MIND CONTROL DEVICES-MAILONLINE PICTURE
DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all,(WORLD SOCIALISM) both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
CNBC VIDEOS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false
HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS TUR APR 19,2011
09:30 AM +2.43
10:00 AM +29.82
10:30 AM +34.42
11:00 AM +13.62
11:30 AM +4.54
12:00 PM +13.22
12:30 PM +27.44
01:00 PM +22.37
01:30 PM +42.12
02:00 PM +54.25
02:30 PM +50.41
03:00 PM +40.70
03:30 PM +50.40
04:00 PM +65.16 12,266.75
S&P 500 1312.62 +7.48
NASDAQ 2744.97 +9.59
GOLD 1,497.90 +5.00
OIL 108.15 +1.03
TSE 300 13,736.80 +34.50
CDNX 2233.40 -5.22
S&P/TSX/60 785.73 +1.99
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +39 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -1 points at low today.
Dow +48 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,495.10.OIL opens at $106.77 today.
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -1 points at low today so far.
Dow +48 points at high today so far.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -1 points at low today.
Dow +48 points at high today.
GOLD ALLTIME HIGH $1,500.00 (NOT AT CLOSE)
ISRAELS INHERITED LAND IN THE FUTURE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytWmPqY8TE0&feature=player_embedded
DEUTERONOMY 7:7-8
7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people;(ISRAEL) for ye were the fewest of all people:
8 But because the LORD loved you,(ISRAEL) and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
ZECHARIAH 2:8
8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
JEREMIAH 3:14
14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you:(ISRAEL) and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
ISAIAH 42:1
1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect,(ISRAEL) in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
ISAIAH 45:4
4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
ISAIAH 65:9,22
9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect (ISRAEL) shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect (ISRAEL) shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
ISAIAH 56:5
5 Even unto them (ISRAELIS) will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name,(ISRAEL) that shall not be cut off.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.
12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
Happy 3,323rd Birthday to People of Israel
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu APR 18,11
It was none other than Pharaoh whose mention of the People of Israel is the first such Biblical reference, 3323 years ago, using calculations based on information in the Torah. Serbian-born Eliezer Shulman, who was exiled to Siberia by the former Soviet Union in the 1930s, recently showed how he was able to calculate it while there, as follows:.In the first chapter of Exodus (Shemot), verse 8 states, And there rose up a new king [pharaoh] over Egypt who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people. Behold, the people of the children of Israel and more numerous and strong than we are.Until then, the Bible referred to Jews as the Children of Yaakov (Jacob), who at one point was also named Israel, while the Bible generally continues to refer to him as Yaakov – until the time of Pharaoh.Yaakov left the famine stricken Land of Israel with 11 sons to join his long-lost son Joseph. He had became the most powerful man in Egypt under Pharaoh after having been sold by his brothers and undergoing severe hardships that did not dampen his faith in the Creator.The Passover holiday recalls the days of slavery in Egypt under the new pharaoh and the Exodus to freedom, which is the theme of the traditional Passover Seder.However, the freedom of the Jews also marks their birthday as a people.
Shulman calculated the dates in the Bible while he was in Siberia. Starting with the Creation as year One on the Jewish calendar and adding up the number of years the earlier generations lived, Shulman determined that Noah was born in the year 1056 and died in 2006.The Jewish forefather Avraham was born in the year 1948, and100 years later, Yitzchak was born.After calculating the years of Yitzchak's son Yaakov (Jacob) and the sale of his son Joseph by his brothers to Egypt, Shulman concluded that Joseph died in the year 2309.Yaakov and all of his family went down to Egypt in the year 2238, and the People of Israel left in the Exodus in the year 2448. Passover in 2011 falls in the year 5771 on the Jewish calendar.Israel National News.com)
Passover Laws and Customs
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu APR 18,11
Passover (Pesach) will take place this year between sunset on Monday, 18 April, and sunset on Monday, 25 April. The first and seventh days are marked as Sabbath-like holy days (Yom Tov) in which work is forbidden.Jews outside of Israel, and those visiting Israel only for the holiday, observe an additional day in both the beginning and end of Pesach, which lasts eight days for them.Jews are commanded to tell the story of leaving Egypt as if it had happened to them personally and not as a mere historical event, in order to emphasize the importance of our hard-won and precious freedom.The government of Israel sold its chametz, leavened bread, to an Arab before the holiday in order not to transgress the commandment of not owning any chametz during the holiday. This includes any food product that contains leavened wheat, oat, barley, rye, or spelt products. After a search for remaining chametz in houses Sunday night, Jews burn it the following morning, several hours before Pesach begins.
Dishes also are changed for the holiday or were made kosher through a procedure of cleaning them, leaving them unused for a period of time and then dipping them in boiling water. Not all materials can be made useable for Pesach.In the absence of leaven, Jews will eat specially prepared unleavened bread, or matza, on Pesach, as was done at the Exodus, when the Jews did not have enough time to wait for dough to rise before leaving Egypt.First-born males over 13 are required to fast on the day before Passover – in commemoration of the fact that first-born Jewish males were spared when first-born Egyptian males were killed during the tenth plague – but may be released of this obligation by participating in a special festive meal, like the ones that accompany the conclusion of study of a tractate of the Talmud or a circumcision, on the morning before Passover.The traditional Seder is held Monday night – Monday and Tuesday nights for Jews outside of Israel. The guide for the Seder is detailed in the Haggadah, literally narration, which relates the story of the Exodus from Egypt.A plate placed on the Seder table contains several special foods: a roasted egg, symbolizing the special sacrifices which were brought in the Temple; a roasted shank bone, recalling the special Passover lamb offered and eaten in Temple times; a mixture of chopped apples, nuts, wine and cinnamon known as charoset, symbolizing the mortar that the Hebrew slaves in Egypt used to make bricks; sprigs of parsley and lettuce, symbolizing spring; a bitter herb symbolizing the bitterness of slavery; and salt water, recalling the tears shed by the Hebrew slaves in Egypt.Three whole pieces of matza mark the division of the Jewish people into priests (Kohenim), Levites and the general population are also placed on the table. There are also other explanations for this custom, as there are for almost all of the customs.During the course of the Seder, the Ten Plagues are recalled. When each of the Plagues is mentioned, each participant dips a finger into his/her cup of wine and removes a drop; even though the Jews were oppressed in Egypt, we are reminded that we must not rejoice over the Egyptians' suffering. Our cups of wine cannot thus be full.
