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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 10/23/2016 4:14:41 PM
	Iraq forces in fierce Kirkuk clashes with IS October 22, 2016 Iraqi Kurdish security forces detain a suspected member of IS group as they patrol the eastern suburbs of Kirkuk on October 22, 2016 (AFP Photo/Marwan Ibrahim) Kirkuk (Iraq) (AFP) - Security forces battled for a second day Saturday with Islamic State group gunmen who infiltrated Kirkuk in a brazen raid that rattled Iraq as it ramped up an offensive to retake Mosul. A toxic cloud released by a fire IS militants started at a sulphur plant south of Mosul earlier this week killed at least two civilians and forced some US service members to wear masks. A day after the shock attack on the Kurdish-controlled city of Kirkuk, jihadist snipers and suspected suicide bombers were still at large, prompting Baghdad to send reinforcements. Special counter-terrorism and intelligence units were hunting down some of the dozens of IS fighters who stormed public buildings early on Friday. "We have 46 dead and 133 wounded, most of them members of the security services, as result of the clashes with Daesh (IS)," an interior ministry brigadier general told AFP. The toll was confirmed by a source at the Kirkuk health directorate, which called for blood donations to assist with the emergency. The Kirkuk police chief said 48 jihadist attackers had been killed so far and several others wounded, including a Libyan believed to be among the raid's leaders. "The security forces control the situation now but there are still pockets of jihadists in some southern and eastern neighbourhoods," Brigadier General Khattab Omar Aref told AFP. The large-scale "inghimasi" attack, a term for jihadist operations in which gunmen, often wearing suicide vests, intend to sow chaos and fight to the death rather than achieve any military goal, caught Kirkuk off guard. The large city, which lies in an oil-producing region around 240 kilometres (150 miles) north of Baghdad, woke up on Friday to find jihadists roaming the streets of several neighbourhoods. They used mosque loudspeakers to broadcast praise of their self-proclaimed "caliphate", which has been shrinking steadily since last year and is looking closer than ever to collapse. - Distraction from Mosul - Abu Omar, a 40-year-old butcher, spent 24 hours locked up in his home with his wife, mother and three children. "It felt as if this day lasted a year," he said. "We could hear shooting and explosions all the time but we didn't dare venture outside to see what was happening." Clashes broke in the countryside just east of Kirkuk between IS fighters fleeing the city and security forces, a senior regional security official said. The attack, which is believed to have been carried out both by sleeper cells and militants who entered the city on Friday, was widely seen as an attempt by IS to draw attention away from their setbacks in the battle for Mosul. Pentagon chief Ashton Carter arrived in Iraq Saturday to review the offensive, which his country and around 60 other nations support. Mosul is the most populous city in the "caliphate" Baghdadi declared in June 2014, and the operation to recapture it is Iraq's largest in years. With 3,000 to 4,500 IS men facing tens of thousands of Iraqi forces backed by massive US-led air power, the outcome of the battle is in little doubt. But jihadists have been launching dozens of suicide car bombs against advancing forces, inflicting casualties and slowing their progress. On Saturday, Iraqi federal forces moved into Qaraqosh, which lies just east of Mosul and was Iraq's largest Christian town before its population fled the jihadists in 2014, the joint operations command said. Kurdish forces were also leading a major push northeast of Mosul, but complained that air support from the US-led coalition was insufficient and leaving them exposed. - Sulphur cloud - In his meetings in Baghdad on Saturday, the US defence secretary had been expected to attempt to convince the government to lift its opposition to the participation of Turkish forces, who have a base north of Mosul. But Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi reiterated his rejection of Turkish participation in the offensive, saying that "this is something the Iraqis will handle". Launched on Monday, the offensive is still in its early stages and is likely to involve a siege before elite forces enter the city and engage in street fighting with die-hard jihadists. A key concern is the presence in Mosul of up to 1.2 million civilians, who are trapped and unable to leave until forces move closer and safe corridors are opened. According to residents contacted by AFP, living conditions are deteriorating daily, with some food supplies running low and IS paranoia of informants greater than ever. Earlier this week, IS fighters set part of a sulphur plant south of Mosul ablaze. The toxic cloud it released killed two civilians in the area, a senior interior ministry officer told AFP in Qayyarah, the main staging base south of Mosul. "Of course, this is affecting our planned progress," he said. The local health centre said it had checked 500 people complaining of breathing problems. Some US personnel at a nearby base wore protective masks Saturday after changing winds blew the cloud towards Qayyarah. Iraqi officials said the fire at the Mishraq plant was extinguished later Saturday. An Iraqi cameraman was killed by an IS sniper south of Mosul Saturday, a day after another TV journalist died of a sniper bullet to the chest during the Kirkuk clashes. (Yahoo News)
