Breaking News - Toronto Ontario Canada Aug 31,07 11 40 AM
By Stan L Bowman Jr
A Toronto Muslim was arrested last night at 9:30 PM for suspicion of being a letter Bomber, 2 in Toronto and 1 in Guelph in the last week. After investigating they discovered 3 bombs in the Arrested mans car at Overlea BLVD and Thorncliffe Park outside a gas station. The Police say the Muslim is not a terrorist it is a grudge aginst the 3 people. The bombs will be transported up Southbound Don valley parkway to the Commisioners and detinated at the Leslie Street split.
Police detonate 3 bombs found in Toronto car trunk
Man, 37, arrested and charged in connection with recent letter bomb incidents
Last Updated: Friday, August 31, 2007 | 4:05 PM ET - CBC News
Toronto police performed a controlled detonation of three bombs in an isolated waterfront area on Friday after transporting the devices from the city's east end amid heavy security.Police used a specialized explosives trailer on Friday to transport the explosive devices down Toronto's Don Valley Parkway to a secure location.(CBC)Investigators alleged the devices — described as 35- to 45-centimetre packages with an as yet unidentified explosive — were discovered after a man driving the vehicle was arrested late Thursday night in connection with three letter-bomb incidents earlier this month.Police took the extraordinary step of closing off a major roadway to transport the bombs and perform the controlled detonation at about 3 p.m. ET. A large plume of smoke rose from the site.
Just after noon ET, a special explosives trailer carrying the devices slowly began travelling southbound on the Don Valley Parkway — just metres from long-weekend traffic filling the northbound lanes — to the Leslie Street Spit more than seven kilometres away at the edge of Lake Ontario.Deputy Chief Tony Warr said the extraordinary safety precautions were necessary after bomb technicians determined the bombs could not be defused.It's the safest place to do it, he told reporters from the edge of the cordoned area. We're not able to disassemble them to the point where we can completely take them apart.Early Friday, the emergency task force sealed off a large perimeter around Overlea Boulevard, Millwood Drive and Don Mills Road, as well as the entire Thorncliffe Park Drive loop, as the bomb disposal units used a pair of remote-controlled robots to move the devices into the trailer. Investigators also searched a residence on Ashdale Avenue, which was cleared, police said.
Incidents believed linked
Warr said investigators believe the three earlier incidents are linked to the devices found Friday — they're similar — and that the motive appears personal.
Two of the letters were sent to homes in Toronto, while another was sent to a residence in Guelph.On the evening of Aug. 11, a man in the Victoria Park Avenue-Lawrence Avenue East area sustained injuries after an envelope he received at his home exploded in his hands.Eight days later, a real estate lawyer found an envelope at his home in the Yonge Street-Sheppard Avenue West area. The package smelled like petroleum, so he notified police and it was safely detonated. Police said it was rigged to explode if opened.On Aug. 22, a self-employed home renovator found a Canada Post Xpresspost envelope at the rear of his Guelph home, but didn't open it and called police. Media reports said the letter was detonated at the scene and contained enough explosive to take the man's head off had it exploded.
Similar packages mailed to addresses in Toronto and Guelph did not explode, authorities have said.Adel Arnaout, 37, of Toronto, has been charged with three counts of attempted murder, three counts of intending to cause an explosion, and possession of explosives for an unlawful purpose, police said. He was scheduled to appear Friday in a Toronto court.
Global Warming Might Spur Earthquakes and Volcanoes Andrea Thompson
LiveScience Staff Writer - LiveScience.com - Thu Aug 30, 5:40 PM ET
Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and landslides are some of the additional catastrophes that climate change and its rising sea levels and melting glaciers could bring, a geologist says. The impact of human-induced global warming on Earth's ice and oceans is already noticeable: Greenland's glaciers are melting at an increasing rate, and sea level rose by a little more than half a foot (0.17 meters) globally in the 20th century, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. With these trends in ice cover and sea level only expected to continue and likely worsen if atmospheric carbon dioxide levels continue to rise, they could alter the stresses and forces fighting for balance in the ground under our feet—changes that are well-documented in studies of past climate change, but which are just beginning to be studied as possible consequences of the current state of global warming.
Although they've described it in the past, nobody's thought about it in terms of future effects of climate change, said Bill McGuire of the University College London's Hazard Research Center. McGuire's speculations of increased geological activity have not yet been published in a journal, but he has written an article about them published in the Guardian Unlimited.
Rebounding crust
One particular feature that can change the balance of forces in Earth's crust is ice, in the form of glaciers and ice sheets that cover much of the area around Earth's poles plus mountains at all latitudes. The weight of ice depresses the crust on which it sits. As the ice melts, the crust below no longer has anything sitting on top of it, and so can rebound fairly rapidly (by geological standards). (This rebounding is actually occurring now as a result of the end of the last Ice Age: The retreat of massive ice sheets from the northern United States and Canada has allowed the crust in these areas to bounce back.) Areas of rebounding crust could change the stresses acting on earthquake faults and volcanoes in the crust. In places like Iceland, for example, where you have the Eyjafjallajökull ice sheet, which wouldn't survive [global warming], and you've got lots of volcanoes under that, the unloading effect can trigger eruptions, McGuire said. With the changing dynamics in the crust, faults could also be destabilized, which could bring a whole host of other problems.
It's not just the volcanoes. Obviously if you load and unload active faults, then you're liable to trigger earthquakes, McGuire told LiveScience, noting that there is ample evidence for this association in past climate change events. At the end of the last Ice Age, there was a great increase in seismicity along the margins of the ice sheets in Scandinavia and places like this, and that triggered these huge submarine landsides which generated tsunamis, McGuire said. So you've got the whole range of geological hazards there that can result from if we see this big catastrophic melting.Roland Burgmann, a geologist at the University of California, Berkeley, agrees that changes in ice cover can have significant effects on the underlying crust, but says that more research needs to be done to determine the actual scale of the threat and where the effects are most likely to occur.
Water pressure
Ice melt can have an added consequence because all that melted ice has to go somewhere—namely, the ocean. And ice melt won't be the only factor changing sea levels: as ocean temperatures rise, the water itself expands (a process called thermal expansion). As all that extra water piles up, it could apply pressure to faults near coastlines. The added load of the water bends the crust, and that means that you tend to get tensional conditions in the upper part of the crust and compressional a bit lower down, just as if you bend a plank of wood or something, McGuire explained. These compressional forces could push out any magma lying around underneath a volcano, triggering an eruption. (This mechanism is actually believed to be the cause of the seasonal eruptions of Alaska's Pavlof volcano, which erupts every winter when sea levels are higher.) McGuire conducted a study that was published in the journal Nature in 1997 that looked at the connection between the change in the rate of sea level rise and volcanic activity in the Mediterranean for the past 80,000 years and found that when sea level rose quickly, more volcanic eruptions occurred, increasing by a whopping 300 percent.
If today's worst-case global warming scenarios of catastrophic melting of glaciers and ice sheets come to pass, sea levels could rise rapidly, wreaking all sorts of geological havoc comparable with the most rapid increases in sea level that we've seen in the last 15,000 years, McGuire said. Burgmann isn't too worried about sea level rise causing more earthquakes or volcanic eruptions though, noting that catastrophic rates of sea level rise in the future are uncertain and that the current rate of rise—about 0.12 inches per year (3 millimeters per year)—isn't enough to destabilize the crust. It would take a long time to add up to a significant amount, Burgmann said—so while it's an area of research to keep an eye on, it's unlikely to have any disastrous consequences, at least for now.
Phoenix sets heat record By Bernie Woodall
Thu Aug 30, 9:12 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Phoenix has had a record 30 days this year in which the mercury hit at least 110 degrees Fahrenheit, the U.S. National Weather Service said on Thursday. Phoenix on Thursday had a high temperature of 111 degrees Fahrenheit, extending the record broken on Wednesday of 29 days with at least 110 degrees F in a calendar year, said meteorologist Keith Kincaid of the National Weather Service.
The previous record of 28 days was set in 1970 and matched in 2002. Phoenix has not neared its all-time record high of 122 F set in 1990.Kincaid said the Phoenix high will be 110 F on Friday. By the weekend, Arizona's biggest city will cool slightly so 2007 is likely to end with a record 31 days that were hotter than 110 degrees F.
There's a tropical system south of Mexico that will move up and affect us, so I don't foresee us being 110 degrees in the next two weeks after Friday, said Kincaid, who is based in Phoenix.That's good news for the two biggest utilities in the state, both of which serve parts of the Phoenix area -- the investor-owned Arizona Public Service and the municipal Salt River Project.Jeff Lane of the Salt River Project said the utility reached a peak demand of about 6,260 megawatts, shy of its record peak for the year and about 250 megawatts short of Wednesday's demand.In Arizona, where summer air-conditioning use is high, a megawatt powers about 250 homes.
The state's largest utility, APS, had peak demand Thursday of about 7,500 megawatts, down from Wednesday's peak of about 7,595 megawatts, said Betty Dayyo of APS, a subsidiary of Pinnacle West Capital Corp.As was the case in California on Thursday and Wednesday, Arizona's power grid held despite the intense heat.Another weather record for Phoenix has been challenged recently, Kincaid said.It is the second-hottest summer when measuring average temperatures (daily low and high) from June 1 through August 28. This year that average is 94.7 degrees F, second only to 94.8 F set in 2002, Kincaid said.In Phoenix, overnight lows have been creeping higher in recent years because of the concrete, asphalt and steel in the city that retain heat, Kincaid said.It's the urban heat island effect, he said. "You go 40 miles southeast of Phoenix to Coolidge, Arizona and the overnight lows are 10 to 15 degrees (F) lower than in Phoenix and the daily highs of the two places is pretty much on par.
Fatah protest of Hamas ends in clashes AUG 31,07
GAZA CITY, Gaza City - A protest of Hamas rule by Fatah supporters turned violent Friday when Hamas men began forcefully dispersing the crowd, firing in the air and beating demonstrators and reporters. Three people were wounded, according to Dr. Muawiya Hassanin of the Palestinian Health Ministry. It was not immediately clear if they were protesters or police, and Hassanin did not specify the nature of their injuries.Associated Press reporters saw the beating of one journalist by Hamas men. He was not seriously hurt.The violence began at the end of a Fatah prayer meeting held to protest Hamas, which seized control of the coastal territory in June. A similar protest a week ago also ended in clashes and harassment of journalists.
After the Fatah supporters finished prayers, Hamas men began firing into the air to disperse the crowd. The Hamas security forces then began arresting protesters and taking them away in jeeps, and also beat several demonstrators. AP Television News video showed several uniformed Hamas men beating an unarmed protester with long sticks.Hamas supporters in civilian clothes also joined the uniformed forces in dispersing the protest.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Friday, August 31, 2007
RUSSIA FUELED ISRAEL-SYRIA TENTIONS
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Lost tribe of Israel arrives in Jewish state
Group in India descended from Joseph struggled to return home
Posted: August 30, 2007 - By Aaron Klein - 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
TEL AVIV – One-hundred-seventy-four people from a group of thousands in India that believes it is one of the 10 "lost tribes" of Israel landed here this week, fulfilling for many a life-long dream of returning to what they consider their homeland. Shavei Israel, a Jerusalem-based organization led by American Michael Freund, hopes to bring to the Jewish state the remaining 7,000 Indian citizens who believe they are the Bnei Menashe, the descendants of Manasseh, one of biblical patriarch Joseph's two sons and a grandson of Jacob. The tribe lives in the two Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur, to which they claim to have been exiled from Israel more than 2,700 years ago by the Assyrian empire. I truly believe this is a miracle of immense historical and even biblical significance, Freund told WND as the group of 174 arrived here earlier this week. Just as the prophets foretold so long ago, the lost tribes of Israel are being brought back from the exile, said Freund, who previously served as deputy communications director under former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Another planeload of 57 Bnei Menashe is slated to touch down in Israel tomorrow. The group, which has preserved ancient Jewish customs and rituals, has been trying the past 50 years to return to Israel.
Over the last decade, Freund's Shavei Israel, at times working with other organizations, brought about 1,200 Bnei Menashe members to the Jewish state. Many settled in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. About 80 lived in Gaza's slate of Jewish communities, which were evacuated by the Israeli government in 2005. The original batches of Bnei Menashe to arrive here were brought to Israel as tourists in an agreement with Israel's Interior Ministry. Once here, the Bnei Menashe converted officially to Judaism and became citizens. But diplomatic wrangling halted the immigration process in 2003, with officials from some Israeli ministries refusing to grant the rest of the group still in India permission to travel here.
Bnei Menashe member arriving in Israel (Courtesy Shavei Israel)
To smooth the process, Freund enlisted the help of Israel's chief rabbinate, which flew to India in 2005 to meet with and consider converting members of the Bnei Menashe. Once legally Jewish, the tribe can apply for Israeli citizenship under the country's Law of Return, which guarantees sanctuary to Jews from around the world.
Six rabbis were sent by Israel's Sephardic chief rabbi, Shlomo Amar, to begin converting the Bnei Menashe. The rabbis met with hundreds of tribal members, testing their knowledge of Judaism and assessing their conviction, converting 216 individuals – over 90 percent of the members interviewed. The rabbis were incredibly impressed with the Bnei Menashe, said Freund. They saw for themselves that the group is very serious and should be integrated into the Jewish nation. That they are a blessing to the state of Israel. Last year, 218 converted members arrived in Israel. Freund hoped to repeat the process for 231 more Bnei Menashe who had been approved for conversion, but the Indian government, which heavily restricts conversions, put a halt on the plan.
Bnei Menashe member (Courtesy Shavei Israel)
Instead, the batch of Bnei Menashe that arrived this week were brought to Israel as tourists in coordination with the Israeli government. Once here, the tribe will be officially converted by the country's chief rabbinate and qualify for Israeli citizenship. The new immigrants will spend the next few months studying Hebrew and Judaism at a Shavei Israel absorption center in northern Israel. The Bnei Menashe that arrived here over the years have fully transited into Israeli society. Many attended college and rabbinic school, moved to major Israeli communities and even joined the Israel Defense Forces. Twelve Bnei Menashe served in the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip and in Lebanon in 2006. One of them, Avi Hanshing, a 22-year old paratrooper, was injured during a clash with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Hanshing's father was among those who arrived here earlier this week in an emotional reunion at Israel's international airport. As much as we might think that Israel is helping the Bnei Menashe, it is the reverse that is true. It is they who strengthen us – with their faith, with their commitment and with their undying love for Zion," said Freund.
Bnei Menashe member (Courtesy Shavei Israel)
According to Bnei Menashe oral tradition, the tribe was exiled from Israel and pushed to the east, eventually settling in the border regions of China and India, where most remain today. Most kept customs similar to Jewish tradition, including observing Shabbat, keeping the laws of Kosher, practicing circumcision on the eighth day of a baby boy's life and observing laws of family purity. In the 1950s, several thousand Bnei Menashe say they set out on foot to Israel but were quickly halted by Indian authorities. Undeterred, many began practicing Orthodox Judaism and pledged to make it to Israel. They now attend community centers established by Shavei Israel to teach the Bnei Menashe Jewish tradition and modern Hebrew. Freund said he hopes the arrival this week of more Bnei Menashe would jump-start the process of bringing back the rest of the 7,000 Bnei Menashe who are in India yearning to return home.
Moving the Middle East Peace Process Forward
Vatican Radio
(30 Aug 07 - RV) A two day conference on the Middle East peace process began today in the European parliament building in Brussels. Sponsored by the United Nations, the meeting brings together different organizations and experts from different parts of civil society to discuss how to move the peace process forward. Franciscan father David Maria Jaeger, expert on religion and politics in the holy land, says Europe can play an important role in bringing a just peace to the Holy Land.
Suspect Material Found in U.N. Office - By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press Writer - Toxic Chemical Found in U.N. Office
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- U.N. weapons inspectors discovered a potentially hazardous chemical warfare agent that was taken from an Iraqi chemical weapons facility 11 years ago and mistakenly stored in their offices in the heart of midtown Manhattan all that time, officials said Thursday.The material - identified in inventory files as phosgene, a chemical substance used in World War I weapons - was discovered Aug. 24. It was only identified on Wednesday because it was marked simply with an inventory number, and officials had to check the many records in their vast archives, said Ewen Buchanan, a spokesman for the U.N. inspection agency.U.N. and U.S. officials said the material posed no threat to anyone's health or safety.
A team of hazardous materials experts from the FBI and New York City police removed the substance from the office on Manhattan's east side, about a block north of U.N. headquarters, in three steel containers. The containers were flown to a military facility in Aberdeen, Md., for disposal, U.N. officials said.While the disposal team was in UNMOVIC's sixth-floor office, its small staff was evacuated along with other tenants from that floor, Buchanan said.When the material was discovered in a shipping container last week, Buchanan said U.N. experts followed their established procedure in dealing with unknown material - putting the material in double zip-locked plastic bags, and securing it in a safe in a room that is double-locked.
