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.
China's post-quake challenge: 5 million homeless By TINI TRAN, Associated Press Writer MAY 28,08
AN XIAN, China - China is grappling with the next massive task in the aftermath of its earthquake — how to shelter the 5 million people left homeless. Many were living Tuesday in tent cities like one at the base of Qianfo mountain in the disaster zone, offering some stability — along with food and medical care — to those whose lives were upended.After the quake, we couldn't sleep for five days. We were really, really afraid, said Chen Shigui, a weathered 55-year-old farmer who climbed for two days with his wife and injured father to reach the camp from their mountain village. I felt relieved when we got here. It's much safer compared to my home.
But there's not enough room to go around.
The government issued an urgent appeal Tuesday for tents and brought in the first foreign teams of doctors and field hospitals, some of whom were swapping out with overseas search and rescue specialists.The switch underscored a shift in the response to China's worst disaster in three decades from an emergency stage to one of recovery — and for many, enduring hardship.On the second of a three-day national mourning period, the authoritarian government appeared to be moving to rein in the unusually free reporting it allowed in the disaster's first week. Most major newspapers carried near-identical photographs on their front pages of President Hu Jintao and other senior leaders with their heads bowed — a uniformity that is typical when state media censors direct coverage.
The May 12 earthquake's confirmed death toll rose to more than 40,000, with at least 10,000 more deaths expected, and officials said more than 32,000 people were missing. The State Council, China's Cabinet, said 80 percent of the bodies found in Sichuan province had been either cremated or buried.Authorities rushed to dispose of corpses, burning them or laying them side by side in pits. Vice Minister for Civil Affairs Jiang Li said officials had begun collecting DNA samples from bodies so their identities could be confirmed later.Rescues — becoming more remarkable by the hour — continued on the eighth day since the quake, but the trickle of earlier days had slowed to a drip.A 60-year-old woman was pulled from the rubble of a collapsed temple in the city of Pengzhou 195 hours after the quake, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Wang Youqun suffered only a hip fracture and bruises on her face during her eight days in the rubble, Hong Kong-based Phoenix Satellite Television reported, citing air force officer Xie Linglong.Jiang said 5 million people were homeless and that the government was setting up temporary housing for victims unable to find shelter with relatives. He said nearly 280,000 tents had been shipped to the area and 700,000 more ordered and that factories were ramping up to meet demand. Sichuan's governor said 3 million tents were needed.In this encampment in An Xian, hundreds of large blue tents dot the flat farmland where rice and barley are being grown. The dried furrows provide orderly markers, lining up the temporary shelters with military precision in the fairly tidy area the size of a football field.Some 4,600 people are being housed here, 90 percent of them from the mountains around Chaping village, about 20 miles away, which remains cut off by road, said camp director Yang Jianxin.
All these refugees have lost their homes — their clothes and possessions are buried, he said. We are doing what we can to help them.As he spoke, the ground rumbled with the latest of what he said were hundreds of aftershocks felt in the past week. Refugees nearby gasped, and some ran from their tents in confusion, before calm settled after the 10-second tremor.The entire quake zone is jittery. The Sichuan Seismological Bureau, one day after triggering a panic in the provincial capital of Chengdu by issuing a public warning of major aftershocks, said in a statement Tuesday the city was not a high risk area and was strong enough to withstand big tremors.In the An Xian camp, more people are expected to show up in the next few days as more survivors make their way down from the mountains, Yang said. Some 500 people are either dead or missing from the Chaping area's main town, which still has about 1,800 survivors living in the mountains, he said. Many of them, like Chen, made the 10-hour-plus hike down from the mountains with only the clothes they were wearing. We didn't sleep until we got here, Chen said. I carried my father on my back part of the way, and then others helped me carry him down.The camp has a clinic, food distribution points, toilets, a trash dump, and even plans for a temporary school. A red banner reads Love is all around. We never feel lonely.A giant, colorful pile of donated clothing lies in one corner, and dozens of women looking through it. Men in red vests regularly sweep and clean the area. Another area is a donation drop-off for a stream of well-wishers. Among them was Tan Xuqiong, a 36-year-old teacher with a shiny black Prada bag slung over her shoulder, who came with her 18-year-old son to drop off boxes of water, food, and medicine. My hometown was only slightly affected. When I see these people living like this, I think it's so miserable. The contrast is shocking, said Tan, who is from Deyang city.
Each person in the camp receives regular daily rations: three bottles of water, a package of instant noodles, bread, and some crackers. Families also received small radios and copies of the local Mianyang Daily newspaper. Loudspeakers regularly blare announcements about hygiene and reminders to get daily health checks — a precaution against possible disease outbreaks. The clinic is staffed by eight physicians and six nurses — all volunteers with China's Red Cross. Running from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., the medical staff sees about 1,000 patients a day, said Dr. Ye Mao, a 51-year-old orthopedic surgeon from Guangdong province. The biggest problem is the density of the camps. If an infection breaks out, it can spread very quickly, he said. No outbreaks have been reported. After initially refusing foreign help, China is now allowing in medical and rescue teams. A Russian mobile hospital arrived Tuesday in the provincial capital of Chengdu, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said, and other medical teams were headed in from Taiwan, Germany, Italy and Japan. The disaster has raised some sensitive issues for the government about building standards, especially for schools, and about whether authorities did enough to reach survivors quickly. Xinhua reported Tuesday that 129 students and 10 teachers who were trapped in the village of Xu Yong were flown out two days after local officials said all outlying villages had been reached. Chen, the farmer, said refugees in his camp are getting what they need to survive, and they are grateful for the help despite the crowded conditions. His family shares a tent with 10 other people. His 46-year-old wife Liu Yingchun was wistful: I still feel bad because I can't forget all the things we lost. I used half my life to get all this and then suddenly I've lost everything. I don't know if I can ever get back what I had.
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.
