We can do the right thing to create positive change within ourselves and the world around us! I have created this blog with the intention of keeping you informed of news that is affecting humanity and nature throughout the world! There is no better time than the present to become a global participant and not just an innocent bystander. I have provided you with several websites to help empower yourself and a list of global organizations that you can choose from to make a difference.
This is such a BEAUTIFUL SONG! I needed to share with all of you.
You are NEVER ALONE! Ssshhh... listen... can you hear God's voice?
By Your Side ~ by Sade
You think I'd leave your side baby?
You know me better than that
You think I'd leave down when your down on your knee's?
I wouldn't do that
I'll do you right when your wrong
I-----I ohhh, ohhh
If only you could see into me
Oh, when your cold
I'll be there to hold you tight to me
When your on the outside baby and you can't get in
I will show you, your so much better than you know
When your lost, when your alone and you can't get back again
I will find you darling I'll bring you home
If you want to cry
I am here to dry your eyes
and in no time you'll be fine
You think I'd leave your side baby
You know me better than that
You think I'd leave you down when your down on your knee's?
I wouldn't do that
I'll do you right when your wrong
I-----I, ohhhh, ohhh
If only you could see into me
Oh when your cold
I'll be there
To hold you tight to me
Oh when your alone
I'l be there by your side baby
Psalm 42:7 says, "Deep calls unto deep." Only a call from the depths can provoke a response from the depths. Nothing shallow can ever touch the depths, nor can anything superficial touch the inward parts. Only the deep will respond to the deep. Anything that does not issue from the depths cannot touch the depths. Others can respond deep within to only what issues from deep within us. When we go to a certain place and listen to a message, the only thing that touches us is something that has issued from the depths of others. If nothing comes from the depths, the help we receive is just superficial. We have to see the importance of the depths. Anything that is not from the depths will never reach the depths of others. If we have never received help or benefit in our depths, we will never have anything issuing from our depths. If we want to render spiritual help to others, something must issue from our depths. If we do not dig deep, we can never gain others. Unless our utterance is from the depths, we will not touch the depths in others, even though we gain their emotions and thoughts and make them cry or be happy or excited for a while. Only deep calls unto deep. Superficial expressions will not touch the depths of others.
Deep Roots
One principle in preaching and receiving the word is found in the Lord's parable of the sower. While the sower sowed, some seeds fell beside the way, some on the rocky place, some into the thorns, and some into the good earth. This shows us four different ways for man to receive the word. The Lord Jesus tells us that among these different conditions, one is the rocky place. There is a little earth on the surface, but underneath there are rocks. When the seed falls into this kind of ground, it springs up quickly, but as soon as the sun comes out, it withers because of the lack of root.
What is a root? It is growth that occurs beneath the soil. What are the leaves? They are growth that occur above the soil. In other words, roots are the hidden life, whereas leaves are the manifest life. The trouble with many Christians is that, while there is much apparent life, there is very little secret life. In other words, there is the lack of a hidden life. You have been a Christian for a number of years, have you not? Then let me ask: How much of your life is hidden from view? How much is unknown to others? You stress outward works, Yes, good works are important; but apart from that manifest expression of your life, how much of your life remains hidden: If all your spiritual life is exposed, you do not have any root. Are all your virtues before God manifested before man, or is there something more that is unknown to man? If all your experiences are manifested, then all your growth is upward; there is no downward growth. If this is the case, you are a person who has only leaves without root, and you are on shallow ground.
In our Christian life it is necessary that we learn the meaning of the Body of Christ; we must learn to have a life of the Body. On the other hand, we must learn that the life given to each member of His Body by the Lord is distinctly individual. The measure that has been given to you personally by Him needs to be guarded; otherwise, it will lose its specific character and will be of no particular use to God. If that which has been specially committed to you is exposed, it will wither.
The discourse of the Lord Jesus on the Mount was most remarkable. On the one hand He said, "You are the light of the world. It is impossible for a city situated upon a mountain to be hidden" (Matt. 5:14). It is open. On the other hand He said, "When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret;...when you pray, enter into your private room, and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret" (Matt. 6:3-4, 6). On the one hand, if you are a Christian, you must come right out into the open and make a public profession; on the other hand, there are Christian virtues which you should preserve from the public gaze. The Christian who parades all his virtues before men and who does not have anything in the depth of his being has no root; he will not be able to stand in the day of trial and temptation
We have been the Lord's children many years; may the Lord open our eyes and show us the extent to which our experiences have been hidden from public view. How much would be left if what is known by man was taken away? May God work in us so that we can take root downward.
As we extend ourselves deeper and take root downward, we will discover that "deep calls unto deep." When we can bring forth riches from the depths of our inner life, we will find that other lives will be deeply affected. The minute our inner being is touched, others will receive help and be enlightened. They will know that there is something beyond their knowledge. When deep touches deep, deep will respond to deep. If our life has no depth, our superficial work will only affect other lives superficially. We repeat yet again--only "deep calls unto deep."
To experience a deeper dimension of God's presence, your soul must hunger and thirst for God in the same way a deer pants for the safety and sustenance of water. Only a small percentage of believers ever really experience this kind of intimacy with God because of the price.
