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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.

Cooler temperatures slow flood waters on New Brunswick's St. John River Thu Apr 24, 4:31 PMBy Chris Morris, The Canadian Press

FREDERICTON - Cooler temperatures on Thursday brought relief to residents of the Fredericton area who have been bailing out basements and canoeing down streets on the flood waters of the swollen St. John River. The Emergency Measures Office in New Brunswick said it expects water flows to begin levelling off on Friday, thanks to a dip in temperature that slowed the rate of snow melt. Andy Morton, deputy director of the province's EMO, said water levels have risen about 10 centimetres since Wednesday. The cold temperatures are certainly going to help reduce the run-off from snow melt quite substantially, but that having been said, there is still a lot of water in the system, he said. With any luck, we may be entering into a sort of fairly steady state for the next couple of days.The St. John River floods every spring in New Brunswick, to varying degrees. The flood this year isn't as bad as the one in 2005, but it's worse than floods in 2006 and 2007. The unusually heavy snowfall this winter is being blamed for the high water this spring.

To date, damage has been minimal.

About 30 families have left their homes to wait out the annual flood and several sections of road that run along the banks of the St. John have been closed. The river has washed across much of the old Trans-Canada Highway outside Fredericton, a picturesque route that hugs the banks of the river and almost always floods in the spring. Only residents of the area were allowed to use the water-covered road, which is barricaded by police checkpoints. In one suburban area, next to a flooded tree nursery appropriately called Wetmore's, residents moved belongings out of lower sections of their homes as rising waters filled basements and garages. Some residents paddled along neighbourhood streets in canoes. Pauline Branston loaded a tractor-trailer parked in her driveway with such items as lawnmowers and snowblowers. You have to take precautions because you don't get compensation for items that can be moved, she said. We're taking everything out of the basement and garage.

Branston said she has been lucky so far and there was no water in her basement. But neighbour Dan Snow said his basement was under about 1.5 metres of water. He said he gave up on the job of trying to keep the water out, turned off his overheated sump pump and watched the mighty St. John bubble up in his basement. Living next to the river is a burden in the spring, Snow said, but he enjoys it too much during the rest of the year to move. The water comes up, but it goes down, he said. You just clean up afterwards and when you're done and the water is down and the place is dry, it's great.
City officials are asking recreational boaters to stay off the river. They said there's a fast-flowing current and a lot of debris in the water.

OZONE DEPLETION

ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

Using chemicals to cut global warming may damage ozone layer By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer Thu Apr 24, 6:14 PM ET

WASHINGTON - The rule of unintended consequences threatens to strike again. Some researchers have suggested that injecting sulfur compounds into the atmosphere might help ease global warming by increasing clouds and haze that would reflect sunlight. After all, they reason, when volcanoes spew lots of sulfur, months or more of cooling often follows.But a new study warns that injecting enough sulfur to reduce warming would wipe out the Arctic ozone layer and delay recovery of the Antarctic ozone hole by as much as 70 years.

Our research indicates that trying to artificially cool off the planet could have perilous side effects, said Simone Tilmes of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.While climate change is a major threat, more research is required before society attempts global geoengineering solutions, said Tilmes, lead author of a paper appearing in Thursday's online edition of the journal Science.And while one study worries that fixing climate will destroy ozone, another raises the possibility that recovery of the ozone hole over Antarctica will worsen warming in that region.

A full recovery of the ozone hole could modify climate in the Southern Hemisphere and even amplify Antarctic warming, scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA report in a paper scheduled for Geophysical Research Letters.Although temperatures have been rising worldwide, there has been cooling in the interior of Antarctica in summer, which researchers attribute to the depletion of ozone overhead.If the successful control of ozone-depleting substances allows for a full recovery of the ozone hole over Antarctica, we may finally see the interior of Antarctica begin to warm with the rest of the world, said Judith Perlwitz of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, a joint institute of CU-Boulder and NOAA.The authors used a NASA supercomputer to model interactions between the climate and stratospheric ozone chemistry. A return to pre-1969 ozone levels would mean atmospheric circulation patterns now shielding the Antarctic interior from warmer air to the north will begin to break down during the summer, they concluded.The idea of reversing global warming by injecting sulfates into the air was suggested by eruptions such as the 1991 blast by Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, which produced a brief cooling.The massive 1815 eruption of Tambora in what is now Indonesia produced such a strong cooling that 1816 became known as the year without a summer in New England, where snow fell in every month of the year.

But Tilmes knew that volcanic eruptions also temporarily thin the ozone layer, which protects people, plants and animals from the most dangerous ultraviolet rays from the sun.So she and colleagues calculated the effect of suggested sulfate injections and concluded that the result, over the next few decades, would be to destroy between one-fourth to three-fourths of the ozone layer above the Arctic. This would affect a large part of the Northern Hemisphere because of atmospheric circulation patterns.The sulfates would also delay the expected recovery of the ozone hole over the Antarctic by about 30 to 70 years, or until at least the last decade of this century, they said.The research was supported by the United Kingdom Meteorological Office, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and NASA.The study comes just a day after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that despite efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, the rate of increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is accelerating.Concern has grown in recent years about such gases, with most atmospheric scientists concerned that the accumulation is causing increases in the earth's temperature, potentially disrupting climate and changing patterns of rainfall, drought and other storms. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has worked to detail the scientific bases of this problem and the Kyoto agreement sought to encourage countries to take steps to reduce their greenhouse emissions. Some countries, particularly in Europe, have taken steps to reduce emissions.

But carbon dioxide emissions, primarily from burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas have continued to increase. Since 2000, annual increases of two parts per million or more have been common, compared with 1.5 ppm per year in the 1980s and less than one ppm per year during the 1960s, NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory said. Last year the increase was 2.4 parts per million. Meanwhile, in a separate paper in Science, researchers said human activities are at least partly responsible for the Arctic having become a wetter place over the last half century. Seung-Ki Min of Environment Canada, and colleagues, studied rain and snowfall patterns in the arctic and the factors affecting them. They concluded that human-induced greenhouse gases have contributed to the increased precipitation rates observed in the Arctic region over the past 60 years. They warned that this Arctic moistening could occur more quickly than current climate simulations indicate.
Their work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Canadian International Polar Year Program. On the Net: Science: http://www.sciencemag.org

New Zealand's largest glacier will disappear: scientists Thu Apr 24, 2:55 AM ET

WELLINGTON (AFP) - New Zealand's largest glacier is shrinking fast due to climate change and will eventually disappear altogether, scientists said Thursday. The 23-kilometre (14.3 mile) long glacier in the South Island's Southern Alps is likely to shrink at a rate of between 500 and 820 metres a year, said Martin Brook, a physical geography lecturer at Massey University.In the last 10 years the glacier has receded a hell of a lot, Brook said on the university website.It's just too warm for a glacier to be sustained at such a low altitude -- 730 metres above sea level -- so it melts rapidly and it is going to disappear altogether.The rapid melting has seen a lake seven kilometres long and two kilometres wide form at the base of the glacier. Thirty-five years ago, the lake did not exist.

The last major survey was in the 1990s and since then the glacier has retreated back 180 metres a year on average, Brook said.The lake at the foot of the glacier is speeding up the melting as more ice is submerged under the surface of the water.A study last year by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research found the volume of ice in the Southern Alps had shrunk almost 11 percent in the past 30 years.More than 90 percent of this loss was due to the melting of the 12 largest glaciers in the mountain range due to rising temperatures, the university report said.

Manitoba socked by snow, freezing rain Thu Apr 24, 1:02 PM

CALGARY (CBC) - A winter storm warning remained in effect in southern Manitoba Thursday morning as heavy snow and freezing rain fell on Winnipeg and most of the region.Winnipeg could see about five centimetres of snow before the storm system moves out of the area shortly after noon, Environment Canada meteorologist Dave Carlsen said Thursday morning.The area around Elie and Portage la Prairie, west of Winnipeg, could receive as much as 15 centimetres.

It came in two bands, Carlsen said. There was the first one that came through last night, and it was so-so, but then the second one, which is the one we're looking at now, that came from a bunch of thunderstorms that popped up in the Dakotas last night and it's moved along here to be in southern Manitoba, just [in time] for the morning commute.Several school divisions in Manitoba cancelled bus service or classes due to the inclement weather.Dozens of highways in the region were covered with snow, ice or slush Thursday morning, with poor visibility in many areas, provincial officials said.Travel was not advised on several highways, including the Trans-Canada between highways 13 and 16, around Portage la Prairie.

Ice on power lines causes lights to flicker

The stormy weather was also blamed for power problems in and around Winnipeg on Thursday.Power bumps caused by a buildup of heavy, wet snow and ice on power lines have caused lights to flicker in some areas, Manitoba Hydro spokesman Jim Peters told CBC News.It's primarily focused, I think ... just northeast of Winnipeg, he said. There's been a couple of [incidents] in Steinbach this morning and in Transcona, but those were local and quickly repaired.Hydro crews are out clearing ice off the lines, Peters said. If the weather co-operates, the bumps should be smoothed out as the day progresses.

Humidity in the air also sparked a pole-top fire in Transcona this morning, Peters said. About 200 Hydro customers in the area were without power briefly until the problem was repaired.

Stormy Friday Tom Moore APR 24,08

Midwest

A storm system across the middle of the nation will trigger plenty of thunderstorms on Friday. Some of these storms may become strong to severe across parts of Wisconsin, western Lower Michigan, eastern Iowa, Illinois, western Indiana, Missouri and far western Kentucky. A few tornadoes are also possible. Winter weather is also in the Friday forecast as rain changes to wet snow over parts of the Dakotas and Minnesota. Over 6 inches of snow could accumulate over north-central Minnesota by early Saturday, with gusty winds causing blowing and drifting. Highs on Friday are expected to range from the chilly 30s and 40s in the eastern Dakotas and Minnesota to the balmy 70s in the southern Great Lakes and Ohio Valley. Scattered thunderstorms are also in the Saturday forecast through the Ohio Valley, while another disturbance approaches the Plains with more rain and snow showers.

South

A frontal boundary will trigger showers and thunderstorms on Friday from extreme western Kentucky down to Texas. Some of these storms may be strong to severe with large hail, damaging winds and a few tornadoes. Highs Friday will be in the 70s and 80s region wide with a few 90s in the Rio Grande Valley. Scattered showers and thunderstorms will extend from the Tennessee Valley and southern Appalachians to southern Texas Saturday. By Saturday night, look for heavy rain across eastern Oklahoma and Texas Oklahoma and a new round of severe thunderstorms from the Red River southward.

West

Winter just doesn't want to give up and weather disturbances will continue to produce rain and snow to parts of the Northwest and central Rockies through Saturday. Heavy snow may fall in the highest elevations. Some changes will occur later in the weekend and early next week, however. Most of the region will be rain-free, except for a few showers over coastal sections of Washington and Oregon. Look for a gradual moderating trend in the temperatures as they reach above average levels this weekend. Highs will range from the 60s in Montana to the 90s and 100s in the Desert Southwest.

Northeast

High pressure has been in control across the Northeast lately but that high will be drifting away. That will allow showers and thunderstorms to slide into areas west of the Appalachians on Friday, as a cold front approaches. Look for more showers and thunderstorms on Saturday and they will hang on along the Eastern Seaboard Sunday, as a weakening cold front moves eastward across the area. Look for above average temperatures across much of the area into Saturday. The exception will be across New England where it will cool off on Saturday. Friday highs will range from the 70s in Upstate New York to the 80s in Maryland and Virginia. A new storm and cold front will sweep into the area Monday and linger Tuesday and Wednesday with beneficial rain and much cooler temperatures.

MATTHEW 24:36,33-35
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.(ALL THE SIGNS HAPPENING)
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.(ALL THE SIGNS COMPLETELY FULFILLED)
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

2012: Mayans, Nostradamus & The Bible

There has been much talk of late about the supposed doomsday prediction of December 21, 2012 as reflected in the Mayan long calendar. Most of the ancient Mayan codices were burned by Spanish monks in 1521 as works of the devil. A few survived including the so called Dresden Codex. This 74 page codex written on tree bark and apparently from the famous Mayan temple and observatory at Chichen Itza was sent by Cortes to Emperor Charles V in 1519. Somehow it found its way to the Royal Library at the Court of Saxony in Dresden where it was purchased from a private collector by Johann Christian Goetze. While it was damaged by the fire bombing of Dresden during WWII, much has survived.From this work, which was written between 1200 and 1250 AD, numerous astronomical and calendar data points were found including information on eclipses, the transit of the planet Venus as well as information on the motion of the moon, stars and the sun. It has been determined by research scholars that the Mayan long count calendar ends on 13.0.0.0.0 which equates to our date of December 21, 2012 at 10AM GMT. On that day it has been surmised the end will come.

