DNC GIVES HALFS TO CANDIDATES

SUPER HIGHWAY VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAs7XZVgKhI

DISCOVERY LIFTS OFF WITH JAPANESE SPACE LAB
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8081238&ch=4226714&src=news

CHINAS RACE AGAINST TIME
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8081532&ch=4226714&src=news

10,000 CHILDREN DEAD IN CHINA
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8081638&ch=4226713&src=news

CRANE CRASH COLLAPSE
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=4226712&cl=8081034&src=news

HURRICANE FORECAST
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8078995&ch=4226717&src=news

LA LINA LINKED TO SHARK ATTACKS
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8079121&ch=4226724&src=news

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.

Tropical Storm Arthur, 1st of hurricane season, hits Yucatan By WILLIAM YSAGUIRRE, Associated Press Writer MAY 31,08

AMBERGIS CAYE, Belize - A weak tropical storm formed Saturday off the Yucatan Peninsula and quickly made landfall at the Belize-Mexico border, dumping rain and kicking up surf. The first named storm of the 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season, Arthur was moving northwest across the Yucatan with maximum sustained winds near 40 mph (64 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The storm formed one day before the official start of the season June 1, hitting land near the Mexican port city of Chetumal and Belize's Corozal city. It dumped rain as far south as Belize City and kicked up strong surf on the popular tourist island of Ambergis Caye.Tropical storm warnings were issued for Belize and Mexico's Caribbean coastline.In the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, which includes the popular resort of Cancun, ports were closed and all water sports were banned. Residents and tourists were encouraged to take precautions in coastal areas, said state Civil Protection Director Carlos Rodriguez Hoy.Ports were also closed on the islands of Cozumel and Isla Mujeres and in Chetumal.Authorities expected rains of up to a little more than 1 inch (30 millimeters) due to the passing remnants of Arthur, Rodriguez said.In northern Belize, the National Emergency Management Organization expected about 4 inches (102 millimeters) of rain and warned of possible flooding around the Azul Hondo River.Rain and rough seas ruined vacations for tourists in Ambergis Caye.I just came to lay in the sun and get a nice tan, but so far there hasn't been any sunshine, said Debbie Fountaineau, a police officer from Lake Charles, Louisiana, who arrived on the island Thursday.

The storm was projected to weaken as it crosses the Yucatan before moving out into the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical depression early Sunday.There was chance it could strengthen back into a tropical storm before hitting Mexico again south of Veracruz on Wednesday, said Jamie Rhome, a meteorologist with the Hurricane Center. It was not expected to become a hurricane.At 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT), the center of the storm was located about 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of Belize City, and about 195 miles (314 kilometers) southwest of Cozumel, Mexico. It was moving to the west-northwest near 7 mph (11 kph).The storm was expected to stay well away from the U.S. Gulf Coast.Associated Press writer Jorge Dominguez in Cancun, Mexico, contributed to this report.

Tornado tears up homes, trees in Indianapolis By TOM MURPHY, Associated Press Writer MAY 31,08

INDIANAPOLIS - Residents cleaned up Saturday after a tornado plowed a trail of destruction through the east side of Indianapolis, but they gave thanks that nobody was killed and that the only injuries were minor. The storm blew through late Friday, ripping roofs off several apartment buildings, snapping trees and toppling power lines. Eighteen people were treated for very minor injuries, said John Ball, the area's emergency management director.It is a miracle that we didn't have serious injuries or death, he said. A gentleman told me last night at the shelter that he was lying in bed and heard a rumble, and the roof was gone and he saw the sky.Winds snapped trees, wrapped metal sheeting around a telephone pole and left a four-block-wide trail of debris about a mile long. Gas station pumps were knocked over, roof shingles shredded, and power lines and tree branches scattered.The storm knocked out power to more than 100,000 customers. Many thousands remained without power Saturday afternoon, utilities said.The American Red Cross of Greater Indianapolis housed 170 people overnight in a church gym near a destroyed apartment complex in the city of nearly 800,000.

Some of these folks came in with the clothes on their backs or pajamas, and they were soaked, too, said spokeswoman Beth Smietana.
More came later Saturday morning to register for help or pick up baby formula, bottles and diapers.Natasha Prim, who registered for help, said she and her mother had finished dinner and were enjoying a quiet night when she heard tornado sirens followed by silence.

All of a sudden you could hear the wind picking up, and it just kept getting stronger and stronger, said Prim, 29.They ran to a closet in the middle of her first-floor apartment and heard the storm tear the roof off.It just sounded like 20 trains coming at you, she said. It seemed like forever, but it was probably 45 seconds at that.The storm blew out the windows of Latasha Lewis' home, tore a hole through her kitchen roof and ripped her screen door off the front door with the frame still attached. Lewis, 28, fled to her mother's house and managed only to grab some clothes. She also stopped by the shelter for help.Her 1-year-old daughter, Chardea, played with a stuffed Mickey Mouse doll provided by the Red Cross as people stood in line nearby, waiting to register.It could have always been worse, said Latasha's mother, Gwen Lewis. Thank God, at least we're living.The tornado was part of a system that swept through the Midwest with heavy rain, high winds, thunder and lightning. Damage was also reported in Illinois, as well as in Ohio, where a tornado destroyed several homes near Arcadia.Near Washington, D.C., firefighters reported a possible tornado, but no injuries or damage were reported.

Chinese authorities prepare to drain swelling lake By WILLIAM FOREMAN, Associated Press Writer Sat May 31, 3:13 PM ET

MIANYANG, China - Chinese authorities prepared on Saturday to drain a swelling lake formed by a devastating earthquake, completing work on a drainage channel to divert water that threatens hundreds of thousands downstream. Officials are expected to discharge flood water from the lake into the channel between Sunday and Tuesday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, quoting Yue Xi, deputy chief of the water and electricity section of the People's Armed Police.The lake, called Tangjiashan, formed above Beichuan town in the Mianyang region of Sichuan province when a hillside plunged into a river valley during the May 12 quake.Chinese authorities had evacuated nearly 200,000 people by early Saturday and warned more than 1 million others to be ready to leave quickly if the lake floods.The confirmed death toll from China's worst quake in three decades was raised Saturday to 68,977, an increase of about 120 people from a day earlier. Another 17,974 people were still missing, the State Council, or Cabinet, said. The daily increase was the smallest since the government started announcing death tolls shortly after the quake hit.Xinhua said a total of 197,477 people were evacuated to safe ground as of 8 a.m. Saturday. It did not say how the number was determined. Some of the people may have been in the path of the planned runoff.State television showed bulldozers and other heavy earth-moving equipment working on the water diversion channel. It did not show how far up the landslide the channel had been carved.

Xinhua said Tan Li, the Communist Party chief of Mianyang, had issued another order for all 1.3 million people in the area to be evacuated if the barrier of the quake lake fully opens and floods the area.There was no sign that the banks of the lake were about to burst. Troops have sealed off Beichuan to the public.Tangjiashan is the largest of more than 30 lakes that have formed behind landslides caused by the quake, which also weakened man-made dams in the mountainous parts of the disaster zone.Millions of people in Sichuan are already living in tent camps and prefabricated housing, which have taken on the tone of new villages.In Mianyang, about 200 families left their camps in flood-prone areas of the city and moved to higher ground in a wooded park on Fule Mountain. Most had camping tents and shelters made of tarps pitched under trees amid ornate gazebos and tea houses with traditional sloping yellow-tiled roofs. Red signs on the buildings said, Dangerous building, don't come near.One woman who only gave her surname, Wang, said life was uncomfortable but fine under the circumstances.We've got all the basics. Those who are out of work are being given food, but my company is taking care of me, said Wang, who was living in a camouflaged tent set above the ground on wood planks.One man, who also gave only his surname, Zhang, said he has been unhappy since moving to the camp two days ago.

We were living near the river and the Mianyang officials got on TV and said the area was dangerous because of possible flooding and we were ordered to move here. They promised they'd take care of us, but we've been given no food, no tents, he said, pointing to the simple structure of tarps his family of three was living under. I had to rig this up myself. We've just been eating instant noodles and bread that we brought ourselves.Nearby, a woman selling tomatoes, green peppers and eggplants along the narrow park road was loading the vegetables back on her three-wheel motorcycle cart. I'm packing things up because no one is buying, she said. They have no pots or pans. No way to cook the food.Xinhua also reported that President Hu Jintao arrived Saturday to check on relief efforts in Shaanxi province. He was shown on state TV at a shelter talking to children who had been left homeless by the earthquake. Just to the north of Sichuan, Shaanxi also suffered damage in the earthquake.

Another province hit by the earthquake, Gansu, plans to complete its rebuilding by the end of 2010, the governor said Saturday.
The rebuilding will include homes, schools and hospitals and the restoration of infrastructure such as telecommunications, power supply and transport, Xu Shousheng was quoted as saying by Xinhua. The earthquake killed more than 360 people in Gansu. Numerous fundraising events have been held around China, with the latest planned for Tuesday when Chinese pianist Lang Lang and the Philadelphia Orchestra are to play a nationally televised charity concert in Beijing to support the earthquake relief effort. The orchestra is in China to commemorate the 35th anniversary of a 1973 trip it made as the Cold War between China and the United States began to thaw.

LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)

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.

THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS

Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

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.

Thai worker wounded in Gaza rocket strike on Israel: medics Sat May 31, 7:09 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - A Thai worker was wounded on Saturday when a rocket fired by militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip struck southern Israel, medics said. The man, whose identity was not revealed, was treated for moderate wounds after he was hit by shrapnel while working in a chicken coop near the town of Amioz, the Magen David Adom emergency service said.He was then taken to hospital in the town of Ashkelon for further treatment.An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed that a rocket had been launched from the Gaza Strip. More than 300 rockets and mortar rounds have been fired from the Islamist-ruled territory this month, she added.

Lebanese soldiers kill would-be suicide bomber by Mahmoud Zayat Sat May 31, 3:53 PM ET

SIDON, Lebanon (AFP) - Soldiers shot dead a man they suspected of planning a suicide bombing at an army checkpoint near a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon on Saturday, an army spokesman said. The incident came hours after a soldier was killed in a blast at an army intelligence post near the northern city of Tripoli and another explosive device was defused.It was not known who was behind the incidents or what messages were intended as Lebanon seeks to form a national unity government after a deal ending a political crisis that brought the country to the brink of civil war.

The man was preparing to attack an army vehicle, the spokesman said. He was wearing an explosives belt containing two kilogrammes (4.5 pounds) of TNT and a kilo of metal that could have caused a lot of damage.Soldiers shot him down before the explosives belt could detonate.The spokesman said the 28-year-old Palestinian, identified as Mahmud Yassin al-Ahmad, had arrived in the area in a car and begun approaching the checkpoint on foot when he dropped a hand grenade.At that point, he turned and ran toward his car, apparently attempting to detonate the explosives belt, and was shot down.

Eyewitnesses said the incident was in an area adjacent to the Ein el-Helweh refugee camp that is controlled by the army, except for a portion considered to be a bastion of the Islamist group Jund Al-Sham (Soldiers of Damascus).It was not immediately clear whether Ahmad belonged to the group of some 50 militants armed with assault rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades and who have no clear hierarchy or particular leader.We do not know his political identity, the spokesman said.On the outskirts of Tripoli, meanwhile, a soldier was killed in an explosion at his post, a security official said. It was unclear what caused the 5:00 am (0200GMT) explosion in the Abdeh area near the northern outskirts of the city.The army named the victim as Ussama Hassan, saying he was charged with keeping the peace in the Abdeh area.The security official said the army found another device inside the post primed and ready to detonate but that explosives experts defused it before it went off.Prime Minister Fuad Siniora later told journalists he did not know whether Saturday's incidents were a message as he continues work on forming a cabinet that will be agreeable to Lebanon's various political factions.Siniora, speaking after a meeting with newly elected President Michel Sleiman, the former head of the army, said we would rather wait for the outcome of the investigation.Lebanon's political deal was struck in Qatar between the Western-backed ruling bloc and the Hezbollah-led opposition called for Sleiman as president, the formation of a cabinet of national unity in which the opposition has veto power over key decisions and a new electoral law.At least 65 people were killed in sectarian fighting earlier in the month, with fighters from the Shiite movement Hezbollah and allies seizing much of Sunni-dominated west Beirut before a deal was reached to hold talks in Qatar.Sleiman was elected last Sunday and appointed incumbent Siniora to head the new government. Ein el-Helweh, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, is home to 45,000 people and is outside the southern port city of Sidon. Hundreds of civilians fled the densely populated camp in March after heavy clashes broke out between Fatah fighters and Jund al-Sham militants Saturday's blast also comes a year after the army was involved in deadly battles with Islamist militants in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp just north of Tripoli. More than 400 people were killed, including 168 soldiers, in more than three months of fighting which ended in September.

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.

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 plans political MySpace
30.05.2008 - 09:30 CET | By Honor Mahony

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Plans are being developed to launch a social networking site for MEPs and MPs to boost contacts between politicians across Europe and promote a trans-European democracy.

