Wednesday, March 16, 2016

RUSSIA ANNOUNCES SURPRISE WITHDRAWL FROM SYRIA.

JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)

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

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

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

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

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

Russia's Lavrov says agrees to try to resume flights with Egypt in shortest time-[Reuters]-March 16, 2016-YAHOONEWS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday at talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry that they had agreed to make efforts on resuming direct flights between Russia and Egypt in the shortest possible period of time.Lavrov added at a news conference that flights would be resumed if the highest level of security was provided.(Reporting by Dmitry Solovyov; Writing by Alexander Winning)

Russia announces surprise withdrawal from Syria By Eszter Zalan-EUOBSERVER

BRUSSELS, 15. Mar, 09:27-Russian forces are preparing to leave Syria five and a half months after they began to bomb targets in what they called an anti-terror operation, but what Western governments condemned as a mission to help prop up President Bashar al-Assad.Western officials cautiously welcomed the move by the Kremlin, which came after a telephone conversation between President Vladimir Putin and Assad on Monday (14 March)."The leaders noted that the actions of the Russian air force had allowed them to radically change the situation in the fight against terrorism, to disorganise the fighters' infrastructure and inflict significant damage on them," the Kremlin said in a statement.Russia’s bombing campaign started on 30 September last year. It helped Assad's troops to recapture territory from rebels.Russian aircraft flew more than 9,000 sorties, with media reports claiming their attacks caused civilian casualties and often targeted rebel-held areas despite the stated aim of anti-terrorism.-Deadlock on Assad-No details were given on how many planes and troops would be withdrawn or the deadline for completing the withdrawal.It is also not clear how many troops Russia has in the Middle Eastern country, US estimates put the number of personnel between 3,000 and 6,000.Russia however will continue to operate its air base in Latakia province in Syria, and its naval base at Tartus.Meanwhile peace talks continue in Geneva, but hopes of a breakthrough are thin as all sides are in a deadlock over the future of Assad.German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Russia’s withdrawal would increase pressure on Assad to negotiate.-Sanctions issue unresolved-Meanwhile on Monday EU foreign ministers discussed relations with Russia for the first time in a year.EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said they had unanimity among the 28 on five broad principles.These include Moscow fully respecting and implementing the Minsk ceasefire accords in Ukraine.They reiterated that the EU would not recognise Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, which the union regards as illegal.The ministers also agreed to boost ties with nations in the former Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and strengthen resilience in areas like energy security.EU countries should engage with Russia on foreign policy issues only where there is a clear EU interest, the ministers said, and the bloc promised to boost contacts with Russian civil society.Although there is agreement on these wide principles, there is reportedly no consensus over whether to renew economic sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine conflict.Hungary and Greece have both said they want to remove the sanctions, which expire at the end of July.They say the measures have failed to change Russian policy and are damaging European economies.

Investigation-Soviet uranium legacy blights eastern EU By Adrian Mogos and Michael Bird-EUOBSERVER

ROMANIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, GERMANY, 15. Mar, 11:49-The Soviet Union mined uranium across its empire for decades, leaving a legacy of environmental damage, social breakdown and widespread health issues. In the first of a two-part investigation, we reveal how the devastating effects are still being felt in Germany, Romania and the Czech Republic.“We live here, with radon [radioactive gas] across the road and with chalk dust from down in the valley – God damn it – it will kill us all,” says 53-year-old Vasile Mocanu, a former miner.He is describing how his life has been trapped between two sources of pollution – a uranium mine and a chalk mine. Baita Plai, an ex-Communist workers’ colony built by the Soviets in the 1950s, lies on the edge of the Transylvanian countryside, 500km north-west of Bucharest.The Soviets exploited uranium at this site – one of the richest reserves in the world – as reparations after World War II, during which the Romanians fought against the USSR. The uranium was first extracted from two surface pits, before the mine moved underground.“For us it was dangerous work,” says another former miner, 74-year-old Florian Covaci. “We travelled an hour to the pit on a bus, then by train underground for 8 km. We were working wet to the skin to make holes in the rock with water. It was like in a labour camp.”Beginning in 2000, the mine slowly declined. The workers left, either voluntarily or were pensioned off. Today most of the apartments in the four blocks in Baita Plai are empty. Just 100 people live there now, but only four are former miners. Nobody wants to live near to slag heaps and noxious mines.In this area, 4.6 million litres of radioactive waste has been deposited. Romania’s track record of cleaning up its uranium legacy is a history of decay, abandonment and ignorance. (There will be more about the multiple failures of public authorities to deal with the issues in the second part of this investigation.)-'Most died younger than 50'-One of the major threats to human health – the risk of cancer from radiation – has not been analysed by Romanian officials so the casualties of cancer due to uranium mining and its legacy in the country are unknown.Vasile Mocanu, who likes to be known as Doru, worked in the uranium mine in Baita Plai for many years, then stayed on as a security guard for a private firm that supervises the mine and deposits of radioactive material.Doru says his body has become used to radioactivity and he hopes “with all his soul” that he will reach a pensionable age, because many of his former colleagues died early.“Many died before they reached 50,” says Doru. “A former colleague recently died at 57. These diseases put many young people in the ground.”Experts agree that radiation causes cancer, and Romania’s ministry of health admits that the main route of radioactive exposure for uranium miners is through inhaling radon, a radioactive gas that has been classified by International Agency for Research on Cancer as carcinogenic to humans.Radon is second only to smoking as a cause of lung cancer, and recent studies have investigated a possible relationship between radon and leukaemia.A study carried out in Baita Plai by researchers from the University of Babes-Bolyai, Cluj-Napoca and the University of Cantabria in Santander argued that between 1,000 and 3,000 deaths each year in Romania could be caused by radon.Although those who worked in the mines were at greatest risk, locals in Baita Plai who never set foot in the tunnels are still exposed to radon even while they are in their homes because, as the local mayor explains, Romania allowed materials from uranium mines to be used for buildings in Baita Plai.During the 1960s and 1970s, stones from the mine dumps were used for building foundations, walls, road kerbs and even animal shelters. The waste was also used to build roads in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.However, miners elsewhere in Romania have other theories to explain the early deaths of former miners.-'Those who leave, die'-The Soviet-built former workers’ colony at Ciudanovita in south-west Romania once boasted its own football team - and the stadium is still visible near the entrance to the mine, which is closed with concrete.Now, the population numbers about 300. The school, once filled with children, has only a handful of pupils. Former miners come to the run-down post office to pick up their pensions because the town does not have any ATMs.Behind a housing block, a woman is sleeping next to some crates of beer. A man on a balcony talks to us about radiation. He believes poison from the mine is a fairytale.“I worked in the mine and I have 11 kids. If there had been radiation, I wouldn’t have been making so many,” he says.There is a legend that people who leave the zone become sick and die, while those that stay remain healthy. Two old men, also former miners, drinking beer on a bench say those who left the town died from lung disease. Others, who could not accustom themselves to a life in another place, returned to the town.-Deep contamination-In the Czech Republic, similar to Romania, there is no national strategy for monitoring the health of former miners or locals.