CHINA QUAKES EXCEEDS 12,000 DEAD

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

Report: Death toll in China quake exceeds 12,000 By WILLIAM FOREMAN, Associated Press Writer MAY 13,08

DUJIANGYAN, China - The toll of the dead and missing soared as rescue workers dug through flattened schools and homes on Tuesday in a desperate attempt to find survivors of China's worst earthquake in three decades. The official Xinhua News Agency said the death toll exceeded 12,000 in Sichuan province alone, and 18,645 were still buried in debris in the city of Mianyang, near the epicenter of Monday's massive, 7.9-magnitude quake.The Sichuan Daily newspaper reported on its Web site that more than 26,000 people were injured in Mianyang.The numbers of casualties was expected to rise due to the remoteness of the areas affected by the quake and difficulty in finding buried victims.There was little prospect that many survivors would be found under the rubble. Only 58 people were extricated from demolished buildings across the quake area so far, China Seismological Bureau spokesman Zhang Hongwei told Xinhua. In one county, 80 percent of the buildings were destroyed.Rain was impeding efforts and a group of paratroopers called off a rescue mission to the epicenter due to heavy storms, Xinhua reported.More than two dozen British and American tourists who were thought to be panda-watching in the area also remained missing.Officials urged the public not to abandon hope.

Survivors can hold on for some time. Now it's not time to give up, Wang Zhenyao, disaster relief division director at the Ministry of Civil Affairs, told reporters in Beijing.Premier Wen Jiabao, who rushed to the area to oversee rescue efforts, said a push was on to clear roads and restore electricity as soon as possible. His visit to the disaster scene was prominently featured on state TV, a gesture meant to reassure people that the ruling party was doing all it could.We will save the people, Wen said through a bullhorn to survivors as he toured the disaster scene, in footage shown on CCTV. As long as the people are there, factories can be built into even better ones, and so can the towns and counties.State media said rescue workers had reached the epicenter in Wenchuan county — where the number of casualties was still unknown. The quake was centered just north of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu in central China, tearing into urban areas and mountain villages.

Earthquake rescue experts in orange jumpsuits extricated bloody survivors on stretchers from demolished buildings.Some 20,000 soldiers and police arrived in the disaster area with 30,000 more on the way by plane, train, trucks and even on foot, the Defense Ministry told Xinhua.Aftershocks rattled the region for a second day, sending people running into the streets in Chengdu. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the shocks between magnitude 4 and 6, some of the strongest since Monday's quake.Zhou Chun, a 70-year-old retired mechanic, was leaving Dujiangyan with a soiled light blue blanket draped over his shoulders.My wife died in the quake. My house was destroyed, he said. I am going to Chengdu, but I don't know where I'll live.Zhou and other survivors were pulling luggage and clutching plastic bags of food amid a steady drizzle and the constant wall of ambulances. Just east of the epicenter, 1,000 students and teachers were killed or missing at a collapsed high school in Beichuan county — a six-story building reduced to a pile of rubble about two yards high, according to Xinhua. Xinhua said 80 percent of the buildings had collapsed in Beichuan alone. At another leveled school in Dujiangyan, 900 students were feared dead. As bodies of teenagers were carried out on doors used as makeshift stretchers, relatives lit incense and candles and also set off fireworks to ward away evil spirits. Elsewhere in Gansu province, a 40-car freight train derailed in the quake that included 13 gasoline tankers was still burning Tuesday, Xinhua said.

Gasoline lines grew in Chengdu and grocery stores shelves were almost empty. The Ministry of Health issued an appeal for blood donations to help the quake victims. Fifteen missing British tourists were believed to have been in the area at the time of the quake and were out of reach, Xinhua reported. They were likely visiting the Wolong Nature Reserve, home to more than 100 giant pandas, whose fate also was not known, Xinhua said, adding that 60 pandas at another breeding center in Chengdu were safe. Another group of 12 Americans also on panda-watching tour sponsored by the U.S. office of the World Wildlife Fund remained out of contact Tuesday, said Tan Rui, WWF communications officer in China. Two Chinese-Americans and a Thai tourist also were missing in Sichuan province, the agency said, citing tourism officials. Expressions of sympathy and offers of help poured in from the United States, Japan and the European Union, among others. The Dalai Lama, who has been vilified by Chinese authorities who blame him for recent unrest in Tibet, offered prayers for the victims. The epicenter is just south of some Tibetan mountain areas that saw anti-government protests earlier this year. Beijing Games organizers said the Olympic torch relay will continue as planned through the quake-affected area next month. The Chinese government said it would welcome outside aid, and Russia was sending a plane with rescuers and supplies, the country's Interfax news agency reported. But Wang, the disaster relief official, said international aid workers would not be allowed to travel to the affected area. We welcome funds and supplies; we can't accommodate personnel at this point, he said.

China's Ministry of Finance said it had allocated $123 million in aid for quake-hit areas. The quake was China's deadliest since 1976, when 240,000 people were killed in the city of Tangshan, near Beijing in 1976. Financial analysts said the quake would have only a limited impact on the country's booming economy. Associated Press writers Christopher Bodeen in Juyuan and Audra Ang in Chengdu contributed to this report.

From snowstorms to earthquake, 2008 turns out to be a tough year for China Mon May 12, 4:12 PM By Tini Tran, The Associated Press

BEIJING - China hoped 2008 would be a yearlong celebration, a time to bask in the spotlight of the upcoming Beijing Olympics. Instead, the Year of the Rat has also brought a wave of troubles - both natural and man-made - that are putting a heavy strain on the communist leadership. The 7.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Sichuan province Monday, killing thousands, is only the latest.
China has long experience with large-scale disasters - from coal mine explosions to chemical spills to floods that displace tens of thousands. The central government prides itself on its ability to quickly react, usually with deployments from China's huge military corps. The ruling party's mandate in part rests on being able to deliver aid in emergencies. But China's capacity to control disasters and how they play out in the media is being stretched this year. Its leaders are grappling with the fallout from multiple problems in the information-hungry Internet age when they had expected to focus only on the Olympics. The Olympics are an important symbol of China's effort to ... get on the same gauge with the rest of the world. So they have attached a lot of importance to them, said Roger Des Forges, a China historian at University at Buffalo, State University of New York.

But for most Chinese people, they are secondary to the quality of life that they are trying to achieve. So these questions of disasters are uppermost in people's minds, watching how the government is going to deal with them, he said. China was quick to show its public response to Monday's quake. Just hours after it struck, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao flew into Sichuan province to oversee the emergency relief effort. Speaking from Dujiangyan City, where a high school collapsed, burying some 900 students, Wen acknowledged on national TV the task will be especially challenging.
This year, China's problems began just before February's Lunar New Year, when the worst snowstorms in five decades hit the densely populated southern and central region. They left scores dead, knocked out power across cities, and stranded hundreds of thousands during the country's single busiest travel period. Meanwhile, its leaders also battled decade-high levels of inflation and struggled to improve the country's image as a global manufacturer following last year's tainted drugs and food scandal and defective toy exports. In March, huge anti-government riots erupted in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, sparking sympathy protests in Tibetan areas across western China. The violent protests were the biggest challenge to Chinese rule in the Himalayan region in nearly two decades. The subsequent government crackdown brought sharp international criticism of Beijing's human rights record and its rule over Tibet. China has said that 22 people were killed, while Tibetan groups have said that many times that number died in the violence. Thousands of troops were deployed across a wide swath of the country to tamp down unrest and restore order. But their massive presence continued to draw an unwelcome spotlight on China's harsh rule in Tibet.

The negative attention spilled over to the Olympic flame's around-the-world tour. Meant to be a feel-good kickoff event to the Beijing Games, the relay turned into chaos as pro-Tibet protesters mounted demonstrations from the very start of the ceremonial lighting in Greece, and at stops including London, Paris, and San Francisco. The bad news kept coming. In May was China's worst train accident in a decade, leaving 72 dead and more than 400 injured when a high-speed passenger train jumped its tracks and slammed into another in rural Shandong province. Excessive speed was determined to be the cause, and five railway officials were promptly fired. This month also brought a sharp rise in the number of reported cases of hand, foot, and mouth disease, a normally non-deadly viral infection that has killed 39 children this year and infected nearly 30,000 others. Only last week's feat by a team of Tibetan and Han Chinese mountaineers in bringing the Olympic flame up Mount Everest gave China the positive publicity it craved, three months to the day before the start of the games. Beijing's leaders had carefully chosen Aug. 8 as the opening day for the 2008 games (8-8-08), believing that it was an especially auspicious day. Many Chinese people in this officially atheist country remain highly superstitious. The number eight, ba in Chinese, is closely associated with prosperity and good luck because it sounds similar to the word fa, which means rich. China spared no expense on its Olympic debut, spending an estimated $40 billion on improving infrastructure and building sports venues. Its money was apparently well-spent. None of the venues, 31 of them in Beijing alone, was reportedly damaged. Li Jiulin, a top engineer on the 91,000-seat National Stadium known as the Bird's Nest - the jewel of the Olympics - was conducting an inspection at the venue when the quake occurred. He said the building was designed to withstand up to an 8.0-magnitude quake.

The Olympic venues were not affected by the earthquake, said Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee. We considered earthquakes when building those venues.Ultimately, the series of crises could prompt China to reassess its true priorities, said Des Forges. I think there may be some way in which these crises are reminding the government that, as important as the games are, there are perhaps more important issues that need to be addressed, he said.

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 downgraded as it passes by Japan Tue May 13, 8:14 AM

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's weather agency downgraded Typhoon Rammasun on Tuesday as it passed over Pacific waters off Tokyo after generating hours of strong winds and waves.Rammasun, which means god of thunder in Thai, was churning winds up to 83 kilometres (52 miles) per hour off Tokyo Bay by late afternoon, significantly weaker from a day earlier when its gusts reached 180 kph.The season's second typhoon was downgraded to an extra-tropical depression. It was moving east-northeast at 35 kilometres an hour, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.The typhoon came 10 days after a devastating cyclone hit Myanmar. The military-ruled country says 62,000 people are dead or missing.

Dozens die after a ferry capsizes in storm in Bangladesh
Mon May 12, 11:46 PMBy The Associated Press

DHAKA, Bangladesh - Officials say at least 36 people have died after a ferry capsized in a storm in northern Bangladesh. Local government administrator Sultan Ahmed said an additional 50 people were missing after the accident late Monday in Kishoreganj district. The area is 80 kilometres north of capital, Dhaka. Ahmed said the death toll can rise as some of the missing people are feared trapped inside the sunken ferry. Most bodies were recovered from inside the sunken ferry. Local police official Mizanur Rahman said the wooden ferry was packed with about 150 people.

