STORMS - FLOODS - LANDSLIDES

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.

Typhoon hits Taiwan, markets closed Monday Sun Jul 27, 9:39 PM ET

TAIPEI (Reuters) - A typhoon packing wind gusts of up to 191 kph and forecast to dump up to a metre of rain in places was on course to hit Taiwan on Monday morning, prompting cancellation of work and market closures. Typhoon Fung-Wong, Chinese for phoenix, was moving northwest at 13 kph, set to make landfall late Monday morning near the city of Hualien, Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau said on its website (http://www.cwb.gov.tw).The storm's approach generated rough sea warnings as markets, offices and schools across the island shut for the day.Transport was disrupted with most domestic flights and rail service suspended, although media reported that international flights were still operating at Taiwan's main international airport at Taoyuan.Heavy rains began to fall in the early hours of Monday morning and were expected to continue throughout the day, with some of the hardest hit areas expected to receive up to 1,000 mm of rain, according to forecasts.Tropical Storm Risk (http://www.tropicalstormrisk.com) said Fung-Wong was a category 2 storm, and would likely be downgraded to a category 1 storm over the next 24 hours as it crossed Taiwan and headed toward China. A category 2 storm is defined as having maximum sustained winds of 154-177 kph.From Taiwan, the storm is expected to cross over the Taiwan Strait and arrive in south China's Fujian province on Monday night or Tuesday morning.In Fujian, authorities evacuated over 270,000 people ahead of the storm's arrival.

Chinese media quoted weather experts as saying Fung-Wong might become the most powerful storm to hit East Asia this year with heavy rain expected to fall over a long period.Fung-Wong is the second typhoon to hit Taiwan in the last two weeks. On July 18, typhoon Kalmaegi killed at least 20 people and caused extensive flooding, landslides and crop damage in the south and central part of the island.(Reporting by Doug Young in Taipei and Guo Shipeng in Beijing)

RAW VIDEO - DOLLY IN NEW MEXICO
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300 evacuated from flooding in Ruidoso, N.M., area Sun Jul 27, 6:14 PM ET

About 300 people were evacuated from homes, campgrounds and a recreational vehicle park Sunday after flooding caused by the remnants of Hurricane Dolly.Meteorologists said more than 6 inches of rain fell in the mountainous area, and flash flood watches were in effect for central and eastern New Mexico.The Rio Ruidoso went over its banks about midnight, said Tom Schafer, Ruidoso's emergency management coordinator.Water's just going everywhere, Schafer said.State officials estimated more than 60 homes have been damaged.A police helicopter was sent to rescue people reported to be standing on buildings and vehicles, but no one was found, state Department of Public Safety spokesman Peter Olson said. A dive team was also sent to rescue people from the flooded areas, he said.

Earlier, four people were rescued after being trapped by rising water, but no one was seriously injured, Schafer said.People evacuated from the Bonito Creek Campground was sent to a nearby church, he said.Most of the 40 or so people who showed up at the Angus Hill Church of the Nazarene were campers who just came up for a nice weekend and were flooded out, said Sue Hutchinson, who operates a first aid clinic at the church.Several campers said they awakened when their tents began floating down the river, Hutchinson said.Several bridges and roads in the area were closed, including part of U.S. 70.Part of the race track at Ruidoso Downs flooded, canceling the entire Sunday race card.The race track is a river. I've never seen it like this here, trainer Joel Marr said.

At least 16 dead in flooding in Ukraine, Romania: governments Sun Jul 27, 2:11 PM ET

KIEV (AFP) - At least 16 people have died in severe storms and flooding in western Ukraine and northern Romania that forced almost 20,000 people to abandon their homes, authorities said Sunday. The government in Kiev said 13 people, including five children, had been killed and two were missing, while authorities in Bucharest issued a toll of three dead and two missing.In Ukraine around 6,700 people were evacuated after 21,000 homes were flooded in regions close to the border with Romania, the emergency situations ministry said.Three hundred towns and villages have lost electricity and about 400 bridges have been damaged, it said.President Viktor Yushchenko arrived in the region on Sunday to assess the damage, his press service said. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was also expected to travel there, Interfax news agency reported.Seven of the dead were in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, and the other six in the Chernivtsy region, the ministry said.Earlier it said two victims died when they were struck by lightning and a third in a landslide.Authorities in Romania said a 30-year-old mother, her son and another youngster, who had taken refuge from the swollen waters in a house built on a hill, died when a landslip swept the building away in the northern district of Maramures.Two other people had also been carried off by the floodwaters, the secretary of state at the interior ministry, Victor Paul Dobre, said.One of those was a 14-year-old boy, separated from his father's hand by the rising waters.Almost 12,900 people had been evacuated and more than 9,200 homes flooded, according to government figures.Almost 19,000 hectares (almost 50,000 acres) have been affected, including 6,200 wells, 500 kilometres (310 miles) of roads and 1,000 bridges.

Some 3,650 security forces and volunteers had been mobilised Sunday to build dykes, help evacuate people and animals in danger and to distribute aid.Authorities expected the torrential rains to ease off later in the day, although a red alert was to remain in force through until Monday afternoon for six north-eastern districts.

Hurricane Dolly remnants bring downpour to El Paso Sat Jul 26, 10:10PM ET

EL PASO, Texas - Heavy rain from the remnants of Hurricane Dolly is closing streets and flooding homes in El Paso, and is blamed for causing the death of one person in New Mexico. The Las Cruces Sun-News reports that a passenger in a sport utility vehicle was killed when the vehicle hit a large puddle and rolled over. The driver and two children were hospitalized.National Weather Service meteorologist says some areas of El Paso have gotten as much as 3 inches of rain.The city says it has received 17 reports of flooding in homes. There are 10 reports of street flooding.The Texas Transportation Department says the Trans Mountain Highway is closed due to rock slides caused by the rain and is expected to reopen Saturday night.

