Sunday, April 30, 2006

BOLIVIA CUBA VENEZUALA SIGN PACT

The Bible says there would be 10 WORLD REGIONS at the end of the age. I Believe this to be 10 WORLD trading blocks.

Leftist leaders reject U.S. trade planVenezuela, Bolivia, Cuba form economic/political alliance
Sunday, April 30, 2006 Posted: 0907 GMT (1707 HKT)


HAVANA, Cuba (AP) -- Bolivia's new left-leaning president signed a pact with Cuba and Venezuela on Saturday that rejects U.S.-backed free trade and promises a socialist version of regional commerce and cooperation. With Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez seated nearby, President Evo Morales signed an updated version of the so-called Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, adding Bolivia as a third member. In Cuba and Venezuela we find unconditional solidarity, Morales said. "They are the best allies for changing Bolivia.

The document signed included the same language of the political declaration signed last year by Castro and Chavez. That pact contained much leftist rhetoric and few specifics, but was followed by closer economic ties and boosted trade between the two vehemently anti-U.S. governments. After Bolivia was joined in the earlier agreement on Saturday, the three presidents signed a second document with more concrete proposals. Cuba promised to send Bolivia doctors to provide medical care to poor people, and teachers to conduct literacy campaigns. Venezuela will send gasoline to the Andean nation and set up a $100 million (€80 million) fund for development programs and a $30 million (€24 million) fund for other social projects.

Cuba and Venezuela also agreed to buy all of Bolivia's soybeans, recently left without markets after Colombia signed a free trade pact with the United States. Dressed in his typical olive green uniform, Castro, who turns 80 in August, said sharing the spotlight with two younger, like-minded leaders "makes me the happiest man in the world. Afterward, the three presidents were greeted by tens of thousands of cheering people gathered in the broad Plaza of the Revolution to celebrate the signing.

The agreement is "a clever mixture of politics and economics, weighted toward the politics," said Gary Hufbauer, an economist at the Institute for International Economics, a Washington think tank. Venezuela-Cuba trade is expected to reach more than $3.5 billion (€2.9 billion) this year -- about 40 percent higher than in 2005. The deal signed between Chavez and Castro has Venezuela -- the world's fifth largest oil exporter and a major supplier to the United States -- selling 90,000 barrels a day of crude to the communist-run island at international market prices, but in exchange for agricultural products and other services instead of cash.

The addition of Bolivia will beef up the grouping's economic potential with the Andean nation's vast natural gas reserves.Morales, a union leader who was swept to power on a leftist platform and has railed against American economic and drug policies, vowed during his campaign to be "the nightmare of the U.S. government. He, like Chavez, has tried to maintain a vibrant private sector while claiming an ever-larger state role in managing the economy. He has also toned down his rhetoric since taking office in January. The Cuba-Venezuela deal -- known by its Spanish acronym ALBA, also the word for dawn -- provided a framework for the leaders to blast Washington's efforts to expand its free trade with Latin American countries.

The U.S.-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas hemispheric trade pact stalled last year, but Washington since has signed nine free-trade agreements with Latin American countries. The three presidents called the FTAA a U.S. effort to "annex" Latin America. Chavez and Morales have warned they could pull their countries from the Andean Community economic bloc if members Colombia, Peru and Ecuador go through with trade pacts with the United States.

Colombia and Peru have reached such agreements with Washington. Negotiations between the United States and Ecuador were suspended after nearly two weeks of street protests in March by indigenous groups in Ecuador opposed to such a pact. According to any reasonable definition of the term, this is not a trade agreement," Michael Shifter, a political analyst with the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, said of last year's ALBA deal. "It's an attempt to pose a real counterweight to the U.S. role and agenda in Latin America.

Shifter predicted few other Latin America nations would join ALBA, instead preferring trade agreements with the United States.But he said Chavez is likely eyeing Peru as a potential ALBA member if nationalist Ollanta Humala prevails in a presidential runoff expected for May 28 or June 4. Humala was the front-runner in the April election. Their leaders' embrace of the socialist-tinged ALBA has rattled Bolivian and Venezuelan business leaders. The government should reach out more to the business sector and create a common agenda, figure out what markets interest us, where there are possibilities and separate the ideological and political from trade and economy," said Gary Rodriguez, general manager of the Bolivian Foreign Trade Institute. Cuba ranks 88 among countries that Bolivia exports to, shipping just $5,291 (€4,220) in goods to the Caribbean nation last year, according to the institute. Venezuela is Bolivia's fifth most important export market, accounting for $167 million (€133.2 million) of its $2.7 billion (€2.15 billion) in exports.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.

TEXAS STORM

Storms Batter Texas With Wind and Hail (associated press)

GAINESVILLE, Texas (AP) - Storms battered eastern Texas with wind up to 100 mph and hail the size of baseballs, damaging buildings and slamming parked airplanes into one another at an airport. When you have winds from 80 to 100 mph it can do damage similar to that of a tornado,'' said Jesse Moore, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

That can do some very, very big damage. No major injuries were reported in the storms late Friday and early Saturday, authorities said. Hundreds of homes and businesses were damaged, and some areas still lacked power Saturday afternoon, said Kay Lunnon, spokeswoman for the city of Gainesville, near the Oklahoma border. Hangars were damaged at the Gainesville Municipal Airport, and the high wind shoved airplanes parked outside, said Airport Director Matt Quick. About 15 planes were damaged at the airport, where about 70 aircraft are based, Quick said.

To the south in Waco, the storms destroyed a home and damaged other buildings, authorities said. Two homes were damaged in Coldspring, north of Houston. No injuries were reported in either place, and the weather service did not confirm that tornadoes caused the damage.

About 4,000 customers lost power in the Houston area, where streets flooded but no serious damage was reported, authorities said. In Liberty County, northeast of Houston, officials reported damaged homes and toppled trees.

Moderate quake jolts Japan, no reports of damage 43 minutes ago

TOKYO (Reuters) - A moderate earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.4 jolted central Japan on Sunday, but the Meteorological Agency said there was no risk of a tsunami and national media said there were no immediate reports of damage.

The Meteorological Agency said the epicenter of the tremor -- which occurred at 1:10 p.m. (0410 GMT) -- was 10 km (6 miles) under the sea off the coast of Shizuoka prefecture, around 120 km west of Tokyo.

In the coastal city of Atami -- a famous hot spa resort -- the earthquake measured a lower five on the seven-point Japanese intensity scale, which measures ground motion, the agency said.

A quake with that reading can cause hanging objects to swing violently, windows to break and cause damage to less earthquake-resistant house. But NHK television quoted the Shizuoka fire department as saying there were no immediate reports of damage.

High-speed Shinkansen bullet trains were running as usual, although some regular trains in the area were operating at a slower speeds, NHK said. Kyodo news agency quoted Chubu Electric Power as saying the earthquake had had no effect on the Hamaoka nuclear power plant in Shizuoka.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or above.

In October 2004, a quake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck the Niigata region of northern Japan, killing 40 people and injuring more than 3,000. That was the deadliest quake since a magnitude 7.3 tremor hit the city of Kobe in 1995, killing more than 6,400.

Saturday, April 29, 2006

EU US DIFFER ON IRAN

EU and US strike different tones on Iran 49 minutes ago

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States and the European Union struck different tones on Saturday on how to respond to Iran's nuclear defiance while insisting they were in full agreement. Speaking at a transatlantic conference, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said no one was considering military action over Tehran's refusal to halt uranium enrichment and Europe did not want to join a "coalition of the willing" against Iran. Influential U.S. Senator John McCain told the Brussels Forum in a speech on Friday night: "There is only one thing worse than military action, and that is a nuclear-armed Iran.

He said the United States would not stand by and let Iran wipe out Israel, as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinjenad had called for. The Islamic republic, a major oil and gas producer, denies it aims to build a bomb and says its programme is purely for civilian energy purposes. Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke, a leading Democratic foreign policy expert, said the response to Iran's nuclear programme, which the West says is aimed at making weapons, was a defining issue for transatlantic relations. Iran is THE test case about whether we'll have effective transatlantic cooperation," Holbrooke said. The more divisions there were in the West and with China and Russia over Iran, the more likely it was that the United States would face the terrible choice painted by McCain, he said.

