MIDWEST - CHINA - INDIA FLOODING

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.

EVEN THOUGH ALL THIS FLOODING IN THE MIDWEST STATES KING JESUS PUTS HIS PROMISE IN THE SKY THAT THE WORLD WOULD NEVER BE TOTALLY DESTROYED BY A FLOOD AGAIN.

ON ONE OF THE PICTURES ON CNN THAT AN I-REPORTER SENT IN THERE WAS A PICTURE OF FLOODING WITH A RAINBOW IN THE BACKROUND. GOD KEEPS HIS PROMISE AND HERE IS THE SCRIPTURE FROM THE BIBLE THAT SAYS IT.

GENESIS 9:8-17
8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
10 And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
11 And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

SEE HOW AWESOME KING JESUS THE GOD OF ISRAEL AND THE WORLD IS TO US AND HOW HE LOVES US.

MOST OF MIDWEST UNDER WATER
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MIDWEST FLOODS DRAIN RED CROSS FUNDS
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Small towns suffer big losses as rivers rise By ALLEN G. BREED, AP National Writer JUNE 19,08

OAKVILLE, Iowa - Neighbors helped neighbors push back the floodwaters seething toward tiny towns along the Mississippi River Tuesday as President Bush began his first tour of the damage. Bush was in Europe when the flooding began, but expressed deep concern. He arrived in Cedar Rapids Tuesday with FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison to begin examining the damage, and also planned to visit Iowa City.In the state's neighbors, Illinois and Missouri, volunteers joined sandbagging operations in the frantic effort to contain the Mississippi. Forecasters predicted near-record crests from Quincy, Ill., to Winfield, Mo.There's one thing about Midwesterners, said Don Giltner, mayor of Louisiana, Mo., a picturesque river town north of St. Louis where 40 square blocks were under water Wednesday, three days before the Mississippi's expected crest. We're resilient as hell. We're all worn out. We've put in a lot of long days.Storms and flooding across six states this month have killed 24 people, injured 148 and caused more than $1.5 billion in estimated damage in Iowa alone — a figure that's likely to increase as river levels climb in Missouri and Illinois.

Even before the Iowa River used the town of Oakville as a shortcut to the Mississippi, there wasn't much here: a post office, a convenience store, a tavern and a little restaurant.The largest employer was a pork-and-grain producer called TriOak Foods. The company's towering grain elevator was the tallest structure for miles around.Then the floodwaters that soaked Des Moines and Iowa City began inundating the region's small communities — most with skylines that consist only of a water tower and maybe a couple of church steeples.As the rivers rise, these modest towns survive because neighbors look after each other, and the people reinforcing the levees are business owners, farmers and fellow church members who have lived there for years.My house is past help. So we're trying to save everybody else's, said Bethany Frank as she helped fill sandbags in a church parking lot in Oakville. Her home on the outskirts of town was flooded up to the roof.Federal officials predicted as many as 30 more levees could overflow this week, leaving industrial and agricultural areas vulnerable but sparing major residential centers. So far this week, 20 levees have overflowed.At least 10 have been topped in Illinois and Missouri in recent days, including two south of tiny Gulfport, Ill., that threatened to swamp 30,000 acres of farmland near the evacuated town of Meyer, Ill.A 280-mile stretch of the Mississippi River between Fulton, Ill., and Winfield, Mo., is expected to remain closed for at least 10 more days because of flooding. As many as 10 tows — each with as many as 15 barges — were believed stuck on the upper Mississippi River.Residents in and around Winfield were urged to evacuate their homes after another levee breach Wednesday night.

We are urging, my God, people to get out of homes and businesses east of Highway 79, said Cpl. Andy Binder with the Lincoln County Sheriff's Department. Get out and get to higher ground.Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt sent 600 members of the National Guard to the northeastern part of the state, plus 100 more to the St. Louis area to help towns farther downstream. In Illinois, 1,100 Illinois National Guard troops have been sent to help flooded communities.

My property is right on this street. I've got a lot to lose, said Tony Dye, whose home in Canton, Mo., stands beneath the levee and well below the river's expected crest Thursday at nearly 14 feet above flood stage.The levee protecting Canton appeared to be holding Thursday morning after floodwaters dropped dramatically overnight. Forecasters had predicted a flood stage of 27.7 feet — just below the record height — but before sunrise water levels had dropped well below the top of sandbag walls built by volunteers atop the levee. The river at Hannibal, Mo., the hometown of Mark Twain, is expected to crest Friday at or near the 31.8-foot high-water mark of 1993 — the second so-called 500-year flood in 15 years. Parts of town are under several feet of water, though government buyouts after the 1993 flood left only a few scattered homes and businesses in the flood plain. Downtown, though, is protected by a levee built to withstand a crest of 34 feet. Levee breaches to the north eased pressure on some levees downstream. The river level dropped more than 3 feet in Canton and more than 2 feet in Quincy, Ill., and Hannibal, Mo., on Thursday after a levee breach at Meyer, Ill. However, the National Weather Service predicts all three towns will still see crests on Friday that are just short of record levels reached in 1993. In Iowa, parts of downtown Burlington remained flooded Wednesday, but sandbagging efforts had stopped and officials said they were confident levees would hold. The Great River Bridge at Burlington was still closed because of high water. In Cedar Rapids, officials allowed more people into damaged homes and businesses. Residents were being urged to conserve water because the water system had only half its normal supply. Outside the population hubs, some fear entire communities may be lost forever, possibly wiping off the map names such as Columbus Junction, Fredonia, Palo and New Hartford. About 70 percent of Iowa towns have populations of less than 1,000. A little more than half of those places have fewer than 500 inhabitants.

