Bible prophecy documentary book download proving our generation will see the return of the Lord. Do you want to know what is going to happen in the future before it actually takes place? The Word of God provides you with specific details about our future and all of these things are coming to pass in this generation. If you aren’t saved yet this is a must read! The Last Chronicles of Planet Earth June 21, 2017 Edition written by Frank DiMora
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Headline: Moscow wants closer cooperation with Jerusalem in Syria, says top Russian official
Russia wants to increase cooperation with Israel regarding Syria, and would like Jerusalem to use any influence it has to get opposition groups there to lay down arms and enter negotiations, Konstantin Kosachev, a senior Russian parliamentarian, told The Jerusalem Post. Kosachev, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia’s parliament, was in the country on Tuesday and Wednesday with Viktor Ozerov, the chairman of the Federation Council’s Defense and Security Committee, for meetings with the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. In a late night interview Tuesday in his Jerusalem hotel, Kosachev said that Russia’s intervention and actions in Syria serve the interests of other countries in the region, including Israel.
“If there will be violent regime change in Syria, we are sure that the new regime will not be democratic at all, but rather someone like Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and that will certainly have a negative influence on all of Syria’s neighbors,” he said. Asked if Israel – which has reportedly bombed arms depots or convoys in Syria on the way to Hezbollah – is acting against Russia’s interests in the country, Kosachev said, “I wouldn’t say that, but I would like to see closer cooperation.”As to Israel’s demand that Iran be prevented from establishing a permanent presence in Syria, he said Israel is talking about relations between two UN member states, “and therefore I can’t accept Israel saying that this ‘is not acceptable.’ I can accept them saying that ‘we are very concerned, and something must be done about it.’” Asked whether Russia can indeed prevent an Iranian presence on Israel’s borders, he said, “We are not interfering in bilateral ties between countries.” Kosachev said that the situation in Syria would look a lot better had all the nations involved in the conflict abided by international law.
June 21, 2017
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Moscow-wants-closer-cooperation-with-Jerusalem-in-Syria-497550
Headline: Knesset takes one more step toward de facto annexation of West Bank
Headline: UN envoy: Israel is defying UNSC by accelerating settler construction
Headline: Ground Broken for First New "Settlement" in 25 Years
The Knesset on Wednesday took one more step toward the de facto annexation of the West Bank by approving the preliminary reading of a bill that would apply a 17-year old law to Israelis living in Judea and Samaria. This is "one more step toward the normalization of the settlements in Judea and Samaria that we set as our goal at the start of this government’s term,” said the bill’s author, MK Bezalel Smotrich, in advance of the 48-39 vote. The bill, which allows setters to file petitions to the Administrative Court including on land issues, must now pass three readings before it becomes law.
Smotrich argued that the law was necessary to address issues of legal inequity between Israeli citizens living within and without sovereign Israel. It would also allow those Israelis living in Area C of the West Bank to turn with land issues to the Administrative Courts, rather than the High Court of Justice which often rules against them, he said. MK Tzipi Livni (Zionist Union) charged that all such arguments “disguised” the true intent of the law which was part of a “campaign to annex the West Bank.” If approved the legislation would not apply to Palestinians living Area C of the West Bank, Livni said. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Tuesday that construction of the first new Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria in 25 years has begun. In the community of Amichai, 100 new homes will be built for the evicted residents of Amona, a settlement outpost housing 42 families that Israel razed in February due to Palestinian land ownership claims. “Today, ground works began, as I promised, for the establishment of the new community for the residents of Amona,” Netanyahu tweeted. “After decades, I have the privilege to be the prime minister who is building a new community in Judea and Samaria.”
