“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring.”
(Luke 21:25)
Sea And The Waves Roaring

WND

HOW ADVERSITY MAKES US STRONGER

Exclusive: Greg Laurie asserts, Trials are like God's gym

Greg Laurie

Published July 7, 2017

I was never very athletic, but when I was a kid, I always wanted to be an athlete. That is probably because the girls on my high school campus liked athletes, especially the guys who were on the football team.

Although I’m not a real athlete, I know people who are, and they’re very committed. I read that the average Olympic athlete works out four hours a day, 310 days a year, for six years to compete for the gold. Now that is commitment.

In the New Testament book of Hebrews we read, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1 NKJV).

The word used for endurance in this verse is the Greek word hupomone. It is a word that means “perseverance,” “endurance,” “steadfastness,” or “staying power.” This is a steady determination to keep going, because sometimes in the race of life, it is difficult. You’re a little bit tired. Or maybe you’re really tired. Sometimes we start off with a burst of energy, but then we start slowing down. Some even abandon the race altogether.

Years ago I went out on a bike ride with my wife. She’s very good on road bikes, and I wanted to ride with her. For our first ride, we were going about 20 miles away. I was so full of energy that I passed everyone. I was well in the lead and thought, “This is so easy. Why do people say it’s hard?” But then we reached our destination. I was exhausted. It was so bad that one of the people in our group had to push me on my bike. That was humiliating. Sometimes we start with a great burst of energy, but we can’t finish. We need endurance.

Where do we get it? The answer is found in James 1: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (verses 2–4 NIV).

There’s that word hupomone again. The testing of your faith produces that strength, hupomone. It’s sort of like going to the gym. You tear your muscle down to build your muscle up. Sometimes someone might add more weight to whatever you’re lifting. You don’t think you can do it, but they say, “You can go higher. Lower your reps if you need to, but you can go higher.”

Then you find you can do it. And then you move up again. In the same way, God will put weights in our lives. We say, “I don’t want these weights. I don’t want this problem.” But if you want to be strong, then you will go through trials. When you go through trials, you get stronger.

When we are first introduced to Joseph in the Old Testament, he is a somewhat pampered young man. But then Joseph went through a lot of adversity, including being sold into slavery by his brothers and being sent to prison after a false accusation of rape. But when Joseph was in prison, iron entered his soul.

The writer of Hebrews continues, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (12:2 NKJV).

Athletes in the ancient Olympic games would compete for a laurel wreath from the emperor. The idea being conveyed in Hebrews 12:2 is that you’re running the last lap of the race, and you’re exhausted. You don’t feel like you can go another foot, but in the distance you can see the emperor standing there, holding the laurel leaves that will be placed on your head as you’re declared the winner.

That is why the apostle Paul said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7–8 NKJV).

We’re running this race for him. He is the one we seek to honor each and every day. So we don’t run this race of life for applause. We don’t do it for notoriety or fame. We do it so we can stand before Jesus one day and hear him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.”

So look to Jesus. Don’t look to circumstances. Don’t look to people, because people will disappoint. Press on. Trials are like God’s gym, where he makes us stronger.

Maybe you’re going through a hardship right now, and it makes no sense to you. You wish it would go away. But God is toughening you up. He’s giving you the steadfastness you will need, because he is getting you ready for something that is yet to come.

Corrie ten Boom once said, “If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you’ll be at rest!” She knew what she was talking about. She had been sent to a Nazi concentration camp for hiding Jewish people in her home during World War II. She lost her father and sister at Ravensbrück. Yet she kept her eyes on Jesus, and that kept her going. And it will keep us going as well.

You will start to fade in the race when you take your eyes off the Lord and put them on people, on the church, on circumstances, or on other things. Take your eyes off all that and look at Jesus. He will never fail you. He will never let you down. And he will keep you running in the race of life.

THE DAILY CALLER

Painting Of Jesus Investigated As A HATE Crime

Eric Owens

07.09.2017

Police on Long Island are investigating after someone hung a large painting of Jesus Christ on a fence at a mosque early Friday evening.

Investigators are treating the incident as a hate crime, reports NBC New York.

The painting is a crucifixion scene showing a largely silhouetted Jesus with his crown of thorns prominently featured. It appeared outside the Hillside Islamic Center in Nassau County, according to investigators.

An employee of the Hillside Islamic Center initially discovered the Jesus painting, reports CBS New York.

Surveillance camera captured video of a man placing the image on the fence, police say.

Mosque leaders told police that they are not offended by the imagery of Jesus Christ, according to News 12 Long Island.

This lack of offense has not stopped investigators from labeling the incident as a potential hate crime.

The New York branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), America’s largest Muslim civil rights group, issued a statement urging the person or group behind the painting to learn more about Muslim beliefs.

“Bias may have motivated this incident, but it could serve as a teaching moment for the perpetrator and for the community if it leads to greater understanding of the love Muslims have for Jesus, peace be upon him,” the CAIR statement said.

CAIR lists a handful of verses from the Quran which, CAIR says, demonstrate “the spiritual unity of the Abrahamic faiths.”

“The spiritual legacy of Jesus (peace be upon him) should be a unifying factor for Muslims and Christians, not a source of division or bigotry,” CAIR urged in the statement.

In 2009, CAIR was listed by the U.S. government as an unindicted co-conspirator in a scheme that provided funding to the terror group Hamas.

***

CBN NEWS

'I Carry the Presence of God with Me': Action Star Lives His Faith

Efrem Graham

07.03.2017

Worldwide box office numbers for Transformers: The Last Knight are climbing to more than $600 million. The film's popularity is helping to make actor Remi Adeleke a household name, along with his personal transformation story.

In an interview with The Gospel Herald, Adeleke said, "I try to be a light wherever I go. I try to be aware that I carry the presence of God with me. Whatever's going on around me, I walk in obedience to God; I try to be obedient and stay in prayer and the Word of God. No matter what your situation, no matter what obstacles you face, trust God."

Filmmaker Michael Bay's casting of Adeleke in the latest installment of the Transformers franchise is a breakout role for the former Navy SEAL, who recently shared his powerful faith journey in a compelling I Am Second White Chair Film.

It was Bay's 1995 film, Bad Boys that attracted Adeleke to the Navy's elite team. In fact, Adeleke credits God and the work of the filmmaker with helping to radically change his life.

Remi lived a privileged life in West Africa until the age of 5 when his father died and the Nigerian government seized his family's assets; that loss eventually forced him and his mom to flee to New York City.

Life was not easy.

Remi recalled, "Ever since I was young I always wanted to control things. When I would want something – if I had to, I would run through walls to get it…It's hard for me to trust people…It's hard for me to trust something outside of myself."

Remi fell in with the wrong crowd.

"Living in the Bronx in the 90's, I got involved in some pretty bad activities," he told The Gospel Herald.

"I was stealing from jobs, running scams, selling drugs, hanging out with a rough crowd. By the time I was 19, I had a ton of money from the stuff I was doing. I had it all in my eyes."

He spent years with no direction, until he felt that he heard the voice of God telling him to join the military. He also remembered the elite team he watched in Bay's film.

He joined the Navy and became a SEAL. That's an honor only about 15-20 percent of trainees achieve.

In his 13 years on active duty, Remi found his faith and eventually became a youth pastor and motivational speaker.

"When God starts something, He's been faithful to complete it - no matter what obstacles I've faced," Remi said.

"Throughout my life, God has shown He had a plan, and His plan is way better than my plan. God may not give us what we want all the time, but He will always give us what we need."

Remi's new acting career is another God-inspired path. It has also united him with filmmaker Michael Bay, whose work he admired from a distance more than 20 years ago.

Beyond his big screen work, Remi is a husband, father of two, and a passionate follower of Christ.

***

RT

‘Spiritual abuse’: Church of England votes to ban gay conversion therapy

9 July, 2017

Conversion therapy, the practice of trying to change someone’s sexuality through spiritual counseling, should be

outlawed in the UK, according to the Church of England.

The General Synod, the church’s governing body, was initially asked to back a motion condemning the practice as “unethical and harmful.”

However, after an emotional debate the members voted overwhelmingly to demand a ban, Church Times reports.