UNITED?

Solana, who has been involved in efforts by the EU's three main powers, Britain, France and Germany, to negotiate a solution with Tehran, said he did not believe there were differences between the United States and Europe on Iran. NATO and EU foreign ministers, including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, had debated the issue at a meeting in Sofia on Thursday and "nobody at that point in time considered the possibility of a military solution in Iran. He said he did not believe anyone was seeking a "coalition of the willing" to act against Iran and no European country wanted that. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried said the next step was a strong U.N. Security Council resolution. I cannot predict how things will come out, but that is where we are headed, united with Europe," he told reporters.

Asked why he was unwilling to talk of military action unlike McCain and Holbrooke, Solana said that he held political office and did not have the same freedom of speech. The most important thing was to work with Russia and China to build the broadest possible consensus on a United Nations resolution raising pressure on Tehran to comply with international demands to halt nuclear enrichment. The U.N. nuclear watchdog delivered a report on Friday saying Iran had done little or nothing to prove it was not developing nuclear arms. It had hampered checks by inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency and rebuffed requests to stop making nuclear fuel, the report by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said.

NASA launches climate satellites By Irene Klotz Fri Apr 28, 6:48 AM ET

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA on Friday launched two research satellites to help scientists refine computer models that forecast the weather and chart global climate change. CloudSat and CALIPSO blasted off aboard an unmanned Delta rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 6:02 a.m. EDT (1002 GMT) after a week of delays for weather and technical issues. The Boeing-built booster originally had been slated to fly last year, but a machinists' strike forced several months of delays. CloudSat has powerful radar instruments to peer deep into the structure of clouds and map their water content. Although only about 1 percent of Earth's water is held in clouds, it plays a crucial role in the planet's weather, scientists working on the mission said.

CloudSat will answer basic questions about how rain and snow are produced by clouds, how rain and snow are distributed worldwide, and how clouds affect the Earth's climate," principal investigator Graeme Stephens of Colorado State University said. Using instruments 1,000 times more powerful than common meteorology radar CloudSat was designed to render three-dimensional maps of clouds that will identify the location and form of water molecules. Complementary and virtually simultaneous studies by sister probe CALIPSO will pinpoint aerosol particles and track how they interact with clouds and move through the atmosphere. CALIPSO is an acronym for Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations.

Aerosols are formed by natural phenomena like forest fires and human activity such as driving cars. Aerosols are considered a key factor in understanding why the planet is growing warmer and if anything can be done to stem or reverse the change.Computer models predict average surface temperatures on Earth will increase between 3.5 degrees Celsius and 9 degrees F over the next 100 years. The uncertainty stems from the role clouds play in moderating heat. Aerosols in the clouds can either cool the planet by reflecting solar energy back into space, or increase temperatures by trapping heat in the atmosphere. We need to understand the aerosol effect on climate because it counteracts the effects of greenhouse gases," said CALIPSO principal investigator David Winker of NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

INDIA HEATWAVE

The Ozone will be completely depleted in the near furture, If G-d would not shorten the daylight hours all people on earth would die from the heat.

MATTHEW 24:29
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

REVELATION 16:8-9
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

One dead in northern India heat wave Fri Apr 28, 11:33 AM ET

NEW DELHI (AFP) - At least one person has died of heat-related illness as summer temperatures rose across northern India while a powerful severe storm threatened the country's southern islands. A vagrant died of heat stroke in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar where the mercury Friday rose to 43 degrees Celsius (109.4 degrees Fahrenheit), police and officials from the meteorological department said Friday.The weather office reported sweltering conditions and said the sizzler was a result of temperatures rising rapidly in the past week. It warned the "heat wave conditions" were likely to worsen over the next few days.

The dusty district of Hissar in Haryana state adjoining New Delhi, recorded northern India's highest temperature with the mercury touching 43.3 Celsius (109.9 degrees Fahrenheit), weather department officials said. The fierce sun beat down on the Indian capital of 14 million people with swathes of residential districts reporting brown-outs and water shortages. Meanwhile a severe storm over the Bay of Bengal, meanwhile, intensified further Friday and swirled off India's tsunami-ravaged Andaman and Nicobar islands, naval meteorologists tracking the storm told AFP.

Strong quake rocks eastern Taiwan Fri Apr 28, 9:53 AM

ET TAIPEI (AFP) - An earthquake registering 5.6 on the Richter scale has rocked eastern Taiwan, but the seismology centre said there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The tremor struck at 17:05 pm (0905 GMT) with its epicentre seven kilometres (about four miles) northeast of Hualien city and six kilometres under sea. Taiwan, lying near the junction of two tectonic plates, is regularly shaken by earthquakes. The country's worst, a magnitude-7.6 quake, killed some 2,400 people in September 1999.

Philippine volcano showers ash on surrounding villages Sat Apr 29, 5:30 AM ET

LEGASPI, Philippines (AFP) - A Philippine volcano spewed a column of ash nearly a mile (1.6 kilometers) into the sky, showering surrounding villages with ash, vulcanologists said. The Philippine Institute of Seismology and Vulcanology said steam inside Mount Bulusan, located 600 kilometers (370 miles) southeast of Manila, caused the ash to come out.

There were no reports of casualties or damage. The incident occurred at 10:44 am (0244 GMT) Saturday. There was no sign of lava in the 1,565-meter (5,133-foot) volcano and the government is not raising the alert level around Mount Bulusan.Bulusan had a similar eruption of ash last month.

Friday, April 28, 2006

MANITOBA FIRES EARLY

The Bible says 1 / 3 of the trees will be burned.

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

Wildfires already burning in ManitobaLast Updated
Fri, 28 Apr 2006 06:10:29 EDT CBC News

With the threat of spring flooding barely past in Manitoba, officials are expressing concern about the threat of wildfires. Provincial fire officials say 20 wildfires have started across the province already this year and eight are currently burning, mostly grass fires. Two of the eight fires are considered out of control. Water bombers have been put on standby earlier this year in Manitoba. (Ruth Bonneville/Canadian Press) Water bombers are on standby and some firefighting crews have been called in to duty, three weeks earlier than normal.

Conservation department spokesman Tom Mirus told CBC News the warm, dry weather is creating perfect conditions for fire. Today's temperatures of 22 C and a breezy wind is exactly what we don't want," he said. Mirus expects it will be a bad year for grass and forest fires because so much vegetation drowned in the wet weather over the last couple of years. Dead grass ignites very easily and burns like gasoline. A person cannot outrun a grass fire," he said. "The grass fires are so bad this year, they are running into the forests and starting the forests on fire immediately. About half of the fires in the province each year are caused by humans, Conservation officials say. Open fires are prohibited in Manitoba every year from April 1 to Nov. 15, except with a permit or in approved fire areas such as campsites.

And of course for this story we go to luke once again.

LUKE 21:11,25-26
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Tsunami Network on Lookout for Giant Waves By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer Fri Apr 28, 6:17 AM ET

WASHINGTON
- More than 200,000 people perished when a monstrous wave swept the Indian Ocean in 2004. In hopes of avoiding a similar disaster here, a tsunami warning system has now been expanded to both coasts of the United States. We take building this warning system very seriously," Conrad C. Lautenbacher, head of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, said in an interview. DART Deep-ocean sensors in the Pacific, Atlantic and Caribbean now listen for earthquakes on the seafloor, sense the pressure of waves passing over them, and radio their findings to scientists at warning centers in Alaska and Hawaii. Unlike wind-driven surface waves, tsunamis are caused by seismic activity such as undersea earthquakes, landslides or volcanoes.

That means tsunamis are deep, reaching all the way to the seafloor, so that when they reach land they are forced upward into often towering walls of water that can inundate coastal communities.Occurring relatively rarely, they drew little public attention until the tsunami that originated on the Indonesian coast in December of 2004. Shaken by that devastation, governments and scientists redoubled their efforts to prepare coastal populations for this hazard and to find ways to issue warnings. Deadly tsunamis have struck Hawaii and the waves have caused serious damage on the West Coast also, so government scientists have been wary of the waves in the Pacific for years. A 1946, a Pacific-wide tsunami destroyed the U.S. Coast Guard's
Scotch Cap lighthouse at Unimak, Alaska, killing all five of its occupants. That wave reached the Hawaiian Islands about five hours later, obliterating Hilo's waterfront and killing 159 people.