Oakville sits at the bottom of a hairpin turn the Iowa River makes on its course to the Mississippi. When it became clear the levee would fail, trucking company owners Trina and Ward Gabeline scrambled to help friends save whatever they could. They gathered about three dozen truck trailers and dropped them off at houses so families could load them with furniture and heirlooms. Then the company retrieved them and carried the cargo to higher ground. We didn't do it expecting to get paid, Trina Gabeline said, her eyes bloodshot from crying. We did it to help the people. Because these things that are in these trailers, that's the only thing these people have left right now.Meanwhile, Gabeline's three brothers helped shore up levees. One was filling trucks with sand, another hauled the sand to bagging stations and a third used an all-terrain vehicle to take finished sandbags to the flood walls. The day of the flood, local excavating company owner Jon Fye braved the strong currents to rescue a grain elevator worker who became trapped at the TriOak plant. When river levels had stabilized, he went back with Gabeline to inspect the damage. Fye steered the small boat gingerly around submerged cars and past a picturesque Victorian house where an American flag hung limply from the porch into muddy waters that reeked of diesel fuel and hog waste. Gabeline stared at house after house flooded to the eaves and ticked off the names of the families who had lived there: Hayes, Yotters, Kronfeldts, Beedings, Reids, Browns. There's numerous Kuntzes and Lanzes along here.Fye said people in many small towns have already learned to live without comforts city folks take for granted. The small town suffers with no grocery stores anymore, hardly any gas stations, said Fye, who lives in the even smaller nearby town of Sperry. Fye said wealthier farmers should bounce back from the disaster fairly quickly. But for many friends and neighbors already living on the edge, the floods could spell doom. For some it's a bad year, a terrible year, he said as he cleared corn stalks from the propeller of his boat. But for some, it's the end. Associated Press writers Maria Sudekum Fisher in Gulfport, Ill.; Geoff Mulvihill in Burlington, Iowa; Henry C. Jackson in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Jim Suhr in Meyer, Ill.; Jim Salter in Hannibal Mo.; Chris Leonard in Canton, Mo.; and Cheryl Wittenauer in St. Louis contributed to this report.

Four die in S.Africa flooding Thu Jun 19, 5:00 AM

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - At least four people have died and more than one thousand have been displaced following flooding in South Africa's eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, a local government spokesman said Thursday.We have four fatalities that have occured as a result of this. We know that about three other people are missing, Mike Mabuyakulu said on SABC radio.In addition we have got quite a very huge damage to infrastructure.Officials had been making efforts to move people out of affected areas to safety as well as providing relief, he added.

Rains kill seven, displace over two million in India Wed Jun 18, 1:34 PM ET

KOLKATA (AFP) - Flash floods triggered by two days of heavy rain in eastern India killed seven more people and displaced more than two million, officials said Wednesday. At least five deaths were reported in two districts as raging rivers collapsed thousands of huts, uprooted trees and damaged roads, Asim Sengupta, finance minister of West Bengal state, told AFP.The minister said 1.6 million people had been made homeless.Nearly a million people were cut off in the neighbouring eastern coastal state of Orissa, where two people drowned, disaster management minister Manmohan Samal said.Four rivers were overflowing in Orissa, where medical teams were being sent to affected areas and air force helicopters were due to drop food packets.In West Bengal, soldiers had been called to rescue tens of thousands of people marooned in flooded villages.

Schools and colleges in the affected districts were ordered shut to house displaced people.In neighbouring Assam, six people have drowned since Saturday, while in the remote northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh 19 people died over the weekend due to mudslides triggered by a heavy downpour.More than 350,000 people had taken shelter in government camps in Assam to escape from rising waters, the government said earlier this week, before flood waters started receding on Wednesday.Every year the monsoon causes the Brahmaputra river to flood, submerging paddy fields, washing away villages, drowning livestock and killing people in Assam, a remote state of 26million people.In 2004, at least 200 people died and more than 12 million were displaced in the floods.Weather officials have predicted more rains in the next 24 hours in West Bengal and Orissa.

FLOODS KILL 57 IN CHINA
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China rushes to fix dams, 9,000 square miles flooded By John Ruwitch Wed Jun 18, 4:23 AM ET

FENGKOU, China (Reuters) - China has posted hundreds of police and rescue officials to shore up dams threatening to burst under torrential rain that has already flooded 9,000 square miles of crops and homes. The rain and floods, concentrated in the southern industrial hub of Guangdong, have killed at least 171 people and left 52 missing since the start of the annual flood season and forecasters have warned of more downpours in coming days.More than 750 government officials and police had been sent to conduct rescue work for six reservoirs in danger of bursting in southern Guangxi region, Xinhua news agency said.Some 3,000 people had already been evacuated downstream from a reservoir with a capacity of 1.8 million cubic meters, the agency said.More than 1.66 million people have been evacuated across nine provinces and regions in southern China since major flooding started 11 days ago.Families were perched on the roofs of homes flooded up to the first-floor ceiling, enduring the latest in a series of disasters in Beijing's Olympic year after record snowstorms in January and February and the devastating May 12 earthquake.

Rain-triggered floods have toppled 134,000 houses, damaged or destroyed 2.32 million hectares (9,000 square miles) of crops and caused economic losses of 27.7 billion yuan ($4 billion).China's meteorological bureau forecast storms in western Guangdong and southern Guangxi and warned authorities to halt outdoor work and guard against damaged electric cables.Be on guard for disasters including mountain flooding, landslides and mudslides, the National Meteorological Bureau said on its website.Water levels in the swollen Xijiang and Beijiang rivers in Guangdong were subsiding slowly, but rain forecast over the next three days would provide renewed risk of flooding, Xinhua said.Heavy rains forecast for neighboring Fujian province could also cause geological disasters.

Provincial water authorities earlier reported the Pearl River Delta, a major exporting base, had suffered its greatest flooding in 50 years.Residents of Hekou, a village on the outskirts of Pearl River Delta town Sanshui, waded chest-high through streets turned into coffee-coloured canals.We carried everything upstairs -- a cabinet, the TV, the refrigerator, the motorcycle, said Wu, who sells fish from the river for a living. There's nothing else you can do.China suffers floods, droughts and other disasters across its huge landmass every year. Economists have said the cost of this year's flooding appears no greater than in previous years.The Sichuan earthquake was a natural disaster, said a resigned Zhang Shang, 59, as he rowed his family across the flood waters in Fengkou, a town of about 80,000 in Guangdong near the border with Guangxi. This is not.But analysts have warned sustained rains could reduce sugar production in Guangxi, which accounts for 60 percent of the country's crop.Rain has also been forecast for quake-hit areas of Sichuan, where officials have warned of renewed threats of epidemics as summer temperatures rise. The 7.9 magnitude quake killed more than 69,000 people and left about five million homeless. ($1=6.891 yuan)(Additional reporting by Ian Ransom in Beijing; Editing by Nick Macfie)

OBAMA CAMP OFFEND MUSLIM WOMEN
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McCain tours flood-damaged Iowa By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent JUNE 19,08

COLUMBUS JUNCTION, Iowa - Sen. John McCain has toured flood-damaged southeastern Iowa, walking past half-submerged buildings, washed-out roads and thousands of sandbags filled hurriedly in a vain attempt to hold back the water. The Republican presidential candidate said, I know I speak for all of America. We'll do everything necessary to try to rebuild the lives of residents of Columbus Junction.The town of 1,900 is at the confluence of the Cedar and Iowa Rivers, and experienced record flooding several days ago.National Guard vehicles and troops blocked access to washed-out roads in town, where the municipal water system was shut down to prevent contamination and is yet to reopen.McCain praised volunteers who helped prevent worse damage.

