PAKISTAN: Taliban Fighters Disguised As Police And Armed With Bombs And Grenades Have Broken 250 Prisoners Out Of A Pakistan Jail In A Brazen Overnight Operation :/

The Telegraph UK

Pakistan prison escape: 'IEDs were detonated all around the jail'

written by Staff

Tuesday July 30, 2013

Fighting continued into the early hours of Tuesday, with explosions and machine gunfire rattling the city of Dera Ismail Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near Pakistan's lawless tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.

The attack underlines the growing capabilities of the Pakistani branch of the Taliban, an offshoot of the Islamist insurgents of the same name in Afghanistan. The freed prisoners included dozens of top militants.

Dozens of gunmen launched the attack by blowing up the electricity line to the prison and detonating heavy explosions that breached the outer walls.

The militants then fought their way inside using rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, and calling the names of Taliban prisoners through loud speakers.

The audacity of the attack raises embarrassing questions over how well-prepared Pakistani security forces are following a series of high-profile attacks, and underscores the challenges facing Pakistan's new government in combating the militancy.

The Pakistani Taliban said they had sent a squad of 100 fighters and seven suicide bombers on a mission to free some of their top leaders, and they said they released 250 prisoners - a number roughly matched by local Pakistani authorities.

Mushtaq Jadoon, the town's civil commissioner, said the 253 escaped prisoners included 30 top militants and six people on death row. Those who escaped are believed to have been whisked away to the lawless tribal areas of South and North Waziristan.

The heavily guarded jail houses around 5,000 prisoners. Around 250 are Pakistani Taliban and members of banned sectarian groups such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni militant group that has killed hundreds of Shi'ite civilians this year.

AFGHANISTAN: Why A Dam In Afghanistan Might Set Back Peace; A $200 Million Dam Project Will Divert Water From Iran. Afghan Officials Say They Have No Plans To Negotiate Water Rights With Iran.

Christian Science Monitor

Why a dam in Afghanistan might set back peace

written by Scott Peterson, Staff writer

Tuesday July 30, 2013

Herat, Afghanistan - The water that grows western Afghanistan’s fresh produce, sprinkles its town parks with shade-giving trees, and slakes the thirst of war-weary Afghans, is becoming a point of tension with nearby Iran as a large dam under construction will constrict cross-border flow.

After nearly four decades of work, the Salma Dam – a $200 million project paid for and built by India, yet delayed by Afghanistan’s turbulent history of occupations, civil war, and insurgency – is slated to be finished by the end of 2014.

Afghan officials say they have no plans to negotiate water rights with Iran, although analysts and Western sources warn that lack of agreement could worsen Afghanistan’s already prickly ties with its Iranian neighbor.

“We have many projects in Afghanistan, and every project has its enemy. But unfortunately Salma Dam has three enemies,” says Fazl Ahmad Zakeri, the Ministry of Energy and Water’s acting director for the Harirud and Murghab River Basin, in Herat. “It’s not possible [to stop work]. We will complete this dam.”

One of those enemies, says Mr. Zakeri, is Pakistan. Islamabad is “trying to stop the work” because it is being built by strategic rival India. In April, Afghan intelligence officials announced they had thwarted a Taliban plot to blow up the dam with about 2,860 pounds of explosives. The plan, they claimed, was aided by Pakistan’s intelligence agency.

The other two “enemies” of the Salma Dam are Turkmenistan and Iran because it will diminish water flow to their own parched regions and dam projects. Afghan officials have often charged Iran with being behind dam-related attacks. When an Afghan district governor who had supported the project was killed in 2010, Afghan police officials suspected Iran’s involvement.

The head of the police unit guarding the dam claimed to have evidence that Iran funded a local Taliban commander and his 200 men who had “promised Iran that he will succeed in halting work on the Salma Dam,” according to a report by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.

Likewise, two months ago, six of the dam’s security guards were killed by a roadside bomb. Without naming Iran, the provincial security chief said that the killings had “a political motivation. This is the work of those countries who don’t want Afghanistan to develop.”

But in Herat, water official Zakeri says that “we don’t have any data to give us information that Iran is creating some problem.” Iranian officials say they support Afghan development, and deny conducting any destabilizing actions in Afghanistan, despite credible reports of past, limited assistance to anti-US insurgents, including the Taliban.

“Yes, the Iranians are asking for negotiations. Always they are asking for negotiations [because they will get] much less water,” notes Zakeri.

But negotiation may be easier said than done, with so much at stake for both sides.

What Afghanistan wants

For Afghanistan, key facts are clear: The Salma Dam will increase cultivatable land from 35,000 hectares to 80,000 hectares. It will also produce 42 MW of electricity, lowering the region’s dependence on Iran (which now provides 80 MW, cheaply) and Turkmenistan (which provides 50 MW).

“It will change much, because this project is not just for Herat,” says Zakeri. “If we can produce more fruit, we can send this to Kandahar, to other provinces. This project might change the situation in all of Afghanistan.”

For Iran, too, key facts are clear: The dam will cut the flow of its own Harirud River water by 73 percent, even though the number of Iranians dependent on that water – including the shrine city of Mashhad – is almost three times as large as the number of Afghans.

“Iran has always criticized Afghanistan for its water policies on Helmand and Harirud Rivers,” says an Iranian analyst in Tehran who has worked on the issue of Helmand, a larger river flowing into Iran farther south, and asked not to be named. “Iran and Pakistan are both accused of sabotage [and] Mashhad depends on the water of the Harirud. So Iran has a big concern that dams in Afghanistan [will] reduce the water as [they have] on Helmand.”

The 'only way forward'

A 2010 report on Afghanistan’s water resources warned that “cross-border cooperation on water is not an option; it is the only way forward” with all neighbors. Lack of bilateral or regional agreements created “a serious threat to sustainable development and security in the region,” stated the EastWest Institute report.

The report also noted that a model for cooperation already exists, for the Helmand River. Afghanistan and Iran first created a joint commission in 1950, and in 1973 agreed that Iran would receive a precise volume.

For now, however, Kabul doesn’t “see any reason” to hold water negotiations with Iran over the Selma Dam, says Shujaudin Ziaye, the deputy minister of Energy and Water in Kabul.

“We have no new negotiations in the past two years. The idea of building this dam emerged 40 years back. At that time, Iran had no request of water,” says Mr. Ziaye. “Maybe they need to talk with us, but we don’t see any need to talk with Iran, to negotiate about water. Right now, no.”

High priority

For many Afghans, water resources are a high priority. When President Hamid Karzai met an audience of ordinary Afghans in March for a televised program, there were nearly as many questions about water as about security.

“How much can the Afghan government defend its water resources?” asked one man, after listing the country’s water systems. Another asked why the government did not build more dams so Afghans “will have access to electricity and the dry deserts will be irrigated.”

Mr. Karzai replied: “We know that some of our neighboring countries do not want our dams to be built and do not want us to have our own electricity.” He also said that “we have used our waters less throughout history and the neighbors have used them more. We know this, but we want to manage it in good relations with [them].”

But a history of mutual suspicions abounds. Iran has offered some technical expertise to Afghanistan, on water and agricultural issues. Iran’s Minister of Energy Majid Namjou visited in January to cut the ribbon on two Iranian-made electric turbines given to Herat for emergency use.

“Iran, it seems, has adopted competing policies on Afghanistan – one of cooperation in certain cases and one that contributes to destabilizing in others,” stated the EastWest Institute report. “Iran perceives agricultural development – a crucial element in the Obama strategy to increase economic activity in Afghanistan – and dam rehabilitation and reconstruction as major security threats.”

In Herat, that is also how some Afghan officials see it.

“If we have sustainable agriculture, and sustainable industries in Herat and our western zone of Afghanistan; if we have security – especially in Herat – then our Salma Dam will be built, and [Iran] will face many challenges, in their agriculture and industry,” says Herat Chief of Police Rahmatullah Safai.

AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan Eyes Iran Deal To Boost Trade To Europe, India

Al Arabiya news

Afghanistan eyes Iran deal to boost trade to Europe, India

written by Reuters staff

Monday July 29, 2013

Kabul - Afghanistan hopes an agreement with Iran to use one of its ports will help boost exports to Europe and India and reduce its dependence on neighbouring Pakistan’s ports for trade.

Iran will allow land-locked Afghanistan to use the port to export goods like fruit and carpets to India and other countries, according to the spokesman for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Commerce and Industries.

“We want to export to central Asia and Europe, India wants to use the port to send goods to Afghanistan,” Wahidullah Ghazikhel told Reuters.

Afghanistan currently relies on the port of Karachi in Pakistan for the bulk of its sea exports.

But that leaves traders vulnerable to political disputes between the United States and Pakistan, which has closed its border with Afghanistan at least twice over recent years, cutting U.S. military supplies to Afghanistan, as well as routine trade.

“If the Pakistani government’s relationship with the United States goes bad, this impacts our traders,” Ghazikhel said.

In the most recent disruption on the Afghan-Pakistani border, private transport companies were banned from moving Afghan goods to Karachi, delaying containers for about three months.

Not only did the contents, including milk and eggs, spoil, but companies were also charged a total of $10 million for renting storage space for their delayed containers, he said.

“We are very interested in exporting to European countries and working on other ways (that avoid Pakistan’s port),” the spokesman said.

Millions of dollars have been invested in companies that aim to export “premium” fruit such as pomegranate, prized by the health-conscious in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Afghanistan also exports many other types of fresh and dried fruit, saffron and carpets. But although it sees agriculture as a driving force in its economy, Afghanistan continues to rely on imports for most of its food.

USA: The Federal Government Pays Millions Of Dollars In Benefits To Dead Farmers :/

The Washington Times

Govt. pays millions in benefits to dead farmers

written by Stephen Dinan

Monday July 29, 2013

The federal government is still paying out millions of dollars a year in subsidies to dead farmers, according to a new government audit released Monday that said the Agriculture Department doesn’t do routine checks required to make sure it is paying benefits to the right people.

The Government Accountability Office said that from 2008 to 2012 one agency, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, made $10.6 million payments on behalf of more than 1,100 people who’d been dead at least a year. Another branch, the Risk Management Agency, paid out $22 million to more than 3,400 policyholders who’d been dead at least two years.

Some of the payments may have been legal because they were for work done before the farmers died, but GAO said the problem is the two agencies don’t perform the routine checks — such as looking at the Social Security lists — to see.

“Until and unless NRCS and RMA develop and implement procedures to have their payment or subsidy data records matched against SSA’s complete death master file, either through coordination with FSA or on their own, these agencies cannot know if they are providing payments to, or subsidies on behalf of, deceased individuals; how often they are providing such payments or subsidies; or in what amounts,” the investigators wrote.

GAO said the Agriculture Department has shown some progress since a previous audit found hundreds payments to 172,801 dead people, totaling some $1.1 billion, between 1999 and 2005.

And the current rate of potentially bad payments is slim compared to the overall budget for subsidies, which runs to about $20 billion a year.

In its official response to the audit, the Agriculture Department said it does have some procedures in place to check to see if it is paying live beneficiaries.

But the department acknowledged their procedures “were not effectively and consistently implemented to identify deceased individuals.”

Near the end of the GAO’s yearlong audit, the Agriculture Department signed an agreement to begin to get the Social Security Administration’s death master file, so it can begin checking names of those it is paying.

USA: FBI Raids In 76 Cities Across America Rescued 105 Kids Forced Into Prostitution, Used As Sex Slaves; Arrested 150 Pimps.

The Daily Star, Lebanon

FBI raids rescue 105 kids forced into prostitution

written by AP staff

Monday July 29, 2013

WASHINGTON - U.S. authorities rescued 105 children who were forced into prostitution and arrested 150 pimps and others in a three-day sweep in 76 American cities, the FBI said Monday. The victims, almost all girls, range in age from 13 to 17.

The largest numbers of children rescued were in San Francisco, Detroit, Milwaukee, Denver and New Orleans.

"Child prostitution remains a persistent threat to children across the country," Ron Hosko, assistant director of the bureau's criminal investigative division, told a press conference.

The FBI said the campaign has resulted in rescuing 2,700 children since 2003.

The investigations and convictions of 1,350 have led to life imprisonment for 10 pimps and the seizure of more than $3.1 million in assets.

The Justice Department has estimated that nearly 450,000 children run away from home each year and that one-third of teens living on the street will be lured toward prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home.

Congress has introduced legislation that would require state law enforcement, foster care and child welfare programs to identify children lured into sex trafficking as victims of abuse and neglect eligible for the appropriate protections and services.

IRAQ: Sunni Islamic Militants Set Off 17 Car Bombs Monday Morning MURDERING 60 INNOCENT SOULS

Yahoo news

Wave of car bombings target Iraqi Shi'ites, killing 60

written by Kareem Raheem, Reuters

Monday July 29, 2013

BAGHDAD - Car bombs ripped through busy streets and markets in Iraq on Monday, killing at least 60 people in predominantly Shi'ite areas in some of the deadliest violence since Sunni insurgents stepped up attacks this year.

The 17 blasts, which appeared to be coordinated, were concentrated on towns and cities in Iraq's mainly Shi'ite south, and districts of the capital where Shi'ites live.

Militant groups including al Qaeda have increased attacks in recent months in an insurgency against the Shi'ite-led government as a civil war in neighboring Syria heightens sectarian tensions.

The violence has raised fears of a return to full-blown intercommunal conflict in a country where ethnic Kurds, majority Shi'ites and Sunni Muslims have yet to find a stable way of sharing power.

In Baghdad's Shi'ite stronghold of Sadr city, police and witnesses said a minivan drew up to a group of men waiting by the side of the road for day work, and the driver told them to get in before detonating an explosive device in the vehicle.

"The driver asked laborers to get into the van, then he disappeared and minutes later the truck exploded, flinging the laborers' bodies back," said Yahya Ali, a worker who was standing nearby.

"Somebody tell me please why poor laborers are targeted? They want only to take food to their families!"

Monday's attacks underscore deteriorating security in Iraq, where nearly 4,000 people have been killed since the start of the year, said violence monitoring group Iraq Body Count. In July, more than 810 people were killed in militant attacks.

SECTARIAN STRIFE

"I am deeply concerned about the heightened level of violence which carries the danger that the country falls back into sectarian strife," said acting United Nations envoy to Iraq, Gyorgy Busztin.

"Iraq is bleeding from random violence, which sadly reached record heights during the holy month of Ramadan."

At least 10 people were killed when two car bombs blew up near a bus station in the city of Kut, 150 km (95 miles) southeast of the capital, police said.

Four more were killed in a blast in the town of Mahmoudiya, about 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, and two bombs in Samawa, further south, killed two.

The rest of the bombings took place across Baghdad, in the districts of Habibiya, Hurriya, Bayaa, Ur, Shurta, Kadhimiya, Risala, Tobchi and Abu Dsheer.

An assault on Abu Ghraib prison last week raised questions about the ability of Iraq's security services to combat al Qaeda, which has been regrouping and striking with a ferocity not seen in years.

"Today's attacks are closely linked with the Taji and Abu Ghraib prison breaks, which have encouraged terrorist groups to launch further attacks in areas of a specific sect to put more pressure on the government and undermine security force morale", Hakim Al-Zamili, a senior member of the security and defense committee in parliament, told Reuters.

Insurgents have been recruiting from the country's Sunni minority, which increasingly resents Shi'ite domination since the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, in 2003.

The Syrian conflict has drawn Shi'ites and Sunnis from Iraq and beyond into battle against each other.

On Monday, a roadside bomb killed a senior police officer, his aide and two guards when it hit their convoy near Baiji, 180 km (112 miles) north of the capital, and five roadside bombs targeted a police patrol in Baghdad's Palestine Street.

