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.
Magnitude 7 quake shakes northern Japan, no tsunami; Some injuries JUNE 13,08
TOKYO — A powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked northern Japan early Saturday, swaying buildings, cutting electricity and stopping high-speed trains. News reports said a bridge collapsed, and some people were cut by broken glass.Authorities said two nuclear power plants in the area were not damaged and continued to operate normally, national broadcaster NHK reported. There was no danger of tsunami. NHK said electricity had been cut to about 2,500 households.The 8:43 a.m. quake was centred in the northern prefecture of Iwate about 450 kilometres north of Tokyo, and was located about 10 kilometres underground. It was felt as far away as the capital.A few items fell off the shelves, such as cosmetics and pottery tea cups, Minoru Takada, 41, manager of Seven-Eleven in Oshu, in Iwate prefecture, told The Associated Press. There wasn't any panic. I didn't see any ambulances running after the quake.
The meteorological agency issued a warning of a second quake, and a 5.6-magnitude aftershock hit the same area, but it was unclear whether the warning preceded the aftershock. Japan is experimenting with an earthquake warning system.Footage from the closest large city, Sendai, showed the force of the quake shook surveillance cameras for 30 seconds. NHK interviewed an official from Miyagi prefecture, where Sendai is located, who said he saw tiles coming off the roofs of some homes.It was scary. It was difficult to stand up, said Sachiko Sugihara, a convenience store worker in Oshu in a separate interview with NHK. The TV fell over and the refrigerator shook.Windows broke at a nursery school in the area and NHK said some teachers and children were injured, though it was unclear how seriously. Fire officials said they'd received reports of fallen rocks blocking roads, elevators stopping and one case of a bridge collapsing.
Sendai appeared largely unscathed.
So far we have not received any reports of damage or injuries. Everything is normal, Hideki Hara, a police official in Sendai, told the AP. Phone lines, water and electricity are all working right now.Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone areas in the world. The most recent major quake in Japan killed more than 6,400 people in the city of Kobe in January 1995.
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.
FIRST PERSON IOWA HOSPITAL EVACUATED
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RECORD BREAKING FLOODS
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FLOODING JUST A CATASTROPHY
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TO GO WITH THIS FLOODING, THE REPORTS SAID THERE WERE 70 TORNADO TOUCHDOWN REPORTS OVER THE LAST 3 DAYS.
Thousands flee as floods inundate U.S. Midwest cities
Officials in Iowa irritated at 100-year flood every 4 years
Friday, June 13, 2008 3:14 PM ET CBC News
Glenn Patton paddles a boat carrying belongings from his house before the mandatory evacuation of his street in Iowa City, Iowa. (Matthew Holst/Iowa City Press-Citizen/Associated Press)Officials in Des Moines, the state of Iowa's capital and largest city, issued voluntary evacuation orders Friday to people living downtown and near levees along the banks of the cresting Des Moines River.Days of heavy rain across the U.S. Midwest have swollen rivers in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kansas and Michigan. Thousands have already fled their homes before the surging flood waters.The Des Moines River was just centimetres below the tops of levees, officials said, while urging downtown businesses to shut and people living in flood-prone areas to move to higher ground.
Severe weather has plagued the state all this week.
A tornado struck a boy scout camp in central Iowa Wednesday, killing four people and forcing dozens to flee for their lives.On Thursday, the Cedar River in eastern Iowa poured over its banks. forcing the evacuation of more than 3,000 homes, causing a railroad bridge to collapse and leaving cars under water on downtown streets.
Officials estimated that 100 blocks were under water in the town of Cedar Rapids, where several days of sandbagging work could not hold back the rain-swollen river. Rescuers used boats to reach many stranded residents, and people could be seen dragging suitcases up closed highway exit ramps to escape the water.We're just kind of at God's mercy right now, so hopefully people that never prayed before this, it might be a good time to start, Linn County Sheriff Don Zeller said.Officials estimated that 3,200 homes were evacuated and some 8,000 residents displaced. Disabled and elderly residents of a downtown hospital and nursing home in downtown Cedar Rapids had to be moved by emergency crews, officials said.Residents were already steeling themselves for floods before storms late Wednesday and early Thursday brought up to 127 millimetres of rain across west central Iowa.
Unprecedented river levels
We are seeing a historic hydrological event taking place with unprecedented river levels occurring, said Brian Pierce, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Davenport.We're in uncharted territory. This is an event beyond what anybody could even imagine.Gov. Chet Culver has declared 55 of the state's 99 counties as state disaster areas.In Cedar Rapids, a city of about 124,000, flood waters downtown neared the top of stop signs and cars were nearly covered in water. It wasn't clear just how high the river had risen because a flood gauge was swept away by the swirling water.The surging river caused part of a railroad bridge and about 20 hopper cars loaded with rocks to collapse into the river. The cars had been positioned on the bridge in hopes of weighing it down against the rising water.Prisoners had to be moved from the jail in Linn County, which includes Cedar Rapids. The sheriff's office also was under water, Zeller said. Several emergency shelters were opened, and the city had closed all but one of its bridges over the Cedar River.I believe that this is God's way of doing things, and I've got insurance, so I'm not worried about it, said Tim Grimm, who was forced to leave his home in the city's Czech Village area.
We're having the 100-year flood every 4 years
At least two deaths are being reported in flood-related traffic accidents in neighbouring Minnesota, police said.In Austin, Minn., the Cedar River crested 2.3 metres above flood stage, slightly below a 2004 flood that caused major damage in the city.It seems like we're having the hundred-year flood every four years. It's absurd, said Mark Dulitz, who had 10 centimetres of water in his basement and a ring of sandbags around his house.The flood waters claimed the life of a man whose vehicle became submerged when the road washed out from under it just west of Austin.Flooding this week also caused damage across southern Wisconsin, where thunderstorms continued pounding the area on Thursday.Power was shut off to hundreds of people in the Wisconsin village of Avoca, west of Madison, and they were urged to leave their homes after the Wisconsin River and other streams flooded, said Chief Deputy Jon Pepper of the Iowa County sheriff's department.The weather service issued flash flood watches for southern Wisconsin with tornado watches in central and eastern areas. Several tornadoes briefly touched down, but no injuries were reported.
Missouri bracing itself, sandbagging
Violent thunderstorms Thursday night rattled Michigan's northern Lower Peninsula, where tornado watches and warnings were in effect.
Just southeast of Grand Rapids, Mich., crews pulled the body of a motorist from a car found drifting in the swollen Thornapple River. State police said they believe the 57-year-old man called on his cellphone, but didn't say what happened or where he was; they found him using global positioning equipment.People in several northern Missouri communities, meanwhile, were piling up sandbags to prepare for flooding in the Missouri River, expected to crest over the weekend, and a more significant rise in the Mississippi River expected next Wednesday.
Upper Midwest flooding forces evacuations By AMY LORENTZEN, Associated Press Writer JUNE 13,08
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Rising water from the Cedar River forced the evacuation of a downtown hospital Friday after residents of more than 3,000 homes fled for higher ground. A railroad bridge collapsed, and 400 city blocks were under water. In Des Moines, 100 miles to the southwest, officials issued a voluntary evacuation order for much of downtown and other areas bordering the Des Moines River. Mayor Frank Cownie said the evacuations were an attempt to err on the side of citizens and residents.Des Moines is Iowa's capital and largest city, with about 190,000 residents. But the hardest-hit was Cedar Rapids, a city of 124,000 people.Gov. Chet Culver declared 83 of the state's 99 counties to be state disaster areas, and nine rivers were at or above historic flood levels. Elsewhere in the upper Midwest, rivers and streams tipping their banks forced evacuations, closed roads, and even threatened drinking water.The hospital's 176 patients, including about 30 patients in a nursing home facility at the hospital, were being evacuated to other hospitals in the region. The evacuation started late Thursday night and continued Friday morning in the city of 124,000 residents.Some are frail and so it's a very delicate process with them, said Karen Vander Sanden, a hospital spokeswoman.
Water was seeping into the hospital's lower levels, where the emergency generator is located, said Dustin Hinrichs of the Linn County emergency operations center.They proactively and preventatively started evacuation basically guessing on the fact they were going to lose power, he said.Dave Koch, a spokesman for the Cedar Rapids fire department, said the river will crest Friday at about 31.8 feet. It was at 30.9 feet early in the morning. In a 1993 flood, considered the worst flood in recent history, it was at 19.27 feet.The weather conditions that triggered the floods were the same as those in 1993: hot air from a ridge of high pressure on the East Coast colliding with cooler air from the West Coast, according to Ken Kunkel, interim director of the Illinois Water Survey.Steve Hilberg, director of the Midwest Regional Climate Center in Champaign, Ill., says rain is expected through the weekend, but next week is expected to be sunny and dry.At least 438 city blocks in downtown Cedar Rapids were under water, Koch said. There was more flooding outside of downtown, but authorities don't know what widespread it is.Flooding also closed Interstate 80 from east of Iowa City to Davenport. The flooded Cedar River crosses the interstate in Cedar County, about 20 miles east of Iowa City.No deaths or serious injuries were reported in Iowa, but one man was killed in southern Minnesota after his car plunged from a washed-out road into floodwaters. Another person was rescued from a nearby vehicle in the town of Albert Lea.Just southeast of Grand Rapids, Mich., crews pulled the body of a motorist from a car found drifting in the swollen Thornapple River. State police said they believe the 57-year-old man called on his cell phone but didn't say what happened or where he was; they found him using global positioning equipment.Violent thunderstorms Thursday and Friday brought widespread flooding to Michigan's Lower Peninsula that authorities say left some roads and bridges unstable or impassable. Utilities said about 28,000 new power outages were reported Friday morning, in addition to about 36,000 customers who lost power in earlier storms.
In Wisconsin, amphibious vehicles that carry tourists on the Wisconsin River were used to evacuate homes and businesses in Baraboo, north of Madison. Hundreds of people lost power in Avoca, west of Madison, and were strongly encouraged to evacuate because of flooding of the Wisconsin River and other streams, said Chief Deputy Jon Pepper of the Iowa County Sheriff's Department.The rising Fond du Lac River forced hundreds from homes in Fond du Lac.
People in several northern Missouri communities, meanwhile, were piling up sandbags to prepare for flooding in the Missouri River, expected to crest over the weekend, and a more significant rise in the Mississippi River expected Wednesday. Des Moines officials recommended people leave parts of downtown on either side of the Des Moines River by 6 p.m. Friday. Included are all areas in Des Moines' 500-year floodplain. The alert was prompted by rising river levels expected to peak at 8 p.m. Friday. About 300 volunteers and members of the Iowa Army National Guard worked late Thursday into Friday to shore up a levee showing some soft spots north of downtown. The levee protects a neighborhood along the river.
Amtrak's California Zephyr line was suspended across Iowa because of flooding along the BNSF Railway. Despite all the water in Cedar Rapids, there was precious little for toilets, cleaning, or drinking. Koch said the city is at critical levels and only one well was operating. It was in a flood area protected by sandbags, and generators were pumping water away. Normally, the city has six or more functioning wells, he said. If we lost that one we would be in serious trouble. Basically we are using more water than we are producing, he said. We really need to reduce the amount of water we are using ... even using paper plates, hand sanitizer.Area hotels issued water warnings, including the Marriott Hotel, which issued a statement imploring guests to cut their usage and use water only for drinking. Any flushing of the toilet, running the sink, or showering should be kept to a minimum. We understand this is asking a lot, but anyway you may be able to assist us in this time of crisis would go a long way to avoid an even greater disaster.Other Midwestern cities faced similar shortages: Lawrenceville, Ill., a town of 4,600 people near the Indiana line, grappled for a second day Thursday with a broken water system that left businesses with no usable tap water, forcing them to close. AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this story.
Tornado watches issued in southern Manitoba
Friday, June 13, 2008 | 12:30 PM CT CBC News
Environment Canada issued tornado watches for a wide area of southern Manitoba, including Winnipeg, on Friday afternoon after a funnel cloud was spotted near St. Andrews.
Tornadoes: Taking cover
According to most weather authorities, your best option in the event of a tornado is to head for your basement.If you don't have one, get in a closet or small room near the centre of the building, away from windows or doors.Environment Canada suggests getting into the bathtub and covering yourself with a mattress. Otherwise, get underneath a sturdy piece of furniture which can help shield you from falling or flying debris.If you're caught outdoors or in a vehicle, find the nearest ditch and lie low with your head shielded by your arms.If you're in a mobile home, get out and find a permanent shelter (preferably with a basement) or find a ditch. According to Environment Canada, more than half of all tornado deaths occur in mobile homes.The watches were issued shortly after 11 a.m. for the province's southeast, from Portage la Prairie in the west to the Ontario border in the east, and from the Interlake to the U.S. border.A funnel cloud was seen near St.Andrews, Man., about 20 kilometres north of Winnipeg, around 11 a.m.. It lasted a few minutes and did not touch the ground.CBC meteorologist John Sauder said the funnel clouds are as a result of weak, single cell thunderstorms.They don't generally do a whole lot of damage, but we have to take them seriously because they can be destructive if they hit the wrong areas, he said. We want to be on the lookout for that for the rest of today, as these little single-cell thunderstorms move through.A tornado watch is issued when severe thunderstorms have developed and there is the possibility of one or more tornadoes developing. It is considered less urgent than a tornado warning, which is issued when tornadoes are occurring or are detected on radar.
During a watch, people should make a plan for what they will do if a tornado occurs, Environment Canada recommends. During a warning, they should take shelter.Brief, heavy rain showers and small hail may also occur with this weather system, Environment Canada said.
People who see funnels or tornadoes are encouraged to report them to Environment Canada at 1-800-239-0484, once it is safe to do so.
Quebecers left without power by storm get helping hand
Last Updated: Friday, June 13, 2008 | 1:20 PM ET CBC News
Nearly 5,000 Hydro-Québec clients were still waiting for power to be restored Friday, three days after a violent wind storm knocked out sections of the electric grid.The utility said about 3,900 of the affected households are in Longueuil, Saint-Lambert and Chambly, on the South Shore.Hydro-Québec said it may be the end of the weekend before power is restored to some clients, depending on their location.In the Eastern Townships, about 450 clients still don't have power after the storm.About 240 teams of technicians are working on restoring the grid.Tuesday's storm brought 110-kilometre-an-hour wind gusts, thunder and lightning, and dumped hail and heavy rain on the greater Montreal region and Quebec City.
Montreal's Champlain bridge was closed for several hours at the peak of the storm after strong winds overturned some trucks while others spun around and rear-ended cars.More than 250,000 people lost power during the storm. In some areas, neighbours banded together to help people stranded without electricity. Eva Shepherd, a Brossard resident, is running orange and yellow extension cords from her home on Bellerive Street to neighbours across the way.
Unfortunately, one side of our street does not have power and the other does, she explained Friday. Oddly enough. So we're helping our neighbours, by extending extension cords across the street, so they can use our electricity.Charles Lauzon lives on the other side of the street and can still use his fridge even though his power hasn't been restored. My neighbour in front here offered us the electricity, and it was so nice, he said. At least we can have the fridge connected.Lolita Rochon lives a few doors down from Lauzon. She said within hours of the storm hitting Tuesday, her neighbours were knocking at her door, offering to connect her to their outdoor outlet. It's amazing how people are generous in times like this, she said in French.
Town of High River urges caution as river crests
Thursday, June 12, 2008 | 10:44 AM MT CBC News
The town of High River, near Calgary, is urging people to stay well back from the Highwood River and to keep a close watch on kids and pets.Alberta Environment has issued a high stream flow advisory for the Highwood River. The river crested at 7:30 a.m. Thursday and is expected to remain high for some time because of snowmelt.The town of High River said Thursday that its drinking water remains safe. Still, it is asking residents to reduce the stress on the sewage lagoons by cutting back on their use of washing machines, dishwashers and showers. It is also asking residents to minimize the flushing of toilets.Meanwhile, flood watches remain in effect for Fish Creek, which has already overflowed its banks in some areas, and for Threepoint Creek near Millarville.High stream flow advisories are also still in effect for the Bow and Elbow Rivers through Calgary.
CALIFORNIA BURNING
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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.
IRISH PM DISAPPOINTED AT NO VOTE
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IRELAND SAYS NO
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Ireland rejects European Union reform treaty By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer JUNE 13,08
DUBLIN, Ireland - Ireland's voters have rejected the European Union reform treaty, a blueprint for modernizing the 27-nation bloc that cannot become law without Irish approval, electoral officials said Friday. In a major blow to the EU, 53.4 percent of Irish voters said no to the treaty. Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen now will join other EU leaders at a summit next week to try to negotiate a new way forward.Anti-treaty groups from the far left and right mobilized no voters by claiming that the treaty would empower EU chiefs in Brussels, Belgium, to force Ireland to change core policies — including its low business tax rates, its military neutrality and its ban on abortion.This is a very clear and loud voice that has been sent yet again by citizens of Europe rejecting the anti-democratic nature of Brussels governance, said Declan Ganley, leader of Libertas, the most prominent anti-treaty campaign group in Ireland.
The euro common currency fell to a one-month low on the news.
An EU constitution failed after French and Dutch voters rejected it in 2005. Ireland was the only member that subjected its would-be successor, the Lisbon Treaty, to a national vote. The Irish constitution requires all EU treaties to be ratified by referendum.
