1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Moderate quake shakes southeast Alaska. 3-Quake rattles northwestern British Columbia. 4- Lake-effect snow off Lakes Erie and Ontario. 5-Nicaraguan volcano erupts, spewing ash. 6-continue our study this week in the Time of Jacob's Trouble. 7-Brush fire destroys homes in millionaire's enclave of Malibu. 8-2006 warmest on record in United States: NOAA. 9-Project Aims to Tag Tokyo Neighborhood With RFID. 10-Plans for European far-right group intensify. 11-Israel's Foreign Ministry Hosts First Israel Model United Nations. 12-Israel Soon to Launch New Anti- Missile Drone. 13-Catastrophic: Now thousands of birds fall from sky. 14-ElBaradei renews call for nuclear bomb-free world.
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 = Wed Jan 10 12:39 AM EDT
JAN 10,07
MAP 3.1 MOUNT ST. HELENS AREA, WASHINGTON
MAP 2.8 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.8 CENTRAL ALASKA
JAN 09,07
MAP 2.8 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.9 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.1 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.0 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.6 SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA
MAP 3.1 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.5 WYOMING
MAP 5.3 MYANMAR
MAP 4.9 SIMEULUE, INDONESIA
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
JAN 08,07
MAP 2.8 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 2.5 OKLAHOMA
MAP 6.2 FIJI REGION
MAP 5.0 HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION
MAP 2.7 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 3.1 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 6.1 KYRGYZSTAN
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.8 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 6.1 NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
MAP 4.7 NEAR THE WEST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.7 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.8 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 5.3 SOLOMON ISLANDS
Moderate quake shakes southeast Alaska Tue Jan 9, 1:16 PM ET
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A moderate earthquake jolted Southeast Alaska on Tuesday and was widely felt throughout the Panhandle.
There were no immediate reports of damage, according to the Alaska Earthquake Information Center in Fairbanks.The quake, at 6:49 a.m., had a magnitude of 5.7, according to preliminary estimates, the center said. It was centered 57 miles west of Haines at a depth of five miles.The earthquake was felt in Haines, Juneau, Sitka and numerous other communities. Haines is about 900 miles northwest of Seattle.
Quake rattles northwestern British Columbia Tue Jan 9, 8:09 PM ET
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) A moderate earthquake rattled northwestern British Columbia and the Alaska Panhandle on Tuesday, but there were no reports of damage, seismologists said.
The quake at 7:49 a.m. PST was centered in the mountains of British Columbia about 192 km (120 miles) southwest of Whitehorse, Yukon, in a sparsely populated area prone to earthquakes, according to Natural Resources Canada.Canadian seismologists said the quake was magnitude 5.6, having initially estimated it at 6.0 magnitude. The Alaska Earthquake Information Center put the strength at magnitude 5.7.
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.
Lake-effect snow off Lakes Erie and Ontario B. Bernard, Meteorologist, The Weather Channel Tue Jan 9, 4:06 PM ET
Lake-effect and upslope snow prevails from the Great Lakes southward into the southern Appalachians this afternoon. Lake-effect snow warnings remain posted for areas of New York state east of Lake Ontario and southeast of Lake Erie.
Up to two feet of fresh snow may pile up in localized areas east of Lake Ontario into the Adirondacks by tomorrow, while as much as a foot-and-a-half could accumulate in southwestern New York state south of Buffalo and in extreme northwest Pennsylvania. A lake-effect snow warning is also in effect for a small portion of northwest lower Michigan. In the Appalachians, up to 6 or 8 inches of new snow may coat the mountains of West Virginia by tomorrow morning, while 2 to 5 inches of wind-driven fluff are expected in the southern Appalachians (Tennessee/North Carolina) above 3000 feet. Elsewhere, red flag warnings for high wildfire danger are posted in the mountains of Southern California, much of Georgia and most of Florida. In the West, gusty winds will buffet Washington and Oregon as a strong Pacific cold front slams through the Northwest late today and tonight.
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.
Nicaraguan volcano erupts, spewing ash JAN 9,07
MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Nicaragua's Telica volcano spewed ash into the air Tuesday but caused no major damage or forced any evacuations, officials said. The eruption 55 miles west of the capital of Managua was the 3,500-foot volcano's first in more than two years.The National Institute of Territorial Studies said the ash erupted about 1,500 feet above the volcanic crater.The eruption did not endanger nearby residents and there were no immediate evacuations.
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)
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same
time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
We want to continue our study this week in the Time of Jacob's Trouble.DR JACK VAN IMPE JAN 9,07
The First Seal is found in Revelation 6:1,2: And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals.... 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.The seals speak of the political, economic, and religious problems that will occur during the Tribulation. A world leader appears who seems to have the answers for peace. He rides a white horse.
Commenting on the first seal, Dr. H. A. Ironside wrote:
This rider on the white horse evidently pictures man's last effort to bring in a reign of order and peace while Christ is still rejected. It will be the world's greatest attempt to pull things together after the church is gone. It will be the Devil's cunning scheme for bringing in a mock millennium without Christ.The second seal reveals that this peace is short-lived. One who rides a red horse is given power to take peace from the earth and a terrible war follows (Revelation 6:3,4). And when he had opened the second seal.... there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another.The third seal announces famine, inflation, and shortages, well-known companions of war (Revelation 6:5,6). And when he had opened the third seal.... lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. 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.
The fourth seal announces plagues, sicknesses, and all kinds of violence, bringing death to many (Revelation 6:7,8). And when he had opened the fourth seal.... behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
The fifth seal reveals religious persecution and indicates that multitudes will be martyred during this terrible time (Revelation 6:9,10) And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, 0 Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
The sixth seal pictures ecological upheavals that challenge description. Generations of pollution combined with the problems in nature brought on by nuclear warfare may contribute to the chaos in nature pictured here. However, it is clear that the wrath of God is the moving force in this frightening rebellion of the creation (Revelation 6:17). And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?The seventh seal, described in Revelation 8:1, depicts the lull before the storm. The catastrophic trumpet judgments are so horrendous that all heaven sits in awesome silence before the blitzkrieg begins. That is why the text reports, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. Then each of the seven angels sounds a trumpet before each calamitous judgment begins.
First Trumpet
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up (Rev. 8:7).
Second Trumpet
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; 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 (Rev. 8:8,9).
Third Trumpet
And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter (Rev. 8:10,11).
Fourth Trumpet
And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound! (Rev. 8:12,13).
Fifth Trumpet
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death
shall flee from them (Rev. 9:1-6).
Sixth Trumpet
And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. 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. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt (Rev. 9:13-19).
Seventh Trumpet
And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.... And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail (Rev. 11:15,19).The trumpets sound the coming of divine judgments. The Tribulation period is a time of wrath God's wrath. And the plagues that descend are reminiscent of those brought upon Pharaoh by the hand of Moses under the direction of God. There is hail and fire mingled with blood. Trees and grass are burned. Water is turned to blood. Great turbulence comes to the sea, destroying ships and marine life. There are disturbances in the heavens and on earth. The stars fall. Darkness descends.
Demonic activity is widespread. An army of unprecedented size, numbering 200 million, moves from the east toward Jerusalem. It will be a fearsome time to be alive.The blast of the seventh trumpet also begins the seven vial judgments, which we will cover in our next newsletter.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Brush fire destroys homes in millionaire's enclave of Malibu Tue Jan 9, 6:21 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - A wildfire tore through the exclusive enclave of Malibu north of Los Angeles, devastating eight homes as it ripped through several acres of prime real estate, fire officials said.
The fire erupted at around 5 pm (0100 GMT) local time, with high winds sending flames roaring through 20 acres (eight hectares) of tinder-dry brush, officials said, destroying Pacific Ocean-front properties worth millions of dollars.There were no immediate reports of injuries.Malibu is popular with A-list celebrities from the film, television and music industries. Hollywood stars such as Mel Gibson, Robert Redford, Bruce Willis and Tom Hanks all own homes in the area.Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Sam Padilla said 200 firefighters from across the district had been mobilized to help tackle the blaze, both on the ground and in the air.Four water-dropping helicopters have been deployed to try and douse the blaze, reports said.
Another LA County Fire Inspector Ron Haralson later said eight buildings had been destroyed while a further five had suffered damage. Officials had earlier said 10 buildings had been lost.Haralson said 300 firefighters were on the scene.Dramatic television footage showed fires blazing on land adjacent to the Pacific Ocean, with several beach-front properties in flames.Houses in the affected area are situated between the oceanfront and the famous Pacific Coast Highway. According to property website Zillow.com, homes in the district are valued at between two and 10 million dollars.It was not known what had caused the blaze. Padilla said wind conditions would play a key part in how the fire develops.It all depends on the wind, Padilla said.If the fire gets directed towards the sand it's going to run out of fuel.The blaze immediately evoked memories of 1993 fires which devastated Malibu. Three people were killed in the blaze, and around 400 homes were gutted by the flames, including properties belonging to actors Sean Penn and Ali McGraw.The fires, which were blamed on arsonists, caused hundreds of millions of dollars damage. A 1996 fire in Malibu injured 11 people and gutted six homes.
OZONE DEPLETION
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
2006 warmest on record in United States: NOAA Tue Jan 9, 3:07 PM ET
SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - The year 2006 was the warmest in the contiguous United States since record keeping began 112 years ago, due in large part to an unusually warm December, U.S. government weather forecasters said on Tuesday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) preliminary forecast released in mid-December forecast 2006 as the third warmest year on record.NOAA said in a written statement that no state was colder than average last month and five states had their warmest December on record Minnesota, New York, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire.The average temperature in the United States in 2006 was about 55 degrees Fahrenheit, or 2.2 degrees (1.2 degrees Celsius) above the average temperature recorded from 1901 to the end of 2000.
The warm start to the winter was tied partly to the rarity of Arctic outbreaks across the country because of El Nino, NOAA said.El Nino, which is Spanish for the little boy, is an abnormal warming of water in the Pacific Ocean every three or so years that can wreak havoc with global weather patterns. It usually brings warmer weather to much of the United States.Weather forecasters said another factor in the record warmth was a long term warming trend some have linked to increases in greenhouse gases.This has made warmer-than-average conditions more common in the U.S. and other parts of the world, NOAA said. It is unclear how much of the recent anomalous warmth was due to greenhouse-gas-induced warming and how much was due to the El Nino-related circulation pattern.NOAA began keeping records in 1895.
Dec 27, 2006 - Project Aims to Tag Tokyo Neighborhood With RFID
A location-based services trial that will see a famous Tokyo neighborhood blanketed with about 10,000 radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and other beacons got its start earlier this month.The Tokyo Ubiquitous Network Project seeks to install RFID, infrared and wireless transmitters throughout Tokyo’s Ginza area, which is the most famous shopping area in the capital. The tags and transmitters will provide location-related information to people carrying prototype readers developed for the trial, said Ken Sakamura, a professor at The University of Tokyo and the leader of the project.The system works by matching a unique code sent out by each beacon with data stored on a server on the Internet. The data is obtained automatically by the terminal, which communicates back to the server via a wireless LAN connection and requests the data relevant to the beacon that is being picked up.Sakamura envisages the system will be able to provide users with basic navigation and information about the shops and stores in the area in at least four languages: Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean.
For example, bringing the terminal close to an RFID tag on a street lamp will pinpoint the user’s location, and the system will be able to guide the user to the nearest railway station, while walking past a radio beacon in front of a shop might bring up details of current special offers or a menu for a restaurant.Ginza is the most famous shopping district in Japan, said Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara at an event to launch the project. In every building there are many shops, bars and clubs and it can be difficult to find the one you want. With this, you can just push a button and find the where you want to go even if you’re drunk! The terminal being used in the Ginza trial has been developed by Tokyo’s Ubiquitous Computing Technology Center, which is a joint venture between the Japanese government and some of the country’s largest high-tech companies including Fujitsu, NEC, Hitachi and NTT East.It features a 3.5-inch organic light emitting diode touch-panel display and a host of networking interfaces. There is RFID, infrared and 429MHz wireless for interacting with the beacons in the trial, wireless LAN for connection to the Internet and a Bluetooth link.
General trials in Ginza are scheduled to begin on Jan. 21 and will run until March.
The project is supported by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MILT) and is one of several taking place in Japan.In one of the trials, RFID tags have been embedded in yellow studded rubber tiles that are often put onto pavements as an aid to blind or partially sighted people. An RFID reader at the tip of a cane picks up the tags, and a transmitter box mounted higher on the cane sends the tag’s ID to the prototype terminal, which gets relevant information from the server. In a demonstration of the system, the terminal alerted the user that the pavement was coming to an end but that there was a ramp to the right and stairs to the left.By Martyn Williams, IDG News Service (Tokyo Bureau)
Plans for European far-right group intensify
08.01.2007 - 09:17 CET | By Honor Mahony (Eu Observer)
The European Parliament looks set to have a far-right grouping within its corridors by mid-January, with MEPs from new member states Bulgaria and Romania helping to make the formation possible.Under EU rules, there need to be at least 20 MEPs from six different member states for a political group to be formed.The bloc's 1 January expansion means that the group-in-making is likely to get one MEP from Bulgaria's extreme Ataka party and five MEPs from Romania's nationalistic and anti-Roma Greater Romania Party.Attempts to form a far-right political party in the Brussels assembly have been on-going in recent years but have generally been hampered by divisions among the various national groups and the lack of a common political platform.But according to Austrian MEP Andreas Moelzer, who has been one of the main proponents of forming a European far-right movement, the group could be established on 15 January and is expected to be called Identity, Sovereignty and Transparency (IST).Mr Moelzer told Austrian news agency APA that the new group is expected to be headed by Bruno Gollnisch, a member of France's National Front.
