1ST HURRICANE ON THE WAY

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.

BERTHA BECOMES HURRICAN #1
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8699379&ch=4226713&src=news

BERTHA PICTURE
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Bertha-Tropical-Storm/photo//080707/photos_ts/2008_07_07t063955_450x300_us_storm_bertha_hurricane//s:/nm/20080707/us_nm/storm_bertha_hurricane_dc;_ylt=AhdQ6thSwkI4rnQQkdUTjn8XIr0F

First hurricane of 2008 forms in distant Atlantic JULY 7,08

MIAMI (Reuters) - The first hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic storm season formed on Monday, hundreds of miles (km) away from the United States and the Caribbean islands, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The Miami-based center said it was still too early to determine if Bertha would hit any land as computer models showed it would eventually start curving to the northwest and then to the north, possibly taking it near Bermuda.Long-range storm track predictions are unreliable, however, and the hurricane center noted, It is still not guaranteed that Bertha will recurve.

By 4:54 a.m. EDT, Hurricane Bertha was about 845 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands of the Caribbean and was moving toward the west-northwest at 17 miles per hour.The storm's top winds had reached near 75 mph, just over the threshold at which tropical storms become hurricanes.The hurricane center said some additional strengthening was expected during the next couple of days but it did not forecast Bertha to become stronger than a minimal Category 1hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity.Energy markets have paid close attention to storms in the Atlantic since the devastating 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, during which a number of powerful hurricanes ripped through the Gulf of Mexico, toppling oil rigs and severing pipelines.None of the computer models used to predict storm tracks indicated Bertha could steer south, into the Caribbean or toward the Gulf.

Hurricane forecasters have predicted this season, which began on June 1, will be average or above average. An average season has around 10 tropical storms, of which six reach hurricane strength with winds of at least 74 mph.The record 2005 season, which included Katrina, the hurricane that swamped New Orleans and killed 1,500 people on the U.S. Gulf Coast, saw 28 storms form.Bertha formed last Thursday near the Cape Verde islands off Africa. It is unusual for storms to form so far east so early in the season, and when it does happen, it is frequently a harbinger of heightened storm activity.More information about the hurricane is available at the National Hurricane Center's Web site (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/#BERTHA).(Reporting by Michael Christie, additional reporting by Stacey Joyce, Editing by Eric Beech)

Thailand stages tsunami drill in Phuket Mon Jul 7, 6:17 AM ET

PHUKET, Thailand (AFP) - Sirens blared Monday across the resort isle of Phuket as Thailand tested its new tsunami warning system meant to prevent a repeat of the 2004 Indian Ocean tragedy. Sirens on 79 towers across Phuket and in five neighbouring provinces rang out at 9:45 am (0245 GMT), as more than 1,000 tourists, students and emergency workers joined a brief evacuation of Thailand's world-famous beaches.Ambulances from local hospitals rushed to the shore as medical teams helped mock victims in order to rehearse their response efforts should another tsunami strike.In Phuket town, 1,000 students and other residents ran to high ground at Saphan Hill park, where emergency workers practised treating them for injuries that could be sustained in a real tsunami.Air force Colonel Chitipat Phetburananin, head of the National Disaster Warning Centre in Bangkok, said the drill had been a success and praised residents for joining in the exercise.The full-scale drill today ended successfully. We are satisfied with the drill. Local people are starting to take a greater role in the planning and training, he told AFP.

Phuket and five nearby seaside provinces were hit by the deadly Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004, which killed 5,400 people in Thailand alone -- half of them foreign holidaymakers.A total of 220,000 people in a dozen countries were killed by the tsunami, which was triggered by an undersea earthquake that struck off Indonesia.Since then, Thailand has installed a high-tech warning system designed to reassure tourists and businesses that the country's beaches are safe.The coastal towers are linked to the National Disaster Warning Centre, where officials monitor reports of earthquakes while studying data from a US-donated deep-sea buoy that registers changes in the sea level.

Tornado hits Iowa park, damaging only trees JULY 7,08

SIOUX CITY, Iowa - A tornado hit a park near Sioux City, but only minor damage to some trees is reported. The tornado hit Stone State Park on the northwest side of the city just before 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Woodbury County emergency services director Gary Brown says there were no injuries and no homes were damaged.A tornado warning was issued for the area as a series of storms moved from Nebraska into Iowa. The storms also produced heavy rain, causing some street flooding in Sioux City.