Ireland's minister for European affairs, Dick Roche, said the country was constitutionally barred from passing the treaty now. He predicted it would be difficult, if not impossible, for EU leaders to find a solution that would permit a second Irish referendum.As far as I'm concerned, this treaty is a dead letter, Roche said, adding that Ireland's voters have made life very difficult for us going out to Brussels. We are in completely uncharted territory here, a very strange position.In the EU's power base of Brussels and other European capitals, leaders vowed to complete ratification of the Lisbon Treaty through the governments of the other 26 members — even though, legally, the treaty cannot come into force because of the Irish rejection.At the major ballot-counting center in Dublin, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan struggled to speak to reporters as anti-treaty activists jubilantly drowned him out with songs and chants of No! He eventually gave up and walked out, as one activist waved a sign reading No to foreign rule over his head.
Rural and working-class areas were almost universally anti-treaty. Better-off parts of Dublin registered stronger support for the EU. In suburban south Dublin, a largely wealthy and highly educated district, the yes camp triumphed with 63 percent of the vote. But a neighboring, scruffier district voted 65 percent no.The Lisbon Treaty and the failed constitution before it sought to reshape EU powers and institutions in line with the bloc's rapid growth in size and population since 2004.Both documents proposed to strengthen the roles of the EU's president and foreign policy chief, reduce the areas where individual nations could veto policy changes and increase the powers of the European Parliament to scrutinize EU laws.Ireland views itself as a pro-EU state that has broadly benefited from 35 years of membership. Yet even here, a majority of voters appeared determined to register their opposition to the growth of a continental government that would erode Ireland's sense of independence.Anti-treaty pressure groups warned that the EU would use treaty powers to reduce Ireland's ability to control its own tax rates and maintain a ban on abortion. Such claims were vociferously rejected by the government and major opposition parties, all of whom campaigned for the treaty's ratification.People felt a convincing case for the treaty had not been made, and they felt hectored and bullied into supporting it while the wool was being pulled over their eyes, said Richard Boyd Barrett, leader of a hard-left pressure group called People Before Profit.
Nicolas Sarkozy plans to bypass Irish no vote
By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels 7:56 PM BST 13/06/2008
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, is working with European Union officials and diplomats to plan a special legal arrangement to bypass Ireland's referendum rejection. Mr Sarkozy takes over the EU's rotating presidency in July and will be tasked with resurrecting, for a second time, Lisbon Treaty proposals first contained in the European Constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters three years ago.Diplomats and officials have no intention of letting the Irish no vote sink a blueprint to boost the EU's powers on the international stage and to create a President of Europe.
Gordon Brown has already phoned Paris to promise Mr Sarkozy that Britain will ignore Ireland to continue parliamentary ratification of the EU Treaty.Jean-Pierre Jouyet, the French Europe Minister, has hinted that Paris already has a legal fix, such as plans revealed in The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday, to keep the EU Treaty alive.The most important thing is that the ratification process must continue in the other countries and then we shall see with the Irish what type of legal arrangement could be found, he said.We must remain within the framework of the Lisbon treaty.Eight countries are still engaged in parliamentary ratification of the Treaty but are expected to have finished, without any upsets by the autumn.Plans to find a mechanism keeping Ireland within the EU but temporarily outside the Lisbon Treaty will then be tabled at an October or December meeting of Europe's leaders.Ireland must not stop the process of getting the Treaty through. Then we can take stock, said a diplomat close to negotiations.Mr Brown will join Mr Sarkozy and other EU leaders at a Brussels summit next Thursday to vow that it is business as usual on pushing the Treaty through.
Brian Cowen, the Irish Taoiseach, is expected to support the calls for ratification to continue in other countries and to plead that Ireland is not left behind.But the British Prime Minister will face strong domestic calls for Parliament's ratification of the Treaty to be halted.The Conservatives will revive demands for a British referendum as a ICM poll yesterday found that Britons would vote against the Lisbon Treaty by 51 per cent to 28 per cent.Neil O'Brien, Director of Open Europe, said: The argument for a referendum in Britain is now overwhelming. Europe's political establishment plan to carry on regardless. Only a referendum in Britain can finally kill this thing off.Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, argued that the EU must honour the Irish vote, the only referendum to place on the Treaty in the EU's 27 member states.I suspect that the EU extremists will simply try to ignore it as they did the French and Dutch results, he said.The third reading of the treaty in the House of Lords next week must be halted because the project now has no legitimacy.There are advanced plans in Brussels for a bridging mechanism to allow Ireland to be removed from the list of signatories to the Lisbon Treaty after the EU's 26 other member states have ratified it.Ireland will continue to remain in the euro and be covered by existing Treaties but will be left out of the creation of an EU president and foreign minister, which would proceed as planned.By late 2009 or early 2010, when Croatia joins the EU, an amending Accession Treaty will be signed by all members including Dublin. Incorporated into it would be a series of protocol texts giving paper opt-outs on controversial Irish EU issues, such as taxation powers or greater military co-operation.Ireland, like the rest of the Europe, does not hold referendums on EU enlargement treaties and with new protocol opt-outs Dublin may get the Treaty past the Irish parliament without another popular vote.
SIGNS IN THE SUN, MOON AND STARS
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
NASA LOOKS AT SHUTTLE RUDDER
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Astronauts spot object floating from shuttle, NASA not worried JUNE 13,08
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Astronauts on the space shuttle Discovery spotted an unidentified object floating behind the craft as well as a bump on the shuttle rudder on Friday but neither was cause for concern, NASA said. After carrying out routine testing the day before Discovery is due to land back on Earth on Saturday, the crew indicated they had seen a 1-1.5-foot (30-45 centimeter) long rectangular object floating away from the shuttle from behind the rear portion of the right wing, the US space agency said.Shortly afterwards, the crew described what they called a bump on the left side trailing edge of Discovery's rudder, it said in a statement.
NASA experts back on Earth studied images and video of both the object and the bump but concluded that they posed no risk and Discovery was ship-shape for Saturday's landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.The object could be one of three clips from inside the rudder speed brake, William Jeffs, a spokesman at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, told AFP, adding that the loss of one would not be a concern for entry or landing.Mission control said on NASA TV that a bump spotted on the shuttle's rudder was also a typical protrusion and is of no concern.
There was the chance that any object floating away from the shuttle could be a part of the spacecraft that had broken off.The crew was told a short time ago that there are no concerns for entry and landing, that those clips only serve to protect the speed brake from the flow of heating during ascent, mission control said.So with Discovery declared ship-shape for its homecoming to the Kennedy Space Center tomorrow and with the weather appearing very favorable, we press ahead on this day before landing.Discovery commander Mark Kelly, speaking on NASA TV from the shuttle, admitted the seven-person crew had initial concerns when they saw the object floating past them but were reassured by news that it was a clip.We've seen these things come off before, he said, adding: It is no worry at all, it has no effect on re-entry and Discovery is in great shape.We have some stuff to do tonight like put up the seats, and get out our suits and the parachutes on the seats... and then we'll be ready to go tomorrow morning.After 14 days in space, Discovery undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday about 344 kilometers (214 miles) above the South Pacific east of Australia, and began preparing for its return to Earth.One of the shuttle's main purposes was to deliver, open and outfit the 11.2-meter long, 4.4-meter wide main module of the Japanese Kibo laboratory. The mission also included three spacewalks.In addition, Discovery brought a new crew member to the ISS, Greg Chamitoff, who replaced fellow American astronaut Garrett Reisman.Reisman is returning to Earth after a three-month stint at the outpost, and told NASA TV on Friday that he was primarily looking forward to being back home, sleeping in my own bed -- and using my own toilet.The only toilet at the International Space Station began to fail just before Discovery's launch, and spare parts were sent up on the shuttle to repair it.Reisman said the spacewalk was one of the best things he had done while at the ISS, and also described the incredible views from space, in particular one of the United States at night as a weather front moved across the country.
The thunderstorms had this electric blue light like a disco or something, and around it was the warm glow of all the city lights. It was absolutely spectacular, he said. NASA hopes to complete construction of the space station by 2010, viewing it as a central part of space exploration ambitions because it allows scientists to study the effects of microgravity on humans.
Israel to build 1,300 new settler homes in Jerusalem by Stephen Myles JUNE 13,08
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel announced on Friday its second settlement project in occupied east Jerusalem this month, enraging Palestinians and drawing criticism from Washington just ahead of a US visit aimed at rescuing the stalemated peace process. Jerusalem municipality confirmed a report in Haaretz newspaper that the green light had been given for 1,300 new homes for Jewish settlers in the annexed east of the city.The houses will be built in Ramat Shlomo where there are already 2,000 settler homes, Haaretz reported.The paper said the decision to proceed was taken on Tuesday by the Jerusalem urban planning commission, which reports to the interior ministry.Haaretz called it one of the most ambitious expansion plans for settler homes in east Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and whose annexation is not recognised by the international community.Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat expressed outrage at the decision.We firmly condemn this project which reveals the Israeli government's intention to destroy peace, Erakat told AFP.The international community must make Israel stop its settlement activity if it wants to give peace negotiations a chance.In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said we understand this kind of activity does not help the atmosphere between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
He was speaking a day before Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due in Jerusalem to try to help revive the moribund peace process, under which Israel has committed itself to freezing settlement activities.We have made our views clear about settlement activity and the Israelis abiding by their roadmap commitments, McCormack added.
The new project will nearly double the number of homes in Ramat Shlomo.These 2,000 housing units intended for young couples and those currently in poor housing are an absolute necessity, municipality spokesman Gidi Schmerling said in a statement.The settlement requested permits for close to 2,000 units, but so far 1,300 have been approved, Schmerling added.On June 2, after Israel announced plans to construct 884 more houses in east Jerusalem, the White House warned that building such settlements exacerbates the tensions with the Palestinians.UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also said he was deeply concerned at the move which is contrary to international law.The Palestinians have demanded east Jerusalem as the capital of a promised state and have repeatedly called the expansion of settlements the greatest obstacle to a final peace deal.Little progress has been made in the negotiations so far, with the thorny settlements issue one of the major bones of contention as well as continuing violence in and around the Gaza Strip. In Paris on Friday, US President George W Bush said he remained confident a Middle East peace deal could be reached in 2008. I firmly believe that, with leadership and courage, a peace agreement is possible this year, he said in a speech at the headquarters of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Israel wants to retain large settlements in the occupied West Bank in the event of a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Despite international calls to freeze all settlement activity in a bid to speed up peace efforts, Israel has in recent months announced major construction projects in east Jerusalem and elsewhere in the West Bank. In a graphic illustration of the sensitivity of the issue, the BBC has broadcast video footage of what Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem says was an attack by masked Jewish settlers on a Palestinian shepherd. Police on Friday said an investigation into the alleged attack has been launched, but that they had yet to make arrests. The footage shows men brandishing baseball bats who are alleged to have beaten the elderly shepherd and his wife outside the occupied West Bank town of Hebron.
AMERICA (POLITICAL BABYLON)
EZEKIEL 39:21
21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
ISAIAH 18:1-2
1 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!
JEREMIAH 50:11,37,12
11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;(BACKSLIDERS)
37 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.(A NATION OF MINGLED PEOPLE)
12 Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed:(MOTHER ENGLAND) behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
JEREMIAH 51:13,7,53
13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.
7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.
REVELATION 18:3,5,7
3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
JEREMIAH 50:3,24
3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD. (RUSSIA A SNEAK ATTACK)
REVELATION 18:10
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
US criticises new Israeli settlement for east Jerusalem Fri Jun 13, 12:48 PM ET
PARIS (AFP) - The United States reiterated Friday that Jewish settlements undermined Israeli-Palestinian ties after Israel announced a second project for settler homes in east Jerusalem. We have made our views clear about settlement activity and the Israelis abiding by their road map commitments, said US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.We understand this kind of activity does not help the atmosphere between the Israelis and the Palestinians, he said.US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was accompanying President George W. Bush during his visit to Paris on Friday and was due to travel late Saturday to Jerusalem for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.Jerusalem's municipality on Friday said the green light had been given for 1,300 new homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied and annexed east of the city.
But the US spokesman added: It is important to keep the focus on the task ahead as Rice prepared for meetings.The Palestinians have said they want east Jerusalem as the capital of a promised state and have repeatedly called the expansion of settlements the greatest obstacle to a final peace deal.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
IRELAND LISBON TREATY VOTE FRI
EU TREATY STORY AT 6 IN MORNING JUNE 13,08.
Irish Referendum Count Starts, Deciding Treaty Fate (Update3) By Fergal O'Brien
June 13 (Bloomberg) -- Counting began today in an Irish referendum that will decide the fate of a new European Union governing treaty designed to boost the political clout of the 27- nation bloc.
Officials in Ireland's 43 constituencies started totaling votes at 9a.m. and returning officers expect the result by late afternoon. Early tallies showed opponents leading supporters by as much as 60 percent to 40 percent in some districts, state broadcaster RTE reported. Seven years after Ireland rejected, then ratified, the EU's Nice Treaty, all of Europe is watching the country again. Turnout may determine whether Ireland dooms the new blueprint for the bloc of almost 500 million people or puts Europe on the road to closer political union. The history on EU referenda is that No voters are more determined voters, said Noel Whelan, an attorney and former adviser to the ruling Fianna Fail party. The big difference between the first and second Nice votes was about half a million additional voters went to vote and almost all voted yes.
Turnout was about 50 percent, the Irish Times reported, without citing anyone, while state broadcaster RTE said turnout was in the low to mid-40s percentage range. That compares with the 49.5 percent turnout in the second Nice referendum in 2002, when that treaty was passed. Around 3.05 million people were registered to vote in Ireland yesterday, according to the electoral register.
Requirement
Ireland is the only EU state putting the Lisbon Treaty to a popular ballot because it was required under the constitution. All other members are ratifying the accord through national parliaments -- 18 have already done so -- and unanimous support is needed. The treaty replaces the European constitution that was killed by French and Dutch voters in 2005. The treaty had the backing of all the main political parties in Ireland, and a defeat would be an early setback for Prime Minister Brian Cowen, who replaced Bertie Ahern a month ago. The former finance minister emphasized the benefits of Ireland's 35 years of EU membership and had described the vote as an issue of national importance.Even Pope Benedict XVI intervened to urge closer European integration, this week describing the 6th-century Irish missionary Saint Columbanus as one of the fathers of Europe, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported yesterday.
Growing Opposition
Opposition to the treaty increased in the weeks before the ballot, polls indicated. An Irish Times/TNS MRBI poll published June 6 gave opponents a lead for the first time, 35 percent to 30 percent. A poll published by the Sunday Business Post two days later showed supporters leading by 42 percent to 39 percent, within the margin of error, with 19 percent undecided. Opponents, which include political parties Sinn Fein and the Socialists, and Libertas, a privately funded group set up to fight the treaty, argue the 277-page accord weakens Ireland's voice by failing to guarantee it a spot on the European Commission, undermines national control of taxes and removes a veto in agriculture and trade talks. Supporters call these claims misleading. In a bid to rally support, Cowen held a press conference with the leaders of Fine Gael and Labour, the largest opposition parties, three days before the ballot. To win the backing of farming organizations, he said he would use Ireland's veto in trade talks if the deal was unacceptable, days after his foreign minister said it was too early to be threatening vetoes. Overall, a rejection of the treaty is unlikely to blot the economic landscape in Ireland or Europe, said Alan McQuaid, chief economist at Bloxham Stockbrokers in Dublin. But the optics are important to external audiences, especially as Ireland has marketed itself to overseas investors as very much being part of Europe.To contact the reporters on this story: Fergal O'Brien in Dublin at fobrien@bloomberg.net
UPDATE AT 1 PM EDT. I NEVER THOUGHT THE NO VOTE WOULD WIN, THIS MIGHT THROW THE EU INTO A TWO SPEED EUROPE NOW WITH THIRTEEN COUNTRIES BEING THE MAIN TEER AND THE REST ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. SOMEHOW THE POST OF EU PRESIDENT WILL STAND, BUT RIGHT NOW I DON"T KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT WITH THIS NO VOTE.
Ireland rejects EU reform treaty with 53.4 percent no vote
38 minutes ago JUNE 13,08
DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) — Electoral officials say Irish voters have rejected the European Union reform treaty with a national No vote of 53.4 percent.The blueprint for modernizing the 27-nation bloc cannot become law without Irish approval and its defeat is a major blow to the EU.Rural and working-class voters heavily rejected the treaty to modernize the EU's powers and institutions in line with its rapid expansion since 2004.Ireland was the only EU member to seek to ratify the Lisbon Treaty through a national referendum. All others are doing so only through their national governments.Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen will join other EU leaders at a summit next week to try to negotiate a new way forward.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) — Substantial election returns showed Friday that Ireland's voters have rejected the European Union reform treaty, a blueprint for modernizing the 27-nation bloc that cannot become law without Irish approval.Several senior Irish government figures conceded defeat for the treaty, which would be a major blow to the EU.An EU constitution failed after French and Dutch voters rejected it in 2005. Ireland was the only member that subjected its would-be successor, the Lisbon Treaty, to a national vote. The Irish constitution requires all EU treaties to be ratified by referendum.Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said he expected all other 26 EU members to ratify the Lisbon Treaty through their national parliaments by the end of this year.This would leave Ireland diplomatically isolated but nonetheless wielding the power to prevent the treaty from becoming law and forcing a period of renewed negotiations.Obviously it's disappointing. It's quite clear there's a very substantial `no' vote, said Ahern, who noted that 58 percent of voters rejected the treaty in his home district.If we're left as the only country that has not ratified the treaty, it will obviously raise questions. We're in uncharted waters, he said.
National vote tallies compiled by election observers and backed by early official returns from Thursday's vote showed the no camp winning the vast majority of Ireland's 43 electoral constituencies.
This is a huge rebuff to the political establishment. It shows there is massive distrust among ordinary working people, said Joe Higgins, the sole Socialist Party member in the Irish parliament.
