4 SCOUTS KILLED BY TORNADO

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.

FLOODS OVERWELM CEDAR RAPIDS
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TEEN DESCRIBES TORNADO THAT KILLED 4
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Cedar Rapids struggles to endure historic flood By AMY LORENTZEN, Associated Press Writer JUNE 12,08

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - The Cedar River poured over its banks here Thursday, forcing the evacuation of more than 3,000 homes, causing a railroad bridge to collapse and leaving cars underwater on downtown streets. Officials estimated that 100 blocks were underwater in Cedar Rapids, where several days of preparation could not hold back the rain-swollen river. Rescuers had to use boats to reach many stranded residents, and people could be seen dragging suitcases up closed highway exit ramps to escape the water.We're just kind of at God's mercy right now, so hopefully people that never prayed before this, it might be a good time to start, Linn County Sheriff Don Zeller said. We're going to need a lot of prayers and people are going to need a lot of patience and understanding.About 3,200 homes were evacuated and some 8,000 residents displaced, officials estimated.Days of heavy rain across the state have sent nine rivers across Iowa at or above historic flood levels. Residents were already steeling themselves for floods before storms late Wednesday and early Thursday brought up to 5 inches of rain across west central Iowa.

We are seeing a historic hydrological event taking place with unprecedented river levels occurring, said Brian Pierce, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Davenport. We're in uncharted territory — this is an event beyond what anybody could even imagine.Gov. Chet Culver has declared 55 of the state's 99 counties as state disaster areas.No deaths or serious injuries were reported in Iowa, but one man was killed in southern Minnesota after his car plunged from a washed-out road into floodwaters. Another person was rescued from a nearby vehicle in the town of Albert Lea.In Des Moines, officials said they were urging residents to evacuate more than 200 homes north of downtown because of concerns that the Des Moines River would top a nearby levee. Some residents also were ordered to evacuate homes along rivers in Iowa City and Coralville.In Cedar Rapids, a city of about 124,000, flood waters downtown neared the top of stop signs and cars were nearly covered in water. It wasn't clear just how high the river had risen because a flood gauge was swept away by the swirling water.It's going door to door to make sure people don't need to be rescued, cause right now they can't get out on their own, said Dave Koch, a spokesman for the Cedar Rapids Fire Department. It's just too deep.

The surging river caused part of a railroad bridge and about 20 hopper cars loaded with rocks to collapse into the river. The cars had been positioned on the bridge in hopes of weighing it down against the rising water.Joe Childers, an official at a U.S. Bank in downtown Cedar Rapids, was in jeans and tennis shoes as he worked to move documents and other items upstairs or out of the building.We're trying to keep water out of as many places as we can, he said. It's pretty amazing. I don't think anyone really expected it this far.Prisoners had to be moved from the Linn County jail, including some inmates who had been transferred from the Benton County jail in Vinton because of flooding. The sheriff's office also was under water, Zeller said.We've had to move our operations out of the area and to our alternate emergency site, Zeller said. We are just trying to regroup. When you don't have all of your equipment and you don't have all your facilities to operate out of — we're at a little bit of a disadvantage ... but we're carrying on as normal.Several emergency shelters were opened, and the city had closed all but one of its bridges over the Cedar River.

