$114.00 A BARREL AND CLIMBING

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

Magnitude 6.1 Earthquake Strikes Off Guatemala Coast
April 15, 2008 12:41 a.m. EST Nidhi Sharma - AHN News Writer

Guatemala City, Guatemala (AHN) - An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.1 struck off the Pacific Coast of Guatemala on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.There were no immediate reports of injuries or major damage.The quake struck at 9:03 p.m. (0303 GMT on Tuesday). The epicenter was located just offshore in the Pacific Ocean, about 45 miles south-southeast of Escuintla, Guatemala, according to the USGS.Guatemala power and telephone service were briefly interrupted but no other damage was reported.
On June 13, 2007, a strong earthquake ranking 6.7 on the Richter scale, hit Guatemala City. The epicenter was located in the Pacific Ocean, south of Puerto Quetzal, about 70 miles south-southwest of Guatemala City.

Small earthquake strikes just off Santa Barbara coast
Monday, April 14, 2008(04-14) 23:43 PDT Santa Barbara, CA (AP)

A small earthquake has struck just off the coast of Santa Barbara. There is no immediate word of damage or injuries.A preliminary report from the U.S. Geological Survey says at about 10:50 p.m. Monday the 3.2-magnitude quake struck in the Santa Barbara Channel, two miles southeast of the city.A dispatcher for the City of Santa Barbara Fire Department says there are no reports of any injuries or damage.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

New Zealand school in mourning after flood kills seven
Wed Apr 16, 3:03 AM

WELLINGTON (AFP) - Students at a New Zealand high school were in shock Wednesday after being told six fellow pupils and a teacher died after being swept away in a flash flood during an adventure course, officials said.In the aftermath of the tragedy, questions were asked about why students were taken into the remote and narrow river gorge when weather forecasters had issued a heavy rain warning.Police said they recovered the last two bodies early Wednesday, a day after a group of 10 students, a teacher and a course instructor were swept down the Mangatepopo River, near Turangi in the centre of New Zealand's North Island.One of the five survivors of the flash flood late Tuesday afternoon was taken to hospital for treatment but the others were not badly hurt.The deaths of 29-year-old teacher Anthony McLean and six 16-year-old pupils will be investigated by a coroner and separately by the organisation running the adventure course, the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre.Students gathered at Auckland's Elim Christian College Wednesday morning to be told of the disaster, with many weeping and hugging each other.The college's principal, Murray Burton, said the impact of the tragedy on the school would be huge and far-reaching and he offered students whatever support they needed to cope.The group was caught in a flash flood near the Tongariro National Park as rain storms lashed the northern half of the North Island.

Meteorological Service forecasting manager Peter Kreft said the flash flood was in line with a severe weather warning it had issued earlier Tuesday along with a separate forecast for the Tongariro region that predicted rain and possible thunderstorms.I think the warning that was issued did a very good job of warning about the risk of very high hourly rainfalls over quite a large part of the North Island, he told Radio New Zealand.But outdoor pursuits centre chief executive, Grant Davidson, said earlier that the deluge had been a surprise, with only intermittent rain expected, according to a forecast received early in the day.He said the downpour had caused the volume of water in the river -- normally a gentle stream -- to multiply 36 times in the space of half an hour late Tuesday afternoon.We got this incredible surge of water which was unpredicted, Davidson told Radio New Zealand.The students were on a return trip up the steep-sided river gorge, wading through the river and along its edges, and were equipped with wet suits, helmets and life jackets, he said.Police Inspector Steve Mastrovich said the river gorge was narrow and there would be few places where people could climb out of danger.New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said the tragedy was the worst nightmare for the school and affected families.My thoughts are with the families, the whole school community, and the outdoor pursuits centre at this sad time, Clark said.

Communities near Belleville brace for floods
Tue Apr 15, 4:20 PM

A state of emergency remained in effect in Belleville, Ont., Tuesday, due to continued flooding, but officials said they were cautiously optimistic the worst was over in some neighbourhoods.
They said, however, that trouble was likely yet to come for some neighbouring communities.Mayor Neil Ellis said the sandbags being packed and stacked by 250 volunteers in the parking lot of the Gerry Masterson Community Centre in rural Belleville could soon be needed in nearby Quinte West.They've had dams that have held back the water, but eventually dams are gonna have to let it go, he said, adding that water levels in Quinte West are expected to peak in five to eight days.Quinte Conservation, the Belleville-area conservation authority, also warned of heavy snowmelt in the headwaters of the Napanee River pouring toward reservoirs that are already full. That has flooded some roads in the Napanee River watershed and waters were still rising Tuesday morning.The Moira River hasn't yet settled back to its banks two days after its overflowing waters prompted Ellis to declare a state of emergency, and the waters were still expected to crest on Wednesday.A few blocks from the Gerry Masterson centre, Norm Allchurch surveyed his flooded lawn.Out in that water there's a burn barrel where we burn our garbage and you can't see any of it right now, he said. Has to be a minimum of four and a half feet deep in that spot.At the community centre, teacher Kirsten Stephens remained in good spirits as she shovelled piles of sand into waist-high cloth bags with her 15 teenage students. She said the experience has been educational.

We don't do enough volunteerism, so it's great for the kids to get on board, she said. And it's kind of fun to have them actually experiencing a real natural disaster.

High Fire Danger, developing storm system Mark Avery APR 16,08

West

A developing surface low combined with an upper level trough will bring a chance of rain and snow to the Northern and Central Rockies and adjacent High Plains today and tomorrow, along with colder than average temperatures. Gusty winds are also possible, especially across Arizona and New Mexico, and with low humidity values expected a high fire danger will exist. After this system moves out of the region, another trough, deeper than the first, will begin to move into the Pacific Northwest late in the week and over the weekend. This deeper trough will bring low snow levels and very chilly temperatures over the weekend and into early next week across much of the West: a stark contrast to the warmth of last weekend and early this week. Highs today will range from the 20s in northwestern Wyoming to the 90s in southeastern New Mexico. Highs tomorrow will range from the 30s in the Rockies to the 80s in the Sacramento Valley, Lower Colorado Valley, and much of Southern California.

South

The South will also have a high fire danger in two separate areas: in the Southeast (specifically the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida) and in the Western Plains. Winds in the Southeast will gust at times to around 20 miles per hour out of the north between a high over the Southern Appalachians and a low off the South Carolina Coast; dry southwest and westerly winds over the Plains will gust over 40 miles per hour at times, with both the Southeast and Western Plains expecting low humidity values. Florida's East Coast and the northern Outer Banks of North Carolina will have dangerous surf conditions. Tonight, showers and thunderstorms will begin to develop in the Plains, with a better chance on the way tomorrow. Thunderstorm chances will move into the Lower Mississippi Valley on Friday and in the Southeast on Saturday. A few showers and thunderstorms will linger in the Carolinas and Virginia on Sunday and Monday. Highs today will range from the 60s in Virginia and North Carolina to the 90s in West and South Texas. Highs tomorrow will range from the 40s in the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles to the 90s in the Rio Grande Valley.

Midwest

Gusty winds are expected once again across parts of the Midwest, from the Great Lakes to the Central Plains. Showers and thunderstorms are expected to begin to develop tonight ahead of a developing area of low pressure and an upper level trough over Kansas and western Missouri and spread into the Mid-Mississippi Valley tomorrow. A few showers will also be possible as far north as the Great Lakes. Rain will continue over the Mississippi Valley on Friday and move up the Ohio Valley on Saturday and Sunday. Highs today will range from the 40s in northern Minnesota to the 70s in the Central Plains and Mid-Mississippi Valley. Highs tomorrow will range from the 40s from southwest Kansas to northeast Iowa to the 70s in the Ohio Valley.

Northeast

Warmer temperatures continue to make their way back into the Northeast. Friday looks to be the warmest of the next several days, with highs 15 to 20 degrees above average. The next chance of rain moves into the region over the weekend, except in New England which should remain dry. Highs today will range from the 50s in Northern New England to the 70s in western West Virginia. Highs tomorrow will range from 50s along the Maine Coast to the 70s in much of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

FAMINE

REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)

Oil hits new record as investors flee the falling dollar By PABLO GORONDI, Associated Press Writer APR 16,08

Oil prices surged to record highs Wednesday as the weakening U.S. dollar drove up investments in commodities. Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose as high as $114.53 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange before retreating to $113.74 by the afternoon in Europe, down 5 cents.The contract closed at a record $113.79 a barrel Tuesday and then jumped in after-hours trading to an all-time high of $114.08.In London, June Brent crude contracts were down 6 cents to $111.52 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange, after setting a new record of $112.35 earlier in the session.Analysts said the oil increases were being caused by record lows for the dollar — $1.5966 per euro — as higher inflation in the euro zone practically eliminated the chances of an interest-rate cut by the European Central Bank.Annual inflation in euro nations rose to a record 3.6 percent in March, boosted by higher prices in transport fuel, heating, dairy products and bread, said Eurostat, the EU's statistical agency. It is the highest inflation rate in 16 years.

Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix in Switzerland said there had been a very strong correlation between rising oil prices and the weakening dollar in the last few months, which appeared to have been broken at the start of this week.Monday and Tuesday crude oil managed to move ahead without the help of the dollar, Jakob said. But once we broke above 1.59 euros per dollar and as we move toward 1.60, there's going to be more buying coming into oil.Analysts said growing investor demand for commodities — which have performed better than other financial instruments — also propped up prices.

This is really driven by investors purchasing oil because returns have simply outpaced those of stocks and bonds, said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.Shum said he didn't think supply and demand fundamentals were that strong, but added that oil's price rise seems unstoppable.Oil's recent run above $100 a barrel has been largely attributed to speculators, as a steadily depreciating U.S. currency drives investments in hard commodities such as oil and gold.Traders were awaiting the release of U.S. data Wednesday on the state of America's petroleum supplies. Last week's EIA report showed an unexpected drop in crude inventories, which started oil on its way to several records.The U.S. Energy Information Administration was expected to report that crude inventories grew 1.5 million barrels last week, according to a survey of analysts by Platts, the energy research arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.Gasoline inventories were expected to decline 2 million barrels, to post their fifth consecutive weekly drop amid increasing demand for the fuel, the survey showed.

Implied gasoline demand typically starts to increase at this time of year, but high prices at the pump and a slowing U.S. economy appear to have dented the pace of demand growth, the Platts report said.Analysts also projected a 1.7 million barrel drop in distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel, while refinery utilization rates were expected to jump 0.9 percentage points to 83.9 percent.The market may choose to focus on the expected product drawdowns and interpret the report as bullish, Shum said. But product inventories in the U.S. are at healthy levels. The declines would simply be because refinery utilization operating rates have not been strong, and that's because refiners are responding to weak demand.Crude prices were also supported by reports of a number of supply disruptions. Attracting the most attention was the closure of Mexico's three main oil-exporting ports on the Gulf Coast because of bad weather that started Sunday. Only one of the ports remained closed Tuesday, according to Mexico's Communications and Transportation Department. In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures added 3.11 cents to $3.3050 a gallon while gasoline prices rose 0.25 cent to $2.8835 a gallon. Natural gas futures were up 0.5 cent to $10.210 per 1,000 cubic feet. Associated Press writer Gillian Wong in Singapore and Aoife White in Brussels, Belgium, contributed to this report.

METEORS HIT THE EARTH

REVELATION 6:12-17
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

REVELATION 8:12-13
12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels,which are yet to sound!

German schoolboy, 13, corrects NASA's asteroid figures: paper Tue Apr 15, 5:43 PM ET

BERLIN (AFP) - A 13-year-old German schoolboy corrected NASA's estimates on the chances of an asteroid colliding with Earth, a German newspaper reported Tuesday, after spotting the boffins had miscalculated. Nico Marquardt used telescopic findings from the Institute of Astrophysics in Potsdam (AIP) to calculate that there was a 1 in 450 chance that the Apophis asteroid will collide with Earth, the Potsdamer Neuerster Nachrichten reported.NASA had previously estimated the chances at only 1 in 45,000 but told its sister organisation, the European Space Agency (ESA), that the young whizzkid had got it right.The schoolboy took into consideration the risk of Apophis running into one or more of the 40,000 satellites orbiting Earth during its path close to the planet on April 13 2029.