Psalm 42:1-2 declares, "As the hart [male red deer] panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?"
In the natural, the panting of the deer is an audible agonizing for the safety the waters provide when pursued by a predator. When the deer runs into the water, the predator can no longer detect its scent. In addition to finding safety from its enemies, the deer finds relief from thirst in the waters.
“Intimacy with God is found only in the realm of the spirit.”Spiritually, your process of discovering a deeper dimension of God's presence involves longing, thirsting, and seeking. David wrote, "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary" (Psalm 63:1-2).
Intimacy with God is found only in the realm of the spirit. There is a place of deep anointing, deep presence, and deep intimacy with God Almighty where "deep calleth unto deep" or spirit calls unto spirit.
It is a place that is so pure that every part of your being is consumed by the presence of Almighty God; a deep place where there is perfect communion between your spirit and every dimension of God's presence.
Your soul is stirred and there is a breakthrough in the spirit as "deep calleth unto deep" (Psalm 42:7).
It is at times like these that words become inadequate, because spoken words are the expression of the mind and not the soul. Words cease, and you stop asking. Only your heart can speak as it erupts in worship.
There is perfect harmony, perfect oneness. As you bask in the glory of His awesome presence, your spirit begins to fellowship with Him, crying out, "Oh, that I might know Him! Not the things He gives, or what He imparts, but Him!"
The poem above is for my Heavenly Father. Thank you for loving me unconditionally, for never giving up on me and for always believing in me. ♥ I love you Abba! ♥
I am posting this message for those of you who are unable to view and listen to the video and for all of my international readers who need to translate. This song always brings tears to my eyes reminding me of ALL God has done for me and what He's brought me through and where I am today. I'm still standing and with a HUGE smile on my face! I'm standing on a solid Rock that God has placed me on. This is my foundation now. I also know that I have goodness and mercy following me every where I go like having two body guards. But the BEST part is having God's LOVE LIVE in my spirit ALWAYS and is shining through me. I can't even begin to imagine my life now without feeling God's presence on a daily basis. I wouldn't want to know. Because once you have felt Him and you have heard Him nothing and no one compares. There is no way you would want to go back to living a 'normal' life.
God wants to do the same for you. Imagine confidently knowing that no weapon formed against you shall prosper. Imagine confidently knowing that God is in control and will always take care of ALL of your needs. Imagine confidently knowing that God will always have your back. That is why you must keep moving forward. All you have to do is be perceptive to His guidance and follow through until He leads you to your DIVINE DESTINY! This requires you to TRUST and BELIEVE in Him, with ALL your HEART, ALL your MIND and ALL your SOUL. God will speak to your Spirit. God will nudge you. God will embrace you and love you unconditionally. Just know that God, your Heavenly Father is keeping you safe in the palm of His hand. That is how precious you are to Him. Yes YOU. You are His child. God loves you sooooo much. He is just waiting for you to call to Him and invite Him into your life. God wants so much to have a personal relationship with you. Please read and memorize Psalm 23 and the Lord's Prayer Matthew 6:9.
I am re-posting this message for my new readers. This song by Celine Dion titled, 'Because You Loved Me' is very precious to me. It perfectly conveys my LOVE for God. I have dedicated this song to God, my Heavenly Father.
As I mentioned in my previous spiritual weekend post, I have my own personal relationship with God. However, I must add that it wasn't easy for me to reach this level of Nirvana. I was just as stubborn as the next person thinking I had everything under control. Well, guess what I discovered the HARD way, that the only thing I have absolute control over is MYSELF. Little ol' me! It was about 10 years ago when my personal change occurred and I let go. The KEY word here is 'personal'. This was not a church or a cult thing. It was my own personal experience with my Creator. I can honestly say from true experience that I AM GRATEFUL for this transformation. I can be surrounded by chaos, people close to me can say evil things to my face to try to stir up old dramas or attempt to open up healed wounds and I still have inner peace. How can that be you ask? Because I've been Spiritually HEALED. That is the beauty of knowing God. When you get filled with the Holy Spirit, your past get's CLEANSED away and your spirit get's RENEWED. God does not want to condemn you and God is not some mysterious force outside of you. If God is energy and the source of all things and you are also energy, then that would mean that you are a part of Him, right? Connect to your SOURCE and choose LIFE!
You know after I had my experience, I had family members and friends try to get me to try this religion or that spiritual group etc. I would tell them that I have never belonged to any group why would I want to start now. Then they tried the alternative and tell me that my thinking was all wrong. I would tell them it's not a way of thinking. Geez! It's a way of BEING, living, breathing, walking in God's love, peace and LIGHT!
The point I'm trying to make from my friends and family experience is that the ONE thing I am absolutely secure in and that nobody can take away from me is God's love for me and my love for God. My experience is mine alone and nobody can ever ever change that...
I am re-posting this message for my new readers. This is a 6 1/2 minute mini documentary video clip of Jiddu Krishnamurti recorded in 1966. I want to introduce you to this man because his teachings are quite profound. He is one of many great teachers throughout history that help change human consciousness. Although, I do wish many of you would get past the religious zealots and open your heart and mind to Jesus (Yahshua). I can honestly guarantee that He is very real.
