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 March 14, 2017 Edition written by Frank DiMora
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Headline: Abbas tells US negotiator he’s committed to peace
Headline: Netanyahu to meet with Trump envoy for second time on Thursday
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas met Tuesday in Ramallah with Jason Greenblatt, US President Donald J. Trump’s Special Representative for International Negotiations. Greenblatt held a five-hour meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the previous day. The US envoy arrived in Jerusalem Monday for what State Department Spokesperson Mark Toner described as “the first of many visits” to the region in order to familiarize himself with the attitudes on both sides. He is not expected to announce any new initiative at this point. Abbas assured Greenblatt that he is fully committed to creating an atmosphere that is conducive to making peace and would heighten his outreach efforts to the Israeli public. Finally, they discussed plans to grow the Palestinian economy and the importance of ensuring economic opportunities for Palestinians, which would enhance the prospects for a just, comprehensive and lasting peace. Abbas stressed to Greenblatt that the Palestinian strategic choice is to achieve a two-state solution.
March 15, 2017
https://worldisraelnews.com/96086-2/
http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-to-meet-with-trump-envoy-for-second-time-on-thursday/
Headline: UN report: Israel imposes ‘apartheid regime’ on Palestinians
Headline: US demands UN pull report accusing Israel of apartheid
A UN agency published a report on Wednesday accusing Israel of imposing an “apartheid regime” of racial discrimination on the Palestinian people, and said it was the first time a UN body had clearly made the charge. The report commissioned by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) concluded “Israel has established an apartheid regime that dominates the Palestinian people as a whole.” The accusation – often directed at Israel by its critics – is fiercely rejected by the Jewish state. UN Under-Secretary General and ESCWA Executive Secretary Rima Khalaf said the report was the “first of its type” from a UN body that “clearly and frankly concludes that Israeli is a racist state that has established an apartheid system that persecutes the Palestinian people”. Israeli officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The United States on Wednesday demanded that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres withdraw a report by a UN body accusing Israel of imposing apartheid on the Palestinians and of racially dominating them. Guterres distanced himself from the report by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) but US Ambassador Nikki Haley said it should be scrapped altogether.
March 15, 2017
http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-demands-un-pull-report-accusing-israel-of-apartheid/
Headline: US Seeks First-Ever Extradition for Palestinian Terror Killer
The U.S. Department of Justice is in the process of announcing its first-ever extradition request of a Palestinian woman behind a 2001 terror attack in Jerusalem that resulted in Israeli and American deaths. The extradition request will call on Jordan to hand over Hamas terrorist Ahlam Tamimi, who had previously been jailed by Israel for her connection to the Sbarro pizza restaurant terror attack in Jerusalem in August 2001, but was released by Israel as part of the controversial 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange. The 2001 attack killed 15 people, including seven children and a pregnant woman, and wounded 130. The move by the Justice Department breaks with past policy on such terror-related cases. Prior to the Trump administration, legal cases against such terrorists were either criminal proceedings in Israeli courts or civil proceedings brought by family members in U.S. courts. Shurat HaDin President Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, whose firm is representing the family of victim Chana Nachenberg, who currently still in a coma from the attack, welcomed the move by the Justice Department. “We are glad that the U.S. Department of Justice has decided to move forward against this notorious mass murderer,” Darshan-Leitner said. “We have been requesting for a long time that this unrepentant Palestinian terrorist be rearrested, extradited and prosecuted by American law enforcement officials.”
March 15, 2017
Jordan
Headline: US envoy meet with king of Jordan
Jason Greenblatt, President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, met on Wednesday in Amman with Jordan’s King Abdullah II. According to the official Jordanian news agency, Petra, the two discussed efforts to re-launch peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). During the meeting, King Abdullah emphasized the importance of the United States’ role in ending the deadlock in the peace process and re-launching serious and direct negotiations on the basis of the two-state solution. The King told Greenblatt that reaching a just and comprehensive peace that guarantees the establishment of an independent Palestinian state would achieve security and stability for the whole region. Greenblatt said, according to Petra, that achieving peace between Israel and the PA will have a positive impact on the region. He also underlined the importance of Jordan’s role in pushing forward the peace efforts.
March 15, 2017
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/226774
Lebanon
Headline: Revolutionary Guard commander: Hezbollah more prepared than ever to attack Israel
Headline: Has Hezbollah developed a domestic arms industry with Iranian support?
