's clashes illustrate "an evolution in the relationship between the Salafist jihadist movement in Jordan and IS."The resistance put up by the jihadists and the amount of weapons seized are all clues to the evolution of this movement which now favours violence and closer ties with IS, he warned.Irbid is just a few kilometres from the Syrian border where Jordanian security forces regularly detain drug traffickers and jihadists attempting to join extremist groups in Syria.Jordan has tried and imprisoned dozens of jihadist sympathisers since toughening its anti-terrorism law in 2014.The resource-poor country hosts more than 630,000 of the roughly 4.6 million Syrian refugees overseas, according to the UN refugee agency.The Jordanian government gives a much higher estimate of 1.4 million, saying many of them are unregistered.It has been braced for a new wave of refugees since Russia began intense air raids in September in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Spain's Sanchez likely to fail in PM bid By Eric Maurice-MAR 2,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:26-Spanish socialist leader Pedro Sanchez is struggling to get enough support from MPs to form a coalition government before two parliamentary votes this week, making a new general election more likely.Sanchez needs the support of more than half of Spain's 350 MPs in a vote on Wednesday (2 March) to form a coalition.If he fails, MPs will vote again on Friday, but this time Sanchez will need only more votes in favour than those against, meaning abstentions could be crucial.But he will face difficulties to get even that. The most likely option then would be a new general election to take place in June, after the 20 December election failed to produce a clear majority.After signing a governing pact with the centre-right Ciudadanos (Citizens) party, Sanchez has 131 seats in parliament, but he needs at least 176 votes to be invested as prime minister.In an address to the Spanish parliament on Tuesday, Sanchez appealed for "a government of change and of dialogue".He called on MPs to go beyond their ideological differences, saying: "Why don't we unite to form a government for change? "Why don't we get together and pass as many reforms as possible to solve the most urgent problems of Spaniards? Why don't we vote together in favour of all issues in which we are in agreement?”In a sign that he was trying to appeal to all sides, the three words he most used in his address were "government", "change" and "agreement".Sanchez's appeal was aimed at the conservative Popular Party (PP) of the outgoing prime minister Mariano Rajoy, who came first in the December election but did not recruit enough partners to form a government.Abstention from the 119 PP deputies would allow Sanchez to get through the parliament vote. But the PP has ruled out even passive support for the socialist candidate.Sanchez was also trying to win over the radical left Podemos (We Can) party, which hold 65 seats."We have two options," Sanchez told MPs, appealing to Podemos' staunch opposition to the outgoing government."Either we do nothing and allow Rajoy to continue presiding over the interim government, or we opt for a change based on dialogue and agreements."There are only two options and this chamber has to decide what to do - either we stay still or we start walking."-PM 'for one day'-But Podemos, which has had shaky relations with the more established Socialist Party (PSOE), has ruled out any support for or participation in a Sanchez government since the agreement with Ciudadanos.Podemos regards the agreement between the PSOE and Ciudadanos as too pro-austerity, as both parties attempt to woo the PP's passive support.On Tuesday, after Sanchez's speech, Podemos deputy leader Inigo Errejon said that his party expected Sanchez to "take a decision".Sanchez "cannot satisfy the PP and Podemos at the same time. We defend opposing projects," he said.For Podemos, Sanchez's address was "way below expectations" and the pretender to the office of president of the Spanish government was only "playing being president for one day".
DRUG PUSHERS AND ADDICTS
1 PET 5:8
8 Be sober,(NOT DRUGED UP OR ALCOHOLICED) be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
REVELATION 18:23
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries (DRUGS) were all nations deceived.
REVELATION 9:21
21 Neither repented they of their murders,(KILLING) nor of their sorceries (DRUG ADDICTS AND DRUG PUSHERS), nor of their fornication,(SEX OUTSIDE MARRIAGE OR PROSTITUTION FOR MONEY) nor of their thefts.(STEALING)
Desperate' Mexican drug lord Chapo wants quick extradition to US-AFP By Yemeli Ortega, Carola Sole-MAR 2,16-YAHOONEWS
Mexico City (AFP) - Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman wants to be rapidly extradited to the United States out of "desperation" over being sleep-deprived in prison, his attorney said Wednesday.The lawyer, Jose Refugio Rodriguez, said the defense team would seek to negotiate with US authorities and that it would take at least two months for Guzman to be shipped to Mexico's northern neighbor.The Sinaloa drug cartel leader made his plea "in a moment of desperation" over his treatment, Rodriguez told AFP, citing concerns for his client's health."He can no longer take this situation," said the lawyer.Rodriguez, who filed injunctions against his client's extradition following his January 8 recapture, said lawyers would continue his defense in Mexican court while they seek to negotiate with US authorities.Prison authorities acknowledged that Guzman, 58, is awakened every four hours to make sure he is still alive as part of regular security protocols for high-profile inmates."We are not violating the rights and guarantees of any intern subjected to this type of security protocol," Eduardo Guerrero, the head of Mexico's penitentiary system, told local radio on Tuesday.- Hunger strike -Guzman was returned to the Altiplano maximum-security prison after his January capture, which came six months after he had escaped from the same penitentiary through a 1.5-kilometer (mile-long) tunnel.Authorities have taken extraordinary measures to prevent another embarrassing escape, installing metal rods in the floor to prevent another tunnel dig and posting a guard wearing a camera on his helmet outside the cell.In a reversal, President Enrique Pena Nieto has ordered the attorney general's office to expedite the extradition process. Prior to Guzman's July escape, Pena Nieto had refused to send him to the United States.Mexico's attorney general has said extradition could take at least a year.An official at the attorney general's office said on condition of anonymity that the case was in the hands of a court.Guzman's wife, former beauty queen Emma Coronel, who is 26, told Radio Formula that "if his life is in danger, we will have to do what's necessary."She said that Guzman's extradition would not be a "defeat" because she and their twin daughters are US citizens. She gave birth to the girls in California in 2011.Three other lawyers said in a statement that they and unidentified Guzman relatives would launch a hunger strike on Friday to protest the prison conditions.- 'Dejected man' -Two US courts have formally requested Guzman's extradition since he was recaptured, with charges of drug trafficking in California and murder in Texas.Rodriguez told Radio Formula that he saw Guzman on Tuesday and that the drug cartel leader told him: "Try to get me extradited as fast as possible.""Not allowing someone to sleep is an act of torture," Rodriguez told the radio station. "I saw a desperate man, a dejected man. I found him very discouraged and in a very serious state of health.""He is isolated and segregated in a special area, separated from the other inmates. He told me that he was taken to a small room... (and) doesn't see the sun," the lawyer said.Rodriguez said last week that Guzman would be willing to plead guilty in the United States in return for a "relatively reasonable" sentence at a "medium-security" prison.US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said recently she was confident that Mexican courts would soon decide on the extradition. The US embassy declined to comment on Wednesday.
