Jane Steltz Ronketty, 77, Venice, Florida

Jane Steltz Ronketty of Venice, Florida formerly of Barrington, New Jersey and Richardson, Texas entered into Heaven on September 4, 2012. Jane is survived by her loving husband Jim of 53 years; daughters, Barbara (Don) Grimes of Venice, Florida and Lynne (Bud) Loy of Grapevine, Texas; four grandchildren, Jim Grimes, Michelle Harrell, Maria Baker, Jake Loy and a great-granddaughter, Leah Harrell. She was preceded in death by son, Alan James Ronketty and daughter, Dorothy Ronketty Gale. A graveside service will be held at 11:00AM on Saturday, September 15, 2012 at Harleigh Cemetery in Camden, NJ at a later date. Farley Funeral Home in Venice, Florida is handling the arrangements. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to TideWell Hospice, Inc., 210 Wexford Blvd., Venice, Florida 34293. .

Source: http://nbc2.tributes.com/show/Jane-Steltz-Ronketty-94388589

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Afghan soldiers fired during insider attacks probe

FILE - In this Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009 file photo, Afghan Commandos stand in formation during an instructors' training course at their base in Afghanistan's Wardak Province. Hundreds of soldiers have been detained or removed from the Afghan National Army in 2012 after a surge in insider attacks against foreign forces who are their supposed partners in the fight against Taliban insurgents and other militants. The Afghan officials say they are re-vetting soldiers to stem the attacks that threaten to unravel the international community's alliance with the fragile government trying to stand on its own as foreign troops withdraw.(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)

FILE - In this Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009 file photo, Afghan Commandos stand in formation during an instructors' training course at their base in Afghanistan's Wardak Province. Hundreds of soldiers have been detained or removed from the Afghan National Army in 2012 after a surge in insider attacks against foreign forces who are their supposed partners in the fight against Taliban insurgents and other militants. The Afghan officials say they are re-vetting soldiers to stem the attacks that threaten to unravel the international community's alliance with the fragile government trying to stand on its own as foreign troops withdraw.(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009 file photo, U.S. Army Sgt. William Womack, 23, from Batesville, Ga., of the 118th Military Police Co., based at Fort Bragg, N.C., is prone during a training session for the Afghan National Police at a combat outpost in the Jalrez Valley in Afghanistan's Wardak Province. Hundreds of soldiers have been detained or removed from the Afghan National Army in 2012 after a surge in insider attacks against foreign forces who are their supposed partners in the fight against Taliban insurgents and other militants. The Afghan officials say they are re-vetting soldiers to stem the attacks that threaten to unravel the international community's alliance with the fragile government trying to stand on its own as foreign troops withdraw.(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)

FILE - In this Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009 file photo, an Afghan Commando and a U.S. Soldier from 20th Special Forces Group take part in a training exercise in Afghanistan's Wardak Province. Hundreds of soldiers have been detained or removed from the Afghan National Army in 2012 after a surge in insider attacks against foreign forces who are their supposed partners in the fight against Taliban insurgents and other militants. The Afghan officials say they are re-vetting soldiers to stem the attacks that threaten to unravel the international community's alliance with the fragile government trying to stand on its own as foreign troops withdraw.(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009 file photo, U.S. Army Sgt. German Gomez, 23, from Houston, Texas, of the 118th Military Police Co., based at Fort Bragg, N.C., stands guard during a training session for Afghanistan National Police at their combat outpost in the Jalrez Valley in Afghanistan's Wardak Province. Hundreds of soldiers have been detained or removed from the Afghan National Army in 2012 after a surge in insider attacks against foreign forces who are their supposed partners in the fight against Taliban insurgents and other militants. The Afghan officials say they are re-vetting soldiers to stem the attacks that threaten to unravel the international community's alliance with the fragile government trying to stand on its own as foreign troops withdraw.(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Afghan authorities have detained or removed hundreds of soldiers in an investigation into rising insider attacks against international service personnel who are their supposed partners in the fight against Taliban insurgents and other militants, officials said Wednesday.

The crackdown is the result of the Afghan Defense Ministry's effort to re-evaluate soldiers to stem the attacks, which are complicating plans to train Afghan forces so that most foreign troops can withdraw from the country by the end of 2014. President Hamid Karzai's government hopes Afghan forces can take responsibility for security nationwide by that time.

The U.S. military is taking precautionary measures too and recently stopped training about 1,000 members of the Afghan Local Police, a controversial network of village-defense units that is growing but remains a fraction of the country's army and police force. Karzai has expressed concern that without careful vetting, the program could end up arming local troublemakers, strongmen or criminals.

So far this year, 45 international service members, most of them Americans, have died at the hands of Afghan soldiers or policemen or insurgents wearing their uniforms. There were at least 12 such attacks in August alone, resulting in 15 deaths.

Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi said that hundreds of Afghan National Army soldiers were removed from the service, but he declined to provide an exact number or specify how many were detained.

Lt. Gen. James Terry, commander of the U.S.-led coalition's joint command in Afghanistan, told Pentagon reporters Wednesday that he had heard 200 to 300 soldiers were removed in the re-vetting process, but that he had not yet confirmed those numbers with the Afghan government.

Azimi told reporters Wednesday that many soldiers were dismissed because they submitted incomplete or forged documents. He did not say whether any were connected to the Taliban or other insurgent groups, but noted that some were suspected of having had contacts with militants.

An Afghan defense official said many were ousted for drug addictions, while others did not pass biometric tests meant to weed out recruits with questionable backgrounds. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly disclose details about the re-vetting process.

Terry said he also expected the Afghan government to move ahead soon with a "counterintelligence initiative" to identify insider threats within specific army and police units before lethal attacks are carried out.

Coalition authorities have said about 25 percent of this year's insider attacks had confirmed or suspected links to the Taliban. The militants have sometimes infiltrated the ranks of the Afghan army and police and in other cases are believed to have coerced or otherwise persuaded legitimate members to turn on their coalition partners.

Earlier this year, the U.S. commanders assigned some troops to be "guardian angels" who watch over their comrades in interactions with Afghan forces and even as they sleep. The U.S. also started allowing Americans to carry weapons in several Afghan ministries and made security more of a consideration in evaluating visits to Afghan government offices. U.S. officials also recently ordered American troops to carry loaded weapons at all times in Afghanistan, even when they are on their bases.

In a phone call with Karzai on Wednesday, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen expressed deep concern about the insider attacks. NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero said Karzai had assured Fogh Rasmussen that he was doing all he could to stop them.

U.S. Gen. John R. Allen, the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, also discussed the insider attacks on Wednesday in Brussels with the NATO alliance's top decision-making body.

"Karzai sees this as a strategic threat so his government is committed from top to bottom," Allen said. "Culturally, this really strikes at the heart of the Afghans and how ashamed they feel about it. ... We are taking measures to protect ourselves while at the same time recognizing that well-developed human relations can be the best protection of all."

Karzai's national security team decided at a meeting late last month to tighten the recruitment and vetting process and strengthen intelligence units within the defense and interior ministries. Recently, 10,000 to 15,000 individuals have been recruited each month into the Afghan security forces, which are expanding from about 100,000 in 2007 to a goal of 352,000 next month.

Presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi said with the goal in sight, recruiting had slowed to about 4,000 to 5,000 a month.

"The speedy process was the result of the need that we had to build up our security forces to the number that was required," Faizi said then. "But now we are close to that number so, in a way, we are not in a hurry. ... The insider attacks is a reason to also bring down this number (of new recruits being vetted each month) ? to take more measures and be more careful in recruiting individuals."

The Afghan government, however, is blaming most of the attacks on foreign spy agencies from neighboring countries that have infiltrated the Afghan security forces. Faizi has declined to identify the countries, but in the past, intelligence agencies in neighboring Iran and Pakistan have been accused of enabling Afghan insurgents to destabilize the country.

Pakistan and Iran have each denied any involvement.

On Wednesday, NATO said two of its service members died in a helicopter crash in eastern Afghanistan. It did not provide any other details or the nationalities of the two, saying the crash was under investigation.

The Taliban claimed to have shot down a helicopter in eastern Logar province, where coalition forces are staging an operation against the insurgents. The Taliban often issue claims of responsibility even when it is unclear whether they had anything to do with the downing of an aircraft.

____

Associated Press writers Patrick Quinn in Kabul, Slobodan Lekic in Brussels and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-09-05-Afghanistan/id-e6597cb321264af186956e126c29a60e

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androsym: Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G For T-Mobile Launched http://t.co/op7ZbKCw

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Health Benefits of Ice Skating ? 16311th Edition | Health Blog

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Feuds a concern as children inherit Moon's empire

GAPYEONG, South Korea (AP) ? Unification Church patriarch Sun Myung Moon leaves behind children who have been groomed to lead a religious movement famous for its mass weddings and business interests ? if family feuds don't bring down the empire.

Moon, the charismatic and controversial founder of the church, died Monday at age 92 at a church-owned hospital near his home in Gapyeong County, northeast of Seoul, two weeks after being hospitalized with pneumonia, church officials said.

Flags flew at half-staff at a Unification Church in Seoul as followers trickled in, some wiping away tears, some wondering what would happen to a movement defined for decades by the man who founded it in 1954 and proclaimed himself a messiah.

The Rev. Moon and wife Hak Ja Han have 10 surviving children, and, in recent years, the aging Moon had been handing them power over the church's religious, charitable and business entities.

