CHINA - SUDAN MILITARY TIES

REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE

REVELATION 11:1-2
1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

DANIEL 9:27
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one
week: (1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until theconsummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

PASSOVER DAY 2 IN ISRAEL SCRIPTURES.

TORAH

LEVITICUS 22:26-23:44
26 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
27 When a bullock, or a sheep, or a goat, is brought forth, then it shall be seven days under the dam; and from the eighth day and thenceforth it shall be accepted for an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
28 And whether it be cow or ewe, ye shall not kill it and her young both in one day.
29 And when ye will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving unto the LORD, offer it at your own will.
30 On the same day it shall be eaten up; ye shall leave none of it until the morrow: I am the LORD.
31 Therefore shall ye keep my commandments, and do them: I am the LORD.
32 Neither shall ye profane my holy name; but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am the LORD which hallow you,
33 That brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD.
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.
3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.
4 These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S passover.
6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
8 But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
9 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD.
13 And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin.
14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:
16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.
17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.
18 And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD.
19 Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.
21 And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
22 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.
23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
25 Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
26 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
27 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
28 And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.
29 For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.
30 And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.
31 Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
32 It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.
33 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
34 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.
35 On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
36 Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.
37 These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day:
38 Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD.
39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.
40 And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.
41 And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
42 Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:
43 That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
44 And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD.

NUMBER 28:16-25
16 And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the passover of the LORD.
17 And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten.
18 In the first day shall be an holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work therein:
19 But ye shall offer a sacrifice made by fire for a burnt offering unto the LORD; two young bullocks, and one ram, and seven lambs of the first year: they shall be unto you without blemish:
20 And their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil: three tenth deals shall ye offer for a bullock, and two tenth deals for a ram;
21 A several tenth deal shalt thou offer for every lamb, throughout the seven lambs:
22 And one goat for a sin offering, to make an atonement for you.
23 Ye shall offer these beside the burnt offering in the morning, which is for a continual burnt offering.
24 After this manner ye shall offer daily, throughout the seven days, the meat of the sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD: it shall be offered beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering.
25 And on the seventh day ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work.

PROPHETS

2 KINGS 23:1-9,21-25
1 And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.
2 And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD.
3 And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.
4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.
5 And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
6 And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.
7 And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.
8 And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.
9 Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren.
21 And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.
22 Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;
23 But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem.
24 Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.
25 And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

NEW TESTAMENT

1 CORINTHIANS 5:6-8
6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

OTHER WORLD NEWS APR 03, 2007

1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-6.2-quake hits Afghanistan. 3-Survivors seek food after tsunami. 4-The Nation's Weather. 5-Forecasters expect 9 Atlantic hurricanes in 2007. 6-European Union offers help in SAFTA. 7-Who holds the reins of Europe, NATO or EU? 8-Sinai pumice linked to ancient eruption. 9-Evangelicals Transform Christian Unity in Canada. 10-Palestinians not ready for full contacts with EU, says Merkel. 11-China Strengthens Military Ties With Sudan.

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 = Tue Apr 3 10:00 AM EDT

APR 03,07
MAP 3.0 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 5.8 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 5.5 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.1 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
MAP 4.9 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 5.2 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 5.5 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 3.4 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.2 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 4.5 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 6.2 HINDU KUSH REGION, AFGHANISTAN
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.5 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 5.3 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 5.0 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.5 NORTHERN ALASKA
MAP 5.2 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 4.9 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 5.5 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 4.9 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 5.1 D'ENTRECASTEAUX ISLANDS REGION

APR 02,07
MAP 2.7 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 5.4 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
MAP 6.2 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 5.5 D'ENTRECASTEAUX ISLANDS REGION
MAP 4.7 D'ENTRECASTEAUX ISLANDS REGION
MAP 5.0 D'ENTRECASTEAUX ISLANDS REGION
MAP 5.1 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 2.7 MOUNT ST. HELENS AREA, WASHINGTON
MAP 5.9 MOLUCCA SEA
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 5.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 5.2 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 5.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 5.1 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 3.1 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 5.7 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 5.4 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 5.5 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 4.9 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 6.2 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.7 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 6.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 5.3 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 3.9 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 5.0 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.6 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 5.0 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.6 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 5.1 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 5.6 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 4.8 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
MAP 3.4 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 2.5 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 5.5 AISEN, CHILE
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 5.3 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 5.3 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 3.9 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.9 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS

6.2-magnitude quake hits Afghanistan By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer Tue Apr 3, 1:57 AM ET

KABUL, Afghanistan A 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit a remote and mountainous area of
northeastern Afghanistan Tuesday morning, shaking buildings in the capital, Pakistan, Tajikistan and India.