Those satellites travel at 3.07 kilometres a second (1.9 miles), at up to 35,880 kilometres above earth -- and the Apophis asteroid will pass by earth at a distance of 32,500 kilometres.If the asteroid strikes a satellite in 2029, that will change its trajectory making it hit earth on its next orbit in 2036.Both NASA and Marquardt agree that if the asteroid does collide with earth, it will create a ball of iron and iridium 320 metres (1049 feet) wide and weighing 200 billion tonnes, which will crash into the Atlantic Ocean.The shockwaves from that would create huge tsunami waves, destroying both coastlines and inland areas, whilst creating a thick cloud of dust that would darken the skies indefinitely.The 13-year old made his discovery as part of a regional science competition for which he submitted a project entitled: Apophis -- The Killer Astroid.

FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

3 die in Colorado wildfires; storm could aid firefighters By IVAN MORENO, Associated Press Writer APR 16,08

ORDWAY, Colo. - Firefighters hoped rain and snow Wednesday would help them stop wildfires that blazed through thousands of acres of grass, forced hundreds of residents to evacuate and left three people dead. Wind gusted up to 50 mph along the Rocky Mountain Front Range and eastern plains on Tuesday, fanning flames that quickly spread across 7,100 acres — or 11 square miles — of grassland near Ordway. Authorities told all 1,200 residents of the town to leave.On Wednesday morning, wind was blowing at less than 10 mph at Pueblo, about 50 miles west of Ordway, the National Weather Service said.By late Tuesday, firefighters had contained 50 percent of the blaze, which damaged at least 20 buildings, four within town limits, fire information officer Chris Sorensen said.Officials said two people died in the Ordway fire, though they didn't immediately release details. A firefighting plane crashed near Fort Carson, killing the pilot, who was battling a blaze there that charred 9,000acres — about 14 square miles — and forced the evacuation of people living near the Army base.

The Fort Carson fire raged unchecked late Tuesday, said Capt. Gregory Dorman, a base spokesman. Two shelters were set up at the post and a third at a nearby community college to house evacuees. The cause of the fire at the base outside Colorado Springs, about 60miles south of Denver, hadn't been determined.A third fire, near Carbondale in the western Colorado mountains, damaged at least two homes and injured one person, though the nature of the injury wasn't known.Rain was possible in parts of the area during the afternoon and there was a chance of up to a foot of snow in Colorado's eastern mountains beginning Wednesday evening and lasting into Thursday morning, the weather service said.All but a handful of Ordway residents had left for the nearby communities of Sugar City and Crowley, where officials set up a shelter. An unknown number of residents were allowed to remain in a nursing care facility in a section of Ordway not threatened by the fire, Sorensen said.Armed with a chainsaw, shovel and hose, Brian Walker stood ready to save his house from the flames.Well, I got a yard, and I got a home and I want to keep it, said Walker, 45. I thought if the fire came, I thought I could do whatever I could to stop it.

Helicopter footage showed at least three houses fully engulfed in flames near the town about 120 miles southeast of Denver. Two state highways were closed.At least three heavy air tankers, each capable of carrying up to 2,500 gallons of fire retardant, were sent to Ordway, said Steve Segin, a spokesman with the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center, which helps with wildfire response.Crowley County Sheriff Miles Clark said he asked the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to help investigate the cause.All three fires broke out after a wetter than normal winter was followed by a dry March.

Gov. Bill Ritter declared a state of emergency, freeing up state resources to help fight the fires. The Federal Emergency Management Agency also agreed to provide money for the firefighting efforts.
The wildfire near Carbondale, in the mountains about 120 miles west of Denver, blackened about 300 acres. The fire, which officials had earlier estimated at 1,000 acres, was about 25 percent contained late Tuesday.Associated Press writers P. Solomon Banda, George Merritt and Catherine Tsai in Denver contributed to this report.

FAMINE

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: 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.

Control rising food crisis: UN Indo Asian News Service
Tuesday, April 15, 2008 (New York)

The UN called for a long-term policy on food grain production in order to avert famine amidst steeply-rising prices that threaten to undermine anti-poverty programmes. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told a gathering of Breton Woods institutions, the World Trade Organization and UN trade agency that the rapidly escalating crisis in food availability around the world has reached emergency proportions.At a meeting in Washington over the weekend, the food cost crisis was discussed by leaders of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and finance ministers of the world's richest countries. World Bank President Robert Zoellick warned that the crisis could mean seven lost years in the fight against worldwide poverty.While many are worrying about filling their gas tanks, many others around are struggling to fill their stomachs, and it's getting more and more difficult every day, Zoellick said.

He called for a New Deal on global food policy - a reference to US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal that pulled the US out of the 1929 Depression.Officials from the World Bank and IMF met at UN headquarters in New York Monday to discuss the world economy with the UN Economic and Social Council. Ban addressed the opening.The international community will also need to take urgent action and concerted action in order to avert the larger political and security implications of this growing crisis, Ban said. The UN needs to examine ways to lead a process for the immediate and longer term responses to this global problem.The UN has set the target of halving the number of poor, those living on less than $1 a day, by 2015 under its programme known as the Millennium Development Goals.The UN World Food Programme, which provides food aid around the world, said last month it planned to increase its operational cost from $500 million a year to $700 million in order to meet the rising food prices.Zoellick's New Deal proposal called on the World Bank to nearly double its agricultural lending to sub-Saharan countries to $800 million in the next year in order to help them increase crop productivity.

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

The EU Lisbon Treaty: Old Wine, New Bottle? APR 14,08

JURIST Guest Columnist Dr. Laurent Pech, Jean Monnet Lecturer in European Union Law at the National University of Ireland, Galway, says that the controversy over ratification of the European Union's Lisbon Treaty is somewhat strange as the Treaty represents no radical alteration of the current constitutional relationship between the EU and its member states...

With a view to devising a new set of rules for the enlarged European Union (EU), 25 governments signed the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe in October 2004 (and generally referred to as the EU Constitutional Treaty). Following two negative referenda in France and the Netherlands in 2005, the European Council – the EU institution which gathers together the Heads of State or Government of the Member States – reluctantly agreed in 2007 to abandon the constitutional concept and to draw up a new Treaty which will amend rather than supersede the two existing Treaties: the 1957 Treaty establishing the European Community and the 1992 Treaty on European Union. If this were not confusing enough, the new Treaty, signed in December 2007 in Lisbon (Portugal), initially branded as the Reform Treaty or Simplified Treaty, is now generally known as the Lisbon Treaty. One controversial question has animated public debate ever since: does the Lisbon Treaty differ fundamentally from the defunct Constitutional Treaty? National governments keen to avoid popular ratification of the new text by means of a referendum have constantly stressed that the constitutional concept has now been abandoned.

The meaning of this expression, however, is far from clear. As a preliminary matter, it is important to note that the constitutional nature of the 2004 text can be disputed. Indeed, unanimous ratification was required before it could enter into force. Had the Constitutional Treaty been ratified, the Member States would have continued to retain the entirety of the pouvoir constituant, the supreme power to decide one’s own constitutional arrangements. To put it concisely, the so-called Constitutional Treaty was formally speaking another Treaty rather than a constitution. It would not have given life to a new sovereign power in the absence of a European-wide referendum of self-determination.

Yet, from the point of view of its contents, one may legitimately retort that the 2004 text was materially constitutional. In other words, although the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe did not obviously pursue the objective of giving birth to a new and sovereign state entity, it included some characteristic and decisive components of any constitution. For instance, it clearly organised the government of the entity to which it applies and it also included a Bill of Rights. As far as substance is concerned, the comparison with the constitution of a state hence appeared reasonable. But if one agrees with this line of reasoning, it is then plausible to argue that the EU already possesses a constitution as both the EC Treaty and EU Treaty offer a set of justiciable written rules that define the main organs of government and powers, which are viewed as superior law and can only be amended by special procedures.

To bring to a close this rather theoretical discussion, my main point is that the abandonment of the Constitutional Treaty – if one agrees to view it as a constitution – does not deprive the EU of a constitution because it has had one since 1957. Therefore it makes little sense to give any weight to the fact that the term constitution has disappeared, although one can understand the political motivations for removing it. The two key questions must instead be as follows: Does the new text differ in form and substance from the previous abandoned text? Does it radically alter the current relationship between the EU and Member States?

In form: the drafters of the 2004 text sought to simplify the EU’s institutional and legal architecture by repealing the EC Treaty and EU Treaty and replacing them with a new text. The decision to abandon the Constitutional Treaty unfortunately means that the present and not easily readable Treaties will continue to remain in force.

In substance: the decision to abandon the Constitutional Treaty was a difficult one to make considering the fact that 18 countries ― representing a majority of the Member States and of the EU population ― had already ratified it. This explains why, to the palpable satisfaction of those countries reluctant to completely discard the Constitutional Treaty, the Lisbon Treaty retains most of its key provisions. In the much-quoted words of Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, 90 percent of it is still there. The 10 percent lost includes the provisions that were said – inaccurately – to impinge on statehood: the term constitution, the definition of the EU as a Union of citizens and states, the reference to an EU flag and hymn, the title foreign minister and the provision which stated that EU law must have primacy over national law. This diagnosis was later further confirmed by the UK House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee, which expressed the view that [T]aken as a whole, the Reform Treaty produces a general framework which is substantially equivalent to the Constitutional Treaty. It seems, therefore, fair to oppose ratification of the Lisbon Treaty on the ground that it is the Constitutional Treaty in all but name. Yet, as pointed out by Richard Corbett MEP, although mice and men are 90 percent identical, the 10 per cent difference is rather important. Furthermore, I would argue that the Constitutional Treaty was more than the sum of its parts. Despite its formal treaty format, its constitution-like structure and the first official use of the term constitution would have considerably strengthened the EU’s symbolic authority.

To some extent, however, this quarrel is irrelevant as most critics preferred to rely on the tired argument that the Constitutional Treaty was the first step on the path towards an undemocratic European Leviathan. But with the exception of the unprecedented official use of the term constitution, the Constitutional Treaty clearly confirmed that the EU was no federal superstate in the making. It only contained a set of modest reforms aimed at improving the effectiveness and accountability of EU institutions. These reforms can be said to be modest as they did not – and will not as far as they are reproduced in the Lisbon Treaty – substantially alter national sovereignty. Among those modest reforms, one may mention the creation of the posts of president of the European Council and of high representative for foreign affairs (but both actors will remain the servants of the leaders of the Member States), the change to a double-majority voting system in the Council of Ministers (55 per cent of Member States representing 65 per cent of the EU’s Population) and the inclusion of a Charter of Fundamental Rights (whose legal impact should not be overestimated because its provisions do not extend the powers of the EU).

While the Lisbon Treaty safeguards much of the substance of the Constitutional Treaty and contains limited yet positive institutional changes, one should not expect radical changes from its ratification. As no radical alteration of the current constitutional relationship between the EU and the Member States is to be expected, it’s strange that the Lisbon Treaty inspires so much passion and deceptive analysis from its critics. Laurent Pech is Jean Monnet Lecturer in European Union Law at the National University of Ireland, Galway and the author of The European Union and its Constitution. From Rome to Lisbon (Dublin: Clarus Press, 2008)April 14, 2008

How the EU Conspires Against the People
From the desk of The Brussels Journal on Mon, 2008-04-14 21:22
A quote from the Irish Daily Mail, 14 April 2008

A leaked email [sent to the British government by Elizabeth Green, a senior UK diplomat in Dublin, following a briefing from Dan Mulhall, a top offical in the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs] shows that [the Irish] ministers are planning a deliberate campaign of misinformation to ensure that the Lisbon Treaty vote is passed when it is put to the public as required by the [Irish] Constitution.Foreign Affairs minister Dermot Ahern has even been personally assured that the European Commission will tone down or delay any announcements from Brussels that might be unhelpful. […]

Ireland is the only EU state which is allowing voters a say on the treaty, and European heads of state are terrified that they will reject it. […] [The leaked memo] pointed out that the [Irish] Government plans to keep people from analysing the details [of the Treaty], saying the aim is to focus the campaign on overall benefits of the EU rather than the treaty itself. […] The memo refers to plans to fool campaigners over the date and states: Irish have picked 29 May for voting but will delay an announcement to keep the No camp guessing. […]It added that during a trip to Dublin, [EU Commission] Vice-President Margot Wallstrom had told Dermot Ahern that the commission was willing to tone down or delay messages that might be unhelpful.