SWITZERLAND: Several People Injured In Head-On Train Collision South of the capital, Bern

 

Yahoo news

Police: Several injured in Swiss train collision

written by AP staff

Monday July 29, 2013

GENEVA — Police in western Switzerland say several people have been injured when two passenger trains collided head-on.

Vaud canton (state) police spokesman Jean-Christophe Sauterel says rescue operations are still under way late Monday at the site on a regional line about 50 kilometers (31 miles) southwest of the capital, Bern.

Pictures on the website of local daily 24 Heures showed the mangled wreckage of the two trains still on the tracks.

Earlier this month, 79 people were killed in a high-speed derailment in Spain.

ITALY: Bus Carrying Tourists Plunges 100ft Into Ravine Killing 39 Passengers

The Dail Mail UK

Agonised relatives of 39 Italian coach catastrophe victims arrive at makeshift morgue as it emerges whole families are dead

written by Mark Duell, Simon Tomlinson and Hannah Roberts

Monday July 29, 2013

Distraught relatives gathered at a makeshift morgue to visit the bodies of the Italian coach disaster today as witnesses revealed the full horror of the crash that has killed at least 39 men, women and children.

Around 50 Italian tourists were on board the bus last night when it lost control on a highway, smashed into a line of cars and careered through a guardrail before plunging 100ft into a ravine.

The victims were a close-knit group of friends and relatives and whole families had been wiped out, Italian media reported as police opened an investigation into multiple manslaughter.

One of the first firefighters to arrive described horrific scenes of children screaming and their desperate parents calling out to them in the dark amid a mass of crumpled metal and bodies.

Emilio Matarazzo said: 'I heard children weeping and crying out inside the carcass of the coach. That was what made my blood run cold.' Another rescue worker was heard calling out: 'We need 40 coffins.'

One visitor to the morgue, set up at a nearby school, lost four members of his family, while another wept as he told how his sister and brother-in-law had died.

Rescuers wielding electric saws cut through the twisted metal looking for survivors inside the mangled bus, stopping occasionally in silence to listen for any cries for help, even as the bodies were put into coffins.

Five young children were pulled to safety, but several others are thought to have been killed.

Relatives, many of whom heard the news on TV, gathered at a makeshift funeral parlour set up at a local school within hours of the crash.

Mario Terracciano, who lost his mother Barbara, her father and his uncle and aunt, all from Pozzuoli, said: ‘I heard that they came from Telese Terme, I knew right away that it was them.

'I had spoken to my mother only a few hours before. She had been worried about my lunch. My uncle and aunt were simple people who just wanted a few hours of serenity.’

Another man man called Mena, also from Pozzuoli, wept as he learnt that his sister and brother-in-law had been killed.

He said: ‘I spoke to my sister for the last time at 8.30pm last night. She was happy, she was calm. Until the very last moment we hoped that she was still alive.’

Prime Minister Enrico Letta said: 'It's truly truly terrible. A very sad day, words are inadequate.'

Mr Letta, on a trip to Greece to meet the Greek Prime Minister, observed a minute's silence before starting his speech and has cancelled a private visit to the Acropolis.

The bus lost control near the town of Monteforte Irpino in Irpinia, a largely agricultural area about 40 miles (60 kilometers) inland from Naples and about 250 kilometers (160 miles) south of Rome.

According to Italy's Transport Minister, the death toll stood at 39, with ten people seriously wounded, including six children. In addition to these, there are 14 occupants of the six cars hit by the bus who suffered minor injuries.

It was not clear whether there was any mechanical damage to the vehicle's brakes or problems with its tyres or whether there was any fault on the part of the driver, who was killed in the crash. According to reports, there were no signs of heavy braking on the road.

Alessio Barbarulo, head of the local fire brigade division that coordinated the rescue effort, also questioned the effectiveness of the barriers alongside the motorway.

'You would think that the barriers on the viaducts and bridges should prevent this type of accident but evidently it seems the impact was so strong that even the barrier gave way,' he said.

Doctors told how they had to make agonising decisions about who to free first from the wreckage based on who had the best chance of survival.

'People were crying out amid the corpses. We had to decide which of the passengers looked like they would definitely survive,' Maurizio Abbenante, who was among the first on the scene, told La Repubblica as cited by Sky News.

Others, including a family of four, made a 'miraculous' escape and managed to walk away from the scene after being cut free.

A ten-year-old girl who had been on holiday with her grandmother was pulled from the wreckage alive before being taken to hospital.

With a black and blue face and swollen lip, Arianna told Il Messagero: 'I was asleep. Then I woke up to the shouting and the strong smell of burning.'

The schoolgirl, from Arcofelice near Naples, was supposed to be using the trip to make new friends before starting a new school in September.

Her mother was supposed to be on the holiday as well, but in the end had decided to stay at home with Arianna’s five-month-old baby sister. The fate of her grandmother Luigia is not yet known.

Mr Matarazzo, the chief of the first fire squad to arrive on the scene, earlier said he heard the cries of children as he approached the wreckage.

He told La Repubblica: 'I heard children weeping and crying out inside the carcass of the coach and the voices of their mother and father who called out to them. But I couldn't see anything. It was all dark.

'Initially we didn't even know what had happened. When we arrived there were cars stopped on the Aqualonga viaduct and the guardrail was broken.

'It was completely black - we couldn't see anything. My colleages and I went down. When we reached the coach we managed to lift the weight and pull five children out. They were crying and they were injured and were taken to hospital.

'We couldn't do more. There were people trapped between the seats and the roof of the coach. It was ghastly.'

Flashing signs near Avellino, outside Naples, had warned of slowed traffic ahead along a stretch of a major highway crossing southern Italy, before the crash occurred, said highway police and officials, speaking on state radio early Monday.

It was not immediately clear why the bus driver lost control of the vehicle.

Vincenzo D'Aniello, a clerical worker from Tirrenia near Pisa who was in one of the cars that were hit by the coach, said: 'I thought I was dead.

'We are alive only because of a miracle. From behind it suddenly began to rain cars. I've never seen anything like it. I saw cars turn over. A Fiat Panda flew past my head. It seemed that the apocalypse had come. I believe the coach lost control of its brakes.'

Mr D'Aniello walked out of the accident unharmed. He said: 'My aunt who was in the car with me broke her arm. I was completely unharmed, I don't know how.'

A reporter for Naples daily Il Mattino, Giuseppe Crimaldi, told Sky TG24 TV from the scene that some witnesses told him the bus had been going at a 'normal' speed on the downhill stretch of the highway when it suddenly veered and started hitting cars.

He said some witnesses thought they heard a noise as if the bus had blown a tyre before it plunged 30m (98ft) into undergrowth below.

Hours after the crash, firefighters said that they had extracted 39 bodies - most of the dead were found inside the mangled bus, which lay on its side, while a few of the victims were pulled out from underneath the wreckage, state radio and the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Occupants of cars which were hit by the bus stood on the highway near their vehicles.

One car's rear was completely crumpled, while another was smashed on its side. It was not immediately known if anyone in those cars had been injured.

On the bus were those who had decided to spend the weekend at the hot springs Telese Terme. A day trip on Sunday had included a trip to the birthplace of the last Italian saint, Padre Pio the village of Pietrelcina, in Campania.

The organiser of the trip 'as always' was Luciano Caiazzo, a butcher from Pozzuoli near Naples, who did not survive the crash friends and relatives said.

Anna Caiazzo, a co-worker told Corriere della Sera: ‘A month ago he turned 40. We’d had a surprise party for him. Within ten days we were supposed to go on holiday to Croatia. All together, as always.’

A spokesman for the British Embassy in Rome said there were so far no UK nationals among the dead and injured.

She said: 'We are monitoring the situation as we are concerned that there may have been British victims in the cars that were hit, if not the coach. Our consulate in Naples has been checking with authorities on the ground and there are none so far.'