As US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both continue to apply pressure on Iran regarding its controversial, often-discussed nuclear capabilities, an assistant to a commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps revealed to Kuwaiti daily publication Al-Jarida that Hezbollah has raised its level of preparedness and is ready to launch a massive attack against Israel with lethal results. The Iranian commander explained that Iran has opened factories in Lebanon for the purpose of manufacturing long-range missiles as well as other munitions and has recently passed ownership of the factories to Hezbollah. Speaking exclusively to Al-Jarida, the Iranian official, who opted to remain anonymous, said that the decision to set up the factories in Lebanon was made due to “Israel’s [alleged destruction] of munition factories in Sudan, as well as the damage caused to munition sources from Syria.” Addressing the Shi’ite terror organization’s repeated threat to launch rockets that could reach every part of the Jewish state, the official quoted Iranian Defense Minister Hoseein Dehghan who has recently heeded that Hezbollah was now capable of manufacturing rockets that could target every spot in Israel, from the very north to the southern border with Egypt.
March 14, 2017
Saudi Arabia
Headline: Saudi Arabia hails ‘historical turning point’ in relations with US
Saudi Arabia’s ties with the United States have been restored, according to a senior adviser to Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who met with President Donald Trump on Tuesday. “This meeting is considered a historical turning point in relations between both countries and which had passed through a period of divergence of views on many issues,” stated a senior adviser to Prince Mohammed. “The meeting today restored issues to their right path and form a big change in relations between both countries in political, military, security and economic issues.” These remarks referred primarily to the existing common ground between Saudi Arabia and the Trump administration regarding Iran. Like Israel, Saudi Arabia clashed with the Obama administration over its decision to push for the implementation of the nuclear agreement that was reached between Iran the P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China) in 2015.
March 15, 2017
https://worldisraelnews.com/saudi-arabia-hails-historical-turning-point-relations-us/
Headline: Donald Trump gives Pentagon permission to carry out more raids in Yemen
Donald Trump has reportedly given the Pentagon permission to carry out more raids in Yemen – despite a botched mission in January that resulted in the deaths of 20 civilians and a US Navy Seal. The White House told military leaders they can carry out missions in the Gulf state without specific presidential approval. Negotiations about extending similar permissions to raids in Libya and Somalia are also taking place, CNN reported. Instead of needing Mr Trump to sign off on specific missions, officials told the broadcaster that military leaders will be given the freedom to carry out operations providing they are in line with a broader strategy agreed by the President. US Navy Captain Jeff Davis said the White House had acted to “open up a window of opportunity based upon a set geographical area and a set period in time”. As a result of the change, 40 US airstrikes have been launched in Yemen in the last two weeks. The move comes amid what US officials see as a growing threat from terrorist groups in Yemen, Libya and Somalia.
March 15, 2017
Headline: Astana Talks on Wednesday to Focus on Separation of Terrorists, Syria Opposition
Headline: Key Syrian opposition leader resigns as peace talks falters
Earlier on Tuesday, the Syrian delegation’s representative, Osama Abu Zeid, told Sputnik that the armed opposition decided not to participate in the round of Astana talks. The agenda of the third round of the talks in Astana presupposed that the delegations of the Syrian authorities and armed opposition as well as the international mediators, such as Russia, Turkey and Iran would focus on the map of terrorists’ presence in the war-torn state. The third round of intra-Syrian talks in Astana, taking place on March 14-15, will include consultations on the first day and a plenary session on Wednesday.