Tens of thousands uprooted by floods in northeast India Sun Jul 6, 6:06 AM ET

GUWAHATI, India (AFP) - Flash floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains have washed away thousands of homes and displaced more than 50,000 people in India's northeastern state of Assam, officials said Sunday. A government spokesman said the state's eastern district of Lakhimpur was the worst hit, with an estimated 50 villages inundated by flooding that began Saturday.The situation is critical with many parts of the district under waist-deep water, Lakhimpur police chief S.A. Karim told AFP by telephone.A government bulletin said the Brahmaputra river, which flows through Tibet, India and Bangladesh before emptying in the Bay of Bengal, and its tributaries were flowing above the danger mark in at least six places.A first wave of monsoon flooding in Assam last month killed eight people and displaced 400,000 others, most of them also in Lakhimpur district.

Thousands of people are taking shelter in makeshift camps and on embankments and other raised platforms, Karim said, adding that authorities were providing them with food.The swirling waters of the 2,906-kilometre (1,816-mile) Brahmaputra river have been treacherous across the district, breaching more than a dozen embankments and sweeping away road bridges and stretches of highways.Authorities said a railway bridge was also washed away, forcing the suspension of train services in the area.Every year the monsoon causes the river -- one of Asia's longest -- to flood in Assam, a state of 26 million people.In 2004, Assam saw some of its worst floods, which killed at least 200 people and displaced almost half the state's population.

Thousands marooned by heavy rains in Bangladesh Sun Jul 6, 8:28 AM ET

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AFP) - At least 20 people have died and more than 20,000 left marooned as heavy rains over the past week triggered landslides and floods in southeast Bangladesh, an official said Sunday. Three landslides caused by torrential monsoon rains killed 10 people while six others drowned in swirling flood waters in southeastern Cox's Bazar district, said chief administrator Sajjadul Hasan.Four more people died in another landslide in the country's southeastern town of Teknaf on Sunday morning after their tin shack was buried under falling earth, he said.We have promptly taken steps to shift hundreds of people living at the slope of hills to safer places as it has become very risky due to days of incessant heavy rains, he said.Heavy rains since last week has also triggered flash floods in Cox's Bazar district, which is home to the world's largest unbroken beach.

Low-lying areas in the districts have gone under four-five feet (1.3-1.7 metres of) flood water, stranding over 20,000 people, Hasan said.Several rivers in the southeastern hill districts burst their banks and caused the floods, officials said.Bangladesh, which is criss-crossed by over 200 rivers, was hit by major floods last year, when water fed by melting glaciers in the Himalayas and heavy rains inundated more than 40 percent of the land.More than a thousand people were killed in the floods, which left millions more homeless and damage to infrastructure and property was worth over a billion dollars.

WORLD GOVERNMENT

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

DANIEL 12:4,1
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

REVELATION 13:1-3,7,8,12,16-18
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

REVELATION 17:3,7,9-10,12,18
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

G8 KICKS OFF WITH AFRICAN PLEDGE
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8699411&ch=4226714&src=news

G8 OPENS WITH ARICAN FOCUS
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8699921&ch=4226714&src=news

G-8 summit opens with spotlight on aid for Africa By MALCOLM FOSTER, Associated Press Writer JULY 7,08

RUSUTSU, Japan - Aid for Africa — and whether enough was coming from the world's major economic powers — was in the spotlight Monday as the Group of Eight nations met with seven African leaders at its annual summit. Activists have accused some G-8 countries, particularly France, Canada and Italy, of skimping on aid to Africa, and urged them to ramp up their contributions. The U.S., Japan, Britain, Germany and Russia make up the other members of the G-8.German Chancellor Angela Merkel also has urged G-8 leaders to take a tough stance on Zimbabwe in the wake of President Robert Mugabe's widely denounced election win. Mugabe was the only candidate in the presidential runoff after his opponent dropped out amid reports of state-sponsored violence.President Bush, arriving Sunday for his eighth and final Group of Eight summit, emphasized the urgency of providing aid for Africa, calling on wealthy nations to provide mosquito nets and other aid to prevent children from needlessly dying from mosquito bites.Now is the time for the comfortable nations to step up and do something about it, Bush said.

African aid was the centerpiece of the G-8 summit three years ago in Gleneagles, Scotland, where leaders pledged to increase foreign aid by $50 billion a year by 2010 — with half of that going directly to Africa — and to cancel the debt of the most heavily indebted poor nations.Collectively, the G-8 has delivered just $3 billion of the $25 billion in additional aid pledged to Africa in 2005, according to DATA, which stands for Debt, AIDS and Trade in Africa, a group founded by U2 singer Bono and music producer Bob Geldof, both of whom are active in campaigns for Africa.Germany, the U.S. and Britain were following through on commitments, while progress from Japan, France, Italy and Canada was either unclear or weak, DATA said.The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported in April that foreign aid by major donor countries slumped in 2007 as debt-relief plans tapered off and amid a global economic downturn in Japan and some other rich nations.

