1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Earthquake shakes Cochrane area. 3-School closings take city by storm. 4-52,000 Residents Still without Power from Winter Storms in Ill., Mo. 5-Violent storms savage France. 6-Long-range Weather Forecast (farmers Almanac). 7-Forest fires cause bedlam in Australia. 8-Hamas-led government wlll not recognize Israel, Haniyeh vows. 9-Bush, Blair Agree Mideast Peace Needs Arab-Israeli Pact. 10-Arab League chief calls for re-launching Mideast peace process. 11-Europeans Limit Scope of Iran Nuclear Resolution. 12-Pakistan successfully test-fires ballistic missile. 13-US Congress passes landmark Indian nuclear deal. 14-Al-Zarqawi said Shiites most dangerous. 15-Ariane sends satellites to orbit. 16-Ebola kills over 5,000 gorillas. 17-Microchip Implants Vs Cash - The Race Is On.
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.
WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)
Update time = Sun Dec 10 12:02 AM EDT
DEC 10,2006
MAP 2.8 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.4 STATE OF YAP, FED. STATES OF MICRONESIA
MAP 2.5 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.2 MOUNT ST. HELENS AREA, WASHINGTON
MAP 4.7 FIJI REGION
DEC 09,2006
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.9 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.7 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 5.2 OFF THE EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA, RUSSIA
MAP 2.8 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 5.7 NORTHWEST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.8 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.8 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.4 NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
MAP 3.1 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 3.3 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 3.3 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 4.4 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 4.6 NEAR THE SOUTH COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 3.3 OFFSHORE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.1 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC REGION
MAP 4.8 RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN
MAP 4.9 OFFSHORE EL SALVADOR
MAP 3.5 MONA PASSAGE, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Earthquake shakes Cochrane area
Tb News Source,12/7/2006 7:48:46 PM
Another earthquake shook northern Ontario late Wednesday night.
The quake struck just before midnight and was centred about 60 kilometres northwest of Cochrane. It was primarily felt in the nearby town of Smooth Rock Falls, but people as far as Timmins reported tremors.A similar quake Nov. 29 that shook the Sudbury area is being blamed on mining activity in the region. Experts say while the two temblors were similar, they're not connected.I think it's a matter of coincidence, said Janet Drysdale, a seismologist with the Geological Survey of Canada. We normally have earthquakes in both regions regularly, not that often, but they certainly have occurred in the past.Drysdale said both earthquakes measured a little more than four on the Richter scale, happened close to populated areas and were felt by area residents.Drysdale said mining-related earthquakes in the Sudbury area are fairly common, but that last week's incident was a little larger than usual.
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.
School closings take city by storm,Sat, December 9, 2006
By KATE DUBINSKI, LONDON FREE PRESS EDUCATION REPORTER
Finally, city schoolkids caught a break that only their country cousins usually get. London schoolchildren woke up to their first-ever snow day yesterday. Snow days that cancel school are a rite of passage in many rural areas, but rare in cities where kids can often still get to school when rural counterparts are snowed in. But the storm that walloped London yesterday brought a dream come true for city kids the city's first snow day in more than 25 years. We've been urging kids to help their parents shovel the driveway, joked Chris Dennett of the Thames Valley District school board. My son's in Grade 12 and this is his first snow day, said John Boles of the London District Catholic school board.It was the first time the area's school system had shut down on a scheduled school day in more than a decade.
It was also the first board-wide snow day since the public and Catholic school boards in Elgin, Middlesex and Oxford counties merged in the 1990s with their London counterparts to form the region's two massive boards. We think this is the first time since 1978 that the whole system has been shut down, Boles said. It's pretty rare that we shut everything down. It has to be something huge.For many students, young and old, it was the first time in their lives school was cancelled due to snow. But few were complaining, including students at Fanshawe College and the University of Western Ontario, where the first day of exams was nixed due to the tough time students would have getting to campus. The plug was pulled because buses couldn't get around in the city or rural areas, and teachers and other staff faced a tough time getting to work, Dennett said.
City crews said that helped them plow streets quicker, because there was less traffic. Fanshawe cancelled some exams and urged students to monitor its website for updates. At Western, where exams were to start yesterday, about 7,000 students got an extra study day. The campus closed down for only the third time in the last 10 years, with only essential staff called in. Exam -rescheduling updates will be posted on the UWO registrar's website, but officials say today's exams will go ahead as scheduled.
UWO's affiliated colleges, Brescia, Huron and King's, also were shut down. We don't close very often, said Western's David Estok. We're pretty confident that we can be back on for (today).
52,000 Residents Still without Power from Winter Storms in Ill., Mo.
December 9, 2006
High winds overnight and into Thursday increased the number of Ameren Corp. electric utility customers without power in Missouri and Illinois to more than 52,000, the majority of those in Illinois, Ameren spokeswoman Susan Gallagher said. Crews likely would be working into Friday and perhaps Saturday to restore power, she said. The storm plowed through the Midwest late last week, dropping snow and coating the region with ice before carrying the wind and thunderstorms into the Northeast. At least 18 deaths have been blamed on the storm in Illinois and Missouri. The Illinois Commerce Commission announced Wednesday that it had asked staff to develop recommendations for an investigation into Ameren's preparedness and response to the storm. The plan is to be reviewed at the next public meetings of the state's utility regulator, scheduled for Dec. 19-20.
Without prejudging the company's response, we think it's fair to examine the situation and ask the hard questions for the public we serve, commissioner Kevin Wright said in an agency release.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich has declared 49 Illinois counties state disaster areas, helping the Illinois Emergency Management Agency coordinate resources to support local communities with storm recovery efforts. In Missouri, Gov. Matt Blunt is hopeful of getting a presidential declaration of disaster based on damage reported in all 114 counties, said Blunt spokesman Brian Hauswirth. That would free up funds for reimbursement. Calls by Insurance Journal to State Farm to determine the number of Insurance Claims related to the storms in the two states were not returned.Illinois Insurance Department spokesperson, Susan Hofer said it was too early to have claims numbers and suggested consumers go to the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to access tips on how to file a claim and protect your property. Associated Press.
Vol XXIX NO. 264 Saturday 9th December 2006
Violent storms savage France
PARIS: Violent storms packing hurricane-force winds lashed France yesterday, leaving one person dead and several injured, cutting power to 300,000 homes and disrupting international flights.The victim, a man in his fifties, was struck dead on a busy high street Paris's central 10th district, when the wind brought a billboard crashing down onto him, police said. Two other people were injured in the accident.At the top of the Eiffel Tower, wind speeds hit 137kmph, prompting Paris City Hall to close down all parks, cemeteries and ice rinks and advise people to stay indoors if possible.At Paris's main international airport Charles de Gaulle a dozen flights, from San Francisco, Bologna, Madrid and Geneva were rerouted to other French airport, Brussels and London.
Most other incoming and outgoing flights suffered 90-minute delays, with traffic returning to normal later in the evening.Fallen trees disrupted high-speed rail traffic between Paris and Nantes on the Atlantic coast, one of the worst hit areas, and a main bridge near Nantes was closed after three trucks were knocked over by the wind.Off the west coast, a Dutch cargo ship listing heavily in the wind lost part of its cargo at sea and had to be escorted towards the nearby port of Brest.Winds of more than 140kmph were recorded along the west coast, where more than 150,000 homes were left without power, as well as in the Massif Central mountain range.Power was cut to another 150,000 households around the country, mostly in the centre and southeast, but had been restored in most places by nightfall, the electricity provider EDF said.Firemen were called out to hundreds of accident scenes across France, caused by falling trees and flying roof tiles, and a young man was seriously injured in the southeastern Rhone region when his car was crushed by a tree.The storm, described as very serious by the weather forecasting agency Meteo France, had swept east towards the Netherlands by evening, with calm returning to most of the country.
Long-range Weather Forecast (farmers Almanac)
Southern Ontario,Annual Weather Summary,November 2006 to October 2007
Detailed 2007 Long-Range Forecast for the Southern Ontario Region Winter will be slightly colder than normal, on average, with below-normal precipitation. The coldest periods will be in early and late December, early and mid- to late January, and early and late February. Snowfall will be slightly above normal in southwest Ontario and slightly below normal in most other areas. The heaviest snowfalls will occur in early and mid-February.April and May will be much warmer than normal from southwest Ontario to Toronto, with unseasonably hot temperatures in early to mid-May.
Temperatures will be near normal elsewhere. Rainfall will be slightly above normal in the west and below normal elsewhere.Summer will be slightly cooler and drier than normal, on average, with the hottest temperatures in mid- August.September and October will be cooler than normal, on average, with precipitation near normal in the east and below normal in the west.
Detailed Forecast for the Next Two Months, Our detailed 2007 Long-Range Forecast covers,November 2006 to October 2007
December 2006
Avg. Temperature: -7°C (2° below avg.)
Precipitation: 20mm (20mm below avg.)
Dec. 1-3: Snow showers
Dec. 4-9: Snow, then sunny, very cold
Dec. 10-19: Snow, then sunny, seasonable
Dec. 20-25: Snow showers, cold
Dec. 26-31: Snow and ice
January 2007
Avg. Temperature: -11°C (2° below avg.)
Precipitation: 35mm (5mm below avg.)
Jan. 1-4: Snow showers, then sunny
Jan. 5-8: Rain and snow showers, mild
Jan. 9-12: Rain to snow, then sunny
Jan. 13-17: Snow, then sunny, cold
Jan. 18-20: Sunny, then rain; mild
Jan. 21-26: Snow, then sunny, very cold
Jan. 27-31: Snow, then sunny, mild
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.
Forest fires cause bedlam in Australia
Dec 9, 2006, 4:35 GMT
A blanket of bushfires smoke hundreds of kilometres long hangs as seen from above the Maryborough region in central Victoria, Friday, 08 December 2006. Eighteen fires are currently burning across state forests and the Alpine National Park in the north east and Gippsland region, blackening about 150,000 hectares. EPA/JULIAN SMITH Sydney Smoke from forest fires ravaging Australia's south east corner set off alarms and delayed some flights Saturday at Melbourne airport to start what authorities have billed as a horror weekend because of extreme heat and high winds.
Soldiers have been called up to bolster a mostly volunteer firefighting force of almost 3,000, including a contingent from New Zealand. Smaller fires that have already burned 170,000 hectares of forest began linking up into a monster fire that Victorian Premier Steve Bracks said could exhaust even the massive resources in
place to fight it. This is going to be probably one of the worst fire periods we have seen in Victoria in the history of this state,Bracks said. Probably the only comparable time would go back to 1939, Black Friday, when we saw a similar fire activity go through the alpine area and go through to the coast as well.
The Black Friday fires blackened 2 million hectares of forest and killed 71 people.
Firefighters backed up by water-bombing aircraft are trying to hold off a 150-kilometre fire front that authorities fear could engulf 600,000 hectares of forests and farms in alpine country. With rugged terrain making firefighting very difficult, some residents have left their properties to whatever fate may bring.I think really there is not a lot of point staying, said a Maffra West resident, identified only as Debbie by national broadcaster ABC. I really don't expect the brigade to be able to get up here and defend our property.
Authorities urged those without experience to flee the fire front and those whose properties were in danger to prepare their defences. If people are going to stay and defend, that's fine, but if people are unsure and not prepared, well then, they need to be making that decision now and leaving, fire manager Peter Farrell said. In Woods Point, half the town's 40 residents have left. The rest, along with a similar number of firefighters, have stayed to try to save their houses.
