US BASE ON THE MOON

1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Cold air invasion east of Rockies Senior Meteorologist. 3-Vietnam clears Durian storm rubble, tolls hits 66. 4-Mudslides impede relief work in Pakistan. 5-Haiti floods kill 3, wash away roads. 6-Israel minister wants pre-1967 borders shown in textbooks. 7-Israeli-Arabs Demand National Recognition. 8-Hamas Chief Promises War Even if PA State is Established. 9-Finland ratifies EU constitution. 10-E.U. group sparks anti-Semitism concerns. 11-Newest EU States to Join Border-Free Zone in a Year. 12-US base on the moon.

EARTHQUAKES

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.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)

Update time = Thu Dec 7 12:15 AM EDT

DEC 07,2006
MAP 2.9 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.5 ALASKA PENINSULA

DEC 06,2006
MAP 3.0 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.5 GULF OF CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.1 HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION
MAP 3.6 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 3.1 MOUNT ST. HELENS AREA, WASHINGTON
MAP 4.0 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 5.1 NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
MAP 4.5 KEPULAUAN BABAR, INDONESIA
MAP 3.7 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 3.4 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 5.4 NEAR SOUTH COAST OF NEW GUINEA, P.N.G.
MAP 5.1 NEGROS, PHILIPPINES

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

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;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
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.

Cold air invasion east of Rockies Senior Meteorologist, The Weather Channel DEC 06,06

Midwest

Bitterly cold air with subzero wind chills will grip most of the Plains and Midwest tomorrow. The subzero chills are expected to reach as far south as Nebraska, northern Missouri and the northern two-thirds of Illinois. Along with the biting cold, lake-effect snow squalls and flurries will fill the air from Michigan southward through Indiana and Ohio into eastern Kentucky. The heaviest snowfalls
are forecast along the shores of Lake Michigan in western lower Michigan and northern Indiana, and in northeastern Ohio. High temperatures will range from the teens and 20s in the Midwest and most of the northern Plains to the 40s in far western Nebraska and southwest Kansas.

Northeast

Icy winds will bluster into the Northeast tomorrow in the wake of a strong cold front. Over interior locations, snow showers and flurries will herald the arrival of the coldness. Closer to the eastern Great Lakes, heavy lake-effect snow squalls will prevail. And the squalls could reach as far south as the West Virginia mountains where several inches of fresh powder may pile up. High temperatures, meanwhile, are expected to range from the 20s in southwest New York state and western Pennsylvania to the 50s in far southeast New England, southern New Jersey, the Delmarva Peninsula and eastern Virginia. In many areas, readings are likely to be backsliding as the day goes on, however.

South

Cold winds will sweep into the South tomorrow. Marking the advent of this cold turn, snow showers are expected in the southern Appalachians, and maybe a few flurries in eastern Tennessee. As the leading edge of the cold air slides down the Florida Peninsula, a few showers could pop up here and there. Meanwhile, a vigorous easterly flow over the Gulf of Mexico will deliver rain and showers into south Texas. The heaviest amounts, maybe near an inch, are expected near the coast. High temperatures over most of the region are forecast to range from the 30s to the 60s, north to south. The 70s will prevail in central Florida, the 80s in south Florida (ahead of the front).

West

Generally sunny skies and dry weather will regale most of the western U. S. tomorrow. The exceptions may be found in the Pacific Northwest where low clouds and fog may persist in some valleys and basins underneath a stagnant air mass. Temperatures, meanwhile, will be at or above seasonal norms with highs ranging from the 20s at a few spots in the northern Rockies to the 70s in Southern California and southwest Arizona. Readings in most of the Northwest will top out in the 30s and 40s.

