NATO Hawks Raise Their Voice as Swedish Defence Minister Speaks Against EU Army

– September 3, 2021

Sweden has often been called “non-aligned in the name only” due to its growing cooperation with NATO, despite not formally joining the treaty. Calls to formalise the relationship are heard every now and then, spurred by the current situation.

Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist has once again re-affirmed Swedish scepticism toward a united EU force, which has been floated anew in the wake of the Afghanistan crisis.

Among others, the idea of creating a large-scale European task force has been suggested by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell, to the joy of the French, as President Macron has repeatedly advocated for a “true European army”.

By contrast, Hultqvist has been more reserved about the proposal.

“I don’t see that as the main line for solving these problems,” Peter Hultqvist told Swedish Radio.

Instead, the defence minister lifted up cooperation with the US and the transatlantic link as crucial for Europe’s defence.

“This link must hold because it is very important for the balance in our part of the world, especially considering what is happening in Russia,” Hultqvist said, once again using the “Russian threat” as a rhetorical tool.

https://sputniknews.com

‘Mystery Fever’ Infects Hundreds in India’s Uttar Pradesh, More Than 100 Deaths Estimated

– September 3, 2021

The “mystery fever” in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh continues to wreak havoc as hundreds of sick are admitted to hospitals. The federal government has rushed an expert team to investigate the root cause of the spread of infections.

According to reports, more than 400 people, including 40 children, have been hospitalised in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh and more than 100 have died. The Indian daily ‘Times of India’ quoted sources saying that at least 5,000 people in the state’s Firozabad district are bedridden with a fever at home or in private hospitals.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state government has not yet released any official numbers.

“The government is assessing the situation as of now. State chief Yogi Adityanath is holding meetings with the state’s health officials and respective districts. Various measures are being taken. The government will release concrete data after it gets to the root cause of the fever,” a state government official told Sputnik on Friday on condition of remaining anonymous.

If the media reports are to be believed, the death toll from the fever in Firozabad district has increased to 67 including 50 children, and 14 people in Mathura and eight in Mainpuri have succumbed to the fever. Apart from this, several deaths have been reported from other parts of western Uttar Pradesh.

The increasing number of cases has sparked fear among the state’s inhabitants. However, the doctors are trying to control the panic by stating that these are just seasonal cases of viral fever.

https://sputniknews.com

UPDATE: More than 45 are dead after Ida’s remnants blindside Northeast

ETH – September 3, 2021

(ETH) – A stunned U.S. East Coast faced a rising death toll, surging rivers, and tornado damage Thursday after the remnants of Hurricane Ida walloped the region with record-breaking rain, drowning more than 40 people in their homes and cars.

According to the Associated Press, In a region that had been warned about potentially deadly flash flooding but hadn’t braced for such a blow from the no-longer-hurricane, the storm killed at least 46 people from Maryland to Connecticut on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

At least 23 people died in New Jersey, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy said. At least 13 people were killed in New York City, police said, 11 of them in flooded basement apartments, which often serve as relatively affordable homes in one of the nation’s most expensive housing markets. Suburban Westchester County reported three deaths.

Officials said at least five people died in Pennsylvania, including one killed by a falling tree and another who drowned in his car after helping his wife to escape. A Connecticut state police sergeant, Brian Mohl, perished after his cruiser was swept away. Another death was reported in Maryland.

https://endtimeheadlines.org

Pope Francis Is Preparing a Radical Reform of the Church’s Power Structures

Claire Giangravé – September 3, 2021

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — In 2001, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was a rapporteur for the summit of bishops at the Vatican — and he did not like what he saw.

The Catholic Church had adopted a top-to-bottom approach that stripped local churches of any decision-making power, and the synod of bishops was reduced to nothing more than a stamp of approval for prepackaged conclusions made in Rome.

When Bergoglio emerged as Pope Francis in the 2013 conclave, the synodal process was high on his list for reform.

“There was a cardinal who told us what should be discussed and what should not,” Francis said about his experience at the 2001General Synod in an interview with the Argentine newspaper La Nation in 2014. “That will not happen now,” he added.

On Oct. 9 and 10, Pope Francis will inaugurate a three-year preparation process for the 2023 Synod, which will focus on reforming the synodal process. The preparation process and the 2023 Synod, with the theme “For a Synodal Church: communion, participation and mission,” have the potential to revolutionize the way decisions are made in the Catholic Church and promote a more decentralized structure of authority.

“If people just think about this as a meeting on meetings, they are so missing the point,” said the Rev. David McCallum, executive director of the Program for Discerning Leadership of the Gregorian University in Rome and a member of the Synod Commission on Methodology, in an interview with Religion News Service.

The three-year synodal review process will take place in three phases: a local phase at the diocesan and parish level, a continental phase engaging bishops’ conferences around the world and a universal phase, when bishops and lay people will convene in Rome to discuss the findings and topics developed in the first two phases. To coordinate and guide the entire process, Pope Francis created a five-member steering committee flanked by two commissions on methodology and theology.