I believe that this is God's way of doing things, and I've got insurance, so I'm not worried about it, said Tim Grimm, who was forced to leave his home in the city's Czech Village area. In Austin, Minn., the Cedar River was expected to crest Thursday night at 22 feet, 7 feet above flood stage. The river reached 25 feet in a 2004 flood that caused major damage in the city. Some businesses and offices were closed because of the flooding, including a Hormel Foods corporate office and its Spam Museum. The city of Austin, however, has bought many properties in the flood plain since the 2004 flood and tore structures down. The city has been very proactive and that's going to save them some problems this time, said Mike Welvaert, a weather service meteorologist. Flooding this week also caused damage across southern Wisconsin, where thunderstorms continued pounding the area on Thursday. Iowa County Emergency Management Director Ken Palzkill said his county saw an unprecedented amount of rain Thursday afternoon. He said the village of Cobb got 3 inches of rain in an hour. The weather service issued flash flood watches for southern Wisconsin with tornado watches in central and eastern areas. A tornado briefly touched down in Green Lake County about 4:40 p.m. Thursday but no injuries were reported. A funnel cloud was reported in Grant County in southwestern Wisconsin, said Chris Kuhlman, a weather service meteorologist. The weather service also said flash floods in the county closed two highways and required rescues, though a sheriff's office dispatcher did not immediately have those details. Just southeast of Grand Rapids, Mich., crews pulled the body of a motorist from a car found drifting in the swollen Thornapple River. State police said they believe the 57-year-old man called on his cell phone but didn't say what happened or where he was; they found him using global positioning equipment. People in several northern Missouri communities, meanwhile, were piling up sandbags to prepare for flooding in the Missouri River, expected to crest over the weekend, and a more significant rise in the Mississippi River expected Wednesday. Associated Press writers Michael J. Crumb and Melanie S. Welte in Des Moines contributed to this report.

Kansas tornadoes kill 2, devastate town of Chapman By JOHN HANNA, Associated Press Writer JUNE 12,08

CHAPMAN, Kan. - In a town devastated by a tornado that snapped utility poles and reduced houses and business to rubble, Brad Homman's reaction epitomized optimism: We've still got half the town intact.Homman, director of administration and emergency services for Dickinson County, will need that kind of attitude to help bring the community back.The twister tore a path of destruction six blocks wide through the town of 1,400 people about 140 miles west of Kansas City on Wednesday.Officials said one woman died, 100 homes were destroyed or heavily damaged, and 80 percent of the town had at least minor damage.Elsewhere in Kansas, tornadoes caused extensive damage at Kansas State University in Manhattan and killed one person in the tiny town of Soldier.Names of the storm's victims had not been released.But nowhere was hit as hard as Chapman, where the tornado left some survivors with vivid — and frightening — memories.About 100 people huddled in two locker rooms in the school district's gymnasium for shelter as the tornado roared over them.

Construction worker Zac Arensman shielded his 4-year-old stepdaughter with his body after abandoning his family's nearby trailer home. After the twister passed, he and others used a dislodged door as a stretcher to carry to safety a man who had been trapped in his car, one of three people authorities said had been critically injured.He was covered in blood, Arensman said of the man he helped carry. It was chaotic. That's the best way to describe it — I mean, everybody freaking out, a mess.Two of the injured were in fair condition Thursday.Outside the gym, several cars looked as if they had been tossed from the parking lot into a nearby field. The elementary and middle schools next to the gym lost part of their roofs and many of their windows and suffered other damage. The high school was in even worse shape, with dislodged cement blocks and bricks from the building strewn around it.Arensman and his wife, Katrina, eventually were bused to a shelter in a building on the county fairgrounds in Abilene, 11 miles to the west. They weren't sure when the would return home.

I would just like to see if we have a house to go back to, Katrina Arensman said.About 35 miles away at Kansas State, storm damage was estimated to exceed $20 million, according to Tom Rawson, the university's vice president for administration and finance. Thursday's classes were canceled.About 30 summer school classes will be taught at temporary locations Friday. Some classrooms in damaged buildings could be functional by Monday, said M. Duane Nellis, provost and senior vice president.About 15 homes in Manhattan were leveled and more than 30 others, as well as some businesses, were seriously damaged, according to a news release from the Riley County Police Department.Off campus, a fraternity house was heavily damaged, but all residents were safe and no injuries were reported. Back in Chapman, probation officer Dan Scanlan shared Homman's take on the disaster. He hunkered down in his bathtub as the tornado tore off part of his home's roof, blew out the windows, moved it slightly off its foundation and damaged his garage enough that he couldn't get his car out. But Scanlan considered himself lucky. People around me — houses are gone, Scanlan said. Mine's sitting there in probably the best shape of all.

BOYS SCOUTS HAILED AS HEROS
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Boy Scouts praised as heroes after twister kills 4 By JOSH FUNK, Associated Press Writer JUNE 12,08

BLENCOE, Iowa - When the howling winds finally died down, the Boy Scouts — true to their motto, Be Prepared — sprang into action.