U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said the staff continued to work in the offices of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, or UNMOVIC, which are in the process of being shut down.Tests conducted by U.N. personnel found no toxic vapors in the area where the material had been stored, police said. The materials had been in UNMOVIC and its predecessor inspection agency, UNSCOM, apparently since 1996 when they were inadvertently shipped to U.N. administrative offices instead of a chemical laboratory, police said.White House spokesman Tony Snow said the suspected chemical agent should have been transported to an appropriately equipped lab for analysis.I'm sure that there are going to be a lot of red-faced people over at the U.N. trying to figure out how they got there, Snow said.
Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said the U.N. needs to be more careful because it's a target.The fact that a container of deadly poison from Iraq was found at the U.N. is a wake-up call that they better start living up to the higher safety standards of a post 9-11 New York, he said in a statement.Phosgene can be used as a chemical weapon, and was used extensively in World War I as a choking agent. Both phosgene gas and liquid can damage skin, eyes, nose, throat and lungs.Buchanan said the phosgene was in liquid form, suspended in oil, in a soda-can-sized container that was sealed in a plastic bag.Okabe said the chemical state of the phosgene was unknown but could be potentially hazardous.A U.N. chemical weapons expert, Svetlana Utkina, said phosgene is toxic and would cause a person's lungs to collapse if it was inhaled. She said a container the size of a soda can would likely not contain more than gram quantities of the substance.Still, if it was opened and did contain phosgene, she said probably about five people will get severe problems, (and a) couple of people will be dead.The inventory records indicated the material was from a 1996 excavation of the bombed-out research and development building at Iraq's main chemical weapons facility at Muthana, near Samarra. The entire facility was extensively bombed during the 1991 Gulf War, Buchanan said.
UNMOVIC has 1,400 linear feet of paper files - 125 five-drawer cabinets - and it took until Wednesday to find the inventory matching the number on the package with the suspected phosgene, Buchanan said.The agency and its archives - including the suspect material - had been in an office at U.N. headquarters until moving to its current site about three years ago, he said.Also found at the UNMOVIC office was a second sealed package containing tiny samples of chemical agents in sealed glass tubes shaped like pens, Buchanan said. Each of these tubes contained less than a gram of the material, he added.Okabe said the U.N. has launched an investigation to determine how and why the material was in UNMOVIC files. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon notified the Security Council, she added.The State Department said it had learned of the discovery late Wednesday and had immediately contacted the FBI to deal with the disposal.Deputy spokesman Tom Casey also said a joint U.S.-U.N. investigation would be conducted into why the samples had been stored in the office but stressed that the chemicals had been there for at least a decade and did not pose any health risk.
One of the things we want to do is make sure that the U.N., working with the FBI, does conduct a full investigation of this, so we're absolutely certain how they in fact got there, how long they were there, and the kind of exact nature of how this came about, he told reporters.There is no threat that these items currently or in the past have posed to public health and safety in the area, Casey said.U.N. inspectors pulled out of Iraq just before the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion and were barred by the U.S. from returning. The U.S. and Britain said they were taking over responsibility for Iraq's disarmament. In June 2003, the Security Council voted to shut down UNMOVIC and the U.N. nuclear inspection operation in Iraq.Brian Mullady, a senior UNMOVIC official, told reporters that the staff did an immediate sweep of the rest of its archives to see if there were any more surprises, but there was none.
Associated Press Writer Tom Hays contributed to this story from New York.
EU resumes treaty wrangling as political issues remain
29.08.2007 - 17:36 CET | By Honor Mahony and Mark Beunderman
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - As the deadline for political agreement on the new European treaty draws closer, EU officials believe that while the treaty outline is relatively tight, up to seven remaining issues are political rather than purely technical.The initial sweep of the treaty by legal experts is due to be completed by next Thursday (6 September) the day before foreign ministers meet for the first political discussion since EU leaders agreed the treaty outline in June.The main task for the experts is to translate the EU leaders' mandate – including a messy array of opt-outs, out-ins, declarations and protocols – into an unambiguous a whole as possible.The European Parliament and the Commission are also involved, with commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso meeting the three parliament representatives on the treaty on Tuesday evening (28 August).
They are keeping a wary eye on the secretariat of the EU council - the member states' decision-making body - which drew up the reform treaty. Both the parliament and the commission want to make sure it has not slipped in any legalese that might undermine their positions in the EU hierarchy.Portugal, as EU presidency, has set a strict timetable. It wants political agreement by mid October and the treaty signed-off by the end of the year. It has made it clear it wants the talks to be a technical as possible – something it reiterated in its letter inviting the European Parliament's three representatives to the foreign ministers' talks next Friday.
But not every question will be at a purely technical level. Centre-right German MEP and parliament representative Elmar Brok believes there are between five and seven issues that could become political.
Political issues
These include Britain's opt outs from the Charter of Fundamental Rights as well as from legislation in the criminal justice area.On the charter, some fear that London's exemption may affect the EU legal system as a whole through decisions by the European Court of Justice.It could legally contaminate the whole system, says UK liberal MEP Andrew Duff and co-representative at the talks.Mr Duff also points to concerns about London's criminal law and justice opt-out, under which it can still decide to participate in individual justice-related laws. The problem is that the UK can opt in at the start of negotiations [on a proposal], seek to reduce the force and value [of the proposal] and then still opt out at the end.Meanwhile the new provisions on the bloc's common foreign and security policy is causing the commission concern that its powers in trade and development may be encroached upon.
There is also the contentious issue of the new voting system. Poland wants to see included in the treaty text a mechanism whereby it can block an EU decision if its vital interests are at stake. But most member states only want to have the mechanism mentioned in a separate declaration which has less legal status. Citizenship is another topic that MEPs believe need to be discussed. It was mentioned high up in the original constitution but has since been regulated to a lesser place in the new text.This has no legal importance, admits Mr Brok but stresses that it is of symbolic importance.According to Mr Duff, it's kind of odd that we are trying to appeal to citizens and we are not speaking about citizenship [when the text starts].
Post-treaty trouble
Critical though MEPs are of the way the treaty now looks – they say it remains as unreadable as previous EU treaties, they welcome some of the June additions on language, energy supply, solidarity and combating climate change.But even if the timetable goes to plan, this is not likely to be an end to problems.According to Mr Brok, one of big political discussions after the text is agree will be to do with the EU's planned diplomatic service.A balance of power question, it raises all sorts of political hot potatoes but who should control it, where it should be situated, who is part of it and what its scope should be.
Barroso Says EU Commission Will Learn From Subprime Crisis AUG 30,07
PARIS -(Dow Jones)- The European Union Commission will take a close look at the subprime lending crisis and related market turmoil, the head of the commission said Thursday. The E.U. will draw the lessons from the recent events very carefully, commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told a business conference in Paris.We can do this on the basis of an economy that is sound, with solid fundamentals, he added, without saying what fresh steps could be taken to handle the crisis or to avoid recurrences in the future.Barroso's comments follow assurances from the commission Wednesday that economic fundamentals in Europe are sound, and there is no immediate concern that growth and economic development might be affected by the subprime crisis.The commission's assessment is that, despite the problems that have existed, the situation has shown the systems of control and intervention work, commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger said Wednesday.Thursday, Barroso seemed content with the European Central Bank's and the U.S. Federal Reserve's handling of the crisis. The ECB respected its role by intervening in the markets, as did the Fed.
-By Gabriele Parussini, Dow Jones Newswires, +33 1 4017 1740; gabriele.parussini@dowjones.com (Carolyn Henson in Brussels contributed to this article.) (END) Dow Jones Newswires.
Barroso against EU borders debate
30.08.2007 - 09:22 CET | By Honor Mahony
European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has said he is against having a debate on the geographic borders of the EU.His comments, made in an interview with French daily Le Figaro, come in response to Monday's proposal by French president Nicolas Sarkozy to have a fundamental reflection on the future of the EU, including its borders, its future and its message.The idea of Mr Sarkozy is not to have a debate on the geographical borders of the Europe. This is something that we do not want - such a discussion would lead to the limits of the EU being fixed, said Mr Barroso.He reiterated Brussels' position that a decision on Turkey becoming a full member of the EU should not be taken now, with Mr Sarkozy making a debate on the future of Europe a condition for Paris not blocking Brussels' EU negotiations with Ankara.
But he went on to add that having a debate on the political objective of Europe is a good idea.He noted that a discussion on the future of Europe in the globalised world had already begun in October 2005 at an informal meeting of leaders in the UK.If member states want a more structured form for these exchanges, that is all well and good.Mr Barroso said an external contribution, possibly from universities, to the debate would be positive but pointed out that democratic decisions will always have to be taken by the institutions.The commission president, who will meet Mr Sarkozy in Paris today, praised the commission president for his European commitment.He noted that they are not necessarily in agreement on everything but added I prefer a political leader who proves their energy rather than a leader just satisfied by a bureaucratic and routine Europe.
Since France's energetic new leader came to power in June, the EU has seen a revival in its political dynamic, starting off with an agreement on a new treaty after two years of stagnation.But Mr Sarkozy's presence on the European stage has also ruffled a few feathers. He is strongly opposed to Turkey's membership of the EU – the debate of the future of Europe that he is pushing for is part of an overall idea to get people talking about membership alternatives for Ankara.He has also caused tension with other member states such as Germany by appearing to want curb to the independence of the European Central Bank.
Philanthropic foundations push for EU statute
29.08.2007 - 17:34 CET | By Helena Spongenberg
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Foundations are cropping up across Europe in numbers like never before. In Spain alone, at least one new foundation is created every day.
But differences in national regulation make it hard for the foundations to work across EU member states.According to the head of the European Foundation Centre (EFC), Gerry Salole, increasing wealth in Europe is part of the rise in philanthropic foundations, which have been around on the continent since the 13th century.People are also seeing that using private wealth for public resources has an impact, Mr Salole told the EUobserver in an interview. But he would like to see foundations able to be pan-European.The Brussels-based centre is pushing for a European statute for foundations, which would be a legal instrument easing legal, financial and administrative burdens foundations currently face when transferring tax-exempted charitable donations across intra-EU borders.
If we are serious about Europe, then we need a European foundation statute that will allow foundations to work across the border, Mr Salole said, adding that there is no internal market for foundations.Currently tax-exemption for cross-border charity donations in Europe is only possible to a limited extent, through the Trans-Europe Giving (TEG) Network.There are an estimated 80,000 foundations across the EU – a number that grows by 15 percent each year - and the EFC suggests that 25,000 of these foundations have combined assets of €174 billion at their disposal. Money that Mr Salole argues has an impact on the European economy.Most foundations invest their assets, for example in the stock market or in the real estate market, and spend a certain amount of their assets on philanthropic projects or charitable causes each year. Others include family trusts.The European Commission has a study on the likelihood of a European foundation statute in the pipeline and is also exploring possible initiatives to develop the role of philanthropic organisations as means to raise additional funds for research and innovation – part of the EU's so-called Lisbon Strategy to improve Europe's economy.
Europeans support greater cooperation with neighbouring countires
by Valerie Fenech, di-ve news
BRUSSLES / Malta (di-ve news) -- August 30, 2007 -- 1900CEST -- A survey conducted by Eurobarometer for the European Commission has concluded that a significant majority of people in EU Member States support efforts to intensify cooperation with the Union's neighbouring countries. The overwhelming majority of those polled believe that working with neighbours on fighting organised crime and terrorism, environment and energy, economic development, immigration, democracy, education and training is important. Most Europeans believe that EU assistance to its neighbours can serve to extend peace and democracy beyond the borders of the Union, and around half believe that neighbouring countries are indeed willing to cooperate with the EU to introduce internal reforms.
Commissioner for External Relations and the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), Benita Ferrero-Waldner said that the survey confirms that awareness of the ENP is rising inside the EU, and that Europeans will understand the benefits of forging closer relations with the countries with whom we share land and sea borders. The ENP is a win-win policy: helping our closest neighbours to achieve prosperity and stability makes Europe a better place to live in.The ENP was developed with the objective of increasing the mutual prosperity, stability, and security in the EU and its neighbouring countries. It offers privileged political and economic relations to 16 countries neighbouring the EU, and builds upon existing relationships.
Report: Russia fueled Israel-Syria tension
Published: Aug. 30, 2007 at 12:51 PM
JERUSALEM, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Russia was partly to blame for the heightened tension between Israel and Syria earlier this summer, The Jerusalem Post reported Thursday.
During an interview with Army Radio, head of the Diplomatic-Security Bureau at the Defense Ministry, Israeli Gen. Amos Gilad, said Israel sent messages to Moscow pressuring the Russians to stop fueling hostility between the two countries. At a certain time, the Russians caused the Syrians to believe that Israel was preparing for war, Gilad said. I think that they have stopped this. Syria is not planning on attacking Israel and Israel is definitely not planning on attacking Syria.A report published in the Israeli daily, Ma'ariv, said diplomatic and security officials in the Kremlin purposely deceived Syria in hopes of maximizing their profits from the sale of military equipment. We explained to the Russians that they had to avoid incitement. We explained the truth, that we aren’t interested in attacking the Syrians. We also took the opportunity to express our concern over their involvement in the region, including the sale of weapons to Damascus, some of which reach other sources, like Hezbollah, Gilad told Ynet.United Press International.
Lost tribe of Israel arrives in Jewish state
Group in India descended from Joseph struggled to return home
Posted: August 30, 2007 - By Aaron Klein - 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
TEL AVIV – One-hundred-seventy-four people from a group of thousands in India that believes it is one of the 10 "lost tribes" of Israel landed here this week, fulfilling for many a life-long dream of returning to what they consider their homeland. Shavei Israel, a Jerusalem-based organization led by American Michael Freund, hopes to bring to the Jewish state the remaining 7,000 Indian citizens who believe they are the Bnei Menashe, the descendants of Manasseh, one of biblical patriarch Joseph's two sons and a grandson of Jacob. The tribe lives in the two Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur, to which they claim to have been exiled from Israel more than 2,700 years ago by the Assyrian empire. I truly believe this is a miracle of immense historical and even biblical significance, Freund told WND as the group of 174 arrived here earlier this week. Just as the prophets foretold so long ago, the lost tribes of Israel are being brought back from the exile, said Freund, who previously served as deputy communications director under former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Another planeload of 57 Bnei Menashe is slated to touch down in Israel tomorrow. The group, which has preserved ancient Jewish customs and rituals, has been trying the past 50 years to return to Israel.
Over the last decade, Freund's Shavei Israel, at times working with other organizations, brought about 1,200 Bnei Menashe members to the Jewish state. Many settled in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. About 80 lived in Gaza's slate of Jewish communities, which were evacuated by the Israeli government in 2005. The original batches of Bnei Menashe to arrive here were brought to Israel as tourists in an agreement with Israel's Interior Ministry. Once here, the Bnei Menashe converted officially to Judaism and became citizens. But diplomatic wrangling halted the immigration process in 2003, with officials from some Israeli ministries refusing to grant the rest of the group still in India permission to travel here.
Bnei Menashe member arriving in Israel (Courtesy Shavei Israel)
To smooth the process, Freund enlisted the help of Israel's chief rabbinate, which flew to India in 2005 to meet with and consider converting members of the Bnei Menashe. Once legally Jewish, the tribe can apply for Israeli citizenship under the country's Law of Return, which guarantees sanctuary to Jews from around the world.
Six rabbis were sent by Israel's Sephardic chief rabbi, Shlomo Amar, to begin converting the Bnei Menashe. The rabbis met with hundreds of tribal members, testing their knowledge of Judaism and assessing their conviction, converting 216 individuals – over 90 percent of the members interviewed. The rabbis were incredibly impressed with the Bnei Menashe, said Freund. They saw for themselves that the group is very serious and should be integrated into the Jewish nation. That they are a blessing to the state of Israel. Last year, 218 converted members arrived in Israel. Freund hoped to repeat the process for 231 more Bnei Menashe who had been approved for conversion, but the Indian government, which heavily restricts conversions, put a halt on the plan.
Bnei Menashe member (Courtesy Shavei Israel)
Instead, the batch of Bnei Menashe that arrived this week were brought to Israel as tourists in coordination with the Israeli government. Once here, the tribe will be officially converted by the country's chief rabbinate and qualify for Israeli citizenship. The new immigrants will spend the next few months studying Hebrew and Judaism at a Shavei Israel absorption center in northern Israel. The Bnei Menashe that arrived here over the years have fully transited into Israeli society. Many attended college and rabbinic school, moved to major Israeli communities and even joined the Israel Defense Forces. Twelve Bnei Menashe served in the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip and in Lebanon in 2006. One of them, Avi Hanshing, a 22-year old paratrooper, was injured during a clash with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Hanshing's father was among those who arrived here earlier this week in an emotional reunion at Israel's international airport. As much as we might think that Israel is helping the Bnei Menashe, it is the reverse that is true. It is they who strengthen us – with their faith, with their commitment and with their undying love for Zion," said Freund.