The hierarchical structure Pope Francis eschewed at the Vatican in 2001 is currently reflected in Catholic dioceses around the globe. Throughout history “it became very natural that bishops, who were often the most educated and prepared leaders in the particular region where the church was, exercised their leadership as a mayor would,” McCallum explained.

https://www.christianheadlines.com

Joe Biden Launches Campaign to Make Sure Texas Babies Will be Killed in Abortions

Steven Ertelt – September 2, 2021

In response to the Supreme Court’s decision to not block a Texas law banning abortions, Joe Biden has launched a full federal government campaign to ensure that unborn babies in Texas will be killed in abortions.

As LifeNews.com reported, pro-lifers won another victory for life when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against a request from pro-abortion groups to temporarily block enforcement of the pro-life law, meaning it will stay in effect for the time being.

Biden condemned the pro-life law on Wednesday with his own statement celebrating abortions. Today, Biden called the Supreme Court decision an “unprecedented assault” on abortion.

“By allowing a law to go into effect that empowers private citizens in Texas to sue health care providers, family members supporting a woman exercising her right to choose after six weeks, or even a friend who drives her to a hospital or clinic, it unleashes unconstitutional chaos and empowers self-anointed enforcers to have devastating impacts,” Biden said in a statement.

“For the majority to do this without a hearing, without the benefit of an opinion from a court below, and without due consideration of the issues, insults the rule of law and the rights of all Americans to seek redress from our courts,” Biden added. “Rather than use its supreme authority to ensure justice could be fairly sought, the highest Court of our land will allow millions of women in Texas in need of critical reproductive care to suffer while courts sift through procedural complexities.”

But the more worrisome portion of Biden’s comments is his pledge to mount a full federal government campaign to make sure babies are aborted.

Biden said he was asking his Gender Policy Council and White House Counsel to “launch a whole-of-government effort to respond to this decision, looking specifically to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice to see what steps the Federal Government can take to ensure that women in Texas have access to safe and legal abortions as protected by Roe, and what legal tools we have to insulate women and providers from the impact of Texas’ bizarre scheme of outsourced enforcement to private parties.”

The Texas law could save as many as 150 babies a day from abortion but if Biden issues a unilateral order to try to facilitate abortions elsewhere, that number could be adversely impacted. And it could have  the tax dollars of pro-life Americans at work shuttling abortion customers to abortion centers in other states — seemingly in violation of the Hyde Amendment.

https://www.lifenews.com

At Least 3,000 Medical Professionals Sue U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over Transgender Mandate

Amanda Casanova – September 1, 2021

Some 3,000 medical professionals involved in two different associations and a Tennessee doctor have filed a lawsuit against the “Transgender Mandate,” a law that they say violates federal conscience protection laws.

Dr. Jeanie Dassow of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the American College of Pediatricians and the Catholic Medical Association filed the suit last week in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

The “Transgender Mandate,” part of Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, bars sex discrimination and requires doctors to perform elective gender-transition procedures, such as cosmetic procedures, double mastectomies, phalloplasties and orchiectomies, The Christian Post reports.

The suit names the defendants as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, the HHS Office for Civil Rights; and Robinsue Frohboese, acting director and principal deputy in the HHS Office of Civil Rights.

“This case challenges whether the federal government can make medical doctors perform gender-transition surgeries, prescribe gender-transition drugs, and speak and write about patients according to gender identity, rather than biological reality – regardless of doctors’ medical judgment or conscientious objections,” the lawsuit said.

Doctors say the HHS rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment’s Free Speech and Free Exercise of Religion Clauses.

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Ryan Bangert said in a statement that the law allows “HHS to grossly overreach its authority.”

The HHS announced a revised interpretation of the statute in May. The law was first implemented by HHS under former President Barack Obama in 2016. Former President Donald Trump repealed the mandate in 2018 before it was announced again in May.

https://www.christianheadlines.com

Israel is accelerating operational plans to take action against Iran – IDF chief Kohavi

ANNA AHRONHEIM – August 25, 2021

Israel’s military is accelerating its operational plans against Iran due to the progress of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi has warned.

“The progress of the Iranian nuclear program has led the IDF to accelerate its operational plans and the recently approved defense budget is earmarked for that,” he said.

Kohavi commented as Prime Minister Naftali Bennett landed in the United States ahead of a visit with US President Joe Biden and other senior officials. Bennett is expected during his first visit to the White House to push Biden to harden his approach to Iran and drop efforts to revive the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“When we began to plan the visit, a return to the agreement seemed certain,” Bennett said ahead of his departure on Tuesday. “Since then, the time has passed, the president in Iran has changed, and things seem far less certain. In our view, it may be that there is no return to the agreement.”

With no diplomatic options likely to push Tehran to stop its nuclear program, Israel’s military believes that the Islamic Republic needs to be aware that should it continue with its program, it will face harsher sanctions and a true military option to stop it.

https://www.jpost.com

Major hurricane may strike Louisiana exactly 16 years after Katrina

ETH – August 27, 2021

(ETH) – Hurricane watches were issued for several Gulf Coast states Friday morning as Tropical Storm Ida, which formed in the Caribbean Sea, barreled toward the southern U.S. with forecasters warning it could rapidly strengthen into one of the strongest storms of the Atlantic hurricane season.