Hamas plans to meet with Carter in Egypt By IAN DEITCH, Associated Press Writer APR 16,08

JERUSALEM - Jimmy Carter rebuffed a call Wednesday from an Israeli lawmaker to halt his contacts with Hamas, and senior leaders of the Islamic militant group rushed to Egypt in anticipation of a meeting with the former U.S. president. Carter, who was scheduled to fly to Egypt after wrapping up the first leg of a weeklong Mideast peace mission, has drawn criticism from the U.S. and Israel for meeting Hamas officials. The group, which opposes peace negotiations and is committed to Israel's destruction, is considered a terrorist organization by Israel and the U.S.All of Israel's senior political leaders declined to meet Carter, and only the country's ceremonial president, Shimon Peres, made time to meet with him.Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, announced Wednesday that two of its Gaza leaders, Mahmoud Zahar and Said Siyam, were on their way to meet Carter in Cairo.Jimmy Carter wants to hear out our point of view, said Salah Bardawil, a Hamas legislator in Gaza.

A Carter spokesman refused to comment on the claim, but meeting the officials would be in keeping with Carter's schedule so far: On Tuesday he met a Hamas leader in the West Bank, and on Friday he is scheduled to meet the group's top official, Khaled Mashaal, in Syria.I don't think it is possible to have an ultimate peace agreement without the involvement of Syria. And I don't think it will be possible without the involvement of Hamas, Carter told a group of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists, repeating what has become the theme of his visit. To have them excluded from conversations or consultations I think is counterproductive, he said.The group included Israelis who lost friends or family in Palestinian attacks, as well as Palestinians who lost loved ones to fighting with Israeli soldiers.Earlier Wednesday, hardline Israeli politician Avigdor Lieberman tried to dissuade Carter from meeting Hamas' top leader in Syria.Meeting a terrorist like Khaled Mashaal only encourages and increases terrorism, Lieberman told Carter, according to a Lieberman spokesman.Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who brokered Israel's historic peace agreement with Egypt three decades ago, is on what he calls a private peace mission to the Middle East.In addition to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, he is set to visit Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Syria. He is scheduled to return to Israel late Sunday, and said he would present a report summing up his tour.

I'm not a mediator ... I'm just exploring possibilities for peace, he said Wednesday.Carter said Israelis and Palestinians should adopt an unofficial framework for a peace agreement known as the Geneva Accord, drafted by dovish Israelis and Palestinians in 2003 without government authorization. That agreement endorsed the formation of a Palestinian state on almost all territory captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.The sides should adopt the Geneva Accords as Bible, Holy Scripture, so that all can speak with a common voice, Carter said.

Jewish peace or Arab peace initiative? Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - By: Shoher, Obadiah

Why doesn’t Israel accept the Arab peace initiative? It offers Israel normalization with all Arab states (though not Iran) in exchange for returning to the 1967 border, Jerusalem, and a solution to the refugee problem. That’s basically what the Israeli government agreed to; most Israelis accept the solution except partitioning Jerusalem. The differences are mundane: Saudis want full return to the 1967 borders while Israel offered to exchange settlement blocs for similar tracts of empty land, and Palestinians agreed. The peace plan does not require Israel to accept the refugees, just to find a solution: presumably, compensation will do, and the US and EU would be happy to foot the bill for resettling the refugees in Palestine.

The issue of Jerusalem is the matter of names. What is the Jerusalem which Jews want for our eternal capital? The sprawling Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem are not Jerusalem in the biblical sense. Jews lived there, but we also lived in Hebron, Schem, and the entire Judea. In religious terms, giving away Hebron and Schem (which the majority of Israelis accept) is a crime incomparably worse than abandoning the districts of no special significance east of the ancient Jerusalem.The Old City’s issue is commonly misunderstood. The Old City of Jerusalem is merely an Ottoman structure. Razing the Old City’s walls would clarify the point that most of it lacks biblical significance. The only real problem, the land plot of tremendous importance to both Jews and Arabs is the Temple Mount. It is unthinkable for a state claiming biblical rights for its existence to abandon the most central place in Judaism. Although unthinkable, it actually takes place now: Israel bans praying Jews from the Temple Mount while Arabs enjoy the place even for their latrines.

So what are the options regarding the Temple Mount?

First and preferable, raze the Muslim structures and build the Third Temple. That, however, won’t be. A combined opposition of leftists, assimilated Jews, and religious Jews would preclude such a scenario. To clarify, almost all religious Jews believe that the Third Temple will supernaturally descend from the sky. Maimonides derided that view, but it gave root among the clerics who would rather pray and do nothing.The second option, advocated by some nationalist Jews, is to build the Temple on the Temple Mount without destroying the Muslim shrines. That, too, is unrealistic as Muslims would object to desecrating their holy place, religious Jews would demand supernatural Messiah coming on the clouds, and animal rights groups would protest the intended offerings.Counter-intuitively, Jews save their national face by abandoning the Temple Mount. If the place is not in our hands, then at least we can claim innocence for not building the Temple. And if a true leader like Meir Kahane would arise, he would have no trouble cleansing the Arabs out of the Temple Mount, Judea, Samaria, and all the way to Nile and Euphrates.If we do not intend to build a religious state of Judaism,If we are not going to maintain a Jewish state by expelling the Arabs,Then it makes every sense to accept the Arab peace initiative.The opinions and views articulated by the author do not necessarily reflect those of Israel e News.

Peres : Israel and Poland enjoy strategic relations
by: Yossi Lempkowicz Updated: 15/Apr/2008 01:51

Israeli President Shimon Peres (L) with Poland's chief rabbi Michael Schudrich at the Warsaw synagogue Monday 14 April 2008.
Photo: EJP

WARSAW (EJP)--- Israeli President Shimon Peres told members of the Warsaw Jewish community that Poland and Israel have established strategic relations.Peres, who started Monday a four-day visit to Poland during which he is to attend ceremonies marking the 65th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, said the two countries share the same views on various topics.Peres met Monday with his Polish counterpart Lech Kaczynski and several government officials. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk visited Israel last week.
Addressing members of the Jewish community at the Warsaw Nozyk synagogue, in the centre of the city, Peres stressed that Poland contributed so much to Judaism. There was a great deal of Polish spirit in the veins of Israeli culture, Peres said, mentioning also that a number of Israeli leaders were born in Poland and that the country was the birth land of Chassidism.

The Polish-born Peres was heartedly welcomed at the synagogue by Poland’s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, and by a choir of children singing Israeli popular songs. Referring to the Israeli soldiers and students who joined him on his trip and were present at the synagogue, Peres said: I am very moved by their presence here. I think to myself - if they had lived back then – this would not have happened to us.He said the Nazis wanted to destroy any Jewish life but today we are here to say that Jews can live their Judaism in the Poland.The Nozyk synagogue is the only surviving prewar Jewish house of prayer in Warsaw. It was build prior to 1902 and was rebuilt after WWII. It houses the union of Jewish religious communities of Poland.

Around 10,000 Jews live in Warsaw.
Schudrich said that Warsaw Jews were proud that the Israeli president wanted to be with them in a time of continuity and not in a time of destruction. The Jews of Warsaw today were fighting a different kind of battle, he said, a battle against the loss of identity and for a place in the Jewish world.Peres, who is staying at Warsaw’s Belvedere Palace, attended Monday night a state dinner hosted by President Kaczynski. Peres started his trip with a visit at the Treblinka extermination camp, where at least 800,000 people -almost all Jews - were murdered by the Nazis.

Sarkozy dispatches envoy to convince Turkey
Tuesday, April 15, 2008

French President Nicolas Sarkozy dispatches Jean Pierre Jouillet to Ankara in an effort to convince Turkey to participate in the Union for the Mediterranean. Suspicious that it is a French plot to keep Turks out of the European Union, Turkey has thus far turned a cold shoulder despite the fact that Sarkozy's original plan has been watered down

BARÇIN YİNANÇ
ISTANBUL-Turkish Daily News

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is sending Jean Pierre Jouillet, minister responsible for European Union affairs to convince Turkey to participate in the Union for the Mediterranean. A scheme to increase cooperation between the European Union and the countries in the Mediterranean basin, the Union for the Mediterranean is a French proposal, perceived by Turkey as an alternative to its membership in the EU. Sarkozy has also asked Pierre Lelouche, a member of the parliament from France's ruling party, Union for a Popular Movement party (UMP) to prepare a report on Turkish-French relations. Sarkozy's call to establish a Mediterranean Union, as it was called initially, coincided with his explicit statements opposing Turkey's entry to the European Union, has irked Turkey, which so far has not accepted France's offer to participate.

France is inviting all the countries around the Mediterranean rim, including Libya, Syria and Israel, to a European Union summit in Paris on July 13 and they are expected to take part in a “Euro-Mediterranean Bastille Day” military parade with European troops the next day, reported the British newspaper Sunday Times, quoting Henri Guaino, one of the closest advisers to the French president on Sunday. Despite assurances from the French government that the Union for the Mediterranean will not be an alternative to Turkey's membership, Ankara's suspicions that this is a plot to keep Turks out of the EU have not dissipated. The French on the other hand would like to see Turkey participate, as it is one of the most important countries in the Mediterranean basin. The fact that Sarkozy decided to send a minister as his special envoy to Ankara, is perceived by Turkish diplomatic sources as Paris' high interest to see Turkey included in the scheme. This is not the first time Sarkozy is sending an envoy to convince the Turks. Alain Le Roy a French diplomat came to Ankara two months ago in an effort to eradicate, in his words the misconceptions and misunderstandings. Neither his assurances nor the watered down version of the plan has been effective in eradicating Turkish suspicions.

The idea of Club Med has not only irked Turkey's friends in the EU like Britain and Sweden but has also annoyed Germany, which fears that France is creating a new sphere of influence with EU money.
Sarkozy's original idea envisioned an economic, political and cultural partnership exclusive to states bordering the Mediterranean Sea, such as Italy and Spain. But this vision has been watered down, as a compromise reached within the 27-nation bloc at a summit in March, made the Union for the Mediterranean open to more members in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East while making it harder to bridge the differences among them.

Jouillet will try to yet again convince his Turkish counterparts of the merits of the new cooperation mechanism. Although the Turkish government has not yet taken a final decision on the subject, many within the bureaucracy favor Turkey's participation in the scheme convinced that the new version does not pose a threat to Ankara's accession process. For many Union for the Mediterranean will be little more than a new political umbrella in the existing Euro-Mediterranean partnership launched 13 years ago in Barcelona. It will be wrong to stay out of such a scheme. Since it is not going to threaten the Turkish accession process, there is no need to antagonize the French further, said a Turkish diplomat. Relations between the two countries have soured due to Sarkozy's objection to Turkish membership. French parliament's approval in 2006 of a bill penalizing denial of Armenians claims of genocide had strained relations previously. Turkey retaliated through an undeclared commercial cold war. The latest example is Turkey's refusal to allow French firm Gaz de France to participate in the $3 billion Nabucco project designed to bring Caspian natural gas to Europe. In what appears to be wanting an overview of the current state of affairs in bilateral relations, Sarkozy has picked Lelouche who will prepare a report to assess the situation. This is an important decision, said a Turkish diplomat, it shows that at least Sarkozy is aware of the importance of Turkey and is sensitive to the negative situation.

April 14, 2008
Is Islam Compatable With the Modern World? Obama Says Yes

Barack Obama seems to think so. Make sure to read Amy Proctor's comments as well. I think she gets some key points wrong, but they're worth the read.Obama may be right, but I have serious reservations. It's something that Muslims are going to have to work out themselves. Certainly I think that Islam will have a much harder time coming to terms with modernity than Western civilization did. And to think the transition was easy for us is to overlook several hundred years of bloodshed.

