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An attack on a church in the African nation of Burkina Faso Sunday. Six dead including the priest with the church burned down.... "It was the army that came to the rescue" the words of France's leading opposition politician Marine Le Pen in relation to the rescue of four hostages from Islamic terrorists in Burkina Faso Thursday night..... A Christian town in northern Syria rocketed by jihadists Sunday. Six were killed..... Almost a year after he was arrested live streaming outside a child sex abuse trial involving Muslim defendants summarily tried and sent off to prison British activist Tommy Robinson...

Filipinos vote on Monday in midterm polls that are being seen as a crucial referendum on Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal crackdown on illegal drugs, unorthodox style and contentious embrace of China. The poll is expected to strengthen his grip on power, opening the way for him to deliver on pledges to restore the death penalty and rewrite the constitution. Duterte has found international infamy for his foul-mouthed tirades, but remains hugely popular among Filipinos fed up with the country’s dysfunction and elite politicians. He wants to bring back capital punishment for drug-related crimes as part of a crackdown on narcotics in...

An anonymous whistle-blower who appeared shrouded by darkness in videos accusing Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte of earning millions from a drug syndicate has stunned the nation by revealing his identity. The hooded figure known as Bikoy on Monday unveiled himself as a bald, round-faced man with glasses, after claiming in the clips that he used to keep financial records for narcotics dealers who dealt with the Duterte family. Peter Joemel Advincula said he was the man seen in five YouTube videos implicating the president’s son and former aide as “principal” operators in the country’s drug trade. Reaction was swift from...

Almost completely forgotten by average Americans today, Commodore Dewey's smashing victory at the Battle of Manila Bay was, for a short time, a sensation which commanded the attention of the entire nation. It transformed Dewey from an unknown naval officer into one of the all-time American heroes, elevating to legendary status his famous command, "You may fire when ready, Gridley." In another previous post, we looked at some of the events leading up to the battle from a sailor's point of view aboard the USS Olympia taken from the classic memoir, Three Years Behind the Guns by John Tisdale. Now,...

Indonesia joined Vietnam recently to challenge President Duterte’s doctrine in the South China Sea. That’s the notion that any Asian-Pacific country that dares to tame Beijing’s ambitions to control the entire South China Sea will face war with China. This week, Indonesia drew a “red line” in the South China Sea establishing fishing rights in areas where China claims “overlapping” rights, according to BenarNews. Indonesia’s move comes roughly two years after the country renamed its maritime region in the southwest part of the South China Sea as the “North Natuna Sea,” asserting sovereignty in the area. Meanwhile, Vietnam has taken...

Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday reportedly threatened to "declare war" against Canada within the next week if the country fails to remove tons of garbage that was previously shipped to Manila. Duterte, in remarks aired by state media and reported by The Canadian Press, said he will "give a warning to Canada maybe next week that they better pull that thing out or I will set sail." "I will declare war against them. I will advise Canada that your garbage is on the way. Prepare a grand reception. Eat it if you want to," he said. "Your garbage is...

PORAC, Philippines (AP) — A new powerful earthquake hit the central Philippines on Tuesday, a day after 6.1 quake hit the country's north and killed at least 11 people. The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude of Tuesday's quake at 6.4, while the local seismology agency said it was a 6.5. The quake was centered near San Julian town Eastern Samar province ...

A strong 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck the northern Philippine island of Luzon on Monday. The earthquake was centered about 60 km (37 miles) northwest of the capital city of Manila, which is home to more than 12 million people. It's magnitude was initially rated as strong as 6.3. At least five fatalities have been confirmed so far in Pampanga province, according to Pampanga governor Lilia Pineda. More than 20 other people were injured due to collapsed buildings and walls in the province. Search and rescue operations are ongoing for at least 19 missing individuals, according to the Philippine Red Cross.

There’s at least one area of agreement among conservative, centrist and liberal leaders in the United Methodist Church: America’s largest mainline Protestant denomination is on a path toward likely breakup over differences on same-sex marriage and ordination of LGBT pastors. The differences have simmered for years, and came to a head in February at a conference in St. Louis where delegates voted 438-384 for a proposal called the Traditional Plan, which strengthens bans on LGBT-inclusive practices. A majority of U.S.-based delegates opposed that plan and favored LGBT-friendly options, but they were outvoted by U.S. conservatives teamed with most of the...

Exodus 28:36-37 You are to make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it as a seal: HOLY TO THE LORD. 37Fasten to it a blue cord to mount it on the turban; it shall be on the front of the turban.… You My children are covered by The Architect of your Salvation, And of all Creation, There is nothing that can penetrate Me, For I AM That I AM OF ALL ETERNITY ! Infallible, Holy and True , No lie can reach you, I AM your Fortress removing every snare, For you reside in Me and My Kingdom...