Bush gets firsthand look at flooded Iowa cities By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer JUNE 19,08

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Carrying the painful lessons of Hurricane Katrina, President Bush said on a tour of Midwest flooding on Thursday that he is listening to small-town concerns and understands the exhaustion of rescuers. Obviously, to the extent we can help immediately, we will help, Bush said during a briefing from local and federal officials at a cinderblock emergency operations center set up here at a local community college.Noting that several hundred federal emergency workers are fanning across Iowa, he added: That ought to help the people in the smaller communities know that somebody is there to listen to them.

Afterward, Bush was taking an aerial tour of some of the damage from flooding that has forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes across six states. On his first tour of the Midwest since heavy rains sent rivers surging over their banks, he was then also visiting Iowa City. In all, he was to be in the flood zone for less than three hours.Bush was in Europe when the severe weather hit last week, but he made a point to try to show his deep concern while overseas. His Iowa trip came just two days after he returned from abroad.Cedar Rapids, Iowa's second-largest city, has endured its worst flooding ever. The town was submerged in a dirty lake by the Cedar River, which crested almost 20 feet above flood stage. Now, though the floodwaters have receded, trash is everywhere and businesses and families are trying to determine what can be salvaged.In Iowa City, a college town about 30 miles to the southeast, the damage was more limited when the Iowa River topped its banks. At least 16 buildings at the University of Iowa were affected and hundreds of homes took on water.Across the region, heavy rains have washed out millions of acres of prime farm and grazing lands, raising the likelihood that already soaring food prices could go even higher.At the briefing, Bush, his shirtsleeves rolled up, saw before and after pictures of the town. The post-flood shots showed most buildings covered by water.The president told local officials he came just to listen to what you've got on your mind and to show that the federal government is concerned about small towns as much as it is about big cities.Looking across the room of local officials and military personnel, who have taken part in grueling search-and-rescue efforts, he said: You're exhausted and I understand that.

FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison, accompanying Bush on Air Force One, praised the great coordination between federal, state and local leaders. Bush also was accompanied by two Democratic lawmakers from Iowa, Sen. Tom Harkin and Rep. Dave Loebsack.The sluggish federal response when Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast was judged woefully inadequate and brought heavy criticism of Bush and FEMA.But Paulison said FEMA was working better this time with other partners — the Army Corps of Engineers and even Wal-Mart — to distribute supplies. He said more than 3.3 million liters of water, 200,000 ready-to-eat meals and 4,000 rolls of plastic sheeting have been distributed. The agency also is placing stocks of sandbags and other supplies in states or towns where flooding hasn't hit yet or material has not been requested, just to be ready.Another lesson learned from Katrina, he said.He said 28,000 people have registered for federal assistance. The average response time at FEMA's 24-hour call line is 12 seconds — compared to response times that sometimes took hours during Katrina, he said.Now a housing task is being formed in every state. Housing is the next big challenge.At least 24people have been killed in the recent flooding and tornadoes, the majority in Iowa. At least 35,000 people have been forced out of their homes.Paulison said Bush wanted to go to disaster sites himself to ask the state and local officials what they need, to make sure they're getting it — even to make sure that his federal team is giving him the right information. It gives him a good visual of what's going on, Paulison said. When we get back to the plane, I get 40 questions.Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumed Republican nominee for president, was also visiting Iowa Thursday in a tour separate from Bush's. His opponent, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, helped fill sandbags over the weekend in Quincy, Ill.

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).

Scientists fighting disease with climate forecasts By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer Wed Jun 18, 6:10 PM ET

WASHINGTON - A cyclone wrecks coastal Myanmar, spawning outbreaks of malaria, cholera and dengue fever. Flooding inundates Iowa, raising an array of public health concerns. As these disasters draw attention to weather hazards, which many fear could be exacerbated by climate change, scientists are working to be able to better predict health dangers as they forecast the weather.Everything is connected in our Earth system, Conrad C. Lautenbacher, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said at a panel on Changing Climate: Changing Health Patterns.The key is bringing all types of data together — health, weather, human behavior, disasters and others — it's science without borders, Lautenbacher said.He said 73 countries and more than 50 international organizations are currently participating in the Global Earth Observation System of Systems and more are expected to join.It's a full court press to observe what's going on on the Earth, he said. When it comes to health and disasters we can't afford to be wrong a lot of the time. We have got to get ahead of it.Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, noted that we have these very modern technologies that are very good at sensing atmosphere and earth surfaces, and you can put them in computers and model some of these weather events ... and we're pretty good at it right now.But imagine for a moment, that not only that we measure that stuff, that we then actively and aggressively do something about it to mitigate the effects to people, to the environment, to planets, to plants.Take a disease like cholera, Lautenbacher said, noting that research has shown that outbreaks in India vary with the temperature of the Bay of Bengal. Satellites cam measure that temperature.In addition, climate researchers are now doing forecasts of the Pacific Ocean phenomenon known as El Nino, which affects temperatures in the bay, so that might also be used to forecast cholera.