According to my research, many have tried to tie this upcoming apocalyptic winter solstice day with a solar shift, solar storms, and a transit of Venus as well as with severe earthquakes. Is there any truth to these allegations? According to some astronomers, on this day our solar system will intersect with the Galactic Equator which only happens every 26,000 years. Since the Mayan calendar began in 3114 BC, they had never experienced anything like this before. The Mayans called this event the Sacred Tree. This alignment with the center of the galaxy also allows for maximum mass and thus maximum gravity.According to the National Earthquake Information Service of the US Geological Survey, earthquakes have gradually increased from 1 severe quake between 1890 and 1899 to 765 from 2000-2004. Could this be due to our solar systems movement towards this Galactic Equator? NASA predicts that a terrific solar storm will hit the earth in 2012 which will be 30-50 percent greater than anything before it. I believe that there has been global warming over the past decades but it is related to sunspot activity on the sun not carbon dioxide emissions. The sun has gotten hotter and that has affected the earth. A massive solar blast from the sun in 2012 could burn up the earth as could a collision with an asteroid or a comet.

There has even been talk of a polar shift which could disrupt the functioning of the entire earth and could change the axis of rotation. Such a shift has taken place in our geologic past and could happen again. If it happened on December, 21, 2012, it would truly be a day to remember.This apocalyptic date of December 21, 2012 is also supposedly found in Hopi myths, the I-Ching, Aztec writings, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Roman Oracles, writing of Seneca Elders, the chief Shaman of the Cherokee Tribe in NC, and even the writings of Nostradamus, The Russian mathematician Sergey Smelyakov of Khartov University taking the constant Phi (1.6180339), the so called Golden Mean or the Fibonacci sequence, and applying it to solar activity and planetary orbits, found that everything seemed to spiral in on itself on December 21, 2012 implying a time implosion or point of bifurcation.The planet Venus is set to make a transit across the face of the sun on December 21, 2012 which happens very infrequently. It did happen recently, however, on June 8, 2004 which means it will happen again in eight years which is very unusual but predicted by the Mayans.I cannot tell you for certain that the earth will be consumed by fire in 2012 or that there will be a polar shift or severe earthquakes, but I can tell you with certainty that one day in the not too distant future it will be consumed by fire and experience a polar shift and severe earthquakes. I can say that because the word of God says so and it did beginning over 2700 years ago, long before the Mayans or the Aztecs or the Hopi or the Seneca or the I-Ching or Nostradamus.

Once before because of its sin the earth was destroyed by water in the Great Flood of Noah's day but the Bible says that the world will be destroyed again, this time by fire.The present heavens and earth, by His word, are being reserved for fire, kept for the Day of Judgment and the destruction of ungodly men (2Peter 3:7).But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat and the earth and its works will be burned up (2Peter 3:10).The sun scorched men with fire (Revelation 16:8).

A third of the earth was burned up and a third of the trees were burned up and all the green grass was burned up. A great mountain (asteroid?) burning with fire was thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died and a third of the ships were destroyed. And a great star (comet?) fell from heaven burning like a torch and it fell on a third of the rivers and springs of water (Revelation 8:7-11).The inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men are left (Isaiah 24:6).The hills melt and the earth is burned up (Nahum 1:5).

Once again, many have associated December 21, 2012 with a shift in the poles as well as signs in the sky. What does the Bible tell us about these events? The stars will fall from the sky (Matthew 24:29).If the earth shifts on its axis and we are thrown around, the stars will appear to fall but it will actually be us that are moving.The earth is broken asunder. The earth is split through. The earth is shaken violently. Thee earth reels to and fro like a drunkard and it totters like a shack (Isaiah 24:19-20).

Once again a shift in the polar axis might tear the earth apart.

There will be great earthquakes. The sun became black like sackcloth; the moon became like blood.The stars of the sky fell to the earth... The sky split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up.every mountain and island moved out of their place (Revelation 6:12-14).

More shaking of the earth.

There will be great earthquakes and in various places plagues and famines and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. There will be signs in the sun and the moon and stars and upon the earth great dismay among nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves. Men fainting from fear as the powers of heaven will be shaken (Luke 21:9, 25-26).Here we see the Bible tell us about signs in the heavens spoken of in relation to December 21, 2012. But what do we do when we see these things happening? When you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I say to you that this generation will not pass away until all things take place.But when these things begin to take place straighten up and lift up your heads because your redemption is drawing near (Luke 21:31,32, 28).

God assures us that:

Heaven and earth will pass away but My words shall not pass away (Matthew 24:35).Some people ask why God takes so long to punish the ungodly:The Lord is not slow about His promise as some count slowness but is patient toward you not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (2Peter 3:9).Remember this as the end fast approaches.

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.

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.

MPs seek to make concerted use of new powers under EU treaty
23.04.2008 - 07:22 CET | By Leigh Phillips

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Dutch MPs are seeking to raise awareness of the extra powers that national parliamentarians will have under the bloc's new treaty to influence EU legislation and are proposing a practical system to ensure that MPs take advantage of it.Labour Party MP Luuk Blom and his colleague, Han Ten Broeke, of the liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), met EU ambassadors from the 27 member states in Brussels on Monday (21 April) to outline how they see the new system as working.The treaty introduces a system whereby MPs can object to proposed legislation by the European Commission.The commission has to reconsider – but not necessarily withdraw - a piece of legislation if one third of national parliaments object to it on subsidiarity grounds – the principle that the EU should only legislate where it is clear that it can do better than action at a more local level. This is has been dubbed the yellow card procedure.If a majority of parliaments continue to object, then the commission has to ask member states and the European Parliament for their opinion on the matter.This closes the democratic deficit that's been around in Europe for 50 years, said Mr Ten Broeke, without introducing something like a European Senate or a veto for national parliaments.

The Dutch politicians are pushing a paper produced by the European affairs committee in the Dutch parliament in which it is proposed that a group of MPs meet every two months to examine legislative proposals to see if they overstepped EU bounds. This group would answer to COSAC, the body bringing together representatives from all member state national parliaments.Currently, COSAC, dating back to 1997, only meets twice a year. It is an inter-parliamentary body composed of members of national parliaments that are knowledgeable about European affairs.Mr Blom and Mr Ten Broeke are aiming to have this proposal discussed at the next national parliament meeting on 7-8 May.It's a fundamental reform of the way COSAC does things, but it's also an expansion of their role, said Mr Blom.In the wake of the Netherlands' 2005 No vote against the proposed constitution, the Dutch strongly pushed to give a greater role to national parliaments, elevating it to a make or break issue during last year's negotiations on the Lisbon Treaty.The proposal is also about national parliaments taking their role seriously, he added. We are forever saying It's not our fault; It's Brussels fault. In fact, the fault was with national parliaments for not defending their interests, continued Mr Blom.The leaders of the Dutch No side have given the concept a guarded welcome.Haary van Bommel, the EU spokesperson in the Dutch lower house for the Socialist Party - which played a key role in organising the No campaign in 2005 - said: We think it's a step forward if it works, as it gives a greater role to national parliaments.They still have to find ways to make it work, as national parliaments will have to work together much more closely than they do now, he added. But it doesn't compensate for the handing over of national veto rights, he said, and these two MPs may think that this addresses the No side's complaints, but it's not a sufficient answer because it doesn't address the 95 percent of the Lisbon Treaty that's the same as the old constitution.

Merkel: No more money for Mediterranean Union
www.chinaview.cn 2008-04-24 00:13:01Print

BERLIN, April 23 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel Wednesday told visiting Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak that there is no more money for promoting the Mediterranean Union. Speaking to the press after their meeting, Merkel said no new funding was needed for the Mediterranean Union, a project that has been initiated and enthusiastically pursued by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Berlin was reportedly skeptical of the Mediterranean Union, fearing that the project might divide the European Union (EU) as only 13 EU states along the Mediterranean Ocean are the target members of the project. Merkel told Mubarak that she was interested in promoting a Mediterranean Union, but insisted that all European countries should be involved. The Mediterranean region is politically so important that the whole of Europe must be responsible, not just the countries along the coast, Merkel said.

She called for more contact between Europe and the countries of the southern Mediterranean, welcoming Mubarak's involvement. The process would be advanced only if top political figures became involved, she said. The budget allocated by the EU to the project totals 16 billion euros (around 25 billion U.S. dollars) for the period from 2007 to2013, and is sufficient, Merkel said. Germany is the biggest net contributor to the budget of the EU.Editor: Yan Liang.

EU wipes England off map in new European Superstate borders

England has been wiped off a map of Europe drawn up by Brussels bureaucrats as part of a scheme that the Tories claim threatens to undermine the country's national identity.The new European plan splits England into three zones that are joined with areas in other countries.The Manche region covers part of southern England and northern France while the Atlantic region includes western parts of England, Portugal, Spain and Wales.The North Sea region includes eastern England, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and parts of Germany.

A copy of the map, which makes no reference to England or Britain, has even renamed the English Channel the Channel Sea.Each zone will have a transnational regional assembly, although they will not have extensive powers. However, the zones are regarded as symbolically important by other countries.German ministers claimed that the plan was about underlying the goal of a united Europe to permanently overcome old borders at a time when the Constitution for Europe needs to regain momentum.The Tories are drawing attention to the plan today, St George's Day. Eric Pickles, the shadow secretary of state for communities and local government, said: We already knew that Gordon Brown had hoisted the white flag of surrender to the European constitution.Now the Labour government has been caught red-handed, conspiring with European bureaucrats to create a European super-state via the back door.The disclosure of the European map comes as a YouGov poll commissioned by The Daily Telegraph showed that one third of people want England to have its own parliament.
Twenty per cent want England to be an independent country and for Britain to be broken up.

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).

Think twice about EPA, says Marshall
Published on: 4/23/08.

The Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) which Barbados and other Caribbean countries have initialled with Europe, has the potential to undermine CARICOM. Dr Don Marshall, senior research fellow at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, warned Monday night that the EPA can seriously restrict the power of regional leaders to frame policy and to intervene to put their economies in order. Marshall was at the time leading a discussion at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus after making a presentation on the current state of play of the Caribbean Forum/European Union EPA. He suggested that Caribbean countries should sign only the trade in goods aspects of the full EPA and give themselves time to negotiate better deals on services, investment, government procurement, competition and intellectual property.

Marshall said unless this happened, not only will our domestic national policy space and autonomy be circumscribed, even our attempts to deepen the Single Market and Economy will also be circumscribed. This was because a lot of the EPA goes way beyond and has consolidated taxing issues that still occupy the agenda of COTED [the Council for Trade and Economic Development] and the agenda of different CARICOM councils, according to Marshall. He said that initialling the EPA with a number of problem areas undermines the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). . . . . I think the person with the most unenviable task now happens to be the current Prime Minister of Barbados because Barbados has the responsibility for pushing the CSME, he told a gathering which included students. But how could Barbados be leading a CSME at a time when its policy space is virtually shut? Marshall argued that Caribbean countries would be under surveillance in a joint CARIFORUM/EU Council being set up to oversee the EPA.