Energy CEO McClendon dies in Oklahoma car crash, a day after indictment-Reuters By Heidi Brandes-MAR 2,16-YAHOONEWS
OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - Aubrey McClendon, a brash risk-taker who led Chesapeake Energy Corp to become one of the world's biggest natural gas producers, died in a single-car crash on Wednesday one day after being charged with breaking federal antitrust laws, police said. He was 56.The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday announced that McClendon had been indicted for allegedly colluding to rig bids for oil and gas acreage while he was at Chesapeake, a central player in the U.S. fracking revolution of the past decade. He denied the charges.Police said they were investigating the cause of the crash, which occurred when McClendon was driving his 2013 Chevy Tahoe on a sparsely populated, two-lane road. Police responded to the crash at 9:12 a.m. local time, though they have not said at what time the crash was believed to have occurred.The crash occurred about 8 miles (13 km) from American Energy Partners, which McClendon had founded and where he was the chairman and chief executive. Police said the vehicle was badly burned in the crash and McClendon was not wearing a seat belt.McClendon, who was revered in oil and gas circles as a visionary, resigned from Chesapeake in 2013 after a corporate governance crisis and investor concerns over his heavy spending.After leaving Chesapeake, McClendon went on to start American Energy Partners and, with the help of private equity funds, made billions of dollars in bets on vast tracts of oil and gas land around the United States and Australia.Tuesday's indictment followed a nearly four-year federal antitrust probe that began after a 2012 Reuters investigation found that Chesapeake had discussed with a rival how to suppress land lease prices in Michigan during a shale-drilling boom. Although the Michigan case was subsequently closed, investigators uncovered evidence of alleged bid-rigging in Oklahoma. (http://reut.rs/1TPxUVy)-"VISION AND PASSION"-A native of Oklahoma, McClendon attended Duke University before starting Chesapeake with his friend Tom Ward, who went on to lead SandRidge Energy Inc for a time."Aubrey's tremendous leadership, vision and passion for the energy industry had an impact on the community, the country and the world. We are tremendously proud of his legacy," American Energy Partners said in a statement.On his watch, Chesapeake leased a fleet of planes that shuttled executives to oil and gas fields - and the McClendon family to far-off holiday destinations.Closer to home, McClendon pursued other passions, including the Oklahoma City Thunder, the National Basketball Association franchise in which he had a minority stake.He was one of the foremost leaders of a U.S. energy boom that lifted output to the highest levels in years, reduced reliance on foreign oil and mobilized new pools of investment capital for wildcat drillers."I’ve known Aubrey McClendon for nearly 25 years. He was a major player in leading the stunning energy renaissance in America," Texas energy investor T. Boone Pickens said in a statement. "He was charismatic and a true American entrepreneur. No individual is without flaws, but his impact on American energy will be long-lasting.”Chesapeake, which had recently sued McClendon's AEP on accusations of stealing trade secrets, offered condolences."Chesapeake is deeply saddened by the news that we have heard today and our thoughts and prayers are with the McClendon family during this difficult time,” the company said in a statement.McClendon is survived by his wife, Katie, and their three children, Jack, Callie and Will.(Additional reporting by Liz Hampton and Ernest Scheyder in Houston, and Jessica Resnick Ault in New York; Writing by Terry Wade and Lisa Shumaker; Editing by Leslie Adler)
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Debris believed to be part of a Boeing 777 jet has been found off Mozambique and will be taken to Australia to be examined by investigators involved in the search for the missing Flight MH370, Malaysia's transport minister said.Liow Tiong Lai said there is a "high possibility" that the piece of debris belonged to a 777 jet but added he could not conclude yet that it was from the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner."The debris will be taken to Australia for further examination," he told Reuters.An official in Mozambique's foreign ministry told Reuters the fragment was being flown to the capital Maputo from Inhambane province, 800 km (500 miles) to the north, and would arrive on Wednesday evening. It would be examined in Maputo by Malaysian and U.S. experts, the official said.Earlier on Wednesday NBC News said the piece could be a horizontal stabilizer from a Boeing 777, citing U.S., Malaysian and Australian investigators who looked at photos of the debris.The piece of debris was discovered off the east African coast between Mozambique and Madagascar.Flight MH370 disappeared two years ago when it was en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. Last year authorities found a piece of the plane's wing on the shore of Reunion island in the Indian Ocean on the other side of Madagascar."It is yet to be confirmed and verified....I urge everyone to avoid undue speculation as we are not able to conclude that the debris belongs to MH370 at this time," Liow said on his Twitter account.Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, with 239 passengers and crew on board, and is believed to have crashed in the Indian Ocean. An initial search of a 60,000 sq km (23,000 sq miles) area of sea floor has been extended to another 60,000 sq km.(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff and Manuel Mucari; Writing by Praveen Menon and Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by Dominic Evans)
US official: Debris from same type of plane as MH370-Associated Press By JOAN LOWY-MAR 2,16-YAHOONEWS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Debris that washed up in Mozambique has been tentatively identified as a part from the same type of aircraft as the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a U.S. official said Wednesday.Photos of the debris discovered over the weekend appear to show the fixed leading edge of the right-hand tail section of a Boeing 777, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly. Flight 370, which disappeared two years ago with 239 people aboard, is the only known missing 777.People who have handled the part, called a horizontal stabilizer, say it appears to be made of fiberglass composite on the outside, with aluminum honeycombing on the inside, the official said.The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is running the search for the plane in remote waters off Australia's west coast, said the part was expected to be transported to Australia for examination.Malaysian transport minister Liow Tiong Lai also confirmed in tweets about the discovery that it appears the debris may have come from the missing plane."Based on early reports, high possibility debris found in Mozambique belongs to a B777," Liow said in a series of tweets."It is yet to be confirmed & verified. @dca_malaysia working w Australian counterparts to retrieve the debris." He also urged "everyone to avoid undue speculation as we are not able to conclude that the debris belongs to #mh370 at this time."Australian officials have seen photographs of the debris and have been in communication with Blaine Gibson, the American man who found the part, said Dan O'Malley, a spokesman for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau."We're aware of these reports that debris has been found in Mozambique," O'Malley said. "We're working with officials in Mozambique and Malaysia to investigate."Australia will work with Malaysian investigators to examine the object once it arrives in Australia, he said. The ATSB hasn't made any determinations yet about the potential origins of the debris."We have to wait until we have the actual debris examined," O'Malley said. "We're not going to draw conclusions from the photos."Flight 370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. Radar data show the plane turned sharply around as it approached Vietnamese airspace, and then flew back across the Malay Peninsula until contact was lost off the coast of Thailand.Authorities who scrutinized data exchanged between the plane's engine and a satellite determined that the jetliner continued on a straight path across the Indian Ocean, leading them to believe that the plane flew on autopilot for hours before running out of fuel and crashing into the water.Despite an exhaustive search of the ocean west of Australia, where the plane is believed to have crashed, the only confirmed trace of the aircraft has been a wing part known as flaperon that washed ashore last July on the French island of Reunion off the east coast of Africa — about 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) from the current search area.The flaperon bore a stenciled internal marking "657 BB," which is consistent with a flaperon from a Boeing 777.Nothing of the passengers, their luggage or even things designed to float, such as life jackets, has been discovered despite the largest and most expensive search in aviation history.Australia has led the multinational search effort, which also includes the Malaysian and Chinese governments.The discovery in Mozambique is unlikely at this stage to impact the underwater search for the plane, taking place thousands of miles to the east, O'Malley said. Authorities have long predicted that any debris from the plane that isn't on the ocean floor would eventually be carried by currents to the east coast of Africa.With authorities unable to find the plane and its "black box" flight data and cockpit voice recorders, investigators are no closer than they were two years ago to discovering the cause of the aircraft's disappearance. There are many theories, including that a rogue pilot deliberately caused the $250 million jet to vanish, but little hard evidence.With the search tentatively scheduled to wrap up later this year, Flight 370 may become one of aviation's great unsolved mysteries.In the aftermath of the plane's disappearance, the airline industry and aviation authorities around the world pledged to find ways to better track airliners, especially over expanses of ocean where there's no radar coverage.___Associated Press writers Kristen Gelineau in Sydney, Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur and Emmanuel Camillo in Maputo, Mozambique, contributed to this report.___Follow Joan Lowy at twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/joan-lowy-___This story has been corrected to correct that search area is west of Australia, not east.
ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST
1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
GENESIS 12:1-3
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I (GOD) will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee,(ISRAELIS) and curse (DESTROY) him that curseth thee:(DESTROY THEM) and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
ISAIAH 41:11
11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee (ISRAEL) shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing;(DESTROYED) and they that strive with thee shall perish.(ISRAEL HATERS WILL BE TOTALLY DESTROYED)
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
U. of Missouri hit with third anti-Semitic incident in year-Poster with ‘Hitler rules’ hung on bulletin board in main campus; previous attacks included swastikas painted in feces, cigarette ash-By JTA March 2, 2016, 11:54 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
University of Missouri officials condemned an anti-Semitic incident at a campus residence hall, the second this school year and the third in less than a calendar year.A poster reading “Hitler rules” was hung Monday on a bulletin board in the Gateway Hall student residence on the university’s main campus in Columbia, according to the school’s newspaper, The Maneater.The school’s interim chancellor, Hank Foley, and interim vice chancellor for inclusion, diversity and equity, Chuck Henson, expressed anger at another anti-Semitic incident in a school residence hall.“This type of vandalism attacks everyone,” they said in a statement Tuesday. “Our core values — including that of Respect — must become more than words on paper or a banner. They are the foundation of who we desire to be as a campus community and the way we all need to conduct ourselves.”No one has been apprehended in the vandalism.On October 24, a swastika drawn in feces was found on the wall of a bathroom in a residence hall. And in April 2015, swastikas and anti-Semitic epithets were written in ash in the stairwell of a campus dormitory. A freshman at the university was arrested for the vandalism.The university’s Jewish Student Organization also released a statement Tuesday saying it “strongly condemns this expression of hatred.”“This type of hate speech isn’t merely an attack on religious minorities; it also targets other cultural and ethnic groups,” the group said. “This act occurred in a residence hall, a place students call home. Home should be a haven where people feel safe from hatred.”The statement added that the Jewish Student Organization was “humbled by the support from student leadership on campus since the incident was reported.”In November, the university’s chancellor and president resigned over questions about their leadership in the wake of racial tensions on campus, which led to a student hunger strike and football players threatening to boycott a game.
Carson says ‘no path forward,’ effectively ending White House bid-After poor Super Tuesday showing, retired surgeon and GOP hopeful says he’ll skip Detroit debate, but doesn’t officially drop out-By AFP March 2, 2016, 10:54 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
WASHINGTON — Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson said Wednesday he sees no viable path forward for himself in the 2016 Republican presidential primary race, essentially ending a campaign that soared last year only to steadily lose steam.“I do not see a political path forward in light of last evening’s Super Tuesday primary results,” Carson said in a statement, referring to the busiest day of the nomination process that saw 11 states vote for their Republican standard-bearer.The night was dominated by frontrunner Donald Trump, with Carson finishing fourth or fifth out of five candidates in every state.Carson, 64, said he would not participate in Thursday’s Republican debate in his home city of Detroit.Although his statement made no official mention of shutting down his campaign, it was a clear signal that he was dropping out of the race.“I appreciate the support, financial and otherwise, from all corners of America,” he said. “Gratefully, my campaign decisions are not constrained by finances; rather by what is in the best interests of the American people.”He said he remained committed to “saving America” for future generations, adding that “we must not depart from our goals to restore what God and our founders intended for this exceptional nation.”The religiously conservative Carson, the only African American in the race to succeed President Barack Obama, said he will discuss his political future on Friday in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, near Washington.The soft-spoken, mild-mannered Carson once rivaled the bombastic Trump in the quest for the nomination. He was the second-place candidate from early September through November, attracting substantial support from evangelical conservatives.But he struggled to maintain the momentum. Carson’s challenge for the White House stumbled over questions about the veracity of aspects of his compelling life story, notably his claim in books and speeches that he had been offered a scholarship to the prestigious West Point military academy.He placed fourth in the first nominating contest, in Iowa, and eighth in the second contest, in New Hampshire.
Ben Carson sees no ‘path forward’ in bid for White House-Dylan Stableford-Senior editor-March 2, 2016-YAHOONEWS
Following a poor performance on Super Tuesday, Ben Carson announced on Wednesday that he sees no “path forward” in the race for the Republican nomination and will not attend Thursday’s Fox News GOP debate in his hometown of Detroit.“I do not see a political path forward in light of last evening’s Super Tuesday primary results,” Carson said in a statement. “However, this grassroots movement on behalf of ‘We the People’ will continue. Along with millions of patriots who have supported my campaign for president, I remain committed to Saving America for Future Generations. We must not depart from our goals to restore what God and our Founders intended for this exceptional nation.”“Even though I will not be in my hometown of Detroit on Thursday, I remain deeply committed to my home nation, America,” he added.Carson said he will address his political future on Friday in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington, D.C.The soft-spoken retired neurosurgeon, who actually led Donald Trump in the Republican race in early polls, finished a disappointing fourth or fifth in all 11 of Tuesday’s GOP contests.Carson’s unlikely rise among the ranks of Republican hopefuls began in 2013 at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, where he criticized Obamacare with President Obama seated just a few feet away.“What we need to do is come up with something simple,” Carson said. “When a person is born, give him a birth certificate, an electronic medical record and a health savings account to which money can be contributed — pretax — from the time you’re born till the time you die.”As recently as November, Carson was neck and neck with Trump in several states, including South Carolina.But mounting questions surrounding the 64-year-old’s colorful biography, coupled with an admitted lack of foreign policy chops and a series of controversial comments on the campaign trail, ultimately derailed Carson.During the Iowa caucuses, Carson flew home to Florida for a “change of clothes” — a move that was interpreted by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s rival GOP campaign as Carson pulling out of the race, and broadcast by Cruz’s operatives.Cruz subsequently apologized, but Carson and other Republican candidates accused the Texas senator — who won Iowa — of playing dirty.“I’m not going to use this opportunity to savage the reputation of Sen. Cruz,” Carson said days later during a Republican debate. “I will say I was disappointed that members of his team thought so little of me that they thought after having hundreds, if not thousands, of volunteers and college students who sacrificed their time and were dedicated to the cause — one even died — to think that I would just walk away 10 minutes before the caucus.”On Tuesday night in Baltimore, Carson told his supporters he was not quite ready to quit.“As I’ve had an opportunity to study our system, it has become a little bit discouraging seeing all the relationships that exist there,” he said. “It is rotten to the core on both sides, Democrats and Republicans. And they have weaved such a complex web, it will be very, very difficult to untangle it. But I’m not ready to quit trying to untangle it yet.”
