Tuesday, January 16, 2007

COLD SNAP IN NORTH AMERICA

Tuesday January 16,2007 12:00 AM

1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Moderate quake jolts central Japan, felt in Tokyo. 3-First dose of winter slams central Canada. 4-More snow on way for B.C. south coast. 5-At least 17 die in US winter storm. 6-Winter blitz nails Northeast. 7-Rains force 100,000 in Malaysia to flee. 8-EU Countries Back Plan to Link Police Databases to Fight Crime. 9-EU Hopes to Close FTA With Gulf Nations. 10-Asian Leaders Plan Free-Trade Area From India to N.Z. 11-Iran says pressing ahead with expanded enrichment. 12-Black Sea Jews Plan E.U. Entry. 13-A Challenge for 2007: Be Guided by the Bible.

EARTHQUAKES

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

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

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

WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)

Update time = Tue Jan 16 12:00 AM EDT

JAN 16,07
MAP 5.2 TAIWAN REGION
MAP 2.8 CENTRAL ALASKA

JAN 15,07
MAP 2.8 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.1 CENTRAL EAST PACIFIC RISE
MAP 3.1 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 5.0 MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES
MAP 2.9 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.9 NEAR THE SOUTH COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP 5.0 CENTRAL AFGHANISTAN
MAP 4.7 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.1 CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
MAP 5.0 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.7 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.9 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 4.7 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.0 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.1 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 4.2 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA

JAN 14,07
MAP 2.7 GULF OF ALASKA
MAP 3.0 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.1 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.0 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 4.8 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.6 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 3.8 SOUTH OF ALASKA
MAP 5.1 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.8 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.6 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.0 MOUNT ST. HELENS AREA, WASHINGTON
MAP 4.7 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.9 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.9 NORTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.3 KIRIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.8 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 5.1 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.7 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.5 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 4.8 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.9 KEPULAUAN TALAUD, INDONESIA
MAP 4.9 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.8 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA

Moderate quake jolts central Japan, felt in Tokyo JAN 15,2007

TOKYO (Reuters) - A moderate earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.7 jolted central Japan on Tuesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The quake, at 3:18 a.m. (1818 GMT), was also felt in Tokyo. There were no reports of injuries or damage.The focus of the tremor was 170 km (105 miles) below the surface of the earth, in Shizuoka prefecture, 150 km west of Tokyo, the JMA said.The earthquake measured 3 on the Japanese intensity scale, which measures ground motion.Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.In October 2004, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck the Niigata region in northern Japan, killing 65 people and injuring more than 3,000.That was the deadliest quake since a magnitude 7.3 tremor hit the city of Kobe in 1995, killing more than 6,400.

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.

First dose of winter slams central Canada
Monday, January 15, 2007 - CBC News


Central Canada finally got a taste Monday of what the weather-weary West has been feeling a blast of cold, harsh winter.A severe storm hit Ontario and southern Quebec, causing whiteout conditions and raining down ice pellets as the massive front migrated eastward.An ice storm coats the streets of downtown Toronto with slush in the city's first taste of winter weather in 2007. Snow also hit Ottawa and Montreal as storm warnings moved to the Maritimes.(CBC) In Montreal, snow removal crews expected to be working throughout the night to clear the 15 to 25 centimetres of snow forecast to be dumped on the city.But temperatures were holding steady at –9 C and the city experienced minimal closures and delays for flights at Trudeau International Airport.While Montreal had snowfall warnings, the city was mostly spared the ice that wreaked havoc in neighbouring Ontario.

The morning's freezing rain in Toronto coated the roads with ice, causing commuter chaos on major highways and cancelling more than 100 inbound and outgoing flights at Pearson airport because of a backlog of planes being de-iced. Some GO Transit riders waited on train platforms for an hour before boarding. According to Environment Canada, temperatures in Canada's largest city will plummet to –15 C or lower, without wind chill, by Monday evening. The city has issued an extreme cold weather alert but it should not see much more than light snowfall Monday night.

Out of practice with winter driving

The Ontario Provincial Police logged about 400 fender-benders by noon, after hours of freezing rain coated the roads in slush and ice.The majority of them, thankfully weren't very serious, OPP Sgt. Cam Woolley said. But it's really frustrating for us. Everyone knew the storm was coming and we've been warning everyone to slow down…. A lot of drivers have become complacent and out of practice with winter driving.Southern Ontario and Quebec aren't the only parts of Canada rediscovering winter.The ice storm which was the same severe weather system blamed for 30 deaths in the United States is at Atlantic Canada's doorstep.The same thing that's hitting Ontario is actually now hitting the Maritimes, the CBC's Nick Czernkovich said.Generally speaking southeastern New Brunswick is looking to be the hardest hit in terms of snowfall amounts. It's up towards 15 to 25 centimetres, that's what Environment Canada is saying.Residents throughout most of Nova Scotia can expect up to 15 centimetres of snowfall by Tuesday morning.

Warming trend on the way for Prairies

A heavy snowfall warning is also in place for P.E.I. and southeastern New Brunswick, with more than 15 centimetres expected. In Newfoundland and Labrador, temperatures plunged into the –40 C range, with the wind chill. There may be a bit of relief, at least, for the Prairie provinces, after a blizzard slammed Saskatchewan and Manitoba over the weekend. There's a bit of a warming trend on the way, Czernkovich said. Alberta's not too bad, we're back into the single [minus] digits, but even Northern Alberta should warm up as we head into [Tuesday].Forecasters expect the mercury to rise to a relatively balmy –10 C.Meanwhile, there was another weather warning for British Columbia's south coast. The province has issued a snowfall warning for Greater Victoria, Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley and is expecting five to 10 centimetres of snow by Tuesday.Environment Canada also predicts heavy snow and winds to whip coastal sections of B.C. at speeds of 60 to 90 km/h.

More snow on way for B.C. south coast
Canadian Press - Monday, January 15, 2007


VANCOUVER There's still no break for weather-weary West Coasters after more than a dozen wind, rain or snow storms since November.A snowfall warning has been issued for Greater Victoria, Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.The storm is expected to hit the south coast this evening, bringing five to 10 centimetres of snow before it ends late Tuesday morning.A cold spell that has chilled southwestern B.C. since last week is expected to ease with rising temperatures through the week.Environment Canada has also issued a wind warning for northern Vancouver Island, the central and north coast, and the Queen Charlottes.Wind speeds of 60 to 90 kilometres are forecast, along with heavy snow in the inland north coast.

