LANDMINES IN ISRAEL FROM SYRIA

1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS.2-Powerful Indonesian earthquake kills 70. 3-Dozens of cars crash near Barrie, closing highway. 4-Threat of ice bombs closes Toronto. 5-Numbing cold in the Northeast. 6-Families flee active volcano in Ecuador. 7-Palestinian heads fail to agree on gov't. 8-Poll: Americans More Pro Israel, More Polarized. 9-Leftists to Build Illegal Arab Houses on State Land. 10-Land Mines Lobbed Into Israel From Syria.

EARTHQUAKES

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

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

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

WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)

Update time = Wed Mar 7 12:00 AM EDT

MAR 06,07
MAP 3.3 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 5.2 COLOMBIA
MAP 4.9 SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
MAP 2.9 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.2 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 3.6 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 4.9 TONGA
MAP 2.5 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.4 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 3.1 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 6.3 SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
MAP 3.3 MONA PASSAGE, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
MAP 2.5 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 6.4 SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
MAP 2.8 OFFSHORE BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 3.0 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 2.6 PUERTO RICO
MAP 3.3 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.3 KEPULAUAN SULA, INDONESIA

MAR 05,07
MAP 3.5 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 2.7 GULF OF ALASKA
MAP 4.9 NEW GUINEA, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
MAP 2.5 SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 KENAI PENINSULA, ALASKA
MAP 4.2 SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA
MAP 2.9 SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.4 WESTERN XIZANG
MAP 2.5 MAUI REGION, HAWAII
MAP 3.0 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 4.6 GUATEMALA
MAP 5.2 KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND
MAP 2.7 ONTARIO-QUEBEC BORDER REGION, CANADA
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL ALASKA

Powerful Indonesian earthquake kills 70 By ZAKKI HAKIM, Associated Press Writer MAR 06,07

PADANG, Indonesia - A powerful earthquake crumpled houses across a large swath of western Indonesia on Tuesday, killing at least 70 people and injuring hundreds, authorities said, predicting that the toll would rise. The magnitude 6.3 quake struck on Sumatra island and was felt as far away as neighboring Malaysia and Singapore, where some tall buildings were evacuated. It was followed by several strong aftershocks.Women were crying out in terror. We all just fled as quickly as we could, said Alpion, a welder in the seaside town of Padang who uses a single name. Along with thousands of others, he was running to higher ground, fearing a tsunami that never came.

Indonesia straddles one of the world's most seismically violent zones and has been hit by a string of natural disaster in recent years, the most deadly being the 2004 tsunami that killed 160,000 people on Sumatra's northern tip.Indonesian Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi told reporters in Jakarta that at least 70 people had been killed by the quake, which hit the island's western coast. The worst-affected area appeared to be Solok, a bustling town close to the epicenter where two children were killed by falling debris on a school playground.Dozens of buildings had been destroyed and hundreds others damaged, local police chief Lt. Col. Budi Sarwono said. TV footage showed a flattened three-story home and thick cracks in the road.Hospitals were overflowing with patients, many of them with broken bones and cuts. Scores were laid out on cots where they were given emergency care, said Sarwono.

So far we have recovered 19 bodies and hundreds of injured people, he said. The two hospitals are overwhelmed with victims.At one hospital in nearby Padang, panicked doctors and nurses fled into the streets, startled patients limping behind, according to Metro TV.Local government spokesman Hasrul Piliang said the number of dead would likely rise because tolls from remote areas were still being collected and there were reports of others trapped under debris.The U.S. Geological Survey said the tremor struck 20 miles below Solok. It was followed by several strong aftershocks, one measuring 6.0.The tremor was felt in Singapore, 265 miles from the quake's epicenter, forcing the evacuation of several older office buildings, TV station Channel NewsAsia reported.In Malaysia's southern coastal city of Johor, citizens fled offices, buildings and shopping centers, eyewitnesses said.Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