The motion was proposed by Jayne Ozanne, who suffered from depression and had a mental breakdown after undergoing the therapy. In an accompanying note she said:

“Conversion therapy is condemned by professionals as being harmful to LGBT people as it is based on a misguided belief that being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender is wrong. This leads to increased mental health problems for LGBT community due to stigmatization.”

“[Conversion therapy] is a form of abuse from which vulnerable adults need protecting,” Ozanne said.

The motion was backed by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, who is the second most powerful figure in the church.

Sentamu said that a ban on the “theologically unsound” practice would enable him to sleep at night.

The bishop of Liverpool, Paul Bayes, said being LGBT was neither a crime nor a sin: “We don’t need to engage people in healing therapy if they are not sick.”

The final vote was 298 to 74, with 26 abstentions. The motion had the backing of all three houses of the synod: the bishops, clergy and laity. Church Times report that it will now fall to the church’s public affairs team to implement the motion.

A note from the church’s General Secretary William Nye defined conversion therapy as “the umbrella term for a type of talking therapy or activity which attempts to change sexual orientation or reduce attraction to others of the same sex.”

***

AP

2 Israeli policemen killed in shooting near Jerusalem shrine
By IAN DEITCH

Jul. 14, 2017 6:45 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AP) — Three Palestinian assailants opened fire on Israeli police from inside a major Jerusalem holy site Friday, killing two officers before being shot dead, police said.

The rare attack from within the contested shrine, revered by both Muslims and Jews, raised new concerns about an escalation of violence.

The sacred compound sits at the fault line of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and has triggered major confrontations in the past.

Israel closed the site, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount, for further weapons sweeps Friday.

The rare closure meant a cancellation of noon prayers, which typically draw tens of thousands of Muslims from Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank to the compound on Fridays.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly tried to allay Muslim fears, saying that the status quo at the Muslim-administered site "will be preserved."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reached out to Netanyahu in a rare phone call to discuss the situation in Jerusalem, highlighting the concern about a possible escalation, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA. The leaders have almost no direct contact.

Abbas condemned the attack and said he rejects "any violence from any party, particularly at holy sites."

Police identified the assailants as Arab citizens of Israel. Friday's shooting was the latest in a wave of Palestinian attacks that erupted in 2015, in part over tensions at the Jerusalem holy site.

Israeli police chief Roni Alsheikh said Friday that the weapons used in the attack had been brought into the holy compound.

The attackers opened fire on the Israeli officers from inside the site, he said.

In response, "a police force charged at the terrorists, killed two and wounded the third," he said. The wounded assailant used a knife to attack an officer checking him for explosives and was killed, the police chief said.

Alsheikh said such an attack is "without precedent" at the holy site and an "incident of the highest severity."

Amateur video broadcast on Israeli TV stations showed a few seconds of what appeared to be part of the chase in the compound.

In the video, several people — only visible as dark figures in the footage shot from a distance — were running inside the compound. A man who had dropped to the ground suddenly jumps up and lunges at one of the officers before he is shot.

The sacred compound, popular with tourists, is the holiest site in Judaism and the third-holiest in Islam, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

***

BREAKINGISRAELNEWS

Mummy DNA May Prove Ancient Egyptians Descended From Son of Noah Exactly as Bible Describes

By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz June 22, 2017

“Of these were the isles of the nations divided in their lands, every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.” Genesis 10:5 (The Israel Bible™)

An Egyptian sarcophagus from 400 BC shows Anubis, supervisor of the mummification process. (Wikimedia Commons)

In a scientific first, DNA taken from Egyptian mummies has been decoded, producing unexpected results about the true origins of the Egyptian people. These results confirm a controversial theory that traces the First Egyptian Dynasty back to Biblical Ham, as described in the Book of Genesis.

Scientists have long been baffled by the origins of the Egyptian people. Until now, there was no empirical data to clarify the issue. The study of Egypt’s population history could only draw on literary and indirect archaeological references, and inferences made from genetic studies of present-day Egyptians. Based on these sources, most researchers believed that ancient Egyptians came from nearby northern Africa. Egyptians today exhibit a significant sub-Saharan genetic influence.

This scientific belief long contradicted the Biblical account, which designates the forefather of Egypt as being Mizrayim, a son of Ham.

“Of these were the isles of the nations divided in their lands, every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations. And the sons of Ham: Cush, and Mizraim, and Put, and Canaan. Genesis 10:5-6

According to the Bible, Mizrayim settled in Egypt whereas Cush settled in Africa, establishing two distinct and separate nations that did not share a common heritage. The scientific theory implies the origins of Africa and Egypt were the same.

A recent study of the DNA of mummies, led by Johannes Krause of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, has shed some light on the subject, and his findings support the Biblical narrative.

Previous attempts to study the DNA of mummified remains were inconclusive. The hot climate of Egypt combined with the embalming process practiced by ancient Egyptians destroyed most DNA. For this study, researchers sampled 151 mummies from Abusir el-Meleq, about 60 miles south of Cairo. Their samples spanned 1,300 years of ancient Egyptian history, from about 1388 BCE to 426 CE.

The researchers were able to collect 90 samples of mitochondrial DNA and three samples of genomes, the total of an organism’s DNA. The surprising results showed that ancient Egyptians were more closely related to populations from the Near East and southwest Asia, and not from northern Africa as previously thought.

“In the ancient Egyptians, we don’t find much at all sub-Saharan African ancestry,” Krause told CBC News. “They look very Near Eastern and have almost zero sub-Saharan African ancestry.” This, Krause said, illustrates that ancient Egyptians were more closely related to Europeans than they are to modern-day Egyptians. The study revealed that the African influence on Egyptians is relatively recent, entering into the gene pool after Roman times.

These new findings fit in with the Dynastic Race Theory espoused by archaeologist David Rohl. Rohl’s theory is that the ancient Egyptians arrived over sea from Mesopotamia, conquered the Nile Valley, and established the first Egyptian dynasties. This is in direct contradiction to the previous theory that the first Egyptian rulers and much of the population arrived by a land route from Africa.

Rohl based this theory, which he explained in his book Legend – The Genesis of Civilisation, on the Biblical account of Ham, the son of Noah. According to Rohl’s theory, Ham and his people moved from Mesopotamia to settle in Egypt after the flood. Rohl explains that this is the basis for Horus, one of the most significant Egyptian deities, who was, in fact, Ham. The name ‘Horus’ means “the distant one”, implying that he came from far away.

To confirm his theory, Rohl led an expedition in 1988 into Wadi Hammamat, a dry river bed in Egypt’s Eastern Desert that is the main desert route from the Nile to the Red Sea. Rohl studied ancient wall carvings and drawings depicting boats that had been discovered fifty years earlier by archaeologist Hans Winkler. Over 100 of these carvings depicted long boats with as many as 70 oarsmen.

These images conformed to Rohl’s theory that a sudden period of cultural and technological development during the First Dynasty in Egypt was the result of an influx of Mesopotamian elite who arrived in Egypt by sailing around the coastline of the Arabian Peninsula into the Red Sea and ultimately dragging their boats across the desert to the Nile.

***

HAARETZ

UNESCO Recognizes Hebron, Tomb of the Patriarchs as Palestinian Heritage Sites

Israel and the U.S. waged intensive diplomatic efforts to thwart the Palestinian resolution; Israeli ministers accuse of UNESCO denying history and being anti-Semitic

Barak Ravid July 7, 2017

UNESCO voted Friday to recognize Hebron's Old City and the Tomb of the Patriarchs as Palestinian heritage sites.

Despite intensive diplomatic efforts waged in recent weeks, Israel and the United States failed to recruit the support of enough member states to vote down the move.

Twelve states on the World Heritage Committee voted in favor of the resolution and three voted against it.

The resolution that was proposed by the Palestinians includes two main clauses. The first asserts that Hebron's Old City and the Tomb of the Patriarchs are Palestinian heritage sites, and will be registered as such in UNESCO's World Heritage List. The second asserts that the two sites are to be recognized as being in danger, meaning that each year UNESCO's World Heritage Committee will convene to discuss their case.

