FOREIGN MINISTER MILIBAND

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.

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.

Warning of major aftershock sparks panic in China By WILLIAM FOREMAN, Associated Press Writer MAY 19,08

CHENGDU, China - A government warning of a major aftershock sent thousands of panicked survivors running into the darkened streets Monday night following an unprecedented display of mourning for more than 34,000 people killed in a powerful earthquake one week ago. In shattered Sichuan province, quake-weary residents carried pillows, blankets and chairs from homes into the open or slept in cars after a statement from the National Seismology Bureau was read on television warning that there was a rather great chance of an aftershock measuring magnitude 6 to 7. Such jolts could cause major damage.People in the provincial capital of Chengdu got in their cars and drove east — toward plains and away from the quake zone to the northwest. At intersections outside the city, clusters of people slept on bedrolls. Cars were parked along a service road to a highway, their drivers sleeping on the sidewalk.In Mianyang, closer to the quake zone, a hospital moved patients into the square outside the rail station, setting up beds, medicine trays and tents.

The alarm compounded uneasiness in the region, which has been rumbled by dozens of aftershocks since the May 12 quake, including one on Monday night measured at magnitude 5.2 by the U.S. Geological Survey. No damage or injuries were reported.It came a few hours after China's more than 1 billion people paused for three minutes of mourning — an observance that previously only honored the death of a top Chinese leader.At 2:28 p.m., the moment the quake hit, wailing air-raid sirens and the blare of horns from cars, ships and trains signaled the start of the commemoration.From the broad boulevards of Beijing to the shaken streets of Sichuan province, everyone stood still. Traffic halted in cities, soldiers stood at attention, and people bowed their heads in respect for the dead.President Hu Jintao led senior government figures in a solemn ceremony televised nationally. Rescuers also briefly halted work in the disaster zone, where hope of finding more survivors was all but gone.The Olympic torch relay, a potent symbol of national pride in the countdown to the Beijing Games, was suspended.The occasion demonstrated the profound impact of the quake.China's Cabinet said the confirmed death toll rose to 34,073, although it is expected to climb. Another 5,260 remained buried in Sichuan, the provincial government said. Almost 250,000 are injured.The three-minute commemoration — part of an official three days of mourning — gave the government a chance to recognize and channel the grief of millions who have watched the disaster play out in unusually free coverage by state media.

Yin Pu, a Beijing psychologist, said the depth of feeling that people expressed Monday was a surprise.The only thing that was planned was the time, we could not have imagined that it would be so powerful, said Yin, who is recruiting volunteer counselors to send to the quake zone.But there were already signs that the unity would be shortlived.In Xiushui, one of scores of mountain villages in Sichuan province that were cut off for days in the days immediately after the quake, residents were grateful they now had water, food and other supplies. But they complained the response was slow and blamed local officials whom they described as corrupt and indifferent — a common complaint in rural China that has fueled sporadic protests in the past decade.During the first three days after the quake, the local government gave us nothing. No water or food, said Yu Jun, a 44-year-old farmer living in a roadside tent. In the first few days, we had to get our cooking water from an irrigation ditch. You could see little bugs wiggling around in the water. You would get sick if you drank it.There were other signs of edginess. In a gymnasium in Mianyang, east of Xiushui, refugees panicked Sunday when health workers arrived wearing masks, setting off fears of an epidemic. Police were sent in to keep tensions from boiling over. And in Tiananmen Square, the focus of pro-democracy rallies in 1989 that were crushed by the military, a mourning ceremony erupted into a nationalistic rally as about 1,000 people punched the air with their fists and shouted: Long live China! The crowd dispersed after about one hour when police told them to move on. In a sign the government is sensitive to public perceptions of its response to the disaster, the ruling Communist Party's discipline committee said it had reprimanded three local officials in the quake zone for dereliction of duty, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The party had instructed its officials to stand at the front line of the disaster and these three had failed to do so, Xinhua said.

Teams of rescuers still searched debris with their hands and shovels in the hope of finding anyone alive, but their successes were few. Two women were rescued Monday morning from a collapsed building at a mine site, Xinhua reported. Signaling it wants help to deal with millions of homeless and injured survivors, China said it would accept foreign medical teams and made an international appeal for tents to provide shelter for the coming rainy season.

More than 200 relief workers were buried in the past three days by mudslides while working to repair roads in Sichuan, Xinhua reported. An official confirmed there had been mudslides causing some deaths but said casualties were still being counted. For some, there was no solace in Monday's ceremonies. I can't feel anything. I have no words, said Hu Yongcui, who did not pause in her search for her missing 17-year-old daughter. I just want to go home. I just want to find my daughter.Associated Press writers Audra Ang in Beichuan, and Cara Anna, Anita Chang and Henry Sanderson in Beijing contributed to this report.

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.

Myanmar: 3 days of mourning for cyclone victims MAY 19,08

YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar's junta on Monday announced a three-day mourning period for cyclone victims, while the country's neighbors said they will establish a task force to handle foreign aid distribution. The mourning period starting Tuesday comes as people remain angry at what appears to be an inadequate government effort following the storm that left at least 130,000 people dead or missing.It also follows on a declaration by China of three days of mourning, starting Monday, for the more than 32,000 dead from its own disaster, an earthquake in Sichuan province last week.In a major concession after being slammed for blocking foreign help, Myanmar agreed to open its doors to medical teams from the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo told reporters.At an emergency meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in Singapore, which included Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win, officials agreed to set up an ASEAN-led task force for redistributing foreign aid.This mechanism will facilitate the effective distribution and utilization of assistance from the international community, including the expeditious and effective deployment of relief workers, especially health and medical personnel, Yeo told a news conference.The bloc will work with the U.N. to hold an aid donor conference in Yangon on May 25, Yeo said.Myanmar's military regime, meanwhile, allowed the U.N. humanitarian chief into the devastated Irrawaddy delta for a brief tour Monday, a U.N. official said.But the United Nations said its foreign staff were still barred from the delta and described conditions there as terrible, with hundreds of thousands of cyclone victims suffering from hunger, disease and lack of shelter.

John Holmes, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, flew by helicopter to the delta before returning to Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, to meet with international aid agencies, said a U.N. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media.Others, including U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, also will be allowed into the disaster zone this week.An Asian diplomat said Myanmar has invited at least three representatives of several countries to tour the delta Friday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the news has not been made public.Ban is to travel to the delta after his scheduled arrival in the country Wednesday, U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said in New York.Earlier, junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe had refused to take telephone calls from Ban and had not responded to two letters from him, Montas said. Holmes, who arrived in Yangon on Sunday, was to deliver a third letter about how the U.N. can assist the government's immediate and long-term relief effort.Amanda Pitt, a U.N. spokeswoman in Bangkok, said the world body was seeing some progress in terms of pipelines starting to come through but that the aid operation was still unsatisfactory.

Clearly we're still not satisfied, which is why we keep saying we need to upscale the response. We're not satisfied with it, nobody is. We can see the situation is terrible, she said.At least 78,000 people were killed in the May 2-3 storm and another 56,000 were missing. The situation remained grim in the Irrawaddy delta south of Yangon.In the delta city of Laputta, hundreds of children covered their heads from the rain with empty aluminum plates as they lined up in front of a private donation center on Sunday. They were given rice, a spoonful of curry and a potato. Children only. Please. Children only, shouted a man who pushed back a crowd of adults. He explained they were feeding children and the elderly first because food supplies were limited and most adults could still fend for themselves. The relief effort has been impeded by a lack of logistical support, said Ramesh Shrestha, head of the U.N. Children's Fund in Myanmar. He said there are not enough trucks to transport supplies and a shortage of manpower to load and unload them. Many of those areas are still inaccessible because of the high water table, roads covered with fallen trees and bridges that are broken. The government has been clearing it but it's still not completely done yet, he said. European Union nations have warned the junta could be committing a crime against humanity by blocking aid intended for up to 2.5 million survivors faced with hunger, loss of their homes and potential outbreaks of deadly diseases.

