CHINAS WORST STORM IN DECADES

1-88 Houses Damaged in Series of Earthquakes in Albania. 2-Moderate quake rattles El Salvador, Guatemala. 3-FARMING: COLDIRETTI - 1BN DAMAGE BY STORMS AND DROUGHT. 4-China's worst storm in decades arrives. 5-Stronger hurricanes spawn bigger storm surges. 6-3.5 million face flood risk, India's diamond city inundated. 7-Green pigment spins chip promise. 8-Russia-NATO-En largement Russian minister: Russia questions NATO enlargement Belgrade. 9-Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever death toll in Turkey rises. 10-Bomb plot' throws air travel into chaos.

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.

88 Houses Damaged in Series of Earthquakes in Albania
10 August 2006 | 16:55 | FOCUS News Agency

Tirana. 88 houses were damaged in a series of earthquakes in the southern parts of Albania, the Macedonian TV channel SITEL reported. The Mayor of the town of Himara announced that the damages in his town were not so significant.

Two villages near Himara were more severely struck by the earthquakes.An earthquake measuring 5.5 in magnitude rocked the southern parts of Albania on Wednesday shortly after midnight. The same morning another earthquake measuring 4.8 was registered in the region.

Seismic activity continued throughout the whole day.

Moderate quake rattles El Salvador, Guatemala 1 hour, 30 minutes ago

SAN SALVADOR (AFP) - A moderate earthquake, measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale, shook El Salvador and Guatemala, alarming residents but causing no injuries, officials here have said. The quake, recorded by seismologists at 1:03 am (0703 GMT), had an epicenter in the Pacific, some 25 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of the mouth of the Paz River, which separates El Salvador and Guatemala, and 150 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of San Salvador.The earthquake had a depth of 25 kilometers (15 miles).

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; 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.

FARMING: COLDIRETTI - 1BN DAMAGE BY STORMS AND DROUGHT

(AGI) - Rome, 9 Aug - The bad weather has caused damage across northern central and southern Italy, with many regions announcing the launch of the procedure for a declaration of a state of emergency, reports Coldiretti's monitoring of the effects of the wet weather crossing Italy following the long drought in the north and with a national toll of at least a billion euros lost in farming caused by the varied weather comprising storms and dry weather that has marked summer 2006. The heavy rainstorms and storms have affected regions already hit by the drought, such as Emilia Romagna where in Ferrara, after 40 days without rain, wind and rainstorms caused a millions of euros of damage.

But also those that had been saved from the drought, such as Puglia and Molise, have seen wind and rainstorms. In the province of Taranto, as a result of a violent rainstorm that hit hundreds of businesses, Coldiretti reports that the harvest of eating grapes and grapes for wine, olives, fruit and vegetables has been irreparably damaged across an area of around four thousand hectares between Castellaneta, Palagianello and Palagiano, damaging between 70pct and 100pct of crops.

In lower Molise losses of six and a half million euros have been estimated due to the hailstorms that have badly hit 350 hectares of vineyards, 250 hectares of tomatoes and also plums olives and with a state of emergency being recognised. Lighter rain in some areas brought relief in some areas of the country while severe damage has been recorded in areas where there have been full force rainstorms with strong winds and hailstones causing irreversible damage to buildings and farm land.

The arrival of storms on land suffering from the lengthy drought increased the risk of further landslips and landslides - a possibility that affects all regions given that 7.1pct of land to a total of 21,000 km sq is considered to be at risk of landslides and floods. There is a need to deal with the state of emergency but there is also a need to think about the future with a plan to protect the environment
and the development of land that offers huge opportunities for competitive growth at the local production level. A commitment that should be accompanied - concludes Coldiretti - with overcoming the delays in work on infrastructure that needs modernisation and new plants in the face of climatic change, the management of water and the local safety and development of the land.(AGI) -
091941 AGO 06

China's worst storm in decades arrives By GILLIAN WONG, Associated Press Writer 39 minutes ago

BEIJING - The most powerful typhoon to hit China in five decades slammed into its southeastern coast Thursday, destroying hundreds of homes and battering the region with rain and wind after more than 1.3 million people were evacuated, state media
reported. At least two people were killed. Typhoon Saomai was the eighth major storm to strike China in this summer's unusually violent typhoon season.