And a 1964 quake in Alaska generated waves that caused damage in southeastern Alaska, in Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and in the states of Washington, California and Hawaii. More than 120 died. Hardest hit was Crescent City, Calif., where waves reaching as much as 20 feet destroyed half of the waterfront business district. Eleven people lost their lives there. There was extensive damage in San Francisco Bay. On the Atlantic side, people have been killed in the last 150 years by these waves striking the Virgin Islands, Panama, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and even Canada. Lautenbacher's agency has now expanded itsobservations in the Pacific and added coverage of the Atlantic Coast, Gulf of Mexico, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands and eastern Canada, he said. The administration, which helps communities develop plans to deal with hurricanes, tornadoes and other emergencies, expanded its tsunami planning and now has certified 29 coastal communities as TsunamiReady. That means they have conducted public education programs, established evacuation routes, and set up means to issue warnings. There had been six deep-ocean tsunami sensors in the Pacific previously.

Now there are 10 in that ocean and five in the Atlantic and Caribbean, with plans to have a total of 39 in service within two years. The DART sensors combine a unit on the seafloor that detects seismic activity and measures water pressure with a floating buoy overhead. When the submerged unit feels seafloor shaking or senses changes in pressure overhead that indicate a significant wave it tells the floating unit to radio the information via satellite to the warning centers. Those centers are now staffed full time and have new computer models that
use the information to estimate the danger to a variety of coastal areas. The center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii issues warnings for Hawaii and foreign countries, while the one in Palmer, Alaska, sends warnings to the continental United States.

Lautenbacher explained that the warnings go to National Weather Service offices and are disseminated through its warning systems including NOAA Weather Radio, weather and other emergency communications systems and direct connections to state and local emergency response officials. In addition to expanding its network of DART deep-ocean sensors the agency
has installed nine of a planned 16 new sea-level stations that track sea level and has upgraded 20 of the 33 stations in use. And researchers have improved their database of nearly 2,000 tsunamis that have occurred worldwide in the past, extending as far back as 2000 B.C. This information helps identify areas particularly at risk.

On the Net:


TsunamiReady http://www.tsunamiready.noaa.gov/ NOAA tsunami activities http://www.tsunami.noaa.gov/ Location of DART buoys http://seaboard.ndbc.noaa.gov/dart.shtml DART II buoy system: http://seaboard.ndbc.noaa.gov/Dart/dart.shtml

NASA NO COMET EARTH HIT

Sometime in the near future there will be a comet or meterite hit the earth, just not this time says NASA.

NASA Says Comet Fragments Won't Hit Earth Tariq MalikStaff Writer
SPACE.com Thu Apr 27, 4:00 PM ET

Chunks of a comet currently splitting into pieces in the night sky will not strike the Earth next month, nor will it spawn killer tsunamis and mass extinctions, NASA officials said Thursday. The announcement, NASA hopes, will squash rumors that a fragment of the crumbling Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 (SW 3) will slam into Earth just before Memorial Day. There are some Internet stories going around that there's going to be an impact on May 25," NASA spokesperson Grey Hautaluoma, told SPACE.com. "We just want to get the facts out.

Astronomers have been observing 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, a comet that circles the Sun every 5.4 years, for more than 75 years and are confident that any of the icy object's fragments will remain at least a distant 5.5 million miles (8.8 million kilometers) from Earth - more than 20 times the distance to the Moon - at closest approach between May 12 and May 28. We are very well acquainted with the trajectory of Comet 73P Schwassmann-Wachmann 3," said Donald Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office, in a written statement. "There is absolutely no danger to people on the ground or the inhabitants of the International Space Station, as the main body of the object and any pieces from the breakup will pass many millions of miles beyond the Earth. The main SW 3 fragment, dubbed Fragment C, will make its closest pass by Earth on May 12 at a safe distance of 7.3 million miles (11.7 million kilometers), NASA said, adding that skywatchers will be able to use small telescopes to spot the comet chunks by scanning the constellation Vulpelca during the early-morning hours.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and other instruments have been watching SW 3's disintegration. The comet's numerous fragments stretch across several degrees of the night sky. For comparison, the Moon's diameter covers about one-half a degree in the sky. Catastrophic breakups may be the ultimate fate of most comets," explained Hal Weaver, a planetary
astronomer of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, in a statement. Weaver led a team of researchers during the Hubble observations of SW 3, and used the space telescope to study the break up of comets Shoemaker-Levy 9 - which was ripped apart by Jupiter's gravity and hit the giant planet between 1993 and 1994 - Hyakutake in 1996, and 1999 S4 (LINEAR) in 2000, NASA said.

Hubble's new SW 3 observations suggest that chunks of the comet are pushed behind its tail by the outgassing of Sun-facing pieces. Smaller pieces appear to be ejected from their nucleus faster than their larger brethren, while other fragments seem to simply fade away. When set alongside studies by other observatories, Hubble's images may help astronomers determine
what is causing the comet's disintegration as it nears the Earth and Sun, the space agency added. German astronomers Arnold Schwassmann and Arno Arthur Wachmann first discovered the SW 3 comet in 1930 while hunting for asteroids.

Despite its relatively short orbital period, the icy object was not seen again until 1979, and then was missed during a 1985 pass. Since then, however, astronomers have kept a close eye on SW 3 and in 1995 observed its initial break up. Aside from a great sky show, the comet poses no danger to Earth and its inhabitants, NASA officials said.

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Thursday, April 27, 2006

IRAN MISSLES TO HIT ISRAEL EUROPE

Iran has missiles capable of hitting Europe: Israel
Thu Apr 27, 6:23 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Iran has purchased North Korean long-range ballistic missiles capable of hitting Europe, according to the head of Israels Military says. Some of the missiles, which have a range of 2,500 kilometres (1,550 miles) and are known in the West as BM-25, have already arrived in Iran, General Amos Yadlin was quoted as saying Wednesday by the Haaretz newspaper.

While Iran already had missiles capable of hitting arch-enemy Israel and US bases in the Middle East, the new weapons pose a threat for countries elsewhere in the region and in Europe that now come into Iranian range, Haaretz said Thursday. The new ground-to-ground missiles operate on liquid fuel. They were originally manufactured in the Soviet Union, where they were adapted for use by submarines and able to carry a nuclear warhead.

After the Soviets retired the missiles from service, they sold them to the North Koreans, who developed them to carry a heavier payload, Haaretz said. Iran's medium-range Shahab-3 missiles, with a range of 2,000 kilometres (1,280 miles), already put Israel and US bases in the Middle East within reach. Several weeks ago, Iran successfully test-fired a new high-speed underwater missile capable of destroying huge warships and submarines, and another capable of avoiding radar detection and striking a number of targets simultaneously.

Iran's ballistic weapons programme has heightened fears in Israel and much of the rest of the international community already anxious to prevent the Islamic republic from seeking to develop nuclear weapons. To counter the Iranian threat, Israel has developed its own Arrow missile, which can intercept the Shabab-3 and thwart an attack on its territory.

INDIA STORM USA TORNADO

Nine killed by storm in eastern India Tue Apr 25, 6:45 AM

ET KOLKATA (AFP) - At least nine people were killed and scores injured in a tropical storm that hit the eastern Indian city of Kolkata and surrounding districts overnight. The storm, accompanied by rains, snapped power lines and uprooted trees stalling traffic on city roads late Monday, West Bengal state's inspector general of police Raj Kanojia said Tuesday.Biswarup Mukherjee, a spokesman for Kolkata Electric Supply Limited, said large areas of the city had been without power.The storm also threw rail and air services into disarray, he said.G.C. Bose, director of the regional meteorological office in Kolkata, said the storm packed windspeeds of up to 109 kilometres (68 miles) per hour.