Naftali Bennett, Israel's education minister and the chairman of the country's committee to UNESCO, condemned the decision, saying that the Jewish link to Hebron goes back thousands of years and won't be severed.

"It's disappointing and embarrassing to see UNESCO denying history and distorting reality time after time to knowingly serve those who try to wipe the Jewish state off the map," he said. "Israel won't renew cooperation with UNESCO as long as it continues to serve as a tool for political attacks instead of being a professional organization."

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman called UNESCO a "politically slanted organization, disgraceful and anti-Semitic, whose decisions are scandalous."

"No decision by this irrelevant organization will undermine our historic right over the Tomb of the Patriarchs, or our right over the country. I hope that with the help of our great friend the United States, this organization is defunded.

"The decision proves, once again, that the Palestinian Authority doesn't seek peace but rather seeks to incite against and slander Israel," he added.

A spokesperson for the Hebron settlers called the decision "ridiculous," "anti-Semitic" and "typical of UNESCO's bunch of ignoramuses who are consumed by hate."

The Palestinians hailed UNESCO’s vote, with the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs calling it “the only logical and correct decision.”

"Hebron is a city in the heart of the State of Palestine that hosts a site invaluable to world heritage and holy to billions of people around the world of the three monotheistic religions. Hebron’s Old City and holy site is under threat due to the irresponsible, illegal, and highly damaging actions of Israel, the occupying Power, which maintains a regime of separation and discrimination in the city based on ethnic background and religion.

"The State of Palestine will continue to defend and celebrate Palestine’s many important historic sites as part of world heritage and resist any attempt to hold Palestine or its history hostage to the agenda and actions of intolerance and exclusion.”

To pass, the resolution needed the support of two-thirds of the committee's voting members. The decision was taken by secret ballot after three states asked for one during Friday's meeting.

Israel and the United States have been pressing several members of the World Heritage Committee and UNESCO's secretariat for a secret ballot that would allow more countries, including an Arab state, to vote against the resolution or abstain from voting without paying a political price.

A shouting match broke out over the issue during Friday's meeting between Israeli Ambassador to UNESCO Carmel Shama Hacohen and the Palestinian and Lebanese envoys. The argument unfolded when Shama Hacohen learned that the vote would only be partially secret, meaning that while the states wouldn't be asked to reveal their choice, the voting wouldn't be conducted behind a screen.

Shama Hacohen accused the Polish envoy chairing the meeting of violating his commitment regardin the secret ballot. At one point, the Lebanese envoy demanded that Shama Hacohen be ejected from the meeting by security guards.

Ultimately, the partially secret ballot proceeded as planned, as 21 envoys cast their ballots into a box in the meeting room's center.

A senior Israeli diplomat said Friday that the Polish envoy who chaired the meeting had reneged on his promise of ensuring a secret vote. The lack of secrecy and presence of cameras had barred several states, include an Arab country, from voting against the resolution, the diplomat added.

***

FOX NEWS

Israel overrules its ambassador to Hungary on anti-Soros ads

By PABLO GORONDI Published: July 10, 2017

BUDAPEST, Hungary – A call by the Israeli ambassador to Hungary for an end to the billboard campaign against George Soros wasn't meant to "delegitimize" criticism of the Hungarian-American billionaire, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

The ministry's statement was in response to a Facebook post by Ambassador Yossi Amrani, who said the Hungarian government's billboards not only evoke "sad memories, but also sow hatred and fear."

The ministry said the "sole purpose" of the ambassador's statement was to express Israel's rejections of anti-Semitism and support "Jewish communities everywhere in confronting this hatred."

"In no way was the statement meant to delegitimize criticism of George Soros, who continuously undermines Israel's democratically elected governments by funding organizations that defame the Jewish state and seek to deny it the right to defend itself," the ministry said.

Soros, a liberal philanthropist who survived the Holocaust, supports groups that Israel's hawkish government views as unfairly harsh toward the Jewish state or favoring Palestinian viewpoints.

The ads, part of a campaign underscoring the government's anti-migration policies, show a smiling Soros, who is a supporter of migrants, along with the caption "Let's not let Soros have the last laugh."

They have been criticized for playing into anti-Semitic stereotypes, which has been denied by the Hungarian government.

Soros has become an increasing target of government criticism before the April 2018 election in Hungary.

Parliament recently passed legal amendments which could force the Budapest-based Central European University, founded by Soros in 1991, to leave the country or close. Stricter rules also have been adopted for civic groups, which get more than around $26,600 from abroad. Some of them, including advocates of asylum-seekers, are supported by Soros' Open Society Foundations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Hungary next week.

***

NOW THE END BEGINS

DARPA REVEALS $65 MILLION ‘MATRIX’ PROGRAM TO PLUG SOLDIERS BRAINS DIRECTLY INTO A COMPUTER

The goal is 'developing an implantable system able to provide precision communication between the brain and the digital world,' DARPA officials said. It has selected its five grant recipients for the Neural Engineering System Design (NESD) program, which it began at the start of this year. Brown University, Columbia University, The Seeing and Hearing Foundation, the John B. Pierce Laboratory, Paradromics Inc and the University of California, Berkeley will all receive multi-million dollar grants.

By Geoffrey Grider

July 10, 2017

THE US MILITARY HAS REVEALED $65M OF FUNDING FOR A ‘MATRIX’ PROGRAM TO DEVELOP A ‘BRAIN CHIP’ ALLOWING HUMANS TO SIMPLY PLUG INTO A COMPUTER. THEY SAY THE SYSTEM COULD GIVE SOLDIERS SUPER-SENSES AND EVEN HELP TREAT PEOPLE WITH BLINDNESS, PARALYSIS AND SPEECH DISORDERS

EDITOR’S NOTE: Conspiracy theorists have been talking about this for years, now in a bold move, DARPA drops the pretense and admits the existence of these secret programs designed to create an army of half-human, half-machine ‘super soldiers’ to fight in the their phony wars. Trans-humanism is real, and coming to a neighborhood near you very soon.

The goal is ‘developing an implantable system able to provide precision communication between the brain and the digital world,’ DARPA officials said. It has selected its five grant recipients for the Neural Engineering System Design (NESD) program, which it began at the start of this year.

Brown University, Columbia University, The Seeing and Hearing Foundation, the John B. Pierce Laboratory, Paradromics Inc and the University of California, Berkeley will all receive multi-million dollar grants.

‘These organizations have formed teams to develop the fundamental research and component technologies required to pursue the NESD vision of a high-resolution neural interface and integrate them to create and demonstrate working systems able to support potential future therapies for sensory restoration,’ official said.

Four of the teams will focus on vision and two will focus on aspects of hearing and speech.

The work has the potential to significantly advance scientists’ understanding of the neural underpinnings of vision, hearing, and speech and could eventually lead to new treatments for people living with sensory deficits.

THE SIX DARPA FUNDED MATRIX PROGRAMS:

• Brown University team led by Dr. Arto Nurmikko will seek to decode neural processing of speech, focusing on the tone and vocalization aspects of auditory perception. The team’s proposed interface would be composed of networks of up to 100,000 untethered, submillimeter-sized ‘neurograin’ sensors implanted onto or into the cerebral cortex. A separate RF unit worn or implanted as a flexible electronic patch would passively power the neurograins and serve as the hub for relaying data to and from an external command center that transcodes and processes neural and digital signals.

• Columbia University team led by Dr. Ken Shepard will study vision and aims to develop a non-penetrating bioelectric interface to the visual cortex. The team envisions layering over the cortex a single, flexible complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuit containing an integrated electrode array. A relay station transceiver worn on the head would wirelessly power and communicate with the implanted device.

• Fondation Voir et Entendre team led by Drs. Jose-Alain Sahel and Serge Picaud will study vision. The team aims to apply techniques from the field of optogenetics to enable communication between neurons in the visual cortex and a camera-based, high-definition artificial retina worn over the eyes, facilitated by a system of implanted electronics and micro-LED optical technology.

• John B. Pierce Laboratory team led by Dr. Vincent Pieribone will study vision. The team will pursue an interface system in which modified neurons capable of bioluminescence and responsive to optogenetic stimulation communicate with an all-optical prosthesis for the visual cortex.