There have been reports of family rifts. One son sued his mother's missionary group in 2011, demanding the return of more than $22 million he claimed was sent without his consent from his company to her group. A court ruled that the money was a loan but ordered it returned, the church said.

The son, known as Preston, is still in charge of a church organization in the United States, but church officials said they have asked him to leave the job.

Moon's death could expose further rifts within the church, said Kim Heung-soo, who teaches the history of Christianity at Mokwon University in the central city of Daejeon.

"There is a high possibility that internal discord will deepen," Kim said.

The church has amassed dozens of businesses in the United States, South Korea and even North Korea, including hotels, a ski resort, sports teams, schools, universities and hospitals.

One expert said the church's business prospects appear brighter than its religious future. Tark Ji-il, a professor of religion at Busan Presbyterian University, described the church not as a religious organization but as a corporation made up of people with similar religious beliefs.

The church won't give details about how much its businesses are worth, other than to describe them as part of a "multibillion-dollar" empire.

Many new religious movements collapse after their founders die, but Tark said the Unification Church would likely survive. Its success as a religious entity, however, will depend on how smoothly it resolves any family feuds and how well Moon's offspring rise to fill their father's charismatic role, he said.

There has been tragedy in the family. One son committed suicide in 1999, jumping from the 17th floor of a Reno, Nevada, hotel, officials said. Two other sons reportedly also died early, one in a train wreck and another in a car accident.

Key to the church's religious future is the Rev. Hyung-jin Moon, the U.S.-born 33-year-old who was tapped to succeed his father several years ago as head of the church.

Known as "Sean" back at Harvard, where he studied, he is more fluent in English than Korean and has signs of his father's charisma ? but with an American sensibility. His sermons, delivered in English, are designed to appeal to the next generation of "Unificationists," the name followers prefer over the moniker "Moonies."

He told The Associated Press in 2009 that he questioned Christianity when he was younger. But his father stood by him throughout the phase, and asked followers not to criticize him when he turned to Buddhism briefly after his brother's death in Nevada.

An older brother, Kook-jin Moon, a 42-year-old also known as Justin, runs the Tongil Group, the church's business arm.

The church has amassed dozens of business ventures over the years, including the New Yorker Hotel, a midtown Manhattan art deco landmark, and the Yongpyong ski resort in South Korea. It gave the University of Bridgeport $110 million over more than a decade to keep the Connecticut school operating. Moon also founded the Washington Times newspaper in 1982.

The church also owns a professional soccer team, schools and hospitals. It operates the Potonggang Hotel in Pyongyang and jointly operates the Pyeonghwa Motors automaker in North Korea.

"Unification of South Korea and North Korea was a long-cherished ambition of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon," church official Kim Kab-yong said in Seoul. "He invested a lot in this. We are so heartbroken that he could not accomplish this."

Sun Myung Moon, who was born in a rural part of what is now North Korea, founded the movement after migrating south during the Korean War. He wrote in his autobiography that as a teenager he received a personal calling from Jesus Christ to carry out his work on Earth.

The church's doctrine is a mixture of Christian, Confucian and traditional Korean values, emphasizing the importance of the family unit but also encouraging multicultural unions.

Moon conducted his first mass wedding in Seoul in the early 1960s, and the "blessing ceremonies" grew in scale over the years. He encouraged his followers to call him and his wife their "True Parents," and often paired up the newlyweds himself before the mass ceremonies.

Richard Panzer, president of the Unification Theological Seminary in Barrytown, New York, called Moon "a historical figure in the history of religion." He said Moon made an "enormous contribution to understanding of the suffering heart of God and a lot of contributions toward world peace."

The seminary, established by Moon in 1975, is an interfaith institution with Buddhist, Christian and Muslim professors, Panzer said.

The Unification Church claims 3 million followers, though ex-members and critics put the number at no more than 100,000.

Joo Seung-ja, 64, said news of Moon's death was hard to accept.

"I don't know how to express this feeling," she said. "Since he taught us true love, we will live our lives by preaching true love throughout the whole world till the end."

Church officials said Moon's funeral will take place Sept. 15 after a 13-day mourning period, with a massive new sports and cultural center built recently on the church's sprawling campus accepting mourners starting Thursday.

___

Associated Press writers Kim Hyun-ah in Gapyeong and Hyung-jin Kim and Foster Klug in Seoul contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/feuds-concern-children-inherit-moons-empire-135452188.html

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Gaynor Fries, Virtual Assistant left a comment for Julie Randle, Business Coach

Hey Julie! Welcome to Inside919, It's nice to have you here! This is a great community to to connect ?online? and meet ?offline? to build stronger business relationships.

There are some great ways to connect with other Insiders in person each month: Weekly be sure to check out the Tuesday AM Coffee Break! Also, there is Third Thursday (night) get together and Final Friday (last Friday of the month). You will see notices on the MAIN Section of the website as events get closer! Groups (top bar) are a great way to connect as well as contribute!