One of the more popular Seder customs for children concerns the afikoman, a special piece of matza that is the last food eaten during the Seder. The head of the household customarily hides the afikoman somewhere in the house, and the children then search for it. Once found, the afikoman is ransomed, since the Seder cannot continue until the afikoman is eaten. This helps to keep the children focused on the Seder and to pique their curiosity regarding the entire Passover epic.On the morning of Tuesday 19 April, festive prayers, including a prayer for dew during the spring and summer, and special readings, will figure prominently in synagogue services.
During the intermediate days, between the first and last days, special prayers also are recited in synagogue. In Israel, all of Pesach is an official holiday for schools and most government offices.Jewish tradition maintains that the parting of the Red Sea and the destruction of the Egyptian army occurred on the seventh day of Passover, but even though Passover celebrates the Exodus from Egypt, Jews nevertheless do not rejoice over the death of the Egyptians in the sea and only an abridged version of Hallel (Psalms 113-118) – a holiday prayer – is recited after the first day of Passover.On the Sabbath of the intermediate days of Passover (Saturday 23 April), the day's special readings will include the Song of Songs and Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14).From the evening of Monday 25 April, Jews will keep a nightly count of the 49 days (seven weeks), until the evening of Monday 6 June, one day before the holiday of Shavuot. This count commemorates the Temple offering of the omer, or sheaf of new grain, in keeping with the Biblical injunction of Leviticus 23:15-16.Maimouna – an informal, yet widely celebrated holiday which originated among the Jews of North Africa, particularly those from Morocco – will be celebrated immediately after Passover, from sunset on Monday 25 April, until sunset on Tuesday 26 April. According to custom, families prepare elaborate tables with various sweets and baked goods, and host friends and family members. Whole neighborhoods often close as celebrations spill out into the streets and parks.(IsraelNationalNews.com)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r24jO4QJheQ&feature=player_embedded
Breaking: EU Preparing to Launch Ground Invasion in Libya
Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Monday, April 18, 2011
The United Nations is set to rubber stamp an EU invasion force of ground troops that would be sent into Libya under the cooked up pretense of humanitarian aid and empowered to fight if Gaddafi forces threatened to impede their mission to secure sea and land corridors inside the country, another blatant attempt to legitimize the aggressive war by goading Gaddafi into attacking western troops and justifying a wider military intervention.The EU has drawn up a concept of operations for the deployment of military forces in Libya, but needs UN approval for what would be the riskiest and most controversial mission undertaken by Brussels, reports the Guardian.
The armed forces, numbering no more than 1,000, would be deployed to secure the delivery of aid supplies, would not be engaged in a combat role but would be authorised to fight if they or their humanitarian wards were threatened.It would be to secure sea and land corridors inside the country, said an EU official.The plan is being spearheaded by the EU’s anointed foreign and security policy chief Catherine Ashton, a woman who has never been democratically elected to public office in her life yet is now about to commit EU troops to a new war that some have warned could last anything up to 30 years.In addition, US Army Gen. Carter Ham has said that the US is considering sending in ground troops to aid rebels. As we reported at the time, before the Orwellian no fly zone was even enacted, hundreds of Special Forces from Britain, America and France landed in the country to train rebel forces.
Despite the fact that the initial UN resolution specifically forbade the use of ground troops as an occupying force, that’s exactly what NATO powers have been seeking to implement for the past month, with the mass media dutifully maintaining the hoax that the entire war of aggression is in fact a humanitarian outreach.
Deliberately obfuscating the fact that Gaddafi is fighting a civil war against an army trained by British and U.S. Special Forces, the likes of the BBC and the New York Times are still, over a month into the conflict, ludicrously reporting that rebel fighters killed and injured in battle are in fact innocent civilians being indiscriminately slaughtered by Gaddafi forces.These are the same propaganda outlets that told us at the start of the air strikes that men in military uniforms driving tanks, flying fighter jets and walking around with rocket propelled grenade launchers were protesters, while concocting outright fabrications about Gaddafi using western journalists as human shields.While Obama, Cameron and Sarkozy have launched an illegal and aggressive invasion of a sovereign country and armed one side in a civil war, the media continues to flagrantly insult our intelligence by characterizing NATO bombs as virtuous tools of liberation, just as the 2003 attack on Iraq, which killed at least 1 million people, was billed at the time as an act of spreading freedom and democracy. While NATO air strikes continue to kill innocent civilians, NATO itself cites Gaddafi attacks on civilians as a reason for intensifying the bombardment.Look at the images below of injured men arriving at a hospital in Ajdabiya. Do these men look like innocent civilians or do they look like soldiers involved in a war?