June 21, 2017
Headline: Christian “Awakening” to Holiness of Temple Mount Draws Islamic Fury
Until now, the bloody battle for the Temple Mount has been fought between Muslims and Jews, but a new awakening among some Christians to its significance is creating a shifting pre-Messianic reality at the already volatile site. The developing status of Christians on the Temple Mount played out a few weeks ago in a Muslim-Christian confrontation that nearly ended in violence. The Temple Mount showdown involved Nate Waller, Director of Operations at Hayovel, an organization which brings Christian volunteers to Israel to fulfill Biblical prophecy by working on vineyards in Samaria. As a frequent visitor to the Temple Mount, Waller’s connection to the site is an increasingly important part of his belief – and he thinks other Christians should see it that way, too. “When I first started visiting the Temple Mount, I didn’t understand the holiness of the place,” Waller told Breaking Israel News. “I used to walk all around the site, like all the other Christian tourists. I would go to the site of the actual Temple, something that is forbidden for Jews to do.” Through his close work with religious Jews, Waller began to understand the significance of the site. “Christians generally believe that God’s presence has left the Temple Mount since the destruction of the Temple,” Waller explained. “From the Jews, I am just now beginning to understand that this is still the place of God’s name, and His name has not been removed.”
June 20, 2017
Saudi Arabia
Headline: Israel, Saudi Arabia reportedly discuss establishing economic ties
Israel and Saudi Arabia have reportedly been holding talks to establish economic ties, according to British newspaper The Times, which cited American and Arab sources in its report. According to the report, the historic move, if implemented, could be the first step toward normalizing relations and would begin with Israeli businesses being allowed to operate in the Persian Gulf. The newspaper gave as one example the possibility of Israeli airline El Al being allowed to fly over Saudi airspace. The British newspaper also estimated the possibility of tightening relations with Israel partly explains why Saudi Arabia and its allies have boycotted Qatar in an effort to force it to stop supporting Hamas, an effort that seems to be producing results. However, a source close to the Saudi leadership dismissed the idea of rapprochement between the two countries, saying it only reflects the White House's wish to show fast results, after US President Donald Trump visited the region last month, beginning with Saudi Arabia and stopping next in Israel.
June 17, 2017
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4976952,00.html
Headline:Naming Bin Salman Saudi heir impacts US, Israel
The Saudi king’s decision to elevate his son Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 31, to crown prince and heir to the throne, in place of his cousin Mohammed bin Nayef – as part of a broad reshuffle, is not merely the internal affair of the royal hierarchy, but a game-changing international event. debkafile’s analysts see it as the outcome of a global and regional process initiated by Donald Trump soon after he settled in the White House in January. With his appointment as de facto ruler of the oil kingdom, the Saudi king’s son is ready to step into his allotted place in a new US-Arab-Israeli alliance that will seek to dominate Middle East affairs. Israel will be accepted in a regional lineup for the first time alongside the strongest Sunni Arab nations who all share similar objectives, especially the aim to stop Iran. Trump’s trip to Riyadh and Jerusalem in early May laid the cornerstone for the new US-Sunni Arab bloc versus Iran’s Shiite grouping and also cemented Israel’s co-option.
June 21, 2017
http://debka.com/article/26108/Naming-Bin-Salman-Saudi-heir-impacts-US-Israel
Headline: Clashes in south Yemen kill six civilians
Clashes between Yemeni security forces and gunmen in the southern city of Aden on Tuesday left six civilians dead, a security official said. The fighting erupted when security forces stormed a house in the Omar al-Mukhtar neighbourhood and arrested a man suspected of being a member of the Daesh terror group, the official said. Shortly after the operation, unidentified gunmen from the district attacked a checkpoint, triggering clashes that lasted for around three hours. Three other civilians were wounded in the gunfight, the official said.
June 21, 2017
http://jordantimes.com/news/region/clashes-south-yemen-kill-six-civilians
Egypt
Headline: Egypt Sends Fuel to Power-Starved Gaza, Undercuts Abbas
Headline: Turning Gaza’s lights back on, Abbas’s rival Dahlan makes dramatic return to center stage
Egypt on Wednesday trucked 1 million liters of cheap diesel fuel to the Gaza Strip's sole power plant — a rare shipment that temporarily eased a crippling electricity crisis in the Hamas-ruled enclave but also appeared to undercut Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas has been stepping up financial pressure on Gaza in hopes of forcing the militant group Hamas to cede ground in the territory. Hamas seized Gaza from Abbas' forces in 2007, and Wednesday's delivery was the result of a strange new alliance of old foes united against the Palestinian president. The power plant stopped operating in April after Hamas could no longer afford to buy heavily taxed fuel from Abbas' West Bank-based government, leaving Gazans with just four hours of electricity a day. Abbas also asked Israel to reduce the electricity it sends to Gaza, which amounts to about a third of the territory's needs. This electricity, paid for by the Abbas government, has been reduced by one-fourth since Monday, worsening the crunch.