Myparl.eu - officially to be launched in October - is a website currently under construction that aims to work along the same lines as the popular MySpace or Facebook social networking services, but in addition to linking social contacts is supposed to foster debate about legislative proposals coming both out of Brussels and from national parliaments.The first official talks on the project, which is sponsored by the European Commission and will receive EU funds, took place in Brussels on Thursday (28 May) involving MEPs and the 27 national co-ordinators for each member state.Daniela Vincenti Mitchener, editor of the site, told EUobserver the project is about creating a transnational community of ideas and that it will alert MPs to MPs in other countries who are thinking alike.The project could potentially involve up to 20,000 people, including politicians from regional governments and parliaments.It is planned that the site will be managed in the three main working languages of the EU - French, German and English - but that people can also post comments in their own language.Myparl.eu will put forward three main themes for debate - the future of Europe, climate change and intercultural dialogue.

Giving an example of the sort of debating topic in the online forum that is likely to appear, a UK official at the talks suggested a recent decision by the British parliament's Environment Audit Committee recommending a system of personal carbon credits whereby people in the future would have to buy pollution credits from one another.I can imagine that MPs in other countries want to discuss this, the British official said.The site is planned to be open to the public, who will be able to react to the issues with letters to the editor. However, only MPs and MEPs will be able to post comments.Although there are other existing forums for MPs to meet, such as COSAC, which brings together national deputies from European committees, in reality, MPs have little to do with each other - a factor partly of language, time and distance from one another.Attempts to get them more involved in EU law-making has been slow, as well. Since late 2006, the commission has been sending legislative proposals to national parliaments for their comment. But the uptake has been sluggish in most national chambers.

Supporters of the Myparl.eu site hope it will lessen the perceived distance between what is going on in Brussels and the rest of Europe's parliamentary arenas - especially as most national laws originally emanate from the EU capital - as well as bring MPs together to discuss issues going on in their own or other member states.

French deputies uphold anti-Turkey referendum clause
30.05.2008 - 09:28 CET | By Elitsa Vucheva

The lower house of the French parliament on Thursday (29 May) approved an amendment to constitutional reforms that could make it compulsory for France to hold a referendum on large countries joining the EU, in a move targeting Turkey.Under the amendment tabled by Jean-Luc Warsmann – a deputy from the centre-right UMP party - holding a referendum would be obligatory to approve the EU accession of any country whose population surpasses five percent of the EU population (about 500 million people).The provision was approved by the National Assembly with 48 to 21 votes. The move appears to be targeted at EU candidate Turkey with its population of 70 million, whose accession to the 27-nation bloc is opposed by France and by the majority of UMP deputies.French president Nicolas Sarkozy – a former leader of the UMP party – is himself an outspoken opponent of Ankara's EU bid, repeatedly stating that he does not think the country belongs to Europe.The new text singling out the Eurasian state did not get the backing of all centre-right parliamentarians, however.

Many eyes are fixed on us now - those of our compatriots, but also those of peoples from the world wondering whether we will really introduce in our constitution an arrangement targeting implicitly a particular country, said Bruno Le Maire (UMP), former prime minister Dominique de Villepin's chief of cabinet. [If the US put into its constitution an article] targeting Mexico, Columbia or any other country, then France – the country of human rights, would be shocked. I am now afraid that our neighbours might be [shocked] by this new arrangement, he added, before the vote took place.The provision was widely criticised by the opposition, with socialist MP Rene Dosiere calling it disgraceful and shameful.If in a referendum tomorrow the French say no to Turkey's [EU] membership, while the 26 other countries say yes, what will remain of Europe?, his colleague Serge Blisko asked.But Richard Maille (UMP), the co-author of the amendment, said that with such populous countries as Ukraine, Turkey, Russia, and why not Algeria or Morocco on the EU's borders, the least the government could do was to automatically consult the French people on future accessions.

Ukraine also affected
Besides Turkey, the amendment would also affect EU hopeful Ukraine with its some 46 million inhabitants.A Ukrainian diplomat last week qualified the idea as quite artificial, unhelpful and unfair, saying that the rules should be equal to everyone.The whole text aiming to reform the French constitution will be voted upon by the National Assembly in first reading on 3 June, with the Socialist Party already saying it would vote against it.The Senate will then vote on 10 June, before the two bodies gather for a congress meeting in July for a final decision to be taken by a three-fifths majority.

EU leaders unsure how to handle fuel crisis
29.05.2008 - 09:24 CET | By Philippa Runner

Fuel price protests threaten to spread around Europe in the run-up to the weekend following earlier action in the UK, France and Bulgaria, with EU leaders uncertain how to respond to the unfolding crisis.Dutch and French truckers have promised to cause disruption on roads on Thursday (29 May), while fishermen in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Greece plan to picket ports and government buildings Friday, newswires report.On Wednesday, French fishermen eased port blockades, but farmers sealed off fuel depots near Frontignan and Toulouse, with riot police using tear gas to break the line. In Bulgaria, lorry and taxi drivers closed parts of Sofia to normal traffic.The rocketing cost of petrol and diesel - up by 30 percent in France this year - is linked to record global oil prices and exasperated by the high levels of government taxation on fuel. In the UK, 65 percent of the price of petrol consists of tax.

The global economy is facing the third great oil shock of recent decades, UK prime minister Gordon Brown said in a statement on Wednesday. There is no easy answer to the global oil problem without a comprehensive international strategy.Mr Brown called for oil to lead the agenda at G-8 talks in Japan in July and the Slovenian EU presidency has promised to discuss emergency fuel relief measures at the EU summit on 19 June. Concrete ideas on how to respond to the problem have caused division in EU ranks so far, however. French president Nicolas Sarkozy on a visit to Warsaw on Wednesday repeated his call for an EU-wide cut on fuel duties. Should we really apply the same tax rate when the price of a barrel of oil has doubled in one year and tripled in three years? he asked. British daily The Guardian reports that London is planning to delay a planned 2p increase in fuel tax from October to next year in a move that would cost the UK budget €700 million.But Mr Sarkozy's tax proposal has got a cold response from the European Commission and finance ministers from Austria, Italy and Belgium so far.During a period where prices are going up, you cannot really attempt to try to transfer the loss to other sectors within our own countries. What you can try to do is to try to use specific decisions targeted to each sector with very specific objectives, finance commissioner Joaquin Almunia said Wednesday. What will you do when prices fall again, reintroduce the tax? I'd like to hear the political discussions then, Austrian finance minister Wilhelm Molterer said, according to AFP.Spanish, French and Italian agriculture ministers on Tuesday called on Brussels to raise the cap on state aid for the fisheries sector.But the Netherlands and Portugal shot down the idea, with Portuguese farm minister Jaime Silva saying short-term solutions are the most popular in political terms, but they have no lasting effect, AFP reports.

France pushes for hard-nosed EU migration pact
29.05.2008 - 09:25 CET | By Elitsa Vucheva

France is planning to table proposals that would make it harder for immigrants to get into Europe when it takes over as EU presidency country in the second half of this year.According to a report in the Financial Times on Thursday (29 May), Paris is proposing a pact on immigration under which efforts to crack down on illegal immigrants would be coordinated.The French proposal contains new measures to return those illegally residing in the EU to their countries and calls for tougher re-admission deals regulating these returns. Additionally, those seeking asylum could be forced to apply for refugee status in advance.To integrate the newcomers, EU states are encouraged to put in place compulsory integration contracts, making it obligatory for the immigrants to adopt national and European values, says the newspaper. They would have to take compulsory language lessons as well.The document also calls for the implementation of biometric visas and says immigration may be limited to those whose skills are needed in the host country.

Europe does not have the means to welcome with dignity all those who see an El Dorado in it, it reads.During his term as interior minister, current French president Nicolas Sarkozy – himself the son of a Hungarian immigrant – made a similar remark: We can't offer housing and jobs to all those who think France is an El Dorado.The country has been tightening up its own immigration rules lately, notably after Mr Sarkozy won last year's presidential elections basing much of his campaign on immigration issues.He said that France is exasperated by uncontrolled immigration.Between 23,000 and 24,000 illegal immigrants were expelled from France in 2007 – compared to around 10,000 in 2002. French prime minister Francois Fillon said in February the objective is to reach 26,000 expulsions in 2008.Additionally, the French parliament last year approved a bill introducing the possibility to have foreigners hoping to join relatives in France pass a DNA test to prove they are related.The French proposal is currently being discussed by EU states and can still be modified, but Paris is hoping it will be adopted under its six-month presidency of the 27-nation bloc.

OBAMA QUITS CHICAGO CHURCH
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080531/ap_on_el_pr/obama;_ylt=AihXJCuobcP2W_7.5o_FdZys0NUE

DEMOCRAT PROTESTS
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8078671&ch=4226716&src=news

Officials say Fla., Mich. delegates will get half-votes By NEDRA PICKLER and BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writers MAY 31,08

WASHINGTON - Democratic Party officials agreed Saturday to seat Michigan and Florida delegates with half-votes, ruling on a long-running dispute that has threatened the party's chances in November and maintaining Barack Obama's front-runner status as he moves closer to the nomination. The decision was a blow to Hillary Rodham Clinton as she was on the verge of watching Obama make history as the first black Democratic presidential nominee. It prompted an irate reaction from boisterous Clinton supporters in the audience and her chief delegate counter, Harold Ickes.Ickes angrily informed the party's Rules Committee that Clinton had instructed him to reserve her right to appeal the matter to the Democrats' credentials committee, which could potentially drag the matter to the party's convention in August.There's been a lot of talk about party unity — let's all come together, and put our arms around each other, said Ickes, who is also a member of the Rules Committee that approved the deal. I submit to you ladies and gentlemen, hijacking four delegates ... is not a good way to start down the path of party unity.The resolution increased the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination to 2,118, leaving Obama 66 delegates short but still within striking distance after the three final primaries are held in the next three days.The deal was reached after committee members met privately for more than three hours, trying to hammer out a deal, and announced in a raucous hearing that reflected deep divisions within the party.

How can you call yourselves Democrats if you don't count the vote? one man in the audience shouted before being escorted out by security. This is not the Democratic Party!The sticking point was Michigan, where Obama's name was not on the ballot.Clinton's camp insisted Obama shouldn't get any pledged delegates in Michigan since he chose not to put his name on the ballot, and she should get 73 pledged delegates with 55 uncommitted. Obama's team insisted the only fair solution was to split the pledged delegates in half between the two campaigns, with 64 each.The committee agreed on a compromise offered by the Michigan Democratic Party that would split the difference, allowing Clinton to take 69 delegates and Obama 59. Each delegate would get half a vote at the convention in Denver this summer, according to the deal.The deal passed 19-8. Thirteen members of the committee supported Clinton, so she wasn't even able to keep her supporters together.The committee also unanimously agreed to seat the Florida delegation based on the outcome of the January primary, with 105 pledged delegates for Clinton and 67 for Obama, but with each delegate getting half a vote as a penalty.Proponents of full seating continuously interrupted the committee members as they explained their support of the compromise, then supporters of the deal shouted back.

Shut up! one woman shouted at another.You shut up! the second woman shouted back.Jim Roosevelt, co-chair of the committee, tried repeatedly to gavel it to order. You are dishonoring your candidate when you disrupt the speakers, he scolded.Obama picked up a total of 32 delegates in Michigan, including superdelegates who have already committed, and 36 in Florida. Clinton picked up 38 in Michigan, including superdelegates, and 56.5 in Florida.Obama's total increased to 2,052, and Clinton had 1,877.5. A proposal favored by Clinton that would have fully seated the Florida delegation fully in accordance with the January primary went down with 12 votes in support and 15 against. Tina Flournoy, who led Clinton's efforts to seat both states' delegations with full voting power, said she was disappointed by the outcome but knew the Clinton position had no chance of passing the committee. I understand the rules. ... I can tell you one thing that has driven these rules was being a party of inclusion, Flournoy said.I wish my colleagues will vote differently.Alice Huffman, a Clinton supporter on the committee, explained that the compromise giving delegates half votes was the next best thing to full seating. We will leave here more united than we came, she said. Some audience members heckled her in response. Lipstick on a pig! one shouted. We just blew the election! a woman in the audience shouted. The crowd was divided between cheering Obama supporters and booing Clinton supporters. This isn't unity! Count all the votes! another audience member yelled.

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.