Torrential rains were forecast in the next three days as it churned inland across crowded areas where Tropical Storm Bilis killed more than 600 people last month.Saomai, with winds up to 135 mph, made landfall at the town of Mazhan in coastal Zhejiang province at 5:25 p.m. and was moving northwest at 12 mph, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing weather officials.

Xinhua said two people were killed in the city of Fuding, while 80 people were injured and more than 1,000 houses toppled in and around Mazhan.Saomai was the most powerful typhoon to hit China since the founding of the communist government in 1949, Xinhua said, citing the Zhejiang provincial weather bureau.

Before its arrival, at least 760,000 people were evacuated from flood-prone areas of Zhejiang and 569,000 from the neighboring coastal province of Fujian, Xinhua said. It said a total of 70,000 ships had returned to port in the two provinces.The area is about 950 miles south of Beijing, the Chinese capital, which was not affected by the storm.In Hong Kong, airport officials said Thursday that 10 flights between Hong Kong and Taiwan and the mainland city of Fuzhou had been canceled and 16 flights delayed as of midafternoon.

In the central and southern Philippines, two people died and seven others were reported missing after giant waves and heavy rains generated by the typhoon battered coastal villages this week, officials said.More than 200 houses built on stilts were destroyed as waves up to 10 feet tall ravaged the coast of Bongao, the capital of southern Tawi-Tawi province, before dawn Wednesday, provincial Gov. Sadikul Sahali said. A child died and another was reported missing, he said.There is floating debris everywhere,Sahali said.

Elsewhere, a man was killed as big waves washed away about 200 shanties in seaside villages in Talisay city on central Cebu island early Wednesday, the civil defense office said.Saomai passed across the Japan's Okinawa island group on Wednesday with
winds up to 89 mph, prompting airlines to cancel 141 flights and affecting 24,000 passengers.

China's weather bureau had forecast unusually heavy typhoon action this summer, saying warmer than normal Pacific currents and weather patterns over Tibet would create bigger storms and draw them farther inland.Bilis triggered flooding and landslides as far inland as Hunan province, hundreds of miles from the coast.

Most of the deaths happened in areas away from coastal communities that have elaborate dike networks and a long history of evacuating flood-prone areas.Typhoon Prapiroon lashed China's southern coast last week, killing at least 80 people in floods and landslides in Guangdong province and neighboring Guangxi.Even as Saomai stormed ashore, Chinese forecasters were already closely watching Tropical Storm Bopha, which trailed behind it farther out in the Pacific. Bopha crossed Taiwan overnight with sustained winds of 40 mph but no major damage or casualties were reported.

Stronger hurricanes spawn bigger storm surges By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent Wed Aug 9, 4:23 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Stronger hurricanes forecast for the next few decades could flood major cities including Miami and New Orleans, environmental scientists said on Wednesday. Storm surges walls of water up to 30 feet high pushed ashore by
hurricanes could pose a higher risk to coastal areas than the threat of rising seas tied to global warming, scientists from the group Environmental Defense said.

More intense hurricanes -- some as strong as 2005's devastating Katrina are likely in the future, the scientists said, because global climate change could mean warmer sea surface temperatures, which fuel hurricanes' development.

There's been a lot of talk about the threat to coastal areas of sea level rise, and that is a very, very real issue ... but one that is going to unfold over a period of decades, if not a century,said Bill Chameides, Environmental Defense's chief scientist, in a telephone news conference.What we think will actually be a more immediate risk to coastal areas ... is the threat of storm surge, which is actually exacerbated by sea level rise due to these growing-intensity storms,Chameides said.Using U.S. government data, the scientists created maps showing flood risk areas in Wilmington, North Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina, and Miami, based
on projections of storm surges from hurricanes ranked as Category Three, Category Four and Category Five.

FLOOD RISK

A Category Three storm, with a typical surge of 9 feet (2.7 meters) to 12 feet above normal, would pose a flood risk to all of Miami Beach and much of downtown Miami, according to the scientists' projections.By contrast, a Category Five storm, with surges of 18 feet or higher, would pose a risk to a larger area, extending further inland, their maps indicated.The maps and other information are
available online at http://www.environmentaldefense.org/go/hurricanes/.