Mid-Atlantic storm cuts power, prompts evacuations By RANDALL CHASE, Associated Press Writer Mon May 12, 7:56 PM ET

LITTLE CREEK, Del. - A wet, gusty storm that lashed the mid-Atlantic states Monday forced evacuations, flooded roads, fanned the flames of a deadly New Jersey fire and wrecked a research vessel off the Delaware coast, killing a crew member. Tens of thousands of electricity customers in several states lost power as up to 7 inches of rain fell Sunday and Monday and wind gusts in some places reached hurricane strength.A Coast Guard helicopter rescued the two crew members of the Russell W. Peterson research ship about 14 miles off Rehoboth Beach, but one crewman had no heartbeat and wasn't breathing, Petty Officer Nyx Cangemi said.

The crewman was declared dead at a Salisbury, Md., hospital; the condition of the second crew member was not immediately available.
The ship, named after a former Delaware governor, was rechristened in Wilmington just six weeks ago. Formerly used to service oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, the liftboat was being used for the study migratory bird routes by a company trying to win state approval for an offshore wind farm. It is owned by Aqua Survey Inc. of Flemington, N.J.Our hearts and prayers are with the family and friends of the lost mariner, company president Ken Hayes said in a prepared statement. He said the company was not releasing the names of the men.Hayes said Aqua Survey will work with the Coast Guard and other agencies to salvage the vessel.Monday morning's high tide sent waves crashing through low-lying areas, forcing the evacuation of more than 200 residents from coastal communities in central Delaware.At Pickering Beach east of Dover Air Force Base, National Guard trucks ferried about 50 residents to safety early Monday after the churning surf washed over the dune line and swirled around the pilings of the small cottages, burying some vehicles in sand and water.Charlie Hinkle awoke about 6:30 a.m., looked out his window and saw that his home was a virtual island. There was 4 feet of water underneath the house, he said.As the water receded, it left behind buckled asphalt and a layer of silty mud that covered much of the village.

Tidal flooding also forced the closure of schools and roads in parts of coastal New Jersey. Wind gusts reached 50 mph in many parts of the state, and hurricane-strength gusts of 76 mph were recorded in Sea Isle City.Strong wind contributed to a fatal fire Monday morning in Newark, fanning flames of a blaze that killed a 50-year-old man, damaged three buildings and left 35 people homeless.

The foul weather also prevented the Coast Guard from resuming a search for a female passenger who fell overboard from a cruise ship northeast of Atlantic City, N.J., on Sunday night. The Norwegian Dawn was headed for Bermuda from New York City when the passenger fell.Wind and rain also caused average delays of up to 2 1/2 hours for flights heading into New York's three major airports.Up to 7 inches of rain fell in Calvert County, Md., and about 4 inches fell in the District of Columbia and northern Virginia from Sunday afternoon to Monday evening, National Weather Service meteorologist Luis Rosa said.Utilities reported more than 60,000 customers without power in New Jersey, 50,000 in Maryland, about 6,200 in Delaware, 16,000 in Virginia and 4,500 in the District of Columbia. Power was restored to many of those customers by the evening.

Weather service meteorologist Lee Robertson said the storm differs from a nor'easter because it is a combination of two weather systems, one from the Ohio Valley that contributed to weekend tornadoes and a second from just south of the Delmarva region of Delaware. Associated Press Writers Brian Westley in Washington, Todd Hallidy in Baltimore and Wayne Perry in Atlantic City, N.J., contributed to this report.

U.S. tornado deaths underscore risks of taking shelter in cars Mon May 12, 5:24 PM By Alan Scher Zagier, The Associated Press

SENECA, Mo. - Nearly half of the 21 people killed by a tornado that smashed parts of Oklahoma and Missouri over the weekend died in cars, troubling experts who say vehicles are among the worst places to be during a twister. It's like taking a handful of Matchbox cars and rolling them across the kitchen floor, said Sgt. Dan Bracker of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, surveying the damage in Newton County near the Oklahoma line, the hardest hit area. This is devastating.Among those killed were a woman who took shelter in a broken-down car outside someone's home; three people who were rushing to reach a relative's house in their car; and four family members - Rick Rountree, his wife, his 13-year-old son, and his mother-in-law - who were in a van on the way to a friend's wedding when the twister, packing winds near 275 km/h, struck the Seneca area on Saturday night. They were on the road when the warnings came, said Rountree's brother-in-law, Larry Bilke. About 100 people have died in U.S. twisters so far this year, the worst toll in a decade, according to the National Weather Service, and the season isn't over yet. Tornado season typically peaks in the spring and early summer, then again in the late fall. This could also prove to be the busiest tornado season on record in the United States, though the final figure on the number of twisters is not yet in.

All together, at least 24 people died in Missouri, Oklahoma, Georgia and Alabama after the severe storms erupted Saturday over the Southern Plains and swept east. According to data from the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center, 49 of the 705 deaths - or about seven per cent - attributed to tornadoes from 1997to 2007 were people who were in vehicles when the storm struck.

They can cover more ground than you can in your car, so unless you know you are moving away from the tornado the best thing you can do is find a strong structure, said National Weather Service meteorologist Andy Foster. The twister that struck Newton County was covering ground at about 80 to 100 km/h, Foster said. One car was found almost a kilometre from the tornado track. Authorities were still piecing together how some of the other victims died over the weekend. But the Missouri Highway Patrol said at least two other car passengers were killed when their vehicle was thrown from the same road where the Rountree family was killed. Another woman died in Missouri after she took shelter in a broken-down car outside Susan Roberts' home in Seneca. That is what is tearing me up, Roberts said, adding she had warned the woman about the approaching tornado. In Picher, Okla., 50 kilometres away, a man and a woman died when their car was blown into a lagoon. The body of another man from the car wound up in a tree nearby. A 13-year-old girl who was riding in the car was injured. Fire Chief Jeff Reeves said they were not trying to outrun the twister. I think they were actually trying to get to a family member's house on the south side of town to help them and they just didn't make it over, Reeves said.

Val Castor, one of the many spotters who bring dramatic video of tornadoes to local TV stations in Oklahoma, said the number of people on the road during tornadoes seems to have increased every year since 1996, when the movie Twister, which depicts meteorologists chasing tornadoes, came out. He said driving during severe weather is extremely dangerous for the inexperienced because they don't know where a tornado will form or what direction it will go. Heavy traffic or a broken-down vehicle can stop people from getting away from the funnel cloud. The best advice is to make sure the tornado is completely gone before you venture out, he said. After the tragedy, Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt warned people to stay out of vehicles when a tornado is nearby. Weather experts say motorists and their passengers should find a sturdy shelter or lie flat in a ditch or other low spot, covering their heads with arms, coats or blankets if the tornado is moving in their direction. Overpasses and bridges should also be avoided, since an overpass can create a wind-tunnel effect, and bridges can collapse. The death toll from tornadoes this year is the highest since 130 people were killed in 1998, according to the weather service. The highest number of tornado-related deaths came in 1953, when 519 people died. To date this year, 858 tornadoes have been reported in the United States, although that number probably includes numerous duplicate sightings of the same twister. Harold Brooks of the National Severe Storms Laboratory said the highest number of tornadoes ever recorded through May 11 of any year was in 1999, when 676 tornadoes were counted. Brooks said he expects the number of confirmed tornadoes through mid-May of this year to end up in the 650-to-700 range. Altogether, 15 people died in Missouri from the same storm that devastated Picher, where six were killed. Two more people were killed in Georgia, where forecasters said at least six tornadoes touched down. One of those twisters struck McIntosh County's emergency management centre, destroying the fire trucks and ambulances inside. Another man was killed in Alabama when his truck was hit by a tree limb as he was surveying storm damage.

The Environmental Protection Agency said it would check for high lead levels in Picher after the tornado blew through the heavily polluted former mining town where lead-filled waste is piled into giant mounds. Miles Tolbert, Oklahoma secretary of the environment, said he did not believe there was any immediate hazard to the 800 residents. But he said more testing was needed.

More storms headed for tornado-damaged Mo., Ark. By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER, Associated Press Writer Tue May 13, 9:31 AM ET

SENECA, Mo. - Another round of storms headed toward tornado-ravaged areas of Missouri, Arkansas and several other states early Tuesday where residents are still picking up from the weekend's killer twisters. The National Weather Service said thunderstorms carrying hail were likely through midmorning in parts of southwest Missouri. More ominously, the agency said conditions later in the day could be similar to those that spun funnel clouds and killed 27 people Saturday and Sunday in the Plains and the Southeast.Even if the latest storms aren't particularly violent, they'll make for a soggy cleanup in towns such as Picher, Okla., where Tressie Gilmore and four family members emerged from a pile of debris that used to be their house Saturday evening, shaken but with nothing worse than bruised ribs.On Monday, the 25-year-old joined family and friends in salvaging what they could from what remained of her mother and stepfather's home after the tornado — packing wind estimated at 165 to 175 mph — slammed into Picher, killing seven.It felt like evil, she said. It didn't feel like Mother Nature. It felt personal.Eight of the 23 victims in Oklahoma and Missouri died in cars, troubling experts who say the inside of a vehicle is one of the worst places to be during a twister.It's like taking a handful of Matchbox cars and rolling them across the kitchen floor, Sgt. Dan Bracker of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said, surveying the damage in and around Seneca, near the Oklahoma line. This is devastating.

Two people were killed in Georgia, where meteorologists said at least six tornadoes touched down. Another man was killed in northern Alabama when his truck was struck by a falling tree limb as he was surveying storm damage.A southern Illinois woman was killed Sunday when wind toppled a tree onto her car, according to the Randolph County Sheriff's Office.Authorities say drivers and their passengers should find a sturdy shelter or even lie flat in a ditch or other low spot, covering their heads with arms, coats or blankets if a tornado is moving in their direction. Overpasses and bridges should also be avoided — overpasses can create a wind-tunnel effect, and bridges can collapse.Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which determines whether residents qualify for federal assistance, were in Missouri and Oklahoma. FEMA Director David Paulison and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff were scheduled to visit the hardest hit areas Tuesday.