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has expressed his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the coach crash in Italy.

He said: 'On behalf of the British Government, I express my sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of all of those who lost their lives in yesterday’s tragic coach crash. Our thoughts are with them at this very difficult time.'

MYANMAR: Myanmar-China Gas Pipeline Goes Into Operation

France24 news

Myanmar-China gas pipeline goes into operation

written by AFP staff

Monday July 29, 2013

Gas has started flowing to energy-hungry China through a pipeline from Myanmar, Beijing's official media reported, in a major project that highlights their economic links even as political ties weaken.

The 793-kilometre (492-mile) pipeline runs from Kyaukpyu on Myanmar's west coast, close to the offshore Shwe gasfields, and across the country.

It enters southwest China at Ruili, near areas where heavy clashes between the rebel Kachin Independence Army and the Myanmar military were reported earlier this year.

As well as diversifying China's sources of fuel, by supplying energy to the vast and economically less developed west it could help Beijing's attempts to promote growth there.

The pipeline has been years in construction and went into operation on Sunday at a ceremony in Mandalay, the official Xinhua news agency reported. "When torches flamed in the sky.... a storm of applause and cheers broke out," it said.

In an editorial on Monday the Global Times newspaper, affiliated with the ruling Communist Party, said: "This is another breakthrough in China's strategy of energy diversification and has obvious significance in reducing China's dependence on the Strait of Malacca for the import of oil and natural gas."

A parallel oil pipeline is also part of the project, with the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPN) the major partner in both assets.

According to Xinhua, the gas pipeline will be able to carry 12 billion cubic metres annually, while the crude oil pipeline has a capacity of 22 million tonnes per year.

The start of the project comes as resource-rich Myanmar shakes off decades of rule by generals who kept the country largely isolated from the rest of the world.

They did, however, maintain close economic links with China, which for years was the major foreign influence in a country that was under heavy international sanctions.

Now, with Myanmar opening up politically and economically, more countries are setting up operations and seeking deals which sanctions had prevented.

"Myanmar used to be sanctioned by the West and China was its only friend," the Global Times editorial acknowledged. "Nowadays, it has opened more to the West. This will reduce its passion in cooperating with China, but does not mean it will set itself against China."

But in a warning that Beijing expects its economic interests to be protected, the newspaper cautioned Myanmar that it must ensure agreements regarding the project are fulfilled, no matter who eventually leads the country.

"China should be determined to supervise Myanmar in doing so," the paper said. "Myanmar should hold a serious attitude toward China, and Chinese will take (the Myanmar) people's attitude toward the pipeline as a test of their stance on China."

THAILAND: 50,000 Litres Of Crude Oil Spilled Into The Sea Off The Eastern Province Of Rayong

Bangkok Post

Oil spill threatens Rayong beaches

written by Staff

Saturday July 27, 2013

Emergency response authorities were struggling early Sunday to contain about 50,000 litres of crude oil that spilled into the sea off the eastern province of Rayong, threatening a major tourist beach.

The oil leaked from PTT Global Chemical Plc's pipeline at 6.50am Saturday, PTTGC said. A company spokesman said it was possible some of the oil could reach Mae Ramphung Beach, a popular tourist site in Muang Rayong district.

The leak location is about 20 kilometres southeast of the Map Ta Phut industrial estate.

Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand director Penchome Sae-Tang voiced her concern over the incident, saying the spill could have a serious impact on the marine environment if it is not cleaned up fast enough.

She said the company must be responsible for the clean-up operation.

Marine Department director-general Sorasak Saensombat said Saturday more than 10 ships had been sent to clean up the oil slick, which was about 800m wide and 2.5km long.

He said about 30-40% of the slick had been removed during the clean-up operations last night.

He said most of the slick should be cleaned up in the next few days and it will take no more than a week to remove all of it.

"The company must be responsible for paying for all the clean-up costs involved," Mr Sorasak said.

"The company must also take responsibility if the oil spill has an impact on the environment."

After the incident, authorities from various agencies - the navy, the Marine Department, the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand, the Pollution Control Department, the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department - were called in to help contain the spill.

PTTGC said the leak occurred in the pipeline at a single point mooring.

A single point mooring is an offshore-anchored buoy used as a device to transfer oil from the seabed to a tanker.

It is attached to the tanker to prevent it from drifting during the transfer process.

The company said the incident occurred as an oil tanker transferred crude oil via the buoy to supply to the company's oil refinery on the shore.

Shortly after the leak, workers rushed to close the valves of the oil pipeline immediately to stop any further leaks.

A 200-metre-long boom was placed around the floating oil to prevent the slick from spreading further.

Workers also used oil skimmers to remove the oil and put it in containers on board the ship.

Four ships were deployed to spray about 35,000 litres of oil-spill dispersants to clean up the slick on the sea surface, the company said.

The company said it also asked the regional office of Oil Spill Response Limited in Singapore to send experts to advise on how to deal with the oil leak.

The company said it had sent a team of staff to follow the situation and take samples of the affected sea water for lab tests to ensure the oil spill does not affect the marine environment and the coastal fisheries.

PTTGC executive vice-president Porntep Butniphant said the company had done its best to contain the slick, but conceded it was possible that some of the oil would reach Mae Ramphung Beach.

The First Naval Area Command based in Sattahip district in Chon Buri also sent a helicopter to patrol the affected sea area and monitor the spread of the oil slick.

Marine and Coastal Resources Department director-general Noppon Srisuk said he had ordered officials to monitor the oil spill and report possible adverse impacts on the environment, marine life and coral reefs.

Phuchong Saritdeechaikul, director of the marine and coastal resources conservation office in Rayong, said the wind was now blowing towards the shore of Rayong which increased the possibility of the oil reaching beaches there.

Pollution Control Department (PCD) director-general Wichien Jungrungruang said he had been monitoring the direction of the spill.

"The company is nowu sing oil skimmers to clean up the oil spill.

"The cleanup operation seems to be going well with the plan," Mr Wichien said.

SPAIN: Spain Mourned The 79 People Killed In Its Worst Train Disaster In Decades

AFP

Spain mourns train crash victims in solemn mass

written by Pol Costa

Monday July 29, 2013

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain — Spain mourned the 79 people killed in its worst train disaster in decades with a solemn memorial mass on Monday attended by hundreds in the world pilgrimage city of Santiago de Compostela.

Members of the royal family and government joined grieving families and locals in the city's great yellow-stone cathedral as the bells sounded a slow funeral toll for those killed in Wednesday's crash.

The driver is accused of causing the crash and has been bailed on charges of reckless homicide.

Mourners bowed their heads and wiped away tears as Julian Barrio, archbishop of the city in the northwestern region of Galicia, prayed for the dead, dressed in his blue robes and white mitre.

"Families who have lost your loved ones, from the first moment we have had you in our hearts, as have Galicia and Spain, and so many people beyond our borders who have asked me to pass on their condolences," he told the congregation.

"We commend our brothers to the mercy of God."

The heir to the Spanish crown Prince Felipe, his wife Princess Letizia and his eldest sister Elena, dressed all in black, sat solemnly before the high gold altar.

Also under the towering arches of the cathedral -- one of the spiritual hearts of Roman Catholic Spain -- sat Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, a native of the city, government ministers and regional officials.

Emergency workers stood in their red and yellow vests as a choir sang mournful hymns and Barrio broke bread and held communion.

Locals and visitors including foreign pilgrims to the city stood to pay their respects outside the cathedral, at whose gates were placed flowers, candles and handwritten messages of condolence.

A crowd watched the service on a giant outdoor screen nearby.

"I have come because I am from Santiago and because there are people close to me who died in the crash and I know their families," said Mari Carmen Figueroa, 60, dressed in a black jacket and trousers, outside the cathedral.

"Even if I hadn't known them, I would have come."

Most of the dead were buried over the weekend in various parts of Spain.