Campgrounds struggle to open following St. John River flooding Tue May 20, 11:48 AM
The first long weekend of the camping season proved less than profitable for some campgrounds still cleaning up from the St. John River flooding in New Brunswick.Peter Delmas, owner of the Mic Mac Tent and Trailer Park in Cambridge Narrows, east of Fredericton, said it's going to be at least another three weeks before the campground is able to open to campers.The flooding of the St. John River in April and early-May ruined fencing at the campground and also destroyed four trailers that remain on the site, Delmas said.
Fallen trees and garbage left as flotsam by the flood are still being cleaned up and there was no way the campground could have opened for the long weekend, Delmas said.He will have to wait for the water to subside before doing some work since there are still 12sites in the water, he said.Delmas said the campground tried to contact regulars and those who keep their trailers at the site permanently to notify them the facility was closed.But people still were showing up to try to camp on Friday night and Saturday, he said. A sign was posted at the entrance to indicate the campground would be closed temporarily because of the flood.Maybe they'll understand and come back later, Delmas said, adding that there's not yet any estimate on the cost of the damages or the impact the temporary closure will have on the year's revenue.
Managed to open to public
In the Grand Bay-Westfield area, Howard Haines, owner of the Hardings Point campground, managed to open to the public for the weekend.But it was a struggle, Haines said, as the water in the area hadn't receded enough to begin cleanup until just last week.
Haines said hundreds of buckets of debris had to be cleaned from the road leading into the campground and the beach had to be roped off from campers.A month ago everything was ready to open ... to face all this a week before opening was pretty hard but we got through it, Haines said.Though the campground was open for the weekend, Haines said, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done on the grounds. Heavy equipment operators will be on site beginning this week to begin rebuilding some of the hardest hit areas, he said.The repairs are going to cost thousands of dollars, Haines said.Haines has applied for the flood compensation package that is being offered by the province, but said he couldn't wait to receive any of the funding.We are very busy and the park is pretty well fully sold-out for the summer so we have no choice but to get it back online as quickly as possible, he said.More than 1,500 homes and businesses have applied for the compensation package that is directed at flood victims. Homeowners are eligible for up to $80,000 in compensation after paying a $1,000 deductible.Businesses and farms have a $5,000 deductible and can be compensated for 100 per cent of damage claims up to $100,000 and 75 per cent beyond that.
Flooding threatens B.C. Interior Tue May 20, 10:55 AM
CALGARY (CBC) - Prince George residents are keeping a close eye on the Fraser River Tuesday morning after the province issued a high water advisory on Monday.The Fraser River was expected to peak at nine metres and the Prince George fire department warned that could mean localized flooding along low-lying areas.Warm weather over the weekend rapidly melted the heavy snow pack in the mountains, resulting in localized flooding at a number of locations in the south and central interior.High water advisories were also issued for Smithers and Chetwynd. Flood watches remain in effect for areas along the Kootenay, Boundary and Similkameen rivers in southern B.C.
Ban Ki-moon says Myanmar situation critical, country mourns cyclone victims MAY 20,08
YANGON (AFP) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon left for Myanmar Tuesday, calling the situation there critical with relief efforts reaching only a quarter of those in need.Ban also said that Myanmar had granted permission for nine World Food Program helicopters to operate in remote areas.This is a critical moment for Myanmar. We have a functioning relief program in place but so far we have been able to reach only about 25 percent of Myanmar's people in need, Ban told reporters at UN headquarters.Ban, set to arrive in Myanmar early Thursday after a stop in Thailand, planned to visit the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta region and to attend weekend fund-raising talks in Yangon.The UN chief has warned of a second catastrophe -- the potential for disease to prey on weakened survivors -- and will appear in person to try to persuade Myanmar's military junta to accept more international aid for some 2.4 million survivors.
Myanmar began three days of mourning Tuesday for 133,000 people dead or missing after its cyclone, but barely anyone seemed to notice and most of the two million survivors were still desperate for help.UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is heading to Myanmar, called the situation there critical with relief efforts reaching only a quarter of those in need.In one of the first official displays of grief since the cyclone pummelled the impoverished country 18 days ago, national flags in front of Yangon's City Hall fluttered at half mast under overcast skies.But there was no public ceremony nor moment of silence, and most people in Yangon appeared unaware of the mourning period.We didn't know about this news. How are we meant to show our grief for storm victims? said Mya Mya, a 43-year-old flower seller who is sheltering in a school after the storm destroyed her home.Like most cyclone survivors still waiting for food , shelter and medicine, Mya Mya said she had yet to receive any emergency relief from the military government.Global pressure is mounting on the regime to do more for the storm victims.The UN chief, set to arrive early Thursday, said that so far we have been able to reach only about 25 percent of Myanmar's people in need.Ban, who had earlier failed to get reclusive junta leader Senior General Than Shwe even to take his telephone calls, plans to visit the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta region and to attend weekend fund-raising talks in Yangon.I will do my utmost for the people of Myanmar, he vowed.There have been some advances, with the government agreeing at regional talks Monday in Singapore to allow neighbouring countries to coordinate an international relief effort.We are seeing a little bit of progress, we see small steps being made, said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for OCHA, the UN's disaster response arm in Geneva.OCHA head John Holmes said he held useful meetings Tuesday with Myanmar's Prime Minister Thein Sein and three government ministers, one day after he toured parts of the Irrawaddy Delta where entire villages were washed away by the May 2-3 storm.
But doubts emerged over how effective any relief effort would be, since the junta has refused to allow in foreign aid workers in anything like the numbers needed, despite warnings that people could die without help.Human Rights Watch warned that the aid effort led by ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) fell well short of the operation needed to address victims' urgent needs.The Asian Development Bank said it might send experts to assess reconstruction needs, but the World Bank said it could not provide the regime with any funds because the junta has not been repaying existing loans.The UN, which estimates that only 500,000 of the 2.4 million affected by the storm are receiving aid, is making a top-level diplomatic effort to press the regime to open up the country.I hope the senior general will see Secretary General Ban Ki-moon when he comes, Holmes said, adding that he handed over a letter from Ban intended for Than Shwe saying the two sides needed to find a way to work together better.Analysts believe the ASEAN deal, which will also see teams of Asian medics from nine countries travel to Myanmar, was a face-saving way for the junta to allow in relief without being seen to cave in to Western pressure.
