1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-At least six dead in Australia storms.3-Millions suffer as storms in China kill at least 23. 4-Twelve killed, 40,000 trapped in Iran flash floods. 5-Anti-terrorism Convention enters into force. 6-Russia wants freeze on U.S. missile plan. 7-Bush feels awe at Pope who urges Middle East fix. 8-Egyptian girl dies of bird flu virus. 9-The EU in the global economy: perspectives and challenges.
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 Jun 10 12:01 AM EDT
JUNE 9,07
MAP 5.0 SIMEULUE, INDONESIA
MAP 2.5 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.9 COLORADO
MAP 3.0 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 2.8 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 3.1 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.8 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
JUNE 08,07
MAP 3.4 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.4 NORTHERN COLOMBIA
MAP 5.1 NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
MAP 3.7 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.6 PAKISTAN
MAP 5.1 OFFSHORE GUATEMALA
MAP 2.8 MOUNT ST. HELENS AREA, WASHINGTON
MAP 5.9 OFFSHORE GUATEMALA
MAP 5.0 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
MAP 4.7 HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION
MAP 5.0 KEPULAUAN BABAR, INDONESIA
MAP 3.0 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 4.9 SOUTHERN EAST PACIFIC RISE
MAP 4.9 MID-INDIAN RIDGE
MAP 2.5 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 2.6 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.2 MARIANA ISLANDS 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.
At least six dead in Australia storms by Neil Sands
Sat Jun 9, 7:59 AM ET
SYDNEY (AFP) - Six people were confirmed dead and another two were missing on Saturday as wild storms continued to lash Australia's east coast, smashing boats, flooding roads and cutting power to 200,000 homes. The Hunter Valley and Central Coast regions north of Sydney were declared disaster zones after being pounded by gale-force winds and torrential rains for a second day.
Massive seas ran aground at least 12 pleasure craft moored in Sydney Harbour, although fears eased that a massive coal freighter stranded at Newcastle would break up and create an environmental disaster.Police put the official death toll at six, including a couple in their fifties whose car was washed off a bridge.Searchers also found the bodies of four members of a family of five carried away when a highway collapsed.
The four bodies found were an adult female and three children -- a nine-year-old boy, a three-year-old girl and a two-year-old girl. The children's bodies were recovered.Search teams were still looking for one more family member, believed to be an adult male.The Australian Associated Press news agency reported that the adult body found, a 30-year-old woman, was the mother of the children and the missing male, a 30-year-old, was the father.A Newcastle man was also missing after falling down a stormwater drain late Friday, police said.With Australia beginning a long holiday weekend, officials advised motorists to scrap plans to travel to popular tourist spots in the state's north, saying a number of major roads were closed.
Power utility EnergyAustralia said 200,000 homes had no electricity and could remain blacked out until late next week.This is the worst storm and the worst damage our electricity network has seen for more than 30 years, EnergyAustralia network general manager Geoff Lilliss said.Hundreds of people were evacuated as floodwaters rose, including 65 elderly residents of a Central Coast nursing home.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the storm dumped 300 millimetres (12 inches) of rain on some areas, with winds peaking at 120 kilometres per hour (75 miles per hour).It said conditions had eased slightly Saturday morning, granting a reprieve to emergency services struggling to cope with more than 5,000 calls for assistance.But meteorology bureau forecaster Julie Evans said that after causing extensive flooding in Newcastle, the storm was likely to intensify as it moved south towards Sydney before heading out to sea.It will be the sting in the tail in the system before it moves off to the east, she told Sky News.Sydney ferry services were suspended for a second day amid huge swells.
Officials said at least a dozen recreational boats in Sydney Harbour had broken their moorings and run aground and that 30 more needed to be towed to safety, while a beachside wharf collapsed into to sea. But the 30,000-tonne vessel Pasha Bulker, which ran aground Friday when the storm first hit, appeared to be structurally sound and there was no sign that its 800 tonnes of oil and fuel was leaking.
A number of other ships that were also in danger of becoming stranded had managed to steam into deeper waters overnight, officials said. The Pasha Bulker sparked a dramatic rescue Friday as a helicopter braved gale-force winds to pluck its Filipino and Korean crew to safety from the ship's deck.
Millions suffer as storms in China kill at least 23 JUNE 9,07
BEIJING (Reuters) - Rain storms and floods have killed at least 23 people across southern China in recent days and made thousands homeless, Xinhua news agency said on Saturday. Millions of people are suffering, it said.
Storms killed seven people and left four missing in the southern province of Guizhou on Friday and Saturday. Nearly 20,000 hectares (77 sq miles) of cropland were flooded and 3,000 houses destroyed, Xinhua said.In Guangdong province, bordering Hong Kong, heavy rain triggered landslides killing three people and destroying 788 houses and about 1,120 hectares of cropland, Xinhua said.Storms cut off a railway link between Meizhou and Shantou in Guangdong leaving about 1,100 passengers stranded on Friday.In neighboring Guangxi, two people were killed in torrential rain that destroyed 610 homes, Xinhua said, citing flood control authorities.In Guangxi, high school students sitting all-important university entrance exams on Thursday and Friday had to be evacuated as heavy rain submerged their classrooms, Xinhua said.
Storms also broke 29 reservoirs, 362 embankments, 165 roads and forced 59 factories to suspend production, Xinhua quoted Chen Rundong, deputy head of the regional flood control office, as saying.On Friday, Xinhua reported seven deaths and nine injuries on in the Liangshan region of Sichuan province from hailstorms, lightning strikes and landslides. Xinhua did not give details of all the deaths.China's central Hunan province was on high alert after four successive days of rain swelled the Xiangjiang river to 4.6 meters above the warning level and to its highest mark in 20 years, Xinhua said.
We have stepped up our guard against flooding as two more heavy rainstorms are forecast over the next four days, Xinhua quoted Xie Kangsheng, a Hunan government official, as saying.Storms in Hunan had killed three people, left 158,000 homeless and cut off water supplies to 75,000, Xinhua said on Friday.Late last month, lightning, mudslides and floods in Sichuan province killed 43 people, state media reported.China's typhoon season is just getting under way in the south. Experts last month warned that China's Yangtze river could flood badly this year, for the first time since 1998, when floodwaters from the country's longest river killed more than 3,000 people.
Twelve killed, 40,000 trapped in Iran flash floods Sat Jun 9, 6:43 AM ET
TEHRAN (AFP) - Flash floods caused by cyclone Gonu have killed 12 people, injured nine and trapped 40,000 others in southeastern Iran, news reports said Saturday. Based on the latest information gathered, 12 people were killed as the result of floods in Hormozgan and Sistan-Baluchestan provinces, the head of Iran's emergency services, Farzad Panahi, was quoted as saying by the semi official Mehr news agency.He added that more than 3,000 livestock had perished in the southern port town of Jask in Hormozgan province.The Fars news agency, meanwhile, quoted another official as saying that a total of 40,000 villagers are trapped by water in Hormozgan province.
Helicopters have been dispatched to the affected areas, the official said.Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards Air Force said on Friday it had delivered 40 tons of food to the rain-hit port city of Chabahar in Sistan-Baluchestan province.Cyclone Gonu bore down on Oman early Wednesday, creating havoc and leaving at least 49 people dead and another 27 missing before veering towards Iran.
Anti-terrorism Convention enters into force
Friday 8 June 2007
The Council of Europe has announced the official recognition of offences which may lead to acts of terrorism, under the auspices of the Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism, in a move aimed at preventing future attacks.
Brief News:
Following the announcement, on 1 June 2007, that its Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism has entered into force, Council of Europe Secretary-General Terry Davis said: This new weapon provides a robust and effective response to the threat of terrorism. It allows our governments to act early and effectively to stop terrorists before they can carry out their attacks.The Convention is the first international treaty to establish as criminal offences several activities which may lead to acts of terrorism, such as incitement, recruitment and training. It also reinforces international co-operation in the prevention of terrorism by modifying existing arrangements for extradition and mutual assistance.
The Convention was opened for signature at the Third Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe in Warsaw in May 2005. It has served as a precursor to counter-terrorism efforts at the global level and was followed by the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1624(2005), which echoes the Council of Europe's approach to the fight against terrorism. To date, it has been signed by 39 countries, and ratified by seven: Albania, Bulgaria, Denmark, Romania, Russia,
Slovakia, Ukraine.
YOU CAN'T TAKE GOD OUT OF EVERYTHING AND NOT EXPECT A REPLY FROM THE CREATOR (JESUS GOD).
NOTICE GOD USES WIND AS WELL AS NORTHERN NATIONS TO DESTROY POLITICAL BABYLON FOR ITS GODLESSNESS.
JEREMIAH 50:1-3,9 (POLITICAL BABYLON (USA) DESTROYED FROM NORTH COUNTRY RUSSIA,
1 The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
2 Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.
3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
9 For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.(I BELIEVE ITS THE RUSSIA MUSLIM HORDE THAT DESTROY POLITICAL BABYLON).
46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.
JEREMIAH 51:1-8,20-21,24-26,41-43 (POLITICAL BABYLON THE U.S.A)
1 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind;
2 And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.
3 Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.
4 Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets.
5 For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.
6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD’S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.
7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD’S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
20 Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
21 And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;
24 And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD.
25 Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.
26 And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD.
41 How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!
42 The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.
43 Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.
REVELATION 18:1-24 (FINAL DESTRUCTION OF POLITICAL BABYLON)
1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
13 And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
14 And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.
15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
16 And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.
21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.
Russia wants freeze on U.S. missile plan By STEVE GUTTERMAN, Associated Press Writer JUNE 9,07
MOSCOW - Russia's foreign minister urged the United States on Saturday to freeze plans for missile defense installations in eastern Europe during negotiations and warned that the proposal — intended to serve as a buffer against Iran could backfire.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's comments, reported by Russian newsagencies, suggested the Kremlin is unhappy that the United States has continued discussions on its plans to deploy facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic following Russia's counteroffer of joint use of a radar station in Azerbaijan.It's necessary for Washington, at a minimum, to freeze the deployment of missile defense elements in Europe for a period of study and negotiations on the Russian proposal, ITAR-Tass quoted Lavrov as saying.Lavrov also warned that the U.S. missile defense plans could hamper efforts to ease international concerns about Iran's nuclear program, RIA-Novosti reported. The United States has said the missile defense shield is intended to protect against a potential Iranian threat.Lavrov said there was no proof that Iran was seeking to develop nuclear weapons, but that the missile shield could further provoke the Iranian government, which is already facing international sanctions for its disputed atomic program.
The U.S. system calls for a radar screen in the Czech Republic to watch for missile threats, and 10 interceptor rockets in Poland to shoot down any missiles.
Both Bush and Polish President Lech Kaczynski said Friday the system would not threaten Russia. The Kremlin argues that the system would undermine its nuclear deterrent. President Vladimir Putin, who has led Russia's bitter objection to U.S. plans to deploy a missile-defense radar in the Czech Republic and interceptors in Poland, surprised President Bush with the offer of joint use of the radar station in Azerbaijan, which borders Iran.Meeting with Putin on Thursday during a Group of Eight summit in Germany, Bush agreed to consider the proposal. But the Bush administration made clear it was not abandoning plans for a program in Poland and the Czech Republic Cold War-era Soviet satellites that are now in NATO.
Putin added clarity to his offer Friday by suggestion locations for missile interceptors if Azerbaijan were to be used for the radar element, saying they could be placed in Turkey or Iraq, or on sea platforms.Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told The Associated Press on Friday that one does not choose sites for missile defense out of the blue and that it was not yet clear whether Azerbaijan makes any sense in the context of missile defense.
Bush feels awe at Pope who urges Middle East fix By Caren Bohan and Philip Pullella JUNE 9,07
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Saturday he felt awe in the presence of Pope Benedict, who urged the U.S. leader to seek regional and negotiated solution to Middle East conflicts like Iraq. I was talking to a very smart, loving man, Bush said of his first talks with Benedict since he became Pope in 2005.After 6-1/2 years of being a president ... I've been to some unusual places and met some interesting people and I was in awe, Bush told a news conference in Rome. It was a moving experience for me.Addressing the 80-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church as sir, Bush heard the Pope's concerns about the Middle East and the plight of Christians in Iraq and told him of his efforts to combat AIDS and malaria in Africa and hunger and poverty.He told the Pope before reporters about what he called the very strong AIDS initiative at the Group of Eight summit this week which pledged $60 billion to fight diseases ravaging Africa -- although much of that was made up of existing pledges.
A Vatican statement said Benedict and Bush had discussed the Middle East and the Holy See's hope for a regional and negotiated solution to the conflicts that afflict that region.
It's good to be with you sir, Bush said as he sat before the Pontiff's private desk in the Vatican.The two men see eye-to-eye on ethical issues like abortion and euthanasia but differ on the war in Iraq, which Benedict's predecessor, John Paul, tried hard to avert.When the Pope mentioned Bush had come from the G8 summit, Bush said: I did your old country and it was successful ... A lot of different opinions, but it was good.
Asked if his dialogue with Russian leader Vladimir Putin -- closely watched because of a number of sharp disagreements between Russia and the West -- had been good, Bush responded with a smile as reporters were being ushered out of the room.I'll tell you in a minute, he said.
SECURITY FEARS
Bush and his wife Laura, who wore a black veil, took a more circuitous route to the Vatican than usual, which disappointed thousands waiting to see him.It was not clear if this was for security reasons, although 10,000 police were deployed as a precaution in central Rome.Leftists and pacifists opposed to the war in Iraq and the expansion of a U.S. military base in northern Italy took trains to Rome for mass protests likely to echo those at the G8.Many who elected Prime Minister Romano
Prodi's centre-left coalition -- which is critical of U.S. foreign policy -- joined the rally and four communist deputies from Prodi's alliance hung a banner outside parliament that read: No Bush, No War.Bush is the biggest international terrorist. It's a disgrace that the Italian government elected by the votes of pacifists should invite him to this country, said Elio Luppoli, arriving in Rome with about 70
protesters from Milan.
The protest began peacefully but fears it could turn violent were highlighted by the cancellation of Bush's planned visit to Rome's colorful Trastevere quarter, where he was to have met leaders of the Sant'Egidio Roman Catholic community. One of Rome's oldest neighborhoods, its narrow, cobbled alleys would have been awkward for the presidential motorcade. The Sant'Egidio group, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for its work brokering peace and fighting AIDS in Africa, met Bush at the U.S. embassy instead. Bush had warm words for Prodi, despite concern when he came to power a year ago that Italy would no longer be the firm ally it was under his conservative predecessor Silvio Berlusconi. I look forward to seeing Silvio. We took some important decisions together, Bush said at a joint news conference with Prodi. I have known Romano a long time too. He was president of the EU (European Union) in the early part of my presidency.(Additional reporting by Robin Pomeroy, Gavin Jones, Stephen Brown, Toby Zakaria, Deepa Babington, Roberto Landucci, Antonella Ciancio)
Egyptian girl dies of bird flu virus By Cynthia Johnston
Sat Jun 9, 6:18 AM ET
CAIRO (Reuters) - A 10-year-old Egyptian girl who contracted the H5N1 bird flu virus died on Saturday, bringing the number of fatalities from the disease in the most populous Arab country to 15, the health ministry said. The girl, identified as Mayyada Tuhami, is reported to have fallen ill on June 1 after coming into contact with infected household birds but did not enter hospital until roughly a week later, delaying potentially life-saving treatment.
Her case followed a nearly two-month warm weather lull in human bird flu cases in Egypt, where 35 people are known to have contracted the virus since it was first detected in Egyptian poultry in early 2006.The Egyptian health ministry said in a statement that the girl, from the southern town of Qena, had been admitted to hospital on Thursday with a high fever and a pulmonary infection, and was put on an artificial respirator.She died at dawn on Saturday and is considered the 15th death from bird flu in Egypt, the statement said.Bird flu did extensive damage to the country's poultry industry and the economy as a whole after its arrival in Egypt, which has more confirmed human bird flu cases than any other country outside of Asia.
