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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 3/1/2016 5:04:21 PM
	Mud-soaked migrants fight for food as Greek border blockade drags on By Vassilis Kyriakoulis and Sophie Makris30 minutes ago A girl plays in the mud at a makeshift refugee camp near the village of Idomeni near the Greek-Macedonian border on March 1, 2016 (AFP Photo/Sakis Mitrolidis) View Gallery Idomeni (Greece) (AFP) - Desperate and freezing, migrants scramble over each other to grab food thrown out from the back of a van. It has been a long, cold night on the Greek-Macedonian border. Related Stories Mud misery on Macedonia border as migrant numbers swell AFP Migrants Removed From Greece-Macedonia Border MarketWatch Migrants try to storm Greece-Macedonia border fence AFP Trapped in Greece Afghans decry Macedonia border discrimination AFP Migrants Clash With Police on Greece-Macedonia Border MarketWatch In mud-soaked fields nearby, a chilly March daybreak reveals a bleak scene, after an overnight downpour left hundreds of tents drenched and children coughing miserably. "We have been waiting for six days," said Farah, a 32-year-old Iraqi woman from Baghdad, as the van distributing canned food and long-life milk was quickly mobbed and emptied in minutes. "The food is not enough, everyone is lying to us and we are desperate," added Farah, among some 7,000 people -- many stranded near the Idomeni border crossing for days -- who awoke under wet canvas among sodden wheat fields. Fayez, a 27-year-old computer technician from Syria, agreed. "We have to queue for over three hours, for not enough food," he said. "We've been here four days. We want to go to Sweden but our money is running out." View gallery Migrants and refugees receive food as they wait to cross the Greece-Macedonia border near the villag … The grim weather has already taken a harrowing toll on the travellers' health: many children can be heard coughing and crying among the tents. Zineb Hosseini, a Syrian mother of five, said her family was "freezing". "And now the wait begins anew," she added. The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity that is helping to run one of the area's two camps has reported widespread colds and several cases of gastroenteritis, whilst warning that tent and food supplies are running low. "The situation here is quite chaotic. (People) are coming with taxis, on foot, with whatever means they can find," MSF representative Vicky Markolefa said. View gallery Migrants and refugees wait to cross the Greece-Macedonia border near the village of Idomeni, on Marc … - 'A second war' - Yousef Karajakes, a 30-year-old pharmacist from the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, said he fled the civil war only to find himself in another conflict. "We are Syrian and Iraqi, we come here from the war just to find another war. They told us come, come, come here, come here and now we come and found a second war," said Karajakes, who lost his wife and child in a bombing. With Austria and Balkan states capping the numbers of migrants entering their territory, there has been a swift build-up along the Greece-Macedonia border with Athens warning that the number of people "trapped" could reach up to 70,000 by next month. There are currently some 25,000 refugees and migrants on Greek soil and around 1,000 continue to arrive on a typical day, government spokeswoman Olga Gerovassili told reporters. View gallery Migrants and refugees walk past a barbed wire fence at the Greek-Macedonian border near Gevgelija, o … Athens on Tuesday said it was asking the EU for half a billion euros in emergency funds to help shelter 100,000 refugees, warning that the influx was threatening to overwhelm its crisis-hit resources. "We cannot bear the strain of all the refugees coming here," Gerovassili said. Angered by ongoing border closures, hundreds of desperate migrants tried to break through the border on Monday, with Macedonian police firing tear gas into a crowd that included children. The closures have sharpened divisions in the EU with Germany accusing Austria of triggered a domino effect by saying it would cap asylum requests at 80 per day and allow only 3,200 migrants to cross its territory daily. The UN refugee agency warned that Greece could not cope with the crisis on its own, and other European countries needed to take in more refugees. View gallery More than 7,000 people are stranded at a makeshift refugee and migrant camp at the Greek-Macedonian … "For us, there is no Plan B. Greece needs a safety valve. Countries have to wake up," said Vincent Cochetel, the UNHCR coordinator for the refugee crisis in Europe. - Austria in 'state of panic' - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Tuesday blamed Vienna's stance on domestic political considerations, saying Austrian Chancellor Werner Feymann was "in a state of political panic". "The far-right is rising above 30 percent ahead of presidential elections and this has led to spasmodic moves," he told Star TV. Back on the mud-caked border, Karajakes welled up as he recalled what led him to flee his home country, leaving him in his current plight. "I lose everything there, I lose my wife and I lose my daughter. They are dead, in a bomb, in the war," he said, suddenly overcome, emotion catching in his throat. "I don't have anyone here. I'm alone in this life."