Are NATO forces really dropping bombs to protect protesters and innocent civilians or are they making the region safe for an imminent ground invasion aimed at capturing Africa’s richest oil country and turning it into another geopolitical outpost for the new world order? As Obama, Cameron and Sarkozy have made clear, nothing less than the murder of Gaddafi is good enough. There will be no cease fire and there will be no negotiated exit for Gaddafi. This is about regime change – George W. Bush style.So this is where we’ve come to: from earnest, knitted-brow assurances of a limited intervention to outright declarations of open-ended war for regime change — and accommodations to bring in more boots, bullets and bombs on the ground. This is a crime,the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole,and it’s being committed, openly, proudly, by the Democrat in the White House,writes Chris Floyd.But precisely because this accumulated evil is being committed by a Democrat in the White House, the progressive movement is silent. They don’t care. Aggressive war? They don’t care. International law? They don’t care. A blanket refusal of cease fires and peace plans that could spare countless civilian lives? They don’t care. An active role on the ground — new mounds of Iraq-style collateral damage, corpses, chaos, breakdown, extremism, brutality, suffering? They don’t care.
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Libya rebels raise concern about Islamic extremism
By SEBASTIAN ABBOT, Associated Press – Tue Apr 19, 6:18 am ET
AJDABIYA, Libya – Abdel-Moneim Mokhtar was ambushed and killed by Moammar Gadhafi's troops last week on a dusty road in eastern Libya — the end of a journey that saw him fight as a jihadi in Afghanistan and then return home where he died alongside NATO-backed rebels trying to oust the longtime authoritarian leader.In describing Mokhtar's death on Friday, Gadhafi's government said he was a member of al-Qaida — part of an ongoing attempt to link the rebels to Osama bin Laden's group. Four years ago, al-Qaida said it had allied itself with the Libyan Islamic Fighters Group — of which Mokhtar was a top military commander.Two days before he was killed, Mokhtar denied any connection between his group and al-Qaida, telling The Associated Press in an interview: We only fought to free Libya.We realized that Gadhafi is a killer and imprisoned people, so we had to fight him, said Mokhtar, one of a handful of rebel battalion commanders who led more than 150 rebels in eastern Libya.The question of Islamic fundamentalists among the rebels is one of the murkier issues for Western nations who are aiding the anti-Gadhafi forces with airstrikes and must decide how deeply to get involved in the fight. Some countries, including the U.S., have been wary — partly out of concern over possible extremists among the rebels.
NATO's top commander, U.S. Navy Adm. James Stavridis, told Congress last month that officials had seen flickers of possible al-Qaida and Hezbollah involvement with rebel forces. But he said there was no evidence of significant numbers within the opposition leadership.Spokesman Mustafa Gheriani of the opposition council in Benghazi said any extremists among the fighters are exceptions and that ensuring democracy is the only way to combat them.Mokhtar, 41, of the northwestern town of Sabratha, arrived in Afghanistan at age 20 in 1990 when the mujahedeen were fighting the puppet regime installed by the Soviets before they withdrew after a decade-long war.He fought for three years in the fields and mountains of Khost and Kandahar provinces under Jalaluddin Haqqani — a prominent commander who was backed by the U.S. during the Soviet war but has now become one of its fiercest enemies in Afghanistan.At least 500 Libyans went to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets, according to The Jamestown Foundation, a U.S.-based think tank, but Mokhtar said there aren't many fighting with the rebels now. Many like Mokhtar who returned home were arrested or killed by Gadhafi when they announced the creation of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group in the mid-1990s to challenge his rule.Mokhtar became one of the LIFG's top three military commanders, said Anes Sharif, another member of the group who has known him for almost two decades.Mokhtar was in charge in southern Libya and planned several assassination attempts on Gadhafi, including one in 1996 when a militant threw a grenade at the ruler near the southern desert town of Brak that failed to explode, Sharif said.Abdel-Moneim was the man who organized, prepared and mastered all those kinds of operations, said Sharif, who is from the northeastern town of Darna, which has been a hotbed of Islamist activity.
The LIFG also waged attacks against Gadhafi's security forces. But the Libyan leader cracked down on the group, especially in Darna and what is now the rebel-held capital of Benghazi.The worst fight was against Gadhafi in the 1990s, Mokhtar said. If he captured us, he would not only torture us but our families as well.The response forced many members of the group, including Mokhtar, to flee abroad, Sharif said. Mokhtar left in the late 1990s and only returned after the current uprising began, Sharif said.We don't have many experienced commanders in the battlefield. That's why I'm out here, said Mokhtar, his full black beard peppered with gray as he stood outside Ajdabiya surrounded by rebel pickup trucks bristling with rocket launchers and heavy machine guns.Al-Qaida announced in 2007 that it had allied with the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, and the group was put on the U.S. State Department's list of terrorist organizations. Both Mokhtar and Sharif denied the connection, saying it was never endorsed by the group's leadership. The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group publicly renounced violence in 2009 following about three years of negotiations with Libyan authorities — including with Gadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam. In a statement at the time, the group insisted it had no link to the al-Qaida organization in the past and has none now.The Libyan government released more than 100 members of the LIFG in recent years as part of the negotiations. Sharif said the group changed its name to the Libyan Islamic Movement for Change before the current uprising.British authorities believe the LIFG has stood by its pledge of nonviolence, and has no ties to al-Qaida — though acknowledge that other Libyans command senior positions in the terror group's hierarchy, including Abu Yahia al-Libi, al-Qaida's Afghanistan commander.They clearly are still committed to an Islamist world view, but don't subscribe to terrorist tactics any more, said Ghaffar Hussain, who works on deradicalization projects for the Quilliam Foundation, a British anti-extremism think tank.
Some former Libyan Islamic Fighting Group figures have decided to join the rebels, mainly because they remain opposed to Gadhafi's regime — but there is no sign of them reforming as a jihadist organization, he said.However, Hussain said there was clear evidence that al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) — the al-Qaida offshoot which U.S. officials believe poses the most immediate terror threat to America — was trying to join the fighting against Gadhafi's forces.The rebels are being very careful to keep a distance from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, knowing the damage that any associated with them would do to their cause, Hussain said.Since the uprising began in February, Gadhafi has played up fears that the rebels include fighters from al-Qaida, but no evidence has surfaced to support the accusations.
Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told reporters Sunday night that Mokhtar "has been an al-Qaida member since the 80s, although he offered no evidence. He called him by his tribal name, al-Madhouni, and said he fought in many countries, including Afghanistan, Yemen, Algeria and Libya and was wanted by international authorities.A U.S. intelligence official said that Mokhtar has been involved in extremist activities in Afghanistan and Libya since the 1990s. He may not have been in lockstep with al-Qaida at the time of his death, but he's been a fellow traveler in the past, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss matters of intelligence.The official concluded that it's too early to know whether Mokhtar and other members of his group have abandoned their previous extremist tendencies.Mokhtar said in the interview that he, Sharif and other members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group still have the same passion to oust Gadhafi, but added they no longer aspire to set up an Islamic state.Instead, they say their goal is the same as the rebels' National Transitional Council: a democratic government that respects human rights and the rule of law.We are here only to fight for freedom, and that is our only goal, Mokhtar said.
We want a free Libya and a government for all Libyans — a government that doesn't distinguish between Muslims and non-Muslims, that is run by a constitution and respects Islam, he added.Sharif, who was part of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group's political division and has been working with the rebels as well, said years of experience have convinced them that most Libyans don't want to live under a strict Islamic regime. But he did believe that politicians with conservative Islamic views will attract the most support in Libya.The West needs to understand that there is a difference between Islamic culture and radicalization, Sharif said.Another area of concern for the West has been the relatively high number of Libyans who have gone to fight against U.S.-led forces in Iraq. One study done by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 2008 found that Libyans represented the second largest group of foreign fighters and ranked first per capita.Sharif said a small number of radical Islamists do exist in Libya, but he said the best way to deal with them is to get rid of Gadhafi, whose repressive policies have exacerbated extremism in the country.
In an environment where everybody is respected and is allowed to carry out their religion without fear of being tortured, arrested or killed, there is no extremism, said Sharif.He also said that the rebels are committed to keeping foreign fighters out of Libya — a sentiment echoed by others on the battlefield.The rebels are determined not to allow al-Qaida or any other non-Libyans to have a base here, Sharif said. We don't want the country to be a battlefield for other groups to finish their wars. We don't want to see Libya as another Iraq or Afghanistan.
Associated Press writers Danica Kirka in London and Kimberly Dozier in Washington contributed to this report.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/143561
Obama, the Interpreter of the Message of Passover
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu APR 18,11
Passover recalls the bondage and suffering of Jews in Egypt and the miracle of the Exodus, but U.S. President Barack Obama says its message is reflected in Muslim uprisings.In his annual message, prior to his third straight participation in the Passover Seder, President Obama stated, The story of Passover…instructs each generation to remember its past, while appreciating the beauty of freedom and the responsibility it entails. This year that ancient instruction is reflected in the daily headlines as we see modern stories of social transformation and liberation unfolding in the Middle East and North Africa.Having constructed a link between the Arab uprisings and Chosen People's experiencing the miracles of the Creator that led them out of Egypt and towards the receiving of the Ten Commandments, the President concluded, "As Jewish families gather for this joyous celebration of freedom, let us all be thankful for the gifts that have been bestowed upon us, and let us work to alleviate the suffering, poverty, injustice, and hunger of those who are not yet free.For good measure, he also added the Hebrew term Chag Samayach, which means Have a happy holiday.President Obama chanced into a Seder during his presidential campaign in 2008, when the polls were not in his favor. At the end of the Seder, when Jews chanted, Next year in Jerusalem, Obama responded, Next year in the White House.
His attendance at the Seder resulted in his meeting with Eric Lesser, one of his Jewish backers, according to Lauren Salkeld, writing for the epicurious.com website. Despite the heavy campaign schedule, Lesser and two friends organized a makeshift Seder in a hotel basement. As they began, Obama popped in and asked, Is this a Seder? Can I join? After having made it the White House, President Obama held another Seder last year, complete with all of the Jewish customs, and plans to do so again this year in the White House’s Old Family Dining Room.The phenomenon of non-Jews arranging and participating in Seders in the United States has spread so much that Diane Cole wrote in The Wall Street Journal this week, Is Passover the new Christmas, referring to the dilution of Hanukah by detached Jews and non-Jews who try to mix the two holidays together as part of brotherhood.Cole wrote that even many churches today hold their own Seders, despite the exclusive Jewish concept of remembering slavery and Exodus.What makes Christians' embrace of Passover all the more unusual is that for centuries—even into the 20th—the holiday's proximity to Good Friday and Easter routinely sparked violent anti-Jewish riots and pogroms, especially in Europe, she wrote.However, the fight for the end of segregation in the United States in the 1950s led to the black community’s adaptation of Let my people go. The slogan now is a favorite banner of leftists, who twist it around to apply it to Palestinian Authority Arabs.Cole also noted that the high rate of intermarriage in the United States has led to a dilution of Passover customs at the Seder, which is held at home and gives intermarried families an opportunity to mix their faiths and sometimes even Christianize the Seder, particularly at churches.(Israel National News.com)
Germany to Hungary: New constitution breaches EU values
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today APR 19,11 @ 09:48 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Germany has warned the conservative Hungarian government that its new constitution, passed by parliament on Monday (18 April), is not compatible with European Union values.We are observing the developments in Hungary with great attention and some worry, German deputy foreign minister Werner Hoyer said in an emailed statement. The media law adopted at the start of the year shows an attitude towards fundamental rights which - despite some amendments - is hardly compatible with European Union values.Our worries over the media law are made worse, not better, by today's adoption of the constitution and its future implementation, he added.The Hungarian parliament approved the document 262 votes to 44, with the Socialist and green parties boycotting the vote and the far-right Jobbik voting against it.Opposition groups protested the new constitution over the weekend, saying that the document is being rushed through without proper consultation and accusing the ruling Fidesz party of undermining democracy.Although most political actors in the country agree that the old constitution, put in place in 1989, contained many deficiencies and required a thorough make-over, critics complain that they have only had a few weeks to analyse the document.Last week, the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, the body's advisory group established in 1990 to comment on new constitutions in eastern Europe, issued a scathing criticism of the document.The current process of preparing the draft new Constitution in view of its rapid adoption ... raises a number of concerns that would deserve careful consideration by the Hungarian authorities, the commission said in a statement.