Vietnam clears Durian storm rubble, tolls hits 66 DEC 06,06

HANOI (AFP) Vietnamese rescue workers scrambled to clear the rubble left by severe tropical storm Durian, which ravaged the country's south, killing at least 66 people.Coastal communities were clearing the debris of thousands of homes destroyed the previous day, while hospitals treated hundreds of wounded and troops cleared trees and downed power lines from roads.Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung delayed overseas travel to tour the worst-hit Ba Ria Vung Tau province, where 47 people were killed when the storm tore into Vietnam from the South China Sea.The prime minister decided to cancel his trip to Malaysia and Singapore because of the typhoon Durian and its consequences, foreign ministry spokesman Le Dung told AFP. He stayed in Vietnam to coordinate the rescue operation.

The storm downgraded from a typhoon that left more than 1,200 people dead or missing in the Philippines changed direction and made landfall Monday in southern Vietnam, surprising a region usually spared such severe weather.People were shocked. We are not used to such storms here, said a flood and storm control committee official in the badly hit Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre, where the death toll was revised to 13.It will take us a long time to recover, he said. It is a mess everywhere. There are fallen trees, damaged houses, schools and office buildings.The national flood and storm control centre said the storm which packed winds of up to 120 kilometres (70 miles) per hour sank nearly 700 moored fishing boats and damaged or destroyed more than 120,000 buildings.The weakened storm was Wednesday moving towards the Gulf of Thailand.

The storm is over. It has changed into a tropical depression, said Duong Phuoc Nguyen of the Vinh Long provincial flood and storm control committee.Local people have started coming home to clear the mess.Vessels carrying relief goods and construction materials headed to Phu Quy island, 250 kilometres (150 miles) east of Ho Chi Minh City, which was hit directly by the storm, sinking hundreds of boats in its harbour.The government also announced every family who lost their house would receive 300 dollars and those who lost their roof would get 120 dollars.The death toll from the storm stood at 66 on Wednesday afternoon, officials said, with 47 people killed in Ba Ria Vung Tau, 13 dead in Ben Tre and the others in Phu Yen, Binh Thuan, Binh Dinh and Vinh Long provinces.The toll is far higher than expected in our province because many fishermen, despite the warnings, went to sea to protect their fish baskets, said Nguyen Ngoc Loc from the Ba Ria Vung Tau flood and storm control department.Vietnam's largest urban centre, Ho Chi Minh City, was spared the worst of the storm but local authorities said four people were missing in the former Saigon, with at least six more people missing in other provinces.

Mudslides impede relief work in Pakistan By ROSHAN MUGHAL, Associated Press Writer Tue Dec 5, 11:56 AM ET

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan Several days of heavy rain and snow have triggered mudslides, obstructing relief efforts in Pakistan's earthquake-hit portion of Kashmir, officials said Tuesday.

The closure of two key roads into the Neelum and Jehlum valleys came a day after the U.N. World Food Program warned that harsh winter weather threatens to cut off more than 300,000 survivors of last year's deadly quake.Six children have already died of pneumonia and diarrhea in a village near the regional capital, Muzaffarabad, a district health official said.For three days, heavy rains have lashed Pakistan, including Pakistani Kashmir and the mountainous northwestern region where the 7.6-magnitude earthquake killed more than 80,000 people and left 3.5 million homeless on Oct. 8, 2005.

The two roads linking Muzaffarabad and the valleys are blocked at several points, and it will take several days to clear them, said Mohammed Hussain Pervez, chief engineer at Pakistani Kashmir's highway department.Transportation of relief goods into the valleys has been suspended, said Syed Sarfaraz Naqvi, an official with the Red Crescent Society, which is helping rebuild schools and provide medical relief to quake survivors.But WFP spokesman Amjad Jamal said almost 10,000 tons of emergency food is already at base camps in vulnerable areas, enabling distributions to continue. There is no food crisis, Jamal said.According to the WFP, about 250,000 people in the North West Frontier Province are at risk of being cut off this winter and between 50,000 and 70,000 are vulnerable in Pakistani Kashmir.Most quake survivors have at least temporary shelter, but only a small proportion has been able to rebuild their homes since the disaster. This year's early onset of winter has increased concerns for their welfare.Last winter, relatively mild weather and a massive relief effort staved off the feared mass casualties among those made homeless by the quake.More rain and snow is expected in the quake zone in the next two days, Pakistan's state-run Meteorological Department said. Subzero nighttime temperatures are expected, while about 2 feet of snow has already fallen on high mountains.Associated Press Writer Sadaqat Jan in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Haiti floods kill 3, wash away roads Tue Dec 5, 1:20 PM ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti Floods triggered by nearly two weeks of heavy rain have washed away roads and bridges, wiped out crops and killed at least three people in western Haiti, the International Red Cross said Tuesday.