At least 17 die in US winter storm Mon Jan 15, 12:35 PM ET

CHICAGO (AFP) - Four days of winter ice, snow and powerful winds in the US Midwest have claimed at least 17 lives, officials in the hard-hit states of Oklahoma and Missouri have said. In Oklahoma, authorities said Monday 11 people had died on state roads since the storm began last week, prompting President George W. Bush to declare an emergency in the central state. The decision makes Oklahoma eligible for federal funds.Officials in Missouri reported that six people had died, five in traffic accidents and one from carbon monoxide poisoning, a common cause of death when those without power use fuel-burning stoves after their heating goes out.Half a million homes lost power in Missouri due to the storm, the state government reported Sunday. One line worker was injured when he fell from a utility pole, authorities said in a statement.Tens of thousands of residents without electricity have crowded into shelters, while power outages have hit retirement and nursing homes in several counties of Missouri, according to a statement on the government's website.At least 230 people were treated for various storm-related injuries, the Oklahoma health department said. And about 122,338 customers were without power in Okla.

Winter blitz nails Northeast B. Bernard, Meteorologist, The Weather Channel JAN 15,07

While Missouri, Oklahoma and much of Texas are catching a bit of a breather today, the ongoing winter blitz is nailing the Northeast. The worst of conditions appears to be in southern New Hampshire and portions of northeastern Massachusetts (north of Boston) where freezing rain has downed trees and power lines. The icing is expected to continue into the evening. Earlier, freezing rain snarled traffic and knocked out power in central New York state. Temperatures there have risen above freezing, however, and the icing problems have shifted northward. Near the Canadian border eastward into Maine, snow is the featured precipitation this afternoon. As much as 8 to 12 inches of additional snow may coat the northern two-thirds of Maine by tomorrow morning. In Texas, only spotty, light freezing rain and sleet remain this afternoon, but another round of wintry precipitation is likely across the southern portion of the state tomorrow. Heavy rain extends from Louisiana northward into Kentucky, but the downpours are shifting rapidly eastward and that should stem the flooding problems in and around the Ohio Valley.

Rains force 100,000 in Malaysia to flee Sun Jan 14, 10:32 PM ET

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - More than 100,000 people were evacuated from their homes in southern Malaysia after heavy rains over the weekend caused massive flooding, officials said Monday. The evacuations came just a couple weeks after many residents had returned home to clean up from flooding in late December and early January that killed at least 17 people and caused more than $28 million in damages, officials said.One town in the hardest-hit area, Kota Tinggi, has been completely cut off from the rest of Johor state, just north of Singapore. Floodwaters as high as 13 feet have engulfed houses, gas stations and roads in the town, the New Straits Times newspaper said.Several relief centers in the area are overcrowded and cannot take in any more evacuees, an official at the Johor state flood operations center said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.He said there were about 105,000 flood victims in more than 300 relief centers in the state.We need donations of food. Some (relief) centers have no more space already, the official said. Blankets and warm clothing are also needed.Malaysia's Meteorological Service said heavy rain was forecast for the area until the middle of the week, the national news agency Bernama said.

THE EU DICTATOR

REVELATION 6:1-2,13:1-3,7-9,16
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(THIS IS THE EU DICTATOR)
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(7 HEADS ARE THE 7TH WORLD EMPIRE IN HISTORY (THE EU) AS WELL AS THE VATICAN WHICH IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS. 10 HORNS ARE 10 KINGS THAT ARISE FROM THE EU, THEN #11 COMES ON THE SCENE BECOMES THE HEAD OF 3 OUNTRIES AND THEN THE EU DICTATOR, COMES FROM 1 OF THE 3 COUNTRIES THAT RULE FOR THIS TERM. I BELIEVE THE 3 COUNTRIES RULING AT THE TIME ARE SPAIN AND 2 OF THE ORIGINAL 6 THAT STARTED THE EU. FROM 1 OF THESE 3 COUNTRIES COME THE FUTURE EU DICTATOR PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION WHO GUARENTEES ISRAELS SECURITY FOR A LAND FOR PEACE 7 YEAR TREATY.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(THE JEWISH EU DICTATOR GETS HIS POWER FROM SATAN,HE COMES FROM THE OCCULT).
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE DICTATOR HAS A FALSE RESURRECTION. JUST LIKE JESUS HAD A LITERAL RESURRECTION THIS DICTATOR GETS MURDERED AT THE 3 1/2 YR MARK OF THR 7 YEAR TREATY AND COMES BACK TO LIFE. THIS IS HOW HE CAN CLAIM TO BE GOD AND GET AWAY WITH IT AND CONTROL THE WHOLE EARTH.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

DANIEL 11:36-40
36 And the king shall do according to his will;(EU PRESIDENT) and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS A EUROPEAN JEW) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(HES A MILITARY GINIUS) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds (CONTROL HEZBOLLAH,AL-QUAIDA MURDERERS ETC) with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south(EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR PROTECTING ISRAELS SECURITY) and the king of the north(RUSSIA) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.

EU Countries Back Plan to Link Police Databases to Fight Crime
By Claudia Rach


Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) The interior ministers of the 27 nations that make up the European Union signaled today that they back plans to link national police databases to fight crime more effectively, German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said. The proposal, to be discussed in the months ahead, will be based on a treaty signed by seven EU states, including Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Germany in 2005. That accord sets out the rules for greater cooperation between police forces and judicial authorities in combating terrorism, cross-border crime and illegal migration. International crime has become easier in Europe as many EU members reduced or abolished passport and border controls along internal borders. Sharing information and allowing police to chase suspects into other countries will help fight illegal activities.

Countries will be able to access each others national DNA databases, fingerprint files and motor vehicle registers. Access to national police databases will be a quantum leap' in sharing information, Schaueble said. The U.S. government has also shown interest in the treaty, Schaeuble said, adding that if the EU wants to cooperate with the U.S. as closely as possible both partners need to discuss the possibility of a similar mechanism. To contact the reporter on this story: Claudia Rach in Dresden at crach1@bloomberg.net.

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).

EU Hopes to Close FTA With Gulf Nations
Monday January 15, 6:36 am ET - AP. EU Expects to Close Free Trade Deal With Gulf Nations In the Near Future


BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- The European Union said Monday it expects to complete a free trade agreement with Gulf nations in the near future after making progress at talks last week.The 27-nation EU is the largest trade partner for the Gulf Cooperation Council, a political and economic alliance gathering Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.A deal should set common rules that would encourage trade in goods and services, increase investment, protect intellectual property rights and open up public procurement.It would also cover human rights, illegal immigration and the fight against terrorism.It would not affect EU imports of oil from the Gulf as they are not charged with any tariffs.The European Commission said a deal would be built on existing World Trade Organization agreements to deepen trade liberalization in goods and services.