Scientists from the Environmental Protection Agency arrived in Oklahoma on Monday to check for high lead levels in Picher, a heavily polluted former mining town where lead-filled waste is piled into giant mounds.Miles Tolbert, Oklahoma's secretary of the environment, said he did not believe there was any immediate hazard to the 800 residents. But he said more testing was needed.The weather service said about 100 people have died in U.S. twisters this year. This could become one of the deadliest tornado years in recent history.The weather service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said 130 people died in U.S. tornadoes in 1998, the eighth deadliest year since 1950. The highest number of tornado-related deaths came in 1953, when 519 people died.To date this year, 910 tornadoes have been reported, though not all have been confirmed by the weather service. That compares with 1,093 confirmed twisters for all of last year.Harold Brooks of the National Severe Storms Laboratory said the highest number of tornadoes ever recorded through May 11 of any year was 676 in 1999. Brooks said he expects the number of confirmed tornadoes through mid-May of this year to end up in the 650-to-700 range.Tornado season typically peaks in the spring and early summer, then again in the late fall. Associated Press writer Murray Evans in Picher, Okla., contributed to this report.

Rain lashes Myanmar cyclone survivors By Aung Hla Tun mAY 13,08

YANGON (Reuters) - Heavy rains pelted homeless cyclone survivors in Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta on Tuesday, complicating the already slow delivery of aid to more than 1.5 million people facing hunger and disease.As more foreign aid trickled into the former Burma, critics ratcheted up the pressure on its military rulers to accelerate a relief effort that is only delivering an estimated tenth of the supplies needed in the devastated delta.The response of the regime in Burma to this crisis has been absolutely callous and those paying the price of this callousness have been the long-suffering Burmese people, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told parliament.An Australian air force plane landed in Yangon, Myanmar's main city, with 31 tonnes of emergency supplies, a day after the first U.S. military aid flight arrived in a country Washington has described as an outpost of tyranny.Two more U.S. flights arrived on Tuesday as part of a confidence building effort to prod Myanmar's reclusive generals into allowing a larger international relief operation 11 days after the disaster left up to 100,000 dead or missing.France, Britain and Germany called on Tuesday for the world to deliver aid without the junta's agreement, using a little used U.N. principle of the responsibility to protect.
Myanmar state television said the official death toll had risen to 34,273 from nearly 32,000 and 27,838 were missing.

DISEASES

Tens of thousands of people throughout the delta are crammed into Buddhist monasteries and schools after arriving in towns that were on the breadline even before the disaster.Lacking food, water and sanitation, they face the threat of killer diseases such as cholera. Heavy tropical rains added to their misery.Where I am now there's over 10,000 homeless people and it's pouring rain, Bridget Gardener of the International Red Cross said during a rare tour of the delta by a foreign aid official.While a steady stream of aid flights have landed in Yangon, only a fraction of the relief needed is getting to the delta due to flooding and the junta's desire to keep most foreign aid and logistics experts either out of the country or in Yangon.The World Food Program said it was able to deliver less than 20 percent of the 375 tonnes of food a day it wanted to move into the flooded delta.Myanmar state television said six ships carrying 500 tonnes of supplies had left Yangon for the delta on Tuesday.International relief organizations say their local staff are stretched to breaking point, while Medicins Sans Frontieres said its workers faced increasing constraints.One Yangon businessman just back from a personal aid mission to Bogalay, a delta township where at least 10,000 people were killed, said soldiers were appropriating aid.There are still some villages in the worst-hit areas that nobody has got to, the man, in his late 30s, told Reuters.Around Bogalay, private donors are not allowed to distribute their assistance to the victims themselves. We had to hand over what we had.

U.N. CRITICISM

The junta has welcomed aid from any nation but has made it very clear it does not want outsiders distributing it.At the United Nations in New York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon delivered his most critical comments to date.I want to register my deep concern --and immense frustration -- at the unacceptably slow response to this grave humanitarian crisis, he told reporters on Monday.We are at a critical point, he said. Unless more aid gets into the country very quickly, we face an outbreak of infectious diseases that could dwarf today's crisis.With three U.S. and one French warship laden with aid and helicopters steaming towards Myanmar, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana again raised the question of unauthorized aid drops into the delta -- which could be seen as an act of war.We have to use all the means to help those people, he said. When pressed, he replied: Whatever is necessary to help the people who are suffering.France's junior minister for human rights Rama Yade told reporters as EU development ministers' met to discuss emergency aid for Myanmar, that the three EU powers would propose imposing the aid to the U.N. Security Council, but acknowledged that they did not have unanimous support in the 27-nation EU.Speaking after the first U.S. military aid flight to Myanmar on Monday, U.S. President George W. Bush condemned the junta for failing to act more quickly to accept international help, saying either they are isolated or callous.It's been days and no telling how many people have lost their lives as a result of the slow response, he told CBS News.The storm raged through an area home to nearly half of Myanmar's 53 million people, as well as its main rice-growing region. About 5,000 sq km (1,930 sq miles) of land remain under water.Most of the casualties were killed by a 12-foot (3.5 meter) wall of water churned up by the cyclone's 190 kph (120 mph) winds.(Additional reporting by Carmel Crimmins in Bangkok; Writing by Darren Schuettler; Editing by Ed Cropley)

MYNAMAR SLIDESHOW
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/wl/070921_myanmar

UN warns of second catastrophe in Myanmar MAY 13,08

YANGON (AFP) - The United Nations warned Tuesday that Myanmar faced a second catastrophe after its devastating cyclone, unless the junta immediately allows massive air and sea deliveries of aid.But Myanmar's military rulers again rejected growing international pressure to open the door to a foreign-run relief effort, insisting against all the evidence that they could handle the emergency alone.

The United Nations aired its increasing frustration at not being able to bring more help to 1.5 million of the neediest survivors, and said the crisis in the country's remote, flooded south posed an enormous logistic challenge.It requires at least an air or sea corridor to channel aid in large quantities as quickly as possible, said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman in Geneva for the UN's emergency relief arm.We fear a second catastrophe, she said.But the junta said Tuesday that the needs of the people after the storm, which has left around 62,000 dead or missing since ripping through the southern Irrawaddy delta on May 3, have been fulfilled to an extent.

The nation does not need skilled relief workers yet, Vice Admiral Soe Thein said in the New Light of Myanmar newspaper, a mouthpiece for the military which has ruled the nation with an iron grip for nearly half a century.Many survivors said they had still not received aid from the government 10 days after the disaster, and could not understand why their leaders have snubbed offers of help that have poured in from around the world.Aid agencies warn that as every day passes without sufficient food, water and shelter, more are at risk of joining the staggering death toll, estimated by the UN at 100,000.The World Health Organisation said it had dispatched supplies of body bags, as experts warned that corpses were going uncollected and that the putrefying remains pose a major health risk.Heavy rains overnight deepened the misery for many, seeping through the flimsy plastic sheeting of makeshift shelters of tens of thousands of people whose homes were sunk or blown away in the storm.These new rains are bringing us more misery, said Taye Win, a survivor sheltering at a monastery outside the country's main city Yangon. I don't know how long we can withstand this.

The UN said that child traffickers are targeting the youngest and most vulnerable survivors of the catastrophe, and that two suspects have already been arrested after trying to recruit children at a relief camp.Just hours after the United States sent its first aid plane into the country since the tragedy -- following days of negotiations -- US President George W. Bush said the world should be angry and condemn the junta.Either they are isolated or callous, he said Monday. There's no telling how many people have lost their lives as a result of the slow response.UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon also took aim at the regime, using unusually strong language to insist that outside aid experts be allowed in immediately to help direct the fumbling relief effort.We are at a critical point. Unless more aid gets into the country very quickly, we face an outbreak of infectious diseases that could dwarf today's current crisis, he said.I therefore call in the most strenuous terms on the government of Myanmar to put its people's lives first. It must do all it can to prevent this disaster from becoming even more serious.
The country has welcomed donations of aid, even from the United States, which was expected to send two more aid flights Tuesday.

Myanmar is struggling to feed its people in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis -- in part because the regime has been forcing some farmers to stop growing rice in a plan to produce.But the generals remain deeply suspicious of the outside world and fearful of any foreign influence which could weaken their control on every aspect of life in this poor and isolated nation, formerly known as Burma.

Shari Villarosa, the top US diplomat in Myanmar, emphasised the urgent need for specialists who know how to deliver aid despite daunting logistical hurdles.Outside experts have had experience in working with these disasters around the world where you have had these donors pouring in massive amounts all at the same time, she told AFP.Although aid flights are increasing, there are serious bottlenecks in getting supplies to the delta.In an internal document seen Tuesday, the United Nations said it is receiving reports of the military of their devastated villages and into other less-affected areas of the country.

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.

FIRE VIDEO STORY
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=4226712&cl=7788884&src=news

Dozens of homes lost as Florida battles wildfires By TRAVIS REED, Associated Press Writer MAY 13,08

PALM BAY, Fla. - Relentless wildfires burned Tuesday morning across Florida's Atlantic coast, taxing firefighters and overwhelming residents trying to save their homes with garden hoses.

Firefighters in Brevard County were working for a third day trying to stop flames that have destroyed four homes and damaged about 70. The state's largest blaze has charred about 3,800 acres, or nearly 6square miles, in the neighboring towns of Palm Bay and Malabar. Every time I turn around another house is on fire. We don't have enough resources on our own to do a job like this, said Palm Bay spokeswoman Yvonne Martinez.Officials expressed concern early Tuesday after flare-ups overnight. Flare-ups when humidity is higher can be a bad sign because fire spreads even more quickly during the drier and windier daylight hours, said Palm Bay Assistant Fire Chief Jim Stables.It's going to be challenging to get the fire under control, he said.All 18 schools in Palm Bay, including charter schools, were closed Tuesday. Smoke and the proximity of the flames have caused the intermittent closure of major highways in the area, including a 34-mile section of Interstate 95 south of the fires that was closed again midmorning Tuesday.Flames are coming onto the interstate, Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Kim Miller said.One of the homes destroyed in Malabar belonged to Butch Vanfleet, who built the home in 1980 and tried in vain to protect it with a garden hose.It's devastation, he said. All you see is nothing but ash in between the palm trees and the palmetto. There's no grass. The fire just came so quickly, we barely got out of there.Gov. Charlie Crist declared a state of emergency Monday as dry, windy weather worsened conditions. His orders allow Florida to use federal funds and bring local emergency workers under state control. It also allows Florida to call on other states for help, if necessary.Firefighters may get some help Tuesday, since winds on the coast were expected to slow to 10 to 15 mph, according to the National Weather Service.Authorities said the fire may be the result of arson. A witness saw someone in a car drop something into an open field, and the fire started shortly afterward, an arson investigator said.About 80 miles north in Daytona Beach, an 800-acre fire forced an evacuation order for about 500 homes, but residents were allowed to return Monday evening. No structures were reported damaged, though officials warned embers could fly more than a mile from the blaze and spark new hot spots.Ray Ademski, a 68-year-old retiree, left his Daytona Beach home with his wife and their important papers when he saw columns of smoke Sunday night around the subdivision. He hosed down the roof and turned on the sprinklers in his yard before the couple left for a hotel.