In addition to the 2004 tsunami, earthquake-spawned waves also killed nearly 5,000 on Java island last year.Tuesday's quake was about 660 miles west of the country's capital Jakarta.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

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

Dozens of cars crash near Barrie, closing highway
Blowing snow causes shutdown of major highways across southern Ontario
Monday, March 5, 2007 CBC News

Pileups involving more than 75 vehicles closed Highway 400 south of Barrie on Monday afternoon, as blowing snow and powerful wind gusts caused accidents across Southern Ontario.Ontario Provincial Police Const. Sally Stewart said police are aware of at least one life-threatening injury and several serious injuries, but no fatalities so far.Sometimes we give tips about winter driving but when there's zero visibility, there really isn't a safe way to drive. OPP Sgt. Cam Woolley We have a lot of drifting snow and high winds today, Stewart said. It makes [snow] very loose and therefore the wind can pick it up and throw it around, which causes complete whiteouts.Police closed ramps onto the highway in the area of the pileups as emergency crews worked to free people from the wreckage.The northbound pileup happened near Highway 88. The southbound pileup was further north, near Highway 89.The northbound accident, involving more than 30 cars, three trucks and two coach buses, was the most serious, according to CBC reporter Steven D'Souza. A truck driver and a van driver were taken to hospital with critical injuries. At least 35 others are in hospital with minor injuries.Sections of Highway 400 near the accident scene are expected to remain closed until Tuesday morning.

It's like driving in milk

Hundreds of minor accidents were reported across southern Ontario as snow and winds gusting up to 100 km/h pummelled the region, hitting areas along Lake Huron and Georgian Bay the hardest.More than a dozen major highways across southern Ontario were closed because of the blowing snow, with visibility as low as half a kilometre in some spots.OPP Sgt. Cam Woolley suggested motorists avoid driving west of Highway 400, saying conditions are fluctuating between sunshine and whiteouts that make it feel like they're driving in milk.Sometimes we give tips about winter driving but when there's zero visibility, there really isn't a safe way to drive, Woolley said.The severe weather closed all county roads in Dufferin County, about 80 kilometres northwest of Toronto.Police asked drivers not to skirt blocked highways by taking back roads, warning there is little chance of being found if something happens on the less-travelled routes.It's really a dangerous situation starting to build and it's getting worse, said Woolley, adding another bad storm is headed for Ontario.

Threat of ice bombs closes Toronto
Tuesday Mar 6 08:56 AEDT (Reuters)

Toronto major streets are closed on fears that table-sized sheets of ice could shear off tall buildings and smash down on cars and pedestrians.Roads closed to traffic included parts of the Gardiner Expressway, an elevated freeway that leads to downtown Toronto, as well as part of King Street, the normally busy thoroughfare that is home to the Toronto Stock Exchange and Canada's financial district.Yellow tape kept even pedestrians indoors, leaving an eerie calm in the center of Canada's largest city.It's a situation where we had a mild December, then cold in mid-January, and over the last week or so a good blast of snow and freezing rain, said Geoff Coulson, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.

On top of some of those buildings, especially the ones with black roofs, it may be several degrees above zero. And when a piece of ice a couple metres (yards) across falls 30 floors it's like a bomb going off.CP-24 Television showed pictures of cars with smashed windshields from chunks of ice and said witnesses reported seeing ice slabs the size of a kitchen table flying off the sides of the soaring CN Tower.The ice is on the northeast side of the tower about 350 metres from the ground, said Irene Knight, the tower's manager of public relations. It's too dangerous to send anyone up to deal with it right now.The road closures snarled traffic during both morning and evening rush hours. Current weather conditions are presenting safety concerns, police said in a bland statement. The closures will remain in effect as long as there is a danger to public safety.A winter storm last Thursday dumped several centimetres of snow on Toronto and a night of rain turned that snow into icy porridge.Then the weather turned cold again, and the porridge turned back to ice, which started melting and falling from buildings.