There are still a few imponderables, but it is pretty much watertight, Mr Moelzer told APA of the 15 January plans.He said the group is likely to have at least 20 members and will have a minimal consensus programme being broadly against immigration, against Turkey's EU membership, against the EU constitution for its tendencies...towards a central government.The loose programme marks the disharmony between the different national elements with one of their main motives for forming a group being to get more say in the European Parliament.It is more a technical than a political group, Alessandra Mussolini, grand daughter of the facist Il Duce, told APA.We are mainly getting together out of necessity. Survival is only possible in a political group, she added, referring to the fact that groups have a right to more funds and political positions in the European Parliament, something non-attached MEPs do not have.Should the far-right party get off the ground, it will bring together a motley group of politicians.
Mr Gollnisch is waiting for a court verdict on charges of questioning the Holocaust. Bulgarian would-be member Dimitar Stoyanov late last year circulated a derogatory email in the European Parliament about Gypsies after a Hungarian Roma MEP was nominated for MEP of the year, while the Greater Romanian MEPs come from a party whose leader, Cornelio Vadim Tudor, has drawn attention for his racist tones.Other MEPs that may join the group include two independent members, Italy's Luca Romagnoli and the UK's Ashley Mote, as well as MEPs from the Flemish Vlaams Belang.
Israel's Foreign Ministry Hosts First Israel Model United Nations Jan 08, '07
(IsraelNN.com) Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs concluded its two-day U.N. model conference on Monday. The Model United Nations is an international project, held in dozens of countries around the world, in which 11th and 12th grade students represent various member states of the U.N. and simulate the General Assembly and committee debates. Through participation in the project, students learn about the work of the United Nations, as well as international conflicts and global problems faced by the member states.In preparation for the simulated General Assembly, the students also learn about the work of the diplomat: rules of behavior and debate, public speaking, drafting resolutions, and even code of dress.The opening ceremony, held at the Moshe Sharett Auditorium of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was attended by the representative of the U.N. Secretary General to the Middle East, the head of the Jerusalem Education Administration and principals of the seven high schools taking part in the project.
Israel Soon to Launch New Anti- Missile Drone
By Hana Levi Julian(INN) JAN 09,07
A new drone designed to identify, intercept and destroy ballistic missiles as they are launched from the ground will soon make its debut. The drone, designed and produced by the Israel Aircraft Industries, is the largest unmanned aircraft in the world.
It is a huge aircraft, almost the same size as a Boeing 737 passenger airliner with a wing span of 110 feet (35 meters), said a security official quoted in the daily newspaper Yediot Ahronot. The aircraft is designed to fly at high altitudes and is equipped with cameras which identify the missiles as they are launched. It is also armed with missiles, which are used to intercept and destroy those which are fired by the enemy. Named the Eitan, the unmanned aircraft will be used for long-range operations and is expected to make its first flight within the near future.The development of the new anti-missile system comes as the Jewish State eyes with concern the increasing threat to its existence by sabre-rattling calls from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to wipe Israel off the map.
Hizbullah terrorists in southern Lebanon fired Iranian-made long-range missiles at Israel during the war last summer, hitting an Israeli naval vessel in Mediterranean waters and killing four sailors. Syria and Iran have also broadened military cooperation in recent months. Iran agreed last June to sell missiles and establish weapons production plants in Syria. Defense ministers of the two Muslim countries said the agreement was intended as a move against Israel and the United States. Earlier in the year, Iran conducted a successful test launch of its Shehab-3 surface-to-air (SAM) ballistic missile. The weapon is designed to carry a non-conventional weapon, such as an atomic warhead, according to a report that was published in the British Telegraph. Russia has also been arming the Islamic Republic. Iran received the first of 29 surface-to- air missile systems from Russia in November, according to the Tass news agency.
Iranian crews were trained by Russia to man the weapons.
Catastrophic: Now thousands of birds fall from sky
Wildlife officers baffled, autopsies shed no light on mystery
Posted: January 9, 2007 - 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Thousands of birds inexplicably dropped like rocks from the sky over Australia. Thousands of wattle birds like this one have mysteriously dropped dead in Australia The mysterious catastrophe has taken place over a period of three weeks in Esperance, about 450 miles southeast of Perth. The area was declared a disaster zone by government officials. So far, authorities are clueless as to the cause. Autopsies on the birds have shed no light. The main casualties, according to Australian news sources, are wattle birds, yellow-throated miners, new holland honeyeaters and singing honeyeaters. Some dead crows, hawks and pigeons have also been found. Some birds were seen convulsing when they died. Wildlife officers are baffled by what they characterize as a catastrophic event. It does not appear to be weather-related.
District nature conservation coordinator Mike Fitzgerald said: It's very substantial. We estimate several thousand birds are dead, although we don't have a clear number because of the large areas of bushland. Birds Australia, the nation's main bird conservation group, said it had not heard of a similar occurrence. Not on that scale, and all at the same time, and also the fact that it's several different species, chief executive Graeme Hamilton said. You'd have to call that a most unusual event and one that we'd all have to be concerned about. Just yesterday, some 60 birds fell out of the sky in Austin, Texas, without explanation. The incident prompted street closings for several hours. Officials said they had tested the air for dangerous substances but found nothing, and they declared the area safe. The dead birds – grackles, sparrows and pigeons – were being checked for avian flu, but officials said they saw no symptoms of the illness and believed it more likely they had been poisoned, possibly deliberately, or affected by near-freezing weather.
ElBaradei renews call for nuclear bomb-free world By William Maclean
Tue Jan 9, 10:25 AM ET
ALGIERS (Reuters) - International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohammed ElBaradei renewed a call on Tuesday for a nuclear weapons-free world, saying atom bombs and missiles held by nine nations could end life as we know it. In a speech to a conference in Algeria, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate added his agency enjoyed only uneven authority as it sought to curb the proliferation of nuclear weapons among nations who have pledged to respect its watchdog role.Building a new international system of security that shunned nuclear weapons and placed fresh emphasis on negotiations and fighting poverty could help put that right, he said.
We should always remember that the goal of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is a world free from nuclear weapons, he told the conference on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy in Africa, a nuclear weapons-free zone since South Africa gave up its
nuclear arsenal over a decade ago.We have nine countries that possess nuclear weapons, we have 27,000 warheads in existence. We still have more than 30 countries that are members of alliances that rely on nuclear weapons as part of their security, ElBaradei said.ElBaradei did not name the nine countries. Known nuclear states are the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain, India, Pakistan and North Korea.Israel, widely believed to be nuclear armed, does not comment on the topic.We witness increasing concern regarding the proliferation of nuclear weapons and with it the increased danger of both the intentional or accidental use of nuclear weapons that could end life as we know it, ElBaradei said.The IAEA plays a crucial role in this. However the extent of the agency's authority remains uneven from country to country, he added.He explained that too few countries had brought into force the Additional Protocol to the NPT that allows for intrusive, short-notice IAEA inspections of nuclear sites.Iran has also minimized its cooperation with U.N. nuclear inspectors after ceasing to implement the Additional Protocol.
Iran's nuclear energy program is seen by the West as a major proliferation risk. Gulf Arab nations who are uneasy neighbors of Iran say they will pursue nuclear power too.The U.N. Security Council imposed some sanctions on Iran last month for failing to heed its demand to suspend its nuclear energy program, seen as a possible smokescreen for assembling atom bombs since Tehran has impeded IAEA investigations. Iran says it has a right assured by its membership of the NPT to enrich uranium for nuclear power plant fuel. It denies any intent to divert enrichment activity into bombmaking.Reclusive North Korea drew international condemnation for an October 9 nuclear weapons test but has since agreed to return to six-party disarmament talks it had boycotted for a year.
Algerian President Bouteflika, in a speech, criticized what he called an unbalanced situation in which non-nuclear armed states were told to help fight the spread of nuclear weapons while nuclear armed states were being slow to keep promises to substantially cut stockpiles of atom bombs.ElBaradei, an Egyptian, and his agency won the Peace Prize in 2005 for fighting the spread of nuclear weapons.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
DEAD BIRDS - GAS SCARE
1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Moderate quake rocks northwestern Japan. 3-Moderate quake off Nicobar islands. 4-Storm damages homes in South. 5-Gas-like odor worries workers across NYC. 6-Bird deaths shut down downtown Austin. 7-Israel Rafalovich: E.U. to Toughen Policy on Russia. 8-New IDF Regulations for Launching Counter-Terror Raids.
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 9 12:00 AM EDT
JAN 08,07
MAP 2.7 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 6.2 FIJI REGION
MAP 5.0 HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION
MAP 2.6 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 3.1 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 5.9 KYRGYZSTAN
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.8 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 6.1 NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
MAP 4.9 NEAR THE WEST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.7 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.8 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 5.3 SOLOMON ISLANDS
JAN 07,07
MAP 2.7 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 3.9 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 4.6 FIJI REGION
MAP 5.0 SOUTH OF ALASKA
MAP 3.1 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 3.4 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 3.0 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.8 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.0 MAULE, CHILE
MAP 4.8 MYANMAR
MAP 3.1 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.5 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.1 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.9 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.0 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.7 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.8 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 3.3 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.7 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.4 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.7 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 3.8 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 3.2 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 3.7 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 2.8 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 5.0 NORWEGIAN SEA
MAP 5.0 GUAM REGION
MAP 3.6 NEVADA
Moderate quake rocks northwestern Japan Mon Jan 8, 7:20 AM ET
TOKYO - A moderate earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.6 struck northwestern Japan Monday, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, the Meteorological Agency said. The quake jolted Niigata state and other areas in central Japan, but no tsunami warnings were issued, the agency said.The tremor struck at around 6:59 p.m. and was centered in the state's Chuetsu region at a depth of about 6 miles.A magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit Niigata in October 2004, killing 40 people and damaging thousands of homes. Niigata is about 159 miles northwest of Tokyo.Japan sits atop four tectonic plates and is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.
Moderate quake off Nicobar islands JAN 08,07
PORT BLAIR, India (Reuters) - A moderate undersea earthquake occurred off the west coast of India's Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and disaster control officials said. There were no reports of damage or casualties in the Indian archipelago of 38 islands and there was no threat of a tsunami, an official from the islands' disaster control room in Port Blair told Reuters.The USGS said the 5.7 magnitude quake was recorded at 6:18 p.m. (1248 GMT), with the epicentre around 395 km south of Port Blair, capital of the Andaman and Nicobar island chain.About 3,500 people out of the archipelago's 370,000 residents were killed or went missing in the 2004 tsunami that hit the region.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Storm damages homes in South Sun Jan 7, 10:50 PM ET
ATLANTA - Severe storms swept through the South on Sunday, spawning possible tornadoes, damaging homes and bringing the threat of flooding.Severe thunderstorms Sunday night in north Georgia damaged houses and toppled trees and power lines, but no injuries were reported.Mike Leary, a forecaster with the National Weather Service, said he was pretty sure a tornado struck Coweta County south of Atlanta, where a half-dozen homes were damaged or destroyed.We are going back in the morning and check it, Leary said.Up to 4 inches of rain fell earlier in parts of Alabama, where a flash flood warning was issued for six counties.
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.
Gas-like odor worries workers across NYC By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer JAN 08,07
NEW YORK - Authorities were investigating the source of a mysterious gas-like odor Monday that wafted over a large part of Manhattan, from Rockefeller Center through Greenwich Village. The Fire Department began getting calls about the odor around 9 a.m. Monday, said spokesman Tim Hinchey. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey temporarily suspended some of its PATH commuter train service between New Jersey and Manhattan as a precaution.Mayor Michael Bloomberg said there was no indication that the air was unsafe to breathe, and he said sensors did not show an unusually high concentration of natural gas.
It may just be an unpleasant smell, Bloomberg said.There was a small gas leak in Greenwich Village, but it wouldn't have been enough to account for the pervasive odor, the mayor said.Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said there was no indication of terrorism and no credible intelligence to suggest any imminent threat to the city. He said the agency is closely monitoring the situation.Utility crews from Consolidated Edison were investigating, but they had found no abnormal changes in the gas flow with in its transmission system, said spokesman Chris Olert. If there was a big leak, we would see a change in the gas flow, he said.In some areas, office buildings and apartment buildings were evacuated as a precaution.The smell was very strong. It was very scary, said Yolanda Van Gemd, an administrator at ASA, a business school near the Empire State Building that was evacuated.In August, seven people were treated at hospitals after a gaseous smell in the boroughs of Queens and Staten Island.
Natural gas is odorless; it is the chemical that is added to it that gives it the recognizable odor.
Bird deaths shut down downtown Austin By JIM VERTUNO, Associated Press Writer JAN 08,07
AUSTIN, Texas - Police shut down 10 blocks of businesses in the heart of downtown early Monday after dozens of birds were found dead in the streets, but officials said preliminary tests showed no dangerous chemicals in the air. As many as 60 dead pigeons, sparrows and grackles were found overnight along Congress Avenue, a main route through downtown. No human injuries or illnesses were reported.We do not feel there is a threat to the public health, said Adolfo Valadez, the medical director for Austin and Travis County Health and Human Services. He said preliminary air-quality tests showed no dangerous chemicals and the area should reopen around noon.U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said officials had no credible information to suggest any imminent threat to the city.