The earthquake in Badakhshan province was about 200 miles northeast of the capital, Kabul,where residents felt shaking buildings and some windows were shattered. There were no immediate casualty reports.It was a very strong earthquake, said Agha Noor Kemtoz, the provincial police chief of Badakhshan, which shares a border with Pakistan, Tajikistan and China. My room was shaking and the light was swinging back and forth.The U.S. Geological Survey said the 6.2-quake was centered 40 miles south of Faizabad and hit at 8:05 a.m.Damage reports from northeastern Afghanistan are often slow to trickle in, because of the region's remoteness and a lack of communication facilities.

The quake was felt across northern Pakistan, including in the capital, Islamabad, 280 miles away. It also was felt in Tajikistan and in the Indian and Pakistan-administered portions of Kashmir, where a severe earthquake in October 2005 left thousands dead and caused widespread destruction.

Badakhshan the most remote area in Afghanistan is home to the towering mountains of the Hindu Kush and is a region prone to earthquakes.A 6.7-magnitude quake struck Badakhshan in December 2005, killing at least five children. That quake was centered about 60 miles southeast of Faizabad. In May 1998, a 6.9-magnitude quake hit near Faizabad, triggering massive mud slides and flooding that left more than 5,000 people dead.

Survivors seek food after tsunami By MERAIAH FOLEY, Associated Press Writer APR 03,07

HONIARA, Solomon Islands - Survivors scavenged for food and drinking water in towns hammered by a tsunami on the Solomon Islands' west coast, while officials said the death toll was 28 and would rise as they struggled to reach remote communities. The first television footage of the devastated region taken by helicopter after Monday's double disaster a huge undersea earthquake followed minutes later by a surging wall of water showed building after tin-and-thatched-roof building collapsed along a muddy foreshore.Men, some shirtless and wearing shorts, picked through the debris. Some buildings leaned awkwardly on broken stilts.Many of the homeless spent Monday night sleeping under tarpaulins or the stars on a hill behind worst-hit town of Gizo after the magnitude 8.1 quake hit under the sea about 25 miles off the town. Walls of water up to 16 feet high plowed into the coast five minutes later.Three medical teams six doctors and 13 nurses were to fly to the region Wednesday morning from the capital Honiara to treat an unknown number of survivors, National Disaster Management Office spokesman Julian Makaa said Tuesday.The teams were to set up medical centers at Gizo and the nearby center of Munda and Taro island, Makaa said.

They've been instructed to treat the injured there rather than bringing them back to Honiara, he said after a crisis meeting of senior lawmakers and bureaucrats authorized the mission.

Makaa said officials can only guess at the numbers of dead and seriously hurt in the remote and inaccessible west coast villages where two-way radio is the usual mode of contact with the outside world.Arnold Moveni, chairman of the disaster committee in the Solomons' hardest-hit Western Province, said 28 people were confirmed dead, and that the toll was expected to keep rising. Most bodies were found by residents as they searched through rubble for missing relatives, he said.Five unconfirmed deaths were reported in neighboring Papua New Guinea.Makaa said an initial damage assessment was 916 houses destroyed with about 5,000 people affected, but that the final toll could be much higher.

The Red Cross said about 2,000 of those were homeless in Gizo, the main population center of some 7,000 in the zone, and that outlying villages still to be reached may have fared much worse.Fred Fakarii, chairman of the National Disaster Management Council, said there had been one official assessment flyover, and another team would be sent soon to help draft a relief plan. Initial reports showed the destruction was massive and widespread, he said.Among the dead were a bishop and three worshippers killed when a wave hit a church during an ordination ceremony on the island of Simbo, the United Church said.The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported from Papua New Guinea that a family of five had been washed away in that country's far east the first reported deaths there. Government officials there could not confirm any casualties Tuesday.

A 53-year-old New Zealand man drowned trying to save his mother from the waves during a visit to Gizo, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said. His mother remained missing.Few of the homeless had even basic supplies, and their situation would quickly turn desperate, officials said.There is no food available in the main settlements of Gizo and Noro, said Alfred Maesulia, a government spokesman in the capital, Honiara. Some settlements have been completely wiped out by the waves.