I'd like to explain why I am exposing you to many different teachings. You see my mom was raised Catholic and always felt like she was either going to heaven or hell no in between, no room for errors. So she decided NOT to baptize me as a child in the catholic faith. She decided to allow me to choose the spiritual path I wanted to follow when I felt I was ready. She figured Jesus didn't get baptized until he was 30 years old so it couldn't be a sin. My mom however did raise me with a strong foundation of love, values and principles. I am grateful to my mom for making this decision on my behalf even though it saddened my grandmother at the time. I am also extremely grateful to my mom for NOT raising me in a sheltered environment...
So in order to find myself I began my quest at an early age studying all religions, philosophy and quasi spiritual teachings. I have the utmost respect for them all. The funny thing is that they all teach you the same thing, perhaps in different ways. But the central theme or core if you will are love, respect, compassion and self awareness. I am happy to say that I have now grown into my own spiritual awareness and I do have my own personal relationship with God. However, my journey does not end there... the learning is infinite!
That in itself is what I hope to accomplish with this blog, helping others achieve a higher level of awareness, self discovery and love for oneself and all things. So with all this being said, allow your spiritual journey to begin now, not tomorrow, or the next day. Because today is all you have now and tomorrow is not guaranteed.
Empacadora De Carnes Unidad Ganadera S.A. De C.V. is one of the four plants in Mexico that was approved to export horse meat to the European Union prior to the EU Commission's decision to ban horse meat from Mexico. The plant, with EU approval number E-20 and MX Establishment number Tif-45, is located in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Prior to the ban, this plant was a major supplier of horse meat destined for human consumption in Europe.
Inter Meats is linked to the Belgium-based company Chevideco, which imported the meat from the Aguascalientes plant to Europe. Chevideco, unlike other companies, only deals with horse meat and is one of the most powerful global players in the industry.
From our past investigations, Animals' Angels knows that the following kill buyers had contracts to deliver US horses to the Aguascalientes plant:
Triple Crown Ranch of Meeker, OK
Bill Richardson of Whitesboro, TX (deceased)
Ryan Simon of Cannon Falls, OK
Double JJ Horse Company of Perkins, OK
Dennis Kunz of Willard, UT
Our review of the export paperwork for Inter Meats shows that this plant has not exported any horse meat to Europe (or any other country, for that matter) since January 2015. The last shipments were on Jan. 29. The paperwork Animals' Angels obtained from the US export pens also confirms that no US horses were shipped to the Inter Meats Plant.
Observations at the plant on May 12 to May 16 showed vastly abandoned pen areas that were overgrown with thick weeds and grass, the watchtowers empty, and close to no human activity whatsoever. No animals were seen in the few pens that appeared to be still operational.
When investigators returned on May 18, all of the pens were once again completely empty. On this date, investigators observed just one livestock truck entering the plant. A white truck pulling a stock trailer arrived at the plant at 11:28 a.m. The truck displayed the name Transgran on the door. There was no identifying DOT number on the vehicle. To determine what animals were being brought in, our investigator approached the plant's front gate as the truck awaited entry and noted that the trailer was loaded with cattle. There were no horses.
As originally thought, there appeared to be only a minimal number of pens currently being used, the rest having been deserted. The cattle from the Transgran truck were unloaded into one of the few usable pens.
It appears this location has been hit hard by the EU Commission's ban. Of course Animals' Angels will continue to monitor the future developments at this slaughter plant. But for now at least, our horses are no longer suffering here.
To read our investigative report that includes photos from the Inter Meats Plant, go here.
Why did the wildlife cross the interstate? Because it had a lush landscaped bridge to do so.
On Tuesday, Washington State Department of Transportation crews broke ground on the state’s first animal overpass, a 150-foot wide-bridge surrounded by native trees and planted with vegetation designed to let bears, elk, otters and even mice pass over the ever-busy I-90 expressway.
The $6 million critter crossing will be the first of more than 20 planned overpasses and underpasses spanning the landscape along Washington’s central Cascade Mountains, designed to let wandering animals get across a 15-mile stretch while 28,000 cars whiz by every day.
Four underpasses are already open and game cameras have caught video of animals from river otters to deer crossing under the highway.
Florida, Montana and other states have built similar animal crossings and America’s northern neighbor built 44 of them along the Trans-Canada Highway. The number of collisions with animals dropped by 80% by the time the Canadian project was finished.
The National Forest Service manages the land and has been pushing for something like this for years–as have state conservationists. Forest Rangers say the project will reunite wildlife populations divided by the highway, allowing animals to more easily find food, homes and even mates, which would broaden the gene pool for rare species.
RABAT - Three Moroccan men accused of homosexuality have been sentenced to three years in jail each by a court in northeastern Morocco, a rights group said on Monday.
Homosexuality and sexual relations outside marriage are forbidden in the conservative North African nation.
Hassan Ammari of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH) told AFP the sentence was handed down on Friday by a court in the city of Taourirt, confirming media reports.
Two of the men, a mechanic in his 40s and a man in his 20s, were "caught in the act" in the mechanic's workshop by police acting on a tip-off, Ammari said.