Bnei Menashe member (Courtesy Shavei Israel)
According to Bnei Menashe oral tradition, the tribe was exiled from Israel and pushed to the east, eventually settling in the border regions of China and India, where most remain today. Most kept customs similar to Jewish tradition, including observing Shabbat, keeping the laws of Kosher, practicing circumcision on the eighth day of a baby boy's life and observing laws of family purity. In the 1950s, several thousand Bnei Menashe say they set out on foot to Israel but were quickly halted by Indian authorities. Undeterred, many began practicing Orthodox Judaism and pledged to make it to Israel. They now attend community centers established by Shavei Israel to teach the Bnei Menashe Jewish tradition and modern Hebrew. Freund said he hopes the arrival this week of more Bnei Menashe would jump-start the process of bringing back the rest of the 7,000 Bnei Menashe who are in India yearning to return home.
Moving the Middle East Peace Process Forward
Vatican Radio
(30 Aug 07 - RV) A two day conference on the Middle East peace process began today in the European parliament building in Brussels. Sponsored by the United Nations, the meeting brings together different organizations and experts from different parts of civil society to discuss how to move the peace process forward. Franciscan father David Maria Jaeger, expert on religion and politics in the holy land, says Europe can play an important role in bringing a just peace to the Holy Land.
Suspect Material Found in U.N. Office - By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press Writer - Toxic Chemical Found in U.N. Office
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- U.N. weapons inspectors discovered a potentially hazardous chemical warfare agent that was taken from an Iraqi chemical weapons facility 11 years ago and mistakenly stored in their offices in the heart of midtown Manhattan all that time, officials said Thursday.The material - identified in inventory files as phosgene, a chemical substance used in World War I weapons - was discovered Aug. 24. It was only identified on Wednesday because it was marked simply with an inventory number, and officials had to check the many records in their vast archives, said Ewen Buchanan, a spokesman for the U.N. inspection agency.U.N. and U.S. officials said the material posed no threat to anyone's health or safety.
A team of hazardous materials experts from the FBI and New York City police removed the substance from the office on Manhattan's east side, about a block north of U.N. headquarters, in three steel containers. The containers were flown to a military facility in Aberdeen, Md., for disposal, U.N. officials said.While the disposal team was in UNMOVIC's sixth-floor office, its small staff was evacuated along with other tenants from that floor, Buchanan said.When the material was discovered in a shipping container last week, Buchanan said U.N. experts followed their established procedure in dealing with unknown material - putting the material in double zip-locked plastic bags, and securing it in a safe in a room that is double-locked.
U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said the staff continued to work in the offices of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, or UNMOVIC, which are in the process of being shut down.Tests conducted by U.N. personnel found no toxic vapors in the area where the material had been stored, police said. The materials had been in UNMOVIC and its predecessor inspection agency, UNSCOM, apparently since 1996 when they were inadvertently shipped to U.N. administrative offices instead of a chemical laboratory, police said.White House spokesman Tony Snow said the suspected chemical agent should have been transported to an appropriately equipped lab for analysis.I'm sure that there are going to be a lot of red-faced people over at the U.N. trying to figure out how they got there, Snow said.
Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said the U.N. needs to be more careful because it's a target.The fact that a container of deadly poison from Iraq was found at the U.N. is a wake-up call that they better start living up to the higher safety standards of a post 9-11 New York, he said in a statement.Phosgene can be used as a chemical weapon, and was used extensively in World War I as a choking agent. Both phosgene gas and liquid can damage skin, eyes, nose, throat and lungs.Buchanan said the phosgene was in liquid form, suspended in oil, in a soda-can-sized container that was sealed in a plastic bag.Okabe said the chemical state of the phosgene was unknown but could be potentially hazardous.A U.N. chemical weapons expert, Svetlana Utkina, said phosgene is toxic and would cause a person's lungs to collapse if it was inhaled. She said a container the size of a soda can would likely not contain more than gram quantities of the substance.Still, if it was opened and did contain phosgene, she said probably about five people will get severe problems, (and a) couple of people will be dead.The inventory records indicated the material was from a 1996 excavation of the bombed-out research and development building at Iraq's main chemical weapons facility at Muthana, near Samarra. The entire facility was extensively bombed during the 1991 Gulf War, Buchanan said.
UNMOVIC has 1,400 linear feet of paper files - 125 five-drawer cabinets - and it took until Wednesday to find the inventory matching the number on the package with the suspected phosgene, Buchanan said.The agency and its archives - including the suspect material - had been in an office at U.N. headquarters until moving to its current site about three years ago, he said.Also found at the UNMOVIC office was a second sealed package containing tiny samples of chemical agents in sealed glass tubes shaped like pens, Buchanan said. Each of these tubes contained less than a gram of the material, he added.Okabe said the U.N. has launched an investigation to determine how and why the material was in UNMOVIC files. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon notified the Security Council, she added.The State Department said it had learned of the discovery late Wednesday and had immediately contacted the FBI to deal with the disposal.Deputy spokesman Tom Casey also said a joint U.S.-U.N. investigation would be conducted into why the samples had been stored in the office but stressed that the chemicals had been there for at least a decade and did not pose any health risk.
One of the things we want to do is make sure that the U.N., working with the FBI, does conduct a full investigation of this, so we're absolutely certain how they in fact got there, how long they were there, and the kind of exact nature of how this came about, he told reporters.There is no threat that these items currently or in the past have posed to public health and safety in the area, Casey said.U.N. inspectors pulled out of Iraq just before the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion and were barred by the U.S. from returning. The U.S. and Britain said they were taking over responsibility for Iraq's disarmament. In June 2003, the Security Council voted to shut down UNMOVIC and the U.N. nuclear inspection operation in Iraq.Brian Mullady, a senior UNMOVIC official, told reporters that the staff did an immediate sweep of the rest of its archives to see if there were any more surprises, but there was none.
Associated Press Writer Tom Hays contributed to this story from New York.
EU resumes treaty wrangling as political issues remain
29.08.2007 - 17:36 CET | By Honor Mahony and Mark Beunderman
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - As the deadline for political agreement on the new European treaty draws closer, EU officials believe that while the treaty outline is relatively tight, up to seven remaining issues are political rather than purely technical.The initial sweep of the treaty by legal experts is due to be completed by next Thursday (6 September) the day before foreign ministers meet for the first political discussion since EU leaders agreed the treaty outline in June.The main task for the experts is to translate the EU leaders' mandate – including a messy array of opt-outs, out-ins, declarations and protocols – into an unambiguous a whole as possible.The European Parliament and the Commission are also involved, with commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso meeting the three parliament representatives on the treaty on Tuesday evening (28 August).
They are keeping a wary eye on the secretariat of the EU council - the member states' decision-making body - which drew up the reform treaty. Both the parliament and the commission want to make sure it has not slipped in any legalese that might undermine their positions in the EU hierarchy.Portugal, as EU presidency, has set a strict timetable. It wants political agreement by mid October and the treaty signed-off by the end of the year. It has made it clear it wants the talks to be a technical as possible – something it reiterated in its letter inviting the European Parliament's three representatives to the foreign ministers' talks next Friday.
But not every question will be at a purely technical level. Centre-right German MEP and parliament representative Elmar Brok believes there are between five and seven issues that could become political.
Political issues
These include Britain's opt outs from the Charter of Fundamental Rights as well as from legislation in the criminal justice area.On the charter, some fear that London's exemption may affect the EU legal system as a whole through decisions by the European Court of Justice.It could legally contaminate the whole system, says UK liberal MEP Andrew Duff and co-representative at the talks.Mr Duff also points to concerns about London's criminal law and justice opt-out, under which it can still decide to participate in individual justice-related laws. The problem is that the UK can opt in at the start of negotiations [on a proposal], seek to reduce the force and value [of the proposal] and then still opt out at the end.Meanwhile the new provisions on the bloc's common foreign and security policy is causing the commission concern that its powers in trade and development may be encroached upon.
There is also the contentious issue of the new voting system. Poland wants to see included in the treaty text a mechanism whereby it can block an EU decision if its vital interests are at stake. But most member states only want to have the mechanism mentioned in a separate declaration which has less legal status. Citizenship is another topic that MEPs believe need to be discussed. It was mentioned high up in the original constitution but has since been regulated to a lesser place in the new text.This has no legal importance, admits Mr Brok but stresses that it is of symbolic importance.According to Mr Duff, it's kind of odd that we are trying to appeal to citizens and we are not speaking about citizenship [when the text starts].
Post-treaty trouble
Critical though MEPs are of the way the treaty now looks – they say it remains as unreadable as previous EU treaties, they welcome some of the June additions on language, energy supply, solidarity and combating climate change.But even if the timetable goes to plan, this is not likely to be an end to problems.According to Mr Brok, one of big political discussions after the text is agree will be to do with the EU's planned diplomatic service.A balance of power question, it raises all sorts of political hot potatoes but who should control it, where it should be situated, who is part of it and what its scope should be.
Barroso Says EU Commission Will Learn From Subprime Crisis AUG 30,07
PARIS -(Dow Jones)- The European Union Commission will take a close look at the subprime lending crisis and related market turmoil, the head of the commission said Thursday. The E.U. will draw the lessons from the recent events very carefully, commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told a business conference in Paris.We can do this on the basis of an economy that is sound, with solid fundamentals, he added, without saying what fresh steps could be taken to handle the crisis or to avoid recurrences in the future.Barroso's comments follow assurances from the commission Wednesday that economic fundamentals in Europe are sound, and there is no immediate concern that growth and economic development might be affected by the subprime crisis.The commission's assessment is that, despite the problems that have existed, the situation has shown the systems of control and intervention work, commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger said Wednesday.Thursday, Barroso seemed content with the European Central Bank's and the U.S. Federal Reserve's handling of the crisis. The ECB respected its role by intervening in the markets, as did the Fed.
-By Gabriele Parussini, Dow Jones Newswires, +33 1 4017 1740; gabriele.parussini@dowjones.com (Carolyn Henson in Brussels contributed to this article.) (END) Dow Jones Newswires.
Barroso against EU borders debate
30.08.2007 - 09:22 CET | By Honor Mahony
European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has said he is against having a debate on the geographic borders of the EU.His comments, made in an interview with French daily Le Figaro, come in response to Monday's proposal by French president Nicolas Sarkozy to have a fundamental reflection on the future of the EU, including its borders, its future and its message.The idea of Mr Sarkozy is not to have a debate on the geographical borders of the Europe. This is something that we do not want - such a discussion would lead to the limits of the EU being fixed, said Mr Barroso.He reiterated Brussels' position that a decision on Turkey becoming a full member of the EU should not be taken now, with Mr Sarkozy making a debate on the future of Europe a condition for Paris not blocking Brussels' EU negotiations with Ankara.
But he went on to add that having a debate on the political objective of Europe is a good idea.He noted that a discussion on the future of Europe in the globalised world had already begun in October 2005 at an informal meeting of leaders in the UK.If member states want a more structured form for these exchanges, that is all well and good.Mr Barroso said an external contribution, possibly from universities, to the debate would be positive but pointed out that democratic decisions will always have to be taken by the institutions.The commission president, who will meet Mr Sarkozy in Paris today, praised the commission president for his European commitment.He noted that they are not necessarily in agreement on everything but added I prefer a political leader who proves their energy rather than a leader just satisfied by a bureaucratic and routine Europe.
Since France's energetic new leader came to power in June, the EU has seen a revival in its political dynamic, starting off with an agreement on a new treaty after two years of stagnation.But Mr Sarkozy's presence on the European stage has also ruffled a few feathers. He is strongly opposed to Turkey's membership of the EU – the debate of the future of Europe that he is pushing for is part of an overall idea to get people talking about membership alternatives for Ankara.He has also caused tension with other member states such as Germany by appearing to want curb to the independence of the European Central Bank.
Philanthropic foundations push for EU statute
29.08.2007 - 17:34 CET | By Helena Spongenberg
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Foundations are cropping up across Europe in numbers like never before. In Spain alone, at least one new foundation is created every day.
But differences in national regulation make it hard for the foundations to work across EU member states.According to the head of the European Foundation Centre (EFC), Gerry Salole, increasing wealth in Europe is part of the rise in philanthropic foundations, which have been around on the continent since the 13th century.People are also seeing that using private wealth for public resources has an impact, Mr Salole told the EUobserver in an interview. But he would like to see foundations able to be pan-European.The Brussels-based centre is pushing for a European statute for foundations, which would be a legal instrument easing legal, financial and administrative burdens foundations currently face when transferring tax-exempted charitable donations across intra-EU borders.
If we are serious about Europe, then we need a European foundation statute that will allow foundations to work across the border, Mr Salole said, adding that there is no internal market for foundations.Currently tax-exemption for cross-border charity donations in Europe is only possible to a limited extent, through the Trans-Europe Giving (TEG) Network.There are an estimated 80,000 foundations across the EU – a number that grows by 15 percent each year - and the EFC suggests that 25,000 of these foundations have combined assets of €174 billion at their disposal. Money that Mr Salole argues has an impact on the European economy.Most foundations invest their assets, for example in the stock market or in the real estate market, and spend a certain amount of their assets on philanthropic projects or charitable causes each year. Others include family trusts.The European Commission has a study on the likelihood of a European foundation statute in the pipeline and is also exploring possible initiatives to develop the role of philanthropic organisations as means to raise additional funds for research and innovation – part of the EU's so-called Lisbon Strategy to improve Europe's economy.
Europeans support greater cooperation with neighbouring countires
by Valerie Fenech, di-ve news
BRUSSLES / Malta (di-ve news) -- August 30, 2007 -- 1900CEST -- A survey conducted by Eurobarometer for the European Commission has concluded that a significant majority of people in EU Member States support efforts to intensify cooperation with the Union's neighbouring countries. The overwhelming majority of those polled believe that working with neighbours on fighting organised crime and terrorism, environment and energy, economic development, immigration, democracy, education and training is important. Most Europeans believe that EU assistance to its neighbours can serve to extend peace and democracy beyond the borders of the Union, and around half believe that neighbouring countries are indeed willing to cooperate with the EU to introduce internal reforms.
Commissioner for External Relations and the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), Benita Ferrero-Waldner said that the survey confirms that awareness of the ENP is rising inside the EU, and that Europeans will understand the benefits of forging closer relations with the countries with whom we share land and sea borders. The ENP is a win-win policy: helping our closest neighbours to achieve prosperity and stability makes Europe a better place to live in.The ENP was developed with the objective of increasing the mutual prosperity, stability, and security in the EU and its neighbouring countries. It offers privileged political and economic relations to 16 countries neighbouring the EU, and builds upon existing relationships.
Report: Russia fueled Israel-Syria tension
Published: Aug. 30, 2007 at 12:51 PM
JERUSALEM, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Russia was partly to blame for the heightened tension between Israel and Syria earlier this summer, The Jerusalem Post reported Thursday.
During an interview with Army Radio, head of the Diplomatic-Security Bureau at the Defense Ministry, Israeli Gen. Amos Gilad, said Israel sent messages to Moscow pressuring the Russians to stop fueling hostility between the two countries. At a certain time, the Russians caused the Syrians to believe that Israel was preparing for war, Gilad said. I think that they have stopped this. Syria is not planning on attacking Israel and Israel is definitely not planning on attacking Syria.A report published in the Israeli daily, Ma'ariv, said diplomatic and security officials in the Kremlin purposely deceived Syria in hopes of maximizing their profits from the sale of military equipment. We explained to the Russians that they had to avoid incitement. We explained the truth, that we aren’t interested in attacking the Syrians. We also took the opportunity to express our concern over their involvement in the region, including the sale of weapons to Damascus, some of which reach other sources, like Hezbollah, Gilad told Ynet.United Press International.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
CHINA WILL BE FIERCE IN WAR
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
PREMEDITATED MERGER
U.S. under U.N. law in health emergency
Bush's SPP power grab sets stage for military to manage flu threats
August 28, 2007 - By Jerome R. Corsi - WorldNetDaily.com
David Nabarro is new U.N. system influenza coordinator.
The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America summit in Canada released a plan that established U.N. law along with regulations by the World Trade Organization and World Health Organization as supreme over U.S. law and set the stage for militarizing the management of continental health emergencies. The North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza was finalized at the SPP summit last week in Montebello, Quebec. At the same time, the U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, has created a webpage dedicated to avian flu and has been running exercises in preparation for the possible use of U.S. military forces in a continental domestic emergency involving avian flu or pandemic influenza. With virtually no media attention, in 2005 President Bush shifted U.S. policy on avian flu and pandemic influenza, placing the country under international guidelines not specifically determined by domestic agencies. The policy shift was formalized Sept. 14, 2005, when Bush announced a new International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza to a High-Level Plenary Meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, in New York.
The new International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza was designed to supersede an earlier November 2005 Homeland Security report that called for a U.S. national strategy that would be coordinated by the Departments of Homeland Security, Health and Agriculture. The 2005 plan, operative until Bush announced the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, directed the State Department to work with the WHO and U.N., but it does not mention that international health controls are to be considered controlling over relevant U.S. statutes or authorities. Under the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, Bush agreed the U.S. would work through the U.N. system influenza coordinator to develop a continental emergency response plan operating through authorities under the WTO, North American Free Trade Agreement and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. WND could find no evidence the Bush administration presented the Influenza Partnership plan to Congress for oversight or approval. The SPP plan for avian and pandemic influenza announced at the Canadian summit last week embraces the international control principles Bush first announced to the U.N. in his 2005 International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza declaration.