AL-QUIDA WILL CONTINUE HOLY WAR
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=7846262&ch=4226713&src=news

Al-Qaida's stance on women sparks extremist debate By LAUREN FRAYER, Associated Press Writer Sat May 31, 12:47 PM ET

CAIRO, Egypt - Muslim extremist women are challenging al-Qaida's refusal to include — or at least acknowledge — women in its ranks, in an emotional debate that gives rare insight into the gender conflicts lurking beneath one of the strictest strains of Islam. In response to a female questioner, al-Qaida No. 2 leader Ayman Al-Zawahri said in April that the terrorist group does not have women. A woman's role, he said on the Internet audio recording, is limited to caring for the homes and children of al-Qaida fighters.His remarks have since prompted an outcry from fundamentalist women, who are fighting or pleading for the right to be terrorists. The statements have also created some confusion, because in fact suicide bombings by women seem to be on the rise, at least within the Iraq branch of al-Qaida.A'eeda Dahsheh is a Palestinian mother of four in Lebanon who said she supports al-Zawahri and has chosen to raise children at home as her form of jihad. However, she said, she also supports any woman who chooses instead to take part in terror attacks.Another woman signed a more than 2,000-word essay of protest online as Rabeebat al-Silah, Arabic for Companion of Weapons.How many times have I wished I were a man ... When Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahri said there are no women in al-Qaida, he saddened and hurt me, wrote Companion of Weapons, who said she listened to the speech 10 times. I felt that my heart was about to explode in my chest...I am powerless.

Such postings have appeared anonymously on discussion forums of Web sites that host videos from top al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. While the most popular site requires names and passwords, many people use only nicknames, making their identities and locations impossible to verify.However, groups that monitor such sites say the postings appear credible because of the knowledge and passion they betray. Many appear to represent computer-literate women arguing in the most modern of venues — the Internet — for rights within a feudal version of Islam.Women were very disappointed because what al-Zawahri said is not what's happening today in the Middle East, especially in Iraq or in Palestinian groups, said Rita Katz, director of the SITE Intelligence Group, an organization that monitors militant Web sites. Suicide operations are being carried out by women, who play an important role in jihad.It's not clear how far women play a role in al-Qaida because of the group's amorphous nature.Terrorism experts believe there are no women in the core leadership ranks around bin Laden and al-Zawahri. But beyond that core, al-Qaida is really a movement with loosely linked offshoots in various countries and sympathizers who may not play a direct role. Women are clearly among these sympathizers, and some are part of the offshoot groups.In the Iraq branch, for example, women have carried out or attempted at least 20 suicide bombings since 2003. Al-Qaida members suspected of training women to use suicide belts were captured in Iraq at least three times last year, the U.S. military has said.Hamas, another militant group, is open about using women fighters and disagrees with al-Qaida's stated stance. At least 11 Palestinian women have launched suicide attacks in recent years.

A lot of the girls I speak to ... want to carry weapons. They live with this great frustration and oppression, said Huda Naim, a prominent women's leader, Hamas member and Palestinian lawmaker in Gaza. We don't have a special militant wing for women ... but that doesn't mean that we strip women of the right to go to jihad.Al-Zawahri's remarks show the fine line al-Qaida walks in terms of public relations. In a modern Arab world where women work even in some conservative countries, al-Qaida's attitude could hurt its efforts to win over the public at large. On the other hand, noted SITE director Katz, al-Zawahri has to consider that many al-Qaida supporters, such as the Taliban, do not believe women should play a military role in jihad.Al-Zawahri's comments came in a two-hour audio recording posted on an Islamic militant Web site, where he answered hundreds of questions sent in by al-Qaida sympathizers. He praised the wives of mujahedeen, or holy warriors. He also said a Muslim woman should be ready for any service the mujahedeen need from her, but advised against traveling to a war front like Afghanistan without a male guardian.Al-Zawahri's stance might stem from personal history, as well as religious beliefs. His first wife and at least two of their six children were killed in a U.S. airstrike in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar in 2001. He later accused the U.S. of intentionally targeting women and children in Iraq and Afghanistan.I say to you ... (I have) tasted the bitterness of American brutality: my favorite wife's chest was crushed by a concrete ceiling, he wrote in a 2005 letter.

Al-Zawahri's question-and-answer campaign is one sign of al-Qaida's sophistication in using the Web to keep in touch with its popular base, even while its leaders remain in hiding. However, the Internet has also given those disenfranchised by al-Qaida — in this case, women — a voice they never had before. The Internet is the only breathing space for women who are often shrouded in black veils and confined to their homes, Ossama2001 wrote. She said al-Zawahri's words opened old wounds and pleaded with God to liberate women so they can participate in holy war. Another woman, Umm Farouq, or mother of Farouq, wrote: I use my pen and words, my honest emotions ... Jihad is not exclusive to men.Such women are al-Qaida sympathizers who would not feel comfortable expressing themselves with men or others outside their circles, said Dia'a Rashwan, an expert on terrorism and Islamic movements at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. The Internet gives them the ideal place to write their ideas, while they're hidden far from the world, he said. Men have also responded to al-Zawahri's remarks. One male Internet poster named Hassan al-Saif asked: Does our sheik mean that there is no need to use women in our current jihad? Why can we not use them? He was in the minority. Dozens of postings were signed by men who agreed with al-Zawahri that women should stick to supporting men and raising children according to militant Islam.

Women bent on becoming militants have at least one place to turn to. A niche magazine called al-Khansaa — named for a female poet in pre-Islamic Arabia who wrote lamentations for two brothers killed in battle — has popped up online. The magazine is published by a group that calls itself the women's information office in the Arab peninsula, and its contents include articles on women's terrorist training camps, according to SITE. Its first issue, with a hot pink cover and gold embossed lettering, appeared in August 2004 with the lead article Biography of the Female Mujahedeen. The article read: We will stand, covered by our veils and wrapped in our robes, weapons in hand, our children in our laps, with the Quran and the Sunna (sayings) of the Prophet of Allah directing and guiding us.
Associated Press writer Pakinam Amer contributed to this report from Cairo; AP writer Diaa Hadid contributed from the Gaza Strip; and AP writer Zeina Karam contributed from Beirut, Lebanon.

Qaeda claims failed attack on oil refinery in Yemen Sat May 31, 2:05PM ET

DUBAI (Reuters) - An al Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility on Saturday for a mortar attack on a refinery in Yemen, which officials said did not cause any damage, according to an Internet statement. Three blasts were heard on Friday at the refinery in the southern port city of Aden, officials said.Al Qaeda Organisation in the Arabian Peninsula -- Yemen Soldiers Brigades -- carried out the blessed operation with three mortar shells ... on the refinery used by Yemen's despot to supply fuel to the Crusaders (Western states) in their war against Islam, the group said on an Islamist website.

The group, which has vowed to win the freedom of jailed comrades, has claimed responsibility for several such attacks in recent months, including a shelling in March near the U.S. embassy which injured 13 schoolgirls and five Yemeni soldiers.The refinery attack coincided with a shooting spree by a lone gunman who killed at least seven people at a mosque in northern Yemen. Officials said that was the result of a feud over land in the impoverished Arab state where many ordinary citizens are armed.Besides militant attacks, Yemen has faced unrest over unemployment and rising prices in the south and fighting between government forces and Shi'ite Muslim rebels in the north.Yemen, Osama bin Laden's ancestral home, joined the U.S. war on terror after the September 11, 2001, attacks. It has jailed dozens of militants in connections with bombings of Western targets and clashes with the authorities.

The CARMEL ALERT May 30th 2008 A compilation of news reports from the past week for the information of those committed to praying for Israel and the salvation of the Jewish people. Special Comment: Update on the Condition of Ami Ortiz - the 15 yr old pastors son severely injured in bomb attack

Ami's condition continues to improve, but he is still in need of much support and prayer. To follow is the latest update from Ami's parents, Leah and David Ortiz - please take Ami's situation and the call to pray to heart ..............

Ami had another appointment this week with a hand specialist - he has severe pain in his hands, especially the left which is a result of nerve damage. The doctor told us that he needs operations in both of his arms, as the nerve damage begins quite high up, above the elbow at least on the left side. We were told that one of the major nerves is torn, and another is damaged. If the torn one can't be reconnected, they'll have to do a graft from another nerve somewhere else in his body, in which case it will have to grow, and could take a year to see results. She said that nerves grow at the rate of 1cm. a day!! He has very long arms, and so he has about 1/2 a meter of nerves to grow in!! However, it could be that the existing nerves can be repaired and reconnected, and so let's pray for that, and for continued miracles for Ami. The surgery on the left hand is scheduled for this Monday, June 2.

I have to say that Ami took the news better than I did - because he's anxious for the pain to be relieved. We also have to see the foot specialist, as he has tendons that need to be reattached in his right foot as well. I am in touch with a very well known plastic surgeon who wants to see Ami also, to see what can be done for the left foot and the skin graft scars.

Please pray that we will be able to stay faithful and full of faith through this ordeal. I often feel overwhelmed by what Ami is going through, and Ami is weakened by the pain to the point of tears every so often. David and I are grateful though, that bottom line he's with us, and we can be going through what we're going through. We are also grateful because even in the natural there are solutions for all of his problems. We are grateful that we have all of you so faithfully praying and believing for us. We are also grateful that we have a great God who loves us and has never left us or forsaken us for a moment.

I ask for prayer for our criminal lawyer, Yossi Graiver, who is representing us. He is not a believer, but an extraordinary person with a heart for what has happened to Ami and a desire to see justice served. We also have a Messianic lawyer who has helped us from the beginning, Calev Myers, who represents the Messianic community here in Israel in matters concerning the faith and the law of the land. We are extremely blessed. Please pray for the legal case, that the criminals will be caught, and that a full sentence will be served with no plea bargains.

The Lord bless you as you bless Israel by standing in defense of her right to exist on the land given to the Jewish people by the God of Israel . Lets pray that Israel will turn back to their God. Do not be silent, but share this with your fellow Christians, share it with your pastors, and with anyone you have a chance to speak to. Lets also pray for that breakthrough to the Muslims, and please remember to pray for our son Jordan, and all of his fellow soldiers in the IDF.

Joke of the Week: MOSES at the UN An ingenious example of speech and politics occurred recently at the UN and made the world community smile: A representative from Israel began: Before beginning my talk I want to tell you something about Moses. When he struck the rock and it brought forth water, he thought, What a good opportunity to have a bath! He removed his clothes, put them aside on the rock and entered the water. When he got out and wanted to dress, his clothes had vanished. A Palestinian had stolen them. The Palestinian representative jumped up furiously and shouted, What are you talking about? The Palestinians weren't there then. The Israeli representative smiled and said, And now that I have made that clear, I will begin my speech.

Shabbat Shalom ... David & Josie

Check out our latest Video teachings on God Tube http://www.godtube.com/uvideos.php?UID=12684&type=public
and You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWROEUy0mwI

Out of Zion & Come to Zion ministries present. INSPIRED FAITH BROADCASTING TV CLICK the link http://inspiredfaith .org/live.htm
David & Josie Silver Out of Zion Ministries Mt Carmel Israel
www.out-of-zion.com

STORMS HIT IOWA, MINN

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 says 200,000 evacuated because of flood risk By WILLIAM FOREMAN, Associated Press Writer Sat May 31, 9:09 AM ET

MIANYANG, China - Chinese authorities had evacuated nearly 200,000 people by early Saturday and warned more than 1 million others to be ready to leave quickly as a lake formed by a devastating earthquake threatened to breach its dam. The confirmed death toll from China's worst quake in three decades was raised Saturday to 68,977, an increase of about 120 people from a day earlier. Another 17,974 people were still missing, the State Council said. The increase was the smallest since the government started issuing a daily death toll shortly after the quake hit.Hundreds of Chinese troops have been working around the clock to drain Tangjiashan lake in Sichuan province. The lake formed above Beichuan town in the Mianyang region when a hillside plunged into a river valley during the May 12 quake that killed more than 68,000 people.The official Xinhua News Agency said work on a runoff channel had been completed. It quoted Yue Xi, deputy chief of the water and electricity section of the People's Armed Police, as saying water was expected to be discharged between Sunday and Tuesday.

Xinhua said 197,477 people were evacuated to safe ground by Saturday morning. It did not say how the exact number was arrived at, and many of the people may have moved just short distances to higher areas.The news agency said Tan Li, the Communist Party chief of Mianyang, had issued another order that calling for all 1.3 million people in the area to be evacuated if the barrier of the quake lake fully opens and floods the area.An official with the press office of Mianyang City Quake Control and Relief Headquarters, who would give only her surname of Chen, said Saturday's drill would involve testing the command system of various levels of government officials to ensure that any order to evacuate — if it comes — would be passed on quickly to everyone in the valley.No public broadcast of the evacuation order would take place.There was no sign that the dam was about to burst. Troops have sealed off Beichuan to the public.Tangjiashan is the largest of more than 30 lakes that have formed behind landslides caused by the quake, which also weakened man-made dams in the mountainous parts of the disaster zone.Millions of people in Sichuan are already living in tent camps and prefabricated housing, which have taken on the tone of new villages.In Mianyang, about 200 families left their camps in flood-prone areas of the city and moved to higher ground in a wooded park on Fule Mountain. Most had camping tents and shelters made of tarp pitched under trees amid ornate gazebos and tea houses with tradition sloping yellow tiled roofs. Red signs on the buildings said, Dangerous building, don't come near.One woman, who only gave her surname, Wang, said life was uncomfortable but fine under the circumstances. We've got all the basics. Those who are out of work are being given food, but my company is taking care of me, said Wang, who was living in a camouflaged camping tent set above the ground on wood planks.