March 15, 2017
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201703151051589230-astana-talks-syrian-opposition-terrorists/
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/key-syrian-opposition-leader-resigns-peace-talks-falters/
Headline: Dozens killed in double suicide attack in Damascus
Two suicide bomb attacks killed at least 31 people and wounded dozens more in Damascus on Wednesday, state media reported, in the second such spate of bombings in the Syrian capital in five days. The first suicide bomber targeted the Palace of Justice, the main courthouse in central Damascus near the Old City. Justice Minister Najem al-Ahmad told reporters the initial death toll was 31, mostly civilians. The second suicide blast struck a popular restaurant in the al-Rabweh area of Damascus to the west of the first attack causing several casualties, state media reported. State news agency SANA cited the Damascus police as saying that there were 102 injured in the courthouse attack and 28 injured in the restaurant. The courthouse bomber set off his explosive device at 1:20 p.m. (1120 GMT) as the police tried to search him and stop him from entering the building, state television cited the Damascus police chief as saying. Syrian state television broadcast footage from inside the courthouse showing blood splattered on a floor littered with papers, a shoe and broken tiles and stones. Images from a hospital showed a man in a suit on a stretcher with blood on his clothes. The explosion hit the courthouse “at a time when the area is crowded” with lawyers, judges and civilians, harming a large number of people, Ahmed al-Sayyid, a senior state legal official told state-run al-Ikhbariya TV. As well as the Damascus bombings of recent days, which coincide with the sixth anniversary of the protests that sparked Syria’s civil war, attackers also twice struck the government-held city of Homs in the past few weeks. On Saturday scores of people, most of them Iraqi Shi’ite pilgrims, were killed in a double suicide attack in Damascus claimed by an alliance of jihadist groups known as Tahrir al-Sham.
March 15, 2017
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-blast-idUSKBN16M1J0
Headline: Clashes Between Rival Iraqi Kurds Fuel Fears of Proxy War in Nineveh Province
Headline: Kurdish internal disputes escalate across Syria and Iraq
Fears are growing the mountainous Iraqi Sinjar region is becoming the focal point of a proxy conflict in the region. The conflict turned fatal earlier this month with armed clashes between rival Kurdish groups of peshmergas of the Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Kurdistan Workers’ Party- (PKK) backed forces. Ankara is suspected of being behind this month’s inter-Kurdish clashes in Sinjar. The Turkish government has repeatedly warned it will not tolerate the presence of PKK forces in Sinjar, which is close to the Turkish border, fearing it will become a new base for operations against Turkey. Ankara has warned it will militarily intervene in Sinjar if the PKK is not removed. But any operation brings considerable risk. “It will bring Turkey into direct conflict with Shia militia and with Iraqi military and then indirectly with Iran,” warns Haldun Solmazturk, retired Turkish brigadier and now head of the Ankara-based Turkey Twenty-First Century Institute. Ankara has accused the PKK in Sinjar of conspiring with the Iraqi Shia militia, the People’s Mobilization Forces, a charge it has denied. “Sinjar itself, it’s an area where all these regional tensions converge,” observes Selcen. “There is the People’s Mobilization unit nearby and we know they have close contacts if not direct contacts to Tehran, and the Baghdad army is there, also the U.S. [force] is nearby and Barzani’s forces, it’s [a] very intricate proxy conflict.”
March 15, 2017
http://www.voanews.com/a/iraq-kurds-turkey-proxy-war/3765706.html
http://aranews.net/2017/03/kurdish-internal-disputes-escalate-across-syria-and-iraq/
Headline: Iraqi forces seize Iron Bridge in battle for Mosul
Iraqi government forces battling Islamic State for Mosul took control of a main bridge over the Tigris river on Wednesday and advanced towards the mosque where the group’s leader declared a caliphate in 2014, federal police said. The seizure of the Iron Bridge, linking eastern Mosul with the militant-held Old City on the west side, means the government holds three of the five bridges over the Tigris and bolsters Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s assertion that the battle is reaching its final stages. The bridge, which was damaged in fighting late last year, was captured by federal police and Interior Ministry Rapid Response units, a police statement said. The gains were made in heavy fighting in which troops fought street-by-street against an enemy using suicide car bombs, mortar and sniper fire, and grenade-dropping drones to defend what was once their main stronghold. “Our troops are making a steady advance … and we are now less than 800 meters from the mosque,” a federal police spokesman said. Losing the city would be a huge blow to Islamic State as it has served as the group’s de facto capital since its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed himself head of a caliphate spanning Iraq and Syria from the Nuri Mosque in July 2014. The capture of the mosque would thus be a huge symbolic victory as well as a concrete gain. But many hard days of fighting could still lie ahead as government forces try to make headway in the streets and narrow alleyways of the Old City.
