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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
5/10/2016 11:09:25 AM

Report: Iran tests missile capable of reaching Israel

A top Iranian official denied a news report that said that the country tested a ballistic missile that can travel up to 1,250 miles, but did not elaborate.


A file photo of a Qadr H long-range ballistic surface-to-surface missile, obtained from the Iranian Fars News Agency.


The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has allegedly tested a ballistic missile capable of traveling up to 1,250 miles, far enough to reach Israel, according to a Monday report by the Islamic republic's quasi-official Tasnim News Agency that the minister of defense subsequently denied.

If true, the test is the latest in a series of short-, medium-, and long-range missile exercises in the past few months since reaching a nuclear deal in July 2015.

The latest missile tested within eight meters, said Gen. Ali Abdollahi, deputy chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier, according to the news agency, adding that the supposed exercise took place two weeks ago. "Eight meters means nothing, it means it's without error," he said, according to the Associated Press.

CBS News reports that the state-run Iranian News Agency (IRNA) called the missiles a "deterrence power," in hopes that their ability to reach American military bases in the region, as well as Israel, would deter an attack on Iran.

After the story broke, Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan castigated what IRNA described as "US-Saudi propaganda campaign over missile capability." Gen. Dehghan told IRNA that Iran had not conducted a missile test "with the range that was published in the media," but would not confirm or deny if the military had conducted any recent missile tests.

Tasnim, which produced the earlier report, is said to have close ties to Iran's Revolutionary Guard, which oversees Iran's ballistic missile program.

The nuclear deal reached with world powers earlier this year does not prohibit missile tests. A United Nations Security Council resolution adopted in July does, however.

In that resolution, which holds until 2023, the United Nations states: "Iran is called upon not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missilesdesigned to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology."

When the nuclear deal became effective on January 16, the United Nations Security Council lifted most of Tehran's international sanctions. With its missile tests, Iran is now showing progress in its ballistic program after having scaled it back after the deal.

Iran's first missile testing since the July nuclear agreement came in October, when US officials said the country had tested a medium-range missile capable of delivering a nuclear weapon, which they said was in violation of a UN Security Council resolution. In November, Iran also launched a missile from near the Gulf of Oman that could travel as far as 1,200 miles.

During another missile test in March, Iran sent out tow missiles decorated with the Hebrew words, "Israel must be wiped out." Following this incident, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the countries that agreed to lift sanctions on Iran in exchange for scaling back its nuclear program — the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain, and Germany — to punish Iran.

While Iran so far has not violated the deal, Mark Toner, United States Deputy State Department spokesman, said the American government was aware of Iran's alleged actions and closely following reports.

"If confirmed, we intend to raise the matter in the UN Security Council. We will also encourage a serious review of the incident and press for an appropriate response," said Mr. Toner. "This development underscores why we continue to work closely with partners around the world to slow and degrade Iran's missile program."

(csmonitor.com)

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
5/10/2016 2:36:21 PM

Israel jails Palestinian beautician over Facebook post

Family "shocked and furious" after Facebook post leads to 45-day imprisonment for Majd Atwan.



Nidal Atwan holds a poster of her daughter, Majd, after her arrest last month [Allison Deger/Al Jazeera]

Bethlehem, occupied West Bank - As uniformed men burst through her front gate last month, Nidal Atwan first thought they had come to her Bethlehem-area home to arrest her 16-year-old son, Mohammed.

"It was two o'clock in the morning. If you saw the number of military jeeps, you'd think Osama bin Laden was in the neighbourhood," recalled Nidal's husband, Yousef.



Majd, a makeup artist, has a passion for bold hair colours and crystal-enhanced manicures [Photo courtesy of Nidal Atwan]
To their surprise, soldiers pulled Nidal aside and asked after the whereabouts of her 22-year-old daughter, Majd, a makeup artist with a passion for bold hair colours and crystal-enhanced manicures.

In disbelief, Nidal asked the commander to show her the warrant, which stated that Majd was wanted on incitement charges over posts made on social media. "I was shocked and furious," Nidal told Al Jazeera.