Most of those who have fallen ill in Egypt were reported to have had contact with sick or dead household birds, primarily in northern Egypt where the weather is typically cooler than in the south.
But in a sign of a change in how the disease may be occurring in Egypt, all but two of the past 11 human cases have occurred in central or southern parts of the country.Bird flu experts in Egypt have said they would typically expect fewer human cases of the disease during Egypt's sweltering summer months, and in 2006 there was a summertime lull in human cases between May and October.Experts fear that the bird flu virus might mutate or combine with the highly contagious seasonal influenza virus and spark a deadly pandemic which could circle the globe and kill millions. Around five million households in Egypt depend on poultry as a main source of food and income and the government has said this makes it unlikely the disease can be eradicated. The government still finds it hard to enforce restrictions on the movement and sale of live poultry.
José Manuel Barroso
President of the European Commission
The EU in the global economy: perspectives and challenges - Brussels Economic Forum
Brussels, 31 May 2007 - SPEECH/07/346
Ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you, Klaus Regling, for your kind words. I'd also like to congratulate you and Commissioner Almunia for inviting me to address this 8th Brussels Economic Forum - in a year that marks the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome.Earlier this year, European leaders celebrated this anniversary with a declaration in Berlin. We have reaffirmed their commitment to a project that has paved the way for peace and prosperity in Europe.
And we believe that economic integration is central to this European success story.A gradual elimination of economic barriers over the last half-century, and the adoption of a common currency, have helped to raise living standards, ensure a fairer deal for consumers, create new opportunities for investors and foster closer economic and political ties among Member States. As the Berlin Declaration says, the common market and the euro make us strong.This is particularly true in today's increasingly integrated global economy. Globalisation is bringing new economic and social challenges.
Implementing our framework for macroeconomic stability and our structural reform agenda is essential to deal with these challenges. The renewed economic vigour in the EU offers an excellent window of opportunity for Member States to accelerate their reform efforts. Over the past year, the EU's economic recovery has gone from strength to strength. Real GDP in the EU grew by some 3% last year – its fastest growth rate since 2000.
Employment growth in the EU accelerated to around 1.6% in 2006, creating close to 3.4 million new jobs. Between 2006 and 2008, 9 million new jobs are forecasted. Inflation remained around 2% in 2006 but it came down towards the end of the year as energy prices eased. This positive growth performance partly reflects the current cyclical upturn, of course. But it also suggests that structural reforms are beginning to bear fruit. The fact that in the European Union we offered Member States a common framework for those reforms – through the renewed Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs - is certainly helping this progress towards an improved economic situation in Europe.The employment effect of recent growth has been particularly intense. By February 2007, the unemployment rate had dropped to 7.4%, its lowest level in 15 years.
Labour productivity growth in the EU averaged 1.2% in 2006, compared with an annual average rate of 0.6% between 2001 and 2005. As I said, much of the recent increase is no doubt cyclical in nature.
Yet, taking a longer-term perspective, we have seen real structural gains in the labour and product markets, and the long-term decline in trend productivity seems to have come to a halt. Overall, these developments confirm that the Commission was right to send clear signals in favour of reform, and the urgent need to adjust to a more competitive environment. They also confirm that Member States are now being rewarded for their structural reform efforts.Over the past two decades, the economic environment has undergone a fundamental transformation. The integration of China, India, Russia and other developing or emerging countries into the world economy is bringing new economic and social challenges. Today, China, India and Russia are – in purchasing power parity terms – among the six largest economies in the world together with the EU, the US and Japan. This makes some people uncomfortable. But I believe globalisation presents huge opportunities for EU economies.Firms in the EU now have direct access to new and expanding markets, where purchasing power is increasing rapidly and consumption needs are expanding. Consumers in the EU benefit from cheaper and more diverse goods and services through imports.But globalisation also involves important challenges for European economies.
First, the emergence of India as a global power in services production and the consolidation of China as a manufacturing powerhouse means adapting to new and formidable global competition.
This can be done only by shifting production and trade structures in the EU into new areas of comparative advantage and by moving up the value-added chain.Second, in particular for unskilled labour, the unprecedented growth of the global labour pool might adversely affect incomes and employment, as a result of production relocation and competitive imports. This means investing in our labour force to give them the skills they need to keep up with technological change and innovation. It means shifting the EU further towards a knowledge-based, flexible economy. It means learning to benefit from, and not run away from, technological innovation.Third, there is growing pressure on global resources and the environment. Protecting the environment is essential for the quality of life of current and future generations. The challenge is to combine this with continuing economic growth in a way which is sustainable over the long term. Adapting to all these new challenges – and adapting fast – is essential.
And the European Union has a key role to play in this.The framework and policies of the EU are very powerful tools, not just for responding to the economic challenges of globalisation, but for shaping it, according to our own European interests and values.
First, the Single Market offers European companies unrestricted access to nearly half a billion citizens of the European Union. EU internal competition enables companies in Europe to achieve economies of scale and makes them fit to compete in global markets. Second, as a complement to the Single Market, the single currency acts as an anchor of economic stability and shields us against external shocks and financial turbulence.
Supported by the euro area's weight in the global economy, the euro has emerged as the second most important international currency behind the US dollar.The single currency is now widely used as an anchor or reference currency in foreign exchange arrangements, and as an official reserve currency. Strengthening the external dimension of the euro will bring benefits not only to the euro area, but to the EU as a whole.Third, Economic and Monetary Union – which is the most advanced stage of integration to date – has encouraged sound macroeconomic policies within the EU. Since the euro was launched in 1999, EMU has delivered a high degree of macroeconomic stability, and promoted closer trade and investment ties and deeper financial-market integration in the euro area.
The figures are clear: in the early 1990s, some euro area countries were still suffering from double-digit inflation. Today, inflation is around 2%. The average budget deficit was nearly 6% - in some countries, close to 10%. Today the average is 1.6%, and for 2007 as a whole, we forecast an average deficit of around 1%.These and other benefits represent strong incentives for countries to sign up to the euro. But that is not the full story. As emphasised by EU leaders at this year's Spring European Council, the Lisbon economic reform agenda is critical for boosting growth and jobs in all 27 EU Member States. The relaunched Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs is a step towards major economic adjustment, and establishes a far-reaching programme of reforms. It aims to tackle the broader structural weaknesses of the EU economy by its sharp focus on boosting productivity and raising employment rates. The strategy promotes innovation and investment in human capital, both of which are essential components for a knowledge-based economy.Today, two years after the re-launch of the Lisbon Strategy, my impression is that it has indeed added momentum to Europe's reform process.This process, it's true, has not yet received the credit it deserves. In reality, EU Member States have undertaken wide-ranging reforms in recent years. Reforms have covered some of the most difficult and politically sensitive topics such as the labour market, the welfare state - including pension systems, the liberalisation and deregulation of sheltered markets, and measures to integrate financial markets.
These reforms are intended to strike the right balance between security and flexibility of employment or flexicurity which has already proved such a successful formula for reducing unemployment in several Member States. I really believe it is important to recognise this progress. It is true that not all Member States are making progress at the same rate. But there is now no leader of a Member State of
the European Union who can continue a discourse against the reform process.In addition, our Structural Funds – which encourage economic and social cohesion in the European Union – indirectly help address some of the globalisation challenges. By focusing on bridging the gap between more and less developed regions, and generating new opportunities for economically hit areas, the structural funds promote the successful integration of European regions into the global economy.And to complement this, the EU is also providing assistance for adjustment through its European Globalisation Fund. The Fund acts as a useful shock absorber to the powerful motor of globalisation.
Not to protect uncompetitive jobs, but to protect people - by giving them the help and training they need to get back on the job ladder.But despite the clear progress made so far, there is still huge scope for improvement. To this end – and as we are approaching the 10th anniversary of the euro – we are launching an ambitious programme of studies, under the leadership of Commissioner Almunia, to further our knowledge on how EMU has performed, and to propose concrete measures to make it work even better in the future.We are also currently subjecting the Single Market to a thorough review.We need greater integration of financial markets, as well as a genuine single market for innovation. Other important areas include enhancing competition in services, increasing incentives to work in the welfare system and making labour markets even more adaptable.
The bottom line is to avoid complacency, and to take advantage of the current good economic situation to accelerate, rather than slow down, the pace of structural reforms. But many of the challenges today are global in nature and therefore require global solutions. It is important that we in Europe also focus on the responsibilities that globalisation brings.I think these two things go together. It is impossible to have global solutions with closed minds. We cannot have a protectionist Europe. You cannot be in favour of globalisation and against European integration.EMU and the euro are already delivering macroeconomic stability worldwide, and Europe is fostering closer macroeconomic and regulatory cooperation with new partners as well as with existing ones.
As the world’s biggest trader, the EU is also a leading player in efforts to liberalise world trade. In this respect, a successful conclusion of the Doha round of trade talks is crucial. Open markets benefit Europeans and European business; not only industry and services, but also agriculture – Europe is now a net exporter of agricultural produce to the US. A multilateral trade round is the best way to support businesses with complex supply chains operating in many countries. It is the best way to support the poorest countries. It is the best way to ensure that China continues to develop as an economic giant within a rules-based, multilateral economic system. So at the G8 Summit at Heiligendamm next week, I will urge G8 leaders to send three clear signals:
- of the potential benefits of an ambitious and balanced Doha deal;
- of the need for urgency. We have weeks, not months; and
- of the need for everyone to contribute.
Let me be clear. If this is a negotiation in which Europe pays and others do not, there will be no Doha deal. Europe has put its cards on the table. We are offering substantial cuts in our agricultural and non-agricultural tariffs, and in our farm subsidies. Others have to offer real cuts as well. Real cuts for real cuts. The prize, a Doha deal, is worth going the extra mile. That is my message to the G8. That is what we need in the coming weeks from our main partners.But there are other global responsibilities.
We are also at the forefront of international efforts to promote sustainable development. Energy policy and climate protection have become key objectives, and we intend to make important contributions to both. Let me touch on these briefly.
At their recent Spring meeting, the EU has agreed on an outline for a new Energy Policy for Europe.
Its objectives are:
to increase the security of energy supply;
to ensure the competitiveness of European economies and the availability of affordable energy; and to promote environmental sustainability and combat climate change.
But we all know that bold political declarations are not enough. Therefore, EU leaders also adopted a comprehensive Energy Action Plan, which fixes ambitious, but achievable, targets. The main ones include improving energy efficiency by 20% by 2020, and increasing the share of renewable energies in overall EU energy consumption to 20% by 2020 as well.Sustainable energy policies are not just a
European problem. Therefore, in 2007 the European Commission will propose a new international agreement on energy efficiency.
On climate change, agreement was reached at European Union level an agreement to reduce EU greenhouse gas emissions by 20% in 2020 compared to 1990. In addition, we have made it clear that we will go further, cutting emissions by 30% by 2020, if other developed countries join us. The G8 Summit is an important stepping stone on the way to achieving this global response. The EU will be looking for a strong signal from our G8 partners which could be the key that unlocks further progress later in the year.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Let me conclude. Nowhere is the old proverb there is strength in unity more true than when building a competitive economy for the global market. The framework and policies of the European Union are critical in responding to the challenges of globalisation.I am sure that the next two days of the Brussels Economic Forum will contribute to a better understanding of these challenges and of Europe's role in resolving them. I therefore wish you every success and thank you for your attention.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Saturday, June 09, 2007
PERES FOR ISRAEL PRESIDENT
1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Seven feared missing as storms batter eastern Australia. 3-Severe storms pound Upper Midwest. 4-Flooding threat eases in parts of Western Canada. 5-Report: Olmert signals on Golan Heights. 6-European equities sink amid global equities downturn. 7-Syria ceded part of Golan to Israel in peace talks: Netanyahu. 8-Evangelicals denounce CNN faith and politics forum. 9-Shas Sages Decide: Shimon Peres for President.
EARTHQUAKES
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)
Update time = Sat Jun 9 12:01 AM EDT
JUNE 8,07
MAP 3.1 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 4.9 SOUTHERN EAST PACIFIC RISE
MAP 4.9 MID-INDIAN RIDGE
MAP 2.5 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 2.6 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.2 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
JUNE 7,07
MAP 2.5 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.4 SOUTHERN GREECE
MAP 2.8 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 4.5 LAOS
MAP 2.8 NORTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.7 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.0 RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN
MAP 4.7 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
MAP 4.3 FIJI REGION
MAP 4.5 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS
MAP 6.2 BISMARCK SEA
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.
Seven feared missing as storms batter eastern Australia Fri Jun 8, 5:51 AM ET
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian emergency services on Friday said seven people were feared missing as fierce storms hit the country's east coast, with five swept away when a highway collapsed in torrential rain. The wild weather, including strong winds that forced a huge freighter to run aground north of Sydney, brought flash floods to areas of New South Wales state, cutting roads and resulting in thousands of calls for assistance.The NSW Ambulance Service said a car carrying two adults and two children was swept away when a section of Old Pacific Highway on the Central Coast collapsed after being undermined by a rain-swollen creek.A would-be rescuer who rushed to help was also believed to have been carried away by the raging waters, police said.
In a separate incident, an elderly couple were believed to have been in a car swept off a bridge in the lower Hunter Valley, also north of Sydney.Police said late Friday that they had been forced to call off the search for the couple until daybreak due to bad weather and darkness.
The storms dumped up to 200 millimetres (7.9 inches) of rain and packed winds exceeding 90 km/h (56 mph), with forecasters predicting conditions would worsen Saturday.With Australia entering a holiday long weekend, the NSW State Emergency Services warned motorists against taking to the roads, advising them to cancel non-essential travel.It said 60,000 homes were without power and it was receiving about 250 calls for assistance every hour.
Severe storms pound Upper Midwest By ROBERT IMRIE, Associated Press Writer JUNE 8,07
WAUSAU, Wis. Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes tore through the Upper Midwest on Thursday, damaging homes and a resort, producing baseball-size hail and dropping more than 6 inches of rain in some areas. A twister devastated the Bear Paw Resort near Langlade in northern Wisconsin, and nearby homes might also have been damaged, the Langlade County Sheriff's Department said.The rustic resort, which runs along the Wolf River, allows camping and includes cabins and a kayaking business. There was a report of a kayak slicing through a pine tree.The resort was leveled, said Gina Panzica of Langlade County Rural Fire Control.At least five tornadoes were reported in Wisconsin, and the storms injured at least four people, none seriously, officials said.Hailstones 4 inches wide fell in Wisconsin Rapids, knocking out the windshield of a police car, said Karen Ryun, a dispatcher.
A tornado damaged several lake homes near Elizabeth, in western Minnesota, said Judy Siggerud, dispatch supervisor for Otter Tail County. No injuries were reported.My husband was pulling some lawn furniture off of our deck, when all of a sudden a black cloud came out right in front of us, said Claudia Boelter, who took cover in a neighbor's house. We ran next door, and I looked out their living room window. I could see this cloud that was down on the lake, rotating and pulling water up.
Hail the size of golf balls was reported in parts of Minnesota. Gusty winds knocked out power in parts of the Twin Cities.In North Dakota, where the storms began late Wednesday, heavy rain washed out roads. Bowman County emergency manager Dean Pearson said he had reports of 1 1/2 to 6 1/4 inches of rain overnight.We've got some roads that are washed out and some areas that are still running over the roadway, Pearson said. It's been slow getting started (to assess the damage) because it's so muddy that it's hard to get around.Most of the rain stayed to the west or north of Fargo, which was fighting back the rising Red River, said Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker. The Red River flows northward.Strong winds whipped across Chicago on Thursday, snarling air travel. About 400 flights at O'Hare International Airport were canceled Thursday evening, according to Wendy Abrams, spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Aviation.Associated Press writer Dave Kolpack in Fargo, N.D., contributed to this report.
Flooding threat eases in parts of Western Canada Thu Jun 7, 7:13 PM ET
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Canadian forecasters said flooded rivers in northwest British Columbia rose again on Thursday, but officials said the threat of major problems on the Fraser River east of Vancouver had eased.