March 15, 2017
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-mosul-idUSKBN16M11Z
Turkey
Headline: EU leaders bash Turkey over the Netherlands
Headline: Ankara Ratchets Up EU Tensions with Refugee Deal Threat
Headline: Free Syrian Army brigade announces support for Erdogan against the Netherlands
European Council chief Donald Tusk and senior MEPs hit back at Turkey in a widening diplomatic dispute between Ankara and the Netherlands. Turkey’s president Erdogan had described the Netherlands as a bastion of Nazi fascism, after Dutch authorities had prevented his ministers from campaigning in the country ahead of an April referendum, which aims to further tighten the Turkish leader’s grip on power. Clashes broke out in Rotterdam last weekend between the Dutch police and Turkish-Dutch citizens who were demonstrating outside the Turkish consulate. The widening rift and war of words from an increasingly authoritarian Erdogan has prompted renewed calls among leading MEPs to once again cut short accession negotiations for Turkey to join the EU. The talks were only temporarily stalled last summer, with the EU parliament voting for a resolution in November asking to formally freeze them. German MEP Manfred Weber, who leads the centre-right group, said that full membership for Turkey was not realistic in “the foreseeable future.” Turkey is a member of Nato and, on Wednesday, German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen warned against rupturing ties. Weber also spoke of trade, noting that Turkey depends on the EU for almost half of its exports. “Forty-four percent of the whole export of Turkey is linked to the European Union and only 2 percent is linked to Russia,” he told reporters. Turkey on Wednesday had also posted its worst budget and unemployment statistics since 2009.
March 15, 2017
https://euobserver.com/enlargement/137254
http://www.voanews.com/a/turkey-ratchets-up-tension-european-union-refugee-deal-threat/3767608.html
Iran
Headline: Iran starts building unit 2 of Bushehr plant
Construction and installation work formally started yesterday at the site of unit 2 of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran, Atomproekt, the reactor design subsidiary of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, announced today. The first foundation stone for units 2 and 3 of the plant was laid in a ceremony held at the construction site in southern Iran in September last year. Bushehr units 2 and 3 are to be completed in 2024 and 2026, respectively. Last September, ASE director Valery Limarenko said Rosatom is keen on the “wide use” of Iranian-made materials and would therefore invite Iranian manufacturing companies to compete to work on the project via contract tenders.
March 15, 2017
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-Iran-starts-building-unit-2-of-Bushehr-15031701.html
Afghanistan
Headline: Pakistani, Afghan Officials Expect London Talks to Resolve Border Dispute
A meeting Britain is hosting Wednesday is expected to resolve the tense border dispute between Afghanistan and Pakistan, officials told VOA hours before the talks. Pakistan closed its border with landlocked Afghanistan to all traffic nearly a month ago, after a string of terrorist attacks killed scores of people. Authorities in Pakistan blame the violence on fugitive militants Islamabad says are sheltering in Afghan territory. The border closure fueled bilateral tensions, prompting Britain to intervene and facilitate Wednesday’s meeting. “We expect as a results of the talks in London and the recent contacts that we have had within the government and with the government of Afghanistan we expect this issue [border talks] to be resolved in the coming week,” Pakistani Trade Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan told VOA in Islamabad. He said that efforts are under way to open the Afghan border with “heightened security procedures” so that trading resumes as soon as possible.
March 15, 2017
http://www.voanews.com/a/pakistan-afghanistan-officials-london-talks/3766726.html
Ethiopia
Headline: South Sudan gunmen ‘kill 28’ in Ethiopia
South Sudanese gunmen killed 28 people and kidnapped 43 children in Ethiopia’s Gambella province, an Ethiopian official says. Men from the Murle community, who crossed into Ethiopia, are being blamed. Feuding communities on both sides of the border have been known to attack each other, often carrying away spoils. A similar incident last April prompted Ethiopia’s army to cross into South Sudan in a hunt for kidnapped children. The latest raids were carried out over two days – first on Sunday and then Monday – in Gambella’s Gog and Jol areas, which border South Sudan, Chol Chany, a spokesman for the Gambella region, is quoted by Reuters as saying. “Murle bandits carried out the attack. They fled along with 43 children,” Mr Chany said. Last year’s incidents in which 100 Ethiopian children were kidnapped was also blamed on members of the Murle community.