"It struck me immediately, once they said they wanted Majd, that it was probably over Facebook," Yousef added.
On Monday, an Israeli military court sentenced Majd to 45 days in prison and a fine of 3,000 shekels ($800) for praising a recent bus bombing in Jerusalem.

Before Majd's arrest, Yousef and Nidal said they were aware of - but not alarmed by - their daughter's online presence. They expressed surprise that her post led to a series of interrogations at Jerusalem's Russian Compound, a police facility whose name evokes fear among many Palestinians.

"My daughter is not politically active; rather, her involvements are in beauty," Yousef said. "Did she write stuff online? Yeah, like all other Palestinians. I really don't understand why they chose to arrest her."

Since her arrest, Majd has been shepherded to and from court on six occasions as her case has moved through the system. The process has been hard on her, her parents told Al Jazeera, as Majd suffers from a number of health issues, including anaemia.

Majd's lawyer, Tareq Barghouti, told Al Jazeera that the Israeli military had monitored his client for two months before arriving at her house to make the arrest. One year ago, such charges would have been unheard of, he said, but "it has become a common thing these days, and there has been a wave of arrests on these Facebook posts".

Majd is one of nearly 150 Palestinians detained by Israeli forces over Facebook-related "incitement" since a
wave of violence erupted in the region last October, according to prisoners' rights group Addameer. The numbers are a sharp increase from the 13 cases they documented in 2014.

Of those jailed in the past year, most were held in
administrative detentionwithout charge for three months. The maximum sentence for incitement is 10 years.

A spokesperson for the Israeli army confirmed to Al Jazeera that 59 Palestinians had been found guilty of provocative statements made online since last autumn. Some Palestinian attackers, including
Muhannad Halabi, have written threatening statements on social media before launching attacks against Israelis.
The Israeli military is now monitoring Palestinian internet pages, searching for expressions of intent or approval of harming Israelis. "We have been studying very closely those patterns of incitement in Palestinian society," Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon told Al Jazeera.

To those who know Majd, however, she does not fit the profile of someone who would incite others to violence.

"Since she was a baby, she has loved nails," Nidal said, flipping through her smartphone among photographs of Majd in a range of daring styles; in one, she sports blonde hair with purple streaks, while in another, it flows long and red.

After she graduated high school, Majd began working as a stylist while earning two certificates in cosmetology, her parents said. When she is not applying makeup to clients or painting manicures, she spends her time with her mother, who works at a nearby gym. Majd enjoys swimming while her mother is busy with customers.

"We are not just mother and daughter; we are like sisters, like best friends," Nidal said.

The morning before Majd was arrested, mother and daughter perfected their makeup before driving to a grassy field near an Israeli settlement, Nidal said. They spent the afternoon taking pictures of each other enjoying nature, posing next to trees and brush.

Source: Al Jazeera

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
5/10/2016 5:01:43 PM

FIGHTING RAGES IN ALEPPO

BY ON 5/9/16 AT 7:46 PM

A burned, flaming car is seen after an airstrike in the rebel-held area of Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr, Syria, April 28.
ABDALRHMAN ISMAIL/REUTERS

BEIRUT/PARIS (Reuters) - Syrian government forces and their allies fought insurgents near Aleppo on Monday and jets carried out raids around a nearby town seized by Islamist rebels, a monitoring group said, despite international efforts to reduce the violence.

The United States and Russia, who support rival sides in Syria's civil war, said on Monday they would work to revive a February "cessation of hostilities" agreement which reduced fighting in parts of the country for several weeks.

But warplanes struck the town of Khan Touman, southwest of Aleppo, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Rebels also fought government forces east of Damascus, and jets struck the rebel-held towns of Maarat al-Numan and Idlib.

A recent surge in bloodshed in Aleppo, Syria's largest city before the war, wrecked the 10-week-old, partial truce sponsored by Washington and Moscow which had allowed U.N.-brokered peace talks to convene in Geneva.

The talks, attended by government and opposition delegates including representatives from rebel groups, broke up last month with both sides accusing the other of killing the truce.

Russia and the United States said in a joint statement they would step up efforts to convince the warring parties to abide by the ceasefire agreement.