On Congress Avenue, just outside the state Capitol, emergency workers donned yellow hazardous-material suits Monday morning, and dozens of fire trucks and ambulances were parked nearby.Workers were testing for any sort of environmental contaminant or gas or chlorine leaks that might have cause the bird deaths, said police spokeswoman Toni Chovanetz. At least one bird carcass was being tested locally for other possible causes, and other carcasses were shipped to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Texas A&M University.Valadez said the tests on the dead birds would likely take several days and look for signs of poisoning or viral infections, though he said officials do not think bird flu is involved.A 10-block stretch of Congress Avenue, several side streets and all buildings in the area were shut down and declared off-limits as a precaution, Chovanetz said.The street closure stretched from just outside the Capitol to a section of the Colorado River known as Town Lake. The Capitol opened on schedule Monday, the day before the legislative session was to begin.On the East Coast, New York City also had a scare Monday morning when a mysterious gas odor moved across Manhattan. It wasn't immediately clear what had caused the odor, and it dissipated fairly quickly. No injuries or damage to wildlife was immediately reported.
Israel Rafalovich: E.U. to Toughen Policy on Russia
2007-01-08 | Brussels
The European Union under the German Presidency, intends to toughen its policy on relations with Russia, on the subjects of human rights and energy, that is used by Russia as a political weapon, European Commission officials said under condition of anonymity.
The German government and the European Commission will discuss the details of the plan during their meeting this week in Berlin.
Officials in the German foreign ministry said, in telephone interviews from Berlin, that Germany will tell Russia that any attempt to divide Europe in order to prevent a strong common policy towards Russia will fail, underlining that the European Union is increasingly concerned about the Russian drift away from the rule of law and human rights.Furthermore, there are E.U. governments that expressed skepticism about the possibility of trying to draw Russia closer to the European Union and this especially while President Putin is in power.The European Union will also try to convince Russia to ratify the European Union energy charter that would give also foreign companies access to Russia's pipelines in order to transport oil and gas to Europe.
Moscow has repeatedly refused to ratify the energy charter.
The European Union is dependent on Russia energy but while this is unlikely to have an impact on the European Union, it raises concerns in regard to supply security.According to data from the European gas federation Eurogas, Russia supplied twenty four percent of the total gas needs of the European Union in 2005.By 2030, European Union estimates say that eighty percent of European gas needs will be met by non-European Union sources, naming Moscow as the main source.The fact is that Russia has trouble in living with the New Europe, as it had to accept the role of a bystander. For Russia, the New Europe remains a suspicious object.The Polish veto against negotiations with Russia is one example for the changes that occurred in the New Europe and this forces the European Commission to clarify its positions towards Russia.
This also shows how hard it is for Moscow to live the new realities on a changing European continent.
But, we should not forget, although Russia does not seem to be, at least for the moment, Europe's soulmate, at the same time, it is also not Europe's enemy.A new confrontation with Russia, now, will not be wise.To the contrary, a realistic approach which underlines the areas in which Russia and the European continent can cooperate will be the right beginning.At the same time, insisting on European positions will prove that a new realism in European foreign policy became fashionable again.Israel Rafalovich
U.N. OBSERVER & International Report.
New IDF Regulations for Launching Counter-Terror Raids
By Hana Levi Julian (INN) JAN 08,07
In the wake of Thursday's IDF counter-terrorism raid in Ramallah just before the Olmert/Mubarak summit, top brass has been instructed to change the rules for approval of military operations. Defense Minister Amir Peretz met with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz and Central Command Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh Sunday night to review the findings of an investigation into Thursday’s IDF attempted arrest of a wanted terrorist in Ramallah.The terrorist was wounded, but succeeded in escaping. In the course of the mission, IDF troops encountered massive return fire and called in back-up forces. In the ensuing exchange of fire, four Ramallah Arabs were killed and some 20 were injured, including journalists. Four IDF soldiers were lightly wounded.Defense Minister Amir Peretz (Labor) and Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Tzachi HaNegbi (Kadima) both criticized the IDF for launching the counter-terror operation just hours before delicate talks between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert were scheduled to begin. IDF leaders were slammed for not consulting the politicians before allowing the operation to go ahead on a day when Olmert was scheduled to meet with Mubarak - even though such operations are nearly a daily affair.The new protocols will include the mandate that diplomatically sensitive operations require the specific approval of the Chief of Staff or his deputy – who will decide whether the operation requires approval from the Defense Minister as well.
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 9 12:00 AM EDT
JAN 08,07
MAP 2.7 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 6.2 FIJI REGION
MAP 5.0 HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION
MAP 2.6 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 3.1 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 5.9 KYRGYZSTAN
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.8 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 6.1 NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
MAP 4.9 NEAR THE WEST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.7 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.8 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 5.3 SOLOMON ISLANDS
JAN 07,07
MAP 2.7 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 3.9 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 4.6 FIJI REGION
MAP 5.0 SOUTH OF ALASKA
MAP 3.1 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 3.4 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 3.0 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.8 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.0 MAULE, CHILE
MAP 4.8 MYANMAR
MAP 3.1 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.5 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.1 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.9 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.0 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.7 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.8 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 3.3 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.7 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.4 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.7 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 3.8 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 3.2 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 3.7 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 2.8 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 5.0 NORWEGIAN SEA
MAP 5.0 GUAM REGION
MAP 3.6 NEVADA
Moderate quake rocks northwestern Japan Mon Jan 8, 7:20 AM ET
TOKYO - A moderate earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.6 struck northwestern Japan Monday, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, the Meteorological Agency said. The quake jolted Niigata state and other areas in central Japan, but no tsunami warnings were issued, the agency said.The tremor struck at around 6:59 p.m. and was centered in the state's Chuetsu region at a depth of about 6 miles.A magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit Niigata in October 2004, killing 40 people and damaging thousands of homes. Niigata is about 159 miles northwest of Tokyo.Japan sits atop four tectonic plates and is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.
Moderate quake off Nicobar islands JAN 08,07
PORT BLAIR, India (Reuters) - A moderate undersea earthquake occurred off the west coast of India's Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and disaster control officials said. There were no reports of damage or casualties in the Indian archipelago of 38 islands and there was no threat of a tsunami, an official from the islands' disaster control room in Port Blair told Reuters.The USGS said the 5.7 magnitude quake was recorded at 6:18 p.m. (1248 GMT), with the epicentre around 395 km south of Port Blair, capital of the Andaman and Nicobar island chain.About 3,500 people out of the archipelago's 370,000 residents were killed or went missing in the 2004 tsunami that hit the region.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Storm damages homes in South Sun Jan 7, 10:50 PM ET
ATLANTA - Severe storms swept through the South on Sunday, spawning possible tornadoes, damaging homes and bringing the threat of flooding.Severe thunderstorms Sunday night in north Georgia damaged houses and toppled trees and power lines, but no injuries were reported.Mike Leary, a forecaster with the National Weather Service, said he was pretty sure a tornado struck Coweta County south of Atlanta, where a half-dozen homes were damaged or destroyed.We are going back in the morning and check it, Leary said.Up to 4 inches of rain fell earlier in parts of Alabama, where a flash flood warning was issued for six counties.
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.
Gas-like odor worries workers across NYC By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer JAN 08,07
NEW YORK - Authorities were investigating the source of a mysterious gas-like odor Monday that wafted over a large part of Manhattan, from Rockefeller Center through Greenwich Village. The Fire Department began getting calls about the odor around 9 a.m. Monday, said spokesman Tim Hinchey. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey temporarily suspended some of its PATH commuter train service between New Jersey and Manhattan as a precaution.Mayor Michael Bloomberg said there was no indication that the air was unsafe to breathe, and he said sensors did not show an unusually high concentration of natural gas.
It may just be an unpleasant smell, Bloomberg said.There was a small gas leak in Greenwich Village, but it wouldn't have been enough to account for the pervasive odor, the mayor said.Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said there was no indication of terrorism and no credible intelligence to suggest any imminent threat to the city. He said the agency is closely monitoring the situation.Utility crews from Consolidated Edison were investigating, but they had found no abnormal changes in the gas flow with in its transmission system, said spokesman Chris Olert. If there was a big leak, we would see a change in the gas flow, he said.In some areas, office buildings and apartment buildings were evacuated as a precaution.The smell was very strong. It was very scary, said Yolanda Van Gemd, an administrator at ASA, a business school near the Empire State Building that was evacuated.In August, seven people were treated at hospitals after a gaseous smell in the boroughs of Queens and Staten Island.
Natural gas is odorless; it is the chemical that is added to it that gives it the recognizable odor.
Bird deaths shut down downtown Austin By JIM VERTUNO, Associated Press Writer JAN 08,07
AUSTIN, Texas - Police shut down 10 blocks of businesses in the heart of downtown early Monday after dozens of birds were found dead in the streets, but officials said preliminary tests showed no dangerous chemicals in the air. As many as 60 dead pigeons, sparrows and grackles were found overnight along Congress Avenue, a main route through downtown. No human injuries or illnesses were reported.We do not feel there is a threat to the public health, said Adolfo Valadez, the medical director for Austin and Travis County Health and Human Services. He said preliminary air-quality tests showed no dangerous chemicals and the area should reopen around noon.U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said officials had no credible information to suggest any imminent threat to the city.
On Congress Avenue, just outside the state Capitol, emergency workers donned yellow hazardous-material suits Monday morning, and dozens of fire trucks and ambulances were parked nearby.Workers were testing for any sort of environmental contaminant or gas or chlorine leaks that might have cause the bird deaths, said police spokeswoman Toni Chovanetz. At least one bird carcass was being tested locally for other possible causes, and other carcasses were shipped to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Texas A&M University.Valadez said the tests on the dead birds would likely take several days and look for signs of poisoning or viral infections, though he said officials do not think bird flu is involved.A 10-block stretch of Congress Avenue, several side streets and all buildings in the area were shut down and declared off-limits as a precaution, Chovanetz said.The street closure stretched from just outside the Capitol to a section of the Colorado River known as Town Lake. The Capitol opened on schedule Monday, the day before the legislative session was to begin.On the East Coast, New York City also had a scare Monday morning when a mysterious gas odor moved across Manhattan. It wasn't immediately clear what had caused the odor, and it dissipated fairly quickly. No injuries or damage to wildlife was immediately reported.
Israel Rafalovich: E.U. to Toughen Policy on Russia
2007-01-08 | Brussels
The European Union under the German Presidency, intends to toughen its policy on relations with Russia, on the subjects of human rights and energy, that is used by Russia as a political weapon, European Commission officials said under condition of anonymity.
The German government and the European Commission will discuss the details of the plan during their meeting this week in Berlin.
Officials in the German foreign ministry said, in telephone interviews from Berlin, that Germany will tell Russia that any attempt to divide Europe in order to prevent a strong common policy towards Russia will fail, underlining that the European Union is increasingly concerned about the Russian drift away from the rule of law and human rights.Furthermore, there are E.U. governments that expressed skepticism about the possibility of trying to draw Russia closer to the European Union and this especially while President Putin is in power.The European Union will also try to convince Russia to ratify the European Union energy charter that would give also foreign companies access to Russia's pipelines in order to transport oil and gas to Europe.
Moscow has repeatedly refused to ratify the energy charter.
The European Union is dependent on Russia energy but while this is unlikely to have an impact on the European Union, it raises concerns in regard to supply security.According to data from the European gas federation Eurogas, Russia supplied twenty four percent of the total gas needs of the European Union in 2005.By 2030, European Union estimates say that eighty percent of European gas needs will be met by non-European Union sources, naming Moscow as the main source.The fact is that Russia has trouble in living with the New Europe, as it had to accept the role of a bystander. For Russia, the New Europe remains a suspicious object.The Polish veto against negotiations with Russia is one example for the changes that occurred in the New Europe and this forces the European Commission to clarify its positions towards Russia.
This also shows how hard it is for Moscow to live the new realities on a changing European continent.
But, we should not forget, although Russia does not seem to be, at least for the moment, Europe's soulmate, at the same time, it is also not Europe's enemy.A new confrontation with Russia, now, will not be wise.To the contrary, a realistic approach which underlines the areas in which Russia and the European continent can cooperate will be the right beginning.At the same time, insisting on European positions will prove that a new realism in European foreign policy became fashionable again.Israel Rafalovich
U.N. OBSERVER & International Report.
New IDF Regulations for Launching Counter-Terror Raids
By Hana Levi Julian (INN) JAN 08,07
In the wake of Thursday's IDF counter-terrorism raid in Ramallah just before the Olmert/Mubarak summit, top brass has been instructed to change the rules for approval of military operations. Defense Minister Amir Peretz met with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz and Central Command Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh Sunday night to review the findings of an investigation into Thursday’s IDF attempted arrest of a wanted terrorist in Ramallah.The terrorist was wounded, but succeeded in escaping. In the course of the mission, IDF troops encountered massive return fire and called in back-up forces. In the ensuing exchange of fire, four Ramallah Arabs were killed and some 20 were injured, including journalists. Four IDF soldiers were lightly wounded.Defense Minister Amir Peretz (Labor) and Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Tzachi HaNegbi (Kadima) both criticized the IDF for launching the counter-terror operation just hours before delicate talks between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert were scheduled to begin. IDF leaders were slammed for not consulting the politicians before allowing the operation to go ahead on a day when Olmert was scheduled to meet with Mubarak - even though such operations are nearly a daily affair.The new protocols will include the mandate that diplomatically sensitive operations require the specific approval of the Chief of Staff or his deputy – who will decide whether the operation requires approval from the Defense Minister as well.
Monday, January 08, 2007
ISRAEL DENIES IRAN STRIKE READY
1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Forecasters Place Islands Under Flash Flood Watch. 3-Malaysia flood toll at 17 as fresh rains hit. 4-Rain, heat and wind: robots go to blazes. 5-Mandelson Presses U.S. for Political Commitment on WTO Accord. 6-New Rabbinical Restrictions Against Hareidi Women´s Careerism. 7-Israel Denies Reports it Has Plans for Strike on Iran Nuclear Facility. 8-Bunker-buster strike planned for Iran's nukes.