Caricom threat

This council will even have more power than our CARICOM Secretariat to enforce the rules of that EPA agreement, he said. He also said that the governance arrangements that will be in place by next year for the EPA will supersede any of the arrangements that we have under CARICOM. Regional governments are now undertaking a legal review of the text of the agreement with June 30, 2008 having been proposed as the date for full signing and provisional application of the agreement. However, Marshall cautioned Caribbean countries not to rush to sign the agreement. They should sign only the aspect of the EPA that is tolerable, he said, referring to the trade in goods. According to Marshall: There are a number of things that we signed onto beyond the trade in goods arrangements that we really need to pause, reflect and come up with a different strategy.A simple matter like access into Europe to deliver services represents a quagmire, he said. (TY)

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU Rabbis seek to counter leftist European funding. Million-dollar campaign to warn against dangerous Israeli land giveaways April 22, 2008 10:19 pm Eastern 2008 WorldNetDaily

JERUSALEM – A group of hundreds of prominent rabbis here are seeking to counter European funding to leftist Israeli organizations that promote land giveaways by embarking on a multimillion-dollar campaign to fight Israeli territorial concessions to the Palestinians.Europe is currently supporting with millions of dollars leftist elements in Israel that are calling on Israel to concede more and more land. These elements for over 30 years have been gripped with a defeatist mentality and have been brainwashing the Israeli public that peace in Israel can be achieved only by constant dangerous withdrawals, said a statement by the Rabbinical Congress for Peace, a coalition of more than 350 Israeli rabbinic leaders and pulpit rabbis.The RCP has therefore launched a million-dollar campaign to counter the millions of dollars helping those elements and are causing great damage to the security of Israel.The rabbis plan an offensive that includes lobbying efforts, demonstrations, public education and outreach against giving up Israeli land.Jewish law forbids giving up border territory, stated Joseph Gerlitzky, a senior Tel Aviv rabbi and chairman of the Rabbinical Congress for Peace.

It's in Chapter 329 of the Code of Jewish Law, a Torah and Talmud-based text considered the most authoritative compilation of Jewish laws and customs, explained Garlitsky. It states in no uncertain terms that it if you are living in a border town it is absolutely forbidden to give up even one inch of territory to those on the other side who may harm you on the grounds that it will lead to massive bloodshed.This is not merely a statement on paper but unfortunately has been proven true time and time again. Whenever Israel gave up territory to the Palestinians, they used it as a launching pad to strike at Israel again, Garlitsky stated.The RCP this month is urging a religious partner of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government to immediately bolt the Israeli leader's coalition amid rampant media reports Jerusalem is up for negotiations.The rabbis warned that if the Orthodox Shas party remains in Olmert's government, they will urge Jews against supporting Shas. If the party bolts, Olmert's coalition government could fall apart, precipitating new elections.We are seriously considering issuing a statement declaring it is absolutely forbidden for any observant Jew to vote for a party that lent its support to a government that negotiated the division of Jerusalem, a move that will place the entire population in Israel in mortal danger, Rabbi Avrohom Shmuel Lewin, director general of the RCP, told WND.In unprecedented criticism of his father, RCP member Rabbi Jacob Yosef, the son of the Shas spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef, demanded his father's party immediately bolt Olmert's government due to negotiations over Jerusalem.Jacob Yosef accused the Shas party of selling Jerusalem for 478 million Israeli shekels, or $138 million. Yosef's father serves as the spiritual leader of Shas, where he is also considered the party's more important and revered figure.

Last month, the Knesset's Finance Committee approved $138 million in government funds to Shas' educational institutions as part of the party's coalition agreement with Olmert.How dare you sell out Jerusalem for 478 million shekels. Jerusalem is worth more than all monies in the world, said Yosef, rabbi of the Givat Mordechai neighborhood in Jerusalem, addressing his father's party.The Israeli Shas party has stated it would bolt the prime minister's coalition if it becomes clear the Israeli government is negotiating to cede of any part of Jerusalem.Shas denies Jerusalem is being discussed during weekly Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, which commenced after last November's U.S.-sponsored Annapolis summit.

Nobody is talking about Jerusalem. The moment Jerusalem is being discussed, Shas will leave the government – period, Shas spokesman Roi Lachmanovitch told Israel National News.A Rabbinical Congress for Peace statement issued earlier this month retorted: Every novice journalist and anyone listening to the news in Israel knows that giving up large chunks of Jerusalem has been on the negotiating table for quite some time and is in its advanced stages. Only the representatives of Shas are burying their heads in the ground and pretend they know of nothing.They are lying to themselves and deceiving their electorate. The Shas ministers know that Olmert and Abbas have agreed not to make public any agreement on Jerusalem until after the final signature in order to keep Shas in the government, said the RCP statement.Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas stated numerous times Jerusalem is being negotiated. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has said all core issues are being discussed during regular negotiations initiated at the Annapolis summit.Olmert's government has hinted a number of times it will divide Jerusalem.In December, Israeli Vice Premier Haim Ramon said the country must give up sections of Jerusalem for a future Palestinian state, even conceding the Palestinians can rename Jerusalem to whatever they want.We must come today and say, friends, the Jewish neighborhoods, including Har Homa, will remain under Israeli sovereignty, and the Arab neighborhoods will be the Palestinian capital, which they will call Jerusalem or whatever they want, said Ramon during an interview.Positions held by Ramon, a ranking member of Olmert's Kadima party, are largely considered to be reflective of Israeli government policy.

Olmert himself recently questioned whether it was really necessary to retain Arab-majority eastern sections of Jerusalem.Israel recaptured eastern Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – during the 1967 Six Day War. The Palestinians have claimed eastern Jerusalem as a future capital; the area has large Arab neighborhoods, a significant Jewish population and sites holy to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.About 231,000 Arabs live in Jerusalem, mostly in eastern neighborhoods, and many reside in illegally constructed complexes. The city has an estimated total population of 724,000.

JERUSALEM DIVIDED

ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.

JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
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. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE (THE EU DICTATORS TEMPLE)

REVELATION 11:1-2
1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

DANIEL 9:27
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

REBUILT 4TH TEMPLE (THE TRUE MESSIAHS TEMPLE)

ZECHARIAH 6:12-13
12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
13 Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.

ISAIAH 60:9-10
9 Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.
10 And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.

ISAIAH 2:1-5
1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.

MARK 11:9-10,15-17
9 And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:
10 Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.
15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
16 And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.

EZEKIEL 40 TO 48 IS THIS 4TH TEMPLE TO BIG FOR THE MOUNT I BELIEVE TO BE BUILT 25 MILES FROM JERUSALEM.

Temple replica to be erected opposite Western Wall

A grandiose museum featuring an elaborated massive replica of the Temple is currently being erected opposite the Western Wall.The three-storey museum, whose construction is valued at nearly $20 million will be erected in the Aish HaTorah (Fire of the Torah) Yeshiva complex. The museum will feature a journey through Jewish history, from the days of Abraham to the present, emphasizing the message and significance of the Jewish people’s presence in the Land of Israel and their degree of accomplishment in world improvement.Rabbi Yehuda Weinberg, in charge of the project’s establishment, told Yedioth Ahronoth Wednesday: We are not taking a political stance, and added that the museum is also being sponsored by Canadian tycoon, Leslie Dan, a shareholder in Teva pharmaceutical Industries.In addition to the great lavish interior, the museum’s crowning glory is no doubt the massive amphitheater, whose cost is being sponsored by veteran Hollywood star Kirk Douglas, and his no less famous son, Michael.The amphitheater will feature a three-dimensional film depicting the history of the Jewish nation over a huge glass screen through which one can see the Western Wall. The museum will also include a learning center with a VIP wing to host movie stars, politicians and other celebrities from Israel and abroad.

The company in charge of the museum’s construction is the same international company that built visitor sites such as the Tower of London Museum and the World Museum Liverpool. The Aloni Company will provide special technology that handles marble polishing for reproducing historical ornamentation.Ephraim Shor, in charge of the museum curation on behalf of the Yeshiva, commented that this will be an audio-visual experience incorporating scents, so that the act of entering the Temple will be done with awe of God.

Israel's UN ambassador calls Jimmy Carter a bigot By VERENA DOBNIK, Associated Press Writer APR 25,08

NEW YORK - Israel's ambassador to the United Nations on Thursday called former President Jimmy Carter a bigot for meeting with the leader of the militant Hamas movement in Syria. Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, went to the region with soiled hands and came back with bloody hands after shaking the hand of Khaled Mashaal, the leader of Hamas, Ambassador Dan Gillerman told a luncheon briefing for reporters.The diplomat was questioned about problems facing his country during a wide-ranging discussion with reporters lasting more than an hour. The briefing was sponsored by The Israel Project, a Washington-based, media-oriented advocacy group.The ambassador's harsh words for Carter came days after the ex-president met with Mashaal for seven hours in Damascus to negotiate a cease-fire with Gaza's Hamas rulers. Carter then called Mashaal on Monday to try to get him to agree to a one-month truce without conditions, but the Hamas leader rejected the idea.The ambassador called last weekend's encounter a very sad episode in American history.He said it was a shame to see Carter, who had done good things as a former president, turn into what I believe to be a bigot.

Telephone calls by The Associated Press to two Atlanta numbers for Carter were not immediately returned Thursday.Gillerman said Hamas is armed and trained by Iran, whose president once called for Israel to be wiped off the map.The real danger, the real problem is not the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; the real threat is Iran, he said.Gillerman spoke with reporters from around the world at the Times Square offices of a New York law firm on the day Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was in Washington meeting with President Bush.The ambassador said he was quite optimistic about the chances for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement because Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have met more times than any previous leaders of the two sides.I believe they've gone deeper and further than any other Israeli or Palestinian leader, and I believe that there is a very good chance (for a settlement), he said.Gillerman also was asked about another topic involving the U.S. government and Israel: the arrest last week in New Jersey of an 84-year-old man accused of passing U.S. weapons program secrets to an Israeli agent a quarter-century ago.Retired U.S. military engineer Ben-ami Kadish faces charges linking him to the same now-defunct Israeli intelligence agency that used Jonathan Pollard, who is serving a life sentence for spying for Israel.

Gillerman called it a very old matter.

It pertains to something that may or may not have happened 25 years ago and would be decided when Kadish goes to trial, he said.In the wake of the Pollard case, the ambassador said Israel had made a pledge not to spy on the United States, and that is something which I know that we have honored completely.The ambassador declined to comment on U.S. government reports that Syria was building a nuclear reactor with North Korean assistance before it was bombed by Israeli planes last year. Gillerman called Syria a destabilizing influence in the Middle East. You see Syria's hosting, very hospitably and warmly, over 10 terror organizations in Damascus, the ambassador said, adding that the country also supports Hezbollah, an anti-Israeli Shiite group in Lebanon with close ties to Iran and Syria. Basically, Syria and Iran, together with Hamas and Hezbollah, are the main axes of terror and evil in the world, the Israeli ambassador said.

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).

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.

Egyptian report says Hamas offers 6-month truce with Israel By OMAR SINAN, Associated Press Writer Thu Apr 24, 7:06 PM ET

CAIRO, Egypt - The Palestinian group Hamas is proposing a six-month cease-fire with Israel, saying it will stop firing rockets out of Gaza if the Jewish state simultaneously lifts its blockade of the coastal strip, Egypt's state run MENA news agency said Thursday night. The report followed a day of closed meetings between Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar and Egypt's intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, who has been mediating between Israel and the Islamic militant group in hopes of halting their fighting.Hamas has taken a much softer stance the past week, but any deal appeared distant. While Egypt clearly is acting as a communications channel between the two sides, Israel insists it won't negotiate with Hamas, which it considers a terrorist group, as does the United States.Hamas officials, who previously have called for Israel to first lift its blockade before any truce, could not be reached by The Associated Press late Thursday to comment on the MENA report. There was no immediate reaction from Israel.

MENA's report came two days after senior members of Hamas said the group was willing to accept a truce limited to the Gaza Strip, dropping a long-standing demand that the West Bank be included in a halt to fighting with Israel.Israeli officials responded to those comments by saying Israel would keep up military pressure on Hamas as long as the group threatened Israeli civilians, an allusion to near daily rocket salvos at towns in southern Israel and recent militant attacks on border posts.The Hamas representatives said Tuesday that the group's position would be laid out Thursday during the meeting with Suleiman.We have affirmed the group's approval of a truce in Gaza Strip ... that could be expanded to the West Bank and would be set at six months, Zahar was quoted by MENA as saying after the meeting.The truce should be accepted by both sides, Zahar added, saying a condition was that Israel simultaneously lifts its blockade of Gaza and reopens the border, including the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza.Israel shut the border passages after Hamas fighters seized control of Gaza last June in five days of fighting with the security forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose administration is now limited to the West Bank.

The blockade has cut off all but humanitarian aid, causing severe fuel shortages and emptying store shelves of many goods in Gaza.