A man who also only gave his surname, Zhang, said his family of three has received no food or shelter since they followed orders to move to the camp two days ago.I had to rig this up myself, he said, pointing to the simple structure of tarps they were living under. We've just been eating instant noodles and bread that we brought ourselves.Nearby, a woman selling tomatoes, green peppers and eggplants along the narrow park road was loading the vegetables back on her three-wheel motorcycle cart. I'm packing things up because no one is buying, she said. They have no pots or pans. No way to cook the food.Xinhua also reported that President Hu Jintao arrived Saturday to check on relief efforts in Shaanxi province. Just to the north of Sichuan, Shaanxi also suffered damage in the May 12 earthquake.

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.

Storm sweeps through Ill.; lawmakers run for cover By CHRISTOPHER WILLS, Associated Press Writer Sat May 31, 1:33 AM ET

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Tornado warning sirens chased lawmakers to the statehouse basement, a semitrailer was blown from a roadway and homes and an airport building were damaged as severe storms battered parts of Illinois and Indiana on Friday. Illinois lawmakers, lobbyists, reporters and secretaries packed the tunnels beneath the 120-year-old Capitol for about 45 minutes as powerful wind, hail and rain pelted Springfield.It was extremely hot down there ... I was concerned about some people being overheated, said Rep. Bill Black, R-Danville.Aides said Gov. Rod Blagojevich was in a secure location.The National Weather Service had not confirmed several reports of tornado touchdowns in central Illinois. There were no reports of injuries.In Indiana, high winds caused heavy damage to an Indianapolis apartment complex.Rescue workers combed through the apartment building on the city's east side early Saturday looking for residents who might be trapped. Television reports showed injured residents being helped onto stretchers.

High winds were estimated at upward of 70 mph downed trees and power lines throughout the state, leaving tens of thousands without electricity. A teenager in Rochester, about 40 miles south of South Bend, was taken to a hospital after he was struck by lightning, authorities said.In Springfield, the state House returned to work briefly, then canceled the rest of the evening's session amid worries about another storm front in the area. There was no immediate word on the Senate's plans.ComEd said 20,800 customers were without power in northern Illinois, down from a high of 69,000. Duke Energy reports about 7,000 customers are without electricity, with most of the outages in Tippecanoe and Wabash counties.Winds in the region were enhanced by a string of thunderstorms, said weather service meteorologist Stephen Rodriguez. Gusts up to 60 miles per hour were reported near the Wisconsin state line.A semitrailer was blown from a roadway near Marengo, and a building at the Rockford airport lost its roof, he said.Strong wind damaged a gas station and blew a tree onto a house in Tolono, about 130 miles south of Chicago, emergency workers told the weather service.In nearby Sidney, a fertilizer business was damaged and power lines were knocked down, the weather service said.

Emergency workers also reported hail over 4 inches in diameter in the area.In Nebraska, volunteers stacked sandbags in Platte Center, a day after severe storms deluged the town of about 360 people. A swollen Elm Creek spilled over its banks Thursday night, flooding 30homes and 10 businesses.Associated Press writers Caryn Rousseau and Karen Hawkins in Chicago; David Mercer in Champaign; Charles Wilson in Indianapolis; and Nate Jenkins in Aurora, Neb., contributed to this report.

Alma weakens to tropical depression By FILADELFO ALEMAN, Associated Press Writer Sat May 31, 12:24 AM ET

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - The remnants of Tropical Storm Alma dumped rain on Honduras on Friday and led to the death of a child who was swept away by a swollen stream. The 7-year-old girl drowned in the southern province of Choluteca, Honduras' national Emergency Commission said in a news release.The storm also blew down trees, knocking out some electricity lines in the southern region, Honduran national energy company spokeswoman Karla Matute said.

In Nicaragua and Costa Rica, officials cleared trees from roads and repaired roofless homes on Friday.Alma reached land Thursday near the Nicaraguan colonial city of Leon, the first such storm for the eastern Pacific season.The storm blew roofs off homes, knocked out power and telephone service and brought down a light pole at the city's baseball stadium.A 30-year-old man was electrocuted by a power line that snapped under high winds, said Nicaraguan emergency official Flor de Maria Escobar.The wind whipped up the sand, and it lashed your face like sandpaper, said Erasmo Lopez, a fisherman in the coastal hamlet of Poneloya, near where Alma made landfall. The trees were shaking like crazy, cars were shuddering and you couldn't even see in front of you.In Costa Rica, authorities rescued three children and their mother after an embankment collapsed on their house outside the capital, San Jose. A 7-year-old girl was still in critical condition Friday.Along the coast, 200families were evacuated to storm shelters after Alma dumped rain over the country for 24 hours. Landslides blocked a few highways. The eastern Pacific hurricane season began May 15.Associated Press writers Marianela Jimenez in San Jose, Costa Rica; Marcos Aleman in San Salvador, El Salvador; and Freddy Cuevas in Tegucigalpa, Honduras; contributed to this report.

Planalytics sees active 2008 hurricane season By Janet McGurty Fri May 30, 1:59 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Private weather forecaster Planalytics expects a more active Atlantic storm and hurricane activity in 2008 than in the 2007 season, the company said on Friday. We are looking for an active season, with 12 threat periods and up to 16 events, a slightly more active hurricane season than the previous year, the company said in a webcast ahead of the official June 1 start to the season.Planalytics defines a threat period as a meteorological situation that indicates a likely tropical development, which could include an event, or named storm.In 2008, the forecaster expects eight to 11 of the threats to become hurricanes, and three to four of those of turning into intense hurricanes.An active season is projected, said chief forecaster Jim Roullier, adding that the ingredients for an active season were present and expected to continue.Tropical Storm Alma, the first cyclone of the Americas hurricane season, slammed into Nicaragua's Pacific coast on Thursday, killing one person as winds toppled trees and ripped roofs off flimsy homes. But Alma hit land before it could gather enough strength to become a hurricane.In 2007, the U.S. had only one minor storm and none in 2006 after a very active and deadly 2005 hurricane season where Katrina and Rita decimated the Gulf Coast.

Strong storm activity was expected to center on the Western Gulf of Mexico, with less storm activity than normal anticipated in the eastern half of the Gulf, Planalytics said.The Texas coast from Brownsville to Corpus Christi was at risk from two storms beginning in the middle of June to early July. In late August and early September, two more storms could form, the company said.Corpus Christi is home to three oil refineries with a total capacity of 587,000 barrels per day.Below normal storm activity was anticipated in the central Gulf of Mexico to western Florida with most storm activity seen late in the season, from the end of September to early October. The season officially ends November 30.The East Coast was at moderate risk for storms from late July to early August with activity focused in the Carolinas. The threat returns to the region in late August.Planalytics' forecast of 12 to 16 named storms is line with government estimates.Last week, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast 12 to 16 named storms this season, with six to nine becoming hurricanes.
(Reporting by Janet McGurty; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

Torrential rains sweep western Europe Fri May 30, 10:07 AM ET

ROME (AFP) - Italy declared a state of emergency in the north of the country Friday after flooding and mudslides left at least three people dead in heavy rains that also hit Belgium, Britain, France and Germany. The state of emergency, which will enable aid to be speeded up to the affected regions of Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta, was decided at a cabinet meeting, the ANSA news agency said.In Piedmont, where three people were killed and one was still missing, schools were closed in the town of Saviglano because of mudslides, and 30 people were evacuated from their homes in Demonte.A mudslide in Villar Pelice near the city of Turin swept away a house, killing an old man inside it, civil protection authorities said. A second person was found dead in a car also caught up in the mudslide.Fifty patients were evacuated from a hospital in Turin, but Red Cross official Giuseppe Vernero told the Sky TG-24 television channel the worse seemed to be over.In France the SNCF train operator closed lines overnight between Turin and Lyon, southeastern France, to avoid accidents after heavy rains in the region.Road tunnels linking France and Italy were closed to trucks for several hours after parts were affected by a mudslide. Several highways were blocked or closed for safety in the Alpine districts of Savoie and Isere, local authorities said.In Corsica two hotels were evacuated overnight due to flooding, firefighters said.

Mudslides and flooding also cut hit villages and cut secondary roads in eastern France overnight, while other routes were blocked by fallen trees, authorities said.Further north meanwhile, streets were turned to rivers of mud in the eastern Belgian city of Liege after a violent storm, media reports said, but no casualties were reported.Belgian television pictures showed flooded houses and cars swept along in the mud.In southwestern Germany media reports said heavy rain and hail had caused extensive damage, while at Moenchengladbach a woman suffered a severe electric shock when she went into her flooded cellar in bare feet to cut the power.Dozens of motorists had to abandon their cars, while in Baden-Wurtemberg lightning set fire to a farm.A clean-up operation was under way in southwest England Friday after torrential rain caused flash flooding the previous evening.The worst-hit area was the southern part of the county of Somerset. Cars were abandoned on water-logged roads, fire crews had to rescue a number of motorists and hundreds of homes and businesses were flooded out.There were no reports of anyone injured, emergency services said.Southern and central England were hit by some of the most devastating floods in years 12 months ago, but Devon and Somerset Fire Service described Thursday's weather as a typical flash flood.

AP Impact: Hurricane season outlooks of little use By ALLEN G. BREED, AP National Writer MAY 31,08

RALEIGH, N.C. - Each April, weather wizard William Gray emerges from his burrow deep in the Rocky Mountains to offer his forecast for the six-month hurricane season that starts June 1. And the news media are there, breathlessly awaiting his every word. It's a lot like Groundhog Day — and the results are worth just about as much.

The hairs on the back of my neck don't stand up, ho-hums Craig Fugate, director of emergency management for Florida, the state that got raked by four hurricanes — three of them major — in 2004. When it comes to preparing, he says, these long-range forecasts are not useful at all.The AP contacted the emergency management agency in every coastal state from Texas to Maine and asked whether these seasonal forecasts play any role in their preparations for the hurricane season. Their response was unanimous: They're a great way to get people thinking about the upcoming season, but that's about it.Regardless, since the former Colorado State University climatologist pioneered the seasonal predictions in 1984, other forecasters have followed suit.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Tropical Storm Risk Consortium in London and, most recently, the Coastal Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at North Carolina State University in Raleigh are now among teams attempting to handicap the storm season weeks or months ahead.After high-profile, back-to-back busts by Gray and others, critics have questioned whether these long-range outlooks do more harm than good. But the very question presupposes that Gray, et al., have been promising more than they can deliver.They can pretty accurately predict an above- or below-average season, even predict the likelihood a major storm will hit SOMEWHERE along the U.S. coast. Beyond that, they're not promising anything.

Honestly, I think people get a lot more excited about it than I do in terms of what its usefulness is, says CSU scientist Phil Klotzbach, who has largely taken over the hurricane work of Gray, now semiretired.From the beginning, Gray issued disclaimers with his forecasts, like the one from May 1989 that asserted the forecast can only predict about 50 percent of the total variability in Atlantic seasonal hurricane activity.NC State's Lian Xie says in a boldface disclaimer in his 2008 forecast: Results presented herein are for scientific information exchange only ... Users are at their own risk for using the forecasts in any decision making.

So how did these things become such a big deal?

Fugate thinks part of the problem is that the media and some public officials picked up the cloudy crystal ball and ran with it. Particularly national media has been using these forecasts inappropriately, he says. I'm as guilty as anyone else.Hurricane-prediction researchers are like chefs tinkering with a recipe for the same dish, and working from the same list of ingredients: In this case, decades worth of data from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction.Studying past seasons, scientists look for patterns that might explain why one year was more active than another. Teams have developed computer models that emphasize different conditions — everything from ocean salinity and rainfall amounts over West Africa to sunspot cycles and the influences of the Pacific warm-water current known as El Nino.They test their theories by hindcasting — basically, plugging in known conditions from past storm seasons and seeing how well the models recreate the historical results.

When Gray burst onto the scene a quarter century ago, some wondered what business a man nearly 2,000 miles from the Atlantic had predicting hurricanes. Still, writing about his predictions became a rite of spring. (The Associated Press transmits urgent stories for his initial Dec. l forecast, and for the April, June and August updates.) Reporters would note when Gray missed, as in 1989 when he predicted a relatively mild season with only four hurricanes. Instead, a total of seven hurricanes and four tropical storms killed 84 people in the United States. But most years, they have published his forecasts with little or no commentary on his overall record — or even analysis of how he'd fared the season before.

That is, until 2005.