Putting their first-aid training to use, they applied tourniquets and gauze to the injured. Some began digging victims from the rubble of a collapsed chimney. And others broke into an equipment shed, seized chainsaws and other tools, and started clearing fallen trees from a road.Dozens of the Scouts, ages 13 to 18, were hailed for their bravery and resourcefulness Thursday, the morning after a twister flattened their camp in Iowa and killed four boys.There were some real heroes at this Scout camp, Gov. Chet Culver said, adding that he believes the Scouts saved lives while they waited for paramedics to cut through the trees and reach the camp a mile into the woods.The 93 boys, all elite Scouts attending a weeklong leadership training session, had taken part in a mock emergency drill with 25 staff members just a day before the twister hit.They knew what to do, they knew where to go, and they prepared well, said Lloyd Roitstein, an executive with the Mid-America Council of the Boy Scouts of America.Killed were Aaron Eilerts, 14, of Eagle Grove, Iowa, and Josh Fennen, 13, Sam Thomsen, 13, and Ben Petrzilka, 14, all of Omaha, Neb. Roitstein said all four had taken shelter in a building that was leveled, and all of them were found near its collapsed stone chimney. The governor said the cause of death had not been determined.At least a dozen people remained hospitalized Thursday with everything from bruises to spine and head injuries.About 100 people, many clutching candles, gathered for a flag ceremony and vigil at a World War II monument in Omaha's Memorial Park on Thursday night.Some at the gathering wiped tears from their eyes and Scout leaders weaved through the crowd asking Did you have any there?

At the campsite, a pickup truck had been tossed on its side. Tree limbs rested on top of the Scouts' tents. Trees were flattened. And the one-room multipurpose building where the Scouts died was a pile of cinderblocks and chimney stones.Boy Scout officials said the campers had heard the severe weather alerts but decided not to leave because a storm was on the way.They were watching the weather and monitoring with a weather radio, listening for updates, said Deron Smith, a national spokesman for the organization. The spot they were at was the lowest spot of camp. It was deemed to be the safest place.A group of Scouts who had set out on a hike had returned to the camp before the storm hit, Smith said.On the other side of the state, 3,200 homes were evacuated from flood-stricken Cedar Rapids, where rescuers removed people with boats, officials estimated 100 blocks were under water, and a railroad bridge over the flooded Cedar River collapsed.In Albert Lea, Minn., 90 miles south of Minneapolis, a man died Thursday after his vehicle plunged from a washed-out road and was submerged in floodwaters.Also Thursday, several Kansas communities began cleaning up from tornadoes a day earlier that killed at least two people, destroyed much of the small town of Chapman, and caused extensive damage on the Kansas State University campus in Manhattan.

Meanwhile, tales of heroism emerged from the Iowa camp.

Roitstein said a group of Scouts pulled the camp ranger and his family from their destroyed home. Doug Rothgeb of Omaha said his 15-year-old son emerged from a ditch where he had taken cover, then joined other Scouts to break into the equipment shed. Fourteen-year-old Zach Jessen of Fremont, Neb., said that before the storm struck, someone spotted the rotation in the clouds and a siren sounded in the multipurpose building, which had tables and a TV in addition to a fireplace. Jessen said he and others managed to get Scouts out of their tents and indoors just before the tornado hit. According to Roitstein, the Scouts took shelter in three buildings.