I could feel the heat from both sides, said Ademski, who returned by bicycle Monday to survey the damage. The smoke was going straight into my eyes. It was terrible.Hundreds of firefighters worked the state's blazes, bulldozing highly flammable brush and vegetation and leaving behind less flammable dirt to keep the fires from advancing. At least three firefighters were injured Monday, according to the Florida Division of Emergency Management. Meanwhile, firefighters in Southern California were battling a 30-acre wildfire Tuesday that was scorching forest land about 45 miles northeast of Los Angeles.The blaze on Mt. Baldy, in Angeles National Forest, was burning at about 7,000 feet Tuesday as stiff winds began blowing, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Kathy Peterson. No evacuations have been reported, and it's unclear what started the blaze. Associated Press writers Jennifer Kay, Antonio Gonzalez, Kelli Kennedy and Suzette Laboy in Miami contributed to this report. On the Net: National Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov.

22 DEAD IN TORNADOES

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

Deadly 7.8 Quake Rocks Central China.At Least 5 Killed, Buildings Damaged By Sichuan Province Temblor Felt 1,000 Miles Away
BEIJING, May 12, 2008

This image from TV shows a street scene in Beijing, China, shortly after a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck western China on May 12, 2008. (APTN)(CBS/AP) A powerful, magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck mountainous central China on Monday, killing five people when two primary schools and a water tower collapsed, state media reported.

The quake struck 57 miles northwest of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu at 2:28 p.m. (0128 Eastern), the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site. It said the quake was centered about 6 miles below the surface. Xinhua News Agency said Monday that more than 100 students were also injured in the quake. Chongqing is a large municipality next to Sichuan province. A statement issued by the government in Aba prefecture of Sichuan province said buildings were cracked and some had collapsed. Mountain roads were damaged after the temblor struck Monday afternoon. The official Xinhua News Agency said the area has a population of about 110,000 residents.

Phone calls to the area could not go through after the quake that was felt as far away as Thailand, Pakistan and Vietnam. The joint UN-European Commission's Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System, or GDAC, warned that the impact could be high because the quake struck during the day when cars would be on roads and people in high-rise buildings. This earthquake has potentially a high humanitarian impact and the affected region has medium vulnerability to natural disasters, GDAC said in a statement on its Web site. In the Chinese capital Beijing, about 930 miles away, office towers were evacuated, including the building housing the media offices for the organizers of the Beijing Olympics, which start in August. Buildings swayed for more than two minutes but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. Frightened office workers and shoppers could be seen lingering outside buildings in the central business district. It was an unintended emergency response for the organizers, and extreme caution appeared to be taken. Thousands of people rushed or were ordered out of office towers in Beijing's central business district, including the building housing The Associated Press. The people stood on sidewalks for about an hour, then filed back into the buildings.

I've lived in Taipei and California and I've been through quakes before. This is the most I've ever felt.James McGregor, Felt quake in Beijing"I've lived in Taipei and California and I've been through quakes before. This is the most I've ever felt. The floor was moving underneath me. At first I thought I was fainting. I looked down and the floor was moving, said James McGregor, business consultant who was having a meeting inside the LG Towers, a twin high-rise complex in Beijing's business district. Cai Jinqing, a partner is Beijing Brunswick Consultancy, a financial communications company, was also inside LG Towers when the quake hit. I felt the room moving horizontally, It was very, very strong. I couldn't sit down, said the Beijing native. In Shanghai, skyscrapers swayed and most office occupants went rushing into the streets. Calls to emergency response numbers in Chengdu rang constantly busy on Monday. An eyewitness reached by phone in Chengdu said people flooded from buildings. A reporter with state television said customers fell as they rushed out of restaurants in Chengdu. The report also said cracks could be seen on some older buildings in the city. The area where the quake lies on the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau where mountains rise sharply and the population density is generally thin. In the Taiwanese capital of Taipei, 100 miles off the southeastern Chinese, buildings swayed when the quake hit. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. The quake was felt as far away as the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, where some people hurried out of swaying office buildings and into the streets downtown.MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Earthquake strikes off Taiwan coast, no casualties
11 May 2008, 0642 hrs IST,AFP

TAIPEI: A 5.3-magnitude earthquake struck off the east coast of Taiwan early on Sunday morning, the US Geological Survey said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The quake hit at 3:41 am (0111 IST) and was centred 99 kilometres southeast of Suao, the USGS said. It struck at a depth of 10 kilometres.
Taiwan, which lies near the junction of two tectonic plates, is regularly shaken by earthquakes.

6.7 quake jolts Guam; no damage or injuries reported
- 5/10/2008 1:24:01 AM

An undersea earthquake off Guam with a preliminary magnitude of 6.7 shook the U.S. territory Saturday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey said.There were no reports of damage or injuries. A magnitude-6 earthquake can cause severe damage.The quake failed to generate any destructive, widespread tsunami, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu.The quake struck at 7:51 a.m. at a depth of 54.4 miles, the survey said in a statement. It was centered 125 miles west-southwest of Hagatna, Guam, and 250 miles southwest of Saipan in the neighboring Northern Mariana Islands, it said.Kim Alba, lifestyle editor at the Pacific Daily News, said that the quake jolted her house and woke her up, but that the shaking was apparently the extent of its impact on the island.Air Force Tech Sgt. Brian Bahret, spokesman for Guam's Andersen Air Force Base, said there were no reports of damage there. And Sarrah Iguel, a dispatch operator for Civil Defense in the Marianas, said no one called to report damage.Guam is west of the international date line, about 3,700 miles southwest of Hawaii.

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.

Tornadoes kill at least 22 across US MAY 11,2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Rescue crews on Sunday searched through rubble for survivors a day after tornadoes tore across the United States, killing at least 22 people and shattering homes and businesses, officials said. US President George W. Bush called it a sad day for devastated communities in the states of Missouri, Oklahoma and Georgia and promised emergency federal aid.Missouri's department of emergency management said 14 people were confirmed dead in the state, with scores more injured.We are still conducting some search and rescue today, department spokeswoman Susie Stonner told AFP, adding that some of the injured were in hospital in critical condition.Numerous tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma late Saturday as the storms ripped across the state at 35-45 miles per hour (55-70 kmh), killing seven in the area near the town of Picher, the Oklahoma department of emergency management said. Some 150 people were injured.Fierce winds ripped roofs off houses, and other homes were thrashed to kindling as the storms downed power lines, utility poles and trees.In some cases, only a home's concrete slab remains, Oklahoma authorities said in a statement.The American Red Cross has opened shelters for those affected by the storms in Oklahoma and Missouri.Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry declared a state of emergency in the disaster area and planned to visit it later Sunday, while National Guard troops were called to shut off access to Picher.

We will get through this pulling together and working together as Oklahomans, making sure our neighbors have what they need, Henry was quoted by the Oklahoman newspaper as saying.The state said that about 6,300 homes and businesses were without electricity, including 3,000 near Tulsa.Bush called it a sad day for those who lost their lives in Oklahoma and Missouri and Georgia because of the tornadoes.Speaking in Waco, Texas the day after his daughter Jenna's wedding on the family ranch, he said: We send our prayers to those who lost their lives and the families of those who lost their lives, and the federal government will be moving hard to help.
Bush later called Henry as well as governors Sonny Perdue of Georgia and Matt Blunt of Missouri to offer whatever federal assistance they needed, according to White House officials.The storms barrelled eastward and killed one person and damaged hundreds of homes in the southeastern state of Georgia in the early morning hours of Sunday, the state's emergency management agency said.Perdue declared a state of emergency for six counties hardest hit by severe thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes in central Georgia.

The small town of Kite, with some 1,000 residents, was devastated.

From what I understand it has been completely destroyed, said agency spokeswoman Lisa Janak. Many roads are still blocked and impassable, she said. They're having problems with trees in the road, so these are very preliminary estimates, but the town of Kite sustained significant, significant damage.Some 18,000 residents were without power in the state, Georgia Power told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Meanwhile a severe storm and tornado swept through another southeastern state, North Carolina, on Sunday afternoon, dumping tennis ball-sized hail, but no deaths or serious injuries were reported, the Charlotte Observer newspaper said. In February, a string of storms brought rare winter tornadoes to the Southern states of Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky and Alabama, killing 55 and injuring hundreds.

Over 20 dead in Mo., Okla., Ga. after new round of storms By ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press Writer MAY 11,08

SENECA, Mo. - Stunned survivors picked through the little that was left of their communities Sunday after tornadoes tore across the Plains and South, killing at least 22 people in three states and leaving behind a trail of destruction and stories of loss. At least 15 people died in southwestern Missouri. In the fading mining town of Picher, Okla., at least six people were killed, and at least one person died in storms in Georgia.Susan Roberts, 61, stared at the smashed remains of her classic 1985 Cadillac sitting on her living room floor — the only thing left of her Seneca home. A woman who had apparently sought shelter in the car died there, she said.That is what is tearing me up, Roberts said. She had warned the woman — who stopped to change a tire as Roberts and her 13-year-old grandson drove away from the rental house — to escape. The tornado hit just minutes later.I'm from Kansas. I grew up watching storms, she said as she walked through the debris. If I didn't have my grandson with me, I probably wouldn't have left.The same storm system earlier hit Oklahoma, where at least six people died and 150 people were injured in Picher.The town, once a bustling mining center of 20,000 that dwindled to about 800 people as families fled lead pollution there, was a surreal scene of overturned cars, smashed homes and mattresses, and twisted metal high stuck in the canopy of trees.I swear I could see cars floating, said Herman Hernandez, 68. And there was a roar, louder and louder.Ed Keheley was headed to town to help out Saturday night when he heard a woman screaming. He looked over to see her hand reaching out of debris.