Regional health authorities said 69 people caught in the crash were still in hospital on Monday, 22 of them in serious condition.

A judge on Sunday released the driver on bail on 79 counts of reckless homicide, said the regional high court.

Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, 52, admitted to the judge that he had had a "lapse" of concentration while driving the train, Spanish media reported on Monday, citing court sources.

Garzon left court after a two-hour hearing Sunday by car for an unknown location. Press photographs showed him in handcuffs, a gash on his head from the accident and his eyes hidden behind sunglasses.

The judge ordered him to report to court once a week and banned him from leaving Spain for six months, while the court reviews the charges against him.

Regional health officials on Sunday said a US woman critically injured in the crash had died in hospital, bringing the toll to 79 including nine foreigners.

Reports suggested the train was travelling at more than double the speed limit when it flew off the tracks on a sharp bend and ploughed into a siding on the outskirts of Santiago.

El Pais newspaper, citing investigation sources, reported that Garzon had told railway officials by radio that the train had taken the curve at 190 kilometres (118 miles) an hour -- more than double the 80 kph speed limit for that section of track.

A court source said investigators would on Tuesday analyse data from the train's "black box" recorder, which is expected to tell them how fast the train was going and what action the driver took.

Friends and colleagues of Garzon -- who had been with state railway company Renfe for 30 years, including 13 years as a driver -- have defended him, including UGT labour union official Angel Rodriguez who described him as "an excellent professional".

Cranes and trucks finished removing the wrecked train carriages from the track on the outskirts of the city and rail traffic resumed there early Monday at low speed.

SPAIN: Spanish Train Driver Charged With 79 Counts Of Homicide; 'Speeding' Spanish Train Driver 'Claimed He Could Not Brake' In Aftermath Of Crash

The Express Tribune

Spanish train driver charged with 79 counts of homicide

written by Reuters staff

Monday July 29, 2013

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Galicia - The driver of a Spanish high-speed train that derailed was charged with 79 counts of homicide and released pending trial, after appearing before a judge on Sunday evening.

Francisco Garzon, 52, had been under arrest since Thursday, a day after the worst train crash in Spain in decades. He is suspected of driving the train too fast through a tight curve on the outskirts of the northwestern Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela.

Examining Magistrate Luis Alaez formally charged Garzon with “79 counts of homicide and numerous offences of bodily harm, all of them committed through professional recklessness,” the court said in a statement.

Judge Alaez took two hours of testimony from Garzon in a closed-door hearing on Sunday evening.

********************************

The Telegraph UK

'Speeding' Spanish train driver 'claimed he could not brake' in aftermath of crash

written by Fiona Govan, Santiago de Compostela

Sunday July 28, 2013

The driver of the speeding train that derailed in Spain last week, killing 79 people, claimed in the immediate aftermath of the accident that he 'could not brake', it emerged yesterday.

Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, 52, appeared in court for the first time last night to be questioned on suspicion of manslaughter over the crash, the worst rail disaster in the country for almost 70 years.

He was driven into a courthouse in the city of Santiago de Compostela, close to the scene of the derailment, in a police car with blacked out windows.

The questioning, by a judge in Instruction Court Number 3, was expected to last several hours and focus on the extent to which the driver was culpable for a crash that left a scene of devastation on the tracks and more than 100 people injured. Flags at the court house were flying at half mast.

Earlier in the day, a resident of Angrois, the village above the site of the derailment, told how he had helped the driver walk away from the wreckage, a crash he escaped with only minor injuries.

Evaristo Iglesias recounted to Spanish television the conversation he had with the driver, claiming Mr Garzon had admitted to driving too fast, while saying he could not apply the brakes.

"He said he had to brake to 80 (kilometres an hour) and couldn't, that he was going fast," Mr Iglesias told Antena 3. "He kept saying 'I want to die! I want to die! I don't want to see this! I want to die!'. This is what he kept repeating."

Mr Garzon was formally arrested on Thursday evening as he lay in his hospital bed suffering "light head injuries" and was held overnight at the police station in Santiago following his discharge from hospital on Saturday morning.

Jorge Fernandez Diaz, Spain's Interior Minister, has said that there "were reasonable grounds to think he (Garzon) may have a potential liability" and confirmed he could face multiple charges for "reckless manslaughter".

Magistrate Luis Alaez is charged with overseeing one of two investigations to determine the causes of the rail accident. He will decide whether to name Mr Garzon as a formal suspect and if so, whether he should be released on bail or remanded to prison.

The judge will have access to information contained within black box recorders on the train as well records from the two mobile phones in possession of Mr Garzon.

There were unconfirmed reports that the driver may have been talking on the phone or texting while he was at the controls in the moments before the accident at 8.42pm last Wednesday.

The eight carriage train, carrying 218 passengers plus crew, derailed some four km from the station at Santiago de Compostela when it hurtled round a bend.

In total 70 people remain in hospital with 22 of them, including two children, described as being in "critical condition".

There seems little doubt that excessive speed is to blame for the accident but investigators must determine whether human error was solely to blame or if technical failure also played a factor.

The train was travelling at 190 km per hour (118mph) in a zone restricted to 80 km per hour (50mph) when it derailed, according to an alleged admission by Mr Garzon himself in the moments after the crash. Before appearing in front of the judge Mr Garzon had exercised his right to remain silent and refused to answer questions put to him by police.

An official memorial service for all the victims of the accident is scheduled to take place in the medieval cathedral of Santiago de Compostela on Monday evening at 7pm.

In attendance will be Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who was born in the Galician city, as well as the members of the Spanish royal family.

The death toll in Spain's worst rail accident since 1944 rose by one to 79 on Sunday when another of the victims died in hospital.

FRANCE: An Armed Robber Stole Gems Worth $136 Million In Cannes, Record Jewel Heist

Reuters news

Looted Cannes gems worth $136 million, official says, record jewel heist

written by Matthias and Galante

Monday July 29, 2013

NICE, France - An armed robber stole gems worth $136 million (102 million euros) in a weekend jewelery heist in the French Riviera resort of Cannes, making it the country's biggest gem theft.

The prosecutor's office in the nearby city of Grasse issued the figure on Monday based on an inventory of pieces seized in broad daylight from a precious jewelery exhibition at the luxury Carlton Hotel.

It was well over twice initial estimates, which local media had put at around $53 million.

The thief burst into the Carlton, on the famed La Croisette seafront, close to midday on Sunday armed with an automatic pistol and with a cap and a scarf concealing his face.

He threatened security guards and sales staff and left moments later with a briefcase containing 72 pieces, including jewels, rings, pendants and diamond-encrusted earrings, from a collection belonging to diamond specialist Leviev.

Just 34 of the stolen items were worth a total of $135 million, according to the prosecutor's office, which initially valued the loot at "several million euros".

"The man entered by a glass door onto the Croisette which normally should have been bolted," a spokesperson at the prosecutor's office said.

Initial investigations suggested the man may have dropped several jewels as he hurried away on foot via a different door.

The hotel, celebrating its centenary this year, was where Alfred Hitchcock filmed scenes from the 1955 film "To Catch a Thief", starring Cary Grant as a one-time cat burglar and Grace Kelly as the beautiful Frances.

The heist came two months after two smaller jewelery robberies hit the annual Cannes film festival, where movie stars are lent gowns and gems to parade on the red carpets.

It was the biggest theft of jewels on record in France.

A group of men disguised as women shoppers pulled out guns and made off with around $105 million worth of jewels from the Harry Winston jewelery store on the Avenue Montaigne in Paris in 2008.

Joseph Prince on Grace at Hillsong Conference 2012 ♥ AMAZING MESSAGE!

Joseph Prince speaks at Hillsong conference about Grace. The gospel is not about "behaviour modification" but "heart transformation" through a revelation of God's grace, we find our lives renewed. Revelation of God's love and grace transforms the heart, and so our lives.

♥ AMAZING MESSAGE! ♥

Joseph Prince's second sermon at Hillsong conference 2012.