Numbing cold in the Northeast Mark Avery, Meteorologist, The Weather Channel MAR 06,07

Northeast

The Northeast continues to deal with the leftovers of an Alberta clipper that brought snow and wind on Monday across the region. A few light snow showers or flurries are possible today in the Northeast, but the biggest impact will be the bitter cold and wind. Some of the coldest temperatures of the winter season (when compared to average temperatures) are possible today in the Northeast. Tomorrow, another clipper will affect the region, bringing a chance of snow mainly to the Mid-Atlantic and bringing a messy afternoon/evening commute to Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia Wednesday evening. A few snow showers will linger in far Northern New England on Thrusday before skies dry on Friday. Another chance of rain and snow moves into the region over the weekend. After bitter cold temperatures over the next three days, temperatures moderate toward Friday and the weekend with above average highs expected across the region this weekend.

Midwest

The Upper Midwest will be affected by an Alberta clipper today into tonight. The heaviest snows are expected over northern Minnesota into the Great Lakes. This system quickly moves out of the region, with a few snow showers possible in the Upper Ohio Valley Wednesday morning as the system leaves the Midwest. Thursday will give the region a break before the next system moves in and brings a chance of rain, with some snow near the Great Lakes, on Friday. The weekend looks to be mainly wet across most of the region, with the Northern Plains being the driest. Temperatures will be warming as the week progresses as well: temperatures over the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes are expected to be below average today through Thursday, but be above average region-wide by the weekend.

West

The Pacific Northwest and Northern California coasts will see the chance of rain returning tonight after enjoying a mostly dry day today. This system will bring valley rain and mountain snows across the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies tomorrow. A steady stream of moisture off of the Pacific will keep the chances of rain going through the weekend in the Pacific Northwest. Meanwhile, the Southwest will remain bone dry and warm. High pressure is expected to move over the Great Basin later this week and bring potential Santa Ana conditions to Southern California for Thursday through the weekend. Temperatures are expected to remain above seasonal averages across the region, with a brief cool down in the Northwest on Thursday.

South

The South remains relatively quiet today. The dry conditions are prompting red flag warnings due to the high fire danger over much of Florida and Georgia, as well as South Central Texas. Oklahoma and the Red River Valley of Texas also have an increased fire danger today due to breezy south winds expected. A few showers are possible on the East Coast of Florida on Wednesday, with a better chance of rain coming on Saturday and Sunday. Rain returns to the lower Mississippi Valley and Southern Plains on Friday and Saturday, with Saturday being a wet day across most of the South. Temperatures are expected to be near or above average across most of the region through the weekend, with Virginia and the Carolinas being below average today, warming tomorrow, and then briefly cooling off Thursday and Friday. Warmer than average temperatures should prevail over the weekend.

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)
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 (TERRORISM) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Families flee active volcano in Ecuador Mon Mar 5, 9:42 PM ET

QUITO, Ecuador - Authorities evacuated about 100 families from the slopes of a volcano in central Ecuador which began showering villages with flaming rocks and ash last month. Firefighters, police and civil defense officials conducted a voluntary evacuation because of the Tungurahua volcano's intensifying activity, Jorge Arteaga, director of Ecuador's Red Cross rescue squad, told Radio Quito on Monday.The 16,575-foot volcano, whose name means throat of fire in the Quechua language, shot a 1.2-mile plume of ash into the sky on Feb. 12.Santiago Arellano, a technician at Ecuador's Geophysics Institute, told The Associated Press that Tungurahua is registering its most intense activity since it erupted last August, killing four people and destroying or severely damaging nearly 5,000 homes.Arellano said Monday that an eruption is not imminent, but warned the volcano's activity could increase within hours. The volcano is located about 85 miles south of the capital of Quito.