But signs have appeared that the generals might be listening to the chorus of criticism. A team of 50 Chinese medics arrived in Yangon on Sunday night, following in the footsteps of medical personnel from India and Thailand, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported. On Monday, some 30 Thai doctors and nurses began working in the delta. Myanmar's state-run media has lashed out at critics of the regime's response to the disaster, detailing the junta's efforts. State television showed Than Shwe inspecting supplies and comforting homeless victims in relatively clean and neat rows of blue tents. The media said Than Shwe traveled from the capital, Naypyitaw, to relief camps in the suburbs of Yangon. Some survivors clasped their hands and bowed as he and a column of military leaders walked past. The official New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the government's National Disaster Preparedness Central Committee will work with foreign aid agencies to ensure that all relief funds and supplies reach the storm victims.

Storm toll in Philippines rises to 12: government
Mon May 19, 12:19 AM

MANILA (AFP) - Eight more people were reported killed in the northern Philippines as tropical storm Halong intensified on Monday, raising the death toll to 12, the civil defence office said.
The storm lashed the northern Philippines Sunday, with the provinces of Pangasinan and La Union in Luzon island bearing the brunt of its fury.Strong winds whipped up by the storm blew away tin roofs and uprooted trees and electricity posts, while the heavy rains flooded large areas, cutting off thousands, it said.Rescuers said they had plucked from the sea two crew members of the cargo vessel Edago Expedition, which was reported lost at the height of the storm after sailing off the port of Mindoro Sunday.It was not clear how many were aboard the vessel, the coast guard said, adding that search and rescue operations were continuing.As of early Monday, Halong was moving northeastward away from the Philippines, with maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometers (58.9 miles) per hour near the centre and gusts of up to 120 kilometers (182 miles) an hour.

The storm has accelerated as it continues to move northeastward away from the country, and was expected to be around 400 kilometers (248 miles) southeast of Okinawa, Japan by Tuesday morning.Large areas remained without power or vital communication lines Monday, with schools used as evacuation centres, the civil defence office said.Damage to infrastructure and agriculture are expected to be extensive, it added.Some 34,756 people were affected in 12 towns and three cities in five provinces, it said.The state weather bureau said gale-force winds were expected to create huge waves that may affect the western seaboard of Luzon island, with sea conditions expected to be very rough.

1/3RD OF SHIPS DESTROYED

REVELATION 8:8-9
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.

Millions of tiny starfish inhabit undersea volcano By RAY LILLEY, Associated Press Writer MAY 19,08

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Marine scientists surveying a large undersea mountain chain were amazed to find millions of tiny starfish swirling their arms to capture food in the undersea current. An expedition by 19 scientists, including five from Australia, studied the geology and biology of eight Macquarie Ridge sea mounts. They are part of a string of underwater volcanoes — dormant for millions of years — that stretches 875 miles from south of New Zealand toward Antarctica.The scientists also investigated the world's biggest ocean current — the Antarctic Circumpolar Current — amid expectations they would find evidence of climate change in the Southern Ocean.While the expedition's cameras found a wide range of corals, a high density of cardinal fish and the huge coral, the vast collection of brittle stars was the highlight of the voyage.I've personally never seen anything like this — all these animals, the sheer volume — all waiting for food from the current, expedition member and marine biologist Dr. Mireille Consalvey said Monday. It challenged what we as scientists thought we knew.Expedition leader and marine biologist Ashley Rowden said starfish usually cover only slopes away from the top of the undersea mountains.It got us excited as soon as we saw it, Rowden said of the site, dubbed Brittle Star City.The starfish are about 0.4 inch across, with arms about 2 inches long.The expedition began March 26 and returned to port in New Zealand's capital Wellington on April 26.

Melbourne-based marine biologist Tim O'Hara, a brittle star specialist, said the vast collection of brittle stars, or ophiuroid ophiacantha, is like a relic of ancient times.Normally fish would prey on them and eat them ... so for whatever reason there's a lack of fish predation there and it's seen this particular animal flourish, he said.O'Hara, who was not part of the voyage, said the speed of the sea current in the area may partly explain why fish were not feeding on the tiny animals.The Circumpolar Current merges the waters of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans and carries up to 150 times the volume of water flowing in all the world's rivers, oceanographer Mike Williams said.Australian oceanographer Steve Rintoul, who was not involved in the expedition, said there have been few measurements of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which strongly influences regional and global climate by carrying vast amounts of water and heat across oceans.Fewer than 200 of the world's estimated 100,000 sea mounts that rise more than a half a mile above the sea floor have been studied in any detail.

SIGNS IN THE SUN, MOON AND STARS

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.

Russian supply ship docks to space station Fri May 16, 6:11 PM ET

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A Russian supply ship docked to the international space station on Friday, delivering more than 2 tons of food, water, equipment and scientific experiments. The three men aboard the space station monitored everything from inside. Russian and U.S. space officials said the docking went smoothly.The unmanned Progress cargo ship blasted off from Kazakhstan two days earlier.Space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to lift off May 31 with an even bigger delivery for the space station: a massive laboratory from Japan named Kibo, which means hope.Two Russian cosmonauts and one U.S. astronaut are living at the orbiting complex.On the Net:NASA: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov

HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

Stocks finish mixed following tech pullback By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer Mon May 19, 5:40 PM ET

NEW YORK - Wall Street ended mixed Monday after weakness in the technology sector punctured some of the market's enthusiasm over a report that suggested the economy could still be growing. But comments from memory chip maker SanDisk Corp. about soft sales helped pull stocks off their highs and sent tech shares lower. The Dow Jones industrial average, which had been up more than 100 points, finished well off its highs.The Conference Board's leading economic indicators report showed a 0.1 percent rise for April, following a similar uptick in March. The index, aimed at predicting economic activity in the next three to six months, bolstered investors' belief that the overall U.S. economy, while weak, is positioned for recovery.After five months of declines in the leading indicators, some investors were concerned that March's increase was an anomaly — so April's advance was met with relief, said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Johnson Illington Advisors.But technology shares tugged at the market after SanDisk issued cautious comments at a JPMorgan technology conference Monday, said Neil Massa, senior trader at MFC Global Investment Management in Boston. SanDisk fell $2.42, or 7.5 percent, to $30.02. SanDisk's remarks came on a day of light trading and dented but didn't sink an upbeat mood on Wall Street.

Even though you're up only 0.1 percent, it's very good news that the declining trend may have been reversed, Johnson said, referring to the leading indicators report. That is important for this reason: It's consistent with the message of the markets. The broader market, as measured by the Standard & Poor's 500 index, rose 2.67 percent last week on cautious optimism about the economy.

The Dow rose 41.36, or 0.32 percent, to 13,028.16. The blue chips had been up nearly 150 points at their highs of the session.Broader stock indicators finished mixed. The S&P 500 advanced 1.28, or 0.09 percent, to 1,426.63, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 12.76, or 0.50 percent, to 2,516.09.Government bonds rose as the rally in stocks cooled. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its yield, fell to 3.83 percent from 3.85 percent late Friday.The dollar rose against most other major currencies, while gold prices also climbed.One pressure point for the economy — rising energy prices — appeared relatively in check Monday. While many investors remain mindful of the rising price of oil and its effect on consumer spending, Wall Street seemed somewhat unfazed as oil advanced but didn't top its record trading high set Friday. Light, sweet crude rose 76 cents to settle at a record $127.05 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price of a gallon of regular gasoline topped $4 for the first time in two U.S. metropolitan areas. Still, energy didn't seem as large of a concern as in some recent sessions.Financial shares also pulled back after the market came off its highs. Merrill Lynch & Co. fell $1.14, or 2.3 percent, to $47.71, while Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. fell 85 cents to $42.79.In other corporate news, Microsoft Corp. has renewed talks with Yahoo Inc. about a possible deal to bolster the companies' position in the online search and advertising markets. The companies appear to be exploring possible arrangements outside of a direct tie-up. Microsoft fell 53 cents to $29.46, and Yahoo rose 2 cents to $27.68.