50,000 ordered to evacuate in flooded Japan JULY 28,08

TOKYO - Heavy rain caused floods and mudslides in central Japan Monday, prompting orders to evacuate more than 50,000 people, officials said. The downpour overflowed the banks of the Asano River. Brown water gushed into the city of Kanazawa, flooding houses and leading authorities to issue an evacuation order across the town, said Hiroyuki Tatsuda, spokesman of the city of Kanazawa, about 180 miles northwest of Tokyo.We were inundated just in a couple hours this morning, Tatsuda said. We haven't had such heavy rain for years.The city lifted the evacuation order by midmorning Monday after the rain subsided, Tatsuda said. More than 800 people had taken refuge at community centers. City officials were still assessing the extent of damage to houses and buildings.The flooding also temporarily left 500 households without electricity and caused train delays.Heavy rain also fell in nearby Toyama prefecture, where a 53-year-old man was seriously injured after being swallowed by a mudslide while driving near a tunnel, local police official Shinichi Tomiya said. The man suffered a broken leg, arm, rib and shoulder but was conscious when he was later dug from the mud and taken to a nearby hospital.More than 4 inches of rain fell in the region, the nation's weather agency said.

Floods strip Midwest of tons of valuable topsoil By DEANNA MARTIN, Associated Press Writer Sun Jul 27, 7:27 PM ET

MARTINSVILLE, Ind. - Jim Lankford's corn crops used to stretch to the White River. Now the river has stretched itself through his crops. The river eroded a new route for itself during June's flooding, a channel with steep 12-foot banks at the edge of some of Lankford's corn fields about 30 miles southwest of Indianapolis. The flood spread rocks in other spots, making it look as if Lankford planted soybeans in a gravel road. Elsewhere, silt is piled up like sand dunes and uprooted trees still litter cornfields more than a month after the floods.It's the worst I've ever seen in my life for this area, the 62-year-old farmer said.The flooding that swamped large areas of the Midwest took with it some of the region's most valuable resource: soil.Now farmers and environmentalists are at odds over what to do with erosion-prone land — take their chances planting crops on marginal land in hopes of good yields and high grain prices, or plant trees, native grasses or ground cover that act as a natural flood buffer.The floods may have caused up to $3 billion in crop losses in Iowa and $800 million in crop damage in Indiana, according to estimates from agriculture secretaries in those states.

Erosion damage is harder to tally.

In Wisconsin, flooding damaged about $2.8 million worth of conservation structures, such as dams, levees, ditches and waterways, said Don Baloun, a farm conservationist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resource Conservation Service in Madison, Wis.Some land in Illinois is still submerged.It could be fall for some of our counties on the Mississippi River before we see what kind of damage farmers did experience as far as erosion, said Donald King of Illinois' USDA's Farm Service Agency.Erosion robs farmers of the nutrient-rich topsoil their growing plants need.

It takes thousands of years to form one inch of topsoil, said Jane Hardisty, Indiana's state conservationist. Within a day, we lost it. It's just devastating.It's also an issue downstream, where sediment diminishes water quality. Scientists think the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico — oxygen-depleted water off the Texas-Louisiana coast that can't support kill marine life — is likely to be worse this year partly because of the flood runoff.States have set up programs to keep their soil. Missouri, for example, has nearly halved its rate of soil loss since the mid-1980s, when it dedicated a special tax that generates $42 million a year for soil-conserving practices such as terraces, retention ponds and grazing rotations.The conversion of row-crop land to pastures over the last 20 years in northern Missouri also has helped conserve the precious few inches of top soil left in that part of the state, said Bill Foster, who heads the state's soil and water conservation program.

If we lose very many more inches of soil, we won't be farming, Foster said. It's critical to keep in place.The Farm Service Agency's Conservation Reserve Program also helps. The $2 billion-a-year federal program pays farmers not to plant crops, instead returning land to its native state. That saves an estimated 450 million tons of soil each year.However, that program isn't without controversy. Environmental groups recently sought a federal court injunction to stop hay production and cattle grazing on some conservation land. A judge in Seattle ruled that the USDA did not conduct an appropriate environmental review, but said a reversal would be unfair to farmers and ranchers counting on using that land. Conservation program officials announced earlier this month that farmers in flooded-damaged areas of 16 states could graze livestock on conservation land to help them cope with rising grain prices and flood damage. Our CRP land is vital to the balance we promote at USDA between production and preservation, Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said. I commit this resource knowing that we must redouble our conservation effort at every future opportunity.

One of the program's founders, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., wants to also allow farmers to plant crops on more stable conservation land.

Environmental groups say there are risks to opening up conservation program land to planting. Marginal land planted with ground cover or trees acts as a natural flood barrier, said Sara Hopper, director of agricultural policy for the Environmental Defense Fund. Planting crops could mean less protection against floods, she said.