The destruction has been most severe in the rural departments of Grande Anse and Nippes, along the impoverished Caribbean nation's vulnerable southwestern peninsula. Flooding has also affected the northwestern town of Port-de-Paix.Haitian Red Cross workers have been providing first aid to injured residents and moving flood-stricken villagers to temporary shelters, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.The Geneva-based group said it has asked donors for $522,800 to buy hygiene kits, water, blankets and mosquito nets for 17,500 people affected by flooding.The rain began Nov. 22, unleashing flash floods that killed livestock, damaged two hospitals and isolated many remote villages in the heavily deforested country.In August, Hurricane Ernesto washed away wooden shacks and killed at least two people along Haiti's peninsula.

ISRAELS TROUBLE

JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.

DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same
time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
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,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)

SIGNS OF THE END OF THE AGE (NOT THE WORLD) THE WORLD GOES ON FOREVER.

GENESIS 1:14
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:(ISRAELS HOLY DAYS AND SABBATH STARTS AT 6PM) And for SIGNS (PROPHECY SIGNS TO HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE, OUR DAY)

Israel minister wants pre-1967 borders shown in textbooks Tue Dec 5, 6:08 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP)Israel's dovish Education Minister Yuli Tamir has said she wants school textbooks to show the country's borders from before the 1967 Middle East war, stirring a storm of controversy.You can not teach history without knowing the borders Israel used to have, Tamir told army radio Tuesday. We can't teach children what happened in 1967 if they are not aware where the border runs.During the Six Day War in June 1967, Israel conquered Egypt's Sinai, Syria's Golan Heights, east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip.It returned the Sinai under a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979 and annexed the Golan and east Jerusalem. The Jewish state withdrew settlers and soldiers from Gaza last year and continues to occupy the West Bank.Currently, maps in Israeli school textbooks do not show the pre-1967 borders, including the so-called Green Line between Israel and the West Bank.

I want to show the students the reality we live in today and before 1967. Children who do not understand where the Green Line runs can not understand the conflict in recent decades, said Tamir, a former Peace Now movement member.Her move encountered fierce criticism, with right-wing MP Yitzhak Levy accusing Tamir of politicising the education system.The education minister, it seems, wants to dictate the next peace agreement, or bring children to forget about Judea and Samaria, he said, referring to the Jewish names the West Bank.A former secretary general of the education ministry, MP Ronit Tirosh, said: Tamir exceeded her authority.

She shouldn't meddle in school curriculum. Education should not be touched by politics.But Tamir countered that ignoring the Green Line is also a political decision.The Yesha movement of Jewish settlers on Palestinian land blasted the decision, which it said forced on Israeli society the map of Israel according to the extreme-left.

Israeli-Arabs Demand National Recognition
By Hillel Fendel (INN)

The Israeli-Arab sector insists on recognition as a national minority, including the right to return to places they quit 58 years ago, changes to the flag and anthem, immigration quotas, and more. The Israeli-Arab Mossawa organization, billed as the Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel, released a position paper report to this effect on Friday. Mossawa explains that in addition to equal rights to which every citizen is entitled by virtue of his citizenship, the Arab minority also demands group-differentiated rights.

The organization lists ten such rights that it insists Israel must grant. Among them are the following, as listed and explained by Mossawa:Official recognition of the Palestinian Arabs in Israel as a national, native minority, including its special connection to its homeland and its historic rights to it.