One police patrol boat carrying emergency supplies arrived in Gizo from Honiara overnight and three private charters were due Tuesday. Australian and New Zealand military helicopters based in the Solomons as part of a security force also were expected to join relief operations. Solomons Deputy Police Commissioner Peter Marshall said planes searching coastlines for survivors had spotted corpses, but added the terrain would be difficult to navigate. There are some very ragged, remote areas and there's no connecting roads, (just) isolated villages, he told ABC.

New Zealand Defense Minister Phil Goff said a military C-130 cargo plane was flying to the Solomon Islands on Tuesday with tents, tarpaulins and food for several hundred people. The main airport at Gizo, phone and power lines, and coastal roads remained out of commission Tuesday. Makaa said the airport had been cleared of debris and was expected to be assessed as safe to use Wednesday. More than 25 aftershocks had shaken the region by late Tuesday, including two of magnitude 6.2.
Danny Kennedy, a dive shop operator, said survivors had ventured into Gizo looking for bottled water and other supplies and found a mess. Unfortunately a lot of the stores ... their cargo has fallen from the higher shelves and covered lower things, and the buildings are quite unstable, Kennedy told New Zealand's National Radio. Marshall said officials would tolerate survivors taking goods they don't own until emergency supplies arrived. These are desperate times in Gizo, he said. And we've got to be practical.Makaa said drinking water was the most pressing need for many survivors.

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare declared a national state of emergency and held meetings with his impoverished country's aid donors about getting help. The Solomon Islands is a poverty-wracked archipelago of more than 200 islands with a population of about 552,000 people. On July 21, 1975, a large tsunami hit Bougainville, killing an estimated 200 people, according to the U.S. Geological Survey and World Health Organization.

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.

The Nation's Weather By WEATHER UNDERGROUND, For The Associated Press
Tue Apr 3, 6:37 AM ET

Snow fell early Tuesday over the northern Plains as storms raked the nation's northern tier and took aim at the Great Lakes. Further south, thunderstorms swept across the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys.

A low pressure system moving northeastward from the Plains was triggering snow across the Dakotas, Upper Mississippi Valley and northern portions of the Great Lakes region.Rain showers and thunderstorms were also possible across the southern Plains, the southern half of the Great Lakes region, the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys, and the Southeast.Partly cloudy skies and dry conditions were to prevail over the central Plains, the Northeast, the mid-Atlantic region and much of Florida.

Partly cloudy skies and dry conditions were forecast throughout the central and southern high Plains, the Rocky Mountain region, the Desert Southwest, the Great Basin, California and the Pacific Northwest.Another beautiful spring day was in store for the Southwest.Temperatures in the Lower 48 states on Monday ranged from a low of 18 degrees at Burns, Ore., to a high of 98 degrees at Blythe, Calif.

Forecasters expect 9 Atlantic hurricanes in 2007 APR 03,07

MIAMI (Reuters) - The 2007 Atlantic hurricane season will be far more active than usual with an expected 17 tropical storms, of which nine will strengthen into hurricanes, a noted forecasting team founded by William Gray said on Tuesday. In an updated outlook for the June 1-November 30 season, the Colorado State University team led by hurricane forecast pioneer Gray and Philip Klotzbach raised the number of expected storms and hurricanes from the 14 and seven, respectively, that it had predicted in December.

Sinai pumice linked to ancient eruption By KATARINA KRATOVAC, Associated Press Writer Mon Apr 2, 8:55 PM ET

TEL HABUWA, Egypt - Egyptian archaeologists showed off white pumice Monday that they theorize was swept onto the northern Sinai desert by a tsunami triggered by the ancient volcanic eruption on Santorini island 530 miles away. Traces of the solidified lava foam from the eruption have been found on the island of Crete and in southwestern Turkey, but the archaeological team now believes it also reached the Sinai site where they were digging at an ancient fort 4 miles from the Mediterranean coast.

The Santorini explosion in the 17th century B.C. was devastating. It sank most of the now-Greek island and killed more than 35,000 people of a thriving Minoan community.The head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, said the discovery of the pumice would open a new field of study in Egyptology.Geologists will help us study how ... natural disasters, such as the Santorini tsunami, affected the Pharaonic period, he said.