Japan said there has been no backtracking on the commitments made to Africa.I don't understand the criticism, said Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama. The G-8 leaders are very aware of the commitments they have made to African leaders.Soaring food prices was another key topic on the agenda at the summit, with some experts predicting that the leaders would announce a food aid package and possibly funds to invest in agricultural development in poorer nations.European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso proposed Monday spending $1.6 billion that had been set aside for European farm subsidies to support agriculture in the developing world over the next two years.Talks were expected to shift Tuesday and Wednesday to climate change as leaders will try to move forward U.N.-led talks aimed at forging a new global warming accord by the end of 2009. The negotiations have stalled because of deep disagreements over what targets to set for greenhouse gas reductions, and how much developing countries such as China and India should be required to participate.The rift over climate change widened as the head of the European Commission urged leaders of the world's wealthy nations to act first in setting targets for reducing greenhouse gases — putting President Bush in an increasingly lonely position.European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the G-8 nations must reach agreement among themselves on climate change measures and avoid taking the approach that I will do nothing unless you do it first, which he called a vicious circle.If we agree, then we are in a much better position to discuss with our Chinese and Indian partners and others, Barroso said.The U.N. and World Bank chiefs said top industrialized nations need to push forward global talks on climate change and demonstrate their commitment to help poorer nations grapple with rising food prices. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank President Robert Zoellick said rich nations need to strengthen their efforts to meet poverty reduction, education and other development goals because of instability in the world economy.

China and India say it is up to the developed world — the biggest polluters — to take the lead in the fight against climate change. Bush says no, developing nations must also sign on to make any global deal work. It was unclear whether nations would be able to agree to a goal of cutting their emissions by 50 percent by 2050. The Bush administration has not shown any enthusiasm for such a commitment without cooperation from the Chinese and Indians. A more ambitious goal of setting nearer-term targets for 2020 was considered well beyond reach. Going into a G-8 summit — after a separate summit Tuesday with India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico — China has said it is ready to discuss setting medium- and long-term goals for reducing emissions of polluting gases and is open to negotiating targets. But Beijing has not changed its view that the main responsibility still lies with developed countries. India has vowed to keep its emissions below those of developed countries, but is also looking for them to set the pace. Associated Press writers Joseph Coleman and Eric Talmadge contributed to this report. On the Web: http://www.g8summit.go.jp/eng/

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

WORLD TERRORISM

2 PETER 2:5
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

2 PETER 3:7
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men

LEVITICUS 26:16
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you( sudden) terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

ISAIAH 33:1,18-19 Woe to thee that spoilest,(destroys) and thou wast not spoiled;(destroyed) and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil,(destroy) thou shalt be spoiled;(destroyed) and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.

JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

AFGHAN CAR BOMB KILLS 40
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8700372&ch=4226714&src=news

40 dead in Indian embassy blast in Afghan capital By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer JULY 7,08

KABUL, Afghanistan - A car bomb ripped through the front wall of the Indian Embassy in central Kabul on Monday, killing 40 people in the deadliest attack in Afghanistan's capital since the fall of the Taliban, officials said. The massive explosion detonated by a suicide bomber damaged two embassy vehicles entering the compound, near where dozens of Afghan men line up every morning to apply for visas.President Hamid Karzai condemned the bombing and said it was carried out by militants trying to rupture the friendship between Afghanistan and India.The Afghan Interior Ministry hinted that the attack was carried out with help from Pakistan's intelligence service, saying that terrorists have carried out this attack in coordination and consultation with some of the active intelligence circles in the region. The Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, said Pakistan condemned the attack and terrorism in all forms.

The embassy is located on a busy, tree-lined street near Afghanistan's Interior Ministry in the city center that is protected on both ends by police checkpoints. Several nearby shops were damaged or destroyed in the blast, and smoldering ruins covered the street. The explosion rattled much of the Afghan capital.Shortly after the attack, a woman ran out of a Kabul hospital screaming, crying and hitting her face with both of her hands. Her two children, a girl named Lima and a boy named Mirwais, had been killed.Oh my God! the woman screamed. They are both dead.