A Western diplomat in Yangon said the regime was taking its cue from close ally China, which is also dealing with disaster after an earthquake killed more than 40,000 people in the southwest.The fact that the junta has declared three days of mourning now, whereas the cyclone took place more than two weeks ago, is very significant, the diplomat said.China, for its part, began three days of mourning for its quake victims on Monday, exactly one week after the tragedy.
Than Shwe spent a second consecutive day Monday touring the disaster zone, venturing into the hardest-hit regions of the delta for the first time, state television reported.On Tuesday he announced on state media that the government would build new schools for children orphaned by the cyclone.Until Sunday, the senior general had not made a public appearance or remark about the disaster.
Heavy dust storm enshrouds Beijing MAY 20,08
BEIJING (AFP) - A heavy sandstorm hit Beijing Tuesday, shrouding the Chinese capital in a cloud of yellow dust and hampering visibility, the local environmental department said.Clouds of dust were being blown in from neighbouring Inner Mongolia and Shanxi province as a cold front moved in from the north, the Beijing environmental protection bureau said on its website.Air quality has become a key concern ahead of the August Beijing Olympic Games, with city officials vowing to limit the number of cars on city streets and halt construction projects during the Games.Dust kicked up by numerous construction projects in and around the capital is often cited as a major cause of Beijing's air pollution along with the city's growing number of cars.The dust storm was expected to last up to three days, but could begin to dissipate on Wednesday, it said.It was the third such dust storm to hit the capital so far this year, the bureau said.Although Tuesday's storm limited visibility to less than one kilometre (0.62 miles) in some parts of the city, it did not lead to any flight cancellations or delays, Xinhua news agency said.
CLINTON STAYING IN
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=7905954&ch=4226716&src=news
OBAMA WE SHOULDN'T BE AFRAID
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=7906398&ch=4226716&src=news
Obama on brink of nomination, though Clinton wins Ky. By DAVID ESPO and SARA KUGLER, Associated Press Writers MAY 20,08
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Barack Obama stepped to the brink of victory in the Democratic presidential race Tuesday night despite a lopsided loss in the Kentucky primary, moving within 100 delegates of the total needed to claim the prize at the party convention this summer. You have put us within reach of the Democratic nomination, he told cheering supporters in Iowa, the overwhelmingly white state that launched him, a black, first-term senator from Illinois, on his improbable path to victory last January.Obama lavished praise on Hillary Rodham Clinton, his rival in a race unlike any other, and accused Republican John McCain of a campaign run by lobbyists.
You are Democrats who are tired of being divided, Republicans who no longer recognize the party that runs Washington, independents who are hungry for change, he said, speaking to a crowd on the grounds of the Iowa Capitol in Des Moines as well as the millions around the country who will elect the nation's 44th president in November.Despite losing Kentucky to Clinton by a margin of 65 percent to 30 percent, Obama picked up at least 14 delegates in the state. That gave him 1,931 out of the 2,026 needed. The former first lady has 1,755 in their marathon race — a black man running against a woman — that has shattered voter turnout records in state after state.The two rivals also collided in Oregon's unique vote-by-mail primary.Obama said the night's contests gave him a majority of the delegates elected in all 56 primaries and caucuses combined — as distinct from nearly 800 superdelegates who hold the balance of power at the convention.We still have work to do to in the remaining states, where we will compete for every delegate available, he said in an e-mail sent to supporters. But tonight, I want to thank you for everything you have done to take us this far —farther than anyone predicted, expected or even believed possible.
Clinton, the one-time front-runner in the race, said she was in it still.This is one of the closest races for a party's nomination in modern history, the former first lady told supporters celebrating her Kentucky victory. We're winning the popular vote, she said, despite figures from competitive contests that show otherwise. I'm more determined than ever to see that every vote is cast and every ballot is counted.Even so, she commended Obama, adding, while we continue to go toe-to-toe for this nomination, we do see eye-to-eye when it comes to uniting our party to elect a Democratic president this fall.She also said Michigan and Florida Democrats deserve to have their votes counted, a reference to the lingering controversy surrounding primaries in both states held in defiance of Democratic National Committee rules.Party officials are scheduled to meet later this month to consider how — or whether — to seat all or part of the states' delegates.
KENNEDY BRAIN TUMOR
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=7906508&ch=4226723&src=news
TRACKING TEEN DRIVERS
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=7905997&ch=4226713&src=news
Bush apologizes over US soldier's Quran shooting By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer MAY 20,08
BAGHDAD - President Bush has apologized to Iraq's prime minister for an American sniper's shooting of a Quran, and the Iraqi government called on U.S. military commanders to educate their soldiers to respect local religious beliefs. Bush's spokeswoman said Tuesday that the president apologized during a videoconference Monday with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who told the president that the shooting of Islam's holy book had disappointed and angered both the Iraqi people and their leaders.He apologized for that in the sense that he said that we take it very seriously, White House press secretary Dana Perino said. We are concerned about the reaction. We wanted them to know that the president knew that this was wrong.It was the highest level in a string of statements by U.S. officials trying to soothe anger over the shooting incident, particularly among Sunni Arabs who have become key allies in the fight against insurgents.The U.S. military said Sunday that it had disciplined the sniper and removed him from Iraq after he was found to have used Islam's holy book for target practice May 9 in a predominantly Sunni area west of Baghdad. The book was found two days later by Iraqis on a firing range in Radwaniyah with 14 bullet holes in it and graffiti written on its pages, tribal leaders said.Similar perceived insults against Islam in Europe and elsewhere have sparked violent protests, and American officials appeared eager to contain the outrage.Al-Maliki, a Shiite, told Bush of the disappointment and anger of the people and government of Iraq over the soldier's disgraceful action, according to a statement from his office.