“Hundreds of miners died as a consequence of having worked in the uranium mines and the impact on the landscape is among the worst environmental disasters in the Czech Republic,” says a spokesperson for campaign group Association for the Preservation of the Environment (Calla).In Straz pod Ralskem, 100km north of Prague, uranium was extracted between 1967 and 1993 using a process called in-situ leaching (ISL). This involved digging more than 7,000 wells and pumping more than four million tonnes of sulphuric and nitric acid and ammonium into the mine through metal tubes. Uranium was then extracted in solution.But these chemicals leaked from the production area into the nearby river for more than a decade, contaminating millions of litres of underground water close to drinking-water reservoirs.Meanwhile, dozens of hectares of tailings ponds – pools of water designed to hold waste material from the mines – have been left freely accessible to the public. Only a small sign hidden behind some trees warns visitors this is an area exposed to radiation.The estimated cost for repairing the environmental damage – a process known as remediation – is almost €2 billion, with an expected completion date of 2037. In many cases the European Union covers up to 85 percent of the costs of remediation.A local official of Diamo – the state-owned firm responsible for the mines – said that up to September 2015 almost €1 billion had been invested in the region for remediation and liquidation of the former treatment plant.“All the scrap is being verified in terms of radioactive contamination,” explained the official.Josef Jadrny, deputy governor of the Regional Authority of Liberec, said contaminated material was being disposed of in tailings ponds at a rate of 100,000 litres a day.“The contamination in this region is reaching as far as 300m in depth,” he said.-Nature returns-Some 66 sites have been exploited for uranium mining in the Czech Republic, leaving behind 6.33 sq km of tailings ponds. Except Straz pod Ralskem, the only mining production continues at Dolni Rozinka, south-east of Prague, which produces 224 tonnes of uranium per year.Public trains pass daily beneath the Dolni Rozinka plant’s conveyor belts. Beyond a layer of trees many unprotected tailings ponds lie hidden. The plant is due to close in 2017, and nature has already started to take back the land.Agriculture is taking place just metres from sites that were used for decades to dump contaminated waste including concrete, scrap, oil and tyres. A flock of wild ducks is nesting in a tailings pond connected to pipes from which yellow chemicals are pumped.But the Czech authorities now want to build the largest deposit of radioactive waste just a few kilometres away.Diamo also intends to reopen an old mine in Brzkov about 50km west. The town’s mine, which was closed in 2004, boasts good quality uranium.But Brzkov mayor Ales Boril is critical of the move. He describes Dolni Rozinka as a "sad place" and wants to avoid sharing its fate."I am interested in the future of this place and we want to protect the environment, not destroy it," he says.He accuses Diamo of putting pressure on politicians to support their plans.Josef Jadrny, the deputy governor of the Regional Authority of Liberec, says politicians argue that reopening the mines will provide jobs, but they pay no heed to the environment.“It is a political reason why this company survives, not the interests of the people. It’s a Russian system: mine, mine and mine with no care about the environment and health.”Diamo failed to put forward any senior official to reply to these allegations, despite repeated attempts to arrange an interview.-Waste dumps to sand traps-Eastern Germany is often viewed as the best example of remediation following intensive uranium mining. Land from the vast network of Soviet-era mines has been transformed into a spa, golf-course and horticultural exhibition.However, there are still problems.The total amount of uranium mined in East Germany is only surpassed by production in the USSR, the US and Canada. Wismut, a Communist-era institution, ran mines across the Erzebirge mountains and the Vogtland mountains.After German reunification, uranium production was stopped and Wismut passed from Soviet control into the hands of the German state. In the 1990s, Wismut changed its role from a mining company to a business dealing with decommissioning, cleaning up, and rehabilitating uranium mines and processing sites.However, the mining legacy included 48 mine dumps, 311 billion litres of waste rock, 160 billion litres of radioactive sludge, known as tailings, and 15 sq km of waste dumps. Much of this was in or around densely populated areas.The expected cost for cleaning up the mines was estimated at €7.1 billion, of which around €6 billion has already been spent – compared with €20 million so far spent on rehabilitation in Romania.The town of Schlema, once the site of a dump, has been restored as a spa town with a golf course over six sq km of waste dump. Wismut prides itself on having the biggest mining rehabilitation project in the world.However, 3,700 cases of lung cancer among miners in eastern Germnay have been recognised as “occupationally caused” since 1991. A report by Central German Broadcasting (MDR) in 2012 claimed that 100 workers had contracted cancer of the larynx and 2,800 workers suffered from pneumoconiosis, a lung disease often caused by exposure to dust in mines.This indicates that a connection can be made between uranium mining and occupational diseases – a link that has not been explored properly in the Czech Republic, Slovakia or Romania.Nevertheless, there are still issues, says uranium expert Peter Diehl.“In spite of all the planning and expertise applied, there have occurred odd failures, such as slumping slope covers and excessive radon releases from drying waste pile covers,” says Diehl, referring to inadequate attempts to cover radioactive waste.“In the waste rock pile covers of Schlema, there has been rising radon emissions from Wismut's reclaimed waste rock piles.”He said these radon emissions had led to public doses above 1 millisievert a year – a measure of the health effect of low levels of ionising radiation on the human body.The International Commission on Radiological Protection recommends that public doses should not exceed 1 millisievert a year, not including medical and occupational exposures.Critics have suggested that Wismut is failing to act on this because the 1 millisievert limit is only a recommendation and will not become law until an EU directive is enacted in national legislation in 2018.Wismut officials refused to be interviewed for this article.This article was developed with support by Journalismfund.eu