General Motors Corp. rose after one of its biggest suppliers reached a tentative labor deal with the United Auto Workers. The agreement with American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. may end a nearly three-month strike by 3,650 U.S. hourly workers. GM advanced 19 cents to $20.87.Lowe's Cos. posted a first-quarter profit decline and issued an outlook for the year that came in below analyst estimates. The second-largest home improvement chain fell 64 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $24.25.The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 2.72, or 0.37 percent, to 738.45.Declining issues narrowly outpaced advancers on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 3.55 billion shares, compared with 3.74 billion traded Friday.In overseas trading, Tokyo's Nikkei closed up 0.35 percent. In Europe, London's FTSE closed up 1.15 percent, Frankfurt's DAX rose 0.97 percent and Paris' CAC 40 was up 1.26 percent. On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

Netanyahu calls for new elections MAY 19,08

The leader of the Israeli opposition Likud Party, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Monday that the coalition led by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert must return the mandate to the people to choose another government.The Olmert-Kadima government has no mandate to negotiate on Israel’s borders, the former prime minister said, according to Ynetnews.This government was elected under different circumstances and times. Most of the public knows that any land we give away will become a terror base for Islam extremists under Iran’s patronage, Netanyahu told a Likud faction meeting, which along with the other parties' Knesset factions was holding its first meeting in six weeks.Bibi - as the Likud leader is widely known - steered clear of exploiting the ongoing criminal investigation into Olmert, who is being probed for having allegedly taken bribes.Instead he homed in on the inability of Olmert's government to adhere to its basic guidelines as laid out when it came to power on May 4, 2006.

Olmert and his Kadima Party were elected to continue efforts to pave the way for a two-state solution begun when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon executed the disengagement [in reality, retreat – Ed] from the Gaza Strip.The next step, which Sharon was gearing up to perpetrate when he was felled by a hemorrhagic stroke in December 2005, was retreat from Samaria and Judea - the ethnic cleansing of Jews and the destruction of all Jewish towns and cities in those areas in order that a Palestinian state can be created there.

Samaria and Judea comprise the biblical heartland of the Jewish people, the cradle of their nationhood. The Jewish patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph are buried there, and the Old City of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives are situated in those occupied territories.According to the Basic Guidelines of the 31st Government of Israel Olmert's administration committed itself to take action even in the absence of negotiations and agreement with [the 'Palestinians'] on the basis of a broad national consensus in Israel and a deep understanding with Israel’s friends in the world, primarily the United States of America and President George Bush [to establish] Israel’s territory, the borders of which will be determined by the Government [and which] will entail the reduction of Israeli settlement in Judea and Samaria.In the two years since the government's election, all Israel has learned the price for relinquishing territory:The Palestinian Arabs turned the surrendered Gaza Strip into a terrorist base from which thousands of rockets have been fired into southern Israel - those attacks continuing to this day - Israeli soldiers have been regularly attacked and Gilad Schalit - the then 19-year-old IDF corporal - was kidnapped and is still being held.

In the summer of 2006 the Lebanese Hizb'allah, using territory unilaterally vacated by Israel, kidnapped Israeli soldiers, triggering the Second Lebanon War which saw thousands of rockets fired into northern Israel, causing more than a million Israelis to flee south.It is in the light of these painful realities, Netanyahu said, that new elections have to be held.

EUROPEAN UNION ARMY

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)

DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.

DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.

REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)

Palestinians demand regular army for new state MAY 19,08

Optimistic developments touted after Olmert-Abbas meeting prove to hold little water as gaps between Israel, PA only seem to widen as negotiations go deeper. Behind closed doors, Israeli and Palestinian officials have confirmed to Ynet, PA negotiator Ahmed Qureia is demanding an army be built for future Palestinian nation
Roni Sofer Published: 05.19.08, 01:14 / Israel News

Despite previous understandings that a future Palestinian state would be demilitarized, Ynet has learned that in talks held behind closed doors, the top negotiator for the Palestinian Authority, Ahmed Qureia, is demanding the establishment of a regular army.

High-level Israeli and Palestinian officials confirmed the newly revealed developments on Monday night.According to the information obtained by Ynet, the new and surprising demand first emerged as the negotiations teams sat down in Jerusalem last Sunday to discuss security arrangements. Qureia told Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni that the Palestinian state would require a regular army to defend itself. Livni, though perplexed by the sudden demand, made clear that all previous accords specifically spoke of a demilitarized Palestinian state. A senior Israeli source said that Livni sought to clarify if perhaps Qureia had meant a Palestinian police force, but the latter was reiterated that it was a proper regular army the PA was after.The source added that the new Palestinian stipulation incensed Livni, who ardently rejects the idea of such an army.Palestinian policemen in Jenin. Soon to be soldiers? (Photo: Reuters)A very senior Palestinian source close to Qureia confirmed the exchange. At the meeting in question we raised the demand for a regular army, meant to defend the independent state, he told Ynet. This isn't an army intended to launch an attack against Israel. We are not asking for F-16 jets but rather a force that would be able to defend the nation from threat and realize its basic right to exist in security.The source said the situation had changed greatly since the days of the Oslo Accords in 1993. Oslo spoke of an intermediary entity. Now we are talking about a Palestinian state born out of a permanent agreement. There is no clause in any of the understandings that denies the Palestinian state an army to defend itself with, to defend its borders and citizens with, he said.

What significant progress, exactly?

Following the most recent meeting between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a senior State official declared that significant progress had been made in negotiations on the final borders and security arrangements. An Israeli official well-informed of the proceedings rejected that statement. What significant progress are they talking about exactly? he wondered. It's very clear that there are complex disagreements on all the core issues. Up until now the points of contention have been the borders and the matter of the refugees. And that was before you even got to Jerusalem. But now the Palestinians want an army of their own, without regard to any of the previous accords. This isn't progress, it's backtracking. Reports of progress in the negotiations are misleading the public.

But other officials connected to the talks taking place in backrooms think little of the Palestinians demand for a regular army. The Palestinians, they said, were well aware that in the event a Palestinian state will indeed be established, it will undoubtedly be demilitarized. Disagreements are an inherent part of negotiations, they said, but this does not mean the talks are stalled. In her speech at the president's conference last week, Livni determinedly broached the subject: Yes, it is important to set recognized borders, but that is not enough. We must determine what will be on the other side of that border.We are talking about a demilitarized state here (…) we will not stand for a terror state or an extremist Islamist state. There are conditions that will have to be met, before and after. I don't hold by just tossing the keys over the border and hoping for the best. There will be no agreement over the future territory if there won't be satisfactory assurances regarding what its nature will be.Ali Waked contributed to this report.

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

PREMEDITATED MERGER Spain to run America's 1st superhighway?
$12.8 billion deal would turn over control of Pennsylvania Turnpike
May 19, 2008 9:06 pm Eastern 2008 WorldNetDaily

Stretching through the rural countryside with limited access and no speed limit in 1940, the Pennsylvania Turnpike was built to resemble Germany's autobahn. Now thanks to a $12.8 billion dollar offer, it may soon become Spain's.According to a report in the Philadelphia Daily News, Gov. Ed Rendell has announced that Abertis Infraestructuras of Barcelona has offered the top dollar bid to the state of Pennsylvania for the rights to manage the toll road under a 75-year lease.The highway could become just the latest in a string of U.S. infrastructure landmarks to be operated by foreign companies.In 2004, management of the Chicago Skyway, a stretch of elevated road connecting I-90 and I-94, was granted to Cintra, another Spanish operation that outbid Abertis at $1.83 billion. Abertis lost out to Cintra again when the Indiana Toll Road was taken over in 2006 for $3.8 billion.This time, Abertis beat out Cintra and other firms, hoping to add the Pennsylvania Turnpike to its list of operations including toll roads in Spain, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Chile, Colombia and Argentina. Abertis also operates airports, including the airports in Orlando, Fla.; Burbank, Calif.; and one concourse of the Atlanta airport.