Palestinian heads fail to agree on gov't By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer MAR 05,07

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - A daylong gunbattle between rival Palestinian factions raged in the streets of Gaza City Monday as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh again failed to agree on the formation of a unity government. Government spokesman Ghazi Hamad said there would be another meeting tomorrow, where the two men planned to discuss the crucial issue of who would be interior minister, controlling security forces.The two leaders are negotiating the basis of an accord hammered out last month in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, laying out the framework of a government bringing Abbas' Fatah into partnership with Haniyeh's Hamas.Abbas hopes that bringing his more moderate Fatah back into the government would placate the West, which cut off aid to the Palestinian regime when Hamas took over a year ago after winning an election. However, the West insists that any Palestinian government must recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept previous peace accords. Hamas rejects the conditions, and the Mecca accord falls short of meeting them.

The U.S. State Department said Monday that full funding of a proposed $86 million in security assistance for the Palestinian Authority hinges on whether officials receive assurances that none of the funds can benefit Hamas.Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, European countries and Israel.Haniyeh has another two weeks to present the unity government, according to Palestinian law. His original Hamas-led government resigned to allow formation of a Hamas-Fatah team. Abbas has said the main goal is to stop armed conflicts that have killed more than 130 Palestinians in recent months.On Monday, members of a Hamas militia engaged in a daytime gunbattle with Fatah-allied security officers in the worst outbreak of internal violence since the Mecca accord was signed, security officials said.The gunbattle broke out in Gaza City when Hamas and Fatah loyalists argued over who had control of a nearby training compound, they said.The security forces demanded the Hamas militiamen leave the area, but they refused, saying it fell under the control of the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry, security officials said. There were no injuries.

In two other incidents, unknown assailants fired shots at the house and car of a senior security officer who has had past problems with Hamas, security officials said. Shots were also fired at a police headquarters, and police returned fire, the security officials said.Also, security officials said they believed hardline Muslims were behind the bombing of a music shop in the southern town of Khan Younis early Monday, following a similar attack on an Internet cafe on Sunday. Another Internet cafe owner was also briefly kidnapped. Nobody was injured in the attacks.While there were no claims of responsibility, security officials suspect extremist Muslims trying to enforce strict moral conduct were behind the attacks. Hardline Muslims have said youths download pornography from Internet sites, are distracted from prayer by music and buy condoms and hallucinogenic drugs from some pharmacies. Since October, at least 20 such shops have been targeted.

Poll: Americans More Pro Israel, More Polarized by Gil Ronen MAR 06,07

A solid majority of Americans (58%) say their sympathies lie with the Israelis and only 20% say their sympathies are more with the Arabs of the Palestinian Authority, according to Gallup's annual World Affairs survey. Americans' sympathy towards Israel is holding at the same levels as in 2005 and 2006.

A comparison between Gallup polls conducted in the 1990s and those conducted since 2000 shows that the average level of sympathy for Israelis has risen, long term, from 41% to 53%, while the average sympathy for the Arab side of the conflict rose from 13% to 16%. The question posed was simply, In the Middle East situation, are your sympathies more with the Israelis or more with the Palestinians?

Gallup's experts explain the results as clearly showing that as Americans have moved out of the no preference columns (on the Israeli-Arab issue), they have moved disproportionately into the pro-Israeli column.Public preferences for Israelis in last year's February 2006 survey were at their highest since the 1991 Gulf War a survey that showed a slight dip in sympathies toward the Palestinian Authority. The recent shifts may be attributed to the events preceding them, namely Ariel Sharon's hospitalization and Hamas' election victory. The same general pattern is seen in a separate set of questions asking Americans to give their opinions of various countries. The total percentage of Americans viewing Israel favorably fell slightly between 2006 and 2007 - from 68% to 63% - while favorable views of Palestine, as the Palestinian Authority was presented in the poll, increased slightly, from 11% to 16%. However, between the two, Israel enjoys the much more positive image in the United States.