She was sitting in the bathtub, she had curlers in her hair and she wanted out of there, said Keheley, who along with several others pulled her out.The area is part of a Superfund site, and residents have been asked to take part in state and federal buyouts in recent years.From what I've been able to determine, that wouldn't have any bearing on whether a disaster declaration would come forth, said Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman Earl Armstrong.One storm victim's child was initially reported dead, but state emergency management spokeswoman Michelann Ooten later said the infant was actually alive at a Tulsa hospital.As the system moved east on Sunday, one of at least six tornadoes in Georgia killed a person in Dublin, about 120 miles southeast of Atlanta, the National Weather Service said.The small town of Kite was destroyed by the storm, said Caroline Pope, a spokeswoman for the Johnson County Sheriff's Department. Close to 1,000 people live in the community, she said.From what they're telling me, it's gone, she said from the dispatch center in the jail, which was operating on a generator because the power was out.Storms later Sunday in North Carolina destroyed several mobile homes, and six people were slightly injured, said Patty McQuillan of the state police. And in South Carolina, a possible tornado damaged several homes, but no injuries were reported, said Charleston County spokeswoman Jennie Davis.

President Bush has talked with governors to express his condolences for the lives lost and to discuss needs for recovery, according to the White House. The federal government will be moving hard to help, Bush said. In Missouri, the tornado hit the rural area about eight miles north of Seneca and continued east. Jane Lant climbed over splintered wood to go through the mud-caked remains of her bridal shop. I just feel so awful, going through this rubble when they are out looking for bodies, she said as she motioned to the search dogs wandering the field behind her. An unidentified body lay under a blue tarp nearby. Among the dead were five family members of her neighbor who had been going to a wedding when the tornado caught their vehicle in front of her store, she said.

Next door, her husband's feed store also lay in shambles. But one bright moment came Sunday when rescuers heard chirping from the mound and found a half-dozen chicks. They had rescued about 100 the night before. Susie Stonner, spokeswoman for the state Emergency Management Agency, said it was unclear how many homes had been damaged. But she said officials in Newton County, which includes Seneca, had initial estimates of 50 homes damaged or destroyed there. In storm-weary Arkansas, a tornado caused significant damage in Stuttgart, but no one was seriously injured, said Weather Service meteorologist Joe Goudsward. Tornadoes killed 13 people in Arkansas on Feb. 5, and another seven were killed in an outbreak May 2. In between was freezing weather, persistent rain and river flooding that damaged homes and has slowed farmers in their planting. Associated Press writers Murray Evans in Picher, Dorie Turner in Atlanta and Chuck Bartels in Little Rock, Ark., contributed to this report.

900 First Nation's residents airlifted out of James Bay community due to flooding Sun May 11, 6:11 PMBy The Canadian Press

TORONTO - Some 900 people are being evacuated Sunday from a First Nation's community along the coast of James Bay due to fears of flooding. The continued threat of flooding has prompted the leaders of Attawapiskat to broaden the evacuation of their community, located about 500 kilometres north of Timmins. Some 300 of the area's most at-risk residents including the sick, elderly and infants have already been airlifted out of the region to Kapuskasing and Hearst. About 600 other community members were expected to be airlifted to Thunder Bay and Greenstone by the end of the day. Officials say another 600 residents could be flown to safety in the coming days should the flooding threat become more imminent. The airlift is being co-ordinated by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

U.S. flying cyclone aid to outpost of tyranny By Aung Hla Tun MAY 11,08

YANGON (Reuters) - The United States was set to fly relief supplies on Monday to Myanmar, a country it has called an outpost of tyranny, as aid continues to dribble into the reclusive state nine days after a devastating cyclone.A U.S. Air Force C-130 military transport plane was scheduled to take off from an air base on the Thai-Myanmar border carrying water purification systems and supplies to ward off water-borne diseases, U.S. officials said.

Agencies report that aid deliveries to more than a million increasingly desperate cyclone victims has been minimal.Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Sunday three cargo planes from Europe carrying medical material and other supplies was scheduled to arrive in Myanmar on Monday.More than one week after the disaster, despite the sending of three cargo planes and some positive signals, it has been very difficult to provide highly needed supplies for the heavily affected population in Myanmar, MSF said in a statement.In the areas where we have been, we haven't seen any aid being delivered so far, so the amount that has reached people in the areas where we are had been minimal, MSF said.MSF had a large presence in Myanmar before the cyclone. Aid agencies that did not, are having even greater difficulties.

220,000 REPORTED MISSING

While Myanmar's reclusive military government is accepting aid from the outside world, including the United Nations, it will not let in foreign logistics teams, who were queuing up in Bangkok hoping to get visas from the Myanmar embassy.The U.N. humanitarian agency said in a new assessment on Sunday that between 1.2 million and 1.9 million were struggling to survive in the aftermath of the storm that struck eight days ago.Given the gravity of the situation including the lack of food and water, some partners have reported fears for security, and violent behavior in the most severely afflicted areas, the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.It said the number of deaths could range from 63,290 to 101,682, and 220,000 people are reported to be missing. It said acute environmental issues posed a threat to life and health.Unless there is a massive and fast infusion of aid, experts and supplies into the hardest-hit areas, there's going to be a tragedy on an unimaginable scale, said Greg Beck of the International Rescue Committee.

In the delta town of Labutta, where 80 percent of homes were destroyed, authorities were providing one cup of rice per family per day, a European Commission aid official told Reuters.In a blow to the stumbling relief effort a boat carrying some of the first aid to survivors sank, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.The boat was believed to have hit a submerged tree in the Irrawaddy delta. The accident highlighted the enormous logistical difficulties of delivering aid, with roads washed away and much of the delta turned to swamp.Myanmar raised the death toll on Sunday to 28,458 dead and 33,416 missing from the storm on the night of May 2 and early on May 3. Most of the victims were killed by the 12-foot (3.5 meter) wall of sea-water that hit the delta along with the Category 4 cyclone's 190 kph (120 mph) winds.

U.N. LEADS AID EFFORT

Australia responded to a U.N. appeal for $187 million in aid by dramatically increasing its contribution to $23.4 million.The U.N. World Food Programme said on Sunday it has begun moving aid to its field headquarters in Labutta using trucks provided by its partners in Myanmar, including the Myanmar Red Cross.I think you can say it continues to trickle in, WFP spokesman Marcus Prior said on Monday.

The more than one million worst affected lack food, water, and sanitation, face outbreaks of disease such as cholera, and on top of all that heavy rains are predicted this week over the delta.It's a perfect storm, if you will, of factors ... that could all combine to endanger the lives of up to 1.5 million people, international agency Oxfam's South Asia manager Sarah Ireland told Australian radio on Monday.Four U.S. Navy ships are steaming toward Myanmar, a country Secretary of State described as an outpost of tyranny in 2005, to stand by for possible humanitarian assistance.A French warship was expected in Myanmar's waters later this week carrying 1,500 tonnes of rice that France said it wants to distribute directly to survivors.Despite the alarm bells from the international community about the feeble cyclone relief effort, the junta kept its focus on a weekend referendum on a new constitution, part of a roadmap to democracy culminating in multi-party elections in 2010.There is little doubt about the final result on an army-drafted constitution after an intensive propaganda campaign by the junta urging people to vote Yes.

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.

Boat carrying aid for Myanmar cyclone victims sinks
Sun May 11, 5:20 PM By The Associated Press

YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar's monumental task of feeding and sheltering 1.5 million cyclone survivors suffered yet another blow Sunday when a boat laden with relief supplies - one of the first international shipments - sank on its way to the disaster zone.
Meanwhile, as the official death toll jumped to more than 28,000, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband warned that malign neglect by the country's military rulers was creating a humanitarian catastrophe of genuinely epic proportions.The junta has been sharply criticized for its handling of the May 3 disaster, from failing to provide adequate warnings about the pending hurricane to responding slowly to offers of help. Though international assistance has started trickling in, the few foreign relief workers who have been allowed entry into Myanmar have been restricted to the largest city of Yangon. Only a handful have succeeded in getting past checkpoints into the worst-affected areas. But in what was seen as a huge concession by the junta, the United States finally got the go-ahead to send a C-130 cargo plane packed with supplies to Yangon on Monday, with two more air shipments scheduled to land Tuesday. Myanmar's military rulers are deeply suspicious of Washington, which has long been one of the junta's biggest critics, pointing to human rights abuses and its failure to hand over power to a democratically elected government. We hope that this is the beginning of a long line of assistance from the United States, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters in Crawford, Texas on the weekend. They're going to need our help for a long time.Highlighting the many challenges ahead, however, a Red Cross boat carrying rice, drinking water and other goods for more than 1,000 people sank Sunday near the hard-hit town of Bogalay. All four aid workers on board and the crew were reported to be safe.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies could not say how much of the cargo has been lost, but it said the food supplies were contaminated by river water. Apart from the delay in getting aid to people, we may now have to re-evaluate how we transport that aid, said Michael Annear, the IFRC's disaster manager in Yangon, who described the sinking as a big blow.Other aid was increasingly getting through, the group said, but on nowhere near the scale required.Heavy showers were forecast for the coming week, further complicating delivery of aid that is still barely reaching victims in the Irrawaddy delta, which was pounded by 195-kilometres-an-hour winds and a 3 1/2-metre storm surge from the sea. In hard-hit Laputta, hundreds of survivors crowded the floor of a Buddhist monastery's open-air hall, the sound of hungry children wailing. Many people tried to sleep sitting up because of lack of space. Pain Na Kon, a tiny nearby village of just 300, was completely obliterated. The 12 known survivors huddled together in a tent set up in a rice field, sharing a small portion of biscuits and watery soup handed out at a local monastery. We don't know when they will also run out of food, said U Nyo, casting glances at his six-year-old niece, Mien Mien, who lost both her parents in the cyclone and sat outside in the dark. U Nyo called out to her gently, but Mien Mien just stared into the darkness. Overcome with emotion, U Nyo walked, teary-eyed, over to the girl and sat beside her in silence. His wife, Saw San Myant, described in a hushed voice what had happened to Mien Mien's father. We hung together on a coconut tree as the tide continued to rise. Her father was separated. He tried to hang onto a pole of the hut but that was broken. The wind was too strong. She saw her father swept away by the water but we didn't see anyone else. We think they are all dead, she said.