Al-Maliki's office said Bush told the prime minister that the sniper would face trial, but Perino did not say whether Bush made such a promise. Military officials have not spoken of any further action against the soldier, who has not been identified.Al-Maliki's office said the Iraqi Cabinet called on Tuesday for the severest punishment against the sniper and warned of grave consequences if similarly offensive actions were committed in the future.It also called on commanders of U.S.-led foreign troops in Iraq to educate their soldiers on the need to respect the religious beliefs of Iraqis.On Tuesday, Khalaf al-Elyan, a senior Sunni Arab lawmaker, said the sniper must stand trial, preferably in Baghdad.It is a dangerous case. We had been silent and accepted the killing of our sons, the destruction of our homes and the theft of our money, but we do not accept insults to the holy Quran, he said at a news conference.Bush's statement of regret came after similar moves by U.S. military leaders.Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, the commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, met with tribal leaders in Radwaniyah on Sunday to apologize while another American officer kissed a copy of the Quran before presenting it to the chiefs.On Monday, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, paid visits to al-Maliki as well as Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi and parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, both of whom are Sunni Arabs.Al-Hashemi, the top Sunni Arab in the government, told Austin that the feelings of bitterness and anger cannot be eased unless there is a deterrent punishment and real guarantees such an incident won't be repeated, according to a statement from his office.Al-Hashemi expressed his appreciation for the visit but asked for a written apology from the U.S. military.The vice president's Iraqi Islamic Party also issued a tough statement saying an apology alone was not enough and the U.S. military should impose the severest punishment on the soldier. Austin underlined in all three meetings that the soldier had been removed from Iraq, the military said. He assured them that the matter was serious and that we hold our soldiers accountable for their actions, the statement said. Associated Press writer Ben Feller in Washington contributed to this report.
SIGNS OF THE END OF THE AGE (NOT THE WORLD) THE WORLD GOES ON FOREVER.
GENESIS 1:5,14
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:(ISRAELS HOLY DAYS AND SABBATH STARTS AT 6PM) And for SIGNS (PROPHECY SIGNS TO HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE, OUR DAY)
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.
Missing matter found in deep space By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor Tue May 20, 3:17 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Astronomers have found some matter that had been missing in deep space and say it is strung along web-like filaments that form the backbone of the universe. The ethereal strands of hydrogen and oxygen atoms could account for up to half the matter that scientists knew must be there but simply could not see, the researchers reported on Tuesday.Scientists have long known there is far more matter in the universe than can be accounted for by visible galaxies and stars. Not only is there invisible baryonic matter -- the protons and neutrons that make up atoms -- but there also is an even larger amount of invisible dark matter.Now about half of the missing baryonic matter has turned up, seen by the orbiting Hubble space telescope and NASA's Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer, or FUSE.We think we are seeing the strands of a web-like structure that forms the backbone of the universe, said Mike Shull of the University of Colorado, who helped lead the study published in The Astrophysical Journal.The matter is spread as superheated oxygen and hydrogen in what looked like vast empty spaces between galaxies.However, observations of a quasar -- a bright object far off in space -- show its light is diffused much as a lighthouse can reflect on a thin fog that was invisible in the dark.
It is kind of like a spider web. The gravity of the spider web is what produced what we see, Shull said in a telephone interview. It's very thin. Some of it is very hot gas, almost a million degrees.This is where the dark matter comes in. The dark matter is heating up the gas, Shull said.Dark matter has gravity. It pulls the gas in, Shull said. This causes what I call sonic booms -- shock waves. This shock heats it to a million degrees. That makes it even harder to see.The atoms of oxygen are in a stripped-down, ionized form. Five of the eight electrons are gone. It emits an ultraviolet spectrum of light that instruments aboard FUSE and Hubble can spot, Shull said.These web-like filaments of matter are the structure upon which the galaxies form, he said.So when we look at the distribution of galaxies on a very large scale, we see they are not uniform, Shull said. They spread out in sheets and filaments.Some faint dwarf galaxies or wisps of matter in these structures could be forming galaxies right now, the researchers said.Shull and colleagues said these webs of hydrogen and oxygen are too hot to be seen in visible light and too cool to be seen in X-rays.(Editing by Will Dunham and Xavier Briand)
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
FAMINE
REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)
Oil settles above $129 for first time By ADAM SCHRECK, AP Business Writer Tue May 20, 5:12 PM ET
NEW YORK - Just in time for the start of the summer driving season: Oil near $130 a barrel and gas getting closer to an average of $4 a gallon. Crude prices spiked to yet another trading high Tuesday as supply concerns mounted. At filling stations across the country, the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline touched $3.80 for the first time, having followed oil's spectacular rise.
The June contract for light, sweet crude traded as high as $129.60 on the New York Mercantile Exchange before settling at $129.07, up $2.02 from Monday's record high. The expiration of that contract, which ended with the close of Tuesday's trading, created additional volatility as traders scrambled to lock in positions.It was the 10th time in the last 12 sessions crude prices have hit trading or closing records, if not both.The July contract, meanwhile, hit its own new high, trading up to $129.29. It will become what traders call the front-month contract on Wednesday.I keep making projections, and they keep turning out to be too low, said Darin Newsom, senior analyst at market analysis provider DTN. We're already pushing up against $130. If we clear that, there's no reason to believe crude oil can't get to $140.Oil's march to new highs coincided with the Labor Department's report of an bigger-than-expected rise last month in wholesale inflation excluding energy and food. The combination raised fears that rising costs will slice into Americans' discretionary spending, and that sent stocks falling sharply on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones industrials losing nearly 200 points and closing at 12,828.68.