	"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? 10/23/2016 5:01:23 PM
	No peace for Yemen: Saudi-led coalition resumes airstrikes despite UN call to extend truce Sputnik Sun, 23 Oct 2016 15:34 UTC © AP Photo/ Hani Mohammed The Saudi Arabia-led coalition resumed its airstrikes against Houthi positions in Yemen on Sunday despite the UN calls to resume truce active in the country for the past days, local media reported. According to the SABA news agency, on Sunday morning the coalition conducted at least 9 airstrikes in various regions of Yemen. A ceasefire in Yemen started in the early hours of October 20 and lasted for 72 hours. On Saturday, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed urged all parties in the conflict in Yemen to extend the 72 hour cessation of hostilities for another three days. The situation in Yemen remains extremely unstable since the start of a military conflict in 2014 between the government headed by Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Houthi rebels, which are the country's main opposition force. At least 13 million Yemenis are in urgent need of aid, according to the United Nations. (sott.net)
	"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? 10/23/2016 5:30:42 PM
	We live in Aleppo. Here’s how we survive. Life under siege in Syria By Omair Shaaban October 21 Omair Shaaban is a former student at the University of Aleppo in Aleppo, Syria. Drone footage over the Syrian city of Aleppo shows the devastating impact of over five years of war on the city and its people. (Reuters)Drone footage over the Syrian city of Aleppo shows the devastating impact of over five years of war on the city and its people. (Reuters) ALEPPO, Syria — There weren’t any bombs today, or the day before. That’s good, because it means you can leave your apartment, see your friends, try to pretend life is normal. Still, you don’t know when the attacks will resume or how much worse they’ll be when they do. The war here has been going on for more than four years. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled, and thousands more are dead, including many of my friends. My wife and I are among about 250,000 people trapped here in the besieged eastern section of the city. If you want to stay alive in Aleppo, you have to find a way to keep yourself safe from explosions and starvation. Here’s how. First of all, to survive the many different kinds of airstrikes, shells, rockets, phosphorus bombs and cluster bombs, you’ll need to live on the lower floors of a building. They’re less likely to be hit than the upper floors are. When a smaller bomb lands on top of a building, it often takes out just the top two or three stories. A lot of people are living on the lower floors of buildings whose upper stories have been destroyed. Many of these residents moved into apartments left vacant by people who fled the city. My home is on the second floor of a six-story building, so I might be safe. But I might not be: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the Russian military launched a coordinated assault on Aleppo last month, and in the most recent airstrikes, the jets have been using a new kind of bomb that demolishes the whole building. Stay out of any rooms near the street. Because light in a window attracts bombers or snipers, I keep our front rooms empty or use them for storage. My wife and I seclude ourselves in interior rooms. We have no electricity, which means it’s usually dark. Before the war, I was studying Islam at the University of Aleppo, but the campus is in a government-controlled neighborhood, and I can’t get there anymore, so I dropped out. Now we almost never leave the apartment. If we’re going to die, we prefer to be together when it happens. If you have kids, they’ll have to stay off the streets most of the time, or they’ll be killed. Occasionally, they can go outdoors to play or get to school, but then their parents have to listen carefully for the sound of warplanes or shelling — and these days, for cluster bombs, which are even more dangerous. Schools and hospitals have been moving underground for several years, and almost every neighborhood has an underground school operating now. Not all of the children go; some parents think it’s too risky to send them. Some