Officials said the mountain snow pack that threatened to cause major spring flooding along the Fraser and Thompson rivers has now largely melted, but they remain concerned about potential problems if there are heavy rains.The unusually heavy winter snows had kept British Columbia on edge about flooding for weeks, but only the high levels of the Skeena and Buckley rivers in the northwestern area of the Pacific coast province have caused major problems.
Melting snow has produced the biggest waterflow in the Buckley since officials started keeping records more than 70 years ago, and water levels in both it and the Skeena were expected to continue rising through the weekend.Flooding closed the only major highway through the region to the port city of Prince Rupert, and prompted evacuation orders and alerts in several communities.High water also caused Canadian National Railway Co. to stop service to Prince Rupert, which handles both grain and coal exports. The railway said it was talking to the Canadian Grain Commission about diverting traffic to Vancouver.Passenger rail service along the CN line has also been halted.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
Report: Olmert signals on Golan Heights By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer Fri Jun 8, 4:25 AM ET
JERUSALEM - Israel sent secret messages to Syria recently signaling willingness to give up the captured Golan Heights in return for a peace deal that would require Syria to distance itself from Iran, an Israeli newspaper reported Friday. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had German and Turkish diplomats relay to Syrian President Bashar Assad that Israel is willing to hold direct peace negotiations and give up the strategic plateau, seized in the 1967 Mideast war, the Yediot Ahronot
daily said, quoting officials close to Olmert.Syria did not respond to Olmert's messages, the report said.Assad has recently urged Israel to return to the negotiating table. But he has not publicly indicated a willingness to accommodate Israel's oft-stated insistence that there could be no talks unless Damascus scaled back its ties with Iran, its main ally in the region, and stopped backing Lebanese and Palestinian militants committed to Israel's destruction.Olmert's office had no comment on the Yediot report.
Yediot said President Bush gave Olmert the green light for negotiations with Syria in an hourlong phone conversation last month. The two leaders will further discuss the possibility of talks during their scheduled meeting at the White House on June 19, the report said.A U.S. Embassy spokesman in Tel Aviv was not immediately available for comment on the newspaper report.In the past, Israeli and U.S. officials have said privately that Washington does not want Israel to engage Syria, because of its ties to radical elements and meddling in Lebanon, a former proxy. But the Bush administration is also under pressure from allies, lawmakers and advisers who think Washington should warm ties with Syria in an effort to isolate Iran.Israel and Syria have tried several times in the past to reach a peace accord, which both sides understand would require an Israeli pullout from the Golan. The last round of talks broke down in 2000 over the scope of the withdrawal, and Israel's demand for normalized relations.Relations have steadily deteriorated since.
Syria backed Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas in their war with Israel last summer, and harbors the leadership of the militantly anti-Israel Hamas, which shares power in the Palestinian government.After the Lebanon war, Assad offered to renew negotiations, but Israel dismissed his overtures as a tactic to ease his regime's isolation in the West. But abruptly last week, a senior Israeli official said Olmert
was assessing prospects for renewed talks.It is not clear what drove this change. The flawed war made Olmert too politically weak at home to advance his proposed withdrawal from large swaths of the West Bank. New negotiations with Syria could help to dispel the widespread image in Israel that he has no political agenda.
Alternatively, he might have reached the conclusion that Syria is serious about making peace, or that Israel should not, in principle, rebuff peace overtures.
Reports about possible diplomatic movement on the Syrian front have proliferated over the past week in an atmosphere charged by a recent Syrian military buildup and military preparations on both sides of the border. On Wednesday, Olmert, seeking to ease the volatility, said Israel was interested in peace with Damascus and had no belligerent intentions.Giving back the Golan, which Israel annexed in 1981, is not a popular concept in Israel. The heights dominate much of northern Israel, are adjacent to Israel's largest source of drinking water, and are home to wineries and popular tourism sites.
Olmert's weak domestic standing could make it even more difficult to push a withdrawal ahead if the current diplomatic feelers evolved into something more substantial.A poll by the Teleseker company published in the Maariv newspaper on Friday showed that 84 percent of the 500 Israelis surveyed oppose a full withdrawal from the Golan. Forty-four percent opposed any Golan pullback, according to the poll, which had a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
European equities sink amid global equities downturn JUNE 8,2007
LONDON (AFP) - European stocks sank again on Friday after a sharp round of losses earlier in Asia and overnight in New York, as fears mounted that the global economy could face higher interest rates, dealers said. The falls came as worries over rising inflation and higher credit costs re-focused attention on economic growth and corporate profits, they added.In early European deals on Friday, London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares shed 0.19 percent to 6,492.70 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 lost 0.45 percent to 7,584.32 and in Paris the CAC 40 dipped 0.39 percent to 5,867.35.In the foreign exchange market, the euro dived as low as 1.3352 dollars -- last seen April 10 -- as inflation jitters also prompted investors to consider a possible US rate hike later this year, analysts said.
Wall Street had taken a pounding on Thursday as global interest rate and inflation worries roiled the market, traders said.Japanese share prices also slumped on Friday, slipping below the 18,000-point mark, also after disappointing machinery orders data.Investors track interest rate movements closely because higher borrowing costs increase companies' loan repayments, and they slash the amount of spare cash available for consumers to spend.Interest rates are creeping higher, particularly in the eurozone, where the European Central Bank lifted borrowing costs this week to 4.00 percent.While the Bank of England paused rates at 5.50 percent on Thursday, analysts expect another rate hike in Britain is around the corner.
And although the Federal Reserve has so far kept US interest rates unchanged for a year, it has warned that it stands ready to raise rates if inflation pressures mount.In London on Friday, the mining sector was hit by falling metals prices.Shares in Vedanta Resources plunged 3.19 percent to 1,455 pence, Antofagasta plummeted 1.96 percent to 550.25 pence and BHP Billiton sank 2.0 percent to 1,260.26 pence.In Frankfurt, German steelmaker Thyssenkrupp fell 1.02 percent to 42.67 euros.
In US deals on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down a dramatic 1.48 percent at 13,266.73, marking the third straight day of steep losses.The Nasdaq composite shed a notable 1.77 percent to 2,541.38 and the Standard Poor's 500 index slumped a heavy 1.76 percent to a close of 1,490.72.
Bond prices also took a hit as the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond jumped above five percent amid worries that higher interest rates could squeeze market liquidity.In Asia on Friday, the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Nikkei-225 index of leading shares tumbled 1.52 percent to close at 17,779.09 points. Hong Kong's key Hang Seng index closed down 1.40 percent at 20,509.15.
Syria ceded part of Golan to Israel in peace talks: Netanyahu Thu Jun 7, 3:04 PM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad said during secret peace talks in the 1990s he was ready to leave a strategic Golan Heights stronghold under Israeli control, ex-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday. People don't know that Assad ceded the Hermon, Netanyahu told the private Radius 100FM radio station, referring to a strategic mountain in the northern Golan plateau which Israel captured 40 years ago during the Six Day War and annexed in 1981.I told him I have a pre-condition, that's what I told him, I have a pre-condition -- the Hermon.
He asked me 'why do need this pre-condition? and I said 'because the Iranian threat... there is a threat from Iran, and I need to have eyes looking east. And he gave me the Hermon, the hawkish MP said. Netanyahu held indirect peace talks with Assad -- the father of current Syrian President Bashar al-Assad -- between 1998 and 1999, but they did not materialise into a peace treaty.Syria has demanded Israel's complete withdrawal to pre-1967 borders in any peace agreement.US-brokered peace talks between Israel and Syria later collapsed in 2000 after the sides failed to agree on the extent of Israel's withdrawal from the Golan.Netanyahu's statements came amid heightened tensions between Israel and Syria, with both sides declaring their willingness to hold peace talks but also warning of possible war.Earlier on Thursday, a Syrian official said Damascus would like to resume peace negotiations with Israel, a day after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said it did not want to go to war with its arch-foe.
The lukewarm left Democrats and CNN are trying to make the GODLESS Democrats seem like Christians so they get the Christian vote. Don't get conned into this bias malarky.
Evangelicals denounce CNN faith and politics forum
Jim Brown OneNewsNow.com June 7, 2007
Conservative evangelicals are criticizing a recent forum that featured Democratic presidential candidates John Edwards, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton. The head of the National Clergy Council says the CNN special, sponsored by the group Sojourners, tried to portray the three Democrats as being compatible with evangelical beliefs, practices, and politics.
A day after the Faith, Values and Politics forum on Monday, Pastor Rob Schenck moderated a roundtable discussion at the National Press Club called Evangelicals in '08: United or Divided? The event featured panelists who presented historical Christian positions on social and moral issues -- individuals such as theologian Dr. Norm Geisler, Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver, and constitutional attorney Bernard Reese.
In contrast, Schenck contends that the Sojourners panelists who asked questions of Edwards, Obama, and Clinton do not hold mainstream evangelical values.Through carefully crafted questions and the responses -- mostly rehearsed -- of the candidates, the sponsoring group hoped to convince who knows who' that issues like world poverty and corporate CEO compensation packages trump the sanctity of human life, the sanctity of marriage and the family, and the public acknowledgement of God, Schenck declared.
Schenck said CNN and Sojourners conspired to create a fictional class of Christians -- so-called liberal evangelicals.Sojourners and their favorite candidates want us to change, to adapt, to a more popular, more acceptable, more congenial list of priorities, the National Clergy Council leader stated.
But Jesus warned, woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you for so did their fathers to the false prophets.Schenck sarcastically referred to the Sojourners forum as the religious revival with Brother Barack, Sister Hillary, and Deacon John.American Family News Network
IF PERES GETS ELECTED FOR SURE PROPHECY OF LAND FOR PEACE WILL BE DONE AND JERUSALEM WILL BE DIVIDED WHICH WILL BRING IN THE LAST 7 YRS OF DANIELS 9:24-27 PROPHECY. AND HELL ON EARTH AS THE EU DICTATOR CONTROLS THE WORLD FOR THE LAST HALF OF THE 7 YEAR TREATY. HES A FALSE PEACE MAKER FOR THE 1ST HALF OF THE 7 YR TREATY.
Shas Sages Decide: Shimon Peres for President
by Hana Levi Julian (INN) JUNE 8,07
The Council of Torah Sages leading the Sephardic religious Shas Party decided Thursday night, in a unanimous vote, to throw its support behind Kadima’s Vice Premier Shimon Peres in his run to become the next president of Israel. The party’s spiritual leader, former Chief Sephardic Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, is joined on the Council by three other rabbis: Rabbis Shalom Cohen, Shimon Baadani and Moshe Maya. The latter two were unable to appear in person and voted instead by phone. The Shas Party Chairman and Minister of Industry and Trade, Eli Yishai, and cabinet minister Ariel Atlas were also present. Rabbi Yosef had been pressured by various people in recent days to support Peres's main opponent in the race, ex-Knesset Speaker Reuven (Ruby) Rivlin, who is also a close friend of the party leadership. The statement issued by the Council following the meeting reflected the dilemma: The High Council has decided to support the Vice Premier. We instruct all Shas faction MKs to vote for Mr. Shimon Peres as president of the state and we wish him luck in his position for the State of Israel. We also honor and respect our dear friend Reuven Rivlin and appreciate him, and wish for him to rise upwards and upwards.That honor and respect does not extend to choosing him as president, however.
Sources said that several Shas MKs have quietly expressed their intent to vote according to their conscience, and not necessarily with the party line. At the end of the day, said one, who asked not to be named, the vote is carried out by secret ballot. I will do what I have to do, and so will others.
Many hareidi-religious communities are fiercely opposed to any support for Mr. Peres. A group called The Committee for Jewish Holiness has plastered hareidi religious neighborhoods in numerous communities with posters listing anti-Jewish statements made by Mr. Peres in the past. A list of those, plus several others, includes:
- The economic and social situation in Israel is outstanding. (Israel Radio interview, March 17, 2007)
- [Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is] one of the best prime ministers that there has been. (Israel Radio interview, March 17, 2007)
- We see eye to eye with [Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud] Abbas, because he is really for peace… (Media With Conscience interview, January 31, 2007)
- What King David did was not Jewish. (Yediot Acharonot, February 15, 1994)
- I believe it is fitting that the [Nobel Peace] prize has been awarded to [PLO Chairman and arch terrorist] Yasser Arafat. His quitting the path of confrontation in favor of the path of dialogue has opened the way to peace between ourselves and the Palestinian people… (Speech upon accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, Oslo, December 10, 1994)
- The rabbis are deceivers. (Yediot Acharonot, April 15, 1990)
- There is nothing to be proud of in Jewish history. (UNESCO conference 1990)
Thursday night's statement of support for Mr. Pers by the Shas Council of Torah Sages included a line that said the party’s rabbinical leadership had chosen Mr. Peres for his contributions to Judaism.
EARTHQUAKES
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)
Update time = Sat Jun 9 12:01 AM EDT
JUNE 8,07
MAP 3.1 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 4.9 SOUTHERN EAST PACIFIC RISE
MAP 4.9 MID-INDIAN RIDGE
MAP 2.5 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 2.6 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.2 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
JUNE 7,07
MAP 2.5 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.4 SOUTHERN GREECE
MAP 2.8 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 4.5 LAOS
MAP 2.8 NORTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.7 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.0 RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN
MAP 4.7 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
MAP 4.3 FIJI REGION
MAP 4.5 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS
MAP 6.2 BISMARCK SEA
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.
Seven feared missing as storms batter eastern Australia Fri Jun 8, 5:51 AM ET
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian emergency services on Friday said seven people were feared missing as fierce storms hit the country's east coast, with five swept away when a highway collapsed in torrential rain. The wild weather, including strong winds that forced a huge freighter to run aground north of Sydney, brought flash floods to areas of New South Wales state, cutting roads and resulting in thousands of calls for assistance.The NSW Ambulance Service said a car carrying two adults and two children was swept away when a section of Old Pacific Highway on the Central Coast collapsed after being undermined by a rain-swollen creek.A would-be rescuer who rushed to help was also believed to have been carried away by the raging waters, police said.
In a separate incident, an elderly couple were believed to have been in a car swept off a bridge in the lower Hunter Valley, also north of Sydney.Police said late Friday that they had been forced to call off the search for the couple until daybreak due to bad weather and darkness.
The storms dumped up to 200 millimetres (7.9 inches) of rain and packed winds exceeding 90 km/h (56 mph), with forecasters predicting conditions would worsen Saturday.With Australia entering a holiday long weekend, the NSW State Emergency Services warned motorists against taking to the roads, advising them to cancel non-essential travel.It said 60,000 homes were without power and it was receiving about 250 calls for assistance every hour.
Severe storms pound Upper Midwest By ROBERT IMRIE, Associated Press Writer JUNE 8,07
WAUSAU, Wis. Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes tore through the Upper Midwest on Thursday, damaging homes and a resort, producing baseball-size hail and dropping more than 6 inches of rain in some areas. A twister devastated the Bear Paw Resort near Langlade in northern Wisconsin, and nearby homes might also have been damaged, the Langlade County Sheriff's Department said.The rustic resort, which runs along the Wolf River, allows camping and includes cabins and a kayaking business. There was a report of a kayak slicing through a pine tree.The resort was leveled, said Gina Panzica of Langlade County Rural Fire Control.At least five tornadoes were reported in Wisconsin, and the storms injured at least four people, none seriously, officials said.Hailstones 4 inches wide fell in Wisconsin Rapids, knocking out the windshield of a police car, said Karen Ryun, a dispatcher.
A tornado damaged several lake homes near Elizabeth, in western Minnesota, said Judy Siggerud, dispatch supervisor for Otter Tail County. No injuries were reported.My husband was pulling some lawn furniture off of our deck, when all of a sudden a black cloud came out right in front of us, said Claudia Boelter, who took cover in a neighbor's house. We ran next door, and I looked out their living room window. I could see this cloud that was down on the lake, rotating and pulling water up.
