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.
Saturday, April 29, 2006
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.
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
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.
Image Gallery: Comets ,VIDEO: Killer Comets and Ominous Asteroids! Image of the Day: Shattered Comet, How to Spot a Crumbling Comet, Broken Comet On Its Way. Visit SPACE.com for more offering rich and compelling original content about space, astronomy, technology, information, education, entertainment and business news. Explore our huge collection of
Astronomy and Spaceflight Image Galleries and Space Videos, view our Space Image of the Day and Amazing Images. Follow the latest developments in the search for life in our universe in our SETI: Search for Life section. Join the community, sign up for our free daily email newsletter, listen to our Podcasts, check out our RSS feeds and other Reader Favorites today!
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.
Image Gallery: Comets ,VIDEO: Killer Comets and Ominous Asteroids! Image of the Day: Shattered Comet, How to Spot a Crumbling Comet, Broken Comet On Its Way. Visit SPACE.com for more offering rich and compelling original content about space, astronomy, technology, information, education, entertainment and business news. Explore our huge collection of
Astronomy and Spaceflight Image Galleries and Space Videos, view our Space Image of the Day and Amazing Images. Follow the latest developments in the search for life in our universe in our SETI: Search for Life section. Join the community, sign up for our free daily email newsletter, listen to our Podcasts, check out our RSS feeds and other Reader Favorites today!
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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)
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)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)