Trying to make sense of that ‘neutral,’ ‘totally pro-Israel’ Donald Trump-What to think of a candidate who courts Jewish Republicans but tells them, ‘I don’t want your money’; has a daughter who converted to Judaism but finds difficulty disavowing an ex-KKK leader?-By Eric Cortellessa March 2, 2016, 4:46 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
WASHINGTON — When Donald Trump addressed the Republican Jewish Coalition’s Presidential Forum last December, he proved again why the runaway success of his divisive campaign has upturned the expectations of so many.A Republican hopeful seeking the support of a room full of pro-Israel Republicans, he doubted Israel’s willingness to make peace and declined to call Jerusalem the undivided capital of the Jewish state, a position that is held by most other candidates in his party.But what most of the headlines coming out of the gathering highlighted was the manner in which Trump invoked what many consider to be offensive Jewish stereotypes, which included him saying, “You’re not gonna support me because I don’t want your money. You want to control your politicians, that’s fine.”When the crowd erupted with boos over his answer to the Jerusalem question, Trump tried to reassure them. “Do me a favor, just relax,” he said. “You’ll like me very much, believe me.”But following Trump’s strong Super Tuesday showing — in which he won eight of the 11 states that held GOP primary contests — people aren’t relaxing, and the question of what a Trump presidency would mean for Israel is becoming an increasingly pressing one for those who care about the country’s future.While Trump’s domination of the primary process has thus far impelled a number of pundits to predict that the Republican primary could lead to a brokered convention, something that hasn’t happened since 1948, his overwhelming performance Tuesday gives his candidacy a head of steam toward potentially securing the nomination.So where does the real-estate-magnate-turned-politician stand on the key issues relating to Israel? While Trump has refused to offer specifics over how he would achieve his largest goals concerning the Jewish state, mainly securing a two-state accommodation between Israelis and Palestinians and preventing the Iranian regime from acquiring a nuclear weapon, he has repeatedly referred to himself as “totally pro-Israel.”But there is a caveat when it comes to how far, and in what circumstances, he is willing to go in declaring himself a staunch ally of the Jewish state. Most notably, he has diverged from his party’s standard rhetoric on an emotionally charged foreign policy issue, by vowing to maintain neutrality on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.‘Let me be sort of a neutral guy’-Last month, Trump promised to “give it one hell of a shot” when asked what steps he would take to broker an elusive peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians. “It’s probably the toughest agreement of any kind to make,” he said at an MSNBC town hall event in Charleston, South Carolina.But pressed further by host Joe Scarborough over whether he felt either party was more at fault over the ongoing failure to reach an accord, Trump declined to take sides.“You know, I don’t want to get into it, because… If I win, I don’t want to be in a position where I’m saying to you and the other side now says, ‘We don’t want Trump involved,'” he told Scarborough. “Let me be sort of a neutral guy. A lot of people have gone down in flames trying to make that deal, so I don’t want to say whose fault is it. I don’t think it helps.”That answer created a firestorm over Israel policy in the Republican race and became fodder for a series of attacks from Trump’s rivals, including a testy exchange at the February 25 Republican presidential debate, when CNN’s Wolf Blitzer pressed Trump, “How do you remain neutral when the US considers Israel to be America’s closest ally in the Middle East?”“As president… there is nothing I would rather do than to bring peace to Israel and its neighbors generally,” Trump responded. “I think it serves no purpose to say that you have a good guy and a bad guy. Now, I may not be successful in doing it, it’s probably the toughest negotiation anywhere in the world of any kind. It doesn’t help if I start saying I’m very pro-Israel.”Trump’s two biggest Republican challengers, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, subsequently attacked Trump, with Rubio calling Trump’s position “anti-Israel.”“You cannot be an honest broker in a dispute between two sides in which one of the sides is constantly acting in bad faith,” Rubio said. “The Palestinian Authority has walked away from multiple efforts to make peace, very generous offers from the Israelis. Instead, here’s what they do. They teach their four-year-old children that killing Jews is a glorious thing.”While Trump has not commented publicly on previous attempts by Israeli prime ministers to strike a deal, he has expressed skepticism over the sincerity of Israel’s declarations of wanting to achieve a two-state outcome.“First thing you have to ask, do they both want to make it?” he said in a December 2015 interview with AP. “I have a real question as to whether both sides want to make it. I have a real question as to whether one side in particular whether or not they want to make it. I think one side actually would like a deal and I think the other one maybe doesn’t want a deal, to be honest.”When pushed to say which side he was talking about, Trump wouldn’t specify. But later in the interview he said, “In my opinion, if Israel wants a deal I think a deal can be made.”In that same interview, Trump said he had certain views on the conflict but would prefer to keep them private so as to not create any preconceived notions among the Israeli or Palestinian leadership. “We show our cards too much, so if I get into that, I don’t want to say this or that and then they’ll say, ‘Well Trump is biased one way or the other,'” he said.And yet, Trump has also expressed skepticism over the possibility of achieving a two-state solution, given the conditions of the conflict and the need for any agreement to be sustainable over time. He has also suggested that hostility between the two peoples was becoming an increasing obstacle to bridging differences, while also hinting at what he considers the root of the conflict.“A lot of people say an agreement can’t be made, which is okay. I mean, sometimes agreements can’t be made. Not good, but, you know, you have both sides really, but one side in particular, growing up and learning that these are the worst people,” he told Scarborough at the town hall event. “I was with a very prominent Israeli the other day. He says it’s impossible, because the other side has been trained from the time they’re children to hate Jewish people.”Trump has said he would know within his first six months in office whether a deal can be made.-Would not ‘rip up’ Iran deal, but would ‘police’ it-Trump has been an ardent critic of the nuclear deal struck between Iran and the US-led P5+1 group of world powers. A day after the deal was inked, in July 2015, Trump told Katy Tur of NBC News that President Barack Obama negotiated the agreement “from desperation” and that it was “terrible.”The deal was implemented in January and lifted a spate of crippling oil and financial sanctions on Iran, releasing more than $100 billion in frozen assets.“First of all, we’re giving them billions of dollars in this deal, which we shouldn’t have given them. We should have kept the money,” he said. “Second of all, we have four prisoners over there. We should have said, ‘Let the prisoners out. They shouldn’t be over there.'”The prisoners, including Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, have since been released, in exchange for seven people imprisoned or charged in the United States, just before sanctions were officially lifted.‘You know the Iranians are going to cheat,’ he said. ‘They’re great negotiators and you know they’re going to cheat’Trump insisted that any deal with the Islamic Republic should include a provision that allows inspectors to have anytime, anywhere access to all nuclear sites in Iran. “You know the Iranians are going to cheat,” he said. “They’re great negotiators and you know they’re going to cheat.”Despite saying that “never, ever, ever in my life have I seen any transaction so incompetently negotiated as our deal with Iran and I mean never,” Trump has differed from his GOP rivals in saying he would not “rip up” the deal were he to become president. Rather, he has vowed to “police” the deal to ensure that Iran does not violate the terms of the agreement.“I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘We’re going to rip up the deal.’ It’s very tough to do when you say, ‘We’re ripping it up,'” Trump told NBC’s Chuck Todd on the Sunday morning talk show “Meet The Press.”“You know, I’ve taken over some bad contracts. I buy contracts where people screwed up and they have bad contracts,” he continued. “But I’m really good at looking at a contract and finding things within a contract that, even if they’re bad, I would police that contract so tough that they don’t have a chance. As bad as the contract is, I will be so tough on that contract.”Trump is known for not being sparing with invective toward those he dislikes or disagrees with. Obama has been no exception, and Trump has repeatedly attacked the president over the nuclear accord with Iran and what he calls Obama’s poor treatment of Israel.“You look at what he’s done to Israel, with just this Iran deal, which is such a terrible deal. He’s been the worst thing that’s ever happened to Israel,” Trump said last week in an interview with Fox News. “Israel is so important. What Obama has done to Israel is a disgrace.”Ties to Israel and the Jewish community-Perhaps Donald Trump’s deepest tie to the Jewish community comes from his daughter, Ivanka Trump, who converted to Judaism in 2009 before marrying Jared Kushner.In an interview with Vogue magazine published last year, the billionaire businessman’s daughter revealed that she observes Shabbat and keeps a kosher diet, something Trump joked about when he addressed the Republican Jewish Coalition last December, saying he could no longer contact his daughter on Saturdays.Trump has also involved himself in Israel’s internal politics, which included him shooting a commercial in support of Netanyahu’s 2013 re-election campaign. Trump has referred to Netanyahu on multiple occasions as “a good friend.”He also often boasts of his connections to the State of Israel, in what may be attempts to reassure his audience of his pro-Israel bona fides.After being attacked by his opponents at the latest Republican presidential debate, Trump said: “I was the grand marshal down Fifth Avenue a number of years ago for the Israeli Day Parade, I have very close ties to Israel. I’ve received the Tree of Life Award and many of the greatest awards given by Israel.”But Trump has also clashed repeatedly with American Jewish organizations throughout the campaign, many of whom condemned his call to temporarily ban Muslim entry to the United States and who recently urged him to repudiate the endorsement of extremists, white supremacists and noted anti-Semites, including former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.Farrakhan, who has a long history of anti-Semitism, recently praised Trump for his refusal to take “Jewish money.”After Trump failed to unequivocally disavow Duke’s support and told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he didn’t “know anything” about his controversial backer, the Anti-Defamation League stepped in to help out. It released a candidates’ guide to racists.
One dead, 18 hurt as bus overturns in northern Israel-At least 2 people moderately injured when bus carrying 35 passengers flips in lower Galilee-By Times of Israel staff March 3, 2016, 12:16 am
One person was killed and at least 18 others were injured when a bus overturned near the village of Zarzir in northern Israel on Wednesday evening.There were 35 passengers on the vehicle when it flipped over. The cause of the accident was not immediately clear.Magen David Adom paramedics arrived at the scene and helped evacuate trapped passengers. According to Channel 10, most of the passengers could independently walk.One passenger, a 50-year-old man, was pronounced dead at the scene.Two passengers were moderately injured and 16 others suffered minor injuries.“When we got there we saw a bus lying on its side in the middle of the road and there was lot of commotion,” a medic told the Haaretz daily soon after the accident. “People were stopping on the side of the roads and others came from nearby villages to help. Some of the injured passengers were lying on the road, others were trapped in the bus. We arrived in large force and with the help of firefighters are extracting the injured and giving them medical treatment.”