The Boss ~ by Diana Ross ♥ I Included A Bonus Track/Vid For More INSPIRATION And To Let You Know That YOU ARE NOT ALONE! :)

My mom has always been a huge Diana Ross fan. I grew up listening to her albums and dancing in the living room with my mom. I was also fortunate enough as a child to experience Diana Ross live in concert with my mom on several occasions. Diana Ross would always wear the most beautiful elaborate gowns on stage and change gowns after every set. She would also walk out into the audience and shake everybody's hand. She always without fail LEFT ME MESMERIZED! Diana Ross is an AWESOME entertainer! Pure CLASS.

The Boss was a huge hit when it came out. Nevertheless, this is actually a very powerful spiritual song if you really choose to listen. God is LOVE. Therefore, God is The Boss! Creator and Source of ALL living things. Love to you all. Enjoy this song and lyrics! This was me. I can totally relate to this song, as I am sure many of you can as well or soon will. ♥

This is such an AWESOME song! I can't get enough of it tonight! :) This was not released as a spiritual song. It was a dance hit in 1979. The lyrics just have more meaning for me. ♥

The Boss ~ by Legendary Diana Ross

Fancy ME
Thought I had my degree
In life and how LOVE
Ought to be a run
I had a one step plan to prove it
Guide in my pocket for FOOLS
Folly and fun
LOVE had to show me ONE THING:

I was so right
So right
Thought I could turn emotion
On and off
I was so sure
So sure (I was so sure)
But LOVE TAUGHT ME
Who was who was who was The Boss!
(Taught me who was who was The Boss)

I'D DEFY
Anyone who claimed that I
Didn't control whatever moved in MY SOUL
I could tempt
Touch delight
Just because you fell for me
Why should I feel uptight
LOVE had to show me ONE THING:

I was so right
So right
Thought I could turn emotion
On and off
I was so sure
So sure (I was so sure)
But LOVE TAUGHT ME
Who was who was who was The Boss!
(Taught me who was who was The Boss)

LOVE TAUGHT ME
Taught ME
Taught ME
Taught ME

I was so right
So right
Thought I could turn emotion
On and off
I was so sure
So sure (I was so sure)
But LOVE TAUGHT ME
Who was who was who was The Boss!
(Taught me who was who was The Boss)

BONUS TRACK

God wants you to know: If you need me, call me. No matter where you are, no matter how far. Just call my name. I'll be there in a hurry. On that you can depend and never worry.

I know you must follow the sun. Wherever it leads. But remember. If you should fall short of your desires. Remember life holds for you one guarantee. You'll always have me. ♥

My Daily Prayer... ♥

I would like to share two of my daily prayer's with you. The first is one I received from Paula White Ministries 8 years ago. While the second is one that I personalized for myself. You are welcome to use these prayers. Soon your spirit will personalize one for you. You shall know the Truth when you seek God's face daily. I don't mean in the traditional sense. I mean spending time getting to know Him. You can start by talking with Him like you would a friend. He will guide you on your spiritual path as you grow closer and closer to Him. Allow God's LIGHT to permeate every fiber of your being and transform you from the inside out. "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be TRANSFORMED by the renewing of your mind." [Romans 12:2] This has nothing to do with religion. This is about God, your Heavenly Father wanting to have a "personal" relationship with you. ♥

God is God all by Himself. The same is true for Jesus (Yahshua), the living breathing WORD of God and the Holy Spirit, the breath of God. God doesn't need a religious group or organization to make Him so. God almighty is above all and sovereign. God is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent. God is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. God is INFINITE and ETERNAL. ♥

The Power Of Prayer from Paula White Ministries

Dear Heavenly Father, I give You praise for my life and all that is in it. You are my Creator, my Provider, my Comforter and I worship You from the depths of my soul. My desire is to know You... to truly know You in an intimate way. Please grant me a mind filled with Spiritual wisdom and a heart that continues to long for You.

This is my prayer personalized...

Thank you God for loving me unconditionally. Thank you God for never giving up on me. Thank you God for always believing in me. Thank you God for taking care of all of my needs. I am an instrument of Your will LORD, use me for Your greater good. I am ready, willing and able to effect change on Your behalf. Awaken Your Spirit within me LORD. Lend me Your strength, Your courage and Your wisdom. I will continue to abide in Your WORD as your WORD continues to abide in me. You are my ROCK and my foundation! Your presence makes me feel unspeakable love and joy. Direct my steps LORD and connect me to the right people that are in line with Your will for my life. I will continue to Trust and Believe in You LORD. I love you. In Yahshua's precious name, AMEN!

I go on to pray, Jesus (Yahshua) please cleanse my spirit from all impurities, please purify me Lord, wash me in Your blood, cover me and protect me against all evil. Please fill my spirit with Your love, Your peace and Your joy. Lend me Your strength, courage and wisdom. AMEN!

God's Divine favor surrounds me like a shield! Amen. ♥

Our Heavenly Father the Artist, A Poem

Artist

poem written by Jeremy Hagy at GodKind

Artist, our Father is the most ultimate artist.

Painting with His mouth the words of being.

Speaking the universe into existence.

Speaking the world out of nothing,

light out of darkness,

sky and land in a breath

breathing the pieces of eternity.

Just look around . . . .

God created all you feast your eyes upon,

all out of nothing,

laying the kanvas of earth drenched puddles,

painting the picture of today.

His hand moved with a swift stroke,

to form the dust of the ground.

You are His most precious portrait,

hand carved and sculpted to perfection,

fearfully and wonderfully made,

made in the fashion and likeness and image of the Creator

created to be creative, as God played in the dirt

all you need is dirt!

Artist, an artist of beauty, an artist of passion,

whose hand hung the sky and stretched the stars across the milky way

who hung the earth on nothing,

galaxies and light years away,

He's still the same artist,

all the colors bursting forth.

When He said "Let there be light"

His manifold wisdom in it's many sided splendor

a motley creation, colorful and radiant

splendid to the truth,

all the textures blending together in harmony,

in unison with the beam of light

envision the rainbow, flowers, snow, the sun

in all it's beautiful array,

in all the power, in all His glory

creating the most vivid picture

the one with the deepest metaphors,

as deep calls unto deep He strengthens the sea,

looking like diamonds and crystals sparkling avast an ocean

purple in motion, perpetual, forever

stars glimmering and glistening, glowing,

brighter than the moon in all it's radiance

trees, mountains, hills, animals, people,

His moving pictures

fiery fire in all orange nectar and matter

yellow gold in bright beauty and grace

Yes, our Father is the most ultimate artist.

You, as His precious portrait, you are also His pencil,

He's drawing life with you at His center.

Nothing's traced but all planned out,

as He sketches the purpose across the land,

how all exists and plants and seeds and sprouts up

His pictures come to life!

Look again, you're living it!

God is the most ultimate artist!

Of course the Artist begat artists

Imitate your Father!

It's now your turn to create

As the white fluffy clouds collect the drops of water

and send the droplets of rain to produce

Be inspired!

Be what He's made you to be!

With His magnificent brush He gently painted us

a living, breathing, moving, speaking picture

created for His glory-

Artist!

God Loves You!

God Loves You!

Excerpted from Life in the Word Devotional

By Joyce Meyer

[source: Not Alone]

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. - JOHN 3:16

John 3:16 tells us that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son as a sacrifice for it.

God loves you! You are special to Him. God doesn't love you because you are a good person or do everything right. He loves you because He is love. Love is not something God does; it is something He is. It is His nature.

Gods love is pure and ever flowing. It cannot be earned or deserved. It must be received by faith.

In Ephesians 3:19 Paul prays that we may come to really know this love. When we do, we are strengthened in our inner man. When we are strengthened inwardly outward difficulties cannot defeat us.

Unless you have received it yourself, you cannot give love away. Let God love you. Receive His love for you. Bathe in it. Meditate on it. Let it strengthen you. Then give it away.