On Sunday, Myanmar's state television said the death toll from Cyclone Nargis had gone up by about 5,000 to 28,458 - with another 33,416 missing. Some experts fear the death toll could run into the hundreds of thousands if people do not soon get clean water and sanitation. A natural disaster is turning into a humanitarian catastrophe of genuinely epic proportions in significant part because of the malign neglect of the regime, said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. I would be amazed if there hadn't been about 100,000 who had died already ... what's more, hundreds of thousands more are at risk, he told British Broadcasting Corp. television. Meanwhile, aid was piling up in foreign countries, awaiting approval from the junta. The country's main airport in Yangon is incapable of handling more than five flights a day, when it should be taking in at least one every hour, said PLAN, a London-based children's aid group. Logistically, the situation looks bleak, it said in a statement. In short, they have one congested airport, ill equipped to deal with the influx of cargo, no port, restricted fuel and no trucks.Aid group World Vision said it has requested visas for 20 people but received approval for just two, while the UN's World Food Program had one visa approved out of the 16 it requested. Still, the UN was making some progress in aid delivery. The junta released more than 34 tonnes of high-energy biscuits to the WFP that were confiscated on Friday and several other shipments were on their way. We're delighted and very encouraged by what is a very positive sign, said the group's spokesman, Marcus Prior. But World Vision, which has a big presence in Myanmar, said relief material delivered so far is a tiny fraction of what is needed. The junta says it wants to hand out all donated supplies on its own. But many survivors have been without help for more than a week after fleeing their inundated villages to take shelter in monasteries and schools in towns.

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.

Brush fires force home evacuations in Florida MAY 11,08

MALABAR, Fla. - Brush fires forced residents to flee more than 500 homes in central Florida on Sunday and closed a major interstate, authorities said. A fire in Volusia County has burned between 500 and 600 acres and caused road closures and home evacuations, state Division of Forestry spokesman Timber Weller said.About 400 homes in the neighborhood near Daytona Beach were under a mandatory evacuation order and 200 more homes were under a voluntary order.
Weller said windy, dry conditions were challenging the fire crews.
Control is extremely difficult, and there's basically several small subdivisions in the area and fires burning, in some cases, very close to the homes, Weller said.A fire near Cocoa had burned more than 100 acres and forced evacuations of about 100 to 200 homes, Brevard County Fire and Rescue spokesman Orlando Dominguez said.

Heavy smoke from another fire in the Brevard community of Malabar forced authorities to close part of Interstate 95, the major East Coast corridor.(This version CORRECTS day to Sunday not Saturday.)

Spain To End Monarchy?
Roger Munns MAY 11,08

Tribune Properties produce travel guides for Malta including expedia holidays,Monaco and Monte Carlo including the casino and Andorra.May 09, 2008

King Juan Carlos helped steer the country of Spain from a dictatorship to a modern democracy after he came to the throne some 32 years ago, and his achievements include defending the fledgling democracy in 1981 from an attempted coup.Once popular and regarded as a man of the people, recent times have been more troubling for the king as political groups on both the left and right have called for an end to the Spanish monarchy.1981 it could be argued was the height of the King's popularity when some army officers stormed the Spanish Parliament. Spain had been ruled by the dictator Franco until his death in 1975, and the King appeared on television to order the army back to barracks, in the process saving the young democracy from returning to dictatorship.While the royal family spend their summer holidays on the island of Majorca at the Marivent Royal Palace and the rest of the year near Madrid his popularity carried through to all regions of Spain.Recent comments from the King though have made many Spaniards uneasy about how close he is coming to interfering with politics, and this has not helped his popularity - although the people of Majorca might disagree as the royal family's holidays give the island an upmarket image elsewhere in Europe, and the hotels and Majorca villa holidays travel market have thrived in recent years.

He made a surprise visit to Spanish troops in Afghanistan just before Christmas, but controversially visited two Spanish enclaves in Morocco which have been in dispute over sovereignty since the 15th century.But last year saw protestors burning photographs of the King in the Spanish city of Girona, a sign of his declining popularity, but Spain and the wider world sat up and took notice when he famously told the President of Venezuela to shut up at a summit in Chile. While most saluted his stand, some saw it as another sign of his interference in politics, going far beyond what would be acceptable in other European countries from their respective royal families.

Majorca

The King wants to be king of all Spain, and not have different regions strongly in favour of the monarchy and others against. Spain's economy has done well under King Juan Carlos, and his intervention to prevent a coup in 1981 has benefitted in particular the tourism market, with Spain and her islands now the destination of choice for more Europeans than any other country when taking a holiday.And it's not just the holidays in Majorca market where the royal family spend their summers that have done well over the last twenty five years.The Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca are well known as holiday destinations, and before King Juan Carlos replaced fascist leader General Franco the holidays market was limited as many Europeans would not holiday in Spain, knowing their tourist money would support an unacceptable regime, in the same way many people boycotted South Africa while it had apartheid.Cheap flights to Majorca airport from the United Kingdom for example have seen the island's economy transformed. And Spanish airlines operating both from the mainland capital Madrid and from Barcelona have also taken advantage of the travel market today, with millions of Spaniards employed in the airlines, hotels and holidays industries.

While Spain used to in the early days of her tourism be known as a cheap holidays destination, the country has moved into the upmarket leisure scene too, and new hotels in Majorca are being built, one of which will be the best hotel in Spain.Overall, Spain's economy has done well since Juan Carlos became king, the country has joined and is a fully active member of the EU, and political parties of different persuasions have held democratically elected power with the PSOE, Spain's Socialist Party, recently winning the general election and entering their second term in office, with all these things highly unlikely if Franco's successor had been another fascist.At 70, hopefully it will be some time before the question of a new monarch is asked. Majorca will certainly hope so!

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

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

Lebanese violence spreads to mountains outside capital By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer MAY 11,08

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanon hung between fears of all-out war and hopes of political compromise Sunday as government supporters and opponents battled with rockets and machine guns in the mountains overlooking the capital. The fighting saw the collapse of pro-government forces in the Aley region, a stronghold of anti-Syrian Druse leader Walid Jumblatt.Beirut was quiet a day after Hezbollah gunmen left the streets, heeding an army call for the Shiite fighters to clear out. The city was the focus of four days of Sunni-Shiite clashes that culminated with Hezbollah seizing large swaths of Muslim West Beirut — demonstrating its military might in a showdown with the government.Thirty-eight people have been killed since Wednesday, when a power struggle between the Hezbollah-led opposition and the U.S.-backed government began erupting into the worst sectarian violence since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

Across the country, there were fears of another slide into civil war.I don't believe this is the end, said Hala, a 32-year-old employee of an insurance company who lives in a posh area of the Muslim sector that saw fighting three days ago. She declined to give her name for fear of retaliation.They haven't solved the problem yet, she added. There will be another round.But some analysts saw Hezbollah's demonstration of its power as paving the way for a solution to end the political crisis. Analysts said the opposition now appears to have the upper hand, which could force the government to compromise.The opposition is in control now. These military victories have to be translated politically, said Amal Saad Ghorayeb, a political science professor who is an expert on Hezbollah.You can't have a civil war when there is one group that is militarily superior to the others, she said, referring to Hezbollah.The violence was sparked when the government confronted Hezbollah with decisions to sack the chief of airport security for alleged ties to the militant group and to declare Hezbollah's private telephone network illegal. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the decisions amounted to a declaration of war.

Ghorayeb said nobody expected Hezbollah to go as far as it did. She expects the group's achievements on the ground to force the government into a compromise.Hezbollah crossed the threshold and gained its own momentum, she said. Given that Beirut fell so quickly, the opposition saw that this was a golden opportunity to force the government into a compromise that would be tilted in its favor.Overnight, there were fierce clashes in the north, particularly in the city of Tripoli. One woman was killed.Heavy fighting between government supporters and opponents broke out Sunday in the central mountain town of Aytat and surrounding areas, about 9 miles from Beirut. The sounds of heavy machine-gun fire and explosions rolled across the capital.Pro-government supporters of Jumblatt and Shiite gunmen and their allies exchanged rockets and machine-gun fire, security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Paramedics said 12 people were injured.As the fighting raged in the mountain region, black smoke could be seen billowing from Druse villages. The violence spread to the nearby towns of Kayfoun, Qamatiyeh, Bchamoun and Chouweifat, they said.The area had been controlled mostly by Jumblatt's Progressive Socialist Party and its militia. Hezbollah on Saturday accused Jumblatt's followers of killing two of their supporters and kidnapping a third. Lebanon has 17 different religious sects and at least a dozen armed groups that exert some degree of military control over various parts of the country and the capital. Among those armed groups are Hezbollah, Amal, Jumblatt's PSP and the Christian community's Phalange Party, who were all involved in the civil war. After the civil war ended in 1990, all of the militias surrendered their weapons and transformed into political parties, keeping only small arms. Only Hezbollah was allowed to keep its arms because it was considered a resistance movement battling Israel.

Over the years, the groups have built up their arms and reasserted control in different areas. Jumblatt, speaking to private LBC television and sounding subdued, implicitly called on his militiamen to give up their positions in the Aytat area and hand them over to the army. I say to my followers that civil peace and stopping the war and destruction is above any other consideration, he said. Fighting subsided by the evening and the army began deploying in the region. Jumblatt's supporters were handing over their weapons to the army. The Hezbollah-led opposition quit the Cabinet 18 months ago, demanding larger representation that would give them veto power over government decisions. The deadlock has kept parliament from electing a new president since November.

Army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman is the consensus candidate for president and the army's success in calming Beirut could enhance his chances of being elected. Saniora said Sunday the Cabinet would meet in the next days to decide what to do about the two decisions against Hezbollah that sparked the violence.In Cairo, Arab foreign ministers held an emergency meeting on the Lebanon crisis and issued a statement urging an immediate end to all fighting. They criticized Hezbollah for using military force to achieve political goals and said they were sending a delegation to Lebanon to try to broker a political settlement. Hezbollah's show of force in Beirut was a blow to Washington. The U.S. has long considered Hezbollah a terrorist group and condemned its ties to Syria and Iran. The Bush administration has been a strong supporter of Saniora's government and its army for the last three years. The conflict has heightened concerns in the Middle East and the West over Iran's growing influence and its intentions in the region. Beirut's streets were largely deserted Sunday, a day off in Lebanon. The opposition continued to block many roads including the one to the airport in protest against the government. There have been no incoming flights to Lebanon for four days and no outgoing flights for three days.