Barbara Hatcher, secretary-general of the World Federation of Public Health Associations, likened the research to the work of Dr. John Snow, the 19th century English physician who first tracked down a source of cholera in London, using a map of victims' homes and where they got their water.Lautenbacher noted that changes in vegetation and moisture can help forecast outbreaks of malaria, showing a vegetation map of Africa based on satellite data.But it isn't just weather data that must be worked into the system, he added, researchers must also use information on population changes, transportation, migration, epidemiology and social and behavioral factors.Robert W. Corell of the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment said he had been asked to investigate an outbreak of anaphylactic shock in Alaska.He traced it to stings from a type of bee that hibernates in wet soil, which had never lived there before but had moved north as the climate became milder and wetter.In another case, he said, diarrhea-causing giardia has appeared in parts or northern Norway, where moderating climate has allowed beavers — which can spread the germ — to move into territory once exclusive to reindeer.Dr. Bryan McNally of Emory University School of Medicine, suggested requiring hospitals, as part of being accredited, to set up plans to work with local weather and warning forecasters.Traditionally hospitals have sought to ride out storms, but that didn't work out well when hurricane Katrina inundated New Orleans. Having a relationship with a warning forecaster would allow a hospital to prepare for arrival of floods, hurricanes, tornadoes or whatever the local hazard is, he explained. They could work out plans in advance if they needed to evacuate, and hospitals nearby would have plans to take in the patients as well as to deal with the newly injured. Predicting the arrival of flooding should be more than just protecting property, it could include warnings about the spread of disease such as schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever, said Joshua P. Rosenthal of the National Institutes of Health. Such warnings should also include the spread of things like fuel and toxic pollutants, he said.

Factors to be considered should include land use patterns, urbanization, agriculture, poverty, economic infrastructure and wastewater treatment facilities. It's important ... that we build climate into these other types of long-term analyses rather than trying to separate it out, he said. What we do know is it's probably going to hit the most vulnerable populations the hardest: The poor, children, the elderly, those in low- and middle-income countries with weak infrastructure, degraded ecological environments, poor health-delivery systems, he said.

Palestinian PM wants truce extended to West Bank by Ezzedine Said JUNE 19,08

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad called on Israel on Thursday to halt military operations in the occupied West Bank following the coming into force of a truce in and around Gaza. All those Israeli military operations in areas under our control must cease, said Fayyad, whose government's writ has been limited to the West Bank since the Islamist Hamas movement's seizure of Gaza in June last year.The Western-backed premier said the Israeli security presence in the occupied territory undermines our efforts, the credibility of our efforts, the morale of our troops, and it undermines our credibility politically.He nonetheless welcomed the Egyptian-brokered truce in and around Gaza which Israel has said will trigger a gradual easy of its blockade of the Hamas-controlled territory from Sunday if it holds.It is a very important step as it should allow an improvement of living conditions in the Gaza Strip and an easing of the suffering of the population, Fayyad told AFP.This truce boosts our position in calling for a reopening of the crossing points into Gaza and this is very important. This truce must be given every chance to succeed, he said.The Gaza truce, which Hamas has said will last for an initial six months, does not extend to the West Bank where Israel says its military operations are essential to preventing attacks inside the Jewish state.Fayyad's government was named by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas after Hamas seized Gaza, replacing a national unity government led by senior Hamas official Ismail Haniya.Fayyad also expressed concern over the lack of progress in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian leadership that were revived to great fanfare in the United States last November after a seven-year gap.I'm especially alarmed by the fact that there has been a substantial, dramatic increase in terms of the settlement activity, he said.

In recent months, Israel has announced plans to build hundreds more homes for Jewish settlers in the West Bank.Fayyad said this could undermine chances of reaching an internationally backed two-state solution, in which a viable Palestinian state would coexist with Israel.The premier, who travels to Berlin for an international conference on Palestinian security next week, said he would issue a call for international support for his efforts to bolster the Palestinian police force and justice system in the West Bank.We are looking for help, both technical and financial, in our effort to build up our capacity in that important sphere. I view security as the most basic function that any responsible state should provide for its citizens, he said.Under the so-called roadmap peace plan drafted by the international community five years ago which Israel and the Palestinians accepted as the basis of their renewed peace efforts, Israel is supposed to freeze settlement activity while the Palestinians take steps to boost security.To that end, the Palestinians have already deployed security personnel in the city of Nablus and other formerly restive areas of the northern West Bank.

Pope prays for Middle East peace JUNE 19,08

VATICAN CITY (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI called Thursday on leaders across the Middle East to work for peace, saying that he is praying ardently for the ability to visit the Holy Land in person. In a clear reference to the fragile truce in the Gaza Strip, which began at 0300 GMT, the pope was speaking after meeting with international Roman and Eastern Catholic leaders, including representatives from the region.I am launching an appeal to national leaders so that the Middle East, and in particular the Land of Jesus, Lebanon and Iraq, can offer themselves peace and social stability, respecting fundamental human rights, including that of a genuine religious freedom, he said.I am praying ardently that I will be able to visit them in person, just as I am praying that certain signs of peace, which I welcome with great confidence, will come to full fruition, he added.Peace is the only way to tackle the serious problem of displaced persons and refugees, to put an end to the flight in particular of Christians, which so wounds the Eastern churches.The pontiff said he had followed with gratitude and relief recent developments in Lebanon.The country finally elected a president and a prime minister last month government after a long stand-off and clashes between rival factions threatened to drag the country into civil war, but remains without a government.Once again, I express the wish that Lebanon will find the courage to fulfil its vocation as an example to the Middle East and the world at large of peaceful and constructive co-existence between men, he added.

Details of Israel-Hamas truce By The Associated Press
Tue Jun 17, 7:07 PM ET

Details of a truce that Hamas says it worked out with Israel, halting rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza and Israeli reprisal raids:

• The truce takes effect at 6 a.m. Thursday (11 p.m. EDT Wednesday).

• All Gaza-Israel violence stops. After three days, Israel eases its blockade on Gaza, allowing more vital supplies in.

• A week later, Israel further eases restrictions at cargo crossings.

• In the final stage, talks are conducted about opening the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt and a prisoner exchange to free Cpl. Gilad Schalit, held by Hamas-affiliated groups for two years.

PEACE DEAL CUT BY SYRIA JUNE 17,08
By Ted Belman

While media attention has been focused on the Palestinian track where no progress has been made and no real pressure applied, serious work has been going on with Syria. You will recall that the Iraq Study Group under Baker recommended in November ’06, that the US should engage Syria and Iran about Iraq without preconditions. While Bash and Rice rejected the recommendations publicly, they went about following them.The Annapolis Conference held one year later was part of that new dialogue. Syria was induced to attend because, there was added to the agenda, under the title Comprehensive Peace, the Syrian tract and the Lebanon tract. Syria left empty handed and began plotting moves to get satisfaction. In late January, Hezbollah started challenging the Siniora government in Lebanon. This culminated in a mini civil war followed by the Doha Compromise in the last week of May, which strengthened Hezbollah and installed General Sulieman as President. He is known as a Syrian ally.