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)

UN outlines legal concerns on EU-Turkey deal By Nikolaj Nielsen-MAR 16,15-EUOBSERVER

BRUSSELS, Today, 09:22-The EU insists any deal with Turkey on returning migrants will be legally sound.But issues remain over how people kicked out of Greece and returned to Turkey may be treated if Ankara refuses to fully apply the 1951 Refugee Convention.The issue has raised concerns from the UN agency for refugees (UNHCR), which, in a four-page note on the deal, says the blanket return of rejected migrants "without key protection safeguards in place, would be at variance with international and European standards".The UNHCR document, dated 10 March, comes ahead of a summit in Brussels this week between EU leaders and Turkey's prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu.European Council president Donald Tusk in Ankara on Tuesday (15 March) said the deal hinges on making it stand up to EU and international law."This is not an easy task, and we have to get it right," he said.Sharing burden, not shifting-The European Commission on Tuesday made similar comments, noting that it has been working with the UNHCR on how to make it work in practice."The commission has made a legal analysis of what is possible in order make the agreed deal in principle operational," a commission spokesperson told reporters.The EU plan is to arrange speedy returns to Turkey from Greece and to stop irregular migrants from using smugglers to reach Greece via Turkey. Almost 800,000 made the trip last year.But the UNHCR paper said that each person was entitled to an individual assessment in Greece before being returned to Turkey.Greece can only also issue the return if key legal safeguards are guaranteed in Turkey.The UNHCR also said that any deal that involves the transfer of asylum seekers from one state to another should be "aimed at enhancing the sharing, rather the shifting, of burdens and responsibilities".With 45,000 people now stuck in Greece and some 14,000 living in dire conditions at the Idomeni camp near the Macedonia border, the sense of "sharing" among EU states appears to be lacking.EU states had agreed last year to relocate tens of thousands from Greece but have so far only managed just a few hundred.-Financing issues-On Tuesday (15 March) thousands of migrants were forced back into Greece from Macedonia, with Austria now promising to help Skopje guard the border by offering equipment, according to German newspaper Die Welt."The defence ministry is currently checking whether we can help with technical gear, such as night vision goggles," Austria's defence minister Hans Peter Doskozi told the daily.The UN's refugee chief Filippo Grandi last week also said asylum seekers returned to Turkey should have full access to education, work, healthcare and social assistance.Turkey hosts some 2.7 million Syrian refugees. Roughly 10 percent live in 23 camps, with the rest spread out across the country. An additional 121,000 Iraqis and almost 98,000 Afghan refugees are also in Turkey.The EU is supposed to help finance projects such as education and health for refugees inside Turkey.But so far less than €100 million out of a promised €3 billion has been earmarked for projects.The initial roll-out earlier this month is aimed at helping Syrian schoolchildren in Turkey and enrolling others in a UN-backed food voucher programme.