June 21, 2017
Syria
Headline: US-led coalition downs Iran-made drone in Syria
A US warplane shot down an Iranian-made drone operated by pro-regime forces in southern Syria early Tuesday, officials said, in the latest incident in rising tensions between the two sides. In Tuesday’s incident, the US-led coalition said an F-15E Strike Eagle jet destroyed an armed Shahed-129 drone in the early hours of the morning as it neared the Al Tanf base along Syria’s eastern border. “It displayed hostile intent and advanced on Coalition forces,” the statement said. A US military official told AFP the drone was “on a run towards our folks to drop a munition on them” and was shot down in self-defence. It comes days after a US warplane shot down a Syrian government fighter jet in the north of the country, prompting a furious reaction from Russia. Moscow has now suspended an incident hotline intended to prevent confrontations in Syria’s crowded airspace, and warned it could consider US-led coalition planes “targets”. The rising tensions prompted Australia to announce it was suspending its participation in air missions over Syria as part of the US-led coalition fighting the Daesh terror group.
***SEE IRAN BELOW
June 21, 2017
http://jordantimes.com/news/region/us-led-coalition-downs-iran-made-drone-syria
Iraq
Headline: Iraqi forces advance on Mosul mosque where ISIS declared caliphate
Headline: Islamic State blows up Mosul mosque where it declared 'caliphate': Iraqi military
US-backed Iraqi forces on Wednesday began a push towards the mosque in Mosul where Islamic State declared a self-styled caliphate three years ago, military officials said. The forces had encircled the jihadist group's stronghold in the Old City of Mosul, where the medieval Grand al-Nuri Mosque is located, on Tuesday, they said. The Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) were 200-300 metres (yards) away from the mosque, an Iraqi military statement said, a view supported by a senior commander of the international coalition fighting Islamic State. Meanwhile, Islamic State militants blew up on Wednesday the Grand al-Nuri Mosque of Mosul and its famous leaning minaret, an Iraqi military statement said. It was from this medieval mosque that the militants' leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a self-styled ''caliphate'' spanning parts of Syria and Iraq three years ago. Islamic State's Amaq news agency accused American aircraft of destroying the mosque. "The Daesh (Islamic State) terror gangs committed another historical crime by blowing up the al-Nuri mosque and its historical al-Hadba minaret," the Iraqi military statement said, . The explosions happened as Iraq's elite Counter Terrorism Service units, which have been battling their way through Mosul's Old City, got to within 50 meters (164 ft) of the mosque, the statement said.
June 21, 2017
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4979124,00.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-mosul-mosque-idUSKBN19C2Q1
Turkey
Headline: German parliament backs plans to withdraw troops from Turkey
Germany's parliament on Wednesday approved the planned withdrawal of troops from the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey after Ankara's refusal to allow German lawmakers access to its soldiers there. Turkey has refused to allow German lawmakers to make what they see as a routine visit to the base, saying that Berlin needs to improve its attitude towards Turkey first. Turkey was infuriated when Germany, citing security concerns, banned some Turkish politicians from campaigning on its soil, where many Turks live. Ankara responded by accusing Berlin of "Nazi-like" tactics and reigniting a dispute over Incirlik. "The German Bundestag (parliament) regrets very much that conditions for the continued stationing of the Bundeswehr in Incirlik are not met," the Bundestag said in a document that laid out its decision. It said a transfer of the 280 German troops from Incirlik to an air base in Jordan should go ahead swiftly.