families live near the schools, though, and they let their kids go if it’s not too long a walk. All the teachers are local volunteers. They are our neighbors and friends, so parents know that their children are safe. Under the building across the street from mine, a school opened recently, managed by a man who lives there. All the children in my neighborhood are going. It is called al-Hikma, which means “wisdom.” [I treated kids in a Syrian hospital. We have no idea how to heal their trauma.] Maybe you have a car. You’ll have a hard time getting gas for it. If you’re hoping to keep it from being blown up or damaged by shrapnel, you might store it inside an empty garage or shop. Open the windows, too. Otherwise, the glass may crack from the pressure of bombs exploding nearby. Listen for scouting planes, which sound different from fighter jets on bombing runs. The scouts fly lower, and they make a constant buzzing sound. If you hear them, you’ll know that shells will be falling soon, bringing death with them. If you do go outside, make sure you don’t wind up in a group of more than 20 people, or you might attract a plane to target your area. Scouting runs were particularly dangerous in the summer, when there weren’t any clouds to obscure pilots’ vision. But they’re also bad on clear days in the winter. Going out at night is especially risky, because you can’t see the planes coming overhead, and you have to drive without headlights so you aren’t spotted from the air. One night, I was driving through my neighborhood when I suddenly felt pressure in my ears, and the windows of my car cracked. It was an airstrike less than 100 meters behind me. Unlike the scouting planes, you won’t always hear fighter jets coming. Sometimes, you hear their bombs or missiles only after the planes have flown past. If you listen closely, you can tell the difference between Syrian planes and Russian ones: You hear the Syrian planes before they’re in the area. Russian planes are quieter, and their rockets are more accurate. Staying cooped up at home all the time will get boring, and you’ll eventually want to try to live some semblance of your normal life — to see friends, to attempt to find food. People want to go out. But if you leave, remember that you might not make it back. Whenever I run into friends, I keep in mind that I might never see them again. Once, I ran into a neighbor who was a blacksmith. I asked him to make me a new hand-powered generator. He said he’d do it, but he died the same day in a cluster-bomb attack on our neighborhood. When the bombardment is heaviest, you’ll start to worry that you might lose more of your friends. Call them to check in on them. If you see them, when you say goodbye, tell them: “Take care of yourself. Maybe I won’t see you again.” You’ll be able to tell which days are safer. If there are peace talks going on in Geneva, there will be fewer bombing runs that day. This past week, the regime and the Russians announced a cease-fire. But that has made everyone afraid — we don’t know what’s going to come next. Maybe the attacks will be worse than before when they start again. That’s what happened last time. And the scouting planes continue flying overhead, day and night, even during the cease-fire. Hearing bombs go off all the time is hard. They’re so noisy — the sound alone could drive you crazy. So now I try to ignore it. If bombs detonate nearby, try to forget them, try to be calm. Go save your neighbors instead of panicking. If you aren’t calm, you will really go mad. It’s so easy to lose your mind here. You might go out one day to look for food and come back to find that your building has been destroyed and your family killed. I’ve seen people standing in front of bombed-out buildings, screaming and crying in disbelief. More and more people have lost their homes, and now they’re living on the streets asking for money. Before the war, they never imagined they would be beggars. [They terrorized my daughters and killed my baby. That’s why we’re Syrian refugees.] Even people who still have their homes struggle to cope. A friend of mine killed himself with a machine gun after another friend of ours died. (That person had been at home when a small bomb blew up nearby; shrapnel lodged in his brain and killed him.) My friend shot himself in the chest. I think it is more common in Western society for people to commit suicide, but here in Syria, it is very rare. In Islam, it’s a terrible sin. If you aren’t killed by airstrikes or shells, your big worry will be food. Before the siege, there was enough for everyone. But now a lot of poor people don’t have enough money to buy food, because there aren’t jobs anymore, so every neighborhood has young volunteers whose responsibility is to get food and other supplies for their communities. Families that still have a father are lucky: His mission is to get food and other supplies every day. Bread is getting rarer and more and more pricey