1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Storms wash out New Year parties across Britain. 3-Two dozen towns suffer driest year on record. 4-Lieberman: Israel Should Join NATO and the EU. 5-Host of Issues in Police Minister/Religious-Zionist MKs Meeting. 6-Romania joins European Union. 7-Bulgaria joins European Union. 8-Use of euro spreading to many places outside European Union. 9-German Global Clout Grows as Berlin Heads EU, G8. 10-ECUSA's Future Depends on Leaders' Return to God's Word. 11- News Analysis: In 2007, Expect PA Factions to Wage Civil War. 12-Pope makes New Year's wish for courageous efforts for peace in Holy Land. 13-The Alliance of Civilizations JAN 01,07 FORMING OF A ONE WORLD RELIGION. 14-Christian Culture Analyst Recaps 2006 Church Trends, Future. 15-South Korea's Ban Ki-moon takes the reins of the United Nations. 16-Five new non-permanent members join United Nations Security Council. 17-Prophecies for 2007.
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 = Tue Jan 2 4:14:36 UTC 2007
TUE JAN 02,07
MAP 5.0 BONIN ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
MAP 3.1 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MON JAN 01,07
MAP 2.7 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.8 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.5 OREGON
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.6 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.6 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 4.8 NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
MAP 5.4 CARLSBERG RIDGE
MAP 4.9 SOUTH OF THE FIJI ISLANDS
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.
Storms wash out New Year parties across Britain Mon Jan 1, 6:41 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - Severe gales and torrential rain battered Britain on New Year's Eve, forcing the cancellation of a huge street party in the Scottish capital and wrecking celebrations across the country. Organizers said it was not safe to go ahead with the annual Hogmanay event in Edinburgh, billed as one of the world's biggest street parties, leaving up to 100,000 revelers disappointed.
One woman was killed by a falling tree as gales caused havoc over the weekend.This decision was not taken lightly, said Edinburgh Council's Andrew Holmes. Public safety concerns were the most important factor.Outdoor music concerts and firework displays in Glasgow, Liverpool, Newcastle and Belfast also fell victim to the storms. Winds gusting at up to 80 mph (130 km/h) were considered too dangerous for performers and partygoers.Festivities went ahead as planned in London, where the weather was less severe.An estimated 350,000 people watched the fireworks at the London Eye observation wheel next to the River Thames.There has been atrocious weather around the country, London Mayor Ken Livingstone said. We send our best wishes and goodwill to those who saw their New Year's Eve disrupted.Up to 400,000 people are expected to attend a New Year's Day parade in London.
FAMINE
REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine
Two dozen towns suffer driest year on record,January 2, 2007 (The Age)
AT LEAST two dozen Victorian towns have suffered their driest year on record, with figures confirming that every Australian capital apart from Darwin had less rain than normal in 2006.Yet according to an annual weather report to be released by the Bureau of Meteorology tomorrow, the past 12 months nationwide will be remembered as slightly wetter than average.The bureau's 2006 Climate Statement is expected to show that the national average rainfall for the year was about 490 millimetres, slightly up on the long-term average of 472 millimetres.That was due to heavy rain drenching vast areas of remote western and northern Australia. But those downpours did nothing to quench the thirst of major cities and towns, with south-eastern Australia and the area around Perth receiving only a fraction of their normal rain.Responding to decades of water shortages in Perth, Western Australia's water supplier yesterday announced plans to recycle sewage for drinking water. Under a four-year, $38 million trial, 1.5 billion litres of waste water a year would be treated to drinking quality and injected into a groundwater mound to undergo further treatment as it percolated
through the aquifer over several years.
The Water Corporation hopes to start the trial by 2009. It could be expanded to recycle at least 30 billion litres annually as early as 2013. The proposal has the backing of local conservationists and the State Opposition.
While the bureau's annual weather report will not be finalised until this afternoon, new maps and annual rainfall totals for Victoria released yesterday show how badly the drought affected many parts of the state.Towns across Victoria's north-east suffered the most widespread rain losses, with most rainfall-monitoring stations from Benalla south to Sale in Gippsland marking record lows. Several areas hit hard by fires this summer have had their worst year for rain, with Mount Buffalo Chalet receiving only 599 millimetres, down from an average of 1890 millimetres. Its previous record low was 737 millimetres, in 1967.Areas as far apart as Nhill, in the state's far west, Nathalia near Shepparton and the west Melbourne suburb of Altona also reported new lows.While many Melburnians awoke to the welcome sound of rain yesterday, it came too late to boost the city's low annual total of 438 millimetres. That was not a record low, but it was barely two-thirds of the average rainfall of 638 millimetres.
Meteorologists are hopeful the drought in south-east Australia might break by the
middle of this year, but the head of the bureau's National Climate Centre said it would take massive amounts of rain to replenish parched dams and rivers.We'd either need a few years of above average seasons or a huge tropical cyclone coming in and filling the headwaters of the Darling (River) and everything else north of it, Michael Coughlan said.
But if we just get a break like the one we had after the 2002-03 drought, it's not going to be enough to ease water restrictions.Federal parliamentary secretary for the environment Greg Hunt agreed that the findings appeared to match long-term forecasts that climate change would exacerbate droughts in the most populated parts of the country. Whilst no individual year necessarily proves a trend, the key point is that it's consistent with the bureau's advice that over the coming 50 years we are likely to see an increase in rain in northern Australia and a mild decrease in rainfall in south and south-eastern Australia, Mr Hunt said.With SUELLEN JERRARD - http://www.bom.gov.au
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
THE EU DICTATOR
REVELATION 6:1-2,13:1-3,7-9,16
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(THIS IS THE EU DICTATOR)
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(7 HEADS ARE THE 7TH WORLD EMPIRE IN HISTORY (THE EU) AS WELL AS THE VATICAN WHICH IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS. 10 HORNS ARE 10 KINGS THAT ARISE FROM THE EU, THEN #11 COMES ON THE SCENE BECOMES THE HEAD OF 3 OUNTRIES AND THEN THE EU DICTATOR, COMES FROM 1 OF THE 3 COUNTRIES THAT RULE FOR THIS TERM. I BELIEVE THE 3 COUNTRIES RULING AT THE TIME ARE SPAIN AND 2 OF THE ORIGINAL 6 THAT STARTED THE EU. FROM 1 OF THESE 3 COUNTRIES COME THE FUTURE EU DICTATOR PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION WHO GUARENTEES ISRAELS SECURITY FOR A LAND FOR PEACE 7 YEAR TREATY.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(THE JEWISH EU DICTATOR GETS HIS POWER FROM SATAN,HE COMES FROM THE OCCULT).
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE DICTATOR HAS A FALSE RESURRECTION. JUST LIKE JESUS HAD A LITERAL RESURRECTION THIS DICTATOR GETS MURDERED AT THE 3 1/2 YR MARK OF THR 7 YEAR TREATY AND COMES BACK TO LIFE. THIS IS HOW HE CAN
CLAIM TO BE GOD AND GET AWAY WITH IT AND CONTROL THE WHOLE EARTH.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
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.
Lieberman: Israel Should Join NATO and the EU
17:08 Jan 01, '07 / 11 Tevet 5767
(IsraelNN.com) Israel's Minister of Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman declared Monday that the Jewish State should aim to join NATO and the EU. The political and security goal of the State of Israel for the next month needs to be clear: joining NATO and entering the European Union, Lieberman told Israel Radio in an interview. The war we're fighting in the Middle East is not Israel's war, but the entire free world's [war], and we are standing on the frontlines, he said.On January 1 Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU, further expanding the European Union to 27 countries, 13 of which have currently adoped the Euro as their common currency.
Host of Issues in Police Minister/Religious-Zionist MKs Meeting
By Hillel Fendel (INN) JAN 01,07
NU-NRP Knesset Members will meet with Public Security Minister Dichter Monday afternoon to discuss a series of issues - including Rachel's Tomb, violent policemen, mixed Jewish-Arab areas, and more. Dichter, who served as head of the General Security Service (Shabak) until joining the Kadima party earlier this year, responded affirmatively to the faction's invitation. The National Union-National Religious Party numbers nine MKs, after its two member parties merged before the national elections earlier this year.pictured, left to right: MKs Zevulun Orlev, Effie Eitam, Yitzchak Levy
On the agenda will be five issues:
1-Rachel's Tomb. Now that the entire compound is protected and fortified - many now describe it as a stone fortress, rather than the familiar roadside-and-tree site as it has appeared in countless paintings over the generations the MKs will ask that worshipers be allowed to reach the site freely.
At present, they are forced to take reinforced buses, which arrive infrequently and according to a pre-determined schedule.2-The administrative orders distancing some 20 Yesha men from their homes and families for 3-12 months. The evidence against them is too secret to be publicized, government sources say, and they have therefore been sentenced without trial. The MKs will ask that the orders be withdrawn, or that the men be put on trial.3-The mixed Jewish-Arab cities of Jaffa and Akko. The MKs want Dichter to order the deployment of Border Guard contingents in neighborhoods there that have been plagued of late by Arab violence against Jews.4-Violent policemen. The Knesset Members will ask Dichter to uproot the phenomenon of policemen who are excessively violent and/or do not wear name tags when dealing with nationalist protestors. Dichter will be enjoined to suspend the policemen who, at the Amona incident last year, beat MKs Eldad and Eitam, trampled Yehuda Etzion, and hit children.5-Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount. The police often prevent Jews from praying at this, the most sacred site of the Jewish People, in order to mollify the Arabs who threaten violence. Jewish prayer at the area known as the Small Wall, further north along the Western Wall, is also often restricted.
Romania joins European Union JAN 01,07
BUCHAREST, Romania, Jan. 1 (UPI) Romania's leaders welcomed entry into the European Union Monday as a return to a democratic and peaceful family of Europe. Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu said the hoisting of EU flags in the capital
Bucharest and across the nation of 22 million was a historic moment and a reason of joy for the entire Romanian people, the Rompres news agency reported.
This moment has been awaited for 17 years, Tariceanu said in a reference to the December 1989 national uprising that toppled the regime of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Romanian President Traian Basescu told the nation its accession to the EU is an expression of Romanians' wish to return to a democratic Europe where peace is the first EU rule. Since the downfall of communism, public opinion polls have shown between 60 percent and 80 percent of Romanians support the country's entry to the union, local media said. Romania joined the union along with another Balkan-post-communist country, Bulgaria. In coming months, both countries will be under EU supervision to make sure they continue with judiciary reforms to curb organized crime and corruption.
Bulgaria joins European Union JAN 01,07
SOFIA, Bulgaria, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- Bulgaria's president hailed his post-communist Balkan country's entry into the European Union Monday as a heavenly moment. President Georgi Parvanov in a nationwide television address said Jan. 1, 2007 will be among the most significant dates in our national history, the Sofia News Agency reported. Parvanov underlined Bulgaria's future success does not depend on EU funds and resources, but on our work. Bulgaria, with a population of 7.7 million, and Romania, with 22 million, Monday became the 26th and 27th members of the European Union. The two Balkan neighbors have entered the union under tough conditions and must report to Brussels every six months about progress in fighting corruption and organized crime. If they fail, Bulgaria and Romania risk losing substantial economic aid. Bulgaria was also told to comply with EU aviation safety standards or its 55 aircraft could be grounded.
Use of euro spreading to many places outside European Union
Slobodan Lekic - December 31, 2006 - 4:43 p.m.
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Slovenia converts to the euro Monday, officially becoming the 13th member of the eurozone - and the first among the European Union's newest members to qualify to use the currency.But at least a half-dozen other European
ministates and territories are using the currency as legal tender - without approval from the European Central Bank.
The euro was introduced five years ago to provide economic cohesion among EU countries. But euros also are in circulation in dozens of countries and overseas territories ranging from the North Atlantic to the Pacific.In Europe, Montenegro, Vatican City and San Marino and the principalities of Andorra and Monaco have used the euro since its inception. And in the UN-occupied Serbian province Kosovo, the euro circulates alongside the Serbian dinar.The European Central Bank has not opposed unilateral euroization by microstates that historically have been linked to the French franc, Spanish peseta or German mark as legal tender.
The ECB does not either encourage nor deter third countries from using the euro, President Jean-Claude Trichet recently declared.Joaquin Almunia, the EU's economic and monetary affairs commissioner, has encouraged countries to adopt the euro as a means of achieving economic stability.The adoption of the euro creates the right conditions for economic prosperity by providing low inflation and low interest rates, he said recently.
It is not uncommon for small countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia to use the currency of a major country - typically, the U.S. dollar.When newly independent East Timor adopted the dollar after seceding from Indonesia in 1999, the U.S. Treasury dispatched planeloads of paper money and tonnes of small-denomination coins to the impoverished Pacific country.However, the rise of the euro has made inroads into the dollar's international dominance.Montenegro, for example, switched to the euro after having adopted the German mark in the 1990s.
German Global Clout Grows as Berlin Heads EU, G8 JAN 01,07
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:Germany's global stature will be bolstered when it takes on both the EU and G8 presidencies.Germany's growing economic, political and military role will be spotlighted in 2007 when Berlin holds the rotating presidencies of both the European Union and the G8 club of industrial nations.Chancellor Angela Merkel takes the reins of the European Union for the first half of 2007, with the main goal of saving the EU's failed constitution and hammering out a new energy security policy for the 27-nation bloc.In addition, as host of the G8 summit at the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm in June, Merkel plans to put financial market transparency, trademark protection and Africa at the top of the agenda for the club of rich nations.This dual role comes at a very historic time in world affairs, said Gary Smith, executive director of the American Academy think tank in Berlin. Germany and especially Chancellor Merkel have a great opportunity to exert leadership and reach concrete goals.
Mighty Germany
Europe's biggest economy has increasingly been flexing its business, diplomatic and even, for peaceful purposes, military muscle since winning back full sovereignty following German reunification in 1990.Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:The European Central Bank in Frankfurt.Germany is at the core of the euro single-currency zone and the European Central Bank is building a huge new headquarters in Frankfurt.Major German corporations have adeptly ridden the wave of globalization and exports have continued to soar during 2006, with the euro hitting near-record highs against the dollar.Even the sometimes euro-skeptical Wall Street Journal was full of praise in a recent commentary.The competition brought on by globalization and the EU's expansion to include 10 new states in 2004 forced a serious restructuring of the corporate sector, the paper said.… Germany Inc. was at the forefront of this mini-revolution.
Diplomacy matters
Diplomatically, Germany began talking about national interests and a German path under former chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who provoked the worst post-war crisis in German-American relations by using his Iraq war opposition to help win his re-election in 2002.Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Germany Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier presents the German EU presidency program at a press conference This sort of talk -- unthinkable during the Cold War -- has been toned down by current Chancellor Merkel, who nevertheless is sticking to Schröder's calls for Germany to get a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.As the EU's biggest power, Germany already has an upgraded UN status under what is known as P5+Germany: the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany, who are dealing with issues such as the Iranian nuclear crisis.
Military transitions
Germany's military transition is one of the biggest ongoing shifts in the country's global positioning since unification.The Bundeswehr, or federal armed forces, will in coming years be forged into a 35,000-member rapid-reaction force for global operations, backed by a 70,000-member stabilization force for peacekeeping.During the transition, Berlin is acquiring heavy airlift planes capable of taking troops anywhere in the world, while at the same time scrapping hundreds of the formidable Leopard II main battle tanks which once faced off against Warsaw Pactforces.
Reforms, however, are slow moving and, at present, Germany still cannot deploy more than 10,000 soldiers for combat or peacekeeping operations -- despite a total troop strength of over 250,000.
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Germany is scrapping tanks for planes.The German armed forces are still structured for the Cold War, said Karl-Heinz Kamp, security policy coordinator for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, which has close links to Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party.Germany's military was dissolved in 1945 after the Nazi defeat and only recreated in 1955. Throughout the Cold War, German troops were strictly limited to defensive missions within the NATO area.
Modern missions
It was only in 1994 that German troops were given a green light by the country's highest court to take part in combat missions outside the NATO alliance.Since then, there has been a steady growth in the number of German military deployments abroad with bigger and bigger missions.Luftwaffe jets took part in the first German combat operations since 1945 during the 1999 NATO-led war with Serbia to halt ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.