Much to my surprise, the US backed the agreement and Israel used that as an occasion to announce peace talks with Syria under the auspices of Turkey. Evidently informal talks had been going on for some time. The timing of the announcement may have had more to do with Doha than with Talanski.Just three weeks later Israel is conceding the Shebaa Farms. This can only signal a final deal with Syria is in the offing.On Sunday two French emissaries visited Damascus with the offer of Shebaa farms. The next day, Condi Rice departed from her stated mission of moving the Palestinian tract forward to go to Beirut to cement the deal. Finally the EU announced an upgrading of ties to Israel with a perfunctory nod to the peace process.

The French are hoping to have both Syrian President Assad and PM Olmert attend their Conference of Mediterranean States on July 13 at which time the two would meet. Finally, without interminable negations for the release of Goldwasser and Regev, as is the case with Shalit, we hear that the two are expected to be released within weeks.All these events are connected and suggest that a deal has been cut for he return of the Golan and final peace with Lebanon and Syria. It may be that the real reason for the lull with Hamas is to enable these events to play out. As I suggested in another article another reason for accepting the lull may be the belief that a future worse conflict can be avoided.Bush gave a telling interview in Paris a few days ago in which he said.When you go to the Middle East and you sit in my seat and listen, yes, there’s concern about the Palestinian state. But the dialogue has shifted dramatically from solve the Palestinian state and you’ve solved the problems in the Middle East to, now, solve the Iranian issue and you solve the problems in the Middle East.And so it has.

The US strategy is to first get Syria sorted away and then work on Iran with the full cooperation of the EU.If all this comes to pass as I have suggested, a peace deal will be forced on Israel, and the PA the terms of which may already have been agreed to between Israel and the US. Just today Condi Rice is interfering in negotiations between Israel and the PA by siding with the division of Jerusalem. So much for allowing the parties to negotiate final status issues.Ted Belman

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE----PRESS RELEASE----FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Moshe Feiglin Co-Founder & President Contact: Tova Abady, Media Spokesperson(917) 301-0997 (cell phone)tova@jewishisrael.org
Shmuel Sackett Co-Founder & International Director

The U.S. is Neither Best Friend Nor Honest Broker
JuNE 19, 2008...U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is at it again. Last week she scolded the Israeli government for having the audacity to authorize the construction of housing units in Jerusalem .According to Ms. Rice, Israel building homes for Jews in Jerusalem - The Eternal Capital of the Jewish People - provokes the palestinians and undermines the so-called peace process.Manhigut Yehudit officials reject the entire peace process, as no Jew has the right to give away any of our divinely-given Land of Israel . Additionally, it is clear to see that after 15 years of this so-called peace, the only things that Israel has received from it are thousands of dead Jews and the loss of the belief in the justness of our cause by many Israelis and Jews worldwide.

The United States claims to be Israel 's best friend, and it also claims to be an honest broker in the peace process. Rice's statement highlights the dichotomy between the two opposing positions that America has claimed vis-à-vis Israel . If the US was Israel 's best friend, Rice would not publicly call for Israel not to build homes in a city which even the US Congress has recognized as the Eternal Capital of Israel. Rice seemingly thus tries to fit America into its position as honest broker. However, by repeatedly demanding that Israel make concession after concession to enemies that have not lived up to any of their agreed-upon obligations throughout the entire peace process, it becomes clear that the United States is not an honest broker for peace either. Israel must wake up and realize that our destiny lies only in the hands of our Creator and ourselves.The Manhigut Yehudit website is www.jewishisrael.org

INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS
June 18, 2008 Dear Friend of Israel,

From Oct. 30 - Nov. 10, 2008, The Fellowship will host its 25th Anniversary Journey Home to Israel Tour. Participants will walk in the footsteps of the patriarchs, the apostles, and Jesus. Scripture will come alive for them as they see biblical sites they have only read about, and learn about them in the context of the history, geography, and culture of biblical Israel. They will gain new insights into the Jewish roots of the Christian faith - and their walk with God will truly never be the same.The tour offers me a wonderful opportunity to spend time with Fellowship friends like you. As we have in the past, during this tour my wife and I will share a traditional Jewish Sabbath meal with participants, and I will teach on the Jewish history and biblical themes we have encountered in the course of the tour. It is a time for them to learn how Jewish people celebrate the Sabbath, and to experience spiritual refreshment with other Fellowship friends!

View the itinerary for this year's Journey Home tour.

The Journey Home to Israel Tour also gives participants the chance to visit Fellowship projects. We work hard to share with our donors the lifesaving impact their generosity has on Israel and Jewish people worldwide. But nothing makes a greater impression than firsthand experience. When you have served food to a hungry person at a Fellowship-sponsored soup kitchen in Jerusalem, held a baby in a Fellowship-supported daycare center, or seen the gratitude in the faces of new immigrants helped through our On Wings of Eagles program, you view the work of The Fellowship with deeper understanding.

Rabbi Eckstein at the Western Wall with the 2007 tour members
Mount of Beatitudes.Young girls at Migdal Ohr with Rabbi Grossman

This year's tour also offers a new opportunity to learn from God's word. During the optional three-day tour extension, I will teach from Scripture at the actual sites where biblical events occurred. These teaching segments will be filmed, and may be included in our nationally-broadcast Journey to Zion television series! It's a one-of-a-kind opportunity, and another reason that The Fellowship's tour offers participants an experience they could have nowhere else.

See the schedule for the Bible Teaching Tour Extension.

Summer is just beginning, and October 30 may seem a long way away. But a trip to Israel requires preparation. The deadline for registration for the Journey Home to Israel Tour is September 15, less than 90 days from now. If you're planning to join us you'll need time to make sure your passport is in order, to secure time off work, and make any other necessary arrangements. Because of this, and since spaces on the tour are filling up quickly, I strongly urge you to register very soon.

Maybe you've never been to Israel and have been waiting for the right time to visit. Or maybe you're a seasoned traveler who thinks he has seen all the Holy Land has to offer. Either way, I can promise you that The Fellowship's 25th Anniversary Journey Home to Israel Tour offers a totally unique and unforgettable experience, one you will always hold in your heart.

Thank you, my friends, for your continued support of our work. I hope to see you this fall in the Holy Land, as we journey home together.

With prayers for shalom, peace,
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein President IFCJ

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).