Let me know if I can be of help! Welcome.

PS - Julie, you can also add pix and videos to your profile (perhaps some of your great products!)

Source: http://inside919.ning.com/xn/detail/2082090%3AComment%3A843685?xg_source=activity

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More than 100,000 Syrians fled country in August

BEIRUT (AP) ? More than 100,000 Syrians fled their country in August, the highest monthly total since the crisis began in March 2011, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday.

That exodus sharply increased the number of Syrians now living in neighboring countries, bringing the total number of refugees to 234,368 in the past 17 months, the agency said.

Along with activists' reports that the death toll in August was also the highest in the civil war with 5,000 killed, all signs are pointing to unprecedented levels of misery in a country where President Bashar Assad's regime is fighting an increasingly violent rebellion.

"If you do the math, it's quite an astonishing number," U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said of the number of people who fled in August, speaking to reporters Tuesday in Geneva.

"And it points to a significant escalation in refugee movement and people seeking asylum, and probably points to a very precarious and violent situation inside the country," she said.

But even the August figure only counts refugees who are registered and those awaiting registration. Officials acknowledge the real number of Syrian refugees is likely way above 200,000, because tens of thousands are believed to have not yet contacted authorities.

The uprising began with largely peaceful protests of Assad's regime but has turned into a civil war that activists say has killed at least 23,000 people.

As Syrians look to escape the bloodshed, Assad told the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Tuesday that the group is welcome to operate in Syria ? as long as it remains "neutral and independent," state media reported.

Assad has accused the international community of conspiring to unseat him.

ICRC spokeswoman Rabab al-Rafai did not give further details about Assad's meeting with Peter Maurer in Damascus but said the Red Cross chief also met Deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Mekdad and the head of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.

"President Assad confirmed Syria welcomes the humanitarian operations that the organization is conducting on the ground in Syria as long as it works in a neutral and independent way," the state-run SANA news agency quoted Assad as saying.

Maurer's three-day visit, which began Monday, comes as the need for humanitarian assistance grows increasingly urgent.

According to the U.N. refugee agency, there are now more than 80,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey, where the borders remain open, and there is a backlog of 8,000 Syrians waiting to be processed at the border, Fleming said. Jordan has more than 77,000 Syrian refugees; Lebanon has more than 59,000; and Iraq nearly 18,700, according to the agency.

Inside Syria, the fighting has spread to the two largest cities ? the capital of Damascus and the commercial hub of Aleppo.

The U.N.'s World Food Program spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said more than 264,000 people are taking shelter in public buildings in the Aleppo region ? about 200,000 in rural areas and more than 64,000 in the city.

Byrs said her agency is scaling up operations to provide food urgently needed by 1.5 million people this month, mainly in areas where there has been fighting and people have been made at least temporarily homeless.

Abdul-Qadir Saleh, the commander of the Tawhid Brigade that is spearheading the Aleppo offensive, said rebels control most of the city, Syria's largest.

"The regime only controls 30 percent of Aleppo," Saleh told reporters in Istanbul. He added that regime forces are attacking certain sites to try to "turn civilians against the rebels."

Saleh's claim could not be independently verified, and the government says its troops are advancing in the city.

Activists also reported scattered violence in Idlib in the north, in Daraa in the south and in the Damascus suburbs.

The head of the main Syrian opposition group called for a massive aid program to help rebuild his country in a post-Assad era, warning that a lack of economic development would open the door to extremism.

Abdelbaset Sieda, the head of the Syrian National Council, told a meeting of Syrian opposition representatives and diplomats that a reconstruction program similar to the one after World War II would be needed.

Assad's regime has devastated the public finances and institutions to such an extent that Syria won't be able to rely immediately on oil revenues and taxes to rebuild, Sieda said in Berlin.

The working group on economic rebuilding, which Germany chairs with the United Arab Emirates, is designed to address how to prevent the collapse of basic services and infrastructure and how to revive the economy in a post-Assad Syria.

Unlike neighboring Iraq, Syria lacks vast oil reserves that could kick-start the economy and help finance the reconstruction of infrastructure damaged in the fighting.

Syria used to produce?about 380,000 barrels of oil a day, of which 250,000 were for local consumption and 130,000 for exports. By comparison, oil giant Saudi Arabia produces about 10 million barrels a day.

A fifth meeting of the U.N.-sponsored Syrian Humanitarian Forum ? made up of hundreds of nations, regional groups, U.N. agencies and non-governmental organizations ? is planned for Friday in Geneva. At the last meeting in July, the operations director for the U.N.'s humanitarian office said its appeal for $189 million to help people inside Syria was only 20 percent funded.

___

Heilprin reported from Geneva. AP writer David Rising contributed to this report from Berlin.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/more-100-000-syrians-fled-country-august-182155800.html

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