• Paradromics, Inc., team led by Dr. Matthew Angle aims to create a high-data-rate cortical interface using large arrays of penetrating microwire electrodes for high-resolution recording and stimulation of neurons. As part of the NESD program, the team will seek to build an implantable device to support speech restoration. Paradromics’ microwire array technology exploits the reliability of traditional wire electrodes, but by bonding these wires to specialized CMOS electronics the team seeks to overcome the scalability and bandwidth limitations of previous approaches using wire electrodes.

• University of California, Berkeley, team led by Dr. Ehud Isacoff aims to develop a novel ‘light field’ holographic microscope that can detect and modulate the activity of up to a million neurons in the cerebral cortex. The team will attempt to create quantitative encoding models to predict the responses of neurons to external visual and tactile stimuli, and then apply those predictions to structure photo-stimulation patterns that elicit sensory percepts in the visual or somatosensory cortices, where the device could replace lost vision or serve as a brain-machine interface for control of an artificial limb.

‘THE NESD PROGRAM LOOKS AHEAD TO A FUTURE IN WHICH ADVANCED NEURAL DEVICES OFFER IMPROVED FIDELITY, RESOLUTION, AND PRECISION SENSORY INTERFACE FOR THERAPEUTIC APPLICATIONS,’ SAID PHILLIP ALVELDA, THE FOUNDING NESD PROGRAM MANAGER.

‘By increasing the capacity of advanced neural interfaces to engage more than one million neurons in parallel, NESD aims to enable rich two-way communication with the brain at a scale that will help deepen our understanding of that organ’s underlying biology, complexity, and function.

‘A million neurons represents a miniscule percentage of the 86 billion neurons in the human brain.

‘Its deeper complexities are going to remain a mystery for some time to come. But if we’re successful in delivering rich sensory signals directly to the brain, NESD will lay a broad foundation for new neurological therapies. ‘

The program’s first year will focus on making fundamental breakthroughs in hardware, software, and neuroscience, and testing those advances in animals and cultured cells.

Phase II of the program calls for ongoing basic studies, along with progress in miniaturization and integration, with attention to possible pathways to regulatory approval for human safety testing of newly developed devices.

As part of that effort, researchers will cooperate with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin exploration of issues such as long-term safety, privacy, information security, compatibility with other devices, and the numerous other aspects regulators consider as they evaluate potential applications of new technologies.

‘The goal is to achieve this communications link in a bio-compatible device no larger than one cubic centimeter in size, roughly the volume of two nickels stacked back to back,’ DARPA has said previously.

***

All News Pipeline

Prediction Made Nearly 30 Years Ago Coming True Before Our Eyes - With 'Chickens Coming Home To Roost', We May Be 'Counting Down The Minutes Until Everything Changes'

- 'This Could Very Well Be The Way They Try To Usher In Their One World Currency!'

By Stefan Stanford - All News Pipeline - Live Free Or Die
July 11, 2017

In this December 31st of 2014 story from CNBC they begin: "If the future plays out like BNY Mellon's chief economist expects, 2018 is going to be a year for the history books." Warning within their story that 2018 will be the year "a number of chickens come home to roost", they also reported then:
"I'm worried about 2018. I think by that time everything will all come due. We'll have wage inflation. The Fed will have to tighten hard," Richard Hoey told CNBC's "Squawk Box" "I'm not worried about 2015. I'm not worried about 2016, not too much about 2017. I think the bill comes due in 2018, but that's too far in the future to worry about now."
While 2018 must have seen like 'forever away' back in 2014, the year is now on our doorstep at only 174 days away as of this story writing and while we can see that some of "the chickens are coming home to roost", as we read in this new story over at Zero Hedge, 2018 could be the year everything changes according to a prediction made nearly 30 years ago by the 1%.

As ANP readers know, while we try to avoid at all costs putting future dates on 'possible events' that are out of control, the year 2018 was selected 30 years ago by 'elitist globalists' and their mouthpiece, The Economist Magazine, to be the year that a global currency came in to global usage as also heard in the 1st video below.
Showing on their January 9th of 1988 magazine cover the mythical 'Phoenix' rising from the ashes of burning paper currency including US dollars, they warned in their 1988 story of a coming "disruption to economic life" while titling their foreshadowing story: "Get Ready For The Phoenix".
What do the globalists know that we don't know? From their 1988 cover story:
THIRTY years from now, Americans, Japanese, Europeans, and people in many other rich countries, and some relatively poor ones will probably be paying for their shopping with the same currency. Prices will be quoted not in dollars, yen or D-marks but in, let's say, the phoenix. Te phoenix will be favoured by companies and shoppers because it will be more convenient than today's national currencies, which by then will seem a quaint cause of much disruption to economic life in the last twentieth century.

While some might call the 1988 Economist story 'fake news', the author of the ZH story emphasizes this:
Just to be clear: This is NOT fāke™ news. It is an article from The Economist published 29 years and six months ago, today.
We are counting down the minutes..

news.com.au

Australia headed for ‘economic armageddon’

February 18, 2017

AUSTRALIA is headed for an “economic Armageddon”, with record household debt, record foreign debt and a massive housing bubble creating a perfect storm that could “wipe out” millions of families if there is a global shock.

That is the apocalyptic warning of a former government economic advisor, who says the government needs to cut tax incentives such as negative gearing and welfare handouts and the RBA needs to increase interest rates in order to avoid a “devastating depression”.

Corporate governance specialist John Adams, who was an economics and policy advisor to Senator Arthur Sinodinos and management consultant to a big four accounting firm, believes he has found seven disturbing signs that the global economy is primed for a major fall.

Worse still, Australia is particularly vulnerable because of significant structural imbalances, including record levels of household debt not seen since the lead up to the last great depression in the 1920s.

“Australians should be concerned over the state of both the Australian and global economy,” Mr Adams told news.com.au.

“The data clearly demonstrates that there are significant structural economic imbalances in the Australian economy. Significant expansion of the broad money supply and record low interest rates by the Reserve Bank of Australia as well as generous tax incentives and welfare provisions by the Federal Government have led Australians to amass record levels of personal debt which have fuelled the creation of asset bubbles, particularly in housing.

“Millions of Australians are not only doing it tough through significant cost of living and debt serving pressures, but are at significant risk of being financially wiped out if an unanticipated adverse international economic shock were to hit Australia such as a new global financial crisis.”

Mr Adams called on the RBA to take pre-emptive action by raising interest rates and said the government needed to rein in tax breaks like negative gearing as well as welfare payments.

This, he admitted, would result in “a mild controlled economic recession” but would stave off “uncontrolled devastating depression”.

Zero Hedge

MEANWHILE IN VENEZUELA, THE REAL MAD MAX EMERGES

Bikers chase, bomb sugar truck to steal payload

JULY 12, 2017

While Silicon Valley seems obsessed by ‘blood boys’, its another part of the world that appears to have gone full Mad Max. As the following clip shows a gang of bikers chase down and attack a truck (with molotov cocktails) to steal its sugar payload…

Not quite the “Guzzoline” or “Bullets” that Fury Road offers, but when all you have to eat is flamingoes or black stallions, sugar may be a good substitute worth risking your life over…

With each passing week, the situation in Venezuela keeps on getting worse.

Not quite the socialist utopia that Bernie Sanders longed for? Or more pointedly – this is exactly the dystopia one can expect from such policies of ‘redistribution’ and central planning.

***

HAL Turner Show (Edited from longer article. Ed)

U.S. National News

Entire Volcano in California is "Moving" - Quakes May Signal Trouble

When people think of California, they may think of Earthquakes. Most folks don't even know there are volcanoes there, but there are. At least two: Lassen Peak and the much larger Long Valley Caldera near Mammoth Lakes.

In 1915, Lassen Peak erupted and wrecked a huge portion of the state. Over the last 100 days, the much larger Long Valley Caldera has begun acting-up. And what it's doing has Geologists at the US Geological Survey "concerned." The Caldera - the mouth of the Volcano - is . . . . moving.