Arabic, already recognized as an official language, must be granted equal status to Hebrew in every aspect of public life, just as English and French are recognized in Canada. As a truly bilingual country, Israel must grant appropriate expression to the Arab-Palestinian culture in the public sphere, including noting the Arabic names of various places and giving Arabic names to public buildings, streets, etc.Total autonomy in the spheres of education, religion and culture. At the root of this right lies the recognition of the nativity of the Arab population in Israel and its right to self-definition in these areas.

Proportionate representation in decision-making and policy-setting bodies, including all government offices and ministries, planning and construction authorities, government companies, public councils, the Civil Service, ad-hoc committees, and the like.Extra allotments of resources such as budget allocations, land and housing, to compensate for past discrimination.

Changes to national symbols, including the flag and anthem, as emotionally-charged public resources that have a special impact on minority sectors. The State must grant appropriate expression to the presence of Israeli-Arab citizens and to their historic ties to the land. Israel's array of symbols must reflect an equal approach to both its Jewish and Arab citizens.Equality in immigration and citizenship rights. The allocation of quotas in these areas is an expression of the country's strength, and the country must apportion them fairly, justly and equally.

Protection of the special ties of the Palestinian people with the greater Arab nation. The Palestinian population in Israel must be enabled to freely maintain and develop special ties - family, cultural, economic and the like - with the other members of the Palestinian people and the Arab nation. Historic rights. Corrective justice demands that Israel must officially apologize and recognize the Nakba - national Arab-Palestinian catastrophe - of 1948 when the Arabs were removed from their lands.

Among the issues addressed in this point are the uprooted Palestinians - 25% of the current Arab population in Israel - and their return to their original villages, such as Ikrit, Al-Ghabasaya, Al-Lajun, and others, as well as assets of the Moslem Waqf that must be administered by the Moslems.

Israeli-Arabs claim that hundreds of destroyed villages, in various parts of the country, as theirs. Many of the villages were hostile locations serving the Arab enemy during the War of Independence, and the land on which some of them stood has since become Jewish-populated, such as in Ashkelon and Be'er Sheva. The Meggido Prison, for instance, is built atop what was once Al-Lajun, and the north Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Aviv stands on what was once called Sheikh Munis. Though the return to these villages is unrealistic, it is felt that persisting in raising this demand can only help the nationalist Arab cause in Israel.One of the participants at the official presentation of the paper, Dr. Raef Zreik, said that it does not go far enough. He said that the Israeli-Arabs can officially recognize the right of the Jews to a state only as part of an overall peace agreement with the Palestinian people.In the news this week are vandalism and destruction wrought upon a Talmud Torah (Jewish religious school) by Arabs in the city of Acco, an initiative to increase Arab rights in the city of Ramle, and an attempted murder of a Jewish cow-farmer by Arabs in the Jezreel Valley, not far from Afula.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
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,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) 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:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
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.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
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.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

Hamas Chief Promises War Even if PA State is Established
By Hillel Fendel( INN)

Khaled Meshaal, the Damascus-based leader of the Hamas terrorist organization, makes no bones: Either Israel leaves all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza and agrees to the right of return or war. Meshaal is officially the head of the diplomatic desk of Hamas, but is recognized as the #1 man in the terrorist organization. The target of a failed Israeli assassination attempt a decade ago, Meshaal told a Lebanese newspaper this week that Hamas will not hesitate to resume its armed warfare against Israel.Specifically, he threatened, If within six months, the international community does not come up with a plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders [i.e., on all the land liberated by Israel in the Six Day War - ed.] and for the return of the refugees, the Palestinians will turn to an armed struggle against Israel.

We can have an intifada even when running the Palestinian Authority, Meshaal said, explaining that the ceasefire was not designed to bring peace, but is rather another stage in the war with Israel.