Israel is wary of reopening the border, fearing Hamas would use the relief to rebuild its strength and consolidate its hold on Gaza. Hamas suicide attacks have killed hundreds of Israelis and the group is openly dedicated to the Jewish state's destruction.Zahar said the truce offer had the blessing of Hamas' exiled top leadership in Syria.He said Egypt would outline his group's proposal in talks with other Palestinian factions next week, after which Suleiman planned to take it to Israel for consideration.The ball now is in the Israeli field, Zahar said. If Israel doesn't comply then it will be of our right to defend our people in all legitimate ways, he said.The public shift in Hamas' position began with statements by Khaled Mashaal, the group's Syrian-based political leader, after he met with former President Carter last week.Mashaal said Hamas would accept a peace deal with Israel, provided it was approved in a referendum of all Palestinians. He also proposed a 10-year truce if Israel withdraws from the West Bank and east Jerusalem.At the same time, Mashaal offered no recognition of Israel and he rejected a request from Carter that Hamas halt rocket attacks from Gaza. Amos Gilad, a senior Israel Defense Ministry official, said Tuesday that Mashaal had offered nothing of substance.

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.

Thai rice hits new record, feeding food fears By Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat Thu Apr 24, 5:10 AM ET

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Rice prices in Thailand, the world's top exporter, surged to $1,000 a tonne on Thursday, feeding concerns about food security as far as the United States after export curbs by governments worldwide. The surging price of food and fuel has sparked riots in Africa and Haiti and raised fears that millions of the world's poor will struggle to feed themselves. Some analysts, however, attribute much of the surge to panic buying by both consumers and governments rather than a dire shortage of supply.

After this week's over five percent jump rice prices stand nearly three times higher than the start of the year. With no sign of the rally relenting, as traders expect more buyers to come into the market, government anxiety about social unrest from the soaring cost of Asia's staple will deepen.The crisis, started with India's imposition of export curbs to protect domestic supplies last year, and was felt in the United States this week, with a few major retailers saying they had started to notice signs of panic buying.

Sam's Club, a unit of retail giant Wal-Mart, said on Wednesday it was capping sales of 20-pound (9 kg) bulk bags of rice at four bags per customer per visit to prevent hoarding.The previous day, rival Costco Wholesale Corp said it had seen increased demand for items such as rice and flour as customers, worried about global food shortages, stocked up.Everywhere you see, there is some story about food shortages and hoarding and tightness of supplies, said Neauman Coleman, an analyst and rice broker in Brinkley, Arkansas.

NEW ERA?

In Bangkok, some traders said Thai 100-percent B grade white rice, the world's benchmark, could hit $1,300 a tonne due to unsated demand from number-one importer the Philippines, which fell well short of filling a 500,000 tonne tender last week.There is also a big question mark over Iran and Indonesia, two countries that normally buy as much as 1 million tonnes of Thai rice each year but which have bought nothing so far in 2008 because of the soaring prices.Even though some analysts say the price, part of a wider global rally in crop prices, is based on jittery governments rather than fundamentals, Thailand's top exporters say the world is now set for an era of expensive food.Prices will remain firm for the rest of the year, Chookiat Ophaswongse, head of the Rice Exporters Association in Bangkok, told Reuters.Rice futures on the Chicago Board of Trade climbed 2.5 percent on Wednesday to an all-time high of $24.85 per hundredweight.However, grain futures tumbled four percent to a five-month low due to expectations of a large global wheat crop in 2008.With the northern hemisphere harvest only two months away, officials said planting had started well in Western Australia after good rains, while India said a record harvest and bulging government stocks meant no imports were needed this year.

China's top wheat-growing provinces of Henan and Shandong were also looking at a bumper winter harvest after recent rains, the Xinhua news agency said.

CRTICISM OF EXPORT CURBS

Brazil became the latest country on Wednesday to suspend rice exports, following in the footsteps of India and its close rival for the mantle of world number-two supplier, Vietnam. Thailand, which accounts for nearly a third of all rice traded globally, has said repeatedly it would not impose any curbs, a stance that has earned it plaudits from the World Bank for being a responsible international trading partner.Thailand has even gone the extra mile to explore additional land for rice production, James Adams, the bank's Vice President for East Asia Pacific, said in a statement.

The Asian Development Bank and free-trade advocates have criticized the export curbs as an overreaction that has distorted the market.

If we restrict trade, we're simply going to add food scarcity to the already large problems of food shortages that exist in different countries, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said.
(Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Darren Schuettler and Valerie Lee)

DISEASES

REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

UN chief to announce plan to eliminate deaths from malaria By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer APR 25,08

UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will announce a global initiative Friday that steps up the fight against malaria — seeking to eventually wipe out a tropical scourge blamed for killing a million people a year. In a video message for a World Malaria Day event at U.N. headquarters, Ban said the initiative will offer indoor spraying and bed nets treated with long-lasting insecticide to all people at risk, especially women and children in Africa. The video was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

It will also ensure that public health facilities have access to effective malaria treatment and diagnosis, that health workers are trained to deal with the disease, and that research into its eradication is encouraged, Ban said.Ban said he wants these measures in place in just a few years. The aim is to put a stop to malaria deaths by ensuring universal coverage by the end of 2010.

The secretary-general said that several African countries have made dramatic strides in malaria control, but the most affected nations remain off track to reach the goal of halting and reversing the incidence of the disease.That is why today, together with the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, I am putting forward a bold but achievable vision, Ban said.The Roll Back Malaria initiative was launched in 1998 by the World Health Organization and its partners with the goal of reducing malaria deaths by half by 2010. At the midway point, when they assessed their accomplishments, it turned out that there were more malaria cases than when they had started.

Some of the key interventions included distributing bed nets and using more insecticides — but the program never really got wide coverage. Only about 2 percent of African children sleep under insecticide-treated bed nets.Ban and the partnership decided that they want to tackle the problem on a larger scale.Malaria still kills more than one million people every year, he said. The toll it is taking is unacceptable — all the more so because malaria is preventable and treatable.American philanthropist Ray Chambers, who was appointed in February as the secretary-general's special envoy for malaria, said he is optimistic the goal of eventually eliminating malaria deaths.He (Ban) is able to call for that because we have the best technology — the long-lasting, insecticide-treated bed nets last approximately five years — and we have significantly more funding available than ever before in history, Chambers said in an interview.Ban is calling for bet net coverage for an additional 500 million people — which will require 250 million bed nets.That's four-to-five times what we've done in the past, so that's a real ratcheting up, Chambers said.Chambers said the Global Fund, World Bank, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other groups trying to fight malaria are assembling a team to provide supervision of the campaign.We have to address everywhere, but 90 percent of the deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa, so the initial concentration will be in the most endemic countries, he said.We have the resources and the know-how, Ban said in his message. But we have less than 1,000 days before the end of 2010.Chambers stressed, however, that the campaign won't be over.

Ultimately, he said, the goal is eradication. We're not likely to eradicate malaria without an effective vaccine, and that might be quite a few years away, Chambers said.

Canada in best position to weather storm of uncertain global economy: Harper Thu Apr 24, 4:53 PMBy The Canadian Press

LAVAL, Que. - Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada is in the best position among G7 countries to ride the unpredictable waves of today's world economy. Harper says the Canada's fundamentals are strong despite uncertain economic times.The prime minister made the comments today in a speech to a chamber of commerce in Laval, north of Montreal. He says initiatives such as lowering income taxes and trimming the national debt have been key to Canada's economic success. Still, Harper is predicting the growth of the country's trade-intensive economy to slow in the next two years. He says Canada faces challenges from the U.S. economic slowdown, difficult credit markets, global financial volatility and the drop of the American dollar. Harper also says if the government followed the wishes of opposition parties the country would have to increase taxes or run a deficit or both.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.(SYRIA DESTROYED)

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

U.S. Sees N. Korean Links to Reactor By DAVID E. SANGER
Published: April 24, 2008

WASHINGTON — After seven months of near-total secrecy, the White House is preparing to make public on Thursday video evidence of North Koreans working at a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor just before it was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike last September.

Oded Balilty/Associated Press
Christopher R. Hill, the top American negotiator in nuclear talks with North Korea. Until now, the administration has refused to discuss the video or the attack, other than in a highly classified briefing for a few allies and crucial members of Congress.But senior officials in Israel and the United States have said the target was a nascent nuclear reactor that had been under construction for years. Israeli and American analysts had concluded that it was loosely modeled on the reactor North Korea used to obtain the fuel for its small nuclear weapons arsenal. Israeli jets destroyed the site on Sept. 6, and the Syrians, after issuing some protests, bulldozed the area and constructed a building on the exact footprint of the old one. They have refused to allow international nuclear inspectors to visit the location.The timing of the administration’s decision to declassify information about the Syrian project has raised widespread suspicions, especially in the State Department, that Vice President Dick Cheney and other administration hawks were hoping that releasing the information might undermine a potential deal with North Korea that would take it off an American list of state sponsors of terrorism.Making public the pictures is likely to inflame the North Koreans, said one senior administration official who would not speak on the record because the White House and the State Department have declared there would be no public comment until the evidence is released. And that’s just what opponents of this whole arrangement want, because they think the North Koreans will stalk off.

But another senior official said it was possible that the revelations would force the North Koreans to describe their actions in Syria more fully when they issued a long delayed declaration of their nuclear activities.That proposed deal, negotiated by Christopher R. Hill, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs and the primary interlocutor with North Korea, has become the latest battleground in a seven-year struggle within the Bush administration over North Korea policy.That policy has veered from efforts to squeeze North Korea in hopes that the government of Kim Jong-il will collapse, to negotiating with the country alongside Russia, China, South Korea and Japan, each of which has pursued a somewhat different approach toward the North.

Mr. Hill was put in charge of the talks more than three years ago in the hope of finding a new way to deal with the North Koreans. But support for him has wavered, and President Bush has repeatedly warned aides not to agree to anything that makes me look weak, according to former officials who sat in on meetings with him on North Korea.Mr. Cheney’s office and other conservatives have argued that Mr. Hill’s proposed deal would amount to a huge concession. In return for a minimal declaration from North Korea — an accounting of how much plutonium it has produced — it would be removed from the terrorism list and would no longer be subject to economic sanctions under the Trading With the Enemy Act.North Korea has refused to say what, exactly, it provided to the Syrians, or what happened to an effort to start a second pathway to building arms, using uranium. The deal would allow the North to continue to fudge on those matters, leaving unexplained the question of why it appeared to be buying uranium enrichment equipment from Pakistan. That equipment, many experts believe, was intended to help North Korea build a second path to a bomb, in case it was forced to give up its plutonium program.In a presentation on Thursday to crucial members of Congress, and then in a presentation to reporters, American intelligence officials are expected to show images from a video, believed to have been obtained through Israeli intelligence services. The video, which Mr. Hill has shown to senior South Korean officials, shows Korean faces among the workers at the Syrian plant.Other pictures, officials say, show what appears to be the construction of a reactor vessel inside the building that Israel later destroyed. It is unclear what the administration is willing to release. Syria’s ambassador to the United States, Imad Moustapha, did not answer messages left for him on Wednesday.

For weeks after the Israeli attack in September, neither Israeli nor American officials would talk about the attack, Israel’s first on a nuclear site since the 1981 attack on the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq.When The New York Times published a lengthy account of the Syria attack on Oct. 14, revealing that Israeli and American analysts judged that the target was a partly constructed nuclear reactor, Mr. Bush and the White House refused to answer questions about it. Later, officials said they feared that the Syrians would retaliate against Israel if they felt publicly humiliated. It is not clear what has changed, apart from the politics of the moment. Mr. Hill’s boss, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, has not voiced strong support for Mr. Hill’s effort to coax the North Koreans along, granting them rewards for steps along the way to compliance with a deal that calls, ultimately, for the country to give up its weapons.Ms. Rice has been a strong critic of the 1994 agreement between North Korea and the Clinton administration, complaining that it was front loaded with rewards for the North.

That is exactly what critics say she and Mr. Hill have done in the most recent agreement. But Mr. Hill has argued in private that the Syrian episode and the uranium enrichment are side shows, and that the critical issue is stopping North Korea from producing more plutonium and giving up what it has. But his State Department colleagues say that he has been told not to defend the deal, or even explain it.He’s feeling pretty abandoned by Rice and Bush, one of his colleagues said Wednesday. Mr. Hill did not respond to messages.