Najib Nikzad, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said the blast killed 40 people. Earlier, Abdullah Fahim, the spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health, said the explosion killed at least 28 people and wounded 141, but an update of the number of injured was not immediately available. The Interior Ministry said six police officers and three embassy guards were among those killed.In Delhi, India's foreign minister said four Indians, including the military attache and a diplomat, were killed in the attack. Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said India will send a high-level delegation to Kabul in coming days.The blast also killed five Afghan security guards at the nearby Indonesian Embassy, where windows were shattered and doors and gates broken. Two diplomats were slightly wounded, Indonesia's foreign ministry said.In Washington, Gordon Johndroe, a White House national security spokesman, offered condolences to the victims.Extremists continue to show their disregard for all human life and their willingness to kill fellow Muslims as well as others, he said. The United States stands with the people of Afghanistan and India as we face this common enemy.

Afghanistan has seen a sharp rise in violence from Taliban militants in recent months. Insurgents are packing bombs with more explosives than ever, one reason why more U.S. and NATO troops were killed in June than any month since the 2001 invasion.Still, a Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, denied that the militants were behind the bombing. The Taliban tend to claim responsibility for attacks that inflict heavy tolls on international or Afghan troops, and deny responsibility for attacks that primarily kill Afghan civilians.Whenever we do a suicide attack, we confirm it, Mujahid said. The Taliban did not do this one.The 8:30 a.m. explosion was the deadliest attack in Kabul since the fall of the Taliban in 2001 and the deadliest in Afghanistan since a suicide bomber killed more than 100 people at a dog fighting competition in Kandahar province in February.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

In Delhi, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said the attack would not deter the mission from fulfilling our commitments to the government and people of Afghanistan.Afghanistan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta visited the embassy shortly after the attack, ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmed Baheen said. India and Afghanistan have a deep relationship between each other. Such attacks of the enemy will not harm our relations, Spanta told the embassy staff, according to Baheen. The Indian ambassador and his deputy were not inside the embassy at the time of the blast, Baheen said. Militants have frequently attacked Indian offices and projects around Afghanistan since launching an insurgency after the ouster of the Taliban at the end of the 2001. Many Taliban militants have roots in Pakistan, which has long had a troubled relationship with India.

When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan in the late 1990s, the Islamic militia was supported by Pakistan, India's arch-rival. Pakistan today remains wary of strengthening ties between Afghanistan and India. The United Nations' envoy to Afghanistan said that in no culture, no country, and no religion is there any excuse or justification for such acts.The total disregard for innocent lives is staggering and those behind this must be held responsible, the envoy, Kai Eide, said. The U.N. sent an e-mail to its staff advising them to stay off Kabul's roads because of reports that a second suicide car bomber was in the city. The embassy attack was the sixth suicide bombing in Kabul this year. Insurgent violence has killed more than 2,200 people — mostly militants — in Afghanistan this year, according to an Associated Press count of official figures. The embassy in the last several days had beefed up security by installing large, dirt-filled blast walls often used by military forces. While Afghanistan has seen increasing violence in recent months, Kabul has been largely spared the random bomb attacks that Taliban militants use in their fight against Afghan and international troops. In September 2006, a suicide bomber near the gates of the Interior Ministry killed 12 people and wounded 42 others. After that blast, additional guards and barriers were posted on the street. In two separate bombings Monday against police convoys in the country's south, seven officers were killed and 10 others were wounded, officials said. In Uruzgan province, a roadside bomb killed four police on patrol and wounded seven others, said provincial police chief Juma Gul Himat. In the Zhari district of Kandahar, another roadside blast killed three officers and wounded three others, said district chief Niyaz Mohammad Sarhadi. NATO's International Security Assistance Force, meanwhile, said one of its soldiers died in an attack in the south on Sunday.
Associated Press Writer Rahim Faiez 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.

Officials predict longer and stronger fire season By SUE MAJOR HOLMES, Associated Press Writer Mon Jul 7, 5:10 AM ET

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - In the past few years, Rich Nieto's work has started earlier and lasted longer. The regional fire operations director for the Southwest Coordination Center said the West's fire season used to stretch from May into August or September, starting with blazes flaring up in the Southwest's arid spring.But now fires touch off in April or earlier, and the season sometimes stretches into October, said Nieto, whose job entails allocating and moving ground-based firefighting resources.

We have to adjust accordingly, he said.