The SPP plan gives primacy for avian and pandemic influenza management to plans developed by the WHO, WTO, U.N. and NAFTA directives – not decisions made by U.S. agencies. The U.N.-WHO-WTO-NAFTA plan advanced by SPP features a prominent role for the U.N. system influenza coordinator as a central international director in the case of a North American avian flu or pandemic influenza outbreak. In Sept. 2005, Dr. David Nabarro was appointed the first U.N. system influenza coordinator, a position which also places him as a senior policy adviser to the U.N. director-general. Nabarro joined the WHO in 1999 and was appointed WHO executive director of sustainable development and health environments in July 2002. In a Sept. 29, 2005, press conference at the U.N., Nabarro made clear that his job was to prepare for the H5N1 virus, known as the avian flu.
Nabarro fueled the global fear that an epidemic was virtually inevitable.
In response to a question about the 1918-1919 flu pandemic that killed approximately 40 million people worldwide, Nabarro commented, I am certain there will be another pandemic sometime.Nabarro stressed at the press conference that he saw as inevitable a worldwide pandemic influenza coming soon that would kill millions. He quantified the deaths he expected as follows: I'm not, at the moment at liberty to give you a prediction on numbers, but I just want to stress, that, let's say, the range of deaths could be anything from 5 to 150 million.In a March 8, 2006, U.N. press conference that was reported on a State Department website, Nabarro predicted an outbreak of the H5N1 virus would reach the Americas within the next six to 12 months.On Feb. 1, 2006, NORTHCOM hosted representatives of more than 40 international, federal and state agencies for an exercise designed to provoke discussion and determine what governmental actions, including military support, would be necessary in the event of an influenza pandemic in the United States.
NORTHCOM and other governmental websites document the growing role the Bush administration plans for the U.S. military to be involved in continental domestic emergencies involving health, including avian flu and pandemic influenza. NORTHCOM participated in a nationwide Joint Chiefs of Staff-directed exercise – code-named Exercise Ardent Sentry 06 – to rehearse cooperation between Department of Defense and local, state and federal agencies, as well as the Canadian government. A pandemic influenza crisis was one of the four scenarios gamed in Exercise Ardent Sentry 06, involving a scenario of a plague in Mexico reaching across the border into Arizona and New Mexico. As has been customary in SPP documents and declarations, the Montebello, Canada, announcement of the North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza acknowledges in passing the sovereignty of the three nations. The announcement says, The Plan is not intended to replace existing arrangements or agreements. As such, each country's laws are to be respected and this Plan is to be subordinate and complementary to domestic response plans, existing arrangements and bilateral or multilateral agreements.Still, the SPP plan argues the risk from avian and pandemic influenza was so great to North America that the leaders of the three nations were compelled to work collectively and with all levels of government, the private sector and among-non-governmental organizations to combat avian and pandemic influenza.Moreover, the SPP plan openly acknowledges, The WHO's international guidance formed much of the basis for the three countries' planning for North American preparedness and response.WND previously reported NORTHCOM has been established with a command center at Peterson Air Force Base, tasked with using the U.S. military in continental domestic emergency situations.
WND also has reported President Bush signed in May two documents, National Security Presidential Directive-51 and Homeland Security Presidential Directive-20, which give the office of the president extraordinary powers to declare national emergencies and to assume near-dictatorial powers. Following the Montebello summit last week, the SPP North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza was published on a made-over SPP homepage redesigned to feature agreements newly reached by trilateral bureaucratic working groups.
IN THAT STORY THE U.N IS CONTROLLING THINGS, BUT IN MY EYES IT WILL BE THE EUROPEAN UNION THAT MAKES THE LAWS OF THE WORLD. AND HOW DO I THINK THE EU WILL TAKE WORLD CONTROL AND THE U.N WILL FOLD, BY THE ECONOMY A STOCK MARKET CRASH, THIS IS HOW I BELIEVE THE EU WILL CONTROL THE ONE WORLD GOVENMENT (THE NEW WORLD ORDER)BY ELIMINATION CASH AND GOING TO A MICROCHIP SYSTEM. THE BIBLE SAYS THE EU , NOT THE U.N WILL HAVE WORLD CONTROL.
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
Market Crash Forecast Suggests New 9/11
Mystery trader bets on huge downturn that could only be preceded by catastrophe
Paul Joseph Watson - Prison Planet - Monday, August 27, 2007
A mystery trader risks losing around $1 billion dollars after placing 245,000 put options on the Dow Jones Eurostoxx 50 index, leading many analysts to speculate that a stock market crash preceded by a new 9/11 style catastrophe could take place within the next month. The anonymous trader only stands to make money if the market crashes by a third to a half before September 21st, which is when the put options expire. A put option is a financial contract between two parties, the buyer and the writer (seller) of the option, in which the buyer stands to benefit only if the price of the asset falls. The sales are being referred to by market traders as bin Laden trades because only an event on the scale of 9-11 could make these short-sell options valuable, reports financial blogger Marc Parent. Dow Jones Financial News first reported on the story.
The trader stands to make around $2 billion from their investment should an event trigger a market crash before the third week in September. The Internet leader in activist media - Prison Planet.tv. Get access to hundreds of special video reports, audio interviews, books and documentary films. Subscribers also get instant access to our hugely popular forum where you can network with like-minded people, meet up and get active! Click here to subscribe.Such a cataclysmic jolt could only happen as a result of two factors, China dumping its vast dollar reserves in reaction to the sub-prime mortgage collapse, which it has threatened to do, or a massive terror attack on the same scale or larger than 9/11. 9/11 itself was foreshadowed by unprecedented put options that were placed on United and American Airlines. Though the Securities and Exchange Commission refused to reveal who placed the options, private researchers traced the investments back to the Deutsche Bank owned Banker’s Trust, which was formerly headed by then Executive Director of the CIA, Buzzy Krongard.
Put options on Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, two of the World Trade Center's most prominent occupants, also spiked in the days before 9/11. News of the suspicious trades is dovetailed by the comments of Former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers yesterday, who told ABC News that the risk of a recession in the U.S. was greater that at any time since 9/11.
Dollar collapse, stock market sell-off looms
Wall Street begging for Fed Funds cut, but rate already effectively lower
August 27, 2007 - By Jerome R. Corsi - 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
With Wall Street begging the Federal Reserve to cut the Fed Funds target rate, few have noticed the effective rate already has been lowered, triggering what could be the beginning of an unprecedented worldwide dollar sell-off. Econometrician John Williams documented in the most recent newsletter on his Shadow Government Statistics website that in the 11 trading days since the Fed has cut the discount rate, the effective Fed Funds rate has averaged 4.84 percent, ranging 25 to 50 basis points below the official 5.25 percent target rate. The Fed Funds rate is the rate at which commercial banks may borrow excess reserves from one another. It is considered the key rate index set by the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee, or FOMC. The minutes of the Aug. 7 FOMC are due to be released tomorrow and are certain to be scrutinized by Fed watchers for indications of the future direction of movement in Fed Fund target rates set by the committee. Currently, Wall Street is begging for a rate ease as a return to the easy credit policy that fueled the credit markets in real estate, commercial paper and leveraged buyouts.
An unprecedented strategy of widely available easy credit has stimulated world stock markets to a string of record highs since 9/11, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaching a peak of more than 14,000 July 19. To stabilize the Dow's 1,000-point drop since then, the Fed literally has printed money. Williams estimates central banks around the world, including the Fed, have infused $1 trillion in the global banking system during the last two weeks. While the European Central Bank has been raising rates, the drop in the effective Fed Funds rate and the reduction of the discount rate pushed the dollar down Friday to $80.68 on the U.S. dollar index, ending a brief rally that had begun in the prospect the Fed would hold rates in the face of a sell-off. The Fed is in a dilemma. If it lowers the Fed Fund target rate, the dollar will suffer on world currency exchanges. A dollar sell-off will trigger a new stock market sell-off.
If the Fed holds or raises rates to support the dollar, it will almost certainly prompt a massive stock market sell-off. Either way, the stock market in September and October is likely to drop below 13,000 and begin testing a new support level at 12,000. Bob Chapman, whose International Forecaster newsletter reaches an international audience of about 100,000 subscribers, estimated in his Aug. 25 newsletter that his reconstruction of M3, an important index of the money supply, has been rising at a historically unprecedented rate of over 13 percent. WND has reported the Fed simply stopped publishing M3 data after issuing a technically worded March 2006 announcement. Not publishing M3 data has allowed the Fed to print money to infuse billions of new liquidity into the market following the 1,000-point August Dow decline in the current worldwide credit meltdown of real estate foreclosures and multiple forms of bad corporate debt that was allowed to be created by rating agencies that drastically underestimated risk. Chapman agrees the dollar is at risk, writing in his current newsletter, If Fed Chairman Bernanke cuts prime interest rates he will be abandoning the dollar, whose value will fall against other currencies and gold.Chapman believes the current credit meltdown in the U.S. is headed toward a recession. He notes, Since the beginning of August, 25,000 workers nationwide have lost jobs in financial services. Since the start of the year, 40,000 have lost their jobs at mortgage institutions. We are told 20,000 have lost jobs in construction.Even illegal aliens have been hurt, Chapman notes, writing, In the last year, 200,000 illegal aliens have lost their construction jobs. This is far worse than in the airline industry in 2001, when 100,000 lost their jobs. We are talking about massive layoffs.
Revelation 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
Are ID chips too invasive?
An FDA-approved chip implant raises Big Brother concerns.
By IVAN PENN, The Consumer's Edge
Published July 28, 2007 - [Special to the Times]
Delray Beach's VeriChip offers a device the size of a grain of rice to allow access to a patient's medical history when implanted in the arm. About 400 Americans have chips.It appears that the effort to implant microchips into humans is not only alive and well but moving ever closer to getting under everyone's skin.Delray Beach firm VeriChip, the nation's only FDA-approved company allowed to produce microchips for injection into people, got a boost recently from the American Medical Association.
The AMA said such devices may help to identify patients, thereby improving the safety and efficiency of patient care. But the council warned that the devices safety and security are unclear.That was enough to create a stir in the technology and medical worlds as well as among privacy and religious folks. And enough to put a smile on VeriChip's face.Scott Silverman, chief executive officer of VeriChip, says the primary aim is to help high-risk medical patients such as those with diabetes, Alzheimer's, cancer and heart conditions.The chip, implanted in the upper right arm, allows medical personnel to access a patient's medical history in the event the person is unconscious or otherwise unresponsive. The person's data is stored in VeriChip's database.Sounds a little spooky, and makes George Orwell seem more like a prophet than a novelist.Silverman says it could save lives, it's fairly safe and there have been no side effects. VeriChip's sister corporation, Digital Angel Corp., has been implanting chips in pets for 15 years.It should be first and foremost voluntary, Silverman says. No one should ever be forced to get an implantable microchip.But Katherine Albrecht, a co-author of the book Spychips, whom I'm sure drives Silverman crazy, argues that VeriChip is taking us down a treacherous road.
You can feel the writing on the wall that this is the direction our society is moving, said Albrecht, who received her doctorate in education from Harvard, specializing in adult development and consumer education.The chip uses technology called a Radio Frequency Identification tag.Albrecht points out that the RFID technology used in the chips is becoming increasingly pervasive throughout our society as merchants use it to track inventory and purchases.If everybody had a chip in them ... we would be blissfully unaware of Big Brother, Albrecht said.She says the program is flawed because if there are problems accessing VeriChip's database, the chip will prove useless. And, she says, as the AMA pointed out, there are questions about patient security.And the religious have concerns of biblical proportions: tagging people with such devices reads like a precursor to the mark of the beast.Silverman says his company's focus is on medical patients. And the chip they use is passive or, simply stated, it does not emit a strong signal. To read the chip, medical personnel must use a scanner and be within 12 inches.
And he says the data is stored in a facility as secure as any of the best. He does admit once you have a chip, it could be used for other applications. You can tie financial accounts to them and other data.He points out a year ago one company injected two employees with chips for security reasons. In addition, nightclubs in Barcelona, Spain, Rotterdam, Holland, and Edinburgh, Scotland, use them so patrons can access VIP lounges and make purchases.A bit much for me. The only chip I want in my body is a potato chip, maybe a tortilla chip. Definitely not a microchip.The Consumer's Edge is a twice-monthly column to help consumers in the marketplace. Ivan Penn can be reached at or (727) 892-2332.
FAST FACTS
The chips are inserted in the upper right arm with a a hypodermic-type needle. The cost of the procedure: $200.VeriChip uses a patented process, called bio-bind, to secure the chip to muscle tissue and prevent migration.Medical personnel wave a scanner within 12 inches of the chip. A 16-digit identification appears to identify the person.VeriChip maintains the patient's records in its database. Customers pay an annual fee, from $20 to $80, to keep a medical file.
HERE'S THE EDGE:
The American Medical Association Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs recommended that radio frequency identification (RFID) devices can be used to help identify patients, improve patient care and secure access to patient clinical information. But the AMA cautioned that the efficacy and security of the devices has not been established. As precautions, the AMA said, physicians implanting such devices should:
Disclose the medical uncertainties of RFIDs to patients as part of the informed consent process.Strive to protect patients' privacy by storing confidential information only on RFID devices with informational security similar to that required of medical records.Support research into safe, effective and potential nonmedical uses of RFID devices in people.
GCC, EU to Sign FTA Deal Soon
P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News
JEDDAH, 29 August 2007 — The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is expected to sign the long-awaited free-trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union within the next two months, according to Deputy Finance Minister Hamad Al-Bazie. The FTA with the EU will be signed in October or November this year, said Al-Bazie, who is GCC’s coordinator for the agreement. He said the next round of negotiations in Brussels would be crucial to the conclusion of this vital accord.The GCC — Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates — has been holding FTA talks for the last 18 years. It has already fulfilled 95 percent of the conditions for the prestigious agreement.The last joint meeting of GCC and EU foreign and finance ministers was successful in settling most outstanding issues. GCC central bank governors are scheduled to meet with their EU counterparts next month to discuss monetary policies. Economic observers have insisted that GCC countries must intensify coordination to finalize the agreement as quickly as possible.
GCC foreign ministers are expected to discuss the FTA issue during their meeting in Jeddah on Saturday.GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah said the Jeddah meeting would discuss matters related to a GCC common market in preparation to announce its formation at the next GCC summit. It will also review the progress of negotiations with economic groups, he added.The GCC-EU free trade agreement is expected to boost GCC exports to Europe and bring more foreign direct investment to the member countries that seek funds to carry out vital projects in energy, petrochemical, telecom, power generation, railway and desalination sectors. It will also improve economic welfare in the GCC member states.GCC countries import EU goods worth 47.4 billion euros, thus being Europe’s fifth largest market in the world. GCC imports include cars, planes, machinery, and building materials. GCC exports crude oil, petrochemicals and aluminum products worth 35.2 billion euros to Europe. It holds 14th place among foreign exporters to EU countries.
Archeologists make urgent appeal to rescue Biblical relics pulverized by tractors on Temple Mount, Jerusalem - August 28, 2007, 1:47 PM (GMT+02:00)
Muslim work on a shrine sacred to three world faiths
The Waqf Muslim authority, using heavy tractors, has so far excavated a trench 120 -meters long, 1.5 meters deep, crushing fragments of monumental building, pottery and glazed tiles in their path. The trench runs through the northern and eastern parts of the 2,000-year old Upper Platform of Temple Mount, where the outer courts of the Jewish Temple were situated, including the Women’s Court, until the Roman destruction of 70 C.E. Today, the Muslim Dome of the Rock stands there. Dr. Gabriel Barkai of Bar Ilan University is leading the protest against the wildcat, unauthorized Waqf project to improve the mosques’ infrastructure and demanding that the contents of the trench be scientifically excavated and documented before they are lost. This issue transcends politics, he told DEBKAfile. It is a tragic loss for world culture, as much as or more than the effigies of Buddha destroyed by the Taliban in Afghanistan. It affects the foundations of Judeo-Christian civilization – as well as Muslim history in Jerusalem – by ravaging one of the most important sites for the history of mankind.
DEBKAfile’s sources add: The Temple Mount Plaza, paved over by the Muslim rulers of Jerusalem in the Middle Ages, has never been scientifically explored. All attempts to unearth and study the relics beneath the pavement have elicited a ferment of Muslim threats accusing Israel of attempting to destroy the mosques built over the ruins of the Jewish First and Second Temples. Even cautious shafts at a distance from the mosques are greeted with rage. Yet, in 1999 and again now, in 2007, the Muslim authorities themselves excavated deep below the surface to expand their mosques and improve their facilities. Then as now, they destroyed precious Jewish, Christian and Muslim artifacts with heavy tractors and dumped them helter skelter as unwanted debris.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007 by Staff Writer
Half of IDF officers are religious
At least 50 percent of young Israeli army officers today are conservative religious Jews, according to a report in Israel's Ma'ariv daily newspaper. Religious, thought not not necessarily Orthodox, Jews are a minority in Israel, but because of their strong Zionist upbringing are becoming the backbone of the [Israel Defense Forces], the newspaper noted. Religious soldiers have long been praised within Israel as the most dedicated and courageous combatants in the army. However, there is also a growing fear that the Bible-based beliefs of such soldiers regarding Israel's right to the land could result in mutiny if the secular government orders a mass evacuation of Jews from Judea and Samaria as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians. Earlier this month, a group of religious soldiers refused to participate in the removal of Jewish settlers from Jewish owned property in the Judean town of Hebron.