March 15, 2017
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-39281590
Sudan
Headline: UN Report: Rights Violations, Fighting Spike in South Sudan
In a new report presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council, a top U.N. official warned that conditions in South Sudan have gone from bad to worse in the last few months, and urged the council to launch a new investigation into potential human rights violations. Yasmin Sooka, chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, also said a hybrid court, agreed to in a 2015 peace agreement, should be operational by the end of this year. During a regular session of the Human Rights Council Tuesday, Sooka told observers that unlawful arrests and detentions, torture, rape and killings have become the norm in South Sudan, the world’s youngest country. “What’s chilling is that they are occurring in many more parts of the country than before. Whole villages burnt to ashes, attacks on hospitals and churches, bodies dumped in rivers, allegations of young girls held as sexual slaves, women, young and old, gang raped and boys and men forcibly recruited,” Sooka said. The U.N. official is calling for an impartial and independent investigation to be launched by the United Nations to look into reports of crimes committed in South Sudan. Sooka said that unfortunately, impunity is the norm in South Sudan, so the mere knowledge that credible information is being gathered can act as a deterrent to future rights violations.
March 15, 2017
http://www.voanews.com/a/south-sudan-human-rights/3767739.html
Libya
Headline: Russia moving special forces into Libya
Headline: Russian elite units land on Egypt-Libya border
Headline: Libyan National Army liberates Ras Lanuf Oil Port: video
U.S., Egyptian and diplomatic sources say that Russia has apparently been moving special forces to an airbase in western Egypt near the border with Libya in recent days, according to a report by Reuters. The U.S. is concerned that such a Russian deployment may signify Russian support for Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar, who suffered a setback on March 3 when the Benghazi Defense Brigades (BDB) attacked oil ports controlled by his forces. U.S. officials claimed that their surveillance units had observed Russian special operations forces and unmanned aircraft at Sidi Barrani, which is about 100 km from the Egypt-Libya border. The apparent Russian deployments have not been previously reported. The Russian defense ministry did not respond to these claims on Monday and Egypt denied the presence of any Russian contingent on its soil. Mohamed Manfour, commander of the Benina air base near Benghazi in Libya, denied that Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) had received military assistance from the Russian state or from Russian military contractors, and said there were no Russian forces or bases in eastern Libya.
March 15, 2017
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/226649
http://debka.com/article/25963/Russian-elite-units-land-on-Egypt-Libya-border
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/libyan-national-army-liberates-ras-lanuf-oil-port-video/
Headline: Islamic State Expands Into North Africa
A new Islamic State affiliate is gaining strength in sub-Saharan Africa as part of efforts by the Syrian-based Islamist terror group to take over large parts of the continent. A relatively new group known as the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara has stepped up terrorist attacks in the swath of north Africa known as the Sahel. The Sahel is a semi-arid region that stretches from the western states of Mali and Nigeria, through Niger, Chad, and Sudan and into part of Ethiopia. ISIS-GS, as the group is identified in U.S. intelligence reports, was formed in 2015 from al Murabitun, an Islamist terror group once linked to al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Militants from Murabitun and a second AQIM splinter group called al Mulathamun Battalion founded ISIS-GS. According to a State Department security report, al Murabitun was “one of the more active militant groups in the Sahel” and carried out the November 2015 attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali that killed 20 people.
March 15, 2017
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/islamic-state-expands-north-africa/
Headline: Four suicide bombers kill two in northeast Nigeria’s Maiduguri
Four female teenage suicide bombers killed two people and injured 16 others in a residential area in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, a disaster agency spokesman said on Wednesday. The girls knocked on the door of a house and then detonated their devices, a representative of the state-run emergency service in Borno State said. The focus on individual homes is a new tactic. “Community leaders should create awareness among residents not to open their doors for anybody (if) they are not aware of the visit,” Borno police commissioner, Damian Chukwu, said. The blasts in the Muna Garage area, on the edge of the city worst hit by jihadist group Boko Haram’s eight year insurgency, occurred around 1:15 a.m (0015 GMT), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) spokesman Abdulkadir Ibrahim said. “Four female teenage suicide bombers and two other men died,” he said. The number of attacks or attempted attacks bearing the hallmarks of Boko Haram in crowded areas, such as markets and refugee camps, has escalated since the end of the rainy season in late 2016.