Jessen said shortly afterward, the door on the multipurpose building flew open and he heard someone yelling to get under the tables. All of a sudden, the tornado came and took the building, Jessen said. It sounded like a giant freight train going right over the top of you.Ethan Hession, 13, said he crawled under a table with his friend. I just remember looking over at my friend, and all of a sudden he just says to me, Dear God, save us, he said on NBC's Today show. Ethan said the Scouts' first-aid training immediately compelled them to act. We were prepared, he said. We knew that we need to place tourniquets on wounds that were bleeding too much. We knew we need to apply pressure and gauze. We had first-aid kits, we had everything. We knew about this, we knew how to do it.He added: All of a sudden people started taking action. Like it just clicked. One of the staff members took off his shirt and put it right on the guy who was bleeding and told me to get on top of him so he would stop moving so he could apply pressure and gauze. We started digging people out of the rubble.The 1,800-acre Little Sioux Scout Ranch is in the Loess Hills in westernmost Iowa, close to the Nebraska line, about 40 miles north of Omaha. The hills rise 200 feet above the plains in what is otherwise an exceedingly flat state. While tornadoes are often associated with flat, open land, Iowa is in Tornado Alley, and forecasters said twisters are not unusual in the Loess Hills. The camp includes hiking trails through narrow valleys and over steep hills, a 15-acre lake and a rifle range. Lisa Petry, the mother of 13-year-old Boy Scout Jose Olivo, said she had a bad feeling Wednesday morning when she heard reports of possible severe weather. I thought, `Should I call the Scout camp and ask if there's severe weather, where will they go? she said. The governor would not address questions about whether the Scouts should have remained at the campground after severe weather alerts were issued. There's always lessons learned from any natural disaster, from any tragedy, Culver said. We need to focus on the victims, the families affected.The National Weather Service said it was an EF3 on the 1-to-5 Enhanced Fujita scale of tornado intensity, with an estimated wind speed of 145 mph. The twister cut a path estimated at 14 miles long. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff toured the camp and said it appeared that the Boy Scouts didn't have a chance and that the tornado came through the camp like a bowling ball.Associated Press writers Henry C. Jackson in Des Moines, Iowa; Nate Jenkins and Anna Jo Bratton in Onawa, Iowa; Sophia Tareen and Timberly Ross in Omaha, Neb., and John Hanna in Chapman, Kan., contributed to this report.

FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

WILDFIRES SWEEP THROUGH CALIFORNIA
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FIRE DESTROYS 6-GENERATION HOME
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NORTH CALIFORNIA FIREFIGHTERS STILL STRUGGLING
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Calif. wildfires threaten homes, force evacuations By JORDAN ROBERTSON, Associated Press Writer JUNE 12,08

FELTON, Calif. - Firefighters struggled to gain control of a series of wildfires burning across Northern California on Thursday, including a wind-whipped blaze that forced thousands to leave their homes. Authorities closed all roads to Paradise, a town of about 30,000 residents about 90 miles north of Sacramento. The blaze, which started around noon Wednesday, had grown to nearly 13 square miles and threatened about 1,650 structures.In the Bonny Doon area, about 10 miles northwest of Santa Cruz, a wildfire quickly grew to one square mile after it broke around 3 p.m. Wednesday. It was unclear how many structures had been damaged, fire officials said.

Evacuations were ordered for 500 residents in the heavily forested hills. Voluntary evacuations were in place for another 1,000 residents.Nearly 800 firefighters were battling the blaze, which could spread to as many as 1,500 acres, Battalion Chief Paul Van Gerwen said.Hot temperatures and tinder-dry vegetation prevailed throughout Northern California, where hundreds of firefighters were deployed on fire lines from the North Coast wine country to the Central Valley.Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Butte County late Wednesday to free up additional firefighting resources. He declared another one in Santa Cruz County early Thursday.Farther south, the state's largest wildfire had charred more than 16,000 acres in the Los Padres National Forest and was only 16 percent contained.The fire had spread east to a remote part of the Army's Fort Hunter Liggett and was moving toward the incident command post Thursday. But winds were driving the flames away from inhabited areas of the military base, said Manny Madrigal, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service.

Fort Hunter Liggett spokeswoman Helen Elrod said four families with homes near the base were evacuated, but the 5,000 military personnel who live there were not in immediate danger.Wildfires on Tuesday destroyed 32 homes in Stockton, about 50 miles south of Sacramento, and 21 homes in Palermo, about 60 miles north of the state capital.Meanwhile, a southeastern Colorado wildfire that started on a military training site doubled in size in one day. On Thursday, about 125 firefighters were fighting the fire, which scorched more than 60 square miles of remote and rugged country.