They were arrested and during their detention they said they had met through a mutual friend, who was also arrested, and admitted having sexual relations.
Moroccan authorities have declined to comment.
Article 489 of Morocco's penal code states that any one found guilty of carrying out "a deviant act with a person of the same sex" will be jailed for to up to three years.
In March, Human Rights Watch called on Morocco to decriminalise homosexuality, saying that "criminalising consensual, adult homosexual conduct violates international human rights law".
It noted that article 24 of Morocco's 2011 constitution states that "all persons have the right to protection of their private life".
"This right, absent in the previous constitution, should lead to the abolition of the law criminalising consensual same-sex conduct," it said.
A survey published in November by the weekly TelQuel magazine showed that at least eight out of 10 Moroccans disapprove of homosexuality.
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The Daily Star, Lebanon
Moroccan magazine recalls 'burn gays' issue after uproar
written by AFP staff
Friday June 12, 2015
Rabat - A Moroccan magazine said Friday it was recalling its latest issue, whose cover asked "Should We Burn Gays?", after it sparked a fierce debate in the conservative Muslim kingdom.
Homosexuality is illegal in Morocco and can carry up to a three-year jail sentence.
The cover of this week's Maroc Hebdo shows two young men at swimming pool, smiling and gazing into each other's eyes, with the banner headline: "Should We Burn Gays?"
Maroc Hebdo said it "decided to withdraw from sale and its website" this week's edition "given the particularly strong reactions" it caused.
The issue said "homosexuality is, of course, an individual right," but added that debate on the topic had to take into account "moral and religious values".
The cover, first circulated on social media, drew instant criticism, with some commentators chiding it as "homophobic", but with its creators saying it was designed to provoke debate.
The magazine said it was not engaging in "sensationalism" but had rather sought to demonstrate "homosexuality and its place in society."
The subject has been in the headlines recently, after Morocco deported two female protesters from the activist group Femen after they staged a topless demonstration criticising Morocco's treatment of homosexuals.
A member of the British rock band Placebo used a festival performance in the capital Rabat last week to also protest Morocco's anti-gay law.
In late April, one of the world's strangest laws was quietly revoked. Authorities in Iceland's Westfjords district, the scenic northwestern corner of the Scandinavian island nation, repealed a 400-year-old decree ordering the death on sight of any Basque person found in the region.
This old grudge stems from a grisly incident in 1615, when misunderstandings and suspicions between locals and a group of shipwrecked whalers from what's now the northern coast of Spain led to the slaughter of 32 Basques. The decree was ordered by the district's bloodthirsty magistrate. Of course, newer laws have since been put in place, and no person from the Basque country has been in actual danger for a very long time.
"The decision to do away with the decree was more symbolic than anything else," Westfjords district commissioner Jonas Gudmundsson told reporters last month. "We have laws, of course, and killing anyone — including Basques — is forbidden these days."
In a country of Iceland's small size — it has a population of just over 300,000 people — such seemingly obscure episodes still have a profound resonance. The prominent Icelandic author Sjon wrote of the "slaying of the Spaniards" in his acclaimed 2011 novel "From the Mouth of the Whale," depicting the incident as a hideous act of treachery and opportunism carried out against the shipwrecked sailors.
Though remote and sparsely populated, Iceland still found itself at the crossroads of all sorts of global history. The Viking explorers who first reached the New World set sail from its coasts. A decade after the killings of the Basque whalers, raiders from as far away as North Africa ravaged the Icelandic coast, kidnapping hundreds of locals as slaves. The "Turkish abductions" of the 17th century are a defining event in Icelandic national memory and enshrined in the country's most famous church in the capital, Reykjavik.
A video has gone viral showing a member of the Saudi religious police allegedly preventing a veiled woman from entering a shop since she was not wearing gloves.
The abaya-clad woman is seen arguing with the religious police member who declines her repeated requests to enter a shop in the Barzan Mall located in the northwestern city of Ha'il in the Kingdom because she looks "indecent".
"Walk away... don't say a word... Put on some gloves," the religious police officer allegedly says to the woman, reported AFP News.
Saudi Arabia's Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice is the government body that employs the religious police or Mutaween to encourage the enforcement of Sharia law in the Kingdom.
Local news sites, however, reported the woman was told off for sitting in close proximity to a male shopkeeper.
"There was only one small table separating them and their position prompted the commission member to intervene and to ask her to finish her shopping and leave the shopping area in the northern area of Hael," the source said in a Gulf News report.
The Commission is currently investigating the incident.
"We are looking into what happened and we will take the necessary measures based on the conclusions," said Fahd Al Amer, spokesperson for the commission in Ha'il.
Meanwhile, a shopping mall located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia has gone for an all out ban on people dressed in above-the-knee shorts, pyjamas, messy hair, skates, and those with pets.
"We received complaints about some people wearing clothes that did not follow the customs and traditions of our society. Families had also been upset by smokers," said Fuad Al-Fakhri, manager of the Al Rashid Mall.
Al-Fakhri said the decision follows after a number of people were seen bringing their pets to the mall and dressing un-Islamically.