According to scientific instruments monitored by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) the area in vicinity of the Long Valley caldera is deforming and moving rapidly compared to previous records. How sure are they? "95% (confidence interval), the (data) ensemble is significant"
The data is showing on a recent timespan that the amount of movement is causing STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT STRAIN in the rock in the area. This is not conspiracy-theorist conjecture or amateur geology antics, this is from the USGS itself.

OK, so what does this mean? Well, judging by the deformation directions and rates: the magma plume is subsiding over the previous caldera and rising just south of it, where earthquakes are swarming now. The entire thing is tilting away from the mountains, with the northern edge of the old caldera sinking and the southern edge moving north, as if pushed by some force in the swarm region.
Doesn't look good.

Here's how the USGS puts it:

Increased volcanic unrest (including earthquake swarms, ground deformation, and CO2 gas emissions) in the Long Valley area since 1980 increases the chance of an eruption occurring in the near future, but scientists still lack adequate data to reliably calculate by how much. Volcanic unrest in some other large volcanic systems has persisted for decades or even centuries without leading to an eruption. But since volcanic unrest can escalate to an eruption quickly--in a few weeks, days, or less--USGS scientists are monitoring the activity closely.

For those of you who might not quite comprehend this, let me put it another way:

Out of nowhere, the mountain started moving several times faster than it's ever moved before, in a direction it isn't supposed to be moving, while shaking like a leaf and belching poison gas.

There, that should be clear enough for just about anyone!

***

Daylight - Sunlight

Day one - “And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided between the light and the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night, and there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” Genesis 1:3-5

Day four - “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, to divide between day and night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years. And let them be for light in the firmament of the heaven, so as to shine upon the earth, and it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light for regulating the day and the lesser light for regulating the night, the stars also. And God placed them in the firmament of the heaven, so as to shine upon the earth, and to regulate day and night, and to divide between the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.” Genesis 1:14-19

Trillion Ton Iceberg Breaks Loose

DAILY STAR

Creepy SKULL face appears in huge plume of smoke billowing from volcano

HUGE plumes of smoke billowing from a volcano became even more fearsome after a skull face appeared in the cloud.

By Rory McKeown

Published 13 July, 2017

The creepy vision appeared in thick smoke from the wildfire spreading across the slopes of Mount Vesuvius near Naples, southern Italy.

The photo was taken by Rosario Scotto di Minico and has gone viral today.

Tourists have been forced to flee the holiday hotspot as the massive blaze rages on.

CREEPY: The skull appeared in smoke from Mount Vesuvius

Incredible video footage taken yesterday showed the intensity of the fire.

Mount Vesuvius is a dormant volcano and many feared it had erupted.

Italy’s civil protection agency responded by sending helicopters to fires across the region as the country experiences a heatwave.

It’s not the first time a face has appeared in clouds.

Last November a photo appeared of what looked like an alien rising from the Popocatepetl volcanoin Mexico.

***

SPUTNIK

Daesh Confirms Death of Group Leader al-Baghdadi

11.07.2017

Daesh terrorists confirmed the group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead, Al Sumaria TV channel reports citing a source in the Iraqi province of Nineveh.

According to the source, Daesh terrorists issued a brief statement in which they reported the death of their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as well as the name of the "new Caliph."

On June 16, the Russian Defense Ministry said al-Baghdadi was likely eliminated as a result of a Russian Aerospace Forces strike on a militant command post in the southern suburb of the city of Raqqa in late May. It noted that it was in the process of confirming the information through various channels.

On June 23, US Operation Inherent Resolve Col. Ryan Dillon said that the US has no conclusive evidence to believe that Baghdadi was killed in Russian airstrikes. However, the US "certainly would welcome the death of al-Baghdadi, but we do not have any definitive proof to lead us believe that this is accurate," he added.

On June 29, Russian lawmaker Alexei Pushkov told Sputnik that the information of the Russian side the probability of al-Baghdadi's death is about 100 percent. The lawmaker noted that information received from different sources indicated that there was a power struggle within Daesh for its top position, which serves as signal that al-Baghdadi is dead.

Al-Baghdadi appeared in the media for the first time in 2014 when he declared the creation of a caliphate in the Middle East. Since then, the media have reported several times about the death of the Daesh leader, though the information has never been confirmed.

***

PRESSTV

Iraqi government forces fully recapture Mosul’s Old City

July 8 2017

Iraqi government forces have wrested complete control over the Old City of Mosul, which served as the last bastion of Daesh Takfiri terrorists in the Arab country’s second largest city.

The spokesman for the Iraqi Joint Operations Command, Brigadier General Yahia Rasoul, announced on Saturday that army troops had regained control over the strategic area, where Daesh leader Ibrahim al-Samarrai aka Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the extremists’ self-styled “caliphate” back in July 2014.

The media bureau of the Iraqi Defense Ministry also stated that government forces had killed 35 Daesh members and wounded six others while they were sneaking from the western flank of Mosul into the eastern side.

It noted that Federal Police forces finished their combat missions in the Old City by retaking Nujaifi Street as well as al-Toub and Souk al-Sagha neighborhoods, which had all previously been marked as the last pockets remaining in Daesh’s grip.

Iraqi forces advance in the Old City of Mosul on July 7, 2017, during the government forces' offensive to retake the city from Daesh terrorists. (Photo by AFP)

Iraqi army soldiers and volunteer fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units, commonly known by their Arabic name, Hashd al-Sha’abi, have made sweeping gains against Daesh since launching the Mosul operation on October 17, 2016.

The Iraqi forces took control of eastern Mosul in January after 100 days of fighting, and launched the battle in the west on February 19.

An estimated 862,000 people have been displaced from Mosul ever since the battle to retake the city began nine months ago. A total of 195,000 civilians have also returned, mainly to the liberated areas of eastern Mosul.

Daesh chief judge, 11 terrorists killed in airstrikes west of Mosul

Meanwhile, a local source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Arabic-language al-Sumaria television network that a dozen Daesh terrorists died in three Iraqi Air Force strikes that targeted their convoy in the city of Tal Afar, located 63 kilometers west of Mosul.

Daesh burns self-proclaimed Diyala governor to death

Separately, the Daesh terror group has reportedly burned its self-proclaimed Diyala governor to death on charges of dereliction of duty.

A local source, requesting anonymity, said the top-ranked extremist was killed in al-Hawijah district, situated 45 kilometers west of the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk on Friday.

***

WND

IRAQI VICTORY IN MOSUL FEARED TO BRING ON ISIS' 'PHASE 3'

Islamic war on world will 'metastasize,' analyst worries

GREG COROMBOS

July 11, 2017

A killing field in Mosul

The U.S. and other coalition partners are celebrating the defeat of ISIS in Mosul, Iraq, but a prominent national security expert says the victory is actually jump-starting the most dangerous part of the ISIS strategy and paving the way for Iranian domination of Iraq.

“The global coalition fighting ISIS congratulates Prime Minister al-Abadi and the Iraqi security forces on their historic victory against a brutal and evil enemy,” stated Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, commanding general of Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve.

“Make no mistake; this victory alone does not eliminate ISIS and there is still a tough fight ahead. But the loss of one of its twin capitals and a jewel of their so-called caliphate is a decisive blow,” he added.

On Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi went to Mosul to declare victory in the eight-month-long battle to take back Iraq’s second-largest city from the Sunni radicals. The win comes just three years after Iraqi forces humiliated themselves by throwing down their weapons and taking off their uniforms as ISIS advanced.

Retired U.S. Navy Captain Chuck Nash says U.S. involvement played a key role.

“The United States has been back in there. We’ve been training. I know some of the Special Forces people who have been over there and did a fantastic job. Now they’ve got some good, solid leadership in the junior officer and middle ranks and they’re still working on some of the senior ranks,” said Nash.

But as ISIS rapidly loses control of territory in Iraq and Syria, including of the supposed capital of the caliphate, Nash says the West is about to see the evolution of the group that presents the most danger.

“It’s a big deal. That’s going to hurt their recruiting efforts somewhat, but what they’re doing is going into ISIS phase three,” said Nash.

He says the first phase was to build up troops from the former al-Qaida in Iraq into a large fighting force and the second phase was to expand the territory of the caliphate. Now that those gains are being quickly rolled back, Nash suspects there will be more from ISIS.