If the fire overruns the Woods Point containment lines, the contingency plan is to shelter in an abandoned gold mine until the fire has passed overhead. The shaft has been fitted with oxygen, food, water and other supplies. Farrell said that dense smoke was making it difficult for pilots to spot the precise location of fires. Visibility is down to a few hundred metres, rendering Water-bombing a hit-and-miss affair.Typically, forest fires rage during the southern hemisphere summer, peaking in December, January and February. Four years ago, seven people were killed, 500 houses razed and 3 million hectares of forest blackened - an area three times the size of Britain. Bushfires cost Australia an average of 77 million Australian dollars (58 million US dollars) a year in damage to property, stock and crops.Global warming means that worse firestorms are in prospect with a longer bushfire season in recent years and conflagrations covering greater areas. dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.
DANIEL 11:36-40
36 And the king shall do according to his will;(EU PRESIDENT) and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS A EUROPEAN JEW) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(HES A MILITARY GINIUS) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds (CONTROL HEZBOLLAH,AL-QUAIDA MURDERERS ETC) with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south(EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR PROTECTING ISRAELS SECURITY) and the king of the north(RUSSIA) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships;
and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days
shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
Hamas-led government wlll not recognize Israel, Haniyeh vows
Associated Press DEC 08,2006
TEHRAN, IRAN The Palestinian prime minister vowed that his Hamas-led government will never recognize Israel and will fight for Jerusalem, telling a crowd at an Iranian mosque on Friday that he will resist U.S. pressure to moderate.Ismail Haniyeh's sermon came on the first day of his visit to an increasingly influential ally of the Hamas movement. Iran has given $120 million to the Hamas-led government, which is starved for funds because of a financial blockade by the West.The United States and other Western countries are pressing Hamas, which took over the Palestinian government after winning January elections, to recognize Israel and renounce violence.Haniyeh said he would do no such thing, adopting his hosts label of the world arrogance to refer to the U.S. during his sermon to thousands of Friday prayer worshippers at Tehran University.The world arrogance and Zionists ... want us to recognize the usurpation of the Palestinian lands and stop jihad and resistance and accept the agreements reached with the Zionist enemies in the past, he said.We will never recognize the usurper Zionist government and will continue our jihad-like
movement until the liberation of Jerusalem, he said.
Bush, Blair Agree Mideast Peace Needs Arab-Israeli Pact
By Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Service
Dec 8, 2006 - 3:25:44 PM
Blackanthem Military News, WASHINGTON, D.C. – There has to be peace between Israel and the Palestinians as part of a greater solution in the Middle East, President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said during a White House news conference this morning. Blair will soon travel to the region to work on bringing Israel and the Palestinian state forward, he said. Democracy in the Middle East is a threat to insurgents and terrorists in the region, Bush said. One of the reasons why there hasn't been instant success is because radicals and extremists are trying to stop the advance of a Palestinian state, he said. Why? Because democracy is a defeat for them. The U.S. and British goal is to strengthen the government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and strengthen the Palestinian Authority's security forces. Now the fundamental question is, can we help the moderates prevail?
Bush said. And make no mistake about it, radicals and extremists will kill in order to stop the progress, and ... that's what's difficult. But it should be a signal to those of us who have got the comfort of liberty to understand the consequences of this ideological struggle we're fighting. One of the consequences is the denial of a Palestinian state, which is ironic, isn't it? I think it is, and it's sad. Before the parties can reach a peaceful resolution, Blair said, those holding Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit must release him. Palestinian militants abducted Shalit through an underground tunnel into Israel on June 25. Two Israeli soldiers were killed and four others wounded in the attack. His captors have since confirmed he is alive. Shalit's safe return would allow Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to release many Palestinian prisoners, Blair said. We are prepared to take the peace process forward and get into a process of negotiation, but we need a government on both sides that is committed to the basic principles of that negotiation. The current Hamas government will not form a national unity government on the Palestinian side. Hamas does not recognize Israel's right to exist, Blair said. That's the difficulty, he said. It's not a kind of technical point. It's absolutely at the heart of it. If all sides take this very basic position, Blair said, you could move this forward quickly. I don't think there's any doubt at all that if you could get an empowered Palestinian government able to negotiate, Israel has made it clear it is prepared to negotiate, he said. I'm not saying there aren't very tricky issues there are things like Jerusalem, the right of return, which are very difficult. But actually, it's not beyond our wit to put it together. We could put it together. But you need to get these initial steps taken.
08:44, December 09, 2006
Arab League chief calls for re-launching Mideast peace process
Arab League (AL) Secretary General Amr Moussa has called for re-launching the Mideast peace process with a timescale, saying that the Mideast peace process is still moribund, Egypt's MENA news agency reported on Friday.
Moussa made the call at a forum at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies that was also attended by Arab and foreign ambassadors and intellectuals, MENA said. At the occasion, the AL chief noted that the Arab world is passing through a very sensitive stage full of fateful issues and the Arab-Israeli conflict would determine the direction of the Mideast peace process. The U.S. administration still has time to correct its policies in Iraq, in particular, and in the Mideast, in general, Moussa said, while warning of the tense situation in Lebanon Talking on a recent report released by the U.S. bipartisan Iraq Study Group (ISG), or the Baker-Hamilton commission, Moussa lauded its recommendation for talks with Iran and Syria on the situation in Iraq, asserting that isolating any country would not resolve any problem.
He called for holding an Iraqi national reconciliation conference in Baghdad within four months. On the Palestine issue, Moussa held that there was a chance for forming a national unity government in the territories as the current governing Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) approved establishing a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders while the Israeli side has said that it was ready to accept the Arab peace initiative floated by the Beirut Summit. Source: Xinhua
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Europeans Limit Scope of Iran Nuclear Resolution
By WARREN HOGE,December 9, 2006
UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 8 Europeans produced a revised draft of a Security Council resolution on Iran on Friday, and said they would formally introduce it on Monday in the hope of obtaining a speedy vote on much-delayed action to curb Tehran’s nuclear program.The text was drawn up after weeks of meetings in European capitals among the three nations drafting the measure, Britain, France and Germany, in consultation with the United States. It is aimed at meeting persistent objections from China and Russia.
The revised language narrows the scope of prohibition and punishment to activities that are clearly associated with making a nuclear weapon. Iran has argued that it is pursuing nuclear power for peaceful purposes, while the United States and the Europeans have contended that Iran’s real purpose is to build bombs.It also removes restrictions in earlier drafts on the construction, supplying and operation of an $800 million light-water reactor that Russia is building at Bushehr in southern Iran.
Iran ignored an Aug. 31 United Nations deadline to suspend uranium enrichment, which can produce fuel for both nuclear plants and weapons. Since then, the United States and the Europeans have been pressing for sanctions, but China and Russia have stalled action, saying broad punishment would be counterproductive.Iran has said that a sanctions resolution would be a threat to its national security. The proposed sanctions still include travel restrictions, an asset freeze and bans on providing nuclear program goods, but in the new text they are now more focused on people and material linked to suspected weapons-building activities.
The new text has two goals, said one European diplomat involved in its preparation. First, to keep it firm I think it is a strong text and at the same time to have the Chinese and Russians on board.A second European diplomat was asked whether the Europeans planned to drive the matter to a vote, even if China and Russia, both veto-bearing permanent members, continued to object or threatened to abstain. The intention and the wish is to remain unified and get this agreed, he said.But it is three months since Iran ignored the deadline, and we are not saying unanimity at any price.
Neither diplomat would speak on the record before the text was officially presented to the members of the Council. In Washington, Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, said that he sensed that the differences over the resolution were starting to narrow.
Pakistan successfully test-fires ballistic missile
www.chinaview.cn 2006-12-09 13:35:27
ISLAMABAD, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan on Saturday conducted a successful launch of the Short Range Ballistic Missile, the army said.The Hataf-III (Ghaznavi) Missile has a range of 290 km, a statement from the army's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.This was the third launch of a ballistic missile by the Strategic Missile Group (SMG) in as many weeks as part of the training exercises of the Pakistan Army's Strategic Force Command (ASFC), according to the statement.Two other SMGs had earlier conducted successful launches of the Ghauri and Shaheen-I ballistic missiles last month.The launch came at the culmination phase of the training exercise, which validated the operational readiness of the Strategic Missile Group (SMG) equipped with Ghaznavi Missiles, the statement said. Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed and alarge number of senior military officers, scientists and engineers of the strategic organizations witnessed the launch exercise, it added.Editor: Feng Tao
US Congress passes landmark Indian nuclear deal DEC 09,06
WASHINGTON (AFP) The US Congress early Saturday gave its final approval to landmark legislation allowing export of civilian nuclear fuel and technology to India for the first time in 30 years. The US Senate passed the bill by voice vote during an all-night session. The US House of Representatives approved it by a vote of 330-59 late Friday.
Al-Zarqawi said Shiites most dangerous by OMAR SINAN, Associated Press Writer Sat Dec 9, 12:15 AM ET
CAIRO, Egypt - The slain terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi purportedly believed that Iraq's Shiite Muslims were more dangerous than U.S. forces and more evil than dictator Saddam Hussein, according to a posthumous interview published Friday on the Internet. The 33-page interview, conducted sometime before a U.S. fighter bomber killed the former al-Qaida in Iraq leader in June, could not be immediately authenticated. It was posted on a Web site known to be a clearing-house for al-Qaida material.The posting, which comes amid ongoing sectarian violence in Iraq, said the interview had been kept in al-Qaida's archive but did not explain why the terror group had decided to release it six months after his death.In the interview, al-Zarqawi is quoted as saying the leader of Iraq's Shiites, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is a satan who publicly tells Shiites to stay above the violence but secretly tells them to attack.
Al-Sistani has ordered his followers not to fight the Americans ... and yet they hit Sunnis with assassinations, forcing them to flee their homes and attacking their mosques, said al-Zarqawi, a Sunni from Jordan. For us, the Shiites are far more dangerous than the Americans.The mass graves that Saddam perpetrated, and all his other crimes over the past decades, do not amount to one-tenth of what the Shiites have done in the last three years, al-Zarqawi is quoted as saying.Earlier this week, a bipartisan commission in the United States warned the situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating" and recommended fundamentally different U.S. policies to combat the sectarian violence roiling the country.The Iraq Study Group report also concluded that al-Qaida in Iraq is now largely made up of Sunni Arabs. Some 1,300 foreign fighters are believed to support the group or be available to carry out suicide bombings, the study found.
In the interview, Al-Zarqawi condemns the attacks of Iraq's Shiite Muslim militiamen on the country's Sunni Muslim community. Yet it was al-Zarqawi who had fomented Shiite-Sunni strife as the best way to scuttle the U.S. plans to rebuild Iraq as a democratic state after Saddam's overthrow.Al-Zarqawi, whose real name was Ahmad Fadhil Nazzal al-Khalayleh, was responsible for the most vicious of the wave of attacks that occurred in the first years of the Iraqi insurgency. He is believed to have personally beheaded at least two American hostages. The U.S. had put a $25 million bounty on his head, the same amount as for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.In the interview, al-Zarqawi also rails against the leader of the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, implicitly accusing Sheik Hassan Nasrallah of being in league with Israel.Al-Zarqawi accuses Nasrallah of being two-faced in his opposition to Israel and suggests it is not an accident that Israeli aircraft have not killed him as they have killed several leaders of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.Hassan Nasrallah sits for hours at a military parade and Israeli aircraft don't bomb him. Who is he kidding?
al-Zarqawi is quoted as saying.
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.
Friday, 8 December 2006, 23:59 GMT
Ariane sends satellites to orbit
The Ariane rocket took off from French Guiana The European heavy-lift rocket Ariane 5 has been launched from French Guiana to put two satellites into orbit. One of the satellites, WildBlue, will provide broadband internet access to rural areas of the US and Canada. The second, from telecoms company SES Americom will provide communications to the US and western hemisphere.
The launch, the 30th for the Ariane rocket, was the final one of the year from the European Kourou launch pad off in French Guiana. The rocket launched on schedule at 1908 local time (2208 GMT). The WildBlue satellite was released 27 minutes after take-off, five minutes ahead of the SES American satellite, AMC-18. The Ariane launch was the 174th mission since the European space consortium, Arianespace, was formed in 1980.
