ABBAS WANTS MOSCOW MEETING

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

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

RM north of Prince Albert battling flood waters
Thu Apr 17, 4:54 PM

SASKATCHEWAN (CBC) - Spring flooding is causing problems north of Prince Albert, Sask.In the rural municipality of Paddockwood, north of the city, roads have been washed out in many places, while high runoff levels have washed out 42 culverts in the area.The RM has declared a state of emergency, and highways officials are busy evaluating the situation.Two families have been forced to leave their homes, said RM Paddockwood reeve Brent Zbaraschuk.They were starting to get flooded out, especially their roads, he said. If there's ever an emergency on the farm and people have to get out, we didn't want people to be stranded.It should take two to three weeks to repair all the roads in the area, Zbaraschuk said.

In other rural areas north of Prince Albert, many roads have been breached to help pass the high flows, according to the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority.Flooding has also caused problems at the village of Invermay's sewer and water system.The authority said it also expects to see high water levels on Fishing Lake and Waldsea Lake - both of which experienced severe flooding last year, resulting in dozens of families being flooded out of their homes.
Record levels are expected at Deadmoose Lake, Houghton Lake and Lake Lenore in the next few weeks.Water levels on those lakes are expected to rise slowly over the next few weeks. Flows are also starting to rise on the North Saskatchewan River, with ice on the river expected to start breaking up over next few days.

Spring snowstorm strikes Whitehorse, Yellowknife
Thu Apr 17, 12:29 PM

Any emerging signs of spring in Whitehorse and Yellowknife are covered in snow again Thursday, thanks to a late storm that's giving people another shot of winter.An intense low-pressure system is to blame for the late winter storms, which struck Whitehorse late Wednesday, and moved to Yellowknife and the surrounding Great Slave area early Thursday.Environment Canada ended a winter storm warning for Yellowknife by Thursday afternoon, but maintained similar warnings in Lutsel K'e, Fort Resolution, Hay River, Enterprise and Fort Smith. It had forecasted 10 to 20 centimetres of snow to fall in the area.The snow turned rush hour to slush hour Wednesday afternoon in Whitehorse, as vehicles spun out of control on all the main routes leading out of the city's downtown.City bylaw officer Mike Hardie told CBC News that Two Mile Hill was hardest hit, with the wintry mess shutting down traffic for about half an hour. Other main roads were also affected, he said.

Mountainview and the South Access, we had reports of vehicles not being able to make it up the hill, Hardie said late Wednesday.Tow trucks, snowplows and emergency vehicles were all called out for emergency duty that afternoon and evening.Paramedics, police and fire crews reported to fenderbenders and accidents reported across the city.Hardie predicted the snarled traffic scenario would repeat itself Thursday morning unless drivers take precautions.It's still winter in the Yukon, so let's just drive safe and drive to road conditions, he said.

Two storms impact the Midwest and Northwest James Wilson
Thu Apr 17, 3:38 PM ET

Midwest

Low pressure, accompanied by a cold front, will track from Missouri early Friday to Lower Michigan Sunday before exiting into the Northeast. The rain and thunderstorms in the Mississippi Valley will shift eastward through the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley with the heaviest rain up to 3 inches falling across parts of Iowa, northern Illinois, southeast Minnesota and Wisconsin. Ahead of the storm, high temperatures will be 10 to 20 degrees above average (70s) Friday across southern Michigan and the eastern Ohio Valley. A new vigorous cold front, accompanied by gusty winds, will move through the West Friday and Saturday and swing out into the high Plains later Sunday. High temperatures will be 10 to 20 degrees above average up and down the Plains Saturday which translates into 70s and a few low 80s. A few showers will pop in North Dakota Sunday. Sunday night into Monday, accumulating snow could fall in the central and western Dakotas as the cold front continues to surge eastward and scattered showers and thunderstorms will begin to increase from the eastern Plains into the Mississippi Valley Monday.

South

A cold front, accompanied from showers and thunderstorms, will advance from the south-central states to the Southeast Coast over the next 3 days. Severe storms will be limited to Louisiana and southern Mississippi Friday. Most all of the thunderstorms will stay below severe limits in the Southeast on Saturday. Highs Friday will range from the 70s and 80s in the Southeast and southern high Plains to the 60s in the Ark-La-Tex. On Saturday, highs will range from the 60s in the Tennessee Valley to the 80s and a few 90s in Texas. Monday through Thursday, a front will gradually roll out and stall from the Texas Panhandle to the Virginia-North Carolina border. Showers and thunderstorms will increase in the vicinity of this front.

Northeast

Friday and Saturday will be warm dry days across the Northeast. For many, highs will be 10 to 20 degrees above average. On Friday, afternoon temperatures will range from the 50s and 60s in Maine to the 70s and low 80s in the Mid-Atlantic. On Saturday, a backdoor cold front will move southward through eastern New England, limiting highs to the 40s and 50s in Maine and the 60s in eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island while the remainder of the region enjoys highs similar to Friday. The Midwest storm will approach the Northeast Sunday and move through the region Monday and early Tuesday. Rain and a few thunderstorms will accompany this system, ending gradually from west to east on Monday. After a dry Tuesday, a new cold front will bring more scattered showers and thunderstorms into the region Tuesday night and Wednesday.