Officials believe lightning sparked the blaze. No structures are threatened.The fire has not been contained at all and low humidity, high heat and gusting winds have hampered efforts to control the fire, said Capt. Gregory Dorman of Fort Carson.In Colorado's Crowley County, prosecutors have decided not to file criminal charges against a man accused of causing an April wildfire that killed two volunteer firefighters, destroyed 22 homes and burned 14 square miles of prairie grass.District Attorney Rod Fouracre said Wednesday that the fire was an accident.The Crowley County sheriff's office, however, planned to issue a summons to Sam Martson, who allegedly violated a county ordinance by not getting permission to start a prescribed burn on April 14, Fouracre said. Violations of the ordinance are punishable by a fine of up to $1,000.In far eastern North Carolina, smoke from a more than 60-square-mile wildfire was having a serious effect on air quality hundreds of miles away. The state issued a Code Red notice forecasting unhealthy air Thursday and Friday for the Triangle area of Raleigh, Chapel Hill and Durham, as well as the Rocky Mount area. Lightning ignited the blaze June 1 on privately owned land and it has burned in and around the Pocosin Lakes Wildlife Refuge ever since. Firefighting officials say there is little they can do to extinguish the wildfire until a massive rainstorm falls. Associated Press Writers Don Thompson and Samantha Young in Sacramento, Jason Dearen in San Francisco and Martha Waggoner in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report. On the Net: Fire information at http://www.oes.ca.gov and http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_current.

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).

SALMONELLA HITS 6 MORE STATES
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CDC: Salmonella-tainted tomato illnesses reach 228 By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer JUNE 12,08

WASHINGTON - The toll from salmonella-tainted tomatoes jumped to 228 illnesses Thursday as the government learned of five dozen previously unknown cases and said it is possible the food poisoning contributed to a cancer patient's death. Six more states — Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New York, Tennessee and Vermont — reported illnesses related to the outbreak, bringing the number of affected states to 23.The Food and Drug Administration has not pinpointed the source of the outbreak. With the latest known illness striking on June 1, officials also are not sure if all the tainted tomatoes are off the market.As long as we are continuing to see new cases come on board, it is a concern that there are still contaminated tomatoes out there, said the agency's food safety chief, Dr. David Acheson.Government officials have said all week they were close to cracking the case, but maybe we were being too optimistic, Acheson acknowledged.

How much longer? That's impossible to say.

On the do-not-eat list are raw red plum, red Roma or red round tomatoes, unless they were grown in specific states or countries that the FDA has cleared because they were not harvesting when the outbreak began or were not selling their tomatoes in places where people got sick.The FDA is directing consumers to its Web site — http://www.fda.gov — for updated lists of the safe regions.Also safe are grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and tomatoes sold with the vine still attached. That is not because there is anything biologically safer about those with a vine but because the sick have assured investigators that is not the kind of tomato they ate.

What if you did not go to the store armed with a list, or the store or restaurant manager cannot assure that any plum, Roma or round tomatoes came from safe regions?If you don't know, don't take the risk, Acheson said.Cooking also kills salmonella, but the FDA is not formally advising people to cook suspect tomatoes for fear they will not get them heated thoroughly.Mexico and parts of central Florida, two chief tomato suppliers, are still on FDA's suspect list. But the agency would not say they were top suspects, and in fact, said certain parts of Mexico that were not harvesting when the outbreak began are working to be cleared.At least 25 people have been hospitalized during the outbreak, caused by a relatively rare strain of salmonella known as Saintpaul.At this point, there isn't a lot of data to suggest this is a more virulent strain, said Dr. Ian Williams of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
No deaths have been attributed to the salmonella. But the CDC for the first time Thursday acknowledged that the salmonella may have been a contributing factor in the cancer-caused death of a 67-year-old Texas man.