In the West Beirut neighborhood of Karakol Druse, which saw heavy fighting Thursday, a man swept glass outside his shop. A gaping hole from a rocket propelled grenade and bullet holes marked the facade of a normally busy bakery, now closed. There were few signs of gunmen openly carrying weapons, save for small knots of Hezbollah allies from the Syrian Social Nationalist Party sitting outside the Economy Ministry in one seaside district. On Beirut's normally bustling seaside corniche, workers outside five-star hotels cleaned blackened streets scarred by burning tires. Nabil Silisty, a 60-year-old lawyer, said he did not foresee another sectarian conflict in Lebanon. There will be no civil war. The Lebanese tried it before and it was a catastrophe, said the Greek Orthodox Christian, a resident of West Beirut since birth. He spoke as he took laundry to wash at a relative's house because he has not had electricity since Friday morning.

Arab League tries to broker Lebanon settlement By SALAH NASRAWI, Associated Press Writer Sun May 11, 8:20 PM ET

CAIRO, Egypt - Arab foreign ministers urged warring Lebanese factions to immediately cease fighting and said Sunday they will send a delegation to try to broker a settlement between the Hezbollah-led opposition and U.S.-backed government. After an emergency meeting in Cairo on the Lebanon crisis, the Arab League issued a statement implicitly criticizing the Shiite militant Hezbollah.The ministers reject the principal of resorting to armed violence to achieve political goals, it said.Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said the delegation would leave for Lebanon soon but did not give a date. No flights have gone into Beirut for four days because Hezbollah supporters have blocked the airport road. Moussa said the delegation would need to make security arrangements with the Lebanese army to go in.The delegation will be headed by Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, an ally of Syria who has good relations with Hezbollah.Sunni Arab heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia, who back the Lebanese government, will not be represented on the 10-member delegation. Syria, which supports Hezbollah, was also not included.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia are deeply suspicious of Hezbollah, accusing it of sidelining Lebanon's Sunni minority and being a proxy for extending Iran's power in the Middle East.What is going on in Lebanon is unacceptable. We are very worried about this, said Moussa, an Egyptian who will be part of the delegation as secretary-general of the Arab League.We might succeed and we might not, but we have to try, Moussa told a news conference after the meeting.
Syria, which currently holds the Arab League presidency, did not send its foreign minister to the meeting. Damascus controlled Lebanon for nearly three decades until 2005 and has said that the dispute should be left to the Lebanese to solve.The Arab League demanded Shiite gunmen pull out of West Beirut and leave Lebanon's army in charge of security. The gunmen had mostly left the streets by Sunday, a day after the army called on them to clear out.

The ministers also relaunched a January plan that calls for the immediate election of Lebanese army chief Michel Suleiman as a consensus president, the formation of a national unity government and the adoption of a new electoral law.Lebanon's sharply divided parliament has failed to elect Suleiman as president because the majority and opposition are deadlocked over the shape of the future government. The majority rejects the opposition's demand for veto power in the government.

Blair discusses Mideast peace with Saudi king Sun May 11, 3:11 PM ET

RIYADH (AFP) - Middle East envoy Tony Blair met on Sunday with Saudi King Abdullah to discuss peace efforts in the region, the official SPA news agency reported. Blair discussed with Abdullah developments pertaining to the Palestinian issue and international efforts aimed at achieving just and comprehensive peace in the region, SPA said.The former British prime minister serves as envoy of the Middle East Quartet comprising the United Nations, the United States, Russia and the European Union.His trip to Saudi Arabia comes ahead of a visit by US President George W. Bush to the oil powerhouse and key US ally on May 16 as part of a regional tour.

During a meeting in London on May 2, the Quartet called on Israel to stop building or expanding settlements in the West Bank, while voicing deep concern over the Gaza Strip due to an Israeli blockade.
The four key powers also urged Arab states to make good on pledges to help the Palestinians.

Jews can’t vote for Obama and be pro-Israel at the same time By Ted Belman MAY 11,08

In the poll of Jewish voters (conducted April 1-30), it showed Obama getting 61% of the Jewish vote against John McCain (32%). Yet in the same poll Hillary Clinton beat Obama among Jewish voters 62% - 38%. So obviously Jews are lifelong democrats who would vote for Obama, whom they rejected in the primaries, rather than vote for McCain. Thus, for them, party loyalty is preferable to Israel loyalty.Recently I posted two articles by Yarom Ettinger, former Israeli Ambassador to the US, The Prospects of a Palestinian State and National Interests of the United States and It’s American interests, stupid, both of which clearly demonstrate that keeping Israel strong is to keep America strong. Thus to be pro-Israel is to be pro-America.Now some would argue that most Jewish Americans are not one issue voters but they must realize that to favour a basket of issues or the Democratic Party above favouring Israel, makes them less pro-Israel and thus less pro-American. This I am sure will get howls of protest from the J-Street Lobby which represents progressive Jewry, who would have you believe that by forcing Israel to capitulate, they are acting in the best interests of Israel and the US. I hope you don’t buy their thinking. These articles fly in the face of such thinking. Consider them carefully it is important.

While most Jews favour Obama in a run off with McCain because he is a Democrat, they ignore how pro-Palestinian and anti-American he is.

Let me list the ways.

- Obama said Nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people,
- Obama said If there is an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney, those are my civil liberties!
- Everyone on Obama’s foreign policy team, McPeak, Hamilton, Kurtzer, Brezezinski, are anti- Israel and The Israel Lobby. Their policies are closely aligned with Carter’s and Baker’s.
- Obama has been in bed with Jew haters and Islamic jihad for years. Farrakhan and his dear friend Reverend Wright, Obama’s spiritual guru, is a vile Jew hater.
- Obama is the first Presidential candidate endorsed by Hamas. He is the toast of the Islamic world. Obama’s church posted a Hamas manifesto.
- Obama has been endorsed by William Ayers (Weatherman Underground bomber, unrepentant domestic terrorist) (Member Communist Party USA, Early mentor to Obama) Jeremiah Wright (Black Liberation militant, racist, and Pastor) Tony Rezko (Corrupt Financier, ties to Terror Financing) Louis Farrakhan (Nation of Islam Leader, racist, anti-American) Hamas Terrorist Organization (Islamic Terrorist Organization) Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (Islamic Terror Irganization) Raila Odinga (Fundamental Islamic Candidate, Kenya, Obama’s Cousin) Daniel Ortega (Marxist Sandinista Leader. Nicaragua Raul Castro (Hard-line Communist Leader, Communist Party Illinois (US Communist Political Party) Socialist Party USA (Marxist Socialist Political Party) The New Black Panther Party (Black Militant Organization, anti-American and racist Mosques are preaching for Obama (muslims vote inshallah!)

- We know from this blog entry by the pro-Palestinian blogger Ali Abunimah at The Electronic Intifadah, that Obama has moved to a move pro-Israel position as his national aspirations developed. The last time I spoke to Obama was in the winter of 2004 at a gathering in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, Abunimah writes. He was in the midst of a primary campaign to secure the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate seat he now occupies. But at that time polls showed him trailing. As he came in from the cold and took off his coat, I went up to greet him. He responded warmly, and volunteered, Hey, I’m sorry I haven’t said more about Palestine right now, but we are in a tough primary race. I’m hoping when things calm down I can be more up front.’ He referred to my activism, including columns I was contributing to the The Chicago Tribune critical of Israeli and US policy, Keep up the good work!

- Ralph Nader agrees.(Obama) has run a brilliant tactical campaign. But his better instincts and his knowledge have been censored by himself….He was pro-Palestinian when he was in Illinois before he ran for the state Senate, during he ran–during the state Senate.
- Obama served as a paid director on the board of a nonprofit organization that granted funding to a controversial Arab group that mourns the establishment of Israel as a catastrophe. (Obama has also reportedly spoken at fundraisers for Palestinians living in what the United Nations terms refugee camps.). The co-founder of that Arab group, Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi, is a harsh critic of Israel who reportedly worked on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization when it was labeled a terror group by the State Department. Khalidi held a fundraiser in 2000 for Obama’s failed bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

- Ten years ago Obama went to a pro-Palestinian dinner at which Edward Said was the guest speaker and they sat at the same table.
- Obama employed and continues to employ several Farrakhan acolytes in high positions on his Illinois and U.S. Senate campaign and office staffs.
- Obama very recently and previously referred to the cycle of violence in the Middle East. He thereby equates Arab criminal violence with legitimate Israeli self-defence.
- Obama’s Church reprinted the outrageous claim that Israel planned an ethnic bomb to kill blacks and Arabs.

All items listed above cannot be characterized as a smear as they are all true.How can Jews ignore all this or dismiss it as inconsequential? I don’t get it.

G-8 labor officials begin 3-day meeting in Japan By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Writer Sun May 11, 2:03 PM ET

TOKYO - Labor ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations met with international trade union and business groups Sunday to discuss the reduction of workplace emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, officials said. The talks, in Niigata on Japan's north coast, are aimed at boosting support for global environmental initiatives before Japan hosts the G-8 summit in July.The labor ministers, whose formal talks start Monday, are also expected to address concerns about growing income disparity, aging and uncertainty over financial markets, Japan's Health and Welfare Ministry said.Participants at Sunday's session — including representatives from the International Labor Organization and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development — issued a statement urging G-8 nations to promote sustainable labor markets and environmental protection at workplaces.The G-8 countries should foster a societal approach moving all industry sectors in more environmentally friendly and energy efficient directions, it said.Japan hopes to lead the discussions with its experience from Cool-Biz — a no-tie, no-jacket summer campaign it launched in 2005 to curb greenhouse gas emissions by limiting the use of office air conditioning, Kyodo News agency reported.Many countries, including Japan, are struggling to meet targets set by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which requires that greenhouse gas emissions be reduced by an average of 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.Japan is now considering setting a more aggressive emissions reduction target for 2050 — raising the current goal of a 50 percent emissions cut to between 60 percent and 80 percent — to be announced in mid-June, public broadcaster NHK reported Sunday.

Japanese officials also plan to discuss how industries that are likely to be hurt by climate change can seek alternative income sources, such as ski resorts facing snow shortages pursuing other forms of tourism, Kyodo said.The G-8 comprises Britain, Italy, Canada, the United States, France, Russia, Germany and Japan. Thailand and Indonesia were invited to join some discussions.