Such bilateral pacts have taken on more importance after prospects for a new, more ambitious global trading deal faltered last year. Key actors in the WTO negotiations meet next week in Switzerland to see if it is possible to grab a narrow window of opportunity to move forward.The EU and the Gulf states started discussing a free trade deal in 1990 but that stalled as the GCC moved to form a customs union by 2005, aiming to boost the region's economy.Both sides will meet again next month for technical discussions that could pave the way for the deal to be signed soon.I believe that we are now in a position to resolve final issues and complete an EU-GCC FTA deal in the near future, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said in a statement.The six Gulf nations are the sixth largest export market for the EU. European exports were worth euro40 billion ($51.6 billion) in 2004, around half of that machinery and transport goods such as power generation plants, railway engines and aircraft. EU imports from the Gulf in that year totaled euro25 billion ($32.2 billion), mostly oil.

Asian Leaders Plan Free-Trade Area From India to N.Z.
By Arijit Ghosh and Francisco Alcuaz Jr.


Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) Asia's largest economies will start planning a free-trade zone that would rival the U.S. and the European Union, after overcoming China's reluctance to include India and Australia. Leaders of 16 nations endorsed the plan for a trade zone stretching from India to New Zealand in a meeting in Cebu, the Philippines. The proposal may ultimately lead to lower tariffs and increased trade in a region with a combined economic output of $9 trillion that is home to almost half the world's population. It's the first time Asian nations agreed on an integration similar to the creation of the EU, where per-capita gross domestic product rose more than fivefold in the last 30 years even as the bloc grew and its population rose almost 80 percent. China and Japan now see it in their national interests to play a more active role' in regional integration, said Malcolm Cook, program director for Asia and the Pacific at the Lowy Institute in Sydney. If Asia is a more united region, they are going to want a greater role in global affairs.

Both the Australian and New Zealand dollar rose against the U.S. dollar on the news.

This trade deal will have huge economic benefits, said Warwick McKibbin, a professor of international economics at the Australian National University and a member of the Reserve Bank of Australia's policy-setting board. It gives Asean some teeth, although it may complicate world trade talks.

Earlier Discord

The first East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur in December 2005 ended in disagreement over the concept. Japan backed a free- trade plan that included all 16 nations. China wanted a 13- nation bloc that excluded India, Australia and New Zealand. Today's meeting was attended by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, New Zealand Premier Helen Clark and leaders from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Japan, the region's largest economy, will fund an $85 million study of the proposal. There was acceptance that a study be done and New Zealand strongly supports that, Clark told reporters in Cebu. This will be a very, very significant bloc. Of course, it's not the only horse running around the Asia-Pacific area.

Rival Plans

The proposed free-trade area will rival a similar plan by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, which includes the U.S., China, Russia, Japan and South American nations. It will take years for either plan to be realized, said Charles Adams, a professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. China's relations with both Japan and India have improved since the 2005 summit. President Hu Jintao went to India in November, the first visit by a Chinese head in a decade. Hu said he wanted to increase mutual trust' and signed 13 agreements. Japan's Abe visited Beijing in October to repair ties damaged by visits by his predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, to Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine, a war memorial. India and China are the powerhouse economies in Asia and the world, so it's fitting to include both of them in such a trade bloc, said Peter Drysdale, a professor in Asia-Pacific relations at the Canberra-based Australian National University.

16 Nations

The 16 countries that would be included in the free-trade area are Japan, China, India, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. In the back of everyone's minds is that the WTO has stalled and that major economies like the U.S. are coming up with their own trade-bloc proposals, said Song Seng Wun, regional economist at CIMB-GK Securities in Singapore. If Asia doesn't do something, it faces marginalization. This is a pragmatic response rather than an anti-American one. Leaders should try to revive the World Trade Organization talks that began five years ago, said Adams of the Lee Kuan Yew School. We should still give primary focus to the WTO, he said. Setting up so many regional agreements can be messy, and there is the risk of undercutting the multilateral system. For leaders of the 10-member Asean group, who proposed the bloc to avoid being left out as investors focus on India and China, the meeting in Cebu has been a success as nations signed trade accords and a treaty to counter terrorism, and Asean got tough on itself by setting up rules for the first time in four decades.

Home Runs

The Asean group hit home runs on multiple fronts, Robert Lees, president of business lobby group the Pacific Basin Economic Council, said in an interview. Asean is getting its act together, speaking more and more with a single voice. Asean has also proved itself as the lead organization for bringing Asian nations together, said Sheng Li Jun, senior fellow of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. China, Japan and India need Asean as a platform to discuss regional integration; they can't deal directly, bilaterally, because of border rivalries or historical mistrust, he said by telephone today. Asean is in the driver's seat of Asian economic integration, and it can stay there, if only as a taxi driver.

Nafta and EU

Integration in Europe and North America has fostered growth in trade among the members of the trading blocs in those regions. Trade among the 15 members of the European Union at the start 2004 accounted for 34 percent of the total EU GDP that year, up from 26 percent in 1993, according to the bloc's statistics office. Across the Atlantic, trade among the three countries in the North America Free Trade Agreement -- the U.S., Canada and Mexico -- doubled in the first decade after that deal took effect in 1993, according to International Monetary Fund data. The Asian leaders also agreed to reduce dependence on conventional fuels such as coal and invest in biofuels and nuclear energy. Each nation said it would adopt a 12-point plan to reduce fossil fuels and invest in so-called green energy to combat climate change. The leaders said global energy needs are growing rapidly and fossil fuel supplies are limited. They also said world oil prices are unstable and there is an urgent need to address global warming and climate change. To contact the reporters on this story: Arijit Ghosh in Cebu at aghosh@bloomberg.net ; Francisco Alcuaz Jr. in Cebu at falcuaz@bloomberg.net

Iran says pressing ahead with expanded enrichment By Parisa Hafezi
Mon Jan 15, 1:26 PM ET


TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Monday it was pressing ahead with a plan to install 3,000 atomic centrifuges and achieve industrial-scale production of nuclear fuel, which the West fears is part of a program to make bombs. Tehran, countering diplomatic reports of delays, seemed to be reaffirming a defiant vow, made after the U.N. Security Council slapped limited sanctions on it last month, to start rigging up 3,000 centrifuges at its fuel-enrichment plant.Experts say that number could enrich enough uranium for power plant fuel, or one bomb within a year.A senior diplomat familiar with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections in Iran said on Monday there was no evidence yet Tehran had started centrifuge installation in the cavernous underground section of the Natanz enrichment complex, but said there were indications this could begin in a few days.We are moving toward production of nuclear fuel which needs 3,000 centrifuges and more than that, Iranian government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham told a weekly news conference.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, visiting Ecuador, told a Reuters reporter later in the day that the expansion of uranium enrichment facilities at Natanz would take place very soon, bit by bit.Iran has vowed not to shelve enrichment work. It says its nuclear program is solely aimed at generating electricity.The United States and the European Union suspect Tehran is seeking to build nuclear bombs and say it will face broader, financially harsher sanctions if it ignores the U.N. resolution, which gave Iran 60 days to stop enrichment activity.Iran already operates two experimental cascades of 164 centrifuges, which spin at supersonic speeds to purify uranium.Another senior diplomat versed in the operations of the IAEA, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, said Tehran still appeared to be both feeding uranium into these centrifuges, enriching token amounts, and test-running them empty, a pattern prevailing for some months.

IAEA INSPECTORS VISIT NATANZ

Senior IAEA inspectors went to Natanz last week for a fresh look at both the above-ground research wing and the underground hall and were expected to return to Vienna later this week.The diplomat said the inspectors did not expect to find any change in operations in the experimental section.At last report, they had not yet installed piping and casing in the (underground section) required to put in the centrifuges, so we will now see how far along they are with preparations, he said.But diplomats close to the IAEA said Iran looked unlikely to bring on line 3,000 centrifuges by its announced deadline of March 20, the end of the Iranian year. It will probably take some months yet, the second senior diplomat said.Diplomats said the pace of enrichment at Natanz still seemed slow and cited several possible reasons technical problems; political second thoughts after moderates counseling nuclear restraint did well in nationwide elections against hardliners close to Ahmadinejad; or a secret plant where Tehran had already mastered the process there is no known intelligence information to suggest that.Iran has struggled to get centrifuges to run smoothly. Fifty of them blew up during testing last April when their power supply regulator malfunctioned, atomic energy organization chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh was quoted as saying by local media.

President Ahmadinejad called me ... and said, 'Even if something goes wrong 10 times, don't worry, (build) it again, Aghazadeh was quoted by Ayand-ye newspaper as saying on January 4. Iran has a plan to build 20 nuclear power plants and says it wants to make the low-enriched fuel itself, rather than rely on imports. Its first atomic plant is being built with Russian help. We need to produce fuel on an industrial scale for those power plants, Elham said. He said Iran's nuclear activities were being supervised normally by the IAEA, but repeated a threat made by other Iranian officials to consider leaving the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if pushed. Additional reporting by Mark Heinrich in Vienna)

Black Sea Jews Plan E.U. Entry
Michael J. Jordan - JTA Wire Service - JANUARY 15, 2007 - Sofia, Bulgaria


Lela Sadikario works to link young Jews of southeastern Europe in much the same way the youth of the Baltics, Central Europe and other small Jewish communities are uniting with brethren across borders. Starting next week, Sadikario's job will become a bit tougher. As Romania and Bulgaria prepare to join the European Union on Jan. 1, a stark reality is dawning: The E.U. border and visa regime will create new divisions among Jews psychologically between those inside and outside of the European Union, and physically between those who can travel freely and those who need to apply and pay for a visa to visit. Specifically, it will slice through the Balkan and Black Sea Region that Jewish communities have been stitching together, comprising Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia, Turkey, Moldova, southern Ukraine and E.U. member Greece.

We've been trying to break down walls between young people, to bring them together to realize there's a whole Jewish community around them, said Sadikario, 25, a Macedonian Jew of a community of just 200 people who works in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia.

However, with an E.U. border encircling Romania and Bulgaria, she said, We will feel more unstable, as connecting and mobilizing people will be more difficult. Attila Gulyas, 27, a Romanian Jewish youth leader, agrees. Having 30 or 40 young people at an event is not the same as having 200 or 300 at a regional event, which makes you feel like you're a part of something bigger, Gulyas said. Not that the situation is so easy right now. A recent youth event in Sofia drew together several dozen Jews from Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Serbia, kicking off with a Shabbat dinner of bourekas, cheese and cake. But the event also came with a price: $600 for visas to bring the four young Turkish Jews by overnight bus. The fee, a small fortune for such communities, was paid by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. With the new E.U. border looming, a large annual gathering in 2007 has been planned for Skopje, the Macedonian capital, as Sadikario and other organizers figured it might be the least complicated place to gather all participants from the region.

Farther north, the E.U.'s new eastern frontier will divide Romania from Moldova. The impoverished ex-Soviet republic was part of Romania until 1940, and even today some three-quarters of its population is of Romanian descent. Recent months have seen the Romanian Jewish community strengthening its cultural ties to the more numerous but poorer Moldovan Jewish community. It's unclear whether the European Union, acknowledging the historic links between Romania and Moldova, will allow for special visa concessions. It could be a small problem for the Moldovans, said Aurel Vainer, president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania and a member of the Romanian Parliament. But Vainer, 74, said E.U. membership also represents an opportunity.

Once we're in the E.U., perhaps we can advocate on behalf of the Moldovan Jewish community, and for Moldova to join the European Union, Vainer said from his richly wood-paneled office, lined with antique Judaica, in the Romanian capital of Bucharest.

Logistical hurdles aside, the Jews of Romania and Bulgaria see only the upside to E.U. membership, as the history of their respective countries two of the poorest in Europe today have been marked mostly by invasion, occupation and dictatorship. Many people, especially the elderly, fear a rise in prices for goods and utilities, but average salaries in both countries are climbing. The Romanian and Bulgarian economies are roaring, with annual growth of 7 percent and 6 percent, respectively; jobs are more plentiful; and both countries expect a multibillion-dollar infusion of E.U. aid and foreign investment. E.U. membership is also expected to bolster democracy, which is still a work in progress even within the region's Jewish communities.One Sunday morning in early December, for example, hundreds of members of Sofia's Jewish community gathered to elect their president. The mostly elderly crowd was not offered a ballot box or the chance to pull a lever in a private booth.