REMEMBER LAST WEEK ON TV TO ORDER JACK VAN IMPES PROPHECY BIBLE, A MUST FOR PROPHECY KNOWLEDGE AND STUDY MATERIALS. GOING TO 240 NATIONS FOR SOULS FOR CHRIST.
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 8 7:00:02 UTC 2007
JAN 08,07
MAP 2.7 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.8 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 5.3 SOLOMON ISLANDS
JAN 07,07
MAP 2.7 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 3.9 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 4.6 FIJI REGION
MAP 5.0 SOUTH OF ALASKA
MAP 3.1 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 3.4 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 3.0 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.8 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.0 MAULE, CHILE
MAP 5.0 MYANMAR
MAP 3.1 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.5 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.1 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.9 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.0 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.7 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.8 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 3.3 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.7 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.4 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.7 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 3.8 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 3.2 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 3.7 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 2.8 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 5.0 NORWEGIAN SEA
MAP 5.0 GUAM REGION
MAP 3.4 NEVADA
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.
Forecasters Place Islands Under Flash Flood Watch
Brent Suyama, Managing Editor TheHawaiiChannel.com
Sun Jan 7, 12:46 PM ET
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for all of the Hawaiian Islands on Sunday until Wednesday. A Kona low northwest of the state is expected to hit by Sunday night, forecasters said. A Kona low usually brings moisture from south of the islands.Thunderstorms could strike the islands over night on Sunday, the NWS said. The forecasters predicted heavy downpours.
They warned residents, particularly those near streams, to be prepared for possible flooding.Sign up for severe weather alerts here at TheHawaiiChannel.com and stay with KITV 4 Island Television News for the latest weather updates.
Malaysia flood toll at 17 as fresh rains hit Sun Jan 7, 8:12 AM ET
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - The death toll from floods in Malaysia has risen to 17 as fresh heavy downpours forced hundreds to evacuate in the country's north and the eastern state of Sabah.
The latest victim was a elderly man in Kota Marudu town in northern Sabah, where intermittent rain fell over the weekend, said Malaysia's crisis and disaster management chief.Che Moin Umar said conditions were expected to worsen in the coming days, with heavy rains forecast over the country's northern states.It will deteriorate ... I cannot say much whether it will be like Malacca and Johor, Che Moin told AFP, referring to two southern states worst hit by Malaysia's flood crisis so far.We are preparing for the worst-case scenario, he added.The meteorological department Sunday issued its highest red stage warning for heavy rains in the northern states of Kelantan, Terengganu, Perlis, Kedah, Penang, Perak, and central Pahang state until Wednesday.Moderate rain will also continue in Sabah into the week, it said.Che Moin said authorities had evacuated more than 150 people in Kelantan and Terengganu after rains on Saturday night sparked flooding.
Some 200 people were also evacuated over the weekend from the town of Beaufort in Sabah, he said.Conditions are easing in Johor, which has seen 15 of the 17 fatalities, although 16,455 people evacuated from the floods were still sheltering in relief centres on Sunday, said Malaysia's Bernama news agency.The number of people sheltering in relief centres nationwide peaked at 90,000 in the last week of December.Johor authorities said Sunday that it would cost some 60 million ringgit (17.08 million dollars) to repair flood-damaged infrastructure such as bridges, Bernama reported, as Health Minister Chua Soi Lek warned of dengue outbreaks.
There is a likelihood that we will see a sudden surge in the number of dengue cases in another two weeks if no effort is made to clean up the areas and rid them of stagnant water pools, Chua was quoted as saying from Johor.Victims have blamed the flash floods, the worst in decades, on environmental degradation and poor development planning.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Rain, heat and wind: robots go to blazes
Daniella Miletic - January 8, 2007 (The Age)
EVERY 10 minutes, severe-weather experts receive emails with bushfire updates from eight of their most important firefighters: robotic weather stations that operate in some of the state's most remote areas.
Those emails from the edges of Victoria's bushfires are sent by satellite to the Bureau of Meteorology, where they are decoded and passed on to firefighters. Department of Sustainability and Environment spokesman Stuart Ord said the new solar-operated machines — known as portable automatic weather stations — are being used this bushfire season to help plan the assault on flames in the state's north-east and Gippsland region.The stations, which cost about $40,000 each, detect wind speeds and directions, rainfall, solar radiation, temperature, atmospheric pressure and humidity.
Mr Ord said the eight machines were moved to the worst-affected fire areas.
They give localised weather conditions from the edge of a fire, so they are far more precise accounts than from permanent weather stations further away, Mr Ord said.Severe-weather meteorologist Monica Long said the stations were compact and easy to set up.
We know that we can put them anywhere, and that they will pick up what's happening, and we will be able to get the reading no matter how remote the terrain is, she said.Ms Long said staff placed the stations as close to the fire front as possible. Sometimes they were dropped in by helicopter if locations were difficult to get to by road.We are forecasting for lots of specific locations, particularly in areas where there is a lot of difference in elevation … like in the alpine region, where there are a lot of ridges and troughs and valleys where we don't have any fixed stations.
Country Fire Authority spokesman Matt Fraser said the stations were a key weapon in the fight against bushfires. Their most important function was their detection of wind change.Ms Long said Victoria was the first to adopt the technology last year, but South Australia, Western Australia and NSW were keen to buy stations.Although mostly used for bushfires, the technology was versatile, Ms Long said. Last year the stations were used to help track and predict wind changes during the locust outbreak.
Mandelson Presses U.S. for Political Commitment on WTO Accord
By Jennifer M. Freedman JAN 7,07
Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson called for a strong new political commitment between the U.S. and EU to revive global trade negotiations that collapsed six months ago or risk delaying an accord for years. Mandelson will meet U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab in Washington tomorrow following talks between President George W. Bush and European Commission President Jose Barroso. The two trade officials are seeking ways to invigorate the talks with joint U.S.-EU leadership and use the narrow window between now and Easter to successfully complete the negotiations, the commission said in a statement. World Trade Organization negotiations broke down in July over disagreements on how to curb rich nations' aid to farmers. WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy has pressed larger governments to be more flexible, calling concessions by the EU, the U.S., India and Brazil vital to reviving the talks.
While negotiators resumed technical work in October, Lamy said last month that governments have failed to offer real changes in numbers of what they're prepared to concede. Governments have already agreed, in principle, to the biggest cuts in farm commodity tariffs ever in global trade talks and to eliminate export subsidies for agricultural goods. The commission says it's willing to improve its offer by adding substantially to the 39 percent it submitted a year ago. Europe is ready to add more than 10 percentage points and get within close reach of the average farm tariff cut demanded by developing countries, 51.5 percent, the commission said.
Real Cuts Needed
In return, the EU wants the U.S. to make real cuts to trade-distorting farm subsidies to levels near to those demanded by developing countries. This would mean a budget cut of about $8 billion from current ceilings of $23 billion, according to the commission, the 27-nation group's executive arm. The quiet, constructive bilateral contacts of the last few months have made clear to us all the possible outline of a final deal, Mandelson said. We now need the added momentum of political leadership from the highest level.
Trade talks may stall until 2009 unless negotiators clinch an accord before Bush's negotiating mandate from Congress expires in July, Lamy has said. Last week, U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez kicked off the administration's drive for a renewal of its trade negotiating authority, which compels Congress to approve or reject trade agreements that the president negotiates without amending them. A deal would inject at least $96 billion into the world economy, the World Bank estimates. It may also lead to the creation of hundreds of billions of dollars worth of new trade annually -- an important boost to the U.S. and European economies, the commission said. Failure to wrap up a trade accord would handicap a global economy already faced with rising inflation, oil-price volatility and a slowing U.S. housing market, the International Monetary Fund said in September. To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer M. Freedman in Brussels at jfreedman@bloomberg.net.
New Rabbinical Restrictions Against Hareidi Women´s Careerism
By Gil Zohar JAN 07,07 (INN)
Rabbis' new restrictions on hareidi-religious women pursuing academic degrees will impair the ability of teachers to earn a living and support their families. Regulations by Israel’s Ministry of Education requiring a significant portion of the instructors who teach would-be educators to have a master’s degree or doctorate have set off a chain of events likely to lead to growing poverty in the hareidi-religious sector. Since there are a limited number of eligible hareidi professors with second or third degrees, hareidi education students have been exposed to a wide variety of teachers - leading hareidi rabbis to take action against what they perceive as unacceptable foreign influences.Thus the Rabbinical Committee on Education, the official body that sets educational policy for most of the hareidi community’s institutions, has issued new guidelines cancelling all academic programs resulting in a bachelor's degree. As well, a significant number of courses will be downgraded and a large number of lecturers will be fired.
The new rabbinic ruling is likely to dramatically impact on hareidi women in the workplace, many of whom earn a living as teachers. They will no longer be able to pursue academic degrees in education in Beit Yaakov, Israel's largest chain of educational institutions for women. The ruling is likely to limit their future earning capabilities, as teachers with advanced degrees earn more - and can find
more jobs - than those without them.The cancellation resulted from a growing concern among rabbis that hareidi women were being taught inappropriate materials, or were being instructed by professors too far removed from a religious outlook.For some reason, we have found, in recent years, that courses are taught by foreign lecturers, ran an editorial in Bayit Ne’eman, the women’s supplement of Yated Ne'man, Israel's largest circulation hareidi newspaper. Some of these lecturers belong to the Mizrachi stream, and others, to great shame, are secular through and through... there is danger here of contamination.The entry of large numbers of hareidi women into the workforce followed the bankruptcy in 1992 of Olympia & York Developments - the privately-owned Toronto, Canada-based real estate firm whch was building the huge Canary Wharf project in London, Britain. As a result, the Reichmann family, the billionaire patrons who had subsidized much of Israel's hareidi world, were compelled to curtail their once vast philanthropy.
In addition, the sharp budget cuts suffered by the hareidi population under Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu have also had their effect on the hareidi families, leading more women to see employment outside the home.Thus was engendered a subtle revolution in the hareidi sector in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak and elsewhere. Pressed to support their Torah-studying husbands and large families, increasing numbers of ultra-Orthodox women joined the workforce, a trend endorsed by several key rabbis and seen by many as essential to the community’s economic health.The recent decree against higher education, described as an earthquake by the Yated Ne’eman newspaper, was issued by a group of rabbis who set the community’s educational policies, and was led by Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv of Jerusalem (pictured above).Rabbi Elyashiv, 96, is the paramount leader of Israel's Lithuanian non-Hasidic hareidi Ashkenazi Jews (sometimes called by the old label of misnagdim) who regard him as the posek ha-dor (decisor of the generation), the modern leading authority on halakhah, or Jewish law.
The ruling, said Bar Ilan University’s Prof. Menachem Friedman, one of Israel’s leading authorities on the hareidi community, is an extreme move but nonetheless in step with socioeconomic trends sweeping the hareidi community for years.The hareidi leaders, Friedman told The New York Jewish Week, are gradually losing control of their followers, as their society increasingly depends for its survival on women, traditionally cast as mothers and homemakers, earning a living by interacting with Israeli society at large.
In an interview with Yated Ne’eman, unnamed conservative sources in the hareidi community claimed that the move was a response to a growing aspiration for careerism among women, a trend, the sources said, that was against religious principles.It cannot be, Rabbi Eliyashiv told Yated Ne’eman recently, that teachers who are supposed to educate the daughters of Israel and teach in ‘Beit Yaakov will take all sorts of courses, without the great rabbis being involved in every detail of what is being taught and who is teaching. Without supervision and a direct setting of the curriculum, it is inevitable that courses might be littered with words of heresy.
Prior to the cancellations, graduates of Beit Yaakov’s high schools would enroll in teachers’ seminaries, obtaining a certificate allowing them to teach in hareidi educational institutions after two years, and another certificate enabling them to become teachers in any Israeli educational institution after three.
Until now, most women pursued a fourth year of study, which awarded them the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree, a distinction that allows teachers to advance professionally and increase their salary.The new decree effectively cancelled the fourth-year option, and may have an indirect effect on the third-year route as well.Further, the new decree specifies that women who have already completed the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree would be at a disadvantage if they apply for a job at any institution affiliated with Beit Yaakov.Sarah Ziv, director of the department of teacher training in the Ministry of Education, told the Tel Aviv daily Haaretz that while the academic courses were designed in full coordination with the hareidi rabbis, it is obvious that we will not give up the demand that whoever teaches education have a master’s degree in the field.
The decision is bound to have much influence on other fervently Orthodox streams. The Gerrer (Gur) sect, for example, one of Israel’s largest hasidic sects, has traditionally aligned itself with whatever the Rabbinical Committee on Education, which is hareidi but not hasidic, has decreed. It is still unclear how other hasidic rabbis — including the fifth Belzer Rebbe Yissachar Dov Rokeach, who has traditionally been more open to secular education — will react.According to Bar Ilan’s Friedman, the decree is likely to have far-reaching implications, ones that will likely exacerbate the already grim economic situation of the haredi community. When you deny an entire society the ability to fit in with the modern economy, you deny it of its only mean of surviving in modern life, he said. Friedman added that the move is likely to put a greater strain on Israeli society as a whole, as less hareidi earning power will mean less contributions toward pension funds and more strain on the system at large.I’m an Israeli patriot, he said, and a Jewish patriot, and I’m weeping for the state and for these women.