White House says Syria must come clean about nuclear work By PAMELA HESS and DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writers APR 25,08

WASHINGTON - The White House said Thursday that North Korea's secret work on a nuclear reactor with Syria was a dangerous and potentially destabilizing development for the world, raising doubts about Pyongyang's intention to carry through with a promised disclosure of its nuclear activities. Seven months after Israel bombed the reactor, the White House broke its silence and said North Korea assisted Syria's secret nuclear program and that the destroyed facility was not intended for peaceful purposes.Top U.S. intelligence officials who briefed reporters said they had high confidence in the judgment that North Korea had aided Syria with its nuclear program and the intention was to produce plutonium. But they claimed only low confidence for the conclusion that it was meant for weapons development, in part because there was no reprocessing facility at the site — something that would be needed to extract plutonium from spent reactor fuel for use in a bomb.

The Bush administration's assertions could undermine six-party negotiations to try to resolve the nuclear standoff with North Korea. But a senior administration official told reporters he hoped the disclosure would instead provide leverage to officials trying to get an accurate accounting of North Korea's nuclear and proliferation activities.The White House issued a two-page statement after lawmakers were given details about the reactor in a series of briefings on Capitol Hill that included a video presentation of intelligence information the administration contends establishes a strong link between North Korea's nuclear program and the bombed Syrian site. The briefing also included still photographs that showed a strong resemblance between specific features of the plant and one near Yongbyon in North Korea.Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the revelations make it clear that any deal to eliminate North Korea's nuclear programs must also stop its proliferation activities and include vigorous verification. But he said the information in the briefings was not a cause to end the talks.To the contrary, it underscores the need for pursuing the talks, which remain our best chance to convince North Korea to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons and to stop proliferation, Biden said.The White House said the International Atomic Energy Agency also was being briefed on the intelligence.While calling North Korea's nuclear assistance to Syria a dangerous manifestation of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program and its proliferation activities, the White House said it remained committed to the talks.

The United States became aware North Korea was helping Syria with a nuclear project in 2003, said intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity. The critical intelligence that cemented that conclusion, they said, came last year: dozens of photographs taken from ground level over a period of time, showing the construction both inside and outside the building.The Israeli strike on Sept. 6, 2007, ripped open the structure, known as the Al Kibar reactor, and revealed even more evidence to spy satellites: reinforced concrete walls that echoed the design of the Yongbyon reactor.After the attack, Syria tried to bury evidence of its existence and erected a new building to hide the site. The building is not believed to house a new reactor, the officials said.This coverup only served to reinforce our confidence that this reactor was not intended for peaceful activities, White House press secretary Dana Perino said. The Syrian regime must come clean before the world regarding its illicit nuclear activities.

The Syrian reactor was within weeks or months of being functional when Israeli jets destroyed it, a top U.S. official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. The official said the facility was mostly completed but still needed fueling and significant testing before it could be declared operational.We had to assume they could throw the switch at any time, a senior intelligence official said.

No uranium, which is needed to fuel a reactor, was evident at the site, a remote area of eastern Syria along the Euphrates River. But senior U.S. intelligence officials said the reactor was similar in design to the North Korean reactor at Yongbyon, which has in the past produced small amounts of plutonium, the material needed to make powerful nuclear weapons.A senior intelligence official said the intelligence agencies believe North Korea was motivated by cash rather than a desire to obtain plutonium from the reactor.

Syria has maintained in the past that the site was an unused military facility, and on Thursday, its embassy denounced what it called the U.S. campaign of false allegations. It accused the administration of trying to mislead Congress and world opinion in order to justify the Israeli raid in September of 2007, which the current U.S. administration may have helped execute.Senior U.S. officials said the U.S. military was not involved in the attack, and the U.S. government, although informed in advance, did not approve it. Israel made the decision to attack, a senior administration official said. It did so without any so-called green light from us. None was asked for and none was given.It has become obvious that this maneuver on the part of this administration comes within the framework of the North Korean nuclear negotiations, the Syrian statement said. And in an apparent reference to prewar claims by the Bush administration that Iraq had possessed weapons of mass destruction, the statement concluded: The Syrian government hopes that the international community and the American public, particularly, will be more cautious and aware this time around in facing such unfounded allegations.Top members of the House Intelligence Committee who were briefed on the reactor said it posed a serious threat of spreading dangerous nuclear materials.

This is a serious proliferation issue, both for the Middle East and the countries that may be involved in Asia, said Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich. Hoekstra and Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, told reporters after the closed briefing that they were angry that the Bush administration had delayed informing the full committee for so long. That delay has created friction that may imperil congressional support for Bush's policies toward North Korea and Syria, Hoekstra said. The White House also used its statement as an opportunity to denounce the nuclear activities of Iran, which it says is a threat to the stability of the Middle East. Perino said the international community must take further steps, beginning with full implementation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. While Washington was awash in condemnation of North Korea's proliferation activities, the communist regime is expressing optimism about current six-party negotiations with the United States, China, South Korea, Russia and Japan. The optimism over the talks is raising hopes of breaking the impasse that has deadlocked arms negotiations. North Korea's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that it had discussed technical matters with the Americans for moving forward on that and other agreements from the arms talks. The negotiations proceeded in a sincere and constructive manner and progress was made, the ministry said in a statement.

As part of that process, the North is required to submit a declaration detailing its programs and proliferation activity, but the talks are stalled over Pyongyang's refusal to publicly admit the Syria connection. However, officials say the North Koreans are willing to accept international concern about unspecified proliferation. Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann, Barry Schweid, Matthew Lee, Anne Flaherty, Edith Lederer and Bassem Mroueh contributed to this report.

WSI SAYS BAD HURRICANE SEASON

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.

WSI raises 2008 Atlantic hurricane forecast
Tue Apr 22, 5:01 PM

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Private weather forecaster WSI Corp said on Tuesday it raised the number of Atlantic hurricanes it expects this year to eight from seven due to warmer-than-normal ocean temperatures that will likely encourage storm development.We have increased our forecast slightly based on continued Atlantic warming in recent months, along with the persistence, albeit a bit weaker, of the La Nina event, said WSI seasonal forecaster Todd Crawford in a press release.Financial markets watch hurricane forecasts closely after a parade of severe storms in 2005 demolished parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast, causing billions of dollars in damage and temporarily shutting down a quarter of the nation's refining capacity.WSI's forecast for the 2008 season calls for 14 named storms, eight of which will become hurricanes and four of which will strengthen into major hurricanes. The outlook is up slightly from WSI's outlook in December, which called for 14 named storms, seven hurricanes, and three intense hurricanes.

The hurricane season runs for six months starting June 1.

WSI's forecast numbers are significantly higher than the 1950-2007 averages of 9.7 named storms, 5.9 hurricanes and 2.3 intense hurricanes, the Massachusetts-based company said.The forecast is in line with a recent outlook from Colorado State University that called for 15 named storms, eight hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

Alberta's late spring winter weather storm a boon for farmers Mon Apr 21, 8:07 PMBy Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press

EDMONTON - Western Canada's spring bout of winter weather may have people seeing red as they shovel the white stuff, but it has proven a godsend for parched prairie soil. A slow-moving upper low pressure system from the Pacific, fed by lingering Arctic cold air, continued Monday to park itself over the Prairies, delivering snow and freezing rain from Alberta to Manitoba. The snow dump - which reached 40 centimetres in some regions of Alberta over the weekend - snarled roads and led to multiple car crashes, including a collision near Olds, Alta., involving a semi-truck and a car that left one person dead. The blustery conditions were all the more irritating because Canadians in Central Canada were basking in balmy temperatures - with forecasts suggesting the sunshine was to continue through the week. But Agriculture Canada said the snowfall on the Prairies was just what farmers and ranchers needed. Trevor Hadwen, the department's agri-climate specialist, said some areas received 30 millilitres of moisture. Those areas were extremely dry throughout the winter. Quite a few of those areas received more moisture in this one storm than they did all winter, Hadwen said from Regina. The next important question is how the snow will melt.

If it melts slowly, that moisture will seep into the soil and do some good recharge.But a fast runoff won't be bad either for southern Saskatchewan and Alberta ranchers, who need the moisture for reservoirs and dugouts. Their dugouts were fairly dry and there wasn't a whole lot of runoff this spring, if any, from the winter, Hadwen said. The weekend snowfall brought an abrupt halt to a spring that featured summer-like temperatures just one weekend before. Edmonton scrambled to get graders on the road. Some contractors had already switched their scraping equipment from snow to gravel. Snow, blowing snow and snow drifts caused chaos on highways, leading to scores of pileups. Late Sunday, a Greyhound bus carrying 16 hit the ditch south of Edmonton after it slammed into the back of a pickup that had slowed down to manoeuvre around a jackknifed transport truck. No one was hurt. In Calgary, the famed Red Mile party strip south of downtown, where fans of the Calgary Flames gather to celebrate NHL playoff victories, was muted Sunday night despite the team's 2-0 win to take the San Jose Sharks to a decisive seventh game Tuesday. On Monday, a Staples Business Depot had to be evacuated when a sprinkler line burst due to the cold temperatures and flooded the store. Dan Kulak of Environment Canada said snowfall amounts were around 20 centimetres in the major cities - a big dump but far from the 48 centimetres recorded one May day in Calgary 27 years ago. It's spring, it's Canada, it's the Prairies. Deal with it, said Kulak, a warning preparedness meteorologist. Don't take the snow tires off yet. I'm not saying we're going to get a dump in May, but May is notorious for having big storms when they do happen. Temperatures were not expected to get back above the freezing mark until the end of the week, and, even then, they were expected to be 10 degrees cooler than the seasonal average.

Much of Saskatchewan was spared the full wrath of the weekend storm, but there were areas in the western part that felt the effects. Travel was not recommended Monday on many of the highways in the Lloydminster, North Battleford and Kindersley areas. RCMP said there were several reports of cars hitting the ditch on Sunday, but there were no serious accidents. In Meadow Lake, about 300 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon, Daryl Wood was hoping to have at least part of the golf course open this week. But the 30 centimetres of snow that fell over the weekend put a chill on those plans. Wood said he spent four hours clearing the parking lot Monday just so people could get into the restaurant. We're behind the eight-ball now, he said. I am sure we're back at least a week to 10 days.-With files from Tim Cook in Regina.

Snow flurries continue in Saskatchewan
Mon Apr 21, 7:29 PM

SASKATCHEWAN (CBC) - The frosty weather Saskatchewan residents might be wishing is winter's last gasp continued Monday.The roads in the western parts of the province from the U.S. border to Meadow Lake are in treacherous condition, said highways ministry spokesman Adam Rithaller.We have ice-covered heavy snow: that means there's at least eight centimetres of snow on the road, he said. Packed snow, snowdrifts, swirling snow, pretty much you name it, they have it there.There were also some slippery sections of highway in the northeast grainbelt, which experienced some freezing rain.Later Monday, Environment Canada was calling for snow flurries in Saskatoon, Martensville, Outlook, the Battlefords, Kindersley and Meadow Lake.Snow was also in the forecast Monday night for Prince Albert, Meadow Lake and the Battlefords.Further north, there was a freezing rain warning for Cumberland House, Pelican Narrows and Creighton.There were also winter storm warnings for La Ronge, Prince Albert National Park, Narrow Hills Provincial Park, Ile-a-la-Crosse, Buffalo Narrows and Beauval. That means freezing rain for some areas and heavy snow for others.The snow forecast was between 10 and 15 centimetres for Wollaston Lake, Collins Bay, Buffalo Narrows, Beauval, Ile-a-la-Crosse, Cree Lake, Key Lake, La Loche, Cluff Lake and Clearwater River Provincial Park.Compared to other areas, Regina was expected to get off easy Tuesday, with a mixture of sun and cloud and the high temperature hitting 10 C.