Say This:

“God loves me. I am special to Him. I receive His everlasting love today and am strengthened in my inner man.”

Beauty for Ashes

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes... - ISAIAH 61:3 KJV

Multiplied thousands of people have been hurt severely in their lives. They come from broken relationships or abusive backgrounds that are still producing bad fruit in their personalities.

God wants to send the wind of the Holy Spirit into our lives (Acts 2:1-4), to blow away the ashes that are left from Satan's attempt to destroy us, and to replace those ashes with beauty.

The Lord has taught me that consistently bad fruit comes from a bad root. No matter how much we may try to get rid of the bad fruit, unless the root is dealt with, more bad fruit will crop up somewhere else.

God created us to be loved. He wants to love us; He wants us to love each other, and He wants us to love and accept ourselves. Without this foundation of love and acceptance, there will be no joy and peace.

Some of us need to be transplanted. If we started out in the wrong soil, Jesus will transplant us so that we can get rooted and grounded in His love, as the Bible teaches.

Know that you are valuable, unique, loved, and special. When this is your foundation and your root, you will produce good fruit.

Ask God to give you beauty for ashes.

Say This:

“I was created for love. God loves me and wants me to love Him, love others, and love and accept myself.”

Do You Feel Rejected?

All whom My Father gives (entrusts) to Me will come to Me; and the one who comes to Me I will most certainly not cast out [I will never, no never, reject one of them who comes to Me]. - JOHN 6:37

God gave me a word for a meeting I was preparing to lead. It is for anyone who needs to receive it:

Many of My people are in prison because they won't accept themselves. Many of them are gifted and talented, but they won't express themselves because they fear rejection. They fear man. They fear what people will think.

I want to love My people, but they hold Me at arm's length and won't let Me really love them because they have been hurt by others. They fear I will reject them, as others have, because of their weaknesses. But I will never reject them.

“Tell them I love them.”

“Tell them to stop trying so hard to be acceptable to Me and to realize I accept them as they are. Tell them I don't want perfect performance from them. I simply want them to love Me and let Me love them.”

God will not reject you because of your weaknesses or mistakes. He desires to heal you from past hurts caused by rejection. He wants you to know He will never reject you.

Pray This:

“Father, I thank You that You love me. I thank You that I am always accepted and never rejected. In Jesus' name, amen.”

Spiritual Warfare: How to Plead and Pray “The Blood of Jesus Prayer”

Spiritual Warfare: How to Plead and Pray “The Blood of Jesus Prayer”

written by Ministry staff

[source: The Joseph Plan]

The most powerful spiritual warfare prayer! I recommend all true Christians learn how to use it. But this isn’t something you just jump into and do. Please take the time to study this entire presentation before using it.

This is an excellent explanation of the “Blood of Jesus Prayer”. It is one of the most powerful prayers one can learn. The most powerful prayer one can say. But, it has to be done right.

In the hands of a true believer, with a repentant and surrendered heart, one can truly see the mountains be moved. The enemy moved back. Victory over evil claimed.

‘Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts. (Zechariah 4:6)

I borrowed the following article from www.Bible-Knowledge.com. I could not have written a better article. Please visit their site. It is a very good resource.

It is an excellent study guide on this very important subject.

How to Plead the Blood of Jesus for Deliverance and Protection

There are many Christians who attack this form of prayer. They ask where in Scripture is there proof that we can use this kind of prayer for either protection or deliverance when we will really need it. There was no evidence that the early apostles ever pled the blood to heal, to cast out demons, or to get God’s basic protection on them.

I believe there are three specific things contained in the Blood of Jesus – forgiveness, deliverance, and protection. Many Christians only know about the first one – forgiveness. They have no idea there are two other things available to them that will enable them to live a victorious and overcoming life in the Lord while still living down here on this earth. Here is a brief discussion on each one of these three things.

1. Forgiveness

As Christians, we all know there is definitely forgiveness in the Blood of Jesus. This is the basic central message of true Christianity – that God the Father sent His one and only begotten Son Jesus Christ down to our earth in the flesh [God's WORD was made flesh to walk among us. John 1:14 (Emphasis mine)] to physically die on a cross in order to save us and give us total and permanent forgiveness for all of our sins.

Without Jesus dying and shedding His blood on the cross, there would be no forgiveness and remission of any of our sins. Here are some extremely powerful verses from Scripture specifically telling us this:

1.“For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:28)

2.“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)

3.“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been made near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13)

4.“For the life of the flesh is in the blood … for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” (Leviticus 17:11)

Notice the emphasis on the word “blood” in these verses. There is no question that in these verses, and others in the Bible, that the blood that Jesus personally shed for us on the cross is what leads all of us to be able to receive eternal salvation, the forgiveness of all of our sins, and entrance into heaven when we die and cross over.

2. Deliverance

Now what are the Scriptural grounds that will give us the legal right to be able to use the blood of Jesus when taking on any attacks that may come our way? As you will see in some of the stories in the Testimonies section of our site, you can Plead the Blood of Jesus against specific types of attacks such as attacks from demons or other evil people, any kind of physical illness or disease, or any kinds of addictions like drugs and alcohol.

Many Christians are not aware of this second component that is in the Blood of Jesus which will entitle us to be able to use His Blood to go on the offensive against any adversity that may come our way.

Something else happened that day when Jesus died on the cross for all of our sins. The Bible tells us that Jesus also defeated Satan and all of the powers of darkness that day! Here are several good verses from Scripture proving this point to you:

1.“… that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (Hebrews 2:14)

2.“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13)

3.“Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” (Colossians 2:15)

4.“For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8)

5.“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” (Revelation 12:11)

What defeated Satan and all his dark powers? The physical death of Jesus on the cross. And what did Jesus do when He died that day on the cross for all of us? He shed His Blood!

This is why Pleading the Blood of Jesus works so well in real life combat situations when it really is needed to defeat attacks that are coming against us from the dark side.

Many Christians are not fully aware of this second fact about the Blood of Jesus – that the Blood of Jesus can also be used to engage with our enemies when they do try to launch any kind of an attack against us. I believe that all of the above Scripture verses definitely tell us that the blood that Jesus shed that day on the cross has totally defeated Satan and all of his dark powers.

The only thing left is for all Christians to fully realize this incredible fact, and to grab a hold of this powerful truth and not to be afraid to use when they need it – especially when demons or other evil people are attempting to come against them with any type of unjust action or attack.

Here are four more good powerful verses from Scripture showing that all Christians now have God’s supernatural power and anointing available to them so they can use it to engage with the dark side of this life:

“Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19)

Notice in this verse we have God’s power over all the power of our enemies, not just against some or part of their powers. This means we have the ability to come out completely victorious in some of life’s battles and struggles, but only if we learn how to properly use what is now available to us.

“Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” (Luke 9:1)

Notice in this verse that Jesus gives the twelve apostles power over all demons, not just some of them. If we have God’s power available to us to defeat all demons, then I believe that we also have God’s power to defeat any and all humans who may try to come against us with any type of unjust action or attack.

“… but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.” (Daniel 11:32)

“Knowing their God” means that we have spent good quality time in establishing a good personal relationship with the Lord. If we do this, then this verse is telling us that God will strengthen and empower us when we need His power to be able to carry out great exploits and great adventures for Him.

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9)

This verse is telling us that God is actually looking for people that He can anoint with His power and show Himself strong through, but the implication appears to be that He really cannot find many people who are willing to pay the price to be able to really walk with His anointing.

As you can see from the way all of the above Scripture verses are worded – true Christianity is not a weak, wimpy, or passive religion. As born-again believers, we all have the Holy Spirit literally living on the inside of us.

As a result, our bodies have now become the actual temple of the Holy Spirit. His supernatural power is now fully available to all of us in order to help us handle some of the storm clouds that can come against us in this life.

Learning how to properly Plead the Blood of Jesus for any deliverance and protection that you may need is just one part of our arsenal. I will be doing other articles in the near future covering some of the other aspects on this part of our walk with the Lord.