Drivers looking forward to road trips this holiday weekend will find no relief at the gas pump. The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline is now $3.80 on the nose, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service, meaning gas prices are up about 19 percent from this time last year. Diesel jumped nearly 2cents overnight to a record $4.54 a gallon.Many analysts expect prices for both fuels will continue to rise.Eventually the higher prices do change consumer behavior and investment patterns, Energy Information Administrator Guy Caruso said. But there's no short-term magic wand. It's going to take time.Oil futures are now selling for about twice what they were just a year ago. Prices have been propelled by a number of factors, including worries about insufficient supply, soaring global demand and a sliding dollar that has made oil cheaper for some buyers overseas. Speculative buying has also helped push prices higher, analysts say.It's a runaway market at this point, said Fred Rozell, retail pricing director at the Oil Price Information Service. I think it's just money chasing money.Industry observers in recent days have also pointed to especially strong demand for diesel in China, where power plants in some areas are running desperately short of coal and certain earthquake-hit regions are relying on diesel generators for power. The country is also ramping up diesel imports ahead of the Olympic games, analysts say, driving up prices.DTN's Newsom said that trend is likely to continue at least through the beginning of the games, which run from Aug. 8 to 24.China going into the Summer Olympics is putting its best face forward. They're going to continue to bring in diesel for their power plants and are going to have plenty on hand, Newsom said. What's going to happen after that, we don't know.Crude's latest surge came one day after Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil, OPEC's current president, was quoted by a government newspaper as saying the cartel won't boost output before its next meeting in September, adding to concerns about global supply.Oil's rally has helped drag the price of refined fuels higher as well. Futures for heating oil, which is used as a proxy for the price of diesel, and gasoline both set new records Tuesday.Diesel and gas are just taking a ride. This is really a crude market this year, and crude is really the driving force that's pushing prices higher, Rozell said.
Heating oil futures jumped almost a dime to settle at $3.775 a gallon, after earlier rising to a record $3.792, while gasoline futures added 6.78 cents to settle at $3.3044 a gallon, just short of the intraday high of $3.3085. In other Nymex trading, natural gas futures surged 41.1 cents to settle at $11.365 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent crude for July delivery jumped $2.78 to settle at $127.84 on the ICE Futures Exchange. AP Business Writer Dan Caterinicchia contributed to this report from Washington
INVENTION OF THE ATOMIC BOMB.
2 PETER 3:10-11
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:20,30
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.
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
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.
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.
REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).
MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
[FOCUS] Brussels wants Europe to drop nuclear taboos 19.05.2008 - 14:54 CET | By Leigh Phillips
EUOBSERVER / FOCUS - Europe's top energy official has called for a fresh discussion of the pros and cons of nuclear energy without taboos.Energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs wrote on Friday (16 May) in his blog that Use of nuclear energy ... would increase our energy independence and supply security as well as contribute to the limitation of CO2 emissions.Energy efficiency, renewables and sustainable biofuels have all a very important and growing contribution to make for a sustainable energy policy, he added.
However, for the production of base-load energy at competitive prices, nuclear energy is currently the main low-carbon source in many EU member states.The commissioner went on to offer a robust defence of nuclear energy as part of Europe's future energy strategy.Currently, nuclear energy provides more than a third of EU electricity. It has proven to be a stable, reliable source, relatively shielded from price fluctuations when compared to the oil and gas markets. Conventional nuclear energy is essentially free from CO2 emissions and ... fulfils an important requirement of all three pillars of the EU energy policy, which are competitiveness, security of supply and sustainability.The commissioner conceded that before Europe as a whole could move forward with a pro-nuclear strategy, the European public would have to change its mind about nuclear safety, as opposition remains substantial in many member states.Political and public acceptance is a prerequisite for the further development of nuclear energy, he said. The European citizens' concerns about the safety of nuclear installations and the safe management of radioactive waste must be properly addressed.
At present, just 20 percent of Europeans favour the controversial energy source, according to a 2007 Eurobarometer survey. By contrast, some 80 percent of Europeans support greater use of solar energy.Opposition historically is a product of public fears about the safety of the technology. These fears stem from the Chernobyl disaster in the former Soviet Union in 1986, and even the Three Mile Island accident in the United States in the 1970. However, environmental critics tend to focus more on worries about the ability to store radioactive waste and the potential for severe radioactive contamination to a surrounding region.
Opinion mixed
But opinion is not uniform. Sweden, Slovakia, Lithuania, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Finland all have majorities in favour of nuclear energy. Austria on the other hand is home to the most keenly anti-nuclear public, with 80 percent opposed. The country has no operational nuclear power plants and, in 1997, the Austrian parliament voted unanimously to maintain the country's anti-nuclear policy. In 1994, the Netherlands voted to phase out nuclear power, although implementation has been repeatedly delayed. In mid-May, the Dutch economy minister, Maria van der Hoeven, said her country may have to consider nuclear power if it is to meet European carbon emissions targets.Meanwhile, in 2000, Germany also agreed to a gradual shutting down of its nuclear power stations but the decision continues to cause strong differences between the two main political parties in the country.On Friday, the commissioner is to travel to Prague for the second meeting of the European Nuclear Energy Forum (ENEF), launched by the commission in late 2007 as a platform for debate on nuclear energy in Europe and to promote a friendlier image to the European public.Although nuclear policy remains the responsibility of EU member states, the European Commission is becoming increasingly bold in its championing of nuclear power.The commissioner's blog posting echoes the words of commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, who sent a letter to the first meeting of ENEF last November, saying: In this context I really believe that there is a need for a full and frank debate about nuclear energy.
Delicately tip-toeing around the issue of jurisdiction, Mr Barroso said: It is not the EU's role, or indeed the role of the commission, to decide for member states whether they use nuclear energy or not.But it is - in my view - not surprising that we are witnessing a renewed interest of nuclear energy at global level.
China: Earthquake buried 32 sources of radiation By ANITA CHANG, Associated Press Writer Tue May 20, 1:21 PM ET
BEIJING - More than 30 sources of radiation were buried by debris from the massive earthquake in central China last week and all have either been recovered or safely cordoned off, state media reported Tuesday. A French nuclear expert said the radioactive sources likely came from materials used in hospitals, factories or in research, not for weapons.The Chinese government has previously said all nuclear facilities affected by the May 12 earthquake were safe and under control, but did not give any details about which sites were affected or whether any were damaged.But the quake buried 32 sources of radiation under rubble in Sichuan province, the heart of the disaster zone, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Minister of Environmental Protection Zhou Shengxian.All but two have been recovered, and the remaining two have been located, cordoned and will soon be transported to a safer location, Xinhua said.