June 21, 2017
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-turkey-idUSKBN19C2B6
Headline: Turkey Must Respect Iraqi Kurds' Referendum Move: Barzani Adviser
Turkey should respect the decision of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region to hold a referendum on independence and support dialogue between Erbil and Baghdad, a chief adviser to Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani said on Wednesday. Iraq's Kurds have brushed aside international warnings that their planned Sept. 25 referendum could trigger conflict with Baghdad at a time when the fight against Islamic State is not yet won. Iraq's neighbors Turkey, Iran and Syria, all oppose secession, fearing that separatism will spread to their own ethnic Kurdish populations. "We are exercising our democratic right … As people in Turkey voting for their constitutional reform exercised their own democratic right, so we are exercising our democratic right to see what the people of Kurdistan want," Hemin Hawrami told a gathering at the Turkish think-tank SETA in Ankara. He was referring to a referendum in April in which Turks voted to hand President Tayyip Erdogan sweeping new powers.
June 21, 2017
Iran
Headline: Iran Threatens to ‘Depose’ Trump as Military Readies Missile Strikes on U.S. Forces
Headline: Downing of drones in Syria threatens to draw U.S., Iran further into war
A senior Iranian leader and confidant of the Islamic Republic's president is threatening to "depose" President Donald Trump if he continues his policy of confronting Iran and its terror proxy groups in the Middle East, according to recent comments that come as Iranian military leaders threaten missile strikes on U.S. forces and bases in the region. Mostafa Tajzadeh, a leading Iranian politician and ally to President Hassan Rouhani, claimed this week that the Trump administration is too "fragile" to confront Iran and that if U.S. officials do "anything unwise against Iran," the Islamic Republic will see that Trump is "deposed," according to Farsi-language comments independently translated for the Washington Free Beacon. The threats come as Iranian politicians and military leaders amp up their rhetoric against the Trump administration following a series of strikes in Syria on Iranian-backed forces bolstering embattled President Bashar al-Assad.
June 21, 2017
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/06/21/downing-drones-syria-us-iran-war/103063850/
Afghanistan
Headline: Taliban Releases New Video of US, Australian Hostages
Afghanistan’s Taliban released a new video Wednesday showing two professors, one American and one Australian, urging U.S. President Donald Trump to negotiate their freedom with the Islamist insurgent group. Sixty-year-old American Kevin King and 48-year-old Timothy Weeks of Australia, teachers with the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, were kidnapped at gunpoint near the campus last August. The Taliban wants freedom for its “soldiers” being held at the U.S.-run Bagram airbase and the Afghan prison called Pul-e-Charkhi in return for freeing the two professors, the hostages said in their video messages.
June 21, 2017
https://www.voanews.com/a/taliban-video-australian-hostages/3910051.html
Headline: Taliban overruns district in Afghan north
Headline: 8 killed in attack near US base in Afghanistan
The Taliban took control of a district center in the northern Afghan province of Jawzjan over the past 24 hours. The governor of Darzab, the district that fell to the Taliban, confirmed that Taliban fighters overran the district just one day after Islamic State fighters attacked the administrative complex. According to a statement on Voice of Jihad, the Taliban “launched coordinated attacks on Darzab district center” and surrounding outposts in the early morning. The Taliban claimed that “five defensive checkposts close to the district center surrendered, handing over all their weapons, equipment and vehicles whereas the district headquarters fell around late afternoon hours, resulting in more weapons and equipment being seized.” Official reports of casualties during the fighting have not been disclosed. The Taliban said that 17 police and local militia fighters and three Taliban fighters were killed. “The Taliban were currently in control of the district center’s building, police headquarters, and many other areas west of the district centre,” Pajhwok Afghan News reported, based on statements by Baz Mohammad, the acting district governor.
June 21, 2017
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2017/06/taliban-overruns-district-in-afghan-north.php
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/06/20/525893/Afghanistan-Bagram-airbase-attack
Morocco
Headline: Morocco detains three as Rif protests move to Imzouren
Police have arrested three more members of a protest movement in northern Morocco's neglected Rif region, prompting hundreds of demonstrators to rally demanding their release, activists said Tuesday. Three activists from Al Hirak Al Shaabi, or "Popular Movement", were arrested on Monday in the flashpoint northern port of Al Hoceima, a member of the grassroots group told AFP. Two other activists, one of them a minor, were summoned by the police and told to "sign a pledge vowing not to take part in any future protest", the source said, adding that the pair were later released. Al Hoceima has been rocked by protests since the death in October of a fishmonger, who was crushed to death in a rubbish truck as he tried to retrieve swordfish that authorities had thrown away because it was caught out of season. Calls for justice snowballed into a wider social movement led by Al Hirak demanding development, an end to corruption and jobs for the mainly Berber Rif region. Demonstrators have rallied nightly in Al Hoceima and the nearby town of Imzouren since the arrest of Al Hirak leader Nasser Zefzafi on May 29. Since then, authorities have arrested more than 100 people, many of them are prominent Al Hirak members, accusing them of undermining state security.