These include the lack of transparency of the process and the distribution of a public draft of the new Constitution only on 14 March 2011, a few weeks before its planned adoption, shortcomings in the dialogue between the majority and the opposition, the insufficient opportunities for an adequate public debate on such a fundamental process, and its very limited time-frame.The European Commission for its part has washed its hands of the matter, telling EUobserver that the constitution is for Hungarians to decide and that the country remains a constitutional democracy.
Andrew Arato, a Hungarian expert in constitutions in new democracies, said of the process: Under an opposition boycott, and involving an absurd process of popular consultation through sketchy and deficient mail in citizen questionnaires, it lacks all genuine aspects of participation and inclusion.Winning a two-thirds majority last year together with its coalition partners, the Christian Democrats, Fidesz passed the threshold required to change the constitution.The new text, heavy with references to Christianity, protects the life of a foetus from conception and preserves the institution of marriage between man and woman.Neighbouring governments are also nervous about wording that declares Hungary's responsibility for the destiny of Hungarians living outside her borders, and that the government could use this new language to offer voting rights to ethnic Hungarians residing in neighbouring states. A quarter of all ethnic Hungarians live beyond the country's borders, mainly in Slovakia, Romania and Serbia.
Earlier wording giving parents extra votes has since been removed, although the government still hopes to move forward with the plan legislatively in the medium term.Despite the German government's criticism, the new constitution does contain tight rules on public debts, a change Berlin wants all EU governments to make.
Critics say that it is not their opposition to such policies that has produced their criticism of the document, but that they will now also require a two-thirds majority to overturn these policies, a development that is highly unlikely.The government for its part, terms the text the Easter Constitution to symbolise the rebirth of the Hungarian nation and rejects complaints that the government has pushed through the document, saying that they opened discussions on the paper a year ago and that opposition parties boycotted the process.
Doubts over EU parliamentary reform as officials look to German model
ANDREW WILLIS 18.04.2011 @ 18:49 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A series of question marks have been raised over the European Parliament's pledge to tighten internal rules following the cash-for-amendments scandal, as senior officials look to Germany's Bundestag as a potential template. We're obviously studying at a broad range of parliaments, but the German model in particular, a source said on Monday (18 April) on condition of anonymity, a day before a specially-convened working group on internal reform is set to meet for the first time.Transparency International (TI) confirmed that key figures within the European Parliament were touting rules within Berlin's Bundestag as a future model, a move the NGO said would constitute a step backwards. There are a huge number of deficiencies with the German rules,TI policy officer Carl Dolan told this website.
MPs in Germany can accept personal donations of up to €10,000 without disclosing them, and they have no rules regarding the disclosure of assets. They declare conflict of interest in parliamentary committees, but these are closed to the public, so its actually worse than the European Parliament,added Dolan.The disquiet comes amid suggestions that some within the European Parliament are already digging in their heels against substantial reform, despite recent allegations from the Sunday Times newspaper that four MEPs were willing to make legislative amendments in return for a fee. All four have denied wrongdoing.We should not jump to conclusions that the current rules are deficient, said one parliamentary official.European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek has personally pledged to clean up the legislature's tarnished image, outlining a list of seven reform areas and opting to chair a working group of ten MEPs, which will meet for the first time on Tuesday morning.The initial gathering is likely to establish a work programme for the coming weeks, with one sub-group set to focus on how MEPs interact with EU lobbyists, and another to concentrate on devising a code of conduct for MEPs.Conclusions should be ready by June, say people close to the discussions, enabling a vote by senior parliamentary officials and political group leaders in July, before the summer recess.A mandatory register of lobbyists, tighter statements of financial interests and a code of conduct for MEPs are among the measures that Buzek has said he supports.
The Polish politician also told political group leaders last month that he wanted tougher sanctions for rule-breakers, as well as the compulsory publication of a legislative footprint by MEPs who write reports, detailing which outside organisations were consulted during the drafting process.Some MEPs and pressure groups have said the reforms must go further however, calling for a complete ban on all paid second jobs.For its part, Transparency International is concerned that the working group may be used to quietly diffuse the current fuss by drawing the debate out over a long period.Buzek won't be able to push through his proposals without the support of the political groups, said Dolan.They definitely need to publish a list of reforms by the summer, and if they're serious, must hold a number of working group sessions in public.
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
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)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
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.
Egypt: At least 846 killed in protests
APR 19,11
CAIRO – An Egyptian government fact-finding mission says at least 846 people were killed during the popular uprising that toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak.
The mission, consisting of a panel of judges, detailed in its Tuesday report what it described as the excessive use of force by security forces in the face of growing mass protests, which kicked off on Jan. 25.The report said that security forces fired live ammunition, placed snipers on rooftops and used vehicles to run over protesters.It added that more than 6,400 people were injured.