Israel Denies Reports it Has Plans for Strike on Iran Nuclear Facility
By Robert Berger - Jerusalem - 07 January 2007 (VOA News)
Israel is denying a report in a British newspaper that the country has drawn up secret plans to target Iran's nuclear facilities with tactical nuclear weapons. Speculation has been rife about an Israeli pre-emptive strike against Iran since the Iranian president threatened to destroy the Jewish state. Robert Berger reports from the VOA bureau in Jerusalem. Israel's Foreign Ministry denied a report in London's Sunday Times that said the Israeli air force is training for a tactical nuclear strike on uranium enrichment facilities in Iran. Quoting Israeli military sources, the paper said the secret plan involves using low-yield nuclear bunker busters. The report said Israeli pilots have flown to Gibraltar in recent weeks to train for the 3,000-kilometer round-trip flight to Iranian targets.
But, in a brief statement, the Foreign Ministry said Israel prefers diplomacy, including full implementation of U.N. sanctions on Iran.At the same time, Israel believes those sanctions are not strong enough. Israeli analyst Cameron Brown:They are very, very light sanctions, and very limited in scope. Sanctions that have been imposed are totally insufficient to convince the Iranians that the price is far too high to bear, Brown says.Brown says what is needed is a series of sanctions .that are going to have to become much, much more comprehensive, and going to have to be much more penetrating, if they are going to have any chance of success at all, he says.More than a year ago, the Iranian president threatened to wipe Israel off the map, and, since then, Israeli officials have said repeatedly that they cannot allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. The Israeli air force destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981, but an attack on Iran is much more complicated. Iran's nuclear facilities are spread out and fortified deep underground in concrete. Therefore, some experts believe the only way Israel can destroy Iran's nuclear facilities is with tactical nuclear weapons.
NUCLEAR WAR-FEAR - Bunker-buster strike planned for Iran's nukes
Israelis training for tactical atomic weapons against Tehran's uranium-enrichment facilities January 6, 2007 - 8:00 p.m. Eastern - WorldNetDaily.com
The Sunday London Times is reporting that Israel has drawn up secret plans to use tactical nuclear weapons to destroy uranium-enrichment sites in Iran.
Two Israeli air force squadrons have been training for a mission against an enrichment plant in Natanz using low-yield nuclear bunker busters, Israeli military sources told the Times. The Israeli weapons would each have a force equivalent to one-fifteenth of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. WND reported Israel's training against a mock-up of Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment plant in March 2005. Tactics included raids by Israel's elite Shaldag commando unit and airstrikes by F-15 jets from the 69 Squadron, using bunker-busting bombs purchased from the U.S. to penetrate underground facilities. Today's Times story reveals two other sites that would be targeted with conventional weapons: a heavy water plant at Arak capable of producing bomb-grade plutonium and a uranium conversion plant at Isfahan, where 250 tons of gas for the enrichment process have been stored in tunnels.
The plan calls for conventional laser-guided bombs opening tunnels at Natanz, with mini-nukes following close behind, exploding underground and limiting the area affected by radioactive fallout. Thousands of centrifuges are being installed for uranium enrichment at the Natanz site. Scientists agree that contamination from the bunker-busters would be limited, but tons of radioactive uranium compounds would be still be released, they say. Three potential routes – one over Turkey – have been selected for the mission. Israeli pilots have been training in recent weeks by flying mock runs between Israel and Gibralter in anticipation of the 2,000-mile round-trip flight to Iran. As soon as the green light is given, it will be one mission, one strike and the Iranian nuclear project will be demolished, said one of the Times sources.
A growing consensus in Israel's military says conventional strikes may no longer be adequate to destroy enrichment facilities built beneath 70 feet of concrete and rock. While tactical atomic weapons are prominently featured in the current planning, the nuclear-tipped bunker-busters would reportedly be used only if a conventional attack was ruled out and if the U.S. declined to intervene. Pentagon sources were skeptical that the U.S. would give approval to the use of tactical nuclear weapons.
Israel sought U.S. approval after the event for the 1981 airstrike that crippled Iraq's nuclear reactor at Osirak and one source said it would probably do so again. Israel believes Iran would be constrained from retaliation with its Shehab-3 ballistic missiles by fear of a second strike. This is not the first time Israel's planning for a strike on Iran has been reported. As WND reported in December 2005, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered defense forces to plan for a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear weapons facilities by the end of March 2006 – the time intelligence sources were saying Tehran would be able to begin producing nuclear weapons. Israel – and not only Israel – cannot accept a nuclear Iran, Sharon warned. We have the ability to deal with this and we're making all the
necessary preparations to be ready for such a situation.
REMEMBER LAST WEEK ON TV TO ORDER JACK VAN IMPES PROPHECY BIBLE, A MUST FOR PROPHECY KNOWLEDGE AND STUDY MATERIALS. GOING TO 240 NATIONS FOR SOULS FOR CHRIST.
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 8 7:00:02 UTC 2007
JAN 08,07
MAP 2.7 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.8 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 5.3 SOLOMON ISLANDS
JAN 07,07
MAP 2.7 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 3.9 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 4.6 FIJI REGION
MAP 5.0 SOUTH OF ALASKA
MAP 3.1 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 3.4 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 3.0 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.8 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.0 MAULE, CHILE
MAP 5.0 MYANMAR
MAP 3.1 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.5 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.1 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.9 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.0 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.7 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.8 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 3.3 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.7 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.4 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.7 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 3.8 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 3.2 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 3.7 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 2.8 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 5.0 NORWEGIAN SEA
MAP 5.0 GUAM REGION
MAP 3.4 NEVADA
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.
Forecasters Place Islands Under Flash Flood Watch
Brent Suyama, Managing Editor TheHawaiiChannel.com
Sun Jan 7, 12:46 PM ET
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for all of the Hawaiian Islands on Sunday until Wednesday. A Kona low northwest of the state is expected to hit by Sunday night, forecasters said. A Kona low usually brings moisture from south of the islands.Thunderstorms could strike the islands over night on Sunday, the NWS said. The forecasters predicted heavy downpours.
They warned residents, particularly those near streams, to be prepared for possible flooding.Sign up for severe weather alerts here at TheHawaiiChannel.com and stay with KITV 4 Island Television News for the latest weather updates.
Malaysia flood toll at 17 as fresh rains hit Sun Jan 7, 8:12 AM ET
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - The death toll from floods in Malaysia has risen to 17 as fresh heavy downpours forced hundreds to evacuate in the country's north and the eastern state of Sabah.
The latest victim was a elderly man in Kota Marudu town in northern Sabah, where intermittent rain fell over the weekend, said Malaysia's crisis and disaster management chief.Che Moin Umar said conditions were expected to worsen in the coming days, with heavy rains forecast over the country's northern states.It will deteriorate ... I cannot say much whether it will be like Malacca and Johor, Che Moin told AFP, referring to two southern states worst hit by Malaysia's flood crisis so far.We are preparing for the worst-case scenario, he added.The meteorological department Sunday issued its highest red stage warning for heavy rains in the northern states of Kelantan, Terengganu, Perlis, Kedah, Penang, Perak, and central Pahang state until Wednesday.Moderate rain will also continue in Sabah into the week, it said.Che Moin said authorities had evacuated more than 150 people in Kelantan and Terengganu after rains on Saturday night sparked flooding.
Some 200 people were also evacuated over the weekend from the town of Beaufort in Sabah, he said.Conditions are easing in Johor, which has seen 15 of the 17 fatalities, although 16,455 people evacuated from the floods were still sheltering in relief centres on Sunday, said Malaysia's Bernama news agency.The number of people sheltering in relief centres nationwide peaked at 90,000 in the last week of December.Johor authorities said Sunday that it would cost some 60 million ringgit (17.08 million dollars) to repair flood-damaged infrastructure such as bridges, Bernama reported, as Health Minister Chua Soi Lek warned of dengue outbreaks.
There is a likelihood that we will see a sudden surge in the number of dengue cases in another two weeks if no effort is made to clean up the areas and rid them of stagnant water pools, Chua was quoted as saying from Johor.Victims have blamed the flash floods, the worst in decades, on environmental degradation and poor development planning.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Rain, heat and wind: robots go to blazes
Daniella Miletic - January 8, 2007 (The Age)
EVERY 10 minutes, severe-weather experts receive emails with bushfire updates from eight of their most important firefighters: robotic weather stations that operate in some of the state's most remote areas.
Those emails from the edges of Victoria's bushfires are sent by satellite to the Bureau of Meteorology, where they are decoded and passed on to firefighters. Department of Sustainability and Environment spokesman Stuart Ord said the new solar-operated machines — known as portable automatic weather stations — are being used this bushfire season to help plan the assault on flames in the state's north-east and Gippsland region.The stations, which cost about $40,000 each, detect wind speeds and directions, rainfall, solar radiation, temperature, atmospheric pressure and humidity.
Mr Ord said the eight machines were moved to the worst-affected fire areas.
They give localised weather conditions from the edge of a fire, so they are far more precise accounts than from permanent weather stations further away, Mr Ord said.Severe-weather meteorologist Monica Long said the stations were compact and easy to set up.
We know that we can put them anywhere, and that they will pick up what's happening, and we will be able to get the reading no matter how remote the terrain is, she said.Ms Long said staff placed the stations as close to the fire front as possible. Sometimes they were dropped in by helicopter if locations were difficult to get to by road.We are forecasting for lots of specific locations, particularly in areas where there is a lot of difference in elevation … like in the alpine region, where there are a lot of ridges and troughs and valleys where we don't have any fixed stations.
Country Fire Authority spokesman Matt Fraser said the stations were a key weapon in the fight against bushfires. Their most important function was their detection of wind change.Ms Long said Victoria was the first to adopt the technology last year, but South Australia, Western Australia and NSW were keen to buy stations.Although mostly used for bushfires, the technology was versatile, Ms Long said. Last year the stations were used to help track and predict wind changes during the locust outbreak.
Mandelson Presses U.S. for Political Commitment on WTO Accord
By Jennifer M. Freedman JAN 7,07
Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson called for a strong new political commitment between the U.S. and EU to revive global trade negotiations that collapsed six months ago or risk delaying an accord for years. Mandelson will meet U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab in Washington tomorrow following talks between President George W. Bush and European Commission President Jose Barroso. The two trade officials are seeking ways to invigorate the talks with joint U.S.-EU leadership and use the narrow window between now and Easter to successfully complete the negotiations, the commission said in a statement. World Trade Organization negotiations broke down in July over disagreements on how to curb rich nations' aid to farmers. WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy has pressed larger governments to be more flexible, calling concessions by the EU, the U.S., India and Brazil vital to reviving the talks.
While negotiators resumed technical work in October, Lamy said last month that governments have failed to offer real changes in numbers of what they're prepared to concede. Governments have already agreed, in principle, to the biggest cuts in farm commodity tariffs ever in global trade talks and to eliminate export subsidies for agricultural goods. The commission says it's willing to improve its offer by adding substantially to the 39 percent it submitted a year ago. Europe is ready to add more than 10 percentage points and get within close reach of the average farm tariff cut demanded by developing countries, 51.5 percent, the commission said.
Real Cuts Needed
In return, the EU wants the U.S. to make real cuts to trade-distorting farm subsidies to levels near to those demanded by developing countries. This would mean a budget cut of about $8 billion from current ceilings of $23 billion, according to the commission, the 27-nation group's executive arm. The quiet, constructive bilateral contacts of the last few months have made clear to us all the possible outline of a final deal, Mandelson said. We now need the added momentum of political leadership from the highest level.
Trade talks may stall until 2009 unless negotiators clinch an accord before Bush's negotiating mandate from Congress expires in July, Lamy has said. Last week, U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez kicked off the administration's drive for a renewal of its trade negotiating authority, which compels Congress to approve or reject trade agreements that the president negotiates without amending them. A deal would inject at least $96 billion into the world economy, the World Bank estimates. It may also lead to the creation of hundreds of billions of dollars worth of new trade annually -- an important boost to the U.S. and European economies, the commission said. Failure to wrap up a trade accord would handicap a global economy already faced with rising inflation, oil-price volatility and a slowing U.S. housing market, the International Monetary Fund said in September. To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer M. Freedman in Brussels at jfreedman@bloomberg.net.
New Rabbinical Restrictions Against Hareidi Women´s Careerism
By Gil Zohar JAN 07,07 (INN)
Rabbis' new restrictions on hareidi-religious women pursuing academic degrees will impair the ability of teachers to earn a living and support their families. Regulations by Israel’s Ministry of Education requiring a significant portion of the instructors who teach would-be educators to have a master’s degree or doctorate have set off a chain of events likely to lead to growing poverty in the hareidi-religious sector. Since there are a limited number of eligible hareidi professors with second or third degrees, hareidi education students have been exposed to a wide variety of teachers - leading hareidi rabbis to take action against what they perceive as unacceptable foreign influences.Thus the Rabbinical Committee on Education, the official body that sets educational policy for most of the hareidi community’s institutions, has issued new guidelines cancelling all academic programs resulting in a bachelor's degree. As well, a significant number of courses will be downgraded and a large number of lecturers will be fired.