#19 THE UK HAS RATIFIED THE LISBON TREATY.

UK ratifies Lisbon Treaty ahead of EU summit
PHILIPPA RUNNER Today JUNE 19,08 @ 09:24 CET

The British parliament has ratified the Lisbon Treaty amid unruly protests, with the country's queen set to approve the document on Thursday (19 June) morning, in time for it to become UK law before the EU summit opens in Brussels.The British upper chamber, the House of Lords, on Wednesday evening voted down by 277 votes to 184 a Conservative Party proposal to delay ratification until October in view of the Irish No referendum last week.The bill is set to become British law this morning (Photo: Deryc Sands)

With the queen set to approve the so-called EU Amendment Bill by pronouncing the Norman French formula La Reine le veult over the document today, the treaty will become British law around 10:00 local time, ahead of the EU meeting this afternoon. Another endorsement of the treaty proves that it is still a living document, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said. The treaty of Lisbon has now been approved by 19 member states.The Lords' vote saw four protesters forcefully ejected from the public gallery after shouting slogans such as It's a democracy and The Irish voted No. A recent YouGov poll showed just 14 percent support for ratification in the UK.Conservative eurosceptic peers and MPs also laid into the treaty during the day's debates in the lower and upper houses.This is not a treaty that Britain wanted or needed, Conservative Party leader David Cameron said, the BBC reports. It's a treaty you were so ashamed of you had to sign it in a room all on your own, he added, in reference to prime minister Gordon Brown's notorious late arrival at the treaty signing ceremony in Lisbon last year.

Just as we have respect for the Irish, we should have respect for the other countries that are processing the treaty and ratifying the treaty as well, Mr Brown said. British foreign minister David Miliband warned the UK would be in limbo in Europe if ratification stopped. Two legal challenges remain to the treaty, with Conservative MP Bill Cash calling on the High Court to rule whether the treaty is incapable of ratification, and millionaire Stuart Wheeler awaiting a High Court decision on whether Britain should have called a referendum.

Ireland to get until October to find solution to EU treaty impasse RENATA GOLDIROVA Today JUNE 19 @ 13:15 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Irish prime minister Brian Cowen is set to win four months reprieve from EU leaders later today in order to work out how to react to Ireland's No to the Lisbon Treaty

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has already thrown his weight behind the idea. I will fully endorse it, he said after speaking to Mr Cowen ahead of the EU leaders's summit. Mr Barroso (r) said opening the institutional part of the Lisbon Treaty would be extremely difficult (Photo: © European Communities)

Mr Barroso said the October summit under the French EU presidency - which will kick in next month - is the proper time to re-visit the thorny topic. In addition, he once again said that ratification of the new EU treaty should continue.The decision of the Irish people must be respected, the commission president said referring to the shock No vote one week ago. But he added that the right of other member states to reach their own position on the treaty should also be respected.Over dinner with his counterparts from the 26 other member states this evening, Mr Cowen is to present his government's detailed analysis of the situation that led to the rejection of the treaty. But he stressed that it is far too early to put forward proposals I fully accept we will be working intensively to find what ways forward could be available to Ireland.However, one potential exit strategy currently being floated – to maintain one commissioner for each member state in the future – was shot down by Mr Barroso.He said it would be extremely difficult to achieve any change of the Lisbon Treaty.Under the Lisbon Treaty, the number of commissioners would be reduced to 18 in 2014 with equal rotation between member states for the commissioner-less periods.The potential loss of an Irish commissioner featured in Ireland's debate before the treaty referendum.

MEPs in passionate war of words over Irish No
LUCIA KUBOSOVA 18.06.2008 @ 17:44 CET

EUOBSERVER / STRASBOURG - Supporters and opponents of the Lisbon Treaty in the European Parliament have crossed rhetorical swords in a debate over the consequences of Ireland's No to the document, with several Irish MEPs saying their country alone cannot decide for the whole bloc.After the Irish rejection featured in several diverse discussions throughout this week's plenary session in Strasbourg, the assembly held a debate dedicated exclusively to the issue on Wednesday (18 June).With all eyes on the EU leaders' summit in Brussels on Thursday, Janez Lenarcic, secretary of state for European affairs for Slovenia, currently chairing the 27-strong bloc, told MEPs that the continued ratification of the treaty looks likely to be supported by all participants at the top-level meeting. The presidency has held talks with countries which have not yet ratified the treaty, and it is quite encouraging to see that those countries are ready to continue the ratification process, said Mr Lenarcic.The same approach was advocated by the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who argued that the energy the EU had put in to drawing up its internal reform cannot go to waste.I do not think that we can rush into a premature decision about the next step. We need to take the time to find a real consensus and see what is possible for Ireland. But equally we should not take too long, said Mr Barroso.

EU nationalism?

But the idea of a possible re-run of the vote - with some deputies suggesting it should be before the June 2009 elections to the EU assembly - met with strong opposition from critics of the treaty.

You ignore the voters, you are destroying democracy, and you have shown that you will stop at nothing, said Nigel Farage, head of the UK Independence Party, accusing mainstream politicians of creating a new phenomenon he termed EU nationalism, which he went on to characterise as the most dangerous political phenomenon to have swept Europe since 1945.His statement was applauded by several eurosceptic deputies, wearing green T-shirts and holding posters urging their colleagues to Respect the Irish vote.But their staged protest sparked anger, particularly among some Irish MEPs. Centre-right deputy Avril Doyle commented that support from Britons over respecting the Irish vote was rather late.How things could have been different if only our British colleagues had come to this conclusion a century ago.Brian Crowley, an Irish MEP from the rightist UEN group argued that while Ireland's vote should be respected, we must also respect the wish of other countries if they want to move forward in the EU integration. It is not up to us to dictate to anybody, he noted. Some other Irish parliamentarians criticised foreign campaigners from the No camp for distributing lies among the Irish voters, including that the Lisbon Treaty would introduce euthanasia or weaken the ban on abortion in the prevailingly Catholic country.