Even though the controversial Dubai ports deal was squashed by public outcry in 2006, foreign firms have nonetheless purchased long-term leases on other American transportation networks.The Chicago Skyway is tied up for 99 years. The Indiana Toll Road is leased for 75. As WND reported earlier this year, Chicago is seeking a more than 50-year lease on Midway Airport. Among the potential suitors for Midway are 6 international firms, including Abertis.The leases are being made possible through an increasingly common practice of establishing public-private partnerships (PPP's), contracts between public agencies and private entities that enable private sector participation in public transportation.

Many of the PPP's implemented in the U.S. bring large up-front cash infusions. In both the proposed Midway and Pennsylvania Turnpike offers, the billions in cash are touted as a quick solution to shoring up under-funded government employee pension funds.Many, however, see an imminent threat in turning over U.S. infrastructure to foreign companies.The USA is up for sale, an attendee of a conference in Colorado to discuss PPPs told WND. Whatever the public now owns – roads, ports, waste management water systems, rail lines, public parking facilities, airports, even lotteries and sports stadiums – are up for grabs and the only requirement is that the foreigners have the cash.Even William Capone, the director of communications for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, told WND in a telephone interview earlier this year, We don't favor turning the Pennsylvania Turnpike into a private entity through a PPP lease. If we keep the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the hands of a public entity, we believe we can actually invest more dollars into roads than a private corporation could do.Besides, he said, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is not profit-driven, so we don't have to generate profits to pay shareholders the way a PPP would have to operate.Rendell, however, is now advocating the proposal that would turn his state's best known road over to Abertis. Rendell called the plan a very good deal for Pennsylvanian drivers and taxpayers and is urging lawmakers to move the highway – 359 miles of east-west routes and another northeast extension – into private hands by September.The proposal still has to go through the Pennsylvania legislature, a decision that is likely to be hotly contested. Many in the capital are hoping Act 44, a law passed by the state legislature in 2007 to make I-80 a toll road as well, will stem the financial crisis and deflate the impetus for accepting the Turnpike proposal.According to the newspaper report, the toll road plan with Abertis allows the newcomer to raise tolls 25 percent year and 2.5 percent or the rate of inflation every year after that.

EU DICTATOR (WORLD LEADER)

REVELATION 17:12-13
12 And the ten horns (NATIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

REVELATION 6:1-2
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse:(PEACE) and he that sat on him had a bow;(EU DICTATOR) and a crown was given unto him:(PRESIDENT OF THE EU) and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(MILITARY GENIUS)

REVELATION 13:1-10
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(THE EU AND ITS DICTATOR IS GODLESS)
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(DICTATOR COMES FROM NEW AGE OR OCCULT)
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death;(MURDERERD) and his deadly wound was healed:(COMES BACK TO LIFE) and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE WORLD THINKS ITS GOD IN THE FLESH, MESSIAH TO ISRAEL)
4 And they worshipped the dragon (SATAN) which gave power unto the beast:(JEWISH EU DICTATOR) and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?(FALSE RESURRECTION,SATAN BRINGS HIM TO LIFE)
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.(GIVEN WORLD CONTROL FOR 3 1/2YRS)
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God,(HES A GOD HATER) to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.(HES A LIBERAL OR DEMOCRAT,WILL PUT ANYTHING ABOUT GOD DOWN)
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints,(BEHEAD THEM) and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.(WORLD DOMINATION)
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.(WORLD DICTATOR)
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.(SAVED CHRISTIANS AND JEWS DIE FOR THEIR FAITH AT THIS TIME,NOW WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE BUT DURING THE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH, PEOPLE WILL BE PUT TO DEATH (BEHEADINGS) FOR THEIR BELIEF IN GOD (JESUS) OR THE BIBLE.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come (ROMANS IN AD 70) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMANS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he( EU ROMAN, JEWISH DICTATOR) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:( 7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,( 3 1/2 YRS) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

UK foreign minister mooted for EU job
19.05.2008 - 09:26 CET | By Honor Mahony

The UK foreign office has denied reports in a German newspaper that foreign minister David Miliband is looking to become the EU's next foreign policy chief.Die Welt am Sonntag yesterday (18 May) reported high-ranking EU diplomats as saying that Mr Miliband had the support of France and other countries to become the high representative for foreign and security policy next year. He would replace Spain's Javier Solana who has been in the job since 1999.

A foreign office spokesperson, quoted by Reuters news agency, said Mr Miliband, who is 42 and is seen as one of the UK governing Labour party's strongest young politicians, was concentrating on his current job.The foreign secretary is fully focussed on being foreign secretary, said the spokesperson. If ratification of the EU's new set of institutional rules, the Lisbon Treaty, is completed this year, Mr Solana is likely to take on the expanded foreign minister role in January to be replaced by someone else when the new European Commission takes office in autumn.The new post foresees the foreign policy chief being both the vice-president of the commission as well as the permanent chair of the regular meeting of EU foreign ministers. The post would also be backed up an EU diplomatic service.This scraps the current overlapping situation of having an external relations commissioner as well as foreign policy chief.Mr Miliband, who is seen as pro-Europe, is said to have a good reputation in several EU capitals. A speech that he was supposed to give im autumn last year and which was toned down for being too European gave him a lot of positive attention.

In addition, putting a Briton in this post could dilute London's opposition to Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker becoming EU president - the second high-ranking post that the treaty foresees beginning early next year.Britain is seen as opposing Mr Juncker, who has indicated that he thinks that the president's post should be politically substantial rather than purely ceremonial, for being too federalist.Talks on who should fill all the posts that are coming up next year are expected to start in earnest under the French EU presidency, beginning on 1 July.Aside from personalities, discussions also have to take into account political affiliation. Mr Juncker is a centre-right politician while Mr Miliband is from the centre-left. Current speculation puts centre-right Jose Manuel Barroso in for a second term as European Commission president.The role of European Parliament president is also being taken into consideration in the EU cauldron. Parliament officials suggest the five-year post could be split between Jerzy Buzek, a Polish centre-right MEP, and Martin Schulz, a German MEP, currently head of the socialist faction in the EU assembly.However, this set-up does not yet foresee anything for the liberals, currently the third biggest political family in Europe.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Russian Prime Vladimir Putin forms government presidium 19.05.2008, 13.28

MOSCOW, May 19 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on the formation of the government’s presidium, the governmental press serviced told ITAR-TASS on Monday. The presidium will include Putin and his seven deputies – Viktor Zubkov; Igor Shuvalov; Alexander Zhukov; Sergei Ivanov; Igor Sechin; Sergei Sobyanin and Alexander Kudrin. It will also comprise Minister of Health and Social Development Tatyana Golikova; Minister of Agriculture Alexei Gordeyev; Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov; Minister of Economics Elvira Nabiullina; Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev; and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov; and Minister of Regional Development Dmitry Kozak. Putin said at the first meeting of the renewed government on May 15 that the presidium of the Russian government would meet once a week. The cabinet of ministers will hold its meetings once a month.

The presidium will discuss at its meetings the current activity of the cabinet of ministers, to which ministers will be invited to speak. It is apparent that to all that meetings of the government are a cumbersome and bureaucratized mechanism, Putin said. The government’s presidium will be a kind of an operative staff for coordination of efforts and action of departments in the development and implementation of plans, the prime minister said.

His press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the presidium would have 15 members, or three-fifth of the government, which in fact means a quorum sufficient for decision-making.

BUSHS MIDEAST TRIP

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.

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.

