FLOODS IN CHINA NC INDIA

1-Arab league pushes Euromed line. 2-Flashfloods kill 52 in China.3-Floodwaters threaten North Carolina. 4-Floods in India displace 500,000.5-Quakes rattles north Carolina counties.

Arab League pushes Euromed line In Cagliari, Amr Moussa urges Brussels to do more

(ANSA) - Cagliari, June 16 - Arab League leader Amr Moussa urged the European Union on Friday to do more to bring countries on the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean closer together .Speaking at a conference on Euro-Mediterranean relations in Cagliari, Amr Moussa said the so-called 'Barcelona Process' which aimed to promote a thriving community around the Mediterranean had so far not lived up to expectations .

The Egyptian politician said this project would be helped if Brussels were to commit itself more fully to the Mideast peace process. A greater commitment on this front would help counter the threat of terrorism and give the Euro-Mediterranean area the security it needs in order to move down the road to development, Moussa said.

In a keynote speech at the 'Mediterranean, a Great Opportunity' conference, he also invited Brussels to think carefully about the needs of Europe's Muslim citizens . The Arab League Secretary General did not say whether recent tensions between the Muslim world and the West had contributed to holding up the Barcelona Process. On this point he said only: "There are real problems in relations between Islam and the West and they must be faced openly.He denied however that a 'conflict of civilisations' was taking place .Moussa also called for a nuclear free
zone in the Mediterranean. This was a way of putting Israel and Iran, both of whom have nuclear programmes, on the same level, he indicated .As well as security, the development of a truly Euro-Mediterreanean community depends on intense cooperation on a cultural and economic level, he continued, adding that this was another area where Brussels could help .The bureaucracy of the European Commission makes collaboration very difficult, he said, calling for red tape to be cut away .

In return, the leader said the Arab world was committed to pushing through the political an economic reforms that would enable them to develop further and play a full role in the global economy .The Barcelona Process began in 1995 with the creation in the Euro -Mediterranean Partnership between 27 nations located around the Mediterranean rim .Its primary objective was to turn the Euro-Mediterranean basin into an area of dialogue and cooperation in which economies could flourish in an atmosphere of peace and stability. Ama Moussa was not the only one at the who thought the EU had failed to push hard enough on the Euro-Mediterranean
pedal since 1995 .

The EU must rethink its Mediterranean policy," said Boris Biancheri, a former US ambassador and secretary general at the Italian foreign ministry .Biancheri, who is also ANSA's chairman, said the failure of the Barcelona Process to take off was partly the result of uncertainty in EU foreign policy. Brussels needs to pursue in the Mediterranean the same sort of close and cooperative relations that it establishes with any other neighbouring states, he said .Meanwhile, in Brussels, Italy and Spain were moving ahead on precisely this point. Italian Premier Romano Prodi and his Spanish counterpart Jose Luis Zapatero agreed to set up a joint working group to push the EU towards a more decisive Mediterranean policy .Friday's conference in Cagliari was organised by Ansamed, the Mediterranean news agency, and the Studio Ambrosetti company consultancy firm .

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.

Rainstorms, flash floods kill 52 in southwest China Fri Jun 16, 10:06 AM ET

BEIJING (AFP) - Persistent rainstorms and flash floods in southwestern China have killed a total of 52 people and left another 20 missing. Torrential rains in May and June hit 293 townships in Guizhou province, paralysing local transport and interrupting telecommunications and power supplies, Xinhua news agency reported.More than 30 people died and 2,400 houses collapsed in the worst-hit county of Wangmo where 1,500 hectares (3,705 acres) of farmland were also damaged, said the report, quoting a local party secretary.

The disasters have also caused 1.3 billion yuan (162.5 million dollars) in economic losses, the Guizhou provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters estimated.The rainy season is forecast to last until mid-July.

Rising floodwaters threaten homes in N.C. Fri Jun 16, 9:48 AM ET

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. - Rising rivers in eastern North Carolina threatened homes and forced road closures Friday, two days after the remnants of Tropical Storm Alberto drenched much of the state. The Tar River early Friday was at 19.7 feet, nearly four feet above flood stage, and could crest at around 20 feet before starting to recede by Saturday morning, National Weather Service forecaster Bob Ussery said. We don't know when the thing is really going to go down completely, he said.

Four people were rescued Thursday after floodwater surrounded their homes, authorities said.The storm dumped 2 to 5 inches rain as it passed through central and eastern North Carolina on Wednesday, with some areas reporting nearly 8 inches of rain. It flooded roads and low spots, led to scores of traffic accidents, and sent rivers rising.

Wes Strickland organized a sandbagging effort to try to protect his business, Club Fuzion, which sits along the Tar River. Among the volunteers were members of a pre-wedding party that was scheduled for Thursday night at the club, he said.The bride, groom, best man and the rest of the party were all out here working, Strickland said. We piled sandbags about 3 feet high along the
perimeter of the club and in front of the doorways. The inside is still dry, but the back patio is completely under water.Alberto, the first named storm of the Atlantic Hurricane season, came ashore Tuesday in Florida as a tropical storm with 50 mph winds, then headed up the East Coast before moving out to sea on Thursday. One death was blamed on the storm, a 13-year-old boy who drowned after chasing a ball into a culvert during pouring rain near Louisburg.

Floods displace 500,000 people in northeast India Fri Jun 16, 7:44 AM ET

GUWAHATI, India (AFP) - Nearly 500,000 people have fled before floods in the northeastern state of Assam where 16 people have died since monsoon rains hit at the end of May.We have alerted the army, paramilitary, police, civil officials and healthcare workers to move to flood hit areas in the shortest possible time when summoned, Assam's rehabilitation minister Bhumidhar Barman said Friday.The alert was sounded after three more people drowned overnight when their boat capsized. Five people were killed during the week in neighbouring Tripura state where 10,000 residents were also displaced.

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Small earthquake rattles 4 N.C. counties Fri Jun 16, 7:58 AM ET

FRANKLIN, N.C. - A small earthquake shook buildings and rattled dishes in at least four western North Carolina counties Thursday night, the seventh noticeable temblor to shake the region in the past year.There were no reports of damage in the 3.1-magnitude quake, centered 28 miles north of Franklin and felt from Maggie Valley to Bryson City to Cashiers just before 9 p.m.The quake was considered minor, said Dale Grant, a geophysicist with the National Earthquake Information Center.

A quake of this magnitude generally won't cause a great deal of damage, if any, he said. Still, emergency dispatchers took a flood of worried calls from people asking if they had heard an explosion or plane crash.

Oh Lord, after it happened every line in here lit up, Jackson County dispatcher Belinda Clawson said.Arthur Buchanan said he didn't hear anything while working inside P.J.'s Fast Food Mart in Sylva, but he felt the store tremble.I figured somebody had ran into the side of my building," he said, "because it shook it good.Over the past year, four of six other noticeable quakes within 60 miles of Thursday's epicenter were bigger, according to the center.They include a 3.7
magnitude temblor in August centered in Madison County that shook houses as far south as Athens, Ga.Information from: The Asheville Citizen-Times, http://www.citizen-times.com/