At the major ballot-counting center in Dublin, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan struggled to speak to reporters as anti-treaty activists jubilantly drowned him out with songs and chants of No! He eventually gave up and walked out, as one activist waved a sign reading No to foreign rule over his head.The pro-treaty vote was ahead in only half a dozen constituencies.Rural and working-class areas were almost universally anti-treaty. Better-off parts of Dublin registered stronger support for the EU. In suburban south Dublin, a largely wealthy and highly educated district, the yes camp triumphed with 63 percent of the vote. But a neighboring, scruffier district voted 65 percent no.Electoral officials expected to announce the total results later Friday. The euro common currency fell to a one-month low on the news.The Lisbon Treaty and the failed constitution before it sought to reshape EU powers and institutions in line with the bloc's rapid growth in size and population since 2004.
Both documents proposed to strengthen the roles of the EU's president and foreign policy chief, reduce the areas where individual nations could veto policy changes and increase the powers of the European Parliament to scrutinize EU laws.Ireland views itself as a pro-EU state that has broadly benefited from 35 years of membership. Yet even here, a majority of voters appeared determined to register their opposition to the growth of a continental government that would erode Ireland's sense of independence.Anti-treaty pressure groups warned that the EU would use treaty powers to reduce Ireland's ability to control its own tax rates and maintain a ban on abortion. Such claims were vociferously rejected by the government and major opposition parties, all of whom campaigned for the treaty's ratification.
People felt a convincing case for the treaty had not been made, and they felt hectored and bullied into supporting it while the wool was being pulled over their eyes, said Richard Boyd Barrett, leader of a hard-left pressure group called People Before Profit.
EU referendum: Gordon Brown under pressure to ditch Lisbon Treaty after Ireland's no vote By Tom Peterkin 5:57PM BST 13/06/2008
Gordon Brown is under intense pressure to declare that the Lisbon Treaty is dead after it was rejected by Irish voters, throwing plans for European integration into chaos. 13 Jun 08: Telegraph writer and SE England MEP Daniel Hannan has congratulated the Irish for voting 'no' to implementing the controversial EU Lisbon Treaty. ; http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1488655367/bctid1606750380 http://www.brightcove.com/channel.jsp?channel=1139053637
The Treaty was rejected by 53.4 per cent of Irish voters in a decision which has far-reaching implications for Europe and threatens to kill the pact. A vigorous No campaign overcame the Irish political establishment to undermine the Treaty, which replaced the highly controversial European Constitution and was supposed to streamline an enlarged EU. For the treaty to come into force in January 2009, it had to be ratified by all 27 member states, a law that placed its fate in the hands of Ireland, as the only country to hold a referendum on the issue. The result was greeted with delight by Eurosceptics, who have argued that a referendum ought to be held in Britain. In its 2005 General Election manifesto, Labour promised to go to the people on the European Constitution. The Government reneged on that commitment after the Constitution was thrown out by the French and the Dutch and was superseded by the Lisbon Treaty. David Heathcoat-Amory, the Conservative MP, said: The Lisbon Treaty is dead.On BBC Radio 4's World At One, Mr Heathcoat-Amory added: Of course, (ratification) must be halted. The Bill before the British Parliament must be withdrawn because under the European Union's own laws this cannot proceed now. The Lisbon Treaty is dead. When the French and Dutch voted no in 2005 the British Government did halt that particular Bill.
If they don't do the same this time it'll be quite clearly because they want to put pressure on Ireland and the people of Ireland to change their mind.But reacting to the result, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso still called on other members states to ratify the treaty. I believe the treaty is alive and we should now try to find a solution, he insisted in Brussels. The Irish government and the governments of the other member states will now need to assess what this result means for the process. The treaty was signed by all 27 member states, so there is a joint responsibility to address the situation.The result was a humiliation for Brian Cowen, the newly appointed Irish Prime Minister, who has to travel to Brussels next week for the European Council leaders' summit. There he will have to explain why a country with an electorate of only 2.8 million has managed to thwart a document affecting the lives of the EU's 495 million citizens. Mr Cowen's Fianna Fail party joined forces with Ireland's main parties, apart from Sinn Fein, to fight for the yes vote that would have ratified an agreement that the Irish Government helped to negotiate. With Ireland's Celtic Tiger economy having benefited from £32 billion in EU grants, some Europhiles might suggest the result was produced by an ungrateful nation. But a No Campaign masterminded by the Libertas Group led by Declan Ganley highlighted fears that the Treaty would undermine Ireland's influence in Europe, would open the door to interference in taxation and enshrine EU law above Irish law. Mr Ganley said: The No result is the final answer on this particular Treaty. That's democracy. That's how it works. This was such a bad deal for Ireland and all of Europe and people knew that.Campaigners also claimed that Ireland's treasured neutrality and its stance on abortion would also be affected by the Treaty, assertions that were disputed by the Yes Camp. An indication of the intensity of the emotions came when Brian Lenihan arrived at the main Dublin count. There he struggled to make himself heard as he encountered campaigners chanting no. Attempting to address reporters, he eventually gave up and walked out, as one activist waved a sign reading No to foreign rule over his head.
Irish Referendum Count Starts, Deciding Treaty Fate (Update3) By Fergal O'Brien
June 13 (Bloomberg) -- Counting began today in an Irish referendum that will decide the fate of a new European Union governing treaty designed to boost the political clout of the 27- nation bloc.
Officials in Ireland's 43 constituencies started totaling votes at 9a.m. and returning officers expect the result by late afternoon. Early tallies showed opponents leading supporters by as much as 60 percent to 40 percent in some districts, state broadcaster RTE reported. Seven years after Ireland rejected, then ratified, the EU's Nice Treaty, all of Europe is watching the country again. Turnout may determine whether Ireland dooms the new blueprint for the bloc of almost 500 million people or puts Europe on the road to closer political union. The history on EU referenda is that No voters are more determined voters, said Noel Whelan, an attorney and former adviser to the ruling Fianna Fail party. The big difference between the first and second Nice votes was about half a million additional voters went to vote and almost all voted yes.
Turnout was about 50 percent, the Irish Times reported, without citing anyone, while state broadcaster RTE said turnout was in the low to mid-40s percentage range. That compares with the 49.5 percent turnout in the second Nice referendum in 2002, when that treaty was passed. Around 3.05 million people were registered to vote in Ireland yesterday, according to the electoral register.
Requirement
Ireland is the only EU state putting the Lisbon Treaty to a popular ballot because it was required under the constitution. All other members are ratifying the accord through national parliaments -- 18 have already done so -- and unanimous support is needed. The treaty replaces the European constitution that was killed by French and Dutch voters in 2005. The treaty had the backing of all the main political parties in Ireland, and a defeat would be an early setback for Prime Minister Brian Cowen, who replaced Bertie Ahern a month ago. The former finance minister emphasized the benefits of Ireland's 35 years of EU membership and had described the vote as an issue of national importance.Even Pope Benedict XVI intervened to urge closer European integration, this week describing the 6th-century Irish missionary Saint Columbanus as one of the fathers of Europe, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported yesterday.
Growing Opposition
Opposition to the treaty increased in the weeks before the ballot, polls indicated. An Irish Times/TNS MRBI poll published June 6 gave opponents a lead for the first time, 35 percent to 30 percent. A poll published by the Sunday Business Post two days later showed supporters leading by 42 percent to 39 percent, within the margin of error, with 19 percent undecided. Opponents, which include political parties Sinn Fein and the Socialists, and Libertas, a privately funded group set up to fight the treaty, argue the 277-page accord weakens Ireland's voice by failing to guarantee it a spot on the European Commission, undermines national control of taxes and removes a veto in agriculture and trade talks. Supporters call these claims misleading. In a bid to rally support, Cowen held a press conference with the leaders of Fine Gael and Labour, the largest opposition parties, three days before the ballot. To win the backing of farming organizations, he said he would use Ireland's veto in trade talks if the deal was unacceptable, days after his foreign minister said it was too early to be threatening vetoes. Overall, a rejection of the treaty is unlikely to blot the economic landscape in Ireland or Europe, said Alan McQuaid, chief economist at Bloxham Stockbrokers in Dublin. But the optics are important to external audiences, especially as Ireland has marketed itself to overseas investors as very much being part of Europe.To contact the reporters on this story: Fergal O'Brien in Dublin at fobrien@bloomberg.net
UPDATE AT 1 PM EDT. I NEVER THOUGHT THE NO VOTE WOULD WIN, THIS MIGHT THROW THE EU INTO A TWO SPEED EUROPE NOW WITH THIRTEEN COUNTRIES BEING THE MAIN TEER AND THE REST ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. SOMEHOW THE POST OF EU PRESIDENT WILL STAND, BUT RIGHT NOW I DON"T KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT WITH THIS NO VOTE.
Ireland rejects EU reform treaty with 53.4 percent no vote
38 minutes ago JUNE 13,08
DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) — Electoral officials say Irish voters have rejected the European Union reform treaty with a national No vote of 53.4 percent.The blueprint for modernizing the 27-nation bloc cannot become law without Irish approval and its defeat is a major blow to the EU.Rural and working-class voters heavily rejected the treaty to modernize the EU's powers and institutions in line with its rapid expansion since 2004.Ireland was the only EU member to seek to ratify the Lisbon Treaty through a national referendum. All others are doing so only through their national governments.Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen will join other EU leaders at a summit next week to try to negotiate a new way forward.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) — Substantial election returns showed Friday that Ireland's voters have rejected the European Union reform treaty, a blueprint for modernizing the 27-nation bloc that cannot become law without Irish approval.Several senior Irish government figures conceded defeat for the treaty, which would be a major blow to the EU.An EU constitution failed after French and Dutch voters rejected it in 2005. Ireland was the only member that subjected its would-be successor, the Lisbon Treaty, to a national vote. The Irish constitution requires all EU treaties to be ratified by referendum.Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said he expected all other 26 EU members to ratify the Lisbon Treaty through their national parliaments by the end of this year.This would leave Ireland diplomatically isolated but nonetheless wielding the power to prevent the treaty from becoming law and forcing a period of renewed negotiations.Obviously it's disappointing. It's quite clear there's a very substantial `no' vote, said Ahern, who noted that 58 percent of voters rejected the treaty in his home district.If we're left as the only country that has not ratified the treaty, it will obviously raise questions. We're in uncharted waters, he said.
National vote tallies compiled by election observers and backed by early official returns from Thursday's vote showed the no camp winning the vast majority of Ireland's 43 electoral constituencies.
This is a huge rebuff to the political establishment. It shows there is massive distrust among ordinary working people, said Joe Higgins, the sole Socialist Party member in the Irish parliament.
At the major ballot-counting center in Dublin, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan struggled to speak to reporters as anti-treaty activists jubilantly drowned him out with songs and chants of No! He eventually gave up and walked out, as one activist waved a sign reading No to foreign rule over his head.The pro-treaty vote was ahead in only half a dozen constituencies.Rural and working-class areas were almost universally anti-treaty. Better-off parts of Dublin registered stronger support for the EU. In suburban south Dublin, a largely wealthy and highly educated district, the yes camp triumphed with 63 percent of the vote. But a neighboring, scruffier district voted 65 percent no.Electoral officials expected to announce the total results later Friday. The euro common currency fell to a one-month low on the news.The Lisbon Treaty and the failed constitution before it sought to reshape EU powers and institutions in line with the bloc's rapid growth in size and population since 2004.
Both documents proposed to strengthen the roles of the EU's president and foreign policy chief, reduce the areas where individual nations could veto policy changes and increase the powers of the European Parliament to scrutinize EU laws.Ireland views itself as a pro-EU state that has broadly benefited from 35 years of membership. Yet even here, a majority of voters appeared determined to register their opposition to the growth of a continental government that would erode Ireland's sense of independence.Anti-treaty pressure groups warned that the EU would use treaty powers to reduce Ireland's ability to control its own tax rates and maintain a ban on abortion. Such claims were vociferously rejected by the government and major opposition parties, all of whom campaigned for the treaty's ratification.
People felt a convincing case for the treaty had not been made, and they felt hectored and bullied into supporting it while the wool was being pulled over their eyes, said Richard Boyd Barrett, leader of a hard-left pressure group called People Before Profit.
EU referendum: Gordon Brown under pressure to ditch Lisbon Treaty after Ireland's no vote By Tom Peterkin 5:57PM BST 13/06/2008
Gordon Brown is under intense pressure to declare that the Lisbon Treaty is dead after it was rejected by Irish voters, throwing plans for European integration into chaos. 13 Jun 08: Telegraph writer and SE England MEP Daniel Hannan has congratulated the Irish for voting 'no' to implementing the controversial EU Lisbon Treaty. ; http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1488655367/bctid1606750380 http://www.brightcove.com/channel.jsp?channel=1139053637
The Treaty was rejected by 53.4 per cent of Irish voters in a decision which has far-reaching implications for Europe and threatens to kill the pact. A vigorous No campaign overcame the Irish political establishment to undermine the Treaty, which replaced the highly controversial European Constitution and was supposed to streamline an enlarged EU. For the treaty to come into force in January 2009, it had to be ratified by all 27 member states, a law that placed its fate in the hands of Ireland, as the only country to hold a referendum on the issue. The result was greeted with delight by Eurosceptics, who have argued that a referendum ought to be held in Britain. In its 2005 General Election manifesto, Labour promised to go to the people on the European Constitution. The Government reneged on that commitment after the Constitution was thrown out by the French and the Dutch and was superseded by the Lisbon Treaty. David Heathcoat-Amory, the Conservative MP, said: The Lisbon Treaty is dead.On BBC Radio 4's World At One, Mr Heathcoat-Amory added: Of course, (ratification) must be halted. The Bill before the British Parliament must be withdrawn because under the European Union's own laws this cannot proceed now. The Lisbon Treaty is dead. When the French and Dutch voted no in 2005 the British Government did halt that particular Bill.
If they don't do the same this time it'll be quite clearly because they want to put pressure on Ireland and the people of Ireland to change their mind.But reacting to the result, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso still called on other members states to ratify the treaty. I believe the treaty is alive and we should now try to find a solution, he insisted in Brussels. The Irish government and the governments of the other member states will now need to assess what this result means for the process. The treaty was signed by all 27 member states, so there is a joint responsibility to address the situation.The result was a humiliation for Brian Cowen, the newly appointed Irish Prime Minister, who has to travel to Brussels next week for the European Council leaders' summit. There he will have to explain why a country with an electorate of only 2.8 million has managed to thwart a document affecting the lives of the EU's 495 million citizens. Mr Cowen's Fianna Fail party joined forces with Ireland's main parties, apart from Sinn Fein, to fight for the yes vote that would have ratified an agreement that the Irish Government helped to negotiate. With Ireland's Celtic Tiger economy having benefited from £32 billion in EU grants, some Europhiles might suggest the result was produced by an ungrateful nation. But a No Campaign masterminded by the Libertas Group led by Declan Ganley highlighted fears that the Treaty would undermine Ireland's influence in Europe, would open the door to interference in taxation and enshrine EU law above Irish law. Mr Ganley said: The No result is the final answer on this particular Treaty. That's democracy. That's how it works. This was such a bad deal for Ireland and all of Europe and people knew that.Campaigners also claimed that Ireland's treasured neutrality and its stance on abortion would also be affected by the Treaty, assertions that were disputed by the Yes Camp. An indication of the intensity of the emotions came when Brian Lenihan arrived at the main Dublin count. There he struggled to make himself heard as he encountered campaigners chanting no. Attempting to address reporters, he eventually gave up and walked out, as one activist waved a sign reading No to foreign rule over his head.
4 SCOUTS KILLED BY TORNADO
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.
FLOODS OVERWELM CEDAR RAPIDS
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TEEN DESCRIBES TORNADO THAT KILLED 4
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Cedar Rapids struggles to endure historic flood By AMY LORENTZEN, Associated Press Writer JUNE 12,08
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - The Cedar River poured over its banks here Thursday, forcing the evacuation of more than 3,000 homes, causing a railroad bridge to collapse and leaving cars underwater on downtown streets. Officials estimated that 100 blocks were underwater in Cedar Rapids, where several days of preparation could not hold back the rain-swollen river. Rescuers had to use boats to reach many stranded residents, and people could be seen dragging suitcases up closed highway exit ramps to escape the water.We're just kind of at God's mercy right now, so hopefully people that never prayed before this, it might be a good time to start, Linn County Sheriff Don Zeller said. We're going to need a lot of prayers and people are going to need a lot of patience and understanding.About 3,200 homes were evacuated and some 8,000 residents displaced, officials estimated.Days of heavy rain across the state have sent nine rivers across Iowa at or above historic flood levels. Residents were already steeling themselves for floods before storms late Wednesday and early Thursday brought up to 5 inches of rain across west central Iowa.
We are seeing a historic hydrological event taking place with unprecedented river levels occurring, said Brian Pierce, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Davenport. We're in uncharted territory — this is an event beyond what anybody could even imagine.Gov. Chet Culver has declared 55 of the state's 99 counties as state disaster areas.No deaths or serious injuries were reported in Iowa, but one man was killed in southern Minnesota after his car plunged from a washed-out road into floodwaters. Another person was rescued from a nearby vehicle in the town of Albert Lea.In Des Moines, officials said they were urging residents to evacuate more than 200 homes north of downtown because of concerns that the Des Moines River would top a nearby levee. Some residents also were ordered to evacuate homes along rivers in Iowa City and Coralville.In Cedar Rapids, a city of about 124,000, flood waters downtown neared the top of stop signs and cars were nearly covered in water. It wasn't clear just how high the river had risen because a flood gauge was swept away by the swirling water.It's going door to door to make sure people don't need to be rescued, cause right now they can't get out on their own, said Dave Koch, a spokesman for the Cedar Rapids Fire Department. It's just too deep.