DUBAI - Saudi Arabia's execution surge is "very disturbing" and out of line with global trends, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions told AFP Wednesday.
He spoke as the number of beheadings in the kingdom hit 89, compared with 87 during all of 2014, according to tallies by AFP.
"It is certainly very disturbing that there is such a fast pace of executions at the moment," Christof Heyns said in a telephone interview from South Africa.
"If it continues at this pace we will have double the number of executions, or more than double the number of executions than we had last year."
Heyns, who submits annual reports to the U.N. Human Rights Council and General Assembly, said Riyadh's use of the death penalty "is just so way out of line" with global trends where the number of executions and states which apply the death penalty is decreasing.
"So this is going in the opposite direction. It's going against the stream," he said.
Heyns, a professor of human rights law at the University of Pretoria, said statistics indicate that Saudi Arabia last year had the world's third highest number of executions after China and Iran.
He said there are a number of concerns about the kingdom's use of the death penalty.
Under international law, if capital punishment is imposed at all it should only be for murder, he said.
But in Saudi Arabia "more than half" the executions are for non-lethal crimes.
Under the Gulf nation's strict version of Islamic sharia law, drug trafficking, rape, murder, apostasy and armed robbery are all punishable by death, as are other offences including espionage.
In a country of about 29 million, a "very high number of people for the population" are sentenced to death and executed, the special rapporteur said.
"It seems that many of these trials are in secrecy and that lawyers are not available and they do not comply with the standards of fair trial."
Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry has cited deterrence as a reason for implementing capital punishment.
Police in the Ecuadorian port city of Manta say they have seized about 200,000 shark fins destined to be illegally exported to Asia where they would fetch up to $1.5m.
Colonel Rommel Tapia, the head of the judicial police in Manta, said on Thursday nine properties were raided in the city and six people were arrested, including one of Chinese nationality. Those arrested face charges of damaging wildlife.
A spokesman for the Galapagos Conservation Trust said: “The seizure of so many shark fins on mainland Ecuador, just 1,000km away from the Galapagos Islands, is deeply distressing. Sharks play an essential role in the marine ecosystem and removing them can cause the entire marine ecosystem to collapse.
“It’s great news that the Ecuadorian authorities are tackling illegal shark fishing in their waters and the sale of illegal shark products, but it will take a truly international effort to put a stop to this global problem.”
The fins are often used to make shark fin soup, a traditional Chinese dish.
Manta is 260 kilometres south-west of the capital, Quito.
State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said she was “perplexed” by a New York Times story Tuesday on Iran’s 20 percent increase in nuclear fuel over the past 18 months.
The United States has been in negotiations with Iran for a final deal about their nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency issued a report on Friday that documented an increase of Iran’s nuclear fuel stockpile.
A reporter asked Harf if Iran’s increased stockpiles has complicated the current negotiations.
“Not at all. Our team read that story this morning and was quite frankly perplexed because the main contentions of it are totally inaccurate,” Harf said.
Harf explained why she felt that way.
“First, the notion in the story that western officials or U.S. officials involved were unaware of this issue or not understanding of what this entails is just absurd,” Harf said. “Under the JPOA (Joint Plan of Action), Iran can fluctuate its numbers in terms of their stockpile. They can go up and down as long as at the end of fixed date they are back down below a number.”
Iran’s increase in its nuclear stockpile during the negotiations goes against what White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said during a White House briefing on March 2.
“So what we also know is that Iran has decided to engage in a set of serious negotiations, that previously Iran had just used diplomatic negotiations as cover to try to make progress on their nuclear program,” Earnest said. “But in the context of these talks, we’ve actually succeeded in not just halting Iran’s progress as it relates to their nuclear program but actually rolling it back in several key areas, including reducing and eliminating their stockpile of highly enriched uranium. So I think the evidence indicates that this sanctions regime has been effective.”
Harf said that this is not a concern because Iran agreed to reduce their stockpile when the agreement gets implemented.
“What matters is that they [Iran] have committed already, and we said publicly to reducing their stockpile whenever this implemented 300 kilograms,” Harf said. “The notion that this is some big issue of concern of negotiation is more manufacturing a controversy than actual reality. Everyone who read that story this morning was totally perplexed by it.”
The Institute for Science and International Security analyzed the question of whether Iran could meet its obligations regarding 5 percent low enriched uranium, and authors David Albright and Serene Kelleher-Vergantini assessed that “Iran has fallen behind in its pledge to convert its newly produced LEU hexafluoride into oxide form. There are legitimate questions about whether Iran can produce all the requisite LEU oxide … By the end of June, in order to meet its commitment under the JPA, Iran must finish converting the 2,720 kg of LEU into oxide and introduce into the EUPP and convert into oxide, 1,106 kg of 3.5 percent LEU hexafluoride produced over the last several months (plus the few hundred kilograms of LEU to be produced in late May and June 2015). Thus, Iran has clearly fallen behind in its pledge under the JPA.”