WW3 THE 3 WAVES THAT MARCH TO ISRAEL
DANIEL 11:40-45
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA 2ND WAVE OF WW3) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
The Third and Final Wave of WW3 is when all Nations march to Jerusalem, but JESUS bodily returns to earth and destroys them,sets up his KINGDOM OF RULE FOR 1000 YEARS THEN FOREVER.
2ND WAVE CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL
REVELATION 16:12
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THIS IS THE ATATURK DAM IN TURKEY,THEY CROSS OVER).
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(IRAQ-SYRIA)
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
Monday August 27, 2007
China: Projected Number of Men without Wives Massively Increased
By 2020, 37 million Chinese men would be unable to find wives if trends continue
By Elizabeth O'Brien
BEIJING, China, August 27, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Recent demographic reports are showing that the ratio of males to females in China is spiraling out of control. If the increasing imbalance, caused primarily by sex-selected abortions and infanticide, is not remedied, it will lead to increased crimes against women and the threat of an aggressively militant state. In January Chinese media reports said that by 2020, 30 million Chinese men would be unable to find wives (See http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jan/07011510.html). Since then, however, recent reports indicate that the numbers have dramatically risen. According to these findings, the imbalance will increase to 37 million more marriageable Chinese men than marriageable women by 2020, the Guardian Unlimited reports.Nationwide there are 119 Chinese males for every 100 females, rather than the average 105 males for every 100 females in the Western developed nations, ABC News reports. In some regions, however, there is an even greater divide with 130 males to 100 females. The city of Lianyungang in Jiangsu province has the most marked difference of 163.5 boys to 100 girls among children aged one to four. According to a recent report by the China Family Planning Association (CFPA), 99 cities in China have sex ratios above 125 boys per 100 girls.
Although there are two Chinese laws preventing sex-based abortion, this is ignored in many places throughout China. In some cases, the doctor gives a thumbs up to the parents if their unborn child is a boy and a thumbs down if it is a girl. People often abort their baby girls, especially in rural areas, because they want a son to support themselves and the grandparents in their old age. Within the past few years, the Chinese government has offered various attempts to remedy the skewed male to female ratio. In 2003 a Care for Girls policy was introduced which gave financial benefits to parents with female children, as well as a pro-female child slogan campaign. Such efforts have not affected the situation, however, which are a direct result of the government's one-child policy and its forced methods of population control.In order to stem the problem, China is planning to crack down on medical institutions that tell parents the sex of their child. In light of the recent population reports, the government announced that it would draft new legislation to punish sex-selected abortions. If the lopsided ratio does not improve, Chinese society will suffer a rise in prostitution, wife kidnapping and other forms of sexual violence against women, abuses that have already grown within the country. Some predict that the situation will also lead to increased militancy and terrorism in China (See http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/dec/05120602.html).
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
PREMEDITATED MERGER
U.S. under U.N. law in health emergency
Bush's SPP power grab sets stage for military to manage flu threats
August 28, 2007 - By Jerome R. Corsi - WorldNetDaily.com
David Nabarro is new U.N. system influenza coordinator.
The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America summit in Canada released a plan that established U.N. law along with regulations by the World Trade Organization and World Health Organization as supreme over U.S. law and set the stage for militarizing the management of continental health emergencies. The North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza was finalized at the SPP summit last week in Montebello, Quebec. At the same time, the U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, has created a webpage dedicated to avian flu and has been running exercises in preparation for the possible use of U.S. military forces in a continental domestic emergency involving avian flu or pandemic influenza. With virtually no media attention, in 2005 President Bush shifted U.S. policy on avian flu and pandemic influenza, placing the country under international guidelines not specifically determined by domestic agencies. The policy shift was formalized Sept. 14, 2005, when Bush announced a new International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza to a High-Level Plenary Meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, in New York.
The new International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza was designed to supersede an earlier November 2005 Homeland Security report that called for a U.S. national strategy that would be coordinated by the Departments of Homeland Security, Health and Agriculture. The 2005 plan, operative until Bush announced the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, directed the State Department to work with the WHO and U.N., but it does not mention that international health controls are to be considered controlling over relevant U.S. statutes or authorities. Under the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, Bush agreed the U.S. would work through the U.N. system influenza coordinator to develop a continental emergency response plan operating through authorities under the WTO, North American Free Trade Agreement and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. WND could find no evidence the Bush administration presented the Influenza Partnership plan to Congress for oversight or approval. The SPP plan for avian and pandemic influenza announced at the Canadian summit last week embraces the international control principles Bush first announced to the U.N. in his 2005 International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza declaration.
The SPP plan gives primacy for avian and pandemic influenza management to plans developed by the WHO, WTO, U.N. and NAFTA directives – not decisions made by U.S. agencies. The U.N.-WHO-WTO-NAFTA plan advanced by SPP features a prominent role for the U.N. system influenza coordinator as a central international director in the case of a North American avian flu or pandemic influenza outbreak. In Sept. 2005, Dr. David Nabarro was appointed the first U.N. system influenza coordinator, a position which also places him as a senior policy adviser to the U.N. director-general. Nabarro joined the WHO in 1999 and was appointed WHO executive director of sustainable development and health environments in July 2002. In a Sept. 29, 2005, press conference at the U.N., Nabarro made clear that his job was to prepare for the H5N1 virus, known as the avian flu.
Nabarro fueled the global fear that an epidemic was virtually inevitable.
In response to a question about the 1918-1919 flu pandemic that killed approximately 40 million people worldwide, Nabarro commented, I am certain there will be another pandemic sometime.Nabarro stressed at the press conference that he saw as inevitable a worldwide pandemic influenza coming soon that would kill millions. He quantified the deaths he expected as follows: I'm not, at the moment at liberty to give you a prediction on numbers, but I just want to stress, that, let's say, the range of deaths could be anything from 5 to 150 million.In a March 8, 2006, U.N. press conference that was reported on a State Department website, Nabarro predicted an outbreak of the H5N1 virus would reach the Americas within the next six to 12 months.On Feb. 1, 2006, NORTHCOM hosted representatives of more than 40 international, federal and state agencies for an exercise designed to provoke discussion and determine what governmental actions, including military support, would be necessary in the event of an influenza pandemic in the United States.
NORTHCOM and other governmental websites document the growing role the Bush administration plans for the U.S. military to be involved in continental domestic emergencies involving health, including avian flu and pandemic influenza. NORTHCOM participated in a nationwide Joint Chiefs of Staff-directed exercise – code-named Exercise Ardent Sentry 06 – to rehearse cooperation between Department of Defense and local, state and federal agencies, as well as the Canadian government. A pandemic influenza crisis was one of the four scenarios gamed in Exercise Ardent Sentry 06, involving a scenario of a plague in Mexico reaching across the border into Arizona and New Mexico. As has been customary in SPP documents and declarations, the Montebello, Canada, announcement of the North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza acknowledges in passing the sovereignty of the three nations. The announcement says, The Plan is not intended to replace existing arrangements or agreements. As such, each country's laws are to be respected and this Plan is to be subordinate and complementary to domestic response plans, existing arrangements and bilateral or multilateral agreements.Still, the SPP plan argues the risk from avian and pandemic influenza was so great to North America that the leaders of the three nations were compelled to work collectively and with all levels of government, the private sector and among-non-governmental organizations to combat avian and pandemic influenza.Moreover, the SPP plan openly acknowledges, The WHO's international guidance formed much of the basis for the three countries' planning for North American preparedness and response.WND previously reported NORTHCOM has been established with a command center at Peterson Air Force Base, tasked with using the U.S. military in continental domestic emergency situations.
WND also has reported President Bush signed in May two documents, National Security Presidential Directive-51 and Homeland Security Presidential Directive-20, which give the office of the president extraordinary powers to declare national emergencies and to assume near-dictatorial powers. Following the Montebello summit last week, the SPP North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza was published on a made-over SPP homepage redesigned to feature agreements newly reached by trilateral bureaucratic working groups.
IN THAT STORY THE U.N IS CONTROLLING THINGS, BUT IN MY EYES IT WILL BE THE EUROPEAN UNION THAT MAKES THE LAWS OF THE WORLD. AND HOW DO I THINK THE EU WILL TAKE WORLD CONTROL AND THE U.N WILL FOLD, BY THE ECONOMY A STOCK MARKET CRASH, THIS IS HOW I BELIEVE THE EU WILL CONTROL THE ONE WORLD GOVENMENT (THE NEW WORLD ORDER)BY ELIMINATION CASH AND GOING TO A MICROCHIP SYSTEM. THE BIBLE SAYS THE EU , NOT THE U.N WILL HAVE WORLD CONTROL.
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
Market Crash Forecast Suggests New 9/11
Mystery trader bets on huge downturn that could only be preceded by catastrophe
Paul Joseph Watson - Prison Planet - Monday, August 27, 2007
A mystery trader risks losing around $1 billion dollars after placing 245,000 put options on the Dow Jones Eurostoxx 50 index, leading many analysts to speculate that a stock market crash preceded by a new 9/11 style catastrophe could take place within the next month. The anonymous trader only stands to make money if the market crashes by a third to a half before September 21st, which is when the put options expire. A put option is a financial contract between two parties, the buyer and the writer (seller) of the option, in which the buyer stands to benefit only if the price of the asset falls. The sales are being referred to by market traders as bin Laden trades because only an event on the scale of 9-11 could make these short-sell options valuable, reports financial blogger Marc Parent. Dow Jones Financial News first reported on the story.
The trader stands to make around $2 billion from their investment should an event trigger a market crash before the third week in September. The Internet leader in activist media - Prison Planet.tv. Get access to hundreds of special video reports, audio interviews, books and documentary films. Subscribers also get instant access to our hugely popular forum where you can network with like-minded people, meet up and get active! Click here to subscribe.Such a cataclysmic jolt could only happen as a result of two factors, China dumping its vast dollar reserves in reaction to the sub-prime mortgage collapse, which it has threatened to do, or a massive terror attack on the same scale or larger than 9/11. 9/11 itself was foreshadowed by unprecedented put options that were placed on United and American Airlines. Though the Securities and Exchange Commission refused to reveal who placed the options, private researchers traced the investments back to the Deutsche Bank owned Banker’s Trust, which was formerly headed by then Executive Director of the CIA, Buzzy Krongard.
Put options on Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, two of the World Trade Center's most prominent occupants, also spiked in the days before 9/11. News of the suspicious trades is dovetailed by the comments of Former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers yesterday, who told ABC News that the risk of a recession in the U.S. was greater that at any time since 9/11.
Dollar collapse, stock market sell-off looms
Wall Street begging for Fed Funds cut, but rate already effectively lower
August 27, 2007 - By Jerome R. Corsi - 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
With Wall Street begging the Federal Reserve to cut the Fed Funds target rate, few have noticed the effective rate already has been lowered, triggering what could be the beginning of an unprecedented worldwide dollar sell-off. Econometrician John Williams documented in the most recent newsletter on his Shadow Government Statistics website that in the 11 trading days since the Fed has cut the discount rate, the effective Fed Funds rate has averaged 4.84 percent, ranging 25 to 50 basis points below the official 5.25 percent target rate. The Fed Funds rate is the rate at which commercial banks may borrow excess reserves from one another. It is considered the key rate index set by the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee, or FOMC. The minutes of the Aug. 7 FOMC are due to be released tomorrow and are certain to be scrutinized by Fed watchers for indications of the future direction of movement in Fed Fund target rates set by the committee. Currently, Wall Street is begging for a rate ease as a return to the easy credit policy that fueled the credit markets in real estate, commercial paper and leveraged buyouts.
An unprecedented strategy of widely available easy credit has stimulated world stock markets to a string of record highs since 9/11, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaching a peak of more than 14,000 July 19. To stabilize the Dow's 1,000-point drop since then, the Fed literally has printed money. Williams estimates central banks around the world, including the Fed, have infused $1 trillion in the global banking system during the last two weeks. While the European Central Bank has been raising rates, the drop in the effective Fed Funds rate and the reduction of the discount rate pushed the dollar down Friday to $80.68 on the U.S. dollar index, ending a brief rally that had begun in the prospect the Fed would hold rates in the face of a sell-off. The Fed is in a dilemma. If it lowers the Fed Fund target rate, the dollar will suffer on world currency exchanges. A dollar sell-off will trigger a new stock market sell-off.
If the Fed holds or raises rates to support the dollar, it will almost certainly prompt a massive stock market sell-off. Either way, the stock market in September and October is likely to drop below 13,000 and begin testing a new support level at 12,000. Bob Chapman, whose International Forecaster newsletter reaches an international audience of about 100,000 subscribers, estimated in his Aug. 25 newsletter that his reconstruction of M3, an important index of the money supply, has been rising at a historically unprecedented rate of over 13 percent. WND has reported the Fed simply stopped publishing M3 data after issuing a technically worded March 2006 announcement. Not publishing M3 data has allowed the Fed to print money to infuse billions of new liquidity into the market following the 1,000-point August Dow decline in the current worldwide credit meltdown of real estate foreclosures and multiple forms of bad corporate debt that was allowed to be created by rating agencies that drastically underestimated risk. Chapman agrees the dollar is at risk, writing in his current newsletter, If Fed Chairman Bernanke cuts prime interest rates he will be abandoning the dollar, whose value will fall against other currencies and gold.Chapman believes the current credit meltdown in the U.S. is headed toward a recession. He notes, Since the beginning of August, 25,000 workers nationwide have lost jobs in financial services. Since the start of the year, 40,000 have lost their jobs at mortgage institutions. We are told 20,000 have lost jobs in construction.Even illegal aliens have been hurt, Chapman notes, writing, In the last year, 200,000 illegal aliens have lost their construction jobs. This is far worse than in the airline industry in 2001, when 100,000 lost their jobs. We are talking about massive layoffs.
Revelation 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
Are ID chips too invasive?
An FDA-approved chip implant raises Big Brother concerns.
By IVAN PENN, The Consumer's Edge
Published July 28, 2007 - [Special to the Times]
Delray Beach's VeriChip offers a device the size of a grain of rice to allow access to a patient's medical history when implanted in the arm. About 400 Americans have chips.It appears that the effort to implant microchips into humans is not only alive and well but moving ever closer to getting under everyone's skin.Delray Beach firm VeriChip, the nation's only FDA-approved company allowed to produce microchips for injection into people, got a boost recently from the American Medical Association.
The AMA said such devices may help to identify patients, thereby improving the safety and efficiency of patient care. But the council warned that the devices safety and security are unclear.That was enough to create a stir in the technology and medical worlds as well as among privacy and religious folks. And enough to put a smile on VeriChip's face.Scott Silverman, chief executive officer of VeriChip, says the primary aim is to help high-risk medical patients such as those with diabetes, Alzheimer's, cancer and heart conditions.The chip, implanted in the upper right arm, allows medical personnel to access a patient's medical history in the event the person is unconscious or otherwise unresponsive. The person's data is stored in VeriChip's database.Sounds a little spooky, and makes George Orwell seem more like a prophet than a novelist.Silverman says it could save lives, it's fairly safe and there have been no side effects. VeriChip's sister corporation, Digital Angel Corp., has been implanting chips in pets for 15 years.It should be first and foremost voluntary, Silverman says. No one should ever be forced to get an implantable microchip.But Katherine Albrecht, a co-author of the book Spychips, whom I'm sure drives Silverman crazy, argues that VeriChip is taking us down a treacherous road.
You can feel the writing on the wall that this is the direction our society is moving, said Albrecht, who received her doctorate in education from Harvard, specializing in adult development and consumer education.The chip uses technology called a Radio Frequency Identification tag.Albrecht points out that the RFID technology used in the chips is becoming increasingly pervasive throughout our society as merchants use it to track inventory and purchases.If everybody had a chip in them ... we would be blissfully unaware of Big Brother, Albrecht said.She says the program is flawed because if there are problems accessing VeriChip's database, the chip will prove useless. And, she says, as the AMA pointed out, there are questions about patient security.And the religious have concerns of biblical proportions: tagging people with such devices reads like a precursor to the mark of the beast.Silverman says his company's focus is on medical patients. And the chip they use is passive or, simply stated, it does not emit a strong signal. To read the chip, medical personnel must use a scanner and be within 12 inches.
And he says the data is stored in a facility as secure as any of the best. He does admit once you have a chip, it could be used for other applications. You can tie financial accounts to them and other data.He points out a year ago one company injected two employees with chips for security reasons. In addition, nightclubs in Barcelona, Spain, Rotterdam, Holland, and Edinburgh, Scotland, use them so patrons can access VIP lounges and make purchases.A bit much for me. The only chip I want in my body is a potato chip, maybe a tortilla chip. Definitely not a microchip.The Consumer's Edge is a twice-monthly column to help consumers in the marketplace. Ivan Penn can be reached at or (727) 892-2332.