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 3/1/2016 11:19:36 PM
	Iran slams double-standards in human rights Tue Mar 1, 2016 5:59PM Mohammad Javad Larijani delivers a speech at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, March 1, 2016. Iran’s top human rights official censures the hypocritical approach pursued by the self-styled advocates of human rights in the world. Addressing the 31st UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, Mohammad Javad Larijani, the secretary general of Iranian High Council for Human Rights, said self-proclaimed flag bearers of human rights in the world are "close allies" with regimes that deprive their people of the right to decide their future. He said the so-called advocates of human rights are “totally ignoring the responsibility which they bear” under “basic international human rights documents.” In a statement on Monday, Amnesty International urged an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia, which is involved in military aggression against Yemen. On February 25, the European Parliament also passed a resolution demanding the imposition of an arms embargo against Saudi Arabia. Members of the European Parliament called on EU member states to stop selling weapons to the Riyadh regime as it is accused of targeting civilians in Yemen. “Saudi Arabia is a top arms client of the UK and France, and there is evidence that these weapons have been used in gross violations of international law in Yemen, where thousands of civilians have been killed since the start of the war,” Alyn Smith, the Greens/European Free Alliance foreign affairs spokesman, said. According to a recent report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Saudi Arabia’s imports for 2011-15 increased by 275 percent compared with 2006–10. Britain and France are the main European suppliers of arms to Saudi Arabia. The British government has licensed USD 7.8 billion in sales of arms, fighter jets and other military hardware to Riyadh since Prime Minister David Cameron came to power in 2010. France also signed USD 12 billion in contracts with Saudi Arabia in 2015 alone. Larijani highlighted the double-standard policies adopted by regimes that deprive their citizens of the “very basic and minimal right to participate in shaping their destiny” while claiming “adherence to human rights.” Iran twinned votes offer new model Larijani touched on Iran’s recently held twinned elections for the parliament and the Assembly of Experts with more than 60-percent voter turnout. He said the two elections serve as an example for other countries in the world to follow. “Now a new model for public sphere is emerging: representative democracy based on Islamic rationality,” said Larijani, adding that Iran’s political establishment is a “democratic polity based on Islamic rationality rather than secular-liberal rationality.” He said that Iran’s elections “offer the people of the Islamic world a new option: to reform their society, they are not obliged to choose between secular-liberal democracies or sink into extremism.” Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli on Monday announced the end of vote counting in the 10th parliamentary and 5th Assembly of Experts elections with an overall turnout of 62 percent nationwide. At least 33 million out of the 55 million eligible voters took part in the two votes on Friday. Ballots, not bullets can solve Syria crisis Larijani reaffirmed Iran’s longtime position that ongoing crisis in Syria must be resolved through a free election and not militarily. “Iran has always insisted that there is no military solution to the Syrian crisis. Only ballots - not bullets - can ultimately usher in a new era in Syria,” said Iran’s human rights chief. He stressed that Iran has constantly “advocated an immediate ceasefire and an end to the bloodshed” and “dialogue between the Syrian government and the opposition groups who reject terrorism.” The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which started in March 2011, has claimed the lives of some 470,000 people and left 1.9 million injured, according to the Syrian Center for Policy Research. (PRESS TV)
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 3/2/2016 9:56:57 AM