Never again Auschwitz! was how Greens Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer convinced members of his own pacifist party to back the historic deployment.Today about 9,000 German troops are serving on international missions, including with NATO forces in Afghanistan and in the Balkans.The latest German military mission, deploying forces as part of a beefed-up United Nations UNIFIL force in Lebanon, also breaks new ground as Berlin's first Mideast deployment since World War II.Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Germany took the global stage when it hosted the World Cup this summer.But Germany still seeks to keep its troops out of combat zones.Soldiers in Afghanistan are based in the mainly peaceful north and are barred from taking part in fighting in southern Afghanistan with US, British and Canadian forces.In Lebanon, the Germans refused to send ground troops and instead deployed naval forces based off the coast.
Military spending
Another area where German aspirations for a bigger global role clash with reality is financing. Berlin spends less than 1.5 percent of its GDP on the military -- far less than the US, which devotes 3.7 percent of its budget to the armed forces.A far higher proportion of the German military budget goes for personnel costs -- and not for equipment. The Bundeswehr spends 60 percent of its money on personnel -- something's wrong with that, Kamp said.Kamp also worries that the three German ministries responsible for global relations -- defense, foreign and development aid -- have felt the brunt of federal budget cuts.This means that at a time when Germany's foreign responsibility has grown, we cut foreign spending by 50 percent,he said. DW staff / DPA (als)
ECUSA's Future Depends on Leaders' Return to God's Word
Allie Martin JAN 01,07 crosswalk.com
An official with the Institute on Religion and Democracy expects to see the current conflicts within the Episcopal Church in the USA (ECUSA) continue throughout the coming year, including schism over the current liberal leadership and direction of the denomination.This past year, the ECUSA's new presiding bishop, Katherine Jefferts Schori, said Christ was not the only way to get to Heaven.
She also remarked that homosexuals do not choose their behavior (see earlier story). These and other indications of Bishop Schori's biblically unorthodox beliefs have sparked criticism and unease among conservative members of the denomination and within the broader Anglican community.Recently, a group of conservative Episcopal churches in Virginia broke away from the ECUSA. Most of the congregations that left the denomination will now join with the newly established Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), an affiliate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria.
Faith McDonnell, director of the Religious Liberty Program with the Institute on Religion and Democracy, says the Episcopal Church in the United States is in serious trouble. It's very painful to have this separation, she admits, but we do believe that God will work everything out for good. We don't know what that will be, but we still do hope and pray that there would be revival in the Episcopal Church.McDonnell believes more churches throughout the United States will leave the ECUSA in the coming year.
She sees only one way of slowing or reversing the current trend: the leaders of the Episcopal Church must return to God's Word.There are many wonderful, faithful people within the Episcopal Church who are continuing to stay and trying to bring the faith back into the Episcopal Church, the Institute official observes. But thedenomination itself is making it harder and harder for people, she says.If the denominational leaders do not change their current tack, and there is no change in the denomination's leadership, McDonnell expects the ECUSA will continue to experience schism and continue to hemorrhage members. She is predicting another tumultuous year for the church.Allie Martin is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.AgapePress
News Analysis: In 2007, Expect PA Factions to Wage Civil War
By Gil Zohar (INN) Jan,01,07
Judging by events in the Middle East last year, 2007 promises to be even more dramatic. The following is a year-end series of educated guesses and predictions, with no responsibility taken for their accuracy.
In the Palestinian Authority-controlled Gaza Strip and the Area A parts of Judea and Samaria under its rule, a full-scale civil war is likely to erupt among the local Arabs, with unpredictable consequences.This time around, the talk of brotherhood will likely be finally exposed for the myth it is. Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other assorted terrorist gangs will participate, while outside sponsors such as Iran, Syria, and Jordan will supply the bullets, rockets, money and ill-will.International and American sanctions against Iran and Syria will likely increase, as will defiance by the two nations. Will George Bush unleash an attack on Iran to foil its ambitions to obtain nuclear weapons? Judging by America’s dismal performances in Afghanistan and Iraq, Israel will be left holding the bag forced alone to face an existential threat in which the options are all bad.Damascus and Tehran will team up to destabilize Lebanon by activating their proxy, Hizbullah and their allies - the 400,000 Arabs who left Israel in the 1948 and 1967 wars. The bigger powers will push Israel’s northern neighbor into a second civil war, one likely to be far more vicious than the 15-year conflict that ended in 1990.
Like the PA Arab battle, Lebanon's civil war will attract support and weapons, drawing in Western and Middle Eastern sponsors to supply the country's Christians, Shi’ites, Sunnis, Druze and Armenians. Jihadists, always on the lookout for training spots, also will flock into Lebanon to establish new bases of operations.
In Iraq and Iran — but also in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Somalia, Pakistan, and at least one major country in the Persian Gulf — jihadist Muslim fundamentalists will become the main agenda-setters, emerging from the shadows to dictate the tempo of events, war, and peace.The flow of refugees from Iraq, which now stands at two million, will double. Meanwhile the trickle of educated Arabs leaving the Gaza Strip and Judea and Samaria will continue to grow, resulting in a brain drain of the region’s best and brightest.In America, a Democratic-controlled Congress will turn the Iraqi mess into
a full-blown tragedy by opposing any proposals advanced by the Bush administration short of a total and immediate withdrawal of American troops. The Americanpopulation will progress toward a total rejection of further overseas involvements.Somalia, which has disintegrated into a vast morass sheltering international jihadist Muslim fundamentalists, will continue its descent into bloody chaos, drawing the Horn of Africa down with it.
The presence of American military personnel already involved in Somalia, as well as the CIA and other semi-military American outfits, will increase with more western advisors to the local army. The flow of weapons to Christian Ethiopia will explode, as will Western satellite and surveillance outposts there. With the Indian Ocean thus wide open, the U.S. Navy and NATO will have to double their presence to block incoming mayhem from the sea.In Israel - which in the summer of 2006 painfully discovered the limits of its military prowess against Hizullah's guerrilla-style warfare in Lebanon - politicians and the military will find that their enemies have been further emboldened.Hamas and Hizbullah rockets aimed inland from Gaza and from Lebanon will test Israel again. Prime Minister Olmert's unwieldy coalition government once more will be pushed to the edge. The government is widely expected to remain in place, but its ability to develop effective responses will be as incomplete and as incompetent in 2007 as it has showed itself to be this year.
More important, PM Olmert and his feckless Defense Minister Amir Peretz ,as well as Israel's entire opposition, will continue to exhibit a shocking lack of vision, failing to put forward a strategy to deal with the tide of Islamic fundamentalists and the consequences of Egypt's failed government. The total collapse of the Palestinian Authority will increase the internal challenge for Israel.On the macro-economic front, the price of oil will continue to slip, as more alternative sources, from coal to oil sands to ethanol, grab a larger share of the world’s markets.The role of Russia as the world's major new supplier of conventional energy now bigger than that of Saudi Arabia - will grow remarkably. Russia is already Europe's main supplier of natural gas, and it is moving to become a major supplier of oil and gas to Asia, as well. Canada, with its endless reserves of oil sands in remote northern Alberta, will join Russia as a major new energy power. The strategic consequences of these two countries' advances for American influence have yet to be calculated by think tanks, NATO, and the OECD.
Where does all this leave the Israeli man in the street? The slight cut on December 31 of the government-set price for gasoline, together with the Bank of Israel’s decision earlier last month to slash interest rates by half a percent to 4.5 % - three quarters of a point below the Federal Reserve Bank’s rate – suggest continued strong growth in the Israeli economy and an ongoing reduction in the unemployment levels.Want some unsolicited investment advice? Park your dollars in Israeli shekels, and watch as the greenback continues to shrink.
Pope makes New Year's wish for courageous efforts for peace in Holy Land
Mon Jan 1, 4:57 AM - By Frances D'Emilio
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Benedict made a New Year's Day wish Monday that people will work courageously for world peace, and especially for a lasting end to the Holy Land's conflict, which he said has dragged on for too long. Benedict in his homily in St. Peter's Basilica during Mass described peace as a gift to invoke with prayer, a task to carry out with courage, without ever tiring.
How can one not turn one's glance yet again to the dramatic situation which characterizes the very land where Jesus was born? the pontiff said, referring to the Holy Land. The Vatican on Jan. 1 celebrates World Peace Day. How can one not implore with insistent prayer, that also in that region the day of peace arrives as soon as possible, the day in which the conflict which has been going on for too much time is definitely resolved? Benedict asked in his homily. A peace accord, to be lasting, must be based on respect for the dignity and rights of every person, the pontiff added. Noting that many ambassadors to the Holy See were attending the Mass, Benedict said: The wish that I formulate before the representatives of nations present is that the international community unite their efforts so that in God's name, a world can be built in which the essential rights of man are respected by all, the pontiff added. The pontiff said injustice and violence threatened peace and that "the danger of terrorism disturbs the serenity of peoples.
The Alliance of Civilizations JAN 01,07 FORMING OF A ONE WORLD RELIGION.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations has launched an initiative, co-sponsored by the Prime Ministers of Spain and Turkey, for an Alliance of Civilizations. The initiative responds to a broad consensus across nations, cultures and religions that all societies are interdependent, bound together in their development and security, and in their environmental, economic and financial well-being.
The Alliance seeks to forge collective political will and to mobilize concerted action at the institutional and civil society levels to overcome the prejudice, misperceptions and polarization that militate against such a consensus.
And it hopes to contribute to a coalescing global movement which, reflecting the will of the vast majority of people, rejects extremism in any society.Events of recent years have exacerbated mutual suspicion, fear and misunderstanding between Islamic and Western societies. This environment has been exploited by extremists throughout the world.Only a comprehensive coalition will be able to avert any further deterioration of relations between societies and nations, which could threaten international stability. The Alliance seeks to counter this trend by establishing a paradigm of mutual respect between civilizations and cultures.To guide this initiative, the Secretary-General, in consultation with the co-sponsors, has established a High-level Group (HLG) of eminent persons.
Terms of Reference for High-level Group
http://www.unaoc.org/repository/Terms%20of%20Reference%20for%20HLG.pdf
Official statements - Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs - English
http://www.unaoc.org/repository/statement_foreign_ministry_english.pdf
Joint Declaration of Prime Ministers of Spain and Turkey on Middle East Crisis
http://www.unaoc.org/repository/6071Joint%20Declaration%20of%20Prime%20Ministers%20of%20Spain%20and%20Turkey%20on%20Middle%20East.pdf
Christian Culture Analyst Recaps 2006 Church Trends, Future
Fred Jackson JAN 01,2007
Christian researcher George Barna has outlined what he considers his most significant findings for 2006. Among these is his assessment that, although large majorities of the public claim to be deeply spiritual and say that their religious faith is very important in their life, only 15 percent of those who regularly attend a Christian church ranked their relationship with God as their top priority.Barna, who has been conducting national public opinion surveys and cultural analysis for 25 years, notes that even clergy have to compete for people's attention and acceptance in contemporary American society. One of the reasons that the Christian faith is struggling to retain a toehold in people's lives, he contends, is because even the highest-profile leaders of the faith community have limited resonance with the population.According to the researcher, the latest survey statistics suggest Christians may be more attuned to matters of culture and entertainment than to matters of faith. People pay attention to what they deem important, he says. These figures may be another indicator that millions of Christians invest more of their mental energy in cultural literacy than in biblical literacy.
Barna's recent studies also found that the notion of personal holiness has slipped out of the consciousness of the vast majority of Christians. According to his research group's findings, while just 21 percent of adults consider themselves to be holy, by these respondents' own admission, large numbers have no idea what holiness means and only one out of every three believe that God expects people to become holy.In contrast, however, to this apparent spiritual decline, the researcher also found that there is a group he calls Christian Revolutionaries who are growing in number. He says they are the type who show a great interest in things such as personal Bible study and spiritual mentoring. Also, he notes, individual Christians' involvement in house churches is rapidly growing.
In his year-end review, Barna describes what he sees as three general spiritual patterns that are likely to gain prominence in the coming years. The first of these, he says, is diversity: along with new forms of spiritual leadership and expressions of faith, he predicts that ecumenism will expand as the emerging generations pay less attention to doctrine and more attention to relationships and experiences.The second prediction from the head of Barna Research has to do with what he calls bifurcation. He expects to see a widening gap between the intensely committed and those who are casually involved in faith matters. The difference, Barna says, will become strikingly evident between those who make faith the core of their life and those who simply attach a religious component onto an already mature lifestyle.Barna's third prediction deals with the use of media. He says new technologies will significantly reshape how people experience and express their faith, as well as the ways in which they form communities of faith.
Read Barna's complete report on his Significant Religious Findings of 2006 - AgapePress
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrow&BarnaUpdateID=252
South Korea's Ban Ki-moon takes the reins of the United Nations JAN 01,07
UNITED NATIONS Today is the first day on the job for the new U-N secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon (bahn kee moon) of South Korea.The 62-year-old career diplomat has promised to make peace with North Korea a top priority.In a speech after taking his oath of office in December, Ban said he will work to build "a more peaceful, more prosperous and more just world for succeeding generations.He said his first priority would be to restore trust in the United Nations. Its reputation has been battered by the oil-for-food scandal in Iraq, corruption in the world body's purchasing operations and sexual abuse by U-N peacekeepers.Associated Press.
Five new non-permanent members join United Nations Security Council JAN 01,07
United Nations, Jan 1: South Africa, Indonesia, Italy, Belgium and Panama today joined the UN Security Council as non-permanent members for a two year term.The new members replaced Tanzania, Japan, Denmark, Greece and Argentina, which completed their two-year term yesterday.
The composition of the Council for 2007 is the United States, Britain, Russia, France, China (permanent members), Peru, Congo, Qatar, Ghana and Slovakia, South Korea, Indonesia, Italy, Belgium and Panama (non-permanent members).Peru, Congo, Qatar, Ghana and Slovakia will complete their term this year end. South Korea, Indonesia, Italy, Belgium and Panama will remain on the council until the end of 2008.The Council comprises 15 members including five permanent and ten non-permanent members. Five of the non-permanent members retire each year.The non-permanent members are elected on regional basis by the 192-member General Assembly.Panama was the compromise candidate from Latin American and Caribbean group following failure of the group to decide between Guatemala and Venezuela. --- PTI
I Don't know any of these Pastors,prophets but we will see if they come to Pass.
Prophecies for 2007
Monday | January 1, 2007 Jamaica
1. (Numbers chapter 10) God is calling both the leaders and the assembly to gather and move - time is short.
2. God is calling the church to gather, equip and send.
3. God is going to shake the nation of Jamaica; He is calling the nation into repentance.
4. God is calling His people to seek Him as never before.
5. The cry of the nation, Jamaica, has come up before God. He shall judge the leaders (political and church) of Jamaica, as the cry of the poor has come up before God.
6. Six mighty men around the world - God will be taking them down.
7. Three nations will suffer great distress.
8. Pray for India, China, Russia, Spain, U.S.A., England, Canada, Netherlands, Greece and Africa (danger ahead).
9. Time of lamentation is coming upon the earth.
10. God is asking: Where are the tithes and offering that we have robbed Him (accountability)?
11. God will judge those who waste the resources of the land.
12. Many businesses will be shut down and mergers will take place (banking, communication and insurance industry). Because of low profit margins, many businesses will be closing.
13. Those that refuse to tithe, many of them will lose their houses through foreclosure.
14. There will be a serious confusion in the real estate business.
15. Serious management changes in order to find solutions and many jobs will be lost.
16. There will be a stir in the telecommuni- cations, pharmaceutical and financial sectors; Many of the small companies will rise.
17. Confusion in the weather patterns.
18. God is warning His prophets to repent.
19. God's wrath is upon Jamaica, He is calling the nation to repentance. God has sent many to warn the present and the former Prime Ministers to call the nation into repentance but they have not yielded. Solutions have been given to government and church leaders and they have refused to accept them and have turned their backs. God is about to judge.
20. The central bank of Jamaica will make their staff redundant and there will also be a scandal.
21. Many will starve worldwide because of the adverse economic conditions.
22. There is too much competition in the body of Christ.
23. Disaster will hit California, Turkey, Mexico, Mozambique, Malaysia, and Chile. There is a plan to assassinate an Asian Prime Minister.