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).
Ebola kills over 5,000 gorillas
Scientists fear Ebola and hunting combined could wipe out gorillas.More than 5,000 gorillas may have died in recent outbreaks of the Ebola virus in central Africa, a study says. Scientists warn that, coupled with the commercial hunting of gorillas, it may be enough to push them to extinction. The study, published in the US journal Science, looked at gorilla colonies in Republic of Congo and Gabon. Ebola is also blamed for many chimpanzee deaths. One of the most virulent viruses known, Ebola has killed more than 1,000 people since it was first recorded in 1976. Ebola causes viral haemorrhagic fever - massive internal and external bleeding - which can kill up to 90% of those infected. Scientists are still working on a vaccine and there is no known cure.
Ape-to-ape transmission
The latest study, carried out by an international team, has confirmed previous concerns about how badly the virus is affecting gorillas.
EBOLA
One of the most virulent viral diseases.Damages blood vessels and can cause extensive bleeding, diarrhoea and shock.Killed more than 240 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1995.Transmitted by infected body fluids .Kills up to 90% of victims, depending on the strain.There is no cure.Add commercial hunting to the mix, and we have a recipe for rapid ecological extinction, the report says. Ape species that were abundant and widely distributed a decade ago are rapidly being reduced to remnant populations. The researchers, led by Magdalena Bermejo of the University of Barcelona, focused on western gorillas, one of two gorilla species. The other is the eastern gorilla. In 2002 and 2003, several outbreaks of Ebola flared up in human populations in Gabon and Congo. The researchers found a massive die-off in gorillas in Congo's Lossi Sanctuary between 2002 and 2004.
The Lossi outbreak killed about as many gorillas as survive in the entire eastern gorilla species, the study says. The researchers concluded that the apes were not only infected by other species, such as fruit bats, but were also transmitting the virus among themselves. Ebola was passing from group to group of the endangered animals, they found, and appeared to be spreading faster than in humans. Outbreaks of the disease in humans have sometimes been traced to the bushmeat trade. According to World Health Organization figures, Ebola killed 1,200 people between the first recorded human outbreak in 1976 and 2004.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
Microchip Implants Vs Cash - The Race Is On
Wednesday 6th December 2006
Shoppers could soon pay for goods using a microchip implanted under the skin, according to a report in The Times newspaper recently. Mal FletcherThe idea, says the report, is already catching on with today's iPod generation, with one study showing that one in 10 teenagers and one in 20 adults already willing to have a microchip implanted to pay shop bills and help to prevent identity fraud.
The VIP Baja Beach Club in Barcelona already uses implanted human body chips to identify its exclusive clientele ostensibly because wearing bikinis and shorts leaves nowhere to carry wallets and purses. Members use the chip to gain access and to pay for services. Made by the VeriChip Corporation, the chip is a glass capsule which sits under the skin. It carries a ten-digit personal number that can be linked to a person's bank account. For decades, certain prophets of our time both Christian and secular have warned that we're rapidly moving into a dangerously uncertain, cashless world.
For centuries, cash money ruled the world: a world where most people traded on a local scale and where nation-states could govern their own economies and produce their own currencies. Today's world is very different. International trading pacts drive macro economies and everything is linked to everything else all across the globe. A financial sneeze in one major trading centre can cause whole nations to catch cold on the other side of the world.
To serve this new economic landscape, we've invented digital alternatives to cash.
The first step in the move toward a digital economy was the introduction of the now ubiquitous credit card. The process took a giant leap forward, though, when computer chips were added to those cards. Meanwhile, the mobile phone market offered hungry
companies a hot new way to offer digital cash services. Phones have three great advantages over cards. They have keys; they have transmitters; and they have enough memory and power to handle big processors and software for encryption and accounting. The mobile phone is an amazing banking technology, because it's so convenient for the user. The big new developments in the digital cash world are driven by tools such as Radio Frequency ID tags (RFIDs for short).Each one of these tiny devices is basically a radio barcode. It's smaller than a grain of sand, yet it contains hardware, software, permanent memory, an operating system, and the ability to write and receive data. It transmits over small distances using short bursts of electromagnetic radiation and its built-in power generators could last up to 100 years. (Ed: For more on this, watch Mal Fletcher's interview with futurist Dr. Patrick Dixon).Before we dump cash altogether, we should take a long, deep breath and consider a few facts.
Shoppers could soon pay for goods using a microchip implanted under the skin, according to a report in The Times newspaper recently.First, despite all the bells-and-whistles technologies on offer, using cash still has its advantages: it doesn't require any special equipment, it's anonymous and there are no transaction costs. Yes, digital money has the advantage of being able to handle large transactions instantly, even over long distances, but using it requires complex electronic systems. Transactions are not anonymous; they can be traced back to the user. What's more, several studies have shown that when people with credit card debt are confronted with their spending in terms of cold, hard cash, they are shocked. They've never been able to weigh their spending against their earnings while money is nothing more than numbers on a screen. It's only when they feel the cash in hand that they're able to attribute value to their earnings and their spending. There are even bigger human issues at stake, though; issues as fundamental as freedom.
Despite the relative merits of digital money, it's not hard to imagine how bankers and others are using it to slowly eliminate cash altogether.
Twenty years ago, that would have sounded far-fetched, but not any more. Multi-national companies are building global networks of interconnected computerdatabases. That's the reason we can bank, buy, receive social benefits and even pay our taxes electronically. Real money is being replaced with virtual money and this may very well be sowing the seeds of eventual electronic enslavement. Our reliance on cards is actually a reliance on chips and it is already leading to unacceptable invasions of privacy. As we grow more and more familiar with a microchip culture, the easier it gets for someone to centralise all the information contained on our cards. One chip can easily contain all the relevant information about our health, banking details, buying habits, voting preferences and so on. The technology is already in place what's missing is the public acceptance.
Once money becomes nothing more than numbers on a screen, our material wealth can easily be manipulated by other people. Yes, cash can be stolen, but when it is, fraudsters can't use it to steal your identity as well - as they can with cards. Stealing your cash does not give thieves access to personal information about you.And the drive for a cashless society may well lead to sinister attempts to control individuals and even entire populations. Already, miniature chip technologies are being used to turn us into an extension of our bank accounts - in a world where numbers, not individuals, rule. Cash, though far from a perfect means of trade, equals freedom. If cash is eliminated, or downgraded even further, the stage is set for companies, national governments or even global bodies to monitor and manipulate our behaviour. The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Saturday, December 09, 2006
STRONG EURO FAVORS CONSUMERS
1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Scientists Spot Tsunami on the Sun. 3-Tropical storm heads toward Philippines. 4-New floods at Kenyan refugee camps as US military airdrops begin. 5-Tropical Storm Utor forms. 6-Towns on alert as fires rage in state's east. 7-ATTENTION HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS: YOUR TESTIMONIES CAN HELP DEFEAT IRAN'S HOLOCAUST DENIAL CAMPAIGN. 8-Stop Iran's nuclear bomb - protect Israel. 9-Saint Paul's tomb found, Vatican sez. 10-Religion News in Brief. 11-Norwegian state church leadership favors cutting bond between state and Lutheran church. 12-UN to Aid Palestinian Authority, Congress Bans Talks with Hamas. 13-House OKs oil, gas drilling in Gulf area. 14-Livni begins American trip amid fears that US policy shift will cut Israel down to size. 15-EU Pushes for Cross-Border Defense. 16-Barroso: Strong Euro Favors Europeans.
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.
WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)
Update time = Sat Dec 9 12:30 AM EDT
DEC 09,2006
MAP 3.3 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 4.4 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 3.3 OFFSHORE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.8 RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN
MAP 4.9 OFFSHORE EL SALVADOR
DEC 08,2006
MAP 2.7 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 2.8 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 2.9 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 4.3 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 5.2 TONGA
MAP 2.5 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.8 MAUI REGION, HAWAII
MAP 3.9 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 4.7 VOLCANO ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
MAP 3.2 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 4.3 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.9 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.6 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
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.
Scientists Spot Tsunami on the Sun Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer,SPACE.com ,Fri Dec 8, 2:45 PM ET
A major flare on the Sun earlier this week generated what scientists are calling a solar tsunami.The tsunami-like shock wave, formally called a Moreton wave, rolled across the hot surface, destroying two visible filaments of cool gas on opposite sides of the visible face of the Sun.Astronomers using a prototype of a new solar telescope in New Mexico recorded the action.These large scale blast waves occur infrequently, however, are very powerful, said K. S. Balasubramaniam of the National Solar Observatory (NSO) in Sunspot, NM, They quickly propagate in a matter of minutes covering the whole Sun, sweeping away filamentary material.
It is unusual to see such an event from a ground-based observatory, Balasubramaniam said. And it was also unusual that it occurred near solar minimum, when the Sun is at its least active during an 11-year cycle.But solar activity can come at any time.
Flares like this one are spawned by sunspots, which are dark, cool regions that cap magnetic activity below. When the caps pop, colossal doses of superheated matter and radiation are unleashed.Sunspot 929 began kicking up flares Tuesday, when a major X-9 event was detected by a space-based observatory.When another flare erupted Wednesday, the NSO's Optical Solar Patrol Network (OSPAN) was watching.
A shock wave propagated like the splash from a rock thrown into a pond.
This was seen as a brightening from compressed and heated hydrogen gas. Astronomers enhanced the contrast of the images to bring out the detail, and they created an animation of the event.Later, the shock wave swept across two dark filaments widely seprated on the solar surface, and they disappeared for a few minutes. Scientists are unsure whether the filaments were blown off or were compressed so they were temporarily invisible, according to an NSO statement.Forecasters say there is a 40 percent chance of more major flares through this weekend.
Skywatchers in Alaska, Canada and the very northernmost United States should be on the lookout for colorful Northern Lights generated by the space storminess.Original Story: Scientists Spot Tsunami on the Sun. Visit SPACE.com and explore our huge collection of Space Pictures, Space Videos, Space Image of the Day.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Tropical storm heads toward Philippines Fri Dec 8, 6:13 AM ET
CEBU, Philippines (AFP) A tropical storm packing maximum winds of 95 kilometers (59 miles) an hour was barrelling toward the Philippines, which said it was the reason for cancelling summit meetings here next week.
At 4:00 pm (0800 GMT) Tropical Storm Utor was 350 kilometers (200 miles) east-southeast of the central island of Samar heading west towards Cebu, the resort island where the ASEAN and East Asia Summits were to take place.It will be the fourth tropical storm or typhoon in as many months to hit the Philippines, with previous storms causing widespread damage and leaving nearly 2,000 people dead or missing.Utor is expected to make landfall on Saturday on the island of Samar, roughly 200 kilometres away from Cebu.Joel Desusa, a forecaster with the Philippine weather bureau, said: Ninety-five kilometers may not sound very strong but it is enough to cause serious damage here in the Philippines. It can uproot trees and destroy huts.Desusa said the storm was expected to keep to its current path over Samar and northern Cebu towards the northern tip of the western island of Palawan.After then we expect it will intensify into a typhoon with winds in excess of 145 kilometers an hour as it heads into the South China Sea.The storm comes days after Typhoon Durian slammed into the country's Bicol region, leaving more than 1,300 dead or missing.It could have a big impact on the area, said Florentino Sison, operations chief of the civil defense agency.Anthony Golez, deputy director of the civil defense office, said those hit by typhoon Durian in Bicol may have to be moved to special holding areas for about 12 hours until the storm passes.Cedric Daep, head of the provincial disaster coordinating center, said the mayors of the affected towns were meeting to discuss when people would be evacuated and where they could be moved.Evacuations could begin on Saturday, he said, adding that as many as 20,000 families may be forced to seek shelter at the holding areas.Hundreds of houses are still covered with mud and most of the region still has no power, telephone or water services.The postponement of the summits was announced one day after Britain, the United States, Australia and other governments warned of a possible imminent terror attack on Cebu.Officials insisted that the postponement was due to the weather.