Hail the size of golf balls was reported in parts of Minnesota. Gusty winds knocked out power in parts of the Twin Cities.In North Dakota, where the storms began late Wednesday, heavy rain washed out roads. Bowman County emergency manager Dean Pearson said he had reports of 1 1/2 to 6 1/4 inches of rain overnight.We've got some roads that are washed out and some areas that are still running over the roadway, Pearson said. It's been slow getting started (to assess the damage) because it's so muddy that it's hard to get around.Most of the rain stayed to the west or north of Fargo, which was fighting back the rising Red River, said Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker. The Red River flows northward.Strong winds whipped across Chicago on Thursday, snarling air travel. About 400 flights at O'Hare International Airport were canceled Thursday evening, according to Wendy Abrams, spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Aviation.Associated Press writer Dave Kolpack in Fargo, N.D., contributed to this report.
Flooding threat eases in parts of Western Canada Thu Jun 7, 7:13 PM ET
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Canadian forecasters said flooded rivers in northwest British Columbia rose again on Thursday, but officials said the threat of major problems on the Fraser River east of Vancouver had eased.
Officials said the mountain snow pack that threatened to cause major spring flooding along the Fraser and Thompson rivers has now largely melted, but they remain concerned about potential problems if there are heavy rains.The unusually heavy winter snows had kept British Columbia on edge about flooding for weeks, but only the high levels of the Skeena and Buckley rivers in the northwestern area of the Pacific coast province have caused major problems.
Melting snow has produced the biggest waterflow in the Buckley since officials started keeping records more than 70 years ago, and water levels in both it and the Skeena were expected to continue rising through the weekend.Flooding closed the only major highway through the region to the port city of Prince Rupert, and prompted evacuation orders and alerts in several communities.High water also caused Canadian National Railway Co. to stop service to Prince Rupert, which handles both grain and coal exports. The railway said it was talking to the Canadian Grain Commission about diverting traffic to Vancouver.Passenger rail service along the CN line has also been halted.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
Report: Olmert signals on Golan Heights By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer Fri Jun 8, 4:25 AM ET
JERUSALEM - Israel sent secret messages to Syria recently signaling willingness to give up the captured Golan Heights in return for a peace deal that would require Syria to distance itself from Iran, an Israeli newspaper reported Friday. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had German and Turkish diplomats relay to Syrian President Bashar Assad that Israel is willing to hold direct peace negotiations and give up the strategic plateau, seized in the 1967 Mideast war, the Yediot Ahronot
daily said, quoting officials close to Olmert.Syria did not respond to Olmert's messages, the report said.Assad has recently urged Israel to return to the negotiating table. But he has not publicly indicated a willingness to accommodate Israel's oft-stated insistence that there could be no talks unless Damascus scaled back its ties with Iran, its main ally in the region, and stopped backing Lebanese and Palestinian militants committed to Israel's destruction.Olmert's office had no comment on the Yediot report.
Yediot said President Bush gave Olmert the green light for negotiations with Syria in an hourlong phone conversation last month. The two leaders will further discuss the possibility of talks during their scheduled meeting at the White House on June 19, the report said.A U.S. Embassy spokesman in Tel Aviv was not immediately available for comment on the newspaper report.In the past, Israeli and U.S. officials have said privately that Washington does not want Israel to engage Syria, because of its ties to radical elements and meddling in Lebanon, a former proxy. But the Bush administration is also under pressure from allies, lawmakers and advisers who think Washington should warm ties with Syria in an effort to isolate Iran.Israel and Syria have tried several times in the past to reach a peace accord, which both sides understand would require an Israeli pullout from the Golan. The last round of talks broke down in 2000 over the scope of the withdrawal, and Israel's demand for normalized relations.Relations have steadily deteriorated since.
Syria backed Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas in their war with Israel last summer, and harbors the leadership of the militantly anti-Israel Hamas, which shares power in the Palestinian government.After the Lebanon war, Assad offered to renew negotiations, but Israel dismissed his overtures as a tactic to ease his regime's isolation in the West. But abruptly last week, a senior Israeli official said Olmert
was assessing prospects for renewed talks.It is not clear what drove this change. The flawed war made Olmert too politically weak at home to advance his proposed withdrawal from large swaths of the West Bank. New negotiations with Syria could help to dispel the widespread image in Israel that he has no political agenda.
Alternatively, he might have reached the conclusion that Syria is serious about making peace, or that Israel should not, in principle, rebuff peace overtures.
Reports about possible diplomatic movement on the Syrian front have proliferated over the past week in an atmosphere charged by a recent Syrian military buildup and military preparations on both sides of the border. On Wednesday, Olmert, seeking to ease the volatility, said Israel was interested in peace with Damascus and had no belligerent intentions.Giving back the Golan, which Israel annexed in 1981, is not a popular concept in Israel. The heights dominate much of northern Israel, are adjacent to Israel's largest source of drinking water, and are home to wineries and popular tourism sites.
Olmert's weak domestic standing could make it even more difficult to push a withdrawal ahead if the current diplomatic feelers evolved into something more substantial.A poll by the Teleseker company published in the Maariv newspaper on Friday showed that 84 percent of the 500 Israelis surveyed oppose a full withdrawal from the Golan. Forty-four percent opposed any Golan pullback, according to the poll, which had a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
European equities sink amid global equities downturn JUNE 8,2007
LONDON (AFP) - European stocks sank again on Friday after a sharp round of losses earlier in Asia and overnight in New York, as fears mounted that the global economy could face higher interest rates, dealers said. The falls came as worries over rising inflation and higher credit costs re-focused attention on economic growth and corporate profits, they added.In early European deals on Friday, London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares shed 0.19 percent to 6,492.70 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 lost 0.45 percent to 7,584.32 and in Paris the CAC 40 dipped 0.39 percent to 5,867.35.In the foreign exchange market, the euro dived as low as 1.3352 dollars -- last seen April 10 -- as inflation jitters also prompted investors to consider a possible US rate hike later this year, analysts said.
Wall Street had taken a pounding on Thursday as global interest rate and inflation worries roiled the market, traders said.Japanese share prices also slumped on Friday, slipping below the 18,000-point mark, also after disappointing machinery orders data.Investors track interest rate movements closely because higher borrowing costs increase companies' loan repayments, and they slash the amount of spare cash available for consumers to spend.Interest rates are creeping higher, particularly in the eurozone, where the European Central Bank lifted borrowing costs this week to 4.00 percent.While the Bank of England paused rates at 5.50 percent on Thursday, analysts expect another rate hike in Britain is around the corner.
And although the Federal Reserve has so far kept US interest rates unchanged for a year, it has warned that it stands ready to raise rates if inflation pressures mount.In London on Friday, the mining sector was hit by falling metals prices.Shares in Vedanta Resources plunged 3.19 percent to 1,455 pence, Antofagasta plummeted 1.96 percent to 550.25 pence and BHP Billiton sank 2.0 percent to 1,260.26 pence.In Frankfurt, German steelmaker Thyssenkrupp fell 1.02 percent to 42.67 euros.
In US deals on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down a dramatic 1.48 percent at 13,266.73, marking the third straight day of steep losses.The Nasdaq composite shed a notable 1.77 percent to 2,541.38 and the Standard Poor's 500 index slumped a heavy 1.76 percent to a close of 1,490.72.
Bond prices also took a hit as the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond jumped above five percent amid worries that higher interest rates could squeeze market liquidity.In Asia on Friday, the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Nikkei-225 index of leading shares tumbled 1.52 percent to close at 17,779.09 points. Hong Kong's key Hang Seng index closed down 1.40 percent at 20,509.15.
Syria ceded part of Golan to Israel in peace talks: Netanyahu Thu Jun 7, 3:04 PM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad said during secret peace talks in the 1990s he was ready to leave a strategic Golan Heights stronghold under Israeli control, ex-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday. People don't know that Assad ceded the Hermon, Netanyahu told the private Radius 100FM radio station, referring to a strategic mountain in the northern Golan plateau which Israel captured 40 years ago during the Six Day War and annexed in 1981.I told him I have a pre-condition, that's what I told him, I have a pre-condition -- the Hermon.
He asked me 'why do need this pre-condition? and I said 'because the Iranian threat... there is a threat from Iran, and I need to have eyes looking east. And he gave me the Hermon, the hawkish MP said. Netanyahu held indirect peace talks with Assad -- the father of current Syrian President Bashar al-Assad -- between 1998 and 1999, but they did not materialise into a peace treaty.Syria has demanded Israel's complete withdrawal to pre-1967 borders in any peace agreement.US-brokered peace talks between Israel and Syria later collapsed in 2000 after the sides failed to agree on the extent of Israel's withdrawal from the Golan.Netanyahu's statements came amid heightened tensions between Israel and Syria, with both sides declaring their willingness to hold peace talks but also warning of possible war.Earlier on Thursday, a Syrian official said Damascus would like to resume peace negotiations with Israel, a day after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said it did not want to go to war with its arch-foe.
The lukewarm left Democrats and CNN are trying to make the GODLESS Democrats seem like Christians so they get the Christian vote. Don't get conned into this bias malarky.
Evangelicals denounce CNN faith and politics forum
Jim Brown OneNewsNow.com June 7, 2007
Conservative evangelicals are criticizing a recent forum that featured Democratic presidential candidates John Edwards, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton. The head of the National Clergy Council says the CNN special, sponsored by the group Sojourners, tried to portray the three Democrats as being compatible with evangelical beliefs, practices, and politics.
A day after the Faith, Values and Politics forum on Monday, Pastor Rob Schenck moderated a roundtable discussion at the National Press Club called Evangelicals in '08: United or Divided? The event featured panelists who presented historical Christian positions on social and moral issues -- individuals such as theologian Dr. Norm Geisler, Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver, and constitutional attorney Bernard Reese.
In contrast, Schenck contends that the Sojourners panelists who asked questions of Edwards, Obama, and Clinton do not hold mainstream evangelical values.Through carefully crafted questions and the responses -- mostly rehearsed -- of the candidates, the sponsoring group hoped to convince who knows who' that issues like world poverty and corporate CEO compensation packages trump the sanctity of human life, the sanctity of marriage and the family, and the public acknowledgement of God, Schenck declared.
Schenck said CNN and Sojourners conspired to create a fictional class of Christians -- so-called liberal evangelicals.Sojourners and their favorite candidates want us to change, to adapt, to a more popular, more acceptable, more congenial list of priorities, the National Clergy Council leader stated.
But Jesus warned, woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you for so did their fathers to the false prophets.Schenck sarcastically referred to the Sojourners forum as the religious revival with Brother Barack, Sister Hillary, and Deacon John.American Family News Network
IF PERES GETS ELECTED FOR SURE PROPHECY OF LAND FOR PEACE WILL BE DONE AND JERUSALEM WILL BE DIVIDED WHICH WILL BRING IN THE LAST 7 YRS OF DANIELS 9:24-27 PROPHECY. AND HELL ON EARTH AS THE EU DICTATOR CONTROLS THE WORLD FOR THE LAST HALF OF THE 7 YEAR TREATY. HES A FALSE PEACE MAKER FOR THE 1ST HALF OF THE 7 YR TREATY.
Shas Sages Decide: Shimon Peres for President
by Hana Levi Julian (INN) JUNE 8,07
The Council of Torah Sages leading the Sephardic religious Shas Party decided Thursday night, in a unanimous vote, to throw its support behind Kadima’s Vice Premier Shimon Peres in his run to become the next president of Israel. The party’s spiritual leader, former Chief Sephardic Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, is joined on the Council by three other rabbis: Rabbis Shalom Cohen, Shimon Baadani and Moshe Maya. The latter two were unable to appear in person and voted instead by phone. The Shas Party Chairman and Minister of Industry and Trade, Eli Yishai, and cabinet minister Ariel Atlas were also present. Rabbi Yosef had been pressured by various people in recent days to support Peres's main opponent in the race, ex-Knesset Speaker Reuven (Ruby) Rivlin, who is also a close friend of the party leadership. The statement issued by the Council following the meeting reflected the dilemma: The High Council has decided to support the Vice Premier. We instruct all Shas faction MKs to vote for Mr. Shimon Peres as president of the state and we wish him luck in his position for the State of Israel. We also honor and respect our dear friend Reuven Rivlin and appreciate him, and wish for him to rise upwards and upwards.That honor and respect does not extend to choosing him as president, however.
Sources said that several Shas MKs have quietly expressed their intent to vote according to their conscience, and not necessarily with the party line. At the end of the day, said one, who asked not to be named, the vote is carried out by secret ballot. I will do what I have to do, and so will others.
Many hareidi-religious communities are fiercely opposed to any support for Mr. Peres. A group called The Committee for Jewish Holiness has plastered hareidi religious neighborhoods in numerous communities with posters listing anti-Jewish statements made by Mr. Peres in the past. A list of those, plus several others, includes:
- The economic and social situation in Israel is outstanding. (Israel Radio interview, March 17, 2007)
- [Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is] one of the best prime ministers that there has been. (Israel Radio interview, March 17, 2007)
- We see eye to eye with [Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud] Abbas, because he is really for peace… (Media With Conscience interview, January 31, 2007)
- What King David did was not Jewish. (Yediot Acharonot, February 15, 1994)
- I believe it is fitting that the [Nobel Peace] prize has been awarded to [PLO Chairman and arch terrorist] Yasser Arafat. His quitting the path of confrontation in favor of the path of dialogue has opened the way to peace between ourselves and the Palestinian people… (Speech upon accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, Oslo, December 10, 1994)
- The rabbis are deceivers. (Yediot Acharonot, April 15, 1990)
- There is nothing to be proud of in Jewish history. (UNESCO conference 1990)
Thursday night's statement of support for Mr. Pers by the Shas Council of Torah Sages included a line that said the party’s rabbinical leadership had chosen Mr. Peres for his contributions to Judaism.
Friday, June 08, 2007
POSSIBLE TROOPS IN GAZA - SOLANO
1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Cyclone Gonu blamed for 15 deaths. 3-Drought prompts LA mayor to urge cut in water use. 4-North Korea fires missiles off coast. 5-Merkel: G-8 agreement on climate change. 6-Palestinians want to import weapons. 7-One Third of Americans Say Bible is Literal Word of God. 8-Strength in numbers. 9-Knesset Moves to Ban Gay March in Jerusalem. 10-Syria ready for war. 11-EU's Solana says Gaza force a possibility.
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 = Thu Jun 7 17:39:06 UTC 2007
JUNE 7,07
MAP 2.8 NORTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.7 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.1 RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN
MAP 4.7 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
MAP 4.3 FIJI REGION
MAP 4.5 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS
MAP 6.2 BISMARCK SEA
MAP 3.1 CENTRAL ALASKA
JUNE 6,07
MAP 5.2 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
MAP 3.1 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 4.8 KYUSHU, JAPAN
MAP 5.8 BANDA SEA
MAP 5.1 KYRGYZSTAN
MAP 2.9 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.1 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.6 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 2.6 OFFSHORE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.0 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
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.
Cyclone Gonu blamed for 15 deaths By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer
Thu Jun 7, 6:38 AM ET
MUSCAT, Oman - Semi-trucks were trapped in flooded highways here Thursday after Cyclone Gonu battered Oman's coast on its path toward the world's most important crude oil tanker route. At least 15 storm-related deaths were reported. But as the cyclone a rarity in the Middle East headed from Oman to the southeastern Iranian coast, it continued to lose steam, dropping off to tropical storm strength early Thursday, according to the U.S. military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center.The center predicted Gonu would make landfall on the southeastern Iranian coast late Thursday. But it was likely to spare Iran's offshore oil installations that lie more than 120 miles to the west, the center and oil officials said.
At least 12 people were killed from the storm in Oman, including members of police rescue squads, and others were reported missing, said Oman Royal Police spokesman Abdullah al-Harthi. He did not provide further details.Across the Gulf of Oman, Iranian state television reported that a resident of the port city of Bandar Abbas was killed in a car accident Wednesday due to low visibility from the storm.Two provincial government workers bringing emergency supplies to a flooded area also were killed when a river overflowed and flipped their truck in Jask, a town 155 miles southeast of Bandar Abbas, state TV's Web site said.The storm caused little damage to Oman's relatively small oil fields. But raging seas had prevented tankers from sailing from Omani ports, effectively shutting down the country's oil exports, said Nasser bin Khamis al-Jashimi of the Ministry of Oil and Gas.