Thousands flee on flooding fears after China quake
Sat May 17, 6:54 PM By Chris Buckley and John Ruwitch

BEICHUAN, China (Reuters) - Thousands of Chinese fled their homes on Saturday amid fears a lake could burst its banks, hampering rescue efforts after the deadliest earthquake in more than three decades killed about 29,000 people.Rescue workers returned to Beichuan county, near the epicenter of the quake, in Sichuan province, but many residents were too frightened to go home, worried about a lake formed after aftershocks triggered landslides blocking a river.After briefly evacuating, rescue work returned to normal at Beichuan, an official Web site (www.china.com.cn) said, blaming the evacuation on a false alarm.A paramilitary officer had told Reuters earlier that the likelihood of the lake bursting its banks was extremely big.The situation was very dangerous because there are still tremors causing landslides that could damage the dam, said Luo Gang, a building worker who left the southeastern port city of Xiamen and rushed home to look for his missing fiancee.

Rescue work had been complicated by bad weather, treacherous terrain and hundreds of aftershocks.The United States Geological Survey reported a tremor of 6.1 magnitude centered 49 miles west of Guangyuan, the latest in a series of aftershocks to hit Sichuan province. China's official Xinhua news agency said there was no immediate word from the area of additional damage or casualties.

President Hu Jintao urged emergency workers not to give up efforts to find survivors of Monday's 7.9 magnitude earthquake. Thousands of people are believed to remain trapped under rubble.We should put people first and saving people's lives is still the top priority of the relief work, he said.In a glimmer of hope that more people could be found alive, 33 people were rescued in Beichuan, including a 69-year-old villager who had been buried for 119 hours.Hu also praised international help given to China.I express heartfelt thanks to the foreign governments and international friends that have contributed to our quake-relief work, Xinhua quoted Hu as saying.Offers of help have flooded in and foreign rescue teams from Japan, Russia, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore have arrived. Donations from home and abroad have topped 6 billion yuan ($858 million).

FEARS FOR FUTURE

As the weather becomes warmer, survivors were worried about hygiene and asked questions about their longer-term future.What we don't need now is more instant noodles, said truck driver Wang Jianhong in the city of Dujiangyan. We want to know now what will happen with our lives.Officials plan to distribute 0.5 kg (1.102 lb) of food and a 10 yuan subsidy each day to people with financial difficulties in quake-hit areas for three months, Xinhua reported, after a meeting chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao.They also want to install mobile homes, temporary classrooms and clinics for quake-affected people.China has said it expects the final death toll from the earthquake to exceed 50,000. About 4.8 million people have lost their homes and the days are numbered in which survivors can be found.Cabinet spokesman Guo Weimin, taking a long pause to compose himself as he read from an updated casualty report at a news conference, put the death toll so far at 28,881.Premier Wen said the quake was the biggest and most destructive since before the Communist revolution of 1949 and the quick response had helped reduce casualties.China has sent 150,000 troops to the disaster area, but roads buckled by the quake and blocked by landslides have made it hard for supplies and rescuers to reach the worst-hit areas.
(Additional reporting by Guo Shipeng and Benjamin Kang Lim in Beijing and Donny Kwok in Hong Kong; Writing by Benjamin Kang Lim; Editing by Keith Weir)

China holding 3 days of mourning for quake victims By AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writer MAY 18,08

BEICHUAN, China - Flags flew at half-staff, public entertainment was canceled and 1.3 billion people were asked to observe three minutes of silence as China began three days of mourning Monday for the victims of the nation's massive earthquake. Officials asked for the horns of cars, trains and ships and air raid sirens to sound as people fell silent at 2:28 p.m. — exactly one week after the quake splintered thousands of buildings and killed an estimated 50,000 people. Chinese news portal sina.com said the government had ordered all visitors to online entertainment and game pages to be redirected to Web sites dedicated to commemorating earthquake victims.The Olympic torch relay — a potent symbol of national pride in the countdown to August's much anticipated Beijing games — was also suspended during the mourning period.Hope of finding more trapped survivors dwindled, and preventing hunger and disease among the homeless became more pressing.It will soon be too late to find trapped survivors, said Koji Fujiya, deputy leader of a Japanese rescue team working in Beichuan, a town reduced to rubble. His team pulled 10 bodies out of Beichuan's high school Sunday.The steady run of rescue news flashed by the official Xinhua News Agency has slowed. Just three rescues were reported Sunday, including a woman in Yingxiu town who was reached by soldiers who dug a 15-foot tunnel through the wreckage of a flattened power station and had to amputate both her legs to set free, after 150 hours.

She was in a delirious state and told rescuers to leave her alone, thinking she was already in a hospital, Xinhua quoted rescuer Ma Gang as saying. We fed her milk and water, and her family was there to reassure her.Dozens of aftershocks have rumbled through the region, extending the damage and fear of survivors. A magnitude 6 temblor on Sunday killed three people, injured more than 1,000 and caused further damage to houses and roads, Xinhua reported.With more bodies discovered, the confirmed death toll rose to 32,476, the State Council, China's cabinet, reported. The injured numbered more than 220,000.Many bodies lay by roadsides in body bags or wrapped in plastic sheeting, as authorities struggled to deal with the sheer number of corpses by digging burial pits and working crematoriums overtime.The World Health Organization warned that shortages of clean water and warmer, humid weather in Sichuan province — which bore the brunt of the earthquake — were ripe for epidemics. It urged officials not to be distracted by the false belief that corpses were a health threat.The Health Ministry said no major epidemics or other public health hazards had been reported so far, Xinhua said. Two field hospitals with 400 beds have been set up in isolated areas and medical staff have reached all townships affected by the quake, Xinhua said.The three-day mourning period starting Monday was the most extensive one the government has ordered since the death 11 years ago of communist patriarch Deng Xiaoping, the architect of the free-market reforms that have brought many Chinese from poverty to moderate prosperity in a generation.

Officials initially resisted changing the relay, which corporate sponsors have paid millions of dollars to fund, though some of the pomp was toned down in recent days. Organizers say the relay will resume in Sichuan next month.Responding to concerns about nuclear sites in the quake zone, a Chinese military spokesman, air force Maj. Gen. Ma Jian, told reporters Sunday that all nuclear facilities jolted by the quake were confirmed safe.Though Ma did not elaborate, China has a research reactor, two nuclear fuel production sites and two atomic weapons sites within 90 miles of the quake's epicenter, according to the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety.Flood threats from rivers blocked by landslides from the quake appeared to have eased after three waterways near the epicenter overflowed with no problems, Xinhua said. County officials diverted released water as a precaution.The quake damaged some water projects, such as reservoirs and hydroelectric stations, but no reservoirs had burst, Liu Ning, engineer-in-chief with the Ministry of Water Resources, told Xinhua. Worries about possible flooding had sent thousands of people fleeing the day before. Also in the quake area, three giant pandas were missing from the Wolong Nature Reserve for the endangered animals. Five staff members were killed in the quake, forestry spokesman Cao Qingyao told Xinhua. The 60 other giant pandas at the were safe. President Hu Jintao continued to tour the destruction for a third day and was surrounded by wailing women at a camp for homeless survivors in Yinghua. I know you lost family and property, Hu was quoted by state media as saying. I share the pain with you. We will try every effort to save your people once there is the slightest hope and possibility.China also raised the magnitude of last Monday's quake, to 8.0 from 7.8, though it did not give reasons for the reassessment and the U.S. Geological Survey kept its 7.9 measure. A magnitude-8 quake has the equivalent energy of 790 nuclear bombs, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Foreign aid continued to arrive, including two U.S. Air Force cargo planes loaded with tents, lanterns and 15,000 meals.

A vast, impromptu humanitarian operation has sprung up among Chinese, with thousands flooding into Sichuan in cars loaded with instant noodles, blankets, clothes and whatever else they could carry. Chinese people, organizations and companies donated around $1.1 billion for quake relief in the first week after the disaster, Xinhua said. Associated Press writers Tini Tran in Muyu and Henry Sanderson in Beijing contributed to this report.

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.