3. Protection

As you will see in the next section, you can also Plead the Blood of Jesus on specific things that you will want protected before any kind of adversity could strike them – like your body, house, car, and finances.

The goal is to Plead the Blood of Jesus on those things in order to protect you before any kind of adversity could ever come your way.

If the above verses are showing us that we can Plead the Blood of Jesus against any attacks that may have already come our way, then I believe it only stands to reason that we can also go one step further with the Blood of Jesus – and that is to use it for protection before any kind of attack could actually come our way. In this case, you simply Plead the Blood of Jesus on whatever you want God’s full protection on before any attacks could possibly come your way.

I believe there is something else in the Bible that gives us another clue that entitles us to be able to Plead the Blood for this specific purpose. In the Old Testament, God the Father had it arranged with His chosen people, the Jews, that in order for them to be able to enter into a covenant relationship with Him, they had to have some kind of temporary covering for their sins. Jesus had not come yet, so there was no full remission for any of the sins that had occurred back at that time.

What God the Father had set up was the sacrifice of blemish-free animals such as bulls, goats and lambs. Their blood had to be shed once per year on what was called the Day of Atonement. The shedding of these animals blood was what gave the Jewish people a temporary covering for their sins so they could then enter into a personal relationship with God the Father.

This is why Jesus is called the “Lamb of God.” He is an extension of the lambs used by His Father in the Old Testament to give the Jewish people a temporary covering for their sins. Once Jesus had come to shed His own blood on the cross, there was no more need for any more animal sacrifices. His death on the cross had completed and fulfilled what His Father had started in the Old Testament with the sacrifice of these animals.

Now watch this analogy. In the shedding of the lamb’s blood on the Day of Atonement, there was a temporary covering for the sins of the Jewish people. Then Jesus comes in the New Testament, and the shedding of His blood now gives all believers complete and total forgiveness for all of their sins.

Now here is where I feel that something else occurred back in the Old Testament that may entitle us to be able to use the Blood of Jesus for divine protection. In the story of the Passover, God had sent His servant Moses to rescue the children of Israel from their captivity to the Egyptians. God had thrown ten whopper plagues at the Pharaoh in an effort to try and get him to release His people from his rule.

On one of those plagues, God tells Pharaoh that He is going to allow an angel of death to come through their camp to kill all of their firstborn children. However, before God sets all of this up to occur, He tells His own people to shed the blood of a blemish-free lamb and to put that shed blood on the door posts and lintels of their houses.

God tells His people that the angel of death will bypass their house if he sees this shed blood put on their door posts and lintels. This angel of death will thus not kill any of the Israelite’s firstborn – but only if he sees the blood properly applied to the door posts and lintels of their houses.

In other words, the blood of this blemish-free lamb was being used for divine protection before this attack would ever come their way. Had each person not properly applied this blood on their door posts, their firstborn children would have also been killed, along with the rest of the firstborn children of the Egyptians.

Here is my argument on this:

If the shed blood of the Old Testament lambs used for the temporary covering of sins eventually leads to the shedding of Jesus’ blood for permanent and total forgiveness of all of our sins – can we also use that same analogy and say that the shed blood of the lambs used in the Passover for divine protection could also lead to the shed Blood of Jesus having divine protection in it?

I personally believe the answer is yes, and that is why God the Father seems willing to work with any believer who will plead the blood of Jesus on whatever they want protection on before any attack can come their way – just like He did in the story of the Passover with His own chosen people.

Before I go into the specifics on how to Plead the Blood of Jesus for deliverance and protection, there is one more area that each Christian must make a big personal decision on before God will give you this kind of full divine protection.

Saved and Surrendered

In order to be able to Plead the Blood of Jesus for any kind of deliverance or protection you may need, there are two requirements that must be met.

1. Saved

You must be a saved and born-again Christian. A nonbeliever cannot use the blood of Jesus. In the story of the Passover, only God’s chosen people were allowed to apply the blood of the lamb on their door posts to get His full protection on them.

It is the same way in the New Testament. Only born-again, Christian believers can use the blood of Jesus for deliverance and protection.

2. The Full Surrender

However, for those who are already saved and born-again Christians, there is now one more big thing that you will have to do before you can start to get God’s best to start flowing into your life – which will include getting His maximum protection on you and your life. And that is to be willing to make a full and complete surrender of your entire being and your entire life over to God the Father.

You have to be both saved and surrendered in order to be able to step from the dugout out onto the real playing field where the real walk with the Lord is really at. God is wanting you to fully surrender four specific things to Him:

■Your body

■Your soul

■Your spirit

■Your entire life

The Bible tells us that we have three parts to our beings – body, soul and spirit. God wants all three parts of our being completely surrendered over to Him. The fourth thing that God will also want from you is for you to fully surrender your entire life over to Him. And when I say entire life, I mean literally everything in your life.

The Bible tells us that with the measure we use, will be the measure that will be measured back to us. In other words, if you want God’s best to start flowing into your life, then you will have to give God your personal best – and your personal best is being willing to fully surrender every part of your being and every part of your life over to the Lord for His full direction and handling. It’s your all for His all.

This full surrender to the Lord is where many Christians are really missing the boat with Him. They are saved through the blood of Jesus, but they are not walking in this full surrender with God the Father. As a result, God is not working full force in their lives. The only way to get God to start working full force in your life is to come under a complete and full surrender with Him.

Bottom line – God’s knowledge and wisdom is perfect on all matters – yours is not! God can see into the future and knows exactly what is going to happen to you – you cannot. God knows you better than you can ever know yourself, and as a result, He knows what your true potential and capabilities are going to be in this life – you do not.

Your powers are limited, but God’s powers are not. The Bible tells us that God is all-powerful and that there is nothing that He cannot do or accomplish. Nothing is impossible with God.

After chewing on all of the above, who do you want running your life? Yourself, with your limited powers, wisdom, and knowledge – or God the Father, who has maximum power and knowledge to do and accomplish anything He will want to do?

This lack of a full surrender to God the Father is what is getting so many Christians beat to a pulp in the playing field of life. They do not have God’s full protection on them, and as a result, they are coming under severe attacks from demons, evil people, and just some of the natural cause and effects that can occur at a moment’s notice such as different kinds of accidents, catastrophes, mishaps, and illnesses that can hit anyone of us at anytime.

Without God’s maximum protection, anyone of us can get hit by these types of severe storm clouds. Only God’s divine protection can keep you safe and out of harms way from some of these types of storm clouds. And the only way to get God’s maximum protection on you and your life is to come under this full and complete surrender with Him.

If you want to take this last and final step with the Lord, then I can give you a very short, but powerful prayer to go to God the Father with to come into this full surrender with Him.

This prayer should be said at least once or twice a week after you do it the first time. You need to show God that you mean serious business with Him on this, and by continuing to recite this prayer back to Him on a once or twice per year basis, you will be showing Him that you are really serious about this full surrender, and that you will continue to let Him have full control of your entire life for the rest of your earthly life.

I will give you both parts of this prayer – the initial prayer that you will go to God the Father with to make the initial full surrender, and then the second part of this prayer that will continue to keep you under this full surrender with the Lord for the rest of your earthly life.

A) The Full Surrender Prayer

“Heavenly Father,

In the name of Jesus Christ, I now place my body, my soul, my spirit, and my entire life into Your hands. I now ask that You place me into Your perfect will for my life. From this moment on, I will choose to stay fully surrendered to You all the days of my life and will allow You to lead and direct my life in the direction that You will want it to go in.

Thank you Father.

Thank you Jesus.”

B) To Stay in the Full Surrender

“Heavenly Father,

In the name of Jesus, I continue to place my body, my soul, my spirit, and my entire life in Your hands. I choose to stay fully surrendered to You all the days of my life and ask that you continue to keep me in Your perfect will for my life.

Thank you Father.

Thank you Jesus.”