Instead, they did it the old-fashioned way: The capacity crowd was asked to vote on each candidate with a simple raising of the hand the incumbent and his challenger were seated in the front row, looking on. Most of the people in this hall are in their golden age, and for 50 years during communism, everything in life was conducted by someone else, somewhere else, and their opinion didn't count, Jewish activist Viktor Melamed said. Like their compatriots, Jews in Romania and Bulgaria expect their day-to-day lives to improve after joining the European Union. Take corruption, which Brussels ranked among its top concerns for both countries. During the 1990s, mass privatization of state-owned properties, coupled with widespread poverty and the glacial pace of reform, fueled graft at every level of society. With average monthly salaries hovering in the $200 to $300 range, virtually all professionals police, doctors, professors, bureaucrats, city officials, judges expect bribes for service. According to Transparency International's recently released 2006 Global Corruption Barometer, roughly one in four Romanians said he or she paid a bribe over the past year, while up to 70 percent of both Romanians and Bulgarians believe corruption affects political life to a large extent. Among E.U. members, only Greece generated comparably poor numbers. However, the lure of E.U. membership has empowered reformers to press the authorities to change, which they've begun to do.

It's also expected that these governments will adhere even more strictly to higher E.U. standards regarding anti-Semitism. We have witnessed positive improvements made by both countries in combating anti-Semitism and providing for improved Holocaust education, Pierre Besnainou, president of the European Jewish Congress, said in late September after Brussels formally announced the admission of Romania and Bulgaria. Meanwhile, both Jews and non-Jews in Romania and Bulgaria say one thing that can't be underestimated is the symbolism of receiving an E.U. passport, which will eliminate the need to stand in longer, non-E.U. lines at airports.They'll also have greater freedom to travel, work and study in Western Europe, a fact that reportedly has led hundreds of Israelis of Romanian and Bulgarian descent to pursue Romanian and Bulgarian passports. Whether Western Europe actually treats the Balkan newcomers as equals is another question. Even Jews here, who joined the European Jewish Congress and other Western Jewish organizations in the early 1990s, say it has taken years to feel equal in those forums. European Jews viewed them as the poor cousins, much like Europe views their countrymen, said Emil Kalo, president of Shalom, the organization of Jews in Bulgaria.

We'd all go to dinner, Kalo recalls, and they were very polite: Please, let us pay. And my reaction was simply: I will pay my bill; nothing less, nothing more. Gulyas, whose Hungarian-speaking family hails from the once-Hungarian, now-Romanian province of Transylvania, said he has experienced the same phenomenon when visiting his extended kin in Budapest.They see me as the poor Transylvanian relative, Gulyas said. And if it happens at the family level, for sure it happens at the communal level. These lessons have been absorbed by the broader Jewish community, Kalo said, and should be learned by Bulgarian and Romanian societies on the brink of becoming virtual E.U. welfare states, receiving billions of dollars in assistance. You will only earn respect, Kalo said, when you start paying your own bills.

A Challenge for 2007: Be Guided by the Bible
Dr. Jack Graham - PowerPoint Ministries JAN 15,07


There is a critical war being waged in our world as we enter the new year. I’m not talking about the war on terror, or even a war being fought with weapons. I’m talking about a war of a completely different kind.This war is a war over the Word of God. It’s a battle for the Bible. And this battle is being fought with questions like:Is the Bible a word of God… or the Word of God? Is the Bible a miraculous book… or a man-made book? Is the Bible the record of God’s revelation to man… or a record of men concerning God?

Questions like these are certainly being debated in the secular world today. Yet these debates aren’t limited to our secular culture… they are heating up in evangelical and Bible-believing churches and circles all around us! Now, you may ask, Pastor, why are you making such a big deal out of this? How does this really affect my day-to-day life as a Christian?

I’m glad you asked!

We live in a generation where truth is up for grabs. Nothing is black and white anymore. Everything is subject to societal and cultural interpretation. There is no absolute truth! And as a result, many people and sadly, many Christians have no real authority in their lives, no real basis for truth and guidance.But truth is not relative… it is not up for grabs! It is found in the pages of our Bible. Because the Bible is the Word of God.It is a miraculous book… it’s the revelation of God concerning man. And even though it is the most scrutinized and criticized book in the world, no ancient manuscript of any kind contains the kind of preservation and integrity that the Bible holds.But I believe there is a more compelling reason to believe that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God. It is found in Matthew 5:18-19 when Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. Here, Jesus lets us know what He believes about the Bible.

For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.In many ways, Jesus was a rebel against the religious traditions of His time. Yet while Jesus rebelled against the false teaching of men, He bowed Himself as the Son of God to the Holy Scriptures. He believed in the authority and truth of Scripture to lead His life! You know, some books can change your thinking about various subjects. Other books can give you immense amounts of knowledge. But only the Bible can change your heart. Only the message and the truth of Scripture can change your very nature. Now, if you’re not interested in God changing and leading your life, you’re not going to be very interested in the Bible. The Bible is for people who want to know God. The Bible is a book for people who want:

To know forgiveness and experience the reality of a relationship with God.To know how to have power over the enemy and how to defeat temptation.To have strong, vibrant, growing marriages and families, and healthy relationships.To have comfort in their pain.

To learn how to control their emotions, anxieties, and fears.To know how to truly live! Jesus knew this and believed this. He took the Bible seriously. And since you can’t take Jesus seriously without taking His Word seriously, you and I must believe what Jesus believed about the Bible.So my challenge to you is to trust the Bible fully to guide you this coming year. You can trust it because Jesus trusted it each day He lived and breathed and walked on this earth. It’s my prayer that you will let God’s Word lead you… as it led Jesus!

PowerPoint® Ministries started as a vision of Dr. Jack Graham and his wife Deb. They believed that the power of God was evident in their growing church and that His Gospel message should be spread beyond the walls of that church to the world at large. They put their faith into action and purchased airtime on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. PowerPoint® Ministries was then officially launched in April 1994. PowerPoint® Ministries now reaches 31 cities and 18 states in the United States through their radio and television stations. In addition, they broadcast in over 70 countries including the U.S., Great Britain, South Africa, Iraq, Israel, and more.

Monday, January 15, 2007

ICE STORM WALLOPS US

1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Ice storms, snow, floods, tornado wallop US killing 13. 3-Storm in Sweden kills three. 4-National Weather Service: Devastating & Historic Ice Storm Continues Today. 5-More tremors on Comoro Islands after volcano erupts. 6-Use of new Red Crystal finally allows Israel to join Red Cross. 7-Israeli minister dismisses idea of NATO troops in Gaza. 8-Knesset Discusses Special Anthem for Arabs. 9-Criticism of Iran's leader grows,Conservatives and reformists challenge his nuclear diplomacy. 10-Rice Promises PA Rifles Won´t Be Aimed at Israel. 11-Solana: The moment of action has come. 12-UN to Promote Responsible Business Practices in New European Union Member States.