The surging river caused part of a railroad bridge and about 20 hopper cars loaded with rocks to collapse into the river. The cars had been positioned on the bridge in hopes of weighing it down against the rising water.Joe Childers, an official at a U.S. Bank in downtown Cedar Rapids, was in jeans and tennis shoes as he worked to move documents and other items upstairs or out of the building.We're trying to keep water out of as many places as we can, he said. It's pretty amazing. I don't think anyone really expected it this far.Prisoners had to be moved from the Linn County jail, including some inmates who had been transferred from the Benton County jail in Vinton because of flooding. The sheriff's office also was under water, Zeller said.We've had to move our operations out of the area and to our alternate emergency site, Zeller said. We are just trying to regroup. When you don't have all of your equipment and you don't have all your facilities to operate out of — we're at a little bit of a disadvantage ... but we're carrying on as normal.Several emergency shelters were opened, and the city had closed all but one of its bridges over the Cedar River.
I believe that this is God's way of doing things, and I've got insurance, so I'm not worried about it, said Tim Grimm, who was forced to leave his home in the city's Czech Village area. In Austin, Minn., the Cedar River was expected to crest Thursday night at 22 feet, 7 feet above flood stage. The river reached 25 feet in a 2004 flood that caused major damage in the city. Some businesses and offices were closed because of the flooding, including a Hormel Foods corporate office and its Spam Museum. The city of Austin, however, has bought many properties in the flood plain since the 2004 flood and tore structures down. The city has been very proactive and that's going to save them some problems this time, said Mike Welvaert, a weather service meteorologist. Flooding this week also caused damage across southern Wisconsin, where thunderstorms continued pounding the area on Thursday. Iowa County Emergency Management Director Ken Palzkill said his county saw an unprecedented amount of rain Thursday afternoon. He said the village of Cobb got 3 inches of rain in an hour. The weather service issued flash flood watches for southern Wisconsin with tornado watches in central and eastern areas. A tornado briefly touched down in Green Lake County about 4:40 p.m. Thursday but no injuries were reported. A funnel cloud was reported in Grant County in southwestern Wisconsin, said Chris Kuhlman, a weather service meteorologist. The weather service also said flash floods in the county closed two highways and required rescues, though a sheriff's office dispatcher did not immediately have those details. Just southeast of Grand Rapids, Mich., crews pulled the body of a motorist from a car found drifting in the swollen Thornapple River. State police said they believe the 57-year-old man called on his cell phone but didn't say what happened or where he was; they found him using global positioning equipment. People in several northern Missouri communities, meanwhile, were piling up sandbags to prepare for flooding in the Missouri River, expected to crest over the weekend, and a more significant rise in the Mississippi River expected Wednesday. Associated Press writers Michael J. Crumb and Melanie S. Welte in Des Moines contributed to this report.
Kansas tornadoes kill 2, devastate town of Chapman By JOHN HANNA, Associated Press Writer JUNE 12,08
CHAPMAN, Kan. - In a town devastated by a tornado that snapped utility poles and reduced houses and business to rubble, Brad Homman's reaction epitomized optimism: We've still got half the town intact.Homman, director of administration and emergency services for Dickinson County, will need that kind of attitude to help bring the community back.The twister tore a path of destruction six blocks wide through the town of 1,400 people about 140 miles west of Kansas City on Wednesday.Officials said one woman died, 100 homes were destroyed or heavily damaged, and 80 percent of the town had at least minor damage.Elsewhere in Kansas, tornadoes caused extensive damage at Kansas State University in Manhattan and killed one person in the tiny town of Soldier.Names of the storm's victims had not been released.But nowhere was hit as hard as Chapman, where the tornado left some survivors with vivid — and frightening — memories.About 100 people huddled in two locker rooms in the school district's gymnasium for shelter as the tornado roared over them.
Construction worker Zac Arensman shielded his 4-year-old stepdaughter with his body after abandoning his family's nearby trailer home. After the twister passed, he and others used a dislodged door as a stretcher to carry to safety a man who had been trapped in his car, one of three people authorities said had been critically injured.He was covered in blood, Arensman said of the man he helped carry. It was chaotic. That's the best way to describe it — I mean, everybody freaking out, a mess.Two of the injured were in fair condition Thursday.Outside the gym, several cars looked as if they had been tossed from the parking lot into a nearby field. The elementary and middle schools next to the gym lost part of their roofs and many of their windows and suffered other damage. The high school was in even worse shape, with dislodged cement blocks and bricks from the building strewn around it.Arensman and his wife, Katrina, eventually were bused to a shelter in a building on the county fairgrounds in Abilene, 11 miles to the west. They weren't sure when the would return home.
I would just like to see if we have a house to go back to, Katrina Arensman said.About 35 miles away at Kansas State, storm damage was estimated to exceed $20 million, according to Tom Rawson, the university's vice president for administration and finance. Thursday's classes were canceled.About 30 summer school classes will be taught at temporary locations Friday. Some classrooms in damaged buildings could be functional by Monday, said M. Duane Nellis, provost and senior vice president.About 15 homes in Manhattan were leveled and more than 30 others, as well as some businesses, were seriously damaged, according to a news release from the Riley County Police Department.Off campus, a fraternity house was heavily damaged, but all residents were safe and no injuries were reported. Back in Chapman, probation officer Dan Scanlan shared Homman's take on the disaster. He hunkered down in his bathtub as the tornado tore off part of his home's roof, blew out the windows, moved it slightly off its foundation and damaged his garage enough that he couldn't get his car out. But Scanlan considered himself lucky. People around me — houses are gone, Scanlan said. Mine's sitting there in probably the best shape of all.
BOYS SCOUTS HAILED AS HEROS
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Boy Scouts praised as heroes after twister kills 4 By JOSH FUNK, Associated Press Writer JUNE 12,08
BLENCOE, Iowa - When the howling winds finally died down, the Boy Scouts — true to their motto, Be Prepared — sprang into action.
Putting their first-aid training to use, they applied tourniquets and gauze to the injured. Some began digging victims from the rubble of a collapsed chimney. And others broke into an equipment shed, seized chainsaws and other tools, and started clearing fallen trees from a road.Dozens of the Scouts, ages 13 to 18, were hailed for their bravery and resourcefulness Thursday, the morning after a twister flattened their camp in Iowa and killed four boys.There were some real heroes at this Scout camp, Gov. Chet Culver said, adding that he believes the Scouts saved lives while they waited for paramedics to cut through the trees and reach the camp a mile into the woods.The 93 boys, all elite Scouts attending a weeklong leadership training session, had taken part in a mock emergency drill with 25 staff members just a day before the twister hit.They knew what to do, they knew where to go, and they prepared well, said Lloyd Roitstein, an executive with the Mid-America Council of the Boy Scouts of America.Killed were Aaron Eilerts, 14, of Eagle Grove, Iowa, and Josh Fennen, 13, Sam Thomsen, 13, and Ben Petrzilka, 14, all of Omaha, Neb. Roitstein said all four had taken shelter in a building that was leveled, and all of them were found near its collapsed stone chimney. The governor said the cause of death had not been determined.At least a dozen people remained hospitalized Thursday with everything from bruises to spine and head injuries.About 100 people, many clutching candles, gathered for a flag ceremony and vigil at a World War II monument in Omaha's Memorial Park on Thursday night.Some at the gathering wiped tears from their eyes and Scout leaders weaved through the crowd asking Did you have any there?
At the campsite, a pickup truck had been tossed on its side. Tree limbs rested on top of the Scouts' tents. Trees were flattened. And the one-room multipurpose building where the Scouts died was a pile of cinderblocks and chimney stones.Boy Scout officials said the campers had heard the severe weather alerts but decided not to leave because a storm was on the way.They were watching the weather and monitoring with a weather radio, listening for updates, said Deron Smith, a national spokesman for the organization. The spot they were at was the lowest spot of camp. It was deemed to be the safest place.A group of Scouts who had set out on a hike had returned to the camp before the storm hit, Smith said.On the other side of the state, 3,200 homes were evacuated from flood-stricken Cedar Rapids, where rescuers removed people with boats, officials estimated 100 blocks were under water, and a railroad bridge over the flooded Cedar River collapsed.In Albert Lea, Minn., 90 miles south of Minneapolis, a man died Thursday after his vehicle plunged from a washed-out road and was submerged in floodwaters.Also Thursday, several Kansas communities began cleaning up from tornadoes a day earlier that killed at least two people, destroyed much of the small town of Chapman, and caused extensive damage on the Kansas State University campus in Manhattan.
Meanwhile, tales of heroism emerged from the Iowa camp.
Roitstein said a group of Scouts pulled the camp ranger and his family from their destroyed home. Doug Rothgeb of Omaha said his 15-year-old son emerged from a ditch where he had taken cover, then joined other Scouts to break into the equipment shed. Fourteen-year-old Zach Jessen of Fremont, Neb., said that before the storm struck, someone spotted the rotation in the clouds and a siren sounded in the multipurpose building, which had tables and a TV in addition to a fireplace. Jessen said he and others managed to get Scouts out of their tents and indoors just before the tornado hit. According to Roitstein, the Scouts took shelter in three buildings.
Jessen said shortly afterward, the door on the multipurpose building flew open and he heard someone yelling to get under the tables. All of a sudden, the tornado came and took the building, Jessen said. It sounded like a giant freight train going right over the top of you.Ethan Hession, 13, said he crawled under a table with his friend. I just remember looking over at my friend, and all of a sudden he just says to me, Dear God, save us, he said on NBC's Today show. Ethan said the Scouts' first-aid training immediately compelled them to act. We were prepared, he said. We knew that we need to place tourniquets on wounds that were bleeding too much. We knew we need to apply pressure and gauze. We had first-aid kits, we had everything. We knew about this, we knew how to do it.He added: All of a sudden people started taking action. Like it just clicked. One of the staff members took off his shirt and put it right on the guy who was bleeding and told me to get on top of him so he would stop moving so he could apply pressure and gauze. We started digging people out of the rubble.The 1,800-acre Little Sioux Scout Ranch is in the Loess Hills in westernmost Iowa, close to the Nebraska line, about 40 miles north of Omaha. The hills rise 200 feet above the plains in what is otherwise an exceedingly flat state. While tornadoes are often associated with flat, open land, Iowa is in Tornado Alley, and forecasters said twisters are not unusual in the Loess Hills. The camp includes hiking trails through narrow valleys and over steep hills, a 15-acre lake and a rifle range. Lisa Petry, the mother of 13-year-old Boy Scout Jose Olivo, said she had a bad feeling Wednesday morning when she heard reports of possible severe weather. I thought, `Should I call the Scout camp and ask if there's severe weather, where will they go? she said. The governor would not address questions about whether the Scouts should have remained at the campground after severe weather alerts were issued. There's always lessons learned from any natural disaster, from any tragedy, Culver said. We need to focus on the victims, the families affected.The National Weather Service said it was an EF3 on the 1-to-5 Enhanced Fujita scale of tornado intensity, with an estimated wind speed of 145 mph. The twister cut a path estimated at 14 miles long. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff toured the camp and said it appeared that the Boy Scouts didn't have a chance and that the tornado came through the camp like a bowling ball.Associated Press writers Henry C. Jackson in Des Moines, Iowa; Nate Jenkins and Anna Jo Bratton in Onawa, Iowa; Sophia Tareen and Timberly Ross in Omaha, Neb., and John Hanna in Chapman, Kan., contributed to this report.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
WILDFIRES SWEEP THROUGH CALIFORNIA
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FIRE DESTROYS 6-GENERATION HOME
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NORTH CALIFORNIA FIREFIGHTERS STILL STRUGGLING
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Calif. wildfires threaten homes, force evacuations By JORDAN ROBERTSON, Associated Press Writer JUNE 12,08
FELTON, Calif. - Firefighters struggled to gain control of a series of wildfires burning across Northern California on Thursday, including a wind-whipped blaze that forced thousands to leave their homes. Authorities closed all roads to Paradise, a town of about 30,000 residents about 90 miles north of Sacramento. The blaze, which started around noon Wednesday, had grown to nearly 13 square miles and threatened about 1,650 structures.In the Bonny Doon area, about 10 miles northwest of Santa Cruz, a wildfire quickly grew to one square mile after it broke around 3 p.m. Wednesday. It was unclear how many structures had been damaged, fire officials said.
Evacuations were ordered for 500 residents in the heavily forested hills. Voluntary evacuations were in place for another 1,000 residents.Nearly 800 firefighters were battling the blaze, which could spread to as many as 1,500 acres, Battalion Chief Paul Van Gerwen said.Hot temperatures and tinder-dry vegetation prevailed throughout Northern California, where hundreds of firefighters were deployed on fire lines from the North Coast wine country to the Central Valley.Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Butte County late Wednesday to free up additional firefighting resources. He declared another one in Santa Cruz County early Thursday.Farther south, the state's largest wildfire had charred more than 16,000 acres in the Los Padres National Forest and was only 16 percent contained.The fire had spread east to a remote part of the Army's Fort Hunter Liggett and was moving toward the incident command post Thursday. But winds were driving the flames away from inhabited areas of the military base, said Manny Madrigal, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service.
Fort Hunter Liggett spokeswoman Helen Elrod said four families with homes near the base were evacuated, but the 5,000 military personnel who live there were not in immediate danger.Wildfires on Tuesday destroyed 32 homes in Stockton, about 50 miles south of Sacramento, and 21 homes in Palermo, about 60 miles north of the state capital.Meanwhile, a southeastern Colorado wildfire that started on a military training site doubled in size in one day. On Thursday, about 125 firefighters were fighting the fire, which scorched more than 60 square miles of remote and rugged country.
Officials believe lightning sparked the blaze. No structures are threatened.The fire has not been contained at all and low humidity, high heat and gusting winds have hampered efforts to control the fire, said Capt. Gregory Dorman of Fort Carson.In Colorado's Crowley County, prosecutors have decided not to file criminal charges against a man accused of causing an April wildfire that killed two volunteer firefighters, destroyed 22 homes and burned 14 square miles of prairie grass.District Attorney Rod Fouracre said Wednesday that the fire was an accident.The Crowley County sheriff's office, however, planned to issue a summons to Sam Martson, who allegedly violated a county ordinance by not getting permission to start a prescribed burn on April 14, Fouracre said. Violations of the ordinance are punishable by a fine of up to $1,000.In far eastern North Carolina, smoke from a more than 60-square-mile wildfire was having a serious effect on air quality hundreds of miles away. The state issued a Code Red notice forecasting unhealthy air Thursday and Friday for the Triangle area of Raleigh, Chapel Hill and Durham, as well as the Rocky Mount area. Lightning ignited the blaze June 1 on privately owned land and it has burned in and around the Pocosin Lakes Wildlife Refuge ever since. Firefighting officials say there is little they can do to extinguish the wildfire until a massive rainstorm falls. Associated Press Writers Don Thompson and Samantha Young in Sacramento, Jason Dearen in San Francisco and Martha Waggoner in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report. On the Net: Fire information at http://www.oes.ca.gov and http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_current.
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).
SALMONELLA HITS 6 MORE STATES
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CDC: Salmonella-tainted tomato illnesses reach 228 By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer JUNE 12,08
WASHINGTON - The toll from salmonella-tainted tomatoes jumped to 228 illnesses Thursday as the government learned of five dozen previously unknown cases and said it is possible the food poisoning contributed to a cancer patient's death. Six more states — Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New York, Tennessee and Vermont — reported illnesses related to the outbreak, bringing the number of affected states to 23.The Food and Drug Administration has not pinpointed the source of the outbreak. With the latest known illness striking on June 1, officials also are not sure if all the tainted tomatoes are off the market.As long as we are continuing to see new cases come on board, it is a concern that there are still contaminated tomatoes out there, said the agency's food safety chief, Dr. David Acheson.Government officials have said all week they were close to cracking the case, but maybe we were being too optimistic, Acheson acknowledged.
How much longer? That's impossible to say.
On the do-not-eat list are raw red plum, red Roma or red round tomatoes, unless they were grown in specific states or countries that the FDA has cleared because they were not harvesting when the outbreak began or were not selling their tomatoes in places where people got sick.The FDA is directing consumers to its Web site — http://www.fda.gov — for updated lists of the safe regions.Also safe are grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and tomatoes sold with the vine still attached. That is not because there is anything biologically safer about those with a vine but because the sick have assured investigators that is not the kind of tomato they ate.
What if you did not go to the store armed with a list, or the store or restaurant manager cannot assure that any plum, Roma or round tomatoes came from safe regions?If you don't know, don't take the risk, Acheson said.Cooking also kills salmonella, but the FDA is not formally advising people to cook suspect tomatoes for fear they will not get them heated thoroughly.Mexico and parts of central Florida, two chief tomato suppliers, are still on FDA's suspect list. But the agency would not say they were top suspects, and in fact, said certain parts of Mexico that were not harvesting when the outbreak began are working to be cleared.At least 25 people have been hospitalized during the outbreak, caused by a relatively rare strain of salmonella known as Saintpaul.At this point, there isn't a lot of data to suggest this is a more virulent strain, said Dr. Ian Williams of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
No deaths have been attributed to the salmonella. But the CDC for the first time Thursday acknowledged that the salmonella may have been a contributing factor in the cancer-caused death of a 67-year-old Texas man.