According to USA Today, The warnings were issued along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, including New Orleans, Mississippi, and parts of the Alabama coastline. A tropical storm watch was also issued along with parts of the Alabama coastline to the Florida border. A tropical storm warning for the Cayman Islands was discontinued Friday morning but remains in effect for two of the islands: Little Cayman and Cayman Brac.

The system is taking aim at the U.S. Gulf Coast, but conditions appear right for the storm to cause extreme weather for inland regions as well, according to a Thursday afternoon AccuWeather briefing. Senior meteorologist Dan Kottlowski said parts of Tennessee still reeling from deadly floods are at risk for more heavy rain.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency Thursday evening due to the potential impacts from the future hurricane. “Unfortunately, all of Louisiana’s coastline is currently in the forecast cone for Tropical Storm Ida, which is strengthening and could come ashore in Louisiana as a major hurricane as Gulf conditions are conducive for rapid intensification.

Now is the time for people to finalize their emergency game plan, which should take into account the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” Edwards said. New Orleans is covered under the hurricane watch, and many residents were already taking to the stores to stock up on food and supplies ahead of Ida’s arrival. The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans was assessing three downed pumps on Thursday, but officials expected 96 out of 99 drainage pumps to be available.

https://endtimeheadlines.org

US street preacher arrested in London says speaking truth is now a ‘hate crime’

Ryan Foley – August 7, 2021

After facing arrest and detention for preaching that homosexuality is a sin, an American evangelist is warning that “things are getting very bad” in the United Kingdom and other Western countries, suggesting that the situation has deteriorated to the point where they are “becoming communist.”

Ryan Schiavo, who describes himself as an “evangelist and missionary,” was arrested in London on July 22 for preaching that homosexuality is a sin. While Schiavo is an American, he spends a considerable amount of time in London and frequently ministers to British youth and others gathered in the public square.

In an interview with The Christian Post, Schiavo recounted the events leading up to his arrest and warned about its implications for free speech and freedom of religion in the U.K. and Western civilization as a whole.

“I was preaching the Gospel on the streets as I frequently do, but it was about a 30-minute message, and in the course of a long message I can touch on many topics that I believe are pertinent,” he said. “At one point, I talked about the issue of homosexuality and transgenderism. I said that homosexuality is a sin; I talk about how it’s destructive, and the damage the transgender agenda is doing to children right now in the schools because it’s being pushed on children at a very young age here.”

Schiavo told CP that one of the things he said while preaching was that “the churches that have rainbow flags on them” were “not real churches.” His message drew the ire of one young woman, whom he believed was a lesbian. According to Schiavo, she was “very upset at what I had said, and so she called the police and the police came.”

As documented in a video of his arrest, Schiavo was detained for purportedly violating Section 4A of the Public Order Act, which bans people from causing “intentional harassment, alarm, or distress.”

The law declares that “a person is guilty of an offense if, with intent to cause a person harassment, alarm, or distress, he — (a) uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior, or disorderly behavior, or (b) displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting.”

As Metropolitan Police officers moved in to arrest him, Schiavo declared, “It is an honor to suffer for Jesus Christ.” He predicted that “God is going to judge this country so severely” because of its embrace of LGBT ideology.

“This is because I am a Christian!” he exclaimed. “That’s why this is happening.”

https://www.christianpost.com

Human-animal hybrids: Senate approves billions of dollars for their chilling creation

Jose Hermosa – June 15, 2021

After a long debate, The Senate approved with 68–32 votes a budget of $250 billion to continue with the controversial creation of hybrid beings by mixing human and animal genetic material.

The bill called the “Endless Frontier Act,” was introduced by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, according to Life Site on June 14.

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) referred to the ethical incompatibility and the need to establish clear definitions on the matter in an attitude of submission to international competition.

“We shouldn’t need to clarify in law that creating animal-human hybrids or ‘chimeras’ is ethically unthinkable, but sadly the need for that very clear distinction has arrived,” said Lankford, who, along with Sens. Mike Braun R-Ind.), and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) sought to criminalize the creation of such creatures.

He added: “There’s a real difference in taking human cells and injecting them into a mouse for cancer research and for other research. That’s been done, and it’s been done for a very long time, and we’ve had time to be able to process that, but trying to be able to create life is a very different threshold for me.”

Senator Daines noted, “In trying to compete with China, we shouldn’t become like them, It’s critical that we draw a bright line against unethical forms of research that fail to recognize the distinct value of humans over animals.”

Although the 2019 Trump Administration had shut down the procurement of human fetal tissue from elective abortions for research and created an ethics board to review any such research in laboratories and universities, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) reversed these provisions in April 2021.

On the other hand, private research at U.S. universities continues its experiments.

https://m.thebl.tv