Cyprus and Spain cast doubt on EU-Turkey migrant deal By Eric Maurice-EUOBSERVER

BRUSSELS, 15. Mar, 09:30-Two days before the start of the next summit, the lines on which EU leaders will agree to make a deal with Turkey on a plan to stop migration are still unclear, amid doubt and opposition from several member states.Spain has said the blanket return of refugees to Turkey from Greece was not acceptable, while Cyprus is blocking the opening of some chapters in the Turkey accession negotiations.A first draft of the summit conclusions circulated on Monday refers only to "the context of the joint action plan with Turkey and its possible expansion" but does not explicitly say what was agreed in principle with the Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu on 7 March.So far, the conclusions mainly repeat what EU leaders have said in previous summits about the need to "make all hotspots fully operational and to increase reception capacities" in order to register asylum seekers and identify economic migrants.The draft also asks EU countries to take part in the "emergency support to be provided to help Greece cope with the humanitarian situation" and to "swiftly offer more places" to relocate asylum seekers from Greece.Reflecting worries arising form the closure of the Western Balkan route last week, the draft "emphasises the need to be extremely vigilant as regards possible new routes for irregular migrants".Measures to be agreed with Turkey are referred to in just one sentence, when EU leaders call for "the use of all means to support the capacity of Greece for the return of irregular migrants to Turkey".-'No reason to move'-The statement outlining the definitive EU-Turkey plan, which will be published after the meeting between EU leaders and Davutoglu on Friday, has not been drafted yet.At a meeting last Friday, EU ambassadors did not discuss the main issues of the plan, an EU source told EUobserver.-Turkey's demands in exchange for taking back refugees from Greece - the acceleration of visa-free travel for Turkish nationals, the opening of new chapters in the accession talks and further EU financial help for refugees in Turkey - were left for two further ambassadors’ meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday."We will see what we have in the text on Wednesday. For now, [European Council president] Tusk is doing consultations," the source said.Tusk is on Tuesday making a last-minute trip to Nicosia to meet Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades to try to get his backing for the plan.Last week, Anastasiades told the Financial Times that he would never give his consent to the plan if it included the opening of five specific accession chapters.Turkey asked for the reopening of chapters 15 (energy), 23 (judiciary and fundamental rights), 24 (justice, freedom and security), 26 (education and culture) and 31 (foreign, security and defence policy).These chapters, as well as a sixth one, were frozen by Cyprus in 2009 after Turkey refused to apply the EU-Turkey customs union to Cyprus and added a protocol refusing to recognise the Republic of Cyprus."We are talking of an issue of vital importance" for Cyprus, a Cypriot official told EUobserver, adding that other EU countries had an "understanding" of its position."We do not block accession talks as a whole," the official said."These chapters were frozen for a particular reason and if nothing happens, there is no reason to move on the issue.”Cyprus could lift its veto on the chapters if Turkey scrapped the protocol and opened its ports to Cypriot ships.Another solution could be that Turkey accepts to open different accession chapters to the five it has asked for.In both cases, an agreement would depend on "whether Turkey wants a deal or not" and how far Turkey was willing to go in its demands, the EU source said.On Tuesday morning, just before Tusk was due to meet Anastasiades, his spokesman announced he would also go to Ankara to meet Davutoglu in the afternoon.-'No legal loophole'-Spain has also expressed concern on the EU-Turkey deal.On Monday, foreign affairs minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said that the so-called one-to-one plan - resettling one Syrian refugee from Turkey for every migrant returned from Greece - “seemed unacceptable to [Spain] from the very beginning”.Echoing criticism by NGOs and bodies such as the UN refugee agency and the Council of Europe, he said the plan had to be “compatible with international laws and respectful of human rights”."Anyone arriving on European territory must have the right to individualised attention, to filing an asylum request that will be taken into consideration, and to appeal if the request is denied,” Margallo said in Brussels.“Throughout this process, any possibility of expulsion is suspended.”A Spanish official told EUobserver the details of the plan still had to be discussed, declining to say if Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy would block an agreement."The prime minister agrees with the principles,” the official said, but "it is very important that there is no legal loophole".

Turkey supports Syria's unity, unilateral federation moves invalid: official-[Reuters]-March 16, 2016-YAHOONEWS

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey supports Syria's national unity and unilateral moves such as declaring a federation cannot be valid, a foreign ministry official told Reuters, amid expectations that Syrian Kurds will announce a federal system in northern Syria on Wednesday.The Turkish official said the form of government and administrative structure of Syria will be decided by all sections of the Syrian people with a new constitution.Idris Nassan, an official from Kobani, one of three autonomous areas set up by Kurdish groups two years ago, said earlier that Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Syria were expected to declare a federal system on Wednesday.(Reporting by Tulay Karadeniz; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Nick Tattersall)