24. The Lord is calling His people to wake up from their deep sleep.
25. The Lord says any day the U.S.A. turns against Israel, God will turn away from them.
26. A time of mourning is coming upon the nations if they don't repent.
27. An incurable disease will sweep across the land if they do not repent.
28. Disaster will hit The Bahamas if they do not repent. God is angry with them.
29. A climate change will hit France; they have never seen anything like that before.
30. Japan and Mexico - God's hand will be heavy upon them.
31. A time of outpouring coming for the faithful.
32. Jamaica will discover oil and other hidden treasures.
33. A change in the economy and the security forces will take place in Jamaica.
34. Bloodshed will be hitting the North, pray for the North.
35. The latter will be greater; The Lord will work with the second birth, not Ishmael, but Isaac.
36. God is calling His people to stop worshipp-ing the building and worship Him.
37. Disaster in the sea.
38. A massive explosion shall come from the East.
39. There will be a massive fire.
40. A number of churches will be shut down. God says His house will be a house of prayer and not a den of thieves.
41. There shall be a woman president in the U.S.A.
42. Great hardship is coming; every nation will need to stand on its own. None will be able to help each other. America will need to stockpile seven years of food and water.
43. America needs to seek the apostles and prophets in order to help the nation; serious hardship is coming.
44. Watch March 19.
45. A time is coming when people will be afraid to eat meat; a lot of lives will be lost if Jamaica's Ministry of Health doesn't tighten up and be vigilant.
46. Pray against terrorism involving three of our aircraft.
47. Water will rise in St. Elizabeth, St. Ann, Clarendon, St. Mary, St. Thomas and Portland.
48. Pray against heavy bloodshed in the next election.
49. There will be major political and religious deception. Christians and prophets will hold their heads in shame.
50. God is going to visit Jamaica House.
Apostle Steve Lyston, Prophetess Michelle Lyston, Prophetess Bishop Doris Hutchinson, Prophet Edwards, Prophetess Marsha, Prophetess Sophia and Prophet Roberto.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Monday, January 01, 2007
2006 WHAT WAS
1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Snow continues in parts of Plains. 3-Jewish Calendar in Action. 4-Hundreds flock to see Saddam's gravesite. 5-Aussies usher '07 with Sydney fireworks. 6-Another enlargement for the European Union. 7-CHRONOLOGY-Messages attributed to al Qaeda. 8-2006: A year of fear, storms and elections.
MAY THE PROMISE OF A NEW YEAR FILL YOUR HEART WITH HOPE, AND PEACE AND JOY PRAISE THE GOD OF ISRAEL (KING JESUS) FOR EVERY SECOND OF IT. STAN L BOWMAN JR HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007.
DON'T FORGET TO GIVE TO INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS, JACK VAN IMPE, TO WIN SOULS FOR CHRIST AND TO HELP HUNGRY ISRAELIS, AND TO HELP ISRAELIS COME TO ISRAEL.
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 = Mon Jan 01 2007 12:01 AM EDT HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL IN THE WHOLE WORLD
DEC 31,06
MAP 5.5 NEUQUEN, ARGENTINA
MAP 3.2 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.9 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.9 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.6 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 3.0 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 3.2 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 3.2 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.1 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.7 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.8 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 3.2 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
DEC 30,06
MAP 4.9 NORTHERN ALGERIA
MAP 5.0 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.6 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.3 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 4.7 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.0 OFFSHORE GUATEMALA
MAP 3.4 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.7 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.2 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.7 KODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 5.1 SOUTH OF PANAMA
MAP 3.4 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.4 SOUTH OF ALASKA
MAP 2.6 OREGON
MAP 4.9 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.2 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.2 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 6.3 GULF OF ADEN
MAP 5.0 GUAM REGION
MAP 2.7 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.7 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.5 OFF THE EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA, RUSSIA
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.
Snow continues in parts of Plains B. Bernard, Meteorologist, The Weather Channel Sun Dec 31, 12:13 PM ET
Wind-driven snow continues to coat portions of the Great Plains today. A heavy snow warning has been posted for parts of northwest Iowa and a small portion of southwest Minnesota.
Winter storm warnings extend in a patchwork fashion from north-central Kansas to northeast Minnesota. Four to eight inches of snow are expected to pile up by this evening in the area under the heavy snow warning. Lesser amounts are likely elsewhere. Expect difficult travel over I-70 in northeast Kansas, I-80 in southeast Nebraska and southwest Iowa, and I-29 in northwest Iowa. Another area of concern, but not until late tonight, is in the Northeast. A freezing rain advisory is in effect beginning at midnight for portions of northern New York state and southern Vermont. No major icing is expected, however.
SIGNS OF THE END OF THE AGE (NOT THE WORLD) THE WORLD GOES ON FOREVER.
GENESIS 1:14
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:(ISRAELS HOLY DAYS AND SABBATH STARTS AT 6PM) And for SIGNS (PROPHECY SIGNS TO HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE, OUR DAY)
Jewish Calendar in Action
By Hillel Fendel (INN) DEC 31,06
Today, the 10th of Tevet, is a day of fasting, commemorating the siege of Jerusalem led by Nebuchadnezzar - the ancient Babylonian despot of whom Saddam Hussein claimed to be a reincarnation. Just a day after the hanging of Saddam Hussein, Jews around the world remember another cruel tyrant - Saddam's self-proclaimed role model - and his murderous plans for the Jewish People. Nebuchadnezzar was more successful than Saddam in this regard, in that he destroyed Jerusalem and the Holy Temple, and put hundreds of thousands of Jews, including the nation's king and leaders, to death with unspeakable cruelty.On this day, the 10th of Tevet, Nebuchadnezzar instated a tight siege on Jerusalem, setting off the chain of events that led to the destruction of the First Holy Temple and a 70-year exile of the Jewish People from their Holy Land. Today, nearly 2,500 years later, Jews around the world - and especially in the modern renewed edition of the Jewish State that Nebuchadnezzar tried to rub out - refrain from eating and drinking until sunset to remember the calamities that occurred at that time.Saddam Hussein, who was hanged yesterday in
Baghdad, just 90 kilometers from Nebuchadnezzar's palace in the ancient city of Babyon, modeled himself in many ways after Nebuchadnezzar.
Much of the brickwork in the throne room of King Nebuchadnezzar's palace, for instance, was built by Saddam Hussein's workers. Just as the original bricks are inscribed with words praising Nebuchadnezzar, the newer ones - 60 million of them! - state that they were fashioned in the era of Saddam Hussein, protector of Iraq, who rebuilt civilization and rebuilt Babylon.
In addition, in his book Saddam Hussein, the Stairway to Heaven and the Return of Planet X, William Henry writes, Saddam is saying he is the reincarnated Nebuchadnezzar... He is attempting to recreate and outdo the feats of the biblical king... It is well known that [he] has connected himself with Nebuchadnezzar, spending over $500 million during the 1980s on the reconstruction and the re-establishment of ancient Babylon, the capitol of Nebuchadnezzar.Nebuchadnezzar was Divinely changed into an animal for a period of time - an event that many recalled when the once-opulent Saddam Hussein was captured two and a half years ago living in nearly animal-like conditions.The Tenth of Tevet has also taken on another facet, in connection with the Holocaust. Many bereaved Jews who do not know the date or place of death of their loved ones recite Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for those who have died, on this day. For this reason, some consider this day as a Holocaust remembrance day.Yishai Fleisher contributed to this article.
Hundreds flock to see Saddam's gravesite By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer DEC 31,06
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Hundreds of Iraqis flocked to the village where Saddam Hussein was born on Sunday to see the deposed leader buried in a religious compound 24 hours after his execution. There was no sign of a feared Sunni uprising in retaliation for Saddam's hanging, and the bloodshed on Saturday was not far off the daily average — 92 from bombings and death squads. Also Saturday, a roadside bomb killed one American soldier and wounded two in Baghdad, the U.S. military said Sunday. At least 2,999 U.S. service members have been killed since the war began in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.At Saddam's funeral, dozens of relatives and others, some of them crying and moaning, attended the interment shortly before dawn in Ouja. A few knelt before his flag-draped grave. A large framed photograph of Saddam was propped up on a chair nearby.I condemn the way he was executed and I consider it a crime, said 45-year-old Salam Hassan al-Nasseri, one of Saddam's clansmen who attended the interment in the village just outside Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad. Some 2,000 Iraqis traveled to the village as well.Mohammed Natiq, a 24-year-old college student, said the path of Arab nationalism must inevitably be paved with blood.God has decided that Saddam Hussein should have such an end, but his march and the course which he followed will not end, Natiq said.Police on Saturday blocked the entrances to Tikrit and said nobody was allowed to leave or enter the city for four days. Despite the security precaution, gunmen took to the streets, carrying pictures of Saddam, shooting into the air and calling for vengeance.
Saddam was captured in an underground hide-out near Ouja on Dec. 13, 2003, eight months after he fled Baghdad ahead of advancing American troops.His burial place is about two miles from the graves of his sons, Odai and Qusai, in the main town cemetery. The sons and a grandson were killed in a gunbattle with the American forces in Mosul in July 2003.
The head of Saddam's Albu-Nassir's clan said the body showed no signs of mistreatment.We received the body of Saddam Hussein without any complications. There was cooperation by the prime minister and his office's director, the clan chief, Sheik al-Nidaa, told state-run Al-Iraqiya television. We opened the coffin of Saddam. He was cleaned and wrapped according to Islamic teachings. We didn't see any unnatural signs on his body.On Saturday, Iraqis watched television images of a noose being slipped over Saddam's neck and his white-shrouded body, the pre-dawn work of black-hooded hangmen.
They went to bed as new video emerged showing Saddam exchanging taunts with onlookers before the gallows floor dropped away and the former dictator swung from the rope.In Baghdad's Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City on Saturday, victims of his three decades of autocratic rule took to the streets to celebrate, dancing, beating drums and hanging Saddam in effigy. Celebratory gunfire erupted across other Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad and other predominantly Shiite regions of the country.
Outside the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, west of the capital, loyalists marched with Saddam pictures and waved Iraqi flags. Defying curfews, hundreds took to the streets vowing revenge in Samarra, north of Baghdad.Still, authorities imposed curfews sparingly in contrast to the several-day lockdown put in place after Saddam was sentenced to death Nov. 5.
By several accounts, Saddam was calm but scornful of his captors, engaging in a give-and-take with the crowd gathered to watch him die and insisting he was Iraq's savior, not its tyrant and scourge.He said we are going to heaven and our enemies will rot in hell and he also called for forgiveness and love among Iraqis but also stressed that the Iraqis should fight the Americans and the Persians, Munir Haddad, an appeals court judge who witnessed the hanging, told the British Broadcasting Corp.Another witness, national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie, told The New York Times that one of the guards shouted at Saddam: You have destroyed us. You have killed us. You have made us live in destitution.
I have saved you from destitution and misery and destroyed your enemies, the Persian and Americans, Saddam responded, al-Rubaie told the Times. God damn you, the guard said. God damn you, responded Saddam. New video, first broadcast by Al-Jazeera satellite television early Sunday, had sound of someone in the group praising the founder of the Shiite Dawa Party, who was executed in 1980 along with his sister by Saddam. Saddam appeared to smile at those taunting him from below the gallows.
He said they were not showing manhood. Then Saddam began reciting the Shahada, a Muslim prayer that says there is no god but God and Muhammad is his messenger, according to an unabridged copy of the same tape, apparently shot with a camera phone and posted on a Web site. Saddam made it to midway through his second recitation of the verse. His last word was Muhammad.
The floor dropped out of the gallows.
The tyrant has fallen, someone in the group of onlookers shouted. The video showed a close-up of Saddam's face as he swung from the rope. Then came another voice: Let him swing for three minutes. The responses within Iraq to Saddam's death echoed the larger reaction across the Middle East, with his enemies rejoicing and his defenders proclaiming him a martyr. While Iranians and Kuwaitis welcomed the death of the leader who led wars against each of their countries, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the execution prevented exposure of the secrets and crimes the former dictator committed during his brutal rule. Some Arab governments denounced the timing the 69-year-old former president's hanging just before the start of the most important holiday of the Islamic calendar, Eid al-Adha. Libya announced a three-day official mourning period and canceled all celebrations for Eid.
Haider Hamed, a 34-year-old candy store owner in east Baghdad, wondered what would really change after Saddam's execution. He's gone, but our problems continue, said the Shiite Muslim, whose uncle was killed in one of Saddam's many brutal purges.
We brought problems on ourselves after Saddam because we began fighting Shiite on Sunni and Sunni on Shiite. Among minority Sunnis there was deep anger, born not only of Saddam's execution but of the loss of their decades-long political and economic
dominance that began with Saddam's ouster in the U.S. invasion nearly four years ago. There were cheers at the cafeteria of a U.S. outpost in Baghdad as soldiers having breakfast learned Saddam had been hanged. But members of the Army's 2nd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment, on patrol in an overwhelmingly Shiite neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, said the execution wouldn't get them home any faster — and therefore didn't make much difference. Nothing really changes, said Capt. Dave Eastburn, 30. The militias run everything now, not Saddam.
Aussies usher '07 with Sydney fireworks By ROD McGUIRK, Associated Press Writer DEC 31,06
SYDNEY, Australia - Wind-swept revelers gathered around London's Big Ben to watch the fireworks, and thousands of Japanese climbed Mount Fuji and other peaks to watch the first sunrise of the New Year.
But the Thai capital sent celebrants home after a series of evening bombs. Police estimated a million people crammed the shore in Sydney, one of the world's first major cities to greet the New Year, for the fireworks and daylong festivities, some staking their claims to the best view before dawn Sunday and pitching tents in case of rain.A series of evening bombings in Bangkok, Thailand, left two people dead and 34 injured, and the city canceled its major New Year's celebration at the Central World Plaza shopping mall complex, where a crowd of about 5,000 dispersed calmly.No, I'm not scared. I'm from England. There are bomb scares all the time, said Keith Waters, who was with his Thai bride to celebrate the New Year.
Farther west, Philippine police tried to curb New Year casualties by threatening to arrest anyone who set off oversize firecrackers. Television networks were encouraged to show gory footage of fireworks accident victims.Despite the warning, 284 people were injured by firecrackers and celebratory gunfire in the two weeks ahead of New Year's Day, a 75 percent rise from last year, said Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.I have campaigned every day against firecrackers, Duque said. But this has become a deeply rooted part of our culture.Many Filipinos believe noisy New Year celebrations drive away evil and misfortune.In Japan, thousands climbed mountains, some scaling the famed Mount Fuji, to greet the first dawn of the year. Police expected crowds at the summits to reach 15,000.Japanese — ranging from families with children to elderly couples — usually start climbing during the night so they can reach the top in time for sunrise.
Japanese police anticipated the country's major Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines to receive nearly 95 million visitors over the first three days of the new year, as people offer prayers for peace, health and prosperity in one of the few religious rites in which most Japanese regularly take part.In Romania and Bulgaria, midnight was to mark a historic milestone, with the two countries becoming the newest members of the European Union. Outdoor parties were taking place in Bucharest and Sofia.Pope Benedict XVI prayed at a New Year's Eve service in Vatican City that 2007 would bring the world peace, comfort, justice.In Belfast, Northern Ireland, however, the threat of gale-force winds canceled an outdoor concert. Glasgow officials said high winds and rain had forced them to cancel traditional Hogmanay New Year's celebrations in the Scottish city, but Edinburgh said it would go ahead with its
Hogmanay party nonetheless.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
Things to look for in 2007 from the EU
THE CONSTITUTION TO GET APPROVED.
FOR 10 OR 13 CORE EU COUNTRIES TO LEAD THE EU.
FOR THE 3 COUNTRY 18 MONTH TERM TO BE ADOPTED FROM THE CONSTITUTION.
FOR THE FOREIGN MINISTERS OFFICE TO TALK FOR ALL THE EU IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS.
FOR EU TROOPS TO COME INTO GAZA TO PROTECT ISRAEL.
FOR THE EU TO BECOME THE LEADER IN THE ISRAEL-ARAB PEACE PROCESS.
Another enlargement for the European Union
by Valerie Fenech, di-ve news (valfen@di-ve.com)
BRUSSELS / Malta (di-ve news) December 31, 2006 1505CET The European Union is set for another enlargement at midnight on Sunday as Romania and Bulgaria will be joining the Community on January 01.
This enlargement brings the EU to its fifth enlargement, following the last enlargement in May 2004, where Malta joined together with another nine countries, in what was the largest ever EU enlargement. The Union will now consist of 27 member states. Upon entry, Bulgaria and Romania will become part of a common territory of freedom, democracy and respect for fundamental human rights and the rule of law, as it is defined by the treaty on European Union. Different festivities are planned in both Romania and Bulgaria serving as celebrations for joining the EU.