Xinhua did not elaborate on any potential threat to the public and did not provide details on what the radioactive materials were or where exactly they were found. It said nuclear facilities and radioactive sources for civilian purposes ... have been confirmed safe and controllable.Though Sichuan has no commercial nuclear power plants, the province has extensive military and nuclear weapons research facilities. The headquarters for China's nuclear weapons design facility is in Mianyang and a plutonium processing facility is in Guangyuan, both cities damaged by the quake.Hans Kristensen, a nuclear arms expert at the Federation of American Scientists, was skeptical that no information had been released by the Chinese government on damage to the nuclear weapons plants.
I find it hard to believe, given the widespread destruction in this region, that the military plants that have nuclear materials somehow escaped (the disaster's) reach, he said.In response to the quake, the military sent soldiers to protect nuclear sites and the country's nuclear safety agency notified staff to be prepared in case of an environmental emergency.China's main government Web site and a state-run newspaper described nuclear facilities and radioactive sources as including power plants, reactors, and sites for fuel production and waste disposal, as well as materials used for scientific research and medical treatment.An official at a French nuclear watchdog who has seen reports from the Chinese nuclear safety agency said materials found in the rubble appeared to come from hospitals, factories or laboratories and were not for used for making nuclear fuel or weapons.It doesn't shock me that there would be radioactive items found, particularly hospital equipment, said Thierry Charles, director of plant safety at the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety.
An unknown number of hospitals were damaged or destroyed in the earthquake. The Sichuan province health department listed 489 major hospitals in areas that were hardest hit.Kristensen said if the buried radioactive materials can be isolated and sealed quickly, there should be no risk to the public.Workers removing radioactive material would first find it with detection devices, then extract the material and place it in a sealed container quickly, Charles said. Then it would be repaired or disposed of as nuclear waste.
Information so far suggests a good reaction by the Chinese teams, Charles said.However, he said risks remain, primarily from any materials that have not been retrieved or sealed. People who remain in close proximity could receive excessive doses of radiation. There was also a risk that people could be exposed to radioactivity if some materials were crushed in a building collapse, for example, he said.Overall, he did not foresee a major risk to groundwater or health because most of the material was probably metal equipment, not fuel or something that disperses more widely. The French watchdog agency has previously said that China reported light damage to unspecified nuclear facilities that were being dismantled before the quake. Associated Press writers Angela Charlton in Paris and Lily Hindy in New York contributed to this report.
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
JERUSALEM PRAYER TEAM MAY 20,08
Dear Stan,
I am writing you from Jerusalem. My heart broke as I sat in the meeting with many of the world leaders listening to President Bush tell the nation of Israel that he has come representing America with his Road Map to Peace Plan; his plan to divide Jerusalem before he leaves office at the end of 2008.President Bush went from celebrating the baby’s birthday to an Arab Summit (which he hosted) where he was attempting to cut up the baby.The Jewish people are suffering horribly and they don’t understand why Christians are silent. They are saying to me if Islamic terrorists are threatening America and you are not defeating them in Iraq why do you want to establish a new state for them in Israel.
The Arab’s talk of peace is just a tactic to destroy us. We know that no one will save us if we are weak. The Bible is our Road Map. We are trusting in God. How long will America keeping hopping between two opinions? Please sign the petition immediately. Let the President know that you do not support the Road Map.
Your Ambassador to Jerusalem,
Mike Evans Your Jerusalem World News: www.myjwn.com
Your Save Jerusalem Site: www.savejerusalem.org
EVIL INVENTIONS ARE PREDICTED IN THE BIBLE.
ROMANS 1:29-32
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
REVELATION 9:7-8
7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
MPs back hybrid embryo research MAY 19,08
Critics say tinkering with human embryos is immoral.The government has survived two big challenges to its controversial plans to change the law on embryo research for the first time in 20 years. A cross-party attempt to ban hybrid human animal embryos was defeated on a free vote, by 336 to 176. Catholic cabinet ministers Ruth Kelly, Des Browne and Paul Murphy voted for a ban. PM Gordon Brown and Tory leader David Cameron both opposed it. A bid to ban saviour siblings was voted down by 342 votes to 163. The votes followed two impassioned debates in the committee stage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, aimed at updating laws from 1990 in line with scientific advances.
Ethically wrong
On Tuesday, MPs have a further free vote on the emotive issue of cutting the abortion time limit. Mr Cameron, along with Mr Brown, has backed the use of hybrid embryos as a means to develop treatments for cancer and conditions such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. They also both support the creation of saviour siblings. However, the majority of the Tory shadow cabinet, including shadow foreign secretary William Hague and shadow home secretary David Davis, backed the unsuccessful attempt to ban hybrids. Ex-minister Edward Leigh, who led the fight against the creation of hybrid admixed embryos, said they were ethically wrong and almost certainly medically useless. He said there was no evidence yet to substantiate claims the work could lead to treatment for degenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. The bill would allow regulated research using hybrid or admix embryos, where the nuclei of human cells are inserted into animal eggs. The resulting embryos would be kept for up to 14 days to harvest stem cells.
Health Minister Dawn Primarolo says any research done using human embryos must satisfy the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority that it was necessary or desirable. No human admix embryo would be implanted into a woman or animal, she says.
Too human?
But Mr Leigh said: We do not believe that regulation is enough. We believe this is a step too far and therefore should be banned. In embryos, we do have the genetic make up of a complete human being and we could not and should not be spliced together with the animal kingdom.
How hybrid embryos might be created
And ex-Labour minister Sir Gerald Kaufman, agreed, adding: How far do you go? Where do you stop? What are the limits and what are the boundaries? If you permit the creation of hybrid embryos now, what will you seek to permit next time, even if you have no idea where it will lead?