The new rabbinic ruling is likely to dramatically impact on hareidi women in the workplace, many of whom earn a living as teachers. They will no longer be able to pursue academic degrees in education in Beit Yaakov, Israel's largest chain of educational institutions for women. The ruling is likely to limit their future earning capabilities, as teachers with advanced degrees earn more - and can find
more jobs - than those without them.The cancellation resulted from a growing concern among rabbis that hareidi women were being taught inappropriate materials, or were being instructed by professors too far removed from a religious outlook.For some reason, we have found, in recent years, that courses are taught by foreign lecturers, ran an editorial in Bayit Ne’eman, the women’s supplement of Yated Ne'man, Israel's largest circulation hareidi newspaper. Some of these lecturers belong to the Mizrachi stream, and others, to great shame, are secular through and through... there is danger here of contamination.The entry of large numbers of hareidi women into the workforce followed the bankruptcy in 1992 of Olympia & York Developments - the privately-owned Toronto, Canada-based real estate firm whch was building the huge Canary Wharf project in London, Britain. As a result, the Reichmann family, the billionaire patrons who had subsidized much of Israel's hareidi world, were compelled to curtail their once vast philanthropy.
In addition, the sharp budget cuts suffered by the hareidi population under Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu have also had their effect on the hareidi families, leading more women to see employment outside the home.Thus was engendered a subtle revolution in the hareidi sector in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak and elsewhere. Pressed to support their Torah-studying husbands and large families, increasing numbers of ultra-Orthodox women joined the workforce, a trend endorsed by several key rabbis and seen by many as essential to the community’s economic health.The recent decree against higher education, described as an earthquake by the Yated Ne’eman newspaper, was issued by a group of rabbis who set the community’s educational policies, and was led by Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv of Jerusalem (pictured above).Rabbi Elyashiv, 96, is the paramount leader of Israel's Lithuanian non-Hasidic hareidi Ashkenazi Jews (sometimes called by the old label of misnagdim) who regard him as the posek ha-dor (decisor of the generation), the modern leading authority on halakhah, or Jewish law.
The ruling, said Bar Ilan University’s Prof. Menachem Friedman, one of Israel’s leading authorities on the hareidi community, is an extreme move but nonetheless in step with socioeconomic trends sweeping the hareidi community for years.The hareidi leaders, Friedman told The New York Jewish Week, are gradually losing control of their followers, as their society increasingly depends for its survival on women, traditionally cast as mothers and homemakers, earning a living by interacting with Israeli society at large.
In an interview with Yated Ne’eman, unnamed conservative sources in the hareidi community claimed that the move was a response to a growing aspiration for careerism among women, a trend, the sources said, that was against religious principles.It cannot be, Rabbi Eliyashiv told Yated Ne’eman recently, that teachers who are supposed to educate the daughters of Israel and teach in ‘Beit Yaakov will take all sorts of courses, without the great rabbis being involved in every detail of what is being taught and who is teaching. Without supervision and a direct setting of the curriculum, it is inevitable that courses might be littered with words of heresy.
Prior to the cancellations, graduates of Beit Yaakov’s high schools would enroll in teachers’ seminaries, obtaining a certificate allowing them to teach in hareidi educational institutions after two years, and another certificate enabling them to become teachers in any Israeli educational institution after three.
Until now, most women pursued a fourth year of study, which awarded them the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree, a distinction that allows teachers to advance professionally and increase their salary.The new decree effectively cancelled the fourth-year option, and may have an indirect effect on the third-year route as well.Further, the new decree specifies that women who have already completed the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree would be at a disadvantage if they apply for a job at any institution affiliated with Beit Yaakov.Sarah Ziv, director of the department of teacher training in the Ministry of Education, told the Tel Aviv daily Haaretz that while the academic courses were designed in full coordination with the hareidi rabbis, it is obvious that we will not give up the demand that whoever teaches education have a master’s degree in the field.
The decision is bound to have much influence on other fervently Orthodox streams. The Gerrer (Gur) sect, for example, one of Israel’s largest hasidic sects, has traditionally aligned itself with whatever the Rabbinical Committee on Education, which is hareidi but not hasidic, has decreed. It is still unclear how other hasidic rabbis — including the fifth Belzer Rebbe Yissachar Dov Rokeach, who has traditionally been more open to secular education — will react.According to Bar Ilan’s Friedman, the decree is likely to have far-reaching implications, ones that will likely exacerbate the already grim economic situation of the haredi community. When you deny an entire society the ability to fit in with the modern economy, you deny it of its only mean of surviving in modern life, he said. Friedman added that the move is likely to put a greater strain on Israeli society as a whole, as less hareidi earning power will mean less contributions toward pension funds and more strain on the system at large.I’m an Israeli patriot, he said, and a Jewish patriot, and I’m weeping for the state and for these women.
Israel Denies Reports it Has Plans for Strike on Iran Nuclear Facility
By Robert Berger - Jerusalem - 07 January 2007 (VOA News)
Israel is denying a report in a British newspaper that the country has drawn up secret plans to target Iran's nuclear facilities with tactical nuclear weapons. Speculation has been rife about an Israeli pre-emptive strike against Iran since the Iranian president threatened to destroy the Jewish state. Robert Berger reports from the VOA bureau in Jerusalem. Israel's Foreign Ministry denied a report in London's Sunday Times that said the Israeli air force is training for a tactical nuclear strike on uranium enrichment facilities in Iran. Quoting Israeli military sources, the paper said the secret plan involves using low-yield nuclear bunker busters. The report said Israeli pilots have flown to Gibraltar in recent weeks to train for the 3,000-kilometer round-trip flight to Iranian targets.
But, in a brief statement, the Foreign Ministry said Israel prefers diplomacy, including full implementation of U.N. sanctions on Iran.At the same time, Israel believes those sanctions are not strong enough. Israeli analyst Cameron Brown:They are very, very light sanctions, and very limited in scope. Sanctions that have been imposed are totally insufficient to convince the Iranians that the price is far too high to bear, Brown says.Brown says what is needed is a series of sanctions .that are going to have to become much, much more comprehensive, and going to have to be much more penetrating, if they are going to have any chance of success at all, he says.More than a year ago, the Iranian president threatened to wipe Israel off the map, and, since then, Israeli officials have said repeatedly that they cannot allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. The Israeli air force destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981, but an attack on Iran is much more complicated. Iran's nuclear facilities are spread out and fortified deep underground in concrete. Therefore, some experts believe the only way Israel can destroy Iran's nuclear facilities is with tactical nuclear weapons.
NUCLEAR WAR-FEAR - Bunker-buster strike planned for Iran's nukes
Israelis training for tactical atomic weapons against Tehran's uranium-enrichment facilities January 6, 2007 - 8:00 p.m. Eastern - WorldNetDaily.com
The Sunday London Times is reporting that Israel has drawn up secret plans to use tactical nuclear weapons to destroy uranium-enrichment sites in Iran.
Two Israeli air force squadrons have been training for a mission against an enrichment plant in Natanz using low-yield nuclear bunker busters, Israeli military sources told the Times. The Israeli weapons would each have a force equivalent to one-fifteenth of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. WND reported Israel's training against a mock-up of Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment plant in March 2005. Tactics included raids by Israel's elite Shaldag commando unit and airstrikes by F-15 jets from the 69 Squadron, using bunker-busting bombs purchased from the U.S. to penetrate underground facilities. Today's Times story reveals two other sites that would be targeted with conventional weapons: a heavy water plant at Arak capable of producing bomb-grade plutonium and a uranium conversion plant at Isfahan, where 250 tons of gas for the enrichment process have been stored in tunnels.
The plan calls for conventional laser-guided bombs opening tunnels at Natanz, with mini-nukes following close behind, exploding underground and limiting the area affected by radioactive fallout. Thousands of centrifuges are being installed for uranium enrichment at the Natanz site. Scientists agree that contamination from the bunker-busters would be limited, but tons of radioactive uranium compounds would be still be released, they say. Three potential routes – one over Turkey – have been selected for the mission. Israeli pilots have been training in recent weeks by flying mock runs between Israel and Gibralter in anticipation of the 2,000-mile round-trip flight to Iran. As soon as the green light is given, it will be one mission, one strike and the Iranian nuclear project will be demolished, said one of the Times sources.
A growing consensus in Israel's military says conventional strikes may no longer be adequate to destroy enrichment facilities built beneath 70 feet of concrete and rock. While tactical atomic weapons are prominently featured in the current planning, the nuclear-tipped bunker-busters would reportedly be used only if a conventional attack was ruled out and if the U.S. declined to intervene. Pentagon sources were skeptical that the U.S. would give approval to the use of tactical nuclear weapons.
Israel sought U.S. approval after the event for the 1981 airstrike that crippled Iraq's nuclear reactor at Osirak and one source said it would probably do so again. Israel believes Iran would be constrained from retaliation with its Shehab-3 ballistic missiles by fear of a second strike. This is not the first time Israel's planning for a strike on Iran has been reported. As WND reported in December 2005, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered defense forces to plan for a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear weapons facilities by the end of March 2006 – the time intelligence sources were saying Tehran would be able to begin producing nuclear weapons. Israel – and not only Israel – cannot accept a nuclear Iran, Sharon warned. We have the ability to deal with this and we're making all the
necessary preparations to be ready for such a situation.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
RICE - SOLANA VISIT MIDEAST
1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Colorado avalanche buries cars. 3-Brazil's rain-related death toll hits 31. 4-Temperatures soar in the Northeast. 5-Pope says religious leaders must stress spiritual aspect of globalization debate. 6-Rome to support death penalty moratorium. 7-Rice, Solana to visit Mideast to push peace process. 8-US imposes sanctions on arms suppliers to Iran, Syria. 9-Hamas pledges to boost forces in Gaza.
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 Jan 7 12:14 AM EDT
SUN QUAKES NONE AS YET
SAT JAN 6,07
MAP 3.7 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 5.1 MINAHASA, SULAWESI, INDONESIA
MAP 2.9 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 2.9 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 3.5 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 3.0 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 3.8 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 3.4 GULF OF ALASKA
MAP 5.1 TONGA
MAP 5.2 SAMAR, PHILIPPINES
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.2 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 4.8 ECUADOR
MAP 2.7 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.9 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
JAN 05,07
MAP 2.8 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.0 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 3.4 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 5.7 SOUTH OF ALASKA
MAP 4.5 FIJI REGION
MAP 4.4 KYUSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.9 GUAM REGION
MAP 4.8 SOUTH OF THE KERMADEC ISLANDS
MAP 4.3 BANDA SEA
MAP 4.6 PAGAN REGION, NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS
MAP 5.3 NIAS REGION, INDONESIA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.5 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.0 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 NORTHERN ALASKA
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.
Colorado avalanche buries cars JAN 06,07
Colorado has been hit by three snow storms in recent weeks A massive avalanche in the western US state of Colorado has buried cars and swept other vehicles off the road. The avalanche, described by local rescue crews as the largest they had ever seen, struck at the Berthoud Pass, 100km (60 miles) west of Denver. A Colorado transport spokesman told the BBC early reports suggest two cars had been caught up in the avalanche. He said one person was seriously hurt and there were no fatalities reported. At least seven people have been rescued. Even though vehicles were swept off the road, they are not said to be in any danger, however details are still scarce.
The avalanche was described as 100ft (30m) wide and 15ft (4.5m) deep. Three snow storms in recent weeks have dumped more than 4ft of snow on parts of Colorado. The site of the avalanche is on the main route to one of the Colorado's top skiing areas. It happened at late-morning after the bulk of skier traffic had already passed, said Stacey Stegman of the Colorado Department of Transportation. If it would've happened just a couple of hours earlier, this would have been a very different situation, she told CNN.
Brazil's rain-related death toll hits 31 By MICHAEL ASTOR, Associated Press Writer JAN 06,07
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Firefighters recovered the body of a woman whose home was engulfed in a mudslide, and her husband died from injuries Saturday, as the death toll from days of heavy rains in southeast Brazil reached 31. Floods and mudslides have driven thousands of people from their homes over the past week, and more rains were forecast for the weekend.Firefighters retrieved the body of a 62-year-old woman beneath mud that engulfed her hillside home in the city of Novo Friburgo, some 95 miles northeast of Rio de Janeiro. Her husband died of injuries in the hospital, raising the death toll in that city to 12, according to a Civil Defense spokeswoman. Twenty-six people have died in Rio de Janeiro state, about 310 miles northeast of Sao Paulo.Authorities Saturday reported the deaths of two other people in mudslides in Sao Paulo state. On Friday, three people died when a bus skidded out of control, an accident authorities blamed on the heavy rains.
The mudslides and flash floods have forced more than 12,000 people to abandon their homes for shelter in churches, schools, gymnasiums and other public buildings, officials said.Most of the victims were poor people who live in shantytowns built precariously on hillsides.Mudslides are a chronic problem in Rio de Janeiro state during the summer rainy season. Clearing grass and shrubs from the hillsides to make way for shantytowns causes erosion, leaving the communities vulnerable to mudslides.In recent years, the state government has attempted to remove people from the most dangerous hillsides, but people with no access to affordable housing continue to build crude brick houses on the steepest slopes.
Temperatures soar in the Northeast Wayne Verno, Meteorologist, The Weather Channel Sat Jan 6, 10:13 AM ET
Northeast
Low pressure tracking northeast across New England today, will allow the steadier rain to taper to showers and then end across the Mid-Atlantic by afternoon. Rain, heavy at times, will last most of the day across northern New England. In the wake of the rainfall, areas from Boston, New York, and Albany, southward through Washington, DC and Baltimore, will see afternoon high temperatures near or exceeding record levels as readings soar into the upper 60s and lower 70s.
West of the Appalachians, from Buffalo to Pittsburgh, afternoon highs will be in the 50s. A cold front will approach on Sunday, bringing cooler temperatures, while a new storm system movies up from the south, bringing a chance of rain showers to parts of the Mid-Atlantic. Rain will impact parts of the eastern Mid-Atlantic and eastern New England on Monday, as the storm system moves northeast, while further inland, colder air will allow for a chance of snow showers.