It's going to make a bad situation worse, particularly over the long run, she said. Lankford, the Indiana farmer, faces a difficult decision for his flood-damaged land. He could replant corn in an effort to make money off the field, but that would take cash to rebuild a breached levee and haul hundreds of truck loads of topsoil to replace his lost land. He could also consider the conservation reserve program, or he could simply abandon the affected field. Another big flood could come again next year, he said, or not for another hundred years. Traditionally, farmers are optimists, and I know I'm that way. They always think Well, next year will be better,Lankford said. You know there's risks. Sometimes it's worse than you think.Associated Press writers Robert Imrie in Wausau, Wis., Amy Lorentzen in Des Moines, Iowa, and Cheryl Wittenauer and Jim Suhr in St. Louis contributed to this report.

PERSECUSSION,BEHEADINGS

JESUS PERSECUTED BIGTIME

PSALMS 14:1
1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

ISAIAH 53:4
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

MATTHEW 9:34
34 But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.

JOHN 8:41
41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.

JOHN 10:20
20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?

PHILIPPIANS 2:10-11(JESUS GETS REVENGE)
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.(JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST AND FOR SINNERS, THE GREAT WHITE THRONE FINAL JUDGEMENT).

WE ARE CHRISTIANS WE WILL BE TREATED THE SAME.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5 (WHY WE ARE PERSECUTED BY THE WORLD)
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

MATTHEW 5:10-12
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

MATTHEW 24:9
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.

JOHN 15:18-20
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me (JESUS) before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

REVELATION 6:9-11
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain(BEHEADED) for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

REVELATION 20:4
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

DEADLY CHURCH SHOOTING
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2 DEAD, 7 INJURED IN CHURCH SHOOTING
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Gunman opens fire in Tennessee church, 2 killed By DUNCAN MANSFIELD, Associated Press Writer JULY 27,08

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - A gunman opened fire at a church youth performance Sunday and killed two people, including a man who witnesses called a hero for shielding others from a shotgun blast. Seven adults were also injured but no children were harmed at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. Church members said they dove under pews or ran from the building when the shooting started.The gunman was tackled by congregants and eventually taken into police custody.Jim D. Adkisson, 58, was charged with first-degree murder and was being held on $1 million bail, according to city spokesman Randy Kenner, who did not know if the suspect had retained an attorney. Authorities were searching Adkisson's home in the Knoxville bedroom community of Powell, Kenner said.

The man slain was identified as Greg McKendry, 60, a longtime church member and usher. Church member Barbara Kemper told The Associated Press that McKendry stood in the front of the gunman and took the blast to protect the rest of us.Linda Kreager, 61, died at the University of Tennessee Medical Center a few hours after the shooting, Knoxville city spokesman Randall Kenner said.Five people remained hospitalized, all in critical or serious condition. Two others were treated and released.The gunman's motive is not yet known. The church, like many other Unitarian Universalist churches, promotes progressive social work, such as desegregation and fighting for the rights of women and gays. The Knoxville congregation has provided sanctuary for political refugees, fed the homeless and founded a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, according to its Web site.Kemper said the gunman shouted before he opened fire.It was hateful words. He was saying hateful things, she said, but refused to elaborate.The FBI was assisting in the case in case it turns out be a hate crime, Police Chief Sterling Owen said. Police were taking statements from witnesses and collecting video cameras from church members who taped the performance.There were about 200 people watching a performance by 25 children based on the musical Annie when the shooting took place.

Church member Mark Harmon said he was in the first row. It had barely begun when there was an incredibly loud bang, he said.

Harmon said he thought the noise was part of the play, then he heard a second loud bang. As he dove for cover, he realized a woman behind him was bleeding. She looked like she was in shock, touching her wound, he said.It seems so unreal, Harmon said. You're sitting in church, you're watching a children's performance of a play and suddenly you hear a bang.Harmon said church members just behind him in the second and third rows were shot. His wife told him that she saw the gunman pull the shotgun out of a guitar case.Witnesses reported hearing about three blasts from the .12-gauge shotgun, which spreads pellets out when the shot leaves the barrel. Witnesses said they did not recognize the gunman.Church members said the gunman was tackled by John Bohstedt, who played Daddy Warbucks in the performance. He declined comment when reached by phone at his home. Friends of McKendry said he was friendly with everyone. Greg McKendry was a very large gentlemen, one of those people you might describe as a refrigerator with a head, said member Schera Chadwick, whose husband, Ted Lollis, arrived at the church just after the shooting. He looked like a football player. He did obviously stand up and put himself in between the shooter and the congregation.McKendry and his wife had recently taken in a foster child. The church's minister was on vacation in western North Carolina at the time of the shooting but returned Sunday afternoon. We've been touched by a horrible act of violence. We are in a process of healing and we ask everyone for your prayers, the Rev. Chris Buice said in a statement outside the church. I will tell you we love Greg McKendry. We are grieving the loss of a wonderful man.Associated Press writers Beth Rucker in Knoxville and Cara Rubinsky and Anna Varela in Atlanta contributed to this report. On the Net: http://www.tvuuc.org

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.

HUGH BRUSH FIRE NEAR YOSIMITE
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RAW VIDEO - CAL WILDFIRE THREATEN HOLMES
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Fire destroys 12 homes near Yosemite National Park By TRACIE CONE, Associated Press Writer JULY 28,08

MARIPOSA, Calif. - An out-of-control wildfire burning Sunday near an entrance to Yosemite National Park has destroyed 12 homes and threatened thousands more as flames forced authorities to cut power to the park. The blaze has charred more than 26,000 acres since Friday as wooded slopes ignited amid hot, dry conditions that have plagued California for months. Besides the homes destroyed, the fire has also engulfed 27 other buildings.There's no fire history in the past 100 hundred years. That's one of the reasons this fire's been able to burn so erratically, said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.In Southern California, about 4,000 visitors were evacuated Sunday from the Los Angeles zoo as a fast-moving brush fire burned nearby in Griffith Park.Flames came within about 1,000 feet of a California condor enclosure in the zoo, forcing the relocation of the condors and two vultures, zoo spokesman Jason Jacobs said.The fire had burned about 25 acres and was contained in under three hours, Los Angeles fire officials said. No injuries were reported.Meanwhile, near Yosemite National Park, the wildfire led officials to order the evacuations of 195 homes under immediate threat. About 2,000 homes faced at least some danger from the fast-spreading flames, fire officials said. No injuries were reported.

