U.S.-Cuba deal expected in early July to restore ties, reopen embassies

The Obama administration is expected to announce an agreement with Cuba in early July to reopen embassies and restore diplomatic relations severed more than five decades ago, U.S. sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The two sides hope to conclude the deal by the first week of next month, clearing the way for Secretary of State John Kerry to visit Havana soon afterwards for a flag-raising ceremony to upgrade the U.S. Interests Section to a full-scale embassy, the sources said.
Since a breakthrough between the two former Cold War rivals announced in December, negotiators have settled all but a few differences and were confident they would soon be resolved, several sources told Reuters.

They said the exact timetable for the formal embassy opening was unclear because of Kerry's recovery from a broken leg suffered in a May 31 biking accident in France, as well as the looming June 30 deadline for a final nuclear deal with Iran, which would dominate Kerry's schedule over the next weeks.

Restoration of relations would be the latest phase in a normalization process, which is expected to move slowly because of lingering problems over issues such as Cuba's human rights record. A U.S. embargo will remain in place, and only Congress can lift it.
The sources said the administration hoped to formally notify Congress within the next two weeks of its intention to reopen the Havana embassy. The State Department is required by law to give Congress at least 15 days' notice of such an action.
Cuba's Communist government is likely to act in sync with the United States on reopening of the embassies, issuing its own announcement on restoring ties, one source said. But it was unclear how fast the two sides would act in naming ambassadors.
As part of its preparations to turn its interests section in Washington into a full-fledged embassy, Cuba erected a large flagpole on the front lawn of the building on Wednesday. The flag itself will await the formal announcement of relations.
Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro pledged full restoration of ties on Dec. 17. The two leaders met in Panama in mid-April.
MAJOR ISSUES RESOLVED, OFFICIALS SAY
Cuba was formally removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism late last month, a critical step toward rapprochement 54 years after Washington cut off relations at the height of the Cold War and imposed an economic embargo.
U.S. and Cuban negotiators have resolved all but a few minor differences since the last round of high-level talks in May in Washington, the sources said.
The main obstacles had been U.S. demands for relative freedom of movement for their diplomats on the island, comparable to that in Russia and Vietnam, while the Cubans had objected to U.S. training courses in journalism and information technology given at the U.S. interests section in Havana.
Negotiators are now settling issues such as how many shipping containers will be allowed into Havana for renovating the U.S. mission there.
U.S. officials say there is little, if any, chance that hardline anti-Castro lawmakers in Congress would be able to block the restoration of ties.
The White House declined comment on the timing of any announcements. There was also no comment from the Cuban government.

5 OPEN HEAVENS DEVOTIONAL – THURSDAY - 28/05/2015 – CARING FOR THE NEEDY – BY PASTOR E.A. ADEBOYE

CARING FOR THE NEEDY

Memorise

For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

Deuteronomy 15:11

Read

Matthew 25:34-40

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave the drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Message

The Bible says something very fundamental about our calling as disciples of Jesus Christ which many of us do not pay close attention to. This relates to caring for the needy. Proverbs 22:9 says:

"He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor."

One of the quickest ways to be blessed by God is to care for the poor. The Almighty God said that the poor shall never cease out of the land, and it is His prerogative to take care of such poor people. In as much as God will not come down to do this duty Himself; He has commanded those who are blessed with resources to give to those who do not have. Whoever acts on God's behalf by catering for the needy and the poor will be bountifully blessed by Him. This is one of the secrets of divine blessing.

Apart from blessings in this world for those who cater for the poor, our Lord Jesus Christ goes further to assure them of eternal blessings. He said that such people will be adequately rewarded in the kingdom of God. Matthew 25:34-35 says:

"Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:"

One of the respected general overseers of a church in Nigeria once gave the testimony of how he got saved during the Nigerian Civil War. According to him, as he was running from place to place for safety during the war, he stumbled on the small residence of a Christian couple and they received him into their home. To his surprise, he had barely settled down to rest in this couple's house when the wife placed a big plate of rice before him. He wondered how the couple managed to prepare such sumptuous meal in the first place, and how they could sacrifice such a delicious meal to a wanderer like himself. There and then, he decided to serve the God who was able to take care of this couple even in the time of war. That was how he became a Christian. Today, he has a successful Christian ministry that is spread all over the place. One fact remains, the couple that led him to Christ through sacrificial hospitality will share in the reward of the harvest of souls being credited to his ministry.

Prayer Point

Father, grant me the grace and the provision I need to care for the needy in Jesus' Name.

Bible in one year

2 Samuel 21-22; 
Mark 15:6-32

Two Traditional Leaders with Same Ideology

How do we describe these two traditional leaders?

"Most government leaders do not want to speak out on this matter because they are scared of losing votes. As the King of Zulu nation, I cannot tolerate a situation where we are being led by leaders with no views whatsoever."-King Zwelithi of Zululand of South Africa

 “On Saturday, if any one of you goes against Ambode who I picked, that is your end. If it doesn’t happen within seven days, just know that I am a bastard and its not my father who gave birth to me."-Oba Rilwan Akiolu, the King of Lagos

Jonathan Visits IBB

The great Nigerian leader visits IBB at home....