“Phase three is, ‘What happens when we lose that ground? How do we reinvent ourselves?’ What’s happening is they’re sending hundreds of these foreign fighters back to their countries of origin and the countries of origin are taking them in. So they’re going to metastasize this,” said Nash.

As horrific as the ISIS control over parts of Iraq and Syria have been, Nash says coalition members knew where to find them and kill them. He says this dispersion strategy makes the job of free societies a lot harder.

“At one point, it was a cancer but it was a tumor, it was observable. We could see it growing, but it was localized. Now as they lose and they go into phase three, that cancer is going to metastasize,” said Nash.

He says that means Islamic radicals are going back to their home counties, and the leaders of those countries are rolling out the red carpet.

***

INDEPENDENT

Thousands gather in Istanbul to protest against Turkish President following 'justice march'

'If only there was no need for this march and there was democracy, media freedoms, if civic society groups could freely express their opinions'

Rachel Roberts

9 July, 2017

Thousands of people gathered in Istanbul to conclude an opposition-led 'march for justice' against the government REUTERS

Hundreds of thousands of people joined a rally in Istanbul at the end of a 25-day “march for justice” against the government of the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The opposition Republican People’s Party leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, led the 280-mile walk from Ankara to Istanbul after his deputy leader was imprisoned in June.

Mr Erdogan has spearheaded a large-scale government crackdown against opponents in the wake of a failed coup against him last summer, and was granted sweeping new powers following a controversial referendum in April.

“If only there was no need for this march and there was democracy, media freedoms, if civic society groups could freely express their opinions,” Mr Kilicdaroglu said.

The opposition leader was once seen as weak but has emerged as the voice of many Turks, even prompting comparisons to Mahatma Gandhi, who led peaceful protests against British rule in India.

Mr Kilicdaroglu told Reuters his three-week march had helped Turks “cast off a shirt of fear” since emergency rule was imposed after the coup attempt.

The 68-year-old attracted relatively modest support in the early stages of his march, but numbers swelled in the final days, with hundreds of thousands carrying banners and the Turkish flag as they demanded “rights, law, justice”.

The government has accused Mr Kilicdaroglu of supporting terrorist groups with his protest and violating the law by attempting to influence the judiciary.

Mr Erdogan claims to be cracking down against those who support militant organisations, but the government definition of what constitutes backing terrorism is so broad it has led to the arrest of thousands of civil servants, journalists, campaigners and other workers.

Parliamentarian Enis Berberoglu was sentenced last month to 25 years in prison for revealing state secrets after he allegedly leaked documents to an opposition newspaper suggesting the Turkish government had armed jihadists in Syria. A journalist by profession, the opposition party's deputy leader has long been a thorn in Mr Erdogan's side.

In a New York Times article on Friday, Mr Kilicdaroglu called the case against Mr Berberoglu “the last straw in a series of anti-democratic moves” by the government “targeting tens of thousands of Turkish citizens - politicians, journalists, academics, activists or ordinary citizens”.

After last year's aborted coup, the government imposed a state of emergency leading to the arrest of more than 50,000 people and the dismissal of 100,000 civil servants. A dozen legislators from a pro-Kurdish opposition party have also been jailed.

Among the marchers were ordinary citizens, sacked public employees and several high-profile figures, including novelist Asli Erdogan and leading Kurdish politician Ahmet Turk, both released from prison pending trial on various terror-related charges, and Yonca Sik, the wife of a prominent journalist currently in jail.

The detention of human rights activists and leading journalists has drawn international condemnation and damaged the country’s bid to join the European Union.

Organisers said the protest expressed “a collective, non-partisan desire for an independent and fair judicial system”. No party flags or slogans were allowed on the march.

Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin said 15,000 police officers were providing security at the post-march rally, according to state news agency Anadolu.

***

PRESSTV

Germany starts pulling out troops from Turkish base

July 9, 2017

German defense authorities have finally ordered the start of withdrawal of troops from a base in southern Turkey after the two countries failed to settle disputes on how Berlin could access the base.

A German defense ministry spokesman said Sunday that the pull-out had begun earlier in the day, adding that a German air tanker refueller left Incirlik for a new air base in Jordan.

The official said that German tornado jets were scheduled to be deployed in the Jordanian base by October. He said the jets were due to keep operating out of Incirlik at least until the end of July as Germany continues to contribute to an alleged military fight against Daesh in Iraq and Syria, an operation which is led by the United States. German authorities would move the necessary material to Jordan in the meantime, the official added.

The Turkish government confirmed that the withdrawal of German troops had began, with an official saying Germany's defense minister had informed her Turkish counterpart about the day the action could start at a recent summit of NATO alliance in Brussels.

The German parliament approved the pull-out of troops from Turkey last month after Turkey refused to allow Germany lawmakers to visit German military personnel at Incirlik.

Turkey and Germany have been locked in a number of diplomatic disputes, including Turkey’s way of handling the aftermaths of a failed coup in July last year, which has sparked massive criticism in Germany.

Turkey’s refusal to grant access to German lawmakers came after Berlin blocked visits and speeches by senior Turkish officials to members of Turkish diaspora in Germany ahead of an April referendum in Turkey. Turkey is also critical of Germany over the country’s alleged support for suspected coup plotters and outlawed Kurdish militants.

***

PRESSTV

Egypt can't bar Qatari ships from passing though Suez waterway: Canal boss

July 7, 2017

A cargo ship is seen crossing through the Suez Canal, Ismailia, Egypt, July 25, 2015. (Photo by Reuters)

The Suez Canal Authority says Egypt cannot bar Qatari ships from crossing the vital waterway, although the North African country, along with Saudi Arabia and its allies, has severed ties with Qatar.

Suez Canal Authority Chairman Mohab Mamish made the remarks in a statement on Friday, adding that the authority is abiding by the Egyptian government’s decision to cut relations with Qatar, but international treaties prevent Cairo from blocking the waterway to Qatari vessels.

However, he asserted that Qatari ships would be barred from using Egyptian ports and the canal’s economic zone.

The artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt – one of the world’s busiest water corridors through which about 10 percent of the world’s trade flows – connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez. The 193-kilometer waterway, which allows ships to avoid sailing around Africa, is one of Egypt’s top foreign currency earners.

Egypt, along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), severed ties with Qatar on June 5, officially accusing Doha of supporting "terrorism" and destabilizing the Middle East, allegations that Qatar says are unjustified and stem from false claims and assumptions.

In their apparent bid to win more support from the US and Israel, the Arab countries have suspended all land, air and sea traffic with Qatar, expelled its diplomats and ordered Qatari citizens to leave their countries.

The four Arab states, dubbed as siege countries, later wanted Qatar to abide by a 13-point demand list if it wanted the crippling blockade to be lifted. The defiant Doha government has strongly rejected the so-called demands, calling them "unrealistic, unreasonable and unacceptable."

Earlier in the day, the four countries issued two statements, one in Cairo and one in Jeddah, saying the Qatari leaders’ refusal to abide by the demands “reflects the extent to which they are linked to terrorism and its continued attempt to sabotage, undermine security and stability.” The statement also threatened Doha with further sanctions.

Qatar, according to a statement attributed to a senior Foreign Ministry source, expressed regret over the contents of the statements, which it said included “false accusations” against Doha.

Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson started his Middle East tour to meet senior representatives from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait, a key mediator from the beginning of the row, in a bid to heal the unprecedented rift between the Arab countries.

Johnson, who met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud and UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Friday, plans to travel to Qatar and Kuwait in the coming days.

New Eastern Outlook

The Unspeakable Crime Of Viktor Orban

Authored by F. William Engdahl

Some people seem like they never learn how to play the game. At the top of the list in the European Union these days is Hungary and her stubborn Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán. He just doesn’t seem to get it. He doesn’t understand that it’s not “European” to defend the sovereign rights of your citizens and your nation. No matter how the EU faceless technocrats hovering around the dubious Luxembourg EU President Jean-Claude Juncker try to educate Orbán and his government, he doesn’t seem to get it.