Europol: Arab spring poses terrorist threat to EU
ANDREW RETTMAN Today APRIL 19,11 @ 12:05 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Arab revolutions and the economic crisis could increase the risk of terrorist attacks in the EU by Islamist, far-left and far-right groups, according to a report by the union's joint police body, Europol.The annual survey, the EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report, out on Tuesday (19 April) covering events in 2010, noted that the vast majority of terrorist incidents in the EU last year came from separatist groups such as Eta in Spain or the Turkish group, the PKK/Kongra-Gel.Foiled or successful separatist attacks accounted for 160 out of the total 249 cases in 2010, compared to 45 far-left incidents and just three Islamist cases.The highest number of arrests on terrorism charges came in France (219), followed by Spain (118), Ireland (62), the UK (45) and the Netherlands (39). Germany, the largest EU country, recorded just 25 and Italy 29. Small countries Belgium (20) and Greece (18) saw high levels of arrests. Romania (16) was the only post-Communist EU member with a notable figure.In terms of overall trends, numbers went down year-on-year in France, Italy, Spain and the UK. But they went up in Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands.The biggest change comes in the nature of the groups involved, however.
EU countries saw a 50 percent jump in the number of arrests linked to Islamist terrorism and a 12 percent jump in cases linked to far-left and anarchist groups. In Greece, the far-left figure jumped 30 percent.Remarking on the ideology of Islamist groups such as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Europol said incitements to violence concentrated on: the Mohammed cartoons in Denmark; banning the veil in France; the Swiss anti-minaret vote; the war in Afghanistan; and Spain's occupation of Ceuta and Melilla in Morocco.On the Arab spring, it noted that AQIM and AQAP have been reduced to observers, incapable of influencing events and suffered a notable setback … in terms of support and recruitment because peaceful protests have proved more effective in deposing dictators than years of terrorist attacks. It added, however:should Arab expectations [of political reform] not be met, the consequence may be a surge in support for those terrorist organisations. It also said: Such mass actions may ... create a democratic space for organisations with similar [anti-Western] objectives and such organisations may be able to take advantage of the temporary reduction of state control.On the issue of EU-bound Arab migrants, the report warned that: Individuals with terrorist aims could easily enter Europe amongst the large numbers of immigrants.It also warned that far-right groups might try to exploit xenophobia in European society, saying:If the unrest in the Arab world … leads to a major influx of immigrants into Europe, right-wing extremism and terrorism might gain a new lease of life by articulating more widespread public apprehension about immigration.Europol said far-left and anarchist groups in Europe have traditionally used a Marxist-Leninst discourse of anti-capitalism, anti-militarism and anti-authoritarianism.But in 2010 growing unemployment has radicalised some youths, even those with relatively high levels of education and left-wing and anarchist extremists [have] also focused on the global economic recession … [and] austerity measures.
It voiced concern about EU citizens traveling abroad to theatres of conflict such as Afghanistan, learning terrorist skills and importing them back home. It said the number of EU nationals involved in jihadist conflicts abroad is in the low hundreds.
Remarking on the study, Europol director Rob Wainwright said in his foreword that: Member States have agreed to regard terrorist acts as those which aim to intimidate populations, compel states to comply with the perpetrators demands and/or destabilise the fundamental political, constitutional, economical or social structures of a country or an international organization.The statist definition excludes attacks by states against unrecognised entities, such as the Taliban in Afghanistan, which have killed far more civilians than any terrorist incidents in Europe.
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.
More tornadoes predicted for towns still recovering from storms
APR 19,11
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Sweeping storms threatening to unleash thunder, hail and tornadoes were expected to strike the Midwest and South on Tuesday, including towns still staggering from last week's deadly weather, forecasters said.Extreme weather was expected to dump 6 to 12 inches of snow on Wisconsin, according to AccuWeather.com.From Chicago south, severe thunderstorm warnings were underway, with some of the direst predictions for St. Louis, where ping-pong sized hail was expected, Accuweather.com meteorologists said.Later in the day and overnight, powerful storms with lightning strikes, gusting winds and driving downpours were expected to unfold from the central Plains through the mid-Mississippi Valley, pushing east to the Ohio and Tennessee valley region.Once again we will be dealing with a triple threat of tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail, said forecasters on Weather.com.
Some of the twisters could touch down in the very same communities slammed by tornadoes last week, meteorologist Bill Deger said in a statement on AccuWeather.com. At least 45 people were killed across the southern United States, the highest storm death toll in more than three years.Unfortunately, some of those towns could be struck by strong storms this week, meteorologist Deger said. Conditions could produce a few tornadoes.(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Jerry Norton)
POISONED WATERS
REVELATION 8:8-11
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood:(bitter,Poisoned) and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.(poisoned)
REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6 For they(False World Church and Dictator) have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLE2nA-0TBU&feature=player_embedded
Fukushima Radiation Nightmare May Last Indefinitely
Kurt Nimmo Infowars.com April 18, 2011
The Associated Press reports today that radiation has spiked in a water tank in Unit 2. Robots also report that radiation is so high elsewhere at the stricken plant that it is too dangerous for workers to be sent in.Robot footage of the destroyed plant.
Even I had expected high radioactivity in those areas. I’m sure (plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.) and other experts have factored in those figures when they compiled the roadmap, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said.The robots can only do so much. Eventually, people will have to enter the buildings, said Takeshi Makigami, a TEPCO official.Prime Minister Naoto Kan took it on the nose. You should be bowing your head in apology. You clearly have no leadership at all, Masashi Waki, a lawmaker from the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, shouted at Kan.I am sincerely apologizing for what has happened, Kan said.TEPCO’s president, Masataka Shimizu, also took abuse from lawmakers.A poll taken by the Nikkei business newspaper revealed that nearly 70% of respondents said Kan should be replaced. A similar percentage said his government had botched the nuclear crisis.