FAST FACTS
The chips are inserted in the upper right arm with a a hypodermic-type needle. The cost of the procedure: $200.VeriChip uses a patented process, called bio-bind, to secure the chip to muscle tissue and prevent migration.Medical personnel wave a scanner within 12 inches of the chip. A 16-digit identification appears to identify the person.VeriChip maintains the patient's records in its database. Customers pay an annual fee, from $20 to $80, to keep a medical file.
HERE'S THE EDGE:
The American Medical Association Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs recommended that radio frequency identification (RFID) devices can be used to help identify patients, improve patient care and secure access to patient clinical information. But the AMA cautioned that the efficacy and security of the devices has not been established. As precautions, the AMA said, physicians implanting such devices should:
Disclose the medical uncertainties of RFIDs to patients as part of the informed consent process.Strive to protect patients' privacy by storing confidential information only on RFID devices with informational security similar to that required of medical records.Support research into safe, effective and potential nonmedical uses of RFID devices in people.
GCC, EU to Sign FTA Deal Soon
P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News
JEDDAH, 29 August 2007 — The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is expected to sign the long-awaited free-trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union within the next two months, according to Deputy Finance Minister Hamad Al-Bazie. The FTA with the EU will be signed in October or November this year, said Al-Bazie, who is GCC’s coordinator for the agreement. He said the next round of negotiations in Brussels would be crucial to the conclusion of this vital accord.The GCC — Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates — has been holding FTA talks for the last 18 years. It has already fulfilled 95 percent of the conditions for the prestigious agreement.The last joint meeting of GCC and EU foreign and finance ministers was successful in settling most outstanding issues. GCC central bank governors are scheduled to meet with their EU counterparts next month to discuss monetary policies. Economic observers have insisted that GCC countries must intensify coordination to finalize the agreement as quickly as possible.
GCC foreign ministers are expected to discuss the FTA issue during their meeting in Jeddah on Saturday.GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah said the Jeddah meeting would discuss matters related to a GCC common market in preparation to announce its formation at the next GCC summit. It will also review the progress of negotiations with economic groups, he added.The GCC-EU free trade agreement is expected to boost GCC exports to Europe and bring more foreign direct investment to the member countries that seek funds to carry out vital projects in energy, petrochemical, telecom, power generation, railway and desalination sectors. It will also improve economic welfare in the GCC member states.GCC countries import EU goods worth 47.4 billion euros, thus being Europe’s fifth largest market in the world. GCC imports include cars, planes, machinery, and building materials. GCC exports crude oil, petrochemicals and aluminum products worth 35.2 billion euros to Europe. It holds 14th place among foreign exporters to EU countries.
Archeologists make urgent appeal to rescue Biblical relics pulverized by tractors on Temple Mount, Jerusalem - August 28, 2007, 1:47 PM (GMT+02:00)
Muslim work on a shrine sacred to three world faiths
The Waqf Muslim authority, using heavy tractors, has so far excavated a trench 120 -meters long, 1.5 meters deep, crushing fragments of monumental building, pottery and glazed tiles in their path. The trench runs through the northern and eastern parts of the 2,000-year old Upper Platform of Temple Mount, where the outer courts of the Jewish Temple were situated, including the Women’s Court, until the Roman destruction of 70 C.E. Today, the Muslim Dome of the Rock stands there. Dr. Gabriel Barkai of Bar Ilan University is leading the protest against the wildcat, unauthorized Waqf project to improve the mosques’ infrastructure and demanding that the contents of the trench be scientifically excavated and documented before they are lost. This issue transcends politics, he told DEBKAfile. It is a tragic loss for world culture, as much as or more than the effigies of Buddha destroyed by the Taliban in Afghanistan. It affects the foundations of Judeo-Christian civilization – as well as Muslim history in Jerusalem – by ravaging one of the most important sites for the history of mankind.
DEBKAfile’s sources add: The Temple Mount Plaza, paved over by the Muslim rulers of Jerusalem in the Middle Ages, has never been scientifically explored. All attempts to unearth and study the relics beneath the pavement have elicited a ferment of Muslim threats accusing Israel of attempting to destroy the mosques built over the ruins of the Jewish First and Second Temples. Even cautious shafts at a distance from the mosques are greeted with rage. Yet, in 1999 and again now, in 2007, the Muslim authorities themselves excavated deep below the surface to expand their mosques and improve their facilities. Then as now, they destroyed precious Jewish, Christian and Muslim artifacts with heavy tractors and dumped them helter skelter as unwanted debris.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007 by Staff Writer
Half of IDF officers are religious
At least 50 percent of young Israeli army officers today are conservative religious Jews, according to a report in Israel's Ma'ariv daily newspaper. Religious, thought not not necessarily Orthodox, Jews are a minority in Israel, but because of their strong Zionist upbringing are becoming the backbone of the [Israel Defense Forces], the newspaper noted. Religious soldiers have long been praised within Israel as the most dedicated and courageous combatants in the army. However, there is also a growing fear that the Bible-based beliefs of such soldiers regarding Israel's right to the land could result in mutiny if the secular government orders a mass evacuation of Jews from Judea and Samaria as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians. Earlier this month, a group of religious soldiers refused to participate in the removal of Jewish settlers from Jewish owned property in the Judean town of Hebron.
WW3 THE 3 WAVES THAT MARCH TO ISRAEL
DANIEL 11:40-45
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA 2ND WAVE OF WW3) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
The Third and Final Wave of WW3 is when all Nations march to Jerusalem, but JESUS bodily returns to earth and destroys them,sets up his KINGDOM OF RULE FOR 1000 YEARS THEN FOREVER.
2ND WAVE CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL
REVELATION 16:12
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THIS IS THE ATATURK DAM IN TURKEY,THEY CROSS OVER).
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(IRAQ-SYRIA)
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
Monday August 27, 2007
China: Projected Number of Men without Wives Massively Increased
By 2020, 37 million Chinese men would be unable to find wives if trends continue
By Elizabeth O'Brien
BEIJING, China, August 27, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Recent demographic reports are showing that the ratio of males to females in China is spiraling out of control. If the increasing imbalance, caused primarily by sex-selected abortions and infanticide, is not remedied, it will lead to increased crimes against women and the threat of an aggressively militant state. In January Chinese media reports said that by 2020, 30 million Chinese men would be unable to find wives (See http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jan/07011510.html). Since then, however, recent reports indicate that the numbers have dramatically risen. According to these findings, the imbalance will increase to 37 million more marriageable Chinese men than marriageable women by 2020, the Guardian Unlimited reports.Nationwide there are 119 Chinese males for every 100 females, rather than the average 105 males for every 100 females in the Western developed nations, ABC News reports. In some regions, however, there is an even greater divide with 130 males to 100 females. The city of Lianyungang in Jiangsu province has the most marked difference of 163.5 boys to 100 girls among children aged one to four. According to a recent report by the China Family Planning Association (CFPA), 99 cities in China have sex ratios above 125 boys per 100 girls.
Although there are two Chinese laws preventing sex-based abortion, this is ignored in many places throughout China. In some cases, the doctor gives a thumbs up to the parents if their unborn child is a boy and a thumbs down if it is a girl. People often abort their baby girls, especially in rural areas, because they want a son to support themselves and the grandparents in their old age. Within the past few years, the Chinese government has offered various attempts to remedy the skewed male to female ratio. In 2003 a Care for Girls policy was introduced which gave financial benefits to parents with female children, as well as a pro-female child slogan campaign. Such efforts have not affected the situation, however, which are a direct result of the government's one-child policy and its forced methods of population control.In order to stem the problem, China is planning to crack down on medical institutions that tell parents the sex of their child. In light of the recent population reports, the government announced that it would draft new legislation to punish sex-selected abortions. If the lopsided ratio does not improve, Chinese society will suffer a rise in prostitution, wife kidnapping and other forms of sexual violence against women, abuses that have already grown within the country. Some predict that the situation will also lead to increased militancy and terrorism in China (See http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/dec/05120602.html).
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
BUSH WARNS IRAN
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.
Earthquake strikes fire-ravaged south Greece; no injuries or damage reported
AUG 28,07
ATHENS (AP) - A strong earthquake has hit fire-ravaged southern Greece. The Athens Geodynamic Institute says it had a magnitude of five. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. The quake struck just after noon and had an epicentre 185 kilometres west of Athens, 15 kilometres east of Pyrgos near Ancient Olympia. The quake panicked residents in the region and was felt in areas where firefighters were battling blazes.
THERE WILL BE A ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT HEADED BY THE EUROPEAN UNION.
DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (The EU) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(Trading Blocks)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
DANIEL 12:4,1
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
REVELATION 13:1-3,7,8,12,16-18
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
REVELATION 17:3,7,9-10,12,18
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
Sarkozy seeks to give EU greater world role
28.08.2007 - 09:22 CET | By Renata Goldirova
As France prepares to assume the EU's driving seat in July next year, president Nicolas Sarkozy has indicated he wants to turn the 27-nation bloc into a decisive player in the global arena – something he says would result in a fairer and more harmonious world order. Europe must progressively affirm itself as a first-rank player for peace and security, in co-operation with the United Nations, the Atlantic Alliance and the African Union, Mr Sarkozy said in the first foreign policy speech of his presidency on Monday (27 August). According to the French leader, it is time for Europe to form a common perception of the main global challenges and of ways in which to tackle them. He himself identified relations between Islam and the West as the main issue that currently needs to be examined.
The European Union alone has accumulated, during the long process of building the community, the practical experience of a shared sovereignty that corresponds well to the demands of our times, Mr Sarkozy told his audience of 180 diplomats, stressing the EU bloc has at its disposal a broad palette of instruments, ranging from military force to humanitarian and financial means. While outlining new ideas, Mr Sarkozy urged the 27-nation club to boost its common security strategy – namely to improve its conduct of joint military operations, to rationalize its arms procurement as well as boost countries' contributions to Europe's defence budget.
The construction of Europe will remain the absolute priority of our foreign policy, France's Nicolas Sarkozy concluded, underlining that France is not strong without Europe, just as Europe is not strong without France.
Different to Chirac
During his speech, president Sarkozy also reached out to new powers in Asia and Latin America, suggesting they should be granted seats at the UN Security Council table. France demands new permanent members – Germany, Japan, India, Brazil – and fair representation for Africa, Nicolas Sarkozy said, while also pushing for the G8 grouping of industrialised powers to expand to the G13. This would include China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. Compared to his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, the new French president has chosen a more pro-US tone, although he also condemned the US-led invasion of Iraq and called for a clear timetable for withdrawing foreign troops from the country.
On Russia, Mr Sarkozy used surprisingly tough words.
Russia is imposing its return on the world scene by using its assets, notably oil and gas, with a certain brutality Mr Sarkozy said, adding when one is a great power, one should not be brutal. Turning to Iran, he said the world must tighten the screw on the country's nuclear ambitions – by imposing new sanctions and offering new incentives to Tehran. This initiative is the only one that can enable us to escape an alternative that I say is catastrophic: the Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran, president Sarkozy concluded.
South Africa: Country Joins SADC-EU Trade, Development Talks
Business Day (Johannesburg)27 August 2007 - Mathabo Le Roux - Johannesburg
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is negotiating economic partnership agreements (EPAs) with the European Union (EU). The EPAs are crucial for future trade with the EU when a waiver on the current trade regime with the EU, the Cotonou agreement, expires at the end of the year.The EPAs are trade deals with a developmental framework - a framework SA does not fit into. However, in March last year, SADC requested the EU that SA be included in the negotiations. The EU's first response was silence but eventually it agreed to include SA in the talks.The argument that convinced the EU was that including SA would smooth the way for greater trade harmonisation, and ultimately help regional integration.
So SA is part of trade talks that could have considerable upside, despite the fact that as part of the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) SA already enjoys a trade relationship with the EU .Commentators see it as ironic that as SA embarks on arguably its biggest drive to boost economic growth , it is not clear at all that the region's powerhouse has the interest of its fellow members of Sacu in mind.In the national industrial policy framework, the blueprint for industrial development, SA is considering a substantial review of import duties in a bid to lower the input costs of downstream manufacturing - the focus of industrial development.One commentator estimates that the review affects as much as 75% of the tariff book.
The plans pay scant attention to a commitment in the Sacu agreement to develop common policies... for industrial development, say observers.Trevor Manuel signed off on this (industrial policy) but there is a treaty with Sacu - this is an extremely awkward situation. If I were Manuel I would be very worried, says one commentator.In fact, regional industrial development is barely mentioned in the policy.But it is unclear whether SA is considering the effect of its plans on industries in other Sacu countries, and whether it is communicating sufficiently with member countries about the planned changes.The International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) - which encourages fair trade through customs tariff investigations, trade remedies and import and export control - has begun a review of two large chapters of the tariff book , in a bid to eliminate tariffs on goods needed for government's multibillion-rand infrastructure programme.
The targeted chapters include many inputs for infrastructure development, but many other products are also included, such as washing machines, refrigerators, visual and sound equipment and spark plugs .Itac has excluded automotive components from the review. SA's automotive industry is set to benefit from government support beyond 2020 and it does not fit with the plan to liberalise tariffs . But fridges, for instance, are not excluded, despite the fact that a fridge manufacturer in Swaziland provides several hundred good jobs in that unemployment-ridden country.
But SA has also shown disregard for its neighbours in the differential treatment of other policy directives, says another observer.The Motor Industry Development Programme (MIDP) and the trade and industry department's keeping the programme going with attractive, yet costly, incentives to entrench the automotive industry in SA is well known.Yet a similar scheme, the Duty Credit Certificate Scheme (DCCS), exists for the clothing and textiles industry, and has a far lower profile.The state began a review of the MIDP two years ago , well ahead of its expiry in 2012 and has almost bungled the policy plan in its willingness to please powerful automotive companies.
But while the DCCS formally expired at the end of April, trade and industry let it lapse without mention of plans to review or extend it.The oversight may seem curious in view of the clothing and textiles sector's dire need for assistance, but the fact is that few South African clothing and textile manufacturers benefit from the export plan. They are simply too uncompetitive to export and therefore few use it. However, companies in Swaziland and Lesotho, whose economies rely heavily on this industry, benefit greatly from the scheme but have now been left without policy direction.SA holds out regional integration as a way to achieve an African renaissance but its actions explain why many in the region do not see it as a brother to lean on.2007 Business Day. AllAfrica.
North Atlantic nations call on EU to focus on Arctic
27.08.2007 - 09:30 CET | By Helena Spongenberg
North Atlantic nations are calling on the European Union to pay more attention to the Arctic by recommending the creation of an Arctic information office and an Arctic delegation from the European Parliament.The West Nordic Council agreed to a motion last week, calling upon Brussels to focus more closely on the Arctic region both within the EU system and in its interaction with the rest of the world, reports Greenland newspaper Webavisen.gl.The council, founded in 1985, is a cooperation forum of the parliaments and governments of the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland. The forum believes that the EU should have an information office where information about the Arctic and its situation is collected and taken into consideration when making decisions in Brussels.
EU attention on the Arctic region has increased recently, as Greenland in particular has become a showcase for the effects of global warming, with Commission president Jose Manual Barroso and German chancellor Angela Merkel both having visited the country this summer.The race to control the Arctic region has also intensified after Russia planted flag four kilometres (2.5 miles) below the North Pole earlier this month. The effects of global warming are thought to be shrinking the polar ice cap and could lead to new shipping lanes linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans as well as new access to oil.The Nordic Council, which also includes Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, as well as the West Nordic council, agreed in June to arrange a conference next year on the Arctic window in the EU's Northern Dimension – an EU initiative seeking to address the specific challenges and opportunities arising in the Nordic countries, Baltic states and Russia.
Olmert, Abbas speak about establishing Palestinian state alongside Israel
The Associated Press - August 28, 2007
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas tackled the biggest issues dividing the two sides at their meeting on Tuesday —final borders, Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, an Israeli official said.It was the first time the two men discussed these matters in depth, the official said.
These core issues have to be discussed on the way to finding a diplomatic solution of two states for two peoples, the official quoted Olmert as saying.He spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were private.
I CAN NOT SEE ISRAELS 3RD TEMPLE REBUILT IF ITS IN ARAB HANDS THE TEMPLE MOUNT UNLESS THE EU PUTS PRESSURE ON THE ARABS TO LET ISRAEL REUILD IT IN THE FUTURE. I STILL KNOW JERUSALEM WILL BE DIVIDED BUT MAYBE THE VATICAN WILL BE PUT AS THE HEAD OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT THEN ISRAEL COULD NEGOTIATE IN THE FINAL 7 YR PEACE TREATY TO HAVE THE 3RD TEMPLE REBUIILT. EITHER WAY ITS GOING TO BE A STRUGGLE BUT THE 3RD TEMPLE WILL BE BUILT BEFORE THE FINAL TREATY IS SIGNED.
AND ONE LAST NOTE HERE I THINK THE FUTURE FINAL TREATY SIGNING WILL BE ON ROSH HASHANA IN THE FUTURE SO THIS TEMPLE MOUNT ISSUE IS COMING UP AT THE RIGHT TIME OF THE YEAR EVEN.