Authorities also closed all operations at the port of Sohar and evacuated 11,000 workers, port spokesman Dirk Jan De Vink said.To the north, the port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates reopened Thursday after it suspended all refueling and ship-to-ship supply operations at the world's third-largest shipping fuel center.A few ships sailed through the nearby Strait of Hormuz despite 4- to 6-foot swells and strong winds, Suresh Nair of the Gulf Agency Co. shipping firm said Wednesday.
About one-fifth of the world's oil passes through the narrow waterway at the entrance to the Persian Gulf.About 17-21 million barrels a day of oil are coming out of the Persian Gulf. Even if only some of the tankers are delayed, that could reduce the supply of oil and increase prices, said Manouchehr Takin, an analyst at the Center for Global Energy Studies in London.But Tim Evans, an analyst at Citigroup Global Markets, said the storm shouldn't have a major impact on prices because while it may delay oil shipments, they eventually will get to their destinations.On Thursday, the storm sustained winds of 41 mph, less than half its strength of 95 mph just 24 hours earlier, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. It was centered about 98 miles north of Muscat and was projected to weaken over the next several hours to as it moves through the Gulf of Oman toward Iran.Even with the weaker wind speeds, Gonu which means a bag made of palm leaves in the language of the Maldives is believed to be the strongest cyclone here since record-keeping started in 1945.In the capital, Muscat, highways and yards were flooded, and downed trees and power lines were scattered in the high waters. Residents washed cars in the flooded streets, while others snapped pictures.
The capital Muscat became a lake, the police spokesman al-Harthi told Oman TV.In coastal city of Sohar west of Muscat, violent waves continued to crash the shore as several residents returned to their homes Thursday after being evacuated.We all went to the school last night, and I came back to look at the house. Twice the water came into my house, and maybe the tide will come in again, said fisherman Salem Hassan al-Mukblai, 40, as he and his two sons tried to tie a downed fruit tree to a fence surrounding their house. Shareefa bint Khalfan, Omani minister of social development, said more than 20,000 people were evacuated Wednesday and housed in government-provided dwellings stocked with medicine and supplies. Oman's eastern provinces have been cut off, with heavy rains making the roads unusable and communication lines severed. In Iran, authorities evacuated hundreds of people living in the port city of Chabahr on the coast of the Gulf of Oman, believed to be next in the cyclone's path. But the heavy storm, which caused trees to fall and windows to smash, eased Thursday morning, subsiding into light rain and wind. Thanks to God, people are back in the bazaars and streets of the city, said Abbas Jafari, a 47-year-old taxi driver. Yesterday was terrible. I had never seen such a storm in my life.Iran's state broadcasting company said on its Web site that some small villages in Sistan and Baluchistan province, on the Gulf of Oman, were still encircled by floods and authorities used helicopters to drop emergency supplies to them.
The storm affected power and telephone lines elsewhere in the province, but caused no major damage, provincial governor Habibollah Dehmardeh told the official IRNA news agency.
As a precaution, the Bandar Abbas oil refinery, which supplies the local petroleum market, closed jetties that receive oil from tankers, the Web site of Iran's Oil Ministry reported. The refinery was working as usual Thursday, the report said. Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, Hassan Sarbakhshian in Bandar Abbas, Iran and Kareem Shaheen in Dubai, United Arab Emirates contributed to this report.
Drought prompts LA mayor to urge cut in water use Wed Jun 6, 10:20 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa asked Los Angeles residents on Wednesday to cut water use by 10 percent amid a drought of historic proportions. Less than three inches (eight centimeters) of rain have been recorded in downtown Los Angeles between January and May, the lowest level of rainfall since 1877.The average annual rainfall is 15 inches (38 centimeters) for the Los Angeles area, home to about 16 million people.The shortage could become even more acute as the city braces for an expected hot summer and if the drought persists through next winter, authorities will be forced to introduce water rationing.Los Angeles needs to change course and conserve water to steer clear of this perfect storm, Villaraigosa said.Officials in the second-largest US city urged Angelenos to take shorter showers, fix leaky faucets, water lawns less, stop throwing trash in toilets, replace old washing machines and use brooms instead of water hoses to clean sidewalks and driveways.Water in reserve will meet customer demands this year because last year's snow pack surpassed the average by about 145 percent, according to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Metropolitan Water District.
2ND WAVE CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL
REVELATION 16:12
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THIS IS THE ATATURK DAM IN TURKEY,THEY CROSS OVER).
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(IRAQ-SYRIA)
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 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.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 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.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
North Korea fires missiles off coast By BO-MI LIM, Associated Press Writer JUN 7,07
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea fired short-range missiles off its western coast in an apparent test Thursday, South Korea's Defense Ministry said, amid a deadlock in international negotiations over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. The United States immediately denounced the launch, saying the activity was not constructive.A South Korean Defense Ministry official said it had intelligence that North Korea launched the short-range missiles into the sea off its western coast.We are trying to confirm how many were fired and what type of missiles they are, the official said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.South Korea's Yonhap news agency also cited two unidentified intelligence officials as saying the North fired at least one missile. One of the officials said Pyongyang fired two one in the morning and one in the afternoon which is believed to be part of the communist regime's routine drills, according to Yonhap.The missiles were either land-to-ship or ship-to-ship models with a range of less than 62 miles, and fell into North Korea's territorial waters, the report said.
The news came two weeks after North Korea test-fired at least one short-range missile into eastern coastal waters, which South Korean and U.S. officials played down as part of the communist country's regular military exercises.But Thursday's launch drew criticism from U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.The United States and our allies believe that North Korea should refrain from testing missiles, said Johndroe, accompanying President Bush to the Group of
Eight summit in Heiligendamm, Germany.North Korea should focus on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and fulfill its obligations under the Feb. 13 agreement in which North Korea pledged to shut down its main nuclear reactor in return for financial and diplomatic incentives.This kind of activity is not constructive, Johndroe said.In recent weeks, North Korea has refused to move on its
pledge to shut down its main nuclear reactor over a delay in withdrawing $25 million of its money at a Macau bank that was blacklisted by the U.S. for allegedly helping the North launder and counterfeit money.
The North has made the release of the funds a key condition to disarmament, having boycotted international negotiations for more than a year over the issue, during which it conducted its first nuclear test in October.
In July 2006, North Korea also test-fired a barrage of missiles, including a long-range one believed to be capable of reaching even parts of the U.S.North Korea is believed to have produced enough plutonium to make as many as a dozen or more nuclear bombs, but experts say it likely does not have a bomb design advanced enough to be placed on a missile.
Merkel: G-8 agreement on climate change By JENNIFER QUINN, Associated Press Writer JUNE 7,07
HEILIGENDAMM, Germany - Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that the Group of Eight has agreed on a plan calling for substantial cuts in the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming. The goal is to agree to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, Merkel said, hailing the decision as a huge success. She said it came after many rounds of talks and negotiations on climate change.Merkel, who has made the issue the centerpiece of her leadership of this year's G-8, had steadily lobbied fellow leaders on the matter since they began arriving in this Baltic Sea resort for their yearly summit.No one can escape this political declaration.
It is an enormous step forward, she told reporters.Details of the agreement were not immediately available, and it was unclear how much binding weight the declaration would carry since it is up to G-8 leaders to keep the promises they make.A final summit communique was not expected until FridayMerkel has long been calling for setting specific targets for reducing the carbon emissions believed to cause global warming, including a two-degree target under which global temperatures would be allowed to increase by no more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) before being brought back down.Experts have said that would require a global reduction in emissions of 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.Merkel wanted binding reductions; President Bush opposed them. He instead proposed having the top 15 polluters meet and set a long-term goal, but decide for themselves how much to do toward meeting it.Merkel, the summit host, said Thursday that the toughest point was the halving of emissions ... that was the hardest step. But she said: We agreed that we need reduction goals — and obligatory reduction goals.All parties agreed the process should take place within the U.N. framework and will begin with a meeting of environment ministers at a U.N. climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia, in December.
Earlier Thursday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair held out hope that world leaders would reach such an agreement despite differences between the U.S. and Europe over whether such cuts should be binding.I think that it is possible that we'll leave the summit with a commitment on the part of everyone to a substantial reduction of greenhouse gases by 2050 as a global target that is of the order of the type of figures the Europeans are talking about, said Blair, who leaves office June 27.Blair was saying his goodbyes to Bush and other Group of Eight leaders in this seaside city in northern Germany.Blair and Bush later joined six counterparts for the first working session of the G-8. Besides global warming, the leaders are tackling edgy relations with Russia and Moscow's opposition to Western efforts to secure independence for Serbia's Kosovo province, the crisis in Darfur, poverty aid to Africa, the Middle East and trade talks.North Korea is likely to be another topic of discussion.
The reclusive communist regime on Thursday fired short-range missiles off its western coast in an apparent test, according to South Korea's Defense Ministry.The United States immediately denounced the launch, saying such activity was not constructive in the midst of a deadlock in international negotiations over North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
Merkel chaired the first working session, with Blair to her left and Bush next to him. Also at the table were Russia's Vladimir Putin, Italy's Romano Prodi, Canada's Stephen Harper, France's Nicolas Sarkozy, Japan's Shinzo Abe and Jose Manuel Barroso of the European Commission. Afterward, Bush and Putin met privately after days of Cold War-style sparring over U.S. plans to base a missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, essentially in Russia's back yard. Putin, bitterly opposed to placing such a system in Europe, told Bush that Russia would drop its objections and not seek to retrain its missiles on Europe if the shield were installed in Azerbaijan, a former Soviet satellite in central Asia. Bush's national security adviser, Steve Hadley, called it an interesting proposal.
Anti-poverty groups, meanwhile, hope the leaders will recommit to promises made during their summit two years ago in Gleneagles, Scotland, to increase international aid to Africa and other poorer countries.
In 2005, the G-8 agreed to increase the amount of aid by $50 billion a year through 2010, with half going to Africa. But since then, the pledge has missed the target by $30 billion, anti-poverty groups say.
This year's gathering is being held under tight security, with Heiligendamm sealed off by a seven-mile, razor wire-topped fence. Thousands of police have been deployed across the northern German region. Protests continued Thursday for a second day, as demonstrators continued to block roads to Heiligendamm and police again resorted to firing water cannons to scatter them. Offshore, Greenpeace environmental activists led police on a boat chase, with one boatload briefly spilling its contents into the Baltic. Associated Press writers Jennifer Loven and Claudia Kemmer in Heiligendamm, David Rising in Hinter Bollhagen and Vanessa Gera in Bad Doberan contributed to this report.
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.
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)
Palestinians want to import weapons By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer JUNE 7,07
JERUSALEM - Security forces loyal to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have asked Israel's permission to import anti-tank missiles, grenades and millions of bullets to fight the Islamic militant group Hamas, officials said Thursday.
The request comes as a truce halting the latest deadly round of Palestinian infighting teetered on the brink of collapse, with clashes breaking out between Fatah and Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip. One Fatah gunman was killed the first fatality since the truce took hold in mid-May.Under interim peace accords, Israeli permission is necessary for military equipment to enter Palestinian territories, and Palestinian security officials said such a request by forces loyal to Abbas has been on the table for months.Israeli security officials said Israel was discussing the issue with the U.S. security coordinator in the region, Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton.
Officials on both sides spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss confidential military deliberations with the media.A spokesman for Dayton said he had no comment.
A senior Western diplomat said the U.S. was playing no central role in this matter. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss U.S. involvement with the media.
Hamas, which shares power with Fatah in the Palestinians' coalition government, was not immediately available for comment.Israel has given permission for the import of weapons in the past, most recently in March after Palestinian officials made guarantees the weapons would not fall into Hamas' hands and be used against Israeli targets.
There is widespread opposition to this new request for the same reason.The likeliest thing to be approved, if anything, would be the armored personnel carriers that also appeared on the list, the Israeli officials added.Hamas and Fatah have been locked in a violent struggle since the Islamic group unseated Fatah in Palestinian parliamentary elections last year.
More than 50 Palestinians died in two weeks of internal strife last month that eased after Hamas stepped up its rocket attacks on Israel, drawing dozens of Israeli airstrikes and unifying the Palestinian groups against their common enemy.But the factions' brittle truce threatened to crumble Thursday, when a Fatah gunman was killed in a shootout with Hamas fighters in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. The battle led to a daylong fight between the groups, with gunmen firing rocket-propelled grenades and lobbing explosives at rival targets.Fatah and Hamas blamed each other for the fatal shootout outside a house belonging to Fatah supporters. Medical officials said at least 17 people were injured, two seriously. Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had been scheduled to meet in the West Bank on Thursday to discuss the latest round of violence, but the Palestinians called it off, accusing Israel of rejecting all their proposals in preparatory talks.In lieu of that meeting, the so-called Quartet of Mideast mediators the U.S., European Union, Russia and the U.N. invited the two leaders for talks in Egypt on June 25, Palestinian Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr said. Representatives of the 22-member Arab League, which is pushing a sweeping peace plan, will also attend, Abu Amr said.
Associated Press Writer Sarah El Deeb contributed to this report in Gaza City, Gaza Strip.
One Third of Americans Say Bible is Literal Word of God JUNE 7,07
by Kim Trobee
According to a new Gallup Poll, Protestants are the most likely to credit the Bible as the inerrent word of God. The rest of the population feels the Bible might be inspired by God, but not literally so. Do you believe the Bible is the literal word of God? Since 1991, the Gallup Organization has asked Americans that question, yet their answers remain remarkably unchanged. About 31% of people believe the Good Book is infallible. Frank Newport with Gallup says we still live in a country where God’s word is taken seriously. Religious people around the world who believe that a religious document is inerrant will engage in behaviors and support types of policies which are significantly different than others might and those have real implications for society.Year after year, the other constant is that belief in the infallible word correlates with church attendance and a Protestant Christian theology. Dr. Richard Land with the Southern Baptist Convention is not surprised.
People who take the Bible seriously are going to go to church. And if they go to church they’re going to hear sermons and they’re going to have Sunday school lessons that are going to teach them that the Bible is the inerrant and infallible word of God.If you add together the people who think the whole Bible is the direct word of God and those who see it as divinely inspired, but not all parts are to be taken literally, you arrive at about 80% of the public believing it to be a major source of truth in their lives. This is a very religious country and it’s getting more so, not less so.Nineteen percent of Americans surveyed say the Bible is a book of ancient fables, legends or history written by man.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
REVELATION 6:1-2,13:1-3,7-9,16
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(THIS IS THE EU DICTATOR)
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(7 HEADS ARE THE 7TH WORLD EMPIRE IN HISTORY (THE EU) AS WELL AS THE VATICAN WHICH IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS. 10 HORNS ARE 10 KINGS THAT ARISE FROM THE EU, THEN #11 COMES ON THE SCENE BECOMES THE HEAD OF 3 OUNTRIES AND THEN THE EU DICTATOR, COMES FROM 1 OF THE 3 COUNTRIES THAT RULE FOR THIS TERM. I BELIEVE THE 3 COUNTRIES RULING AT THE TIME ARE SPAIN AND 2 OF THE ORIGINAL 6 THAT STARTED THE EU. FROM 1 OF THESE 3 COUNTRIES COME THE FUTURE EU DICTATOR PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION WHO GUARENTEES ISRAELS SECURITY FOR A LAND FOR PEACE 7 YEAR TREATY.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(THE JEWISH EU DICTATOR GETS HIS POWER FROM SATAN,HE COMES FROM THE OCCULT).