A volcanologist at Greece's Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration, Georges Vougioukalakis, was skeptical that the pumice could have traveled so far with a tsunami.While noting that layers of ash from Santorini have been found in Egypt's Nile Delta, he told The Associated Press that he thought it more likely the floating pumice was carried to the Sinai by regular ocean currents.The archaeological team found the pumice while excavating at Tel Habuwa in the desert northeast of Qantara, a town on the Suez Canal nearly 95 miles northeast of Cairo.They were searching for Pharaonic forts that helped protect the Nile Delta from foreign invasion, and last month they uncovered remains here of an 18th Dynasty fort with four rectangular towers built of mud bricks.The pieces of lava stone were a surprise, but they were only part of the story, said team leader Mohamed Abdel Maqsud.For the archaeologists, more significant was finding a fortress used by ancient Egyptians to expel the Hyksos enemy during the New Kingdom, a Pharaonic empire that lasted from about 1500 B.C. to about 1000 B.C.The easternmost forts were so important that they were depicted in the reliefs on the walls of Karnak Temple in the ancient capital of Thebes the present day city of Luxor, 300 miles south of Cairo.Hawass did not elaborate on the geological tests that linked the Sinai pumice to Santorini, but said he was convinced more such lava would be found. This is only the beginning, he said.Associated Press writer Nicholas Paphits in Athens, Greece, contributed to this report.

April 02, 2007 European Union offers help in SAFTA implementation India-SAARC-EU

As it prepares to participate in the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) process for the first time, the European Union(EU) has offered its expertise and experience to help in implementation of South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), which has faced to take off despite agreement over a year ago.

The 25-nation EU said its own example had shown that by working together more effectively, regional groupings can fulfil their potential and contribute to solving global and regional issues. In a special message on the occasion of the 14th SAARC Summit being held on April 3-4, EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner expressed confidence that the meet would provide a decisive opportunity to advance regional integration in South Asia, PTI reported.

EU will be participating in the Summit as an Observer along with the US, China, Japan and South Korea. The EU sees itself a natural partner in all efforts aimed at reinforcing regional cooperation, people-to-people contacts and trade liberalisation in South Asia, which will bring benefits to all, she said. She said the European organisation stands ready to continue to share expertise and experience in all areas of interest to SAARC as well as in the implementation of the SAFTA.SAFTA was ratified by all the seven SAARC member nations by January 1, 2006 and notified on July 1, last year. However, it could not be implemented as Pakistan refused to conduct free trade with India under it and remained adamant on doing business on the basis of positive list of items.

The SAFTA issue is expected to come up for discussion at the Summit. Noting that many challenges remain in encouraging trade within South Asia despite economies of the member countries growing, the EU Commissioner hoped that SAARC will be successful in developing regional cooperation and trade liberalisation. Our own experience shows the importance of this (intra-region trade and cooperation) for sustained development and regional integration and this is, indeed, one among a number of areas where we are happy to cooperate with the efforts that SAARC is making, Waldner said in the message from Brussels. Citing the EU's example, she said it has come a long way to achieve peace, stability and free movement of persons, goods, services and capital beyond national borders.

Who holds the reins of Europe, NATO or EU? APR 03,07

The European Union (EU) has just celebrated its 50th anniversary of its with grandiose functions as well as a gathering of leaders in Germany, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is to usher in its 58th birthday on April 4. What are the respective roles of NATO and EU and what are trends with their development in the years ahead. On these issues of common concern, Zheng Xing and Jin Yanbo, both sub-editors of the People's Daily Overseas Edition, have conversed with Yang Yu, director of the EU Affairs Office of elite Nanjing University in east China's Jiangsu Province, Prof. Wu Yikang with the World Economy Institute of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, and Shen Jiru, a researcher of the Institute of World Economies and Politics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The detailed account of the conversation is read as follows: Q. Most of the member states of the NATO and EU belong to the Europe. NATO has 21 EU member nations out of its present 26 membership, so both organizations have most of their mutually shared members. Then, what are differences between the organizations?

Shen Jiru (abbreviated as Shen below): The NATO, established in April 1949, originally had 15 member states and a headquarters in Brussels. It has been a military bloc headed by the United States, and a product of confrontation between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union during the Cold War period.

And the EU is an organization of regional integration of European nations. To date, it has been advancing its regional integration with their economic and monetary union development and European political integration cooperation.

Yang Yu (abbreviated as Yang below): During the cold war years, NATO was a tool used by the U.S. to materialize its global strategy as well as a collective defense organization of a military nature to confront and contain the Warsaw Pact Organization. It was not only a product of East-West confrontation but embodied the interests and resolve of the U.S. It was also a product of the European union and integration in the post-World War II years and a peace plan designed and practiced to cope with frictions or internal wars inside the Europe that have harassed its unity and peaceful development for so long, and particularly old hatreds or scores between France and Germany that have existed for centuries.