West

A strong windy cold front will sweep through the West this weekend. By late Friday and Saturday, snow levels will drop to between 500 and 1000 feet in western Washington and to 4000 feet in northern California. By Sunday, daytime temperatures will range from the upper teens to low 30s across most of Montana, some 20 to 30 degrees below average. Locally heavy wind-driven snow will move across the Northwest from the Cascades to the Teton and Bitterroots to the high Plains of Montana. Some foot-plus accumulations are possible. Meanwhile, across the Southwest, strong gusty winds and very low humidity will cause blowing dust and fuel an extremely high fire danger.

Glacial lake transformed to titanic torrent Thu Apr 17, 6:34PM ET

WASHINGTON - For an hour or so Greenland had its own mighty waterfall, flowing secretly at three times the volume of Niagara. A meltwater lake on the surface of a glacier suddenly emptied in July 2006, sending millions of gallons of water through cracks in the ice sheet to the ground where it could affect the movement of the ice. The lake covered 2.2 square miles near the western edge of the ice sheet and took about 24 hours to drain.During the most rapid 90 minutes, water was flowing out of the lake at a rate of 2.3 million gallons per second, according to researchers led by Sarah Das of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Woods Hole, Mass.Under international convention, the minimum flow of Niagara Falls in summer is about 750,000 gallons per second.The findings are reported in a pair of papers about the Greenland ice sheet appearing in Thursday's online edition of the journal Science. Das and Ian Joughin of the University of Washington in Seattle led the teams that produced both papers.We found clear evidence that supraglacial lakes — the pools of meltwater that form on the surface in summer — can actually drive a crack through the ice sheet, Das said in a statement.

If there is a crack or defect in the surface that is large enough, and a sufficient reservoir of water to keep that crack filled, it can create a conduit all the way down to the bed of the ice sheet, she said.The researchers concluded that while surface melt plays a significant role in overall ice sheet dynamics, it has less of an effect than had been expected on the fast-moving glaciers that discharge ice to the ocean.The research was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, NASA, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Clark Arctic Research Initiative and the Natural Environment Research Council of Britain.On the Net:Science: http://www.sciencemag.org

OZONE DEPLETION

ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

March the warmest on record over world land surfaces By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer APR 18,08

WASHINGTON - Planet Earth continues to run a fever. Last month was the warmest March on record over land surfaces of the world and the second warmest overall worldwide. For the United States, however, it was just an average March, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Thursday. NOAA's National Climatic Data Center said high temperatures over much of Asia pulled the worldwide land temperature up to an average of 40.8 degrees Fahrenheit (4.9 degrees Celsius), 3.2 degrees (1.8 C) warmer than the average in the 20th century.While Asia had its greatest January snow cover this year, warm March readings caused a rapid melt and March snow cover on the continent was a record low.Global ocean temperatures were the 13th warmest on record, with a weakening of the La Nina conditions that cool the tropical Pacific Ocean.

Overall land and sea surface temperatures for the world were second highest in 129 years of record keeping, trailing only 2002, the agency said.Warming conditions in recent decades have continued to raise concern about global climate change, which many weather and climate experts believe is related to gases released into the atmosphere by industrial and transportation processes.The climate center said that for the 48 contiguous United States it was about average, ranking as the 63rd warmest March in 113 years of record keeping.The average temperature for the U.S. in March was 42 degrees, 0.4 degrees below the 20th century mean.The agency said only Rhode Island, New Mexico and Arizona were warmer than average, while near-average temperatures occurred in 39 other states. The monthly temperature for Alaska was the 17th warmest on record.

The snow pack declined in many parts of the West in March, but the Western snow pack remains the best in more than a decade thanks to heavy snowfall December through February.For the month, nine states from Oklahoma to Vermont were much wetter than average, with Missouri experiencing its second wettest March on record.Moderate to extreme drought remains in much of the Southeast despite rainfall in the middle of the month.On the Net.Complete analysis: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2008/mar/mar08.html

DISEASES

REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

Study finds mercury in birds near polluted rivers APR 18,08

WASHINGTON - Mercury contamination in rivers can spread to nearby birds, even ones that don't eat fish or other food from the water.
Researchers from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., found high levels of mercury in the blood of land-feeding songbirds living near the South River, a tributary of the Shenandoah, they report in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

The South River was contaminated with industrial mercury sulfate from 1930 to 1950 and it remains under a fish consumption advisory.
But the researchers led by Dan Cristol, an associate professor of biology, studied birds that only eat insects that live on land.
Spiders made up the largest part of the birds' diet, along with moths and grasshoppers, the researchers said.It turned out the spiders were the source of the mercury.The birds eat a lot of spiders. Spiders are like little tiny wolves, basically, and they'll bioaccumulate lots of contaminants in the environment. The spiders have a lot of mercury in them and are delivering the mercury to these songbirds, Cristol said in a statement.The next question to be answered: How are the spiders getting the mercury?

The researchers speculated it could be from eating aquatic insects, or the chemical could have been deposited on land during flooding.
The research was funded by E. I. DuPont de Nemours and Company, the College of William and Mary and the U.S. National Science Foundation.On the Net:Science: http://www.sciencemag.org

DRUG PUSHERS AND ADDICTS

REVELATION 18:23
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries (DRUGS) were all nations deceived.

