Friction with Cairo over the Israel Air Defence System for Ethiopia’s Great Nile Dam......
Israeli firms have finished installing the advanced Spyder-MR air defence system for theGreat Ethiopian Renaissance Dam upstream of the Nile – in the face of discord with Egypt.
Cairo has strongly resisted the construction of Ethiopia’s mega-dam as a threat to its water security. It is estimated that the new dam when filled will store up to 74 billion cubic meters of water, equal to twice the average annual flow of the Nile at the Sudanese-Egyptian border.
Half Egypt’s population lives and subsists on the Nile River basin and its fast-growing numbers already present the country with a massive water deficit. Cairo, which for decades has enjoyed hegemony over its source of life, one of the world’s major rivers, is not appeased by Addis Ababa’s assurances.
Ethiopia has high hopes of the great dam as a major economic boost. Its 15 turbines are planned to double or treble its power industry, create new jobs in and outside farming and export energy to its neighbours.
Our military sources report that Addis chose the Spyder-MR air defence system to shield the Great Renaissance Dam project after watching its performance in the Indian-Pakistani clashes in Kashmir five months ago.
It is the only system known to be capable of simultaneously launching two different types of missile – a Python-5 (5km range) and Derby-6 (50km range). Spyder-MR is the product of three Israeli firms, Rafael, which makes the missiles: the MBT Missiles Division of Israel Aerospace Industries – the trucks on which the missiles are mounted; and Elta Systems for the radar.
Work on installing the air defence system which began in May has just been completed.
Our sources also report that frequent calls came from the office of Egyptian President Abdel Fatteh El-Sisi in an effort to dissuade Israel from installing the Spyder-MR on the great Ethiopian dam, but the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem decided to go ahead with it just the same.
Russian officer: 14 submariners who died prevented a bigger tragedy.............
July 8, 2019
An unnamed high-ranking Russian officer, speaking on Monday at the funerals of 14 sailors who died in the nuclear submarine disaster last week, said they had prevented a much bigger tragedy.
He paid tribute to their heroism: “Today we are seeing off the crew of a research deep water apparatus, who died while performing a combat mission in the cold waters of the Barents Sea. Fourteen dead, 14 lives,” he is quoted as saying.
“At the cost of their lives, they saved the lives of their comrades, saved the ship, did not allow a planetary catastrophe.”
The officer did not reveal what exactly occurred or what major incident was averted. They were buried in Serafimov cemetery near the monument to the 118 Russiana killed when the Kursk nuclear submarine sank in 2000.
There is a LOT of truth to come out – if it ever does?
Church of England says it will recognize marriages of transgender worshippers ......
09 July 2019
The marriage of worshippers who transition to a different gender will still be valid, the Church of England has said.
The position extends only to worshippers who were in an opposite-sex relationship at the time of their marriage, it clarified. The clarification was made in response to a question asked by Prudence Dailey, churchwarden of St Michael at the North Gate, Oxford, ahead of the General Synod in York.
It was one of over 100 questions to be answered by senior Church leaders on the opening day of Synod on Friday.
In written questions and answers published ahead of the first day of business on Friday, Ms Dailey asked: "Given that the Church of England's teaching about marriage is that it is a lifelong and exclusive union between one man and one woman, if one person in a couple undergoes gender transition, has consideration been given as to whether they are still married according to the teaching of the Church of England?"
The written reply from the Bishop of Newcastle, Christine Hardman, says in response: "The Pastoral Advisory Group considered this question in the context of one specific case and I cannot comment here on the personal circumstances involved or draw a general theological principle from a single instance," Ms Hardman is expected to say.
"However, we noted two important points.
"When a couple marry in church they promise before God to be faithful to each other for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health - come what may, although we preach compassion if they find this too much to bear”.
"Secondly, never in the history of the Church has divorce been actively recommended as the way to resolve a problem.
"We have always prioritised fidelity, reconciliation and forgiveness, with divorce as a concession when staying together proves humanly unbearable”.
"In the light of those two points, if a couple wish to remain married after one partner has transitioned, who are we to put them asunder?"
The Church of England is in the middle of a review into its position on relationships, sexuality and gender identity called "Living in Love and Faith". Saturday afternoon's Synod agenda has been given over to deliberating the progress of the review.
As if this is not concerning enough, how about this?
On June 16, 2019, the building caretaker at Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, Dan Davidson, dressed up as a drag queen called Sparkle Lee. [pictured above]
Sparkle wore a purple dress, makeup and high heels. Sparkle stood at the door off the church to greet people as they entered (It seems that Auburn is a church in name only).
During the children's portion of the worship service, Sparkle went up on stage and read "The Story of Harvey Milk and The Rainbow Flag" (possibly the opposite of training up children in the way that they should go).
Sparkle could have read Scripture and shared a Bible Story with the Children (such as what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah), but Sparkle preferred to talk about Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag.
Ethiopian authorities order evangelical church to shut down, Christians forced to leave ..........
09 July 2019
An evangelical church in central Ethiopia has been ordered to vacate its building, 10 years after it started meeting there, and churches elsewhere in the region say pressure is increasing on them too.
The Mekane Yesus Evangelical Church in the town of Robe in Bale zone, about 400km southeast of the capital Addis Ababa, was ordered by the Oromia Regional State Authorities to leave its premises within 30 days. Church meetings with local officials so far have not changed their mind.
The eviction letter, dated 15 May and signed by the mayor, Birhanu Dadi Tafesse, said the church’s neighbours had complained of noise.
They claimed the Christians attending the meeting were not from the area, and that the building was not suitable for worship services. “Based on the consensus we have reached in the committee formed, you have to look for another place and leave the current place within 30 days,” the letter said.
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