A longer fire season can't be blamed solely on climate change or drought. More and more people want out of the cities and into the country — which in the West often means a place in the forest.That raises the potential of more fires started by humans — cigarettes carelessly tossed; campfires that aren't dead; fires meant to burn weeds or garbage that instead get away.In California, drought, high temperatures and lightning storms have contributed to more than 800 square miles being burned since June 20.What we're concerned about now is California is very active at a much earlier date than it usually is, said Don Smurthwaite, a spokesman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.New Mexico's 2008 fire season has been driven partly by plentiful grass that sprang up in wet weather in 2007 but turned to tinder in this year's dry, windy spring.The season began early with successive human-caused grass fires near Hobbs, N.M., in January, February and March that burned tens of thousands of acres, led to evacuations and destroyed several homes.In addition, fire season is just beginning in the Great Basin states of Utah, Nevada, southern Idaho and eastern Oregon. As the summer moves on, the season will flow north into the Pacific Northwest as vegetation there dries out.The fire center's 2008 Wildland Fire Outlook forecasts significant fire activity in California, parts of Nevada, the northern Rocky Mountains, Texas and West Virginia.

What's at risk determines who gets what resources.

Top priority goes to fires with the potential to harm human life, Nieto said. Second, fire managers need to keep enough reserves home to tackle new fires and get them out before they grow. Lastly, they consider the possibility a fire could destroy such things as major power lines, critical communication sites, cultural resources or special habitat.The priorities sometimes prompt federal land managers to fight a smaller fire and send fewer resources to a larger one.A large fire may encompass a lot of area, but are there communities that could be endangered by that? There might not be, said Nieto, who has gone through 25 fire seasons.The U.S. Forest Service prepares for the heavy summer fire season well before it starts, hiring and training crews before it's time to suppress flames. This year, that's meant more than 20,000 seasonal firefighters nationwide.The Forest Service's 11 geographic regions help each other — crews from Montana in the Northern Rockies Region, for example, have battled fires in New Mexico and Arizona this summer. As the Southwest fire season winds down with July rains, Southwest Region firefighters prepare to head north.

That's the normal routine.

But last week, the already fiery 2008 season and a forecast for more hot, dry, windy conditions in parts of the West prompted the National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group, made up of top federal and state fire managers from various agencies, to raise the nationwide preparedness level to 5 — the highest possible. That means looking at national approaches, such as hot shot crews or aircraft, Nieto said. It might mean mobilizing the National Guard because other resources are exhausted, he said. New Mexico called on National Guard Black Hawk helicopters to drop huge water buckets on a Manzano Mountain fires and last week sent two of the helicopters to California to help with its fires. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered 200 guardsmen to report for training to augment fire lines — the first time troops there have been called to ground-based firefighting duty since 1977. Daily conference calls work out priorities for crews and equipment, and the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, state agencies and others cooperate with each other, Nieto said. The new level 5 designation was based on three criteria: major fire activity in three or more of the 11 geographic areas; a large percentage of available fire crews and resources already committed; and an expectation that the fire season is only going to get worse, Smurthwaite said. All three boxes were checked yes, he said. On the Net: National Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov/ Southwest Coordination Center: http://gacc.nifc.gov/swcc/

CALIFORNIA RESOURSES STRAINED
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8684226&ch=4226713&src=news

HOME OWNERS FIGHT FIRE TOGETHER
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8688167&ch=4226713&src=news

Weather helps crews battling California wildfires By CHRISTINA HOAG, Associated Press Writer Mon Jul 7, 4:47 AM ET

LOS ANGELES - Firefighters took advantage of cooler temperatures and higher humidity overnight to make progress containing a blaze burning through the mountains in Santa Barbara County before hotter, drier conditions return. Crews were expecting a quiet night, weatherwise, Richard Morgantini, a spokesman for Santa Barbara County, said early Monday.Moist air currents from the ocean cooled temperatures to the high 70s Sunday, helping fire crews keep the five-day-old blaze from spreading. The fire, which has been burning since Tuesday, was less than a third contained Sunday night.

We've got a window here with the humid weather that's really helping us. But we know we're in this for the long haul, said Dixie Dies, spokeswoman for the state Incident Management Team.

Temperatures are forecast to start climbing Monday and to reach the 90s by Thursday. The moist air currents are expected to dissipate, causing drier conditions, Dies said. Lightning strikes also were possible as a new weather system moves in, forecasters said.The fire, 30 percent contained Sunday night, had consumed about 15 square miles of Los Padres National Forest.Nearly 2,700 homes were in jeopardy earlier in the weekend, but by Sunday night some of the evacuation orders were lifted or downgraded to warnings.People are filtering back to their neighborhoods and they're very happy, said forest spokesman John Ahlman. Some mandatory evacuations remained in scattered mountain communities south of Highway 154 and in areas on the west end of the fire, Ahlman said. He did not have exact numbers of how many homes were affected.The fire has been blazing through 15 to 20-foot tall forest in extremely steep, rocky terrain. Crews are relying mainly on drops of flame retardant by helicopters and DC-10s to control the burning ridges and canyons, Dies said. So far, 68,000 tons have been dropped.Officials decided Sunday that the nearly 1,200 firefighters, who come from 22 states and the District of Columbia, are sufficient to combat the blaze, Dies said. They're working incredibly hard, she said.The fire still had the potential to roll through a hilly area of ranches, housing tracts and orchards between the town of Goleta and Santa Barbara.