West
A storm system will continue to bring rain, heavy at times, along with strong gusty winds to coastal portions of the Pacific Northwest today. Snow levels will also be dropping, with accumulations over a foot likely, widespread arross of the mountains.
Another storm system will move inland tomorrow, bringing more rain, wind, and snow. Snow will likely be measured in feet across the mountains as continuous heavy snow is expected. As these storm systems move inland over the Pacific Northwest, winds and snow will also be on the increase across parts if the northern Rockies. Winds could become strong and damaging over parts of the mountains today. Over southern California, strong Santa Anna winds will bring and increased fire danger to that area. Winds may also result in damage. Meanwhile, high pressure will dominate the rest of the western states.
South
Dense fog will impact much of the South this morning, in the wake of yesterday's rainfall and severe weather. Visibilities will be reduced at times to below one half of a mile, making for slow morning travel. Cloudy skies will linger into the afternoon hours and a new wave of low pressure takes shape over the northern Gulf. Rain showers will move back into parts of the Gulf Coastal states by afternoon. Afternoon temperatures will be warm at most locations, with readings well into the 60s and 70s. A few temperatures near or exceeding record highs will be possible across parts of the Southeastern states. By Sunday, low pressure will track northeast across the area, spreading rain and thunderstorms across parts of the Mississippi Valley, eastward through the Southern States. This will be followed by high pressure and dry conditions across the entire area by Monday.
Midwest
A cold front moving southeast across the Midwest, will result in slightly cooler temperatures today, with afternoon readings in the 40s. The coldest temperatures will be felt across the northern Plains where afternoon highs will be in the 30s. As a disturbance from the Pacific Northwest moves east across the northern Rockies, gusty winds will develop across the northern Plains today. Clouds will also be on the increase along with a chance for snow showers by late day. Over the next few days, a series of weather disturbances will move across the northern tier, resulting in periods of snow showers and flurries. Colder temperatures can also be expected with afternoon highs in the 20s and 30s. Elsewhere across the Midwest, mainly fair weather conditions can be expected.
REVELATION 17:1-2
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:(VATICAN)
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication,(TALKS) and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Pope says religious leaders must stress spiritual aspect of globalization debate JAN 06,07
VATICAN CITY Pope Benedict says religious leaders of all faiths must play a role in ensuring that spiritual and cultural aspects of life are not forgotten as mankind tackles the challenges of globalization.The pope made the comments today during his homily in an Epiphany Day Mass in St. Peter's Basilica. Benedict says while politicians, scientists and researchers play important roles in the modern world, today, more than ever, it is necessary to place at their side the leaders of the great non-Christian religious traditions, as well as Christian leaders.Benedict appears to be building on a theme often stressed by his predecessor, John Paul, who worried that modernization was coming at the cost of mankind's spiritual dimension.2007 The Associated Press.
Rome to support death penalty moratorium Fri Jan 5, 11:23 PM ET
ROME - Rome will light up the Colosseum on Saturday in support of Italy's push at the United Nations for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty, launched after a wave of denunciations across Europe over Saddam Hussein's execution. Mayor Walter Veltroni said in a statement Friday that the lighting was a signal of hope and an encouragement for Premier Romano Prodi's government, which this week began a diplomatic push to have the issue taken up by the U.N. General Assembly. Rome's Colosseum, once the arena for deadly gladiator combat and executions, has become a symbol of Italy's anti-death penalty stance. Since 1999, the 1st century monument has been bathed in golden light every time a death sentence is commuted somewhere in the world or a country abolishes capital punishment.Italy, which is now one of the rotating members of the U.N. Security Council, has lobbied unsuccessfully in the past for U.N. action against the death penalty.Saddam's execution by hanging on Saturday was denounced virtually across Italy's political spectrum, with former premier and conservative opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi calling the killing a political error and center-left leader Prodi expressing worry that the execution would fuel more violence in Iraq.Italy and all other European Union countries do not permit capital punishment.
Rice, Solana to visit Mideast to push peace process
www.chinaview.cn 2007-01-05 06:30:18
WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana, after his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice here on Thursday, said he will travel to the Middle East this month after Rice to push the Middle East peace
process.We will try to see how we can give a push to the peace process, Solana said. When asked if Rice were optimistic about the prospects for the Middle East peace process, Solana said: I don't think that optimism is the word. We have to stick to the word realism.Solana also had lunch in the White House with Stephen Hadley, the national security adviser of U.S. President George W. Bush.The Middle East peace process has been in a standstill since the militant Hamas won the legislative elections in Palestine early last year. As a result, the U.S.-led West has cut off all contacts as well as aids to the Hamas-led Palestinian government for its refusal to recognize Israel, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East.Editor: Luan Shanglin
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
US imposes sanctions on arms suppliers to Iran, Syria Fri Jan 5, 5:47 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States announced sanctions against 24 foreign entities, including Russian, Chinese and North Korean firms, for allegedly selling banned weapons to Iran and Syria.
The move drew a sharp protest from Moscow.
Russia's state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport was among the highest profile firms hit by the measures, imposed under the 2005 Iran and Syria Nonproliferation Act.
Three Chinese state-run companies, two other Russian firms and a Russian individual as well as entities from Iran, Sudan, Syria, Pakistan, Malaysia and Mexico were hit by the sanctions, published Friday in the US Federal Register.The measures took effect as of December 28, a State Department official said. The government did not specify exactly what sales or transfers to Iran or Syria had prompted the punitive steps.The sanctions law, which dates back to 1999 for Iran and 2005 for Syria, bars US government dealings with companies, governments or individuals caughttransferring missile technology, weapons of mass destruction of advanced conventional arms to the two countries.While the US measures are often largely symbolic, notably when they concern firms in countries such as North Korea, Iran and Syria, they can impact the international dealings of some firms and drew a sharp response Friday from the Russians.The introduction of umpteen sanctions against us is a form of unfair competition targeting our company and all Russia, said Valery Kartavtsev, a spokesman of Rosoboronexport.Rosoboronexport was already hit with US sanctions in August for allegedly providing Iran with equipment that could be used in the development of weapons of mass destruction.Russian aircraft firm Sukhoi was also targetted by those measures, but the sanctions were lifted against the jetmaker in November after angry protests from Moscow.
Kartavtsev told Russian television his company had doubled its arms exports over the past five years, notably with sales to lucrative markets in Latin America.He said Rosoboronexport adhered strictly to international and Russian law and had not yet received any official notification of the sanctions.The deputy chief of another group listed Friday, the Tula Bureau of Studies and Mechanical Construction, said: Our high technology arms deliveries abroad are in strict conformity with Russian and international rules.Vassily Gryazev was quoted by ITAR-TASS news agency as saying the sanctions would only have symbolic value bcause his company had no business links with the US.Vladimir Pekhtin, Deputy Speaker of the Duma, or lower House in Moscow, said the real reason for the sanctions was that the American administration is simply afraid of competition from Russian companies.The other Russian firm cited in the sanctions was the Kolomna Design Bureau of Machine-Building, while one individual, Alexey Safonov, was named without further information given.The targetted Chinese firms were China National Electronic Import-Export Company, China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Company and Zibo Chemet Equipment Company.
Hamas pledges to boost forces in Gaza By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer JAN 06,07
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas defied President Mahmoud Abbas' decree Saturday that its paramilitary unit is illegal, saying it will fight any attempt to disband the force in an increasingly bloody faceoff between the Islamic militant group and Abbas' Fatah party.
Three more Hamas supporters were killed in the factional fighting that is threatening to plunge the Palestinian territories into civil war.Fatah and Hamas have been wrangling over power since the Islamic group defeated Fatah in parliamentary elections a year ago and gained control over most Palestinian government functions.Abbas, who was elected in a separate election, retained his post as president and Fatah continued to dominate security forces. Challenging that position, Hamas formed its own security unit, the Executive Force, last spring, recruiting many former members of the Hamas military wing.Tensions between the rival security forces kept building in the streets until large-scale fighting erupted last month. Since then, more than two dozen people have been killed.
On Saturday, Abbas outlawed the Executive Force. He issued the decree two days after Hamas gunmen stormed the home of a top pro-Fatah security commander in northern Gaza, killing the man and seven bodyguards. It was the deadliest battle yet during the recent wave of infighting.Abbas' office said the decision was made in light of continued security chaos and assassinations of a number of our fighters ... and in light of the failure of existing agencies and security apparatuses in imposing law and order and protecting the security of the citizens.The statement said the Hamas force was outside the law and will be dealt with accordingly as long as it is not immediately folded into legal security forces.Abbas also confirmed that the U.S. is sending aid to boost the Palestinian security forces loyal to him. U.S. officials said Friday that President Bush is asking Congress to provide $83 million for those forces.Abbas claims authority over most Palestinian security forces, but Hamas controls the Interior Ministry, which also has security responsibilities. The various forces were formed more than a decade ago by the late Yasser Arafat as part of his autocratic style of rule in which he created rivalries to keep potential challengers weak.
After years of corruption and fighting with Israel, the forces have become largely ineffective, fueling widespread lawlessness, particularly in the Gaza Strip.In Gaza, Hamas' stronghold, leaders of the group defiantly rejected Abbas' decree.Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Hilal said that Abbas was giving the green light for attacks on Hamas security men and that the unit would deal firmly with anyone who attacks it.
He also announced plans to double the size of the Executive Force, which now has 6,000 men, compared with some 18,000 security men aligned with Fatah.Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas accused Abbas of trying to deepen the rift between the two camps.I'm completely convinced that there are those who don't want the Palestinian scene to enjoy calm and stability or to create the appropriate atmosphere for starting serious and deep dialogue aimed at reaching a national unity government, he said.Abbas, a political moderate, has been urging Hamas to join Fatah in a coalition in hopes of ending international sanctions against the Hamas-led government that have further crippled the Palestinian economy. But months of negotiations broke down in late November, sparking the latest wave of violence.
Abbas wants to restart peace talks with Israel, while Hamas, which is committed to Israel's destruction, refuses to recognize the Jewish state's right to exist.
Previous attempts by Abbas to disband the Hamas militia or integrate it into existing security units failed. Hamas officials said they were open to the integration idea, but only if Abbas announces an extensive overhaul of the current command structure. Abbas' decree said the president plans a reshuffle of commanders, but gave no details. Several days ago, he appointed Brig. Gen. Jamal Kayed, a Fatah loyalist, to head the National Security force in Gaza.
Kayed, a former presidential bodyguard, is believed to have generally good relations with Hamas. Late Saturday, three members of a pro-Hamas family were slain by gunmen from a rival clan considered to be Fatah supporters, witnesses and family members said. The same Fatah family has kidnapped about 10 Hamas supporters in recent days, Hamas officials said. Hamas' radio station in Gaza said one of the dead was a member of the Executive Force. The Palestinian infighting initially was largely confined to Gaza, but in recent days it spread to the West Bank with a series of kidnappings and shootings. On Saturday, gunmen in the West Bank stopped the car of Nablus' deputy mayor, Mahdi al-Khamdali of Hamas, pulled him out and took him away in another car, security officials said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the officials said they believed the kidnappers were Fatah supporters. In Ramallah, gunmen stormed the offices of the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry, shot the office manager in the legs and took him away, security officials said. The man, also a Hamas supporter, was released in a nearby town and hospitalized, the officials said. Shopkeepers in the West Bank city of Hebron closed their stores in a protest action launched at the request of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent group affiliated with Fatah.
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 Jan 7 12:14 AM EDT
SUN QUAKES NONE AS YET
SAT JAN 6,07
MAP 3.7 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 5.1 MINAHASA, SULAWESI, INDONESIA
MAP 2.9 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 2.9 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 3.5 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 3.0 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 3.8 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 3.4 GULF OF ALASKA
MAP 5.1 TONGA
MAP 5.2 SAMAR, PHILIPPINES
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.2 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 4.8 ECUADOR
MAP 2.7 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.9 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
JAN 05,07
MAP 2.8 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.0 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 3.4 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 5.7 SOUTH OF ALASKA
MAP 4.5 FIJI REGION
MAP 4.4 KYUSHU, JAPAN
MAP 4.9 GUAM REGION
MAP 4.8 SOUTH OF THE KERMADEC ISLANDS
MAP 4.3 BANDA SEA
MAP 4.6 PAGAN REGION, NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS
MAP 5.3 NIAS REGION, INDONESIA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.5 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.0 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 NORTHERN ALASKA
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.
Colorado avalanche buries cars JAN 06,07
Colorado has been hit by three snow storms in recent weeks A massive avalanche in the western US state of Colorado has buried cars and swept other vehicles off the road. The avalanche, described by local rescue crews as the largest they had ever seen, struck at the Berthoud Pass, 100km (60 miles) west of Denver. A Colorado transport spokesman told the BBC early reports suggest two cars had been caught up in the avalanche. He said one person was seriously hurt and there were no fatalities reported. At least seven people have been rescued. Even though vehicles were swept off the road, they are not said to be in any danger, however details are still scarce.
The avalanche was described as 100ft (30m) wide and 15ft (4.5m) deep. Three snow storms in recent weeks have dumped more than 4ft of snow on parts of Colorado. The site of the avalanche is on the main route to one of the Colorado's top skiing areas. It happened at late-morning after the bulk of skier traffic had already passed, said Stacey Stegman of the Colorado Department of Transportation. If it would've happened just a couple of hours earlier, this would have been a very different situation, she told CNN.