REVELATION 9:21
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries (DRUGS), nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

Study links incontinence drugs with memory problems By CARLA K. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer Thu Apr 17, 7:30 PM ET

CHICAGO - Commonly used incontinence drugs may cause memory problems in some older people, a study has found. Our message is to be careful when using these medicines, said U.S. Navy neurologist Dr. Jack Tsao, who led the study. It may be better to use diapers and be able to think clearly than the other way around.Urinary incontinence sometimes can be resolved with non-drug treatments, he added, so patients should ask about alternatives. Exercises, biofeedback and keeping to a schedule of bathroom breaks work for many.U.S. sales of prescription drugs to treat urinary problems topped $3 billion in 2007, according to IMS Health, which tracks drug sales. Bladder control trouble affects about one in 10 people age 65 and older, according to the National Institute on Aging, which helped fund the study. Women are more likely to be affected than men. Causes include nerve damage, loss of muscle tone or, in men, enlarged prostate.

The research began after Tsao met a 73-year-old patient. Shortly after starting an incontinence drug, she began hallucinating conversations with dead relatives and having memory problems. Her thinking improved when she stopped the drug for several months.Tsao and his colleagues knew of similar reports. They decided to look at a large group of people to see if they could measure an effect of these and other medications that affect acetylcholine, a chemical messenger that shuttles signals through the brain and the rest of the nervous system. The drugs block some nerve impulses, such as spasms of the bladder.The findings, released Thursday at a meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, come from an analysis of the medication use and cognitive test scores of 870 older Catholic priests, nuns and brothers who participated in the Religious Orders Study at Chicago's Rush University Medical Center. The average age was 75.Researchers tracked them for nearly eight years, testing yearly for cognitive decline. They asked them to recite strings of numbers backward and forward, to name as many different kinds of fruit as they could in one minute and to complete other challenges during the annual testing.Nearly 80 percent of the study participants took one or more of a class of drugs called anticholinergics, including drugs for high blood pressure, asthma, Parkinson's disease and incontinence drugs such as Detrol and Ditropan.The people who took the drugs had a 50 percent faster rate of cognitive decline compared to those who didn't take any. The researchers considered other risk factors for memory loss, such as age, and still found the link. The researchers found no increased risk for the memory-robbing disorder Alzheimer's in people taking the drugs.

The incontinence drugs were among the most potent and were the most frequently taken of all the anticholinergics in the study. That's why the researchers believe they are driving the memory problems, Tsao said.Some experts said the research supports previous observations and is helpful because it measures the size of the effect.This paper adds important new data to the picture, said Dr. Elaine Perry of Newcastle University in England, who has done similar research but was not involved in the new study.More research is needed on the effects of anticholinergic drugs on memory, Tsao said. Doctors should do baseline cognitive testing on patients before prescribing the drugs, he recommended.A representative of Pfizer Inc., maker of the top-selling Detrol, said patients should always talk to their doctors about problems while taking medication.Detrol has been on the market since 1998. It has been prescribed more than 100 million times worldwide, said Ponni Subbiah, Pfizer's vice president of medical affairs, in an e-mail response to questions.Confusion and memory impairment were added to prescribing information for Detrol in 2006, Subbiah said, after some patients reported the problems. Since the reports weren't part of a medical study, the frequency of events and the role of Detrol in their causation cannot be reliably determined, he said.On the Net: American Academy of Neurology: http://www.aan.com/

HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

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.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

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.

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

Economy sends signals of more weakness to come By ELLEN SIMON, AP Business Writer Thu Apr 17, 1:25 PM ET

NEW YORK - Higher unemployment claims and weak readings from two economic indexes reinforced recession worries Thursday. The Labor Department said Thursday that applications for unemployment benefits rose to 372,000, an increase of 17,000 from the previous week.Separately, the New York-based Conference Board's gauge of future economic activity rose 0.1 percent for March, reversing five months of decline. But the private business group's indicator has shown a 3.3 percent annual rate of decline since March 2007.That's the kind of result, that whenever we've seen it in the past, the U.S. economy has been heading into a recession, Michael Gregory, senior economist for BMO Nesbitt Burns, a Toronto investment bank. The recession signal here is clear and unequivocal.Stocks drooped following a rally Wednesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average down 30.78, or 0.24 percent, to 12,588.49, in afternoon trading. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 5.41, or 0.40 percent, to 1,359.30, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 18.80, or 0.80 percent, to 2,331.31.The Conference Board index is designed to forecast economic activity in the next three to six months based on 10 economic components, including stock prices, building permits and initial claims for unemployment benefits.The Conference Board said another of its indexes, which measures current economic activity, has also deteriorated in recent months, with weakness becoming more widespread among the components of both.

The readings suggest economic weakness is likely to continue in the near term, Ken Goldstein, labor economist at the Conference Board, said in a statement accompanying the report.The jobless numbers told the same story. The four-week average for jobless claims was 376,000, down only slightly from 376,750, the previous week. Aside from the period in the fall of 2005 after Hurricane Katrina, the four-week average for claims has risen to levels last seen in 2003 when the country was mired in a long jobless recovery after the 2001recession.Claims have been unusually volatile in recent weeks, falling by 51,000 two weeks ago after having risen by 35,000 the week before that. Analysts said that claims have been difficult to read because of trouble the government is having adjusting the figures for seasonal changes to reflect this year's unusually early Easter and because of the impact of a strike at a key parts supplier for General Motors.While the weekly unemployment claims were in line with economists' expectations, those expectations, overall, are grim.Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, said the claims average for the past two months has risen to a level similar to the start of the 2001 recession. He said he expected claims to keep rising in coming months and be above 400,000 on a weekly basis by this summer.