March 15, 2017
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN16M14J-OZATP
Headline: Ukraine announces economic blockade of rebel-held territory
Headline: Russia calls on Ukraine to end blockade of rebel-held region
Ukraine on Wednesday announced a transport blockade of rebel-held areas that is likely to cause serious economic disruption and could threaten a precarious cease-fire in the east of the country. “It will be in place until the occupiers return stolen Ukrainian industry to Ukrainian jurisdiction,” Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told the country’s national security council in Kiev. The move represents a dramatic U-turn by Poroshenko, who had previously tried to end a transport blockade on the rebel east imposed by nationalist groups. It shows the government’s vulnerability to radical forces, which have increasingly shaped the nation’s policy agenda. Many economic links have been preserved between separatist-controlled areas that are dominated by heavy industry, particularly coal mining and metallurgy, and government-held Ukraine despite a three-year conflict. But the new measures appeared to amount to a full-blown trade ban. All rail and road connections with the rebel-controlled mini-states will be cut from Wednesday, National Security and Defense Council head Oleksander Turchynov told reporters, the Tass news agency reported. The only exception to the new blockade will be for humanitarian deliveries by Ukrainian organizations, the United Nations and the Red Cross.
March 15, 2017
Headline: U.S. carrier joins South Korea drills, North Korea warns of ‘merciless’ strikes
As the USS Carl Vinson plowed through seas off South Korea on Tuesday, rival North Korea warned the United States of “merciless” attacks if the carrier infringes on its sovereignty or dignity during U.S.-South Korean drills. F-18 fighter jets took off from the flight deck of the nuclear-powered carrier in a dramatic display of U.S. firepower amid rising tension with the North, which has alarmed its neighbors with two nuclear tests and a series of missile launches since last year. “While this is a routine deployment for the Carl Vinson strike group, really the centerpiece for us … is this exercise we’re doing with the ROK navy called ‘Foal Eagle’,” Rear Admiral James W. Kilby, commander of the Carrier Strike Group 1, told reporters, referring to South Korea as the Republic of Korea. North Korea said the arrival of the U.S. strike group in the seas off the east of the Korean peninsula was part of a “reckless scheme” to attack it. “If they infringe on the DPRK’s sovereignty and dignity even a bit, its army will launch merciless ultra-precision strikes from ground, air, sea and underwater,” the North’s state news agency KCNA said.
March 14, 2017
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-usa-aircraft-carrier-north-idUSKBN16L0BD
Headline: Russian spy ship spotted back off US coast
The Russian spy ship first spotted off the Delaware coast last month is back. U.S. officials told Fox News on Wednesday that the Russian spy ship Victor Leonov has returned to waters off the East Coast of the United States after a brief stop for fuel and resupply in Havana last week. The ship was spotted by U.S. intelligence officers approximately 23 miles southeast of a U.S. Navy submarine base in Kings Bay, Ga., heading north, officials said. The Russian spy ship has remained in international waters, according to officials. U.S. territorial waters extend 12 nautical miles from shore. Prior to last month’s venture, the Russian spy ship last patrolled off the East Coast of the United States two years ago. The Victor Leonov departed from Russia’s northern fleet based in the Barents Sea near Norway in early January. At one point last month, the Russian spy ship ventured as far north as 30 miles off the coast of Connecticut, home to another U.S. Navy submarine base.
March 15, 2017
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/03/15/russian-spy-ship-spotted-back-off-us-coast.html
Headline: Fed raises rates amid signs of strengthening economy
Headline: China cuts U.S. treasury holding in January
The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday, launching into what investors expect to be a more rapid series of increases that will help ward off the threat of inflation but also raise costs for indebted American households. Fed officials voted nearly unanimously following a two-day policy meeting in Washington to raise the central bank’s key interest rate for overnight lending by a quarter point, from a range of 0.5 percent to 0.75 percent to a range of 0.75 percent to 1.0 percent. The Fed’s decision is meant to head off the prospect of rising inflation, which erodes savings and could destabilize the economy. But higher interest rates will also increase the payments made by Americans who borrow money to finance mortgages, auto loans and credit card purchases. It could also frustrate the ambitious goals of the Trump administration, including boosting growth rates to a pace not seen in years and reviving manufacturing and exports. Yellen said that she didn’t believe the Fed’s move to raise rates would be a point of conflict with the new administration, adding that the Fed would welcome policies from Congress and the administration that would boost productivity growth and raise the economy’s potential “speed limit.”
March 15, 2017
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-03/16/c_136132277.htm
Headline: Venezuela threatens to seize bakeries amid bread shortage
Venezuela’s government has threatened to seize control of bakeries that fail to implement regulations to combat bread shortages. President Nicolas Maduro said the government will expropriate industrial bakeries, which he blames for a “bread war” that has resulted in shortages of bread throughout the country. “They’re going to pay, I swear. Those responsible for the bread war are going to pay and they better not complain that it was a political persecution,” he said on Sunday, according to the BBC. He added “speculators who hide the bread from the people will face the weight of the law.” The government says that bread shortages are caused by bakers who use their allocated flour to bake pastries instead of baguettes or loaves of bread, resulting in long lines at bakeries. “Bakeries which do not follow [the rules] will be occupied by the government,” Vice President Tareck El Aissami said. The baker’s federation, Fevipan, said the shortage is a result of bakeries not receiving enough flour.