He forecast more winds and rains for Tuesday in Kolkata and its outlying areas. Of the nine dead, four were electrocuted when overhead electricity lines gave way in the winds, Kanojia said.Two others died when their houses collapsed while three were crushed when trees fell on their vehicles, he said. "Scores of people were also wounded. We don't have an exact figure," the
police official said. The rain and winds forced political parties campaigning for state polls in Kolkata due on April 27 to cut short their programmes and scurry for cover. Many flights in and out of Kolkata were delayed due to the storm with some diverted, an airport spokesman said.

Tornadoes Touch Down in Central Oklahoma
By ASHLEY GIBSON, Associated Press Writer Tue Apr 25, 9:48 AM ET

OKLAHOMA CITY - A powerful storm system spawned at least two tornadoes and several severe thunderstorms, causing damage in central and northeastern areas of the state Monday, authorities said. There were no immediate reports of injuries.West of Oklahoma City, two tornadoes tore through sparsely populated areas of Canadian County, damaging hangars at the
municipal airport south of El Reno. Television footage showed debris from the buildings being lifted and flung about as the tornado moved overhead. Parts of the hangars' roofs were ripped away and a couple of airplanes were moved outside.

Damage from the storms, which formed near U.S. Highway 81 and Interstate 40 about 40 miles west of Oklahoma City, appeared to be isolated, Lt. Stewart Meyer, an Oklahoma Highway Patrol spokesman said. Nearby, employees and patrons watched as the twisters danced west and south of the Denny's Restaurant along I-40, restaurant manager Danielle Landers said."We had about seven tables at the time," she said. "There were a few people that wanted to go outside and see the tornadoes, but most people waited inside until the storm passed. We didn't see any damage."Near Tulsa, a storm toppled trees and damaged at least one house, a mobile home and an auto dealership as it moved through around 1 p.m.

Resident Leslie Shanks said he saw a tornado twist a tree in his front yard and noticed that another tree had fallen onto the back of his house."It hit and was gone," Shanks told the Tulsa World. Some 2,618 Oklahoma Gas & Electric customers and between 3,000 and 4,000 AEP-PSO customers lost electric power at the height of the storms. Service had been restored to
all but 1,200 AEP-PSO customers by 8 p.m., officials said.

Nicaragua's San Cristobal volcano spews cinders, gas
Mon Apr 24, 2:12 PM ET

MANAGUA (AFP) - The San Cristobal volcano near here has entered an eruption phase with cinder and gases spewing from its crater amid increased seismic activity, according to the Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies (Ineter). The volcano, 120 kilometers (75 miles) northeast of Managua, has had "moderate explosions in its crater that have released gases and volcanic cinder" carried by winds toward towns 25 kilometers (16 miles) away, the institute said.

The 1,745-meter (5,745-feet) San Cristobal volcano has been active for several years, but seismic activity, small eruptions and gas releases in the crater, have increased since Friday.
"In every period there is a phase of strong activity with high tremors" during which explosions can occur inside the crater, Ineter said.

Between 30,000 and 50,000 people live around the volcano. The last time a significant eruption phase occurred was November 1999, with moderate explosions coming from the crater.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

IRAN WILL ATTACK US WORLDWIDE

Here we go Iran can only hurt the US by cutting off oil. If they do we will see a quick inflation increase. The Bible does say Famines will be bad in the last days. And people will only be able to buy a Loaf of bread for a days wages. If Iran cuts the oil this could start to occur.

REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

These verses say there will be great inflation in some places, yet riches in others.

IRAN SAYS, "THE MUSHROOM CLOUD IS ON ITS WAY."
Mike Evens

The threats that Israel faces from Iran escalate daily…sometimes it seems almost hourly. First, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boldly declares that Israel should be “wiped from the map,” then he audaciously announces that the Holocaust is a myth perpetrated by guilt-stricken Europeans. Now he is exporting that hatred globally.

Reports have surfaced that Islamic militant recruiters are enlisting homicide bombers in England because of the ease with which they can enter Israel. As many as 70 attacks have been threatened in coming days.

When faced with total annihilation of her kinsmen, Esther was challenged by Mordecai with these words: “For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)
Esther rose to the challenge, proclaimed a day of prayer and fasting, and was an instrument in God’s hands to deliver her people from destruction.

In a recent rally in New York City (yes, the same New York City attacked by terrorists on 9/11) a group calling themselves “Islamic Thinkers Society” waved banners and flags symbolizing the desire to bring the entire world under Islamic rule. Here are just a few excerpts from this chillingly radical group:

The leader of the group cries in Arabic, and those gathered respond in kind:“With our blood and our lives we will liberate al Aqsa!”Leader: “Israeli Zionists, what do you say? The real Holocaust is on the way. Takbeer!”Response: “Allah Akbar!”

And another verse of this demonic chant issues this warning:“Zionists, Zionists, you will pay! The Wrath or Allah is on its way!Israeli Zionists you shall pay! The Wrath of Allah is on its way!The mushroom cloud is on its way! The real Holocaust is on its way!”

This diabolical tirade ends with:“Islam will dominate the world. Islam is the only solution!Takbeer…Another mushroom cloud right in the middle of Israel!” It is time for the people of God to stand up and be counted! It is time to call this nation to fall on our faces before God Almighty, repent, and seek His face for deliverance for our nation and for the nation of Israel.

Iran threatens global retaliation if US attacks 35 minutes ago

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran's supreme leader warned the United States it would be "harmed" across the globe if it decided to attack the Islamic republic over its disputed nuclear programme. The threat came as hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed the regime would resist any UN Security Council demands for a halt in uranium enrichment, at the centre of fears the country could acquire nuclear weapons. Amid the escalating war of words, the head of Iran's nuclear organisation Gholam Reza Aghazadeh held talks with International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei ahead of Friday's UN deadline for the enrichment freeze.

There was no sign of a breakthrough after the 90-minute meeting in Vienna, although Aghazadeh's deputy at the Iranian Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammed Saidi, said the talks had been "encouraging.

In one of his toughest threats, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned: "The Americans should know that if they launch an assault against Islamic Iran, their interests in every possible part of the world will be harmed. The Iranian nation will give a double response to any strike. The Security Council has given Iran until Friday to suspend enrichment work, which makes fuel for civilian nuclear reactors but can also be extended to also material for a bomb. Oil-rich Iran has rejected the demand, insisting it wants only to generate electricity.

The deadlock could open the door to UN economic sanctions or even military action, something the United States has not ruled out although Russia and China are opposed. The alert and decisive nation and government of Iran... will not pay attention to these threats," Khamenei said in a speech to factory workers in Tehran.

The previous day, Khamenei had also said the Islamic regime was ready to share nuclear
technology with other countries. The US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, said this showed "how irresponsible Iran is and why it represents, in our view, a grave threat of proliferation. The hardline president meanwhile repeated that the country "won't back down one iota" in the worsening crisis -- which has already helped nudge world oil prices to record highs. Prices slid slightly on Wednesday, with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, at just above 72 dollars a barrel. If international institutions respect our legitimate rights, we will respect their decisions.

However, we will not regard these decisions as valid if they are intended to deny us our rights," Ahmadinejad told the official IRNA news agency. He also warned Iran could "reconsider its relations" with the world body. The IAEA has been investigating Iran for more than three years, but the UN watchdog says it is still not in a position to judge the true nature of the country's nuclear programme. Western powers, led by the United States, are convinced Iran is seeking either the bomb or the "strategic capacity" to make one. But according to Ahmadinejad, the dispute was merely serving as a trial for international bodies to prove whether they are defending the rights of nations or whether they are acting as puppets in the hands of some bullying powers. The rest of the world must "accept Iran as a nuclear country, which is an undeniable fact, he asserted.

Iran's national security chief Ali Larijani had warned on Tuesday that sanctions would merely bring an end to UN inspections, while an attack would send Iran's nuclear activities underground. The IAEA is still seeking documents on dealings Iran had with a nuclear black market network run by disgraced Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Kahn, the father of his country's atomic bomb. It also wants to interview military officers who may have overseen secret enrichment or "dual-use" activities and to find out if Iran hid work with sophisticated P2 centrifuges, which can enrich uranium more quickly and abundantly than earlier models.