Israeli envoy returns without Gaza truce deal By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 12, 7:45 PM ET

BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip - An Israeli envoy engaging in Gaza cease-fire talks returned without a deal late Thursday, after another day of bloodshed in the coastal territory that included seven Palestinians being killed in a house explosion that Hamas blamed on an accident. When an explosion flattened a house in the Gaza Strip and killed seven, Hamas blamed Israel and unleashed rockets and mortar shells at southern Israel. But the militant group, which has controlled Gaza the past year, later suggested the blast was accidental.By then Israel had carried out an airstrike aimed at a Gaza rocket squad, killing a Palestinian. Two other Israeli military operations in Gaza killed five more militants.Clashes in and around Gaza are putting a strain on Egypt's effort to arrange a truce by acting as a go-between because Israel has no contacts with Hamas, which has killed more than 250 Israelis in suicide attacks and rejects the Jewish state's right to exist.Israeli officials said envoy Amos Gilad told Egyptian mediators in Cairo that Israel wants progress toward freeing a soldier captured by Hamas two years ago as well as a commit by Egypt to stop arms smuggling across its border with Gaza.The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the contacts are supposed to be private, said no agreement was reached Thursday.

With violence rising, Israeli government and security officials said Israel is willing to give Egyptian mediation about two more weeks to produce a truce, but warned that the military will be ready to invade Gaza if the effort fails.Major points of contention remain, most prominently, Israel's demand to link the truce deal to the release of the Israeli soldier who has been held captive in Gaza for two years and a Hamas demand that Israel open Gaza's border crossings.Israel blockaded Gaza a year ago after Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis, violently seized control of Gaza from security forces affiliated with the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.The closure has prevented the vast majority of Gaza's 1.4 million people from leaving and has led to widespread shortages of fuel, electricity and basic goods.After the Gaza house blew up Thursday, an Israeli army spokeswoman said the military was not operating in the area at the time. We deny any connection to this incident, Maj. Avital Leibovich said.Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said there would be an investigation of the blast and the results would be made public.The statement was taken as a Hamas acknowledgment that the blast was probably accidental, not an Israeli attack. Dozens of militants have been killed while handing explosives in recent years.The blast shook the town of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, about a mile from the Israeli border. Cars parked nearby were destroyed and covered with dust, and windows of nearby houses and shops were shattered.It was a huge explosion, said Majid Abu Samra, a neighbor.Hamas said seven people were killed, including a 4-month-old girl and a senior aide to the Hamas interior minister. Among the dead were five militants, Hamas said. The owner, Hamas area commander Ahmed Hamouda, was not home at the time of the explosion.Shortly after the explosion, Hamas said it fired a barrage of mortar shells and rockets toward southern Israel in retaliation. Israel's rescue service said a 59-year-old woman was wounded when a rocket struck a home on an Israeli communal farm.

Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman, issued an angry response, noting the rocket barrage came just a day after Israel publicly endorsed the Egyptian truce effort. It proved that Hamas is committed to violence, terror and murder, he said. Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinian militants in a clash in northern Gaza, and Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Gaza Health Ministry said another person was killed by an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza. The Israeli military said aircraft hit a rocket squad. Late Thursday, three Hamas militants were killed by Israeli artillery fire that hit northern Gaza, Hassanain said. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Four dead in blast in Hamas bomb-maker's house Thu Jun 12, 6:02 PM ET

GAZA (Reuters) - An explosion destroyed a Hamas bomb-maker's house in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing at least four people, including a baby, in what Hamas called an Israeli air strike and Israel described as an internal blast. The explosion, which also wounded about 25 people, destroyed the two-storey dwelling and damaged several other homes in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, an area from which militants frequently fire rockets into southern Israel.Hamas said an Israeli aircraft attacked the house belonging to Ahmed Hamouda, whom it described as one of its senior bomb-makers. An Israeli military spokeswoman denied any Israeli involvement.It was not related to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces). There were no IDF operations. It was an internal explosion, an Israeli military spokeswoman said in Tel Aviv.Medical workers said at least four people, including an infant, were killed. Hamouda's fate was not immediately known.The Beit Lahiya massacre was caused by an Israeli strike that targeted a Qassam leader, Hamas said in a statement, referring to its armed wing.On Wednesday, Israel's Security Cabinet decided to give Egypt more time to try to broker a ceasefire under which militants would cease rocket salvoes and Israeli forces would halt Gaza operations.The Security Cabinet said it had instructed the military to prepare for a possible broad operation in the Hamas-controlled territory should truce efforts fail.(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Adam Entous)