Four dead as Halong lashes northern Philippines: officials
MAY 18,08

MANILA (AFP) - Four people were killed as tropical storm Halong battered the northern Philippines on Sunday, with powerful winds triggering floods and landslides, relief officials said.All four were hit by tin sheets torn from the roofs of houses in Pangasinan province on the main Philippine island of Luzon, the civil defence office reported.Huge waves known as storm surges destroyed more than 20 houses and a dozen fishing boats and forced 845 people from their homes in the towns of Iba and Botolan, about 145 kilometres (90 miles) northwest of the capital.The northwestern coast of Luzon and the northern mountain resort of Baguio were without electricity, while the coastguard barred small ferries from taking to sea, it said in a report.More than 5,000 other people were displaced by flooding and landslides in the central island of Panay when the storm brushed past the region last week, the relief agency said in a statement.The storm struck the country's northwest coast overnight Saturday at wind speeds of 95 kilometres (59 miles) an hour before weakening slightly as it raked northeast across the Cordillera mountain range, the weather bureau said.Its eye hovered above the town of Gonzaga on Luzon's northeast coast at 2:00pm (0600 GMT) and was forecast to cross over the northern tip of the Sierra Madre Range overnight on its way to the Philippine Sea.Floods cut off key roads in Panay and on the neighbouring island of Mindoro and northern Luzon while landslides shut down roads to Baguio and nearby areas in the Cordillera, it said.

The storm uprooted trees and even a school building in Iba, where about 500 soldiers mounted a search and rescue operation for families displaced by the storm surges, it said.In the town of San Jose, in the central Luzon plain east of Iba, residents laid sandbags to protect their village from rising floodwaters, the agency said.The weather bureau warned residents in low-lying areas and near mountain slopes across Luzon to take all necessary precautions against possible flash floods and landslides.Luzon's west coast and the islands on the western half of the central Philippines could be hit by big waves, it added.

Burmese children facing starvation, agency warns
Sun May 18, 7:50 AM

VANCOUVER (CBC) - Thousands of children who survived Burma's cyclone will starve to death in two to three weeks unless food is rushed to them, an international aid agency warned Sunday.Save the Children said it believes 30,000 children under the age of five in the hard-hit Irrawaddy Delta were already severely malnourished before Cyclone Nargis hit on May 2.We are extremely worried that many children in the affected areas are now suffering from severe acute malnourishment, the most serious level of hunger, said Jasmine Whitbread, who heads the agency's operation in Britain. When people reach this stage, they can die in a matter of days.

Burmese refugees desperate for aid to start flowing to their families back home held a small protest on Sunday in Mae Sot, which borders Burma, also known as Myanmar. About half the city's 150,000 residents are political exiles or refugees from the neighbouring country.Demonstrators told CBC News they're frustrated over the slow pace of aid distribution and that the international community should be pushing harder to gain entry to cyclone-ravaged areas. They said their families in Burma are starving and that the military regime is not doing enough to help.UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, rebuffed so far in attempts to discuss the situation with the Burmese junta's leaders, announced Sunday he will go to the disaster zone Wednesday to try to ramp up aid efforts.Cyclone Nargis hit just over two weeks ago, killing at least 78,000 people. Another 56,000 people are officially reported as missing.

International aid is arriving in Thailand for the victims, including a shipment from Canada on Saturday, but the ruling military junta insists on handing out the aid without assistance.A number of Buddhist monks joined the more than 100 people in Mae Sot who took part in the peaceful protest, which was confined to a small courtyard.Burmese are not allowed to hold open demonstrations in Thailand. Violators risk arrest by Thai police and deportation.
With files from the Associated Press

Bush lectures Arab world on political reform, women's rights By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent MAY 18,08

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt - President Bush lectured the Arab world Sunday about everything from political repression to the denial of women's rights but ran into Palestinian complaints he is favoring Israel in stalled Mideast peace talks. Freedom and peace are within your grasp, Bush said despite scant signs of progress. Winding up a five-day trip to the region, Bush took a strikingly tougher tone with Arab nations than he did with Israel in a speech Thursday to the Knesset. Israel received effusive praise from the president while Arab nations heard a litany of U.S. criticisms mixed with some compliments.Too often in the Middle East, politics has consisted of one leader in power and the opposition in jail, Bush said in a speech to 1,500 global policymakers and business leaders at this Red Sea beach resort. That was a clear reference to host Egypt, where main secular opposition figure Ayman Nour has been jailed and President Hosni Mubarak has led an authoritarian government since 1981.America is deeply concerned about the plight of political prisoners in this region, as well as democratic activists who are intimidated or repressed, newspapers and civil society organizations that are shut down and dissidents whose voices are stifled, Bush said.I call on all nations in this region to release their prisoners of conscience, open up their political debate and trust their people to chart their future, Bush said.

Scattered applause followed, with barely a ripple of reaction later to his declaration than Iran must not be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.Bush arrived back in Washington late Sunday with little to show for the trip. Saudi Arabia rebuffed his plea for help with soaring oil prices, Egypt's leader questioned his seriousness about peacemaking and there was not enough progress in the peace talks to warrant a three-way meeting of Bush with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, did not conceal his disappointment over Bush's remarks to the Israeli parliament. The speech barely mentioned Palestinian hopes.

We do not want the Americans to negotiate on our behalf, Abbas said Sunday after talks with Mubarak. All that we want from them is to stand by (our) legitimacy and have a minimum of neutrality. Abbas had dinner Saturday with Bush.In principle, the Bush speech at the Knesset angered us, and we were not happy with it, Abbas said Sunday. This is our position and we have a lot of remarks (about the speech) and I frankly, clearly and transparently asked him that the American position should be balanced.Abbas told Israeli parliament member Yossi Beilin on Sunday he would resign if there was no substantial progress in peace talks over the next six months, according to the lawmaker's office.Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on Air Force One with Bush returning to Washington, said there were serious peace negotiations going on in private and that she expected them to intensify in the months ahead. She said Bush inserted the wording in the speech that I believe the Palestinians will build a democracy, as a sign of his confidence that will happen.As for Arab criticism Bush leans too far in supporting Israel, Rice said, The president isn't pro this or pro that. The president is pro-democracy and pro-peace.

The trip was Bush's second to the Mideast this year. His national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said Bush might return again before his term ends in January if there is work for him to advance the peace process.The White House made clear that Bush's goal for a peace accord before his leaves office does not mean it will be put into place by then or produce an immediate Palestinian state. That would be a process that would take years, Hadley said.Bush ended his visit with an address to the World Economic Forum on the Middle East, an offshoot of the annual gathering of political and business leaders in Davos, Switzerland.After talking privately with key leaders, the president in public touched only broadly on Mideast peacemaking. He did not suggest concrete steps to resolve the generations-old differences standing in the way of an agreement.

Palestinians must fight terror and continue to build the institutions of a free and peaceful society, Bush said. Israel must make tough sacrifices for peace, ease the restrictions on Palestinians. Arab states, especially oil-rich nations, must seize this opportunity to invest aggressively in the Palestinian people and to move past their old resentments against Israel.And all nations in the region must stand together in confronting Hamas, which is attempting to undermine efforts at peace with acts of terror and violence from the Gaza Strip, Bush said. Hamas, which the U.S. considers a terrorist group, controls that territory; the U.S.-backed Abbas is in charge of the West Bank. The heart of Bush's speech was a warning that Mideast nations lag behind the developing world and cannot count on their oil wealth forever. Bush urged countries to make their economies more diverse, open to free trade, with lower taxes and protection for intellectual property rights. He called for political changes that bring competitive, legitimate elections where leaders are held to account and appealed to nations to push back against the negative influence of spoilers such as Iran and Syria. He urged an expansion of women's rights as a matter of morality and of basic math. No nation that cuts off half its population from opportunities will be as productive or prosperous as it could be. Women are a formidable force, as I have seen in my own family and my own administration.At the same time, Bush hailed democratic advances in countries such as Turkey, Afghanistan, Iraq, Morocco and Jordan and said, The light of liberty is beginning to shine.Bush's speech recalled his promise in his second inaugural address to work in every nation for ending tyranny in our world. One of the obvious targets of his message was Egypt, the country hosting the conference. Egypt has often been publicly singled out by his administration, especially in its early years, as a country that needs to do more in terms of political liberalization and democracy. Egypt did hold its first presidential elections in 2005 but pulled back following strong gains by the Muslim Brotherhood in later parliamentary elections.