Pro-Europeans have lost passion

Head of the Socialists, German MEP Martin Schultz, said that the events in Ireland show that pro-Europeans have fallen behind in showing support for the EU project.Anti-Europe camp has got a soul, he said, adding that what used to be passion for Europe at the earlier stages of EU integration has now emigrated to the other camp.Mr Barroso blamed national governments for tending to treat Europe and EU institutions as convenient scapegoats for negative developments, which he said leaves fertile grounds for populist policies.But he defended Irish commissioner Charlie McCreevy who had been criticised by Mr Schulz for widely proclaiming that he had not read the Lisbon treaty.Mr Barroso said that while he viewed his colleague's comments on his lack of knowledge of Lisbon Treaty as not particularly fortunate, Mr McCreevy should not be singled out for criticism.It would not be a good way to foster a good dialogue with our Irish friends, said Mr Barroso, pointing out that the document was backed by Mr McCreevy's constituency in Ireland, where he personally went to promote it.

HERE WE GO THE EU IS STARTING TO CONTROL IMMIGRATION NOW, SETTING UP STRICT RULES. AND PEOPLE DON'T BELIEVE THE BIBLE WHEN IT SAYS THE EU WILL HAVE WORLD CONTROL AND MAKE THE LAWS OF THE WORLD.

Global outcry against EU immigration directive,Human rights advocates are disappointed with the EU's return directive on clandestine migrants (Photo: European Commission)LEIGH PHILLIPS
Today JUNE 19,08@ 09:33 CET

The European Parliament has approved stringent new laws for dealing with clandestine immigrants – a move that has come under forceful criticism from the United Nations, human rights advocates and developing countries.The parliamentary assent is the last stage in the passage of common rules on migration, making it possible to detain irregular migrants for up to 18 months.The rules, or return directive will not cover asylum-seekers, but all those who overstay their visa period will be affected.It will be up to EU member states' governments to decide whether to deport the immigrants or regularise them. But in most cases they will be given two options – to return home voluntarily or face deportation.Those who refuse to go voluntarily could be forcefully removed and banned from coming back to EU territory for five years.In addition, the same individuals could be detained for up to 18 months in some circumstances – a time-limit which exceeds that of most EU states.

A total of 367 members of the European Parliament voted in favor of the bill and 206 MEPs opposed it, while 109 members abstained.

UN convention

The United Nations however has attacked the new laws as not providing sufficient protection for the vulnerable.The UN high commissioner for human rights, Louise Arbour said at a press conference in Geneva on Wednesday (18 June) there lay in the new rules a difficulty in advancing the fundamental principles of the protection of individuals' rights who are in a very vulnerable situation, according to a report from AFP.Ms Arbour would have preferred that the EU instead ratify the UN convention on rights for migrant workers.Leading human rights NGO Amnesty International has also attacked the law, saying it was deeply disappointed with the EU.The directive does not guarantee the return of irregular migrants in safety and dignity, said the group in a statement. On the contrary, an excessive period of detention of up to 1.5 years as well as an EU-wide re-entry ban for those forcibly returned, risks lowering existing standards...and sets an extremely bad example to other regions in the world.Amnesty International is worried that there were insufficient guarantees for unaccompanied minors within the legislation, and that there was little mention of judicial oversight of the recourse to detention.Ahead of the vote, the group's secretary-general, Irene Khan said: I want to remind European governments that just because some persons do not have documents, it does not mean they do not have rights.

Directive is shameful, say third world leaders

Criticism has also come from some of the developing countries from where migrants launch their sometimes perilous journey to what they hope will be a better life in Europe.Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa on Wednesday called the directive shameful, while his Latin American counterpart, Bolivian president Evo Morales, described the new laws as draconian.The directive is not a return directive, but a directive of shamefulness, it is truly a shame what Europe has done, Mr Correa said.Writing in the UK's Guardian newspaper on Monday, Mr Morales described the directive as hypocritical, draconian and undiplomatic.In an open letter to the European Parliament issued on Wednesday, the Bolivian attacked what he called concentration camps for detainees.How can we accept without reacting for [detainees] to be concentrated in camps our compatriots and Latin American brothers without documents, of which the great majority have been working and integrating for years? he asked in the letter.On what side is the duty of humanitarian action? Where is the freedom of movement, and protection against arbitrary imprisonment?

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.

Russia launches US commercial satellites Thu Jun 19, 7:19 AM ET

MOSCOW - Russia successfully launched six U.S. communications satellites into orbit Thursday, officials said. The Kosmos-3M booster rocket blasted off from the Kapustin Yar launchpad in southern Russia carrying the satellites, owned by ORBCOMM Inc., into orbit, said Vadim Koval, a spokesman for Russia's Strategic Missile Forces, which conducted the launch.ORBCOMM said in a statement that the launch will enhance its satellite network performance, providing faster message delivery for the company's customers.It said the satellites are equipped with Automatic Identification System (AIS) payloads to receive and report transmissions from AIS-equipped ships. ORBCOMM said it intends to market this AIS data to U.S. and international coast guards and government agencies, as well as to companies whose businesses require such ship tracking and other navigational activities.

The Fort Lee, N.J.-based company said the satellites represent the first stage of ORBCOMM's multiyear satellite upgrade plan and will make ORBCOMM the only satellite company providing worldwide commercial AIS data services.

* * * * FLASH TRAFFIC: WASHINGTON UPDATE * * * *
U.S. LAUNCHING NEW SURGE, THIS TIME IN AFGHANISTAN Troops levels poised to grow by 21%.By Joel C. Rosenberg

(Washington, D.C., June 18, 2008) -- With the clock running on his presidency -- and the possibility of a new American president dramatically reducing U.S. military forces in the Middle East come next year -- President Bush is taking no chances. He seems determined to do everything he possibly can to crush al-Qaeda and the Taliban, protect the American people from future terrorist attacks, ensure the security and stability in Afghanistan, and safeguard the embattled government of President Hamid Karzai, the first democratically elected Afghan leader in history. So with the surge dramatically boosting security in Iraq, he has directed U.S. military officials to launch a new surge,this time in Afghanistan.

Over the last few weeks, I've been hearing a lot of chatter from friends and acquaintances in military units and diplomatic positions around the country and around the world who are being readied to head into Afghanistan soon. While the Pentagon is being tight-lipped about specifics, one recent report suggested as many as 7,000 American troops could be headed to the Afghan theater in the next few months. That would represent a dramatic 21% increase from current troop levels, and a stunning 65% increase from spring 2007.

Over the past year, the Pentagon has added more than 8,000 troops to U.S. forces deployed in the country. In April 2007, there were 24,310 U.S. military personnel on the ground. As of April 1, 2008, according to the Department of Defense (DOD), the United States had 33,000 military personnel deployed in Afghanistan, reports the Congressional Research Service. Of these, 25,200 were active component personnel and 7,800 were National Guard and Reserves....These totals do not include 23,000 military support personnel in Kuwait, or naval personnel aboard ships patrolling through the Persian Gulf.