Wu Yikang (abbreviated as Wu below): NATO is a military bloc employed by the U.S. to serve its global strategy and also its tool to vie with EU and proceed to divide and rule the Europe. EU, however, is a combination body of sovereign states designed to construct a brand-new Europe. So there is a world of differences between them in term of character, task, setup mechanism and ways of doing things.

Q: NATO was a product of the Cold War era, but it did not step out of the historical stage with the splitting up of the Warsaw Pact in 1991, and instead carried out its enlargement eastward. Then what is the reason for its continuous existence?

Yang: NATO would have been dissolved with the end of the Cold War, but the reality is not so. A summit meeting of the North Atlantic Council, Washing D.C. in April 1999 set forth a concept of a new strategy gearing to the new century. With consolidation of a strong independence force, a pure military-political organization was transferred to a political-military organization. The strategic goal of collective defense was changed over to a given balance between collective defense and crise management, and the security of alliance has to be considered under the global framework. So the mission of the era and reason for its continuous existence have been verified.

Wu: The existence of its continuous existence is also ascribed to the fear and suspicions of numerous European nations for the nuclear power of Russia, and the eastward enlargement and the attempt to extend the scope of its defense affairs also give expressions to the enduring Cold War shadows.

The complexity of the situation adds uncertainty to the relations between the U.S. and Russia and between Europe and Russia and, with upheavals wrought by color revolutions occasionally in the eastern region of the former Soviet Union, there is an ensuing hidden danger for the intensification of US-Russian contradictions.

Shen: First of all, this is a need for the U.S. to defend its global hegemony. The U.S., through the eastern enlargement of the NATO, attempts to penetrate its forces into the former Soviet republics in Central Asia to encircle Russia from its southern arc cycle and exert pressures onto China from West and North. Meanwhile, it attempts to link NATO with the Japan-US Security Treaty and the US-Australia-New Zealand Alliance. Furthermore, most of the NATO members still need to ally with the U.S. and hinges on NATO to back themselves up to increase its weight and influence in global affairs due to a slow progress in the process of the EU political integration.

Q: EU is a cooperative partner whereas NATO is rival or adversary to a certain country, but both organizations have shared most same member nations, and what the two organization have diametrically opposed significance to another country?

Wu: A certain country, here I suppose, refers to Russia, which takes EU as its vital and crucial cooperative partner. Bother sides intend to carry out active cooperation in economy, trade, security and a range of other cooperative spheres. Russia, however, has a growing aversion to the eastern enlargement of NATO and even denounced it openly. Its acknowledgement of and attitude toward the two organizations are determined by the character and purpose of the two organizations.

Shen: The EU nations, with a dread off Russia, chimed in with the NATO eastern enlargement strategy of the U.S. Russia is, however, concerned more about its immediate interests despite its resolute opposition to the encirclement, isolation and coercion by NATO and, likewise, EU also cares very much for its energy card and missile card. Hence, in spite of the US trying endeavor to coerce and suppress Russia with the help of EU nations, France, Germany, Italy, Greece and other EU
nations do not have an implicit faith in the U.S., and so EU nations are no longer counted as its little partners as a whole.

Yang: NATO still has relatively strong hues of the Cold War era following its shift to the post-Cold War era after 1999, as its reorganization was directed or orchestrated by the U.S., and it remained a US tool to seek global hegemony after being retooled. In contrast, EU, in a certain sense, resembles all the more like an economic community. To a certain country, EU is more like a strategic partner
rather than a vying adversary in view of its immense economic potential and its subtle and delicate ties with the U.S.

Q. Along with the steady uplifting in the strength of the EU itself, is it possible for the European nations to develop their European affairs and bypass the NATO, and what are development trends of NATO and EU in European affairs?

Shen: With its membership increasing to 27, the EU is still faced with a multitude of difficulties to its political integration resultant from its excessive enlargement. Referenda in both France and the Netherlands vetoed the draft EU charter not long ago imply a lot of hurdles yet to overcome with respect to the uniform diplomacy and defense policies of the E.U. Consequently, it is still hard for EU to replace the armed forces of NATO with its own force in a foreseeable future.

Wu: At present, the common security and defense policies for EU is in the making, and preparations for the EU Rapid Reaction Force is well under way, and the enlargement renders EU's peacekeeping mission with greater radius over the Balkan, Africa, Afghanistan, the Middle-east, the Trans-Caucasus and other regions. Furthermore, EU nations have stepped up their cooperation in war industry, military weaponry manufacturing and military researches among themselves.