UN imposes toughest-ever North Korea sanctions-Obama welcomes measures as ‘a firm, united, and appropriate response’ to Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test and rocket launch-By Carole LANDRY March 2, 2016, 11:31 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — The United Nations on Wednesday adopted the toughest sanctions to date on North Korea in response to its fourth nuclear test and rocket launch, but all eyes were on China and Russia to see if they fully enact the sweeping measures.The Security Council unanimously passed a resolution imposing new sanctions after seven weeks of arduous negotiations between the United States and China, Pyongyang’s sole ally.Among the unprecedented measures is a new requirement that all countries must inspect cargo destined for and coming from North Korea, in all airports and sea ports.The resolution bans or restricts exports of coal, iron and iron ore and other minerals from North Korea, and prohibits the supply of aviation fuel including rocket fuel.North Korea earns about $1 billion per year in coal exports — a third of all export revenues — and about $200 million annually from iron ore sales, US Ambassador Samantha Power told the council.US President Barack Obama welcomed the measures as “a firm, united, and appropriate response” to the January 6 nuclear test and February 7 rocket launch.“The international community, speaking with one voice, has sent Pyongyang a simple message: North Korea must abandon these dangerous programs and choose a better path for its people,” Obama said in a statement.Banking restrictions will be tightened and governments will be required to ban flights of any plane suspected of carrying contraband destined for North Korea.The resolution tightens an arms embargo by banning sales of small arms and bars vessels suspected of carrying illegal goods for North Korea from ports.“These are among the toughest measures we have agreed against any country in the world, certainly the toughest ever against the DPRK,” said British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, referring to North Korea by its official acronym.Under the measure, UN member states will expel North Korean diplomats engaged in smuggling or other illegal activities.A total of 16 individuals and 12 entities were added to a UN sanctions blacklist, including North Korea’s NADA space agency and its spy agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau.Luxury watches, snowmobiles, recreational watercraft such as Sea-Doos and sports equipment are banned from sale to North Korea, in sanctions targeting Pyongyang’s elites.-Making sanctions bite-South Korean Ambassador Oh Joon said Pyongyang has spent an estimated $4 billion on its banned weapons program and argued that those funds could have covered the cost of humanitarian aid “for 40 years.”“It simply pains me, pains all of us, to think about how the regime has been developing weapons by people who are starving,” he added.Japanese Ambassador Motohide Yoshikawa described the resolution as “ground-breaking” but stressed that “the heart of the matter now is implementation” of the sanctions by China, North Korea’s largest trading partner, and other countries.Power also called for a “robust and unyielding” follow-up to ensure the sanctions bite and singled out Russia and China as important players in that effort.Chinese Ambassador Liu Jieyi said the resolution should “be a new starting point and a stepping stone” for renewed talks on dismantling North Korea’s nuclear program.Russia echoed that view, with Ambassador Vitaly Churkin saying the resolution is designed to “shut down as much as possible the financing” of North Korea’s weapons program to push Pyongyang back to the negotiating table.During the weeks of negotiations, China had been reluctant to endorse harsh sanctions out of concern that too much pressure would trigger the collapse of the pariah regime, creating chaos on its border.China’s ambassador renewed Beijing’s opposition to plans by South Korea and the United States to deploy a new missile defense system on the Korean peninsula, saying it undermines efforts to re-start Korea talks.The US Treasury Department separately announced sanctions against two entities and 10 individuals with ties to North Korea’s weapons programs, and the State Department added three entities and two individuals to its sanctions blacklist.The sanctions resolution did not target oil deliveries to North Korea and allows for exemptions to some export bans if a government can show that the revenue will not be used to develop North Korea’s military programs.China, and to a lesser extent Russia, “will find loopholes, they always have,” to avoid fully implementing UN sanctions, said Roberta Cohen, an expert on North Korea at the Brookings Institution.But Beijing “sees the mobilization of alliances, strong military alliances between the United States, South Korea and Japan and it sees that it can’t go on the way it has,” she added.The latest resolution ushered in the fifth set of UN sanctions to hit North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006.
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
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)
Russia 'weaponising' refugees against EU By Andrew Rettman-MAR 2,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:30-Russia is “weaponising migration” as part of a broader campaign to extend its influence in Europe, Nato’s military chief has said, echoing German and Turkish concern.Philip Breedlove, a US general who commands Nato forces forces in Europe, spoke out on Tuesday (1 March) in a hearing with the Senate’s armed services committee in Washington.“Together, Russia and the Assad regime are deliberately weaponising migration in an attempt to overwhelm European structures and break European resolve,” he said, referring to Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian leader and Russian ally.Commenting on their “indiscriminate” fire on civilians in north Syria, he said: “I can't find any other reason for [that] other than to cause refugees to be on the move and make them someone else's problem.”He issued the same warning to the House armed services committee last week.The number of people fleeing to Europe in January and February, not long after Russia began air strikes, reached 131,000 - vastly higher than for the same period last year - EU figures say.EU discord on how to handle the flow of people has prompted unilateral border restrictions and concern over a humanitarian crisis in Greece.If the Russian air support lets Assad conquer the city of Aleppo in north Syria, Turkish diplomats say “hundreds of thousands” more will come, creating a “security nightmare”.Norbert Roettgen, a German MP who chairs the Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee, recently told EUobserver that the refugee crisis was “a welcome side effect” for Russia.“The addressee of this problem is the EU as a whole,” he said.Selim Yenel, Turkey’s ambassador to the EU, told EUobserver: “If they [Aleppo refugees] go into the EU and let’s say that our ‘action plan’ [on migration] doesn’t work, then what happens in Europe - shutting down borders, chaos, [German leader Angela] Merkel weakening, losing elections, the right coming back to power?”.-Worse before better-Breedlove said on Tuesday the problems would “get worse before they get better” and that refugee numbers were likely to “continue to rise in 2016.”“There is a concern that criminals, terrorists, foreign fighters and other extremist organisations will recruit from the primarily Muslim populations arriving in Europe, potentially increasing the threat of terrorist attacks,” he said.“Continued weak economic growth [in Europe] … keeps unemployment rates high, specifically among young migrants susceptible to radicalisation,” he added.“Local nationalists opposed to a large-scale influx of foreigners could [also] become increasingly violent,” he said.Jack Reed, a Democratic party senator, told the US hearing: “The security implications of this [refugee] crisis are enormous, threatening to unravel a vision of Europe that has permeated the last two decades.”’New normal’-Breedlove said Russia’s refugee tactics are part of a broader strategy to restore Soviet-era influence.He said Russia was using the old and new conflicts in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine to coerce its neighbours.“We must not allow Russian actions in Syria to serve as a strategic distraction that leads the international community to give tacit acceptance to the situation in Ukraine as the ‘new normal’,” he said.Noting that Nato powers and Russia had been on a path of reconciliation in the 1990s, he said: “Europe is not the same continent it was when I took command.”-’Barrage of lies'-Konstantin Dolgov, a senior Russian diplomat, said in a statement on Tuesday that the refugee crisis had “naturally resulted from the irresponsible and short-sighted interference of Western countries in the internal affairs of sovereign states in the [Middle East] region”.Sergey Kopyrkin, Russia’s deputy EU ambassador, in separate remarks said there’s a “real risk” of an “enduring rift across the European continent”.Breedlove in his Senate testimony also warned of the dangerous appeal of Russia’s “false narratives”.“Russia overwhelms the information space with a barrage of lies that must be addressed by the United States more aggressively in both public and private sectors to effectively expose the false narratives,” he said.