Iran’s Nuclear Stockpile Grows, Despite US Assertion it was Frozen; ”Western officials cannot quite figure out why." http://t.co/gKCnqzHlX6
WASHINGTON — With only one month left before a deadline to complete a nuclear deal with Iran, international inspectors have reported that Tehran’s stockpile of nuclear fuel increased about 20 percent over the last 18 months of negotiations, partially undercutting the Obama administration’s contention that the Iranian program had been “frozen” during that period.
But Western officials and experts cannot quite figure out why. One possibility is that Iran has run into technical problems that have kept it from converting some of its enriched uranium into fuel rods for reactors, which would make the material essentially unusable for weapons. Another is that it is increasing its stockpile to give it an edge if the negotiations fail.
The extent to which Iran’s stockpile has increased was documented in a report issued Friday by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations organization that monitors compliance with nuclear treaties. The agency’s inspectors, who have had almost daily access to most of Iran’s nuclear production facilities, reported finding no evidence that Iran was racing toward a nuclear weapon, and said Tehran had halted work on facilities that could have given it bomb-making capabilities.
The overall increase in Iran’s stockpile poses a major diplomatic and political challenge for President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, who flew back to the United States from Geneva on Monday for treatment of a broken leg he suffered in a bicycling accident, as they enter a 30-day push to try to complete an agreement by the end of June. In essence, the administration will have to convince Congress and America’s allies that Iran will shrink its stockpile by 96 percent in a matter of months after a deal is signed, even while it continues to produce new material and has demonstrated little success in reducing its current stockpile.
“From the U.S. perspective, it’s obviously less than ideal,” said Richard M. Nephew, an Iran specialist at Columbia University, who worked at the White House and State Department. Mr. Nephew said the enlarged stockpile was not a deal breaker because Iran could find a way of solving the problem, especially if it was offered sanctions relief.
A major element of the forthcoming deal, if it is completed, permits Iran to maintain a stockpile of only 300 kilograms, or about 660 pounds, of nuclear fuel, less than would be needed to make a single weapon.
That means Iran, which insists its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, would have to rid itself of more than nine tons of its stockpile in a matter of months. One easy solution would be to ship the fuel out of the country, but that is a politically fraught topic for the Iranians — and one that their deputy negotiator, Abbas Araqchi, ruled out in March.
“There is no question of sending the stocks abroad,” Mr. Araqchi said at the time. A State Department statement released a few days later that outlined the preliminary agreement reached at a marathon session in Lausanne, Switzerland, was silent on the question of how the reduction would be realized.
Administration officials said nothing publicly about the atomic energy agency’s report. But several officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the Iranians understood that under a final agreement they would commit to giving up almost all of their fuel and maintaining a small stockpile for 15 years.
“How are they going to do it?” one senior American official said recently when asked about the negotiations, details of which Mr. Kerry and his team are trying to keep confidential. “We’re not certain. It’s their problem, not ours. But it’s a problem.”
Nonetheless, officials say they expect the radical reduction of Iran’s stockpile to happen in the opening months of any agreement, either by shipping it out of the country or changing it into a form that would make it impossible to re-enrich and use as a weapon.
Mr. Kerry met with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, in Geneva on Saturday to discuss how the stockpile would be destroyed and other impediments to a final deal. Mr. Kerry was joined at the talks by Energy Secretary Ernest J. Moniz, who will have to certify to Congress that the deal ensures that Iran will remain at least a year away from being able to produce a weapon’s worth of bomb fuel over the next decade, a complex calculation in which the size of Iran’s stockpile is a major factor.
Other elements of Iran’s program, however, have been frozen or rolled back. Construction has stopped on a major plutonium reactor, and it is undergoing a redesign to make it less threatening. And while Iran has installed about 20,000 centrifuges at its enrichment plants, roughly half are idle. Of the fuel that the United States worries about most — because it was enriched to a level a short step away from bomb-grade — half has been diluted, and the rest is being turned into reactor fuel.
There is little doubt that in the absence of the interim accord, called the “Joint Plan of Action,” Iran would have made even greater strides. But the numbers published Friday by the atomic energy agency show that Iran has continued to enrich uranium aggressively, even though it knew that it was not meeting its goals of converting its stockpile into reactor rods.
The question is: How much of the increased stockpile was done for political reasons, and how much is because adding to the stockpile has proved easier than eliminating it?
The 2013 plan for capping the stockpile relied on Iran’s stated plan to build a “conversion plant” at its sprawling nuclear complex at Isfahan. The plant was intended to turn newly enriched uranium into oxide powder, the first step toward making reactor fuel rods. In other words, while the stockpile would not be reduced, it also should not have grown.
As the Bipartisan Policy Center, a research group in Washington, said in February, “Iran has failed” to do the conversion. As a result, it added, Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, compared with when the preliminary accord went into effect, was growing “significantly larger.”
The two-week joint sting, known as "Operation L and P," netted 101 arrests in both Lake and Polk counties. The investigation concluded late last week. (Photo: Dave D'Marko, News 13)
The UK child sex trafficking gangs we have come to America.
CAIR leader Ahmad Saleem, a Muslim youth coordinator, was also one of the men arrested. Investigators said the men all went to a home in Clermont with the hopes of having sex with a child. The car Saleem traveled in had a license plate that said, "Invest in children," according to investigators.