New floods at Kenyan refugee camps as US military airdrops begin by Matthew Lee Fri Dec 8, 2:18 PM ET
NAIROBI (AFP) - Fresh rains have caused new flooding in northeast Kenya, compounding the misery of flood-hit Somali refugees at United Nations camps, the UN has said, as the US military began aid air drops. The UN refugee agency UNHCR said Friday its
Dadaab complex of three camps, where more than 100,000 of 160,000 residents have been left without shelter due to the floods, had been struck again with downpours after a brief respite.After a break of some five days, heavy showers have started falling again in Dadaab, causing new flooding, it said in a statement released in Nairobi.Some parts of the camps are inaccessible and the fresh rains have led to the further deterioration of roads within the camps, it said.At least three Somali refugees at Dadaab, about 470 kilometers (290 miles) northeast of Nairobi, have died in the floods that began in late October, crippling large swathes of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.
A total of 251 people have been killed in the three countries by the floods, man-eating crocodiles and waterborne diseases, while hundreds of thousands have been displaced and more than a million affected, officials say.The World Health Organization said Friday it was deeply concerned by the health situation in the Horn of Africa where up to 1.8 million people are at risk of diseases such as cholera, measles, malaria, as well as malnutrition.The floods are expected to continue until at least the end of December if not into early next year, said Dr David Okello, the WHO representative in Kenya.We are already experiencing a serious situation where people are dying from diseases related to the water and sanitation situation, he said in a statement. Malaria will become a very serious problem in the weeks to come.The three countries now hit by floods were at the epicenter of a recent scorching drought from which they were just recovering when the rains began that exacerbated the damage from the floods.
Due to previous droughts, people in the region have experienced severe food shortages and high rates of malnutrition, WHO said. People's immunity is weakened, making them more vulnerable to diseases.Relief agencies have made urgent appeals for aid, including the UNHCR, which said the US military had begun airdropping assistance to the Dadaab refugees at its request on Friday, 24 hours earlier than expected.UN and US officials confirmed that a US Air Force C-130 transport plane from the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa had started the first of about 15 planned flights over Dadaab to deliver 240 tonnes of aid.
The supplies include plastic sheets, blankets and mosquito nets and the emergency airdrops are to continue until Wednesday, UNHCR said.Dadaab has been cut off for weeks since the unusually heavy seasonal rains washed away major parts of the only road connecting the remote area near the Somali border with Nairobi, it said.Air drops are necessary since the small Dadaab airstrip cannot take the weight of a heavy plane like a C-130, it said.Standing water at the camps has also raised fears of water-borne diseases and respiratory infections, further compounding the misery of the refugees, many of whom fled drought and conflict in Somalia.
9:20 a.m. - Weather update: Tropical Storm Utor forms
Pacific Daily News ,news@guampdn.com
9:20 a.m., Dec. 8 - Tropical Storm Utor has officially been logged by the National Weather Service.Currently there are no watches or warnings in effect. At 7 this morning, the center of Utor was located near 10.1 degrees north latitude and 133.3 degrees east longitude. This is about 810 miles west-southwest of Guam.Utor is moving west-northwest at 9 mph, and is forecasted to maintain movement in this general direction today with an increase in forward speed.Maximum sustained winds are 40 mph, and Utor is expected to continue intensifying and may become a typhoon in the next 36 hours, according to NWS.Log on throughout the day for updates.
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.
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.
Towns on alert as fires rage in state's east
Dan Oakes,December 8, 2006
THE army and a group of New Zealand firefighters have joined the battle as Victoria's monster bushfires increase in size and ferocity.
As Premier Steve Bracks warned that the blazes were comparable to the state's worst bushfire disaster, 1939's Black Friday, dozens of towns in the north-east and east from Myrtleford to Sale were on standby.Almost 50 fires have so far razed 100,000 hectares.Late yesterday, almost 2000 firefighters, with nearly 400 vehicles and 45 aircraft, were tackling fires that are expected to strengthen over the weekend due to high temperatures and a northerly change.This (fire) is following a similar pattern to Black Friday in 1939 and this is a similar area and, of course, this area has burnt out before said Mr Bracks. That was an extensive fire which raged right through the alpine areas in Victoria and eventually, after months, burnt out at the coastline.Authorities believe the fires could combine into a 600,000hectare super fire on Saturday.
Department of Sustainability and Environment spokesman Stuart Ord said last night: The fires will get bigger and the fires will merge, so we're not looking forward to the weekend.Gippsland communities are making preparations as a number of massive blazes hover to their north. The biggest of these is the 30,000-hectare Mount Darling-Mount Cynthia fire, part of the Bairnsdale group.The Heyfield group of fires, further to the west, covers 16,400 hectares, but will also grow quickly as the conditions change.The northerly winds expected to arrive later today will then push the fires towards towns such as Maffra, with a population of 4200, and Bairnsdale (11,000), for the first time in half a century.The third of the southern groups is the 9000-hectare Jamieson group, of which the largest fire is around Mount Terrible. It continues to threaten small communities along the Jamieson-Woods Point Road.
Tonight's change will push the Mount Terrible fire towards Woods Point and the Thomson Dam catchment area, which firefighters are preparing furiously to defend.
Half of Woods Point's 30 residents had already evacuated as the fire front edged within 10 kilometres of the township, the owner of the Wood's Point General Store & Post Office, Bill Smithett, said last night.Those that are staying behind are likely to take refuge in an abandoned mine, which has been set up with a toilet, water and blankets.Mr Smithett plans to leave today. I've just had hip surgery and I'm simply not fit enough to stay and fight, he said.Geelong Grammar yesterday evacuated its Timbertop campus, near Mansfield, due to the threat of bushfires.Near Lake Eildon, a wall of smoke had grounded air firefighting operations.
The 13,000-hectare Wangaratta group of fires, which includes the Black Range and Rose River blazes, continues to threaten towns including Cheshunt, Edi Upper and a number of farms.Further east, the 18,000hectare Ovens group of fires has jumped control lines near Rose River, Abbeyard, Catherine River and Dandongadale.Ian Millman, of the New Zealand Rural Fire Authority, said 45 firefighters arrived in Melbourne last night and would be deployed to the Jamieson region.While the NZ reinforcements are comfortable working in remote high country, he conceded the size of the Victorian blazes was daunting.An army crew was dispatched from the Puckapunyal military base to help fight the fires and Mr Bracks has asked the Prime Minister for additional tractors and bulldozers and for defence personnel to remain on standby.Emergency Services Commissioner Bruce Esplin said the speed of the fires' spread had made the firefighters' task difficult but not impossible.With CAMERON HOUSTON, ANDREA PETRIE, SARAH SMILES, AAP,http://geobay.com/f7d456
ATTENTION HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS: YOUR TESTIMONIES CAN HELP DEFEAT IRAN'S HOLOCAUST DENIAL CAMPAIGNPLEASE SEND US YOUR TESTIMONIES TODAY!
On Monday, December 11, 2006 the Simon Wiesenthal Center will convene Witness To The Truth, a videoconference of 70 survivors of the Nazi Holocaust in Los Angeles, New York and the Toronto headquarters of Canadian Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center who will present their personal testimonies to debunk the Iranian regime sconference entitled, The Holocaust: A World Prospect,taking place on December 11-12. The conference organizers have indicated that 70 Holocaust revisionists from 30 countries will participate. The Tehran conference, sponsored by the Iranian government, comes after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the Nazi Holocaust a myth.
We are therefore asking Holocaust survivors from around the world to join in our conference and debunk the deniers by sending their testimonies by fax: 310-553-4521 or e-mail: witnesstothetruth@wiesenthal.net to the Simon Wiesenthal Center.Witness to the Truth will be held at the Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance and linked by videoconference to the Center’s New York Tolerancenter and its Toronto office.
In Los Angeles, artifacts from the Nazi's Final solution from the Center shistorical archives will be on display.
We thank Holocaust survivors for their courage and commitment and for once again sharing their painful legacy.Please send your testimonies to the Simon Wiesenthal Center:Fax: 310-553-4521 Email: witnesstothetruth@wiesenthal.netSimon Wiesenthal Center,1399 South Roxbury Drive,Los Angeles, CA 90035,310.553.9036,www.wiesenthal.com
Stop Iran's nuclear bomb - protect Israel DEC 07,06
An Iran with nuclear weapons is our worst nightmare – for Israel, and for Western civilization. Iran must be stopped before it is too late. Your generous donation allows The Israel Project to educate the media about issues of importance to Israel. Please give now.
Dear Supporter of Israel,
I am writing with an urgent appeal for financial support.
Please read on. This is too important to ignore. We need whatever assistance you can provide today so we can achieve what’s become our highest priority to educate American and European audiences about the frightening dangers of a radical regime in Iran that is aggressively pursuing nuclear weapons.Why must we do this? Because we need the United States and its European allies to adopt smart policies to confront this danger. The people of America and Europe must understand the danger if they are going to support those policies. And we don’t have a moment to waste.At The Israel Project, we work every day to educate the media about issues of importance to Israel. Today, nothing is more important than the prospect of an Iran with nuclear weapons.http://www.theisraelproject.org/donate
How big is this menace? An Iran with nuclear weapons is our worst nightmare for Israel, and for Western civilization.
Iran is already the world’s most active state sponsor of terrorism, providing $100 million a year to Hezbollah and a total of $200 million a year for terrorist groups in general. When the United States and Europe froze funding to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas victory in Parliamentary elections, Iran came through with a pledge of $50 million. Iran is headed by a President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who repeatedly denies the Holocaust and threatens to wipe Israel off the map. He has also set his sights on the United States, declaring that a world without America is attainable and surely can be achieved. Subscribing to a radical strain of Islam, Ahmadinejad believes it’s his religious destiny to provoke a violent confrontation with the West to help bring about the return of the so-called Twelfth Imam (or Mahdi in the well), a messianic figure who will, in turn, announce the end of the world. Does he really believe it? Well, as President, Ahmadinejad gave about $20 million to the mosque from which the Mahdi supposedly will emerge, and he proposes to shape all of his economic, cultural, and political policies around the Mahdi’s return. Previously, as Tehran’s mayor, he ordered an urban reconstruction project so the city would be more presentable to the Mahdi when he arrived.
All of that is frightening enough. But the radical regime over which Ahmadinejad presides is seeking the one tool that could turn his apocalyptic vision in reality – nuclear weapons.The United States and its European allies have tried to convince Iran to drop its nuclear program – a program Iran kept secret for 18 years until a dissident group brought it to light in 2002. Great Britain, France, and Germany negotiated with Iran for three years, offering a wide variety of incentives. The West even offered fuel for a peaceful, civilian nuclear program. But Ahmadinejad scoffed, making clear that Iran will push ahead – no matter what.No one knows for sure when Iran will have the technology and the know-how to develop nuclear weapons, but intelligence sources estimate that it could be only a year away. One thing’s for sure – each day, the Islamic Republic is making progress toward that goal.What would an Iran with nuclear weapons mean for Israel? It’s almost too frightening to contemplate. Any or all of the following could occur:
A nuclear attack, enabling Iran to fulfill the goal of destroying Israel. Every Iranian leader has held that goal since the 1979 revolution brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power.