State fire spokeswoman Karen Guillemin said the blaze was sparked by someone target shooting but would not elaborate.Most of the evacuated homes are in the town of Midpines, about 12 miles from the park. The southern edge of the blaze was as little as two miles from Mariposa, a town of about 1,800 residents, Berlant said.

Mary Ann Porter, a nursing assistant who lives in Midpines, left her goats, chickens and dog when she evacuated Sunday morning. Porter, who lives with her daughter and grandchildren, said the family took pictures and some computer hard drives.One of the blessings of living up here is that you adapt and learn to accept things, she said, sitting a table reading a newspaper in the evacuation center in Mariposa.Some homeowners defied evacuation orders to stay and defend their properties.My house is about 100 yards from some fire right now and that's freaking me out, said John Romero, who answered his phone during a break from digging trenches and clearing brush with a little tractor.To protect firefighters battling flames beneath power lines, electricity was cut to a wide area, fire officials said. The transmission line that fed power to Yosemite was also destroyed in the fire, said James Guidi Jr., a spokesman for Pacific Gas & Electric.Some park buildings were closed because of the power outage, but generators were still providing hotels, stores and other heavily used park facilities with electricity, park spokeswoman Julie Chavez said.

Mobile generators were being set up to restore power to the whole park and about 500 customers nearby by Monday evening. In all, about 1,000 customers had lost power, Guidi said.Authorities reported the death of a second firefighter in as many days.A firefighter believed to be a fire chief from Washington state died Saturday while scouting a blaze in Northern California, Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Susan Gravenkamp said Sunday. The 250-acre fire had prevented crews from recovering the body to make a positive identification, but several other firefighters identified the victim as Daniel Packer, 49, of Lake Tapps, Wash., Gravenkamp said. Packer was the immediate past president of the Washington Fire Chiefs Association, according to Brian Schaeffer, assistant fire chief in Spokane, Wash. On Friday, Washington state firefighter Andrew Palmer, 18, died after he was hit by a falling tree while battling another Northern California wildfire. In south-central Montana, the fire in the Custer National Forest had grown to more than 2,500 acres by Sunday evening and burned five summer homes and an outhouse in the historic Camp Senia area. Authorities said a mapping error earlier overestimated the number of acres burned at 3,580. At the Red Lodge Mountain Ski Resort, employees stood by, ready to turn on snowmaking equipment to send cascades of water against the fast-moving fire, said Forest Service fire information officer Jeff Gildehaus. Associated Press writer Jason Dearen contributed to this report from San Francisco.

Israeli defence minister to visit US Sun Jul 27, 7:28 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak is to travel to the United States on Monday for talks with senior officials expected to focus on Iran. Public radio said the talks are expected to focus on the Islamic republic's nuclear programme, which Israel views as a major strategic threat, and on preserving the qualitative advantage of the Jewish state's armed forces.A defence ministry spokesman declined to comment on the agenda of the talks, but said Barak planned to meet Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, senior military officials and members of Congress.

Barak is also expected to meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, he said.In an interview with public radio Amos Gilad, a senior adviser to Barak, said the defence minister would discuss the threat posed by the Iranian nuclear programme.This is a very important visit. Israel cannot tolerate living under an Iranian nuclear threat, Gilad said. For the moment our priority is the diplomatic track, but Israel has to be prepared to use all options.Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, a former defence minister involved in US-Israeli strategic relations, is also expected in Washington on Wednesday, and he too will meet Cheney and Rice, his spokesman told AFP.The main subject under discussion will be the threat posed by the Iranian nuclear programme to the entire region, the spokesman said.

Mofaz, who is expected to be a candidate to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a party primary in September, sparked a political firestorm in June when he said Israel would attack Iran if it did not halt its nuclear drive.Israel's army chief of staff said on a visit to Washington last week that he favoured a diplomatic solution to the impasse over Tehran's nuclear programme but that all options must be prepared.The United States and Israel suspect Iran's nuclear drive is aimed at developing an atomic bomb, a claim vehemently denied by Tehran which says its programme is designed for civilian use only.Israel, the region's sole if undeclared nuclear power, considers Iran its main strategic threat because of its nuclear programme and repeated predictions by senior Iranian leaders of the Jewish state's demise.Public radio has quoted Olmert as saying that Iran could have a nuclear weapon by the end of 2009, fuelling speculation that Israel may attempt to set its efforts back with a military strike.

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).

Two-speed Europe may emerge over divorce rules.Some 170,000 out of the 845,000 divorces annually in the EU involve couples of different nationalities (Photo: European Commission)RENATA GOLDIROVA
25.07.2008 @ 17:23 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - In the face of long-lasting deadlock, a group of nine EU states have decided to take the unprecedented path of closer co-operation and apply common rules for divorce between couples of different European nationality. A Friday (25 July) debate between EU justice ministers once again demonstrated that the 27-nation bloc was unable to introduce pan-European rules allowing mixed-nationality couples a certain degree of autonomy in choosing the court and applicable law in case of divorce. Austria, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Romania, Slovenia and Spain have teamed up in order to formally request the European Commission launch the so-called enhanced co-operation mechanism - allowing a group of countries to move ahead in one particular area, even though other states are opposed. It is expected that they will make the request on Monday (28 July), one diplomat told the EUobserver. It is the first time such a move has been made.It will then be up to the commission to make a legal proposal based on the request. This proposal will then go back to member states where it needs to be approved by a qualified majority of governments.