	ISIS Eats Its Own, Torturing and Executing Dutch Jihadists. Or Did It? Conflicting reports coming out of Syria reflect dissension in ISIS ranks. But how bad is it, really? Nadette De Visser AMSTERDAM — Eight Dutch jihadists with the so-called Islamic State are said to have been executed in Syria last Thursday. They were supposed members of a group of 70 Dutch ISIS recruits imprisoned by the fanatics there on accusations of dissension, according to the anti-ISIS activist group Raqqa is Being Silently Slaughtered. RBSS, which is based near the Syrian town of Ma’dan, the area of the reported killings, claims the arrests and subsequent executions are the result of infighting between the Dutch ISIS members and the local ISIS command, which is mostly made up of Iraqis. But the only source for this information is Raqqa is Being Silently Slaughtered, and while it has proved a fairly reliable source in the past, its account is being contradicted by the also usually reliable Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which discards this tale of dissent and executions as “fake rumors.” If untrue, the story raises the question, what and who prompted this report in the first place? Is it an indication of deep-seated unrest, or was it floated to cause a stir in ISIS ranks? As the U.S.-led coalition, Kurdish forces, Iraqi government forces, and Shia militias step up pressure on the major ISIS capitals of Raqqa and Mosul, part of the game, certainly, is to try to undermine morale. According to the RBSS account, the trouble started when a member of an exclusively Dutch and Dutch-Moroccan ISIS battalion tried to leave and to convince his fellow jihadists from the Netherlands to go with him. The incident triggered an outbreak of internecine violence, according to Abu Mohammed of RBSS, quoted by the Dutch news site The Post Online. So far as it goes, that’s a plausible scenario. An increasing number of foreign jihadists or “muhajireen” are said to want to leave. But the self-proclaimed state that proclaims it is “always open to receive” volunteers, is not as eager to let its guests go. Mohammed from RBSS says that the ISIS local leadership arrested two of the Dutch jihadists on charges of instigating dissent. One of the men subsequently died during interrogation, prompting a revenge killing by the Dutch group. When Abu Labib, a representative of the local ISIS leader Abu Ahmed Al-Iraqi, was sent to negotiate with the Dutch jihadists, they killed him, forcing the high command to strike back. The Dutch-Moroccan jihadist group, whose alleged function was to attract more jihadists from similar backgrounds, was said to be holed up in a place called “Nadi al-Furusiyya,” which translates as “Equestrian Country Club,” and where, says RBSS’s Mohammed, they lived in relative isolations. Looking at the area on Google Maps, a former horse riding club does exist in Ma’dan, and it could be the location in question. The clash between the provincial leadership of ISIS and the Dutch muhajireen escalated further when the high command in Iraq decided to send troops to arrest the whole battalion in order to find out who killed Abu Labib. Vehicles reportedly were sent to cordon off the Equestrian Country Club and a shoot-out ensued. Some were killed, others wounded and finally the Dutch jihadists were captured. Last Thursday, Feb. 26, eight members of the group were executed, RBSS claims. The rest are still held captive in Raqqa and Ma’dan. Yet the shockwaves from this reported incident have yet to reach the families in the Netherlands of the ISIS recruits who were killed or imprisoned. “I expected to receive at least two or three phone calls from worried parents or family members,” says Chakib Lamnadi of the Dutch Radicalization hotline, “but nothing yet.” Lamnadi tells The Daily Beast that he is used to getting dozens of calls, in fact, when something happens involving Dutch jihadists in Syria or Iraq. “In the two and half years that we've been operating, we get a sense of it immediately.” This time they heard nothing, and, Lamnadi says, “Combined with the information from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, it confirms my suspicion that these events may not have taken place at all.” That is not to say that there is no dissent in ISIS ranks. Indeed, many of the European recruits may want to get out at this point. But that’s getting harder to do. “Since January last year there has been a decline in the amount of jihadists coming back,” Lamnadi says. Europe is not exactly welcoming its prodigal jihadi sons by threatening to throw them in jail, while at the same time ISIS makes it “extremely difficult for people to leave,” says Lamnadi. “There is a fear to leave.” Some recruits are still determined to reach the war front. “We talk to the relatives who are in constant contact with jihadist family members,” says Lamnadi. “From what we hear, it is messier in Syria and Iraq now, but we find people are still traveling to get there.” If the infighting is confirmed, it heralds a new stage in the development of the Islamic dictatorship’s state, a phase in which fighters form splinter groups and infighting could become a serious factor further destabilizing the ISIS “caliphate.” If the Syrian Observatory For Human Rights is right, and this incident never took place, then why was this rumor started now? One possibility is that it was floated as part of a psychological warfare campaign laying the groundwork for offensives by the U.S.