In addition to Nour's jailing, independent newspaper editors were sentenced to prison for criticizing the president and his government, and hundreds of members of the Muslim Brotherhood were put behind bars. Public criticism of Mubarak's government by the Bush administration, however, has been increasingly muted in recent years as the situation in Iraq worsened and worries grew over Iran, and as the U.S. sought Egypt's help on a Palestinian-Israeli peace deal. Bush said political changes must accompany economic ones in Egypt. Associated Press writer Salah Nasrawi contributed to this report. On the Net: White House site on Bush's trip: http://tinyurl.com/598kka

Bin Laden calls on Muslims to end Israeli Gaza blockade: website Sun May 18, 7:05 PM ET

DUBAI (AFP) - Osama bin Laden has called on Muslims to help lift the Israeli blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, in an audio message purportedly recorded by the Al-Qaeda chief and posted on the Internet Sunday. The message, which could not immediately be authenticated, was addressed to the Islamic nation and posted on a website used by Islamist militants.It called on Muslims, especially those in Egypt, to work to break the unjust blockade on Gaza, which has resulted in dozens of deaths.It also cited the participation of some western leaders in recent celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the creation of Israel as proof that (their) values of justice, freedom and humanism are mere slogans brandished about to trick the weak.US President George W. Bush was among top leaders who joined in the anniversary festivities -- an occasion marked by Palestinians as a catastrophe.The new recording upbraided Arab states for having sold out the Palestinian people, insisting that Israel owed its continued existence not to its own power, but to the fact that (Arab) governments have renounced their struggle against the Jewish state.

In order to liberate Palestine there is no other path than the battle against the governments and parties ... who stand between us and the Jews, said the recording.It also upbraided Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah for ending the Lebanese Shiite militia's 2006 war against Israel.Hassan Nasrallah said he didn't need money ... or men as he had those. If he was sincere why didn't he continue the battle for the liberation of Palestine? The Internet site had announced earlier Sunday that it was about to carry a very strong address from the lion of Islam, Sheikh Osama bin Laden.It was the second audio message attributed to Bin Laden to surface on the Internet in the past three days, following a similar recording on Friday that vowed a sustained Muslim battle for Palestine.We will continue the fight against the Israelis and their allies... and we will not give up one inch of Palestine, God willing, as long as there is one sincere Muslim on this earth, the earlier message said.

The Al-Qaeda chief has taken credit for the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States which killed nearly 3,000 people and triggered the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.The Saudi-born bin Laden has a 25-million-dollar bounty on his head but his whereabouts are unknown.

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.

Florida under dense smoke adivsory amid wildfires Sun May 18, 3:14 PM ET

MIAMI - Parts of southern Florida were under a dense smoke advisory on Sunday as firefighters worked to control several wildfires that have burned about 62 square miles. The majority of fires burned around Lake Okeechobee in Glades County and on the coast in Brevard County, where a smokey haze was expected to linger throughout the day.In the area around Lake Okeechobee, the Florida Highway Patrol used electronic highway signs to warn people about lingering smoke, and areas northeast of the lake were continuing to experience haze from the fires, said Division of Forestry spokeswoman Melissa Yunas.

In Brevard County, fires were 75 percent contained, said State Division of Forestry spokesman Todd Schroeder.

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

EU seeks to speed up negotiations with ACN, Mercosur
www.chinaview.cn 2008-05-17 10:56:25

LIMA, May 16 (Xinhua) -- European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Friday it is necessary to speed up negotiations on cooperation with the Andean Community of Nations (ACN) and the Common Market of the South (Mercosur). Barroso, who is attending the Latin American, Caribbean and European Union Summit, said the European Union (EU) will consider changing some of its positions on the disparities between Latin American countries. The aim is to complete the EU's accords with the ACN, Mercosur and Central America next year, Barroso said. To date, the EU has free trade deals with Mexico and Chile. These are not simple commercial trades, but are accompanied with political dialogue based on social inclusion and the fight against climate change, Barroso said.

The EU will double its budget for food cooperation as a measure to help address economic imbalance in Latin America. The strategic association between Latin America and Europe is now more necessary than when it was proposed during the Rio de Janeiro summit. Global challenges demand today global answers, Barroso said. These challenges are climate change, energy security, food price, terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime, he said. The ACN, Peru and Colombia want to move forward faster in the negotiations with the EU, while Bolivia is interested in migratory and human rights subjects. Editor: Sun Yunlong

Fifth Latin America-European Union Summit advocates democracy MAY 18,08

The Fifth Latin America, Caribbean-European Union Summit -held in Lima- Friday made a call whereby the two regions undertake to enhance their relations and find a solution to the problems hitting people worldwide.The meeting -attended by some 60 heads of state and presidents from the two regions- was closed by Peruvian President Alan García late Friday.EU, Latin American and Caribbean representatives whose countries have agreements pending for execution -including those under the Common Market of the South (Mercosur), the Andean Community of Nations (CAN), the Central American Integration System, among others- are meeting on May 17 in the Peruvian capital city.García hailed the fact that the summit reached an agreement to take actions to fight against poverty, a problem hitting almost one third of Latin Americans.The Peruvian ruler also urged to uproot illiteracy and put an end to the insanity of an arms race and rivalries among countries in the two regions.The next Latin America, Caribbean-European Union Summit is scheduled to be held in 2010 in Spain, Efe reported.

Socialists introduce alternatives to the Union for the Mediterranean Saturday, May 17, 2008ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News

Party of European Socialists (PES)has presented a proposal designed to influence preparations in the European Commission for a European Union-Mediterranean summit, to be held in Paris on July 13 under the auspices of the French EU presidency. Members of the PES told the EU's information Web site EurActiv that the proposal, unveiled Wednesday, came in response to French President Nicolas Sarkozy's design for a union of Mediterranean countries. Sarkozy first floated the idea of a Mediterranean union during the French election campaign in 2007. The initiative received the backing of Italy, Spain and Greece, but it drew heavy criticism from Germany, which is keen to ensure that the new union does not compete with the EU or the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership formed under the Barcelona Process. Nevertheless, in March, German Chancellor Angela Merkel lent her support to Sarkozy's project, receiving in exchange his assurances that it would be a project for all 27 member states. The final project, called the “Union for the Mediterranean,” was backed by EU leaders at a summit in March, albeit a watered down version.

Pasqualina Napoletano, vice chairperson of the Party of European Socialists, called Sarkozy's proposals too voluntary and not very clear. She also cautioned against a move toward national hegemony, and attempts to reinvent the Mediterranean, adding that Sarkozy had likely not heard of the Barcelona Declaration when he first launched his proposal for the Union for the Mediterranean. However, Napoletano added more positively that she supports the development of Mediterranean relations, but wishes to build on existing relations and the process that began with the 1995 Barcelona Declaration. The document she presented highlights the need to overcome what she calls hysterical fears over immigration. Instead, she said Europe should concentrate on long-term strategies, especially projects that would foster employment in its southern partner countries and reduce the socio-economic gap between northern and southern nations. She also stressed the need to help civil society and democratic political forces in the southern Mediterranean. According to Euractive, she said the PES is also keen to keep the option of EU membership open for Turkey, and does not wish to have that goal overshadowed by a Mediterranean partnership. Napoletano said the PES has, in fact, very close political relations with Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). The PES is also demanding that the European Parliament be consulted over the establishment of permanent bodies for Euro-Mediterranean cooperation. It insists that the new union consist of a robust parliament, building on the existing Euro-Mediterranean parliamentary assembly or the APEM.