A controversial and politically sensitive issue anyway, this route for dealing with the divorce question has further irked some capitals because, under normal procedures, a decision in this area would have to be taken by unanimity. Reacting to the move by the nine member states, EU justice commissioner Jacques Barrot said: The commission will have to examine all the political, legal and practical implications of such an enhanced co-operation.We need to get a clearer idea, he added. Currently, some 170,000 out of the 845,000 divorces annually in the EU involve couples of different nationalities. With free movement, it is surely reassuring for [couples] to know that when something were to happen and they break up then they will have the same rights and they will be protected wherever they are in the EU, French justice minister Rachida Dati said. Under the foreseen rules, if a Czech-German couple living in Belgium decide to divorce, spouses would be allowed to choose the competent court and the law to apply to their case. Should they fail to agree, the couple would be automatically referred to a court in Belgium, their place of residence. Malta and Sweden are widely considered the most reluctant to give the go-ahead to a EU-wide divorce scheme. Strongly Catholic Malta does not recognise divorce, while Stockholm fears that EU harmonisation in the area could threaten its liberal family law. Should the pioneering group achieve closer cooperation in this area, the mechanism must remain open to other countries as well. Germany, Belgium, Portugal and Lithuania are also believed to be considering joining the initiative.

WTO talks on verge of collapse LEIGH PHILLIPS 25.07.2008 @ 17:27 CET

Global trade talks could collapse, the head of the head of the World Trade Organisation Pascal Lamy, warned on Friday (25 July).We need to change gears very quickly to turn things around, WTO director-general Lamy told delegations from 153 countries gathered in Geneva for negotiations on a worldwide free trade pact, according to his spokesperson.The situation as I see it is critical, edging between success and failure, he added.Some convergences have been recorded, but progress remains painfully slow after four days of ministerial-level negotiation, he continued. The world outside will not understand if we fail to grasp this opportunity to conclude a round that already has a great deal on the table, he said.He made the comments on the fifth day of what has widely been described as gruelling bargaining largely between two blocks: the developed world and its southern, less developed counterpart. The so-called Doha Round was launched seven years ago, but attempts at a deal have failed over the years. EU negotiators had hoped that a deal could be reached before the end of this year, fearful that a new US Congress and president, of whichever party, will be more protectionist as a result of the troubled American economy.Writing on his blog, the EU's trade chief, Peter Mandelson, described the talks as: some of the most difficult and confrontational negotiation of my time as European Trade Commissioner.

We are finally addressing the crunch issues. Everybody knows it, and the atmosphere ... is tense.The divide boils down to a demand on the part of EU and US, together with Japan, Australia and Canada, that developing world economies further open their markets to northern manufactured goods. In return, the north would reduce their agricultural subsidies, thus allowing farm products from the global south better access to the huge, wealthy American and European markets.Southern nations however, complain that the offers on the table amount to their opening up their protected industries to powerful northern competitors while the US and EU only marginally lower their domestic farm subsidies.Commissioner Mandelson complained of the stubbornness in particular of the larger economies within the global south such as China, India and Brazil.There is little sign of new flexibility from emerging economy negotiators, he wrote on his blog.Brazil offered bilateral deal on bioethanol.The commissioner offered the Brazilian foreign minister, Celso Amorim, a potential bilateral deal on new EU access for Brazil's bioethanol, a proposal currently under discussion in the European Parliament, which is reviewing European biofuels targets.Brazil has been very concerned that the growing consensus against biofuels will harm the potential for export to Europe of one of their most successful commodities, and been strongly lobbying the European institutions in recent months.Getting to that wider deal has to mean greater flexibility from Brazil for our exporters, said Mr Mandelson.

The commissioner demanded that Brazil provide greater market access for European cars and chemicals but Brazil has yet to react positively.Surprisingly, given the importance of [the biofuels] question in Brasilia, [Mr] Amorim seemed to dismiss the value of such an offer for Brazil, Mr Mandelson said.If certain people who are negotiating will not show any flexibility at all then it takes the rest of the negotiations hostage, complained the commissioner, according to AFP.The US, for its part, offered to limit its subsidy to $15 billion for its farmers on Tuesday. India, however, described the offer as welcome but not enough. Other developing nations complained that its current subsidy was already lower than that. Saturday is the last scheduled day for negotiations, although talks may continue if participants feel they are close to a deal.

Obama rallies Europe for war on terror
PHILIPPA RUNNER 25.07.2008 @ 09:14 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama urged Europe and a strong EU to stand by the US in a war on extremism in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa, in a poetic speech delivered to 200,000 people in Berlin's Tiergarten Park on Thursday (24 July) evening. We must defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it. This threat is real and we cannot shrink from our responsibility to combat it, he told the huge crowd. We can...dismantle the networks that have struck in Madrid and Amman, in London and Bali, in Washington and New York.

Speaking at times of a new global security partnership that would involve Russia, Mr Obama focused on a traditional Atlanticist model in which the US and Europe use a mixture of warfare, diplomacy and aid to bring democracy and a market economy to strategic regions.