June 21, 2017
http://jordantimes.com/news/region/morocco-detains-three-rif-protests-move-imzouren
Headline: Flint Airport: Michigan officer stabbed at airport in attack eyed as terrorism
The stabbing of a police officer at a Michigan airport on Wednesday is being investigated by the FBI as a possible terror attack, officials said. Bishop International Airport in Flint, Michigan, was evacuated after Officer Jeff Neville was stabbed in the neck. He's currently listed as being in stable condition, according to Michigan State Police. The FBI says the suspect is in custody and is being questioned. They are working to determine a possible motive for the attack. "We are aware of reports that the attacker made statements immediately prior to or while attacking the officer, but it is too early to determine the nature of these alleged statements or whether or not this was an act of terrorism," the FBI said in a statement.This is believed to be an isolated incident, authorities also said. A White House official confirmed to Fox News that President Trump has been briefed on the stabbing.
June 21, 2017
Headline: UN chief: US will be replaced if it disengages from world
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the Trump administration on Tuesday that if the United States disengages from many issues confronting the international community it will be replaced — and that won't be good for America or for the world. Guterres made clear to reporters at his first press conference here since taking the reins of the United Nations on Jan. 1 that proposed cuts in U.S. funding for the U.N. would be disastrous and create "an unsolvable problem to the management of the U.N." But the U.N. chief stressed that he is not afraid to stand up to President Donald Trump, citing his vocal opposition to the U.S. leader's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement. He said the mobilization of U.S. business and civil society in support or the climate deal is "a signal of hope that we very much encourage." Looking at the array of global crises, Guterres expressed concern that there could be a direct confrontation between the United States and Russia over Syria and urged a de-escalation of the dispute between Washington and Moscow over the U.S. downing of a Syrian jet.
June 20, 2017
http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/un-chief-us-will-be-replaced-if-it-disengages-from-world
Headline: Venezuela dares US to ‘send in marines’ amid crisis, threatens ‘crushing response’
Venezuela has lashed out at the US for trying to forge a plan to address its political crisis, daring Washington to "send in the marines" and threatening to meet troops with a "crushing response." "The 'contact group' you're proposing is completely useless and unnecessary," Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said during a meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Cancun, Mexico, on Tuesday. "The only way you could impose it would be to send in your marines – who would meet with a crushing response from Venezuela if they dared make such a misstep," she said, as quoted by AFP. Rodriguez's remarks were in response to US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, who had tried to garner support for an OAS resolution to send regional mediators to Venezuela to help end the economic and political crisis which has embroiled the country and led to the deaths of 74 people since April. Sullivan responded to Rodriguez – who referred to the US official as 'el jefe' (the boss) – with three words: "Distractions, distortions and irrelevancies." The US draft resolution backed by Sullivan failed to pass among the 34 OAS nations, falling shy of approval by just three votes.
June 21, 2017
https://www.rt.com/news/393374-venezuela-us-marines-crisis/
Headline: 100 dead in Central African Republic town, mayor says
The mayor of a Central African Republic town says at least 100 people are dead after heavy fighting broke out in the wake of a peace agreement signed this week in Rome. Bria Mayor Maurice Balekouzou also said Wednesday that several dozen wounded have been brought to the hospital run by aid group Doctors Without Borders. However, the local Catholic mission says the death toll could be higher because it has been too dangerous for Red Cross teams to recover bodies from the streets. Witnesses say fighting took place between the anti-Balaka militia and rebels from the group known as FPRC who were once part of the Seleka movement. The peace deal signed Monday between nearly all the country's armed groups had called for an immediate cease-fire.