We can think of no good reason why claims should now level off and plenty of reasons why they should be expected to rise further, Shepherdson said.In March, the unemployment rate jumped to 5.1 percent as businesses cut 80,000 jobs, the biggest drop in payrolls in five years. Many economists believe that was the most dramatic indication to date that the country has fallen into a recession.

Meanwhile, the weakest business outlook report since 2001 from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve added to pessimism. The Philadelphia Fed regional survey of manufacturing demand and plans for capital spending showed new factory orders, shipments and employment dropping, its fifth straight reading below zero. A figure above zero indicates regional manufacturing is growing, while a number below zero indicates a decline.The index deteriorated from -17.4 in March to -24.9 this month. In the past, such streaks have indicated the economy is either in a recession or on the verge of falling into one, according to Bear Stearns economist John Ryding.Of the companies in the survey, 38 percent reported decreased activity in March, while demand for manufactured goods fell 18.8 percent.Cost increases continue to be widespread, according to the report, and more firms reported increased prices for their own manufactured goods this month. Associated Press Economics Writer Martin Crutsinger contributed to this

FAMINE

REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)

Gas prices pass $3.40 a gallon, are expected to rise higher By JOHN WILEN, AP Business Writer Thu Apr 17, 3:27 PM ET

NEW YORK - Retail gas prices pushed past a record high $3.40 a gallon Thursday, fulfilling expectations that they'll keep climbing toward $4 as the summer driving season approaches. Oil prices, meanwhile, fell slightly after setting yet another record high overnight. Analysts said investors were locking in gains from crude's ongoing rally.At the pump, the average national price of a gallon of unleaded gas rose 1.9 cents overnight to $3.418 a gallon, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Diesel fuel also hit a new record of $4.146 a gallon after jumping 1.7 cents overnight, the survey said.The soaring cost of both fuels is pressuring consumers, who gas up their cars and buy goods that grow more expensive because of rising transportation costs. And their plight will only worsen; many analysts expect average national gas prices to peak close to $4 a gallon later in the spring. Prices are already that high in some parts of the country, including California.With gas reaching another milestone, analysts are questioning whether consumers, who have already curtailed their driving over the past month, will cut back further in response to rising prices. They point to the trends seen last year in California; when prices soared past $3.40 a gallon in the state last November, demand plummeted by 3.7 percent.

Some analysts see California's experience as a sign that a plunge in national demand could also occur. Still, when summer arrives, demand will rise regardless of how high prices have soared.July and August will be very busy, said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J. If you've got a vacation planned to Disney World or something, you're still going to take the vacation.This expectation of higher summer demand is boosting gas prices now, but prices are also rising because refiners are switching over from winter grade gasoline to the more expensive but less polluting fuel they're required to sell in the summer. That has pulled supplies lower lately as refiners try to sell off all of their winter fuel. Short supplies of key blending components needed for summer gasoline are exacerbating the problem.Oil, meanwhile, has spiked higher on concerns about falling supplies and rising global demand, and as a weaker dollar has attracted speculative investors to crude futures. Crude rose to a new trading record of $115.54 overnight as the dollar fell to a new low against the euro, but later pulled back when the dollar strengthened.Light, sweet crude for May delivery fell 7 cents from Wednesday's close to settle at $114.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the contract's first lower close in a week.

Commodities such as oil are seen by many investors as a hedge against inflation and a weaker dollar. A falling dollar also makes oil cheaper to overseas investors. The effect tends to reverse when the U.S. currency strengthens.Crude prices have jumped more than 4 percent this week due in part to the falling dollar, but also because of supply and demand concerns in the U.S. and abroad. Domestic gasoline and crude supplies fell last week. Meanwhile, Russian oil production dropped this year for the first time in a decade, according to an International Energy Agency report. China's economy continues to grow at a breakneck pace, demanding more oil and fuel. And the Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates at least twice more this year, which will further weaken the dollar.

The combination of all these factors will push oil prices even higher in coming weeks, said James Cordier, president of Tampa, Fla., trading firms Liberty Trading Group and OptionSellers.com.I think we're going at least to $125, he said. That'll probably translate to about $3.80 (a gallon) at the pump.In other Nymex trading Thursday, May gasoline futures rose 1.88 cents to settle at a record $2.9578 a gallon after earlier rising to a trading record of $2.9749 a gallon. May heating oil futures fell 1.56 cents to settle at $3.2674 a gallon. May natural gas futures fell 5 cents to settle at $10.383 per 1,000 cubic feet.In London, Brent crude futures fell 23 cents to settle at $112.43 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.Associated Press writers Pablo Gorondi in Budapest and Gillian Wong in Singapore contributed to this report.

REVELATION 17:1-18
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.(VATICAN IN POLITICS)

Pope prays with victims of clergy sex abuse scandal By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer APR 18,08

WASHINGTON - Pope Benedict XVI prayed with tearful victims of clergy sex abuse in a chapel Thursday, an extraordinary gesture from a pontiff who has made atoning for the great shame of the U.S. church the cornerstone of his first papal trip to America.