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
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 through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
2 PETER 2:5
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
2 PETER 3:7
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men
LEVITICUS 26:16
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you( sudden) terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
ISAIAH 33:1,18-19 Woe to thee that spoilest,(destroys) and thou wast not spoiled;(destroyed) and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil,(destroy) thou shalt be spoiled;(destroyed) and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
CHRONOLOGY-Messages attributed to al Qaeda
31 Dec 2006 12:05:10 GMT,Source: Reuters
Dec 31 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on insurgents in Iraq to unite, and urged Palestinian Islamists not to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority, according to a Web audio tape posted on Sunday.Following is a chronology of major statements attributed to Osama bin Laden, Zawahri or their allies in the last six months. At least 38 messages have been broadcast since Al Jazeera aired a statement by bin Laden following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
June 1 - Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Musab al-Zarqawi calls on fellow Sunnis to reject any reconciliation with infidel Shi'ites, in an audiotape.
June 9 - Zawahri urges Palestinians, in a video, to reject a referendum on a statehood proposal that implicitly recognises Israel.
June 22 - Zawahri vows vengeance against the United States for the death of Zarqawi in a U.S. air strike.
June 30 - Bin Laden praises Zarqawi as a lion of jihad, and vows al Qaeda will continue to fight U.S. forces and their allies everywhere, according to an Internet audiotape.
July 1 - Bin Laden warns Iraq's Shi'ite majority of retaliation for attacks on Sunni Arabs and says his group will fight the United States anywhere in the world.
July 7 - A year on from bombings in London, al Qaeda issues a video with comments from Zawahri, bin Laden and one bomber. Zawahri says bombers Shehzad Tanweer and Mohammad Sidique Khan had been trained in al Qaeda camps.
July 27 - Zawahri, in video statement titled The Zionist-Crusader war on Lebanon and the Palestinians, calls on Muslims to fight attacks on their countries.
Sept. 29 - Zawahri calls U.S. President George W. Bush a lying failure for saying progress had been made in the war on terrorism. He also calls the Pope a charlatan because of his remarks on Islam.
Dec. 20 - Zawahri says that al Qaeda will continue to target Western countries so long as Muslims were under attack. Zawahri says Washington is scrambling for an exit from Iraq and Afghanistan, but is approaching the wrong parties.
-- He also says that elections would not free Palestinian land from Israeli occupation and that any path other than holy war would lead to loss and defeat.
Dec. 31 - Zawahri calls on insurgents in Iraq to unite, and urges Palestinian Islamists not to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority.
-- He also hails any Muslim woman insisting on wearing the Islamic veil despite pressures in some Western countries as a soldier in the battle of Islam against the Zionist-Crusader attack.
2006: A year of fear, storms and elections
By Harry Levins-ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH,12/31/2006
Iraqis protested violence by day, and at night hunted down members of other sects.
(Razak Jaber/AP) A bomb that exploded on Feb. 22 sent shock waves rippling through the rest of the year.The bomb destroyed the dome of a Sunni Muslim shrine in Samarra, Iraq. The damage from that single blast has kept piling up:The explosion detonated a wave of Shiite-Sunni killings. Each tide of bloodshed by one sect generated a retaliatory backlash from the other. The sectarian savagery forced the United States to back away from its earlier musing about a large-scale cut this year in its forces in Iraq. The inability either to win in Iraq or to pull out of Iraq fed growing public unrest. Iraq boiled up as the No. 1 issue in the mid-term congressional elections. Last month, Iraq helped to strip the Republicans of their hold on the Senate and House.On the day after the election, President George W. Bush cashiered the aide with his fingerprints all over the Iraq war, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Soon, White House press briefers stopped saying, Stay the course. On the heels of Rumsfeld’s ouster, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group issued a report that opened with a sobering sentence: The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating. Its theme: Train the Iraqis, and bring the Americans home.Now, Bush is rethinking what to do next, with a decision due after the holidays. Some advisers want a surge in strength in Baghdad, to impose stability. Critics say any such surge would merely hand friendly Iraqis an excuse to procrastinate — and would also hand hostile Iraqis more American targets.
The Republicans also suffered from some self-inflicted wounds.
A campaign finance scandal removed from Congress a big Republican name — Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, former House majority leader. An influence-peddling scandal centering on disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramhoff removed a lesser-known Republican, Ohio’s Bob Ney.But the Republican scandal that grabbed the most eyeballs centered on Rep. Mark Foley of Florida. He quit after publication of his lurid electronic messages to congressional pages.So the Democrats ran up a big edge in the House and a slim one in the Senate. (A footnote to U.S. political history: The Democratic victory will, for the first time, place the House speaker’s gavel in the hands of a woman, Nancy Pelosi of California.)
Also injuring the GOP was grousing by conservatives on two fronts.
First, Bush’s call for a change in immigration laws to accommodate the millions of illegals already here angered many rightist Republicans. They accused Bush of winking at law-breaking. For now, anyway, the issue sits on a back burner.Second, the president’s backing of a plan to let Dubai buy up control over American ports infuriated many on the right — so much so that Bush backed away.Like the immigration melee, the flap over the ports stoked the outrage on talk radio, normally a source of support for Bush. But the president had a bad 12 months — if not an annus horribilis, at least what he recently called a difficult year.
Bad news abroad
Iraq hardly stood alone as source of troubling headlines:In Afghanistan, the once-shattered Taliban pieced themselves together and spun that country into a violently ugly turn.As U.S. prestige ebbed in the Mideast, Iran won new clout — and pressed forward with a nuclear program that could give the Iranians a bomb.North Korea actually tested a nuclear bomb. In terms of physics, the bomb fizzled, mostly. But in terms of international standing, the bomb boosted the Hermit Kingdom into the exclusive club of nuclear powers.Islamists threatened Somalia’s already impotent government. Ethiopia stood up to counter the Islamists — even though their clash could lead to a wider war in the touchy Horn of Africa.When Hezbollah militants snatched a couple of Israeli soldiers, the Israelis reacted with a heavy hand. Weeks of bombing and artillery fire trashed much of Lebanon but failed to bring Hezbollah to heel.Killings, rape and plunder persisted in the Darfur region of Sudan. Despite much talk and more hand-wringing, no outsiders seemed able to stop it.With Israel’s Ariel Sharon stricken from the scene by a stroke, Palestine’s political factions turned on each other. One of them, Hamas, won parliamentary elections. Before long, Hamas was violently battling the other faction, Fatah. At year’s end, nothing to staunch the bloodletting stood at hand. Closer to home, Mexicans remain split in a close election that handed the presidency to a conservative. So far, his populist opponent has refused to recognize the returns.
Home-grown headlines
Domestically, the economy produced a mixed bag of headlines. On the bright side, the Dow Jones average rose to record heights. On the down side, housing values sagged, the auto industry stalled — and the price of gasoline flirted for a time with $3 a gallon.Tighter security rules at airports flustered passengers trying to board with shampoo and sodas. Casualty counts dominated some days’ news ... 12 coal miners killed in West Virginia, for example ... and 49 people killed in Kentucky when an airliner rolled down the wrong runway ... and five Amish girls slain at a schoolhouse in Pennsylvania ...A grander number was 300 million — a milestone mark that the U.S. population surpassed on Oct. 17.
A couple of Americans won first woman status — Washington’s Pelosi, of course, and Katharine Jefferts Schori as presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, plus perky Katie Couric as a solo network news anchor.Sexual misdeeds did in evangelical leader Ted Haggard. Despite his squeaky-clean sermonizing, a male prostitute singled out Haggard as a regular customer. And in outer space, the year had a big loser, if we can use the term big to describe a dwarf. Astronomers downgraded Pluto from planet to dwarf planet.
Footnotes of folly
No year runs out without a ration of foolishness — of stories that grabbed a lot more attention than they deserved, thanks in large part to the ravenous appetite of cable news.On a hunting trip in Texas, Vice President Dick Cheney wounded a fellow hunter by firing The Shot Heard ’Round The Clock.We saw, heard and read far too much about the tawdry antics of Britney Spears and about the oddest couple of them all, Donald Trump and Rosie O’Donnell.Then there was that oddest of oddballs, John Mark Karr, who confessed to killing JonBenet Ramsey. After a few days of fame, Karr was found to be fibbing.But when we look back at the footnotes of 2006, we’ll most remember O.J. Simpson and If I Did It — his conditional confession to killing his ex-wife and her friend. A nation gagged in disgust, and the book (plus a related TV interview) faded away remarkably quickly.As has this year ...
MAY THE PROMISE OF A NEW YEAR FILL YOUR HEART WITH HOPE, AND PEACE AND JOY PRAISE THE GOD OF ISRAEL (KING JESUS) FOR EVERY SECOND OF IT. STAN L BOWMAN JR HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007.
DON'T FORGET TO GIVE TO INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS, JACK VAN IMPE, TO WIN SOULS FOR CHRIST AND TO HELP HUNGRY ISRAELIS, AND TO HELP ISRAELIS COME TO ISRAEL.
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 = Mon Jan 01 2007 12:01 AM EDT HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL IN THE WHOLE WORLD
DEC 31,06
MAP 5.5 NEUQUEN, ARGENTINA
MAP 3.2 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.9 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.9 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.6 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 3.0 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 3.2 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 3.2 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.1 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.7 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.8 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 3.2 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
DEC 30,06
MAP 4.9 NORTHERN ALGERIA
MAP 5.0 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.6 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.3 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 4.7 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.0 OFFSHORE GUATEMALA
MAP 3.4 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.7 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.2 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.7 KODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 5.1 SOUTH OF PANAMA
MAP 3.4 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.4 SOUTH OF ALASKA
MAP 2.6 OREGON
MAP 4.9 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.2 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.2 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 6.3 GULF OF ADEN
MAP 5.0 GUAM REGION
MAP 2.7 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.7 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.5 OFF THE EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA, RUSSIA
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.
Snow continues in parts of Plains B. Bernard, Meteorologist, The Weather Channel Sun Dec 31, 12:13 PM ET
Wind-driven snow continues to coat portions of the Great Plains today. A heavy snow warning has been posted for parts of northwest Iowa and a small portion of southwest Minnesota.
Winter storm warnings extend in a patchwork fashion from north-central Kansas to northeast Minnesota. Four to eight inches of snow are expected to pile up by this evening in the area under the heavy snow warning. Lesser amounts are likely elsewhere. Expect difficult travel over I-70 in northeast Kansas, I-80 in southeast Nebraska and southwest Iowa, and I-29 in northwest Iowa. Another area of concern, but not until late tonight, is in the Northeast. A freezing rain advisory is in effect beginning at midnight for portions of northern New York state and southern Vermont. No major icing is expected, however.
SIGNS OF THE END OF THE AGE (NOT THE WORLD) THE WORLD GOES ON FOREVER.
GENESIS 1:14
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:(ISRAELS HOLY DAYS AND SABBATH STARTS AT 6PM) And for SIGNS (PROPHECY SIGNS TO HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE, OUR DAY)
Jewish Calendar in Action
By Hillel Fendel (INN) DEC 31,06
Today, the 10th of Tevet, is a day of fasting, commemorating the siege of Jerusalem led by Nebuchadnezzar - the ancient Babylonian despot of whom Saddam Hussein claimed to be a reincarnation. Just a day after the hanging of Saddam Hussein, Jews around the world remember another cruel tyrant - Saddam's self-proclaimed role model - and his murderous plans for the Jewish People. Nebuchadnezzar was more successful than Saddam in this regard, in that he destroyed Jerusalem and the Holy Temple, and put hundreds of thousands of Jews, including the nation's king and leaders, to death with unspeakable cruelty.On this day, the 10th of Tevet, Nebuchadnezzar instated a tight siege on Jerusalem, setting off the chain of events that led to the destruction of the First Holy Temple and a 70-year exile of the Jewish People from their Holy Land. Today, nearly 2,500 years later, Jews around the world - and especially in the modern renewed edition of the Jewish State that Nebuchadnezzar tried to rub out - refrain from eating and drinking until sunset to remember the calamities that occurred at that time.Saddam Hussein, who was hanged yesterday in
Baghdad, just 90 kilometers from Nebuchadnezzar's palace in the ancient city of Babyon, modeled himself in many ways after Nebuchadnezzar.
Much of the brickwork in the throne room of King Nebuchadnezzar's palace, for instance, was built by Saddam Hussein's workers. Just as the original bricks are inscribed with words praising Nebuchadnezzar, the newer ones - 60 million of them! - state that they were fashioned in the era of Saddam Hussein, protector of Iraq, who rebuilt civilization and rebuilt Babylon.
In addition, in his book Saddam Hussein, the Stairway to Heaven and the Return of Planet X, William Henry writes, Saddam is saying he is the reincarnated Nebuchadnezzar... He is attempting to recreate and outdo the feats of the biblical king... It is well known that [he] has connected himself with Nebuchadnezzar, spending over $500 million during the 1980s on the reconstruction and the re-establishment of ancient Babylon, the capitol of Nebuchadnezzar.Nebuchadnezzar was Divinely changed into an animal for a period of time - an event that many recalled when the once-opulent Saddam Hussein was captured two and a half years ago living in nearly animal-like conditions.The Tenth of Tevet has also taken on another facet, in connection with the Holocaust. Many bereaved Jews who do not know the date or place of death of their loved ones recite Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for those who have died, on this day. For this reason, some consider this day as a Holocaust remembrance day.Yishai Fleisher contributed to this article.
Hundreds flock to see Saddam's gravesite By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer DEC 31,06
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Hundreds of Iraqis flocked to the village where Saddam Hussein was born on Sunday to see the deposed leader buried in a religious compound 24 hours after his execution. There was no sign of a feared Sunni uprising in retaliation for Saddam's hanging, and the bloodshed on Saturday was not far off the daily average — 92 from bombings and death squads. Also Saturday, a roadside bomb killed one American soldier and wounded two in Baghdad, the U.S. military said Sunday. At least 2,999 U.S. service members have been killed since the war began in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.At Saddam's funeral, dozens of relatives and others, some of them crying and moaning, attended the interment shortly before dawn in Ouja. A few knelt before his flag-draped grave. A large framed photograph of Saddam was propped up on a chair nearby.I condemn the way he was executed and I consider it a crime, said 45-year-old Salam Hassan al-Nasseri, one of Saddam's clansmen who attended the interment in the village just outside Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad. Some 2,000 Iraqis traveled to the village as well.Mohammed Natiq, a 24-year-old college student, said the path of Arab nationalism must inevitably be paved with blood.God has decided that Saddam Hussein should have such an end, but his march and the course which he followed will not end, Natiq said.Police on Saturday blocked the entrances to Tikrit and said nobody was allowed to leave or enter the city for four days. Despite the security precaution, gunmen took to the streets, carrying pictures of Saddam, shooting into the air and calling for vengeance.
Saddam was captured in an underground hide-out near Ouja on Dec. 13, 2003, eight months after he fled Baghdad ahead of advancing American troops.His burial place is about two miles from the graves of his sons, Odai and Qusai, in the main town cemetery. The sons and a grandson were killed in a gunbattle with the American forces in Mosul in July 2003.
The head of Saddam's Albu-Nassir's clan said the body showed no signs of mistreatment.We received the body of Saddam Hussein without any complications. There was cooperation by the prime minister and his office's director, the clan chief, Sheik al-Nidaa, told state-run Al-Iraqiya television. We opened the coffin of Saddam. He was cleaned and wrapped according to Islamic teachings. We didn't see any unnatural signs on his body.On Saturday, Iraqis watched television images of a noose being slipped over Saddam's neck and his white-shrouded body, the pre-dawn work of black-hooded hangmen.
They went to bed as new video emerged showing Saddam exchanging taunts with onlookers before the gallows floor dropped away and the former dictator swung from the rope.In Baghdad's Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City on Saturday, victims of his three decades of autocratic rule took to the streets to celebrate, dancing, beating drums and hanging Saddam in effigy. Celebratory gunfire erupted across other Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad and other predominantly Shiite regions of the country.
Outside the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, west of the capital, loyalists marched with Saddam pictures and waved Iraqi flags. Defying curfews, hundreds took to the streets vowing revenge in Samarra, north of Baghdad.Still, authorities imposed curfews sparingly in contrast to the several-day lockdown put in place after Saddam was sentenced to death Nov. 5.