March 15, 2017
March 9, 2017 – Taiwan reports new bird flu cases
http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201703090031.aspx
March 11, 2017 – 40 dead sea turtles appeared in Uruguay so far in 2017
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.elobservador.com.uy%2Faparecieron-40-tortugas-marinas-muertas-lo-que-va-del-ano-n1042806&edit-text=&act=url
March 13, 2017 – H5N1, H5N6 Bird Flu Cases Detected in Viet Nam, over 4,000 birds killed
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultrynews/38303/h5n1-h5n6-bird-flu-cases-detected-in-viet-nam/
March 13, 2017 – Nepal reports severe H5N8 bird flu
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-birdflu-idUSKBN16K19X
March 14, 2017 – Thousands of dead fish found in a canal in Tainan, Taiwan
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fudn.com%2Fnews%2Fstory%2F3%2F2340986&edit-text=&act=url
March 14, 2017 – Thousands of dead fish appear in Lake Hafik Sivas, Turkey
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.denizhaber.com.tr%2Fhafik-golunun-buzlari-cozuldu-olu-baliklar-yuzeye-vurdu-haber-73204.htm&edit-text=&act=url
March 14, 2017 – Over 3,000 fish dead in Vasse estuary Australia
http://www.busseltonmail.com.au/story/4530193/vasse-estuary-lagoon-fish-kill-incident-closed/
March 14, 2017 – Poultry breeder Aviagen culls U.S. flock over bird flu fears
https://www.yahoo.com/news/alabama-reports-three-cases-bird-flu-poultry-144549400–finance.html
Headline: China arrests Christian missionaries for North Korea activities
Chinese authorities have detained two South Korean Christian pastors who were assisting North Korean refugees. The arrests come at a time when Beijing has not stopped placing selective sanctions against South Korean companies for a joint U.S.-South Korea decision to deploy the missile defense system THAAD on the peninsula. Pastor Peter Jung, who heads Justice for North Korea in Seoul, told Yonhap news agency Wednesday the two South Korean nationals were “protecting defectors” but were tracked down by Chinese police who promptly arrested the religious clerics and their families. The two pastors have been transferred to the Chinese city of Benxi in Liaoning Province, where they are to await a final decision while in custody. In February, Chinese authorities arrested four Christian missionaries near the North Korea border.
March 15, 2017
Headline: American workers hit 10-year high for drug use: survey
More than 70% of U.S. employers are dealing with the direct impact of prescription drug misuse in their workplaces, according to a new survey of more than 500 companies with 50 or more employees released by the National Safety Council, a nonprofit and nongovernmental agency promoting safety in the workplace. The survey, billed as the first of its kind in the U.S., also found that although a similar percentage of employers agree that prescription drug misuse is a disease that requires treatment, 65% feel it is a justifiable reason to fire an employee. The percentage of workers testing positive for illicit drugs such as cocaine, amphetamines and methamphetamines among the U.S. workforce increased to the largest percentage in a decade in 2015, according to a workplace urine drug test of more than 9.5 million tests of urine samples, among other tests, by Quest Diagnostics, a company that provides national clinical laboratory tests on potential and/or current employees. The positivity rate for 9.5 million urine drug tests in the U.S. workforce increased to 4% in 2015 versus 3.9% the year before. Drug poisonings, largely from opioid painkillers, in the last decade eclipsed car crashes as the leading cause of preventable death among adults. People addicted to drugs are buying them on the street, as they’re often cheap. People with a genuine need for pain medication leave drugs lying around where others have access to them, or they are simply sold.
March 15, 2017
http://nypost.com/2017/03/15/american-workers-hit-10-year-high-for-drug-use-survey/
All earthquakes are instantly posted to the ETRM Facebook page- you do not need to sign up; click the photo below to see the earthquake album
~click the photo to see ALL the maps of the large earthquakes for the current year~
Headline: What’s shaking? 
List & map of USGS Earthquakes~Click the shaking house~