The IAEA also seeks documents Iran has on making uranium hemispheres that form the core of atom bombs and has questions about work that could be aimed at designing missiles with nuclear warheads. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chancellor Angela Merkel held talks in central Siberia city focused on, among other things, the Iranian nuclear standoff. The Security Council's five permanent members -- Britain, China, France, the United States and Russia -- plus Germany plan to meet in Paris on May 2 to thrash out a strategy.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

LAST MAJOR SIGN WORLD TERRORISM

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT WORLD TERRORISM IN THESE LAST DAYS.

ACTS 17:24-32
24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.
30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.

REVELATION 3:10
10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

MATTHEW 24:32-35
32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

LUKE 21:24,32
24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.

LUKE 21:25-36
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree (ISRAEL), and all the trees;(INDEPEDENT NATIONS).
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.
31 So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.
33 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

MATTHEW 24:33-39
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

We see here Israel had to be a nation and in control of Jerusalem before any SIGNS would mean anything. Then, there would be destruction of churches, religous deception, wars (Nations and Ethnic Groups), famines, great earth quakes, persecution and anti-semitism, gospel preached worldwide.

Also signs in the sun, moon, stars, distress of nations due to the waves and violence (Terrorism). As is said in Noahs day.

GENESIS 6:1-3,5-7,11-13
1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

In Noahs day the whole Earth was flooded, one end time sign flooding due to massive Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Storms. The 2nd sign World Violence (terrorism).

SO WE SEE ONE OF THE FINAL SIGNS OF THE LAST AGE IS WORLD VIOLENCE (TERRORISM) BEFORE THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH TO HEAVEN.


Here are the major terrorist activities since 1979 (WORLDWIDE LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS)

1-US EMBASSY TAKEOVER (NOV 4,79)

2-KIDNAPPING OF 18 AMERICANS (1982-91)

3-SUICIDE TRUCK BOMBING OF US EMBASSY (APR 18,83)

4-SUICIDE TRUCK BOMBING OF US MARINE BARRACKS (OCT 23,83)

5-BOMBING OF US EMBASSY ANNEX (DEC 12,83)

6-SUICIDE BOMB ATTACK AT US EMBASSY COMPOUND (SEP 20,84)

7-MADRID RESTAURANT BOMBING (APR 12,85)

8-LEBANON / ALGIERS HIJACKING OF FLIGHT 847 (JUN 13,85)

9-ELSALVADOR GUN ATTACK (JUN 19,85)

10-GERMANY MAIN AIR BASE BOMBING (AUG 8,85)

11-EGYPT CRUISE LINER HIJACKING (AUG 7,85)

12-MALTA / EGYPT AIR FLIGHT 648 HIJACKING (NOV 23,85)

13-ROME / AUSTRIA GRANADE / GUN MASACRES (DEC 27,85)

14-GREECE BOMBING OF TWA FLIGHT 840 (APR 2,86)

15-GERMANY DISCO BOMBING (APR 5,86)

16-SCOTLAND PAN AM FLIGHT 103 BOMBING (DEC 21,88)

17-LANGLEY VA CIA HEADQUARTERS GUN ATTACK (JAN 25,93)

18-NEW YORK CITY WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBING (FEB 26,93)

19-SAUDI ARABIA BOMBING OF US MILITARY COMPLEX (NOV 13,95)

20-SAUDI ARABIA KHOBAR TOWERS BOMBING (JUN 25,96)

21-KENYA / TANZANIA US EMBASSY BOMBINGS (AUG 7,98)

22-YEMEN BOMBING OF USS COLE (OCT 12,2000)

23-NEW YORK TOWERS / WASHINGTON PENTAGON BOMBINGS (SEP 11,01)

24-BALI TERROR BOMBING (OCT 12,02)

25-MADRID SPAIN TRAIN BOMBING (MAR 11,04)

26-LONDON TRAIN BOMB ATTACKS (JULY 8,05)

27-EGYPT RESORT BOMBING (APR 24,06)

Monday, April 24, 2006

PERU VOLCANO AUSTRALIA CYCLONE

Well we see a Volcano is erupting in Peru And in Australia, the 3rd Major Cyclone (Hurricane or Typhoon) in a Month Monica could be the worst yet Officials say.

Peru Evacuates Village Near Volcano Sun Apr 23, 9:47 PM ET

LIMA, Peru - Authorities evacuated some 200 people from their southern Peruvian village in the shadow of the erupting Ubinas volcano Sunday, an official said. Sixteen families from the southern Andean town of Querapi were evacuated to a village three hours away, Alfredo Siu, the regional director of the Civilian Institute in Arequipa, told The Associated Press. About 60 other residents had already been evacuated from the same village over the past three days.

Some families refused to be evacuated, fearing they would lose their livestock and belongings, Siu said. President Alejandro Toledo issued a state of emergency for the area Saturday after Ubinas — about 470 miles southeast of the capital, Lima — spewed acid-laden ash and vapors into the air, killing livestock and causing eye and respiratory problems for nearby residents.
The volcano started erupting in February. Between 40 to 60 livestock, including vicuna and llamas, died near the slopes of the crater, and many more were reported ill, probably from drinking acid-contaminated water or eating ash-coated grass.Toledo sent a plane full of tents, blankets, food and medicine to the area Sunday.

Tropical Cyclone Monica Threatens Australia's Northern Coast

April 23 (Bloomberg) -- Australia's far north is set to be hit by ``very destructive'' winds later today as Tropical Cyclone Monica, categorized as the most severe cyclone, hits the northern coast of Arnhem Land, the Bureau of Meteorology said. The cyclone, which has caused the shutdown of Alcan Inc.'s alumina refinery at Gove, was upgraded to Category 5 late yesterday.
The bureau today warned of ``dangerously high tides'' that may cause ``extensive flooding'' along part of the coast and ordered the sounding of emergency sirens in the Gove area, including the town of Nhulunbuy.

Arnhem Land is land belonging to Aboriginal communities. About 200 residents of Nhulunbuy have sought protection at the town's cyclone shelter, many of them from the area's Aboriginal population, Australian Broadcasting Corp. said on its Web site. Schools in the area will be closed tomorrow, it said. The cyclone should remain close to its current intensity as it moves
toward the west along the north coast today,'' the bureau said. Tropical Cyclone Monica was about 175 kilometers (109 miles) east north-east of Nhulunbuy and moving west north-west at 8 kilometers an hour at 7 a.m. local time today, the bureau said on its Web site. The cyclone has wind gusts of as much as 320 kilometers an hour.

Alcan, the world's second-biggest aluminum producer, yesterday warned customers of potential interruptions to supplies on contracts from its Gove refinery. Work has also stopped on a $1.3 billion expansion to almost double alumina production at the site. The Montreal-based company intends to resume production and work on the expansion project ``as soon as weather
conditions stabilize and it is deemed safe to do so,'' Jacynthe Cote, chief executive officer, Alcan Bauxite and Alumina, said in an April 22 statement on Alcan's Web site. Company officials in Australia and Canada didn't immediately return phone calls seeking further information.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a ``cyclone warning'' for coastal and island communities between Cape Shield and Croker Island, including Nhulunbuy. It issued a ``cyclone watch'' for areas including Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory. A ``cyclone warning'' advises of gale force or stronger winds during the next 24 hours, while a ``cyclone watch'' warns of possible gale force or stronger winds within 24 to 48 hours. Cyclone Larry, the most powerful storm to hit Australia in 30 years, last month struck Queensland state with winds of 290 kilometers an hour, wiping out more than 90 percent of the nation's A$350 million ($260 million) banana industry.

Sunday, April 23, 2006

TYPHOON CREATING BATTERING WAVES

Typhoon Muifa creating battering waves
Tim Ballisty, Meteorologist, The Weather Channel 1 hour, 59 minutes ago

What started Tuesday innocently enough as a moderate tropical storm has become a small, but potent, typhoon east of the Philippines. Typhoon Muifa (Moy-fa) became worthy of its prefix today when winds were estimated at near 105 mph. Muifa is at best meandering to the north while churning in the Philippine Sea just east of Manila. In fact, for all intents and purposes,
the typhoon has stalled.