Canada faces ‘tough fight’ in bid for UN seat, experts say-[Canada Politics]-Terri Coles-March 15, 2016-YAHOONEWS

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to announce Wednesday that Canada will seek a temporary seat on the United Nations Security Council. But some experts say while the country’s return to the council is possible, it won’t be easy.“It’s a tough fight but I think it’s doable,” University of Ottawa law professor Errol Mendes tells Yahoo Canada News. “We’ve really got to pick our areas where we can show not just good leadership, but extraordinary leadership.”Canada last held a seat in 1999-2000 and lost its last bid for a seat in 2010, ending a string of six consecutive decades on the 15-seat council. The federal government withdrew its candidacy then after two rounds of voting made it clear Canada could not beat Portugal for a rotating two-year council seat.Several UN diplomats told CBC News that the earliest Canada could mount a successful campaign would be 2020, for a term that would begin the next year. The United States, China, France, Great Britain and Russia occupy the five permanent and veto-wielding seats on the council, and the other 10 are distributed on a regional basis.However, while there are no uncontested seats open in the Western Europe and Other Group (WEOG) before 2020, Canada, which falls under this regional UN group, could take the unconventional approach of launching a campaign earlier. There are votes for two-year seats every year, with the next coming up in June. Running before 2020 would give Canada less time to garner enough votes, but would capitalize on the recent positive attention the country and Trudeau have received internationally, says Colin Robertson, vice-president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, a non-profit research organization focused on international aid and policy.“It is possible that Mr. Trudeau would want to take advantage of the ‘honeymoon period’ and run sooner,” he says. “It would mean upsetting a little bit of the balance within the WEOG, but we’re not part of the European Union bloc anyway. It’s not impossible that we may decide to run sooner than 2020.”Stiff competition-Even if Canada waits until 2020 to run, the country would still face an election, Robertson says — in the WEOG, Ireland, Norway and San Marino have all expressed intentions to run that year, and there are often more interested countries than available slots in a particular bloc.And though Canada’s previous terms on the council were successful, even if we wait until 2020 the country will face tough competition from both Norway and Ireland, Mendes says. “Norway is probably the biggest competition because they’ve got a good reputation worldwide,” says Mendes, who is also president of the International Commission of Jurists, Canadian Section. The country particularly distinguished itself by taking the lead on the Oslo Process against cluster munitions, he says. Ireland also presents still competition for Canada, Mendes says, after it joined Norway in taking up the challenge of fighting against the use of cluster munitions. Canada lost an opportunity to lead on that, he says, after our respected work under then-prime minister Jean Chrétien on the Ottawa Treaty to ban land mines.“What I think Canada has to do between now and 2020 is regain that leadership in different areas to get the bloc votes from Asia, Africa and other areas,” Mendes says. Robertson agrees that broad support is important for Canada’s campaign, because all UN countries vote on security council seats. While EU members tend to vote for each other, he said, Canada could garner support from fellow countries in the Commonwealth or the International Organisation of La Francophonie.Campaigning for a seat on the council is a usually a years-long process. Canada’s chances are improved somewhat by the way Trudeau has managed to both receive international notice so quickly after his election, Mendes says, and how the prime minister has used that opportunity to signal a change from the country’s time under Stephen Harper, whose government was less focused on the kind of multilateralism that involves working with the UN.For that reason, Canada’s relationship with the UN under the past government isn’t necessarily an indication of how the country will fare in any upcoming votes for a council seat.“It’s a different scenario,” Robertson says. “You can’t look to the last election and say, “Oh well, we’re going to lose.’ I think we’ve got a government that is actively committed to internationalism and multilateralism and the UN system.”-Points in Canada’s favour -Trudeau will be in New York on Wednesday for meetings with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. When the two met in Ottawa last month, the prime minister said then that Canada would seek a two-year council term.Trudeau plans to focus on gender equality and parity during his trip, and that’s one area where Canada can really distinguish itself as the country campaigns to return to the council, Mendes says.“Canada does have a reputation in particular for promoting gender equality of the girl-child,” Mendes says. Equality for girls around the world has been a focus of not just past Liberal governments but also Conservative ones, he says, calling former prime minister Brian Mulroney an “unspoken champion” of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.And right now is a particularly important time to focus on the rights of girls, Mendes says, given threats like sexual slavery of teenaged girls under ISIS, the violence faced by children in Syria, the use of child soldiers and the “weaponization” of rape in countries like South Sudan.“Maybe Canada can take on that and be the leading organization in the world to try and get a major international consensus,” Mendes says, “that this is an evil that has to be stopped, and has to have the entire security council behind it.”Canada’s chances of returning to the council are also improved by the Trudeau government’s stated commitment to refocusing its international efforts towards peace operations, Robertson says. For example, by changing its role in the anti-ISIS mission.As well, the country’s commitment to bringing in 25,000 Syrian refugees is another tangible example of how Canada’s international contributions have changed, he says.“Already, we’re building up a record, and a platform on which we can run,” he says.However, in order to truly stand out on the global stage and return to the security council, Mendes says, Trudeau’s administration needs to continue to back up talk with action. That includes putting money back into areas that the previous government moved away from, including aid to Africa, he says.It also means focusing on positive initiatives of the past government — improving maternal health, for example — but doing it in a way that removes them from ideology or potential commercial benefits for Canada.“Let’s focus on what we can do well,” Mendes says, “and do it really, really well.”