MPs comment on embryo bill defeat
Labour's Chris Bryant, a former Anglican curate, said Mr Leigh's arguments were like those used by church leaders against the smallpox vaccine. They were wrong and I think you are wrong today, he said. Liberal Democrat Evan Harris criticised those who argued hybrid embryos were too human. If it's ethically acceptable to use up and destroy fully human embryos with all the potential they have, how is it right to provide for hybrid embryos, with less potential of viability, greater protection? he said. A separate attempt to ban pure hybrid embryos, that would mix a human egg with animal sperm or vice versa, was also defeated in the Commons by 286 votes to 223, a government majority of 63. Tory David Burrowes' attempt to stop parents having so-called saviour siblings - babies selected to provide genetic material for seriously ill relatives - also suffered defeat. The Bill would allow the selection of embryos that are a tissue match for a sick older brother or sister. But Mr Burrowes said it was wrong to create a child for the benefit of another, regardless of the need. MPs are being given a free vote on four controversial parts of the bill. The other two areas are: Role of fathers in fertility treatment: Would end the requirement for IVF clinics to consider the welfare of any child created in terms of need for a father. Debate from 1530 BST Tuesday, with vote at about 1830 BST. The upper limit for abortion: Amendments have been put down to the bill to cut from 24 weeks the time limit for abortions. Debate on Tuesday from 1830 BST, with votes at about 2200BST. The Roman Catholic Church has branded the use of hybrid embryos as monstrous and says tinkering with life in this way is immoral. Catholic bishops in Britain and the Irish Republic have given £25,000 to scientists using adult stem cells, which is less controversial than using immature ones.
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-Latin America summit achieves little
19.05.2008 - 17:52 CET | By Leigh Phillips
Very little of any substance was achieved at the EU Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) summit over the weekend, with the almost 50 heads of state failing to agree to any movement in trade discussions, one of Europe's main objectives in attending the summit.The leaders said in a joint statement they hoped to actively pursue two free trade agreements. One between between Europe and Central America and the other between the EU and the Andean Community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru).Summit host centre-left Peruvian President Alan Garcia said the leaders of the Andean Community had agreed on more flexible free trade agreement negotiations.We're basically in agreement to move toward an accord at the next round of talks in Brussels on June 12, Mr Garcia said at the end of the summit.
However, fellow Andean leaders Evo Morales of Bolivia and Rafael Correa of Ecuador said it was still too early to move toward any free trade agreement. The more leftist leaders were opposed to further opening up their markets to European competition before they had a chance for their economies to develop, while the more centrist among them were frustrated at their intransigence.
Nonetheless, the Ecuadorian leader was optimistic: We made important progress, Mr Correa told reporters in Lima on Saturday. It's a general framework with flexibility that means in principle countries can sign parts of the agreement and not others.The leaders did however attempt to put a positive spin on the largely fruitless series of meetings, highlighting discussions that had taken place on climate change and poverty reduction.Particularly intense debates were held on combating climate change, said Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, whose country currently holds the six-month rotating EU presidency.Meanwhile, European leaders backed Brazilian President Lula da Silva, whose country is the world's top producer of ethanol, in their insistence that biofuels are not the cause of sky-rocketing food prices that have rocked much of the developing world in recent months, producing a wave of riots, demonstrations and strikes.The impact of biofuels should not provoke such alarm, because from my point of view the relationship isn't that clear, said Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Most other Latin American leaders, for their part, remained unconvinced.All the leaders were able to agree on regarding the matter was that something should be done regarding the food crisis. What exactly remained unsaid. [We are] deeply concerned by the impact of increased food prices, the leaders said in a declaration released on 16 May, and called for immediate measures to assist the most vulnerable countries and populations affected.At the same time, the major spat that had preceded the talks between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and German Chancellor Angela Merkel largely dissipated. Mr Chavez told reporters he had kissed the chancellor on the cheek and had apologised to the chancellor for his comments comparing her Christian Democrat party to the same movement that supported Hitler.
Ahead of the meeting, Ms Merkel had warned other Latin American countries to stay away from the Venezuelan socialist's left-wing populism.
Divisions between Latin American leaders were also on display, with Mr Chavez and Colombia's right-wing leader, Avaro Uribe, refusing to speak to one another. In March of this year, Mr Uribe bombed alleged encampments of Colombia's Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) within Ecuador without Quito's permission, and has accused the Venezuelan president of supporting the Colombian guerillas.
IRISH EU TREATY REFERENDUM
http://www.euractiv.com/en/future-eu/irish-eu-treaty-referendum/article-172508
EU EXTENDS MANDATE OF GAZA BORDER CROSSING
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/20/europe/EU-GEN-EU-Palestinians.php
EU FINE-TUNES MED UNION
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1406367.php/EU_commission_fine-tunes_French_plans_for_a_Mediterranean_Union
EU PROPOSES MIDEAST AIDE
http://www.pr-inside.com/eu-proposes-revamp-of-mideast-aid-r599035.htm
EU urges Club Med focus on trade links, environment
Tue 20 May 2008, 12:06 GMT
STRASBOURG, France, May 20 (Reuters) - A planned Euro-Mediterranean Union should start by upgrading sea and road links, cleaning up the Mediterranean Sea and developing solar energy, the European Commission said on Tuesday.Laying out its vision for an initiative launched by French President Nicolas Sarkozy but watered down by other EU states, the EU executive said the Mediterranean was of vital strategic importance and ties with the region needed a higher profile.The project should encompass all 27 EU states plus Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Albania, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Monaco, it said in a policy paper.The union, to be launched at a Paris summit on July 13, will build on the existing Euro-Mediterranean partnership, launched in 1995 in Barcelona, and hence known as the Barcelona process.The Commission recommended that the new organisation, dubbed Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean, should hold summits every two years, but avoided suggesting where to locate its headquarters, saying that should be decided by consensus.