By several accounts, Saddam was calm but scornful of his captors, engaging in a give-and-take with the crowd gathered to watch him die and insisting he was Iraq's savior, not its tyrant and scourge.He said we are going to heaven and our enemies will rot in hell and he also called for forgiveness and love among Iraqis but also stressed that the Iraqis should fight the Americans and the Persians, Munir Haddad, an appeals court judge who witnessed the hanging, told the British Broadcasting Corp.Another witness, national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie, told The New York Times that one of the guards shouted at Saddam: You have destroyed us. You have killed us. You have made us live in destitution.
I have saved you from destitution and misery and destroyed your enemies, the Persian and Americans, Saddam responded, al-Rubaie told the Times. God damn you, the guard said. God damn you, responded Saddam. New video, first broadcast by Al-Jazeera satellite television early Sunday, had sound of someone in the group praising the founder of the Shiite Dawa Party, who was executed in 1980 along with his sister by Saddam. Saddam appeared to smile at those taunting him from below the gallows.
He said they were not showing manhood. Then Saddam began reciting the Shahada, a Muslim prayer that says there is no god but God and Muhammad is his messenger, according to an unabridged copy of the same tape, apparently shot with a camera phone and posted on a Web site. Saddam made it to midway through his second recitation of the verse. His last word was Muhammad.
The floor dropped out of the gallows.
The tyrant has fallen, someone in the group of onlookers shouted. The video showed a close-up of Saddam's face as he swung from the rope. Then came another voice: Let him swing for three minutes. The responses within Iraq to Saddam's death echoed the larger reaction across the Middle East, with his enemies rejoicing and his defenders proclaiming him a martyr. While Iranians and Kuwaitis welcomed the death of the leader who led wars against each of their countries, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the execution prevented exposure of the secrets and crimes the former dictator committed during his brutal rule. Some Arab governments denounced the timing the 69-year-old former president's hanging just before the start of the most important holiday of the Islamic calendar, Eid al-Adha. Libya announced a three-day official mourning period and canceled all celebrations for Eid.
Haider Hamed, a 34-year-old candy store owner in east Baghdad, wondered what would really change after Saddam's execution. He's gone, but our problems continue, said the Shiite Muslim, whose uncle was killed in one of Saddam's many brutal purges.
We brought problems on ourselves after Saddam because we began fighting Shiite on Sunni and Sunni on Shiite. Among minority Sunnis there was deep anger, born not only of Saddam's execution but of the loss of their decades-long political and economic
dominance that began with Saddam's ouster in the U.S. invasion nearly four years ago. There were cheers at the cafeteria of a U.S. outpost in Baghdad as soldiers having breakfast learned Saddam had been hanged. But members of the Army's 2nd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment, on patrol in an overwhelmingly Shiite neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, said the execution wouldn't get them home any faster — and therefore didn't make much difference. Nothing really changes, said Capt. Dave Eastburn, 30. The militias run everything now, not Saddam.
Aussies usher '07 with Sydney fireworks By ROD McGUIRK, Associated Press Writer DEC 31,06
SYDNEY, Australia - Wind-swept revelers gathered around London's Big Ben to watch the fireworks, and thousands of Japanese climbed Mount Fuji and other peaks to watch the first sunrise of the New Year.
But the Thai capital sent celebrants home after a series of evening bombs. Police estimated a million people crammed the shore in Sydney, one of the world's first major cities to greet the New Year, for the fireworks and daylong festivities, some staking their claims to the best view before dawn Sunday and pitching tents in case of rain.A series of evening bombings in Bangkok, Thailand, left two people dead and 34 injured, and the city canceled its major New Year's celebration at the Central World Plaza shopping mall complex, where a crowd of about 5,000 dispersed calmly.No, I'm not scared. I'm from England. There are bomb scares all the time, said Keith Waters, who was with his Thai bride to celebrate the New Year.
Farther west, Philippine police tried to curb New Year casualties by threatening to arrest anyone who set off oversize firecrackers. Television networks were encouraged to show gory footage of fireworks accident victims.Despite the warning, 284 people were injured by firecrackers and celebratory gunfire in the two weeks ahead of New Year's Day, a 75 percent rise from last year, said Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.I have campaigned every day against firecrackers, Duque said. But this has become a deeply rooted part of our culture.Many Filipinos believe noisy New Year celebrations drive away evil and misfortune.In Japan, thousands climbed mountains, some scaling the famed Mount Fuji, to greet the first dawn of the year. Police expected crowds at the summits to reach 15,000.Japanese — ranging from families with children to elderly couples — usually start climbing during the night so they can reach the top in time for sunrise.
Japanese police anticipated the country's major Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines to receive nearly 95 million visitors over the first three days of the new year, as people offer prayers for peace, health and prosperity in one of the few religious rites in which most Japanese regularly take part.In Romania and Bulgaria, midnight was to mark a historic milestone, with the two countries becoming the newest members of the European Union. Outdoor parties were taking place in Bucharest and Sofia.Pope Benedict XVI prayed at a New Year's Eve service in Vatican City that 2007 would bring the world peace, comfort, justice.In Belfast, Northern Ireland, however, the threat of gale-force winds canceled an outdoor concert. Glasgow officials said high winds and rain had forced them to cancel traditional Hogmanay New Year's celebrations in the Scottish city, but Edinburgh said it would go ahead with its
Hogmanay party nonetheless.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
Things to look for in 2007 from the EU
THE CONSTITUTION TO GET APPROVED.
FOR 10 OR 13 CORE EU COUNTRIES TO LEAD THE EU.
FOR THE 3 COUNTRY 18 MONTH TERM TO BE ADOPTED FROM THE CONSTITUTION.
FOR THE FOREIGN MINISTERS OFFICE TO TALK FOR ALL THE EU IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS.
FOR EU TROOPS TO COME INTO GAZA TO PROTECT ISRAEL.
FOR THE EU TO BECOME THE LEADER IN THE ISRAEL-ARAB PEACE PROCESS.
Another enlargement for the European Union
by Valerie Fenech, di-ve news (valfen@di-ve.com)
BRUSSELS / Malta (di-ve news) December 31, 2006 1505CET The European Union is set for another enlargement at midnight on Sunday as Romania and Bulgaria will be joining the Community on January 01.
This enlargement brings the EU to its fifth enlargement, following the last enlargement in May 2004, where Malta joined together with another nine countries, in what was the largest ever EU enlargement. The Union will now consist of 27 member states. Upon entry, Bulgaria and Romania will become part of a common territory of freedom, democracy and respect for fundamental human rights and the rule of law, as it is defined by the treaty on European Union. Different festivities are planned in both Romania and Bulgaria serving as celebrations for joining the EU.
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
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 through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
2 PETER 2:5
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
2 PETER 3:7
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men
LEVITICUS 26:16
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you( sudden) terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
ISAIAH 33:1,18-19 Woe to thee that spoilest,(destroys) and thou wast not spoiled;(destroyed) and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil,(destroy) thou shalt be spoiled;(destroyed) and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
CHRONOLOGY-Messages attributed to al Qaeda
31 Dec 2006 12:05:10 GMT,Source: Reuters
Dec 31 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on insurgents in Iraq to unite, and urged Palestinian Islamists not to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority, according to a Web audio tape posted on Sunday.Following is a chronology of major statements attributed to Osama bin Laden, Zawahri or their allies in the last six months. At least 38 messages have been broadcast since Al Jazeera aired a statement by bin Laden following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
June 1 - Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Musab al-Zarqawi calls on fellow Sunnis to reject any reconciliation with infidel Shi'ites, in an audiotape.
June 9 - Zawahri urges Palestinians, in a video, to reject a referendum on a statehood proposal that implicitly recognises Israel.
June 22 - Zawahri vows vengeance against the United States for the death of Zarqawi in a U.S. air strike.
June 30 - Bin Laden praises Zarqawi as a lion of jihad, and vows al Qaeda will continue to fight U.S. forces and their allies everywhere, according to an Internet audiotape.
July 1 - Bin Laden warns Iraq's Shi'ite majority of retaliation for attacks on Sunni Arabs and says his group will fight the United States anywhere in the world.
July 7 - A year on from bombings in London, al Qaeda issues a video with comments from Zawahri, bin Laden and one bomber. Zawahri says bombers Shehzad Tanweer and Mohammad Sidique Khan had been trained in al Qaeda camps.
July 27 - Zawahri, in video statement titled The Zionist-Crusader war on Lebanon and the Palestinians, calls on Muslims to fight attacks on their countries.
Sept. 29 - Zawahri calls U.S. President George W. Bush a lying failure for saying progress had been made in the war on terrorism. He also calls the Pope a charlatan because of his remarks on Islam.
Dec. 20 - Zawahri says that al Qaeda will continue to target Western countries so long as Muslims were under attack. Zawahri says Washington is scrambling for an exit from Iraq and Afghanistan, but is approaching the wrong parties.
-- He also says that elections would not free Palestinian land from Israeli occupation and that any path other than holy war would lead to loss and defeat.
Dec. 31 - Zawahri calls on insurgents in Iraq to unite, and urges Palestinian Islamists not to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority.
-- He also hails any Muslim woman insisting on wearing the Islamic veil despite pressures in some Western countries as a soldier in the battle of Islam against the Zionist-Crusader attack.
2006: A year of fear, storms and elections
By Harry Levins-ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH,12/31/2006
Iraqis protested violence by day, and at night hunted down members of other sects.
(Razak Jaber/AP) A bomb that exploded on Feb. 22 sent shock waves rippling through the rest of the year.The bomb destroyed the dome of a Sunni Muslim shrine in Samarra, Iraq. The damage from that single blast has kept piling up:The explosion detonated a wave of Shiite-Sunni killings. Each tide of bloodshed by one sect generated a retaliatory backlash from the other. The sectarian savagery forced the United States to back away from its earlier musing about a large-scale cut this year in its forces in Iraq. The inability either to win in Iraq or to pull out of Iraq fed growing public unrest. Iraq boiled up as the No. 1 issue in the mid-term congressional elections. Last month, Iraq helped to strip the Republicans of their hold on the Senate and House.On the day after the election, President George W. Bush cashiered the aide with his fingerprints all over the Iraq war, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Soon, White House press briefers stopped saying, Stay the course. On the heels of Rumsfeld’s ouster, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group issued a report that opened with a sobering sentence: The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating. Its theme: Train the Iraqis, and bring the Americans home.Now, Bush is rethinking what to do next, with a decision due after the holidays. Some advisers want a surge in strength in Baghdad, to impose stability. Critics say any such surge would merely hand friendly Iraqis an excuse to procrastinate — and would also hand hostile Iraqis more American targets.
The Republicans also suffered from some self-inflicted wounds.
A campaign finance scandal removed from Congress a big Republican name — Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, former House majority leader. An influence-peddling scandal centering on disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramhoff removed a lesser-known Republican, Ohio’s Bob Ney.But the Republican scandal that grabbed the most eyeballs centered on Rep. Mark Foley of Florida. He quit after publication of his lurid electronic messages to congressional pages.So the Democrats ran up a big edge in the House and a slim one in the Senate. (A footnote to U.S. political history: The Democratic victory will, for the first time, place the House speaker’s gavel in the hands of a woman, Nancy Pelosi of California.)
Also injuring the GOP was grousing by conservatives on two fronts.
First, Bush’s call for a change in immigration laws to accommodate the millions of illegals already here angered many rightist Republicans. They accused Bush of winking at law-breaking. For now, anyway, the issue sits on a back burner.Second, the president’s backing of a plan to let Dubai buy up control over American ports infuriated many on the right — so much so that Bush backed away.Like the immigration melee, the flap over the ports stoked the outrage on talk radio, normally a source of support for Bush. But the president had a bad 12 months — if not an annus horribilis, at least what he recently called a difficult year.
Bad news abroad
Iraq hardly stood alone as source of troubling headlines:In Afghanistan, the once-shattered Taliban pieced themselves together and spun that country into a violently ugly turn.As U.S. prestige ebbed in the Mideast, Iran won new clout — and pressed forward with a nuclear program that could give the Iranians a bomb.North Korea actually tested a nuclear bomb. In terms of physics, the bomb fizzled, mostly. But in terms of international standing, the bomb boosted the Hermit Kingdom into the exclusive club of nuclear powers.Islamists threatened Somalia’s already impotent government. Ethiopia stood up to counter the Islamists — even though their clash could lead to a wider war in the touchy Horn of Africa.When Hezbollah militants snatched a couple of Israeli soldiers, the Israelis reacted with a heavy hand. Weeks of bombing and artillery fire trashed much of Lebanon but failed to bring Hezbollah to heel.Killings, rape and plunder persisted in the Darfur region of Sudan. Despite much talk and more hand-wringing, no outsiders seemed able to stop it.With Israel’s Ariel Sharon stricken from the scene by a stroke, Palestine’s political factions turned on each other. One of them, Hamas, won parliamentary elections. Before long, Hamas was violently battling the other faction, Fatah. At year’s end, nothing to staunch the bloodletting stood at hand. Closer to home, Mexicans remain split in a close election that handed the presidency to a conservative. So far, his populist opponent has refused to recognize the returns.
Home-grown headlines
Domestically, the economy produced a mixed bag of headlines. On the bright side, the Dow Jones average rose to record heights. On the down side, housing values sagged, the auto industry stalled — and the price of gasoline flirted for a time with $3 a gallon.Tighter security rules at airports flustered passengers trying to board with shampoo and sodas. Casualty counts dominated some days’ news ... 12 coal miners killed in West Virginia, for example ... and 49 people killed in Kentucky when an airliner rolled down the wrong runway ... and five Amish girls slain at a schoolhouse in Pennsylvania ...A grander number was 300 million — a milestone mark that the U.S. population surpassed on Oct. 17.
A couple of Americans won first woman status — Washington’s Pelosi, of course, and Katharine Jefferts Schori as presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, plus perky Katie Couric as a solo network news anchor.Sexual misdeeds did in evangelical leader Ted Haggard. Despite his squeaky-clean sermonizing, a male prostitute singled out Haggard as a regular customer. And in outer space, the year had a big loser, if we can use the term big to describe a dwarf. Astronomers downgraded Pluto from planet to dwarf planet.
Footnotes of folly
No year runs out without a ration of foolishness — of stories that grabbed a lot more attention than they deserved, thanks in large part to the ravenous appetite of cable news.On a hunting trip in Texas, Vice President Dick Cheney wounded a fellow hunter by firing The Shot Heard ’Round The Clock.We saw, heard and read far too much about the tawdry antics of Britney Spears and about the oddest couple of them all, Donald Trump and Rosie O’Donnell.Then there was that oddest of oddballs, John Mark Karr, who confessed to killing JonBenet Ramsey. After a few days of fame, Karr was found to be fibbing.But when we look back at the footnotes of 2006, we’ll most remember O.J. Simpson and If I Did It — his conditional confession to killing his ex-wife and her friend. A nation gagged in disgust, and the book (plus a related TV interview) faded away remarkably quickly.As has this year ...
Sunday, December 31, 2006
SADAM HUNG FINALLY
Well the butcher of Baghdad is finally put to death. This Murderer of so many is Hung like a Common Criminal he was. It happened at 10:05 PM EDT.
THIS HAS BEEN GREAT BREAKING NEWS. THE SICKO IS FINALLY HIS WORN OUT SHOE NAME.
1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Earthquake of 3.5 magnitude recorded in Bar Harbor. 3-Earthquake off Yemen's coast registers 6.3 magnitude but doesn't disturb holiday weekend. 4-Powerful Storm Spins Snow and Flooding Rain. 5-Malaysian floods death toll rises to 12, another missing. 6-Saddam executed for war crimes in Iraq. 7-Indonesian ferry sinks, some 600 missing. 8-Huge ice shelf breaks free in Canada's far north. 9-European Union embraces repressive laws. 10-Israel Controls Water Resources in Gaza, West Bank.