"We have decided to reconfirm our commitment to the (ceasefire) in Syria and to intensify efforts to ensure its nation-wide implementation," they said.

"We demand that parties cease any indiscriminate attacks on civilians, including civilian infrastructure and medical facilities."

STRATEGIC PRIZE

Russia's military intervention last September helped President Bashar al-Assad reverse some rebel gains in the west of the country, including in Aleppo province.

But insurgents captured the town of Khan Touman last week, inflicting a rare setback on government forces and allied Iranian troops who suffered heavy losses in the fighting. Several Iranian soldiers were captured in the clashes, a senior Iranian lawmaker said on Monday.

Aleppo city is one of the biggest strategic prizes in a war now in its sixth year, and has been divided into government and rebel-held zones through much of the conflict.

The Observatory said warplanes struck rebel-held areas of the city early on Monday, and rebels fired shells into government-held neighborhoods.

Al Manar, the television channel of Damascus's Lebanese ally Hezbollah, said on Monday troops had destroyed a tank belonging to insurgents and killed some of its occupants.

On the eastern edge of Damascus, government forces and their allies shelled rebel-held areas and clashed with insurgents in the area, the Observatory and the rebel force Jaish al-Islam said. Three people were killed and 13 wounded in air strikes on Idlib, it said.

Jaish al-Islam agreed with a rival rebel group, Failaq al Rahman, that both would vacate a town they have been fiercely fighting over for almost two weeks, the Observatory said.

The groups, two of the strongest operating in the area, agreed to make no more attempts to militarily occupy the town of Misraba in the Eastern Ghouta suburb of Damascus, and return it to civilian rule. Quiet returned to the town after 13 days of heavy artillery exchanges which saw Jaish al Islam take control of it over the weekend and capture around 50 rival fighters.

Saudi Arabia condemned air strikes on a camp for displaced Syrians west of Aleppo last week which killed at least 28 people, saying it was part of "the genocide committed by Bashar al-Assad's forces against civilians in Syria".

A Saudi cabinet statement on Monday said the strikes on the camp, alongside the prevention of humanitarian aid deliveries to Syrians, constituted war crimes. Damascus has denied targeting the camp or obstructing aid deliveries.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, hosting a meeting in Paris of Assad's opponents, said Syrian government forces and their allies had bombarded hospitals and refugee camps.

"It is not Daesh (Islamic State) that is being attacked in Aleppo, it is the moderate opposition," Ayrault said.

The U.S.-Russian joint statement said Moscow would work with Syrian authorities "to minimize aviation operations over areas that are predominantly inhabited by civilians or parties to the cessation".

It also said the two powers would press the rival parties to the conflict to ensure humanitarian deliveries to several towns which have been largely cut off by the fighting.

Ayrault said Monday's meeting would call on Russia to put pressure on Assad to stop the attacks, adding that humanitarian aid must be allowed to reach those in need.

"Talks must resume, negotiations are the only solution," he said on radio RTL, ahead of his meeting with ministers from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Britain, as well as Riad Hijab, chief coordinator of the main Syrian opposition negotiating group.

The joint statement issued by Washington and Moscow must be implemented, Ayrault said.

(Newsweek)

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
5/10/2016 5:22:38 PM

Five Solomon Islands Disappear Into the Pacific Ocean as a Result of Climate Change

May 9, 2016, 3:26 PM ET


WATCH 5 Islands Submerged Due to Climate Change

Five of the Solomon Islands have submerged underwater and six more have experienced a dramatic reduction in shoreline due to man-made climate change, according to a paperpublished in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

The Solomon Islands, a sovereign country consisting of a network of picturesque, tropical islands located in the Pacific Ocean, has a population of a little more than 500,000 people, according to census data published in 2009, many of whom have been adversely affected by rising sea levels in recent years.

Ten houses from one island were washed away at sea between 2011 and 2014, according to the study, which asserts that the rising sea levels affecting the Solomon Islands are caused by the warming of the planet.

The research, which was conducted by Australian scientists, bears implications that are likely to reverberate far beyond the turquoise shores of Oceania.