Israeli envoy returns without Gaza truce deal By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 12, 7:45 PM ET
BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip - An Israeli envoy engaging in Gaza cease-fire talks returned without a deal late Thursday, after another day of bloodshed in the coastal territory that included seven Palestinians being killed in a house explosion that Hamas blamed on an accident. When an explosion flattened a house in the Gaza Strip and killed seven, Hamas blamed Israel and unleashed rockets and mortar shells at southern Israel. But the militant group, which has controlled Gaza the past year, later suggested the blast was accidental.By then Israel had carried out an airstrike aimed at a Gaza rocket squad, killing a Palestinian. Two other Israeli military operations in Gaza killed five more militants.Clashes in and around Gaza are putting a strain on Egypt's effort to arrange a truce by acting as a go-between because Israel has no contacts with Hamas, which has killed more than 250 Israelis in suicide attacks and rejects the Jewish state's right to exist.Israeli officials said envoy Amos Gilad told Egyptian mediators in Cairo that Israel wants progress toward freeing a soldier captured by Hamas two years ago as well as a commit by Egypt to stop arms smuggling across its border with Gaza.The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the contacts are supposed to be private, said no agreement was reached Thursday.
With violence rising, Israeli government and security officials said Israel is willing to give Egyptian mediation about two more weeks to produce a truce, but warned that the military will be ready to invade Gaza if the effort fails.Major points of contention remain, most prominently, Israel's demand to link the truce deal to the release of the Israeli soldier who has been held captive in Gaza for two years and a Hamas demand that Israel open Gaza's border crossings.Israel blockaded Gaza a year ago after Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis, violently seized control of Gaza from security forces affiliated with the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.The closure has prevented the vast majority of Gaza's 1.4 million people from leaving and has led to widespread shortages of fuel, electricity and basic goods.After the Gaza house blew up Thursday, an Israeli army spokeswoman said the military was not operating in the area at the time. We deny any connection to this incident, Maj. Avital Leibovich said.Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said there would be an investigation of the blast and the results would be made public.The statement was taken as a Hamas acknowledgment that the blast was probably accidental, not an Israeli attack. Dozens of militants have been killed while handing explosives in recent years.The blast shook the town of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, about a mile from the Israeli border. Cars parked nearby were destroyed and covered with dust, and windows of nearby houses and shops were shattered.It was a huge explosion, said Majid Abu Samra, a neighbor.Hamas said seven people were killed, including a 4-month-old girl and a senior aide to the Hamas interior minister. Among the dead were five militants, Hamas said. The owner, Hamas area commander Ahmed Hamouda, was not home at the time of the explosion.Shortly after the explosion, Hamas said it fired a barrage of mortar shells and rockets toward southern Israel in retaliation. Israel's rescue service said a 59-year-old woman was wounded when a rocket struck a home on an Israeli communal farm.
Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman, issued an angry response, noting the rocket barrage came just a day after Israel publicly endorsed the Egyptian truce effort. It proved that Hamas is committed to violence, terror and murder, he said. Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinian militants in a clash in northern Gaza, and Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Gaza Health Ministry said another person was killed by an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza. The Israeli military said aircraft hit a rocket squad. Late Thursday, three Hamas militants were killed by Israeli artillery fire that hit northern Gaza, Hassanain said. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
Four dead in blast in Hamas bomb-maker's house Thu Jun 12, 6:02 PM ET
GAZA (Reuters) - An explosion destroyed a Hamas bomb-maker's house in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing at least four people, including a baby, in what Hamas called an Israeli air strike and Israel described as an internal blast. The explosion, which also wounded about 25 people, destroyed the two-storey dwelling and damaged several other homes in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, an area from which militants frequently fire rockets into southern Israel.Hamas said an Israeli aircraft attacked the house belonging to Ahmed Hamouda, whom it described as one of its senior bomb-makers. An Israeli military spokeswoman denied any Israeli involvement.It was not related to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces). There were no IDF operations. It was an internal explosion, an Israeli military spokeswoman said in Tel Aviv.Medical workers said at least four people, including an infant, were killed. Hamouda's fate was not immediately known.The Beit Lahiya massacre was caused by an Israeli strike that targeted a Qassam leader, Hamas said in a statement, referring to its armed wing.On Wednesday, Israel's Security Cabinet decided to give Egypt more time to try to broker a ceasefire under which militants would cease rocket salvoes and Israeli forces would halt Gaza operations.The Security Cabinet said it had instructed the military to prepare for a possible broad operation in the Hamas-controlled territory should truce efforts fail.(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Adam Entous)
STORMS AFFECT FOOD PRICES
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GOOD AND BAD ECONOMIC INDICATERS
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Wall Street closes up but off highs as oil rises By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer Thu Jun 12, 6:31 PM ET
NEW YORK - Wall Street gave up a big early advance as the price of oil rose Thursday, with stocks closing moderately higher but also demonstrating how anxious investors are about inflation and the overall health of the economy. Bond prices fell sharply and yields shot higher in response to an upbeat retail sales report. Word late in the session that Yahoo Inc. called off talks of any deal with Microsoft Corp. gave investors one more reason to rein in the enthusiasm that drove the day's early rally.Advancing oil prices, which have frequently sent stocks tumbling in recent weeks, stifled the optimistic mood that followed the Commerce Department's report that retail sales rose 1 percent in May. The gain marked the biggest improvement in six months and it offered some investors hope that the government's 57 million economic stimulus checks were indeed oiling the economy. A buyout bid for Anheuser-Busch Cos. also lifted stocks.But the turnaround in oil set off renewed worries about inflation and its effect on the economy. And a management shakeup at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. drew fresh attention to troubles in the financial sector. Lehman, which earlier this week said it would report a quarterly loss of $2.8 billion, on Thursday ousted its chief financial officer and chief operating officer. Lehman fell $1.05, or 4.4 percent, to $22.70.
The Dow rose 57.81, or 0.48 percent, to 12,141.58 after being up as much as 185 points earlier. The advance came a day after the Dow fell more than 200 points because of surging oil prices.Broader stock indicators ended higher Thursday after dipping into negative territory late in the session. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.38, or 0.33 percent, to 1,339.87, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 10.34, or 0.43 percent, to 2,404.35.Bond prices fell Thursday as some investors left the safety of government debt. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its prices, soared to 4.22 percent in late trading from 4.07 percent late Wednesday. The 10-year note topped the 4.20 percent mark for the first time this year.The dollar rose against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.Light, sweet crude rose 36 cents to settle at $136.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices, which have been volatile lately, fell then bounced higher Thursday amid concerns about supply disruptions.
In corporate news, Yahoo fell $2.63, or 10.1 percent, to $23.52 after saying its efforts to restart takeover discussions with Microsoft failed. Yahoo is expected to announce it struck an agreement to hand over a piece of its online ad platform to Internet search leader Google Inc. Microsoft rose $1.12 to $28.24.
Belgian Brewer InBev SA, whose brands include Beck's and Stella Artois, offered late Wednesday to buy Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser, Bud Light and other brands for $65 per share. Anheuser-Busch rose $3.05, or 5.2 percent, to $61.40.Citigroup Inc. is closing a hedge fund co-founded by current chief executive Vikram Pandit. Pandit joined Citi have selling Old Lane Partners in July 2007. Citi rose 68 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $19.89.The day's economic numbers were enough to persuade some investors to buy after several tough sessions, including a 400-point decline Friday, when oil prices surged.I think expectations since last Friday have been grinding so low that any bit of news is taken with a huge lift, said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago. I just think that emotions are so fragile right now that it's creating these exacerbated market moves.Investors also got another signal the Federal Reserve is poised to reverse recent policy and begin raising key interest rates. In addition to comments released Wednesday afternoon with its Beige Book economic report that pointed to no rate cut at the June 24-25 meeting, Charles Plosser, the president of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, said in an interview on CNBC there is no question the Fed will have to raise rates to curb inflation before it gets out of control.While the timing of such a move cannot be predicted, Plosser said, We have to be very careful that we don't slip into a situation where we create inflation and support higher prices, but the timing of any move is still an open question.While the market typically prefers interest rate cuts to hikes, some investors seem to be hoping for an increase that would ease the threat of inflation.Oscar Gonzalez, an economist with John Hancock Financial Services, said concerns about accelerating inflation are very clear, based on surveys of professionals, consumers and producers and manufacturers, along with increasing commodity prices. The risks of inflation triggered by too low interest rates has increased dramatically since the first quarter, Gonzalez said. Obviously it's showing up in their radar screen. Advancing issues narrowly outnumbered decliners on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 4.59 billion shares, compared with 4.67 billion shares traded Wednesday. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 1.96, or 0.27 percent, to 719.84.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei 225 average closed 2.08 percent lower. Britain's FTSE 100 index closed up 1.17 percent, Germany's DAX 30 index rose 0.97 percent, and the French CAC-40 index rose 0.24 percent. Associated Press Business Writer Eileen AJ Connelly in New York contributed to this report. On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com
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).
ILL GET THE RESULT ON THE LISBON TREATY TODAY SOMETIME.
Ireland holds key vote on EU treaty By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer JUNE 12,08
DUBLIN, Ireland - Irish citizens voted Thursday on whether to accept or reject the European Union's new reform treaty, and the result could damage or destroy the painstakingly negotiated pact.
The Lisbon Treaty seeks to reshape EU institutions and powers to cope with the bloc's near-doubling in size over the past four years from 15 to 27 nations with 495 million people. It contains many of the same reform plans as the EU's previous master plan — a constitution that French and Dutch voters rejected in 2005.This time, only Ireland's 3.05 million registered voters pose a serious threat to ratification, because the other 26 members are requiring approval only through their national governments.To become law, every EU member must approve. So far, 18 EU members have done so, including the parliaments of Estonia, Finland and Greece on Wednesday, but others have held back while awaiting the Irish referendum result.With Irish media not conducting any exit polling to gauge a possible outcome, Irish voters and observers throughout Europe will have to wait until Friday for the outcome.When polls closed, Irish state broadcasters RTE reported that voter turnout had failed to exceed a lackluster 45 percent nationally — an outcome that one analyst said would favor the more highly motivated No camp.University College Dublin politics professor Richard Sinnott said the Yes camp required nearly 50 percent turnout to feel confident.The government, major opposition parties and business leaders all campaigned for a Yes vote during a monthlong campaign that emphasized how much Ireland has benefited from 35 years of EU membership.As he cast his Yes vote, Prime Minister Brian Cowen said he led the campaign for ratification as best as I possibly could — and accused anti-treaty voters of spreading lies and distortions.
We've conducted a positive campaign, an honest campaign, Cowen said.
Earlier, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said ratification by all EU nations would allow the bloc to turn the institutional page and concentrate 100 percent on delivering on the expectations of Europe's peoples.Antiestablishment pressure groups from the far left and right mobilized opposition by claiming that the treaty's passage would result in Ireland losing control of everything from its business tax rates to its ban on abortion. Treaty supporters called such claims nonsense.Campaign groups on both sides drove through neighborhoods shouting through bullhorns as they urged people to vote.Many voters said they did not understand the treaty's implications well enough, and essentially were voting on whether they felt happy with Ireland's place in Europe.Ireland would still be the economic basket case of Europe without the EU. We should be doing everything we can to help EU institutions function better, because all the evidence shows they function in our interest, said a pro-treaty voter, accountant Padraig Walsh.But many complained that the EU's expansion brought unwelcome change to Ireland, particularly more than 200,000 jobseekers from Poland and Baltic nations.I feel like a foreigner in my own land. There's been too much change, too quick, said anti-treaty voter Eugene Leary, a laid-off construction worker who has turned to part-time taxi work to make ends meet. You don't mean to be a bigot or a racist. But you would like to see your country keep control of its identity, and make sure your own people are being looked after first. That's just not happening.No voters said they were annoyed that the Lisbon Treaty contains largely the same reform goals as the rejected EU constitution. I think part of being a good European is respecting the votes of the people," said Niall Kavanagh, a lawyer who said he had voted Yes to previous EU treaties but voted No this time because EU chiefs appeared to be trying to get around the votes of the French and Dutch. How many times do people have to vote No before Brussels respects the outcome? he said, noting that Ireland rejected a previous EU treaty in a 2001 referendum, only to be asked to vote again two years later. Somehow we have to create an EU where No really means no.On the Net: http://www.lisbontreaty2008.ie
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.
FLOODS OVERWELM CEDAR RAPIDS
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TEEN DESCRIBES TORNADO THAT KILLED 4
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Cedar Rapids struggles to endure historic flood By AMY LORENTZEN, Associated Press Writer JUNE 12,08
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - The Cedar River poured over its banks here Thursday, forcing the evacuation of more than 3,000 homes, causing a railroad bridge to collapse and leaving cars underwater on downtown streets. Officials estimated that 100 blocks were underwater in Cedar Rapids, where several days of preparation could not hold back the rain-swollen river. Rescuers had to use boats to reach many stranded residents, and people could be seen dragging suitcases up closed highway exit ramps to escape the water.We're just kind of at God's mercy right now, so hopefully people that never prayed before this, it might be a good time to start, Linn County Sheriff Don Zeller said. We're going to need a lot of prayers and people are going to need a lot of patience and understanding.About 3,200 homes were evacuated and some 8,000 residents displaced, officials estimated.Days of heavy rain across the state have sent nine rivers across Iowa at or above historic flood levels. Residents were already steeling themselves for floods before storms late Wednesday and early Thursday brought up to 5 inches of rain across west central Iowa.
We are seeing a historic hydrological event taking place with unprecedented river levels occurring, said Brian Pierce, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Davenport. We're in uncharted territory — this is an event beyond what anybody could even imagine.Gov. Chet Culver has declared 55 of the state's 99 counties as state disaster areas.No deaths or serious injuries were reported in Iowa, but one man was killed in southern Minnesota after his car plunged from a washed-out road into floodwaters. Another person was rescued from a nearby vehicle in the town of Albert Lea.In Des Moines, officials said they were urging residents to evacuate more than 200 homes north of downtown because of concerns that the Des Moines River would top a nearby levee. Some residents also were ordered to evacuate homes along rivers in Iowa City and Coralville.In Cedar Rapids, a city of about 124,000, flood waters downtown neared the top of stop signs and cars were nearly covered in water. It wasn't clear just how high the river had risen because a flood gauge was swept away by the swirling water.It's going door to door to make sure people don't need to be rescued, cause right now they can't get out on their own, said Dave Koch, a spokesman for the Cedar Rapids Fire Department. It's just too deep.
The surging river caused part of a railroad bridge and about 20 hopper cars loaded with rocks to collapse into the river. The cars had been positioned on the bridge in hopes of weighing it down against the rising water.Joe Childers, an official at a U.S. Bank in downtown Cedar Rapids, was in jeans and tennis shoes as he worked to move documents and other items upstairs or out of the building.We're trying to keep water out of as many places as we can, he said. It's pretty amazing. I don't think anyone really expected it this far.Prisoners had to be moved from the Linn County jail, including some inmates who had been transferred from the Benton County jail in Vinton because of flooding. The sheriff's office also was under water, Zeller said.We've had to move our operations out of the area and to our alternate emergency site, Zeller said. We are just trying to regroup. When you don't have all of your equipment and you don't have all your facilities to operate out of — we're at a little bit of a disadvantage ... but we're carrying on as normal.Several emergency shelters were opened, and the city had closed all but one of its bridges over the Cedar River.
I believe that this is God's way of doing things, and I've got insurance, so I'm not worried about it, said Tim Grimm, who was forced to leave his home in the city's Czech Village area. In Austin, Minn., the Cedar River was expected to crest Thursday night at 22 feet, 7 feet above flood stage. The river reached 25 feet in a 2004 flood that caused major damage in the city. Some businesses and offices were closed because of the flooding, including a Hormel Foods corporate office and its Spam Museum. The city of Austin, however, has bought many properties in the flood plain since the 2004 flood and tore structures down. The city has been very proactive and that's going to save them some problems this time, said Mike Welvaert, a weather service meteorologist. Flooding this week also caused damage across southern Wisconsin, where thunderstorms continued pounding the area on Thursday. Iowa County Emergency Management Director Ken Palzkill said his county saw an unprecedented amount of rain Thursday afternoon. He said the village of Cobb got 3 inches of rain in an hour. The weather service issued flash flood watches for southern Wisconsin with tornado watches in central and eastern areas. A tornado briefly touched down in Green Lake County about 4:40 p.m. Thursday but no injuries were reported. A funnel cloud was reported in Grant County in southwestern Wisconsin, said Chris Kuhlman, a weather service meteorologist. The weather service also said flash floods in the county closed two highways and required rescues, though a sheriff's office dispatcher did not immediately have those details. Just southeast of Grand Rapids, Mich., crews pulled the body of a motorist from a car found drifting in the swollen Thornapple River. State police said they believe the 57-year-old man called on his cell phone but didn't say what happened or where he was; they found him using global positioning equipment. People in several northern Missouri communities, meanwhile, were piling up sandbags to prepare for flooding in the Missouri River, expected to crest over the weekend, and a more significant rise in the Mississippi River expected Wednesday. Associated Press writers Michael J. Crumb and Melanie S. Welte in Des Moines contributed to this report.
Kansas tornadoes kill 2, devastate town of Chapman By JOHN HANNA, Associated Press Writer JUNE 12,08
CHAPMAN, Kan. - In a town devastated by a tornado that snapped utility poles and reduced houses and business to rubble, Brad Homman's reaction epitomized optimism: We've still got half the town intact.Homman, director of administration and emergency services for Dickinson County, will need that kind of attitude to help bring the community back.The twister tore a path of destruction six blocks wide through the town of 1,400 people about 140 miles west of Kansas City on Wednesday.Officials said one woman died, 100 homes were destroyed or heavily damaged, and 80 percent of the town had at least minor damage.Elsewhere in Kansas, tornadoes caused extensive damage at Kansas State University in Manhattan and killed one person in the tiny town of Soldier.Names of the storm's victims had not been released.But nowhere was hit as hard as Chapman, where the tornado left some survivors with vivid — and frightening — memories.About 100 people huddled in two locker rooms in the school district's gymnasium for shelter as the tornado roared over them.