Brazil's rain-related death toll hits 31 By MICHAEL ASTOR, Associated Press Writer JAN 06,07
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Firefighters recovered the body of a woman whose home was engulfed in a mudslide, and her husband died from injuries Saturday, as the death toll from days of heavy rains in southeast Brazil reached 31. Floods and mudslides have driven thousands of people from their homes over the past week, and more rains were forecast for the weekend.Firefighters retrieved the body of a 62-year-old woman beneath mud that engulfed her hillside home in the city of Novo Friburgo, some 95 miles northeast of Rio de Janeiro. Her husband died of injuries in the hospital, raising the death toll in that city to 12, according to a Civil Defense spokeswoman. Twenty-six people have died in Rio de Janeiro state, about 310 miles northeast of Sao Paulo.Authorities Saturday reported the deaths of two other people in mudslides in Sao Paulo state. On Friday, three people died when a bus skidded out of control, an accident authorities blamed on the heavy rains.
The mudslides and flash floods have forced more than 12,000 people to abandon their homes for shelter in churches, schools, gymnasiums and other public buildings, officials said.Most of the victims were poor people who live in shantytowns built precariously on hillsides.Mudslides are a chronic problem in Rio de Janeiro state during the summer rainy season. Clearing grass and shrubs from the hillsides to make way for shantytowns causes erosion, leaving the communities vulnerable to mudslides.In recent years, the state government has attempted to remove people from the most dangerous hillsides, but people with no access to affordable housing continue to build crude brick houses on the steepest slopes.
Temperatures soar in the Northeast Wayne Verno, Meteorologist, The Weather Channel Sat Jan 6, 10:13 AM ET
Northeast
Low pressure tracking northeast across New England today, will allow the steadier rain to taper to showers and then end across the Mid-Atlantic by afternoon. Rain, heavy at times, will last most of the day across northern New England. In the wake of the rainfall, areas from Boston, New York, and Albany, southward through Washington, DC and Baltimore, will see afternoon high temperatures near or exceeding record levels as readings soar into the upper 60s and lower 70s.
West of the Appalachians, from Buffalo to Pittsburgh, afternoon highs will be in the 50s. A cold front will approach on Sunday, bringing cooler temperatures, while a new storm system movies up from the south, bringing a chance of rain showers to parts of the Mid-Atlantic. Rain will impact parts of the eastern Mid-Atlantic and eastern New England on Monday, as the storm system moves northeast, while further inland, colder air will allow for a chance of snow showers.
West
A storm system will continue to bring rain, heavy at times, along with strong gusty winds to coastal portions of the Pacific Northwest today. Snow levels will also be dropping, with accumulations over a foot likely, widespread arross of the mountains.
Another storm system will move inland tomorrow, bringing more rain, wind, and snow. Snow will likely be measured in feet across the mountains as continuous heavy snow is expected. As these storm systems move inland over the Pacific Northwest, winds and snow will also be on the increase across parts if the northern Rockies. Winds could become strong and damaging over parts of the mountains today. Over southern California, strong Santa Anna winds will bring and increased fire danger to that area. Winds may also result in damage. Meanwhile, high pressure will dominate the rest of the western states.
South
Dense fog will impact much of the South this morning, in the wake of yesterday's rainfall and severe weather. Visibilities will be reduced at times to below one half of a mile, making for slow morning travel. Cloudy skies will linger into the afternoon hours and a new wave of low pressure takes shape over the northern Gulf. Rain showers will move back into parts of the Gulf Coastal states by afternoon. Afternoon temperatures will be warm at most locations, with readings well into the 60s and 70s. A few temperatures near or exceeding record highs will be possible across parts of the Southeastern states. By Sunday, low pressure will track northeast across the area, spreading rain and thunderstorms across parts of the Mississippi Valley, eastward through the Southern States. This will be followed by high pressure and dry conditions across the entire area by Monday.
Midwest
A cold front moving southeast across the Midwest, will result in slightly cooler temperatures today, with afternoon readings in the 40s. The coldest temperatures will be felt across the northern Plains where afternoon highs will be in the 30s. As a disturbance from the Pacific Northwest moves east across the northern Rockies, gusty winds will develop across the northern Plains today. Clouds will also be on the increase along with a chance for snow showers by late day. Over the next few days, a series of weather disturbances will move across the northern tier, resulting in periods of snow showers and flurries. Colder temperatures can also be expected with afternoon highs in the 20s and 30s. Elsewhere across the Midwest, mainly fair weather conditions can be expected.
REVELATION 17:1-2
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:(VATICAN)
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication,(TALKS) and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Pope says religious leaders must stress spiritual aspect of globalization debate JAN 06,07
VATICAN CITY Pope Benedict says religious leaders of all faiths must play a role in ensuring that spiritual and cultural aspects of life are not forgotten as mankind tackles the challenges of globalization.The pope made the comments today during his homily in an Epiphany Day Mass in St. Peter's Basilica. Benedict says while politicians, scientists and researchers play important roles in the modern world, today, more than ever, it is necessary to place at their side the leaders of the great non-Christian religious traditions, as well as Christian leaders.Benedict appears to be building on a theme often stressed by his predecessor, John Paul, who worried that modernization was coming at the cost of mankind's spiritual dimension.2007 The Associated Press.
Rome to support death penalty moratorium Fri Jan 5, 11:23 PM ET
ROME - Rome will light up the Colosseum on Saturday in support of Italy's push at the United Nations for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty, launched after a wave of denunciations across Europe over Saddam Hussein's execution. Mayor Walter Veltroni said in a statement Friday that the lighting was a signal of hope and an encouragement for Premier Romano Prodi's government, which this week began a diplomatic push to have the issue taken up by the U.N. General Assembly. Rome's Colosseum, once the arena for deadly gladiator combat and executions, has become a symbol of Italy's anti-death penalty stance. Since 1999, the 1st century monument has been bathed in golden light every time a death sentence is commuted somewhere in the world or a country abolishes capital punishment.Italy, which is now one of the rotating members of the U.N. Security Council, has lobbied unsuccessfully in the past for U.N. action against the death penalty.Saddam's execution by hanging on Saturday was denounced virtually across Italy's political spectrum, with former premier and conservative opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi calling the killing a political error and center-left leader Prodi expressing worry that the execution would fuel more violence in Iraq.Italy and all other European Union countries do not permit capital punishment.
Rice, Solana to visit Mideast to push peace process
www.chinaview.cn 2007-01-05 06:30:18
WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana, after his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice here on Thursday, said he will travel to the Middle East this month after Rice to push the Middle East peace
process.We will try to see how we can give a push to the peace process, Solana said. When asked if Rice were optimistic about the prospects for the Middle East peace process, Solana said: I don't think that optimism is the word. We have to stick to the word realism.Solana also had lunch in the White House with Stephen Hadley, the national security adviser of U.S. President George W. Bush.The Middle East peace process has been in a standstill since the militant Hamas won the legislative elections in Palestine early last year. As a result, the U.S.-led West has cut off all contacts as well as aids to the Hamas-led Palestinian government for its refusal to recognize Israel, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East.Editor: Luan Shanglin
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
US imposes sanctions on arms suppliers to Iran, Syria Fri Jan 5, 5:47 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States announced sanctions against 24 foreign entities, including Russian, Chinese and North Korean firms, for allegedly selling banned weapons to Iran and Syria.
The move drew a sharp protest from Moscow.
Russia's state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport was among the highest profile firms hit by the measures, imposed under the 2005 Iran and Syria Nonproliferation Act.
Three Chinese state-run companies, two other Russian firms and a Russian individual as well as entities from Iran, Sudan, Syria, Pakistan, Malaysia and Mexico were hit by the sanctions, published Friday in the US Federal Register.The measures took effect as of December 28, a State Department official said. The government did not specify exactly what sales or transfers to Iran or Syria had prompted the punitive steps.The sanctions law, which dates back to 1999 for Iran and 2005 for Syria, bars US government dealings with companies, governments or individuals caughttransferring missile technology, weapons of mass destruction of advanced conventional arms to the two countries.While the US measures are often largely symbolic, notably when they concern firms in countries such as North Korea, Iran and Syria, they can impact the international dealings of some firms and drew a sharp response Friday from the Russians.The introduction of umpteen sanctions against us is a form of unfair competition targeting our company and all Russia, said Valery Kartavtsev, a spokesman of Rosoboronexport.Rosoboronexport was already hit with US sanctions in August for allegedly providing Iran with equipment that could be used in the development of weapons of mass destruction.Russian aircraft firm Sukhoi was also targetted by those measures, but the sanctions were lifted against the jetmaker in November after angry protests from Moscow.
Kartavtsev told Russian television his company had doubled its arms exports over the past five years, notably with sales to lucrative markets in Latin America.He said Rosoboronexport adhered strictly to international and Russian law and had not yet received any official notification of the sanctions.The deputy chief of another group listed Friday, the Tula Bureau of Studies and Mechanical Construction, said: Our high technology arms deliveries abroad are in strict conformity with Russian and international rules.Vassily Gryazev was quoted by ITAR-TASS news agency as saying the sanctions would only have symbolic value bcause his company had no business links with the US.Vladimir Pekhtin, Deputy Speaker of the Duma, or lower House in Moscow, said the real reason for the sanctions was that the American administration is simply afraid of competition from Russian companies.The other Russian firm cited in the sanctions was the Kolomna Design Bureau of Machine-Building, while one individual, Alexey Safonov, was named without further information given.The targetted Chinese firms were China National Electronic Import-Export Company, China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Company and Zibo Chemet Equipment Company.
Hamas pledges to boost forces in Gaza By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer JAN 06,07
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas defied President Mahmoud Abbas' decree Saturday that its paramilitary unit is illegal, saying it will fight any attempt to disband the force in an increasingly bloody faceoff between the Islamic militant group and Abbas' Fatah party.
Three more Hamas supporters were killed in the factional fighting that is threatening to plunge the Palestinian territories into civil war.Fatah and Hamas have been wrangling over power since the Islamic group defeated Fatah in parliamentary elections a year ago and gained control over most Palestinian government functions.Abbas, who was elected in a separate election, retained his post as president and Fatah continued to dominate security forces. Challenging that position, Hamas formed its own security unit, the Executive Force, last spring, recruiting many former members of the Hamas military wing.Tensions between the rival security forces kept building in the streets until large-scale fighting erupted last month. Since then, more than two dozen people have been killed.
On Saturday, Abbas outlawed the Executive Force. He issued the decree two days after Hamas gunmen stormed the home of a top pro-Fatah security commander in northern Gaza, killing the man and seven bodyguards. It was the deadliest battle yet during the recent wave of infighting.Abbas' office said the decision was made in light of continued security chaos and assassinations of a number of our fighters ... and in light of the failure of existing agencies and security apparatuses in imposing law and order and protecting the security of the citizens.The statement said the Hamas force was outside the law and will be dealt with accordingly as long as it is not immediately folded into legal security forces.Abbas also confirmed that the U.S. is sending aid to boost the Palestinian security forces loyal to him. U.S. officials said Friday that President Bush is asking Congress to provide $83 million for those forces.Abbas claims authority over most Palestinian security forces, but Hamas controls the Interior Ministry, which also has security responsibilities. The various forces were formed more than a decade ago by the late Yasser Arafat as part of his autocratic style of rule in which he created rivalries to keep potential challengers weak.
After years of corruption and fighting with Israel, the forces have become largely ineffective, fueling widespread lawlessness, particularly in the Gaza Strip.In Gaza, Hamas' stronghold, leaders of the group defiantly rejected Abbas' decree.Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Hilal said that Abbas was giving the green light for attacks on Hamas security men and that the unit would deal firmly with anyone who attacks it.
He also announced plans to double the size of the Executive Force, which now has 6,000 men, compared with some 18,000 security men aligned with Fatah.Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas accused Abbas of trying to deepen the rift between the two camps.I'm completely convinced that there are those who don't want the Palestinian scene to enjoy calm and stability or to create the appropriate atmosphere for starting serious and deep dialogue aimed at reaching a national unity government, he said.Abbas, a political moderate, has been urging Hamas to join Fatah in a coalition in hopes of ending international sanctions against the Hamas-led government that have further crippled the Palestinian economy. But months of negotiations broke down in late November, sparking the latest wave of violence.
Abbas wants to restart peace talks with Israel, while Hamas, which is committed to Israel's destruction, refuses to recognize the Jewish state's right to exist.
Previous attempts by Abbas to disband the Hamas militia or integrate it into existing security units failed. Hamas officials said they were open to the integration idea, but only if Abbas announces an extensive overhaul of the current command structure. Abbas' decree said the president plans a reshuffle of commanders, but gave no details. Several days ago, he appointed Brig. Gen. Jamal Kayed, a Fatah loyalist, to head the National Security force in Gaza.
Kayed, a former presidential bodyguard, is believed to have generally good relations with Hamas. Late Saturday, three members of a pro-Hamas family were slain by gunmen from a rival clan considered to be Fatah supporters, witnesses and family members said. The same Fatah family has kidnapped about 10 Hamas supporters in recent days, Hamas officials said. Hamas' radio station in Gaza said one of the dead was a member of the Executive Force. The Palestinian infighting initially was largely confined to Gaza, but in recent days it spread to the West Bank with a series of kidnappings and shootings. On Saturday, gunmen in the West Bank stopped the car of Nablus' deputy mayor, Mahdi al-Khamdali of Hamas, pulled him out and took him away in another car, security officials said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the officials said they believed the kidnappers were Fatah supporters. In Ramallah, gunmen stormed the offices of the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry, shot the office manager in the legs and took him away, security officials said. The man, also a Hamas supporter, was released in a nearby town and hospitalized, the officials said. Shopkeepers in the West Bank city of Hebron closed their stores in a protest action launched at the request of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent group affiliated with Fatah.
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