In March, James Hansen, a NASA scientist who is extremely influential in the study of climate change, estimated that seas could rise by seven meters in the coming century, a figure that would likely decimate coastal communities, if proved accurate.

Losing Ground, a report issued by the nonprofit news organization ProPublica in 2014, demonstrated that large swaths of the Louisiana coastline are being lost to rising sea levels, and a 2011 study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey determined that the state's wetlands were being lost at a rate of "a football field per hour." South Florida, the Carolinas, and theJersey Shore are also in danger of losing land due to sea level rise, according to an interactive map created by Climate Central, an organization of scientists.

The Solomon Islands provides a preview of how sea-level rise could affect other coastal communities in the coming years, according to the study, largely because the speed with which erosion is taking place there has been accelerated by a "synergistic interaction" with the waves that surround it.

"In addition to village relocations, Taro, the capital of Choiseul Province is set to become the first provincial capital globally to relocate residents and services due to the threat of sea-level rise," the study said.


(abcNEWS)

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
5/10/2016 5:31:19 PM

Philippines transgender politician celebrates historic win

May 10, 2016

Geraldine Roman has become the first transgender politician to be win a congressional seat in the Philippines (AFP Photo/Ted Aljibe)

Manila (AFP) - Geraldine Roman on Tuesday celebrated overcoming "bigotry, hatred and discrimination" as results showed she had become the first transgender politician to win a congressional seat in the predominantly Catholic Philippines.

After her victory in Monday's election, Roman, 49, is being seen by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community as a source of hope in a country where Church influence means divorce, abortion and same-sex marriage are banned.

"The politics of bigotry, hatred and discrimination did not triumph. What triumphed was the politics of love, acceptance and respect," Roman told AFP after her victory for a seat in Congress representing the farming province of Bataan just northwest of Manila.

Roman, a Catholic, said she was looking forward to becoming a lawmaker so she could respond to critics who dismissed her as a one-issue politician not to be taken seriously.

"I'm elated, very, very happy. I'm also excited to work. I realise that the burden is bigger because the stereotype of people about the LGBT is we are frivolous, that we have nothing substantial to say, so I have to prove them wrong," she said.

Roman will be the highest-ranking openly LGBT politician in the Philippines, where other lawmakers have refused to come out for fear of losing support from the Catholic Church and other religious groups.

A political neophyte, Roman will succeed her mother as representative of Bataan, where her family has been a political force for three generations. Her mother had to stand down after serving the maximum number of three terms.

Roman's father was a former congressman whose death in 2014 prompted her to consider continuing the family legacy.

Political families dominate Philippine politics, from the local to the national level, and belonging to such a dynasty was widely regarded as being crucial to Roman's success.

- 'We all have rights' -

Still the constituents of Bataan overwhelmingly endorsed Roman, with the vote count showing she had secured 62 percent support.

"She is also a human being. We all have rights. It's not an issue to me that she is transgender," farmer Bern Salenga, 49, told AFP during a campaign sortie in Roman's home town before the election.

Roman has been living as a woman for two decades, and proudly wore a pearl necklace and pink lipstick while campaigning.

She had a successful career as senior editor at the Spanish News Agency. She speaks Spanish, French and Italian and won a scholarship to study in Spain, where she met her partner of 18 years.

She underwent sex reassignment surgery, and legally changed her name and gender, in the 1990s -- a recognition she wants other transgender people to have.

In 2001, a law was passed making it impossible for transgender Filipinos to change their name and sex.

Roman has vowed to campaign to lift those restrictions, and to push for an anti-discrimination bill that ensures equal treatment in the workplace, schools, commercial establishments and government offices.

Despite the focus on her gender, Roman said her priority was the people of Bataan, and to help more poor students nationwide get scholarships.

"Equality (is) not only in terms of gender but also in terms of socio-economic status. To be rich or poor should not matter. Whether educated or not, people should have the same opportunities so I'm going beyond gender to include more issues," she said.

With her historic victory, Roman said she hoped more LGBT Filipinos would be inspired to join government.

"I want to inspire everybody. There are many factors for discrimination: on the basis of gender, age, educational attainment, creed. So to all people who experience discrimination, I want to inspire them."

(Yahoo News)

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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