Investigators suspect the fire, which began Tuesday, was started by humans. The U.S. Forest Service has asked for public help in determining how it was set.Sunday's cooler weather also helped firefighters advance on a two-week-old blaze that has destroyed 22 homes in Big Sur, at the northern end of the Los Padres forest.The fog held on a little bit stronger than was originally anticipated, which was great for the crews out working on the lines, said Sarah Gibson, a spokeswoman for the command post in charge of fighting the blaze.The improved weather did have some drawbacks. Fog made the takeoff of firefighting aircraft more difficult and hampered efforts to start controlled burns to clear out brush ahead of the advancing wildfire, Gibson said.The fire, which has charred 117 square miles, was 11 percent contained, a slight jump from the day before. Fire officials said crews were burning out brush between the fire's edge and Big Sur's famed restaurants and hotels and cutting more lines to halt flames creeping down from ridge tops.

The biggest challenge is whether or not the containment lines that they're building now and continuing to improve are going to hold as the fire approaches, said Rolf Larsen, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service.Wildfires have burned more than 800 square miles of land and destroyed at least 69 homes throughout California, mainly in the northern part of the state, in the past two weeks. One firefighter died of a heart attack while digging fire lines. About 1,450 fires have been contained, but more than 330 still burned out of control Sunday night. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who on Saturday visited a command post in the coastal region of Santa Barbara County, ordered 400 National Guard troops to be trained in wildfire fighting so they could help fight the state's blazes. They were to join firefighters in Mendocino County on Monday. He also urged lawmakers to adopt his budget plan for a $70 million emergency surcharge on home and business insurance policies to buy more firefighting equipment. California now has a year-round fire season and needs the money from the fee, which should cost the average homeowner about $1 a month, Schwarzenegger has said.

Associated Press writers Samantha Young in Sacramento, Christopher Weber and Robert Jablon in Los Angeles, Lisa Leff and Marcus Wohlsen in San Francisco and Amanda Fehd in Berkeley contributed to this report.

Gaza mortar fire hits Israel JULY 7,08

JERUSALEM (AFP) - A mortar round fired from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip struck southern Israel on Monday without causing any casualties or damage in what the military slammed as a new breach of a two-week-old truce. We identified that a mortar round was fired from the northern Gaza Strip. It landed south of Karni in Israeli territory, an Israeli army spokeswoman said, referring to the Karni border crossing near Gaza City.The army said on Sunday that a gunshot from Gaza had hit a farmer's tractor driving near the fenced-off border but on Monday said that further investigation had revealed that no shots were fired.There was a rock that got stuck in one of the tractor wheels, the army spokeswoman said.

Palestinian militants have fired several rockets and mortar rounds at southern Israel despite an Egyptian-brokered truce that came into effect on June 19, although violence in and around the impoverished territory has dropped substantially.Palestinian and UN officials have accused Israeli troops too of firing into the Gaza Strip since the truce came into effect, although the Israeli army has said it fired only warning shots.The Islamist Hamas movement, which seized power in Gaza in June 2007, has said its own fighters are adhering to the truce and has vowed to arrest anyone who violates it.

Israel to receive report on long-missing airman By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer Mon Jul 7, 4:21 AM ET

JERUSALEM - An Israeli negotiator was in Europe on Monday to pick up a report compiled by Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas on a long-missing Israeli airman, part of a prisoner-swap deal between the two sides, defense officials said. Negotiator Ofer Dekel is to receive the report from a U.N.-appointed German official who mediated the deal. It is supposed to detail efforts the Iranian-backed Hezbollah made to find out what happened to airman Ron Arad after his plane crashed in Lebanon in 1986.Arad was captured alive by Shiite militants and changed hands several times before disappearing without a trace two decades ago. There have been reports that Arad was transferred to Hezbollah and then to Iran, but no reliable evidence of his fate has ever surfaced.In exchange for the report on Arad, Israel is to provide information on four Iranian diplomats who disappeared in Lebanon in 1982. Iran claims they were kidnapped by Lebanese militiamen allied with Israel, who delivered them to Israeli troops. Israel has long denied holding them, and Samir Geagea, former head of the disbanded Lebanese Forces, has said militiamen killed them.Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, taking over large areas as part of a military blitz to expel Palestinian guerrillas.The exchange of reports is part of a wider deal in which Israel is to hand over to Hezbollah four Lebanese prisoners in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers. The soldiers' capture in a July 2006 cross-border raid touched off Israel's second war in Lebanon.