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Holy forfeit! Israel willing to give up Temple Mount
Report: Jewish leader offers Arab coalition joint control - August 28, 2007
By Aaron Klein - WorldNetDaily.com
Temple Mount
JERUSALEM – Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Egyptian government the Jewish state is willing to forfeit control over the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – to the management of Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, according to an Arab media report. The Egyptian Al Massrioun daily reported this weekend Barak informed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and the Jordanian government Israel is be willing to hand them joint control over the Temple Mount. The report follows a WND exclusive article last week stating Palestinian negotiators drafting an agreement behind the scenes with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office made clear they will not accept any final peace deal with Israel unless the Jewish state forfeits the Temple Mount. According to the Egyptian media report over the weekend, Barak stated an umbrella group of several Arab countries controlling the holy site instead of only the PA would help ease Israeli domestic opposition to giving up the Temple Mount, since Egypt and Jordan are considered by Israeli policy to be moderate countries. Ronen Moshe, a spokesman for Barak, told WND the Egyptian media report is untrue.
We do not comment on the specifics of private conversations with world leaders, but this report is not what was said during the talks, Moshe said. A senior Palestinian official, speaking on condition his name be withheld, told WND yesterday Israel understands there won't be any deal with the Palestinians unless it forfeits the Temple Mount.The official said the Mount was previously a sticking point in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, but he said Prime Minister Olmert's government has expressed a number of times a willingness to compromise on the Temple Mount. We've recently received many Israeli plans that showed Israel is willing to allow another body, whether Palestinian or international, to control the [Temple Mount]. The issue is no longer a sticking point, the Palestinian official said. During U.S.-led negotiations in 2000, Barak, then prime minister, reportedly was willing to forfeit the Temple Mount to international control. Those negotiations fell through after Palestinian President Yasser Arafat rejected an offer of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and eastern sections of Jerusalem.
Adviser Gilad Sher – who represented Barak at initial Israeli-Palestinian planning meetings in 2000 during which President Clinton discussed the Temple Mount – wrote in his book Beyond Reach that Clinton's plan called for the Temple Mount to become complete Palestinian sovereign territory, while the Western Wall below and its complex would fall under Israeli sovereignty. Barak was said to have initially rejected that plan, but according to participants at the negotiations summit, he was ultimately willing to place the Mount under international sovereignty. Some reports claimed Barak offered the Temple Mount to the Palestinians, but the Israeli politician has denied those claims.
Palestinian state outline coming by November
A chief Palestinian negotiator told WND aides from Abbas' Fatah organization have been hammering out the parameters of a final status agreement for presentation in November at a U.S.-backed international summit regarding the Middle East. Yesterday, newly installed Israeli President Shimon Peres told a Tokyo newspaper he hopes to achieve the outline of a final status deal with the Palestinians before the November conference. Israeli and Palestinian diplomatic sources said U.S.-brokered biweekly meetings between Olmert and Abbas are being utilized to draft the outline of a permanent status deal, ultimately yielding a Palestinian state, scheduled to be aired in public at the November summit. Issues already discussed between Israel and the Palestinians reportedly include the division of parts of Jerusalem and debates regarding permanent borders between Israel and the PA. The November international conference and talk from the Bush administration the past few weeks has led many here to speculate the U.S. will push in the near future for intense Israeli-Palestinian negotiations leading to a Palestinian state. With a year and a half left in office, President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have been urging meetings between Abbas and Olmert to establish a framework for momentum leading to a breakthrough at November's conference. Asked by WND whether Olmert is willing to forfeit the Temple Mount in an agreement with the Palestinians, David Baker, a spokesman for the prime minister, had no comment.
Jews, Christians barred from praying on Mount
The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism. Muslims say it is their third holiest site. The First Jewish Temple was built by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Second Temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C. after Jerusalem was freed from Babylonian captivity. That temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in A.D. 70. Each temple stood for a period of about four centuries. The Jewish Temple was the center of religious Jewish worship. It housed the Holy of Holies, which contained the Ark of the Covenant and was said to be the area upon which God's presence dwelt. The Al Aqsa Mosque now sits on the site. The Temple served as the primary location for the offering of sacrifices and was the main gathering place in Israel during Jewish holidays. The Temple Mount compound has remained a focal point for Jewish services over the millennia. Prayers for a return to Jerusalem have been uttered by Jews since the Second Temple was destroyed, according to Jewish tradition. Jews worldwide pray facing toward the Western Wall, a portion of an outer courtyard of the Temple left intact.
The Al Aqsa Mosque was constructed around A.D. 709 to serve as a shrine near another shrine, the Dome of the Rock, which was built by an Islamic caliph. Al Aqsa was meant to mark where Muslims came to believe Muhammad, the founder of Islam, ascended to heaven. Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran. Islamic tradition states Muhammad took a journey in a single night from a sacred mosque – believed to be in Mecca in southern Saudi Arabia – to the farthest mosque and from a rock there ascended to heaven. The farthest mosque later became associated with the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Currently under Israeli control, Jews and Christians are barred from praying on the Mount. The Temple Mount was opened to the general public until September 2000, when the Palestinians started their intifada by throwing stones at Jewish worshipers after then-candidate for prime minister Ariel Sharon visited the area. Following the onset of violence, the new Sharon government closed the Mount to non-Muslims, using checkpoints to control all pedestrian traffic for fear of further clashes with the Palestinians.
The Temple Mount was reopened to non-Muslims in August 2003. It still is open but only Sundays through Thursdays, 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., and not on any Christian, Jewish or Muslim holidays or other days considered sensitive by the Waqf. During open days, Jews and Christian are allowed to ascend the Mount, usually through organized tours and only if they conform first to a strict set of guidelines, which includes demands that they not pray or bring any holy objects to the site. Visitors are banned from entering any of the mosques without direct Waqf permission. Rules are enforced by Waqf agents, who watch tours closely and alert nearby Israeli police to any breaking of their guidelines.
Invasive European green crab spotted in waters of southern Newfoundland
Mon Aug 27, 6:01 PM - By Tara Brautigam
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. (CP) - An invasive crab species known as the cockroach of the sea has been spotted in the waters off southern Newfoundland, posing a threat to the province's most lucrative shellfish stocks. The federal Fisheries Department is investigating sightings of the European green crab, an aggressive, olive-coloured crustacean known for its voracious appetite for mussels, clams, scallops - and other crabs. This hardy, highly adaptable species is native to the Atlantic coasts of Europe and northern Africa, stretching from Mauritania to Norway. It has no commercial value. A fisherman in North Harbour, N.L., about 180 kilometres west of St. John's, found a number of the cannibalistic crabs last Tuesday, said Cynthia McKenzie, a federal scientist who specializes in aquatic invasive species. They're some of the most aggressive species I've ever seen, McKenzie said in an interview Monday.
The green crab has already made its way to parts of the Maritimes and British Columbia, but this is the first time it has been detected in Newfoundland waters.
Earle McCurdy, president of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers union, said the discovery in Placentia Bay has left fishermen there worried. It's a nasty little critter, said McCurdy, who represents almost 20,000 Newfoundlanders employed in the fishing industry. It's a bit like having the Hells Angels move into your neighbourhood. There's no good going to come of it.Its presence in Placentia Bay poses a risk to the region's lucrative shellfish industry as well as its growing aquaculture business. Fishermen in the province have increasingly turned to catching snow crab and shrimp since the federal government shut down most of the cod fishery in the early 1990s. It's not known how the crab turned up on Newfoundland's shores, but McCurdy suspects it could have arrived on vessels travelling along one of the North Atlantic's busiest shipping routes, which swings just south of Newfoundland.
That's certainly one of the risks associated with all that activity in Placentia Bay - tankers and refineries and smelters and everything else that people are planning for that bay, he said. It's a major fishing area and all of this activity is adding up to a very significant risk to fish harvesters there from a safety point of view, from an economic point of view and, clearly, from an environmental point of view.The green crab can survive in a range of habitats, including protected rocky shores and sandy beaches. We knew they were on their way, McKenzie said, adding that she and other federal Fisheries scientists are going to conduct a survey over the next couple of weeks to determine how far the crab has spread. The effect in our environment is basically just starting and so we have to decide how is this going to affect movement, how will this affect survival, reproduction, she said. All we have now is lots of questions.
A WORLD ON FIRE By Dr Jack Van Impe AUG 29,07 - Lighting new fires
In the 8th and 9th Chapters of the Book of Revelation, we find two unusual predictions concerning the woes of the Tribulation Hour. First, Revelation 8:7 mentions the burning of one-third of the earth. Second, Revelation 9:18 depicts the extinction of one-third of the world's inhabitants by fire, brimstone, and pillars of smoke. Could these prophetic and astronomical figures find fulfillment in our day?
The Answer is an unequivocal YES. HERE is an insight. In statistical surveys in geographical atlases, there are detailed pages of information about continents, land areas, and population figures for every country in the world. In fact I discovered that Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America cover a total of 56,889,581 square miles. I decided to divide this figure by three, and the resulting sum was 18,963,194 square miles.
This is the amount of land that will burn during the Tribulation period, according to Revelation 9:18. None of this was shocking until I continued my research on the predicted alignment of nations, mentioned in Daniel, Chapters 2,7,11, and in Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39, that would confront each other in the last days. Their combined land area totaled - one-third of the globe.
Thus,Revelation 8:7, and 9:18 could become factual events - as current as today's headlines - in the near future. Think of it! This war will lead to Armageddon. It will also occur, according to major Bible scholars, during the Tribulation Hour.
The signs of the times are present. How much more proof is needed to convince the lost that Christ's return is very near.
Bush warns of holocaust if Iran gets nukes by Olivier Knox
Wed Aug 29, 1:03 AM ET
RENO, United States (AFP) - US President George W. Bush on Tuesday raised the specter of a nuclear holocaust in the Middle East if Israel's arch-foe Iran gets atomic weapons, and vowed he would not let that happen. Iran's actions threaten the security of nations everywhere, and the United States is rallying friends and allies to isolate Iran's regime, to impose economic sanctions, he told the American Legion veterans group.We will confront this danger before it is too late, vowed Bush, who has pressed for tougher international sanctions and said he hopes for a diplomatic solution but has repeatedly refused to rule out the use of force.Shortly before Bush spoke, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad scoffed at the notion of a US attack on his country dismissed a warning from his new French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, as a symptom of inexperience.There is no ... possibility of such an attack by the United States, Ahmadinejad told a news conference marked by his characteristic defiance.Even if they take such a decision, they cannot implement it, he said.
Sarkozy used a keynote foreign policy address on Monday that the threat of sanctions coupled with an offer of dialogue was the only way of avoiding a catastrophic alternative: an Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran.He only recently came to power and wants to find a place for himself in the world, Ahmadinejad said of the French president. He is still inexperienced, meaning that maybe he does not really understand the meaning of his own words.In a speech billed as a defense of the Iraq war, Bush branded Iran the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, citing its backing of Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Shiite fighters killing US troops in Iraq.And Iran's active pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust, he said.
The United States accuses Iran -- OPEC's number two oil producer and owner of the second largest proven gas reserves in the world -- of seeking to make nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian energy drive.Iran insists that the drive is entirely peaceful and that its growing population will need nuclear power as fossil fuels start to run dry.Tehran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment -- a sensitive process that can be used both to make nuclear fuel and nuclear weapons -- has already seen it slapped with two sets of UN sanctions.Washington has been pushing for tougher measures, but Ahmadinejad said Iran was now cooperating so well with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), that more UN sanctions were unlikely.Not one member of the IAEA has cooperated as well as Iran. So from our point of view, Iran's nuclear case is closed. Iran is a nuclear nation and has the nuclear fuel cycle, he said.A deal reached between Iran and the IAEA last week sets out a detailed timetable for Tehran to answer outstanding questions about its atomic drive, but does not tackle the key sticking point over whether Iran should suspend uranium enrichment activities.
The US envoy to the IAEA, Gregory Schulte, has dismissed the plan as having real limitations, and claimed that Iran is clearly trying to distract attention from its continued development of bomb-making capability.Schulte insisted that the United States would continue pushing for a third round of sanctions, which diplomats said Washington wanted to happen in September. Meanwhile, US Senator John McCain warned that said Ahmadinejad's remarks point to show the looming danger posed by the Iranian regime. Iran's Holocaust-denying president today told the media that 'soon we will see a huge power vacuum in the region' as the American effort in Iraq collapses and that his regime is prepared to fill the gap in Iraq, the Republican presidential contender said. He added that the entire region faces instability and greater conflict, and called warned on Washington to do everything necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
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.
Earthquake strikes fire-ravaged south Greece; no injuries or damage reported
AUG 28,07
ATHENS (AP) - A strong earthquake has hit fire-ravaged southern Greece. The Athens Geodynamic Institute says it had a magnitude of five. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. The quake struck just after noon and had an epicentre 185 kilometres west of Athens, 15 kilometres east of Pyrgos near Ancient Olympia. The quake panicked residents in the region and was felt in areas where firefighters were battling blazes.
THERE WILL BE A ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT HEADED BY THE EUROPEAN UNION.
DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (The EU) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(Trading Blocks)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
DANIEL 12:4,1
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
REVELATION 13:1-3,7,8,12,16-18
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
REVELATION 17:3,7,9-10,12,18
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
Sarkozy seeks to give EU greater world role
28.08.2007 - 09:22 CET | By Renata Goldirova
As France prepares to assume the EU's driving seat in July next year, president Nicolas Sarkozy has indicated he wants to turn the 27-nation bloc into a decisive player in the global arena – something he says would result in a fairer and more harmonious world order. Europe must progressively affirm itself as a first-rank player for peace and security, in co-operation with the United Nations, the Atlantic Alliance and the African Union, Mr Sarkozy said in the first foreign policy speech of his presidency on Monday (27 August). According to the French leader, it is time for Europe to form a common perception of the main global challenges and of ways in which to tackle them. He himself identified relations between Islam and the West as the main issue that currently needs to be examined.
The European Union alone has accumulated, during the long process of building the community, the practical experience of a shared sovereignty that corresponds well to the demands of our times, Mr Sarkozy told his audience of 180 diplomats, stressing the EU bloc has at its disposal a broad palette of instruments, ranging from military force to humanitarian and financial means. While outlining new ideas, Mr Sarkozy urged the 27-nation club to boost its common security strategy – namely to improve its conduct of joint military operations, to rationalize its arms procurement as well as boost countries' contributions to Europe's defence budget.
The construction of Europe will remain the absolute priority of our foreign policy, France's Nicolas Sarkozy concluded, underlining that France is not strong without Europe, just as Europe is not strong without France.
Different to Chirac
During his speech, president Sarkozy also reached out to new powers in Asia and Latin America, suggesting they should be granted seats at the UN Security Council table. France demands new permanent members – Germany, Japan, India, Brazil – and fair representation for Africa, Nicolas Sarkozy said, while also pushing for the G8 grouping of industrialised powers to expand to the G13. This would include China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. Compared to his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, the new French president has chosen a more pro-US tone, although he also condemned the US-led invasion of Iraq and called for a clear timetable for withdrawing foreign troops from the country.
On Russia, Mr Sarkozy used surprisingly tough words.
Russia is imposing its return on the world scene by using its assets, notably oil and gas, with a certain brutality Mr Sarkozy said, adding when one is a great power, one should not be brutal. Turning to Iran, he said the world must tighten the screw on the country's nuclear ambitions – by imposing new sanctions and offering new incentives to Tehran. This initiative is the only one that can enable us to escape an alternative that I say is catastrophic: the Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran, president Sarkozy concluded.
South Africa: Country Joins SADC-EU Trade, Development Talks
Business Day (Johannesburg)27 August 2007 - Mathabo Le Roux - Johannesburg
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is negotiating economic partnership agreements (EPAs) with the European Union (EU). The EPAs are crucial for future trade with the EU when a waiver on the current trade regime with the EU, the Cotonou agreement, expires at the end of the year.The EPAs are trade deals with a developmental framework - a framework SA does not fit into. However, in March last year, SADC requested the EU that SA be included in the negotiations. The EU's first response was silence but eventually it agreed to include SA in the talks.The argument that convinced the EU was that including SA would smooth the way for greater trade harmonisation, and ultimately help regional integration.
So SA is part of trade talks that could have considerable upside, despite the fact that as part of the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) SA already enjoys a trade relationship with the EU .Commentators see it as ironic that as SA embarks on arguably its biggest drive to boost economic growth , it is not clear at all that the region's powerhouse has the interest of its fellow members of Sacu in mind.In the national industrial policy framework, the blueprint for industrial development, SA is considering a substantial review of import duties in a bid to lower the input costs of downstream manufacturing - the focus of industrial development.One commentator estimates that the review affects as much as 75% of the tariff book.
The plans pay scant attention to a commitment in the Sacu agreement to develop common policies... for industrial development, say observers.Trevor Manuel signed off on this (industrial policy) but there is a treaty with Sacu - this is an extremely awkward situation. If I were Manuel I would be very worried, says one commentator.In fact, regional industrial development is barely mentioned in the policy.But it is unclear whether SA is considering the effect of its plans on industries in other Sacu countries, and whether it is communicating sufficiently with member countries about the planned changes.The International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) - which encourages fair trade through customs tariff investigations, trade remedies and import and export control - has begun a review of two large chapters of the tariff book , in a bid to eliminate tariffs on goods needed for government's multibillion-rand infrastructure programme.