I am sure Ahmad Saleem believes he is following in Muhammad's footsteps. Muhammad's favorite wife Aisha was 6 when he married her.
CAIR Florida representatives Ahmad Saleem (left) and CAIR Florida Spokesman Ali Kurnaz (right) back in March: The Council of American-Islamic Relations Florida filed a notice of claim, stating its intention to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the FBI for killing Boston bombing accomplice Ibragim Todashev.
"We must hold our civil servants to the highest standards," says Kurnaz (here).
Here's what CAIR says about their pedophile leader who targeted for rape children between ages 10 and 14 (they've taken the page down):
Ahmad Saleem
Orlando Regional Coordinator
asaleem@cair.com
Ahmad Saleem is an active community organizer in Orlando, Florida. He is responsible for spreading CAIR Florida's impact and presence in the Orlando community which includes serving and protecting the civil rights of the community as well as maintaining healthy relationships with other Muslim organizations, nonprofit organizations, government entities, and the media. He is the son of Pakistani immigrants. His father, a pediatrician, and his mother, a school teacher, instilled in Ahmad the joy of caring for others and serving them wholeheartedly with love and dedication.
He graduated with a degree in Psychology from the University of Central Florida (UCF). During his time there, he led many initiatives via his leadership of the Muslim Student Association at UCF. This included hosting or speaking at events such as "Islam and the West," "Arab and Muslim Americans and the Elections," "Islam and the World," and many other timely topic events. He helped raise awareness for his community members to vote and was, and still is, an active part of organizing the Florida Muslim Capitol Day that is held annually.
He also started an initiative called Project Friendship where he worked with people of other faiths and groups to meet and socialize with the intention to break barriers and to help build bridges between one another. During his time building these projects, Ahmad was able to develop a strong sense of awareness of American community dynamics and aims to apply this new knowledge and treasured experience to better serve our nation.
Apart from being the former MSA president at UCF, he was the MSA National service director, a board member of Muslim Youth Project USA, a student of many learned scholars from across the world, and is a motivational speaker who has been invited to speak throughout the country.
Mr. Saleem is the founder of Saleem Academy, an organization dedicated to empowering Muslim youth globally. Under it, he has conducted his "Inspired by the Quran" and "Muslim Youth Survival Guide" weekend seminars. In addition, he has also created many empowering online videos and courses. He continues to actively engage in any educational or community building efforts that he can to help uplift and raise American and global communities to new heights.
Ahmad regularly lectures on issues related to activism and Islam and Muslims in the West. He has taught on subjects that range from political activism, Islamic belief, history, spirituality, culture, and many more. He hopes to see a world where bridges are built to close the gap between people of different faiths and races and statuses, in the spirit of celebrating diversity and focusing on and appreciating the similarities and differences that unite us.
Ahmad passionately believes in America's ideals for justice and equality and happiness for all and hopes to help resurrect the practice of those ideals in the present time. He feels that Islamophobia is a serious danger to Americans and not in line with the spirit of our Founding Fathers and that it needs to be stopped as soon as possible. He believes that by eliminating Islamophobia is the only way to bring a peaceful domestic and global future for everyone. "There is no better time than now," he says, "for us to make a genuine truce between one another, to resolve our differences, and to live happily alongside one another as a peaceful, loving, and diverse community."
That's CAIR's leadership.
"101 arrested in child-sex sting," WND, June 2, 2015
Muslim leader among those busted.
More than 100 people, including the Orlando leader of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, were arrested in a two-county Florida sex-sting operation, many of whom for allegedly trying to have sex with children.
The investigation concluded last week, authorities announced Tuesday.
Many of those arrested had jobs working with children, including theme-park workers at Universal Orlando and SeaWorld, and a former Walt Disney World cast member who left the job before his arrest. SeaWorld said the men charged were no longer employed at the theme park.
"These are very dangerous people and they are after our children," said Grady Judd of the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
During the first week of the sting, investigators say, 22 people traveled to Clermont, Florida, thinking they were going to have sex with a child between ages 10 and 14. Seventy-nine others were arrested on charges connected to prostitution.
Ahmad Saleem, a Muslim youth coordinator, was also one of the men arrested. Investigators said the men all went to a home in Clermont with the hopes of having sex with a child. The car Saleem traveled in had a license plate that said, "Invest in children," according to investigators.
Saleem is also founder of the Saleem Academy, an organization "empowering Muslim youth globally" and also served as the Orlando coordinator for CAIR.
A note posted at the Saleem Academy website Tuesday stated, "Closed. May God bless you, guide you, and illuminate the right path for you, and keep you firm on it. Keep me in your prayers."
"He's well known as a community outreach leader interacting with teens in and around the Orlando area," said Judd.
Judd said the operation was designed to send a strong message to anyone in Internet chat rooms that sex with minors won't be tolerated.
The Lake County Sheriff's Office released the following in a statement:
"The first week of the operation targeted adults who were looking for sex with a child. During this phase, the detectives posed as either a child or a parent of a child as they were solicited by those interested in sexual activity with the child. As this phase progressed, 22 individuals were arrested after traveling to the location to have sex with who they believed to be a child, two of whom were already registered sex offenders. The age range for the target child was 10-14 years old in these cases.