Carter denies State Dept. told him to shun Hamas By Matthew Bigg APR 23,08

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter denied on Wednesday that the State Department warned him not to meet with leaders of the Islamist group Hamas before he made a recent trip to the Middle East. Carter said Hamas' top official Khaled Meshaal told him during meetings in Damascus on Friday and Saturday that Hamas would accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders if approved by Palestinians.The United States brushed off the comments on Monday, arguing that Hamas' basic stance, which includes a call in its charter for the destruction of Israel, had not changed.The State Department has said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch, the top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, urged Carter not to meet with Hamas, a position restated by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, but Carter denied this.No one in the State Department or any other department of the U.S. government ever asked him (Carter) to refrain from his recent visit to the Middle East or even suggested that he not meet with Syrian President (Bashar) Assad or leaders of Hamas, said a statement released by the Atlanta-based Carter Center, which speaks on the former president's behalf.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, is viewed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel.The Carter Center statement said the former president attempted to call Rice before making the trip and a deputy returned his call since Rice was in Europe.They had a very pleasant discussion for about 15 minutes, during which he never made any of the negative or cautionary comments described above. He never talked to anyone else, the Carter Center statement said.President Carter has the greatest respect for ... Rice and believes her to be a truthful person. However, perhaps inadvertently, she is continuing to make a statement that is not true, the statement said.Carter's reference to the 1967 borders spoke of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East War, and to a referendum on a peace deal Washington hopes to clinch this year.Hamas won a 2006 election and briefly formed a unity government with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. It seized control of Gaza from Abbas' secular Fatah faction in fighting in June.Hamas has refused to accept major conditions laid down by the quartet of Middle East peace mediators. Those nations include the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union.(Editing by Tom Brown and Bill Trott)

Apr 21, 2008 11:26 Old City of Jerusalem closed to private traffic over Pessah By JPOST.COM STAFF

The Jerusalem Municipal Council will search millions of visitors to Jerusalem's Old City during Hol Hamoed (Passover week days), according to new decisions by the municipality and Jerusalem police. Also, entering the Old City in private vehicles has been prohibited. Entry will only be granted to vehicles that have prearranged with the municipality, and to Egged public transport vehicles. Likewise, during Hol Hamoed various other main roads in east Jerusalem will be closed to private traffic. The Jerusalem Municipal Council recommends all visitors to use public transport to get to the Old City.

Thomson Financial News
EU Commission to warn clearing services over slow market reforms - report 04.21.08, 4:27 AM ET

BRUSSELS (Thomson Financial) - Providers of clearing and settlement services for stock exchanges will be warned on Monday by the European Commission they face their last chance to show they can create a competitive market on a voluntary basis, the Financial Times reported.EU Internal Markets Commissioner Charlie McCreevy will attack the endless foot-dragging over establishing effective links between clearing infrastructures.The EU wants more evidence that a code of conduct on inter-operability between infrastructure providers is leading to more competition in post-trade services to Europe's capital markets.McCreevy's comments will come at an ECB conference in Frankfurt.tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomsonreuters.com

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.

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.

Secret deal between EU-3 blocks Blair as EU president
21.04.2008 - 09:30 CET | By Lucia Kubosova

UK prime minister Gordon Brown has agreed to a secret deal with Germany and France which effectively rules out Tony Blair as a new EU president but the British ex-leader is also interested in the new role of Europe's foreign chief, a UK daily is reporting.We have agreed with France and Germany not to back a candidate one of the others doesn't want, a British diplomat is quoted saying by the Independent.French President Nicolas Sarkozy previously backed Mr Blair as a possible candidate to head the EU's 27 member states while Mr Brown praised his potential qualities for the job but did not specifically back him.At the same time, German chancellor Angela Merkel is reportedly opposed to such a scenario, which means that - under a new deal referred to by the British diplomat in the article – her opposition would automatically spoil Mr Blair's chances of being supported by any of Europe's three biggest countries.Apart from Tony Blair, the other candidate mentioned most often and thought to enjoy backing by Berlin and Paris is Luxembourg's prime minister and veteran of the EU stage, Jean-Claude Juncker.

The position of the EU's president is contained in the bloc's Lisbon Treaty under the official heading of President of the European Council. The European Council refers to the regular meetings of EU leaders.Talks have begun on what kind of salary, personnel and other perks the president should have.But the actual job description of the EU president – a job that can be held for up to five years - still has yet to be decided. While his or her appointment would replace the current practice whereby the bloc is headed by a different EU leader every six months, it is unclear whether the role will be merely administrative or something more powerful.In chairing the 27-nation bloc, the EU president would work together with another post created by the Lisbon Treaty, the EU foreign minister.The new post will merge together the chair of Javier Solana as the EU's current foreign policy chief and that of Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the current European commissioner for external relations.According to the Independent, Tony Blair may also be interested in becoming the new EU foreign minister. The Lisbon Treaty is scheduled to come into force on 1 January 2009.
Nine member states have already ratified the treaty, others are planning to hold a parliamentary vote at some stage this year. Only Ireland will decide by a referendum, due on 12 June.

MEPs to use budget power over EU president perks
22.04.2008 - 09:22 CET | By Honor Mahony

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Members of the European Parliament are prepared to use their hold over the bloc's purse-strings to try and make sure that the proposed new EU president does not wield too much power.The treaty is very clear about the duties [of the president], the head of the parliament's budget committee, Reimer Boege, told EUobserver, noting that it says the person can have an administrative role, but not take over an executive function.Budget power is always used as a weapon. This is a principle, said the centre-right German MEP.The parliament, wary of upsetting the fine balance of power between the EU institutions, will have a chance to use this weapon when it comes to negotiations later this year on the 2009 budget.Mr Boege said that MEPs will looking out to see that if any extra perks for the president – a private plane and a residence are rumoured to be under consideration – would be linked to lowering the communitarian level in the treaty, meaning reducing the power of the European commission and boosting inter-governmental politics.The MEP urged member states who are due to deliver a draft budget to the parliament before the summer to show a flexible and responsible approach and indicated that euro-deputies would be inclined to accept a staff set-up for the president that does not exceed that of the immediate staff of the European commission president (around 20).

The first reading of the budget is due in October, but MEPs are already fretting about the institutional implications of the Lisbon Treaty, which is supposed to come into force by the beginning of next year.Earlier this month, senior MEPs, including parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering, met European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to raise certain points about the treaty, particularly concerning the remit of the proposed president.The treaty foresees a purely administrative role for the President of the European Council – the formal title of the post - organising the meetings of EU leaders.However, there is the potential for external representation overlap with the foreign minister and the commission president, while the role is also set to be defined by the person who gets the job.Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, one of those often mentioned as a contender for the post, had said the president should not be an empty figurehead or a director of ceremonies.French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who will head the EU later this year when the job description is to be decided, shares this opinion. Others, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, are said to want to keep a lid on the president's powers.

A pre-democracy situation
For their part, MEPs suggest there will be a democratic legitimacy problem if the president has too much power, as the person will be chosen by the 27 EU leaders - in a closed-door process - and is not accountable to the European Parliament.They note where the president has operational powers, that person is directly elected, such as in France or the US. A powerful EU president that is neither subject to parliamentary control nor elected by citizens would lead us to a pre-democratic situation, German centre-right MEP Elmar Brok told the constitutional affairs committee earlier this month.Speaking about the possible size of the president's entourage - which some in council (the member states' body) have suggested should run to 60 people, including security officials, cabinet, chauffeurs and secretaries - Mr Brok said:

I am of the opinion that if we cannot come to agreement on this, then we should abandon the gentleman's agreement whereby one does not mess with the budget of another institution, because now we are talking about operational powers. It is no longer about the implementation of purely organisational duties.Correction. The text previously said MEPs would be inclined to accept a similar salary and staff arrangement as the European commission president for the president of the European Council. The sentence should only have said staff.

IBG Teleconference: European Union Considerations for e-Passports, Biometrics, and Border Control Programs APR 22,08

International Biometric Group (IBG) is pleased to announce its upcoming teleconference: European Union Considerations for e-Passports, Biometrics, and Border Control Programs to be held Thursday, April 24th, at 9am ET/3pm BST, which will outline requirements, specifications, and legalities EU Member States should consider when developing e-Passport, biometrics, and border control systems.

New York, NY (PRWEB) April 22, 2008 -- IBG, the industry's leading developer and integrator of biometric systems and solutions, is pleased to announce its upcoming teleconference: European Union Considerations for e-Passport, Biometrics, and Border Control Programs, to be held Thursday, April 24th, at 9 am EST/3 pm BST.

e-Passport, Visa, and border control systems regulations and specifications continue to evolve in sophistication and complexity. Understanding requirements is crucial to government agencies and commercial vendors implementing these systems. IBG Senior Consultant David Coleman will discuss requirements, specifications, and legalities EU Member States should consider when developing e-Passport, biometrics, and border control systems, including:

Interoperability and standards

System deployments
Registration, enrollment, personalization, and issuance processes
Projected developments in EU Member States
Recent IBG work for an EU member state

The teleconference will also address EU-BMS, SIS-II, Prum Treaty and National AFIS System requirements. The impact of ISO and ICAO Machine Readable Travel Document standards on European Citizen Card and Residence Permits will also be discussed. Mr. Coleman will address the use of e-Passport and Schengen Visa documents from the perspective of the border control officer and passenger, including use cases for EU, US, and third party citizens arriving from Schengen and non-Schengen destinations. These use cases will address the interfaces with appropriate SIS and VIS systems. Finally, the use of PKI and biometrics for BAC- and EAC-compliant passports will be examined, including usability of the advanced authentication mechanisms.

Web Access: http://www.biometricgroup.com/webcon
Dial-in Phone Number: 303-205-0044
Event Date: April 24th, 2008 at 9 am EST/3 pm BST

IBG, the industry's premier independent developer and integrator of identification systems and solutions, provides government and industry with technology-neutral, vendor-independent engineering and consulting services in identity management and biometric technologies. IBG deploys custom solutions and standards-based infrastructures in complex, mission-critical applications. IBG also operates the National Sensors, Surveillance and Biometric Technologies Center of Excellence for the U.S. Department of Justice, located at our New York City headquarters. Additional IBG locations include London, Washington DC, and San Francisco.

EUROPEAN UNION ARMY

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)

DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.

DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.

REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)

EU-NATO : European defence after Bucharest
By BabelParis on Tuesday, April 22 2008, 08:00

This year, the NATO summit took place in Romania from April 2nd to April 4th. . Besides the membership agreements which ended up with the entrance of Croatia and Albania and the refusal of Georgia and Ukraine, this should have been a crucial event of international policy. After the Nicolas Sarkozy’s statements concerning, on the one hand, France’s reintegrating NATO’s integrated command structures and, on the other hand, the common destiny of NATO and the EU, we expected revolutionary declarations… but revolutionary is not part of the international language.

A fake European summit

Since the speech pronounced by the American ambassador to NATO, Victoria Nuland, on February 22nd and 25th in Paris and at the London School of Economics, American leaders had never considered the European defence serious enough to be discussed at the international level. The ambassador recognized it herself in London : You will think this is strange, a little suspicious -- to have the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, standing here, urging you – the British and international leaders of the future to build a stronger EU. And indeed, this is a step forward. Eventually, leaders dare acknowledge the existence of another international organisation capable to secure the safety of citizens worldwide… No! We’re going a little bit too far here, aren’t we? Of course European defence does exist – quite difficult to ignore the institutional and operational reality of an organisation NATO actually sealed a strategic agreement with in 2003. But having the Americans say that the European Union is able to secure the world’s safety, there is an insurmountable epistemological obstacle. Less adventurous than his Ambassador, President Bush never took the risk of speaking about European security and defence policy, or maybe was it anecdotal.

EDSP : A legitimacy recognized

Considering what American leaders say, if ESDP is not completely finalised yet to be regarded as equal to the powerful NATO, it has reinforced European military presence all around the world – not only in the Balkans. As a consequence, EU has become a crucial political and strategic counterpart. Crucial for the future of NATO itself, which urgently needs to reconsider its priority accordingly with the new global threats; crucial also from an organic perspective as, today, 21 States over 28 which are members of NATO are also members of the EU. The United-States which, as everybody knows, handle NATO’s capacity budget cannot fairly ignore the efficiency of a European defence to which the 8/10th of its own members contribute. This leads George Bush to say, and this is unique, that The building of a strong Alliance also needs a strong European defence capacity. But, once more, be careful! Do not speak out the words of the American president because he actually speaks about strengthening the European defence capacity and not European defence as such. If he encourages the European partners to improve their defence budget, George Bush mentions nor the institutional neither the political strengthening of European defence structures –e.g. the European Defence Agency, the Operation Centre, the EU major state – and God knows that between statements and the implementation of forces and finance there is a wide gap. However, if coordination and operational structures remain minimalists, it’s just as if you were filling a hallowed basket.