The targeted chapters include many inputs for infrastructure development, but many other products are also included, such as washing machines, refrigerators, visual and sound equipment and spark plugs .Itac has excluded automotive components from the review. SA's automotive industry is set to benefit from government support beyond 2020 and it does not fit with the plan to liberalise tariffs . But fridges, for instance, are not excluded, despite the fact that a fridge manufacturer in Swaziland provides several hundred good jobs in that unemployment-ridden country.
But SA has also shown disregard for its neighbours in the differential treatment of other policy directives, says another observer.The Motor Industry Development Programme (MIDP) and the trade and industry department's keeping the programme going with attractive, yet costly, incentives to entrench the automotive industry in SA is well known.Yet a similar scheme, the Duty Credit Certificate Scheme (DCCS), exists for the clothing and textiles industry, and has a far lower profile.The state began a review of the MIDP two years ago , well ahead of its expiry in 2012 and has almost bungled the policy plan in its willingness to please powerful automotive companies.
But while the DCCS formally expired at the end of April, trade and industry let it lapse without mention of plans to review or extend it.The oversight may seem curious in view of the clothing and textiles sector's dire need for assistance, but the fact is that few South African clothing and textile manufacturers benefit from the export plan. They are simply too uncompetitive to export and therefore few use it. However, companies in Swaziland and Lesotho, whose economies rely heavily on this industry, benefit greatly from the scheme but have now been left without policy direction.SA holds out regional integration as a way to achieve an African renaissance but its actions explain why many in the region do not see it as a brother to lean on.2007 Business Day. AllAfrica.
North Atlantic nations call on EU to focus on Arctic
27.08.2007 - 09:30 CET | By Helena Spongenberg
North Atlantic nations are calling on the European Union to pay more attention to the Arctic by recommending the creation of an Arctic information office and an Arctic delegation from the European Parliament.The West Nordic Council agreed to a motion last week, calling upon Brussels to focus more closely on the Arctic region both within the EU system and in its interaction with the rest of the world, reports Greenland newspaper Webavisen.gl.The council, founded in 1985, is a cooperation forum of the parliaments and governments of the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland. The forum believes that the EU should have an information office where information about the Arctic and its situation is collected and taken into consideration when making decisions in Brussels.
EU attention on the Arctic region has increased recently, as Greenland in particular has become a showcase for the effects of global warming, with Commission president Jose Manual Barroso and German chancellor Angela Merkel both having visited the country this summer.The race to control the Arctic region has also intensified after Russia planted flag four kilometres (2.5 miles) below the North Pole earlier this month. The effects of global warming are thought to be shrinking the polar ice cap and could lead to new shipping lanes linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans as well as new access to oil.The Nordic Council, which also includes Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, as well as the West Nordic council, agreed in June to arrange a conference next year on the Arctic window in the EU's Northern Dimension – an EU initiative seeking to address the specific challenges and opportunities arising in the Nordic countries, Baltic states and Russia.
Olmert, Abbas speak about establishing Palestinian state alongside Israel
The Associated Press - August 28, 2007
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas tackled the biggest issues dividing the two sides at their meeting on Tuesday —final borders, Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, an Israeli official said.It was the first time the two men discussed these matters in depth, the official said.
These core issues have to be discussed on the way to finding a diplomatic solution of two states for two peoples, the official quoted Olmert as saying.He spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were private.
I CAN NOT SEE ISRAELS 3RD TEMPLE REBUILT IF ITS IN ARAB HANDS THE TEMPLE MOUNT UNLESS THE EU PUTS PRESSURE ON THE ARABS TO LET ISRAEL REUILD IT IN THE FUTURE. I STILL KNOW JERUSALEM WILL BE DIVIDED BUT MAYBE THE VATICAN WILL BE PUT AS THE HEAD OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT THEN ISRAEL COULD NEGOTIATE IN THE FINAL 7 YR PEACE TREATY TO HAVE THE 3RD TEMPLE REBUIILT. EITHER WAY ITS GOING TO BE A STRUGGLE BUT THE 3RD TEMPLE WILL BE BUILT BEFORE THE FINAL TREATY IS SIGNED.
AND ONE LAST NOTE HERE I THINK THE FUTURE FINAL TREATY SIGNING WILL BE ON ROSH HASHANA IN THE FUTURE SO THIS TEMPLE MOUNT ISSUE IS COMING UP AT THE RIGHT TIME OF THE YEAR EVEN.
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Holy forfeit! Israel willing to give up Temple Mount
Report: Jewish leader offers Arab coalition joint control - August 28, 2007
By Aaron Klein - WorldNetDaily.com
Temple Mount
JERUSALEM – Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Egyptian government the Jewish state is willing to forfeit control over the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – to the management of Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, according to an Arab media report. The Egyptian Al Massrioun daily reported this weekend Barak informed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and the Jordanian government Israel is be willing to hand them joint control over the Temple Mount. The report follows a WND exclusive article last week stating Palestinian negotiators drafting an agreement behind the scenes with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office made clear they will not accept any final peace deal with Israel unless the Jewish state forfeits the Temple Mount. According to the Egyptian media report over the weekend, Barak stated an umbrella group of several Arab countries controlling the holy site instead of only the PA would help ease Israeli domestic opposition to giving up the Temple Mount, since Egypt and Jordan are considered by Israeli policy to be moderate countries. Ronen Moshe, a spokesman for Barak, told WND the Egyptian media report is untrue.
We do not comment on the specifics of private conversations with world leaders, but this report is not what was said during the talks, Moshe said. A senior Palestinian official, speaking on condition his name be withheld, told WND yesterday Israel understands there won't be any deal with the Palestinians unless it forfeits the Temple Mount.The official said the Mount was previously a sticking point in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, but he said Prime Minister Olmert's government has expressed a number of times a willingness to compromise on the Temple Mount. We've recently received many Israeli plans that showed Israel is willing to allow another body, whether Palestinian or international, to control the [Temple Mount]. The issue is no longer a sticking point, the Palestinian official said. During U.S.-led negotiations in 2000, Barak, then prime minister, reportedly was willing to forfeit the Temple Mount to international control. Those negotiations fell through after Palestinian President Yasser Arafat rejected an offer of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and eastern sections of Jerusalem.
Adviser Gilad Sher – who represented Barak at initial Israeli-Palestinian planning meetings in 2000 during which President Clinton discussed the Temple Mount – wrote in his book Beyond Reach that Clinton's plan called for the Temple Mount to become complete Palestinian sovereign territory, while the Western Wall below and its complex would fall under Israeli sovereignty. Barak was said to have initially rejected that plan, but according to participants at the negotiations summit, he was ultimately willing to place the Mount under international sovereignty. Some reports claimed Barak offered the Temple Mount to the Palestinians, but the Israeli politician has denied those claims.
Palestinian state outline coming by November
A chief Palestinian negotiator told WND aides from Abbas' Fatah organization have been hammering out the parameters of a final status agreement for presentation in November at a U.S.-backed international summit regarding the Middle East. Yesterday, newly installed Israeli President Shimon Peres told a Tokyo newspaper he hopes to achieve the outline of a final status deal with the Palestinians before the November conference. Israeli and Palestinian diplomatic sources said U.S.-brokered biweekly meetings between Olmert and Abbas are being utilized to draft the outline of a permanent status deal, ultimately yielding a Palestinian state, scheduled to be aired in public at the November summit. Issues already discussed between Israel and the Palestinians reportedly include the division of parts of Jerusalem and debates regarding permanent borders between Israel and the PA. The November international conference and talk from the Bush administration the past few weeks has led many here to speculate the U.S. will push in the near future for intense Israeli-Palestinian negotiations leading to a Palestinian state. With a year and a half left in office, President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have been urging meetings between Abbas and Olmert to establish a framework for momentum leading to a breakthrough at November's conference. Asked by WND whether Olmert is willing to forfeit the Temple Mount in an agreement with the Palestinians, David Baker, a spokesman for the prime minister, had no comment.
Jews, Christians barred from praying on Mount
The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism. Muslims say it is their third holiest site. The First Jewish Temple was built by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Second Temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C. after Jerusalem was freed from Babylonian captivity. That temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in A.D. 70. Each temple stood for a period of about four centuries. The Jewish Temple was the center of religious Jewish worship. It housed the Holy of Holies, which contained the Ark of the Covenant and was said to be the area upon which God's presence dwelt. The Al Aqsa Mosque now sits on the site. The Temple served as the primary location for the offering of sacrifices and was the main gathering place in Israel during Jewish holidays. The Temple Mount compound has remained a focal point for Jewish services over the millennia. Prayers for a return to Jerusalem have been uttered by Jews since the Second Temple was destroyed, according to Jewish tradition. Jews worldwide pray facing toward the Western Wall, a portion of an outer courtyard of the Temple left intact.
The Al Aqsa Mosque was constructed around A.D. 709 to serve as a shrine near another shrine, the Dome of the Rock, which was built by an Islamic caliph. Al Aqsa was meant to mark where Muslims came to believe Muhammad, the founder of Islam, ascended to heaven. Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran. Islamic tradition states Muhammad took a journey in a single night from a sacred mosque – believed to be in Mecca in southern Saudi Arabia – to the farthest mosque and from a rock there ascended to heaven. The farthest mosque later became associated with the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Currently under Israeli control, Jews and Christians are barred from praying on the Mount. The Temple Mount was opened to the general public until September 2000, when the Palestinians started their intifada by throwing stones at Jewish worshipers after then-candidate for prime minister Ariel Sharon visited the area. Following the onset of violence, the new Sharon government closed the Mount to non-Muslims, using checkpoints to control all pedestrian traffic for fear of further clashes with the Palestinians.
The Temple Mount was reopened to non-Muslims in August 2003. It still is open but only Sundays through Thursdays, 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., and not on any Christian, Jewish or Muslim holidays or other days considered sensitive by the Waqf. During open days, Jews and Christian are allowed to ascend the Mount, usually through organized tours and only if they conform first to a strict set of guidelines, which includes demands that they not pray or bring any holy objects to the site. Visitors are banned from entering any of the mosques without direct Waqf permission. Rules are enforced by Waqf agents, who watch tours closely and alert nearby Israeli police to any breaking of their guidelines.
Invasive European green crab spotted in waters of southern Newfoundland
Mon Aug 27, 6:01 PM - By Tara Brautigam
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. (CP) - An invasive crab species known as the cockroach of the sea has been spotted in the waters off southern Newfoundland, posing a threat to the province's most lucrative shellfish stocks. The federal Fisheries Department is investigating sightings of the European green crab, an aggressive, olive-coloured crustacean known for its voracious appetite for mussels, clams, scallops - and other crabs. This hardy, highly adaptable species is native to the Atlantic coasts of Europe and northern Africa, stretching from Mauritania to Norway. It has no commercial value. A fisherman in North Harbour, N.L., about 180 kilometres west of St. John's, found a number of the cannibalistic crabs last Tuesday, said Cynthia McKenzie, a federal scientist who specializes in aquatic invasive species. They're some of the most aggressive species I've ever seen, McKenzie said in an interview Monday.
The green crab has already made its way to parts of the Maritimes and British Columbia, but this is the first time it has been detected in Newfoundland waters.
Earle McCurdy, president of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers union, said the discovery in Placentia Bay has left fishermen there worried. It's a nasty little critter, said McCurdy, who represents almost 20,000 Newfoundlanders employed in the fishing industry. It's a bit like having the Hells Angels move into your neighbourhood. There's no good going to come of it.Its presence in Placentia Bay poses a risk to the region's lucrative shellfish industry as well as its growing aquaculture business. Fishermen in the province have increasingly turned to catching snow crab and shrimp since the federal government shut down most of the cod fishery in the early 1990s. It's not known how the crab turned up on Newfoundland's shores, but McCurdy suspects it could have arrived on vessels travelling along one of the North Atlantic's busiest shipping routes, which swings just south of Newfoundland.
That's certainly one of the risks associated with all that activity in Placentia Bay - tankers and refineries and smelters and everything else that people are planning for that bay, he said. It's a major fishing area and all of this activity is adding up to a very significant risk to fish harvesters there from a safety point of view, from an economic point of view and, clearly, from an environmental point of view.The green crab can survive in a range of habitats, including protected rocky shores and sandy beaches. We knew they were on their way, McKenzie said, adding that she and other federal Fisheries scientists are going to conduct a survey over the next couple of weeks to determine how far the crab has spread. The effect in our environment is basically just starting and so we have to decide how is this going to affect movement, how will this affect survival, reproduction, she said. All we have now is lots of questions.
A WORLD ON FIRE By Dr Jack Van Impe AUG 29,07 - Lighting new fires
In the 8th and 9th Chapters of the Book of Revelation, we find two unusual predictions concerning the woes of the Tribulation Hour. First, Revelation 8:7 mentions the burning of one-third of the earth. Second, Revelation 9:18 depicts the extinction of one-third of the world's inhabitants by fire, brimstone, and pillars of smoke. Could these prophetic and astronomical figures find fulfillment in our day?
The Answer is an unequivocal YES. HERE is an insight. In statistical surveys in geographical atlases, there are detailed pages of information about continents, land areas, and population figures for every country in the world. In fact I discovered that Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America cover a total of 56,889,581 square miles. I decided to divide this figure by three, and the resulting sum was 18,963,194 square miles.
This is the amount of land that will burn during the Tribulation period, according to Revelation 9:18. None of this was shocking until I continued my research on the predicted alignment of nations, mentioned in Daniel, Chapters 2,7,11, and in Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39, that would confront each other in the last days. Their combined land area totaled - one-third of the globe.
Thus,Revelation 8:7, and 9:18 could become factual events - as current as today's headlines - in the near future. Think of it! This war will lead to Armageddon. It will also occur, according to major Bible scholars, during the Tribulation Hour.
The signs of the times are present. How much more proof is needed to convince the lost that Christ's return is very near.
Bush warns of holocaust if Iran gets nukes by Olivier Knox
Wed Aug 29, 1:03 AM ET
RENO, United States (AFP) - US President George W. Bush on Tuesday raised the specter of a nuclear holocaust in the Middle East if Israel's arch-foe Iran gets atomic weapons, and vowed he would not let that happen. Iran's actions threaten the security of nations everywhere, and the United States is rallying friends and allies to isolate Iran's regime, to impose economic sanctions, he told the American Legion veterans group.We will confront this danger before it is too late, vowed Bush, who has pressed for tougher international sanctions and said he hopes for a diplomatic solution but has repeatedly refused to rule out the use of force.Shortly before Bush spoke, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad scoffed at the notion of a US attack on his country dismissed a warning from his new French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, as a symptom of inexperience.There is no ... possibility of such an attack by the United States, Ahmadinejad told a news conference marked by his characteristic defiance.Even if they take such a decision, they cannot implement it, he said.
Sarkozy used a keynote foreign policy address on Monday that the threat of sanctions coupled with an offer of dialogue was the only way of avoiding a catastrophic alternative: an Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran.He only recently came to power and wants to find a place for himself in the world, Ahmadinejad said of the French president. He is still inexperienced, meaning that maybe he does not really understand the meaning of his own words.In a speech billed as a defense of the Iraq war, Bush branded Iran the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, citing its backing of Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Shiite fighters killing US troops in Iraq.And Iran's active pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust, he said.
The United States accuses Iran -- OPEC's number two oil producer and owner of the second largest proven gas reserves in the world -- of seeking to make nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian energy drive.Iran insists that the drive is entirely peaceful and that its growing population will need nuclear power as fossil fuels start to run dry.Tehran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment -- a sensitive process that can be used both to make nuclear fuel and nuclear weapons -- has already seen it slapped with two sets of UN sanctions.Washington has been pushing for tougher measures, but Ahmadinejad said Iran was now cooperating so well with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), that more UN sanctions were unlikely.Not one member of the IAEA has cooperated as well as Iran. So from our point of view, Iran's nuclear case is closed. Iran is a nuclear nation and has the nuclear fuel cycle, he said.A deal reached between Iran and the IAEA last week sets out a detailed timetable for Tehran to answer outstanding questions about its atomic drive, but does not tackle the key sticking point over whether Iran should suspend uranium enrichment activities.
The US envoy to the IAEA, Gregory Schulte, has dismissed the plan as having real limitations, and claimed that Iran is clearly trying to distract attention from its continued development of bomb-making capability.Schulte insisted that the United States would continue pushing for a third round of sanctions, which diplomats said Washington wanted to happen in September. Meanwhile, US Senator John McCain warned that said Ahmadinejad's remarks point to show the looming danger posed by the Iranian regime. Iran's Holocaust-denying president today told the media that 'soon we will see a huge power vacuum in the region' as the American effort in Iraq collapses and that his regime is prepared to fill the gap in Iraq, the Republican presidential contender said. He added that the entire region faces instability and greater conflict, and called warned on Washington to do everything necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
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