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE DICTATOR HAS A FALSE RESURRECTION. JUST LIKE JESUS HAD A LITERAL RESURRECTION THIS DICTATOR GETS MURDERED AT THE 3 1/2 YR MARK OF THR 7 YEAR TREATY AND COMES BACK TO LIFE. THIS IS HOW HE CAN CLAIM TO BE GOD AND GET AWAY WITH IT AND CONTROL THE WHOLE EARTH.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Strength in numbers JUNE 7,07
Europe is still an economic giant but politically it is a dwarf. For member states to defend their interests the union must be strong. Joschka Fischer
Europe today presents a contradictory picture. It is a land of peace, democracy, and the rule of law. It is also a land of prosperity: its economy is competitive, its currency strong, inflation is low, and its standards of living are among the highest in the world. Europeans benefit from very high levels of social protection, inexpensive, high-quality education, strict environmental standards, and excellent
infrastructure. In addition, Europe has unmatched cultural diversity and great natural beauty. It all sounds like a utopian dream.With its 500 million people and the world's largest single market, Europe, even if not seen by the world as a real union, is still an economic giant. But politically it is a dwarf - and shrinking. Ours is a century of large states, and the further rise of China, India, the United States, and Japan will soon make the largest European powers look puny. Even today the three largest EU members barely manage to offset Europe's loss of political weight, much less to stem the tide.
Without a strong EU, this development will only intensify.The world outside Europe is changing rapidly, and it won't wait for Europeans mired in an agonising process of self-discovery. The alternatives are clear: keep up or be left behind.
In America, despite the current obsession with Iraq, a strategic view is taking hold that defines the 21st century mainly in terms of the triad of China, India, and the US. Japan's role as an American ally is viewed as a given. The relationship with Russia is placed somewhere between partnership and renewed rivalry, but Russia is not really seen as a strategic challenge. And, in strategic terms, the rest is silence - which applies also to Europe.The bottom line for America is that while Europe no longer creates problems, for the foreseeable future, Europe, due to its lack of unity, will not be willing or able to contribute to solving the world's problems. Europe's involvement in Nato's efforts to stabilise Afghanistan only emphasises this ambiguity.On the one hand, Europe's role in Afghanistan is appreciated by the US, but on the other, it also exposes the Europeans' weakness and the Alliance's limited capabilities. While the US political elite has not written off Nato, expectations about its crisis-solving competence are fast being scaled down. This view of Europe as a negligible political entity is fully shared in Beijing, Moscow, and New Delhi.
This is the starting point at which a new generation of leaders is taking over the reins in the EU's three largest member states. Gerhard Schröder, Jacques Chirac, and Tony Blair are history. In Germany, the government of Angela Merkel has been in power for one and a half years. Nicolas Sarkozy has just assumed the French presidency. Gordon Brown will soon take over as prime minister in the UK.Within just a few weeks, this trio will be called on to make a vital decision on the future of the EU.
That decision concerns the constitutional treaty and its prospects. What the new foundational document is called in the end is a minor point; what is essential for Europe's future is that constitutional reform is revived and gives Europe a strong foundation. The question, then, is whether the new leaders, as early as next month, succeed in a new effort to adopt the vital institutional reforms that the enlarged union requires.The best way to proceed is to focus on the essentials. Part III of the blocked constitutional treaty is merely a compendium of the existing EU treaties, which - because these treaties will remain in force regardless of whether they are part of the new document - can be decoupled from the rest.Part II of the stalled document, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, can be postponed. To be sure, this would be painful because, as the EU bureaucracies gain more authority, the EU's democratic deficit will widen without clearly defined fundamental rights. If Part II is postponed, the European court will have to define these fundamental rights for the time being. This is only a second-best solution, but it is better than nothing.
Part I of the treaty, however, is indispensable, as is the new voting procedure, with its double majority rule balancing the role of the states and the population. To reopen this part of the debate, and thus to allow a dilution of its substance, would be a historic failure and a major setback for Europe's future. If this is the price of going ahead with the treaty, it is better to do nothing at all and bide one's time.The stakes are thus very high for Europe in the coming weeks. If the substance of the constitutional treaty is saved, Europe will increasingly develop into a global player. Only then will the transatlantic alliance also have a future. To be sure, this process will take time, and there will be other setbacks. But the
fundamental direction will be correct, and there will be real cause for optimism. If, on the other hand, this attempt, too, should fail, or end in a lazy, useless compromise, Europe's decline will accelerate and transatlantic relations will become increasingly turbulent.It is now up to Merkel, Sarkozy, and Brown to prove - despite all the differences that may exist between them - that they understand the challenges that globalisation poses for Europe: the EU member states will be able to defend their interests in the world of the 21st century only to the extent that the EU itself is strong. In cooperation with Project Syndicate, 2007.
2 TIMOTHY 3:3
3 Without natural affection,
ROMANS 1:24-27
24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:(HOMOSEXUALITY,AND ALL SEX SINS)
25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:(LESBIENS)
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly,(SODOMITES) and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.(AIDS ETC)
Knesset Moves to Ban Gay March in Jerusalem
by Hillel Fendel (INN) JUNE 7,07
With tensions rising again as homosexuals prepare to parade in Jerusalem, the Knesset passes a preliminary reading of an amendment that would ban future such marches. At the same time, opponents of the march have begun a series of protest actions.The Knesset voted by a 40-23 margin on Wednesday afternoon to approve an early reading of an amendment to the current Jerusalem Bill.
The amendment will be discussed in the Knesset Law Committee; if it is passed there, it will be returned to the Knesset for two additional votes and final passage.The amendment reads as follows: The Jerusalem City Council is authorized to ban marches and parades in the city for reasons of disturbance of the peace, offense to public sensitivities, or for religious reasons.
MK Gabbai Explains
MK Eli Gabbai (National Religious Party), who submitted the bill twice - in the previous Knesset and in the current one - offered two explanations for proposing the bill. One explanation is that Jerusalem is a unique city in the world, holy to the three religions. The holding of a gay-pride parade specifically in Jerusalem is offensive to the believers of all the religions all over the world... This law authorizes the City Council to bar an event that is liable to offend millions of believers around the world, as well as the residents of the city itself.In his second explanation, Gabbai adds, ...Jerusalem's special national and international status stems, inter alia, from the fact that it is holy to the three religions. This legislation comes to strengthen Jerusalem's status via its City Council representatives, enabling them to set its policies while taking into account the special sensitivities in light of the unique religious and social composition of the population.MK Gabbai told Arutz-7 he hopes to have the bill passed completely in time for the scheduled gay march two weeks from now.
Some observers in the Knesset feel this is unrealistic, but it should be ready in time for gay events that are planned for the future, however, said Gabbai's spokesman Yair Givati.Meretz faction leader MK Zahava Gal'on condemned the proposed amendment, saying that every group must have the right of expression. She and party colleague MK Chaim Oron warned that the sword that is aimed at one group today could be aimed at another tomorrow. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert consented to allow the coalition MKs - specifically those of Shas - to vote their conscience on the bill. Olmert said that he himself personally opposes the bill, though he agrees that Jerusalem is not the natural place for a parade by homosexuals because of the special sensitivity in the holy city.MK Moshe Sharoni (Pensioners) said he feels the homosexuals can march in any other city: Why Jerusalem? What, do they want to get the Christians and the Moslems angry at us? Do they want the whole world to hate us even more? They're a small minority, and this is the law.
Once certain rabbis give the word, their followers will understand that an abomination march cannot be allowed to happen in the holy city, and will do practically anything to stop it Posters and Prayer Rallies. The hareidi-religious and religious sectors in Jerusalem are beginning a series of actions designed to prevent the parade from taking place. A body calling itself The Committee to Stop the Abomination Parade, backed by the Yesha Rabbis Council, the Sanhedrin, Jerusalem City Councilwoman Mina Fenton and others, has taken the following steps: Posters and billboards against the parade, road-blockings against a gay parade taking place in Haifa today (Wednesday), a possible protest rally against a planned march in Tel Aviv this Friday, and a protest tent at the entrance to Jerusalem beginning this week.In addition, the group has filed for a police permit to hold a mass prayer-and-protest rally at the entrance to Jerusalem on the day of the planned march. A donor has already agreed to pay for 1,000 buses to bring participants from all over the country. The event will be gender-separate; women will congregate at the beginning of Herzl Blvd., while men will occupy the road leading to Ramot.
Organizers say they will not sanction violence at these events. However, one organizer told Arutz-7 that once certain rabbis give the word to approve protests, their followers will understand that an abomination march is something that cannot be allowed to happen in the holy city, and they will do practically anything to stop it.Police have authorized the parade in principle, but have hinged the actual permit on their check of the actual route and other considerations of public security.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
Syria ready for war
Officials: Troops at Israeli border, could launch surprise attack
June 7, 2007 - By Aaron Klein - 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Syrian President Bashar Assad
TEL AVIV – Syria, aided by Iran, has deployed a strengthened army along Israel's northern border and is prepared to launch a surprise war against the Jewish state, according to senior Israeli security officials. The development comes as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday told the Knesset he is ready for direct negotiations with Syria aimed at an Israeli retreat from the Golan Heights, strategic mountainous territory that looks down on Israeli population centers twice used by Damascus to attack the Jewish state. With Israelis this week commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Six-Day War – when neighbors Egypt, Jordan and Syria attacked the Jewish state – Israeli security officials told WND Syria has prepared for a confrontation and is capable of launching an immediate war.
The officials say the Syrian army is deployed along the Syrian side of the Golan Heights with strengthened forces after carrying out the past few weeks stepped-up training of troops. The officials noted the open movement of Syrian Scud missiles near the border with Israel and said Syria recently increased production of rockets and acquired missiles capable of hitting central Israeli population centers.
The Syrian army has improved its fortifications, according to the Israeli security officials, and has received modern, Russian-made anti-tank missiles similar to the ones that devastated Israeli tanks during the last Lebanon war, causing the highest number of Israeli troop casualties during the 34 days of military confrontations. Syria also received from Russia advanced anti-aircraft missiles. The officials noted Syria stepped up the pace of weapons, including rockets, being shipped from the
Syrian border to the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. Just yesterday, a truckload of weaponry meant for Hezbollah was confiscated by the Lebanese army. Yossi Baidatz, chief of military intelligence for the Israel Defense Forces, said the Syrian-backed Hezbollah is rebuilding its forces in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border in areas where international forces are deployed with the specific charge of preventing the Lebanese militia's rearming.
The security officials said the greatest threat Syria poses to the Jewish state are the country's missiles and rockets. They noted Syria recently test-fired two Scud-D surface-to-surface missiles, which have a range of about 250 miles, covering most Israeli territory. The officials said the Syrian missile test was coordinated with Iran and is believed to have been successful. It is not known what type of warhead the missiles had. In addition to longer-range Scuds, Syria is in possession of shorter-range missiles such as 220 millimeter and 305 millimeter rockets, some of which have been passed on to Hezbollah. Israel also has information Syria recently acquired and deployed Chinese-made C-802 missiles, which were successfully used against the Israeli navy during Israel's war against the Lebanese Hezbollah militia last July and August. The missiles were passed to Syria by Iran, Israeli security officials told WND.
Israeli security officials said Syria is preparing for a summer war. But they said there was an argument within the Israeli intelligence community whether the military build-up is for an attack or is meant by Syria to pressure Israel into vacating the Golan Heights.
Some officials said Syria estimates the U.S. or Israel will attack Iran, and Syria will be drawn into a larger military confrontation by opening up a front against northern Israel. Also, the officials said, Syria may believe Israel will attack first and its preparations are defensive in nature. The Israeli army is not taking any chances. The Israel Defense Forces Tuesday carried out a mock attack on a Syrian village during a major exercise in the Negev.
The Israeli soldiers besieged and occupied the village, designed to be similar to towns on the Syrian side of the Golan. Similar war exercises were carried out in Israel the past few months, including a mock attack on Damascus.
Syrian President Bashar Assad has multiple times told his state-run media the past few months Damascus is preparing for war. He warned Israel to evacuate the Golan Heights. This past weekend, Assad called for better cooperation between Damascus and Tehran in the confrontation with the Zionist regime and the USA, according to a report published Sunday by Iran's official state news agency, IRNA. Yesterday, an official from Assad's Baath party warned in a WND interview if Israel doesn't vacate the Golan, residents in the strategic territory would launch resistance operations against Israeli communities. Meanwhile, Olmert yesterday told the Israeli Knesset he is willing to hold peace talks with Syria without any preconditions. At the same Knesset hearing, Israel's security cabinet decided to establish a ministerial committee to discuss the security threat posed by Syria. The committee, led by Olmert, is made up largely of the same war lawmakers who helped shape Israel's war against Hezbollah last summer. Those lawmakers were slammed in a recent government war probe for multiple failures during the war.
Olmert – faced with devastatingly low poll numbers and calls from the public and senior officials to resign – reportedly directed staffers at Israel's Foreign Ministry to prepare for the possibility of talks with Syria. Some analysts here have speculated in the Israeli media Olmert's ratings could rise if he reached out to his leftist base and conducted negotiations with the Palestinians or Syria. According to
the Israeli media, Olmert tapped third parties to approach Syria to feel out whether Damascus is seriously interested in negotiations. Syria, which signed a military alliance with Iran, openly hosts Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders. The U.S. accuses Syria of fueling and aiding the insurgency in Iraq.
Israel says Syria has been allowing large quantities of weapons to be transported from its borders to Hezbollah. Syria has been widely blamed for the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Syria is accused by Israel and pro-Democratic Lebanese politicians of fueling instability in Lebanon the past few weeks by backing Fatah al-Islam, a group claiming connections to al-Qaida that has been battling the Lebanese Army since May 20, killing some 107 people, including 47 soldiers and 60 terrorists. The clashes erupted just before the U.N. was set to call for the establishment of an international tribunal to try the killers of Hariri. Syria has been widely blamed for the assassination and for a string of subsequent attacks that have rocked Lebanon.
EUROPEAN UNION ARMY
DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)
DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.
DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
EU's Solana says Gaza force a possibility
By David Brunnstrom Reuters - Wednesday, June 7 07:02 pm
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - An international peacekeeping force for the Gaza strip is a possibility, even though it would probably be difficult for Egypt to accept, the European Union's foreign policy chief said on Wednesday.Javier Solana told the European Parliament in Brussels that for the first time in many, many years, the idea of an international force was not out of the question.Solana said two groups in the Israeli parliament had said it may be the moment to call for such a force, at least to start with, in the south of the region where the Rafa border crossing to Egypt is located.We are working on that, he said. The Israelis are also considering that possibility, the Palestinians are considering that possibility, the Egyptians are considering that possibility.
Solana said it would probably be difficult for Egypt as deployment of such a force might give the impression it was not able to control that part of the border. However, he added:I think we can still get into discussions on these issues and maybe eventually get a solution.The EU's External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told the same hearing an international mechanism set up last year to provide aid to Palestinians while bypassing the government would be extended for a further three months until the end of September.She said humanitarian conditions remained dire and appealed to EU members states to provide additional funds.
The United Nations special envoy to the Middle East called last month on Israel, the Palestinians and the United Nations to consider an international force for Gaza.Israel has long resisted Palestinian calls for peacekeepers in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, saying their deployment would interfere with Israeli security measures.But it has signalled flexibility since last year's Lebanon war, which ended
with a boosted United Nations peacekeeper force in former Hezbollah guerrilla strongholds.Israel pulled its troops and settlers out of Gaza in 2005, but cross-border violence has continued and last month it launched an air campaign to try to stop militants from firing rockets at southern Israeli towns.
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 = Thu Jun 7 17:39:06 UTC 2007
JUNE 7,07
MAP 2.8 NORTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.7 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.1 RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN
MAP 4.7 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
MAP 4.3 FIJI REGION
MAP 4.5 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS
MAP 6.2 BISMARCK SEA
MAP 3.1 CENTRAL ALASKA
JUNE 6,07
MAP 5.2 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
MAP 3.1 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 4.8 KYUSHU, JAPAN
MAP 5.8 BANDA SEA
MAP 5.1 KYRGYZSTAN
MAP 2.9 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.1 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.6 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 2.6 OFFSHORE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.0 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
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.
Cyclone Gonu blamed for 15 deaths By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer
Thu Jun 7, 6:38 AM ET
MUSCAT, Oman - Semi-trucks were trapped in flooded highways here Thursday after Cyclone Gonu battered Oman's coast on its path toward the world's most important crude oil tanker route. At least 15 storm-related deaths were reported. But as the cyclone a rarity in the Middle East headed from Oman to the southeastern Iranian coast, it continued to lose steam, dropping off to tropical storm strength early Thursday, according to the U.S. military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center.The center predicted Gonu would make landfall on the southeastern Iranian coast late Thursday. But it was likely to spare Iran's offshore oil installations that lie more than 120 miles to the west, the center and oil officials said.