What could have been interpreted as a conceptual revolution on the part of the US simply is, if you look better, just another example of its impertinence : So at this summit, I will encourage our European partners to increase their defense investments to support both NATO and EU operations. America believes if Europeans invest in their own defense, they will also be stronger and more capable when we deploy together. In other words, no way ESDP should act as a free rider? We encourage you to develop yourself only if we can benefit from it.

An autonomous European defence … but not an independent one.

As for president Sarkozy, the words he pronounced at Bucharest echoed what he had been repeating for months since his speech to the Ambassadors last August 27th This Summit is extremely important? It is a way to confirm the Alliance and to strengthen the European defence. We need the United States and the United States need strong allies. This last sentence speaks for itself: both of the institutions are inevitably linked. So even if the French president keeps on saying that he wants an autonomous and stronger Europe, he also admits that it will continue to depend on the Americans. Americans hold the defence economy to such an extent that it has become outrageous to speak about NATO’s umbrella – we should better speak about a capacity drip.

Finally, it is very laudable to support Europe’s autonomy, but until EU member States will continue to have their defence interests determined by economic and industrial agreements orchestrated by the US, there will never be any real independence. And if there’s no self appropriation of the European defence economy, then ESDP will always be the thing of an invisible hand called NATO.

HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

Stocks rise as Street parses earnings, oil prices decline By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer APR 23,08

NEW YORK - Stocks turned sharply higher Wednesday after an increase in oil supplies sent energy prices lower and eased Wall Street's concerns that rising inflation will force consumers to cut their spending. The rebound in stocks came a day after another record high price for oil helped send shares skidding. But selling in the oil market after the government reported a drop in inventories last week allowed investors to keep their focus on the stream of earnings reports arriving from companies.Investors also took in the news that Liberty Mutual plans to acquire Safeco. The announcement sent Safeco shares surging and perhaps helped reassure investors nervous about corporate earnings. The $6.12 billion deal would create the country's fifth-biggest property insurer.Boeing Co., one of the 30 stocks that comprise the Dow Jones industrial average, appeared to help buoy investor sentiment after reporting its first-quarter earnings rose 38 percent. However, investors also sent shares of bond insurer Ambac Financial Group, health insurer WellPoint Inc. and Delta Air Lines Inc. lower following their reports.

But stocks extended their gains after the government said inventories of crude oil rose last week after unexpected drops in the prior two periods.In midmorning trading, the Dow rose 97.62, or 0.77 percent, to 12,817.85 after moving in and out of positive territory early in the session.Broader stock indicators rose. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 9.21, or 0.67 percent, to 1,385.15. The Nasdaq composite index showed a stronger advance, rising 31.77, or 1.34 percent, to 2,408.71.Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 349.7 million shares.Light, sweet crude fell 46 cents to $116.71 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.On the Net:
New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

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)

Gas prices rise further above $3.50, while oil nears $120 By JOHN WILEN, AP Business Writer Tue Apr 22, 10:45 PM ET

NEW YORK - Gas and oil prices pushed further into record high territory Tuesday, with retail gas reaching a national average of $3.51 for the first time and crude nearing $120 as the dollar fell to a new low against the euro. At the pump, the national average price of a gallon of regular gas rose 0.8 cent Tuesday to $3.511, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Prices for diesel — used to transport most food, industrial and commercial goods — also rose overnight to a new record of $4.204 a gallon.Gas prices are nearly 66 cents higher than last year, when they peaked at a then-record of $3.23 in late May, and have prompted many analysts to raise their estimates of where gas is going to go.I wouldn't rule out the possibility that we could get to $4, said Antoine Halff, an analyst at Newedge USA LLC.

Other analysts are less certain. Fred Rozell, retail pricing director at the Oil Price Information Service, thinks gas prices will rise only another 10 cents to 20 cents nationally. That would mean they would peak near $4.15 a gallon in California, where prices are typically highest, and around $3.50 in New Jersey, where they're typically lowest.Gas prices are rising for many reasons, including oil's record run. Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose to a new trading record of $119.90 before retreating to settle up $1.89 at a record $119.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract expired after the Nymex closed, which contributed to its spike higher as investors scrambled to square bets. June crude futures, which now become the focus of trading, rose $1.44 to settle at $118.07 a barrel, nearly $2 shy of the $120 level.On Capitol Hill, some lawmakers attempted to escalate scrutiny of oil and gas companies.People deserve a more scrupulous cop on the beat in these markets, said Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., who along with Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., called for the Justice Department to investigate possible market manipulation.

Meantime, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., praised the Bush administration's proposal to increase the average fuel economy for new cars and trucks to 31.6 miles per gallon by 2015.Soaring gasoline prices show that we have to move much more aggressively toward improving fuel efficiency and help bring relief to American consumers, she said in a statement.Many investors see commodities such as oil as a hedge against inflation and a falling dollar. Also, a weaker greenback makes oil cheaper for investors overseas.

The dollar fell Tuesday after the National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes dropped in March while the median home price declined, raising prospects that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates further this year to try to shore up the ailing economy. Fed interest rate cuts tend to further weaken the dollar.

Oil also rose on concerns about supply constraints overseas. A Royal Dutch Shell PLC joint venture declared what's known as force majeure on April and May oil delivery contracts from a 400,000-barrel-a-day Nigerian oil field due to a pipeline attack last week. The move protects the company from litigation if it fails to deliver on contractual obligations to buyers.In Mexico, oil production slipped 7.8 percent in the first quarter to 2.91 million barrels a day as output at the country's oil fields waned, state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos said. In Scotland, workers at Ineos PLC's 196,000 barrel-a-day Grangemouth refinery and petrochemical plant threatened to strike over changes to an employee pension plan.

While gas prices are following oil futures higher, they're also rising because supplies are falling. Refiners are in the process of switching over from making winter grade gasoline to the more-expensive, less-polluting, form of the fuel they're required to sell in summer. That's pushing supplies down as producers try to sell off all of their winter gas.Gasoline supplies are also being hurt by low profit margins. Refiners have to buy the crude they turn into fuel, but falling demand for gasoline has hurt their ability to raise gas prices as much as they would like. While the average profit margin on gasoline hovers above $10, analysts say margins have gone negative in some parts of the country in recent weeks. In those cases, refiners were actually losing money on every gallon of gas they made. Many refiners have reacting by producing less gas.Very high crude prices can constrain gasoline supplies as it hurts the margins, Halff said.In other Nymex trading Tuesday, May gasoline futures rose 3.73 cents to settle at $3.0164 a gallon after earlier rising to a trading record of $3.025, while May heating oil futures rose 0.55 cent to settle at $3.3169 a gallon after earlier rising to their own trading record of $3.35. May natural gas futures fell 12.6 cents to settle at $10.607 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, June Brent crude rose $1.52 to settle at $115.95 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. Associated Press writers Pablo Gorondi in Budapest and Gillian Wong in Singapore contributed to this report.

REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

Bear gave off no reasons for concern before trainer's death APR 23,08

BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. - The grizzly bear that wrestled Will Ferrell's character in the recent film Semi-Pro seemed to obediently follow cues — which made its killing of its trainer with a bite to the neck all the more stunning. Three experienced handlers were working with the grizzly Tuesday at the Predators in Action wild animal training center when the bear attacked Stephan Miller, 39, said San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Beavers.Stephan Miller is the cousin of training center owner Randy Miller, she said.Pepper spray was used to subdue and contain the bear, and there were no other injuries, Beavers said. Paramedics arriving shortly after the initial emergency call around 3 p.m. were unable to revive Stephan Miller.The state Department of Fish and Game and Occupational Safety and Health Administration were investigating the incident.Fish and game spokesman Harry Morse told the San Bernardino Sun Tuesday his department would not decide whether the bear will be euthanized because the attack occurred outside its jurisdiction during a training session on facility grounds.Morse speculated that the county animal care officials may decide the bear's fate. A call placed early Wednesday to the county's Animal Care and Control Program was not answered.

Sheriff's Sgt. Dave Phelps said the bear was a 5-year-old male named Rocky. The Predators in Action Web site said Rocky is 7 1/2 feet tall and weighs 700 pounds.The site, which was off-line early Wednesday due to overtaxed bandwidth, identified Rocky as the animal that appeared with Ferrell's character in the scene from Semi-Pro. Randy Miller doubled for Ferrell in the bear wrestling match, according to the site.Calls seeking comment from Randy Miller were not immediately returned Tuesday evening.The center, located in the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles, has two grizzlies, and also trains lions, tigers, leopards, cougars and wolves for uses ranging from film and TV to advertising and education.In a February interview, Randy Miller called Rocky the best working bear in the business, the San Bernardino Sun reported on its Web site Wednesday. But, the paper quoted him as saying, If one of these animals gets a hold of your throat, you're finished.

Randy Miller has 25 years of experience training animals and his facility has had a perfect safety record, according to the site.

Randy Miller won a World Stunt Academy Award for his work wrestling tigers in the 2000 blockbuster Gladiator and performed stunts with his animals in films like The Postman, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and The Last Samurai. He also helped recreate animal attacks for National Geographic documentaries and the Discovery Channel.It was not immediately known how long Rocky has been at the facility.The attack prompted actress Virginia McKenna, founder of the international wildlife charity Born Free, to call for the entertainment industry to stop using wild animals.The movie industry urgently needs to use its technological and creative imagination to put an end to the use of live wild animals in commercials and movies, McKenna, who starred in the 1966 wildlife film Born Free, said in a printed release. Hollywood is a dream factory — this time the dream has become a nightmare.Denise Richards, who works with wild animals at Moonridge Zoo, a sanctuary for injured and homeless wildlife in nearby Big Bear Lake, said trained animals that turn on their handlers are often destroyed.

You can train them and use as many safety precautions as you can, but you're still taking a chance if you're putting yourself in contact with them, Richards said. It's still a wild animal. Even though it may appear that the bear attacked for no reason, there was a reason. I'm sure Randy understands why it happened. They're not cold-blooded killers.Native grizzly bears are extinct in California. Randy Miller's Predators in Action: http://www.predatorsinaction.com

* * * * FLASH TRAFFIC: WASHINGTON UPDATE * * * *
IS THE NEW HAMAS OFFER PROPHETICALLY SIGNIFICANT?

Note: I will be on The Glenn Beck Show on CNN Headline News each night this week discussing current events, Bible prophecy, and Dead Heat. On Friday, Glenn and I will do a one-hour special together.
By Joel C. Rosenberg

(Washington, D.C., April 22, 2008) -- At the end of last night's segment on CNN regarding former President Jimmy Carter's recent meetings with senior Hamas leaders, Glenn Beck asked me whether there was any Biblically prophetic significance to the meeting. It was an important question (and one not usually asked on CNN). While I only had 30 seconds to answer it, allow me to raise a few points.

First, Hamas's offer of a 10 year peace deal with Israel is a new and startling development. I personally don't believe Hamas really wants peace with Israel. What's more, the founding Hamas Charter explicitly rejects all comprehensive peace treaties with the Jews. This is simply a ruse to get Israel to stop assassinating Hamas terrorist leaders and lure Israel into a false sense of security. But that's not the point. The point is that this the first time in history that one of Israel's primary enemies has suggested forging not a comprehensive peace deal in perpetuity, but a peace treaty of a short and specific time frame. Israel's treaty with Egypt signed in 1979 was not a time-limited agreement. Neither was Israel's treaty with Jordan in 1994. The Oslo Agreements were never time-limited. Nor is President Bush's Road Map for Middle East peace. This is a new development. And I suspect the Hamas offer will eventually be taken seriously by the leaders of Israel, the U.N. and the E.U. (perhaps the U.S., too.)