on the black market, because the economy has been destroyed. The Syrian pound is getting cheaper and cheaper against the dollar, which makes everything more expensive. There is some rice and pasta available from aid organizations. Some of them give it away, some of them sell it. A few families sell their extra food. But there is no meat, no milk, no yogurt. Maybe you’ll try to grow vegetables in your garden. In my neighborhood, people are growing eggplant, parsley and mint. Many gardens have become burial grounds, though, because there isn’t room anywhere else to bury dead bodies after four years of war. But if the alternative is starving to death, you might not mind eating food that’s been grown among corpses. Other commodities are hard to find, too. We have serious trouble getting hold of fuel or gas to cook with, so we use wood or some kind of dirty diesel. This is really bad for everyone’s health, especially the children’s. Hope — or pray — that you don’t have to go to a hospital. They’re absolutely miserable. I don’t know how the doctors and nurses can stand all the blood, bones and bowels all over the floor. The smell is awful. Patients who can’t leave are constantly screaming in pain. Several weeks ago, I was shot in the hand by a sniper, and I have some broken bones. So I have to go to the hospital once a week to change my bandages. I can’t bear to be there for more than half an hour. Why am I still here? Aleppo is my city. Syria is my country. This is my principle, really, and I insist on it. People here are suffering because we want freedom. Before the war started, I joined a demonstration against Assad’s regime — and I was arrested, beaten and detained in a tiny cell for five days. The longer the demonstrations went on, the more violent the regime’s reactions were. Eventually, the Free Syrian Army tried to launch a revolution, and the war began. After all that — the beatings, the airstrikes, the war, the bombings — I want to live in a free Aleppo. I want to stay here, where I was born, all my life. It’s my right. Omair Shaaban is a former student at the University of Aleppo in Aleppo, Syria. (The Washington Post)
	"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? 10/23/2016 6:01:54 PM
	Outrage after UK govt admits training Saudi pilots despite Yemen war crimes allegations Published time: 23 Oct, 2016 02:12 Edited time: 23 Oct, 2016 02:22 People gather at the site of a Saudi-led air strike in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, Yemen © Abduljabbar Zeyad / Reuters The UK is still training the Saudi Air Force despite growing evidence of the Saudi-led coalition’s crimes against civilians in Yemen, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon admitted, replying to an MP’s question. The statement outraged the opposition. Fallon was responding to the written questions asked by Stephen Doughty, Labor MP for Cardiff South and Penarth, on the UK involvement in the Yemen military intervention, when he admitted that “UK has provided training to the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) both in the UK and in Saudi Arabia,” in particular, to “improve their targeting processes” and ensure its better compliance with international law. At the same time, Fallon denied that UK military has been involved in decision-making process in the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen, saying that UK “has not provided training on political authorization of military operations.” The revelation of the broader UK role in the controversial bombing campaign run by Saudi-led coalition in Yemen since March 2015, caused a sharp reaction from the UK opposition, with the Liberal Democrats’ foreign affairs spokesman Tom Brake (MP for Carshalton and Wallington), urging the government to “end its complicity in the murderous campaign” in the country torn by the civil war between Houthi Shiite rebels and Saudi-backed Sunni government of the ousted president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Read more ‘Apparent war crime’: HRW blasts Saudi carnage at Yemen funeral, slams US & UK arms supplies "It is shameful that the UK government is not only arming Saudi pilots, it is training them as well. The indiscriminate bombing of innocent civilians by Saudi Arabia in Yemen, in clear breach of international humanitarian law, is now well documented,” The Independent cited Brake as saying. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and NGOs have repeatedly called on the UK and US governments to halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia amid growing concerns the US and UK-produced weapons could be used in attacks on civilians. The demands to cut arms supplies have become especially vocal after the Human Rights Watch identified the munitions used in the attack on the crowded funeral ceremony in Yemen’s capital Sana’a as US-manufactured “GBU-12 Paveway II 500-pound laser-guided bomb.” Human Rights Watch (HRW) came to the conclusion that the Saudi jets deliberately targeted the funeral, held to commemorate the father of a senior Houthi leader, after interviewing survivors of the tragedy that claimed lives of 140 people and left hundreds injured, calling the bombing a “war crime.” Читать Stephen Doughty ✔@SDoughtyMP Tobias Ellwood admits #Saudi attack on #Yemen funeral deliberate - UK clearly in breach of law / treaties in my view#bbcdp 06:55 - 19 октября 2016 19 Ретвитов 11 отметок «Нравится» On October 13, Fallon listed Paveway among other precision-guided weapons that have been supplied by the UK and used by coalition forces in Yemen, while responding to a question by Brake. However, he refused to specify in what manner the weapons were applied. “The location and timing of weapons used in Yemen is a matter for the Saudi-led coalition to comment on,”he wrote the day before. While the UK pledged to assist in the investigation and has conducted two training session in Saudi Arabia on the course of the investigation of the international law breaches in Yemen, the British government said it has not taken part directly in the investigation, leaving it to the Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT). However, the HRW cast doubt on the impartiality of the probe, saying that “JIAT has not met international standards for transparency, credibility, and impartiality.” Read more Coalition strike on Yemen funeral based on bad info – Saudi-led investigators’ statement Last week, a report by JIAT stated that the strike was carried out by coalition without authorization of commanders, blaming a “party affiliated to the Yemeni Presidency of the General Chief of Staff” of providing a false lead, as it claimed the funeral was a “gathering of armed Houthi rebels” and“insisted that the location be targeted immediately.” The coalition subsequently issued an apology, saying the attack “is not in line with the coalition's objectives.” "The coalition command expresses its regret at this unintentional incident and the ensuing pain for victims’ families," it said in a statement. According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)’s estimates from October 10, at least 4,125 civilians have been killed in Yemen and over 7,207 injured since the start of the bombing campaign, with the most of the civilian fatalities were due to the actions by the Saudi-led coalition airstrikes. (RT)
	"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? 10/23/2016 8:49:32 PM
	Cameroon Train Crash Kills More Than 70, Injures 600 By EDWIN KINDZEKA MOKI, ASSOCIATED PRESS ESEKA, Cameroon — Oct 22, 2016, 4:11 PM ET In this image made from video, passengers stand beside derailed train carriages after an accident in Eseka, Cameroon, Friday, Oct. 21, 2016. Cameroon's transport minister says at least 53 people have died after a train overloaded with passengers derailed along the route that links the country's two major cities. (Equinox TV via AP) Authorities in Cameroon rushed more than 600 injured people to hospitals in the country's two main cities Saturday in an effort to save lives a day after an overcrowded train derailed, killing more than 70 people. Bodies remained strewn along the tracks as rescue workers searched for more injured or dead. The injured were being taken to hospitals in the capital, Yaounde, and the port city where the train was heading, Douala, officials said, as the president declared Monday to be a national day of mourning. "My sincere condolences to the families of the victims of the derailment" of the Camrail train," President Paul Biya said on his official Facebook page. About 70 people died and 600 were wounded, he said, and the cause of the crash was being investigated. The local hospital had been overwhelmed, with only about 60 beds, said transport minister Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo'o. "I am calling on everyone to double efforts to save the lives of the injured," Ngo'o said. Eseka is about 125 kilometers (75 miles) west of Yaounde. Rescue workers and medical staff at hospitals put the death toll at 73, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to speak to the press about the issue. State radio reported more than 75 dead. The train had been carrying about 1,300 passengers, instead of its capacity of 600. The passenger load was higher because a road had collapsed due to landslides following heavy rains between Yaounde and Douala. The 30-year-old railway line and train could not carry the load, officials told state radio. One of those injured died as he arrived in Douala, and "we are doing everything possible to save the lives of the close to 200 victims sent to Douala," said Governor Ivaha Diboua Dieudonne of the western Littoral region. ——— Associated Press writer Carley Petesch in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report. (abcNEWS)
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

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