-backed anti-ISIS coalition against the major strongholds of Raqqa and Mosul. If immigrant fighters and local ISIS command are on good terms, the story will have no effect at all. But if there is something brewing, this could help tip the scale toward a major split. As ISIS is well aware, a contemporary war is not a war just won on the battlefield. These wars take place in part in the media, fought for the hearts and minds of impressionable cannon fodder from around the world. (The Daily Beast)
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 3/2/2016 10:11:39 AM
	Israel orders 84 Palestinians held without trial: NGO February 29, 2016 2:51 PM On February 26, 2016 journalist Mohammed al-Qiq (poster) ended a 94-day hunger strike staged in protest at his administrative detention under a deal for his release in May (AFP Photo/Abbas Momani) Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Israel has over the past 10 days slapped "administrative detention" orders on 84 Palestinians, a controversial procedure under which prisoners can be held without charge, a Palestinian NGO said Monday. The Palestinian Prisoners' Club said 39 Palestinians had been arrested and placed under administrative detention for periods of between two and six months, while the other 45 had their detention prolonged. Last Friday, journalist Mohammed al-Qiq ended a 94-day hunger strike staged in protest at his administrative detention under a deal for his release in May. The procedure, which dates back to the British mandate of Palestine, allows Israel to hold suspects without trial for renewable six-month periods. The latest orders raise to more than 700 the number of Palestinians held under administrative detention, out of a total of more than 7,000 Palestinians being held in Israeli jails, according to the NGO. The Prisoners' Club, which follows their cases, said it was the highest number since 2009.
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 3/2/2016 10:26:49 AM
	IS executes eight Dutch jihadists in Syria: activists February 29, 2016 4:57 PM The Islamic State has executed eight Dutch members of the jihadist group, whom it accused of trying to desert, activists said (AFP Photo/) Beirut (AFP) - The Islamic State has executed eight Dutch members of the jihadist group, whom it accused of trying to desert, activists said Monday. "Daesh (IS) executed eight Dutch fighters on Friday in Maadan, Raqa province, after accusing them of attempting desertion and mutiny," Abu Mohammad, a member of the citizen journalist group Raqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS), said via Twitter. RBSS has been documenting since April 2014 IS' abuses in Raqa, the group's de facto capital in northern Syria. Tension has boiled in Raqa over the past month between 75 Dutch jihadists -- among them fighters of Moroccan origin -- and IS intelligence operatives from Iraq, RBSS said. Three other Dutch jihadists were arrested by Iraqi IS members who accused them of wanting to flee and one of the detainees was beaten to death during the interrogation, according to RBSS. IS leaders in Raqa sent a delegate to solve the dispute with the Dutch cell's enraged members, but they murdered the intermediary in vengeance, the citizen journalist group added. The IS leadership in Iraq then ordered the arrest of all the members of the Dutch group, and imprisoned them in Tabaqa and Maadan in Syria. Eight have since been executed, RBSS said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict, could not confirm the report. However it said three European jihadists of North African origin were executed in what IS calls the Wilayet al-Furat -- an area stretching across the Syrian-Iraqi frontier. According to the Dutch secret services, 200 people from the Netherlands including 50 women have joined IS in Syria and Iraq.
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

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