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 31 AM EDT
DEC 31 NO QUAKES YET
DEC 30,2006
MAP 3.5 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 4.7 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.0 OFFSHORE GUATEMALA
MAP 3.4 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.7 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.2 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 2.5 OUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.7 ODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 5.1 SOUTH OF PANAMA
MAP 3.4 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.4 SOUTH OF ALASKA
MAP 2.6 OREGON
MAP 4.9 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.2 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.6 SOUTH OF ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 6.3 GULF OF ADEN
MAP 5.0 GUAM REGION
MAP 2.7 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.5 OFF THE EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA, RUSSIA
Earthquake of 3.5 magnitude recorded in Bar Harbor
December 30, 2006 Associated Press
BAR HARBOR, Maine --Another earthquake shook Mount Desert Island on Friday, continuing the string of quakes and aftershocks that have been felt since late September.Friday's rumbling was felt at around 4:20 p.m. and prompted about a dozen phone calls to Bar Harbor police, but no damages or injuries were reported.The latest tremor had a magnitude of 3.5 and was centered in Frenchman Bay just east of Hulls Cove, according to the Weston Observatory at Boston College, which tracks seismic activity in the Northeast.The quake was the second-strongest since the earthquakes and aftershocks began in the Mount Desert Island area on Sept. 22. Besides being felt in Bar Harbor and neighboring towns, the quake was reported being felt as far away as Lincoln and Waterville, which are more than 65 miles from Bar Harbor, according to the Weston Observatory.
The strongest quake since September came on Oct. 2 and had a magnitude of 4.2. It was felt in much of eastern Maine and caused boulders to fall from ledges onto Acadia National Park's loop road.Adam VanWhy, a Bar Harbor police dispatcher, said he felt the shaking on Friday and then received calls from residents asking if another quake had occurred.I guess people are starting to get used to them, VanWhy said.Earthquake experts have warned that aftershocks could be expected for days or weeks after the initial earthquakes. Before Friday, the last tremor in Bar Harbor was recorded on Dec. 18.After the quakes began in September, scientists from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University came to Mount Desert Island to install temporary earthquake monitoring stations around Bar Harbor in an effort to learn more about the seismic activity.
Earthquake off Yemen's coast registers 6.3 magnitude but doesn't disturb holiday weekendThe Associated PressPublished: December 30, 2006
ADEN, Yemen: An earthquake of 6.3 magnitude struck the Gulf of Aden Saturday, off the coast of southeast Yemen but there were no reports of casualties or damage as Sunni Muslims celebrated the first day of the most important holiday on the Islamic calendar. The quake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.21 miles), the United States Geological survey reported on its Web site.The quake, at 11:30 a.m. local time (0830 GMT), was not felt by people in Aden, Yemen's southern port city.Yemeni officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give statements to the media, said no damage resulted from the temblor.Earthquakes are rarely felt in Yemen, however a temblor in 1982 caused serious damage.
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.
Powerful Storm Spins Snow and Flooding Rain James Wilson, Senior Meteorologist, The Weather Channel Sat Dec 30, 4:30 AM ET
West
The storm system that pounded the Southwest and Front Range will slide eastward this weekend and the heavy snow will gradually taper down. In the meantime, heavy snow and fierce winds will shift into the high Plains (the Colorado/Kansas border and the New Mexico/Texas border areas). It looks like Denver is done now with any major snow threat as the monster storm lifts away into the Central U.S. slowly today. By Wednesday and Thursday, a Pacific cold front will again bring showery rain, mountain snow and gusty winds to the Northwest, northern California and the central Rockies. Otherwise, much of the West will be in a calm period with only a few showers grazing the Pacific Northwest early next week.
Midwest
Much of the Midwest will be pelted with rain through the weekend east of an advancing storm system but heavy snow will fall west of the storm across western Kansas, the western half of Nebraska and central South Dakota. Snow accumulations by Monday could be as high as 1 to 2 feet. Gusty winds will create huge drifts. Elsewhere, snow will fall across North Dakota and far northern Minnesota. A narrow band of of freezing rain and sleet could glaze areas from west-central Kansas to southeast South Dakota to north-central Minnesota and northern Wisconsin. Look for significant rainfall spreading eastward from eastern Nebraska and Kansas to Michigan and the Ohio Valley by Saturday night. Finally by Tuesday and Wednesday, the Plains and Midwest will enjoy dry days with no rain or snow. Temperatures will remain above average across most of the region with no significant cold air in sight.
South
Heavy rain will move eastward across the South this weekend. Areas from eastern Texas to northern Georgia could see at least 2 to 4 inches of rain. On Saturday, parts of southeastern Texas and Louisiana could be inundated with over 6 inches of rain.
Strong-to-severe thunderstorms will accompany the deluge starting in southern Oklahoma and southeast Texas overnight and shifting eastward to along the northern Gulf Coast this weekend. Damaging wind gusts and a few tornadoes are the main threats. Meanwhile, parts of western Texas and the Oklahoma Panhandle will pick up plenty of wind- driven snow through saturday.
Northeast
Parts of New York and new England were a bit chillier on Friday and the weekend will be relatively cold, as well. A distubance will bring some light snow across northern sections of New York and New England on Saturday giving a feel of winter for a change. Rain will slide into the on the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast Sunday night and Monday, just in time to ring in the new year. Parts of eastern Upstate New York and New England freezing rain or wintry mix on New Year's Day, especially during the morning hours. Major East Coast cities from Washington to Boston will be in the rain and could see amounts exceed 1 inch. This may cause delays with the Mummers Parade in Philadelphia. Cooler air may allow a mixture of snow and rain showers will linger storm Tuesday. Overall, temperatures will remain above average for awhile, however
Malaysian floods death toll rises to 12, another missing Sat Dec 30, 1:11 AM ET
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - The death toll from Malaysia's disastrous floods has risen to 12, with another youth missing, but authorities said fears of another round of flooding had been averted. The latest confirmed victim is a five-year-old girl whose body was found late Friday, the official Bernama news agency said.She was swept away when the car her family was travelling in was caught by strong currents. Her father survived, but her mother and three-year-old sister also died.However, an 18-year-old youth is missing after he was lost in floodwaters late Friday, Bernama said.
Malaysia's opposition has called for an inquiry into the floods, the worst in
decades, which have forced nearly 59,0000 people in southern Johor state to flee their homes and take shelter in relief centres.However, Johor chief minister Abdul Ghani Othman said he was confident the situation in the state would be back to normal within the next few days.Abdul Ghani said the second wave of rains predicted by forecasters would not take place as the rain-bearing clouds had been blown towards Singapore and Sabah state on Borneo island.
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.
REVELATION 9:14-15
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(IRAQ-SYRIA)
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE)
The Bible verses above will really come into play now that Saddam is hung like a common criminal. I'll give you one Guess (ARABS,MUSLIMS) that will blame the west and Israel bigtime now. We can look for the Violence to increase in IRAQ and around the WORLD from here on in, as the verse above says a total of 1 / 3rd earths population die from the Violence and Nukes in the Mideast.
Saddam executed for war crimes in Iraq By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writers DEC 30,06
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein struggled briefly after American military guards handed him over to Iraqi executioners before dawn Saturday.
But as his final moments approached and masked executioners slipped a black cloth and noose around his neck, he grew calm. In a final moment of defiance, he refused a hood to cover his eyes.Hours after Saddam faced the same fate he was accused of inflicting on countless thousands during a quarter-century of ruthless power, Iraqi state television showed grainy video of what it said was his body, the head uncovered and the neck twisted at a sharp angle.A man whose testimony helped lead to Saddam's conviction and execution before sunrise said he was shown the body because everybody wanted to make sure that he was really executed.
Now, he is in the garbage of history, said Jawad Abdul-Aziz, who lost his father, three brothers and 22 cousins in the reprisal killings that followed a botched 1982 assassination attempt against Saddam in the Shiite town of Dujail.The post-execution footage showed the man identified as Saddam lying on a stretcher, covered in a white shroud. His neck and part of the shroud have what appear to be bloodstains. His eyes are closed.In Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City, hundreds of people danced in the streets while others fired guns in the air to celebrate. The government did not impose a round-the-clock curfew as it did last month when Saddam was convicted to thwart any surge in retaliatory violence.
It was a grim end for the 69-year-old leader who had vexed three U.S. presidents. Despite his ouster, Washington, its allies and the new Iraqi leaders remain mired in a fight to quell a stubborn insurgency by Saddam loyalists and a vicious sectarian conflict.The execution took place during the year's deadliest month for U.S. troops, with the toll reaching 109. At least 2,998 members of the U.S. military have been killed since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.President Bush said in a statement issued from his ranch in Texas that bringing Saddam to justice is an important milestone on Iraq's course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain and defend itself, and be an ally in the war on terror.He said that the execution marks the end of a difficult year for the Iraqi people and for our troops and cautioned that Saddam's death will not halt the violence in Iraq.Within hours of his death, bombings killed at least 68 people in Iraq, including one planted on a minibus that exploded in a fish market in a mostly Shiite town south of Baghdad.
Ali Hamza, a 30-year-old university professor, said he went outside to shoot his gun into the air after he learned of Saddam's death.Now all the victims' families will be happy because Saddam got his just sentence, said Hamza, who lives in Diwaniyah, a Shiite town 80 miles south of Baghdad.But people in the Sunni-dominated city of Tikrit, once a power base of Saddam, lamented his death.The president, the leader Saddam Hussein is a martyr and God will put him along with other martyrs. Do not be sad nor complain because he has died the death of a holy warrior, said Sheik Yahya al-Attawi, a cleric at the Saddam Big Mosque.Police blocked the entrances to Tikrit and said nobody was allowed to leave or enter the city for four days. Despite the security precaution, gunmen took to the streets of Tikrit, carrying pictures of Saddam, shooting into the air, and calling for vengeance.Security forces also set up roadblocks at the entrance to another Sunni stronghold, Samarra, and a curfew was imposed after about 500 people took to the streets protesting the execution of Saddam. A couple hundred people also protested the execution just outside the Anbar capital of Ramadi, and more than 2,000 people demonstrated in Adwar, the village south of Tikrit where Saddam was captured by U.S. troops hiding in an underground bunker.
In a statement, Saddam's lawyers said that in the aftermath of his death, the world will know that Saddam Hussein lived honestly, died honestly, and maintained his principles. He did not lie when he declared his trial null, they said. Saddam's half-brother Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court, were not hanged along with their former leader as originally planned. Officials wanted to reserve the occasion for Saddam alone. We wanted him to be executed on a special day, National Security adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie told state-run al-Iraqiya television. Sami al-Askari, the political adviser of Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki, told the AP that Saddam initially resisted when he was taken by Iraqi guards but was composed in his final moments. He said Saddam was clad in a black suit, hat and shoes, rather than prison garb. His hat was removed and his hands tied shortly before the noose was slipped around his neck.
Saddam repeated a prayer after a Sunni Muslim cleric who was present.
Saddam later was taken to the gallows and refused to have his head covered with a hood, al-Askari said. Before the rope was put around his neck, Saddam shouted: God is great. The nation will be victorious and Palestine is Arab. Iraqi state television showed footage of guards in ski masks placing a noose around Saddam's neck. Saddam appeared calm as he stood on the metal framework of the gallows. The footage cuts off just before the execution. Saddam was executed at a former military intelligence headquarters in Baghdad's Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah, al-Askari said. During his regime, Saddam had numerous dissidents executed in the facility, located in a neighborhood that is home to the Iraqi capital's most important Shiite shrine — the Imam Kazim shrine. Al-Askari said the government had not decided what to do with Saddam's body. Al-Arabiya satellite television reported that a delegation including the governor of Salahuddin Province and the head of Saddam's clan had retrieved his body from Baghdad and was taking it to Tikrit, near the executed dictator's hometown, for burial. The report could not immediately be verified. The Iraqi prime minister's office released a statement that said Saddam's execution was a strong lesson to ruthless leaders who commit crimes against their own people.
We strongly reject considering Saddam as a representative of any sect in Iraq because the tyrant only represented his evil soul, the statement said. The door is still open for those whose hands are not tainted with the blood of innocent people to take part in the political process and work on rebuilding Iraq.
The execution came 56 days after a court convicted Saddam and sentenced him to death for his role in the killings of 148 Shiite Muslims from Dujail. Iraq's highest court rejected Saddam's appeal Monday and ordered him executed within 30 days. A U.S. judge on Friday refused to stop Saddam's execution, rejecting a last-minute court challenge. U.S. troops cheered as news of Saddam's execution appeared on television at the mess hall at Forward Operating Base Loyalty in eastern Baghdad. But some soldiers expressed doubt that Saddam's death would be a significant turning point for Iraq. First it was weapons of mass destruction. Then when there were none, it was that we had to find Saddam. We did that, but then it was that we had to put him on trial, said Spc. Thomas Sheck, 25, who is on his second tour in Iraq. So now, what will be the next story they tell us to keep us over here? At his death, he was in the midst of a second trial, charged with genocide and other crimes for a 1987-88 military crackdown that killed an estimated 180,000 Kurds in northern Iraq. Experts said the trial of his co-defendants was likely to continue despite his execution. Many people in Iraq's Shiite majority were eager to see the execution of a man whose Sunni Arab-dominated regime oppressed them and Kurds. Before the hanging, a mosque preacher in the Shiite holy city of Najaf on Friday called Saddam's execution God's gift to Iraqis. In a farewell message to Iraqis posted Wednesday on the Internet, Saddam said he was giving his life for his country as part of the struggle against the U.S. Here, I offer my soul to God as a sacrifice, and if he wants, he will send it to heaven with the martyrs, he said. One of Saddam's lawyers, Issam Ghazzawi, said the letter was written by Saddam on Nov. 5, the day he was convicted by an Iraqi tribunal in the Dujail killings.
Najeeb al-Nauimi, a member of Saddam's legal team, said U.S. authorities maintained physical custody of Saddam until the execution to prevent him being humiliated publicly or his corpse being mutilated, as has happened to previous Iraqi leaders deposed by force.
He said they didn't want anything to happen to further inflame Sunni Arabs. This is the end of an era in Iraq, al-Nauimi said from Doha, Qatar. The Baath regime ruled for 35 years. Saddam was vice president or president of Iraq during those years. For Iraqis, he will be very well remembered. Like a martyr, he died for the sake of his country. Iraq's death penalty was suspended by the U.S. military after it toppled Saddam in 2003, but the new Iraqi government reinstated it two years later, saying executions would deter criminals. Saddam's own regime used executions and extrajudicial killings as a tool of political repression, both to eliminate real or suspected political opponents and to maintain a reign of terror.
In the months after he seized power on July 16, 1979, he had hundreds of members of his own party and army officers slain. In 1996, he ordered the slaying of two sons-in-law who had defected to Jordan but returned to Baghdad after receiving guarantees of safety. Saddam built Iraq into a one of the Arab world's most modern societies, but then plunged the country into an eight-year war with neighboring Iran that killed hundreds of thousands of people on both sides and wrecked Iraq's economy. When the U.S. invaded in 2003, Iraqis had been transformed from among the region's most prosperous people to some of its most impoverished. Associated Press Writer Will Weissert contributed to this report.
1/3RD OF SHIPS DESTROYED
REVELATION 8:8-9
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
Indonesian ferry sinks, some 600 missing By IRWAN FIRDAUS, Associated Press Writer DEC 30,06
SEMARANG, Indonesia - A crowded Indonesian ferry broke apart and sank in the Java Sea during a violent storm that sent towering waves over its deck, and the vast majority of the nearly 640 passengers were still missing a day later, officials said Saturday. Just 59 survivors had been found by late Saturday, many drifting in lifeboats or clinging to driftwood, the transport minister said.
Witnesses reported seeing lifeboats carrying more survivors, he said, and one person on board said that most people had time to don life jackets before the sea's warm waters overtook the boat.
No bodies had been recovered.
Survivors reported panicked passengers scrambling over life jackets as the boat capsized close to midnight Friday after being pounded by heavy waves for more than 10 hours.The crew kept saying relax, relax but it was clear the ship was not stable, Irfan Setiawan told Metro TV station. It suddenly veered to one side and the TV and fridges fell over.Setiawan said he was hit by a piece of debris and sank with the ship, but fought his way to the surface and managed to climb onto a lifeboat along with around 30 others.We all just prayed as the waves got higher, said Cholid, another passenger who survived by clinging to some wooden planks but lost his 18-year-old daughter.I was going upstairs to try to help my daughter, but the ship suddenly broke up and I was thrown out. I lost her, said Cholid, who like many Indonesians uses one name.Another survivor, Budi Susilo said he saw three people drown after losing their grip on an upturned raft.We told them to hold on, but they ran out of energy, he told reporters after arriving on Java island late Saturday.