"During the second week of the operation, detectives targeted those involved in crimes related to prostitution. As this portion of the operation progressed, 79 individuals were arrested on charges related to prostitution. Some of those arrested in this phase were also in possession of drugs and were therefore charged accordingly."
NAIROBI, Kenya — When a British oil company began prospecting for oil in Africa’s oldest national park, drawing worldwide concern and inspiring an Oscar-nominated documentary last year, the company was adamant in denying any wrongdoing.
Though soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo may have engaged in a campaign of intimidation and coercion against nearby residents who are opposed to drilling in the park, the company said it could not be held responsible for their actions.
"We can't tell the army to go and kiss off," Roger Cagle, the deputy chief executive director of the oil company, SOCO International, told The Telegraph newspaper in Britain. He said that the soldiers had been assigned by the Congolese government to keep the company safe.
But according to documents obtained by Global Witness, an advocacy group, SOCO appears to have paid tens of thousands of dollars to a Congolese Army Officer who has been accused of leading a brutal campaign against those objecting to the company's oil exploration in the nature reserve, Virunga National Park.
Over the course of two weeks during the spring of 2014, according to the documents, the officer, Maj. Burimba Feruzi, received at least $42,250 in payments from a local bank account associated with SOCO.
That is the equivalent of 30 years of salary for the army officer, according to Global Witness.
Copies of the checks made out to Major Feruzi, who is no longer with the army, list the account’s name as “SOCO EXPL ET PROD BLOC V / GOMA,” an apparent reference to Goma, the city just south of the park in Congo.
Global Witness, which advocates transparency in mining, logging and energy, said it had obtained four separate checks made out to Major Feruzi totalling $15,600. The group said it had also obtained a copy of Mr. Feruzi’s handwritten and signed receipt for another $26,650, dated April 30, 2014.
“These documents show that despite SOCO’s repeated denials, the company has paid tens of thousands of dollars to an army officer accused of bribing and intimidating those trying to stop oil exploration in one of Africa’s natural treasures,” said Nathaniel Dyer, head of the Congo team at Global Witness. “These payments may only be the tip of the iceberg.”
The group called for the British and American authorities to investigate the company’s activities in eastern Congo.
In a statement, the company said that it had never denied paying for the work of the Congolese Army in “providing a security escort.”
“We strongly refute any suggestion that this funding was in any way improper or connected with alleged acts of intimidation or violence,” the company said, noting that the payments were being investigated internally.
“The soldiers assigned to SOCO’s security escort were always under the full command and control of the D.R.C. army,” the company said.
The battle over the fate of Virunga offers a chilling look at how the tug of war between the forces of economic development and environmental preservation can turn deadly.
Villagers living near the park who opposed SOCO’s operations have been beaten by government soldiers. Park rangers have come under repeated threat, one even being kidnapped after opposing the construction of a cellphone tower in the park.
The park’s director, a Belgian prince, was shot and wounded shortly after delivering a secret report to state prosecutors on the company’s activities. A Human Rights Watch researcher, Ida Sawyer, was quoted as saying in The Telegraph last year that two fishermen who opposed SOCO’s presence were killed by soldiers connected to the company’s security.
In the Oscar-nominated documentary, simply called “Virunga,” Major Feruzi was captured on undercover surveillance video offering a $3,000 bribe to a senior park ranger.
The former officer could not be reached for comment.
Stretching across over 3,000 square miles, Virunga became the first national park in Africa in 1925. Unlike national parks in the United States, Virunga is closed to all human activity not associated with scientific study. In 1979, the park was designated a Unesco World Heritage Site. There are vast savannahs, glaciers and two active volcanoes in the park, home to one of the few remaining enclaves of endangered mountain gorillas.
Virunga’s Lake Edward is also believed to contain oil beneath its waters. In recent years, new technology has made it possible to tap into those resources. In 2010, SOCO was granted permission by the Congolese government to explore a block of land, part of which included Lake Edward inside the park.
Congo’s prime minister, Augustin Matata Ponyo, told the BBC in March that despite the controversy, the country would not simply forsake a possible economic boon.
“The necessity is to find a middle ground to see how to preserve nature but also to gain profit from resources so that the communities living there can see their living conditions get better,” Mr. Ponyo said.
Unesco’s World Heritage Committee is scheduled hold its annual meeting at the end of the month and will seek to make clear what it considers the dangers of oil extraction.
“It is recommended that the committee reiterate its established position that oil exploration or exploitation is incompatible with World Heritage status, which is supported by the commitments made by industry leaders such as Shell and Total not to undertake such activities within World Heritage properties,” according to a working document on the Unesco website.
SOCO has said it is no longer active in the park, having completed an initial survey. The company has said it will abide by all decisions of the Congolese government and Unesco regarding the park.
But Joanna Natasegara, the producer of Virunga, said that the newly released documents showed that there were still serious questions about SOCO’s behavior.
And, she said, the battle over one of the world’s great natural wonders continues.
“In terms of the danger to the rangers and the activists,” she said, “the situation in Virunga is as delicate as it ever was.”
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