For Christians a move towards a more fundamentalist understanding of their roots was a move toward separation of church and state. For Muslims it is a move away from it. It is this very basic problematic that makes equivocations between the two faiths so ill informed. Nevertheless, I don't fault Obama for making the statement. Our politicians have to lie. It's called diplomacy.Our political leaders have to say that Islam is peaceful and that Samuel Huntington's civilizational clash thesis is wrong. I expect them to say this. I want them to say this.Because every time any one--let alone a political or religious leader--suggests otherwise, Muslims around the world erupt into violence, call for a return to the Dark Ages, and their governments promptly threaten a clash of civilizations if we don't take it back!

I only hope and pray that our leaders know they're not telling the truth. Because if they actually believe the garbage that routinely comes out of the mouths of both Republican and Democratic politicians, then we're screwed.It's odd, too, that Obama uses his time in Indonesia [he was there under the successive secular dictatorships of Sukarno then Suharto] as a measure of how moderate & compatible with modern values Islam really is. For that matter it's not even fair to argue that since most Muslims just want the same things that you and I want--food, clothing, shelter, raising a family--that Islam itself isn't potentially dangerous.Of course the vast majority of Muslims just want to raise their families, but so do the vast majority of communists, the vast majority of fascists, etc. It is not Islam as a religious movement that I object to, it is Islam as a political movement which is a problem.

An episode of Red Dwarf perfectly illustrates what Hannah Arendt termed the banality of evil when the crew went back in time to have dinner with the Hitlers. The Hitlers were described as throwing the most fabulous dinner parties. I'll go to a ball game with a communist, hang out with them, compare notes on hot celebrity babes--and in fact, frequently do just this! I'm in academia, remember? A communist might be cool, but communism has been the source of more death, destruction, and oppression than any other political system of the 20th Century.It's not how Muslims, as individuals, worship God that worries me. It's not how Muslims, as individuals, treat me that is a problem. It's what happens when Muslims, acting through the power of the state, tend to trample on the most basic tenets of religious and speech freedoms that I fear. Islam will remain in the same category as fascism and communism as long as even moderate & secular Muslims demand legal penalties for criticizing Muhammad & leaving the faith.By Dr. Rusty Shackleford at April 14, 2008 02:44

REVELATION 17:1-2
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.(VATICAN IN POLITICS)

Pope's US Tour: A Substantive Guide By DAVID VAN BIEMA APR 16,08

For those who truly dote on the Pope, several television stations, including Mother Angelica's Eternal World Television (EWTN), will offer what one observer calls miter to miter coverage of the pontiff's trip to America starting today and ending with his departure back to Rome on Sunday. For those with special interests and more limited time, however, we offer the following guide to his travels:

Benedict's Birthday:
It's on April 16th, so one might expect best wishes from George W. Bush at the White House welcoming ceremony on Wednesday. But if you want to hear seminarians sing Happy Birthday to You, wait until his visit to St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.

The Priest Shortage:
The issue will be central at his prayer service and meeting with bishops at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate conception in Washington and at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y. at 9:15 a.m. on Saturday. Benedict will also bring up his hopes for greater activism by regular laypeople.

The Big Prayer Meetings
The most intense will probably be his 5:30 Wednesday prayer service at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the ecumenical prayer service on Friday at 6:00 p.m. at St. Joseph's Church in Manhattan, and at his mass at Nationals Stadium at 9:30 a.m. Thursday and Sunday Mass at 2:30 p.m. at Yankee stadium. The motto for this entire trip is Christ is Our Hope, so expect that theme to be repeated at each venue.

Serious Wonk Stuff
For the Pope's take on war, abortion, terrorism, globalization and human rights, focus on Benedict's Wednesday 10:30 a.m. White House event and Friday 10:45 a.m. address at the U.N. The U.N. speech will probably be more revealing, and he may also address the environment there.

The Pope Vs. Catholic Academe
In 1990 the Vatican issued a strongly worded demand that Catholic academics be more supportive of a Catholic way of life and that the Church approve the appointment of theologians in Catholic educational institutions. Initially highly controversial, the document has been less stringently enforced than some professors and administrators had feared. On Thursday at 5:00 p.m. the Pope will meet with more than 200 Catholic educators at Washington's Catholic University. He is expected to try to find a nicer way to achieve similar aims, in what one observer has nicely termed, affirmative orthodoxy.

The Sex Abuse Scandal
The Pope has not spent much time addressing this painful issue, having already expressed his shame and desire to prevent future abuse to reporters on his flight to the states. He may also discuss it on his Wednesday 5:30 p.m. Washington meeting with all the U.S. bishops, and certainly during the homily of his Mass for priests at New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral at 9:15 a.m. Saturday. The outstanding questions are whether the Pope will talk to victims and whether he will assign any blame to the supervisors and bishops who ignored or covered up for priests they knew were abusive and enabled them to become multiple offenders.

The Latin Mass
Benedict, who recently made it easier for priests to celebrate the mass in Latin (the norm prior to the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s) will be sprinkling Latin throughout his visit. But the highlight may be at his 5:30 p.m. Wednesday prayer service and meeting with the U.S. Catholic Bishops, which will have numerous Latin passages, and his Sunday 2:30 p.m. Yankee Stadium Mass, where the Creed, normally recited here in English, will be in Rome's mother tongue.

Non-Catholic Christians
Benedict will lead an ecumenical prayer service on Friday at 6:00 p.m. at St. Joseph's Church in Manhattan. He will stress commonality in Christ.

Spanish Speakers
Aware that at some point in the next 40 years the majority of his flock in the U.S. is projected to be Hispanic, Benedict threw a few sentences in Spanish into his videotaped message prior to the trip. At his Mass for priests at St. Patrick's at 9:15 a.m. on Saturday, the first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, will be read in Spanish.

Ground Zero
At 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, the Pope will say a lovely prayer, which has already been made public, at the site of the 9/11 attack on New York City. It begins, O God of love, compassion, and healing, look on us, people of many different faiths and traditions, who gather together at this site, the scene of incredible violence and pain. He asks that God give eternal light and peace to all who died there, in the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pa. The prayer ends: Comfort and console us, strengthen us in hope, and give us the wisdom and courage to work tirelessly for a world where true peace and love reign among nations and in the hearts of all.

Jewish interests
The Vatican's relations with the Jews have been on a steady upward curve since the 1960s, but there is occasional turbulence. Most recently some Jewish groups were upset that Benedict did not excise the passage about converting the Jews from the Latin version of the Mass. As if to make up, Benedict has scheduled several Jewish events this week. At 6:30 p.m. on Thursday he will address Jews along with representatives of other religions at Washington's John Paul II Center. On Friday at 5:00 p.m. he will become the first Pope to visit an American synagogue when he drops by to deliver Passover greetings at Manhattan's Park East synagogue. The only controversy may occur at his Thursday 9:30 a.m. Mass at Washington's Nationals Park. The gospel passage the Pope has chosen is the verse from the Gospel of John including Jesus' offering to his disciples, peace be with you. But that sentence begins, On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked ...for fear of the Jews. Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League says he hopes the Pope is able to excise those words. However, the Pope clearly wants to speak about peace and this is the Gospels' most powerful reference to it. Priests do not usually edit within the biblical sentence of a gospel reading.

Muslim Interests
Those with a special interest in Islam should tune in for the Pope's interfaith meeting. One Muslim representative will be Dr. Sayyid Syeed, head of the Islamic Society of North America. Dr. Syeed noted to Voice of America News that parts of a speech the Pope gave in 2006 in Regensburg, Germany, had been extremely painful to Muslims, but that I would like to make sure that if he has any misunderstanding about Islam we need to sit and discuss. He also noted that Catholics over generations have struggled for recognition and respect. Their experience of that struggle is directly relative to us establishing a respectable Islamic presence here in America. Those following the Papal/Muslim dialog may also want to tune in for Benedict's speech before the United Nations at 10:45 a.m. on Friday. One cardinal suggested that the Pope might use the U.N. speech to talk about how major religions could contribute to the reduction of violence.

Other Faiths
Try the interfaith forum at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday at Washington's John Paul II Center. Judaism, Islam, Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism will all be represented.

The Church and Young People
The one encounter we know that the Pope specifically requested was his meeting with 25,000 young Catholics and 5,000 seminarians starting at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers. One of the Church's responses to the priest shortage is expected to be more active recruitment of the young, and Benedict will probably start here, especially given the venue.

The Disabled
Fifty of the youngsters who will greet the Pope at the 4:30 p.m. Saturday event at St. Joseph's seminary in Yonkers have disabilities, and the New York Archdiocese's deaf choir will sing.

Papal Car Enthusiasts
The customized Mercedes-Benz ML430 - otherwise known as the international Pope-mobile, as opposed to the one used in St. Peter's Square - will roll in Washington on Wednesday and Thursday. It will be in use in New York on Saturday after Benedict's 9:15 a.m. Mass at Saint Patrick's Cathedral and during his Saturday 4:30 p.m. visit to St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers. It will tool around Yankee Stadium, where he will celebrate Sunday Mass. View this article on Time.com

U.S.-Vatican Relations Authors: Lionel Beehner
Lee Hudson Teslik, Assistant Editor Updated: April 14, 2008

Introduction
Since Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger ascended to the papacy in 2005, becoming Pope Benedict XVI, U.S.-Vatican relations have progressed unevenly. The pope has weighed in on several pressing matters of interest to the United States, from climate change to the Iraq war to domestic culture war issues like intelligent design. Benedict’s first visit to the United States as pope, in April 2008, brings several of the most pressing issues between Washington and the Vatican to the policy forefront. Some analysts say the Vatican has soured on several aspects of U.S. foreign policy, including the methodology it has used to pursue its global war on terror. Others see theological divergence between the pope and U.S. Catholic leaders. But some say this interpretation is overly blunt, pointing to aspects of Ratzinger’s writings that indicate strong allegiance to the U.S. Catholic Church and a sophisticated understanding of U.S. foreign policy.

A Brief History of Vatican Foreign Policy
Wilson Miscamble, a Catholic priest and professor of U.S. history at the University of Notre Dame, wrote in a pair of articles—America (1979), and Diplomacy History (1980)—that until the early twentieth century the Vatican's involvement in foreign policy was episodic and, in fact, largely limited to attempting to protect the interests of the institutional church in other lands. Not until the twentieth century did the church really seek to influence U.S. foreign policy.

Contrary to popular belief, the Catholic Church has not always taken a pacifist line on policy. Applying teachings on Just War theory that can be traced back to thirteenth-century theologian Thomas Aquinas, the church supported the Allied Powers entering World War II. It took a strong anti-Communist stance during the Cold War, and Catholics who supported communism were excommunicated by Pope Pius XII in 1949. When war in Vietnam erupted, the church initially called the cause just, but grew increasingly pacifist as the 1960s wore on. At the same time, significant changes were taking place within the church as the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council modernized and freed up discourse within its rank and file. From this sprang the liberation theology movement as well as the pacifism of Dorothy Day’s Catholic Workers.

Beginning with Pope John XXIII's 1963 Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) encyclical calling for nuclear disarmament, the church began to a take a stronger and more vocal stance against the nuclear arms race. This stance was later echoed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ letter on nuclear weapons in the early 1980s. Throughout that decade, in addition to its anti-Communist stance, the Vatican took a more forceful position in favor of promoting human rights and economic development. The United States did not establish full diplomatic relations with the Holy See until 1984.

In the 1980s, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II forged an important partnership in their efforts to discredit the Soviet Union. But since the end of the Cold War, experts say the Vatican and the U.S. government have struggled to find common cause. There have been long-standing tensions on a number of issues, not least of which is Washington's handling of the war on terror. The Vatican strongly opposed the U.S.-led intervention in Iraq. Yet some theologians say this rift over the war has been overstated and U.S.-Vatican relations will not be negatively affected. The United States works with the Holy See on a huge number of issues: trafficking, aid, development; the idea that all this stopped because of different prudential judgments about what to do about Saddam Hussein is just wrong, says George Weigel, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Other issues of common cause include reviving the Middle East peace process, curbing the spread of nuclear arms, and opposing development programs that permit abortion or artificial contraception. The Catholic Church and White House do clash on several important social issues, however, including the use of the death penalty. Pope John Paul II had made repeated personal appeals to spare death-row inmates and repeal capital punishment in the United States.