At least 12 people were killed from the storm in Oman, including members of police rescue squads, and others were reported missing, said Oman Royal Police spokesman Abdullah al-Harthi. He did not provide further details.Across the Gulf of Oman, Iranian state television reported that a resident of the port city of Bandar Abbas was killed in a car accident Wednesday due to low visibility from the storm.Two provincial government workers bringing emergency supplies to a flooded area also were killed when a river overflowed and flipped their truck in Jask, a town 155 miles southeast of Bandar Abbas, state TV's Web site said.The storm caused little damage to Oman's relatively small oil fields. But raging seas had prevented tankers from sailing from Omani ports, effectively shutting down the country's oil exports, said Nasser bin Khamis al-Jashimi of the Ministry of Oil and Gas.
Authorities also closed all operations at the port of Sohar and evacuated 11,000 workers, port spokesman Dirk Jan De Vink said.To the north, the port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates reopened Thursday after it suspended all refueling and ship-to-ship supply operations at the world's third-largest shipping fuel center.A few ships sailed through the nearby Strait of Hormuz despite 4- to 6-foot swells and strong winds, Suresh Nair of the Gulf Agency Co. shipping firm said Wednesday.
About one-fifth of the world's oil passes through the narrow waterway at the entrance to the Persian Gulf.About 17-21 million barrels a day of oil are coming out of the Persian Gulf. Even if only some of the tankers are delayed, that could reduce the supply of oil and increase prices, said Manouchehr Takin, an analyst at the Center for Global Energy Studies in London.But Tim Evans, an analyst at Citigroup Global Markets, said the storm shouldn't have a major impact on prices because while it may delay oil shipments, they eventually will get to their destinations.On Thursday, the storm sustained winds of 41 mph, less than half its strength of 95 mph just 24 hours earlier, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. It was centered about 98 miles north of Muscat and was projected to weaken over the next several hours to as it moves through the Gulf of Oman toward Iran.Even with the weaker wind speeds, Gonu which means a bag made of palm leaves in the language of the Maldives is believed to be the strongest cyclone here since record-keeping started in 1945.In the capital, Muscat, highways and yards were flooded, and downed trees and power lines were scattered in the high waters. Residents washed cars in the flooded streets, while others snapped pictures.
The capital Muscat became a lake, the police spokesman al-Harthi told Oman TV.In coastal city of Sohar west of Muscat, violent waves continued to crash the shore as several residents returned to their homes Thursday after being evacuated.We all went to the school last night, and I came back to look at the house. Twice the water came into my house, and maybe the tide will come in again, said fisherman Salem Hassan al-Mukblai, 40, as he and his two sons tried to tie a downed fruit tree to a fence surrounding their house. Shareefa bint Khalfan, Omani minister of social development, said more than 20,000 people were evacuated Wednesday and housed in government-provided dwellings stocked with medicine and supplies. Oman's eastern provinces have been cut off, with heavy rains making the roads unusable and communication lines severed. In Iran, authorities evacuated hundreds of people living in the port city of Chabahr on the coast of the Gulf of Oman, believed to be next in the cyclone's path. But the heavy storm, which caused trees to fall and windows to smash, eased Thursday morning, subsiding into light rain and wind. Thanks to God, people are back in the bazaars and streets of the city, said Abbas Jafari, a 47-year-old taxi driver. Yesterday was terrible. I had never seen such a storm in my life.Iran's state broadcasting company said on its Web site that some small villages in Sistan and Baluchistan province, on the Gulf of Oman, were still encircled by floods and authorities used helicopters to drop emergency supplies to them.
The storm affected power and telephone lines elsewhere in the province, but caused no major damage, provincial governor Habibollah Dehmardeh told the official IRNA news agency.
As a precaution, the Bandar Abbas oil refinery, which supplies the local petroleum market, closed jetties that receive oil from tankers, the Web site of Iran's Oil Ministry reported. The refinery was working as usual Thursday, the report said. Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, Hassan Sarbakhshian in Bandar Abbas, Iran and Kareem Shaheen in Dubai, United Arab Emirates contributed to this report.
Drought prompts LA mayor to urge cut in water use Wed Jun 6, 10:20 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa asked Los Angeles residents on Wednesday to cut water use by 10 percent amid a drought of historic proportions. Less than three inches (eight centimeters) of rain have been recorded in downtown Los Angeles between January and May, the lowest level of rainfall since 1877.The average annual rainfall is 15 inches (38 centimeters) for the Los Angeles area, home to about 16 million people.The shortage could become even more acute as the city braces for an expected hot summer and if the drought persists through next winter, authorities will be forced to introduce water rationing.Los Angeles needs to change course and conserve water to steer clear of this perfect storm, Villaraigosa said.Officials in the second-largest US city urged Angelenos to take shorter showers, fix leaky faucets, water lawns less, stop throwing trash in toilets, replace old washing machines and use brooms instead of water hoses to clean sidewalks and driveways.Water in reserve will meet customer demands this year because last year's snow pack surpassed the average by about 145 percent, according to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Metropolitan Water District.
2ND WAVE CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL
REVELATION 16:12
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THIS IS THE ATATURK DAM IN TURKEY,THEY CROSS OVER).
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(IRAQ-SYRIA)
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 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.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 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.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
North Korea fires missiles off coast By BO-MI LIM, Associated Press Writer JUN 7,07
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea fired short-range missiles off its western coast in an apparent test Thursday, South Korea's Defense Ministry said, amid a deadlock in international negotiations over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. The United States immediately denounced the launch, saying the activity was not constructive.A South Korean Defense Ministry official said it had intelligence that North Korea launched the short-range missiles into the sea off its western coast.We are trying to confirm how many were fired and what type of missiles they are, the official said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.South Korea's Yonhap news agency also cited two unidentified intelligence officials as saying the North fired at least one missile. One of the officials said Pyongyang fired two one in the morning and one in the afternoon which is believed to be part of the communist regime's routine drills, according to Yonhap.The missiles were either land-to-ship or ship-to-ship models with a range of less than 62 miles, and fell into North Korea's territorial waters, the report said.
The news came two weeks after North Korea test-fired at least one short-range missile into eastern coastal waters, which South Korean and U.S. officials played down as part of the communist country's regular military exercises.But Thursday's launch drew criticism from U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.The United States and our allies believe that North Korea should refrain from testing missiles, said Johndroe, accompanying President Bush to the Group of
Eight summit in Heiligendamm, Germany.North Korea should focus on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and fulfill its obligations under the Feb. 13 agreement in which North Korea pledged to shut down its main nuclear reactor in return for financial and diplomatic incentives.This kind of activity is not constructive, Johndroe said.In recent weeks, North Korea has refused to move on its
pledge to shut down its main nuclear reactor over a delay in withdrawing $25 million of its money at a Macau bank that was blacklisted by the U.S. for allegedly helping the North launder and counterfeit money.
The North has made the release of the funds a key condition to disarmament, having boycotted international negotiations for more than a year over the issue, during which it conducted its first nuclear test in October.
In July 2006, North Korea also test-fired a barrage of missiles, including a long-range one believed to be capable of reaching even parts of the U.S.North Korea is believed to have produced enough plutonium to make as many as a dozen or more nuclear bombs, but experts say it likely does not have a bomb design advanced enough to be placed on a missile.
Merkel: G-8 agreement on climate change By JENNIFER QUINN, Associated Press Writer JUNE 7,07
HEILIGENDAMM, Germany - Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that the Group of Eight has agreed on a plan calling for substantial cuts in the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming. The goal is to agree to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, Merkel said, hailing the decision as a huge success. She said it came after many rounds of talks and negotiations on climate change.Merkel, who has made the issue the centerpiece of her leadership of this year's G-8, had steadily lobbied fellow leaders on the matter since they began arriving in this Baltic Sea resort for their yearly summit.No one can escape this political declaration.
It is an enormous step forward, she told reporters.Details of the agreement were not immediately available, and it was unclear how much binding weight the declaration would carry since it is up to G-8 leaders to keep the promises they make.A final summit communique was not expected until FridayMerkel has long been calling for setting specific targets for reducing the carbon emissions believed to cause global warming, including a two-degree target under which global temperatures would be allowed to increase by no more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) before being brought back down.Experts have said that would require a global reduction in emissions of 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.Merkel wanted binding reductions; President Bush opposed them. He instead proposed having the top 15 polluters meet and set a long-term goal, but decide for themselves how much to do toward meeting it.Merkel, the summit host, said Thursday that the toughest point was the halving of emissions ... that was the hardest step. But she said: We agreed that we need reduction goals — and obligatory reduction goals.All parties agreed the process should take place within the U.N. framework and will begin with a meeting of environment ministers at a U.N. climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia, in December.
Earlier Thursday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair held out hope that world leaders would reach such an agreement despite differences between the U.S. and Europe over whether such cuts should be binding.I think that it is possible that we'll leave the summit with a commitment on the part of everyone to a substantial reduction of greenhouse gases by 2050 as a global target that is of the order of the type of figures the Europeans are talking about, said Blair, who leaves office June 27.Blair was saying his goodbyes to Bush and other Group of Eight leaders in this seaside city in northern Germany.Blair and Bush later joined six counterparts for the first working session of the G-8. Besides global warming, the leaders are tackling edgy relations with Russia and Moscow's opposition to Western efforts to secure independence for Serbia's Kosovo province, the crisis in Darfur, poverty aid to Africa, the Middle East and trade talks.North Korea is likely to be another topic of discussion.
The reclusive communist regime on Thursday fired short-range missiles off its western coast in an apparent test, according to South Korea's Defense Ministry.The United States immediately denounced the launch, saying such activity was not constructive in the midst of a deadlock in international negotiations over North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
Merkel chaired the first working session, with Blair to her left and Bush next to him. Also at the table were Russia's Vladimir Putin, Italy's Romano Prodi, Canada's Stephen Harper, France's Nicolas Sarkozy, Japan's Shinzo Abe and Jose Manuel Barroso of the European Commission. Afterward, Bush and Putin met privately after days of Cold War-style sparring over U.S. plans to base a missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, essentially in Russia's back yard. Putin, bitterly opposed to placing such a system in Europe, told Bush that Russia would drop its objections and not seek to retrain its missiles on Europe if the shield were installed in Azerbaijan, a former Soviet satellite in central Asia. Bush's national security adviser, Steve Hadley, called it an interesting proposal.
Anti-poverty groups, meanwhile, hope the leaders will recommit to promises made during their summit two years ago in Gleneagles, Scotland, to increase international aid to Africa and other poorer countries.
In 2005, the G-8 agreed to increase the amount of aid by $50 billion a year through 2010, with half going to Africa. But since then, the pledge has missed the target by $30 billion, anti-poverty groups say.
This year's gathering is being held under tight security, with Heiligendamm sealed off by a seven-mile, razor wire-topped fence. Thousands of police have been deployed across the northern German region. Protests continued Thursday for a second day, as demonstrators continued to block roads to Heiligendamm and police again resorted to firing water cannons to scatter them. Offshore, Greenpeace environmental activists led police on a boat chase, with one boatload briefly spilling its contents into the Baltic. Associated Press writers Jennifer Loven and Claudia Kemmer in Heiligendamm, David Rising in Hinter Bollhagen and Vanessa Gera in Bad Doberan contributed to this report.
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.
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)
Palestinians want to import weapons By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer JUNE 7,07
JERUSALEM - Security forces loyal to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have asked Israel's permission to import anti-tank missiles, grenades and millions of bullets to fight the Islamic militant group Hamas, officials said Thursday.
The request comes as a truce halting the latest deadly round of Palestinian infighting teetered on the brink of collapse, with clashes breaking out between Fatah and Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip. One Fatah gunman was killed the first fatality since the truce took hold in mid-May.Under interim peace accords, Israeli permission is necessary for military equipment to enter Palestinian territories, and Palestinian security officials said such a request by forces loyal to Abbas has been on the table for months.Israeli security officials said Israel was discussing the issue with the U.S. security coordinator in the region, Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton.
Officials on both sides spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss confidential military deliberations with the media.A spokesman for Dayton said he had no comment.
A senior Western diplomat said the U.S. was playing no central role in this matter. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss U.S. involvement with the media.
Hamas, which shares power with Fatah in the Palestinians' coalition government, was not immediately available for comment.Israel has given permission for the import of weapons in the past, most recently in March after Palestinian officials made guarantees the weapons would not fall into Hamas' hands and be used against Israeli targets.
There is widespread opposition to this new request for the same reason.The likeliest thing to be approved, if anything, would be the armored personnel carriers that also appeared on the list, the Israeli officials added.Hamas and Fatah have been locked in a violent struggle since the Islamic group unseated Fatah in Palestinian parliamentary elections last year.
More than 50 Palestinians died in two weeks of internal strife last month that eased after Hamas stepped up its rocket attacks on Israel, drawing dozens of Israeli airstrikes and unifying the Palestinian groups against their common enemy.But the factions' brittle truce threatened to crumble Thursday, when a Fatah gunman was killed in a shootout with Hamas fighters in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. The battle led to a daylong fight between the groups, with gunmen firing rocket-propelled grenades and lobbing explosives at rival targets.Fatah and Hamas blamed each other for the fatal shootout outside a house belonging to Fatah supporters. Medical officials said at least 17 people were injured, two seriously. Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had been scheduled to meet in the West Bank on Thursday to discuss the latest round of violence, but the Palestinians called it off, accusing Israel of rejecting all their proposals in preparatory talks.In lieu of that meeting, the so-called Quartet of Mideast mediators the U.S., European Union, Russia and the U.N. invited the two leaders for talks in Egypt on June 25, Palestinian Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr said. Representatives of the 22-member Arab League, which is pushing a sweeping peace plan, will also attend, Abu Amr said.
Associated Press Writer Sarah El Deeb contributed to this report in Gaza City, Gaza Strip.
One Third of Americans Say Bible is Literal Word of God JUNE 7,07
by Kim Trobee
According to a new Gallup Poll, Protestants are the most likely to credit the Bible as the inerrent word of God. The rest of the population feels the Bible might be inspired by God, but not literally so. Do you believe the Bible is the literal word of God? Since 1991, the Gallup Organization has asked Americans that question, yet their answers remain remarkably unchanged. About 31% of people believe the Good Book is infallible. Frank Newport with Gallup says we still live in a country where God’s word is taken seriously. Religious people around the world who believe that a religious document is inerrant will engage in behaviors and support types of policies which are significantly different than others might and those have real implications for society.Year after year, the other constant is that belief in the infallible word correlates with church attendance and a Protestant Christian theology. Dr. Richard Land with the Southern Baptist Convention is not surprised.
People who take the Bible seriously are going to go to church. And if they go to church they’re going to hear sermons and they’re going to have Sunday school lessons that are going to teach them that the Bible is the inerrant and infallible word of God.If you add together the people who think the whole Bible is the direct word of God and those who see it as divinely inspired, but not all parts are to be taken literally, you arrive at about 80% of the public believing it to be a major source of truth in their lives. This is a very religious country and it’s getting more so, not less so.Nineteen percent of Americans surveyed say the Bible is a book of ancient fables, legends or history written by man.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
REVELATION 6:1-2,13:1-3,7-9,16
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(THIS IS THE EU DICTATOR)
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(7 HEADS ARE THE 7TH WORLD EMPIRE IN HISTORY (THE EU) AS WELL AS THE VATICAN WHICH IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS. 10 HORNS ARE 10 KINGS THAT ARISE FROM THE EU, THEN #11 COMES ON THE SCENE BECOMES THE HEAD OF 3 OUNTRIES AND THEN THE EU DICTATOR, COMES FROM 1 OF THE 3 COUNTRIES THAT RULE FOR THIS TERM. I BELIEVE THE 3 COUNTRIES RULING AT THE TIME ARE SPAIN AND 2 OF THE ORIGINAL 6 THAT STARTED THE EU. FROM 1 OF THESE 3 COUNTRIES COME THE FUTURE EU DICTATOR PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION WHO GUARENTEES ISRAELS SECURITY FOR A LAND FOR PEACE 7 YEAR TREATY.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(THE JEWISH EU DICTATOR GETS HIS POWER FROM SATAN,HE COMES FROM THE OCCULT).