Construction worker Zac Arensman shielded his 4-year-old stepdaughter with his body after abandoning his family's nearby trailer home. After the twister passed, he and others used a dislodged door as a stretcher to carry to safety a man who had been trapped in his car, one of three people authorities said had been critically injured.He was covered in blood, Arensman said of the man he helped carry. It was chaotic. That's the best way to describe it — I mean, everybody freaking out, a mess.Two of the injured were in fair condition Thursday.Outside the gym, several cars looked as if they had been tossed from the parking lot into a nearby field. The elementary and middle schools next to the gym lost part of their roofs and many of their windows and suffered other damage. The high school was in even worse shape, with dislodged cement blocks and bricks from the building strewn around it.Arensman and his wife, Katrina, eventually were bused to a shelter in a building on the county fairgrounds in Abilene, 11 miles to the west. They weren't sure when the would return home.
I would just like to see if we have a house to go back to, Katrina Arensman said.About 35 miles away at Kansas State, storm damage was estimated to exceed $20 million, according to Tom Rawson, the university's vice president for administration and finance. Thursday's classes were canceled.About 30 summer school classes will be taught at temporary locations Friday. Some classrooms in damaged buildings could be functional by Monday, said M. Duane Nellis, provost and senior vice president.About 15 homes in Manhattan were leveled and more than 30 others, as well as some businesses, were seriously damaged, according to a news release from the Riley County Police Department.Off campus, a fraternity house was heavily damaged, but all residents were safe and no injuries were reported. Back in Chapman, probation officer Dan Scanlan shared Homman's take on the disaster. He hunkered down in his bathtub as the tornado tore off part of his home's roof, blew out the windows, moved it slightly off its foundation and damaged his garage enough that he couldn't get his car out. But Scanlan considered himself lucky. People around me — houses are gone, Scanlan said. Mine's sitting there in probably the best shape of all.
BOYS SCOUTS HAILED AS HEROS
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Boy Scouts praised as heroes after twister kills 4 By JOSH FUNK, Associated Press Writer JUNE 12,08
BLENCOE, Iowa - When the howling winds finally died down, the Boy Scouts — true to their motto, Be Prepared — sprang into action.
Putting their first-aid training to use, they applied tourniquets and gauze to the injured. Some began digging victims from the rubble of a collapsed chimney. And others broke into an equipment shed, seized chainsaws and other tools, and started clearing fallen trees from a road.Dozens of the Scouts, ages 13 to 18, were hailed for their bravery and resourcefulness Thursday, the morning after a twister flattened their camp in Iowa and killed four boys.There were some real heroes at this Scout camp, Gov. Chet Culver said, adding that he believes the Scouts saved lives while they waited for paramedics to cut through the trees and reach the camp a mile into the woods.The 93 boys, all elite Scouts attending a weeklong leadership training session, had taken part in a mock emergency drill with 25 staff members just a day before the twister hit.They knew what to do, they knew where to go, and they prepared well, said Lloyd Roitstein, an executive with the Mid-America Council of the Boy Scouts of America.Killed were Aaron Eilerts, 14, of Eagle Grove, Iowa, and Josh Fennen, 13, Sam Thomsen, 13, and Ben Petrzilka, 14, all of Omaha, Neb. Roitstein said all four had taken shelter in a building that was leveled, and all of them were found near its collapsed stone chimney. The governor said the cause of death had not been determined.At least a dozen people remained hospitalized Thursday with everything from bruises to spine and head injuries.About 100 people, many clutching candles, gathered for a flag ceremony and vigil at a World War II monument in Omaha's Memorial Park on Thursday night.Some at the gathering wiped tears from their eyes and Scout leaders weaved through the crowd asking Did you have any there?
At the campsite, a pickup truck had been tossed on its side. Tree limbs rested on top of the Scouts' tents. Trees were flattened. And the one-room multipurpose building where the Scouts died was a pile of cinderblocks and chimney stones.Boy Scout officials said the campers had heard the severe weather alerts but decided not to leave because a storm was on the way.They were watching the weather and monitoring with a weather radio, listening for updates, said Deron Smith, a national spokesman for the organization. The spot they were at was the lowest spot of camp. It was deemed to be the safest place.A group of Scouts who had set out on a hike had returned to the camp before the storm hit, Smith said.On the other side of the state, 3,200 homes were evacuated from flood-stricken Cedar Rapids, where rescuers removed people with boats, officials estimated 100 blocks were under water, and a railroad bridge over the flooded Cedar River collapsed.In Albert Lea, Minn., 90 miles south of Minneapolis, a man died Thursday after his vehicle plunged from a washed-out road and was submerged in floodwaters.Also Thursday, several Kansas communities began cleaning up from tornadoes a day earlier that killed at least two people, destroyed much of the small town of Chapman, and caused extensive damage on the Kansas State University campus in Manhattan.
Meanwhile, tales of heroism emerged from the Iowa camp.
Roitstein said a group of Scouts pulled the camp ranger and his family from their destroyed home. Doug Rothgeb of Omaha said his 15-year-old son emerged from a ditch where he had taken cover, then joined other Scouts to break into the equipment shed. Fourteen-year-old Zach Jessen of Fremont, Neb., said that before the storm struck, someone spotted the rotation in the clouds and a siren sounded in the multipurpose building, which had tables and a TV in addition to a fireplace. Jessen said he and others managed to get Scouts out of their tents and indoors just before the tornado hit. According to Roitstein, the Scouts took shelter in three buildings.
Jessen said shortly afterward, the door on the multipurpose building flew open and he heard someone yelling to get under the tables. All of a sudden, the tornado came and took the building, Jessen said. It sounded like a giant freight train going right over the top of you.Ethan Hession, 13, said he crawled under a table with his friend. I just remember looking over at my friend, and all of a sudden he just says to me, Dear God, save us, he said on NBC's Today show. Ethan said the Scouts' first-aid training immediately compelled them to act. We were prepared, he said. We knew that we need to place tourniquets on wounds that were bleeding too much. We knew we need to apply pressure and gauze. We had first-aid kits, we had everything. We knew about this, we knew how to do it.He added: All of a sudden people started taking action. Like it just clicked. One of the staff members took off his shirt and put it right on the guy who was bleeding and told me to get on top of him so he would stop moving so he could apply pressure and gauze. We started digging people out of the rubble.The 1,800-acre Little Sioux Scout Ranch is in the Loess Hills in westernmost Iowa, close to the Nebraska line, about 40 miles north of Omaha. The hills rise 200 feet above the plains in what is otherwise an exceedingly flat state. While tornadoes are often associated with flat, open land, Iowa is in Tornado Alley, and forecasters said twisters are not unusual in the Loess Hills. The camp includes hiking trails through narrow valleys and over steep hills, a 15-acre lake and a rifle range. Lisa Petry, the mother of 13-year-old Boy Scout Jose Olivo, said she had a bad feeling Wednesday morning when she heard reports of possible severe weather. I thought, `Should I call the Scout camp and ask if there's severe weather, where will they go? she said. The governor would not address questions about whether the Scouts should have remained at the campground after severe weather alerts were issued. There's always lessons learned from any natural disaster, from any tragedy, Culver said. We need to focus on the victims, the families affected.The National Weather Service said it was an EF3 on the 1-to-5 Enhanced Fujita scale of tornado intensity, with an estimated wind speed of 145 mph. The twister cut a path estimated at 14 miles long. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff toured the camp and said it appeared that the Boy Scouts didn't have a chance and that the tornado came through the camp like a bowling ball.Associated Press writers Henry C. Jackson in Des Moines, Iowa; Nate Jenkins and Anna Jo Bratton in Onawa, Iowa; Sophia Tareen and Timberly Ross in Omaha, Neb., and John Hanna in Chapman, Kan., contributed to this report.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
WILDFIRES SWEEP THROUGH CALIFORNIA
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FIRE DESTROYS 6-GENERATION HOME
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NORTH CALIFORNIA FIREFIGHTERS STILL STRUGGLING
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Calif. wildfires threaten homes, force evacuations By JORDAN ROBERTSON, Associated Press Writer JUNE 12,08
FELTON, Calif. - Firefighters struggled to gain control of a series of wildfires burning across Northern California on Thursday, including a wind-whipped blaze that forced thousands to leave their homes. Authorities closed all roads to Paradise, a town of about 30,000 residents about 90 miles north of Sacramento. The blaze, which started around noon Wednesday, had grown to nearly 13 square miles and threatened about 1,650 structures.In the Bonny Doon area, about 10 miles northwest of Santa Cruz, a wildfire quickly grew to one square mile after it broke around 3 p.m. Wednesday. It was unclear how many structures had been damaged, fire officials said.
Evacuations were ordered for 500 residents in the heavily forested hills. Voluntary evacuations were in place for another 1,000 residents.Nearly 800 firefighters were battling the blaze, which could spread to as many as 1,500 acres, Battalion Chief Paul Van Gerwen said.Hot temperatures and tinder-dry vegetation prevailed throughout Northern California, where hundreds of firefighters were deployed on fire lines from the North Coast wine country to the Central Valley.Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Butte County late Wednesday to free up additional firefighting resources. He declared another one in Santa Cruz County early Thursday.Farther south, the state's largest wildfire had charred more than 16,000 acres in the Los Padres National Forest and was only 16 percent contained.The fire had spread east to a remote part of the Army's Fort Hunter Liggett and was moving toward the incident command post Thursday. But winds were driving the flames away from inhabited areas of the military base, said Manny Madrigal, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service.
Fort Hunter Liggett spokeswoman Helen Elrod said four families with homes near the base were evacuated, but the 5,000 military personnel who live there were not in immediate danger.Wildfires on Tuesday destroyed 32 homes in Stockton, about 50 miles south of Sacramento, and 21 homes in Palermo, about 60 miles north of the state capital.Meanwhile, a southeastern Colorado wildfire that started on a military training site doubled in size in one day. On Thursday, about 125 firefighters were fighting the fire, which scorched more than 60 square miles of remote and rugged country.
Officials believe lightning sparked the blaze. No structures are threatened.The fire has not been contained at all and low humidity, high heat and gusting winds have hampered efforts to control the fire, said Capt. Gregory Dorman of Fort Carson.In Colorado's Crowley County, prosecutors have decided not to file criminal charges against a man accused of causing an April wildfire that killed two volunteer firefighters, destroyed 22 homes and burned 14 square miles of prairie grass.District Attorney Rod Fouracre said Wednesday that the fire was an accident.The Crowley County sheriff's office, however, planned to issue a summons to Sam Martson, who allegedly violated a county ordinance by not getting permission to start a prescribed burn on April 14, Fouracre said. Violations of the ordinance are punishable by a fine of up to $1,000.In far eastern North Carolina, smoke from a more than 60-square-mile wildfire was having a serious effect on air quality hundreds of miles away. The state issued a Code Red notice forecasting unhealthy air Thursday and Friday for the Triangle area of Raleigh, Chapel Hill and Durham, as well as the Rocky Mount area. Lightning ignited the blaze June 1 on privately owned land and it has burned in and around the Pocosin Lakes Wildlife Refuge ever since. Firefighting officials say there is little they can do to extinguish the wildfire until a massive rainstorm falls. Associated Press Writers Don Thompson and Samantha Young in Sacramento, Jason Dearen in San Francisco and Martha Waggoner in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report. On the Net: Fire information at http://www.oes.ca.gov and http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_current.
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).
SALMONELLA HITS 6 MORE STATES
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CDC: Salmonella-tainted tomato illnesses reach 228 By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer JUNE 12,08
WASHINGTON - The toll from salmonella-tainted tomatoes jumped to 228 illnesses Thursday as the government learned of five dozen previously unknown cases and said it is possible the food poisoning contributed to a cancer patient's death. Six more states — Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New York, Tennessee and Vermont — reported illnesses related to the outbreak, bringing the number of affected states to 23.The Food and Drug Administration has not pinpointed the source of the outbreak. With the latest known illness striking on June 1, officials also are not sure if all the tainted tomatoes are off the market.As long as we are continuing to see new cases come on board, it is a concern that there are still contaminated tomatoes out there, said the agency's food safety chief, Dr. David Acheson.Government officials have said all week they were close to cracking the case, but maybe we were being too optimistic, Acheson acknowledged.
How much longer? That's impossible to say.
On the do-not-eat list are raw red plum, red Roma or red round tomatoes, unless they were grown in specific states or countries that the FDA has cleared because they were not harvesting when the outbreak began or were not selling their tomatoes in places where people got sick.The FDA is directing consumers to its Web site — http://www.fda.gov — for updated lists of the safe regions.Also safe are grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and tomatoes sold with the vine still attached. That is not because there is anything biologically safer about those with a vine but because the sick have assured investigators that is not the kind of tomato they ate.
What if you did not go to the store armed with a list, or the store or restaurant manager cannot assure that any plum, Roma or round tomatoes came from safe regions?If you don't know, don't take the risk, Acheson said.Cooking also kills salmonella, but the FDA is not formally advising people to cook suspect tomatoes for fear they will not get them heated thoroughly.Mexico and parts of central Florida, two chief tomato suppliers, are still on FDA's suspect list. But the agency would not say they were top suspects, and in fact, said certain parts of Mexico that were not harvesting when the outbreak began are working to be cleared.At least 25 people have been hospitalized during the outbreak, caused by a relatively rare strain of salmonella known as Saintpaul.At this point, there isn't a lot of data to suggest this is a more virulent strain, said Dr. Ian Williams of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
No deaths have been attributed to the salmonella. But the CDC for the first time Thursday acknowledged that the salmonella may have been a contributing factor in the cancer-caused death of a 67-year-old Texas man.
Israeli envoy returns without Gaza truce deal By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 12, 7:45 PM ET
BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip - An Israeli envoy engaging in Gaza cease-fire talks returned without a deal late Thursday, after another day of bloodshed in the coastal territory that included seven Palestinians being killed in a house explosion that Hamas blamed on an accident. When an explosion flattened a house in the Gaza Strip and killed seven, Hamas blamed Israel and unleashed rockets and mortar shells at southern Israel. But the militant group, which has controlled Gaza the past year, later suggested the blast was accidental.By then Israel had carried out an airstrike aimed at a Gaza rocket squad, killing a Palestinian. Two other Israeli military operations in Gaza killed five more militants.Clashes in and around Gaza are putting a strain on Egypt's effort to arrange a truce by acting as a go-between because Israel has no contacts with Hamas, which has killed more than 250 Israelis in suicide attacks and rejects the Jewish state's right to exist.Israeli officials said envoy Amos Gilad told Egyptian mediators in Cairo that Israel wants progress toward freeing a soldier captured by Hamas two years ago as well as a commit by Egypt to stop arms smuggling across its border with Gaza.The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the contacts are supposed to be private, said no agreement was reached Thursday.
With violence rising, Israeli government and security officials said Israel is willing to give Egyptian mediation about two more weeks to produce a truce, but warned that the military will be ready to invade Gaza if the effort fails.Major points of contention remain, most prominently, Israel's demand to link the truce deal to the release of the Israeli soldier who has been held captive in Gaza for two years and a Hamas demand that Israel open Gaza's border crossings.Israel blockaded Gaza a year ago after Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis, violently seized control of Gaza from security forces affiliated with the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.The closure has prevented the vast majority of Gaza's 1.4 million people from leaving and has led to widespread shortages of fuel, electricity and basic goods.After the Gaza house blew up Thursday, an Israeli army spokeswoman said the military was not operating in the area at the time. We deny any connection to this incident, Maj. Avital Leibovich said.Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said there would be an investigation of the blast and the results would be made public.The statement was taken as a Hamas acknowledgment that the blast was probably accidental, not an Israeli attack. Dozens of militants have been killed while handing explosives in recent years.The blast shook the town of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, about a mile from the Israeli border. Cars parked nearby were destroyed and covered with dust, and windows of nearby houses and shops were shattered.It was a huge explosion, said Majid Abu Samra, a neighbor.Hamas said seven people were killed, including a 4-month-old girl and a senior aide to the Hamas interior minister. Among the dead were five militants, Hamas said. The owner, Hamas area commander Ahmed Hamouda, was not home at the time of the explosion.Shortly after the explosion, Hamas said it fired a barrage of mortar shells and rockets toward southern Israel in retaliation. Israel's rescue service said a 59-year-old woman was wounded when a rocket struck a home on an Israeli communal farm.
Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman, issued an angry response, noting the rocket barrage came just a day after Israel publicly endorsed the Egyptian truce effort. It proved that Hamas is committed to violence, terror and murder, he said. Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinian militants in a clash in northern Gaza, and Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Gaza Health Ministry said another person was killed by an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza. The Israeli military said aircraft hit a rocket squad. Late Thursday, three Hamas militants were killed by Israeli artillery fire that hit northern Gaza, Hassanain said. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
Four dead in blast in Hamas bomb-maker's house Thu Jun 12, 6:02 PM ET
GAZA (Reuters) - An explosion destroyed a Hamas bomb-maker's house in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing at least four people, including a baby, in what Hamas called an Israeli air strike and Israel described as an internal blast. The explosion, which also wounded about 25 people, destroyed the two-storey dwelling and damaged several other homes in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, an area from which militants frequently fire rockets into southern Israel.Hamas said an Israeli aircraft attacked the house belonging to Ahmed Hamouda, whom it described as one of its senior bomb-makers. An Israeli military spokeswoman denied any Israeli involvement.It was not related to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces). There were no IDF operations. It was an internal explosion, an Israeli military spokeswoman said in Tel Aviv.Medical workers said at least four people, including an infant, were killed. Hamouda's fate was not immediately known.The Beit Lahiya massacre was caused by an Israeli strike that targeted a Qassam leader, Hamas said in a statement, referring to its armed wing.On Wednesday, Israel's Security Cabinet decided to give Egypt more time to try to broker a ceasefire under which militants would cease rocket salvoes and Israeli forces would halt Gaza operations.The Security Cabinet said it had instructed the military to prepare for a possible broad operation in the Hamas-controlled territory should truce efforts fail.(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Adam Entous)
STORMS AFFECT FOOD PRICES
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GOOD AND BAD ECONOMIC INDICATERS
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Wall Street closes up but off highs as oil rises By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer Thu Jun 12, 6:31 PM ET
NEW YORK - Wall Street gave up a big early advance as the price of oil rose Thursday, with stocks closing moderately higher but also demonstrating how anxious investors are about inflation and the overall health of the economy. Bond prices fell sharply and yields shot higher in response to an upbeat retail sales report. Word late in the session that Yahoo Inc. called off talks of any deal with Microsoft Corp. gave investors one more reason to rein in the enthusiasm that drove the day's early rally.Advancing oil prices, which have frequently sent stocks tumbling in recent weeks, stifled the optimistic mood that followed the Commerce Department's report that retail sales rose 1 percent in May. The gain marked the biggest improvement in six months and it offered some investors hope that the government's 57 million economic stimulus checks were indeed oiling the economy. A buyout bid for Anheuser-Busch Cos. also lifted stocks.But the turnaround in oil set off renewed worries about inflation and its effect on the economy. And a management shakeup at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. drew fresh attention to troubles in the financial sector. Lehman, which earlier this week said it would report a quarterly loss of $2.8 billion, on Thursday ousted its chief financial officer and chief operating officer. Lehman fell $1.05, or 4.4 percent, to $22.70.
The Dow rose 57.81, or 0.48 percent, to 12,141.58 after being up as much as 185 points earlier. The advance came a day after the Dow fell more than 200 points because of surging oil prices.Broader stock indicators ended higher Thursday after dipping into negative territory late in the session. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.38, or 0.33 percent, to 1,339.87, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 10.34, or 0.43 percent, to 2,404.35.Bond prices fell Thursday as some investors left the safety of government debt. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its prices, soared to 4.22 percent in late trading from 4.07 percent late Wednesday. The 10-year note topped the 4.20 percent mark for the first time this year.The dollar rose against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.Light, sweet crude rose 36 cents to settle at $136.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices, which have been volatile lately, fell then bounced higher Thursday amid concerns about supply disruptions.
In corporate news, Yahoo fell $2.63, or 10.1 percent, to $23.52 after saying its efforts to restart takeover discussions with Microsoft failed. Yahoo is expected to announce it struck an agreement to hand over a piece of its online ad platform to Internet search leader Google Inc. Microsoft rose $1.12 to $28.24.
Belgian Brewer InBev SA, whose brands include Beck's and Stella Artois, offered late Wednesday to buy Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser, Bud Light and other brands for $65 per share. Anheuser-Busch rose $3.05, or 5.2 percent, to $61.40.Citigroup Inc. is closing a hedge fund co-founded by current chief executive Vikram Pandit. Pandit joined Citi have selling Old Lane Partners in July 2007. Citi rose 68 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $19.89.The day's economic numbers were enough to persuade some investors to buy after several tough sessions, including a 400-point decline Friday, when oil prices surged.I think expectations since last Friday have been grinding so low that any bit of news is taken with a huge lift, said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago. I just think that emotions are so fragile right now that it's creating these exacerbated market moves.Investors also got another signal the Federal Reserve is poised to reverse recent policy and begin raising key interest rates. In addition to comments released Wednesday afternoon with its Beige Book economic report that pointed to no rate cut at the June 24-25 meeting, Charles Plosser, the president of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, said in an interview on CNBC there is no question the Fed will have to raise rates to curb inflation before it gets out of control.While the timing of such a move cannot be predicted, Plosser said, We have to be very careful that we don't slip into a situation where we create inflation and support higher prices, but the timing of any move is still an open question.While the market typically prefers interest rate cuts to hikes, some investors seem to be hoping for an increase that would ease the threat of inflation.Oscar Gonzalez, an economist with John Hancock Financial Services, said concerns about accelerating inflation are very clear, based on surveys of professionals, consumers and producers and manufacturers, along with increasing commodity prices. The risks of inflation triggered by too low interest rates has increased dramatically since the first quarter, Gonzalez said. Obviously it's showing up in their radar screen. Advancing issues narrowly outnumbered decliners on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 4.59 billion shares, compared with 4.67 billion shares traded Wednesday. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 1.96, or 0.27 percent, to 719.84.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei 225 average closed 2.08 percent lower. Britain's FTSE 100 index closed up 1.17 percent, Germany's DAX 30 index rose 0.97 percent, and the French CAC-40 index rose 0.24 percent. Associated Press Business Writer Eileen AJ Connelly in New York contributed to this report. On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com
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).
ILL GET THE RESULT ON THE LISBON TREATY TODAY SOMETIME.
Ireland holds key vote on EU treaty By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer JUNE 12,08
DUBLIN, Ireland - Irish citizens voted Thursday on whether to accept or reject the European Union's new reform treaty, and the result could damage or destroy the painstakingly negotiated pact.
The Lisbon Treaty seeks to reshape EU institutions and powers to cope with the bloc's near-doubling in size over the past four years from 15 to 27 nations with 495 million people. It contains many of the same reform plans as the EU's previous master plan — a constitution that French and Dutch voters rejected in 2005.This time, only Ireland's 3.05 million registered voters pose a serious threat to ratification, because the other 26 members are requiring approval only through their national governments.To become law, every EU member must approve. So far, 18 EU members have done so, including the parliaments of Estonia, Finland and Greece on Wednesday, but others have held back while awaiting the Irish referendum result.With Irish media not conducting any exit polling to gauge a possible outcome, Irish voters and observers throughout Europe will have to wait until Friday for the outcome.When polls closed, Irish state broadcasters RTE reported that voter turnout had failed to exceed a lackluster 45 percent nationally — an outcome that one analyst said would favor the more highly motivated No camp.University College Dublin politics professor Richard Sinnott said the Yes camp required nearly 50 percent turnout to feel confident.The government, major opposition parties and business leaders all campaigned for a Yes vote during a monthlong campaign that emphasized how much Ireland has benefited from 35 years of EU membership.As he cast his Yes vote, Prime Minister Brian Cowen said he led the campaign for ratification as best as I possibly could — and accused anti-treaty voters of spreading lies and distortions.
We've conducted a positive campaign, an honest campaign, Cowen said.
Earlier, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said ratification by all EU nations would allow the bloc to turn the institutional page and concentrate 100 percent on delivering on the expectations of Europe's peoples.Antiestablishment pressure groups from the far left and right mobilized opposition by claiming that the treaty's passage would result in Ireland losing control of everything from its business tax rates to its ban on abortion. Treaty supporters called such claims nonsense.Campaign groups on both sides drove through neighborhoods shouting through bullhorns as they urged people to vote.Many voters said they did not understand the treaty's implications well enough, and essentially were voting on whether they felt happy with Ireland's place in Europe.Ireland would still be the economic basket case of Europe without the EU. We should be doing everything we can to help EU institutions function better, because all the evidence shows they function in our interest, said a pro-treaty voter, accountant Padraig Walsh.But many complained that the EU's expansion brought unwelcome change to Ireland, particularly more than 200,000 jobseekers from Poland and Baltic nations.I feel like a foreigner in my own land. There's been too much change, too quick, said anti-treaty voter Eugene Leary, a laid-off construction worker who has turned to part-time taxi work to make ends meet. You don't mean to be a bigot or a racist. But you would like to see your country keep control of its identity, and make sure your own people are being looked after first. That's just not happening.No voters said they were annoyed that the Lisbon Treaty contains largely the same reform goals as the rejected EU constitution. I think part of being a good European is respecting the votes of the people," said Niall Kavanagh, a lawyer who said he had voted Yes to previous EU treaties but voted No this time because EU chiefs appeared to be trying to get around the votes of the French and Dutch. How many times do people have to vote No before Brussels respects the outcome? he said, noting that Ireland rejected a previous EU treaty in a 2001 referendum, only to be asked to vote again two years later. Somehow we have to create an EU where No really means no.On the Net: http://www.lisbontreaty2008.ie
Thursday, June 12, 2008
IRELAND LISBON TREATY VOTE
EU TREATY AT MERCY IN IRELAND VOTE
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IRELAND VOTES ON EU CHARTER
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EU TREATYS FUTURE IN IRELANDS HANDS
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#18 COUNTRY GREECE RATIFIED THE LISBON TREATY, IF IRELAND DOES IT WILL BE NUMBER 19.
Greece ratifies EU treaty ahead of Ireland referendum AFP
Published: Wednesday, June 11, 2008
ATHENS - Greece's parliament on Wednesday voted in favour of the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, hours before a crucial referendum in Ireland where the charter's future is hanging in the balance.The Greek parliament approved the treaty by 250 votes to 42, with the ruling New Democracy conservatives and main opposition Pasok socialists endorsing the text.The treaty will make the European Union more effective to meet new challenges, Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis told the chamber.What we want is a Europe that becomes more structurally fortified the more it expands.
Greece hopes for a rapid ratification by all states to avoid delay in its implementation, he said.The opposition KKE Communists, Syriza leftists and the small nationalist party LAOS voted against the treaty, demanding that it be put to a referendum.Leftist demonstrations were held against the treaty in Athens and the northern city of Salonika on Wednesday.Pasok leader George Papandreou said his party supported the treaty for a more democratic and social Europe but called for a referendum to ensure that the Greek people were fully informed of the terms of the charter.All 27 EU nations must ratify the wide-ranging treaty if it is to come into effect on January 1 as planned. With Greece, 18 states have completed so far, or all but completed, that process.
The parliaments of Estonia and Finland overwhelmingly approved the charter earlier on Wednesday.The Lisbon Treaty replaces the EU constitution which was rejected by French and Dutch voters in referendums in 2005, plunging the bloc into the worst crisis in its half-century history.Ireland is the only country to hold a popular vote on the treaty, and opinion polls suggest Thursday's vote there could go down to the wire.The two last opinion polls in Ireland suggest supporters and opponents are virtually neck-and-neck, while hinting the no camp has more momentum. AFP 2008
Q&A: Ireland's referendum on the EU reform treatyHenry McDonald explains the basis of Irish opposition to the EU reform treaty, and the implications of a No vote both in Dublin and in Brussels Henry McDonald in Dublin guardian.co.uk, Thursday June 12 2008Article history
A poster in Dublin city centre encourages a no vote in Ireland's referendum on the Lisbon EU reform treaty. Photograph: AP
Is Ireland set to reject the Lisbon treaty?
Opinion polls at the weekend sent out mixed messages. One gave the No campaign a 5% lead while another put the Yes camp narrowly ahead. What all sides in the debate agree on is that the outcome will be extremely close. The Yes camp, which includes the Irish government and the republic's two main opposition parties, are hoping for a relatively high turnout. A low turnout favours the No campaigners as their voters are traditionally more likely to turn up at polling stations.
Why are so many Irish people prepared to vote against the treaty, given how well Ireland has done economically out of the EU?
The reasons for voting No are as complex as the disparate forces opposing the Lisbon treaty. Pro-free market groups like Libertas and individual Irish senators claim the deal will lead to tax harmonisation and take away the republic's advantage as a low capital tax haven that has attracted foreign, mainly US multinational investment and fed the Celtic tiger. Traditional nationalists led by Sinn Féin argue that ratifying the treaty severely dilutes Ireland's sovereignty. Along with the far left, they also claim that the treaty will commit Irish troops to future EU defence plans and thus end the state's neutrality. Ireland is not and never has been a member of Nato. The Catholic right meanwhile also opposes treaty, claiming that a strengthened European court of justice will overrule Irish laws such as the republic's outright ban on abortion.
What are the implications for Europe's 490 million citizens if the Irish vote No?
It will mean one of two things. Either the EU will exempt Ireland from the treaty for now and then invite to join at a later date (this would mean the republic having to hold a second referendum as they did with the Nice treaty) or all the EU states would be obliged renegotiate a brand new deal with its inevitable endless round of bartering between the member states. It would, either way, be a severe setback to the whole process of reforming EU structures and preparing for further expansion if Ireland fails to ratify the treaty.
What will the domestic impact be if there is a No vote?
Defeat in the referendum would be a major setback for the new Irish Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, coming just weeks after he succeeded Bertie Ahern as Ireland's prime minister. Conversely, a victory for the No campaign would be a boost for Sinn Féin, which suffered significant losses in last year's general election. Sinn Féin is the only party represented in the Dail, or Irish parliament, which is opposed to the Lisbon treaty.
How would Ireland be perceived in Europe if its electorate reject the deal hammered out in Lisbon?
France's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, has warned that there would be gigantic incomprehension across the EU if Ireland votes No. Privately, senior Irish government strategists admit that failure to ratify the treaty would be deeply embarrassing and a body blow to the credibility of Ireland in Europe. They argue that slowing up the process of EU reform would fatally weaken Ireland's influence.
Would a No vote mean the Irish have become a nation of Eurosceptics?
Not necessarily. Even some of opponents of the treaty are keen to stress that they do not advocate pulling out of the EU entirely. Only a fringe element of Irish politics, both on the far right and extreme left, are in favour of withdrawing from the union. The Irish government hopes it will not have to return to the negotiating table and explain to its European partners why their electorate derailed the Lisbon initiative. Their greatest enemy over the next 24 hours could be the apathy of what commentators call middle Ireland (which is generally pro-European) and their potential failure to turn out to vote.
Dublin referendum turn-out average by midday
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today @ 16:22 CET
EUOBSERVER / DUBLIN - Dublin, home to roughly half Ireland's 3 million voters, is seeing average turn-out for a referendum, according to unofficial reports.Across the capital, voting districts were reporting turnout ranging from nine percent to 18 percent of the total electorate as of midday, averaging 12.6 percent, according to spokespeople for the Dublin City Returning Officer.The highest turn-out has so far been in Northside, the northern, more working class areas of the city. (Photo: EUobserver)
The highest turn-out has so far been in Northside, the northern, more working class areas of the city. Working class voters are expected to break more strongly for the No side.Nonetheless, the turnout split across the city may yet change substantially as people from middle class with lower levels of unemployment districts return home from work.Turnout tends to shoot up a little bit more in the early evening after work, as people vote on their way home, said John Wheelan of the Environment Department, the government department in charge of the referendum.Polls are open quite late today. Having opened at 7 am, they do not close until 10 pm – in an effort to boost turn-out.If Dublin leans towards the No on a high turn-out, campaigners on both sides say this would signal a win for the anti-treaty forces, as rural Ireland is expected to break marginally for the No as well. If Dublin goes Yes, all remains in play, as the urban vote could be balanced by farmers.
At the same time, the Irish Farmers' Association last week called on its members to support the Yes side, although having made a commitment so late in the game, farmers may yet go for the No.At the Youthreach Centre polling station on Pleasants Street in south central Dublin, a mixed working class and middle class area, turnout was 11 percent.Ben Bishop, the station's chief presiding officer, said such a turnout for a referendum was slightly higher than normal for the city centre. It's normally two to three percent by this point in the day.Up the road at the Synge Street polling station, in a middle class neighbourhood, turnout was nine percent as of midday, according to the poll's officer.It's been a steady trickle all morning – about what you'd expect, said presiding officer Vincent Tierney. For a referendum, we'd expect by the end of the day about 30 percent. It's much higher for a general election.Jackie Rhodes, manning the tables at the same polling station and a veteran election worker, said: It's pretty average for a referendum, regardless of how contentious it is.It's too close to call. There've been an awful lot of people changing their minds just in the last few days – both ways.
Meanwhile, campaigners from the continent were out in force again today. The Young European Federalists setting up camp in St Stephen's Green, and a van-load of ten members of Attac, the alter-globalisation group that led the successful No campaign in France in 2005 laid out their stalls and literature outside the General Post Office, the headquarters of the 1916 Easter Uprising that presaged the country's independence from Britain.The smartly dressed Young Federalists were broadly optimistic and reported excellent support from Dubliners, while the Attac activists also reported a fantastic attitude from voters.One passer-by, Emma, a grandmother from Hayes, said: I don't trust that lot in the parliament. They'd sell you a goat and tell you it's a race horse!
Papers focus on turn-out
The Irish media for their part have focussed on the importance of turn-out. The Irish Times front page lead story described how both sides were encouraging voters to make their mark, next to a large photograph of a sword swallower street performer, who had yesterday won the Guinness World Record for the highest number of simultaneous swords swallowed – 27, each bearing a different EU member state's flag.The Irish Independent told readers that Ireland needs to vote Yes and also featured the street performer, headlined referendum On a knife-edge.The Irish Examiner also lead with government hopes for a high turn-out, while the Irish editions of the British tabloids – the right-wing and Euro-sceptic Irish Daily Mail, the Star and the Irish Sun – but not the Mirror - called on voters to choose No. The centre-left Mirror told readers they must vote Yes.The Sun's front-page, true to stereotype, bore a half-naked young woman with two X-marked voting papers covering her breasts alongside a frowning European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and a headline screaming: No Way Jose.