Pope Benedict XVI
Many experts see Pope Benedict’s foreign policy as a continuation of the policies of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. Popes don't invent doctrine, Weigel says. Every pope is going to tease out of the rich and complex traditions of the church particular themes he'll want to explore in depth. In his first encyclical, Pope Benedict XVI spoke at length about love and charity and the church’s role vis-à-vis the state. He said it is primarily the state’s responsibility to bring about a just social and civil order. But, the pope added, the church cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice.

Pope Benedict XVI chose his name after that of Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922), who had a peacemaker’s reputation. Benedict stirred controversy, however, in a September 2006 address that quoted the following statement from a medieval text: Show me just what [the Prophet] Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman. After Muslim leaders expressed outrage, the pope backpedaled, apologizing for any offense that had been taken—though some Muslim groups said the apology was insufficient because the pontiff stopped short of apologizing for the remarks themselves. Later the pope struck a more conciliatory tone, calling for reconciliation among world religions. In early 2008, the Vatican publication L’Osservatore Romano published a modern companion to the seven deadly sins, updating the ancient list of vices to include politically sensitive moral failings such as polluting the environment and contributing to the income gap between rich and poor.

The War on Terror and the Iraq War
Unlike the united U.S.-Vatican stance against Soviet-style Communism, theologians say Washington’s and the Holy See’s positions on terrorism are profoundly different and more complex. Most of the disagreements are over the means of fighting the war on terror, not the ends. The Vatican is not opposed to the right of the United States to defend itself, but as a general rule is less willing to endorse the use of force, says Gregory A. Smith, a research fellow with the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. According to Catholic teachings on jus inbello, war can only be waged in self defense or in defense of others. War also requires just cause and competent authority, or, in this case, the United Nations. In 2003, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said there were not sufficient reasons to unleash a war in Iraq.

The church has been critical of the White House's jus ad bellum use of torture and its treatment of detainees. Pope John Paul II, in a June 2004 meeting with President Bush, called the abuses of prisoners at Abu Ghraib deplorable events. The March 2008 killing of the kidnapped Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul revived Vatican concerns about Iraq just ahead of Benedict’s April 2008 trip to Washington.

The White House and Vatican agree, however, on the need to frame the war on terror not as one against Muslims but rather a radical ideology. There's been lots of emphasis on the Holy See to make sure this is not seen as a religious conflict, says J. Bryan Hehir, an expert on the Catholic Church at Harvard University. However, Pope Benedict XVI, like Washington, has been more vocal in pressing for Muslim moderates to condemn terrorist actions.

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
The Vatican has played an important role in the Middle East peace process. Officially, it recognizes Israel’s right to exist while supporting Palestinians’ demands for a homeland. The Vatican, theologian Weigel says, is motivated as much by demographics as geopolitics. The Holy Land is hemorrhaging its Christian populations and has been for twenty-five years, he says. There's concern that the Holy Places might become museum pieces rather than homes to living Christian communities. Israelis have sometimes perceived the papacy as being too pro-Palestinian. In 2006, the pope’s omission of Israel from a list of countries struck by terrorist attacks drew criticisms from Israeli leaders.

Yet some experts say that Pope Benedict XVI is hardly anti-Israel. Theologically, Benedict has a fine appreciation for religious Judaism, J. Peter Pham of James Madison University says. The pontiff's views on Muslims are less clear. If you look at history, he's profoundly skeptical of democracy and Islam, Pham says. Before he was elected pope, Cardinal Ratzinger came out against Turkey’s accession to the European Union, ostensibly because of its Muslim heritage. He's a realist about the differences between Islam and Christianity and favors dialogue while recognizing profound differences in their identities, says Timothy Shah, CFR adjunct senior fellow for religion and foreign policy.

Latin America
Perhaps nowhere does the Vatican wield more influence than in Latin America, where the population is roughly three-quarters Catholic. The Vatican opposed Reagan’s policies in the region during the 1980s, including the U.S. interventions in El Salvador and Nicaragua. Twenty years later, the U.S. image in the region has been tarnished, not least because of Washington’s failed prescriptions for market reforms. Some experts say a U.S. alliance with the Vatican can help improve Washington’s image south of the border. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says it supports free trade agreements like CAFTA and the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas. Generally, the church favors free but fair trade in addition to a more equitable redistribution of wealth, but not to the point of abolishing private property or individual freedoms. This partially explains the Vatican’s chilliness toward Marxist-oriented liberation theology movements in Latin America from the 1960s through the 1980s.

Shah points out in an April 2008 interview that the pope is intently focused on the extent to which Vatican-U.S. policy intersects with Vatican-Latin American policy. Shah points out that an April 2008 address to the American people was delivered in both Spanish and English. Shah adds that the increasing importance of Hispanic Catholics within the U.S. Catholic community has encouraged Benedict to turn toward the new issue, including immigration. You have more and more cities adopting measures to round up illegal immigrants, at least illegal immigrants that are guilty of minor crimes, Shah says, adding that Benedict is acutely aware of this.

Helping the Poor
The Catholic Church has long emphasized the need to alleviate poverty, heal the afflicted, and forgive debts. Poverty is a plague against which humanity must fight without cease, says Pope Benedict XVI. Charity featured prominently in November 2007. Experts say the Vatican views terrorism as rooted in economic injustice, inequality, and abject poverty. Says Shah: In addition to political freedoms, the Church stresses the need to bring greater economic development to alleviate pent-up frustrations. Likewise, the Bush administration has linked its disbursement of development aid to the war on terrorism. Poverty doesn't cause terrorism, President Bush told reporters in March 2002. Yet persistent poverty and oppression can lead to hopelessness and despair. And when governments fail to meet the most basic needs of their people, these failed states can become havens for terror. In 2004, Bush established the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) to deliver billions of dollars of aid to developing countries that met certain standards of democratization. The United States’ aid budget to Africa has increased substantially during the Bush administration. However, critics say that as a percentage of its gross domestic product, U.S. foreign aid remains among the lowest in the developed world.

Climate Change
The Vatican has increased its pressure on major global political players, including the United States, to take a firm stance on climate-change policy. In Pope Benedict’s revisions to the seven deadly sins, he included polluting the environment as a sin—a sign many experts interpreted as politically significant. In an August 2007 address, Benedict urged the Catholic Church worldwide to become more environmentally conscious, saying abuse of the environment is against God’s will. Experts say Benedict’s speech was only the latest in a series of increasingly forceful statements about tending to environmental concerns, and that by defining the issue in moral terms he substantially upped the ante for policymakers in countries where the Catholic Church is influential.

Overnight News Recap: G7 & IMF, UK PPI, EU Ind'l Production Beat Forecasts 06:42 04/14 (CEP News)

Montreal - The G7 and IMF's semi-annual meetings dominated the weekend's news with comments from central bankers and finance ministers of the world's largest economies taking the opportunity to voice their opinions on the state of things. Sunday's economic news revolved around rising producer prices in the UK and faster-than-expected industrial production for the euro zone.Ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations (G7)stepped up rhetoric on the foreign exchange market in the post-meeting communiqué released Friday. The statement had some key adjustments from the release which followed the February 9 meeting in Tokyo. Officials said they were concerned about implications of volatility in the forex market after previously saying the moves were merely undesirable.Since our last meeting, there have been at times sharp fluctuations in major currencies, and we are concerned about their possible implications for economic and financial stability, the communiqué said.The following foreign exchange comments were made by G7 central bankers and finance ministers on April 11 and 12 at the G7 and IMF meetings:

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet voiced his approval of the wording that the G7 communiqué had adopted on foreign exchange, saying the statement speaks for itself. He refused to elaborate further on what he called a touchy issue.
Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg Television following Friday’s G7 meetings in Washington, D.C., French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said the change in the G7's wording on foreign exchange spoke for itself. If we decide to change the language (of the G7 communiqué) it's after a precise analysis of what happened since the last G7, she said, adding that she hoped the new wording would help.When asked how he felt about foreign exchange markets on Friday, Luxembourg's Finance Minister Jean-Claude Juncker cited the G7 communiqué and declined to comment further. On Saturday, Juncker said the recent appreciations of the Chinese yuan were a step in the right direction, but called for further appreciation of the currency. He said a more rapid rise in the yuan would help stimulate domestic demand and reduce the country's dependence on trade with foreign countries. Juncker also said that the yuan did not hold as much focus as it had in previous meetings.European Economics and Monetary Commissioner Joaquín Almunia said that the euro was reaching levels which were no longer in line with economic fundamentals. Recent exchange rate moves are an issue of concern. The increased volatility in foreign exchange markets, which has accompanied the financial turmoil, points to the risk of exchange rate overshooting, he said in prepared remarks. The euro's real effective exchange rate is approaching a level where it would clearly no longer be in line with economic fundamentals.

The following are selected comments made by various officials at the two meetings on economic fundamentals.

Global Perspective:

Although financial market volatility is ongoing, incoming data suggests that the worst of the turmoil may be over, said Bundesbank President Axel Weber at a press conference following Friday’s G7 meetings in Washington, D.C. Weber was joined by German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck. Both policy-makers warned against exaggerating the losses from the financial turmoil, adding that total worldwide losses in the first quarter would amount to around $225 billion with German banks accounting for about $30 billion of the losses.Global financial instability and the uncertainties surrounding the global economic outlook have increased, according to the IMF Committee's communiqué released on Saturday afternoon. The Committee stresses that the challenges facing the world economy are of a global nature, requiring strong action and close cooperation among the membership, read the communiqué. The Committee notes that global financial instability has increased since its last meeting. World economic growth has slowed and growth prospects for 2008 and 2009 have deteriorated.

Perspective on Canada:

Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says decisions made at the G7meeting will help prevent a recurrence of the turbulence that has plagued international financial markets since last summer. No G7 country, including Canada, has been immune to the upset in the global economy, Flaherty told a news conference following release of the conference’s closing communiqué. However, he said the significant actions taken by the seven leading industrialized countries will deliver meaningful results.Both Flaherty and Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney said Canada had been spared the worst of the financial market turmoil thanks to its solid economic foundation. Canada’s situation is not by chance, Carney said. It’s because of some very strong fundamentals in our financial system.

Perspective on U.S.:

At a press conference following Friday’s G7 meetings in Washington, D.C., Luxembourg's Finance Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said the U.S. is likely to go into recession.The risks of the U.S. economy going into recession are increasing, but the euro zone economy will not suffer the same fate, said European Economics and Monetary Commissioner Joaquín Almunia at the IMF's semi-annual meetings in Washington, D.C. on Saturday morning.U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson cited a variety of factors, including downside risks to the global economy, as he sounded a note of caution about the U.S. economy. I am confident in the long-term economic prospects of the United States. However, the housing correction, together with high energy prices and financial market turmoil, are weighing on U.S. economic growth. Given the significant short-term downside risks, we are taking action, he said. Paulson went on to talk about the economic stimulus package passed in February, the Hope Now efforts and the FHA Secure program.In a separate speech delivered to the IMF committee on Saturday, he also said Since last August, financial markets have been re-assessing risk, re-pricing assets and de-leveraging. It took time to build up recent excesses and it will take time to work through the consequences. He added, we must expect more bumps in the road. Global financial institutions are making progress, with some announcing writedowns and acting to raise capital.

Fed Vice-Chairman Donald Kohn said, The market is still adjusting, the turmoil had not settled down yet. Estimates of what these losses will be will depend on what happened to the U.S. housing market.

Perspective on Japan:

At a press conference following the G7 meetings in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Luxembourg's Finance Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said the Japanese economic growth is likely to moderate.The financial market turmoil is ongoing but there is little indication that the crisis has had significant effects on the real economy, said newly appointed Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa on Friday following the G7 meetings.

Perspective on Euro Zone:

Luxembourg's Finance Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said Europe is not immune to headwinds from deteriorating economic conditions worldwide. However, he remains confident in the euro zone's sound economic fundamentals. He also said that he did not share the IMF's pessimistic view that the euro zone economy would grow 1.4% in 2008 and 1.2% in 2009.The IMF's forecasts for European economic growth are somewhat cautious, said European Economics and Monetary Commissioner Joaquín Almunia, adding that data seemed to suggest a more upbeat outlook. He also said the euro zone was well-positioned to weather the incoming economic slowdown, adding that monetary policy was consistent with the current inflation situation in the region. However, future monetary policies will depend strongly on wage negotiations and the evolution of food and oil prices, he said.

Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reydners said the inflation spike in Europe was temporary and said that credible European Central Bank policies would help ensure price stability. He also called on emerging markets to adopt a tougher stance on inflation over the coming months.Slovenian Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk said it is critical for the rise in commodity prices to not become entrenched in European inflation expectations. Bajuk, who is also chair of the euro zone finance ministers, said, The outlook for inflation in 2008 carries upward risks, taking into account the recent sharp rises in oil and food price assumptions, but is expected to moderate gradually later in the year because of reduced inflationary impulses from commodity prices.Finnish Central Bank Governor Erkki Liikanen said the European Central Bank had set an 18-month deadline to achieve price stability and that the euro zone economies were more resilient than many would have thought.Nout Wellink, the European Central Bank member from Holland, said the IMF euro zone forecast for 2008 may be pessimistic but seemed to agree that 1.4% and 1.2% growth over the next two years was realistic. I am inclined to combine these two years and the forecast of the IMF for the two years as a whole do not seem unrealistic to me, Wellink told Reuters. In setting rate policy, Wellink said officials have been having difficulty gauging inflation because of the resilience of high commodity prices.

Yves Mersch, head of the Austrian Central Bank, said that soaring inflation did not give the ECB enough room to cut interest rates this year, adding that the Bank might hike its inflation forecast as he expected price growth to remain above 2.0% by 2009. He also disagrees with the IMF's 1.9% inflation forecast for Europe, and said the growth forecast for 2008 was not that bad. Nevertheless, a downward revision to the ECB's outlook for growth could not be ruled out, he said.Since March, he said, it has become clear that the U.S. slowdown has been more marked and more prolonged than the BOC had expected, said Governor Mark Carney in an interview with CEP News on Saturday. But more important than determining whether the present growth in the American economy is flat, slightly negative or slightly positive, he said, is the speed of recovery as it heads into 2009. That’s what we’re thinking through now. He said the Bank will give its latest assessment of the health of the economy in its biannual monetary policy report April 24, and I don’t want to pre-judge that.The governor said the Bank of Canada will continue to take a disciplined approach to controlling inflation. The strong dollar has led to significant price decreases in some areas, including automobiles and food, he explained. The question is whether or not that disinflationary impact will broaden. We have to be quite disciplined in reaction to that. One doesn’t want to overreact to it.On Monday morning, European Central Bank Executive Board member José Manuel González-Páramo gave a speech about developments, policies and challenges of liquidity and its connection with the current market crisis at the 28th Nomura Central Bankers Seminar in Tokyo, Japan. The current turmoil in financial markets has been to a very large extent about liquidity, González-Páramo said. Since august 2007 the different phases of the turmoil have been marked by repeated disruptions to the traditional mechanisms of liquidity creation and transmission, both at the aggregate and at the individual level. In his speech, González-Páramo stressed the need to distinguish between the actions of liquidity policy and monetary policy.

The Bank of France announced that its business sentiment indicator for March fell slightly to 105 compared to February’s figure of 106. February’s reading had been revised down from 107. Economists had been expecting a reading of 102 in March.According to data from Eurostat, euro zone industrial production grew 0.3% in February month-over-month, up from economists’ predictions of a 0.2% increase but lower than January’s reading of 0.6%. Monthly industrial production in January was revised down from 0.9%. Annually, February’s industrial production rose by 3.1%, down from January’s annual rise of 3.3%. January’s annual figure had been revised down from 3.8%.Speaking with Culture Radio in Paris, Bank of France Governor Christian Noyer said that the U.S. dollar is abnormally weak and the euro is abnormally strong. Noyer, also a member of the European Central Bank’s Governing Council, said that rising food and energy prices are creating upward pressures to price stability and that inflation was currently rising above the ECB’s target level. However, Noyer concluded by saying that the European Central Bank is attentive to the higher level of inflation.

The UK’s March output price index for home sales of manufactured products rose 6.2% in year-over-year terms, compared with the rise of 5.9% in the year to February, according to figures published on Monday by the Office for National Statistics. Unadjusted, the index rose 0.9% in month-over-months terms from February’s revised figure of 0.5%, mainly reflecting rises in petroleum product prices, the ONS said. If passed on in full, the changes in UK excise duty on tobacco and alcohol announced in the March 12 Budget would have increased the index by 0.3% in March, the statistics body added.The output price index excluding excise duties (PPIY) rose 6.2% in the year to March. Seasonally adjusted, the index rose 0.4% between February and March. The core output price index excluding food, beverages, tobacco and fuel rose 3.1% in the year to March while February’s annualized figure was also revised to 3.1% from 3.0%. In seasonally adjusted terms, the index rose by 0.3% between February and March.On the input prices side, the price index for materials and fuels purchased by manufacturing industry rose 20.6% in the year to March and rose 2.9% between February and March. Seasonally adjusted, the input price index rose 1.8% between February and March.The core input price index for manufacturing industry rose 9.7% in the year to March. Seasonally adjusted, the index rose 1.5% between February and March.

Australian home loans declined 5.9% month-over-month in February despite forecasts for a 0.5% increase while January's prior was revised up from a 2.3% gain to a rise of 3.1%. Investment lending fell 9.5% in February and January's 8.3% gain was revised up to an increase of 8.8%.According to the Bank of Japan's March monetary policy meeting minutes released Sunday, committee members agreed to keep interest rates unchanged, even with economic growth projected to hit a plateau as risk factors became increasingly apparent both at home and abroad.During the March 6-7 meetings, chaired by then-Governor Toshihiko Fukui, rates remained at 0.5%, even with minutes showing a general consensus that Japanese production was basically flat and that the economy was slowing due to energy and commodity prices. One member went on record as saying that a rate cut shouldn't be ruled out. Meanwhile, reports show that Japan's CPI is in line to rise in the near future. The country's core consumer prices sustained a 1% year-over-year incline in February, which was the fastest since a decade ago.

JN BOJ to Publish Minutes of March 6-7 Board Meeting
AU Home Loans FEB -5.9% vs. Exp: +0.5% Revised: +3.1% Prior: +2.3%
AU Investment Lending FEB -9.5% vs. Revised: +8.8% Prior: +8.3%
UK PPI Input SA (MoM) MARCH +1.8% vs. Exp: +1.9% Revised: +1.9% Prior: +1.7%
UK PPI Input NSA (YoY) MARCH +20.6% vs. Exp: +19.3% Revised: +19.7% Prior: +19.4%
UK PPI Output NSA (MoM) MARCH +0.9% vs. Exp: +0.5% Revised: +0.5% Prior: +0.3%
UK PPI Output NSA (YoY) MARCH +6.2% vs. Exp: +5.6% Revised: +5.9% Prior: +5.7%
UK PPI Output Core SA (MoM) MARCH +0.3% vs. Exp: +0.4% Prior: +0.2%
UK PPI Output Core NSA (YoY) MARCH +3.1% vs. Exp: +3.0% Revised: +3.1% Prior: +3.0%
EU Euro-Zone Ind. Prod. SA (MoM) FEB +0.3% vs. Exp: +0.2% Revised: +0.6% Prior: +0.9%
EU Euro-Zone Ind. Prod. SA (YoY) FEB +3.1% vs. Exp: +2.9% Revised: +3.3% Prior: +3.8%

By Erik Kevin Franco with contributions from Adam Button, abutton@economicnews.ca, Todd Wailoo, twailoo@economicnews.ca, Gaurav Sharma, gsharma@economicnews.ca, Geoff Matthews, gmatthews@economicnews.ca and Ryan Szporer, rszporer@economicnews.ca, edited by Nancy Girgis, ngirgis@economicnews.ca(END) CEP Newswires - CEP News Ltd. 2008.

EU DICTATOR (WORLD LEADER)

REVELATION 17:12-13
12 And the ten horns (NATIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

REVELATION 6:1-2
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse:(PEACE) and he that sat on him had a bow;(EU DICTATOR) and a crown was given unto him:(PRESIDENT OF THE EU) and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(MILITARY GENIUS)

REVELATION 13:1-10
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(THE EU AND ITS DICTATOR IS GODLESS)
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(DICTATOR COMES FROM NEW AGE OR OCCULT)
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death;(MURDERERD) and his deadly wound was healed:(COMES BACK TO LIFE) and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE WORLD THINKS ITS GOD IN THE FLESH, MESSIAH TO ISRAEL)
4 And they worshipped the dragon (SATAN) which gave power unto the beast:(JEWISH EU DICTATOR) and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?(FALSE RESURRECTION,SATAN BRINGS HIM TO LIFE)
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.(GIVEN WORLD CONTROL FOR 3 1/2YRS)
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God,(HES A GOD HATER) to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.(HES A LIBERAL OR DEMOCRAT,WILL PUT ANYTHING ABOUT GOD DOWN)
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints,(BEHEAD THEM) and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.(WORLD DOMINATION)
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.(WORLD DICTATOR)
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.(SAVED CHRISTIANS AND JEWS DIE FOR THEIR FAITH AT THIS TIME,NOW WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE BUT DURING THE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH, PEOPLE WILL BE PUT TO DEATH (BEHEADINGS) FOR THEIR BELIEF IN GOD (JESUS) OR THE BIBLE.

THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS

Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come (ROMANS IN AD 70) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMANS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he( EU ROMAN, JEWISH DICTATOR) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:( 7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,( 3 1/2 YRS) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

WORLD GOVERNMENT

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
25 And he 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.

DANIEL 12:4,1
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

REVELATION 13:1-3,7,8,12,16-18
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.
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.
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.
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.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
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:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

REVELATION 17:3,7,9-10,12,18
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

PREMEDITATED MERGER
Makeover urged for North American Union effort,Heavy criticism of continental integration prompts plan to save flagging movement
April 15, 2008 10:41 pm Eastern By Jerome R. Corsi 2008 WorldNetDaily

Poster urging protest of North American Security and Prosperity Partnership .On the verge of next week's North American summit in New Orleans, a Canadian think tank has suggested renaming the North American Union to renew progress toward continental integration in the face of mounting criticism.A paper entitled Saving the North American Security and Prosperity Partnership, published last month by the Fraser Institute in Canada, contends President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper have decided to expend no more political capital in pursuing the bust that has occurred because of the brand of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America or SPP.The solution, the authors argue, is a public relations makeover in which the goals of North American political and economic integration remain the same but the names get changed to keep trilateral arrangements between the U.S., Mexico and Canada on track.

While the paper continues to dismiss critics of the SPP as conspiracy theorists, Fraser Institute political scientist Dr. Alexander Moens and his co-author Michael Cust, a Fraser Institute intern, proposes the name North American Union, or NAU, be dropped in favor of a declaration that the three countries now want to create a North American Standards and Regulatory Area, or NASRA.

Moens and Cust write that the attacks of SPP critics are starting to hurt.In the wake of the Montebello Summit (in Quebec last summer), one Canadian commentator declared the SPP dead and defunct, Moens and Cust noted. Another stated recently that the SPP has collapsed under a heap of conspiratorial rubbish.But the authors argue the SPP is far from dead.Acknowledging the SPP has a low profile currently, the Frasier Institute authors stress that trilateral talks in the bureaucratic working groups constituted under SPP by the three governments are continuing on both security and competitiveness policy issues.Its critics may have tarnished the SPP brand,Moens and Cust concede, but the precise areas of its work – to follow where NAFTA left off and to do so by incorporating post-9/11 security criteria as well as public safety and quality of life issues (pandemic illnesses and food safety) – are key Canadian interests.The Fraser Institute paper also encourages the SPP working groups to develop a better communications strategy, so that the public can begin to understand its benefits.The authors, however, are opposed to expanding the list of SPP advisers to include public interest groups or the media, preferring to stay with the closed-door advice offered by the 30 corporations picked by the chambers of commerce in the three countries to serve as members of the North American Competitiveness Council, or NACC.

They also concede that Mexico has been a drag on border security talks, especially since illegal immigration into the U.S. has continued, if not accelerated, under the SPP. They admit there is an enormous problem of illegal entry, drug smuggling, and violent incidents on the Mexican border, while continuing to argue there is also a very large legal and orderly flow of goods between Mexico and the United States.In 1999, economist Herbert G. Grubel of the Fraser institute wrote a paper entitled, The Case for the Amero, presenting the first arguments in print that a North American currency should be created on the model of the euro in the European Union as a replacement for the U.S. dollar, the Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso.WND reported the third SPP summit, held last August in Montebello, Quebec, involved a series of closed-door meetings attended only by the three state heads, the cabinet members in attendance, the SPP trilateral bureaucrats assigned to head the 20 working groups established under the SPP and the NACC business leaders.