The ferry was on the final leg of a 48-hour journey from the island of Borneo to the main island of Java when waves of up to 16 feet crashed over its deck, said Slamet Bustam, an official at Semarang port, the ferry's destination, where hundreds of distraught relatives and friends waited for news about their loved ones.We're afraid many have died, Bustam said.Four naval ships, several other vessels and at least two aircraft were searching the area, but poor visibility and heavy seas hindered their search. Water temperatures in tropical Indonesia range from 72 to 84 degrees, and people have been known to survive days at sea.Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa said after talks with rescue officials that 638 passengers and crew were on board the vessel and that 59 people had been rescued.He said two navy vessels would search through the night, adding that fisherman had reported seeing several lifeboats. There is still hope, he told reporters.
Ships in Indonesia often carry far more passengers than recorded, making it hard for authorities to say with accuracy how many people are on board. Ferries are a main source of transportation in Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands with a population of 220 million.
The ferry ran into trouble off Mandalika island, some 190 miles northeast of the capital, Jakarta. In a final radio contact, the captain informed port authorities that the ship was severely damaged and capsizing, said local navy commander Col. Yan Simamora.Worried family members gathered at the main office of ferry operator PT Prima Fista, weeping and demanding details about the fate of their loved ones. I am waiting for my mother, auntie, sister and nephew who were on their way to celebrate New Year's Eve at my house, said Yulis, 25. Seasonal storms have wreaked havoc across Indonesia in recent days, unleashing flash floods and landslides that have killed more than 145 people and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes on Sumatra.
Earlier Friday, a different vessel carrying around 100 people capsized in bad weather off the coast of northwestern Sumatra, killing three and leaving 26 missing, Radjasa said. In 2000, almost 500 people died when a ferry carrying Christians fleeing religious violence in the eastern Maluku islands capsized. A year later, 350 were killed when a boat carrying asylum seekers from Iraq and Afghanistan sank after setting sail from Java to Australia. Associated Press Writer Niniek Karmini contributed to this report from Jakarta.
Huge ice shelf breaks free in Canada's far north By Jeffrey Jones
Fri Dec 29, 4:45 PM ET
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - A chunk of ice bigger than the area of Manhattan broke from an ice shelf in Canada's far north and could wreak havoc if it starts to float westward toward oil-drilling regions and shipping lanes next summer, a researcher said on Friday. Global warming could be one cause of the break of the Ayles Ice Shelf at Ellesmere Island, which occurred in the summer of 2005 but was only detected recently by satellite photos, said Luke Copland, assistant professor at the University of Ottawa's geography department.It was the largest such break in nearly three decades, casting an ice floe with an area of 66 square km (25 square miles) adrift in the Arctic Ocean, said Copland, who specializes in the study of glaciers and ice masses. Manhattan has an area of 61 square km (24 square miles).The mass is now 50 square km (19 square miles) in size.
The Arctic is all frozen up for the winter and it's stuck in the sea ice about 50 km (30 miles) off the coast, he said.The risk is that next summer, as that sea ice melts, this large ice island can then move itself around off the coast and one potential path for it is to make its way westward toward the Beaufort Sea, and the Beaufort Sea is where there is lots of oil and gas exploration, oil rigs and shipping.The break went undetected when it happened due primarily to the remoteness of the northern coast of Ellesmere island, which is only about 800 km (500 miles) from the North Pole.The speed of the crack and drift-off shocked scientists.Satellite images showed the 15-km long (9-mile long) crack, then the ice floating about 1 km (0.6 miles) from the coast within about an hour, Copland said.You could stand at one edge and not see the other side, and for something that large to move that quickly is quite amazing, he said.
Copland said the break was likely due to a combination of low accumulations of sea ice around the mass's edges as high winds blew it away, as well as one of the Arctic's warmest temperatures on record. The region was 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees F) above average in the summer of 2005, he said.Ice shelves in Canada's far north have decreased in size by as much as 90 percent since 1906, and global warming likely played a role in the Ayles break, Copland said.It's hard to tie one event to climate change, but when you look at the longer-term trend, the bigger picture, we've lost a lot of ice shelves on northern Ellesmere in the past century and this is that continuing, he said. And this is the biggest one in the last 25 years.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
European Union embraces repressive laws
By Laura Petricola,12-30-06, 10:18 am
New, repressive measures will soon be implemented in the European Union in the name of combating terrorism. Critics say the measures are actually aimed at nipping a growing European left-wing radicalism in the bud. The EU Council of Ministers of Justice and of Internal Affairs met Dec. 4-5 to approve a series of new mandates that authorize the gathering and retention of personal data on individuals and the monitoring of their activities, increased coordination between the police and the military, and heightened immigrant and refugee control. Gijs de Vries, coordinator of the EU’s anti-terrorist commission, set the tone for the council meeting.
His report summarized the progress his commission has made since June 2006, and emphasized, The strategic obligation of the EU is to combat terrorism on a worldwide level. The report opens with a focus on strategies against violent radicalization, which is defined by the EU Council as the phenomenon where people adhere to viewpoints, opinions and ideas that may lead to terrorist actions.The Internet was cited as a key conduit for the dissemination of these ideas. Notably, the commission is now funding a series of studies on radicalism, including Causes of radicalization among youth.
The council makes reference to the EU’s anti-terrorist laws, according to which actions carried out by unions and mass movements could theoretically be characterized as terrorist. In a similar vein, because of the vague wording, many labor and community activists could plausibly be labeled terrorists. While the anti-terrorist laws indicate their starting point is extreme Islamic radicalism, they also claim to cover every form of violent radicalism, nationalism, anarchism, autonomous, extreme-left or right-wing action.
Given recent anti-communist measures (e.g. the banning of the Young Communist League in the Czech Republic, and an anti-communist motion in the Parliamentary Assembly of Europe), the new mandates clearly constitute a dangerous threat to all those who challenge the capitalist system, even in the realm of thought. Systems of monitoring and recording personal information of all EU citizens, residents, and now visitors are being perfected and extended. The council plans to centralize in one giant database all information gathered via immigration and visa procedures, and to include biometric data in all EU country passports (only 18 have such data now).
Increased police and military response mechanisms were also approved, especially for border points. The creation of a rapid intervention force which could intervene in any member country if the member government were facing a large-scale crisis is being reconsidered. Special police units are being set up that would permanently patrol the Mediterranean and Aegean coastlines. Critics say these units, when combined with newly enacted immigration laws, will lead to increased persecution against immigrants and refugees. The 1.4 billion euros ($1.8 billion) that have been approved for 2007-2013 exclusively for research relevant to security show what EU rulers’ priorities are, in a vast area where the majority of citizens are trying to survive under a system of never-ending economic austerity. It has become clear that, as capitalist restructuring intensifies, so does repression, police terror and the erosion of democracy, both EU-wide and in each member country.--Laura Petricola (laurajopetricola @ yahoo.com) writes from Athens, Greece. From People's Weekly World
Israel Controls Water Resources in Gaza, West Bank DEC 30,06
DAMASCUS, December 30, 2006 (WAFA)- Israel controls water reserves in Gaza and the West Bank and seeks to control water resources in the Golan Heights and South Lebanon, said a report released by the Arab Water Studies and Water Security Center.
The report said Israel was thus present in major Arab water crises, adding that Israel consumed two billon cubic feet of water of which 65 percent were rechanneled from the Arab areas.Moreover, it said despite limited water resources in the Palestinians territory, Israel took over more that 80 percent of them, noting that large Israeli water projects counted on drawing water from Arab sources.Water, the report said, had always been one of Israel's strategic motives for military operations.The average individual in Israel consumes three to four times as much water as the Palestinian, the report said, stressing that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian crisis was linked to the water issue.The report called for consolidating Arab efforts to face increasing water challenges and to demand that Israel should stop controlling Arab water resources if peace was to be achieved.
THIS HAS BEEN GREAT BREAKING NEWS. THE SICKO IS FINALLY HIS WORN OUT SHOE NAME.
1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Earthquake of 3.5 magnitude recorded in Bar Harbor. 3-Earthquake off Yemen's coast registers 6.3 magnitude but doesn't disturb holiday weekend. 4-Powerful Storm Spins Snow and Flooding Rain. 5-Malaysian floods death toll rises to 12, another missing. 6-Saddam executed for war crimes in Iraq. 7-Indonesian ferry sinks, some 600 missing. 8-Huge ice shelf breaks free in Canada's far north. 9-European Union embraces repressive laws. 10-Israel Controls Water Resources in Gaza, West Bank.
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 31 AM EDT
DEC 31 NO QUAKES YET
DEC 30,2006
MAP 3.5 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 4.7 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.0 OFFSHORE GUATEMALA
MAP 3.4 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.7 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.2 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 2.5 OUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.7 ODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 5.1 SOUTH OF PANAMA
MAP 3.4 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.4 SOUTH OF ALASKA
MAP 2.6 OREGON
MAP 4.9 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.2 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.6 SOUTH OF ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 6.3 GULF OF ADEN
MAP 5.0 GUAM REGION
MAP 2.7 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.5 OFF THE EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA, RUSSIA
Earthquake of 3.5 magnitude recorded in Bar Harbor
December 30, 2006 Associated Press
BAR HARBOR, Maine --Another earthquake shook Mount Desert Island on Friday, continuing the string of quakes and aftershocks that have been felt since late September.Friday's rumbling was felt at around 4:20 p.m. and prompted about a dozen phone calls to Bar Harbor police, but no damages or injuries were reported.The latest tremor had a magnitude of 3.5 and was centered in Frenchman Bay just east of Hulls Cove, according to the Weston Observatory at Boston College, which tracks seismic activity in the Northeast.The quake was the second-strongest since the earthquakes and aftershocks began in the Mount Desert Island area on Sept. 22. Besides being felt in Bar Harbor and neighboring towns, the quake was reported being felt as far away as Lincoln and Waterville, which are more than 65 miles from Bar Harbor, according to the Weston Observatory.
The strongest quake since September came on Oct. 2 and had a magnitude of 4.2. It was felt in much of eastern Maine and caused boulders to fall from ledges onto Acadia National Park's loop road.Adam VanWhy, a Bar Harbor police dispatcher, said he felt the shaking on Friday and then received calls from residents asking if another quake had occurred.I guess people are starting to get used to them, VanWhy said.Earthquake experts have warned that aftershocks could be expected for days or weeks after the initial earthquakes. Before Friday, the last tremor in Bar Harbor was recorded on Dec. 18.After the quakes began in September, scientists from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University came to Mount Desert Island to install temporary earthquake monitoring stations around Bar Harbor in an effort to learn more about the seismic activity.
Earthquake off Yemen's coast registers 6.3 magnitude but doesn't disturb holiday weekendThe Associated PressPublished: December 30, 2006
ADEN, Yemen: An earthquake of 6.3 magnitude struck the Gulf of Aden Saturday, off the coast of southeast Yemen but there were no reports of casualties or damage as Sunni Muslims celebrated the first day of the most important holiday on the Islamic calendar. The quake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.21 miles), the United States Geological survey reported on its Web site.The quake, at 11:30 a.m. local time (0830 GMT), was not felt by people in Aden, Yemen's southern port city.Yemeni officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give statements to the media, said no damage resulted from the temblor.Earthquakes are rarely felt in Yemen, however a temblor in 1982 caused serious damage.
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.
Powerful Storm Spins Snow and Flooding Rain James Wilson, Senior Meteorologist, The Weather Channel Sat Dec 30, 4:30 AM ET
West
The storm system that pounded the Southwest and Front Range will slide eastward this weekend and the heavy snow will gradually taper down. In the meantime, heavy snow and fierce winds will shift into the high Plains (the Colorado/Kansas border and the New Mexico/Texas border areas). It looks like Denver is done now with any major snow threat as the monster storm lifts away into the Central U.S. slowly today. By Wednesday and Thursday, a Pacific cold front will again bring showery rain, mountain snow and gusty winds to the Northwest, northern California and the central Rockies. Otherwise, much of the West will be in a calm period with only a few showers grazing the Pacific Northwest early next week.
Midwest
Much of the Midwest will be pelted with rain through the weekend east of an advancing storm system but heavy snow will fall west of the storm across western Kansas, the western half of Nebraska and central South Dakota. Snow accumulations by Monday could be as high as 1 to 2 feet. Gusty winds will create huge drifts. Elsewhere, snow will fall across North Dakota and far northern Minnesota. A narrow band of of freezing rain and sleet could glaze areas from west-central Kansas to southeast South Dakota to north-central Minnesota and northern Wisconsin. Look for significant rainfall spreading eastward from eastern Nebraska and Kansas to Michigan and the Ohio Valley by Saturday night. Finally by Tuesday and Wednesday, the Plains and Midwest will enjoy dry days with no rain or snow. Temperatures will remain above average across most of the region with no significant cold air in sight.
South
Heavy rain will move eastward across the South this weekend. Areas from eastern Texas to northern Georgia could see at least 2 to 4 inches of rain. On Saturday, parts of southeastern Texas and Louisiana could be inundated with over 6 inches of rain.
Strong-to-severe thunderstorms will accompany the deluge starting in southern Oklahoma and southeast Texas overnight and shifting eastward to along the northern Gulf Coast this weekend. Damaging wind gusts and a few tornadoes are the main threats. Meanwhile, parts of western Texas and the Oklahoma Panhandle will pick up plenty of wind- driven snow through saturday.
Northeast
Parts of New York and new England were a bit chillier on Friday and the weekend will be relatively cold, as well. A distubance will bring some light snow across northern sections of New York and New England on Saturday giving a feel of winter for a change. Rain will slide into the on the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast Sunday night and Monday, just in time to ring in the new year. Parts of eastern Upstate New York and New England freezing rain or wintry mix on New Year's Day, especially during the morning hours. Major East Coast cities from Washington to Boston will be in the rain and could see amounts exceed 1 inch. This may cause delays with the Mummers Parade in Philadelphia. Cooler air may allow a mixture of snow and rain showers will linger storm Tuesday. Overall, temperatures will remain above average for awhile, however
Malaysian floods death toll rises to 12, another missing Sat Dec 30, 1:11 AM ET
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - The death toll from Malaysia's disastrous floods has risen to 12, with another youth missing, but authorities said fears of another round of flooding had been averted. The latest confirmed victim is a five-year-old girl whose body was found late Friday, the official Bernama news agency said.She was swept away when the car her family was travelling in was caught by strong currents. Her father survived, but her mother and three-year-old sister also died.However, an 18-year-old youth is missing after he was lost in floodwaters late Friday, Bernama said.
Malaysia's opposition has called for an inquiry into the floods, the worst in
decades, which have forced nearly 59,0000 people in southern Johor state to flee their homes and take shelter in relief centres.However, Johor chief minister Abdul Ghani Othman said he was confident the situation in the state would be back to normal within the next few days.Abdul Ghani said the second wave of rains predicted by forecasters would not take place as the rain-bearing clouds had been blown towards Singapore and Sabah state on Borneo island.
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.
REVELATION 9:14-15
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(IRAQ-SYRIA)
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE)
The Bible verses above will really come into play now that Saddam is hung like a common criminal. I'll give you one Guess (ARABS,MUSLIMS) that will blame the west and Israel bigtime now. We can look for the Violence to increase in IRAQ and around the WORLD from here on in, as the verse above says a total of 1 / 3rd earths population die from the Violence and Nukes in the Mideast.
Saddam executed for war crimes in Iraq By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writers DEC 30,06
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein struggled briefly after American military guards handed him over to Iraqi executioners before dawn Saturday.
But as his final moments approached and masked executioners slipped a black cloth and noose around his neck, he grew calm. In a final moment of defiance, he refused a hood to cover his eyes.Hours after Saddam faced the same fate he was accused of inflicting on countless thousands during a quarter-century of ruthless power, Iraqi state television showed grainy video of what it said was his body, the head uncovered and the neck twisted at a sharp angle.A man whose testimony helped lead to Saddam's conviction and execution before sunrise said he was shown the body because everybody wanted to make sure that he was really executed.
Now, he is in the garbage of history, said Jawad Abdul-Aziz, who lost his father, three brothers and 22 cousins in the reprisal killings that followed a botched 1982 assassination attempt against Saddam in the Shiite town of Dujail.The post-execution footage showed the man identified as Saddam lying on a stretcher, covered in a white shroud. His neck and part of the shroud have what appear to be bloodstains. His eyes are closed.In Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City, hundreds of people danced in the streets while others fired guns in the air to celebrate. The government did not impose a round-the-clock curfew as it did last month when Saddam was convicted to thwart any surge in retaliatory violence.