Rabbi: Israel needs religious PM Safed's chief rabbi: Turns out that Olmert is more corrupt than we thought, PM with values needed Efrat Weiss Published: 05.10.08, 21:46 / Israel Jewish Scene

The State of Israel needs a kippa-wearing prime minister, Safed's Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu wrote in an article titled A religious prime minister – it's possible distributed at synagogues over the weekend. Rabbi Eliyahu's article also addressed the latest investigation against the prime minister, noting that it turns out that Olmert is more corrupt than we thought.So what shall we do? Elect another prime minister without faith? Another one without credibility? Another one without values?…when will we wake up and realize that we need a prime minister with a kippa? We need a prime minister who acts based on genuine faith and values. We've had enough of prime ministers who bought us by just saying 'God willing' and sold out the Sinai…we certainly don't need a prime minister who establishes and then razes communities with the same determination and sensitivity, Eliyahu wrote. The last prime ministers proved that even if they have good intentions, they are able to sell off the country and Jerusalem in one deal, and they are able to put all of us in existential danger, he wrote.

We must wake up
Turning his attention to the prime minister's diplomatic moves, Eliyahu wrote: Listen carefully, Olmert is talking about withdrawal from the Golan Heights and he can sign on it without batting an eyelash. If it saves him from the latest investigation, why not?

We must wake up. Not next time, this time! We need to define the objective…the objective is to bring a government of faith to the country, he wrote. In recent years, Eliyahu has made headlines after making some controversial statements. About a month and a half ago he was slammed for calling for revenge attacks against Arabs in the wake of the massacre at Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav yeshiva. In the past, he said that apartments should not be sold or rented out to Arabs. Following the remark, he was charged with making racist statements.

WE ARE AT THE HALF WAY MARK OF COUNTRIES THAT RATIFIED THE LISBON TREATY, NUMBER 14 HERE.

Portugal ratifies EU treaty on Europe day
10 May 2008, 00:48 CET

(LISBON) - Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva officially ratified the EU's reforming Lisbon treaty on Friday, symbolically choosing 'Europe Day' to do so.The treaty, signed by European leaders in the Portuguese capital last December, was formally promulgated at a solemn ceremony following its approval by the national parliament last month.The treaty constitutes a step forward towards the construction of a more unified Europe, one more in solidarity, said Cavaco Silva.Its success shows the political determination and the convergence of the efforts of the leaders of the member states and the European institutions, he added.

Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia have now ratified the treaty, according to the EU's executive body, the European Commission.All 27 EU member states must do so before it can come into effect, as planned, next year.Only Ireland is constitutionally bound to put the treaty to a national referendum which it will do next month.The treaty is deemed essential to streamline the workings of the European bloc, which has boosted its ranks from 15 to 27 member states since 2004.It also introduces the post of an EU president, one of the factors which eurosceptics point to as an indication of the movement towards a federal Europe.

Numerous celebrations were scheduled for late Friday throughout Portugal to mark Europe Day, which commemorates the May 9, 1950 declaration by then French foreign minister Robert Schuman which is considered the founding proposal for the European Union.In Lisbon itself European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, who is Portuguese, was handed the keys of the capital.Barroso's work at the head of the EU's executive arm constitutes an honour for Portugal and for the city of Lisbon, said Mayor Antonio Costa.

Europe Day was also marked elsewhere, with a 12-metre high model of a European Ariane 5 rocket set up next to stands of regional European products at the Hotel de Ville, town hall, in Paris. A cinema chain in the French capital showed 27 films in their original languages, one from each EU member state.In Marseille, southern France, a European village was set up for a grand picnic with the European anthem, Beethoven's Ode to Joy, ringing out from a local theatre.In The Hague a Europe Night was planned for the youth market, while in Brussels, the seat of the European Union, the day was marked by a holiday for all the EU institutions.In the landmark 1950 address, Schuman called on France, Germany and other European nations to work towards what became the European Coal and Steel Community, the start of the European project following the devastation of World War II.A European summit in 1985 decided to commemorate this event each year as Europe Day.

French Foreign Minister visits Algiers Monday MAY 11,08

Paris, France - French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bernard Kouchner, will Monday visit Algiers, Algeria's capital city, with a message from President Nicolas Sarkozy to his Algerian counterpart, Abdelaziz Bouteflika.In a communiqué issued here. made available to the PANA, the French ministry of foreign affairs highlighted the main aim of the trip was to discuss with Algerian authorities, the Mediterranean Union project in which Algeria must be a major actor,
Kouchner and Algerian officials will also review the situation regarding the numerous projects initiated during Sarkozy's visit in Algeria last December.The Mediterranean Union, a project dear to Sarkozy, was approved last March by the 27 European leaders who held a summit in Brussels, Belgium.Paris - 11/05/2008

PRIME MINISTER HARPER’S SPEECH FOR ISRAEL’S 60th
Toronto, May 8, 2008

Thank you for your warm welcome. Thank you Ivan for your kind introduction. Consul General Gissin, Minister Jim Flaherty, Leader of the Opposition John Tory, colleagues from the federal and provincial legislatures, members of the United Jewish Appeal Federation, ladies and gentlemen, I am truly honoured to be part of tonight’s celebration marking the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel. All of my life, Israel has been a symbol – a symbol of the triumph of hope and faith. After 1945, our battered world desperately needed to be lifted out of post-war darkness and despair. After so much pain and suffering, humanity needed comfort and optimism. After so much death and destruction, we needed renewal – the renewal of the dream of a better and more civilized world. In short, we needed to be inspired. It was the people who had suffered who most provided that inspiration. By their example, they led the world back to the light. From shattered Europe and other countries near and far, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob made their way home. Their pilgrimage was the culmination of a two-thousand-year-old dream; it is a tribute to the unquenchable human aspiration for freedom, and a testament to the indomitable spirit of the Jewish people.

In the sixty years that followed, Israel blossomed into one of the most successful countries on earth; a land of ingenuity and enterprise, an oasis of agricultural genius, a wellspring of fine art and high culture, a model of democracy. Israel truly is the miracle in the desert.But the source of Israel’s strength and success, in my view, is its commitment to the universal values of all civilized peoples: freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Soon I hope to have the opportunity to travel to Israel to see the miracle with my own eyes; to see how millions of people from all over the earth, with their countless different languages and traditions, came together to build a modern, prosperous, vibrant, democratic country. It is a pilgrimage I have wanted to make for a long time, but my determination to do so was redoubled this spring after I visited Auschwitz. I want to see first-hand what the survivors of the Holocaust and their descendants have accomplished, for theirs is truly an achievement of resilience and renewal unsurpassed in human history. I also want to go to deliver in person the message of Canada’s unshakable support for Israel. Unfortunately, Israel at 60 remains a country under threat – threatened by those groups and regimes who deny to this day its right to exist. And why? Make no mistake; look beyond the thinly-veiled rationalizations: because they hate Israel, just as they hate the Jewish people. Our government believes that those who threaten Israel also threaten Canada, because, as the last world war showed, hate-fuelled bigotry against some is ultimately a threat to us all, and must be resisted wherever it may lurk.

In this ongoing battle, Canada stands side-by-side with the State of Israel, our friend and ally in the democratic family of nations. We have stood with Israel even when it has not been popular to do so, and we will continue to stand with Israel, just as I have always said we would. I know that we all hope and pray that someday freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law will be a reality for all the peoples of the Middle East. Enshrining these values is the best way to assure lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians alike. The foundations for a peaceful future are there. At the individual level, throughout the holy land, people of all faiths only want what all of us want: a safe place to live, a fair opportunity to get ahead, a good life for their children, a future for their grandchildren. So as we gather tonight to celebrate the first 60 years of the State of Israel, let us resolve as Canadians to do whatever we can to support Israelis and their neighbours in their quest for a better future. There will be many challenges along the way, but considering how far Israel has come in such a short time, in the face of such seemingly insurmountable odds, I can foresee no dark force, no matter how strong, that could succeed in dimming the light of freedom and democracy that shines from within Israel.

Thank you very much.
Happy 60th anniversary.
Shalom. TED BELMAN

MOTHERS THE GIVERS OF CARING

MOTHERS DAY TODAY

Twilight
Christian poem By Winifred Sackville Stoner, Jr.

Of all the hours of day or night
Give me the twilight hour,
When little birds hide out of sight
And every sylvan bower
Is filled with their sweet good night song,
While darkness creeps apace
O'er all the bright blue sky along
And hides the sun's gold face.

That is the hour when Mother dear
Says, Come, sweetheart, to me,
And of the earth's great heroes hear
While sitting on my knee.
Upon her arm I rest my hand
And wondrous stories hear,
Until it's time to go to bed,
Tucked in by Mother dear.

DO WE REALLY APPRECIATE HOW MUCH OUR WIVES AND MOTHERS REALLY DO!

MOTHERS DAY FOR THE GIVING MOTHERS AND WIVES.

PAIN OF CHILDBIRTH BRINGS JOY
JOHN 16:21
21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.

MOTHER HONORED
EXODUS 20:12
12 Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

MOTHERS KINDNESS
PROVERBS 31:20
20 She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.

DESIRE FOR MOTHERHOOD
GENESIS 30:1
1 And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.

JOYFUL MOTHERHOOD
1 SAMUEL 2:1-2
1 And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation.
2 There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.

LOVE OF MOTHER FOR SON
GENESIS 21:14-16
14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bow shot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept.

FOLLOWING MOTHERS EXAMPLE
PSALMS 86:16
16 O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid.

MOTHERS FAITH
PSALMS 116:16
16 O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.

MOTHERS TEACHING
PROVERS 1:8,6:20
8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
20 My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

WISE HOME BUILDER
PROVERBS 14:1
1 Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.

RESPECTING AGED PARENTS
PROVERBS 23:22-25
22 Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.
25 Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.

MARRIAGE COUNCIL FOR DAUGHTER
SONG OF SONGS 8:2
2 I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.

INSTRUCTIVE MOTHER
PROVERBS 31:1
1 The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.

LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER
EZEKIEL 16:44
44 Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.

WOMAN OF NOBLE CHARACTER
PROVERS 31:10-31
10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
11 The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.
12 She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
13 She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.
14 She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar.
15 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.
16 She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
17 She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.
18 She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.
19 She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.
20 She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.
21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.
22 She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.
23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.
24 She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.
25 Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.
26 She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
27 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.
28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.
29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.
30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.
31 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.