STORMS AFFECT FOOD PRICES
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GOOD AND BAD ECONOMIC INDICATERS
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Wall Street closes up but off highs as oil rises By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer Thu Jun 12, 6:31 PM ET

NEW YORK - Wall Street gave up a big early advance as the price of oil rose Thursday, with stocks closing moderately higher but also demonstrating how anxious investors are about inflation and the overall health of the economy. Bond prices fell sharply and yields shot higher in response to an upbeat retail sales report. Word late in the session that Yahoo Inc. called off talks of any deal with Microsoft Corp. gave investors one more reason to rein in the enthusiasm that drove the day's early rally.Advancing oil prices, which have frequently sent stocks tumbling in recent weeks, stifled the optimistic mood that followed the Commerce Department's report that retail sales rose 1 percent in May. The gain marked the biggest improvement in six months and it offered some investors hope that the government's 57 million economic stimulus checks were indeed oiling the economy. A buyout bid for Anheuser-Busch Cos. also lifted stocks.But the turnaround in oil set off renewed worries about inflation and its effect on the economy. And a management shakeup at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. drew fresh attention to troubles in the financial sector. Lehman, which earlier this week said it would report a quarterly loss of $2.8 billion, on Thursday ousted its chief financial officer and chief operating officer. Lehman fell $1.05, or 4.4 percent, to $22.70.

The Dow rose 57.81, or 0.48 percent, to 12,141.58 after being up as much as 185 points earlier. The advance came a day after the Dow fell more than 200 points because of surging oil prices.Broader stock indicators ended higher Thursday after dipping into negative territory late in the session. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.38, or 0.33 percent, to 1,339.87, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 10.34, or 0.43 percent, to 2,404.35.Bond prices fell Thursday as some investors left the safety of government debt. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its prices, soared to 4.22 percent in late trading from 4.07 percent late Wednesday. The 10-year note topped the 4.20 percent mark for the first time this year.The dollar rose against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.Light, sweet crude rose 36 cents to settle at $136.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices, which have been volatile lately, fell then bounced higher Thursday amid concerns about supply disruptions.

In corporate news, Yahoo fell $2.63, or 10.1 percent, to $23.52 after saying its efforts to restart takeover discussions with Microsoft failed. Yahoo is expected to announce it struck an agreement to hand over a piece of its online ad platform to Internet search leader Google Inc. Microsoft rose $1.12 to $28.24.

Belgian Brewer InBev SA, whose brands include Beck's and Stella Artois, offered late Wednesday to buy Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser, Bud Light and other brands for $65 per share. Anheuser-Busch rose $3.05, or 5.2 percent, to $61.40.Citigroup Inc. is closing a hedge fund co-founded by current chief executive Vikram Pandit. Pandit joined Citi have selling Old Lane Partners in July 2007. Citi rose 68 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $19.89.The day's economic numbers were enough to persuade some investors to buy after several tough sessions, including a 400-point decline Friday, when oil prices surged.I think expectations since last Friday have been grinding so low that any bit of news is taken with a huge lift, said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago. I just think that emotions are so fragile right now that it's creating these exacerbated market moves.Investors also got another signal the Federal Reserve is poised to reverse recent policy and begin raising key interest rates. In addition to comments released Wednesday afternoon with its Beige Book economic report that pointed to no rate cut at the June 24-25 meeting, Charles Plosser, the president of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, said in an interview on CNBC there is no question the Fed will have to raise rates to curb inflation before it gets out of control.While the timing of such a move cannot be predicted, Plosser said, We have to be very careful that we don't slip into a situation where we create inflation and support higher prices, but the timing of any move is still an open question.While the market typically prefers interest rate cuts to hikes, some investors seem to be hoping for an increase that would ease the threat of inflation.Oscar Gonzalez, an economist with John Hancock Financial Services, said concerns about accelerating inflation are very clear, based on surveys of professionals, consumers and producers and manufacturers, along with increasing commodity prices. The risks of inflation triggered by too low interest rates has increased dramatically since the first quarter, Gonzalez said. Obviously it's showing up in their radar screen. Advancing issues narrowly outnumbered decliners on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 4.59 billion shares, compared with 4.67 billion shares traded Wednesday. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 1.96, or 0.27 percent, to 719.84.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei 225 average closed 2.08 percent lower. Britain's FTSE 100 index closed up 1.17 percent, Germany's DAX 30 index rose 0.97 percent, and the French CAC-40 index rose 0.24 percent. Associated Press Business Writer Eileen AJ Connelly in New York contributed to this report. On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

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.(TRADE 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).