EARTHQUAKES

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

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

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

WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)

Update time = Mon Jan 15 12:07AM EDT

JAN 14,07
MAP 2.7 GULF OF ALASKA
MAP 3.0 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.1 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.0 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 4.8 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.6 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 3.8 SOUTH OF ALASKA
MAP 5.1 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.8 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.6 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.0 MOUNT ST. HELENS AREA, WASHINGTON
MAP 4.7 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.9 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.9 NORTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.3 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.8 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 5.1 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.7 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.4 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 4.8 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.9 KEPULAUAN TALAUD, INDONESIA
MAP 4.9 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.8 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA

JAN 13,07
MAP 2.7 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.0 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.4 SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA
MAP 5.5 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 6.0 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.0 KOMANDORSKIYE OSTROVA, RUSSIA REGION
MAP 3.0 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.3 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.9 CHUKOTKA, RUSSIA
MAP 5.0 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.7 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.0 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.8 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.9 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.6 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.8 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.9 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.8 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.2 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.8 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.7 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.6 NORTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.6 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.1 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.0 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 8.2 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.5 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.9 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

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

Ice storms, snow, floods, tornado wallop US killing 13 Sun Jan 14, 5:46 PM ET

CHICAGO (AFP) Freezing rain, snow, sleet, flash floods and at least one tornado walloped the United States this weekend, killing

at least 13 people in accidents on slick roads as a storm front blanketed much of the country, local media and authorities said. The storm was expected to continue through at least Tuesday.The ice, wind and snow downed trees, traffic signals and power lines, blocked roads and forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights. Churches cancelled Sunday services and businesses closed early or did not open at all.Ten people died in Oklahoma where slippery highways caused more than 200 accidents, the Oklahoman newspaper reported.With about 100,000 people without power in Oklahoma, state Governor Brad Henry asked the federal government for assistance in handling the consequences of the ice storm, the paper reported on its website.

Were doing everything we can to help Oklahomans who have lost power or suffered other hardships because of the winter storm, Henry said.We need additional resources that only the federal government can provide.A state of emergency was declared and the National Guard was called out in the midwestern state of Missouri after an ice storm knocked power out to more than 200,000 homes on a bitterly cold weekend.

Emergency shelters and hotels were filled by people trying to warm up and a nursing home had to be evacuated because of the freezing temperatures, local media reported.
In Texas, the governor also called out the National Guard after more than six inches of rain caused flash flooding and dramatic high-water rescues.One woman was swept away by floodwaters in an Austin creek and a man who jumped in to save her was rescued when he was spotted clinging to foliage in water up to his neck, the Austin-American Statesman reported.Crowds filled grocery stores to stock up on essentials after the rain was forecast to turn into an ice storm, the Statesman reported.

Record-breaking cold weather even hit California, which usually has mild temperatures throughout the year, with citrus farmers in the Central Valley and the southern part of the state using wind-machines to protect their fruit, the Los Angeles Times reported.Photos showed icicles hanging off of tangerine trees in a Central Valley orchard, a rare sight in the state.This is a very, very big cold front, National Weather Service spokesman Greg Romano told AFP.We're aware of at least six fatalities and numerous injuries due to weather-related vehicle accidents as of Saturday afternoon. There's been tree damage, downed power lines and significant power outages.Parts of Colorado got up to half a meter (18 inches) of snow while up to eight centimeters (three inches) of sleet were reported in Illinois, Kansas and Missouri, Romano said. Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri got 2.5 centimeters (an inch) or more of freezing rain.The storm is gathering moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and cold air from the Arctic, Romano said. It is expected to hit the east coast on Tuesday.

Storm in Sweden kills three Sun Jan 14, 4:53 PM ET

STOCKHOLM (AFP) Three people were killed in southern Sweden in severe storms that disrupted air, rail and road traffic and caused a power cut, the TT news agency quoted police as saying.

The three victims one a nine-year-old boy, the other two motorists, one in his 60s died from falling trees, as meteorologists said winds on the southwest coast reached speeds of up to 144 kilometres (90 miles) per hour.By late afternoon, the storms had left about 270,000 homes without electricity, TT said.The rail authority Banverket said on its Internet site that train traffic in the affected southwestern regions would be suspended until 2300 GMT because of trees blown on to tracks.Road traffic was stopped across the Oresund bridge linking Denmark and Sweden while trains were crossing at reduced speed.The storm also swept into Denmark over the course of the day with falling trees blocking roads, said Danish press agency Ritzau.At the airport in Gothenburg air traffic was partially affected but a spokesman said it was expected to return to normal during the evening.About five or six departures were cancelled ... and some planes preferred to land at other airports, in Oslo or Copenhagen, said spokesman Hans Roennqvist.Late in the day, the storm moved from the west coast towards the east coast and hit the capital Stockholm, although its intensity had weakened.The worst is over... in the evening it will begin to diminish everywhere, said meteorologist Bengt Lindstrom.

National Weather Service: Devastating & Historic Ice Storm Continues Today

POTENTIALLY DEVASTATING AND HISTORIC ICE STORM TO CONTINUE TODAY JAN 14,07
THOUSANDS REMAIN WITHOUT POWER AND LONG TERM POWER OUTAGES ARE LIKELY.AREAS OF MODERATE TO HEAVY FREEZING RAIN ARE AGAIN EXPECTED TO DEVELOP TODAY OVER PORTIONS OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA SPREADING INTO EXTREME NORTHWEST ARKANSAS. A WIDE SWATH OF DAMAGING ICE HAS ALREADY OCCURRED ACROSS MUCH OF EAST CENTRAL OKLAHOMA AND FAR NORTHWEST ARKANSAS. LOCATIONS FROM MCALESTER OKLAHOMA NORTHEAST HROUGH CHECOTAH MUSKOGEE TAHLEQUAH AND GRAVETTE ARKANSAS HAVE ALREADY SUSTAINED SERIOUS DAMAGE DUE TO ICE ACCUMULATIONS. ADDITIONAL ICE ACCUMULATIONS FROM ONE HALF TO ONE INCH WILL CREATE WIDESPREAD TREE AND POWER LINE DAMAGE. THE POWER SUPPLY ACROSS A LARGE PORTION OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND EXTREME NORTHWEST ARKANSAS WILL LIKELY CONTINUE TO SUSTAIN HEAVY DAMAGE AND PROLONGED POWER OUTAGES SHOULD BE ANTICIPATED.

TRAVEL MAY BECOME NEAR IMPOSSIBLE LATER TODAY.