US forces capture ‘significant’ IS operative in Iraq-Washington says detainee providing ‘good’ intelligence that could help locate other jihadist militants-By AFP March 2, 2016, 11:51 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
WASHINGTON — US commandos captured a major Islamic State operative in Iraq and his detention will likely lead to the apprehension of other IS targets, a US defense official told AFP Wednesday.The issue raises questions about what will happen to the detainee and others like him, given that President Barack Obama has ruled out sending any more terror suspects to Guantanamo Bay and the United States does not want to create a holding center for IS captives in Iraq.The US defense official, who asked not to be named, confirmed a New York Times report that said a “significant” operative had been captured.Officials told The Times that US interrogators were with the detainee at a temporary detention facility in Erbil in northern Iraq, and that he would eventually be handed over to Iraqi or Kurdish officials.The Times said its sources declined to identify the detainee or say how much he had cooperated, but the official AFP spoke to said the captive was providing useful information that could yield leads to other IS operatives.“They’re getting good stuff from him,” the official said.The detainee was captured by elite special operations troops who deployed to Iraq in recent weeks and whom the Pentagon calls a specialized expeditionary targeting force, or ETF.The Pentagon has until now been tight-lipped about the team’s operations, saying that discussing missions puts the elite fighters at risk.The Times said the 200-member special operations team is made up of many Delta Force commandos.Though it is small in number, it represents the first major US ground combat force since the official withdrawal of US troops at the end of 2011.Another 3,870 or so US troops are in Iraq on a mission to train and support Iraqi forces fighting the IS group.“The ETF has begun operations in Iraq. But we will not discuss the details of those missions when it risks compromising operational security,” Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told AFP.“One of the goals of the ETF is to capture ISIL leaders,” he added, using an alternative acronym for the IS group.“Any detention would be short-term and coordinated with Iraqi authorities.”Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Monday the ETF was an increasingly important component of the US-led coalition’s 19-month-old campaign to defeat the IS group in Iraq and Syria.“It’s a tool that we introduced … to conduct raids of various kinds, seizing places and people, freeing hostages and prisoners of ISIL, and making it such that ISIL has to fear that anywhere, anytime, it may be struck,” Carter said.Obama is trying to close the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison but is unlikely to succeed given staunch resistance in Congress.“We are not back in the business of having long-term detainees,” a second US defense official told AFP.
Volunteers on US’s Syria ceasefire hotline can’t speak Arabic-State Department acknowledges ‘some language issues’ in talking to witnesses on the ground, says reviewing staffing-By AFP March 3, 2016, 12:39 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
WASHINGTON, United States — The United States is to review staffing on a hotline to report ceasefire violations in Syria after some volunteers had trouble understanding Arabic speakers.State Department personnel in Washington are manning a line to allow witnesses in Syria to report breaches in a tentative truce between rebels and regime forces.But in recent days reports have surfaced that callers from the Middle East have found it hard to explain the details of alleged air and artillery strikes.According to non-profit news organization “Syria Direct” one US official mistook “Harbnifsah” — a frontline village — for “Harb Bebsi” or “Pepsi War.”The report said some reporters and activists have given up on the US line and are instead reporting breaches to the United Nations or to the opposition.On Wednesday, spokesman Mark Toner admitted that US staff — volunteers from other departments “some of whom speak Arabic” — had had some difficulties.“These are State Department employees who are doing this in addition to their usual jobs,” he said.“We are aware that there were some language issues, and we’re working to correct those, because it’s important that we have Arabic speakers that are able to field incoming calls.”A ceasefire was declared in Syria’s almost five-year civil war on Saturday, but there have already been many reports of violations.The United States, Russia and countries in the International Syria Support Group have set up a network of monitoring centers to probe the reports.The White House said Wednesday it was “concerned” about claims that Bashar Assad’s regime is again bombarding civilians with tank and artillery fire.
EU unveils €700m refugee fund with Greece in mind By Eszter Zalan-MAR 2,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 18:08-The European Commission unveiled Wednesday (2 March) plans for an emergency fund of €700 million over the next three years to help EU countries struggling with the huge influx of refugees.While the EU has been providing humanitarian assistance to countries outside the bloc for decades, this is the first time the EU will do the same for its own members.“The fund will reduce humanitarian suffering of refugees in Europe,” commissioner for aid Christos Stylianides told journalists.He said there’s no “magic formula” for the crisis, but said the new fund “will help to ensure that we can provide a European solution.”The planned help, which is to provide quick and targeted assistance, will be available to all 28 member states, but is aimed at EU countries overwhelmed by the influx of refugees, especially Greece.“This assistance, to a great extent, will go to Greece, it goes without saying, because that’s where we recently have the biggest humanitarian crisis due to the new circumstances which have developed,” Stylianides said.“Front line member states will be first beneficiaries,” an EU source added.The money will only be available once EU member states and the European Parliament amend the bloc’s budget to make €300 million ready this year, and to earmark €200 million each for 2017 and 2018.Officials said they would prepare the paperwork in the next two weeks. They don’t know yet which other parts of the existing budget the money will be taken from.But they say overall ceilings won’t go up, in a decision immediately welcomed by financial hawks, such as the UK.Stylianides also declined to say how much money will go to Greece.But Athens has already requested €480 million to help shelter 100,000 people, amid a build-up of refugees caused by border restrictions in Austria, Macedonia, and Serbia.EU officials said they are assessing the Greek request in time for the EU-Turkey summit on Monday. Sources added that the money to meet the Greek request would have to come from a mixture of sources.According to commission estimates, 25,000 people are stuck in Greece and up to 3,000 more are arriving each day.The situation is acute at the Greek-Macedonia crossing of Idomeni, where 10,000 people are camping in the open to be let through.On Wednesday, Macedonia allowed some 170 Syrian and Iraqi refugees to cross. It was the first such group since Monday, when local police teargassed migrants, including children, after some tried to force their way through a fence.-Basic needs-EU officials also say work on potential aid projects is to start immediately, to be ready to act once the money is available.“We are preparing the actual operations with partners on the ground within the next few weeks rather than months,” an EU source said.The assistance will not go to member states’ governments directly, but will be used by aid organisations or UN agencies on the ground.It will pay for food, shelter, medicine, clean water, sanitation, and basic health and education services.Other EU funds on migration and internal security have already been used for dealing with the refugee problem, with €327 million in assistance previously allocated to EU states.Greece was awarded €148 million, while non-EU members Serbia and Macedonia received €20 million.Another €22 million was allocated for humanitarian aid to the Western Balkans on a regional basis.
EU court backs refugees' free movement, in most cases By Nikolaj Nielsen-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, 1. Mar, 19:16-People granted international protection can freely live and move anywhere they want in a member state but may be ordered to reside at a specific address in limited cases.The European Court of Justice on Tuesday (3 March) ruled "a place-of-residence condition" can be imposed if the person is somehow unable to integrate.In practice, the restriction would apply in few cases.The residency restriction is narrow, can't be imposed on refugees, and can't be justified on the basis that the burden of social assistance should be distributed across the state.It also applies only if the person has a subsidiary protection status and receives welfare benefits at the same time.Subsidiary protection limits residency permits of an asylum seeker to one year.Few fulfil such conditions in Germany, where the case was first filed by two Syrian nationals.Out of the 282,726 asylum decisions made in Germany last year, only 0.6 percent (1,707) led to a subsidiary protection status. And not everyone with the subsidiary status is on welfare.The limitations are likely to stir controversy after Germany lost track of some 130,000 registered asylum seekers last year.Central EU states and Austria are instead pushing to clamp down on borders along the Western Balkan route. Around 8,500 are currently stranded on the Greek side of the Macedonian border.The UN agency for refugees (UNHCR) said on Tuesday Europe is now "on the cusp of a largely self-induced humanitarian crisis" as result of the Greek asylum build-up on the border.Pro-migrant rights groups have praised the court's ruling because people with international protection are now broadly allowed to live and move anywhere in the EU state."It clarifies that the freedom of movement encompasses both the right to move freely and choose the place of residence within the member state that granted international protection," Julia Zelvenska, a senior legal officer at the Brussels-based European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), told this website.She noted that the "residence restriction is permissible only in very specific situations and only with a view of facilitating the integration for those granted subsidiary protection."People with subsidiary protection status in Germany receive a temporary residence permit for at least for one year and in most cases for two years.After fives years of residence, they can apply for a permanent permit.-Integration unanswered-But the court's ruling leaves some outstanding issues.It is now up to the German federal administrative court to determine what defines the integration difficulties that underpin the "place-of-residence condition".Integration rights of people with subsidiary status protection is outlined in the EU's qualification directive.It notes they should have access to integration facilities "taking into account specific integration needs".The Luxembourg-based court's ruling is also unlikely to have much bearing on the EU's relocation scheme to distribute people arriving in Greece and Italy among other member states.The EU plan, launched last September, intends to distribute some 160,000 asylum seekers. Asylum seekers, which under EU law have no freedom of movement, only obtain international protection once granted such status by the hosting member state.The European Commission, for its part, said it will review the ruling."The ruling clarifies that it is possible to impose residency requirements and this is important in the context of possible secondary movements," commission spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud told reporters in Brussels.