America has no better partner than Europe, he said, adding we need a strong European Union that deepens the security and prosperity of this continent, while extending a hand abroad, and calling NATO the greatest alliance ever formed to defend our common security.On Afghanistan, the presidential hopeful said the Afghan people need our troops and your troops to defeat the Taliban. More ambiguously on Iraq, he called for European support in order to pass responsibility to the Iraqi government and finally bring this war to a close.Mr Obama urged Europe to send a direct message to Iran that it must abandon its nuclear ambitions and to back pro-democracy movements in Lebanon. He also appealed for help for refugees and dissidents in Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe. The poverty and violence in Somalia breeds the terror of tomorrow, said Mr Obama, whose father was Kenyan.

Mea culpa

Walking a tightrope between the sensibilities of US voters and his anti-Iraq war, anti-Guantanamo Bay European audience, he admitted We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.

Mr Obama also apologised for America's past refusal to join international agreements on climate change, saying Let us resolve that all nations - including my own - will act with the same seriousness of purpose as has your nation, and reduce the carbon we send into our atmosphere.In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe's role in our security and our future. Both views miss the truth.

Pop-star status

The event saw Mr Obama greeted like a pop-star in a festival atmosphere, with young people pressed against barriers trying to shake his hand and the crowd roaring its approval when he spoke of nuclear disarmament, common humanity or the improbable hope for a better world. A muted silence descended when he spoke of your troops in Afghanistan.A recent poll showed that between 74 and 82 percent of German, French and British people back the Democrat against Republican candidate John McCain. But US surveys show Mr Obama leads by just one to seven points ahead of the 4 November American elections. He will meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Friday and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London on Saturday, having travelled to Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Israel and the Palestinian territories in the past week.

Not president yet

Mr McCain, who ate in a German restaurant in Ohio the same day, criticised his rival for posing as a leader before the November vote. I'd love to give a speech in Germany but I'd much prefer to do it as president of the United States rather than as a candidate, he said.Left-wing commentators in the US were also taken aback by Mr Obama's tone, with New York Times reporter Katherine Q. Seelye writing One unusual thing about this speech: can anyone recall another time when an American who is not president has gone overseas and asked another country for its troops? European reactions also focused on the hawkish nature of the address. He went onto German turf and asked for more troops in Afghanistan...This will probably create some embarrassment, especially among Europe's progressive forces, which already consider Obama a symbol, Rome's Center for Strategic Studies analyst Germano Dottori told AP.

New space race heats up with unveiling of aircraft By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer Sun Jul 27, 6:36 AM ET

LOS ANGELES - Aerospace engineers have been holed up in a Mojave Desert hangar for four years, fashioning a commercial spaceship to loft rich tourists some 62 miles above Earth. Now the wraps come partially off the top-secret project. British billionaire Sir Richard Branson and American aerospace designer Burt Rutan are due Monday to show off their mothership, which is designed to air launch a passenger-toting spaceship out of the atmosphere.The rollout — a year after a deadly accident at Rutan's test site — marks the start of a rigorous flight test program that space tourism advocates hope will climax with the first suborbital joy rides by the end of the decade. More than 250 wannabe astronauts have paid $200,000 or put down deposits for a chance to float weightless for a mere five minutes.Having invested all my faith in it, I'm so excited to see the actual thing, said artist Namira Salim, a customer who is lined up for a ride on Branson's Virgin Galactic.The last time there was this level of buzz in the high desert north of Los Angeles was in 2004, when throngs of spectators gathered to witness SpaceShipOne capture the $10 million Ansari X Prize by becoming the first private, manned craft to reach space. It was designed by Rutan and bankrolled by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen.SpaceShipOne ushered in a new space age dominated by deep-pocketed entrepreneurs with dreams of making space voyages as mundane as airplane travel. That vision remains unfulfilled.Among the new space entrepreneurs is the swashbuckling Branson, who teamed with Rutan's publicity-shy Scaled Composites LLC to commercialize SpaceShipOne. Its successor, SpaceShipTwo, is being designed out of the public eye, along with the carrier aircraft White Knight Two.

They've been hyping this and selling tickets, said Alan Radecki, a helicopter mechanic and aviation photographer who follows the private space race. This is the first time they're going to have hardware to show people.Branson previously heralded 2008 as the Year of the Spaceship. In January, he and Rutan offered a sneak peek of their commercial partnership, showing off scale models of the mothership and the spacecraft it will launch.Though technical details remain guarded, tidbits about the vehicles have trickled out: The twin-fuselage White Knight Two will have the same wingspan — 140 feet — as the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the World War II bomber.It will launch SpaceShipTwo, which will be the size of a corporate Gulfstream capable of carrying six passengers and two pilots. Both will be built wholly from ultra-light composite materials.Only White Knight Two will be unveiled at Monday's rollout, expected to be attended by politicians, government regulators and space tourism customers. Flight testing is slated for the end of September after ground tests in August.Meanwhile, SpaceShipTwo is only about 70 percent complete, said Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn.Observers of the infant private spaceflight industry are encouraged by the progress, but note that the main attraction — the actual spaceship that will carry passengers — is yet to come.It's a positive step forward, said space analyst John Logsdon of George Washington University. The real indication of progress will be showing a spaceship that's on the path that's ready to fly.Monday's unveiling comes a year after an explosion at Scaled Composites' test site killed three technicians. The company, now owned by Northrop Grumman Corp., is appealing a state fine of $28,870 for workplace violations in connection with the blast, which occurred during the development of SpaceShipTwo's propellant system.Exactly when tourists will experience zero gravity or see Earth's curvature is unknown, but the project already lags Virgin Galactic's 2004 prediction that passengers would be in space last year.Whitehorn declined to set a date for commercial travel, but he said the earliest flights to space could be late 2009 or early 2010. The maiden voyage has been reserved for Branson and his family; Virgin Galactic plans to rename the aircraft Eve after Branson's mother, a former glider pilot instructor and flight attendant.