That spring, Gray and Klotzbach forecast 15 named storms, eight of them hurricanes. Instead, there were a record 28 named storms in 2005, including 15 hurricanes — most notably Katrina. The following year, the team overestimated the storm activity. Instead of the predicted 17 storms and nine hurricanes, the final numbers that season were 10 and five. Coincidentally, 2005 was also the year Xie and his students published a groundbreaking paper in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. In it, they suggested that the interplay of sea surface temperatures in the tropical North and South Atlantic, and not El Nino, was responsible for Florida's disastrous 2004 season. The following year, NC State felt confident enough to issue its forecast publicly. In a release, the university's PR department would later crow that its was the only national model to accurately forecast Atlantic hurricane activity in 2006. Unfortunately, NC State's 2007 forecast was as off as anyone's. This season, Xie and master's student Elinor Keith are forecasting 13 to 15 named storms, but again with caveats — the highest probability they offer for any particular number in that range is 11 percent. They predict six to eight of those storms will become hurricanes — but put the probability of seven occurring at just over 14 percent. So even though that's the most likely answer, compared to some other numbers, that's still a small number, right? says Xie. People need to have that in mind.Others have decided that there is need to qualify their forecasts, as well. Klotzbach says his next update will include an extra section that deals with forecast uncertainty.And when NOAA released its 2008 outlook last week, it included for the first time a pie chart showing the likelihood that its prediction of 12 to 16 named storms was accurate. The verdict: About 65 percent for the whole range.

We want to best convey the forecast by telling the people what the forecast is and what it is not, lead forecaster Gerry Bell says. This is NOT a landfall forecast. This does NOT imply levels of activity for any particular region.Gray insists that people DO use these forecasts to make strategic, real-world decisions. Ask him who, and he will suggest the reinsurance and Gulf oil-and-gas industries. Platts, a division of McGraw-Hill that supplies information to the energy industry, publishes the forecasts. But chief economist Larry Chorn can't think of anyone who takes any action based on them. It allows me to gauge what the experts are saying in terms of the likelihood of this being a mild season or a bad season, he says. Beyond that, I don't know how to use them.

There is some concern that average folk may be lulled into complacency by forecasts of a light storm season. They can go one or two ways, Joseph Bruno, commissioner of the New York City's Office of Emergency Management, says of the long-range predictions. They can make people more apathetic than they already are about emergencies, or they can really heighten concern and alarm.But most seem to have figured out that they can't plan their lives around the forecasts. Let's say someone says this is going to be a really horrible hurricane season. Does that mean you close your business, lay off your employees? says Melissa Perlman, who co-owns a small eco-resort in the beach town of Tulum on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. I don't really start paying attention until they are actually on the map.It's like Nostradamus, adds Sonya Strasburg, who works at the Galveston Fishing Pier on the Texas barrier island — site of the nation's deadliest hurricane. I don't believe it.So why keep doing them? Gray and Klotzbach opened this year's forecast paper with that very question. The answer they give: Because they add to the overall understanding of how hurricanes work. You actually learn more when you bust than when you verify, says Gray, who retired from CSU in 2004 but continues to work with Klotzbach.

Another reason: Because people simply want to know.

The truth is, every time I go to a conference, without fail, people come up to me and before they even ask about me or my family, they say, What kind of a season are we going to have? says Max Mayfield, former longtime director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Mayfield, now under contract with a Miami television station, sees no harm in the forecasts, as long as people are aware of their limitations. His favorite example is 1992. Forecasts called for a below-average season that year, and it was — just six storms. The first one just happened to be Hurricane Andrew, which killed 23 people and did $26.5 billion in damage. I think it comes down to how people like you and me in the media portray this ..., Mayfield says. You need to be prepared no matter what the numbers are.
EDITOR'S NOTE: AP reporters Jessica Gresko in Miami, Mike Graczyk in Galveston, Texas, Sara Kugler in New York City and Traci Carl in Mexico City also contributed to this story. On the Net: NOAA Forecast:http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/outlooks/hurricane.shtml CSU Tropical Meteorology Project: http://hurricane.atmos.colostate.edu/Forecasts/

GENERAL OF MYNAMAR OUT OF TOUCH WITH CITZENS
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8045595&ch=4226714&src=news

Myanmar warned against premature resettlement MAY 31,08

YANGON, Myanmar - Cyclone victims in Myanmar who leave relief camps may not receive the aid they need, making them even more vulnerable to disease and the elements, a U.N. official said Saturday following reports of forced evictions by the government. Human rights groups have lambasted Myanmar's military rulers, accusing them of kicking homeless cyclone survivors out of shelters. The U.S. defense secretary said the junta's blockage of international help has cost tens of thousands of lives.The sharp criticism came a day after a U.N. official reported the government was evicting cyclone victims from camps and dumping them near their destroyed villages with virtually no supplies a month after the storm unleashed its fury.Anupama Rao Singh, regional director of the United Nations Children's Fund, who recently visited affected areas, warned Saturday against premature resettlement, even if it's voluntary. She did not confirm that evictions had taken place.Many of the villages remain inundated with water, making it difficult to rebuild, she said. There is also a real risk that once they are resettled, they will be invisible to aid workers. Without support and continued service to those affected, there is a risk of a second wave of disease and devastation.An estimated 2.4 million people remain homeless and hungry from this month's cyclone, which left at least 134,000 people dead or missing.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of displaced people also have been expelled from schools, monasteries and public buildings, Human Rights Watch said in a release Saturday. In the nation's biggest city, Yangon, there were eyewitness reports of one such eviction from a Christian church.The forced evictions are part of government efforts to demonstrate that the emergency relief period is over and that the affected population is capable of rebuilding their lives without foreign assistance, Human Rights Watch said.Another group, Refugees International, said authorities appeared to be trying to get villagers back to their land to begin tending their fields and reviving agriculture.While agriculture recovery is indeed vital, forcing people home without aid makes it harder for aid agencies to reach them with assistance, it said.Defense Secretary Robert Gates added his voice Saturday to critics of the junta's handling of the humanitarian crisis, calling the government deaf and dumb over its refusal to accept outside help.We have reached out, frankly, to Myanmar multiple times during this crisis in very direct ways, Gates said during an international security conference in Singapore. We have reached out, they have kept their hands in their pockets.The generals' obstruction of international efforts to help cyclone victims cost tens of thousands of lives, he said.Shortly after the cyclone struck, the U.S., France and Britain sent warships loaded with relief supplies, but the Myanmar regime has refused to let them land, apparently fearing a foreign invasion.

With U.S. ships off Myanmar's coast poised to leave because they have been blocked from delivering assistance to the ravaged country, Gates vowed that the U.S. will keep trying to deliver aid.
A day earlier Teh Tai Ring, also from UNICEF, reported at a meeting of U.N. and private aid agency workers that eight camps set up for homeless survivors in the hard-hit Irrawaddy River delta town of Bogalay were totally empty as authorities continued to move people out of them.After his statement was reported, UNICEF issued a statement saying the remarks referred to unconfirmed reports by relief workers on the relocation of displaced people affected by the May 2-3 storm.Separately, at a church in Yangon, more than 400 cyclone victims from a delta township, Labutta, were evicted Friday following orders from authorities a day earlier. It was a scene of sadness, despair and pain, said a church official at the Yangon Karen Baptist Home Missions in Yangon, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of official reprisals. All the refuge seekers except some pregnant women, two young children and those with severe illnesses left the church in 11 trucks Friday morning. The authorities told church workers that the victims would first be taken to a government camp in Myaung Mya — a mostly undamaged town in the Irrawaddy delta — but it was not immediately clear when they would be resettled in their villages. Aid groups, meanwhile, said Myanmar's military government was continuing to hinder foreign assistance for victims of the cyclone, despite a promise to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to ease travel restrictions. Some foreign aid workers were still awaiting visas, and the government was taking 48 hours to process requests to enter the Irrawaddy delta, the groups said. Aid workers who have reached some of the remote villages say little remained that could sustain the former residents. Houses were destroyed, livestock were dead and food stocks have virtually run out. Medicines were nonexistent. Our teams are still encountering people who have not seen any aid workers and still have not received any assistance. Some of the villages that are only accessible by foot are particularly vulnerable, said the aid group Doctors Without Borders.

UBC HELPS UNCOVER SECRETS OF SUPER VOLCANOES
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/index.php?rn=222561&cl=8072032&ch=1329521

NHL PLAYER LUC BOURDON DIES IN ACCIDENT
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/index.php?rn=222561&cl=8069548&ch=1329521

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)

High gas prices hit consumers worldwide By ANGELA CHARLTON, Associated Press Writer Sat May 31, 2:12 AM ET

PARIS - Feeling woozy about the fortune you've just pumped into your gas tank? Drivers around the world share the sensation.

Consumers, gas retailers and governments are wrestling with a new energy order, where rising oil prices play a larger role than ever in the daily lives of increasingly mobile people. But as the cost of crude mounts, the effect on the price at the pump varies startlingly — from Venezuela, where gas is cheaper than water, to Turkey, where a full tank can cost more than a domestic plane ticket.Taxes and subsidies are the main reasons for the differences, along with lesser factors such as limited oil refining capacity and hard-to-reach geography that push up prices.I don't know why it is but... it hurts, says Marie Penucci, a violinist filling up her Volkswagen at an Esso station on the bypass that rings Paris.As she pumped gas worth $9.66 a gallon she looked wistfully at a commuter climbing onto one of the city's cheap rent-a-bikes, an option not open to her since she travels long distances to perform.High taxes in Europe and Japan have long accustomed consumers to staggering pump prices, which now are testing new pain thresholds — and it could have been even worse, if a strong euro hadn't cushioned some of the blow. As a result, plenty of European adults never even bother to learn to drive, preferring cheap mass transit to cumbersome cars.Subsidies in emerging economies such as China and India, meanwhile, shield consumers but hurt governments, which must find a way to afford rising market prices for oil.

Increasingly, they can't. Indonesians are staging protests against shrinking gasoline subsidies in a nation where nearly half the population of 235 million lives on less than $2 a day. And there are now 887 million vehicles in the world, up from 553 million vehicles just 15 years ago, and on track to nearly double to a billion by 2012, according to London-based consultancy Global Insight.In Europe, taxes are often the focus, since the high tax burden means crude itself is a smaller part of the burden.The pain of a rise in prices is much less in Europe, because we may be paying a lot more here, but the rise in a percentage sense is a lot smaller, said Julius Walker, oil analyst at the Paris-based International Energy Agency.The United States, with its relatively low taxes, is considered to have retail prices closer to what energy data charts call the real cost of gasoline — which is closely linked to the price of oil.So as oil prices have soared, average U.S. prices have gone up 144 percent in the past five years — from $1.67 in May 2003 to $4.02 a gallon this month, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Over the same period, gas prices in France went up 117 percent to $9.66 a gallon.Proposals by U.S. presidential candidates John McCain and Hillary Clinton to suspend federal gas taxes this summer would lower the price tag — but have little effect on the underlying oil price. French President Nicholas Sarkozy has urged the EU to cut value-added tax on fuel.

French fishermen and farmers, who need fuel for their trawlers and tractors, say their livelihoods are threatened by soaring prices and have blocked oil terminals around France and shipping traffic on the English Channel to demand government help. Italian, Portuguese and Spanish fisherman joined them and went on strike Friday. British and Bulgarian truckers are staging fuel protests, too.Russia is proof that big oil-producing nations are not in any better shape when it comes to gasoline prices. Gas in the world's No. 2 oil producer runs about $3.68 a gallon — nearly that in the United States, where the average wage is about six times higher.

Much of the Russian cost comes from taxes, which run between 60 and 70 percent. Limited refining capacity and the costs of transporting gasoline across the country's vast expanse also push up prices.

Turkey faces similar problems — and even higher prices — $11.29 a gallon, which for a full tank in a midsize car can reach nearly $200, enough for a domestic plane ticket.In China, government-mandated low retail gasoline prices have helped farmers and China's urban poor but also have hurt conservation. In the first four months of 2008, gasoline consumption was up 5.5 percent from the same period last year. Venezuela, too, is a gas-guzzler's wonderland. A gallon costs just 12 cents and consumers are snapping up SUVs even as Americans are shunning them. Thanks to long-held government subsidies and plenty of oil, Venezuelans see cheap fuel as a birthright. Some policymakers in less oil-flush nations look to Brazil's use of ethanol as a potential solution. Ethanol from sugarcane is widely available in the world's No. 1 sugar producer and its 190 million people. Eight out of every 10 new cars sold are flex-fuel models that run on pure ethanol, gas or any combination of the two. The price for ethanol in Sao Paulo is currently running about half the price of gas, which runs $5.67 per gallon. In Japan, gas station owners say some customers aren't filling up their tanks all the way.

It's been tough. I had to switch to regular gasoline from premium class, said Hiroyuki Kashiwabara, a company employee in his 50s whose monthly spending on gasoline has increased by nearly 10,000 yen ($96) over the last couple of months. My salary doesn't change and I can't cut back on my spending on food or anything else.

Americans, too, are beginning to trim their hearty gas appetites.