June 21, 2017
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4979052,00.html
Headline: At least 10 killed in Mogadishu minibus bombing
At least 10 people were killed Tuesday when Shabaab extremists drove an explosives-laden minibus into local government offices in the Somali capital Mogadishu, according to the security ministry. The minibus rammed through a security barrier outside offices in the southern district of Wadajir, injuring 9 people including the district's top government official. "More than 10 people died in the blast which was carried out by the Shabaab group and nine others are wounded," said Security Ministry spokesman Ahmed Mohamud Mohamed. Most of the dead were civilians, he said. The attack was claimed by Al Qaeda linked Shabaab militants.
June 21, 2017
http://jordantimes.com/news/region/least-10-killed-mogadishu-minibus-bombing
Headline: Deaths, Injuries Mount as Ukraine Conflict Enters 4th Year: OHCHR
With the conflict in Ukraine now in its fourth year casualties have mounted substantially in recent months, according to a new report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Between mid-February and mid-May of this year, the period covered, U.N. investigators documented 193 conflict-related civilian casualties, including 36 deaths. “This is a 48 percent increase over the last reporting period,” said High Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein in presenting an oral update on the human rights situation. Speaking to the U.N. Human Rights Council Wednesday, Zeid also said, “The majority of these casualties resulted from shelling, explosive devices and remnants of war.” He noted that so far this year, there were 375 conflict-related civilian casualties, including 67 deaths and 308 injuries – a 74 percent increase compared to the same period last year.
June 21, 2017
https://www.voanews.com/a/united-nations-human-right-council-ukraine-conflict/3910072.html
Headline: ISIL takes many civilians hostage after storming Philippine school
Several residents have reportedly been taken hostage and used as human shields after armed terrorists stormed a village in the Cotabato province of the Philippines, according to local police. Government troops are now engaging members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) after the terrorists overran the village of Malagakit, located just outside of Pigcawayan town, Chief Inspector Realan Mamon said. The police chief confirmed that a number of civilians are now trapped in the area after the militants entered the village shortly after 5:00am on Wednesday. “We can confirm that they occupied a school and there were civilians trapped. We are in the process of determining how many were trapped and their identities,” Mamon said, according to Reuters. Government troops managed to push back the initial jihadist attack, but ISIS-linked fighters managed to take at least five people hostage as they retreated, according to a spokesperson for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.
June 21, 2017
Headline: North Korean nuke test site sees more buildup as tensions rise
North Korea is continuing to mass resources at a known weapons testing site inside the country, a defense source told Fox News on Wednesday, prompting worries Pyongyang could be plotting to greenlight another provocative nuclear bomb test amid heightened tensions following the death this week of an American student who had been imprisoned by Kim Jong Un’s rogue regime. “There are more people and more cars but nobody knows what that means,” a defense source said about surveillance of the nuke test site. The source added the buildup had been occurring for months.Even as intelligence indicated North Korea was continuing to move materials to the nuke test site, Trump tweeted: “While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!”
June 21, 2017
Headline: A Russian jet came within feet of a U.S. reconnaissance plane, the Pentagon says
Headline: Russian defence minister's plane buzzed by NATO jet over Baltic
Headline: Russia considering retaliatory sanctions against US — Kremlin
Headline: Kremlin cancels Friday talks with U.S. over new sanctions
A Russian fighter jet came “within several feet” of an Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea and lingered by the side of the U.S. plane for several minutes on Monday, U.S. military officials said. The incident comes amid increased tensions between Russia and the United States following the shoot-down Sunday of a Syrian fighter jet by a U.S. Navy Super Hornet after the Syrians bombed U.S.-backed fighters in northern Syria. Russia, which is aligned with the Syrian government and is carrying out military operations in Syria alongside it, condemned the incident and said Monday that it would track U.S. aircraft over Syria. The Russian Su-27 maneuvered its wingtip within a few feet of the larger, slower RC-135 for several minutes, said Meghan Henderson, a spokeswoman for U.S. European Command. The Pentagon considered the incident, known as an “intercept,” unsafe because of the “high rate of closure speed” and the “poor control of the aircraft” that the Russian pilot had, Henderson said.