Nevertheless, a few member nations propose turning to NATO to enhance the European defense matters. And German Chancellor Angela Merkel's open appeal to founding a joint EU armed force represents a positive trend.

Yang: With a strengthening of the strong independence force for EU and an estrangement of the US involvement, the EU will have a capacity to meet the goals pursued by Europeans incessantly for the control of crises and to perform peacekeeping and rescue operations.

Consequently, with a continuous uplifting of the economic and military might of EU, remarkable changes are expected to occur in the EU-NATO ties and somewhat lessen the American factor in the European affairs. By People's Daily Online

Evangelicals Transform Christian Unity in Canada APR 03,07

The increasing political influence of evangelical Christians in Canada is changing the face of Christian unity here, a story in the Anglican Journal reports. Over 50 percent of legislators belonging to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party are evangelical Christians.

They are becoming the mainline and we are becoming the sideline, says Lois Wilson, former president of the World Council of Churches. Even so, Bruce Clemenger, president of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, says evangelicals and ecumenicals have co-operated on issues such as poverty reduction campaigns and bio-ethics.

Palestinians not ready for full contacts with EU, says Merkel02.04.2007 09:30 CET | By Lucia Kubosova

German chancellor Angela Merkel has urged the new Palestinian government to renounce violence and recognise Israel before it can resume full contacts with the European Union.

Some of the government ministers do not accept our criteria, Ms Merkel said after a meeting with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday (1 April) in Ramallah as part of her Middle East tour, according to press reports.She reacted to Mr Abbas' suggestion that the new Palestinian cabinet of national unity combining the Islamist Hamas group and secular Fatah movement had already met international demands.The so-called Middle East Quartet, composed of the UN, the US, the EU and Russia, has said the Palestinian government should recognise Israel, renounce violence and respect existing peace accords. The international community froze aid funds to the Palestinian administration last year after Hamas on the terrorist register both in the EU and the US won Palestinian elections. An EU-managed temporary mechanism bypassing the Hamas-led government was put in place to keep aid flowing to the impoverished Palestinian population.

Palestinians hoped the new unity government, formed two weeks ago, would pave the way for resuming aid and political contacts with international players.

But both the EU and the US remain reluctant to do so unless the Hamas group clearly renounces violence against Israel.At their meeting in Bremen on Friday and Saturday (30 - 31 March), EU foreign ministers pledged to meet non-Hamas moderate ministers in the administration a move criticised by Israel who refuses to deal with any government which includes Hamas members.We don't see any reason why we should not continue to see someone who we have known for many, many years, who has been cooperating with us, said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, adding I see no reason to cut contacts ...they're friends, we continue to cooperate with them.

Take rare chance at peace

During her weekend tour, Ms Merkel urged both Palestinian president and Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert to grab a rare chance at resuming the peace process, referring to the revival of a five-year-old Arab peace plan at a Riyadh summit of Arab countries last week.

We are going through a period where we feel that things are moving, she said at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where she received an honorary doctorate on Sunday.There is a window of opportunity...There is a real chance of reaching a breakthrough and we must grasp it, she added, according to AFP.Mr Solana expressed similar optimism in Bremen.We are beginning to have signs of hope, he said, adding there is a new dynamic in the region which could revive the stalled Middle East peace efforts.

China Strengthens Military Ties With Sudan
By Daniel Schearf Beijing 03 April 2007

Chinese officials say they will push forward with military cooperation with Sudan, despite accusations Khartoum supports militias that have killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in Sudan's Darfur region. Daniel Schearf reports from Beijing.Western nations have long urged Beijing to use its influence with Sudan to get U.N. peacekeepers into the war-torn Darfur region, but China has instead used its veto power in the U.N. Security Council to prevent stronger condemnation of Khartoum.

This week, Beijing moved to strengthen ties with Sudan. During a visit by Sudan's military chief to Beijing, China's minister of defense said his government is willing to further develop cooperation between the two militaries in every sphere.China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang Tuesday urged Sudan to be more flexible on the deployment of U.N. troops. But he indicated China would not support tougher measures against Khartoum.

We think Sudan's territorial integrity and sovereignty should be respected and a political solution should be found to the Darfur issue through equal dialogue and discussions, he said.China is the biggest buyer of Sudan's oil and a major source of weapons for Khartoum.

U.N. reports say the Sudanese government supports militias that have raped and killed about 200,000 people in Darfur and driven millions from their homes during a four-year civil war.Washington and London want stronger sanctions imposed against Khartoum for atrocities committed in Darfur, which the United States has called genocide.