Trump tightens grip on Republican nomination with big wins-[The Canadian Press]-Alexander Panetta, The Canadian Press-March 15, 2016-YAHOONEWS

WASHINGTON - Donald Trump's much-discussed fingers have tightened their grip on the Republican presidential nomination, strengthened by a dominant performance Tuesday as the primaries entered their second half.Key primary wins brought Trump closer to the magic 50-per-cent pace he'd need to secure a first-ballot victory and avoid a challenge at the Republican party's summer convention.He entered the evening with about 40 per cent of the delegates pledged so far, and appeared likely to end it hovering somewhere around the 45-per-cent mark which still leaves him short of that coveted clip.Trump was poised to win as many as four of the five states voting. He easily won the greatest prize, Florida; held a solid lead in early results in Illinois; and held smaller advantages in North Carolina and Missouri."Nobody in the history of politics has received the kind of negative advertising that I have. Record, record, record. Mostly false — I wouldn't say 100 per cent, but about 90 per cent," Trump told a jubilant rally in Florida."You explain it to me — because I can't. My numbers went up."His biggest triumph was knocking out the great-right-hope of party brass Marco Rubio — Trump beat the young senator in his home state of Florida, forcing him to withdraw from the race.It was sweet revenge: Rubio had worked an old gag into his stump speech about the size of Trump's fingers, and used it to make unflattering insinuations about other parts of his anatomy.Trump got the last laugh. He obliterated him by nearly 20 percentage points on his own turf — prompting Rubio's immediate resignation, to the delight of Democrats who'd feared the youthful lawmaker.Trump picked up big blocs of delegates, who will actually pick the Republican nominee at the July convention. As the nomination race officially passed its halfway point Tuesday, it held its first winner-take-all contests Tuesday.Until now winners in each state had to split delegates proportionally. But delegates are now being awarded in bulk to the No. 1 finisher in some states, with Trump winning most.Trump appeared likely to end the evening with about 650 delegates; Texas Sen. Ted Cruz with about 400; Rubio with less than 175; and Ohio Gov. John Kasich with less than 150.Winning the nomination will require 1,237 delegates on the convention floor in Cleveland in July. The brash billionaire still needs to accelerate his pace of delegate-gathering to reach the 50-per-cent mark, otherwise he'll remain vulnerable to a co-ordinated takedown effort in July.The party establishment has already hinted at a plan to take him down on the second ballot — by rallying around an anti-Trump figure on the convention floor in what could be the first contested convention in decades.Kasich promoted that approach. He won his home state Tuesday, delivering Trump's sole defeat. He promised he would remain in the race until the confrontation four months from now in Cleveland."We are going to go all the way to Cleveland and secure the Republican nomination," said Kasich, in a cheerful victory speech in tune with a campaign message more upbeat than that of other Republicans.Rubio and Kasich had essentially reached an arrangement, as part of an effort to suppress Trump's delegate totals: the Florida senator endorsed Kasich in Ohio and the Ohio governor did the same for Rubio in Florida.The ruse worked in Ohio, not in Florida.Rubio's resignation will thrill Democrats who saw him as their biggest threat. Unlike any other Republican with the exception of Kasich, he consistently beat Hillary Clinton in hypothetical head-to-head matchups.The rival closest to Trump is not participating in the pre-convention machinations. No. 2 delegate-holder Cruz warned it would cause chaos if party brass tried hand-picking a favourite.Cruz said over the weekend: "That would be a disaster. The people would revolt. The only way to beat Donald Trump is beat him at the ballot box."A famous Republican strategist agreed there are no simple options, whether the party picks Trump or tries to block him. Karl Rove told Fox News over the weekend: "The party is likely to be bitterly divided almost no matter what the outcome."Allan Lichtman, a well-known electoral forecaster, said it would be nuts to try wresting the nomination from Trump, if he arrives at the Cleveland convention close to 50 per cent."I think that's a fool's errand," said Lichtman, a history professor at American University."It's going to rip the party apart and it may even lead to Donald Trump running a third-party campaign."As for the Democrats, Clinton extended her lead with big wins in Florida, Ohio and North Carolina, and held a smaller lead in Illinois. She was losing to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in Missouri.