June 21, 2017
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4979150,00.html
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1118311/world
Headline: Illinois careens into financial meltdown – and not even the lottery is safe
Illinois is grappling with a full-fledged financial crisis and not even the lottery is safe – with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner warning the state is entering "banana republic" territory. Facing billions in unpaid bills and pension obligations, the state is hitting a cash crunch that is rare even by Illinois standards. A top financial official just warned 100 percent of the state's monthly revenue will be eaten up by court-ordered payments. Rauner is calling a special session of the Democrat-led General Assembly in a bid to pass what he hopes will be the first full budget package in almost three years. And Illinois will – literally – lose the lottery if the budget fails. The governor has called for a special session starting Wednesday. The state so far is operating on a series of stopgap spending packages. But the problems are years in the making, caused in large in part by the state’s poorly funded pension system— which led Moody’s Investors Services to downgrade the credit rating to the lowest of any state. The state currently has $130 billion in unfunded pension obligations, and a backlog of unpaid bills worth $13 billion.
June 20, 2017
Headline: $95,069,000,000: State and Local Income Taxes Hit Q1 Record
Americans paid a first-quarter record of $95,069,000,000 in individual income taxes to state and local governments in 2017, according to data released yesterday by the U.S. Census Bureau. That was up $4,190,850,000—or about 4.6 percent– from the $90,878,150,000 in state and local individual income taxes (in constant 2017 dollars) that Americans paid in the first quarter of 2016. Prior to this year, 2016 held the record for first quarter state and local income tax collections.Historically, state and local individual income tax collections have peaked in the second quarter of the year. The all-time record for quarterly state and local individual income tax collections occurred in the second quarter of 2015, when Americans paid $125,508,920,000 (in constant 2017 dollars) in individual income taxes to state and local governments.
June 21, 2017
Headline: Yemen cholera death toll passes 1,100: WHO
Cholera has killed 1,170 people in war-ravaged Yemen and the number of suspected cases is now at nearly 2,000 a day, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. And the devastation wrought by the conflict there made coping with the outbreak that much more difficult, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva. "The number of suspected cholera cases is rising," said Jasarevic. "We are talking close to 2,000 suspected cases per day," he warned, which meant that Yemen was now suffering the world's largest cholera outbreak. Since WHO began collecting data on the outbreak on April 27, it has registered more than 170,000 suspected cholera cases across 20 of Yemen's 21 governorates, Jasarevic said. WHO has warned that a quarter of a million people could fall sick with the disease cholera by the end of the year there. Already, two-thirds of the population are on the brink of famine there.
June 21, 2017
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-06-yemen-cholera-death-toll.html
Headline: Polio paralyses 17 children in Syria — WHO
A polio outbreak in war-ravaged Syria has paralysed at least 17 children since March, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Tuesday, describing the situation as "very serious". Fifteen more cases have thus been confirmed since WHO first announced, less than two weeks ago, that Syria had been hit by its first outbreak of the crippling disease since 2014. "We are very much worried, because if there is one case of polio with a kid that is paralysed, it is already an outbreak," WHO spokesman Tarim Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva. He pointed out that for every polio-caused paralysis, there are on average nearly 200 children who have the virus but no symptoms. "The virus is circulating. It is very serious."
June 21, 2017
http://jordantimes.com/news/region/polio-paralyses-17-children-syria-%E2%80%94-who
Headline: Gender ideology is now the law of the land in Canada: Using wrong pronoun a hate crime
Canada’s Senate passed a bill that places “gender identity” and “gender expression” into the country’s Human Rights Code and the hate crime category of its Criminal Code. Bill C-16 passed by a vote of 67-11 and now only needs royal assent from the governor general to become law. “Great news,” announced Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “Bill C-16 has passed the Senate – making it illegal to discriminate based on gender identity or expression. #LoveisLove.” Critics say that Canadians “who do not subscribe to progressive gender theory” could be accused of hate crimes, jailed, fined, and made to take anti-bias training, The Daily Caller said in a June 16 report. One of the bill’s fiercest critics, Jordan Peterson, a professor at the University of Toronto, said that “we will seriously regret this,” adding that the law would infringe upon citizens’ freedom of speech and institutes what he views as dubious gender ideology into law. “Compelled speech has come to Canada,” Peterson said.
June 19, 2017
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