Mike Adams, reporting for Natural News, writes that TEPCO has announced that radiation will continue to leak from the reactors for at least three months, possibly longer. This is basically a blatant admission that the radiation leaks are going to continue way beyond 90 days, Adams writes.TEPCO says the Fukushima facility should be in cold shutdown within nine months, at which an effort effort to entomb the reactors will be launched.The first step of the plan to be accomplished within three months concentrates on cooling the reactors and spent fuel pools that will reduce radiation leaks and decontaminating water that has become radioactive. The second step on a timeline of six to nine months is to bring the release of radioactive materials fully under control, achieve a cold shutdown of the reactors and cover the buildings, possibly with a form of industrial cloth, USA Today reported over the weekend.Even the corporate media has expressed skepticism for this ambitious plan.If I were a gambler, I’d be willing to wager a lot of money that TEPCO’s current wish list of having all this done by the end of the year is no more likely to happen than a household cat sprouting a new tail on its back end so that it has TWO tails to play with. Then again, with all the radiation in the air these days, that sort of mutation might become more common than we’d like,writes Adams.
Considering TEPCO’s ineptness and the fact little has changed for the better at the plant, it is entirely possible the disaster – now many times worse than Chernobyl – may go on indefinitely.
Japan nuke plants starts pumping radioactive water
By MARI YAMAGUCHI and YURI KAGEYAMA, Associated Press - APR 19,11
TOKYO – The operator of Japan's crippled nuclear plant began pumping highly radioactive water from the basement of one of its buildings to a makeshift storage area Tuesday in a crucial step toward easing the nuclear crisis.Removing the 25,000 metric tons (about 6.6 million gallons) of contaminated water that has collected in the basement of a turbine building at Unit 2 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant will help allow access for workers trying to restore vital cooling systems that were knocked out in the March 11 tsunami.It is but one of many steps in a lengthy process to resolve the crisis. Tokyo Electric Power Co. projected in a road map released over the weekend that it would take up to nine months to reach a cold shutdown of the plant. But government officials acknowledge that setbacks could slow the timeline.The water will be removed in stages, with the first third of it to be handled over the coming 20 days, said Hidehiko Nishiyama of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. In all, there are 70,000 tons (about 18.5 million gallons) of contaminated water to be removed from the plant's reactor and turbine buildings and nearby trenches, and the entire process could take months.TEPCO is bringing the water to a storage building that was flooded during the tsunami with lightly contaminated water that was later pumped into the ocean to make room for the highly contaminated water.
The operator plans to use technology developed by French nuclear engineering giant Areva to reduce radioactivity and remove salt from the contaminated water so that it can be reused to cool the plant's reactors, Nishiyama said, adding that this process would take several months.Once the contaminated water in the plant buildings is safely removed and radioactivity levels decline, workers can begin repairing the cooling systems for the reactors of Units 1, 2 and 3, which were in operation at the time of the tsunami. Workers must also restore cooling functions at the plant's six spent fuel pools and a joint pool for all six units.When the tsunami struck, units 5 and 6 were going through a regular inspection. On March 20, they were put in cold shutdown, which is when a reactor's core is stable at temperatures below 212 Fahrenheit (100 Celsius).With the nuclear crisis dragging on, public frustration with the government is growing. Opinion polls show more than two-thirds of Japanese are unhappy with the leadership of Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who was grilled for hours Monday by opposition politicians, many demanding he resign.TEPCO has offered residents forced to evacuate from homes around the plant about $12,000 per household as interim compensation. People elsewhere in the disaster zone who lost houses to the tsunami — which also left more than 27,000 dead or missing — say help has been slow to materialize.I don't understand what the politicians are doing, there are new committees and meetings everyday, said Hiroshi Sato, who lost his house in Kesennuma and now lives in a fabric warehouse from his old business.We need support, financial assistance, and nothing has come yet, he said.
In TEPCO's blueprint for stabilizing the reactors, the utility aims to cool the reactors and spent fuel pools and reduce radiation leaks over the next three months. Within 6-9 months, the goal is achieve a cold shutdown of the reactors and cover the buildings, possibly with a form of industrial cloth, to further tamp deter any possible radiation leaks.Two remote-controlled robots sent into the reactor buildings of Unit 1 and Unit 3 on Sunday showed that radiation levels inside — up to 57 millisieverts per hour — were still too high for humans to realistically enter.
The U.S.-made Packbots, which resemble drafting lamps on tank-like treads, also were briefly sent into Unit 2 on Monday, officials said, and the radiation level was found to be a much lower 4.1 millisieverts per hour.But the high level of humidity inside the reactor building fogged up the robot's camera lens, making it difficult to see conditions inside. They were pulled out after less than an hour, officials said.We didn't want to lose sight of where the robot was and then not be able to retrieve it, TEPCO manager Hikaru Kuroda said.The reason for the higher humidity wasn't clear, but it suggests that workers — if they were to go inside — also would have difficulty seeing through their masks, Kuroda said.Associated Press Writer Jay Alabaster in Kesennuma contributed to this report.
Rain to fall on Plains, thunderstorms and snow in Midwest
APR 19,11
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Showers were expected on Tuesday in portions of the Plains, while rain, thunderstorms and even snow would hit parts of the Midwest, forecasters said.That pattern in the Midwest was seen continuing for at least the next 10 days.
Temperatures should hover in the 40s and 50s throughout most of the Northeast, with scattered showers in its southern region.
Cash-strapped Belarus allows its currency to float
By YURAS KARMANAU, Associated Press - APR 19,11
MINSK, Belarus – Cash-strapped Belarus announced Tuesday that it would allow its beleaguered national currency to float, effectively permitting its devaluation in a bid to ease a spiraling currency crisis.International financial institutions have been calling for a sharp devaluation of the Belarusian ruble to help the former Soviet republic's foundering economy. The move Tuesday was the latest blow to authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko's attempts to show he can still deliver economic stability after 17 years in power.The currency crisis, an increasingly severe crackdown on the opposition, and a mysterious subway bombing last week have spawned a sense of rising panic and disorder in this nation of 10 million, often labeled the last dictatorship in Europe.Belarus' first post-Soviet leader, Stanislav Shushkevich, told The Associated Press that Lukashenko's political survival now hinges entirely on another Russian loan.He will be able to ease social tensions if the Kremlin gives him another loan, Shushkevich said. Otherwise people will start protesting. What we are seeing now begins to resemble the collapse of the Soviet system.The government's hard currency reserves plunged 20 percent in the first two months of the year to less than $4 billion, and staples such as vegetable oil and sugar started vanishing from stores as people started to hoard.