I think that no matter who is elected president, they will want to be successful in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said recently.

The timing of a new allied offensive in Afghanistan is critical. In recent months, President Karzai has insisted privately to U.S. and NATO officials that more troops were needed to deal with a resurgence of terrorist activity in the country. Then on Friday, Taliban forces pulled off a daring prison break, allowing scores of incredibly dangerous militants -- including numerous would-be suicide bombers -- to escape into the mountains. Under cover of darkness, nearly all of an estimated 1,150 prisoners, including some 400 Taliban inmates, fled from the jail, two officials in the southern city of Kandahar told Reuters on condition of anonymity. The horrifying incident just underscored the need for stepped up allied operations in the country.

In London on Monday, President Bush thanked British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for agreeing to send more British troops to augment the NATO forces deployed in Afghanistan. Britain's new deployment of about 230 engineers, logistical staff and military trainers to Afghanistan will boost the number of British forces in the country to more than 8,000, most based in Helmand province in the south, reports the Associated Press. NATO is said to be planning to send upwards of 2,000 total troops soon.

Evidence of the renewed White House focus on securing and rebuilding Afghanistan could be seen in last week's trip by First Lady Laura Bush. When the Taliban were driven from power in 2001, they left Afghans to build a society from nothing. But working in partnership with the United States and other nations, the Afghan people have made amazing progress, noted the First Lady in a June 12th op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. Since the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan's infant-mortality rate has been reduced by almost 25%. Its per capita GDP has increased by 70%. In 2001, only 8% of Afghans had access to basic health care. Today, that number is 85%. In 2001, fewer than a million Afghan children were in school - all of them boys. Today, more than six million Afghan children are in school - about a third of them are girls. On my trip, I saw how these developments are offering Afghans new hope. Yet many hurdles still lie ahead - and my trip was a reminder of those, too. The new schools and roads I visited stood in the shadow of Bamiyan's sandstone cliffs - where two hollow caves are all that remains of Afghanistan's ancient Buddhas, blown up by the Taliban in 2001. Those scars in the cliffsides are a reminder of the danger lurking in the Afghan hills. It's a danger we read about on the front pages, as the Taliban and al Qaeda step up their campaign of suicide bombings and violence. And it is a danger that threatens to erase the progress that Afghans have made. This morning, President Hamid Karzai will present his government's five-year plan for securing that progress. The Afghan National Development Strategy defines how the government will work to improve education and health care, and to address the nation's overwhelming poverty and lack of basic infrastructure. The plan also addresses energy and agriculture needs. Right now, only 12% of Afghans have access to electricity. And an agricultural crisis threatens starvation. Mr. Karzai has urged farmers to grow wheat instead of poppy, so that they and their neighbors will not go hungry. The national strategy is a solid plan to address Afghanistan's many challenges, and it is clear that Afghanistan will also need solid support from its international partners. At today's conference, the United States will pledge $10.2 billion toward the nation's development efforts. This comes on top of the $5.9 billion we committed in 2006 at the donor conference in London. And it means that our commitment of humanitarian, development, and security assistance since 2001 now totals more than $26 billion.

On a related note: Senator Barack Obama -- who has been hammered for the past three weeks by Sen. John McCain for being more willing to sit down and negotiate with foreign despots like Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and North Korea's Kim Jong Il than U.S. military commanders like General Petraeus -- announced Monday that he will visit Iraq and Afghanistan before the November elections. Sen. Obama has not been to Iraq in more than two years and has not seen any of the results of the surge there for himself.

Looking for more ways to bless Israel? Here are three specific options that are particularly appropos given recent developments. Each are taken from our list of 60 Ways To Bless Israel At 60. The full list is available on our weblog at www.joshuafund.net.

2.) Stock one bomb shelter in northern Israel with food, water, a first aid kit, other emergency supplies and a secure storage locker. There are currently some 5,500 bomb shelters that need to be urgently stocked with supplies before the next war. The Joshua Fund is currently raising funds to stock 100 as soon as possible. Cost per bomb shelter: $5,500.

3.) Provide one ton of food to care for needy families in northern Israel who were hit by 4,000 rockets and missiles during the 2006 war with Hezbollah. These families are still recovering from that war. Many live on less than $500 a month. And food prices are rising in Israel, as they are around the globe. Every month, therefore, The Joshua Fund pays for about 10 tons of food to be purchased by one of our allies in Israel, distributed to the needy in the north, as well as stockpiled for the next war. Cost: $2,500 per ton.

4.) Help purchase desperately needed medical equipment such as respirators, ventilators, operating room lamps, mobile x-ray machines and the like for under-funded regional hospitals in Israel. At the request of hospital administrators, The Joshua Fund has adopted the Barzilai Medical Center in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon to help them raise funds for such equipment. Barzilai is the only hospital and trauma center serving the 500,000 Israelis living near the Gaza border and facing a nearly constant barrage of rockets, missiles and mortars. They are doing heroic work, but they do need our help. Cost: Some of this equipment is very costly, averaging between $20,000 to $80,000 each. A donation of $5,000 would help significantly towards meeting these vital needs.

The Joshua Fund will continue to do our best to keep you up-to-date on the kinds of projects we are doing, brief you on how those projects are proceeding, and let you know about the kinds of projects we are developing for the future. In no way do we want to pressure anyone to give financially. We fully believe the Lord will provide for the needs of the people we seek to serve. But if you or others wish to help, we welcome your support, and all financial gifts are tax-deductible.

To contribute to the on-going work of The Joshua Fund please make your check payable to The Joshua Fund and send to:

The Joshua Fund
18950 Base Camp Road
Monument, Colorado 80132-8009

Thanks so much and may the Lord richly bless you and your family as you bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus -- especially at this moment of Israel' 60th anniversary. Would you consider making a donation of $25, $40 or $60 a month to The Joshua Fund? Please click here to find out more, and/or to make a secure donation on-line. Thank you for reading. Please feel free to forward to others. TO BOOK JOEL FOR AN INTERVIEW please contact Beverly Rykerd at 1-888-481-0405, (719) 481-0537, or (719) 440-2746 (cell), or brykerd@ix.netcom.com.