The current calm [cease-fire in Gaza - ed.], just like the escalation [before that], is part of the way we manage the conflict with Israel.Many Israeli military men and analysts have said that Hamas is using the current truce in Gaza to rearm and regroup towards the next round of fighting.Hamas Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniye, visiting in Syria, echoed Meshaal's position in a speech at a refugee camp. He said the Palestinians will not give up on even one grain of sand of Palestine, and that Syrian President Assad promised him that all the Palestinian [terrorist] prisoners incarcerated in Israel would be freed.Meshaal admitted that the Hamas-Fatah talks for a unity PA government have encountered difficulties, but said they have not yet hit a dead end. This clashes with announcements by Hamas leaders Haniye and Mahmoud A-Zahar, who said on Monday that the negotiations had failed and were beyond recovery. Hamas and Fatah elements traded blame and accusations for the failed talks. Fatah leader Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) is expected to announce - possibly today - whether he plans to dissolve the Parliament, thus leading to a clash with Hamas.

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

Finland ratifies EU constitution Tue Dec 5, 8:07 AM ET

HELSINKI (AFP) - Finland, current holder of the European Union presidency, has become the 16th member of the bloc to ratify the EU constitution which was thrown into doubt after referenda in France and the Netherlands last year put the document's implementation on hold.The Finnish parliament approved the treaty by an overwhelming majority of 125 votes to 39 on Tuesday.

The result was however largely symbolic as the constitution needs to be ratified by all EU members to enter into force.To date seven countries -- Britain, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Sweden -- have not ratified the treaty, having suspended their ratification processes after the French and Dutch rejections.Finland, which holds the six-month rotating EU presidency until December 31, wanted to send a clear signal prior to the relaunch of talks on EU institutional reform scheduled for the German presidency in 2007.

The constitutional treaty was balanced overall. (It is) a reform Europe needs, Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said in Brussels, unable to take part in the vote.The document is intended to streamline decision-making for the bloc's 2004 enlargement to 25 members and for future accessions.

In June this year EU members agreed to begin a period of reflection from the start of 2007 until the end of France's six-month EU presidency in December 2008, to reach agreement on a new draft.Germany has vowed to inject renewed vigour into constitutional talks.Finnish officials held informal consultations in the past six months on the treaty.Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen is set to make a brief announcement on the constitution during an EU summit meeting in Brussels on December 14 and 15.

E.U. group sparks anti-Semitism concerns

A new European Union agency has raised concern among Jewish groups about the fight against anti-Semitism. At the start of 2007 Vienna will become the headquarters of the European Union’s Agency for Basic Rights, taking over from the Office against Racism and Xenophobia, or EUMC. The new agency will examine freedom of movement within E.U. member states along with general human-rights issues, potentially spending less time on combating anti-Semitism. Several surveys this year reveal that
anti-Semitism is on the rise in Europe.

In recent years the EUMC has taken on the problem of anti-Semitism, with a comprehensive report in 2004 and last year by issuing to its monitors a working definition of anti-Semitism that describes its new manifestations, said Andrew Baker, director of international Jewish affairs for the American Jewish Committee. We don’t know if this focus will be maintained when it is subsumed under a larger agency.

European Union | 05.12.2006
Newest EU States to Join Border-Free Zone in a Year

Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Eastern Europeans will now have passport-free access Citizens and goods from the 10 new, mostly Eastern European members of the EU will be allowed greater freedom of movement as borders checkpoints are dismantled across the bloc.

The European Union's newest member states are set to join the Schengen Agreement, which did away with passport checkpoints between members, by December 2007 or March 2008, depending on the country, according to a timetable adopted by EU interior and justice ministers Tuesday.The agreement would lift land and maritime borders from Dec. 31, 2007 while those at airports must be lifted by March 30, 2008 at the latest.Currently, 15 countries are signatories to the Schengen Agreement, including the oldest EU members except Britain and Ireland, plus non-EU nations, Norway and Iceland.

Political motivations?

The Schengen zone was established by treaty in 1985 and removes border posts and checks between EU member states and a common Schengen visa, which allows access to all the signatory countries.