Iranian leaders have even boasted that a nuclear exchange with Israel would be well worth the cost – it would only damage Iran, but it would surely destroy the Jewish State. The sharing of nuclear weapons with Hezbollah, Hamas, or other terrorist clients that also have vowed to destroy Israel. The ability to threaten Israel with a nuclear attack when Israel seeks merely to defend itself, such as when Hezbollah and Hamas recently kidnapped Israeli soldiers in cross-border raids. The ability to blackmail Europe, which Iran already can reach with missiles, to put unrelenting pressure on Israel not to defend itself. The ability to blackmail America and the West to pressure Israel into submission, simply by threatening to disrupt oil deliveries from the Middle East to the West. We need your support. And we need it now! Please give whatever you can at http://www.theisraelproject.org/donate.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi
Founder and President
The Israel Project
P.S. Your tax-deductible contribution can help us tell the truth about Iran and the danger it represents to our American way of life.
Please give generously today at http://www.theisraelproject.org/donate!
Saint Paul's tomb found, Vatican sez DEC 08,06
ROME - Vatican archaeologists have unearthed a sarcophagus believed to contain the remains of the Apostle Paul that had been buried beneath Rome's second largest basilica.The sarcophagus, which dates back to at least A.D. 390, has been the subject of an extended excavation that began in 2002 and was completed last month, the project's head said this week.Our objective was to bring the remains of the tomb back to light for devotional reasons, so that it could be venerated and be visible, said Giorgio Filippi, the Vatican archaeologist who headed the project at St. Paul Outside the Walls basilica.Two ancient churches that once stood at the site of the current basilica were successively built over the spot where tradition said the saint had been buried.Originally called Saul, St. Paul was born in Tarsus in what is now Turkey and converted to Christianity on the road to Damascus.According to Christian tradition, he was beheaded in Rome around the year A.D. 67.News Wire Services
Religion News in Brief
By The Associated Press 12.07.06, 12:07 PM ET
American Jewish leaders and a top executive of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) say their relations have taken a significant turn for the better after a crisis over the Protestant group's policy toward Israel.In a joint statement Monday, leaders of the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist branches of Judaism, along with the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, the Presbyterian stated clerk, pledged to work jointly toward Mideast peace despite any differences.
Together, we affirm that peace for Israel and the Palestinians should be built on the foundations of security, justice and the establishment of two viable states, the leaders said, following a Nov. 29 meeting in Louisville, Ky.Our specific approaches to peace differ, but we believe that we can, and must, be strong advocates together and together with other Christian and Muslim colleagues for a renewed peace process, they said.The 2004 Presbyterian national assembly had vexed some grass roots Presbyterians and Jewish groups by authorizing phased selective divestment in multinational corporations operating in Israel because of its policies toward Palestinians.
This past summer, the assembly changed course, voting to soften its policy. The new policy says that church assets should be invested in only peaceful pursuits in Israel and the Palestinian territories.The Jewish community was represented at the meeting by Rabbi Jerome Epstein, executive vice president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism; Carl Sheingold, executive vice president of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation; and Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism.The religious leaders also promised to work together on other public policy issues, including raising the minimum wage, helping immigrants and protecting human rights in Sudan.
Norwegian state church leadership favors cutting bond between state and Lutheran church DEC 08,06
OSLO, Norway (AP) - The governing body of the state Church of Norway has voted for the separation of church and state as a step toward ending 469 years of Lutheranism as the Nordic nation's official religion, the church said Wednesday.In April, the Norwegian government opened a series of hearings on the state church system, seeking input from more than 2,500 congregations, cities and groups on the proposal by Dec. 1.The general synod, comprised of 11 bishops and 11 diocese councils, voted 63-19 at an annual meeting during the weekend to amend the constitution to drop Lutheranism as the state religion.The church said new legislation would be needed to transfer powers - including the authority to appoint clergy - from the government to the synod.
The synod's decision is historic, said Jens Petter Johnsen, director of the Church of Norway national council. What matters is the relation between church and people, not between church and state.Even if a majority of other groups and congregations also support the change, it could not be done before 2013 because two consecutive parliaments must each approve constitutional amendments.
The government is expected to deliver its state church proposals to parliament in late 2008.Lutheranism became Norway's official religion in 1537 by royal decree.Denmark has a similar Lutheran state church, while Sweden ended its state church system on Jan. 1, 2000.
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
UN to Aid Palestinian Authority, Congress Bans Talks with Hamas
By Hana Levi Julian (INN) DEC 08,06
Quartet-member UN is making an about-face, despite the avowed freeze on funds to the Hamas-led PA until the terror group recognizes Israel.
Meanwhile, Congress bans talks and aid with Hamas. On Thursday, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) kicked off a campaign to raise $450 million for the terrorist-led government so it could meet its obligations to its population. The U.N. calls it the third-largest fundraising campaign in the world.The Quartet of Nations, which includes the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia, demanded in January that Hamas formally acknowledge the State of Israel’s right to exist, renounce violence, and uphold peace agreements with Israel signed by the previous PA administration. PA prime minister Ismail Haniye of Hamas reiterated again yesterday that Hamas would never recognize Israel.
Just this past Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill banning the executive branch from holding talks with Hamas, and cutting off aid (except for humanitarian) to Hamas. The ban is in force until the terror group acknowledges Israel’s right to exist, renounces terrorism and agrees to abide by agreements with Israel. The Senate passed the bill this past June, and it now awaits President Bush's signature.The terrorist-led PA government has lost billions of dollars as a result of the freeze on international funds. OCHA head David Shearer announced at a news conference that the new funding will be earmarked for cash assistance, food, the PA health and education systems, and a project to create jobs. PA sources said the European Union, another member of the Quartet, sent a payment of 185 euros to each of some 73,000 households to alleviate some of the financial problems they face.
The PA has not paid its 160,000 government workers in months, despite pledges of millions of dollars in funding from Qatar and other member nations of the Arab League.U.N. officials now claim that unemployment in the PA stands at 29%, with 65% of PA residents living at or below the poverty line almost half of whom they say do not have reliable access to food. The PA health care system is reportedly running out of medicine and is on the verge of collapse, said Shearer.Israel has contributed humanitarian aid to PA families in a number of different ways.
The Save a Child’s Heart organization, albeit a private project, has helped more than 100 PA children this year alone, with life-saving heart surgery performed by top doctors at Wolfson Hospital in Holon. PA doctors are being trained through the program in pediatric cardiac surgery as well. A Jordanian paper reported that about 1,000 PA residents receive medical treatment each month in Israel.Earlier in the year, Israel said it would back a Quartet decision to bypass Hamas and transfer money directly to individuals. It is known that the Quartet wants to promote humanitarian aid, said Israel’s former ambassador to the U.S., Danny Ayalon. But paying the salaries of civil servants isn’t the way.
Israel agreed in May to the Quartet process of managing the humanitarian funds, but foreign diplomats said at the time that the same mechanism might later be used to pay the salaries of professionals employed by the PA government. Despite border crossing closings in and out of Gaza due to constant terror warnings, Israel has allowed shipments of food, medicine and other humanitarian items to pass through.According to the United Nations, however, Israel needs to do more. U.N. officials criticized the border closures, saying the security restrictions limit PA Arabs’ access to health service centers, schools, markets and places of employment. While humanitarian aid can slow the deterioration, said Shearer, what is really needed is a political settlement.
House OKs oil, gas drilling in Gulf area By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer DEC 08,06
WASHINGTON - The House approved oil and gas drilling Friday in a vast area of the Gulf of Mexico south of Florida's Panhandle and agreed to steer hundreds of millions of dollars in royalty payments to Gulf states to restore coastal wetlands and repair hurricane damage.The drilling provision was attached to a package of popular tax breaks that were approved by vote of 367-45 as lawmakers scrambled to adjourn and end of the 109th Congress.The tax legislation, including the drilling provision, was expected to be combined with a trade bill and then sent to the Senate in hopes of prompt approval — assuming last-minute roadblocks can be avoided in the Senate. It wasn't clear late Friday when the Senate might take up the legislation.The House bill opens to energy companies 8.3 million acres in the east-central Gulf of Mexico that is currently off-limits to drilling. The Interior Department is required to issue its first leases for the area within a year and tap what is believed to be 1.3 billion barrels of oil and 6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The country uses about 21 million barrels of oil a day. The gas believed in the area would be enough to heat 6 million homes for 15 years.It was the revenue sharing provision that prompted the sharpest debate Friday.It calls on the Interior Department to provide Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Alabama with 37.5 percent of future royalties collected from Gulf oil production. Louisiana would get about half. The states' share is anticipated to be several hundred million a year initially, and grow into the billions of dollars a year after 2017 because of increased production and expansion of the royalty sharing to all Gulf production.Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., called it a raid on the federal Treasury that could amount to as much as $170 billion over the next 50 years.Rep. Lois Capps (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., said she could not understand funneling billions of dollars in royalties from oil and gas taken from federal waters to four states when this country has record deficits as far as the eye can see.The Gulf Coast states, which now get less than 2 percent of all the royalties collected from offshore production, have argued that new revenue sharing is long overdue.
For years the Louisiana delegation has been asking for help and it's been like the tree falling in the woods, unheard, complained Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-La.An attempt by Markey to sidetrack the tax measure by adding an amendment that would have upended the delicate agreement with the Senate failed 207-205.The royalty recovery effort has broad support in both the House and Senate.But Rep. Bill Thomas, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said any change in the bill could undo the informal agreement reached with the Senate and kill any chance of getting the legislation through because of the time constraints before adjournment. Under Senate rules, a single senator can force considerable delay once a bill comes over from the House.The new drilling area was crafted to gain support of Florida's lawmakers, with its eastern edge more than 200 miles from state beaches.
This protects Florida, said Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla.The drilling provision is identical to a bill passed by the Senate earlier this year. House GOP leaders had sought much broader offshore energy development that would have lifted drilling bans that have been in place as long as 25 years across 85 percent of the U.S. coastline, essentially everywhere except for the western Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska.Senate leaders said the House measure couldn't pass the Senate. So, after suffering losses in last month's election, House GOP leaders accepted the Senate-passed bill that was limited to the Gulf region.The drilling measure is S 3711.
Livni begins American trip amid fears that US policy shift will cut Israel down to size By Agence France Presse (AFP) ,Saturday, December 09, 2006
JERUSALEM: Israel's foreign minister arrived in the United States Friday amid worries that the Jewish state's main ally could shift course after a report urged Washington to redouble Mideast peacemaking efforts. Tzipi Livni will meet with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other officials during her visit, which will focus on the repercussions of a report released Wednesday by the Iraq Study Group, her office said.This trip will be an occasion to review with her counterparts the report and to discuss its meaning, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.That report said progress toward Arab-Israeli peace was key to saving Iraq.
It also called for direct US talks with two of Israel's main foes, Syria and Iran.A day after receiving the top-level commission's report, the US and Britain signalled the start of a renewed diplomatic push in the region.
President George W. Bush promised concerted efforts to advance the cause of peace and said British Premier Tony Blair would soon travel to the region for talks with Israel and the Palestinians.Blair's visit was to set the stage for Rice, in early 2007, to make her eighth trip in two years to Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Rice's spokesman said.The renewed focus on Mideast peacemaking and growing domestic pressure on US leaders to end the imbroglio in Iraq has Israelis worrying about a possible policy shift by Bush, who for six years has largely ignored the intricacies of Mideast peacemaking. http://www.dailystar.com.lb
The fact that he has decided to support Blair's visit to the region and present this trip as a joint mission of Britain and the US shows Bush intends to at least try to change his policy, Israel's Yediot Ahronot daily wrote Friday.The newspaper went on to slam the Iraq report, accusing its chief authors James Baker and Lee Hamilton of ignoring Israel while preparing the report.If the truth be told, they barely paid any attention to us, the newspaper lamented. For 14 years, Israel enjoyed warm and pampering attention, under Clinton and Bush. Now, in light of the catastrophe in Iraq, Baker and Hamilton wish to restore us to our proper proportions.Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert has also expressed dissatisfaction with the report's recommendations. He said Thursday that US problems in Iraq are entirely independent of the controversy between us and the Palestinians.In statements sure to allay Israeli concerns, Bush has rebuffed some of the report's recommendations and maintained his insistence that Damascus and Tehran renounce support for extremists and pledge support for Iraq's fledgling government and that Iran freeze sensitive nuclear work before direct talks. - AFP
EUROPEAN UNION ARMY
DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING
BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)
DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.
DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
EU Pushes for Cross-Border Defense,Thursday December 7, 1:07 pm ET
By Paul Ames, Associated Press Writer ,Verheugen: EU Push for Cross-Border Defense Market a First Step Toward Fairer Procurement
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) The European Commission launched a fresh drive Thursday to open up the EU's 30 billion euros ($40 billion) a year defense equipment market to increased cross-border competition by breaking down protection for national industries.This is a first step towards more open and fair markets for defense procurement, EU Enterprise Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said. In a statement, he said creating an open EU market for defense equipment was needed to keep the European defense industry competitive.Governments are allowed to protect their national defense industries because military contracts are largely excluded from EU legislation.The EU's executive branch set out guidelines Thursday to close loopholes in the law.Officials said it would make clear that the exemption should only be applied when national security is involved -- and not be used to cover products like uniforms, boots, stationary and tents, or even light arms and high-tech communications components which could have both military and civilian use.
The derogation has to be applied in a restricted way, said Ugo Bassi, an expert in the EU's internal market department.The guidelines are part of a wider push to open defense markets that would likely be included in a draft law to be presented late next year.EU officials claim the current fragmentation of the European market creates duplication and inefficiency, pushing up prices for Europe's armed forces and hampering efforts to develop an EU-wide defense industry capable of taking on international competitors.
But although governments agree in principle on the need to open markets, many have been reluctant to expose domestic defense contractors to competition within the 25-nation bloc.I have not the slightest idea how the member states will respond, Verheugen acknowledged over dinner with journalists and defense experts late Wednesday. It is so clearly based on European common sense, that I hope we will get the support.Among the barriers Verheugen wants to remove are stipulations that exporters must obtain security licenses to export defense-related goods to other EU nations, despite the close military cooperation among EU governments.
He said around 10,000 such requests for licenses are filed every year, and only about a dozen are refused. This is simply an additional cost factor that makes no sense, he complained.New rules would promote joint research into new defense technologies, ensuring more effective use of the European defense spending. We do spend a lot of money on defense and security, but we do not get the value we should, he acknowledged.Verheugen insisted governments' vital security interests would still be protected. No member state will have to abandon its sovereign rights, he said.In June, 22 of the 25 EU nations signed up to a voluntary code of conduct designed to open up defense contracts across the bloc. Bassi said that code of conduct was valid for weapons systems and other items that are clearly of a sensitive military nature, but binding legislation should be considered for other types of military equipment.EU nations spend around 170 billion euros ($226 billion) a year on defense, which includes 30 billion euros ($40 billion) for the acquisition of new equipment.
Barroso: Strong Euro Favors Europeans
Friday December 8, 7:42 am ET
EU's Barroso Says Strong Euro Favors European Consumers by Helping Control Inflation
JOUY-EN-JOSAS, France (AP) A strong euro is good for consumers in Europe because it helps control inflation, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Friday.It's thanks to inflation that we have bearable energy prices and historically
low interest rates which are needed for growth, Barroso said in a speech to students at a business school outside Paris. He added that a high euro also served to lower energy bills for European consumers. The sharp rise in the euro, which now trades at around US$1.32, has raised unease among several French politicians, including French President Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Segolene Royal, the opposition Socialists candidate for next year's presidential elections.The politicians have voiced concern that a strong euro will have a negative impact on the country's economic growth and publicly appealed to the European Central Bank to consider the euro's impact when making decisions on its monetary policy.Barroso said the euro is referred to as a problem linked to exports but it is generally good for consumers to have a strong euro.
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.
WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)
Update time = Sat Dec 9 12:30 AM EDT
DEC 09,2006
MAP 3.3 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 4.4 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 3.3 OFFSHORE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.8 RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN
MAP 4.9 OFFSHORE EL SALVADOR
DEC 08,2006
MAP 2.7 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 2.8 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 2.9 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 4.3 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 5.2 TONGA
MAP 2.5 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.8 MAUI REGION, HAWAII
MAP 3.9 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 4.7 VOLCANO ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
MAP 3.2 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 4.3 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.9 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.6 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
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.
Scientists Spot Tsunami on the Sun Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer,SPACE.com ,Fri Dec 8, 2:45 PM ET
A major flare on the Sun earlier this week generated what scientists are calling a solar tsunami.The tsunami-like shock wave, formally called a Moreton wave, rolled across the hot surface, destroying two visible filaments of cool gas on opposite sides of the visible face of the Sun.Astronomers using a prototype of a new solar telescope in New Mexico recorded the action.These large scale blast waves occur infrequently, however, are very powerful, said K. S. Balasubramaniam of the National Solar Observatory (NSO) in Sunspot, NM, They quickly propagate in a matter of minutes covering the whole Sun, sweeping away filamentary material.
It is unusual to see such an event from a ground-based observatory, Balasubramaniam said. And it was also unusual that it occurred near solar minimum, when the Sun is at its least active during an 11-year cycle.But solar activity can come at any time.
Flares like this one are spawned by sunspots, which are dark, cool regions that cap magnetic activity below. When the caps pop, colossal doses of superheated matter and radiation are unleashed.Sunspot 929 began kicking up flares Tuesday, when a major X-9 event was detected by a space-based observatory.When another flare erupted Wednesday, the NSO's Optical Solar Patrol Network (OSPAN) was watching.
A shock wave propagated like the splash from a rock thrown into a pond.
This was seen as a brightening from compressed and heated hydrogen gas. Astronomers enhanced the contrast of the images to bring out the detail, and they created an animation of the event.Later, the shock wave swept across two dark filaments widely seprated on the solar surface, and they disappeared for a few minutes. Scientists are unsure whether the filaments were blown off or were compressed so they were temporarily invisible, according to an NSO statement.Forecasters say there is a 40 percent chance of more major flares through this weekend.
Skywatchers in Alaska, Canada and the very northernmost United States should be on the lookout for colorful Northern Lights generated by the space storminess.Original Story: Scientists Spot Tsunami on the Sun. Visit SPACE.com and explore our huge collection of Space Pictures, Space Videos, Space Image of the Day.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Tropical storm heads toward Philippines Fri Dec 8, 6:13 AM ET
CEBU, Philippines (AFP) A tropical storm packing maximum winds of 95 kilometers (59 miles) an hour was barrelling toward the Philippines, which said it was the reason for cancelling summit meetings here next week.
At 4:00 pm (0800 GMT) Tropical Storm Utor was 350 kilometers (200 miles) east-southeast of the central island of Samar heading west towards Cebu, the resort island where the ASEAN and East Asia Summits were to take place.It will be the fourth tropical storm or typhoon in as many months to hit the Philippines, with previous storms causing widespread damage and leaving nearly 2,000 people dead or missing.Utor is expected to make landfall on Saturday on the island of Samar, roughly 200 kilometres away from Cebu.Joel Desusa, a forecaster with the Philippine weather bureau, said: Ninety-five kilometers may not sound very strong but it is enough to cause serious damage here in the Philippines. It can uproot trees and destroy huts.Desusa said the storm was expected to keep to its current path over Samar and northern Cebu towards the northern tip of the western island of Palawan.After then we expect it will intensify into a typhoon with winds in excess of 145 kilometers an hour as it heads into the South China Sea.The storm comes days after Typhoon Durian slammed into the country's Bicol region, leaving more than 1,300 dead or missing.It could have a big impact on the area, said Florentino Sison, operations chief of the civil defense agency.Anthony Golez, deputy director of the civil defense office, said those hit by typhoon Durian in Bicol may have to be moved to special holding areas for about 12 hours until the storm passes.Cedric Daep, head of the provincial disaster coordinating center, said the mayors of the affected towns were meeting to discuss when people would be evacuated and where they could be moved.Evacuations could begin on Saturday, he said, adding that as many as 20,000 families may be forced to seek shelter at the holding areas.Hundreds of houses are still covered with mud and most of the region still has no power, telephone or water services.The postponement of the summits was announced one day after Britain, the United States, Australia and other governments warned of a possible imminent terror attack on Cebu.Officials insisted that the postponement was due to the weather.
New floods at Kenyan refugee camps as US military airdrops begin by Matthew Lee Fri Dec 8, 2:18 PM ET
NAIROBI (AFP) - Fresh rains have caused new flooding in northeast Kenya, compounding the misery of flood-hit Somali refugees at United Nations camps, the UN has said, as the US military began aid air drops. The UN refugee agency UNHCR said Friday its
Dadaab complex of three camps, where more than 100,000 of 160,000 residents have been left without shelter due to the floods, had been struck again with downpours after a brief respite.After a break of some five days, heavy showers have started falling again in Dadaab, causing new flooding, it said in a statement released in Nairobi.Some parts of the camps are inaccessible and the fresh rains have led to the further deterioration of roads within the camps, it said.At least three Somali refugees at Dadaab, about 470 kilometers (290 miles) northeast of Nairobi, have died in the floods that began in late October, crippling large swathes of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.
A total of 251 people have been killed in the three countries by the floods, man-eating crocodiles and waterborne diseases, while hundreds of thousands have been displaced and more than a million affected, officials say.The World Health Organization said Friday it was deeply concerned by the health situation in the Horn of Africa where up to 1.8 million people are at risk of diseases such as cholera, measles, malaria, as well as malnutrition.The floods are expected to continue until at least the end of December if not into early next year, said Dr David Okello, the WHO representative in Kenya.We are already experiencing a serious situation where people are dying from diseases related to the water and sanitation situation, he said in a statement. Malaria will become a very serious problem in the weeks to come.The three countries now hit by floods were at the epicenter of a recent scorching drought from which they were just recovering when the rains began that exacerbated the damage from the floods.
Due to previous droughts, people in the region have experienced severe food shortages and high rates of malnutrition, WHO said. People's immunity is weakened, making them more vulnerable to diseases.Relief agencies have made urgent appeals for aid, including the UNHCR, which said the US military had begun airdropping assistance to the Dadaab refugees at its request on Friday, 24 hours earlier than expected.UN and US officials confirmed that a US Air Force C-130 transport plane from the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa had started the first of about 15 planned flights over Dadaab to deliver 240 tonnes of aid.
The supplies include plastic sheets, blankets and mosquito nets and the emergency airdrops are to continue until Wednesday, UNHCR said.Dadaab has been cut off for weeks since the unusually heavy seasonal rains washed away major parts of the only road connecting the remote area near the Somali border with Nairobi, it said.Air drops are necessary since the small Dadaab airstrip cannot take the weight of a heavy plane like a C-130, it said.Standing water at the camps has also raised fears of water-borne diseases and respiratory infections, further compounding the misery of the refugees, many of whom fled drought and conflict in Somalia.
9:20 a.m. - Weather update: Tropical Storm Utor forms
Pacific Daily News ,news@guampdn.com
9:20 a.m., Dec. 8 - Tropical Storm Utor has officially been logged by the National Weather Service.Currently there are no watches or warnings in effect. At 7 this morning, the center of Utor was located near 10.1 degrees north latitude and 133.3 degrees east longitude. This is about 810 miles west-southwest of Guam.Utor is moving west-northwest at 9 mph, and is forecasted to maintain movement in this general direction today with an increase in forward speed.Maximum sustained winds are 40 mph, and Utor is expected to continue intensifying and may become a typhoon in the next 36 hours, according to NWS.Log on throughout the day for updates.
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.
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.
Towns on alert as fires rage in state's east
Dan Oakes,December 8, 2006
THE army and a group of New Zealand firefighters have joined the battle as Victoria's monster bushfires increase in size and ferocity.