'Allah ordered' child beheading, nanny says at Moscow court-AFP By Maria Panina-MAR 2,16-YAHOONEWS
Moscow (AFP) - A nanny accused of decapitating a young girl in her care then walking through the street brandishing the head, on Wednesday said "Allah ordered" the killing as she appeared at a Moscow court.Suspect Gyulchekhra Bobokulova from Muslim-majority Uzbekistan -- whom the press have dubbed "the bloody nanny" -- was detained on Monday as she was waving the child's severed head outside a metro station in northwestern Moscow. She was sent for psychiatric examinations."It was what Allah ordered," the 38-year-old told journalists as she was brought into the district court to have her arrest confirmed and extended.With shoulder-length black hair parted in the centre, she wore a royal blue pinafore over a black tracksuit top.At times, she smiled, other times she grimaced, flashing a few golden teeth.Speaking in broken Russian from the suspect's cage, Bobokulova said: "Allah is sending a second prophet to give news of peace" and also complained that she was "hungry", had not been fed and would "die in a week""Hi to everyone," said the mother-of-three, waving at the crowd of journalists in the courtroom.Investigator Olga Lapteva, who was clearly emotional, told the court that Bobokulova was suspected of committing an "extremely serious crime" and that she should face "a mandatory prison sentence of considerably more than three years."The court confirmed the nanny's arrest and ordered her held in custody for two months as investigations continued.Investigators would push to have Bobokulova charged on March 4, Lapteva said.- Brainwashed schizophrenic? -Investigators are trying to establish whether Bobokulova had any accomplices.State news agency RIA Novosti, citing a law enforcement source, said Bobokulova had recently been brainwashed by her Tajik lover, who was apparently a radical Muslim himself.The mass-circulation Moskovsky Komsomolets, citing Uzbek police, said the woman had suffered from schizophrenia for about 15 years.Komsomolskaya Pravda, citing a close family friend, said the live-in nanny had recently become very religious, spent a lot of time online and had brought home a prayer mat.Bobokulova has been undergoing psychiatric examinations since her detention over the murder of the girl, Nastya, whom the judge said was born in 2011. Investigators had initially estimated she was three or four years old.She is suspected of butchering the girl, who had suffered from learning disabilities and epilepsy, at the family's apartment in northwestern Moscow, before torching it and fleeing the scene.Witnesses reported seeing an agitated woman dressed in black who threatened to "blow everyone up," with one media report saying she shouted "Allahu Akbar" -- Arabic for "God is greatest" -- as she paced up and down outside a metro station.- Fundraising for the family -The shocking incident has shaken usually hard-bitten Muscovites and people have flocked to the Oktyabrskoe Pole metro station to lay flowers and pray.A friend of the bereaved family, Andrei Mishchenkov, said on Facebook that some 2.5 million rubles ($33,780/31,000 euros) had so far been collected from the public in a drive to help the parents.Russia's national television channels have refused to cover the killing in a controversial move that the Kremlin defended, saying the subject was "probably too monstrous to be shown on television".Some have questioned the professionalism of police after Bobokulova was allowed to pace up and down outside the metro station with the head for about 20 minutes.A spokeswoman for the Office of the General Prosecutor said a probe would be launched into the matter.
Jordan foils IS attacks, kills jihadists-AFP By Imed Lamloum-MAR 2,16-YAHOONEWS
Amman (AFP) - Jordan said Wednesday that it had thwarted planned attacks by the Islamic State group on its soil, killing seven suspected jihadists in a major security operation near the Syrian frontier.The kingdom, which also borders Iraq, has for years struggled with homegrown Islamists and is part of a US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against jihadists.The operation, which began late Tuesday in the northern city of Irbid, 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Amman, was the most significant of its kind since Jordan joined the coalition in 2014.One member of Jordan's security forces was killed and three wounded in clashes that raged for several hours until dawn, the authorities said. Two civilians were also hurt.Jordan's intelligence services said IS had been plotting "attacks against civilian and military sites in order to destabilise national security"."The terrorists refused to surrender and put up strong resistance using automatic weapons," it said, adding that the dead jihadists were wearing suicide vests.Twenty-two suspects were arrested during the operation and automatic weapons and explosives were seized, according to security officials.They said that investigations before the raid had led to the arrest of 13 others linked to the jihadists.Jordan has reinforced security along its frontiers since the conflict erupted in Syria five years ago.- 'Turning point' -The US ally stepped up its air strikes on IS in February 2015 after the Sunni extremist group burned alive one of its air force pilots who crashed in Syria while on a mission.The kingdom also faces a danger from within -- nearly 4,000 Jordanians belong to jihadists groups, mostly IS, Islamist sources estimate.More than 400 Jordanians have been killed fighting in jihadist ranks in Syria and Iraq since 2011, according to the sources.The Irbid operation marks a turning point in the fight against jihadists, said Mohammad Abu Rumman, a researcher at the University of Jordan's Centre for Strategic Studies.Initially the fear was about "lone wolf" sympathisers travelling to Syria and Iraq to join IS.But Wednesday's clashes illustrate "an evolution in the relationship between the Salafist jihadist movement in Jordan and IS."The resistance put up by the jihadists and the amount of weapons seized are all clues to the evolution of this movement which now favours violence and closer ties with IS, he warned.Irbid is just a few kilometres from the Syrian border where Jordanian security forces regularly detain drug traffickers and jihadists attempting to join extremist groups in Syria.Jordan has tried and imprisoned dozens of jihadist sympathisers since toughening its anti-terrorism law in 2014.The resource-poor country hosts more than 630,000 of the roughly 4.6 million Syrian refugees overseas, according to the UN refugee agency.The Jordanian government gives a much higher estimate of 1.4 million, saying many of them are unregistered.It has been braced for a new wave of refugees since Russia began intense air raids in September in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Spain's Sanchez likely to fail in PM bid By Eric Maurice-MAR 2,16-EUOBSERVER
BRUSSELS, Today, 09:26-Spanish socialist leader Pedro Sanchez is struggling to get enough support from MPs to form a coalition government before two parliamentary votes this week, making a new general election more likely.Sanchez needs the support of more than half of Spain's 350 MPs in a vote on Wednesday (2 March) to form a coalition.If he fails, MPs will vote again on Friday, but this time Sanchez will need only more votes in favour than those against, meaning abstentions could be crucial.But he will face difficulties to get even that. The most likely option then would be a new general election to take place in June, after the 20 December election failed to produce a clear majority.After signing a governing pact with the centre-right Ciudadanos (Citizens) party, Sanchez has 131 seats in parliament, but he needs at least 176 votes to be invested as prime minister.In an address to the Spanish parliament on Tuesday, Sanchez appealed for "a government of change and of dialogue".He called on MPs to go beyond their ideological differences, saying: "Why don't we unite to form a government for change? "Why don't we get together and pass as many reforms as possible to solve the most urgent problems of Spaniards? Why don't we vote together in favour of all issues in which we are in agreement?”In a sign that he was trying to appeal to all sides, the three words he most used in his address were "government", "change" and "agreement".Sanchez's appeal was aimed at the conservative Popular Party (PP) of the outgoing prime minister Mariano Rajoy, who came first in the December election but did not recruit enough partners to form a government.Abstention from the 119 PP deputies would allow Sanchez to get through the parliament vote. But the PP has ruled out even passive support for the socialist candidate.Sanchez was also trying to win over the radical left Podemos (We Can) party, which hold 65 seats."We have two options," Sanchez told MPs, appealing to Podemos' staunch opposition to the outgoing government."Either we do nothing and allow Rajoy to continue presiding over the interim government, or we opt for a change based on dialogue and agreements."There are only two options and this chamber has to decide what to do - either we stay still or we start walking."-PM 'for one day'-But Podemos, which has had shaky relations with the more established Socialist Party (PSOE), has ruled out any support for or participation in a Sanchez government since the agreement with Ciudadanos.Podemos regards the agreement between the PSOE and Ciudadanos as too pro-austerity, as both parties attempt to woo the PP's passive support.On Tuesday, after Sanchez's speech, Podemos deputy leader Inigo Errejon said that his party expected Sanchez to "take a decision".Sanchez "cannot satisfy the PP and Podemos at the same time. We defend opposing projects," he said.For Podemos, Sanchez's address was "way below expectations" and the pretender to the office of president of the Spanish government was only "playing being president for one day".