The past year has been a tough one for the Brussels’ EU political correctness Supremos. First Mr Orbán insisted on going through with a national referendum. How anti-European! Letting citizens vote on issues affecting their lives in their own countries! What a dangerous idea if that ever spreads. Next thing you know women might demand genuine equality and to be taken seriously as human beings. Horror!

Last October 2016 Viktor Orbán’s government organized a referendum vote on whether to let the faceless, unelected EU Commission of President Jean-Claude Juncker (or his successors) dictate the number of refugees from North Africa and the Middle East Hungary would be forced to welcome, including to pay for and more. The Hungarian voters voted with over a whopping 98% in agreement with their Prime Minister that Brussels should have no such right.

In matter of fact it was Germany and France in September 2015 who convinced EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to turn to using a “qualified majority” vote, a sly way under the EU Lisbon Treaty to ram through decisions of the more powerful states against the smaller EU member wishes. Instead of the EU practice of using unanimity to decide such sensitive matters as forced taking of refugees, Germany and France forced through a relocation plan for 120,000 refugees using a qualified majority vote in an area where it has no legal competence to act according to EU legal scholars.

Fortunately, Brussels could ignore the Hungarian referendum vote on a technicality that just under 50% of eligible voters voted. Soros-allied NGO’s and their allies in Hungary waged a massive boycott campaign before the vote. “Whew! That was a close call. Democracy almost caught us in the act.”

And just to be sure no one in the rest of the EU would get suspicious that some basic democratic rights were being trampled on in Hungary, the anti-nationalist mainstream EU media threw a relentless barrage of calumny against Orbán for even daring to ask a popular vote.

University Transparency?

Next, that irascible troublemaker Orbán and his Education Ministry introduced a law that passed Hungary’s Parliament requiring Hungarian universities granting degrees in more than one country actually establish campuses in each and every country. The glaring offender was the Budapest Central European University (CEU). That curious institution was founded in 1991 just after the fall of communism by financial speculator and NGO fake democracy funder supreme, George Soros, in the post-communist chaos of Europe.

The new Hungarian law also required among other things that employees of the Budapest Soros university obtain work permits, a practice normal in every western democracy. The Central European University claimed that for some reason that would “limit its ability to hire staff.” The CEU spokespeople did not say that that ability limiting aspect of the new law was because undercover CIA agents were reluctant to file for legal work permits in foreign countries of operation. Or is there some other reason that law would limit the ability of Soros Budapest university to hire staff? The Orbán government has also demanded that the university open a campus in America as it grants degrees in New York State but has no campus there, and that it teach courses accredited by Hungarian education authorities and no longer teach US-accredited courses. Soros managed apparently to finnagle accreditation of their degrees in both Hungary and in the USA, despite the fact there is no US campus.

Money from Soros’ Open Society NGO went to finance among other things courses and training at the Soros Budapest university in a “civil learning and innovation (sic) platform to help strengthen the fabric of civil society in Hungary.”

The Central European University also takes money, lots of it, from the CIA-connected US Government NGO called National Endowment for Democracy (NED) as well as from Soros’ foundations. One recent NED grant to the Soros Budapest university went for a project at the university for honing the “skills of young Romani activists and scholars and promote their engagement in public service…focusing on public policy and human rights.” Some say Soros’ Central Europen University course offering reads more like a hybrid from a Saul Alinsky Rules for Radicals handbook and a Gene Sharp Color Revolution manual on “non-violence as a weapon of warfare.”

Rules of the club?

That new Hungarian university law really caused Brussels bureaucrats like Super-Commissar Frans Timmermans, the commission’s First Vice President, real heartburn before he was able to force Orbán to set aside the law after many threats to Orbán and his government. Timmermans, a former Dutch foreign minister who can never be faulted for erring on the side of democracy, remarked at the time, “The European Union is a project driven and designed by its member states.” He scolded Orbán, declaring that Hungary should remember she had signed on to “the rules of the club.”(sic)

EU Commission As Politburo

Yeah, Orbán, you thought joining the EU was joining a union of sovereign nation states engaged in principled dialogue? How naive can you be? It’s a club, and Brussels’ unelected Supremos like Juncker, and his seven Über-Commissars like Timmermans, will decide what’s good for you. “Them’s the rules of our club. Get it? I beg your pardon, Viktor Orbán, but we never promised you a rose garden, did we?”

Just to make clear that Brussels dictates ain’t about democracy and such silly old-fashioned notions, Juncker, on getting Angela Merkel’s definitely undemocratic nod to become EU President in 2014, created a new structure of seven Super-Commissioners or more appropriately, Super-Commissars. It resembles the old Soviet Politburo in most respects except that Brussels today is possibly a bit less democratic than Brezhnev’s Politburo.

Timmermans, technically First Vice-President under President Juncker, is Super-Commissar responsible for many portfolios including refugee or “migrant” policy as the EU euphemistically terms it.

The Juncker Super-Commissioners move the EU Commission even further away from any semblance of democracy. These Super Commissioners have the authority to control and frame other Commissioners’ activities including the right to veto any legislative proposal issued by their colleagues according to a fact book leaked from Soros’ Open Society Institutes.

Today the EU Commission is a power pyramid of unelected authority with President Juncker at the top and First Vice President Timmermans just beneath him. All other commissioners fall under their powers. This is something rarely discussed in public discussion in European mainstream media.

Now You Target NGOs?

The most recent Hungarian government slap in the face to Juncker and those God-fearing Commissars in Brussels and their pal George Soros is a new law the Orbán government proposed and the Hungarian Parliament approved on foreign-financed NGOs. Under the new law, any Hungarian NGO receiving more than €24,000 from foreign sources must make an annual declaration to the Hungarian government of precisely who the sources of their funds were. If an NGO refuses to divulge they risk being closed.

How vulgar! Now you can be sure that the myriad of Hungarian NGOs and assorted groups financed by the billions of dollars from Soros and his Washington NGO friends such as National Endowment for Democracy are not happy with even this mild new law. Perhaps they have something to hide from the Hungarian government? Who knows? Immediately the German Foreign Ministry, certainly no foe of Mr. Soros, issued a statement condemning the Hungarian NGO law. Foreign Minister spokesman Martin Schaefer said the new Hungarian law on NGOs puts it in the company of such countries as Russia and China which consider “financing NGOs from abroad as a hostile act.”

No one bothers to mention the fact that the United States has something called the Foreign Agents Registration Act requiring that agents representing the interests of foreign powers in a “political or quasi-political capacity” disclose their relationship with the foreign government and information about related activities and finances.

EU Makes Stupid Blunder

Taking what the Brussels EU Commissars clearly regard as the insufferable insolence of Orbán and the Hungarians against the Brussels attempt at absolute power over member country internal affairs, the EU decided to take the extraordinary act of launching “infringement procedures” against Hungary’s government. If the EU court finds Hungary guilty it could demand fines and other sanctions. Until now the EU Commission has never sanctioned an EU member state. A try of sanctions in 2000 against Austria for allowing members of Jörg Haider’s Austrian Freedom Party, FPÖ, into a coalition government were quickly dropped owing to huge anti-EU opposition.

For good measure, the EU court filing also included Poland and the Czech Republic who also steadfastly refuse to take the Brussels mandated refugees from Italy and Greece.

The EU Commission legal attack followed a May 17 vote of the EU Parliament–another bizarre not-democratic body if ever there was one. The EU Parliament, citing Hungary’s refusal on refugees as well as her new law on NGOs and the law on the Soros University, demanded that the EU trigger Article 7.1 of the EU Treaty that allows Brussels to determine if a member state has breached the EU “values” and whether it should be punished, including suspension of voting rights within the EU.

The Brussels legal attack on Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic will likely blow up in their face and accelerate the further dissolution of the obviously ill-conceived European Union. At the very least it forges unity of those under attack and stiffens resistance to a clearly autocratic EU bureaucracy and power patriarchy.

It‘s becoming crystal clear to more and more European citizens that the monster that is Brussels today does not represent the true interests of EU citizens. The unspeakable crime of V. Orbán is his insistence on acting in the interests of his citizens not to the self-declared arrogant unelected Commissars in Brussels.