We're beginning to see a slowdown in the U.S. in gasoline demand in particular. That's not so visible in other parts of the world, the IEA's Walker said. Jean-Marc Jancovici, a French engineer and co-author of a philosophical treatise called Fill It Up, Please! despairs rising thirst in the developing world for shrinking oil resources. The real question is ... how to save peace and democracy in this context, he asks. His answer? To rich-country consumers, at least, he says: Pick up your bike and stop being petroleum slaves.
Associated Press writers David Nowak in Moscow; Robin McDowell in Jakarta, Indonesia; Ian James in Caracas, Venezuela; Alan Clendenning in Brasilia, Brazil; Joe McDonald in Beijing; Mari Yamaguchi and Shino Yuasa in Tokyo; Ashok Sharma in New Delhi; and Franziska Scheven and A.J. Goldmann in Berlin contributed to this report.

PACIFIC TROPICAL STORM

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.

Strong earthquake rocks Iceland MAY 29,08
Footage from around Iceland of the moment the quake hit

A strong earthquake measuring 6.1 has hit southern Iceland, 50km (30miles) from the capital, Reykjavik. In the town of Selfoss, near the epicentre, buildings were damaged and up to 20 people needed treatment for minor injuries, reports say. Residents in the capital felt buildings shake and aftershocks were felt in the south-west of the country. The US Geological Survey said the earthquake struck at 1546 GMT at a shallow 6.2 miles (10 km). Paul Enarson, Professor of Geophysics at the Institute of Earth Sciences in Iceland, told the BBC that the earthquake happened in an area popular with tourists:

It was close to the town of Selfoss and there is apparently, according to the preliminary news, considerable damage in that town, he said. Iceland is sitting on a plate boundary where the North America and Eurasian plates are drifting apart. So it's a country of volcanoes and earthquakes and so earthquakes are common but large earthquakes are relatively rare, he added.

People terrified

It was quite a lot of shaking... It was quite a big one, Ivar Ingimarsson, a footballer who plays for Britain's Reading club but who is now in Reykjavik, told the BBC. Danny Austin, a Briton who has been living in the Icelandic capital for a year, told the BBC the earthquake lasted about eight seconds: It was fairly noisy. It sounded like thunder coming from the ground. The whole house was shaking, although we haven't had much damage here, he said.

Audbjorg Olafsdottir, an economist in Reykjavik, told Reuters news agency that the glass in the windows shook and everybody was just really scared. Iceland experienced a series of tremors in the same area in 2000 In Selfoss, where it happened, I heard everything is broken and people are standing outside in the street and everybody is terrified, she added. Iceland's national broadcaster RUV radio reported that the road between Reykjavik and Selfoss had been closed due to damage. Authorities have advised residents in the area to leave their homes because of the possibility of aftershocks. Iceland, which has a population of about 300,000, is a geologically unstable volcanic island in the north Atlantic. A spokesman for Iceland's Institute of Earth Sciences said the country had been expecting further quakes after a series of tremors in the same area in 2000.

Chinese troops race weather to defuse quake dam MAY 30,08

CHENGDU (Reuters) - Chinese troops racing to drain an earthquake lake ahead of more rains made substantial progress digging a diversion channel and have created emergency escape paths in case a mud and rock dam gives way.The landslide-blocked river at Tangjiashan in southwest China's Sichuan province is now the most pressing danger after an earthquake devastated the region on May 12.

Hundreds of troops have removed more than one third of the earth for a channel intended to ease pressure from the rising waters, an official spokesman said on Friday.The work on the blocked lake is going smoothly and at this pace it should be completed soon, said Zhou Hua, an official from nearby Mianyang city involved in the drainage effort, told Reuters.Zhou declined to say when the operation was likely to finish. But up to 190,000 residents downstream had moved to higher ground -- usually hillsides close to where they were living before -- to avoid a surge of water if the blockage suddenly gives way, he said.At this stage, the situation is under control, but we've set in place this contingency plan to minimize any possible damage,Zhou said.The official Xinhua news agency said the water level was nearly 23 meters (75 feet) below the lowest point of the barrier, which experts have said could give way quickly once breached. Troops have also built escape paths in the event that happens, Xinhua said.The death toll from the quake is over 68,500 and is sure to rise, with 20,000 still reported missing. Aftershocks have toppled 420,000 houses, most already uninhabitable.The reconstruction work has only just begun, and thousands of survivors are now threatened by the quake lakes, formed by landslides, that could break through the natural dams, flooding downstream towns and dams.But rain has hampered the efforts by more than 600 soldiers to open a giant sluice to discharge the floodwaters. Helicopters shipping in equipment were unable to take off, and some 1,000 soldiers had to carry in 10 metric tons of diesel by foot to fuel bulldozers.

A massive relief effort to provide food, tents and clothing for millions and rebuild houses and infrastructure, including many destroyed schools, is expected to take up to three years.China enacted a special statute to punish those found misusing relief goods and donations, and Beijing sent 300 auditors to the area.
Donations from home and abroad had reached 37.3 billion yuan ($5.38 billion) by Thursday, up 2.5 billion yuan from the previous day, the Information Office of the State Council said.South Korean President Lee Myung-bak would visit Sichuan on Friday.(Reporting by Tara Dempster; Writing by Chris Buckley; Editing by Ken Wills and Bill Tarrant)

WAITING GAME IN CHINA
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8029964&ch=4226714&src=news

Round-the-clock battle to clear quake lake in China by Robert J. Saiget MAY 30,08

DUJIANGYAN, China (AFP) - China was rushing Friday to clear quake lakes made even more dangerous by persistent rain, as millions of people in danger of being flooded waited downstream. Heavy downpours prevented helicopters carrying equipment from taking off on Thursday, hampering attempts to drain the Tangjiashan lake, which is threatening to burst its banks and flood vast and densely populated areas.Draining the lake has become one of the top priorities in the aftermath of the May 12 quake, which flattened entire towns in Sichuan province, leaving nearly 88,000 people dead or missing and displacing 15 million others.Helicopters have been used to airlift supplies to hundreds of soldiers working desperately to create a channel that can drain the lake, which contains enough water to fill over 50,000 Olympic-size swimming pools.

After three days of non-stop efforts, the soldiers had dug a 50-metre (164-foot) wide channel 300 metres long, but despite the frantic pace the work would not be completed until next Thursday, the state-run China Daily reported.The government has warned that more than a million people would be affected if the lake overflowed, sending cascades of debris-filled water down into lower-lying areas.Nearly 170,000 people have already been evacuated while many others have been doing regular drills to move quickly to higher ground in the event that the lakes does burst.However, it was not the only area of Sichuan at risk. Of the 34 lakes created by the quake, 28 are at risk of bursting, the official Xinhua news agency reported, while other unexpected danger continues to cause problems.Gas from a chemical fire in Leigu town, near the epicentre of the quake, poisoned four people and forced more than 800 to evacuate on Thursday, Xinhua reported, citing a local official.

The fire occurred when bleach powder, used as a disinfectant, self-ignited when it reacted with leaked rainwater, said Song Ming, Communist Party secretary for Beichuan county, one of the worst-hit areas.More than 800 people near the site were evacuated after dense chlorine gas poisoned two rescue soldiers and two medical workers, according to the agency.The four were rushed to a military field hospital and were later reported out of danger.Meanwhile, state press reported the world-famous Wolong Giant Panda Reserve had been so badly damaged by the earthquake that it would probably have to be relocated.It's better to move, I think, said Zhang Hemin, the head of the reserve, according to the China Daily.Five staff members died and one panda is missing after the quake, whose epicentre was only 32 kilometres (20 miles) away from the reserve, according to the paper.The death toll from the quake has reached 68,516, with another 19,350 missing, according to the most recent data from the government.

Amid the tragedy, the quake has also caused a wave of international sympathy, helping to strengthen ties not least with China's close neighbours.South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, on an official state visit to China, will tour Sichuan on Friday, the foreign ministry in Beijing announced, making him the first foreign head of state to visit the quake zone. But old sensitivities remained. Japan said Friday it had decided against sending military aircraft to China to deliver aid for victims of this month's devastating earthquake. Japan plans to charter a commercial flight instead to fly tents and other relief supplies to China, said top government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura. Currently we have no plan to use aircraft of the Self-Defence Force, he told reporters, noting that there had been some cautious discussions on the Chinese side about the use of Japanese military planes. Japan had said Wednesday it was considering sending its first military air mission to China since the end of World War II to fly aid for quake victims, in response to a request by Beijing.

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.

Rain-induced landslide kills MAY 30,08

ROME - A landslide killed two people Thursday in an Alpine valley in northwestern Italy as heavy rains battered the area. Two other people, including a child, were missing. One man died when a home in the Pellice Valley was hit by the landslide and another man was found dead nearby in his car, the Civil Protection agency said. Rescuers picked through the wreckage of the leveled home in search of a missing woman and her child.Officials believe a swollen stream sent the mass of mud, stones and broken trees sweeping through the valley.After days of heavy rains in the Piedmont region, authorities monitoring the levels of rivers in the area have raised the alarm over possible floods.The ANSA news agency said dozens of people living near the Dora Riparia river were evacuated from a village west of the northern city of Turin. The river flows through Turin, where it meets the larger Po river, and bridges in the city have been closed or are being closely monitored as the waters rise.
Authorities also ordered all schools in and around Turin closed on Friday.

Tropical storm pounds Central America By FILADELFO ALEMAN, Associated Press Writer MAY 30,08

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Tropical Storm Alma slammed into Nicaragua's coast Thursday as the first such storm of the eastern Pacific season, forcing tens of thousand of people to evacuate and flooding low-lying areas, before pushing into neighboring Honduras. The National Hurricane Center said Alma was the first tropical storm in the available records to make landfall on Central America's Pacific coast. Such storms normally make landfall farther west, along Mexico's Pacific coast. Tropical storms often hit Central America's Atlantic coast.Alma reached land near the Nicaraguan colonial city of Leon, whose Mayor, Transito Tellez, said houses had been destroyed and power knocked out by the storm. Rescue personnel described houses whose roofs had been blow off, and homes that had been crushed by fallen trees.The storm forced the evacuation of as many as 25,000 people in the area, and telephone service was also knocked out, said Civil Defense Director Mario Perez Cassar.

The wind whipped up the sand, and it lashed your face like sandpaper, said Erasmo Lopez, a fisherman in the coastal hamlet of Poneloya, near where Alma made landfall. The trees were shaking like crazy, cars were shuddering, and you couldn't even see in front of you.Nicaragua's Radio Ya reported that a 30-year-old man was electrocuted in Trasbayo, 40 miles (60 kilometers) southeast of Managua, after a power line snapped under high winds.The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Alma was weakening as it headed inland. By late Thursday it had maximum sustained winds of around 45mph (75 kph) as it moved over southern Honduras at a speed of 9 mph (15 kph).It was expected to weaken to a tropical depression before reaching Guatemala or Belize late Friday or Saturday.The fast-growing storm took forecasters and many in Central America by surprise. Residents scrambled to prepare for the storm before it hit.People crowded Managua supermarkets to buy food, water, candles and batteries, and schools canceled classes and were on standby to become temporary shelters. Many flights were also grounded.The storm wrapped the Costa Rican capital of San Jose in a dense fog, slowing traffic to a crawl and causing dozens of accidents.

Along the coast, some 200 families were evacuated to more than 160 storm shelters set up after Alma dumped rain over the country for 24hours. Landslides blocked a few highways.Last year, a little water came in the house, but now it is completely flooded, Clara Bermudez said as she was taken by boat to a shelter in Parrita.The eastern Pacific hurricane season began May 15.Associated Press writers Marianela Jimenez in San Jose, Costa Rica; Marcos Aleman in San Salvador, El Salvador; and Freddy Cuevas in Tegucigalpa, Honduras; contributed to this report.

Storms leave county under water MAY 29,08

The flooding prompted hundreds of calls to emergency services
Torrential storms have led to flooding across half of Somerset. A fire service spokesman asked people only to phone 999 if there was a risk to life, as they had been inundated with calls. Motorists were being warned not to go out in their cars as many roads have been left impassable. People attending the annual Bath and West show have been stuck in mud and long queues as they tried to leave the flood-hit Bath and West Showground. However organisers said they hoped the show would still go ahead on Friday, despite the poor weather. Areas in the south of the county have been particularly badly hit including Castle Cary, Ilminster, Crewkerne and the Mendips. Fire crews were carrying out salvage duties, clearing blocked drains and waiting for the Highways Agency to provide sandbags and further drain clearance. Andy Newland of the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue service advised people to use sandbags or fill black bags with soil to prevent water coming into their properties.

People leaving the Bath and West showground in heavy rain

However, if the situation became extreme, people would need to move upstairs, he added. An Avon and Somerset Police spokesman said the force had received a huge number of calls but the bad weather was moving up out of the area and things were calming down, although there were a number of minor road collisions and minor roads flooded. The Environment Agency said most of the flooding was surface water building up and drains proving unable to cope.

RESIDENTS ARE NOT READY FOR HURRICANE
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=4226712&cl=8029757&src=news

Coastal residents urged to prepare for hurricanes Thu May 29, 1:11 PM ET

MIAMI - Coastal residents from Texas to Maine are being urged to prepare for the Atlantic hurricane season, which begins Sunday.