As Premier Steve Bracks warned that the blazes were comparable to the state's worst bushfire disaster, 1939's Black Friday, dozens of towns in the north-east and east from Myrtleford to Sale were on standby.Almost 50 fires have so far razed 100,000 hectares.Late yesterday, almost 2000 firefighters, with nearly 400 vehicles and 45 aircraft, were tackling fires that are expected to strengthen over the weekend due to high temperatures and a northerly change.This (fire) is following a similar pattern to Black Friday in 1939 and this is a similar area and, of course, this area has burnt out before said Mr Bracks. That was an extensive fire which raged right through the alpine areas in Victoria and eventually, after months, burnt out at the coastline.Authorities believe the fires could combine into a 600,000hectare super fire on Saturday.
Department of Sustainability and Environment spokesman Stuart Ord said last night: The fires will get bigger and the fires will merge, so we're not looking forward to the weekend.Gippsland communities are making preparations as a number of massive blazes hover to their north. The biggest of these is the 30,000-hectare Mount Darling-Mount Cynthia fire, part of the Bairnsdale group.The Heyfield group of fires, further to the west, covers 16,400 hectares, but will also grow quickly as the conditions change.The northerly winds expected to arrive later today will then push the fires towards towns such as Maffra, with a population of 4200, and Bairnsdale (11,000), for the first time in half a century.The third of the southern groups is the 9000-hectare Jamieson group, of which the largest fire is around Mount Terrible. It continues to threaten small communities along the Jamieson-Woods Point Road.
Tonight's change will push the Mount Terrible fire towards Woods Point and the Thomson Dam catchment area, which firefighters are preparing furiously to defend.
Half of Woods Point's 30 residents had already evacuated as the fire front edged within 10 kilometres of the township, the owner of the Wood's Point General Store & Post Office, Bill Smithett, said last night.Those that are staying behind are likely to take refuge in an abandoned mine, which has been set up with a toilet, water and blankets.Mr Smithett plans to leave today. I've just had hip surgery and I'm simply not fit enough to stay and fight, he said.Geelong Grammar yesterday evacuated its Timbertop campus, near Mansfield, due to the threat of bushfires.Near Lake Eildon, a wall of smoke had grounded air firefighting operations.
The 13,000-hectare Wangaratta group of fires, which includes the Black Range and Rose River blazes, continues to threaten towns including Cheshunt, Edi Upper and a number of farms.Further east, the 18,000hectare Ovens group of fires has jumped control lines near Rose River, Abbeyard, Catherine River and Dandongadale.Ian Millman, of the New Zealand Rural Fire Authority, said 45 firefighters arrived in Melbourne last night and would be deployed to the Jamieson region.While the NZ reinforcements are comfortable working in remote high country, he conceded the size of the Victorian blazes was daunting.An army crew was dispatched from the Puckapunyal military base to help fight the fires and Mr Bracks has asked the Prime Minister for additional tractors and bulldozers and for defence personnel to remain on standby.Emergency Services Commissioner Bruce Esplin said the speed of the fires' spread had made the firefighters' task difficult but not impossible.With CAMERON HOUSTON, ANDREA PETRIE, SARAH SMILES, AAP,http://geobay.com/f7d456
ATTENTION HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS: YOUR TESTIMONIES CAN HELP DEFEAT IRAN'S HOLOCAUST DENIAL CAMPAIGNPLEASE SEND US YOUR TESTIMONIES TODAY!
On Monday, December 11, 2006 the Simon Wiesenthal Center will convene Witness To The Truth, a videoconference of 70 survivors of the Nazi Holocaust in Los Angeles, New York and the Toronto headquarters of Canadian Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center who will present their personal testimonies to debunk the Iranian regime sconference entitled, The Holocaust: A World Prospect,taking place on December 11-12. The conference organizers have indicated that 70 Holocaust revisionists from 30 countries will participate. The Tehran conference, sponsored by the Iranian government, comes after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the Nazi Holocaust a myth.
We are therefore asking Holocaust survivors from around the world to join in our conference and debunk the deniers by sending their testimonies by fax: 310-553-4521 or e-mail: witnesstothetruth@wiesenthal.net to the Simon Wiesenthal Center.Witness to the Truth will be held at the Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance and linked by videoconference to the Center’s New York Tolerancenter and its Toronto office.
In Los Angeles, artifacts from the Nazi's Final solution from the Center shistorical archives will be on display.
We thank Holocaust survivors for their courage and commitment and for once again sharing their painful legacy.Please send your testimonies to the Simon Wiesenthal Center:Fax: 310-553-4521 Email: witnesstothetruth@wiesenthal.netSimon Wiesenthal Center,1399 South Roxbury Drive,Los Angeles, CA 90035,310.553.9036,www.wiesenthal.com
Stop Iran's nuclear bomb - protect Israel DEC 07,06
An Iran with nuclear weapons is our worst nightmare – for Israel, and for Western civilization. Iran must be stopped before it is too late. Your generous donation allows The Israel Project to educate the media about issues of importance to Israel. Please give now.
Dear Supporter of Israel,
I am writing with an urgent appeal for financial support.
Please read on. This is too important to ignore. We need whatever assistance you can provide today so we can achieve what’s become our highest priority to educate American and European audiences about the frightening dangers of a radical regime in Iran that is aggressively pursuing nuclear weapons.Why must we do this? Because we need the United States and its European allies to adopt smart policies to confront this danger. The people of America and Europe must understand the danger if they are going to support those policies. And we don’t have a moment to waste.At The Israel Project, we work every day to educate the media about issues of importance to Israel. Today, nothing is more important than the prospect of an Iran with nuclear weapons.http://www.theisraelproject.org/donate
How big is this menace? An Iran with nuclear weapons is our worst nightmare for Israel, and for Western civilization.
Iran is already the world’s most active state sponsor of terrorism, providing $100 million a year to Hezbollah and a total of $200 million a year for terrorist groups in general. When the United States and Europe froze funding to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas victory in Parliamentary elections, Iran came through with a pledge of $50 million. Iran is headed by a President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who repeatedly denies the Holocaust and threatens to wipe Israel off the map. He has also set his sights on the United States, declaring that a world without America is attainable and surely can be achieved. Subscribing to a radical strain of Islam, Ahmadinejad believes it’s his religious destiny to provoke a violent confrontation with the West to help bring about the return of the so-called Twelfth Imam (or Mahdi in the well), a messianic figure who will, in turn, announce the end of the world. Does he really believe it? Well, as President, Ahmadinejad gave about $20 million to the mosque from which the Mahdi supposedly will emerge, and he proposes to shape all of his economic, cultural, and political policies around the Mahdi’s return. Previously, as Tehran’s mayor, he ordered an urban reconstruction project so the city would be more presentable to the Mahdi when he arrived.
All of that is frightening enough. But the radical regime over which Ahmadinejad presides is seeking the one tool that could turn his apocalyptic vision in reality – nuclear weapons.The United States and its European allies have tried to convince Iran to drop its nuclear program – a program Iran kept secret for 18 years until a dissident group brought it to light in 2002. Great Britain, France, and Germany negotiated with Iran for three years, offering a wide variety of incentives. The West even offered fuel for a peaceful, civilian nuclear program. But Ahmadinejad scoffed, making clear that Iran will push ahead – no matter what.No one knows for sure when Iran will have the technology and the know-how to develop nuclear weapons, but intelligence sources estimate that it could be only a year away. One thing’s for sure – each day, the Islamic Republic is making progress toward that goal.What would an Iran with nuclear weapons mean for Israel? It’s almost too frightening to contemplate. Any or all of the following could occur:
A nuclear attack, enabling Iran to fulfill the goal of destroying Israel. Every Iranian leader has held that goal since the 1979 revolution brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power.
Iranian leaders have even boasted that a nuclear exchange with Israel would be well worth the cost – it would only damage Iran, but it would surely destroy the Jewish State. The sharing of nuclear weapons with Hezbollah, Hamas, or other terrorist clients that also have vowed to destroy Israel. The ability to threaten Israel with a nuclear attack when Israel seeks merely to defend itself, such as when Hezbollah and Hamas recently kidnapped Israeli soldiers in cross-border raids. The ability to blackmail Europe, which Iran already can reach with missiles, to put unrelenting pressure on Israel not to defend itself. The ability to blackmail America and the West to pressure Israel into submission, simply by threatening to disrupt oil deliveries from the Middle East to the West. We need your support. And we need it now! Please give whatever you can at http://www.theisraelproject.org/donate.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi
Founder and President
The Israel Project
P.S. Your tax-deductible contribution can help us tell the truth about Iran and the danger it represents to our American way of life.
Please give generously today at http://www.theisraelproject.org/donate!
Saint Paul's tomb found, Vatican sez DEC 08,06
ROME - Vatican archaeologists have unearthed a sarcophagus believed to contain the remains of the Apostle Paul that had been buried beneath Rome's second largest basilica.The sarcophagus, which dates back to at least A.D. 390, has been the subject of an extended excavation that began in 2002 and was completed last month, the project's head said this week.Our objective was to bring the remains of the tomb back to light for devotional reasons, so that it could be venerated and be visible, said Giorgio Filippi, the Vatican archaeologist who headed the project at St. Paul Outside the Walls basilica.Two ancient churches that once stood at the site of the current basilica were successively built over the spot where tradition said the saint had been buried.Originally called Saul, St. Paul was born in Tarsus in what is now Turkey and converted to Christianity on the road to Damascus.According to Christian tradition, he was beheaded in Rome around the year A.D. 67.News Wire Services
Religion News in Brief
By The Associated Press 12.07.06, 12:07 PM ET
American Jewish leaders and a top executive of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) say their relations have taken a significant turn for the better after a crisis over the Protestant group's policy toward Israel.In a joint statement Monday, leaders of the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist branches of Judaism, along with the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, the Presbyterian stated clerk, pledged to work jointly toward Mideast peace despite any differences.
Together, we affirm that peace for Israel and the Palestinians should be built on the foundations of security, justice and the establishment of two viable states, the leaders said, following a Nov. 29 meeting in Louisville, Ky.Our specific approaches to peace differ, but we believe that we can, and must, be strong advocates together and together with other Christian and Muslim colleagues for a renewed peace process, they said.The 2004 Presbyterian national assembly had vexed some grass roots Presbyterians and Jewish groups by authorizing phased selective divestment in multinational corporations operating in Israel because of its policies toward Palestinians.
This past summer, the assembly changed course, voting to soften its policy. The new policy says that church assets should be invested in only peaceful pursuits in Israel and the Palestinian territories.The Jewish community was represented at the meeting by Rabbi Jerome Epstein, executive vice president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism; Carl Sheingold, executive vice president of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation; and Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism.The religious leaders also promised to work together on other public policy issues, including raising the minimum wage, helping immigrants and protecting human rights in Sudan.
Norwegian state church leadership favors cutting bond between state and Lutheran church DEC 08,06
OSLO, Norway (AP) - The governing body of the state Church of Norway has voted for the separation of church and state as a step toward ending 469 years of Lutheranism as the Nordic nation's official religion, the church said Wednesday.In April, the Norwegian government opened a series of hearings on the state church system, seeking input from more than 2,500 congregations, cities and groups on the proposal by Dec. 1.The general synod, comprised of 11 bishops and 11 diocese councils, voted 63-19 at an annual meeting during the weekend to amend the constitution to drop Lutheranism as the state religion.The church said new legislation would be needed to transfer powers - including the authority to appoint clergy - from the government to the synod.
The synod's decision is historic, said Jens Petter Johnsen, director of the Church of Norway national council. What matters is the relation between church and people, not between church and state.Even if a majority of other groups and congregations also support the change, it could not be done before 2013 because two consecutive parliaments must each approve constitutional amendments.