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE DICTATOR HAS A FALSE RESURRECTION. JUST LIKE JESUS HAD A LITERAL RESURRECTION THIS DICTATOR GETS MURDERED AT THE 3 1/2 YR MARK OF THR 7 YEAR TREATY AND COMES BACK TO LIFE. THIS IS HOW HE CAN CLAIM TO BE GOD AND GET AWAY WITH IT AND CONTROL THE WHOLE EARTH.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Strength in numbers JUNE 7,07
Europe is still an economic giant but politically it is a dwarf. For member states to defend their interests the union must be strong. Joschka Fischer
Europe today presents a contradictory picture. It is a land of peace, democracy, and the rule of law. It is also a land of prosperity: its economy is competitive, its currency strong, inflation is low, and its standards of living are among the highest in the world. Europeans benefit from very high levels of social protection, inexpensive, high-quality education, strict environmental standards, and excellent
infrastructure. In addition, Europe has unmatched cultural diversity and great natural beauty. It all sounds like a utopian dream.With its 500 million people and the world's largest single market, Europe, even if not seen by the world as a real union, is still an economic giant. But politically it is a dwarf - and shrinking. Ours is a century of large states, and the further rise of China, India, the United States, and Japan will soon make the largest European powers look puny. Even today the three largest EU members barely manage to offset Europe's loss of political weight, much less to stem the tide.
Without a strong EU, this development will only intensify.The world outside Europe is changing rapidly, and it won't wait for Europeans mired in an agonising process of self-discovery. The alternatives are clear: keep up or be left behind.
In America, despite the current obsession with Iraq, a strategic view is taking hold that defines the 21st century mainly in terms of the triad of China, India, and the US. Japan's role as an American ally is viewed as a given. The relationship with Russia is placed somewhere between partnership and renewed rivalry, but Russia is not really seen as a strategic challenge. And, in strategic terms, the rest is silence - which applies also to Europe.The bottom line for America is that while Europe no longer creates problems, for the foreseeable future, Europe, due to its lack of unity, will not be willing or able to contribute to solving the world's problems. Europe's involvement in Nato's efforts to stabilise Afghanistan only emphasises this ambiguity.On the one hand, Europe's role in Afghanistan is appreciated by the US, but on the other, it also exposes the Europeans' weakness and the Alliance's limited capabilities. While the US political elite has not written off Nato, expectations about its crisis-solving competence are fast being scaled down. This view of Europe as a negligible political entity is fully shared in Beijing, Moscow, and New Delhi.
This is the starting point at which a new generation of leaders is taking over the reins in the EU's three largest member states. Gerhard Schröder, Jacques Chirac, and Tony Blair are history. In Germany, the government of Angela Merkel has been in power for one and a half years. Nicolas Sarkozy has just assumed the French presidency. Gordon Brown will soon take over as prime minister in the UK.Within just a few weeks, this trio will be called on to make a vital decision on the future of the EU.
That decision concerns the constitutional treaty and its prospects. What the new foundational document is called in the end is a minor point; what is essential for Europe's future is that constitutional reform is revived and gives Europe a strong foundation. The question, then, is whether the new leaders, as early as next month, succeed in a new effort to adopt the vital institutional reforms that the enlarged union requires.The best way to proceed is to focus on the essentials. Part III of the blocked constitutional treaty is merely a compendium of the existing EU treaties, which - because these treaties will remain in force regardless of whether they are part of the new document - can be decoupled from the rest.Part II of the stalled document, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, can be postponed. To be sure, this would be painful because, as the EU bureaucracies gain more authority, the EU's democratic deficit will widen without clearly defined fundamental rights. If Part II is postponed, the European court will have to define these fundamental rights for the time being. This is only a second-best solution, but it is better than nothing.
Part I of the treaty, however, is indispensable, as is the new voting procedure, with its double majority rule balancing the role of the states and the population. To reopen this part of the debate, and thus to allow a dilution of its substance, would be a historic failure and a major setback for Europe's future. If this is the price of going ahead with the treaty, it is better to do nothing at all and bide one's time.The stakes are thus very high for Europe in the coming weeks. If the substance of the constitutional treaty is saved, Europe will increasingly develop into a global player. Only then will the transatlantic alliance also have a future. To be sure, this process will take time, and there will be other setbacks. But the
fundamental direction will be correct, and there will be real cause for optimism. If, on the other hand, this attempt, too, should fail, or end in a lazy, useless compromise, Europe's decline will accelerate and transatlantic relations will become increasingly turbulent.It is now up to Merkel, Sarkozy, and Brown to prove - despite all the differences that may exist between them - that they understand the challenges that globalisation poses for Europe: the EU member states will be able to defend their interests in the world of the 21st century only to the extent that the EU itself is strong. In cooperation with Project Syndicate, 2007.
2 TIMOTHY 3:3
3 Without natural affection,
ROMANS 1:24-27
24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:(HOMOSEXUALITY,AND ALL SEX SINS)
25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:(LESBIENS)
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly,(SODOMITES) and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.(AIDS ETC)
Knesset Moves to Ban Gay March in Jerusalem
by Hillel Fendel (INN) JUNE 7,07
With tensions rising again as homosexuals prepare to parade in Jerusalem, the Knesset passes a preliminary reading of an amendment that would ban future such marches. At the same time, opponents of the march have begun a series of protest actions.The Knesset voted by a 40-23 margin on Wednesday afternoon to approve an early reading of an amendment to the current Jerusalem Bill.
The amendment will be discussed in the Knesset Law Committee; if it is passed there, it will be returned to the Knesset for two additional votes and final passage.The amendment reads as follows: The Jerusalem City Council is authorized to ban marches and parades in the city for reasons of disturbance of the peace, offense to public sensitivities, or for religious reasons.
MK Gabbai Explains
MK Eli Gabbai (National Religious Party), who submitted the bill twice - in the previous Knesset and in the current one - offered two explanations for proposing the bill. One explanation is that Jerusalem is a unique city in the world, holy to the three religions. The holding of a gay-pride parade specifically in Jerusalem is offensive to the believers of all the religions all over the world... This law authorizes the City Council to bar an event that is liable to offend millions of believers around the world, as well as the residents of the city itself.In his second explanation, Gabbai adds, ...Jerusalem's special national and international status stems, inter alia, from the fact that it is holy to the three religions. This legislation comes to strengthen Jerusalem's status via its City Council representatives, enabling them to set its policies while taking into account the special sensitivities in light of the unique religious and social composition of the population.MK Gabbai told Arutz-7 he hopes to have the bill passed completely in time for the scheduled gay march two weeks from now.
Some observers in the Knesset feel this is unrealistic, but it should be ready in time for gay events that are planned for the future, however, said Gabbai's spokesman Yair Givati.Meretz faction leader MK Zahava Gal'on condemned the proposed amendment, saying that every group must have the right of expression. She and party colleague MK Chaim Oron warned that the sword that is aimed at one group today could be aimed at another tomorrow. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert consented to allow the coalition MKs - specifically those of Shas - to vote their conscience on the bill. Olmert said that he himself personally opposes the bill, though he agrees that Jerusalem is not the natural place for a parade by homosexuals because of the special sensitivity in the holy city.MK Moshe Sharoni (Pensioners) said he feels the homosexuals can march in any other city: Why Jerusalem? What, do they want to get the Christians and the Moslems angry at us? Do they want the whole world to hate us even more? They're a small minority, and this is the law.
Once certain rabbis give the word, their followers will understand that an abomination march cannot be allowed to happen in the holy city, and will do practically anything to stop it Posters and Prayer Rallies. The hareidi-religious and religious sectors in Jerusalem are beginning a series of actions designed to prevent the parade from taking place. A body calling itself The Committee to Stop the Abomination Parade, backed by the Yesha Rabbis Council, the Sanhedrin, Jerusalem City Councilwoman Mina Fenton and others, has taken the following steps: Posters and billboards against the parade, road-blockings against a gay parade taking place in Haifa today (Wednesday), a possible protest rally against a planned march in Tel Aviv this Friday, and a protest tent at the entrance to Jerusalem beginning this week.In addition, the group has filed for a police permit to hold a mass prayer-and-protest rally at the entrance to Jerusalem on the day of the planned march. A donor has already agreed to pay for 1,000 buses to bring participants from all over the country. The event will be gender-separate; women will congregate at the beginning of Herzl Blvd., while men will occupy the road leading to Ramot.
Organizers say they will not sanction violence at these events. However, one organizer told Arutz-7 that once certain rabbis give the word to approve protests, their followers will understand that an abomination march is something that cannot be allowed to happen in the holy city, and they will do practically anything to stop it.Police have authorized the parade in principle, but have hinged the actual permit on their check of the actual route and other considerations of public security.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
Syria ready for war
Officials: Troops at Israeli border, could launch surprise attack
June 7, 2007 - By Aaron Klein - 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Syrian President Bashar Assad
TEL AVIV – Syria, aided by Iran, has deployed a strengthened army along Israel's northern border and is prepared to launch a surprise war against the Jewish state, according to senior Israeli security officials. The development comes as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday told the Knesset he is ready for direct negotiations with Syria aimed at an Israeli retreat from the Golan Heights, strategic mountainous territory that looks down on Israeli population centers twice used by Damascus to attack the Jewish state. With Israelis this week commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Six-Day War – when neighbors Egypt, Jordan and Syria attacked the Jewish state – Israeli security officials told WND Syria has prepared for a confrontation and is capable of launching an immediate war.
The officials say the Syrian army is deployed along the Syrian side of the Golan Heights with strengthened forces after carrying out the past few weeks stepped-up training of troops. The officials noted the open movement of Syrian Scud missiles near the border with Israel and said Syria recently increased production of rockets and acquired missiles capable of hitting central Israeli population centers.
The Syrian army has improved its fortifications, according to the Israeli security officials, and has received modern, Russian-made anti-tank missiles similar to the ones that devastated Israeli tanks during the last Lebanon war, causing the highest number of Israeli troop casualties during the 34 days of military confrontations. Syria also received from Russia advanced anti-aircraft missiles. The officials noted Syria stepped up the pace of weapons, including rockets, being shipped from the
Syrian border to the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. Just yesterday, a truckload of weaponry meant for Hezbollah was confiscated by the Lebanese army. Yossi Baidatz, chief of military intelligence for the Israel Defense Forces, said the Syrian-backed Hezbollah is rebuilding its forces in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border in areas where international forces are deployed with the specific charge of preventing the Lebanese militia's rearming.
The security officials said the greatest threat Syria poses to the Jewish state are the country's missiles and rockets. They noted Syria recently test-fired two Scud-D surface-to-surface missiles, which have a range of about 250 miles, covering most Israeli territory. The officials said the Syrian missile test was coordinated with Iran and is believed to have been successful. It is not known what type of warhead the missiles had. In addition to longer-range Scuds, Syria is in possession of shorter-range missiles such as 220 millimeter and 305 millimeter rockets, some of which have been passed on to Hezbollah. Israel also has information Syria recently acquired and deployed Chinese-made C-802 missiles, which were successfully used against the Israeli navy during Israel's war against the Lebanese Hezbollah militia last July and August. The missiles were passed to Syria by Iran, Israeli security officials told WND.
Israeli security officials said Syria is preparing for a summer war. But they said there was an argument within the Israeli intelligence community whether the military build-up is for an attack or is meant by Syria to pressure Israel into vacating the Golan Heights.
Some officials said Syria estimates the U.S. or Israel will attack Iran, and Syria will be drawn into a larger military confrontation by opening up a front against northern Israel. Also, the officials said, Syria may believe Israel will attack first and its preparations are defensive in nature. The Israeli army is not taking any chances. The Israel Defense Forces Tuesday carried out a mock attack on a Syrian village during a major exercise in the Negev.
The Israeli soldiers besieged and occupied the village, designed to be similar to towns on the Syrian side of the Golan. Similar war exercises were carried out in Israel the past few months, including a mock attack on Damascus.
Syrian President Bashar Assad has multiple times told his state-run media the past few months Damascus is preparing for war. He warned Israel to evacuate the Golan Heights. This past weekend, Assad called for better cooperation between Damascus and Tehran in the confrontation with the Zionist regime and the USA, according to a report published Sunday by Iran's official state news agency, IRNA. Yesterday, an official from Assad's Baath party warned in a WND interview if Israel doesn't vacate the Golan, residents in the strategic territory would launch resistance operations against Israeli communities. Meanwhile, Olmert yesterday told the Israeli Knesset he is willing to hold peace talks with Syria without any preconditions. At the same Knesset hearing, Israel's security cabinet decided to establish a ministerial committee to discuss the security threat posed by Syria. The committee, led by Olmert, is made up largely of the same war lawmakers who helped shape Israel's war against Hezbollah last summer. Those lawmakers were slammed in a recent government war probe for multiple failures during the war.
Olmert – faced with devastatingly low poll numbers and calls from the public and senior officials to resign – reportedly directed staffers at Israel's Foreign Ministry to prepare for the possibility of talks with Syria. Some analysts here have speculated in the Israeli media Olmert's ratings could rise if he reached out to his leftist base and conducted negotiations with the Palestinians or Syria. According to
the Israeli media, Olmert tapped third parties to approach Syria to feel out whether Damascus is seriously interested in negotiations. Syria, which signed a military alliance with Iran, openly hosts Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders. The U.S. accuses Syria of fueling and aiding the insurgency in Iraq.
Israel says Syria has been allowing large quantities of weapons to be transported from its borders to Hezbollah. Syria has been widely blamed for the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Syria is accused by Israel and pro-Democratic Lebanese politicians of fueling instability in Lebanon the past few weeks by backing Fatah al-Islam, a group claiming connections to al-Qaida that has been battling the Lebanese Army since May 20, killing some 107 people, including 47 soldiers and 60 terrorists. The clashes erupted just before the U.N. was set to call for the establishment of an international tribunal to try the killers of Hariri. Syria has been widely blamed for the assassination and for a string of subsequent attacks that have rocked Lebanon.
EUROPEAN UNION ARMY
DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)
DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.
DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
EU's Solana says Gaza force a possibility
By David Brunnstrom Reuters - Wednesday, June 7 07:02 pm
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - An international peacekeeping force for the Gaza strip is a possibility, even though it would probably be difficult for Egypt to accept, the European Union's foreign policy chief said on Wednesday.Javier Solana told the European Parliament in Brussels that for the first time in many, many years, the idea of an international force was not out of the question.Solana said two groups in the Israeli parliament had said it may be the moment to call for such a force, at least to start with, in the south of the region where the Rafa border crossing to Egypt is located.We are working on that, he said. The Israelis are also considering that possibility, the Palestinians are considering that possibility, the Egyptians are considering that possibility.
Solana said it would probably be difficult for Egypt as deployment of such a force might give the impression it was not able to control that part of the border. However, he added:I think we can still get into discussions on these issues and maybe eventually get a solution.The EU's External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told the same hearing an international mechanism set up last year to provide aid to Palestinians while bypassing the government would be extended for a further three months until the end of September.She said humanitarian conditions remained dire and appealed to EU members states to provide additional funds.
The United Nations special envoy to the Middle East called last month on Israel, the Palestinians and the United Nations to consider an international force for Gaza.Israel has long resisted Palestinian calls for peacekeepers in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, saying their deployment would interfere with Israeli security measures.But it has signalled flexibility since last year's Lebanon war, which ended
with a boosted United Nations peacekeeper force in former Hezbollah guerrilla strongholds.Israel pulled its troops and settlers out of Gaza in 2005, but cross-border violence has continued and last month it launched an air campaign to try to stop militants from firing rockets at southern Israeli towns.
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