PRECIPITATION WILL CONTINUE TO BE SLEET MIXED WITH FREEZING RAIN NORTHWEST OF THE PRIMARY ICE BAND WHICH IS GENERALLY ALONG AND NORTH OF INTERSTATE 44. ADDITIONAL ICE ACCUMULATIONS UP TO ONE QUARTER INCH WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS THIS AREA ALONG WITH AN ADDITIONAL INCH OF SLEET ACCUMULATION. THIS INCLUDES THE TULSA METRO AREA. THE FORECAST ACCUMULATIONS COULD STRAIN POWER LINES AND TREES WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR SCATTERED POWER OUTAGES. IN ADDITION.MANY AREA ROADS REMAIN PACKED WITH ICE AND SLEET ALONG AND NORTH OF INTERSTATE 44 MAKING TRAVEL TREACHEROUS SURFACE TEMPERATURES ACROSS PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST ARKANSAS AND FAR SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA HAVE REMAINED JUST ABOVE FREEZING WHICH HAS LIMITED ICE ACCUMULATIONS.

THE ICE STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT AS TEMPERATURES WILL LIKELY FALL BELOW FREEZING LATER TODAY WITH SIGNIFICANT ICE ACCUMULATIONS STILL POSSIBLE THROUGH TONIGHT.STATE AND LOCAL OFFICIALS SHOULD BE PREPARED TO HOUSE MANY PEOPLE GIVEN THE LIKELIHOOD OF EXTENDED POWER OUTAGES AND THE VERY COLD TEMPERATURES EXPECTED THROUGH MID WEEK. TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO DROP INTO THE SINGLE DIGITS ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE WARNING AREA MONDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT.SUPPLEMENTAL HEAT SOURCES WILL BE REQUIRED FOR AREAS WHERE POWER IS INTERRUPTED AND ALL RELEVANT SAFETY PRECAUTIONS SHOULD BE CLOSELY FOLLOWED. IF YOU DO LOSE HEAT AND POWER DURING THE ICE STORM ONLY USE BURNING DEVICES THAT ARE APPROVED FOR INDOOR USE. MANY PEOPLE ARE INJURED OR DIE FROM FIRE OR CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING.

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

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

More tremors on Comoro Islands after volcano erupts Sun Jan 14, 8:05 AM ET

MORONI (AFP)Seismic tremors have been recorded on the Comoro Islands for the second consecutive day following a volcanic eruption on Mount Karthala.

The latest tremors were felt overnight and in the morning, but there were no reports of casualties or damage on Grande Comore, the main island in the Indian Ocean archipelago.Locals living in Mboude, around eight kilometers (five miles) south of the capital Moroni, told AFP Sunday that they had fled their houses overnight and sought refuge in nearby villages.

Hamid Soule, head of the Karthala observatory, told reporters that the magnitude of the tremors had varied but that the strongest measured at least five on the Richter scale.The government put the islands' residents on red alert on Saturday after the first eruptions within the crater of the volcano, priming the police and army to safeguard the population and property.

There have been a number of scares in recent years after activity within the volcano, which is on the largest of the three islands that make up the Union of the Comoros. A fourth island, Mayotte, is under French rule.In November 2005, Karthala spewed out huge plumes of ash that blanketed Grande Comore and temporarily deprived its 250,000 inhabitants of drinkable water.In April 2005, nearly 10,000 villagers living at the base of the mountain fled their homes after similar emissions of ash started widespread fears of drinking-water contamination.Mount Karthala last had an overflow magma eruption in 1977, when lava destroyed the village of Singani, some 20 kilometres south of Moroni, and toxic gas was released into the air but did not cause any deaths.

Use of new Red Crystal finally allows Israel to join Red Cross JAN 14,07 - By Reuters

GENEVA /The world's largest relief organization, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, on Sunday began using a third emblem whose adoption allowed Israel to join after a decades-long struggle.The red crystal on a white background is an alternative to either the cross or the crescent and is intended to provide protection to relief workers operating in areas of conflict.Both the Israeli Magen David Adom (MDA) and the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency services joined the umbrella relief organization in June 2006, six months after the movement's signatory states and national societies agreed to the new emblem at a specially convened conference.

Israel's MDA had resisted using the cross and crescent because of their links to Christianity and Islam.In return for being allowed to join, Israel had to acknowledge the Palestinian Red Crescent as the internationally recognized emergency service within the occupied territory.Arab states had insisted on this before they would accept a new emblem custom-made for Israel.

The red crystal reaffirms the determination of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement to ... enhance its strength and credibility, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a joint statement.Its adoption involved a new protocol to the 1949 Geneva Conventions which lay down rules for warfare and the treatment of prisoners and the wounded.So far 84 countries have signed the protocol and nine have ratified it. The emblem automatically came into force six months after being ratified by the second state, which was Switzerland, on July 14, 2006

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)

Israeli minister dismisses idea of NATO troops in Gaza Sun Jan 14, 4:39 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh has dismissed a suggestion by a cabinet minister that NATO peacekeeping troops be sent to the volatile Gaza Strip. Until now, I haven't noticed particular enthusiasm from NATO
countries, apart from Turkey, to send contingents to (Palestinian refugee) camps in the Gaza Strip, Sneh told public radio.During a meeting with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Saturday, Israel's hardline minister for strategic affairs, Avigdor Lieberman, suggested that NATO send up to 30,000 troops to keep order in the increasingly lawless coastal strip.But Sneh said the international force would only contribute to the problems in the impoverished territory, which has been reeling from an international aid freeze and which has been wracked by deadly factional violence over the past month.For Islamist extremists, soldiers with blue
eyes will also be the enemy and will not constitute a solution, but be a part of the problem, Sneh said.Israel withdrew troops and settlers from Gaza in September 2005 after a 38-year occupation, but continues to be an occupying power under international law as it controls borders and, de facto daily life, in the coastal strip.

Militants in Gaza have regularly fired rockets into the Jewish state following the 2005 withdrawal and in late June staged a cross-border raid in which they seized one soldier and killed two others.The raid sparked a massive Israeli offensive in Gaza, which has killed more than 400 Palestinians.Lieberman, the leader of the ultra-national Yisrael Beitenu party, joined the Israeli cabinet in late October as part of a move by beleaguered Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to shore up his shaky governing coalition.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

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

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

Knesset Discusses Special Anthem for Arabs
22:10 Jan 14, '07 / 24 Tevet 5767


(IsraelNN.com) The Knesset law Committee Sunday discussed a proposal to provide an alternative to the Hatikvah anthem for Arabs. Several members of the panel said that Arab citizens of Israel cannot be expected to stand proudly and sing words about 2,000 years of being without a Jewish state.However, Knesset Member Matan Vilnai (Labor) said the existence of a Jewish state demands that Arabs accept that as a reality.