It was a grim end for the 69-year-old leader who had vexed three U.S. presidents. Despite his ouster, Washington, its allies and the new Iraqi leaders remain mired in a fight to quell a stubborn insurgency by Saddam loyalists and a vicious sectarian conflict.The execution took place during the year's deadliest month for U.S. troops, with the toll reaching 109. At least 2,998 members of the U.S. military have been killed since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.President Bush said in a statement issued from his ranch in Texas that bringing Saddam to justice is an important milestone on Iraq's course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain and defend itself, and be an ally in the war on terror.He said that the execution marks the end of a difficult year for the Iraqi people and for our troops and cautioned that Saddam's death will not halt the violence in Iraq.Within hours of his death, bombings killed at least 68 people in Iraq, including one planted on a minibus that exploded in a fish market in a mostly Shiite town south of Baghdad.
Ali Hamza, a 30-year-old university professor, said he went outside to shoot his gun into the air after he learned of Saddam's death.Now all the victims' families will be happy because Saddam got his just sentence, said Hamza, who lives in Diwaniyah, a Shiite town 80 miles south of Baghdad.But people in the Sunni-dominated city of Tikrit, once a power base of Saddam, lamented his death.The president, the leader Saddam Hussein is a martyr and God will put him along with other martyrs. Do not be sad nor complain because he has died the death of a holy warrior, said Sheik Yahya al-Attawi, a cleric at the Saddam Big Mosque.Police blocked the entrances to Tikrit and said nobody was allowed to leave or enter the city for four days. Despite the security precaution, gunmen took to the streets of Tikrit, carrying pictures of Saddam, shooting into the air, and calling for vengeance.Security forces also set up roadblocks at the entrance to another Sunni stronghold, Samarra, and a curfew was imposed after about 500 people took to the streets protesting the execution of Saddam. A couple hundred people also protested the execution just outside the Anbar capital of Ramadi, and more than 2,000 people demonstrated in Adwar, the village south of Tikrit where Saddam was captured by U.S. troops hiding in an underground bunker.
In a statement, Saddam's lawyers said that in the aftermath of his death, the world will know that Saddam Hussein lived honestly, died honestly, and maintained his principles. He did not lie when he declared his trial null, they said. Saddam's half-brother Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court, were not hanged along with their former leader as originally planned. Officials wanted to reserve the occasion for Saddam alone. We wanted him to be executed on a special day, National Security adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie told state-run al-Iraqiya television. Sami al-Askari, the political adviser of Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki, told the AP that Saddam initially resisted when he was taken by Iraqi guards but was composed in his final moments. He said Saddam was clad in a black suit, hat and shoes, rather than prison garb. His hat was removed and his hands tied shortly before the noose was slipped around his neck.
Saddam repeated a prayer after a Sunni Muslim cleric who was present.
Saddam later was taken to the gallows and refused to have his head covered with a hood, al-Askari said. Before the rope was put around his neck, Saddam shouted: God is great. The nation will be victorious and Palestine is Arab. Iraqi state television showed footage of guards in ski masks placing a noose around Saddam's neck. Saddam appeared calm as he stood on the metal framework of the gallows. The footage cuts off just before the execution. Saddam was executed at a former military intelligence headquarters in Baghdad's Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah, al-Askari said. During his regime, Saddam had numerous dissidents executed in the facility, located in a neighborhood that is home to the Iraqi capital's most important Shiite shrine — the Imam Kazim shrine. Al-Askari said the government had not decided what to do with Saddam's body. Al-Arabiya satellite television reported that a delegation including the governor of Salahuddin Province and the head of Saddam's clan had retrieved his body from Baghdad and was taking it to Tikrit, near the executed dictator's hometown, for burial. The report could not immediately be verified. The Iraqi prime minister's office released a statement that said Saddam's execution was a strong lesson to ruthless leaders who commit crimes against their own people.
We strongly reject considering Saddam as a representative of any sect in Iraq because the tyrant only represented his evil soul, the statement said. The door is still open for those whose hands are not tainted with the blood of innocent people to take part in the political process and work on rebuilding Iraq.
The execution came 56 days after a court convicted Saddam and sentenced him to death for his role in the killings of 148 Shiite Muslims from Dujail. Iraq's highest court rejected Saddam's appeal Monday and ordered him executed within 30 days. A U.S. judge on Friday refused to stop Saddam's execution, rejecting a last-minute court challenge. U.S. troops cheered as news of Saddam's execution appeared on television at the mess hall at Forward Operating Base Loyalty in eastern Baghdad. But some soldiers expressed doubt that Saddam's death would be a significant turning point for Iraq. First it was weapons of mass destruction. Then when there were none, it was that we had to find Saddam. We did that, but then it was that we had to put him on trial, said Spc. Thomas Sheck, 25, who is on his second tour in Iraq. So now, what will be the next story they tell us to keep us over here? At his death, he was in the midst of a second trial, charged with genocide and other crimes for a 1987-88 military crackdown that killed an estimated 180,000 Kurds in northern Iraq. Experts said the trial of his co-defendants was likely to continue despite his execution. Many people in Iraq's Shiite majority were eager to see the execution of a man whose Sunni Arab-dominated regime oppressed them and Kurds. Before the hanging, a mosque preacher in the Shiite holy city of Najaf on Friday called Saddam's execution God's gift to Iraqis. In a farewell message to Iraqis posted Wednesday on the Internet, Saddam said he was giving his life for his country as part of the struggle against the U.S. Here, I offer my soul to God as a sacrifice, and if he wants, he will send it to heaven with the martyrs, he said. One of Saddam's lawyers, Issam Ghazzawi, said the letter was written by Saddam on Nov. 5, the day he was convicted by an Iraqi tribunal in the Dujail killings.
Najeeb al-Nauimi, a member of Saddam's legal team, said U.S. authorities maintained physical custody of Saddam until the execution to prevent him being humiliated publicly or his corpse being mutilated, as has happened to previous Iraqi leaders deposed by force.
He said they didn't want anything to happen to further inflame Sunni Arabs. This is the end of an era in Iraq, al-Nauimi said from Doha, Qatar. The Baath regime ruled for 35 years. Saddam was vice president or president of Iraq during those years. For Iraqis, he will be very well remembered. Like a martyr, he died for the sake of his country. Iraq's death penalty was suspended by the U.S. military after it toppled Saddam in 2003, but the new Iraqi government reinstated it two years later, saying executions would deter criminals. Saddam's own regime used executions and extrajudicial killings as a tool of political repression, both to eliminate real or suspected political opponents and to maintain a reign of terror.
In the months after he seized power on July 16, 1979, he had hundreds of members of his own party and army officers slain. In 1996, he ordered the slaying of two sons-in-law who had defected to Jordan but returned to Baghdad after receiving guarantees of safety. Saddam built Iraq into a one of the Arab world's most modern societies, but then plunged the country into an eight-year war with neighboring Iran that killed hundreds of thousands of people on both sides and wrecked Iraq's economy. When the U.S. invaded in 2003, Iraqis had been transformed from among the region's most prosperous people to some of its most impoverished. Associated Press Writer Will Weissert contributed to this report.
1/3RD OF SHIPS DESTROYED
REVELATION 8:8-9
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
Indonesian ferry sinks, some 600 missing By IRWAN FIRDAUS, Associated Press Writer DEC 30,06
SEMARANG, Indonesia - A crowded Indonesian ferry broke apart and sank in the Java Sea during a violent storm that sent towering waves over its deck, and the vast majority of the nearly 640 passengers were still missing a day later, officials said Saturday. Just 59 survivors had been found by late Saturday, many drifting in lifeboats or clinging to driftwood, the transport minister said.
Witnesses reported seeing lifeboats carrying more survivors, he said, and one person on board said that most people had time to don life jackets before the sea's warm waters overtook the boat.
No bodies had been recovered.
Survivors reported panicked passengers scrambling over life jackets as the boat capsized close to midnight Friday after being pounded by heavy waves for more than 10 hours.The crew kept saying relax, relax but it was clear the ship was not stable, Irfan Setiawan told Metro TV station. It suddenly veered to one side and the TV and fridges fell over.Setiawan said he was hit by a piece of debris and sank with the ship, but fought his way to the surface and managed to climb onto a lifeboat along with around 30 others.We all just prayed as the waves got higher, said Cholid, another passenger who survived by clinging to some wooden planks but lost his 18-year-old daughter.I was going upstairs to try to help my daughter, but the ship suddenly broke up and I was thrown out. I lost her, said Cholid, who like many Indonesians uses one name.Another survivor, Budi Susilo said he saw three people drown after losing their grip on an upturned raft.We told them to hold on, but they ran out of energy, he told reporters after arriving on Java island late Saturday.
The ferry was on the final leg of a 48-hour journey from the island of Borneo to the main island of Java when waves of up to 16 feet crashed over its deck, said Slamet Bustam, an official at Semarang port, the ferry's destination, where hundreds of distraught relatives and friends waited for news about their loved ones.We're afraid many have died, Bustam said.Four naval ships, several other vessels and at least two aircraft were searching the area, but poor visibility and heavy seas hindered their search. Water temperatures in tropical Indonesia range from 72 to 84 degrees, and people have been known to survive days at sea.Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa said after talks with rescue officials that 638 passengers and crew were on board the vessel and that 59 people had been rescued.He said two navy vessels would search through the night, adding that fisherman had reported seeing several lifeboats. There is still hope, he told reporters.
Ships in Indonesia often carry far more passengers than recorded, making it hard for authorities to say with accuracy how many people are on board. Ferries are a main source of transportation in Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands with a population of 220 million.
The ferry ran into trouble off Mandalika island, some 190 miles northeast of the capital, Jakarta. In a final radio contact, the captain informed port authorities that the ship was severely damaged and capsizing, said local navy commander Col. Yan Simamora.Worried family members gathered at the main office of ferry operator PT Prima Fista, weeping and demanding details about the fate of their loved ones. I am waiting for my mother, auntie, sister and nephew who were on their way to celebrate New Year's Eve at my house, said Yulis, 25. Seasonal storms have wreaked havoc across Indonesia in recent days, unleashing flash floods and landslides that have killed more than 145 people and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes on Sumatra.
Earlier Friday, a different vessel carrying around 100 people capsized in bad weather off the coast of northwestern Sumatra, killing three and leaving 26 missing, Radjasa said. In 2000, almost 500 people died when a ferry carrying Christians fleeing religious violence in the eastern Maluku islands capsized. A year later, 350 were killed when a boat carrying asylum seekers from Iraq and Afghanistan sank after setting sail from Java to Australia. Associated Press Writer Niniek Karmini contributed to this report from Jakarta.
Huge ice shelf breaks free in Canada's far north By Jeffrey Jones
Fri Dec 29, 4:45 PM ET
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - A chunk of ice bigger than the area of Manhattan broke from an ice shelf in Canada's far north and could wreak havoc if it starts to float westward toward oil-drilling regions and shipping lanes next summer, a researcher said on Friday. Global warming could be one cause of the break of the Ayles Ice Shelf at Ellesmere Island, which occurred in the summer of 2005 but was only detected recently by satellite photos, said Luke Copland, assistant professor at the University of Ottawa's geography department.It was the largest such break in nearly three decades, casting an ice floe with an area of 66 square km (25 square miles) adrift in the Arctic Ocean, said Copland, who specializes in the study of glaciers and ice masses. Manhattan has an area of 61 square km (24 square miles).The mass is now 50 square km (19 square miles) in size.
The Arctic is all frozen up for the winter and it's stuck in the sea ice about 50 km (30 miles) off the coast, he said.The risk is that next summer, as that sea ice melts, this large ice island can then move itself around off the coast and one potential path for it is to make its way westward toward the Beaufort Sea, and the Beaufort Sea is where there is lots of oil and gas exploration, oil rigs and shipping.The break went undetected when it happened due primarily to the remoteness of the northern coast of Ellesmere island, which is only about 800 km (500 miles) from the North Pole.The speed of the crack and drift-off shocked scientists.Satellite images showed the 15-km long (9-mile long) crack, then the ice floating about 1 km (0.6 miles) from the coast within about an hour, Copland said.You could stand at one edge and not see the other side, and for something that large to move that quickly is quite amazing, he said.
Copland said the break was likely due to a combination of low accumulations of sea ice around the mass's edges as high winds blew it away, as well as one of the Arctic's warmest temperatures on record. The region was 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees F) above average in the summer of 2005, he said.Ice shelves in Canada's far north have decreased in size by as much as 90 percent since 1906, and global warming likely played a role in the Ayles break, Copland said.It's hard to tie one event to climate change, but when you look at the longer-term trend, the bigger picture, we've lost a lot of ice shelves on northern Ellesmere in the past century and this is that continuing, he said. And this is the biggest one in the last 25 years.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
European Union embraces repressive laws
By Laura Petricola,12-30-06, 10:18 am
New, repressive measures will soon be implemented in the European Union in the name of combating terrorism. Critics say the measures are actually aimed at nipping a growing European left-wing radicalism in the bud. The EU Council of Ministers of Justice and of Internal Affairs met Dec. 4-5 to approve a series of new mandates that authorize the gathering and retention of personal data on individuals and the monitoring of their activities, increased coordination between the police and the military, and heightened immigrant and refugee control. Gijs de Vries, coordinator of the EU’s anti-terrorist commission, set the tone for the council meeting.
His report summarized the progress his commission has made since June 2006, and emphasized, The strategic obligation of the EU is to combat terrorism on a worldwide level. The report opens with a focus on strategies against violent radicalization, which is defined by the EU Council as the phenomenon where people adhere to viewpoints, opinions and ideas that may lead to terrorist actions.The Internet was cited as a key conduit for the dissemination of these ideas. Notably, the commission is now funding a series of studies on radicalism, including Causes of radicalization among youth.
The council makes reference to the EU’s anti-terrorist laws, according to which actions carried out by unions and mass movements could theoretically be characterized as terrorist. In a similar vein, because of the vague wording, many labor and community activists could plausibly be labeled terrorists. While the anti-terrorist laws indicate their starting point is extreme Islamic radicalism, they also claim to cover every form of violent radicalism, nationalism, anarchism, autonomous, extreme-left or right-wing action.
Given recent anti-communist measures (e.g. the banning of the Young Communist League in the Czech Republic, and an anti-communist motion in the Parliamentary Assembly of Europe), the new mandates clearly constitute a dangerous threat to all those who challenge the capitalist system, even in the realm of thought. Systems of monitoring and recording personal information of all EU citizens, residents, and now visitors are being perfected and extended. The council plans to centralize in one giant database all information gathered via immigration and visa procedures, and to include biometric data in all EU country passports (only 18 have such data now).
Increased police and military response mechanisms were also approved, especially for border points. The creation of a rapid intervention force which could intervene in any member country if the member government were facing a large-scale crisis is being reconsidered. Special police units are being set up that would permanently patrol the Mediterranean and Aegean coastlines. Critics say these units, when combined with newly enacted immigration laws, will lead to increased persecution against immigrants and refugees. The 1.4 billion euros ($1.8 billion) that have been approved for 2007-2013 exclusively for research relevant to security show what EU rulers’ priorities are, in a vast area where the majority of citizens are trying to survive under a system of never-ending economic austerity. It has become clear that, as capitalist restructuring intensifies, so does repression, police terror and the erosion of democracy, both EU-wide and in each member country.--Laura Petricola (laurajopetricola @ yahoo.com) writes from Athens, Greece. From People's Weekly World
Israel Controls Water Resources in Gaza, West Bank DEC 30,06
DAMASCUS, December 30, 2006 (WAFA)- Israel controls water reserves in Gaza and the West Bank and seeks to control water resources in the Golan Heights and South Lebanon, said a report released by the Arab Water Studies and Water Security Center.
The report said Israel was thus present in major Arab water crises, adding that Israel consumed two billon cubic feet of water of which 65 percent were rechanneled from the Arab areas.Moreover, it said despite limited water resources in the Palestinians territory, Israel took over more that 80 percent of them, noting that large Israeli water projects counted on drawing water from Arab sources.Water, the report said, had always been one of Israel's strategic motives for military operations.The average individual in Israel consumes three to four times as much water as the Palestinian, the report said, stressing that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian crisis was linked to the water issue.The report called for consolidating Arab efforts to face increasing water challenges and to demand that Israel should stop controlling Arab water resources if peace was to be achieved.
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