Though forecast to move west over the islands, forward progression will be slow. Bad news for the island chain as flooding and mudslides will result from the copious amounts of rain expected to fall over the next 48 hours. There is no doubt that the large and powerful waves have been battering the eastern coast of the northern Philippines. The system is forecasted to weaken
gradually over the next 5 days as it heads towards southern Vietnam. The Atlantic and eastern Pacific Basins remain quiet.

Spring Snow Brought Up to 5 Feet to Plains Thu Apr 20, 10:35 PM ET

LEAD, S.D. - Residents of the northwestern Plains on Thursday started to dig out from this week's spring blizzard, which dumped up to 5 feet of snow, cut power and threatened to flood low-lying areas. The heaviest snow was reported in the city of Lead in western South Dakota, near the Wyoming line, where the weather service reported 59.4 inches. Crews struggling with
the weight and volume of snow also had to find a place to put it after scooping it up, said Pat Milos, Lead's city administrator.There's nowhere to put it when there is this much of it," Milos said. About 10 miles to the north in Spearfish, part of the roof at a Wal-Mart store collapsed Thursday afternoon, apparently under heavy snow. There were no reports of injuries.

Colder overnight temperatures, with lows in the high 20s to low 30s, could help lessen the flood threat by slowing the snow melt, said Col. Dan Mosteller, South Dakota Highway Patrol superintendent. It will give the snow a chance to soak in a little bit rather than running off," he said. In southwestern North Dakota, the town of Bowman recorded about 18 inches of snow, the
weather service said. The potent storm in some areas knocked down trees and power poles. Wind gusting to 84 mph overturned a mobile home in the Nebraska Panhandle, and gusts to 71 mph were reported in eastern Montana, officials said.

The South Dakota Rural Electric Association reported about 2,000 power poles were downed, with trees knocked onto lines and many lines snapped. More than 5,000 customers remained without power Thursday in the Dakotas. State officials fully reopened Interstate 90 Thursday morning after clearing about 95 miles of the highway from Gillette, Wyo., to Spearfish, S.D.
The road had been closed since early Wednesday. Four deaths were blamed on the storm, including a utility worker who was electrocuted while working in near whiteout conditions Tuesday night in northwestern North Dakota, authorities said.

Ranchers were concerned about possible losses during calving and lambing season, said Kristi Turman, director of the South Dakota Office of Emergency Management. They're getting dug out and getting into their fields and checking their cattle, Turman said. "We don't have an exact number on losses.

IMF TO POLICE GLOBAL ECONOMY

The Bible says there will be a single Economy in the Future were no one can buy anything unless they have a Computer chip implant in their right hand or forehead.

REVELATION 13:7-9,15-18
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him (THE EU WORLD DICTATOR) over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him,( THE EU DICTATOR) whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
15 And he (THE FALSE POPE) had power to give life unto the image of the beast,(THE EU WORLD DICTATOR) that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
16 And he causeth all,(WORLD WIDE) both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark,(COMPUTER CHIP IMPLANT) or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(666)

NOTICE THIS GLOBAL SYSTEM HAS TO DO WITH BUYING AND SELLING (A GLOBAL ECONOMY, HEADED BY THE (FUTURE EUROPEAN UNION WORLD DICTATOR ).

THE FALSE VATICAN POPE IN THE FUTURE FORCES EVERYONE ON EARTH TO WORSHIP THE EU POLITICIAN OR THEY WILL BE MURDERED. AND HOW CAN EVERYONE ON EARTH BE TRACKED BUT BY COMPUTER CHIPS AND GLOBAL TRACKING SATTELITES.

AND SCEPTICS SAY BIBLE PROPHECY IS HOG WASH. I GOT NEWS FOR THEM, PROPHECY IS BEING FULFILLED NOW FASTER THEN EVER. LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS THE SIGNS COME QUICK AS A THIEF IN THE NIGHT AND CATCH PEOPLE OFF GUARD.
AND THE BIBLE ALSO SAYS ONCE THE PROPHECIES BEGIN TO COME TO PASS, IT WILL BE LIKE A WOMAN HAVING A BABY. THEY WILL GET MORE INTENSE AS CHRISTS RETURN TO EARTH BODILY GETS NEARER.


IMF wins new powers to police global economy By
Lesley Wroughton and Sumeet Desai Sat Apr 22, 7:46 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund won new powers to police the world economy after its 184 member countries endorsed a new framework to monitor how the economic policies of one country affects others. The countries, represented by finance ministers or central bank governors, also agreed that some emerging economies needed more say in IMF decision-making that could lead to a proposal for ad hoc increases in their voting shares by the next IMF gathering in September. We resolve to make the IMF more fit for purpose in a global economy and more able to address challenges that are quite different from those of 1945, when the IMF was created," Britain's finance minister, Gordon Brown, who also chairs the IMF's policy-setting committee, told a news conference.

The IMF should be more able to address global questions with multilateral surveillance," Brown said.The International Monetary and Financial Committee, or IMFC, said IMF surveillance would focus on spillovers and links between countries' economic policies and reaffirm their monetary, fiscal and exchange-rates frameworks. IMF Managing Director Rodrigo Rato
will have the authority to bring nations together on an ad hoc basis to thrash out any economic misalignments based on IMF analyses.Officials said this would create a new forum that better reflected the rise of Asia in the global economy and could possibly replace bodies like the Group of Seven industrial countries, which some say can no longer call all the shots.

One of the problems facing the G7 is that major economic players like China are not part of the club, even though it is the fourth-largest economy in the world.

PRESSURE ON CHINA

The United States has pressured the IMF to broaden its surveillance to include the exchange rates of emerging countries, as Washington also pushes Beijing to loosen its tightly managed currency. The IMF made the case that such a move was also critical to coordinating economic policies and preventing the unruly unwinding of huge global imbalances in trade and
investment flows that could spark a world recession. Member countries welcomed efforts to enhance monitoring of exchange rates but most said they were hesitant about the IMF publishing analyses on the theoretical fair value of currency rates because it was market sensitive. China, however, said this did not mean the IMF should interfere in how countries manage their exchange rates.

Fund surveillance should comply with the objective of promoting exchange and financial stability and respect the autonomy as to exchange rate systems that is granted to all (IMF) members," China's Governor Zhou Xiaochuan told the IMF committee. In addition, Japanese Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki, said rebalancing the global economy not only had to do with more
Asian currency flexibility. I believe what is paramount now for each member country and region is to implement steadily the policy measures needed to strengthen its respective economic fundamentals, which would contribute to resolving global imbalances in a smooth and orderly manner while maintaining sustainable growth." he said.

STRONGER VOICE

Addressing reporters, the IMF's Rato said the committee gave him a clear mandate to propose changes to the voting shares, or quotas, of some countries by September. I have spoken several times about the need for increases in voting power for some countries, including a number of emerging market economies, to ensure they have a role in the fund's decision-making
process that accords with their increased importance in the world economy," he said. An IMF proposal already circulated among members would give ad hoc increases to a small number of countries like China, South Korea, Mexico and Turkey.

Other nations that could also possibly qualify include Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.
But tensions remain between industrial and developing countries over how to reallocate voting power beyond initial increases in the quotas for some emerging nations. The Group of 24 finance ministers for developing countries from Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America on Friday called for a more comprehensive package with timelines to greater representation,
fearing changes could stall after any initial increases. They said it was "imperative" that a concrete proposal is worked out by the September meeting, which should also include a new formula to calculate quotas based on purchasing power parity of a country and not gross domestic product as is currently the case.

U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said on Saturday he would support the ad hoc increase "if it is credibly linked as a down payment on near-term fundamental reform," like those to increase the fund's watchdog role on currency issues. Although it is generally recognized that China's quotas do not properly reflect its global economic weight, an increase in its voting share may be controversial in light of proposed U.S. legislation threatening a veto of such a move in the absence of Chinese currency reforms. German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck called for "equal treatment," saying some European countries -- like Germany -- were also underrepresented in their quotas. Countries like Ireland and Spain are also considered
underrepresented.

We all agreed to focus on countries which were clearly underrepresented," French Finance Minister Thierry Breton told a news conference, also pointing to the need to give countries in Africa a stronger voice.