Australia: Debris on French island unlikely to be from MH370-[The Canadian Press]-Kristen Gelineau, The Associated Press-March 16, 2016-YAHOONEWS

SYDNEY - A piece of debris recently found on an Indian Ocean island where a wing fragment from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 had previously washed ashore is unlikely to be from the missing plane, Australian officials said Wednesday.The piece in question was discovered earlier this month on French-governed Reunion Island by Johnny Begue, the same man who found a wing fragment on Reunion last year that investigators confirmed was part of the vanished jet.French authorities examining Begue's most recent find told the Australian agency directing the search for the plane off Australia's west coast that it is unlikely to be from Flight 370, said Dan O'Malley, spokesman for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.Begue previously told The Associated Press that he found the latest piece of debris in nearly the same spot as the wing fragment, which is known as a flaperon.The flaperon remains the only confirmed debris from the Malaysian plane, which disappeared during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board. Two other pieces of debris recently discovered in Mozambique will be sent to Australia for examination by an international investigation team.Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai has cautioned against speculation that any of the recently found parts came from the missing plane, though he has suggested that one of the parts found in Mozambique looks promising. That part was discovered by an American man earlier this month.A U.S. official said photos of that piece appear to show that it is the fixed leading edge of the right-hand tail section of a Boeing 777; Flight 370 is the only missing 777. Liow also confirmed that the part appears to have come from the missing plane, tweeting that there is a "high possibility" it belongs to a 777.

REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6 For they(False World Church and Dictator) have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

On world water day, 650 million people can't get a safe drink-[Reuters]-March 16, 2016-YAHOONEWS

LONDON (Reuters) - Some 650 million people, or one in 10 of the world's population, do not have access to safe water, putting them at risk of infectious diseases and premature death.Dirty water and poor sanitation can cause severe diarrhoeal diseases in children, killing 900 under-fives a day across the world, according to United Nations estimates - or one child every two minutes.Among newborn babies, the World Health Organization says infections caused by a lack of safe water and an unclean environment cause one death every minute somewhere in the world.For photo essay on World Water Day, click:https://widerimage.reuters.com/story/thirst-for-clean-water-The U.N. says access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation services is vital to human health. It is also important for other reasons - ranging from easily identifiable and quantifiable benefits such as cost and time savings, to more intangible factors like convenience, well-being, dignity, privacy and safety.The WHO estimates that every $1 invested in improving water supply and sanitation services yields gains of $4 to $12, depending on the type of intervention.This year's United Nations World Water Day, marked on March 22, is focused on water and jobs and designed to highlight how water can create paid and decent work and contribute to a greener economy and sustainable development.(Reporting by Kate Kelland; editing by Ralph Boulton)

ALLTIME