Benedict's third day in the U.S. began with a packed open-air Mass celebrated in 10 languages at a baseball stadium, and it included a speech to Roman Catholic college and university presidents.But the real drama happened privately, in the chapel of the papal embassy between events.The Rev. Federico Lombardi, a papal spokesman, said that Benedict and Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley met with a group of five or six abuse victims for about 25 minutes, offering them encouragement and hope. The group from O'Malley's archdiocese were all adults, men and women, who had been molested when they were minors. Each spoke privately with the pope and the whole group prayed together.One of the victims, Bernie McDaid, told The Associated Press, that he shook the pope's hand, told him he was an altar boy and had been abused by a priest in the sacristy of his parish. The abuse, he told Benedict, was not only sexual but spiritual.I said, Holy Father, you need to know you have a cancer in your flock and I hope you will do something for this problem, you have to fix this, McDaid said.He looked down at the floor and back at me, like,I know what you mean. He took it in emotionally. We looked eye to eye.McDaid said the importance of the moment has not sunk in, but that he and others had waited a long time for it, and that if everyone wants change, then change will occur.

Olan Horne, another Boston-area victim who prayed and talked with Benedict, told the AP, there was an ... unscripted, unfiltered opportunity face-to-face. I believe we turned the pope's head a little in the right direction.Both men have worked with church officials in the aftermath of the crisis, including meeting with a new office established by U.S. bishops in response to the scandal.

O'Malley had invited Benedict to Boston as part of his U.S. journey, and when that didn't work out, the cardinal kept in touch with the papal nuncio, Benedict's representative in the U.S., to see if it was possible to put him in touch with victims during the visit, said the Rev. John Connolly, a special assistant to O'Malley.

The desire to do this was definitely from the Holy Father, Connolly said.The pope ultimately asked O'Malley to invite a small group of victims who were both open to meeting him and would derive a spiritual benefit, Connolly said.Well over 4,000 priests have been accused of molesting minors in the U.S. since 1950. The church has paid out more than $2 billion, much of it in just the last six years, after the case of a serial molester in Boston gained national attention and inspired many victims to step forward. Six dioceses have been forced into bankruptcy because of abuse costs.

Expected to address the problem only once during his six-day trip — at a Mass with priests in New York City on Saturday — Benedict has instead returned to the issue repeatedly, beginning in a news conference on the flight from Rome to the U.S.He has called the crisis a cause of deep shame, pledged to keep pedophiles out of the priesthood and decried the enormous pain that communities have suffered from such gravely immoral behavior by priests.On Wednesday, he told bishops the problem has sometimes been very badly handled and said it was their God-given duty to heal the wounds caused by abuse. He asked each parishioner at Mass on Thursday to do what you can to foster healing and reconciliation, and to assist those who have been hurt.But Thursday afternoon's session went a step further. Lombardi said it was believed to be the first-ever such session between a pope and abuse victims.Gary Bergeron, an outspoken abuse survivor from Boston who was not in the meeting, failed in his attempt to meet with Pope John Paul II, Benedict's predecessor, when he spent a week at the Vatican a few years ago. He called the session a long-sought-for step in the right direction.Lombardi said that O'Malley presented the pope with a notebook listing the names of sexual abuse victims from the Boston Archdiocese. There were more than 1,000, he said. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests called the meeting a positive first step on a very long road. The group, which has been fiercely critical of the church, said it hopes the meeting will lead to reform in how church leaders respond to abuse claims. The session came just hours after the pope celebrated the first public Mass of his U.S. pilgrimage. More than 45,000 people filled Nationals Park on a clear spring day as the pope led the service from an altar erected in centerfield.

In his homily, Benedict called the United States a land of opportunity and hope but decried that the nation's promise has been left unfulfilled for some. He said he detected anger and alienation, increasing violence and a growing forgetfulness of God.
Americans have always been a people of hope, the pontiff said. Your ancestors came to this country with the experience of finding new freedom and opportunity. To be sure, this promise was not experienced by all the inhabitants of this land; one thinks of the injustices endured by the native American peoples and by those brought here forcibly from Africa as slaves.Later, the pope told leaders of America's Roman Catholic colleges and universities that academic freedom has great value for the schools, but it does not justify promoting positions that violate the Catholic faith. Also Thursday, the pope met with Jewish and Muslim leaders, along with leaders of other faiths, and affirmed the church's commitment to interreligious dialogue. At 5:45 a.m., more than four hours before the Mass, it was standing-room only on Washington subways. Vendors hawked Vatican flags and souvenir buttons, but there were few takers as people hurried toward the stadium.

The Catholic faithful were excited to see Benedict. At the end of the two-hour Mass, the pope blessed the cheering crowd, some of them waving Vatican flags. Worried-looking papal bodyguards stood close and cleared a way for him as he walked out, while many worshippers tried to shake his hand or touch his robes. A number of lawmakers who support abortion rights attended the Mass, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. John Kerry, the former Democratic presidential candidate. During the 2004 campaign, several bishops questioned whether Kerry should receive Communion because of his stand on abortion. The Massachusetts Democrat who took Communion from a priest far from the papal altar. For some, the experience of Mass with Benedict was overwhelming. It made Barbara Loh of Williamsburg, Va., tear up. I've been Catholic all my life, she said. My dream has always been to see the pope.AP Religion Writers Eric Gorski and Rachel Zoll contributed to this report.

LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)

JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS

Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

Carter meets with more Hamas leaders, defends peace efforts By MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press Writer Thu Apr 17, 7:31 PM ET

CAIRO, Egypt - Jimmy Carter held another meeting with officials from the Islamic militant group Hamas on Thursday, arguing it is necessary to talk to all parties to achieve peace between the Palestinians and Israel. The former U.S. president said he urged Hamas leaders from the Gaza Strip to stop militants from firing rockets into southern Israel. The Cairo meeting came a day after Carter talked with Hamas officials in the West Bank, further angering Israelis when he embraced one of them.Making what he calls a private peace mission, Carter was scheduled to be in Syria on Friday for talks with Hamas' exiled political chief, Khaled Mashaal, and Syrian President Bashar Assad.Carter's meetings with Hamas, which Washington lists as a terrorist group, have drawn sharp criticism from Israelis, U.S. officials and some of Carter's fellow Democrats, including presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Carter again strongly defended his efforts to reach out to Hamas, which won Palestinian parliament elections in 2006.You can't have an agreement that must involve certain parties, unless you talk to those parties to conclude the agreement, he said in a speech at the American University in Cairo. You have to involve Hamas ... They have to be involved in some way.Carter said he told Hamas leaders from Gaza that they should stop rocket attacks on Israel, which have prompted deadly Israeli military assaults on the crowded Mediterranean coastal territory. Any killings of civilians is an act of terrorism, he said.He said that during his visit to Israel, the first stop on his trip, he saw rockets that had been fired by Hamas and met with people who lost loved ones.At the same time, if you live in Gaza, you know that for every Israeli killed in any kind of combat, between 30 to 40 Palestinians are killed because of the extreme military capability of Israel, Carter added.He criticized Israel's blockade of Gaza, which has left the territory short of fuel and consumer goods. He called it an atrocity.Carter's hours-long meeting with a Hamas delegation at a Cairo hotel was closed to journalists and held under heavy guard shortly after the American talked with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.The Hamas group, headed by Gaza leaders Mahmoud Zahar and Said Siyam, was not available for comments after the session with Carter.Zahar, in a commentary published in The Washington Post on Thursday, said Carter's talks with Hamas were sensible and would bring honesty and pragmatism to the Middle East while underscoring the fact that American policy has reached its dead end.

Hamas officials have touted the meetings as a recognition of their legitimacy after their 2006 election victory.Hamas opposes peace negotiations with Israel and its charter calls for the Jewish state's destruction. The group has carried out deadly suicide bombings and other attacks on Israelis that have the deaths of some 250 people.Carter lamented that very little progress has been made in the 30 years since he brokered Israel's historic peace treaty with Egypt, bringing him the Nobel Peace Prize.Israelis are suffering as well as Palestinians and they both need peace, he said.
After his stop in Syria, Carter plans to visit Saudi Arabia and Jordan before returning to Israel late Sunday. Associated Press writer Jessica Desvarieux contributed to this report.

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Hamas claims secret meetings with EU, Italy, Norway.Terror group hopes Jimmy Carter visit will encourage others to go public
April 16, 2008 8:30 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2008 WorldNetDaily

Fawzi Barhoum
JERUSALEM – Hamas previously held meetings with European Union parliament members and with delegations from France, Italy and Norway who expressed interest in supporting and possibly establishing relations with the terrorist organization, Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas' spokesman in Gaza, told WND in an interview.Barhoum said he hoped former President Jimmy Carter's meetings this week with Hamas leaders would encourage European officials to make public their purported desire to support his group.The EU has denied meeting Hamas and lists the group as a terrorist organization. Italy has expressed interest in talking to Hamas, and Norway, not an EU member, met leading Hamas officials. France also has denied meeting Hamas.Barhoum told WND that prior to Carter's visit Hamas met a delegation from the European Parliament, and they are supporting the Palestinian legitimate rights and Palestinian democracy; and they emphasized their full support for Hamas, because Hamas is the democratic choice for the Palestinians.

There was a delegation from France, the government, and from Italy and Norway and from the EU parliament and from Carter, Barhoum said, speaking from Gaza. All of these are supporting Hamas, and they have a plan to support Palestinian rights and interests.The Hamas spokesman said there were several meetings between Hamas and Europe, and they want finally to support Hamas.Barhoum called Carter a very important and serious person. We think (his) meeting with us will encourage others who are already sending messages to us.Barhoum said we in Hamas, all the time, want to meet more and more European officers, including France and Italy and Norway, in order to support Palestinian legitimate rights.

Barhoum would not name any of the EU officials he claimed met with Hamas.The Italian government also denies its officials met with Hamas. But last August, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi broke with EU official policy stating Hamas should be helped so it works for peace.Hamas exists, and it is a very complex reality that we must help so it works for peace Prodi told reporters, drawing fire from Italian Jewish groups.Last July, Italy's Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that Hamas is a significant and substantial part of the Palestinian people.France's President Nicolas Sarkozy has stated he does not support Hamas' takeover of Gaza and has opposed talks with the terrorist group. But under the previous French administration, the country supported a Russian bid to initiate dialogue with Hamas officials.It was previously reported Norway's deputy foreign minister, Raymond Johansan, last March met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniya, who was then prime minister of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, which was deposed last year.A top source in Hamas said some of the meetings with European officials took place in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.The source previously told WND he held meetings in a European country with British and French diplomats. He said the diplomats expressed an understanding with Hamas' stated policy of accepting a cease-fire with Israel for up to 10 years.

In 2006, the Maan news agency, an independent Palestinian news outlet based in Ramallah and Bethlehem, quoted Hamas sources stating the terror group held meetings with European officials and with elements associated with the U.S. Democratic Party.A Hamas source speaking to WND this week said the Democrat elements referenced by Maan were associated with Carter and with other Democrat personalities he refused to name.The 2006 Maan report also quoted a Hamas source stating his group held meetings in a European country with representatives from the British and French governments.The U.S. and Israel have been trying to isolate Hamas, which is classified by the State Department as a terrorist group. It is responsible for scores of deadly suicide bombings, and thousands of shooting attacks and rocket firings against Israeli civilian population centers.Infuriating Israeli leaders, Carter yesterday met in Cairo with Hamas' two most senior leaders in the Gaza Strip, Mahmoud al-Zahar and Saeed Seyam.The two are identified by both Israeli and Palestinian security officials as the two most senior leaders of Hamas' so-called military wing, which carries out terrorist activities from the Gaza Strip, including rocket strikes, suicide bombings, border raids, kidnappings and shooting attacks.