ILL GET THE RESULT ON THE LISBON TREATY TODAY SOMETIME.

Ireland holds key vote on EU treaty By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer JUNE 12,08

DUBLIN, Ireland - Irish citizens voted Thursday on whether to accept or reject the European Union's new reform treaty, and the result could damage or destroy the painstakingly negotiated pact.

The Lisbon Treaty seeks to reshape EU institutions and powers to cope with the bloc's near-doubling in size over the past four years from 15 to 27 nations with 495 million people. It contains many of the same reform plans as the EU's previous master plan — a constitution that French and Dutch voters rejected in 2005.This time, only Ireland's 3.05 million registered voters pose a serious threat to ratification, because the other 26 members are requiring approval only through their national governments.To become law, every EU member must approve. So far, 18 EU members have done so, including the parliaments of Estonia, Finland and Greece on Wednesday, but others have held back while awaiting the Irish referendum result.With Irish media not conducting any exit polling to gauge a possible outcome, Irish voters and observers throughout Europe will have to wait until Friday for the outcome.When polls closed, Irish state broadcasters RTE reported that voter turnout had failed to exceed a lackluster 45 percent nationally — an outcome that one analyst said would favor the more highly motivated No camp.University College Dublin politics professor Richard Sinnott said the Yes camp required nearly 50 percent turnout to feel confident.The government, major opposition parties and business leaders all campaigned for a Yes vote during a monthlong campaign that emphasized how much Ireland has benefited from 35 years of EU membership.As he cast his Yes vote, Prime Minister Brian Cowen said he led the campaign for ratification as best as I possibly could — and accused anti-treaty voters of spreading lies and distortions.

We've conducted a positive campaign, an honest campaign, Cowen said.

Earlier, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said ratification by all EU nations would allow the bloc to turn the institutional page and concentrate 100 percent on delivering on the expectations of Europe's peoples.Antiestablishment pressure groups from the far left and right mobilized opposition by claiming that the treaty's passage would result in Ireland losing control of everything from its business tax rates to its ban on abortion. Treaty supporters called such claims nonsense.Campaign groups on both sides drove through neighborhoods shouting through bullhorns as they urged people to vote.Many voters said they did not understand the treaty's implications well enough, and essentially were voting on whether they felt happy with Ireland's place in Europe.Ireland would still be the economic basket case of Europe without the EU. We should be doing everything we can to help EU institutions function better, because all the evidence shows they function in our interest, said a pro-treaty voter, accountant Padraig Walsh.But many complained that the EU's expansion brought unwelcome change to Ireland, particularly more than 200,000 jobseekers from Poland and Baltic nations.I feel like a foreigner in my own land. There's been too much change, too quick, said anti-treaty voter Eugene Leary, a laid-off construction worker who has turned to part-time taxi work to make ends meet. You don't mean to be a bigot or a racist. But you would like to see your country keep control of its identity, and make sure your own people are being looked after first. That's just not happening.No voters said they were annoyed that the Lisbon Treaty contains largely the same reform goals as the rejected EU constitution. I think part of being a good European is respecting the votes of the people," said Niall Kavanagh, a lawyer who said he had voted Yes to previous EU treaties but voted No this time because EU chiefs appeared to be trying to get around the votes of the French and Dutch. How many times do people have to vote No before Brussels respects the outcome? he said, noting that Ireland rejected a previous EU treaty in a 2001 referendum, only to be asked to vote again two years later. Somehow we have to create an EU where No really means no.On the Net: http://www.lisbontreaty2008.ie