Hezbollah has never allowed Red Cross access to the servicemen and there has been no sign of life from them since their capture. But Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, called reports of their death speculation ... not based on anything tangible.One of the Lebanese convicts to be freed in the deal has been held in an Israeli prison nearly 30 years for his role in a 1979 attack that Israelis perceive as one of the cruelest in their history.Samir Kantar dragged a man and his 4-year-old daughter from their apartment to the beach below, and according to witness testimony, shot the man to death in front of his child, then crushed her head against a rock with his rifle butt. He also was convicted of killing a policeman. The man's wife accidentally smothered their 2-year-old daughter in an effort to keep her from crying out and disclosing their hiding place in a crawl space in the apartment.

Kantar has denied killing the older child or crushing her skull.

Israel had hoped Kantar would be a bargaining chip to wrest information from Hezbollah about Arad's fate, but recently concluded that Hezbollah has no new information about the airman. Last week, the Israeli Cabinet voted to trade Kantar for the bodies of the Israeli servicemen, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.On Sunday, Israel TV showed video of tractors beginning the process of exhuming the bodies of Hezbollah fighters that also are to be handed over as part of the deal.No firm timetable for carrying out the swap has been announced, but Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has said it would take place in mid-July.

Israel successfully tests missile interceptor: report Sun Jul 6, 3:34 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel has successfully tested a new defence system designed to intercept rockets fired from southern Lebanon and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, public radio reported on Sunday.

The Iron Dome system is expected to be fully operational within a year and will be able to intercept the military-grade Katyusha rockets used by Lebanon's Hezbollah militia and the cruder Qassam rockets favoured by Hamas.Citing Israeli security officials, public radio said the system would also be effective against mortar fire which has a much smaller window of warning.In January Prime Minister Ehud Olmert viewed a prototype of the 200-million-dollar (140-million-euro) system, which is being developed under contract by Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, an Israeli arms manufacturer.

Iron Dome is part of a multi-layered defence system aimed at protecting Israel from both short-range missiles fired by militants in Gaza or Lebanon and longer-range missiles in the arsenals of regional foes Iran and Syria.Since the outbreak of the latest Palestinian uprising in 2000 Israeli communities near the border with the Gaza Strip have come under frequent rocket and mortar attack, leaving them in a constant state of fear.The attacks have slowed since a truce between Israel and Hamas came into force on June 19, but the fragile Egyptian-brokered agreement has been tested by occasional rockets and mortar rounds fired by smaller armed groups.Israel also came under sustained attack during its 2006 war with Hezbollah, when more than 4,000 Katyusha rockets were launched at northern Israel in 34 days, sending hundreds of thousands of residents fleeing south.

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).

Paris in the EU's chair on economic policy
LUCIA KUBOSOVA JULY 7,08 Today @ 09:25 CET

France is due to make its first appearance in the EU's economic policy chair today (7 July) as EU ministers meet to tackle two issues where Paris has previously sparked controversy: the European Central Bank's interest rate moves and measures to freeze oil prices.Finance ministers from the 15 eurozone countries are meeting on Monday, followed on Tuesday by the first economic ministerial session conducted by France, which has just taken on the six-month presidency over the 27-nation European Union.The eurogoup gathering comes after last week's move by the European Central Bank (ECB) to raise interest rates by a quarter percentage point to 4.25, following a record rise of inflation in the single currency area to 4 percent in June.While that figure is double the Frankfurt-based bank's goal of keeping the bloc's inflation close to 2 percent, the eurozone has at the same time recorded a slump in economic growth, with major European exporters saying that a stronger euro will harm their businesses.Speaking at a meeting of his centre-right UMP party over the weekend, French president Nicolas Sarkozy said that while he did not regret that he had in the past voted in favour of the ECB's monetary policy being independent, he has doubts about its current policy.Without compromising everything I believe in, I have the right as president of the French Republic to wonder if it is reasonable to raise the European rates to 4.25 percent while the Americans have rates of 2.0 percent, Mr Sarkozy said, according to press reports.But although Germany and Spain also voiced concerns about the consequences of interest rate hikes for the eurozone's economy, Berlin, in particularly, remains keen to stress its continued support for the Frankfurt bank's independence.

Support has also come from Brussels.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso openly gave his support to the bank late last week while Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi - critical of the ECB in the past - has said that the bank was right to have raised rates to fight inflation.I have had a lot of positive remarks on the rate rise, ECB chief Jean Claude Trichet told a press conference in Aix-en-Provence on Sunday (6 July), adding that there is a global consensus that price stability is a necessary condition for sustained growth and job creation.