SPUTNIK

China Finishes Construction of World's Longest, Deepest Underwater Car Tunnel

07.07.2017

World's longest and deepest underwater tunnel has been constructed in China as part of the project to connect Chinese cities of Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai, local media reported Friday.

BEIJING (Sputnik) – The tunnel stretches for 6.7 kilometers (4 miles) and is located 40 meters (131 feet) deeper than the bottom of the sea, the CCTV broadcaster reported.

The project includes also construction of a 22.9 kilometer long bridge and two artificial islands.

After the implementation of the project the travel time will be shortened from three hours to 30 minutes.

The project's implementation officially began in December 2009 with the road expected to open in December 2017.

***

NaturalBlaze

France Makes Vaccines Mandatory In 2018

POSTED ON July 7, 2017

By Brandon Turbeville

Europe’s banana republic is at it again after being given a scare by Germany and Italy, France is making sure that it takes the lead as the most authoritarian communo-fascist country in Europe.

This is because a new French law will force all parents to vaccinate their children in 2018.

According to Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, all vaccines that are universally recommended by health authorities will be compulsory by law. These vaccines are 11 in total.

With a whole host of “services” that became “officials” and are now “authorities” it is no difficult task for the French government to monitor who is vaccinated and who is not.

Thankfully, for the French government, the country already has a robust police state completely unconcerned with individual rights so enforcing the law will be relatively simple.

While French officials are blaming the anti-vax movement for measles deaths in France, they are noticeably silent on the fact that France is coming apart at the seams. An economy on life support, an immigration crisis and tanking living standards are all contributing to lower quality of life and greater social unrest, two things that contribute to increased spread of disease.

Still, despite the fact that France is largely a failed state, it has plenty of money for bombing. With all of this in mind we can only imagine that many Frenchmen are wondering how much better off the country would be if the French government would put this much effort in to preventing terrorist attacks and putting their heads together to prevent a situation that is ripe for such attacks to take place.

By now, France should consider a national motto that truly embodies the country. Whether it comes to vaccines or terrorist attacks, billboards all over the country should read: France…Come for the baguettes, stay because someone killed you.

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Dr. Axe

Stevia Kills Lyme Disease Better Than Standard Antibiotics, Study Says

Stevia kills Lyme disease? While it sounds too good to be true, there is legitimate evidence suggesting a beneficial stevia side effect could include killing Borrelia burgdorferi, the pathogen responsible for Lyme disease. Here, we’ll dive in to the University of New Haven study that opened our eyes to the stevia herb’s possible Lyme-killing properties, what’s happened since that study’s release in 2015 and if it’s too soon to recommend stevia as a Lyme treatment in humans.

Lyme is a stealthy infection, commonly called “The Great Imitator” because its symptoms often mimic other ailments like thyroid disease, lupus, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia.

Complicating matters, most doctors’ offices rely on the ELISA test when Lyme is first suspected, even though some studies indicate the test misses up to 50 percent of Lyme cases. Most people never recall a tick bite or see Lyme’s telltale bull’s eye rash, either. Now, if you are a Lyme patient who actually is properly diagnosed, getting effective treatment is a challenge, too. According to the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society, no study has ever shown that a short course of antibiotics effectively treats the infection. (1)

Clearly, we need better options. A 2015 study published in the European Journal of Microbiology and Immunology suggests we may need to shift our focus from antibiotics to plant extracts. While more research is needed in humans, I think you’ll be encouraged by the latest findings.

Stevia Kills Lyme Disease: Study Details

Lyme disease symptoms sometimes don’t go away with standard two- to four-week treatment of doxycycline or amoxicillin. University of New Haven researchers may be on to something more plant-based, though. The team found that exposing B. burgdorferi to stevia leaf extract wiped out Lyme disease in its different forms. (Yes, we’re talking about the liquid sweetener, stevia, which is about 200 times sweeter than sugar.) Those different forms include B. burgdorferi spirochetes, spheroplast (L-form), round bodies and the notoriously hard-to-kill biofilm forms. If you haven’t caught on yet, Lyme is a complex pathogen.

But why so many forms? It’s for survival. We know Borrelia shift into a more dormant, “round body” state when unfavorable conditions in the body strike. This even includes when your body’s immune system starts to mount an attack. Other things that trigger the Lyme pathogen to go into a more dormant, defensive mode include:

• Antibiotic exposure

• Temperature changes

• High (or low) pH

• Starvation

• An attacking immune system

Some scientists say Lyme’s “biofilm” form is its most elusive. It’s in this form where the bacteria hide themselves in a complex mixture for protection against antibiotics. But the study found stevia leaf extract actually killed all forms of the Lyme germ, including its biofilm form.

It’s important to note that this was a lab study where scientists dealt with the bacteria in test tube and petri dish situations, so we need to follow up with studies in humans to see if stevia effectively kills Lyme in humans. In other words, we need clinical trials. (More on that later.)

Other important points of the stevia kills Lyme disease study: (2)

• Researchers used four types of stevia: three in liquid form derived from standard alcohol extraction and one powdered. The powdered stevia diluted in liquid did notshow promise in killing off Lyme, but the alcohol extracted stevia samples did.

• Stevia leaf extract outperformed individual drugs often used to treat Lyme disease (doxycycline, cefoperazone, daptomycin, and their combinations).

• Interestingly, a week after treatment, viable B. burgdorferi started to surface again in the antibiotic groups. This did not happen in the stevia group, which appeared to be a complete kill off after seven days.

• The biofilm associated with Lyme actually increased in size with individual antibiotic treatment. Not good!

Stevia Kills Lyme Disease: What’s Happening Now?

If stevia kills Lyme disease, can we officially translate that into stevia acting as medicine in the human body? We’re not at a stage where we can prescribe whole leaf, liquid stevia extract to treat Lyme disease, but that’s not to say you have to avoid it in your diet.

Stevia also boasts blood sugar balance, weight loss and even anticancer properties. (3, 4, 5) While the University of New Haven Lyme study focused on stevia in alcohol-extracted, liquid form, I like to enjoy it in green powder form, too, since that is how people in Japan and South American have used it for centuries as a plant-based sweetener that doesn’t spike blood sugar levels and as a medicinal plant.

Just remember, the overly processed, white powdered form used in the study is popular among shoppers today, but it didn’t show any Lyme-fighting effects. In fact, there’s an interesting backstory to the highly processed powder forms of stevia. That’s the only type the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will give the the “generally recognized as safe” stamp of approval to, despite the fact it’s chemically processed, contains genetically modified ingredients and only often contains minute traces of actual stevia. (6)

The whole leaf stevia extracted with alcohol are considered dietary supplements, so you should go over any medications you’re on to make sure there are no possible interactions.

Today, University of New Haven researchers are still investigating liquid stevia leaf extract’s impact on Lyme. According to the New Haven Register, professor Eva Sapi, Ph.D, and students performed confirmation studies after the 2015 study. Time and time again, stevia emerges as a Lyme fighter. She told the New Haven Register, “So far, we haven’t seen anything better,” including all the antibiotics most commonly used.

The article explains that Sapi dealt with Lyme herself and started testing all different types of sweeteners after hearing sugar may boost certain antibiotics. From her earliest experiments, liquid stevia extract jumped out as a possible Lyme fighter. Today, she’s waiting to learn the results of a clinical trial involving stevia and antibiotics in New York. (7)

Stevia Kills Lyme Disease: Final Thoughts

• Lyme disease is one of the fastest vector-borne diseases in the United States.

• Standard Lyme testing misses many cases of Lyme, and two- to four-week antibiotic treatments for those diagnosed are not always effective.

• Stevia harbors major antimicrobial activity. University of New Haven researchers found stevia leaf extracted with alcohol kills Lyme disease in all of its form, including the hard-to-kill biofilm form. These tests were done in a lab and need to be followed up with human studies, one of which is underway.

• The most highly processed form of stevia, the white powder form, did not kill Lyme disease, although this is the only for the FDA “generally recognizes as safe.”

• The stevia extracted with alcohol is considered a dietary supplement. Green leaf stevia powder is the most unadulterated form of stevia, although that wasn’t tested in the Lyme study.

• Stevia is in the ragweed family, so if you’re allergic to ragweed, you may want to avoid stevia.

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