National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and emergency management officials warned residents Thursday not to wait until a storm is approaching to stockpile three days worth of food and water. Florida's emergency management director, Craig Fugate, says residents need to be self-sufficient after a storm hits because it could be days before government services become available.For 2008, researchers have predicted 15 named storms and a better than average chance of a major hurricane hitting the U.S.Hurricane season continues through Nov. 30.

Storm derails train, damages buildings in Nebraska By NATE JENKINS, Associated Press Writer MAY 30,08

AURORA, Neb. - A storm bearing hail and possible tornadoes struck central Nebraska Thursday night, damaging businesses, derailing train cars, tearing down trees and disrupting power to thousands.

A possible tornado touched down near Aurora, about 70 miles west of Lincoln, damaging a few businesses and damaging at least one house on the outskirts of town.There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries.Tornadoes were also reported in Kearney, about 60 miles west of Aurora, where 90 rail cars were blown off the tracks outside the city limits. There were reports of downed trees and power lines throughout Kearney, and reports of damage on the University of Nebraska at Kearney campus and at a county fairgrounds.Initial reports from the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency indicated several dozen homes were damaged in both Aurora and Kearney.A tornado also swept through a rural area near Belleville in north-central Kansas Thursday night, damaging about six homes, but no injuries were reported.

Some residents were stranded in their damaged homes until they were rescued before midnight, said Raymond Raney of Republic County's emergency management department.Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman declared a state of emergency Thursday night, which allows access to state and federal resources for storm cleanup. He readied the Nebraska National Guard in case its help was needed.We won't know the full extent of the damage until tomorrow. However, it appears that Kearney was hardest hit and that is where our assistance will be focused overnight, Heineman said.Heineman planned to travel to those areas Friday.Downtown Aurora appeared mostly untouched by the storm, but there were twisted trees and metal buildings on the outskirts. State officials closed down a section of Interstate 80 nearby because of downed power lines.State officials were headed to Kearney to assess the damage. Jen Rae Hein, spokeswoman for Gov. Dave Heineman, said the state's emergency operations center was set up Thursday evening.Buffalo County residents were warned to remain indoors and travel was discouraged.Nebraska Public Power District spokesman Mark Becker said 12,000 Kearney customers were without power Thursday evening.The National Weather Service issued several advisories for Nebraska and Kansas into Friday morning, including flooding warnings for areas already struggling from heavy rains earlier in the week. That storm system dumped 7 inches of rain on some parts of central Nebraska.Associated Press writer Timberly Ross in Omaha contributed to this report.

NY TO RECOGNIZE SAME SEX MARRIAGE
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8031067&ch=4226713&src=news

DISEASES

REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

Study: Bacteria may be link in sudden baby deaths By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer MAY 30,08

LONDON - A baffling phenomenon known as sudden infant death syndrome is one of the leading causes of death for children under 1. Now, British researchers say they may have found a contributing factor: bacteria. They found potentially dangerous bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli in nearly half of all babies who died suddenly and without explanation over a decade at a London hospital. Their findings are in Friday's Lancet medical journal.

This may be another piece to the puzzle, said Marian Willinger, a SIDS expert at the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development who was not connected to the British study.The researchers cautioned, however, that while the bacteria were found in the SIDS babies, that does not necessarily mean the bugs were responsible. Bacterial infections have long been suspected by some doctors to play a role in SIDS.We don't know whether it's a cause or if it's identifying another potential risk factor, said Dr. Nigel Klein, a professor at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, where the study was conducted, and one of the paper's authors.He said that the higher level of bacteria might be evidence of another condition that killed the baby, such as a room that was too hot or had poor ventilation. Or it may have been coincidental.

A SIDS diagnosis means that no other cause of death can be found in an otherwise healthy infant who dies suddenly, usually in their sleep. In the United States, SIDS kills more than 2,000 infants every year.The researchers used autopsy samples from 470 infants who died suddenly and unexpectedly between 1996 and 2005. They found dangerous bacteria in 181 babies, or nearly half of the 365 whose deaths were unexplained. There were similar bacteria in about a quarter (14 of 53) of the babies who died of known causes, excluding those who died of bacterial infections.Most of the bacteria were detected in the babies' lungs and spleens.At birth, mothers transfer some of their antibodies against infection to their babies. But when babies are from 8 to 10 weeks old, the maternal antibodies have nearly run out and the babies typically have not started producing enough of their own.That could make them particularly vulnerable to bacterial infections, said James Morris, a pathologist at the Royal Infirmary in Lancaster, who co-authored an accompanying commentary in the journal.SIDS typically strikes when babies are between 8 and 10 weeks old.The study is a good indicator that certain bacteria might be involved in causing sudden infant deaths, he said.

Willinger suggested that bacterial infections in infants might simply aggravate other risk factors for SIDS, such as smoke exposure or babies sleeping on their stomachs.The bacteria in combination with other co-factors might push these babies over the edge, she said.Recommendations for preventing SIDS include putting babies to sleep on their backs and avoiding putting too many blankets on them.The study was paid for by the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths, a British charity.

POWER OUTAGE

REVELATION 16:10-11
10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

Blackouts sweep the country in electricity shutdown
By Danny Fortson, Business Correspondent
Wednesday, 28 May 2008

Britain was hit by electricity blackouts as a string of power station shutdowns wreaked havoc on the national generating system yesterday. National Grid issued a highly unusual plea to electricity suppliers to reduce the voltage to homes after a raft of power plant closures threatened a supply shortage during the hours of peak demand last night. The operator of the country's power grid sent out its plea after several regions, including south-west London, Merseyside and Cheshire, suffered power cuts following the unexpected shutdown of British Energy's Sizewell B nuclear reactor during the morning. British Energy refused to reveal the reason for the incident but said it had already begun to get the plant up and running again. National Grid cut off supplies automatically to protect the integrity of the network, a spokesman said. As the day wore on, however, a total of nine power stations shut down for various reasons, forcing National Grid to issue three increasingly urgent notices. The last – a so-called demand control imminence notice – is rare and is sent out about once every four years. It was issued yesterday after it became clear that the country's electricity supply could fall short by about 400 megawatts – equivalent to just under 1 per cent of national demand.

David Hunter, an energy analyst at McKinnon & Clarke, said theincident reflected the crumbling nature of the insufficient infrastructure on which homes and businesses depend.A spokesman for National Grid said some customers would have noticed a slight dimming of the lights last night as the power delivered to their homes was reduced slightly to spread the load elsewhere. There was speculation among energy traders that the highly unusual shutdown of so many plants at once was caused by some companies trying to cash in on the rising wholesale price of electricity by taking supply out of the market. The wholesale price jumped by 13 per cent yesterday as the margin between supply and demand tightened. However, others experts said this was unlikely because any generator that closed down a plant had to buy the power to cover its commitments. More power was pumped into the grid as a result of the notices and National Grid said it expected it to be business as usual today.

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 says Union for the Mediterranean to benefit Lebanon
Daily Star staff Friday, May 30, 2008

BEIRUT: The European Commission Delegation in Beirut said on Thursday that the recent adoption of proposals for the Union of the Mediterranean would benefit all participants of the Barcelona process, including Lebanon. In a statement issued on Thursday the commission said that it adopted on May 20 its proposals for upgrading relations with its Mediterranean partners through the Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean.Following the decision of the Spring European Council, Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner presented the outline of the structures of the Barcelona Process which aim at giving renewed vitality and visibility to the EU's relations with partners in the Mediterranean region. These structures include the setting up of a secretariat and the creation of a permanent committee of Euro-Mediterranean representatives.

The policy paper also outlines ideas for the kind of projects that would constitute visible and tangible efforts at improving the lives and livelihoods of the region's citizens. This latest initiative underlines the EU's continued commitment to the Mediterranean region, an area of vital strategic importance in both political and economic terms, the commission's statement said.The statement added that the proposals contained in the policy paper would be presented at the inaugural summit of the Barcelona Process in Paris on July 13, 2008.This is a pivotal moment for the EU and our Mediterranean Partners. The Barcelona Process has proven its value to build bridges between Mediterranean partners, said European Commission President Jose Manual Barroso.Barroso added that it will take stronger political will, in both sides of the Mediterranean, to seize this opportunity to enhance understanding, peace and prosperity among all our nations, cultures and religions, for the benefit of our citizens.Ferrero-Waldner, however, said that the Barcelona Process has its champions and critics.

Since its launch in 1995, the Barcelona Process has been the central instrument for Euro-Mediterranean relations, representing a partnership of 39 governments and over 750 million people. The EU states the process has been the engine for movement toward peace, security and shared prosperity in a region where long-running conflicts and tenuous reform efforts have often impeded progress.
Against this background the partnership provides a framework for continued dialogue, engagement and development. The European Commission has supported the Barcelona Process with the provision of over 16 billion euros ($24 billion) from its budget since 1995.

We are deeply committed to the Mediterranean region. Today's proposals underline that commitment, and our desire for a more coherent partnership based on co-ownership of the process, Ferrero-Waldner added. According to the commission's statement, the present policy paper takes stock of the achievements of the Barcelona Process and envisages the new initiative to build on and reinforce these successes, while also acknowledging the shortcomings that have compromised more rapid development. The statement added that projects are at the heart of the new initiative. The Commission has identified possible areas for projects that strive to promote growth, employment, regional cohesion and economic integration. These areas include energy and energy security, the environment, civil protection and transportation.The implementation of such projects will be dependent on the mobilization of additional funding outside the traditional existing budget allocations, the statement said.Financial resources are expected to come from the private sector, international financial institutions and bilateral cooperation and contributions from EU member states and Mediterranean partners,it added. - The Daily Star

MEPs in dispute over political group sizes
27.05.2008 - 17:45 CET | By Honor Mahony

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - MEPs on Tuesday (27 May) rejected a proposal to raise the threshold of deputies needed to create a political group in the European Parliament, with critics saying it would threaten political diversity in the EU assembly. But the proposal still has a chance of being passed in July.UK centre-left MEP Richard Corbett had suggested that the number of MEPs needed to form a political group - and be eligible for the funds, speaking time and staff allowances that go with such a designation - be raised from 20 to 30 after the 2009 elections.He argued that the current rules need updating and that a change would prevent a repeat of last year's events when far-right MEPs managed to scrape a group together. It subsequently collapsed after internal bickering.Let's look at all financial and human resources provided to groups: is it right for us to have such a low threshold? he said during the debate in the Constitutional Affairs Committee.Mr Corbett says that the current threshold represents just 2.55 percent of the parliament's membership - but that in 21 of the 25 parliaments in the EU that have rules on political groups, the threshold is higher. It is highest in the Luxembourg parliament - at 8.5 percent.

If the new threshold was set at 30 deputies in a parliament of 750 MEPs - as it will be after 2009 - this would correspond to four percent.But the proposal led to a lively debate in the committee. Liberal MEP Andrew Duff said it could force deputies into one or other of the biggest political groups - currently the centre-right and the Socialists.Is it right to limit pluralist debates?, asked Hanne Dahl, from the Independence / Democracy group - one of the factions likely to be threatened by the rule change. Every call for efficiency is a risk for democracy, she added.The amendment was only narrowly voted down (15 to 14 MEPs in favour of leaving the threshold as is) but it is set come before the plenary as a whole in July when a similar debate is expected.The Liberals, as third biggest group in the parliament, accused the conservative and socialist groups of using a loophole to manoeuvre the report on to the plenary agenda for July.All political voices must be heard in the European Parliament and have the right to form a group, as is the case in our national parliaments. The [conservatives] and the [socialists] want to reduce the European Parliament to a rubber stamp of the Council of Ministers, French Liberal MEP Marielle de Sarnez.MEPs also voted on a separate report by Mr Corbett on changing the rules on MEPs tabling written questions to the commission or council (representing member states).Under the proposed changes, written questions will have to fall within EU's competences, be concise and not contain offensive language.The final decision on whether a question is eligible falls to the parliament's president - something that has been criticised as undemocratic by some deputies.

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)

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.

France sees Poland as partner on EU defence
28.05.2008 - 09:29 CET | By Philippa Runner

As French president Nicolas Sarkozy visits Warsaw on Wednesday (28 May) to upgrade Franco-Polish relations, France is beginning to see Poland as a key partner in building an EU military capability alongside NATO.It's important that Poland take its rightful place in the mission of strengthening Europe's defence capacity. Our two countries' views are largely similar and we will work together on this under the French EU presidency, Mr Sarkozy said in an interview with Polish daily Dziennik on the morning of his trip.I'd like to congratulate Poland on its contribution to the European Union mission in Chad, he added, in a statement full of praise for Warsaw's European credentials. In just a few years you have taken a deservedly important place in the actions of Europe all over the world.The French president's visit will see him meet his Polish counterpart, Lech Kaczynski, amid full military fanfare in the centre of Warsaw, and make a public address to the Polish parliament.