For New Orleans, the scientists did not project possible risk of flooding; instead, they used data from the U.S. Geological Survey showing how far the flood waters went after devastating Hurricane Katrina came ashore last year.As Hurricanes Katrina and Rita showed, the 9,546 square miles of land close to sea level (in Louisiana) are especially vulnerable to storm surges -- highly destructive moving crests of water that often cause the bulk of the damage in a high-category storm, the scientists wrote online.

Chameides agrees with many climate scientists who believe human-caused global warming is responsible for raising sea surface temperatures, making stronger hurricanes more likely; but other scientists maintain hurricane intensity goes in natural cycles, and say the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic and Caribbean season was part of a high-category hurricane cycle.

U.S. government forecasters on Tuesday revised their hurricane predictions for 2006, saying the Atlantic hurricane season would be slightly less intense than last year and less active than they predicted in May with 12 to 15 named storms and seven to nine hurricanes, of which three or four could be classified as major hurricanes.Last year there were 28 tropical storms, of which 15 became hurricanes, including four major hurricanes, notably Katrina, which devastated New Orleans, killed 1,300 people and caused $80 billion in damage.

3.5 million face flood risk, India's diamond city inundated Wed Aug 9, 1:06 PM ET

AHMEDABAD, India (AFP) - Swirling floods intensified in parts of rain-lashed India as the authorities warned that 3.5 million residents of the main diamond-cutting city of Surat were at risk from rising water levels. Troops backed by naval craft and heavy-lift air force helicopters were evacuating people from flooded homes in Surat in the western state of Gujarat as diamond merchants perched on rooftops for protection.Nationwide, the flood-related death toll rose by 197 in the past eight days to 574 since the monsoons hit the country in mid-May.Some 543,000 people have been hit by floods in the inundated southern Andhra Pradesh state and another 105,000 people displaced in neighbouring Maharashtra, officials said.Surat Police Commissioner Sudhir Sinha painted a horrific picture of the city, which accounts for around 70 percent of India's polished diamond exports.

Due to the release of 900,000 cusecs (cubic inch per second) of water from the Ukai dam into Tapti river, 80 percent of Surat is under water and the situation is likely to worsen with the high tide (in the Arabian Sea),Sinha told reporters.Most of Surat's 3.5 million population is badly affected,Sinha said. He put the number of people killed at six in the past four days.A total of 190,000 people have so far shifted from Surat, officials said, adding that communications links were also down.Casualties will rise if the water-sheet enters the first floor of houses in the vicinity of Tapti river. Right now people are on rooftops,he said.Sinha reported
growing shortages of emergency supplies in the once-prosperous city. The diamond-cutting industry was in disarray.All diamond and textile units have been closed for the last three days and diamond cutters are stranded on the rooftops of their houses,Dhiru Gajera, provincial legislator from Surat, said in Gujarat's main city of Ahmedabad.

Nanubhai Vasani, ex-chief of the Gujarat Diamond Association, estimated the industry was daily losing 1.3 billion rupees (29 million dollars).And if the floods continue, then Surat will become the grave of India's diamond industry,he said.India's state run and private petroleum firms also reported disruptions in production in Gujarat's bountiful gasfields due to the havoc.Soldiers in powerboats roared across waterways which were once lush boulevards, plucking people from trees, submerged houses and even the top of vehicles, witnesses said. Helicopters dropped food or winched up those in dire straits.Our operations will continue until we save every life we can and feed ever child we can,a helicopter pilot told reporters at an airbase in Gujarat after carrying out dozens of sorties Wednesday.The military was also out in Andhra Pradesh, where 900,000 acres (364,217 hectares) of crops and 71,000 houses are under floodwater in six districts, an official said.In Maharashtra state, which adjoins Gujarat, thousands of homeless in 15 of its 35 districts are living off food dropped by the air force.

DANIEL 12:4
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS MICROCHIPS ETC)

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he causeth all, 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, 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.

Green pigment spins chip promise

Spintronics promises smaller, more powerful microchips An unpopular pigment used by artists in the 18th Century could lead to more energy efficient, faster computers. Cobalt green, as the dye is known, has been tested by a US team who believe it could be used in spintronic devices. Spintronics involves manipulating the magnetic properties of electrons to do useful computational work.

Cobalt green may be useful for building working devices as it can be used at room temperature, unlike many other materials which must be supercooled. The big challenge is to develop materials that can perform these kinds of functions not just at cryogenic temperatures but at practical temperatures,said Professor Daniel Gamelin of the University of Washington in Seattle, one of the team that carried out the work.