Starting next week, banks will be able to buy and sell the Belarusian ruble at a rate determine in open trading, Central Bank deputy chief Nikolay Luzgin said, adding that the government will take extra steps to balance the situation on the domestic currency market after next week's trading.The U.S. dollar stood at 3,074 Belarusian rubles on Tuesday. Stanislav Bogdankevich, former chief of the Belarusian central bank, told The Associated Press that he expects the ruble to drop by one-third after the float.Importers of medicine and Russian natural gas will be able to buy foreign currency at privileged rates.Even before the announcement, frightened citizens had been lining up for hours in the past few weeks to exchange their rubles for euros and dollars. Since the free float will initially affect banks, it was unclear how currency rates on the street will be affected.My short-term plan is to emigrate to Poland, said Pavel Korchevsky, 37, a businessman.It's impossible to do business in a country where the president personally determines the dollar rate.
Belarusian authorities also announced sharp budget cuts Tuesday, reducing financing for investment programs by 30 percent and state office construction by 20 percent.A long-standing social contract that asked Belarusians to give up their political freedoms in exchange for safety and a modest standard of living now appears to be fraying. The April 11 explosion in the capital's busiest subway station during an evening rush hour killed 13 and wounded more than 200 — the first deadly bombing in a nation where the opposition has been largely peaceful and militant groups have been unheard of.Authorities quickly arrested a man accused of placing the bomb and four suspected accomplices, but haven't said who ordered the attack. Lukashenko responded to the subway blast by ordering prosecutors to interrogate opposition activists.That made some bloggers speculate that authorities may have carried out the attack in order to distract Belarusians from the country's rapidly worsening economic situation.
Lukashenko responded with characteristic bluntness.Only idiots and scoundrels can allege that, only scum can do that, he said, arguing that the economic troubles and the subway attack had been carried out by unspecified forces seeking to subdue the nation.Minsk, a city of drab suburban apartment blocks and broad central avenues lined with monumental Stalin-era buildings, looks tense, with police and military patrols deployed on the streets and the subway.Belarus has always been known for its stability and order, but the explosion has filled me with fear and anguish, 46-year-old Dr. Zhanna Pankratova said as she walked past the explosion site.Whom can we trust now? Opposition leader Anatoly Lebedko expected the government to intensify its crackdown on dissent.If they announce a decision tomorrow to brand all members of the opposition with a hot iron, I will not be surprised, said Lebedko, who was released from a KGB prison earlier this month after 3 1/2 months in custody.The government already has issued reprimands to two main independent newspapers and the prosecutor-general has threatened to bring order to the Internet, the last haven of uncensored speech in Belarus.For most of his tenure, Lukashenko has relied on cheap energy resources from Belarus' main sponsor and ally, Russia, to maintain a quasi-Soviet economy complete with a social safety net that helped boost his popularity among the working class and the elderly.But the Russian subsidies have dwindled recently as Moscow has pushed for control over Belarus' most prized economic assets, such as oil refineries and chemical plants, in exchange for more loans.Even as state coffers were drying up, Lukashenko raised public sector salaries by 30 percent ahead of December's presidential vote to secure his re-election. The vote was harshly criticized by international monitors.Belarus was living beyond its means, and it was the president who made it do that, said Leonid Zayiko, head of the independent Strategia think-tank.All the problems emerged because he wanted to remain president and raised salaries.
Iran sees further rise in oil prices by end 2011
by Farhad Pouladi - APR 19,11
TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran, which chairs the oil producers' cartel OPEC, said on Tuesday it expects global crude prices to further rise by the end of 2011 while the secretary-general urged wealthy G8 countries to cut fuel taxes.The price of oil depends on two things. First, the fundamentals, including supply and demand and then the political, psychological and unforseen elements. Based on these factors, oil prices should increase again by end of the year, Iran's representative to OPEC, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, told reporters in Tehran.He said oil demand in 2001 will be high, between 1.3 million barrels per day to 1.6 mbpd.What is certain is that we will see a rise in demand, he said.On Monday, the secretary general of OPEC, Abdullah El-Badri had expressed concern over the high price of oil but added the market had adequate supplies of the commodity.We see that there is a 15-20 dollar premium risk at this time, Badri told reporters in Kuwait.
On Tuesday, he was in Tehran for the 50th anniversary of the founding of OPEC, and reiterated that the market was adequately supplied with crude oil.He said there was no shortage of oil in the market.OPEC has said repeatedly there is no shortage of oil anywhere in the world and stocks are high, El-Badri told reporters.OPEC has done its part to ensure that the market is adequately supplied with crude and it will be useful in this challenging time if consuming countries, who impose high taxes on oil, revise it temporarily because we are in an exceptional circumstance that needs exceptional solution.We ask the governments of the G8, which have more taxes and are making more money from taxes than the producing nations from selling ... we urge them to reduce the taxes, El-Badri said.I think the market is comfortable and we (OPEC) already have 4.5 million barrels per day that we can send to market ... (there is) no shortage in market and stocks are high, he added.El-Badri said that crude prices will remain above 100 dollars per barrel for the rest of the year when asked if prices would fall below that level.Oil fell in Asian trade Tuesday after a bearish Standard and Poor's report on the United States, but geopolitical risks in the Arab world will continue to drive prices higher, analysts said.New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May dipped 27 cents to 106.85 dollars a barrel, while Brent North Sea crude for June eased 35 cents to 121.26 dollars in the afternoon.