(Additional reporting by Tim Ahmann and Gernot Heller)

Saturday, April 22, 2006

RUSSIA TESTS MISSLE

As we see in Ezekiel 38 and 39 RUSSIA will be the head of the Muslim Army that marches to Israel in the future, so this is no accident that Russia and Iran are both testing missles.

Russia is now involved with the muslim countries bigtime like the Bible says will happen, because Russia will feed the Muslim countries weapons as well as leads the final March against Israel in the future.

EZEKIEL 38:1-23
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal,(TUBOLSK) (CITIES IN RUSSIA TODAY) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog (RULER), the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN, IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer( GERMANY), and all his bands; the house of Togarmah(TURKEY) of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.(SUDAN, PARTS OF AFRICA)
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.( LOTS OF MUSLIMS COUNTRIES MARCH).
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
13 Sheba, and Dedan,(Saudia Arabia) and the merchants of Tarshish,(Spain) with all the young lions thereof, (USA, CANADA, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, UNITED KINGDOM) shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts,(DIRECTLY NORTH OF ISRAEL ON A WORLD MAP IS MOSCOW) thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.
22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMB).
23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Russia tests missile, official says U.S. missile-defense plans a threat to USA.
Front page / Russia PRAVDA04/23/2006 00:02 Source:

Russia test-launched a missile on Saturday and a military commander said U.S. missile-defense plans could threaten the strategic balance between the former Cold War foes, Russian news agencies reported. Russia's Strategic Rocket Forces, which are responsible for the country's ballistic missiles, successfully launched the K65M-R missile from a testing ground at
Kapustin Yar in the southern Astrakhan region, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

The commander of the forces, Col.-Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, said the main purpose of the launch was to test "a uniform warhead for land- and sea-based ballistic missiles" and newly developed elements of a system designed to penetrate missile defenses, Interfax reported. Solovtsov said that plans for a U.S. missile-defense system "could upset strategic stability," the agency reported, suggesting that the test was part of an effort to ensure that Russian missiles are capable of foiling any U.S.

shield. He said the test involved optic and radar measurement systems that reproduce similar U.S. systems, according to Interfax. The planned scale of the United States' deployment of a ... missile defense system is so considerable that the fear that it could have a negative effect on the parameters of Russia's nuclear deterrence potential is quite justified," Interfax quoted him
as saying. President Vladimir Putin has boasted that Russia has missiles capable of penetrating any missile defense system, specifying that they can change their flight path on approach to a target.

Solovtsov said the system being tested Saturday would make missiles more difficult to spot and their trajectories more difficult to predict. Russia opposed Washington's withdrawal in 2002 from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in order to deploy a national missile defense, saying the U.S.-Soviet pact was a key element of international security. Putin called the decision a mistake that would hurt global security but not threaten Russia. The treaty banned missile defense systems on the assumption that the fear of retaliation would prevent either nation from launching a first strike, reports AP.

FLASH FLOODS LANDSLIDE IN INDONESIA

Like the Bible says it will be WORLD flooding like in Noahs day and the sea and the waves roaring (STORMS, TORNADOES, HURRICANES, TSUNAMIS). The EARTH being destroyed by the EARTH.

Is it not interesting that the weather service in the USA is called NOAA (NOAH). WORLD WEATHER like in noahs day, no accident they called the weather site NOAA.

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(Climate Change).

Flash floods, landslide kill at least 23 in Indonesia

Thu Apr 20, 1:07 PM ET JAKARTA (AFP) - Flash floods and landslides triggered by monsoon rains in Indonesia's East Java have killed at least 23 people, the state Antara news agency said as mopping up operations got underway. The disaster is the latest to strike on the island of Java, one of the most densely-populated in the world, where scores of people have been killed this year in rain-related catastrophes. Until noon (0500 GMT) we have registered 23 dead victims, with most killed in Bendungan subdistrict," the top government official in Trenggalek district, Soeharto, was quoted as saying Thursday.

In hilly Bendungan, 13 people were killed in a landslide that hit three hamlets there after two days of heavy rain, he said according to the report. Hermanto, who heads operations at the East Java search and rescue agency, told AFP he did not yet have a toll but had sent a team to Trenggalek. We are also readying teams from the surrounding districts to help efforts in
Trenggalek," Hermanto said. Flows of water, mud, rocks and other debris swept through Trenggalek district early Thursday and cut the main road linking it to the nearby town of Ponorogo, district spokesman Joko Setiono said, according to Antara.

Setiono said the floods, which hit six subdistricts as well as the district town of Trenggalek, were subsiding. In some areas, the flood had risen as high as two metres (6.6 feet), he said. Hundreds of houses along with schools and office buildings were hit by the floods after heavy rain swelled the Ngasinan River, Setiono said. East Java Governor Imam Utomo and other officials
toured the worst hit areas to express sympathy to the victims and see what assistance was needed, an official from the province's administration office said.

She said the governor was disbursing financial aid for the families of the dead as well as cash for local officials to buy aid including food. Waters had already subsided in Trenggalek town by afternoon and the military as well as local officials and residents were busy cleaning up, another local official, Suwanto, told ElShinta radio. The town's two-storey hospital was innundated, forcing 50 patients to be moved to the second floor, Suwanto said, adding that water had damaged most of the medical equipment.

Flash floods and landslides in Indonesia are not unusual, although monsoon rains typically hit a peak in January. In February, at least 19 people were killed in Central Java by floods and landslides. At least 12 people were killed in similar disasters in
January on other islands in the archipelago nation, while more than 150 people were also killed on Java in two separate landslides. Environmental activists have warned of more frequent disasters in Indonesia unless extensive areas are reforested on Java, which has been largely stripped of its original forests.

Heavy rains devastate half of Colombia; 70 dead since March

Tue Apr 18, 12:52 PM ET BOGOTA (AFP) - Pounding rainstorms in Colombia since early March have claimed 70 lives in flooding and mudslides that have devastated about half the country, the Civil Defense authority said. Fourteen people are missing and 165 were injured in
the rains that began on March 6 and are forecast to continue until June, Colonel Eugenio Alarcon, Civil Defense chief of investigations and operational development, told AFP on Tuesday.

Flooding, mudslides and high winds have affected 16 of the country's 32 departments and some 24,000 people, destroying 225 homes and damaging 2,000 others, he said. The worst disaster occurred in the Pacific coast port of Buenaventura, where an avalanche of mud and rock last Thursday buried a village, killing 31 people, according to the latest toll available.

On March 19 another mudslide killed a dozen Boy Scouts and their guide in the Nevados park in the coffee-growing western region.According to the official weather institute IDEAM, the rainy season would continue until June and is the first of two forecast for this year.

Friday, April 21, 2006

RUSSIA QUAKE

Major earthquake hits distant Russian Far Eastern region 53 minutes ago

MOSCOW (AP) - A major earthquake hit a distant region of Russia's Far East on Friday, causing unknown damage and casualties, a Russian emergency official said. The U.S. Geological Survey and Japan's Meteorological Agency estimated the quake's magnitude at 7.7. The quake struck at 12:25 p.m. local time in the Koryak region, nearly 7,000 kilometres east of Moscow and some 1,000 kilometres north of the largest city in the area, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, said Oleg Kotosanov, a duty officer with the regional emergency situations ministry.

The great San Francisco earthquake of 1906, which destroyed more than one-half of the city's buildings and left between 3,000 and 6,000 people dead 100 years ago this week, was estimated at a magnitude of between 7.7 and 7.9.

UPDATE ON THEM 3 RUSSIAN QUAKE SATURDAY APRIL 22,2006

Quake destroys three Russian villages: report
Sat Apr 22, 1:23 AM ET

MOSCOW (AFP) - One of three earthquakes that hit Russia's remote northeastern Kamchatka peninsula almost completely destroyed three small villages, local authorities were quoted as saying by Interfax news agency. Inhabitants called the Koryakiya region's administration on a satellite phone to report that "the villages are practically entirely destroyed, even brick stoves fell apart," officials said, adding that rescuers flown in by helicopter were assessing the situation. The temblor measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale struck at 1114 GMT, at a depth of 40 kilometers (25 miles). It was located in Koryakiya, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) northeast of Il'pyrskiy and 6,300 kilometers (3,910 miles) north-northeast of Moscow.