Jerusalem, capital of the world MAY 17,08
Simon Goldhill takes readers to the city that lies at the intersection of east and west and the crossroads of competing historical narratives, and that has captured imaginations like no other KORNEL ZATHURECZKY, Freelance Saturday, May 17

If asked to name the capital of the world, many people would reply New York, on account of its grandiose architecture, unsurpassed economic importance and vibrant cultural life.Simon Goldhill would strongly disagree. In Jerusalem: City of Longing, he serves up a playful pastiche of a book, peppered with enchanting anecdotes, that places Jerusalem at the world's centre.Jerusalem, small and insignificant architecturally, the unique splendour of the Dome of the Rock notwithstanding, has captured the imagination of people through the ages like no other city. Abounding in memories, it lies at the intersection of East and West and at the crossroads of competing historical narratives. It is a city of multiple projects of the imagination, where every piece of stone lies at the junction of often profoundly different historical perspectives.

Goldhill focuses on these seemingly insignificant stones to reveal the city's hidden stories. Though people are often captivated by history's grand narratives, these always prove deceptive. The history of a city is more about interruptions, contests and heart-wrenching agonies. This is the kind of history Goldhill presents, and it is the main reason his book distinguishes itself among the many others on Jerusalem.The book unfolds in such a way that it mimics the stages of a love affair, though this is certainly not a case of love at first sight, like being lovestruck by the glamour of Paris, for example. The love affair with Jerusalem begins in a rather reserved way, full of uncertainties and ambiguities regarding the object of one's affections.Each chapter opens with intriguing anecdotes that lead easily toward more detailed discussions of particular features of the city. This quality makes Goldhill's book a valuable guide for visitors, current residents and even for people who can only dream of ever visiting.Jerusalem, like any good lover, holds exciting surprises. Once the author has persuaded the reader to fall in love with Jerusalem, he serves up one such surprise, presenting it in the unexpected guise of a Victorian city. That chapter begins with an English travel writer's description of the strange tradition of Russian peasant pilgrimages to Jerusalem during the Victorian era. This was an epoch when competing empires tried to stake a claim to Jerusalem, recognizing the symbolic significance of such a gesture.However, it was left to ambitious representatives of the British Empire, pilgrims of a different kind, to usher the city into modernity.

This is a book for pilgrims, religious or otherwise. Goldhill reminds us all, not least leaders of the state of Israel and those who seek to eradicate the Jewish state, that Jerusalem belongs to everyone. Although the author discusses, almost by canonical necessity, the three great Abrahamic religions that have staked claims on this most contested and congested piece of real estate, Goldhill does not bog down his book with arguments.The author begins his adventures through the labyrinthine passages of memory that criss-cross Jerusalem, describing the warm hospitality he enjoyed while visiting the home of a Palestinian Muslim who lives in a house adjacent to the Holy Sepulchre, the site most revered by Christians. Through his descriptions of such revealing encounters, enriched by his penchant for small details, Goldhill illustrates how Jerusalem does not allow strict lines of separation to be drawn between people of different creeds and beliefs. In spite of the walls erected and the rituals devised to demarcate the turf of each religious group, the city's various sites and their history make it impossible to segregate one religious group from another.

Lesson from Zachariah stands true for today, too
May 17, 2008

Some 2,400 years ago, as the Jews were slowly building the Second Temple in Jerusalem, they asked the prophet Zachariah (Zachariah 7), Shall we continue to fast for the Babylonian destruction of the First Temple? Or has our period of mourning ended? Commentators explain that this question was born of frustration with the slow pace of Jewish redemption from their exile to Babylon. Persian King Cyrus had permitted the Jews to return to Israel and build their temple anew, but the process had been hampered by Samaritan antagonism as well as Jewish poverty. Those who remembered the glory of the First Temple were unimpressed by the diminished beauty of the second. Only a small percentage of the nation had even returned from exile at this stage of the building process. And so the nation wanted to know: Is this what redemption looks like? Is our suffering truly over, or are we simply in another phase of our exile? Fast-forward to our own day, and May 2008, as Israel celebrates its 60th anniversary of modern statehood. When this new incarnation of a Jewish country was first established, just a few years after the Holocaust, many Jews looked upon its birth as a divine nod of approval, the first sproutings of messianic redemption. A holiday, Yom ha'Atzmaut (Israel Independence Day) was established, complete with special prayers of thanks and great celebrations.

Over the past 60 years, Israel has succeeded in fulfilling much of that messianic promise. Millions of Jews have been saved from persecution in other countries, such as France, Argentina, Yemen, Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union. The Torah is studied there in dozens if not hundreds of institutions. Sites barred to Jews by generations of Arab rulers are now open for all to access. A thriving economy, great universities, a society with civil rights for all of its citizens, a democratically elected government and a free press, all of these have been introduced for the first time in many centuries into a land which had been governed by one despot or another for almost two thousand years, since the eviction of the Jews by the Roman empire. In many ways, the past 60 years have seen a great, even messianic, Jewish renaissance in Israel.But, at the same time, the question of Zachariah's era resonates with Jews of today's generation. For thousands of years, Jewish sages have taught that a messianic time would mean peace with the nations around us, a return to Jewish religion by all Jews, and a temple on the Temple Mount. It is for this that Jews have prayed, And may our eyes behold your merciful return to Zion, three times each day, for millennia. And so Jews today look at constant warfare, internecine squabbles, political corruption and significant poverty among children and the elderly, and ask the question of their ancestors: Shall we continue to fast for the destruction of the First Temple? Or has our period of mourning ended?

To this question, Zachariah's answer is as relevant today as it was in his day. The prophet reminded the populace of the sins which had preceded the First Temple's destruction, as well as the exhortations of his predecessors: Judge truthfully, and act with generosity and mercy toward each other. Do not cheat the widow, the orphan and the stranger, and do not plot evil against your brother in your hearts.In other words, dithering about whether deliverance has arrived or not is a waste of time. Better to focus on righting wrongs and building a proper society, and ensuring that we earn whatever redemption God has in store.This is a timeless message for Jews and for all humanity's eschatology-oriented religions -- divine redemption will come, whatever its form, when it is divinely decreed. Our responsibility is not to attach a label to this salvation, but to work to make it a reality.Mordechai Torczyner is rabbi at Congregation Sons of Israel, Allentown.

MALACHI

I HAD A BRIEF DREAM THIS MORNING THAT SHOWED A TRAIN RUSHING INTO NEW YORK AND A VOICE I HEARD SAYING MALACHI. THIS IS MY INSPIRATION FOR PUTTING THE BOOK OF MALACHI ON AT THIS TIME.

WORLD LEADERS IN THE LAST DAYS.

KING OF THE NORTH - RUSSIA (Ezekiel 38:1-2)
KING OF THE SOUTH - EGYPT (Daniel 11:40-43)
KING OF THE EAST - CHINA (Daniel 11:44)
KING OF THE WEST - EU (EUROPEAN UNION) (Daniel 7:23-24)

THE BOOK OF MALACHI

Malachi 1:1-14 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.
2 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,
3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
4 Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.
5 And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel.
6 A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?
7 Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.
8 And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts.
9 And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the LORD of hosts.
10 Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand.
11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts.
12 But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible. 13 Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD.
14 But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the LORD a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the LORD of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.

Malachi 2:1-17 King James Bible
1 And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.
2 If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.
3 Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.
4 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
5 My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name.
6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.
7 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. 8 But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.
10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
11 Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.
12 The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts.
13 And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand.
14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
16 For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.
17 Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?

Malachi 3:1-18 King James Bible
1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:
3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.
13 Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?
14 Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

Malachi 4:1-6 King James Bible
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.
4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

ELIJAH SHOULD SOON BE COMING TO ISRAEL TO PREACH.