Next Monday and Tuesday, President Bush will meet in New Orleans with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Harper.The White House has changed the name of the meeting from the Fourth SPP Annual Summit to simply the North American Leaders' Summit.WND has applied to the White House for press credential to attend next week's New Orleans meeting.

ONLY A MIRACLE CAN SAVE AMERICA NOW By Pastor Chuck Baldwin
April 15, 2008 NewsWithViews.com

Every four years, conservative pragmatists trot out the We Can't Let So-And-So Win mantra. Of course, the so-and-so in question is always the Democratic Presidential candidate. For all of my adult life, I have been listening to so-called conservative Republicans warn us of the impending doom that would befall our country if the Democratic candidate were elected. And this year is no different.

This year's Republican primary did provide a wonderful aberration, however, to the usual choices between Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Republicans had an opportunity to nominate a real American constitutionalist, a statesman in the similitude of Thomas Jefferson or James Madison. That man was Texas Congressman, Ron Paul. Unfortunately, the Republican faithful seem to be incapable of discerning the marks of true greatness, not to mention fidelity to constitutional government. It is doubtful that most of them even understand what constitutional government is. And as for Christian conservatives, they can barely see any issues beyond abortion and gay rights. To try and convince them to support a constitutionalist candidate is like talking to a brick wall.So, what choice does the Republican Party offer the American people this year? The worst of all possible choices: good old John McSame McCain.Let's be clear: a John McCain Presidency will be no better than a Hillary Clinton or a Barack Obama Presidency. In fact, in many ways, a McCain White House will be WORSE than a Democratic one.

On many issues, there is virtually no distinction between John McCain and any potential Democratic candidate. John McCain is no friend to gun owners. He is no friend to pro-lifers. He is no friend to fiscal conservatives. He is no friend to property owners. He is no friend to family values voters. He is no friend to America's blue-collar workers. He is no friend to small business owners. He is no friend to opponents of illegal immigration.On the other hand, John McCain is a great friend to Big Business. Similarly, he is a friend to Big Government and Big Brother. He is also a friend to open borders, supranational government, regionalism, and American imperialism.

But this is where the Boogeyman comes in.

At this point, Republican Party lackeys will break in and say, We can't let Hillary Clinton win. We can't let Barack Obama win. Even the favored son of the Religious Right, Mike Huckabee, has endorsed John McCain, not to mention Mitt Romney and virtually every other Republican bigwig. (Thank God, Ron Paul has maintained his integrity by NOT endorsing McCain.)I, for one, am fed up with this baloney, because what we are actually faced with is not the lesser of two evils but the evil of two lessers. (To quote a good friend of mine.) And the reason John McCain would actually be a worse President than either Obama or Clinton is because of the manner in which conservatives go to sleep whenever a Republican occupies the Oval Office. Furthermore, the next couple of years are crunch time for this burgeoning North American Union and related issues.

America is currently facing the most serious threat to its national independence and sovereignty since the War of 1812. The forces of globalism have declared an all-out war against our country's independence. Illegal immigration, the NAFTA superhighway, the North American Community, a regional currency called the Amero, and free trade deals are just a few of the weapons in their arsenal. And John McCain will use every bit of his power as President to facilitate all of this chicanery. And, because McCain is a Republican, conservatives and Christians will sit back and let it happen without even the slightest whimper of resistance. If Obama or Clinton were sitting in the Oval Office, however, massive numbers of conservatives and Christians would rise in protest over every inch of ground ceded to these nefarious nabobs. So, tell me, who is the greater evil? I say it is John McCain.I realize that there are many readers shouting to themselves right now and saying, So what do we do, Chuck? We have to vote for one or the other. To which I say, No you don't. You can think outside the box. You don't have to throw your vote away on either of these wretched candidates. You can cast a vote for principle and vote for a third party candidate.

I can hear readers screaming at me now, saying that voting for a third party candidate is a wasted vote. I strongly disagree! Casting a vote for a person who you know is unfaithful to your principles is a wasted vote! Voting for someone who you know will keep our borders and ports open to illegals, continue George Bush's preemptive war doctrine, and facilitate a burgeoning hemispheric government--not to mention someone who will increase and augment a burgeoning Orwellian police state--is a wasted vote!At some point, we Americans must decide whether we will tolerate the continued sellout of our freedoms and principles or not. Will we swallow the shallow squeals of the establishment elite who think we are a bunch of sheep to be herded into their New World Order? Or will we stand our ground? Will we vote our principles and our conscience?

It does not matter that the pundits and experts say we can't win. That is not our business. As John Quincy Adams said, Duty is ours; results are God's. When will Christians, especially, quit trying to play politics and start standing for principle? They talk a lot about principle, but when it comes down to where the rubber meets the road, most don't act like people of principle.If God intends to give America another chance, if He intends to return these United States to constitutional government, and if He intends to preserve America's independence, it will only come in the form of a miracle. And miracles do not happen by the machinations of pragmatic planners. Miracles are just that.America was born a miracle, and it could now be given a new birth by miracle. If so, it would demand that people of principle start acting like it. That we cast aside the pragmatic, the reasonable, the sophisticated, and the expected. That we--as did the priests of old--would be willing to step out into the raging current of the Jordan River, knowing that either God would part the water or we would drown. That we would be willing to sign our names to a document--as did our Founding Fathers--that would make us either the enemies of the state or the inventors of a new nation. It means taking risks; it means doing the impractical; it means rejecting accepted wisdom and standing for principle.

I am convinced that only a miracle can save America now. And I am expecting God to grant such a miracle. Beyond that, I am willing to do my part to place myself in a position to let God use my voice and my vote to accomplish this miracle. And if that means voting for someone who has no chance of winning in order to let God take the glory for whatever victory results, it is the least I can do. So, who will join me?

*If you enjoyed this column and want to help me distribute these editorial opinions to an ever-growing audience, donations may now be made by credit card, check, or Money Order.2008 Chuck Baldwin

THE BIG QUAKE IS COMING

BREAKING NEWS FROM ISRAEL

RABBI CHAIM RICHMAN AND THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE WANT TO HAVE THE OFFICIAL PASSOVER SACRIFICE GIVIN ON PASSOVER. THESE GUYS TAKE THE BIBLE LITERAL ALSO THAT SAYS THE THIRD TEMPLE WILL BE REBUILT IN THE LAST DAYS.

CHAIM HAS PUT A COURT ODER IN TO ASK FOR THE SACRIFICE. HE ALSO WANTS TO PRACTISE ON HOW TO PUT UP AND TAKE DOWN A QUICK ALTAR FOR THE PASSOVER SACRIFICE.

I PRAY THAT GOD WILL FULFILL THIS PROPHECY THEN THE 3RD TEMPLE WOULD SOON BE REBUILT LIKE DANIEL 9:27 SAYS WILL HAPPEN.

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Colombian volcano erupts in ash shower APR 15,08

BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombia's Nevado del Huila volcano erupted in a shower of hot ash, prompting thousands of people to leave their homes on Tuesday. The remote volcano, 150 miles (240 kilometers) southwest of Bogota, erupted shortly before midnight Monday and appeared less active at daybreak.The extent of the eruption was not clear, but even minor eruptions could cause landslides and flooding by melting the snow and ice cap atop the 17,484-foot (5,330-meter) volcano, and authorities maintained a red alert for settlements near the volcano.About 3,500 people were leaving or being evacuated from the villages of Belalcazar and Paez, which are susceptible to flooding of the Rio Paez, said Carlos Marquez, national director the Red Cross, on radio Caracol.Cesar Lopez, director of geologic services at the Colombian Institute of Geology and Mining, said that the volcano is now more calm, but we will have to analyze whether to maintain the red alert.Eruptions last year at the Nevado del Huila were its first on record since the mid-16th century.The Nevado del Huila, which is topped with a crown of ice, is Colombia's third-highest peak.The latest eruption was preceded by seismic rumblings starting on April 8.In 1985, the town of Armero was wiped off the map and 25,000 people were killed when another volcano, the Nevado del Ruiz, exploded and set off a series of mudslides. It was Colombia's worst natural disaster.

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.

THE BIG QUAKE IS COMING, CALIFORNIA WILL JUST BE A MINOR ONE COMPARED TO THE FUTURE QUAKE IN JERUSALEM WHEN JESUS RETURNS TO EARTH BODILY. THIS WILL BE THE BIG ONE AS CHRIST RETURNS TO EARTH TO RULE FROM HIS THRONE FOREVER.

JESUS WHEN UP FROM THE MOUNT OF OLIVES AND WILL RETURN TO EARTH BODILY ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES AGAIN.

ACTS 1:10-11
10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

ZECHARIAH 14:4
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.(WHEN THE GREATEST EARTH QUAKE OCCURS AT JESUS' RETURN)

Forecast: Big quake likely in Calif. By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer Mon Apr 14, 6:20 PM ET

LOS ANGELES - California faces an almost certain risk of being rocked by a strong earthquake by 2037, scientists said Monday in the first statewide temblor forecast. New calculations reveal there is a 99.7 percent chance a magnitude 6.7 quake or larger will strike in the next 30 years. The odds of such an event are higher in Southern California than Northern California, 97 percent versus 93 percent.It basically guarantees it's going to happen, said Ned Field, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena and lead author of the report.The 1994 Northridge earthquake under Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley was magnitude 6.7. It killed 72 people, injured more than 9,000 and caused $25 billion in damage in the metropolitan area.The damage created by an earthquake depends greatly on where it hits. A 7.1 quake — much stronger than Northridge — hit the Mojave Desert in 1999 but caused only a few injuries and no deaths.California is one of the world's most seismically active regions. More than 300 faults crisscross the state, which sits atop two of Earth's major tectonic plates, the Pacific and North American plates. About 10,000 quakes each year rattle Southern California alone, although most of them are too small to be felt.The analysis is the first comprehensive effort by the USGS, Southern California Earthquake Center and California Geological Survey to calculate earthquake probabilities for the entire state using newly available data. Previous quake probabilities focused on specific regions and used various methodologies that made it difficult to compare.

For example, a 2003 report found the San Francisco Bay Area faced a 62 percent chance of being struck by a magnitude 6.7 quake by 2032. The new study increased the likelihood slightly to 63 percent by 2037. For the Los Angeles Basin, the probability is higher at 67 percent. There is no past comparison for the Los Angeles area.

Scientists still cannot predict exactly where in the state such a quake will occur or when. But they say the analysis should be a wake-up call for residents to prepare for a natural disaster in earthquake country.Knowing the likelihood of a strong earthquake is the first step in allowing scientists to draw up hazard maps that show the potential severity of ground shaking in an area. The information can also help with updating building codes and emergency plans and setting earthquake insurance rates.A big earthquake can happen tomorrow or it can happen 10 years from now, said Tom Jordan, director of the earthquake center, which is headquartered at the University of Southern California.Researchers also calculated the statewide probabilities for larger temblors over the same time period. Among their findings: There is a 94 percent chance of a magnitude 7 shock or larger; a 46 percent chance of a magnitude 7.5 and a 4.5 percent chance of a magnitude 8.

The odds are higher that a magnitude 7.5 quake will hit Southern California than Northern California — 37 percent versus 15 percent.

Of all the faults in the state, the southern San Andreas, which runs from Parkfield in central California southeast to the Salton Sea, appears most primed to break, scientists found. There is a 59 percent chance in the next three decades that a Northridge-size quake will occur on the fault compared to 21 percent for the northern section.The northern San Andreas produced the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, but the southernmost segment has not popped in more than three centuries.Scientists are also concerned about the Hayward and San Jacinto faults, which have a 31 percent chance of producing a Northridge-size temblor in the next 30 years. The Hayward fault runs through densely populated cities in the San Francisco Bay Area. The San Jacinto fault bisects the fast-growing city of San Bernardino east of Los Angeles.On the Net:
U.S. Geological Survey: http://www.usgs.gov Southern California Earthquake Center: http://www.scec.org California Geological Survey: http://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/

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.