The quake was the third that rocked the peninsula on Friday, according to the Kamchatka seismological service, the first measuring a massive 7.9 degrees and the second 6.2.
Thousands of people in Koryakiya, a sparsely populated district, were affected by the earlier quakes, but only four required medical attention, with about 50 more believed to have only minor injuries, the emergency situations ministry said. The Kamchatka peninsula, which is roughly the same size as Japan, is one of Russia's wildest regions, known for hot springs, 29 active volcanos and a large population of brown bears.

Strong earthquake strikes eastern Japan; 3 injured, no tsunami danger
Fri Apr 21, 12:09 AM ET

TOKYO (AP) - A strong earthquake registering a preliminary magnitude of 5.6 shook eastern Japan early Friday, injuring three people but there was no danger of tsunami, the Meteorological Agency and police said.

The 02:50 a.m. local time quake occurred 10 kilometres below the ocean floor, just off the east coast of Izu Peninsula, about 90 kilometres southeast of Tokyo, the agency said. In Ito City in Shizuoka prefecture, one of the most strongly shaken cities, a 64-year-old woman suffered minor bruises on her head when a wardrobe fell on her, local police spokesman Mitsuo Sugibayashi said.

In nearby Kanagawa prefecture, two women aged 67 and 52 also suffered minor injuries, police said, providing no other details. The agency said there was no threat of a tsunami - potentially dangerous waves triggered by seismic activity. The quake, felt most strongly in Izu Oshima, moderately shook buildings in the Tokyo region but didn't cause any damage.

Japan, which rests atop several tectonic plates, is among the world's most earthquake-prone countries. A magnitude five quake can damage houses and buildings in densely populated areas.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

WORLD TRADING BLOCKS

In Daniel 2+ 7 we see the World into 10 Regions. I believe this means 10 WORLD TRADING BLOCKS THE WORLD WILL BE PUT INTO.

Right now theres way more then 10 blocks but i figure the world will change the blocks of the world to only 10.

DANIEL 2:40-44
40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
44 And in the days of these kings (10) shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

DANIEL 7:7-8,19-20,23-24
7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.
8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
19 Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet;
20 And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.

TRADING BLOCKS AND COUNTRY GROUPS OF THE WORLD SO FAR.

EUROPEAN UNION
Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UnitedKingdom. http://www.europa.eu.int/index_en.htm

OPEC MEMBER COUNTRIES
Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Slovak Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America
http://www.opec.org/

COMMONWEALTH MEMBER COUNTRIES
Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Cameroon, Canada, Cyprus, Dominica, Fiji Islands, The Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu, Zambia
http://www.thecommonwealth.org/

NATO MEMBER COUNTRIES
Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, uxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America
http://www.nato.int/

SAARC MEMBER COUNTRIES
Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
http://www.saarc-sec.org/

OPEC MEMBER COUNTRIES
Founder Member: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela
Full member: Qatar, Libya, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, Algeria and Nigeria
Associate member: Gabon http://www.opec.org/

EFTA MEMBER COUNTRIES
Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom
http://www.efta.int/

APEC MEMBER COUNTRIES
Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United States of America, Vietnam
http://www.apecsec.org.sg/

ASEAN MEMBER COUNTRIES
Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam http://www.aseansec.org/

NAFTA MEMBER COUNTRIES
Canada, Mexico, United States of America
http://www-tech.mit.edu/Bulletins/nafta.html

ANDEAN COMMUNITY
Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela
http://www.comunidadandina.org/endex.htm

CARRIBEAN COMMUNITY
Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago
http://www.caricom.org/

MERCOSUR / MERCOSUL COUNTRIES
Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay
http://www.mercosur.org/

SADC MEMBER COUNTRIES
Angola, Botswana, DR Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe
http://www.sadc.int/index.php

COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
http://www.cisstat.com/eng/index.htm

BALTIC STATES, FORMERLY PART OF THE SOVIET UNION:
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

PACIFIC COMMUNITY / COMMUNAUTÉ DU PACIFIQUE
American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, France, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Northern Mariana, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn islands Samoa, Solomon islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, UK, USA, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna http://www.spc.org.nc/

GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL MEMBER CONTRIES
Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E.
www.gcc-sg.org/

ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WESTERN AFRICAN STATES - ECOWAS
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo
http://www.ecowas.int

COMESA MEMBER CONTRIES
Angola, Burundi, Comoros, D.R.Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe http://www.comesa.int/

DUST STORM IN CHINA

China Using Artificial Rain to Clear Dust By JOE McDONALD,
Associated Press Writer Tue Apr 18, 3:17 PM ET

BEIJING - Beijing will use artificial rainmaking to clear the air after a choking dust storm coated China's capital and beyond with yellow grit, prompting a health warning to keep children indoors, state media said Tuesday. The huge storm blew dust far beyond China's borders, blanketing South Korea and reaching Tokyo. The storm, reportedly the worst in at least five years, hit Beijing overnight Sunday, turning the sky yellow and forcing residents to dust off and hose down cars and buildings.

Hospitals reported a jump in cases of breathing problems, state television said. The government was preparing to seed clouds to make rain to clear the air, state TV said, citing the Central Meteorological Bureau. It did not elaborate, and the bureau refused to release more information. Storms carrying chalky dust from the north China plain hit Beijing every spring, but newspapers said this week's was the heaviest since at least 2001. The Beijing Daily Messenger said 300,000 tons of sand and dust were dumped on the city Monday.

That was "definitely one of the most serious pollution days in Beijing," weather forecaster Yang Keming said, according to the China Daily newspaper. "Small children had better stay at home during such days. The dust reached Tokyo on Tuesday, the first time that has happened in six years, said Naoko Takashina of Japan's Meteorological Agency. Dust from China was found in more than 50 locations throughout the country, she said. The Japanese agency warned of reduced visibility but did not say any health dangers were expected.

In South Korea, a light layer of dust blanketed the country, but no ill effects were reported. Rain was forecast overnight Tuesday, and the weather bureau said it should clear the air. The dust storms are expected to last through at least Wednesday in Beijing, neighboring Tianjin and a swath of north China stretching from Jilin province in the northeast through Inner Mongolia to Xinjiang in the desert northwest, the China Daily and other media said. That region is home to hundreds of millions of people. More storms were expected later in the week in Xinjiang and other parts of the northwest, according to news reports.

China's government has been replanting "green belts" of trees throughout the north in an effort to trap the dust after decades when the storms worsened amid heavy tree-cutting. Last week, the western Xinjiang region was hit by its worst sandstorm in decades, which killed one person and left thousands stranded after sand covered railways and high winds smashed train and car windows.

Associated Press reporters Chisaki Watanabe in Tokyo and Bo-mi Lim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.


Wildfire Season Could Be the Worst Ever
By ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press Writer Tue Apr 18, 11:41 PM ET

WICHITA, Kan. - This year's wildfire season could be one of the worst ever, with 2.15 million acres already burned nationwide this spring — more than five times the average, fire officials said Tuesday. Fires have been especially bad in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Nebraska and New Mexico. Fire departments say they are straining under the load with little relief in sight from windy, dry conditions.

The acreage numbers, released Monday, count only fires reported to the National Interagency Fire Center as of April 13. They do not include the hundreds of grass fires that firefighters in beleaguered states have been too busy fighting to file all the paperwork on. It is rare we burn this many acres this early in the fire season," Ken Frederick, a spokesman for the fire center,
said. More than 30,665 major fires have been reported nationwide this year so far, compared with an average of 17,288 in the same period, the agency said. The total area burned is more than five times the average 380,048 acres. Fires have killed 18 people and destroyed more than 1,100 buildings this year.

Texas alone has fought 1.3 million acres of fires, and more than 115,082 acres have burned in Oklahoma, the agency said.Grass is so dry in some areas it ignites 50 feet in front of the flames just from the heat. Fires are jumping four-lane paved highways, and the flames spread so fast trucks going 30 mph cannot outrun them, he said. We are seeing stuff that hasn't happened in the last decade," said Jim Schmidt, an emergency management director in Kansas. "We are seeing cedar trees igniting 40 feet in front of our fire trucks — exploding with no moisture in it.
On the Net: National Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov/

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