In a handful of fossilized teeth and bones, scientists say they’ve found evidence of a previously unknown human species that lived in what is now the Philippines about 50,000 years ago. The discovery deepens the mystery of an era when the world was a melting pot of many different human kinds on the move. Small-jawed with dainty teeth, able to walk upright but with feet still shaped to climb, these island creatures were a mix-and-match patchwork of primitive and advanced features in a unique variation of the human form, the scientists reported Wednesday in the journal Nature.(Snip)

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte escalated his unusually confrontational rhetoric with China over the fate of a disputed South China Sea island on Thursday, warning Beijing that Philippine troops are prepared to conduct “suicide missions” if China does not back down. “I will not plead or beg, but I am just telling you to lay off the Pagasa because I have soldiers their,” Duterte said in a speech on Thursday, using the common Filipino name for Thitu Island in the Spratly chain. “If you touch it, that’s another story. Then I will tell my soldiers, ‘Prepare for suicide missions,’” Duterte warned...

UBI is like putting a Band-Aid around America’s ruptured aorta—it might help, but it won’t stop our economy from flat-lining. Here’s why: Andrew Yang thinks automation will result in mass unemployment, and therefore we need a UBI to soften the blow. Both the economic logic and evidence suggests otherwise. Begin with this logic: Employment is determined by the ratio between productivity and output. All other things being equal, higher productivity (getting more done each hour) means fewer jobs, while higher output (making more stuff) means more jobs. If both productivity and output increase at the same rate, then employment does...

<p>JOLO, Philippines -- Two bombs minutes apart tore through a Roman Catholic cathedral on a southern Philippine island where Muslim militants are active, killing at least 20 people and wounding 111 others during a Sunday Mass, officials said.</p> <p>Witnesses said the first blast inside the Jolo cathedral in the provincial capital sent churchgoers, some of them wounded, to stampede out of the main door. Army troops and police posted outside were rushing in when the second bomb went off about one minute later near the main entrance, causing more deaths and injuries. The military was checking a report that the second explosive device may have been attached to a parked motorcycle.</p>

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines — She was a Catholic math whiz with an M.B.A. from one of the best universities in the Philippines. He was the Muslim descendant of a sultanate family, schooled in computer science. The couple, Ellen Barriga and Mohammad Reza Kiram, could have served as the model of a modern interfaith marriage. Instead, they are poster children for how violent ideology transformed educated Filipinos into agents of death for the Islamic State. In 2015, Ms. Barriga and Mr. Kiram traveled to Syria to join the terrorist group, becoming key recruiters of other Southeast Asians, according to Philippine and American...

My children I AM with you in the storms of life. My hand is eternally yours to hold onto. Pay no attention to the circumstances and do not look back , leave all distractions behind holding tightly onto My Hand of Hope for I AM with you even now and remember your life is in ME . Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” Colossians 1:27 For God wanted them to know that...

Beijing has snatched another patch of the South China Sea, with its “militia” seizing control of a string of sandbars and denying fishermen access. This island off the Philippines coast is significant. It’s a prosperous fishing spot. And it’s another potential territorial marker in the hotly contested international waterway...Now, China has physically staked its claim over the sandbars that surround it. Filipino fishermen say they are being driven away from their traditional fishing grounds, by Chinese boats. the Chinese Communist Party’s fishing ‘militia’ is pushing out its boundaries. Mayor Roberto del Mundo of Kalayaan, a Philippines Palawan town which administers...

Authorities in the Philippines were likely shell-shocked upon discovering more than 1,500 turtles stuffed inside four pieces of luggage at Manila’s airport. Officials confirmed Monday that the turtles and tortoises — which included at least one threatened species — were found abandoned in the arrivals area of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Sunday.

The bridges you are building are just that, but what lies on the other side ? For if I Am not there, the bridge is built in vain and soon shall crumble out of view but My Spirit builds bridges of Truth and My hand is on it of blessing and promise. Allow me to take your hand and speak softly to guide the rudder of your life for you are My vessel and I AM your God so let it be so . . . Isaiah 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace,Whose mind is stayed on You,Because...

The United States National Security Adviser John Bolton tweeting a warning to regime leader Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela about any actions against US diplomats or the country's interim president Juan Guaido. Bolton saying that "intimidation" of either would be met with "a significant response". Additional nations are recognizing Juan Guaido as the new President of Venezuela. The latest nations to join the list Australia and Israel..... A prominent Yellow Vests figure, Jerome Rodrigues, seriously injured in the eye by French police in Paris Saturday evening at the "Place of the Bastille"....... Also the "Yellow Vests" concept of protest has spread...