Energy prices

Just like in its attempts to raise dissent over the ECB's monetary policy, France also appears isolated in its approach to tackling the rising energy prices.After a summit of EU leaders in June, President Sarkozy failed to get strong support for his proposal to introduce VAT caps to freeze oil prices.Although the French presidency is expected to push forward with the idea, it is facing opposition both from the European Commission and most member states, including Germany. German finance minister Peer Steinbruck has said that the key response to the current situation is energy efficiency - one of the goals of the EU's policy package on energy security and climate change. Governments should avoid any distortional fiscal measures because the prices have to contribute to these adjustments, which are necessary. I think we shouldn't prevent these adjustments, he said in an interview with the Financial Times on Monday.

Sarkozy urges Polish president not to block Lisbon treaty
ELITSA VUCHEVA JULY 7,08 Today @ 09:31 CET

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Saturday pressed his Polish counterpart, Lech Kaczynski, to sign the EU's Lisbon Treaty despite Ireland's rejection of the document, which Mr Kaczynski has indicated puts further ratification into question.President Kaczynski is an honest man and a head of state. He signed [the treaty] in Brussels, he must ratify it in Warsaw. It's a moral question, said the French president, speaking at a meeting of the centre-right UMP party near Paris.Mr Kaczynski last week said that following the Irish No vote, The treaty question is pointless, before softening his position and stating that Poland would not oppose the ratification process, provided that the Irish change their mind, [but] not under pressure.I have confidence in the Polish president. We will go on, we will find solutions ... and get to a point where we convince the Czechs to ratify as well, Mr Sarkozy said at the UMP meeting, according to French news agency AFP.Meanwhile, French daily Le Figaro reported that Mr Sarkozy spoke by phone with his Polish counterpart on Friday and, according to the French president's office, Mr Kaczynski said his country would not be an obstacle to ratifying the treaty.

In Poland, both houses of parliament completed ratification of the Lisbon Treaty in April, but the president needs to sign off on the document for the process to be finalised.

The Czech Republic is another country that has shown reluctance to continue ratification of the Lisbon Treaty after the Irish No. It is also awaiting a decision by its Constitutional Court on whether the treaty contradicts the Czech constitution or not.Additionally, German President Horst Koehler last week also refused to sign the document until the German Constitutional Court rules on two legal challenges by right-wing MP Peter Gauweiler and leftist party Die Linke, who argue the document undermines democracy and people's rights.Meanwhile, two countries – the UK and Cyprus – have pushed ahead with ratification since Irish voters rejected the document on 12 June, bringing the total number of member states to have approved it to 20.

Barroso attempts to woo Germany on nuclear energy
RENATA GOLDIROVA JULY 7,08 Today @ 09:24 CET

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has once again made the case for nuclear power, a controversial source of electricity generation in several EU member states, adding to the already heated debate in Germany on whether the country should allow a nuclear comeback.In an interview with the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag (6 July), Mr Barroso acknowledged that nuclear energy is a delicate issue in Germany.On the other hand, he said, more and more countries see in nuclear energy an at least temporary solution to stop climate change and to reduce our dependency on oil and gas.Germany's previous Green-Social-Democrat coalition government under the leadership of Gerhard Schroeder committed itself to a gradual phase-out of all 17 nuclear power plants in the country by 2021.But the commitment is now being questioned by the Christian Democrats (CDU) of Chancellor Angela Merkel, the senior partners in the coalition government with the Social Democrats.

Technology minister Annette Schavan from the CDU said that Germany needs to exit the exit resolution, referring to the phase-out. We urgently need the life-span extension - as a contribution to global climate protection and for a lasting energy supply, she told Bild am Sonntag.But the Social Democrats reject the idea of prolonging the life-span of existing power plants, pointing to remaining question marks over how to safely store the nuclear waste. It is irresponsible so long as the question of the disposal of highly radioactive waste is not solved, the party top figure, Peter Struck, was cited as saying by Der Tagesspiegel on Sunday (6 July).

The same message came from transportation minister Wolfgang Tiefensee, speaking to Welt am Sonntag. We believe in renewable energy and not in nuclear energy, he said, pointing to plans to build some 30 offshore windfarms in the Baltic and North seas.It is up to each EU state to choose its own energy mix. But the current European Commission, headed by Mr Barroso, has not shied away from supporting the nuclear path. Brussels says that nuclear energy has a role to play in meeting the EU's growing concerns about security of supply and CO2 emission reductions.