The government is expected to deliver its state church proposals to parliament in late 2008.Lutheranism became Norway's official religion in 1537 by royal decree.Denmark has a similar Lutheran state church, while Sweden ended its state church system on Jan. 1, 2000.
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
UN to Aid Palestinian Authority, Congress Bans Talks with Hamas
By Hana Levi Julian (INN) DEC 08,06
Quartet-member UN is making an about-face, despite the avowed freeze on funds to the Hamas-led PA until the terror group recognizes Israel.
Meanwhile, Congress bans talks and aid with Hamas. On Thursday, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) kicked off a campaign to raise $450 million for the terrorist-led government so it could meet its obligations to its population. The U.N. calls it the third-largest fundraising campaign in the world.The Quartet of Nations, which includes the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia, demanded in January that Hamas formally acknowledge the State of Israel’s right to exist, renounce violence, and uphold peace agreements with Israel signed by the previous PA administration. PA prime minister Ismail Haniye of Hamas reiterated again yesterday that Hamas would never recognize Israel.
Just this past Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill banning the executive branch from holding talks with Hamas, and cutting off aid (except for humanitarian) to Hamas. The ban is in force until the terror group acknowledges Israel’s right to exist, renounces terrorism and agrees to abide by agreements with Israel. The Senate passed the bill this past June, and it now awaits President Bush's signature.The terrorist-led PA government has lost billions of dollars as a result of the freeze on international funds. OCHA head David Shearer announced at a news conference that the new funding will be earmarked for cash assistance, food, the PA health and education systems, and a project to create jobs. PA sources said the European Union, another member of the Quartet, sent a payment of 185 euros to each of some 73,000 households to alleviate some of the financial problems they face.
The PA has not paid its 160,000 government workers in months, despite pledges of millions of dollars in funding from Qatar and other member nations of the Arab League.U.N. officials now claim that unemployment in the PA stands at 29%, with 65% of PA residents living at or below the poverty line almost half of whom they say do not have reliable access to food. The PA health care system is reportedly running out of medicine and is on the verge of collapse, said Shearer.Israel has contributed humanitarian aid to PA families in a number of different ways.
The Save a Child’s Heart organization, albeit a private project, has helped more than 100 PA children this year alone, with life-saving heart surgery performed by top doctors at Wolfson Hospital in Holon. PA doctors are being trained through the program in pediatric cardiac surgery as well. A Jordanian paper reported that about 1,000 PA residents receive medical treatment each month in Israel.Earlier in the year, Israel said it would back a Quartet decision to bypass Hamas and transfer money directly to individuals. It is known that the Quartet wants to promote humanitarian aid, said Israel’s former ambassador to the U.S., Danny Ayalon. But paying the salaries of civil servants isn’t the way.
Israel agreed in May to the Quartet process of managing the humanitarian funds, but foreign diplomats said at the time that the same mechanism might later be used to pay the salaries of professionals employed by the PA government. Despite border crossing closings in and out of Gaza due to constant terror warnings, Israel has allowed shipments of food, medicine and other humanitarian items to pass through.According to the United Nations, however, Israel needs to do more. U.N. officials criticized the border closures, saying the security restrictions limit PA Arabs’ access to health service centers, schools, markets and places of employment. While humanitarian aid can slow the deterioration, said Shearer, what is really needed is a political settlement.
House OKs oil, gas drilling in Gulf area By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer DEC 08,06
WASHINGTON - The House approved oil and gas drilling Friday in a vast area of the Gulf of Mexico south of Florida's Panhandle and agreed to steer hundreds of millions of dollars in royalty payments to Gulf states to restore coastal wetlands and repair hurricane damage.The drilling provision was attached to a package of popular tax breaks that were approved by vote of 367-45 as lawmakers scrambled to adjourn and end of the 109th Congress.The tax legislation, including the drilling provision, was expected to be combined with a trade bill and then sent to the Senate in hopes of prompt approval — assuming last-minute roadblocks can be avoided in the Senate. It wasn't clear late Friday when the Senate might take up the legislation.The House bill opens to energy companies 8.3 million acres in the east-central Gulf of Mexico that is currently off-limits to drilling. The Interior Department is required to issue its first leases for the area within a year and tap what is believed to be 1.3 billion barrels of oil and 6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The country uses about 21 million barrels of oil a day. The gas believed in the area would be enough to heat 6 million homes for 15 years.It was the revenue sharing provision that prompted the sharpest debate Friday.It calls on the Interior Department to provide Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Alabama with 37.5 percent of future royalties collected from Gulf oil production. Louisiana would get about half. The states' share is anticipated to be several hundred million a year initially, and grow into the billions of dollars a year after 2017 because of increased production and expansion of the royalty sharing to all Gulf production.Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., called it a raid on the federal Treasury that could amount to as much as $170 billion over the next 50 years.Rep. Lois Capps (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., said she could not understand funneling billions of dollars in royalties from oil and gas taken from federal waters to four states when this country has record deficits as far as the eye can see.The Gulf Coast states, which now get less than 2 percent of all the royalties collected from offshore production, have argued that new revenue sharing is long overdue.
For years the Louisiana delegation has been asking for help and it's been like the tree falling in the woods, unheard, complained Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-La.An attempt by Markey to sidetrack the tax measure by adding an amendment that would have upended the delicate agreement with the Senate failed 207-205.The royalty recovery effort has broad support in both the House and Senate.But Rep. Bill Thomas, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said any change in the bill could undo the informal agreement reached with the Senate and kill any chance of getting the legislation through because of the time constraints before adjournment. Under Senate rules, a single senator can force considerable delay once a bill comes over from the House.The new drilling area was crafted to gain support of Florida's lawmakers, with its eastern edge more than 200 miles from state beaches.
This protects Florida, said Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla.The drilling provision is identical to a bill passed by the Senate earlier this year. House GOP leaders had sought much broader offshore energy development that would have lifted drilling bans that have been in place as long as 25 years across 85 percent of the U.S. coastline, essentially everywhere except for the western Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska.Senate leaders said the House measure couldn't pass the Senate. So, after suffering losses in last month's election, House GOP leaders accepted the Senate-passed bill that was limited to the Gulf region.The drilling measure is S 3711.
Livni begins American trip amid fears that US policy shift will cut Israel down to size By Agence France Presse (AFP) ,Saturday, December 09, 2006
JERUSALEM: Israel's foreign minister arrived in the United States Friday amid worries that the Jewish state's main ally could shift course after a report urged Washington to redouble Mideast peacemaking efforts. Tzipi Livni will meet with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other officials during her visit, which will focus on the repercussions of a report released Wednesday by the Iraq Study Group, her office said.This trip will be an occasion to review with her counterparts the report and to discuss its meaning, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.That report said progress toward Arab-Israeli peace was key to saving Iraq.
It also called for direct US talks with two of Israel's main foes, Syria and Iran.A day after receiving the top-level commission's report, the US and Britain signalled the start of a renewed diplomatic push in the region.
President George W. Bush promised concerted efforts to advance the cause of peace and said British Premier Tony Blair would soon travel to the region for talks with Israel and the Palestinians.Blair's visit was to set the stage for Rice, in early 2007, to make her eighth trip in two years to Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Rice's spokesman said.The renewed focus on Mideast peacemaking and growing domestic pressure on US leaders to end the imbroglio in Iraq has Israelis worrying about a possible policy shift by Bush, who for six years has largely ignored the intricacies of Mideast peacemaking. http://www.dailystar.com.lb
The fact that he has decided to support Blair's visit to the region and present this trip as a joint mission of Britain and the US shows Bush intends to at least try to change his policy, Israel's Yediot Ahronot daily wrote Friday.The newspaper went on to slam the Iraq report, accusing its chief authors James Baker and Lee Hamilton of ignoring Israel while preparing the report.If the truth be told, they barely paid any attention to us, the newspaper lamented. For 14 years, Israel enjoyed warm and pampering attention, under Clinton and Bush. Now, in light of the catastrophe in Iraq, Baker and Hamilton wish to restore us to our proper proportions.Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert has also expressed dissatisfaction with the report's recommendations. He said Thursday that US problems in Iraq are entirely independent of the controversy between us and the Palestinians.In statements sure to allay Israeli concerns, Bush has rebuffed some of the report's recommendations and maintained his insistence that Damascus and Tehran renounce support for extremists and pledge support for Iraq's fledgling government and that Iran freeze sensitive nuclear work before direct talks. - AFP
EUROPEAN UNION ARMY
DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING
BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)
DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.
DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
EU Pushes for Cross-Border Defense,Thursday December 7, 1:07 pm ET
By Paul Ames, Associated Press Writer ,Verheugen: EU Push for Cross-Border Defense Market a First Step Toward Fairer Procurement
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) The European Commission launched a fresh drive Thursday to open up the EU's 30 billion euros ($40 billion) a year defense equipment market to increased cross-border competition by breaking down protection for national industries.This is a first step towards more open and fair markets for defense procurement, EU Enterprise Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said. In a statement, he said creating an open EU market for defense equipment was needed to keep the European defense industry competitive.Governments are allowed to protect their national defense industries because military contracts are largely excluded from EU legislation.The EU's executive branch set out guidelines Thursday to close loopholes in the law.Officials said it would make clear that the exemption should only be applied when national security is involved -- and not be used to cover products like uniforms, boots, stationary and tents, or even light arms and high-tech communications components which could have both military and civilian use.
The derogation has to be applied in a restricted way, said Ugo Bassi, an expert in the EU's internal market department.The guidelines are part of a wider push to open defense markets that would likely be included in a draft law to be presented late next year.EU officials claim the current fragmentation of the European market creates duplication and inefficiency, pushing up prices for Europe's armed forces and hampering efforts to develop an EU-wide defense industry capable of taking on international competitors.
But although governments agree in principle on the need to open markets, many have been reluctant to expose domestic defense contractors to competition within the 25-nation bloc.I have not the slightest idea how the member states will respond, Verheugen acknowledged over dinner with journalists and defense experts late Wednesday. It is so clearly based on European common sense, that I hope we will get the support.Among the barriers Verheugen wants to remove are stipulations that exporters must obtain security licenses to export defense-related goods to other EU nations, despite the close military cooperation among EU governments.
He said around 10,000 such requests for licenses are filed every year, and only about a dozen are refused. This is simply an additional cost factor that makes no sense, he complained.New rules would promote joint research into new defense technologies, ensuring more effective use of the European defense spending. We do spend a lot of money on defense and security, but we do not get the value we should, he acknowledged.Verheugen insisted governments' vital security interests would still be protected. No member state will have to abandon its sovereign rights, he said.In June, 22 of the 25 EU nations signed up to a voluntary code of conduct designed to open up defense contracts across the bloc. Bassi said that code of conduct was valid for weapons systems and other items that are clearly of a sensitive military nature, but binding legislation should be considered for other types of military equipment.EU nations spend around 170 billion euros ($226 billion) a year on defense, which includes 30 billion euros ($40 billion) for the acquisition of new equipment.
Barroso: Strong Euro Favors Europeans
Friday December 8, 7:42 am ET
EU's Barroso Says Strong Euro Favors European Consumers by Helping Control Inflation
JOUY-EN-JOSAS, France (AP) A strong euro is good for consumers in Europe because it helps control inflation, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Friday.It's thanks to inflation that we have bearable energy prices and historically
low interest rates which are needed for growth, Barroso said in a speech to students at a business school outside Paris. He added that a high euro also served to lower energy bills for European consumers. The sharp rise in the euro, which now trades at around US$1.32, has raised unease among several French politicians, including French President Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Segolene Royal, the opposition Socialists candidate for next year's presidential elections.The politicians have voiced concern that a strong euro will have a negative impact on the country's economic growth and publicly appealed to the European Central Bank to consider the euro's impact when making decisions on its monetary policy.Barroso said the euro is referred to as a problem linked to exports but it is generally good for consumers to have a strong euro.
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