Ireland goes to polls over EU treaty JUNE 12,08
Europeans are looking towards Ireland tonight, where people are voting in a referendum on the European Union's proposed Lisbon treaty.The treaty provides for a streamlining of EU institutions to cope with expansions into Eastern Europe. It reduces individual countries' veto powers and creates powerful new posts for an EU president and foreign policy chief.
Ireland is the only country holding a referendum on the issue.
A No vote could derail the project as all 27 member-countries need to approve the treaty for it to come into force.
All of the main Irish parties are backing the treaty, but Prime Minister Brian Cowen, says that might not be enough to win the support of the people.
The problem is if I go to the European Council next week with a no vote obviously the preliminary discussions will have to begin as to what happens, he said.
I mean there'll be great disappointment and a great sense of uncertainty as to where we go from here.
Opponents of the treaty have been putting up a strong challenge.
Naoise Nunn, from No campaign group Libertas, says the treaty centralises power without providing accountability.
We're not running a campaign against Europe, he said.
It is against a specific treaty which is taking Europe down a road very, very fast and the passengers are kind of going, hang on a second, let's just stop for a minute and decide and get agreement amongst all of us on where we're going.- ABC/BBC
Main points of the EU's Lisbon Treaty JUNE 12,08
The main points of the Lisbon Treaty on which Irish citizens are voting Thursday and which aims to simplify how the bloc will be run in the decades ahead. The new EU treaty must be ratified by all 27 EU nations before it can take affect.
BURYING THE CONSTITUTION:
If ratified, the Lisbon Treaty would replace the aborted draft constitution voted down by French and Dutch voters in 2005. The new treaty is of a more modest charter; amends previous EU treaty rule books, and drops some of the symbolic elements of the constitution, such as formally recognizing the EU flag and anthem.
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS:
A 50-article charter contains a list of well-established rights, such as freedom of speech and religion, but also includes the right to shelter, education, collective labor bargaining and fair working conditions. Worried by the impact on business and their legal systems, Britain and Poland obtained opt-outs.
POWER AND INFLUENCE IN AN EXPANDED CLUB:
The EU will have a president for 2 1/2-year terms and a more powerful foreign policy chief who answers to the EU governments, but is a member of the European Commission, the EU executive. That person will get control over the EU's aid budget and its extensive network of diplomats and civil servants.
SMALLER EUROPEAN COMMISSION:
The EU executive office will be cut from the current 27 members to 18 as of 2014. Commissioners will be selected on a rotation system among the states, and will sit for five-year terms.
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT:
The European Parliament gets more power especially in justice and interior affairs to influence or reject EU legislation. The EU assembly will have its membership capped at 751 members from the current 785.
DECISION-MAKING:
The treaty will mean the EU can take decisions by majority rather than unanimous voting in 50 new areas including judicial and police cooperation, education and economic policy. Britain and Ireland get opt-outs in judicial and police areas. Unanimity is still required in foreign and defense policy, social security, taxation and culture.
NEXT STEP:
The aim is to have all EU countries ratify the treaty for EU-wide elections to the European Parliament, which are planned for June 2009.
EU takes US to task for protectionism trends
RENATA GOLDIROVA Today @ 09:21 CET
The EU has voiced frustration over worrying signs of protectionism in the United States, pointing to a planned increase of US farm subsidies as well as some anti-terrorism measures such as mandatory scanning of all goods containers entering American territory. We have noted with certain concern that there are signs of growing protectionism in a number of areas, reads the union's statement to the World Trade Organisation issued on Wednesday (11 June).The document attacks mounting restrictive import requirements for security purposes as they represent a considerable burden on EU exporters. The EU has hinted it may challenge the measures in front of the Geneva-based body. The EU raised doubts about the compliance of these measures with World Trade Organisation rules and their professed intent, the statement concludes. The two sides are the world's export leaders, with transatlantic trade amounting to €3 billion per day.
Higher farm subsidies
The EU has also criticised more generous hand-outs foreseen in the new 2008 US Farm Bill, especially in the context of the ongoing Doha development round of world trade talks. The Doha development round began in 2001 with the aim of cutting farm subsidies and tariffs and boosting free trade. The bill is the work of the US Congress which is pushing higher subsidies despite opposition from President George W. Bush. The [EU], like others, remains concerned that we are seeing less commitment to multilateralism than in the past, especially since the US has always been the main proponent as well as the beneficiary of the multilateral system, the EU statement says.The WTO attack comes a show of friendship between Brussels and Washington at the EU-US summit in Slovenia earlier this week.
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IRELAND VOTES ON EU CHARTER
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EU TREATYS FUTURE IN IRELANDS HANDS
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#18 COUNTRY GREECE RATIFIED THE LISBON TREATY, IF IRELAND DOES IT WILL BE NUMBER 19.
Greece ratifies EU treaty ahead of Ireland referendum AFP
Published: Wednesday, June 11, 2008
ATHENS - Greece's parliament on Wednesday voted in favour of the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, hours before a crucial referendum in Ireland where the charter's future is hanging in the balance.The Greek parliament approved the treaty by 250 votes to 42, with the ruling New Democracy conservatives and main opposition Pasok socialists endorsing the text.The treaty will make the European Union more effective to meet new challenges, Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis told the chamber.What we want is a Europe that becomes more structurally fortified the more it expands.
Greece hopes for a rapid ratification by all states to avoid delay in its implementation, he said.The opposition KKE Communists, Syriza leftists and the small nationalist party LAOS voted against the treaty, demanding that it be put to a referendum.Leftist demonstrations were held against the treaty in Athens and the northern city of Salonika on Wednesday.Pasok leader George Papandreou said his party supported the treaty for a more democratic and social Europe but called for a referendum to ensure that the Greek people were fully informed of the terms of the charter.All 27 EU nations must ratify the wide-ranging treaty if it is to come into effect on January 1 as planned. With Greece, 18 states have completed so far, or all but completed, that process.
The parliaments of Estonia and Finland overwhelmingly approved the charter earlier on Wednesday.The Lisbon Treaty replaces the EU constitution which was rejected by French and Dutch voters in referendums in 2005, plunging the bloc into the worst crisis in its half-century history.Ireland is the only country to hold a popular vote on the treaty, and opinion polls suggest Thursday's vote there could go down to the wire.The two last opinion polls in Ireland suggest supporters and opponents are virtually neck-and-neck, while hinting the no camp has more momentum. AFP 2008
Q&A: Ireland's referendum on the EU reform treatyHenry McDonald explains the basis of Irish opposition to the EU reform treaty, and the implications of a No vote both in Dublin and in Brussels Henry McDonald in Dublin guardian.co.uk, Thursday June 12 2008Article history
A poster in Dublin city centre encourages a no vote in Ireland's referendum on the Lisbon EU reform treaty. Photograph: AP
Is Ireland set to reject the Lisbon treaty?
Opinion polls at the weekend sent out mixed messages. One gave the No campaign a 5% lead while another put the Yes camp narrowly ahead. What all sides in the debate agree on is that the outcome will be extremely close. The Yes camp, which includes the Irish government and the republic's two main opposition parties, are hoping for a relatively high turnout. A low turnout favours the No campaigners as their voters are traditionally more likely to turn up at polling stations.
Why are so many Irish people prepared to vote against the treaty, given how well Ireland has done economically out of the EU?
The reasons for voting No are as complex as the disparate forces opposing the Lisbon treaty. Pro-free market groups like Libertas and individual Irish senators claim the deal will lead to tax harmonisation and take away the republic's advantage as a low capital tax haven that has attracted foreign, mainly US multinational investment and fed the Celtic tiger. Traditional nationalists led by Sinn Féin argue that ratifying the treaty severely dilutes Ireland's sovereignty. Along with the far left, they also claim that the treaty will commit Irish troops to future EU defence plans and thus end the state's neutrality. Ireland is not and never has been a member of Nato. The Catholic right meanwhile also opposes treaty, claiming that a strengthened European court of justice will overrule Irish laws such as the republic's outright ban on abortion.
What are the implications for Europe's 490 million citizens if the Irish vote No?
It will mean one of two things. Either the EU will exempt Ireland from the treaty for now and then invite to join at a later date (this would mean the republic having to hold a second referendum as they did with the Nice treaty) or all the EU states would be obliged renegotiate a brand new deal with its inevitable endless round of bartering between the member states. It would, either way, be a severe setback to the whole process of reforming EU structures and preparing for further expansion if Ireland fails to ratify the treaty.
What will the domestic impact be if there is a No vote?
Defeat in the referendum would be a major setback for the new Irish Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, coming just weeks after he succeeded Bertie Ahern as Ireland's prime minister. Conversely, a victory for the No campaign would be a boost for Sinn Féin, which suffered significant losses in last year's general election. Sinn Féin is the only party represented in the Dail, or Irish parliament, which is opposed to the Lisbon treaty.
How would Ireland be perceived in Europe if its electorate reject the deal hammered out in Lisbon?
France's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, has warned that there would be gigantic incomprehension across the EU if Ireland votes No. Privately, senior Irish government strategists admit that failure to ratify the treaty would be deeply embarrassing and a body blow to the credibility of Ireland in Europe. They argue that slowing up the process of EU reform would fatally weaken Ireland's influence.
Would a No vote mean the Irish have become a nation of Eurosceptics?
Not necessarily. Even some of opponents of the treaty are keen to stress that they do not advocate pulling out of the EU entirely. Only a fringe element of Irish politics, both on the far right and extreme left, are in favour of withdrawing from the union. The Irish government hopes it will not have to return to the negotiating table and explain to its European partners why their electorate derailed the Lisbon initiative. Their greatest enemy over the next 24 hours could be the apathy of what commentators call middle Ireland (which is generally pro-European) and their potential failure to turn out to vote.
Dublin referendum turn-out average by midday
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today @ 16:22 CET
EUOBSERVER / DUBLIN - Dublin, home to roughly half Ireland's 3 million voters, is seeing average turn-out for a referendum, according to unofficial reports.Across the capital, voting districts were reporting turnout ranging from nine percent to 18 percent of the total electorate as of midday, averaging 12.6 percent, according to spokespeople for the Dublin City Returning Officer.The highest turn-out has so far been in Northside, the northern, more working class areas of the city. (Photo: EUobserver)
The highest turn-out has so far been in Northside, the northern, more working class areas of the city. Working class voters are expected to break more strongly for the No side.Nonetheless, the turnout split across the city may yet change substantially as people from middle class with lower levels of unemployment districts return home from work.Turnout tends to shoot up a little bit more in the early evening after work, as people vote on their way home, said John Wheelan of the Environment Department, the government department in charge of the referendum.Polls are open quite late today. Having opened at 7 am, they do not close until 10 pm – in an effort to boost turn-out.If Dublin leans towards the No on a high turn-out, campaigners on both sides say this would signal a win for the anti-treaty forces, as rural Ireland is expected to break marginally for the No as well. If Dublin goes Yes, all remains in play, as the urban vote could be balanced by farmers.
At the same time, the Irish Farmers' Association last week called on its members to support the Yes side, although having made a commitment so late in the game, farmers may yet go for the No.At the Youthreach Centre polling station on Pleasants Street in south central Dublin, a mixed working class and middle class area, turnout was 11 percent.Ben Bishop, the station's chief presiding officer, said such a turnout for a referendum was slightly higher than normal for the city centre. It's normally two to three percent by this point in the day.Up the road at the Synge Street polling station, in a middle class neighbourhood, turnout was nine percent as of midday, according to the poll's officer.It's been a steady trickle all morning – about what you'd expect, said presiding officer Vincent Tierney. For a referendum, we'd expect by the end of the day about 30 percent. It's much higher for a general election.Jackie Rhodes, manning the tables at the same polling station and a veteran election worker, said: It's pretty average for a referendum, regardless of how contentious it is.It's too close to call. There've been an awful lot of people changing their minds just in the last few days – both ways.
Meanwhile, campaigners from the continent were out in force again today. The Young European Federalists setting up camp in St Stephen's Green, and a van-load of ten members of Attac, the alter-globalisation group that led the successful No campaign in France in 2005 laid out their stalls and literature outside the General Post Office, the headquarters of the 1916 Easter Uprising that presaged the country's independence from Britain.The smartly dressed Young Federalists were broadly optimistic and reported excellent support from Dubliners, while the Attac activists also reported a fantastic attitude from voters.One passer-by, Emma, a grandmother from Hayes, said: I don't trust that lot in the parliament. They'd sell you a goat and tell you it's a race horse!
Papers focus on turn-out
The Irish media for their part have focussed on the importance of turn-out. The Irish Times front page lead story described how both sides were encouraging voters to make their mark, next to a large photograph of a sword swallower street performer, who had yesterday won the Guinness World Record for the highest number of simultaneous swords swallowed – 27, each bearing a different EU member state's flag.The Irish Independent told readers that Ireland needs to vote Yes and also featured the street performer, headlined referendum On a knife-edge.The Irish Examiner also lead with government hopes for a high turn-out, while the Irish editions of the British tabloids – the right-wing and Euro-sceptic Irish Daily Mail, the Star and the Irish Sun – but not the Mirror - called on voters to choose No. The centre-left Mirror told readers they must vote Yes.The Sun's front-page, true to stereotype, bore a half-naked young woman with two X-marked voting papers covering her breasts alongside a frowning European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and a headline screaming: No Way Jose.
Ireland goes to polls over EU treaty JUNE 12,08
Europeans are looking towards Ireland tonight, where people are voting in a referendum on the European Union's proposed Lisbon treaty.The treaty provides for a streamlining of EU institutions to cope with expansions into Eastern Europe. It reduces individual countries' veto powers and creates powerful new posts for an EU president and foreign policy chief.
Ireland is the only country holding a referendum on the issue.
A No vote could derail the project as all 27 member-countries need to approve the treaty for it to come into force.
All of the main Irish parties are backing the treaty, but Prime Minister Brian Cowen, says that might not be enough to win the support of the people.
The problem is if I go to the European Council next week with a no vote obviously the preliminary discussions will have to begin as to what happens, he said.
I mean there'll be great disappointment and a great sense of uncertainty as to where we go from here.
Opponents of the treaty have been putting up a strong challenge.
Naoise Nunn, from No campaign group Libertas, says the treaty centralises power without providing accountability.
We're not running a campaign against Europe, he said.
It is against a specific treaty which is taking Europe down a road very, very fast and the passengers are kind of going, hang on a second, let's just stop for a minute and decide and get agreement amongst all of us on where we're going.- ABC/BBC
Main points of the EU's Lisbon Treaty JUNE 12,08
The main points of the Lisbon Treaty on which Irish citizens are voting Thursday and which aims to simplify how the bloc will be run in the decades ahead. The new EU treaty must be ratified by all 27 EU nations before it can take affect.
BURYING THE CONSTITUTION:
If ratified, the Lisbon Treaty would replace the aborted draft constitution voted down by French and Dutch voters in 2005. The new treaty is of a more modest charter; amends previous EU treaty rule books, and drops some of the symbolic elements of the constitution, such as formally recognizing the EU flag and anthem.
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS:
A 50-article charter contains a list of well-established rights, such as freedom of speech and religion, but also includes the right to shelter, education, collective labor bargaining and fair working conditions. Worried by the impact on business and their legal systems, Britain and Poland obtained opt-outs.
POWER AND INFLUENCE IN AN EXPANDED CLUB:
The EU will have a president for 2 1/2-year terms and a more powerful foreign policy chief who answers to the EU governments, but is a member of the European Commission, the EU executive. That person will get control over the EU's aid budget and its extensive network of diplomats and civil servants.
SMALLER EUROPEAN COMMISSION:
The EU executive office will be cut from the current 27 members to 18 as of 2014. Commissioners will be selected on a rotation system among the states, and will sit for five-year terms.
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT:
The European Parliament gets more power especially in justice and interior affairs to influence or reject EU legislation. The EU assembly will have its membership capped at 751 members from the current 785.
DECISION-MAKING:
The treaty will mean the EU can take decisions by majority rather than unanimous voting in 50 new areas including judicial and police cooperation, education and economic policy. Britain and Ireland get opt-outs in judicial and police areas. Unanimity is still required in foreign and defense policy, social security, taxation and culture.
NEXT STEP:
The aim is to have all EU countries ratify the treaty for EU-wide elections to the European Parliament, which are planned for June 2009.
EU takes US to task for protectionism trends
RENATA GOLDIROVA Today @ 09:21 CET
The EU has voiced frustration over worrying signs of protectionism in the United States, pointing to a planned increase of US farm subsidies as well as some anti-terrorism measures such as mandatory scanning of all goods containers entering American territory. We have noted with certain concern that there are signs of growing protectionism in a number of areas, reads the union's statement to the World Trade Organisation issued on Wednesday (11 June).The document attacks mounting restrictive import requirements for security purposes as they represent a considerable burden on EU exporters. The EU has hinted it may challenge the measures in front of the Geneva-based body. The EU raised doubts about the compliance of these measures with World Trade Organisation rules and their professed intent, the statement concludes. The two sides are the world's export leaders, with transatlantic trade amounting to €3 billion per day.
Higher farm subsidies
The EU has also criticised more generous hand-outs foreseen in the new 2008 US Farm Bill, especially in the context of the ongoing Doha development round of world trade talks. The Doha development round began in 2001 with the aim of cutting farm subsidies and tariffs and boosting free trade. The bill is the work of the US Congress which is pushing higher subsidies despite opposition from President George W. Bush. The [EU], like others, remains concerned that we are seeing less commitment to multilateralism than in the past, especially since the US has always been the main proponent as well as the beneficiary of the multilateral system, the EU statement says.The WTO attack comes a show of friendship between Brussels and Washington at the EU-US summit in Slovenia earlier this week.
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