Al-Zahar, the chief of Hamas in Gaza, is leader of Hamas' most radical wing and is widely regarded as chief of the terror group's military wing. He served as the foreign minister in the Hamas-led Palestinian government, which was disbanded last year. Israeli officials say al-Zahar is more radical than Khaled Meshaal, Hamas' overall chief, who resides in Syria and is scheduled to meet with Carter later this week.At a rally in March last year, al-Zahar told a crowd of thousands that Hamas' short-term goal is to liberate Palestine. Our final goal, which will be achieved, is that Islam will enter every house and will spread all over the world.Seyam, who served as Hamas' interior minister, oversees Hamas' so-called Executive Force, the group's main militia. Seyam was one of the main architects of Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip last June, when the terror group expelled the U.S.-backed Fatah organization, overtaking all Fatah security compounds and reportedly seizing American weapons.According to Hamas' Barhoum, Carter first initiated a request to meet al-Zahar and Seyam.Monday, while visiting the West Bank, Carter attended a reception with Hamas leader Nasser Shaer. The reception was closed to the media, but according to participants and the Hamas leader, Carter hugged Shaer and kissed him on each cheek, the customary greeting for good friends. Many U.S. diplomats refrain from kissing Palestinian officials.He gave me a hug. We hugged each other, and it was a warm reception, Shaer told the Associated Press. Carter asked what he can do to achieve peace between the Palestinians and Israel ... and I told him the possibility for peace is high.Shaer previously served as deputy prime minister and education minister in the Hamas-led Palestinian government, which was toppled last year. He served time in Israeli prison after being charged with terrorist activities.According to Israeli security officials, Shaer functioned as a financial and communications link between cells of the Hamas organization in Gaza and in the northern West Bank city of Nablus.In a WND exclusive interview earlier this week, Ahmed Yousuf, Hamas' top political adviser in the Gaza Strip, called Carter a noble person whose planned meeting with Hamas would help the terror organization engage with the world community.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

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

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

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Abbas urges Middle East conference in Moscow by Ezzedine Said Thu Apr 17, 11:02 AM ET

MOSCOW (AFP) - Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas called on Thursday for a Middle East peace conference in Moscow as soon as possible, saying this was needed to spur talks with Israel that were moving too slowly. We want the Moscow conference to be held as soon as possible and we hope it will succeed in pushing the peace process forward, Abbas said in a lecture to Moscow university students.

Confirming that discussions were still under way on a date, Abbas said a new impetus was needed to follow up a conference last November hosted by US President George W. Bush in Annapolis, Maryland.I regret to say that there are obstacles hindering the application of what was agreed upon in Annapolis, said Abbas, whose visit was intended to lay the ground for the new conference.The negotiations are not advancing at the required pace or yielding the progress necessary for us to reach the agreed objectives by the agreed dates.Palestinian officials have mentioned June as a possible date for the conference but Russia's foreign ministry confirmed that the timing had not been finalised, Interfax news agency reported.Abbas is to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.At the Annapolis meeting, Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert formally restarted negotiations after a seven-year freeze in the peace process, aiming to conclude a comprehensive agreement by the end of 2008 -- just before Bush leaves office.But the negotiations have been weighed down, notably by violence in Gaza and Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territories.On Wednesday in Gaza three Israeli soldiers and 18 Palestinians, one a cameraman for an international news agency, were killed in clashes near the border with Israel.Abbas again called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, saying that Egypt was helping broker a deal between the parties.Russia's foreign ministry also called for a ceasefire and said it would do what it could to help.It's necessary to make every effort to bring about a calming of the situation and a complete ceasefire.

Moscow affirms its readiness to help a Palestinian-Israeli resolution and talks between the commonly recognised Palestinian leader, Mahmud Abbas, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the foreign ministry said in a statement.The United States has also been discussing the proposed conference, notably during a visit to Moscow by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last month.

Abbas is due to meet Bush next week in Washington.

Last week Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said details of the event were being worked out and that it would give a second wind to the Annapolis process.Unlike the European Union and the United States, Russia has maintained contacts with the Hamas Palestinian radical organisation, viewed as a terrorist group by the West. Putin, who was due back in Moscow on Friday after visiting Libya, is to hand over to president-elect Dmitry Medvedev on May 7. In an interview with the Russian daily Kommersant, the Palestinian president's envoy to Moscow, Faed Moustafa, said he was sure Medvedev would continue supporting the Palestinians, also through contacts with Hamas. Mahmud Abbas is sure that Russia will use its contacts with Hamas for one purpose: to restore the unity of the Palestinian people, Moustafa said.

FALSE TEACHERS,PROPHETS,DECIEVERS

MATTHEW 24:4-5,11,24-25
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25 Behold, I have told you before.

1 TIMOTHY 4:1-2
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

MARK 13:22-23
22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
23 But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.