DRUG PUSHERS AND ADDICTS
1 PET 5:8
8 Be sober,(NOT DRUGED UP OR ALCOHOLICED) be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
REVELATION 18:23
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries (DRUGS) were all nations deceived.
REVELATION 9:21
21 Neither repented they of their murders,(KILLING) nor of their sorceries (DRUG ADDICTS AND DRUG PUSHERS), nor of their fornication,(SEX OUTSIDE MARRIAGE OR PROSTITUTION FOR MONEY) nor of their thefts.(STEALING)
Desperate' Mexican drug lord Chapo wants quick extradition to US-AFP By Yemeli Ortega, Carola Sole-MAR 2,16-YAHOONEWS
Mexico City (AFP) - Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman wants to be rapidly extradited to the United States out of "desperation" over being sleep-deprived in prison, his attorney said Wednesday.The lawyer, Jose Refugio Rodriguez, said the defense team would seek to negotiate with US authorities and that it would take at least two months for Guzman to be shipped to Mexico's northern neighbor.The Sinaloa drug cartel leader made his plea "in a moment of desperation" over his treatment, Rodriguez told AFP, citing concerns for his client's health."He can no longer take this situation," said the lawyer.Rodriguez, who filed injunctions against his client's extradition following his January 8 recapture, said lawyers would continue his defense in Mexican court while they seek to negotiate with US authorities.Prison authorities acknowledged that Guzman, 58, is awakened every four hours to make sure he is still alive as part of regular security protocols for high-profile inmates."We are not violating the rights and guarantees of any intern subjected to this type of security protocol," Eduardo Guerrero, the head of Mexico's penitentiary system, told local radio on Tuesday.- Hunger strike -Guzman was returned to the Altiplano maximum-security prison after his January capture, which came six months after he had escaped from the same penitentiary through a 1.5-kilometer (mile-long) tunnel.Authorities have taken extraordinary measures to prevent another embarrassing escape, installing metal rods in the floor to prevent another tunnel dig and posting a guard wearing a camera on his helmet outside the cell.In a reversal, President Enrique Pena Nieto has ordered the attorney general's office to expedite the extradition process. Prior to Guzman's July escape, Pena Nieto had refused to send him to the United States.Mexico's attorney general has said extradition could take at least a year.An official at the attorney general's office said on condition of anonymity that the case was in the hands of a court.Guzman's wife, former beauty queen Emma Coronel, who is 26, told Radio Formula that "if his life is in danger, we will have to do what's necessary."She said that Guzman's extradition would not be a "defeat" because she and their twin daughters are US citizens. She gave birth to the girls in California in 2011.Three other lawyers said in a statement that they and unidentified Guzman relatives would launch a hunger strike on Friday to protest the prison conditions.- 'Dejected man' -Two US courts have formally requested Guzman's extradition since he was recaptured, with charges of drug trafficking in California and murder in Texas.Rodriguez told Radio Formula that he saw Guzman on Tuesday and that the drug cartel leader told him: "Try to get me extradited as fast as possible.""Not allowing someone to sleep is an act of torture," Rodriguez told the radio station. "I saw a desperate man, a dejected man. I found him very discouraged and in a very serious state of health.""He is isolated and segregated in a special area, separated from the other inmates. He told me that he was taken to a small room... (and) doesn't see the sun," the lawyer said.Rodriguez said last week that Guzman would be willing to plead guilty in the United States in return for a "relatively reasonable" sentence at a "medium-security" prison.US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said recently she was confident that Mexican courts would soon decide on the extradition. The US embassy declined to comment on Wednesday.
Energy CEO McClendon dies in Oklahoma car crash, a day after indictment-Reuters By Heidi Brandes-MAR 2,16-YAHOONEWS
OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - Aubrey McClendon, a brash risk-taker who led Chesapeake Energy Corp to become one of the world's biggest natural gas producers, died in a single-car crash on Wednesday one day after being charged with breaking federal antitrust laws, police said. He was 56.The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday announced that McClendon had been indicted for allegedly colluding to rig bids for oil and gas acreage while he was at Chesapeake, a central player in the U.S. fracking revolution of the past decade. He denied the charges.Police said they were investigating the cause of the crash, which occurred when McClendon was driving his 2013 Chevy Tahoe on a sparsely populated, two-lane road. Police responded to the crash at 9:12 a.m. local time, though they have not said at what time the crash was believed to have occurred.The crash occurred about 8 miles (13 km) from American Energy Partners, which McClendon had founded and where he was the chairman and chief executive. Police said the vehicle was badly burned in the crash and McClendon was not wearing a seat belt.McClendon, who was revered in oil and gas circles as a visionary, resigned from Chesapeake in 2013 after a corporate governance crisis and investor concerns over his heavy spending.After leaving Chesapeake, McClendon went on to start American Energy Partners and, with the help of private equity funds, made billions of dollars in bets on vast tracts of oil and gas land around the United States and Australia.Tuesday's indictment followed a nearly four-year federal antitrust probe that began after a 2012 Reuters investigation found that Chesapeake had discussed with a rival how to suppress land lease prices in Michigan during a shale-drilling boom. Although the Michigan case was subsequently closed, investigators uncovered evidence of alleged bid-rigging in Oklahoma. (http://reut.rs/1TPxUVy)-"VISION AND PASSION"-A native of Oklahoma, McClendon attended Duke University before starting Chesapeake with his friend Tom Ward, who went on to lead SandRidge Energy Inc for a time."Aubrey's tremendous leadership, vision and passion for the energy industry had an impact on the community, the country and the world. We are tremendously proud of his legacy," American Energy Partners said in a statement.On his watch, Chesapeake leased a fleet of planes that shuttled executives to oil and gas fields - and the McClendon family to far-off holiday destinations.Closer to home, McClendon pursued other passions, including the Oklahoma City Thunder, the National Basketball Association franchise in which he had a minority stake.He was one of the foremost leaders of a U.S. energy boom that lifted output to the highest levels in years, reduced reliance on foreign oil and mobilized new pools of investment capital for wildcat drillers."I’ve known Aubrey McClendon for nearly 25 years. He was a major player in leading the stunning energy renaissance in America," Texas energy investor T. Boone Pickens said in a statement. "He was charismatic and a true American entrepreneur. No individual is without flaws, but his impact on American energy will be long-lasting.”Chesapeake, which had recently sued McClendon's AEP on accusations of stealing trade secrets, offered condolences."Chesapeake is deeply saddened by the news that we have heard today and our thoughts and prayers are with the McClendon family during this difficult time,” the company said in a statement.McClendon is survived by his wife, Katie, and their three children, Jack, Callie and Will.(Additional reporting by Liz Hampton and Ernest Scheyder in Houston, and Jessica Resnick Ault in New York; Writing by Terry Wade and Lisa Shumaker; Editing by Leslie Adler)