Second, this time-limited peace offer by Hamas is fascinating in that it is completely consistent with Bible prophecy about the last days. In Daniel 9:27, the ancient Hebrew prophet tells us that in the End of Days, an evil leader will make a comprehensive peace deal or covenant with Israel and her many neighbors and enemies. That deal will seem firm, says Daniel, but it will not be forever. It will be for 7 years. According to the Book of Daniel and Revelation, Israel will accept the deal (fatally flawed though it is), but the evil leader will break the deal after 3 1/2 years, invade Israel, set up a global empire, and eventually trigger the War of Armageddon. Let me be clear: while Hamas leader Khaled Mash'al is without question an evil leader who seeks nothing less that the liberation of Jerusalem for radical Islam and the liquidation of all Jews and Christians in the Holy Land, I am not saying he is the evil leader of which Daniel writes. But Mash'al's proposal has now injected something new and Biblically significant into the Middle East peace process equation -- the element of a time-limited deal. Very interesting.

Third, in my new political thriller, Dead Heat, I write about this exact scenario of a time-limited peace deal between Israel and her enemies. On page 167, my fictional U.N. Secretary General says: We need to win the Israelis' confidence. We need them to lower their guard. Their Zionist ideology is exhausted. Their political leaders are feckless. Their diplomatic leaders are so desperate to be loved, to be accepted by the rest of the world, they're willing to give away almost anything. But we must not make the ridiculous mistakes of the past. We must not threaten Israel with war. We must invite them to make peace. We must not turn our backs to them. We must offer them an open hand. We must not boycott them....We must shock them. We must offer them a comprehensive peace treaty, the likes of which the world has never seen before. We must lure them into feeling safe and secure. We must lull them into trusting us, into trusting me...And then, when all this has been accomplished, when the time is right, you and I will make our move. We will seize Jerusalem. We will raze the Temple....But not now. We're not ready -- yet. Then, on p. 371 of Dead Heat, my fictional Israeli Prime Minister says: The world is suddenly very unstable and Israel, I'm afraid, is suddenly very vulnerable. [The U.N. Secretary General] is suggesting we go from Rome to Babylon and have some time alone with [the leader of Iraq]. He wants us to hammer out some kind of fast regional peace treaty -- even a temporary one, something that might last five or ten years, or so....To be honest, given all that's happening, I'm inclined to say yes.

Fourth, watch carefully to see if this concept of a time-limited Arab-Israeli peace deal gains traction. I wrote about a fictional deal like this in Dead Heat because it seemed like a plausible geopolitical scenario to get us to the Biblical prophecy of a 7-year Middle East peace deal. But until this week, no one in real life had ever talked seriously about a limited time frame for a peace deal with Israel. Now Israel's most dangerous immediate neighbor has, assisted by the architect of the Camp David Peace Accords. What's more, President Bush says he is optimistic that an Israeli-Palestinian deal can be struck by the end of 2008. Perhaps prophetic events are moving faster than most Americans think.

TRANSCRIPT OF THE GLENN BECK SHOW
CNN Headline News
Monday, April 21, 2008

BECK: Call me an optimist but honestly, I didn`t think the news could get any worse. And then Jimmy Carter showed up. Let me just remind you, Jimmy Carter, horrible president. But at least we only had to deal with his energy crisis, his Iran hostage crisis, and the -- oh, yes, the economic crisis for four years. Thank goodness for Ronald Reagan. I don`t think America could have survived a second Carter term. But now I feel Jimmy Carter may actually do more harm as a former president than he did as president. And that`s saying something.I think it`s great that Jimmy Carter likes to build houses for the poor. No, I really do. But when he stops being a carpenter and starts thinking, Hey, maybe I`ll be a peacemaker, I kind of feel like boycotting peanuts. How about you?Carter has just ended his Middle East peace trip. And he says now -- and he`s bringing home a souvenir, an agreement from the terrorist group Hamas, that says, they`ll accept a peaceful co-existence with Israel. Oh, that`s great. And I believe them. This is -- even though they refuse to officially recognize Israel as a nation. And they still proclaim that they want Israel wiped off the map, which is weird because it seems like the second part negates the first part of that. But I`m sure Jim has got that all figured out. So to sum up, Jimmy Carter is a stooge. Is this just another argument against him or is this a sign of what some people have been waiting for, for like, say, the last 2,000 years.Joel Rosenberg is the author of Dead Heat and the founder of the Joshua Fund. He`ll be joining me all week to answer some of these questions about the Middle East and the end of days -- Joel.

JOEL ROSENBERG, AUTHOR, DEAD HEAT: Hey, Glenn, how are you?

BECK: Very good. President/preacher boy, Jimmy Carter, doesn`t seem to understand a little something I like to call evil.

ROSENBERG: He doesn`t. This president is literally the worst ex- president we`ve ever had. And he displayed it this week. He literally doesn`t understand the difference between good and evil.And you know, look, Hamas is a terrorist organization. They`re a genocidal organization. You read the founding document of the Hamas charter, back in 1988, 89. Read it. It says, Under no circumstances will we allow a peace treaty between us and the Jews, the Zionists. We`re going to wipe them off the face of the planet.

BECK: Well, that`s 1987 -- 1988. Those are old details. Why do you keep bringing up the past like that?

ROSENBERG: Well, because just this year, Hamas television is running cartoons of Asud (ph) the bunny. Assud the Bunny is claiming he will eat all the Jews in Palestine in order to liberate the homeland of Palestine.

BECK: It`s a bunny.

ROSENBERG: This is just the type of examples of how they are inciting children, not to mention adults, for genocide. Genocide is what Hamas wants. Carter doesn`t understand this.

BECK: Joel, children know the difference that a cartoon bunny is not going to eat all the Jews.

ROSENBERG: Well -- and yet the Hamas leaders are raising terrorists, suicide bombers.I mean, look, the problem is. And I make this point in Dead Heat the central theme of my political thriller, which is to misunderstand the nature and threat of evil is to risk being blindsided by it.

BECK: You know, the last time we failed to recognize evil, we failed to recognize evil in Germany. And we waited and we waited. And we said, Oh, well they don`t really mean that. They were very clear. Anybody who read Mein Kampf, you can`t deny that, you know -- look, I`m of German descent. I remember when I went in and bought Mein Kampf. Because I wanted to know if the German people really knew or not.If you read Mein Kampf, you have no excuse. He was extraordinarily clear on how he felt about the Jews. And it`s the same thing that`s happening now. And yet all of these people are just in absolute denial. Jimmy Carter, he`s got to be an anti-Semite.

ROSENBERG: You know, look, I think often of the Jerry Seinfeld episode where George Costanza -- where Jerry says, Look, George if every instinct you`ve ever had is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right. And I look at Jimmy Carter. And any instinct that he has had in foreign policy has always been wrong.

BECK: No.

ROSENBERG: And we have to just do the exact opposite. I mean this is -- look, if you read Mein Kampf in 1939, and you said, Well, Hitler wrote that years ago. What does that have to do with becoming final solution? Come 1945, everybody understood that.

BECK: OK. So let me change gears real quick. Because we`re spending time with you, because I read Dead Heat, and it`s fantastic. And I know your other books have -- have, in a way, come true. Some of the things that you`ve written about, and 9/11 was one of them. You predicted the planes and everything else.I want to talk to you a little bit about. Jeez, and I`m getting a 30- second. Quick, let`s tie it into the end time. Any sign of the end times here in anything of this stuff with Hamas and peace deals?

ROSENBERG: Well, what`s weird about this right now is that Hamas -- what Carter is coming home is saying Hamas is allowing for a ten-year hudna, a 10-year truce. In other words, Hamas won`t say they recognize Israel. But for ten years, let`s cut a deal. Let`s create a Palestinian state, and we`ll have ten years of semi-peace.What`s interesting about this is this may set into motion -- I don`t know. But it may set in motion what the Bible talks about: a seven-year peace deal in which the leader that signs the deal with Israel then breaks the deal halfway through. This comes from Daniel, comes from Revelations.

BECK: OK. Joel, we`ll talk to you more about that later on this week. Every night, join us as he joins us. And again, Dead Heat is a phenomenal book.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)

ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.

ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).

ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.

JOEL 2:20,30
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

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.

REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)

LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).

MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

How Real Is the Threat of Nuclear Terrorism and What Might Happen? Tim Wilson APR 21,08

In June of 2005, Senator Richard G. Lugar published his report The Lugar Survey on Proliferation Threats and Responses. In this, he received responses from 85 of the leading experts on non-proliferation and national security. To summarize the most important findings, the average response of these experts was that there is a one in ten (10%) chance of a nuclear attack occurring somewhere in the world in the following five years and a one in five (20%) chance of that event in ten years. They also thought that there was a 79% chance that that attack would be carried out by terrorists as opposed to a 21% chance of it being conducted by a national government.Since the report was published almost three years ago, it is worth considering the implications as the chances of this event happening in the immediate future have presumably increased since then. This is especially likely in the light of the relevant events which have occurred in North Korea and Iran over the last three years: On October 9th, 2006, North Korea announced it had carried out a successful test of a nuclear weapon; and on April 8th, 2008, Iran announced it was beginning the installation of an additional 6,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges at its Natanz facility (it already has 3,000 such centrifuges operational there, and a plutonium production capability at Arak). Furthermore, we should not forget the still expanding and proven nuclear weapons program of politically unstable Pakistan, where radicals could come to power in the foreseeable future and inherit a full nuclear capability.

While it is possible that none of these nations pose a significant direct threat to the U.S., what is inescapable is that of the nations who could attack us with these appalling Weapons of Mass Destruction, these two must both be regarded as the most likely candidates. Their leaders are enemies who regard the U.S. as an evil empire which should be humbled and/or destroyed. Given the opportunity to attack, they have the motive and the will to do so. This fact alone makes it necessary to take any and every action necessary to prevent any further development in their nuclear capabilities.However, if the opinion of the experts is correct that the greater threat is from terrorists, it is essential to consider where they might obtain their weapons. On this, the experts provide a range of options with almost half of them believing that the most likely source is by black market purchase of either a complete device or fissile material, although they also acknowledge the possibility of theft, donation by a government, or a combination of means.Does it matter where the terrorists get their materials? Of course it does! If they have to assemble it themselves from fissile material then it is likely to be a relatively crude device which will limit the explosive capability (probably to a maximum of around 20KT or the equivalent to 20,000 tons of high explosive and arguably to a much smaller capability equivalent to a few hundred tons of high explosive). But if they obtain a complete device, then it will probably be both much more reliable and of much greater explosive capability (up to 200KT (200,000 tons of high explosive or even more). To put this in perspective, the smaller device would probably produce a crater only many hundreds of feet in diameter in a city (but even the smallest device would annihilate more than a city block), while the larger would probably produce a crater nearly a mile across.

I covered some of the scenarios in a previous article back in October 2007.Of course the Lugar Survey did not say which city or cities in which country would be attacked. There is a long list of likely targets including Tel Aviv, London, Paris and even Moscow. However there can be no doubt that the most attractive targets to al Qaeda and its affiliates and imitators are in the United States. At the top of the list must be New York and Washington D.C., along with Los Angeles, and it is not impossible that terrorists capable of acquiring nuclear weapons would attack more than one city at the same time.The consequences for the U.S. of a successful nuclear strike here are appalling to consider. Yet we should do so as it is no absurdity, but an ever increasing possibility. While the U.S. as a whole will not be destroyed and retaliation will certainly be possible, it will be too late for the millions of our citizens who would already have been immediately physically affected. On top of the death and destruction involved, the economic, social and infrastructure damage will affect every single one of us for a very considerable period of time. The overall financial cost of a single strike may well be in the order of $13Trillion – 100% of GDP – a cost which makes going to war look cheap. Furthermore, there will be wide scale effects on fuel, electricity, food and other vital supplies with local and national shortages, and overextended public services everywhere. All of this is the reason we must be prepared to take whatever action is necessary to prevent such an attack. This is too grave and real a threat to allow, and all the inquiries, commissions and post-mortems will not undo the terrible consequences. No matter how dreadful the prospect of attacking another nation, if it prevents a nuclear device from going off here it will have been worth the condemnation and opprobrium of every other nation and even of the dissenters here at home. This is not an implausible event to be discussed as a theoretical exercise, it is a real possibility which we should all be thinking about and preparing to deal with, preferably in a pre-emptive manner.