N. Korea calls Obama 'monkey'

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea on Saturday blamed the U.S. for shutting down its Internet amid the hacking row over the movie "The Interview" and compared President Barack Obama to a monkey.
The North has denied involvement in a crippling cyberattack on Sony Pictures, but has expressed fury over the comedy, which depicts the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Sony Pictures initially called off the release of the film, citing threats of terror attacks against U.S. movie theaters. Obama criticized Sony's decision, and the movie opened this past week.
On Saturday, the North's powerful National Defense Commission, which is led by Kim and is the country's top governing body, said Obama was behind the release of "The Interview." It described the movie as illegal, dishonest and reactionary.
"Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest," an unidentified spokesman at the commission's Policy Department said in a statement carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency.

 t wasn't the first time North Korea has used crude insults against Obama and other top U.S. and South Korean officials. Earlier this year, the North called U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry a wolf with a "hideous" lantern jaw and South Korean President Park Geun-hye a prostitute. In May, the North's official news agency published a dispatch saying Obama has the "shape of a monkey."
The defense commission also blamed Washington for intermittent outages of North Korean websites this past week, which happened after the U.S. had promised to respond to the Sony hack. The U.S. government has declined to say if it was behind the shutdown.
There was no immediate reaction from the White House on Saturday.
According to the North Korean commission's spokesman, "the U.S., a big country, started disturbing the Internet operation of major media of the DPRK, not knowing shame like children playing tag." DPRK refers to the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The commission said the movie was the result of a hostile U.S. policy toward North Korea, and threatened the U.S. with unspecified consequences.
North Korea and the U.S. remain technically in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The rivals also are locked in an international standoff over the North's nuclear and missile programs and its alleged human rights abuses. The U.S. stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea as deterrence against North Korean aggression.

Soyinka Is An Aparo Hunter - Obasanjo

 Former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo in his autobiography had opened a can of worms on many major stakeholders in the country.
One part of the book, My Watch shines light on the nation’s only Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, whom the elder statesman described as “a self-serving critic” who always loved to take the lead on all matters.
READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/342763-soyinka-is-an-aparo-hunter-obasanjo.html

 

He wrote:  “For Wole, no one can be good, nor can anything be spot-on politically except that which emanates from him or is ordained by him, His friends and loved ones will always be right and correct no matter what they do or fail to do.”

 

 

 

Obasanjo described Soyinka as “a misfit as a political analyst, commentator or critic,” adding that it was good that Mr. Soyinka did not go into politics.
“He is surely a better wine connoisseur and a more successful “aparo” (guinea fowl) hunter than a political critic, not to talk of what he would do as a politician,” Mr. Obasanjo said.

“I take him seriously on almost all issues except on the political particularly Nigerian politics.” 

 

He however thinks the Nobel Laurate has calmed down recently after he turned 80.
Obasanjo finally wrote:  “If I go before him, I will bid him welcome when he arrives at the great beyond. I hope he would do the same if he succeeds in getting there before me and we find ourselves on the same side of the divide.”
READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/342763-soyinka-is-an-aparo-hunter-obasanjo.html

 

 

 

 

GDP REBASING: ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ACHIEVEMENT OF. PRESIDENT JONATHAN

After 22 years of economic blindness, the Jonathan-led Federal Government broke the jinx of rebasing the economy's GDP which was done the last time in 1992.

Note, the United Nations Statistical Commission requires every economy to rebase her GDP at least once in five (5) years. Many opposers of our economic progress are ignorant of this fact. I have read a piece of work that claims that America does this in every two years and I have been searching for a better proof of it. However, the UN expects every country to rebase her economy in every five years.

Furthermore, the aim of this is to reflect the present state of the economy on the nation's record. It is very disappointing that Nigeria could not do this in 22 years. The present administration broke the jinx.

Was it of any importance to rebase the GDP of the Nigerian economy?

Those who can reasonably follow can accept that the Nigerian telecommunication Sector rules Africa today. This is an advantage our population or largeness of the market has offered us. Can anyone compare today's progress in the sector with what NITEL could offer as a monopolist in 1992? The ICT has greatly influenced economic activities more than what we had in the last 22 years. How about the Entertainment Industry? Where are we today and where were we in the last 22 years? This is prove to you that the GDP needed to be rebased.

The rebasing of the economy revealed the true position of the Nigerian economy in Africa and the globe. I have waited patiently for the South African government to disagree with this fact and refute the Nigerian claim to no avail. I have waited for the UN, IMF to refute this claim to no avail. However, I have only heard our people, our brothers disagreeing with the economic progress of our fatherland. May be these people would not have rebased the economy if they were the ones in power.

Jonathan is not the owner of Nigeria. For that reason, if you distroy Nigeria because of Jonathan, the effect of the destruction may linger beyond 2019 when Jonathan will hand over. Be wise.

#Nigeriaisgreat
#Sayitaloud