Magnetic force

Cobalt green, sometimes known as Rinmann's green, is a mixture of zinc oxide and cobalt. The semi-transparent pigment was developed by the Swedish chemist Sven Rinmann in 1780. The dye never found favour with artists as it was expensive and created relatively weak colours. The breakthrough with the materials we tested is that they exhibit their magnetic properties at room temperature Professor Gamelin However, the material could be useful in spintronic devices because of its magnetic properties.

Conventional electronics rely on the movement and accumulation of electrons to carry out calculations or to store data. In addition, spintronics uses the spin of electrons - detected as a weak magnetic force - to increase the computational power of a device.

Spintronic devices, in theory, should be much quicker than conventional electronics and require much less power. The technology is already used in some hard discs and could eventually be used for sensors and computer memory.

Antique promise

A goal of spintronics is to develop a semiconductor that can manipulate an electron's magnetism. Semiconductors are used to manufacture microchips, at the heart of all computers and many other electronic devices. Semiconductors are at the heart of all computers As computers have become faster, chips have become smaller. But manufacturers recognise that conventional chip fabrications techniques will eventually reach a physical limit. Spintronics offers a potential solution. To create a useful spintronic device the semiconductor must be magnetised and remain stable at room temperature. Researchers have proposed that the best way to create material like this is to incorporate a magnetic element into a traditional semiconductor such as silicon.

Until now, most attempts to do this have only shown useful spintronic properties at low temperature, typically around minus 200C. This is much too cold to be useful in a working device. Cobalt green appears to work at more useful temperatures. The breakthrough with the materials we tested is that they exhibit their magnetic properties at room temperature,said Professor Gamelin.

Chip makers

To test the antique pigment the researchers processed zinc oxide, a simple semiconductor material, so that some of the zinc ions were replaced with ions of magnetic cobalt. The process is known as doping. This work shows there is a real effect here, and there is promise for these materials Professor Gamelin The cobalt ions were then aligned by exposing the semiconductor to a zinc metal vapour. The alignment causes the material to become magnetic. The magnetism continued when the material was warmed to room temperature and when the exposure to the zinc metal vapour was stopped. When the material was heated further the magnetic properties disappeared. This work shows there is a real effect here, and there is promise for these materials,said Professor Gamelin. However, the research is still in its early stages. To be of use to chip-makers the technique must be shown to work using
common semiconductor material. The next step is to try to get these materials to interface with silicon semiconductors.

Today: Thursday August 10, 2006 Russia-NATO-En largement Russian minister: Russia questions NATO enlargement Belgrade, Aug 9, IRNA

Russian Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Russia has long been urging a suspension of NATO enlargement, questioning its final aim as a worldwide military entity. According to Tanjug news agency, the minister said in a statement published
on Wednesday in Montenegrin daily Vijesti, It is for us to understand who NATO is getting to fight against.

Noting that if the enlargement continues at the same pace, the whole planet would be soon in NATO, wondering what the meaning of the alliance would be. When asked by a journalist about whether relations between Russia and Montenegro would deteriorate if Montenegro gets accepted in NATO, Shoigu replied that the relations would not improve. Shoigu also said that the accession in NATO is the issue that Montenegro alone should decide. Heading a high-ranking economic delegation, Shoigu has been touring the region this week including a visit to Belgrade on Monday where he held talks with Serbian president Boris Tadic.

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever death toll in Turkey rises

Aug 9, 2006 (CIDRAP News) – The number of deaths in a Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) outbreak in Turkey has increased to 20, with a total of 242 cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported yesterday. Since WHO's last update on
the outbreak on Jun 30 there have been 92 new cases and 9 new deaths.

One of the fatalities involved a healthcare worker who acquired the infection while treating a patient with CCHF. Lab-confirmed cases were reported in 22 Turkish provinces, though most were reported from six northeastern provinces of Kelkit Valley: Tokat, Sivas, Gumushane, Amasya, Yozgat, and Corum.

A Jul 10 WHO update on CCHF said most of the patients who were evaluated for the disease had been infected through tick bites. Contact with the blood of infected livestock can also transmit the virus.

CCHF is a viral hemorrhagic fever caused by Nairovirus organisms of the Bunyaviridae family. The disease is primarily a zoonosis;

sporadic cases and outbreaks do occur in humans. The disease in humans is severe and has a high mortality rate. (The case-fatality rate in the current outbreak is 8.3%, according to the WHO.) CCHF is endemic in many African, European, and Asian
countries.