He will also sign a strategic partnership with Poland, launching new bilateral working groups on scientific, agricultural and energy supply cooperation, and announce that France will open its labour markets to eastern European workers later this year. I hope this will be an important moment in relations between our two countries, he told Dziennik. Today - when we are both working together in a unified Europe - we have to give them a new momentum.The warm rhetoric on Poland's importance in the EU stands in stark contrast to French President Jacques Chirac's statement in 2003 that Poland should have kept quiet on the Iraq war, which marked a nadir in Franco-Polish co-operation. The countries of the former eastern bloc were long considered as second class EU members, but now want a more intensive dialogue with France, a French diplomat told AFP. With these strategic partnerships, we are showing we do not treat them with scant regard.This is a propitious moment for improving relations between Paris and Warsaw, Polish analyst Ena Kolarska-Bobinska told Les Echos. Relations between France and Germany, the EU's two leaders, are not so good right now, so the smaller countries in the union can play a more important role.

Pressure increases on Israeli prime minister By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer MAY 30,08

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert suffered another blow Thursday when a key rival for power in his political party suggested the embattled leader should be replaced because of a widening corruption investigation. With the comments from Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Olmert now encounters an open rebellion in his Kadima party, making it increasingly unlikely he can survive the public uproar that has gripped the country since a key witness described illicit cash payments to the luxury-loving Israeli leader.

Livni's comments came a day after Ehud Barak, the powerful defense minister, called for Olmert to go and threatened to pull his Labor Party, a key coalition partner, out of the government and force new elections if he didn't comply.Livni, one of Israel's most popular politicians, suggested a change of leadership was required to maintain the party's dignity, becoming the first senior party member to openly come out against Olmert.I think the reality has changed since yesterday and Kadima has to make decisions, Livni told reporters. I suspect that Kadima needs to start right away acting for every eventuality, including elections.Olmert has faced considerable public pressure to resign since U.S. businessman Morris Talansky testified in court this week that he handed Olmert $150,000 over the years, in addition to unspecified sums from other donors. Olmert insisted on getting the money in cash, and used it to help finance his penchant for high-living, including luxury hotels and first-class travel, Talansky testified.Olmert has weathered a string of scandals since he took office two years ago and has vowed to fight the latest accusations. His lawyers are set to cross-examine Talansky on July 17.Olmert has denied any wrongdoing and said he would resign only if he is indicted. But he may not last that long.Politically, he is finished. Now it's just a matter of time, said political analyst Hanan Crystal.

Olmert has a reputation as a savvy politician and has dodged all five other investigations into his affairs since he was elected two years ago. Crystal doubted he'd survive this one, calling the Talansky testimony a smoking gun, and said the only question was what would force Olmert out first — the investigation or new elections.A general election is set for late 2010, but if Olmert loses his parliamentary majority, it could be called earlier.Polls indicate that if elections were held today with Olmert heading his party, hard-line opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu would easily sweep to power. Therefore, Livni and Barak would prefer to depose Olmert without going to a national ballot just yet.Last year, Livni called on Olmert to resign after a government investigation slammed his handling of Israel's war in Lebanon in 2006. She was criticized by politicians and the media for not following through by resigning. Barak likewise never carried out a threat to force Olmert out after the report.But on Thursday, Livni and Barak raised the stakes.The die has been cast, Barak told a meeting of his Labor Party in Tel Aviv. We should prepare for elections. ... In my estimation we are going to elections, it could be before the end of this year.The speech resembled a campaign rally, as Barak, a former army chief and prime minister, spoke of the nation's security challenges and the military backgrounds of Labor Party leaders.

Livni said she favored holding a party primary. In this way, we can operate to restore the trust in Kadima, she said, without mentioning Olmert by name.Opinion polls show Livni to be the party's most popular politician with the public but she faces stiff competition inside the party. Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter said Thursday he would seek the leadership and two other ministers, Shaul Mofaz and Meir Sheetrit, are also expected to join the fray. Political analyst Yaron Dekel said the constitution of the young party, formed in 2006 by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, had no specific formula for ousting a sitting leader. In Kadima, it is very hard to replace the prime minister — the party leader — there is no set procedure for his dismissal, he told Channel 1 TV. Olmert has not commented publicly about Talansky's testimony and has tried to maintain a business-as-usual appearance.

On Thursday, he hosted the Danish prime minister, and his office released a busy schedule of events for next week, including a trip to Washington to meet President Bush. The Justice Ministry said investigators are speeding up their corruption inquiry to try to conclude the case. Prosecutors are looking into possible bribery, campaign funding violations and money-laundering. There is an overriding public interest to wind this thing up quickly, Justice Ministry spokesman Moshe Cohen said. This is not a regular investigation.The outcome of this latest political crisis could have a profound effect on the fate of Israel's peacemaking with the Palestinians, and on talks with Syria, recently relaunched after breaking down eight years ago. Washington has been prodding Israel and the Palestinians to try to conclude a blueprint for a peace deal by the end of Bush's term in January. White House press secretary Dana Perino said Olmert's political trouble obviously takes up some oxygen when it comes to negotiating Mideast peace, but that it's a matter of internal Israeli politics. The State Department declined to speculate on the possible effect of a change in leadership in Israel on the U.S.-backed peace process.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he considers the matter an internal Israeli issue. But his aides have said they are worried about the effect Olmert's woes will have on peacemaking.

Turkey-mediated talks with Syria were only disclosed last week, and there has been no comment from Damascus on Olmert's troubles.

Livni: Rising star of Israel's troubled political establishment by Ron Bousso Thu May 29, 2:17 PM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who on Thursday challenged the Kadima party leadership of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, under investigation for alleged corruption, is seen as as rising political star and a contender to be its second woman leader. The 49-year-old lawyer, who defied her staunch nationalist background to become the number two in government and in the centrist Kadima, is today the most popular member of government.

She is seen as the strongest candidate to succeed Olmert as Kadima's head and enjoys high public approval ratings, though she still trails right-wing Likud party chief Benjamin Netanyahu in polls as a potential premier.Today Livni heads the peace negotiations with the Palestinians, launched late last year in a US conference, but which have since made little visible progress.She has met frequently with her US counterpart, Condoleezza Rice, on improving conditions for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, where she is committed to the creation of a Palestinian state but also ensuring Israel's security and fight against terror.The creation of a Palestinian state, of a Palestinian economy, is clearly in Israel's interests, and we share the Palestinians' desire, just as cracking down on terror is a Palestinian interest, Livni said, while attending a donors conference for the Palestinians in Paris in December.In April she took the rarely available opportunity of visiting an Arab country, attending a democracy forum in Qatar, where she lobbied for support against Iran's nuclear drive and urged Arab states to forge ties with Israel.Ironically, Livni was virtually born to be a luminary in Likud. Her Polish-born father Eitan was director of operations for the Irgun, the hardline nationalist group that fought British rule through World War II and was one of the main factions that later formed the Likud.Yet she was among the first ministers to join former premier Ariel Sharon in breaking with Likud before the March 2006 elections, becoming one of the new party's founders.With her mother Sarah also an Irgun militant, Tzipi was brought up steeped in the vision of a Greater Israel that would include what are now the Palestinian territories.

But under Sharon's tutelage she swung round to his conviction that the only way to preserve Israel as a Jewish state was to relinquish at least some of the land occupied in the 1967 Six-Day War.Livni was born in Tel Aviv on July 8, 1958. She received a law degree from Bar-Ilan University, and practiced law in a private firm for 10 years before entering public life. She specialised in commercial, constitutional and real estate law.An MP since 1999, she was appointed to the cabinet in March 2001, becoming minister of regional cooperation. She has since also held the agriculture, immigration and justice portfolios.Before following her father into politics, she worked in a commercial law partnership after four years in the legal section of the Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence service.She is married and has two children.

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.

In Paris, Putin details new role as prime minister By CHRISTINE OLLIVIER, Associated Press Writer MAY 30,08

PARIS - Vladimir Putin made his first major foray abroad as Russia's prime minister Thursday, insisting that managing the economy — rather than ensuring human rights are respected — is now his main job. While Putin is no longer Russia's president, he didn't hesitate to use a visit to Paris to address the issue of human rights, which he said was no longer part of his official bailiwick.Honoring protocol, Putin spoke to reporters with his French counterpart, Francois Fillon, before moving on for dinner with President Nicolas Sarkozy in the kind of event generally reserved for heads of state.Putin's trip to Paris, his first high-profile venture abroad in his new role, was likely to be scrutinized for signs of who's behind Russia's foreign policy now that his protege Dmitry Medvedev is in the president's seat.Putin used the chance to draw the line between their roles.The government handles the economy, he said. Dealing with human rights is the area of competency of the president, he said before raising questions about that issue in France.Concerns about the lack of human rights in Russia are strongly exaggerated. And in general, this theme is an instrument for pressure on Russia, he said, adding that any country has human rights problems.Let's take the example of, I don't know, the situation in prisons in France and other detention centers. Is everything OK there for you? Why don't we look into it? he said.

Fillon didn't contradict his guest. He instead noted how he was impressed by the breadth of reforms achieved in Russia since 1999, when Putin became president.We don't teach lessons to anybody, Fillon said.On the table were issues like energy, particularly nuclear, oil and gas. Europe's energy security comes first through calm, more confident relations between the European Union and Russia, Fillon said.Few clear signs have emerged about who will lead Russian foreign policy now that Putin's hand-picked successor Medvedev has taken over the Kremlin. Traditionally Russia's president holds that responsibility, but many expect Putin to retain a substantial say in policy as prime minister.

OIL INVESTIGATION
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8038179&ch=4226720&src=news

Oil prices fall to near $126 a barrel By THOMAS HOGUE, AP Business Writer MAY 30,08

BANGKOK, Thailand - Oil prices fell to near $126 a barrel Friday in Asia, extending a decline of more than $4 in the previous session despite a huge unexpected drop in U.S. crude oil stocks. The U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said delays in unloading oil tankers along the Gulf Coast had led to the 8.8 million-barrel drop in crude oil inventories for the week ended May 23. Analysts surveyed by Platts had expected a gain of 750,000 barrels. Usually such a discrepancy would send prices soaring.It was so unexpected that the majority of traders simply brushed it off ... as not a reliable indication, said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.It was such a deviation from expectations, so probably there was some problem in the reporting, he said, and traders were willing to accept the EIA explanation that it was a timing issue on imports.Traders instead focused on gains in the U.S. dollar, he said, which hit a three-month high against the yen overnight. In Asia currency trading in Tokyo, the dollar has held near 105.50 yen, while the euro is trading around $1.55.Investors who buy commodities such as oil as a hedge against inflation when the dollar is falling tend to sell when the greenback strengthens. Also, a stronger dollar makes oil more expensive to investors dealing in foreign currencies.

Midday in Singapore, light, sweet crude for July delivery was down 33 cents at $126.29 a barrel in electronic trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange.The contract fell $4.41 to settle at $126.62 a barrel overnight, the lowest settlement in two weeks and the biggest single-day price drop since March 19.The market has lost some attraction on the upside, Shum said.Concerns about U.S. gasoline demand also weighed on prices, with many investors and analysts expecting record high retail prices to continue to impinge on American driving habits.In Washington, meanwhile, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission revealed that it is six months into a wide-ranging investigation of U.S. oil markets, with a focus on possible price manipulation. The CFTC also announced a handful of initiatives designed to increase transparency of the energy futures markets.Disclosure of the investigation may have contributed to oil's declines, analysts said.In its weekly inventory report, the EIA also said gasoline supplies fell 3.2 million barrels. Analysts surveyed by energy research firm Platts had expected an increase of 400,000 barrels.But the EIA also offered a rare explanatory note on the Gulf Coast tanker problems, and Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago, said Gulf ports have closed many times in recent months due to fog.Also putting some weight on prices were supplies of distillates, including heating oil and diesel fuel, which the EIA said rose 1.6 million barrels last week, double what analysts had expected.In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures were flat at $3.6885 a gallon while gasoline prices dropped 0.92 cent to $3.395 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 2.6 cents to $11.50 per 1,000 cubic feet.In London, July Brent crude fell 33 cents to $126.56 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Israel names biblically banned Hoopoe national bird Thu May 29, 11:22 AM ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - It may not be kosher, but the Hoopoe was chosen Thursday as Israel's national bird. The Hoopoe, or Duchifat in Hebrew, is listed in the Old Testament as unclean and forbidden food for Jews.President Shimon Peres declared the pink, black and white-crested bird the winner of a competition timed to coincide with Israel's 60th anniversary. It beat out rivals such as the Yellow-vented Bulbul and the Palestine Sunbird.The Book of Leviticus groups the Hoopoe with birds such as the eagle, vulture and pelican that are abhorrent, not to be eaten.Israel is a main crossroads for birds migrating between Europe and Africa. Some 155,000 Israelis cast ballots in the national bird vote.(Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Julian Rake and Ibon Villelabeitia)