The treaty, however, does not cover residency or work permits for non-EU nationals.Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Non-EU countries such as Switzerland also get access.The 10 new, mainly eastern European nations in the 25-member bloc were told last year that their Schengen entry, originally planned for 2007, was in doubt due to technical delays with an update for the EU's central visa information system.Some newcomers, however, had said that the reasons were political rather than technical, charging old EU members of trying to block the eastern expansion of the border control-free zone.The new countries to join will include nine of the 10 countries that entered the EU in 2004 -- Cyprus will continue checking passports plus Switzerland, which is surrounded by EU countries but is not a member.

Secure borders necessary

The 10 countries that joined the EU in 2004 have all ratified the treaty, but have not yet implemented it. They are Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus.Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Questions remain over incoming Bulgaria and Romania. The move will only take place, however, if the countries
external borders to the world outside the EU prove up to existing standards and when Europe's Schengen database can be expanded to accommodate them. Germany and France had insisted that the new member states also prove their non-Schengen frontiers are secure.Under Tuesday's decision, the Schengen hopefuls will temporarily be allowed to link into the old visa database until the new version is launched in June 2008.Costs for this interim solution are estimated at some 3.6 million euros ($4.8 million).

EU members will also have to take the formal decision to lift the borders, a move expected in the third quarter of 2007.Have you ever traveled inside the Schengen states? What was your experience like? Send us your comments and please include your full name and country in your reply.DW staff (jb)

Tuesday, 5 December 2006, 01:17 GMT
US base on the moon

US space agency Nasa has said it plans to start work on a permanently-occupied base on the Moon after astronauts begin flying back there in 2020.

The base is likely to be built on one of the Moon's poles and will serve as a science centre and possible stepping stone for manned missions to Mars. The US has already said it plans to build a new lunar spacecraft to succeed the last Apollo mission in 1972. Funds will be moved from space shuttle flights, due to be scrapped in 2010. The structure of the base and the exact duties of the astronauts stationed there have not been decided. Nor is it clear when the base will begin functioning.

Lunar outpost

We're going for a base on the moon, Scott Doc Horowitz, Nasa's associate administrator for exploration, said. The agency's deputy head, Shana Dale, is quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying that the fundamental lunar approach will be very different to earlier Moon missions.A lunar spacecraft has already been commissioned by Nasa Nasa has elected to build a lunar outpost rather than operate brief trips to the satellite as it did in the 1960s.Nasa is also expected to ask other countries and businesses to help it build the base.The permanent base will be built near one of the two poles, as these are felt to have a moderate climate and more sunlight - essential if the base is to use solar energy. It's exciting, Shana Dale told the Reuters news agency. We don't know as much about the polar regions. According to Reuters, funds for building the lunar base will be diverted from the space shuttle programme, which is to be phased out by 2010. After the Columbia space shuttle accident, US President George W Bush announced plans to send astronauts back to the moon by 2020. Nasa announced in August that the Lockheed Martin Corporation will build the next US spaceship to take humans to the Moon.

(1) The heavy-lift Ares 5 rocket blasts off from Earth carrying a lunar lander and a departure stage
(2) Several days later, astronauts launch on an Ares 1 rocket inside their Orion vehicle (CEV)
(3) The Orion docks with the lander and departure stage in Earth orbit and then heads to the Moon
(4) Having done its job of boosting the Orion and lunar lander on their way, the departure stage is jettisoned
(5) At the Moon, the astronauts leave the Orion and enter the lander for the trip to the lunar surface
(6) After exploring the lunar landscape for seven days, the crew blasts off in a portion of the lander
(7) In Moon orbit, they re-join the waiting robot-minded Orion and begin the journey back to Earth
(8) On the way, the service component of the Orion is jettisoned. This leaves just the crew capsule to enter the atmosphere
(9) A heatshield protects the capsule; parachutes bring it down on dry land, probably in California