In an advisory for travelers, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said no cases have been reported from popular tourist resorts on Turkey's Mediterranean coast. The ECDC said the number of cases in 2006 suggests
increased viral activity in the area; however, they added that detection and diagnosis of CCHF have improved. In Turkey, CCHF in humans was first documented in 2002.

A note posted today on ProMED-mail, the online reporting system of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, said the death of the healthcare worker serves as an important reminder that those treating suspected CCHF patients should take proper
infection control precautions during their exposure to infected patients.

Nosocomial infection risk is highest in the early stages of a patient's infection. The Turkish Ministry of Health is continuing control measures, which include enhanced nationwide CCHF surveillance. The WHO Country Office in Turkey and the WHO Regional Office for Europe are closely monitoring CCHF activity in the country.

CIDRAP overview on viral hemorrhagic fever
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/bt/vhf/biofacts/vhffactsheet.html

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.

LEVITICUS 26:16
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you( sudden) terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

ISAIAH 33:1,18-19 Woe to thee that spoilest,(destroys) and thou wast not spoiled;(destroyed) and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil,(destroy) thou shalt be spoiled;(destroyed) and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.

JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

Bomb plot' throws air travel into chaos
Thursday 10 August 2006, 18:09 Makka Time, 15:09 GMT

Passengers have been left stranded at airports.Air travel to and from Britain has been plunged into chaos after police foiled a suspected plot to blow up aeroplanes on transatlantic flights.London Heathrow, one of the world's busiest airports, suffered massive congestion as many airlines cancelled short-haul flights to Britain on Thursday.Police said they had arrested 21 people and foiled a plot to blow up planes flying from Britain to the United States, and put the country on its highest state of alert for terror attacks.

They said said that the plot involved hiding explosive devices in hand baggage.

Stringent security measures have been imposed across the country's airports, including requiring passengers with infants to taste bottles of baby milk to prove it did not contain any harmful substances.Congestion built up rapidly as aviation authorities enforced the new regulations.

Cancellations

British Airways cancelled all its short-haul flights due on Thursday between Heathrow and other British and European cities, as well as the Libyan capital of Tripoli.Flights across Europe have been grounded. BA added that it was also cancelling some of Thursday's domestic and shorthaul services in and out of London's second airport, Gatwick.Airports operator BAA had earlier requested the suspension of all flights due to take off from Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport.The inter-connected nature of international air travel meant the disruption spread across the world.Lufthansa of Germany said it was pulling all flights to Britain until 1500 GMT. It said 22 flights and 3,041 passengers would be affected, but that it expected flights later in the day to go ahead as planned.Spain's Iberia said its service to Heathrow would be halted until at least lunchtime.

Train switch

Alitalia grounded all its flights to Britain and aviation authorities in the Netherlands said they were cancelling all flights to Heathrow until at least 1500 GMT.

Security has been ramped up at airports

French airline Air France said it had cancelled its three morning flights from Paris to London due to the situation.Passengers who had already boarded an Air France flight to London were told to disembark from their plane on the tarmac at Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport.The chaos resulted in 2,500 extra bookings for cross-channel Eurostar train services from London, Paris and Brussels.In Asia, airlines said they were waiting for further information and that it was highly possible they would have to cancel flights to Britain.Meanwhile Michael Chertoff, the US homeland security secretary, said the threat level for commercial flights from Britain to
the US has been raised to severe, or red.

US security

US airlines said they were not planning to cancel flights to Britain but warned of severe delays.All US carriers flying from Britain informed passengers of strict new limitations on carry-on baggage in line with emergency directives issued by the British government.It's a fluid situation. But we have no cancellations of UK-bound flights,said Brandon Borrman, a spokesman for United Airlines.New security measures have caused mass congestion.We are experiencing delays of at least two hours out of (London) Heathrow,he added.Delta noted that additional security measures had been put in place for all flights bound for Britain.

Delta continues to operate its flights from the UK to the US, although customers may experience delays due to revised check-in requirements issued by the UK's Department for Transport,it said in a statement.All the major US carriers including American Airlines and Continental warned passengers not to bring any fluids or gels such as toothpaste on to flights departing from British airports.