Five killed, three missing in flooded New Zealand river
APR 15,08

WELLINGTON (AFP) - Five people were killed and three others missing late Tuesday after they were swept away by a storm-swollen river in New Zealand, police said.Police said the bodies of five people had been found late Tuesday and the search would continue overnight for three others in the Mangatepopo Gorge, near Turangi in the centre of the North Island.Details of those found dead were not given by police but Radio New Zealand reported they included four high school students and a teacher.A group of 12 people, including 10 students from the Elim Christian College in Auckland, got into trouble late Tuesday afternoon, police said in a statement.Initial reports indicate the group got into difficulty and were swept away in the Mangatepopo stream.The students, believed to be aged between 16 and 17, were caught in rising waters while on a course at the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre.Nightfall, rough terrain and stormy conditions hampered efforts by search and rescue teams to find the missing, police said.Murray Burton, the principal of Elim, said 40 students were taking part in the course and a group was discovered missing late Tuesday afternoon at the end of the trip along the river.The group had been canyoning down the river gorge, a technique combining hiking, climbing and swimming.From what I understand, they were well equipped for the journey with wetsuits, life jackets and harnesses, Burton told the New Zealand Press Association.Police said a helicopter with night vision capability was sent to the area to help the search.Meanwhile, a 50-year-old man and the horse he was riding were killed instantly after being struck by lightning during a wild electrical storm on Tuesday afternoon, police said.Five other riders taking part in the hunt in the Northland region, in the far north of the North Island, were treated for mild electric shock.Sergeant Jonathon Tier, of the Dargaville police, said he had never seen a storm like it in the 35 years he had lived in the area.Lightning deaths are rare in New Zealand, with the last recorded fatality in 1986, the Meteorological Service said.

Parts of Quebec on flood watch
Mon Apr 14, 12:16 PM

MONTREAL (CBC) - Public security officials remained on flood alert as water levels in Rivière-des-Prairies and Mille-Iles River showed no sign of receding Monday.In Laval, the Mille-Iles River spilled its banks on Saturday, flooding about a dozen basements.But colder temperatures over the weekend prevented any major flooding but authorities say mild weather forecast this week will increase risks.

Warmer weather expected this week will accelerate the melt, especially in the Outaouais River in Western Quebec, which will raise water levels in Rivière-des-Prairies and Mille-Iles River, and in the Two Mountains Lake, authorities said.The Maskinongé, Bécancour and Chaudière Rivers are also on high flood watch.

FAMINE

REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)

FAMINE

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: 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.

Food and energy costs lead wholesale prices to soar in March By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer APR 15,08

WASHINGTON - Inflation at the wholesale level soared in March at nearly triple the rate that had been expected as the costs of energy and food both climbed rapidly. The Labor Department reported Tuesday that wholesale prices rose by 1.1 percent last month, the largest increase since a 2.6 percent rise last November, which had been the biggest one-month jump in 33 years. Analysts had been expecting a much more moderate 0.4 percent rise in wholesale prices for the month.Core inflation, which excludes energy and food, was better behaved last month, rising by just 0.2 percent, down from a worrisome 0.5 percent rise in February.For the past 12 months, wholesale prices are up by 6.9 percent and core inflation is up by 2.7 percent, the biggest year-over-year increase in nearly two years.The inflation pressures are occurring at a time when the overall economy is slowing and many analysts believe may have toppled into a recession. That raises concerns that the country could be facing another bout of stagflation, the malady that last occurred in the 1970s when economic growth stagnated but inflation kept rising.

Such a development would put the Federal Reserve in a bind. The central bank has been cutting interest rates in an effort to combat the current slowdown. However, if inflation pressures keep rising, it might be forced to stop cutting interest rates for fear that it would make inflation worse.For March, energy prices jumped 2.9 percent, the biggest increase since November. The price of gasoline was up 1.3 percent while natural gas rose by 4.2 percent. Home heating oil shot up by 13.1 percent and diesel fuel, used to power the nation's trucking fleet, increased by 15.3 percent.Analysts believe the economy will be hit with more energy pressures in coming months, reflecting the fact that crude oil costs are remaining at record levels above $111 per barrel.Food costs rose by 1.2 percent in March, reflecting big increases in the price of vegetables, rice, and beef.

Outside of food and energy, the price of soap and detergents jumped 2 percent, the biggest gain in more than two years, while pet food increased by 1.3 percent.However, the price of new cars dropped by 0.2 percent and the cost of light trucks was down 0.3 percent, indicating the struggles that automakers face as a weak economy dampens demand.The government will report on consumer prices on Wednesday with the expectation that they rose by 0.3 percent in March.

Oil sets new record high above $113 By Randy Fabi APR 15,08

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil set new record highs above $113 a barrel on Tuesday as investors sought to hedge against a battered dollar.

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown called on oil producers to take action to dampen prices ahead of talks with U.S. President George W. Bush where Brown said they would discuss collective action to bring prices down.U.S. crude rose $1.80 to $113.56 a barrel at 10:05 a.m. EDT, after touching a record high of $113.93.
Oil is up about 18 percent from the start of the year and is averaging near $100.London Brent crude was up $1.91 at $111.75, after a record high of $111.85. The May Brent futures contract expires later on Tuesday.One thing that is clearly driving the oil price is that the U.S. dollar has gotten substantially weaker in the past several months and quarter, said Richard Batty of Standard Life.The volatility in asset markets -- mainly equities -- has pushed investors towards commodities.The dollar recouped some of its losses versus the euro after U.S. Treasury data showed foreigners increased purchases of U.S. assets in February.The data eased some concerns that capital inflows into the U.S. could dry up because of the credit crisis.A weak dollar tends to raise prices for commodities denominated in that currency by boosting non-U.S. spending power and by attracting investors seeking an inflation hedge.Dealers said oil's climb to new record highs has sparked a fresh wave of buying.Tetsu Emori, fund manager at Astmax Co Ltd said prices had risen due to automatically placed buying orders once the previous record had been breached.He sees the next resistance target at $115.

SUPPLY DISRUPTIONS

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged oil producing countries to act to counter high prices.The market needs to be adequately supplied and oil-producing countries have their responsibility to respond to higher oil prices, Brown will say, according to excerpts from a speech he is due to give later on Tuesday.Brown, who is due to travel to Washington on Wednesday for talks with President George W. Bush, said he planned to discuss collective action to bring down oil prices.OPEC, which pumps more than a third of the world's oil, says it is producing enough and that a U.S. economic slowdown may weaken consumption in the second quarter. Current OPEC production at more than 32 million barrels per day will be sufficient to both meet demand growth and contribute to further stockbuilds, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said in its latest Monthly Oil Market Report. OPEC has pointed to U.S. dollar weakness, speculative inflows and political tensions as key factors driving prices rather than a lack of oil. U.S. gasoline futures hitting fresh highs on Monday also helped prices. They rose as the United States gears up for the summer driving season, when demand traditionally peaks. U.S. crude oil inventory figures are due on Wednesday. They likely rebounded last week after a surprise drawdown the week before, with an increase in imports lifting supply, according to a preliminary Reuters poll of eight industry analysts. (Additional reporting by Jane Merriman in London and Annika Breidthardt in Singapore; editing by James Jukwey)

Pray for rain, Iran energy minister told APR 15,08

TEHRAN (AFP) - A top provincial cleric has urged Iran's energy minister to publicly pray for rain as the country suffers from a serious drought, the student ISNA news agency reported on Tuesday.
I've been asked several times to lead the prayers for rain, said Ayatollah Gholam Ali Naim Abadi, the Friday prayer leader in Iran's southern coastal port of Bandar Abbas.But I think the energy minister (Parviz Fattah) should make the prayers himself, he said.

We pray for rain in most of the desert regions but only little in a coastal province where the problems of water can be solved with desalination installations.We have the technology and we can use it,he added.Lack of rain and an irregular winter snowfall mean that Iran is facing a drought ahead of its hot summer, like many other countries in the region.

WORLD TERRORISM

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

2 PETER 2:5
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

2 PETER 3:7
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men

LEVITICUS 26:16
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you( sudden) terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

ISAIAH 33:1,18-19 Woe to thee that spoilest,(destroys) and thou wast not spoiled;(destroyed) and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil,(destroy) thou shalt be spoiled;(destroyed) and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.

JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

60 die as car bombs rip through crowded areas in Iraq By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer APR 15,08

BAGHDAD - Car bombs ripped through crowded areas in Baghdad and former insurgent strongholds to the north and west of the capital on Tuesday, killing nearly 60 people and breaking a recent lull in violence in the predominantly Sunni areas. The attacks were a deadly reminder of the threat posed by suspected Sunni insurgents even as clashes between Shiite militia fighters and U.S.-Iraqi forces continued elsewhere.The first blast Tuesday occurred in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, when a car parked in front of a restaurant exploded just before noon across the street from the central courthouse and other government offices.Many of the victims were people visiting the government offices, petition writers helping people with documents in stalls outside or the occupants of cars that were caught in the explosion as they passed through the area, witnesses said. Several cars and minibuses were set ablaze, while more than 10 shops and the restaurant were heavily damaged.

One survivor described a huge fire that sent black smoke billowing into the sky and left charred bodies inside their cars.I was on my way to the government office when a big explosion occurred nearby, said the witness, who would only identify himself by his nickname Abu Ali. As I approached the site, I saw cars on fire, burned bodies and damaged shops with shattered glass everywhere.At least 40 people were killed and 70 wounded in the blast, according to hospital officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.AP Television News footage showed many of the bodies covered in crisp white sheets in the main hospital's courtyard while the emergency room inside was overwhelmed with the wounded.The U.S. military in northern Iraq gave a slightly lower toll, saying 35 Iraqi citizens were killed, including a policeman, and 66 wounded in the attack. It also said three buses were destroyed and 10 shops were damaged.

It was the deadliest bombing in Iraq since a pair of female suicide bombers struck two pet markets, killing 99 people in a coordinated attack in Baghdad on Feb. 1.Another parked car bomb exploded near a kebab restaurant at about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in an industrial area in Ramadi, killing at least 13 people, including three policemen, and wounding 20 other people, police Capt. Abu Saif al-Anbari said. Hospital officials said two children were among the dead.Ahmed al-Dulaimi, a 27-year-old mechanic, was at the restaurant when the blast occurred but escaped injury because he was sitting at a back table. He said his cousin, who owned the restaurant, had been killed.Pieces of flesh flew into the air and the roof fell over us. I saw the horrible sight of bodies without heads or without legs or hands, he said.Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, is the capital of Anbar province and has largely been sealed off by checkpoints.

Like Baqouba, the area has seen a sharp decline in violence in recent months as tribal leaders have joined forces with the Americans against al-Qaida in Iraq.The U.S. military said overall attacks in Diyala province have dropped more than 76 percent since June 2007.Although attacks such as today's event are tragic, it is not indicative of the overall security situation in Baqouba, Maj. Mike Garcia, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Diyala, said in a statement.A parked car bomb also targeted a police patrol in central Baghdad, killing four civilians who were passing by and wounding 15 other people, police said. The relative calm in predominantly Sunni areas has coincided with clashes between Shiite militia fighters and U.S.-Iraqi forces in Baghdad and the oil-rich southern city of Basra. But while the Bush administration has begun citing what it calls Iranian-backed Shiite factions as the greatest threat to Iraq's stability, American commanders have consistently warned that al-Qaida-led insurgents continue to pose a serious danger. Two car bombs and a suicide attack also killed 18 people in northwestern Iraq on Monday.

In other violence Tuesday, U.S. soldiers backed by an airstrike killed six militants during clashes in the Sudayrah area near Baghdad's main Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City, the military said. Iraqi police in the area claimed that two boys were among those killed in the airstrike, but the military said no civilian casualties were reported. Lt. Col. Steve Stover said separately that American troops killed four militants who fired rocket-propelled grenades at a tank elsewhere in the area. Clashes also broke out later Tuesday in Sadr City, leaving four militiamen killed and 15 others wounded, Iraqi police and hospital officials said. Associated Press writers Hamid Ahmed and Sinan Salaheddin contributed to this report.