Americans are more pro-Israeli in their views today than they were 10 and 20 years ago, but, they are also more polarized generally. Today, a combined 78% of Americans favor one side or the other, while the remaining 22% express no partiality. Fourteen years ago, 43% of Americans had no preference in the dispute. BBC Releases Partial Information on Poll: Israel Deemed Very NegativeMeanwhile, a BBC World Service poll shows that a majority of people in 27 countries believes that Israel and Iran lead the list of countries seen as having a mainly negative influence in the world. The BBC staff did not disclose which countries were on the list and how many of them were Arab. The BBC admitted that Israel was most unpopular in Arab countries. Israel and Iran, each of which received a 56% negative rating in the BBC survey, are closely followed by the United States (51%) and North Korea (48%). The poll asked 28,000 respondents in 27 countries to rate a dozen countries, as well as the European Union, in terms of whether they have a positive or negative influence. Canada, Japan and the EU are viewed most positively in the survey.

Leftists to Build Illegal Arab Houses on State Land
16 Adar 5767, March 6, '07

(IsraelNN.com) Israeli leftists, together with foreign PLO supporters, plan to rebuild illegal Arab homes built on state-owned lands in the southern Hevron hills and plant trees on areas near the Gvaot Olam and Chavat Gilad (Gilad Farm) communities. The leftists have encouraged local Arabs to bring claims to the lands to sympathetic Israeli courts. When they obtain a court order, they plant trees or destroy Jewish crops, and when they are ruled against (as is the case in the Hevron Hills), they violently block the destruction and help the Arab illegally rebuild. An hour ago that the powers that be ruled in favor of a farmer from Hares. Twice last week we didn't succeed in planting on his lands next to the settlement of Revava, writes Rabbis For Human Rights rabbi-director Arik Ascherman. He went on to call upon activists to join Arabs from the Samaria village of Yanoun Wednesday in planting on land claimed by Gvaot Olam founder Avri Ran. Aschman, together with Ta'ayush, ISM, The Israeli Committee Against [Arab] House Demolitions, Gush Shalom, Coalition of Women for Peace, Machsom Watch, Yesh Gvul, Peace Now and Meretz (of Be’er Sheva) are calling upon leftists and foreign activists to prepare for a prolonged struggle in the Hevron Hills. Ascherman can be reached at: 050 560 7034.

Land Mines Lobbed Into Israel From Syria
by Gil Ronen MAR 06,07

Ten anti-personnel mines were discovered by an IDF patrol along the border with Syria in the Golan Heights on Saturday. The mines were not concealed or covered and IDF experts determined that they had been thrown over the border fence between Syria and Israel around midday Saturday. It is not clear who threw the mines into Israel or why. Syrian soldiers, terrorists and shepherds have been mentioned as the possible culprits. An IDF engineering unit was dispatched to neutralize the mines.
Israel planned to file an official complaint with the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which is deployed in Syria to oversee the 33-year-old ceasefire with Israel. An unnamed IDF officer said Sunday that responsibility for the event rests with the Syrian government, even if it was a local initiative that did not get an official green light from Damascus. The Syrian military has moved military infrastructure, including fuel depots, closer to the border with Israel.Military sources revealed that the mines were actually Israeli mines that the IDF had planted east of the security fence, but still within Israeli territory. Ten of these mines were taken out of the ground and lobbed over the fence. Six were found on the dirt road used by IDF patrols, north of Golan Brook in the southern part of the Golan Heights.

One possibility being looked into is that the Resistance Committees for Freeing the Golan Heights were involved in the incident. This Syrian guerrilla organization announced its inception in the summer of 2006, and said it would use Syrian terrorists to wage a guerrilla war in the Golan. The group also claimed that it was holding Israeli soldier Guy Hever, who went missing in the Golan on August 17, 1997. The Jerusalem Post reported on Friday that Syria has spent the past few months moving infrastructures to its southern border - and constructing additional infrastructures there as well - for the purpose of launching a war against Israel. According to defense officials, the Syrian military has moved military infrastructure, including fuel depots, closer to the border with Israel, and the Syrians have built structures that could serve as weapons storage facilities and military bases. The Syrian army is restricted in the number of troops it is allowed to deploy along the border.