Plans call for White Knight Two to carry SpaceShipTwo 50,000 feet in the air, tucked beneath its single 140-foot wing, before releasing it. SpaceShipTwo will then power its hybrid rocket and climb into space. Before gliding back to Earth, it will use a Rutan-designed feathering technique — in which the wings are rotated upward from the fuselage to reduce the heat of re-entry. The 2 1/2-hour trip is expected to include about five minutes of weightlessness. Unlike the space shuttle that orbits Earth, early space tourism plans involve flights that simply go up and come back down. Virgin Galactic has pledged more than $250 million toward the project; about $100 million has been spent so far, Whitehorn said.

Virgin Galactic already has lofty plans for White Knight Two besides space tourism. Company executives envision the aircraft can be used as a launcher of small satellites into low Earth orbit. With the proper permits, the craft can also be adapted to fight wildfires or be used as an emergency rescue vehicle. First, though, it needs to emerge from its secret hangar before it can get off the ground. On the Net: Virgin Galactic: http://www.virgingalactic.com
Scaled Composites: http://www.scaled.com

FAMINE

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

CREDIT CRUNCH AND THE ECONOMY
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DO THE RICH FEEL THE ECONOMIC CRUNCH
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Inflation's next front is retailers as costs rise By ELLEN SIMON, AP Business Writer JULY 28,08

NEW YORK - Coming to a store near you: Even higher prices.

Most inflation this year has come from food and fuel, as retailers resisted passing along to strapped consumers the higher prices manufacturers charged them, but coming increases from companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Hasbro Inc. may leave them with no choice.While these increases have not for the most part been passed on at the retail level, it is inevitable that they will be at some point, said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Car dealers and other retailers cannot continue to absorb rising costs at the wholesale level and not pass some of these increases on to consumers.Sherwin Williams Co. on July 17 announced its third price increase in eight months. The company has been having difficult discussions with retailers, Chris Connor, chairman and CEO, said on its quarterly conference call.The price increases are well supported with facts in terms of why the company needs them, he said. Our customers, to the best of their ability, are passing them on.Hasbro said the retailers it sells to didn't like price increases the company announced Monday but they recognize that their own private-label costs are going up and they've accepted it.The increases leave retailers in a bind: They can keep prices steady and cut profit margins or raise prices and risk losing sales.Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has been in the lead of aggressively keeping prices down, pressuring its competitors to do the same.

We have seen inflation and we have passed some of that through, said John Simley, a Wal-Mart spokesman. We have, wherever possible, worked with our suppliers to reduce the inflationary impact as much as possible.Costco Wholesale Corp. said Wednesday its fourth-quarter earnings would be well-below Wall Street estimates of $1 a share as it delays price increases. Stock in rival BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. fell more than 10 percent as investors feared the competitor would have to match Costco's prices.Some economists say that once Americans spend their $106.7 billion in tax rebate checks, consumer spending may shrivel, sparking a round of price cuts to entice shoppers. Others think price increases may be postponed, but they're on their way.Much of this depends on how much money consumers have after buying gas and groceries — and what kind of mood they're in once they've filled their tanks. On Friday, The Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment for July came in at 61.2, beating expectations and slightly better than the 28-year low of 56.4 hit in June. Still, the confidence index was at 90.4 a year ago.Even Costco said it won't swallow price increases from suppliers on key items, but would postpone passing them along to consumers, if only for a few weeks, because it wants to be the last retailer to raise prices.The company raised its prices for rotisserie chicken from $4.99 to $5.49 about three months ago. Last week, the prices rose to $5.99.I think the consumer is just starting to see, not only with us, rising commodity costs and rising general merchandise costs in a much bigger way then they've seen other than with gasoline itself, said Richard Galanti, Costco's chief financial officer, during a conference call Wednesday.Inflation hit 5 percent for the year in June, the highest it's been since 1991, but the price increases hitting manufacturers have been far worse.Prices manufacturers paid for crude materials rose 70 percent for the three months ended in June, but companies weren't able to pass all those increases along. Prices for the intermediate goods made from those materials rose much less, about 27 percent. The prices for finished products made from those goods rose 14 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index.Kimberly-Clark Corp., which makes Kleenex, Huggies diapers and Viva paper towels, said Thursday that energy and commodity cost increases this year would total as much as $900 million, double its prediction at the beginning of the year. Saying the company might raise prices for the second time this year, Chief Executive Thomas Falk added, The reality is that the rapid run-up in commodity costs has outpaced our ability to offset inflation in the near-term with price increases and other actions.

The increases keep coming.

Dow Chemical Co., the second largest chemical company in the world after Germany's BASF, is raising some prices by as much as 25 percent this month, following June price increases that were as high as 20 percent on all products. The increase is sure to put more pressure on manufacturers, since Dow's chemicals are used in everything from packing peanuts to frozen-food trays to diapers.
Associated Press Business Writer Anne D'Innocenzio contributed to this report. Ellen Simon covers the economy. She can be reached at esimon(at)ap.org.