It called for a shared presidency, to be held by France for an initial six months on the EU side before the Lisbon treaty reforming EU institutions enters into force.After that the new long-term president of the council of EU states, the European Commission president and the EU's high representative for foreign policy will lead the European side.The presidency on the side of non-EU Mediterranean partner states would be chosen for a period of two years, it said.The Commission set out four projects that should be considered for approval at the inaugural July 13 Paris summit.
PROJECTS
These included improved maritime and road infrastructure, identifying new sea routes and upgrading port facilities, and building a new road to link the Maghreb Arab states -- Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.The new union should also give added impetus and finance to a plan agreed by Euro-Med ministers in 2006 for depollution of Mediterranean, a key French priority.
Additional projects cover improved maritime security and plans to exploit North Africa's plentiful sunshine to generate solar power to help meet the EU's huge energy import needs.Sarkozy was forced to scale back his original grand vision after Germany voiced reservations, fearing it would split the EU and siphon off common funds.In March, EU leaders agreed to a limited union involving a regular summit, a joint presidency and a small secretariat.In practice, it will be little more than a new political umbrella over the existing partnership.Paris had originally wanted EU members of the grouping limited to those with Mediterranean coasts and then sought to confine the presidency to such states. It still wants the union's permanent secretariat to be based in a Mediterranean country, with French officials suggesting Morroco, Tunisia or EU member Malta as possibilities.Diplomats say the Commission is keen for practical and political reasons to have the headquarters in Brussels, where it could exert most influence.Sarkozy has dismissed fears the plan would tie EU states into a new, unwanted political corset, saying it would allow some states to work closely and others to stay on the sidelines.Syria, Libya and some other Arab states appear lukewarm as it might suggest an indirect normalisation of ties with Israel, while Turkey has been reluctant to engage in anything that might be seen as an alternative to its drive for full EU membership.French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has said Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak could lead southern states in the union. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom, editing by Paul Taylor)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
MAY 28TH 2008 (TROUBLE)
DISASTER TO COME IF FROM GOD.
I don't like that the Person won't give their name, they don't wanna accept responsibility of being wrong i guess if this disaster does not come to pass. But I will put it on in case it is from God warning AMERICA.
As God intended - Manchester UK. MAY 19,08
Dear God i pray that people read this and warn others about what is to take place, in Christs name i pray.
God spoke to me over ten days ago and told me what was to happen in the world he told me of the strong winds that would cause devastation and flooding and the shaking of the earth that would cause death and devastation, i wrote these things down yet i told no one and as they unfolded and i watched them on the news the cyclone in burma and the earthquake in china, my heart went out to all those affected and i realised i should have spoken out that God was showing me things that were to happen and i should have warned people about what is to come.
Glory to God in the highest he has shown me again what is to happen and this time i will try and get the message out there, so please i pray take head to this message and give glory to God on may 28th 2008 there will be a violent earthquake that will shake america to its core, the epi-centre will be in california, it will trigger a volcanic eruption in yellowstone park, spewing molten rock,ash and smoke high into the air. for God's sake do not send your children to school this day..please in the atlantic and pacific oceans earthquakes will strike sending devastating tsunamis towards the coastlines, volcanoes will erupt around the world spewing fire and smoke high into the air, fierce storms will batter britain and europe with high winds and hail causing devastation.
The effects of all this will be so devastating that it will send the world economy into chaos, causing a worldwide crash, wars will break out,there will be famine,plagues and pestlence on a world wide scale, with food shortages and oil shortages devastating the western world.
This is but the begining of the woes that will signal in the begining of the tribulation, may God have mercy upon our souls, give glory to God for his judgements are true and just...turn to Christ and be saved, for God is loving and true giving to us his only son Jesus Christ to be our salvation, now is the time to turn towards him not away, do not dismiss Gods precious gift of salvation in his son anymore, God wants us all to be saved, may God give us strength and courage in the times to come and let us seek refuge in Christ our Lord till he comes, Glory to God in the highest..Amen.
I don't like that the Person won't give their name, they don't wanna accept responsibility of being wrong i guess if this disaster does not come to pass. But I will put it on in case it is from God warning AMERICA.
As God intended - Manchester UK. MAY 19,08
Dear God i pray that people read this and warn others about what is to take place, in Christs name i pray.
God spoke to me over ten days ago and told me what was to happen in the world he told me of the strong winds that would cause devastation and flooding and the shaking of the earth that would cause death and devastation, i wrote these things down yet i told no one and as they unfolded and i watched them on the news the cyclone in burma and the earthquake in china, my heart went out to all those affected and i realised i should have spoken out that God was showing me things that were to happen and i should have warned people about what is to come.
Glory to God in the highest he has shown me again what is to happen and this time i will try and get the message out there, so please i pray take head to this message and give glory to God on may 28th 2008 there will be a violent earthquake that will shake america to its core, the epi-centre will be in california, it will trigger a volcanic eruption in yellowstone park, spewing molten rock,ash and smoke high into the air. for God's sake do not send your children to school this day..please in the atlantic and pacific oceans earthquakes will strike sending devastating tsunamis towards the coastlines, volcanoes will erupt around the world spewing fire and smoke high into the air, fierce storms will batter britain and europe with high winds and hail causing devastation.
The effects of all this will be so devastating that it will send the world economy into chaos, causing a worldwide crash, wars will break out,there will be famine,plagues and pestlence on a world wide scale, with food shortages and oil shortages devastating the western world.
This is but the begining of the woes that will signal in the begining of the tribulation, may God have mercy upon our souls, give glory to God for his judgements are true and just...turn to Christ and be saved, for God is loving and true giving to us his only son Jesus Christ to be our salvation, now is the time to turn towards him not away, do not dismiss Gods precious gift of salvation in his son anymore, God wants us all to be saved, may God give us strength and courage in the times to come and let us seek refuge in Christ our Lord till he comes, Glory to God in the highest..Amen.
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.
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.
Monday, May 19, 2008
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 GarcÃa 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.GarcÃa 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.
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 GarcÃa 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.GarcÃa 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.
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