2 TIMOTHY 3:13
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

Polygamous-sect hearing in Texas descends into farce By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer APR 18,08

SAN ANGELO, Texas - A court hearing to decide the fate of the 416 children swept up in a raid on a West Texas polygamous sect descended into farce Thursday, with hundreds of lawyers in two packed buildings shouting objections and the judge struggling to maintain order. The case — clearly one of the biggest, most convoluted child-custody hearings in U.S. history — presented an extraordinary spectacle: big-city lawyers in suits and mothers in 19th-century, pioneer-style dresses, all packed into a courtroom and a nearby auditorium connected by video.At issue was an attempt by the state of Texas to strip the parents of custody and place the children in foster homes because of evidence they were being physically and sexually abused or in imminent danger of abuse by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a renegade Mormon splinter group suspected of forcing underage girls into marriage with older men.As many feared, the proceedings turned into something of a circus — and a painfully slow one.

By evening, only three witnesses had testified, including state child welfare investigator Angie Voss, who said women may have had children when they were minors, some as young as age 13.At least five girls who are younger than 18 are now pregnant or have children, Voss said.No decisions had been made on the fate of any of the youngsters, and the hearing was to continue Friday.

Additional details on life at the ranch began to emerge as Voss testified.She said that if one of the men fell out of favor with the FLDS, his wives and children would be reassigned to other men. The children would then identify the new man as their father. Voss said that contributed to the problem of identifying children's family links and their ages.Texas District Judge Barbara Walther struggled to keep order as she faced 100 lawyers in her 80-year-old Tom Green County courtroom and several hundred more participating over a grainy video feed from an ornate City Hall auditorium two blocks away.The hearing disintegrated quickly into a barrage of shouted objections and attempts to file motions, with lawyers for the children objecting to objections made by the parents' attorneys. When the judge sustained an objection to the prolonged questioning of the state trooper, the lawyers cheered.Upon another objection about the proper admission of medical records of the children, the judge threw up her hands.I assume most of you want to make the same objection. Can I have a universal, Yes, Judge? she said.In both buildings, the hundreds of lawyers stood and responded in unison: Yes, Judge.But she added to the chaos as well.Walther refused to put medical records and other evidence in electronic form, which could be e-mailed among the lawyers, because it contained personal information. A courier had to run from the courthouse to the auditorium delivering one document at a time.

We're going to handle this the best we can, one client at a time, Walther said.Little evidence had been admitted; the first attempt resulted in an hourlong recess while all the lawyers examined it. The rest of the morning was spent in arguments about whether to admit the medical records of three girls, two 17-year-olds and one 18-year-old.Department of Public Safety Sgt. Danny Crawford testified to DPS's discovery of a church bishop's records taken from a safe at the ranch that listed about 38 families, some of them polygamous and some that included wives 16 or 17 years old. But under repeated cross-examination, Crawford acknowledged the records contained no evidence of sexual abuse. The sect came to West Texas in 2003, relocating some members from the church's traditional home along the Utah-Arizona state line. Its prophet and spiritual leader, Warren Jeffs, is in prison for forcing an underage girl into marriage in Utah. Voss testified that through their interviews with girls at the ranch, investigators believed there was a pattern of underage girls given in marriage to older men. Voss said that if the prophet told the girl to marry or to lie the girl would do as instructed. If the prophet told her to lie she would because the prophet received all his messages from the Heavenly Father, Voss said. State officials asked the judge for permission to conduct genetic testing on the children and adults because of difficulty sorting out the sect's tangled family relationships and matching youngsters with their parents. The judge did not immediately rule. Amid the shouting and chaos among the lawyers, who came from around Texas to represent the children and parents free of charge, dozens of mothers sat timidly in their long cotton dresses, long underwear even in the spring heat, and braided upswept hair. In the satellite courtroom, hundreds of people strained to see and hear a large projector set up on the auditorium's stage. But the feed was blurry and barely audible.

I'm not in a position to advocate for anything, complained Susan Hays, the appointed attorney for a 2-year-old sect member. Outside, where TV satellite trucks lined the street in front of the courthouse's columned facade, a man who said he was an FLDS father waved a photo of himself surrounded by his five children, ranging from a baby to a child of about 9. Look, look, look, the father said. These children are all smiling, we're happy.Walther signed an emergency order nearly two weeks ago giving the state custody of the children after a 16-year-old girl called an abuse hot line claiming her husband, a 50-year-old member of the sect, beat and raped her. The girl has yet to be identified. Authorities raided their compound April 3 in the nearby town of Eldorado — a 1,700-acre ranch with a blindingly white limestone temple and log cabin-style houses — and began collecting documents and disk drives that might provide evidence of underage girls being married to adults.

The children, who are being kept in a domed coliseum in San Angelo, range in age from 6 months to 17 years. Roughly 100 of them are under 4. FLDS members deny children were abused and say the state is persecuting them for their faith. The judge must weigh the allegations of abuse and also decide whether it is in the children's best interest to be placed into mainstream society after they have been told all their lives that the outside world is hostile and immoral. If the judge gives the state permanent custody of the children, the Texas child services agency will face the enormous task of finding suitable homes. It will also have to decipher brother-sister relationships so that it can try to preserve them. Over the past two weeks, the agency has relied on volunteers to help feed the children, do their laundry and provide crafts and games for them. Gov. Rick Perry would not say how much the case is costing the state, but said: Does the state of Texas have the resources? Absolutely we do.Associated Press writer Jennifer Dobner in San Angelo, Angela K. Brown in Fort Worth, and Linda Stewart Ball in Grapevine, Texas, contributed to this report.