Oil rises on Iran nuclear concerns By GILLIAN WONG, Associated Press Writer JULY 28,08

SINGAPORE - Oil prices rebounded Monday in Asia on comments by Iran's president suggesting a significant increase in the country's nuclear program, but worries about the faltering U.S. economy and crude demand continued to weigh on futures. Light, sweet crude for September delivery rose 13 cents to $123.39 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Singapore.The contract fell $2.23 to settle at $123.26 a barrel on Friday — oil's lowest point in weeks — as investors questioned whether crude has cooled enough to reflect a serious deterioration in demand.But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's announcement on Saturday that Iran now possesses 6,000 centrifuges raised concerns about an increase in tensions between Western powers and OPEC's second-largest producer over its nuclear program.The higher number, which is double the 3,000 uranium-enriching machines Iran had previously said it was operating, is certain to further rankle the United States and others who fear Tehran is intent on developing weapons.The comments by the Iranian president are a reminder that the Iranian situation remains fluid, said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with consulting firm Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.In Nigeria, eight foreign oil workers who were kidnapped at gunpoint by six unidentified men in a speed boat on Saturday were released unharmed hours later, according to a Nigerian military spokesman. The abduction highlighted the risks of operating in the African nation, a major supplier to the U.S. Earlier in the week, Nigerian militants threatened to blow up pipelines in the region within a month.These events really remind the market that the geopolitical risks regarding Nigeria and Iran remain, Shum said. Overall, the market has weakened due to concerns over the faltering U.S. economy and slackening oil demand in the U.S., but supply side risks will still provide a high floor for pricing.

The magnitude of the sell-off over the past two weeks is stark. Crude has fallen in seven of the last nine sessions, and is down more than 16 percent from its peak above $147 a barrel earlier this month. Still, prices remain about 65 percent higher than at this time last year.In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures rose 1.68 cents to $3.5397 a gallon while gasoline prices added 0.67 cent to $3.039 a gallon. Natural gas futures added 9.9 cents to $9.183 per 1,000 cubic feet.In London, Brent crude for September delivery rose 8 cents to $124.70 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

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.

EXPLOSIONS HIT ISTANBUL
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Bombs strike Istanbul neighborhood, killing 16 By C. ONUR ANT, Associated Press Writer JULY 28,08

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Two bombs exploded minutes apart in a packed Istanbul square Sunday night, killing 16 and injuring more than 150 in the deadliest attack against civilians in Turkey in almost five years. The city's governor called it a terror attack but officials did not blame any specific group and no one immediately claimed responsibility. CNN-Turk television, citing security sources, said police suspect Kurdish rebels may be behind it because intelligence reports had suggested the rebels were planning a bombing campaign in Turkish cities.There is no doubt that this is a terror attack, Gov. Muammer Guler told reporters.The first bomb went off in the residential neighborhood of Gungoren in a busy square closed to traffic where people congregate at night, witnesses said. A number of people had rushed over to see what happened and help the victims when a second, more powerful blast hit close by about 10 minutes after the first. Many of the casualties were from the second explosion, witnesses said.The fact that there was a crowd in the area has increased the number of casualties, the governor said.

Government officials said 16 people were killed and 154 injured.

An Associated Press reporter who arrived to the scene shortly after the explosions saw at least 12 people lying on the ground. Broken glass, clothing, shop mannequins and other debris were strewn on the ground and bomb squads in white overalls were inspecting the scene.Many of the injured waited for medical treatment, their faces and bodies covered with blood. Several people who appeared seriously wounded were wrapped in blankets and carried to ambulances waiting near the site of the blasts.The first explosion was in a telephone booth, said Huseyin Senturk, who owns a shoe shop yards away from where the blasts occurred. The second explosion was some 40 meters (yards) away.The first explosion was not very strong, Senturk added. Several people came to see what was going on. That's when the second explosion occurred and it injured many onlookers.The second explosion could be heard a mile away, witnesses said. The governor said the bombs were planted in trash cans.The attack was the country's worst since November 20, 2003 when al-Qaida linked suicide bombings struck the British consulate and a British bank, killing at least 30 people. Five days earlier, suicide truck bombs attacked two Istanbul synagogues, killing 27.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul strongly condemned Sunday's bombings.No goals can be achieved with violence, killing innocent people and terrorism, Gul said in a written statement. These attacks show how inhumane and miserable the instigators are.

Police were investigating who was behind the blasts.

We know it is a terrorist attack, but which organization is responsible — we don't yet have that information, Deputy Prime Minister Hayati Yazici told journalists at the scene of the attacks.

Kurdish, leftist and Islamic militants are active in Istanbul and have carried out past bombings in the city.On July 9, gunmen believed to be inspired by al-Qaida opened fire on police guarding the U.S. consulate in Istanbul, killing three officers. Three attackers also died in a shootout with police. Kurdish rebels belonging to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, have been fighting for self-rule in southeastern Turkey since 1984. The violence has killed tens of thousands of people since then. Turkey has conducted frequent air raids on suspected rebel positions in northern Iraq, including one earlier Sunday. Earlier this year, it launched a weeklong ground offensive against the rebels. Although most of the fighting in concentrated in rural areas of southeastern Turkey, the rebels occasionally launch bombing campaigns in Turkish cities and tourist resorts. Sunday's attack also came a day ahead of the scheduled start of a top court's deliberations on whether to ban the Islamic-oriented ruling party because of its alleged attempts to undermine secularism. The legal case has raised political tensions in Turkey, where the government is locked in a power struggle with elements of the secular establishment backed by the military and judiciary. But it was not clear whether the bombings were linked to the case.