Criticism of Iran's leader grows,Conservatives and reformists challenge his nuclear diplomacy By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Sunday, January 14, 2007

TEHRAN, Iran Conservatives and reformists are openly challenging President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's hard-line nuclear diplomacy an unusual agreement across Iran's political spectrum, with many saying his provocative remarks have increasingly
isolated their country.The criticism comes after the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously last month to impose sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment. Some critics view the sanctions as an indication that Iran must change its policy.

After a year of silence, reformists are demanding that Iran dispel fears that it is seeking to build atomic weapons, pressing for a return to former President Mohammad Khatami's policy of suspending enrichment, a process that can produce the material for either nuclear reactors or bombs.Resisting the U.N. Security Council resolution will put us in a more isolated position, said the Islamic Iran Participation Front, the largest reformist party.Ahmadinejad's popularity already was weakened after his close conservative allies were defeated last month in local elections.Even some conservatives warn his confrontational tactics are backfiring. Your language is so offensive ... that it shows that the nuclear issue is being dealt with a sort of stubbornness, the hard-line daily Jomhuri-e-Eslami said in a recent editorial.Some lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum are considering impeaching Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki if the Security Council approves more resolutions against Iran.That all 15 members of the Security Council unanimously voted, against the claim by our diplomatic apparatus that there was no unanimity against Iran, shows the weakness of our diplomatic apparatus, said Noureddin Pirmoazzen, a reformist lawmaker.

Despite the criticism, Ahmadinejad has remained defiant, escalating Iran's nuclear standoff with the United States and its allies. He has repeatedly refused to suspend enrichment, even under pressure from its trade allies Russia and China. Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, denying allegations from the U.S. and its allies that it is secretly trying to build a bomb.On Saturday, Ahmadinejad met with fellow U.S. critic Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the start of a Latin America tour his second such visit in four months. Critics say the trip was partly aimed at diverting attention from the disapproval at home. Ahmadinejad also has distanced some of his conservative base by calling for Israel to be wiped off the map and hosting a conference last month that cast doubt on the Holocaust. Many feel he has spent too much time defying the West and too little tackling Iran's domestic issues.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

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.

Rice Promises PA Rifles Won´t Be Aimed at Israel
By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu (INN) JAN 14,07


Two days after Mahmoud Abbas told Arabs to raise your rifles against Israel, Condoleezza Rice says the U.S. will prevent a repeat of previous attacks on Israel with arms supplied to PA forces. Shooting at your brother is forbidden, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told a rally in Ramallah.

Raising rifles against the occupation is our legitimate right. He also railed against the sons of Israel...who are corrupting humanity on earth.The United States has been supplying the Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman's personal militia with weapons to give him a military edge over the rival Hamas militia. Terrorists have vowed that the weapons will be used against Israel, as they were in the 1990s when the Israeli government, headed by then-Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, gave the PA security forces thousands of rifles.

The Jewish State has since allowed other nations to send weapons to the PA, and Israeli intelligence officials have documented their use in attacks against Israel.But U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, talking to reporters en route to Israel, said this time it will be different. This is a train-and-equip program that is going to move over time, so it is not as if you simply arm the Palestinians on Day One and then have no input or control over what happens from then on, she said. I think as a result you can maintain some control on what is being done.Referring to the weapons supplied during the Oslo talks and used against Israel, she explained, It was envisioned that the Palestinian Authority would have security forces. The problem is those security forces broke [up] into essentially personal militias under Arafat. They broke into too many that were often warring with each other.Secretary Rice added that American military envoys have created a plan for security forces that can be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

And this plan is not just to equip them and train them, [but] it is also to professionalize them, to unify them, to put them under a single command. We continue to work on how to help Abu Mazen [Abbas] and how to help the Palestinian people to create governing structures and security forces that can actually secure the Palestinian people. However, Fatah Force 17 security officer Abu Yousef told WorldNetDaily that other terrorist groups will use the weapons. He added that many of the members of Abbas' personal militia also are members of other terrorist organizations, including Hamas.Our organizations are infiltrated [by Hamas]. In the last elections campaign, our Fatah party was astonished at how many of our security members voted for Hamas. We thought our own forces would vote 95 percent vote for us, but it was 70 percent for Fatah and 30 percent for Hamas, Abu Yousef said.Hamas spokesman Abu Oubaida told WorldNetDaily last week that his terror group will obtain any American weapons transferred to Fatah militias or purchased by Fatah using the incoming $86.4 million in U.S. aid. I can confirm 100 percent that this money and purchased weapons will find its way to Hamas, said Abu Oubaida.

Secretary Rice nonetheless remained optimistic in her comments to reporters. The Road Map is a useful document because it does have reciprocal responsibilities, she said. She pointed out that Israel’s implementation of the Road Map has already succeeded in forcing Israel to expel Jewish residents and destroy their communities in the Gaza region. They are out of Gaza. And so I think we want to look at what is still to be achieved, she said. Rice did not, however, mention the responsibilities of the PA, which included its promise to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure and cease incitement against Israel.

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).

Solana: The moment of action has come
The Jerusalem Post - January 14, 2007


United States President George W. Bush may have sent his Secretary of State to the Middle East to try and kick start the dead land-for-peace process, but the European Union is still trying to muscle in on the act.High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the EU, Javier Solana, said Friday the time had come to see action and not just words in the Middle East.

Addressing the concluding session of something called The Madrid + 15 Peace Conference, Solana said it was necessary to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict first before dealing with other issues in the Middle East.In order to do this, outside monitoring would be required and the process would have to be comprehensive.
Like former US president Jimmy Carter, Solana describes himself as a friend of Israel.However, his policy recommendations have without fail betrayed his prejudice towards the Palestinian side.

UN to Promote Responsible Business Practices in New European Union Member States JAN 12,2007

The United Nations, which has consistently pushed for a code of corporate social responsibility in private sector companies, ranging from responsible globalization to promoting human rights and fighting corruption, has launched an initiative to embed such practices in new European Union (EU) member states.Under the $1.36 million project launched with the European Commission, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) will work with enterprises and other stakeholders in eight countries EU members Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia, and candidate countries Croatia, Macedonia, and Turkey.

The project will assist the integration of social and environmental concerns in business operations and in corporate interaction with government, trade unions, business associations and communities on a voluntary basis.The main objective is to accelerate in the new EU region the implementation of CSR (corporate social responsibility) practices, which are seen as a vehicle for EU harmonization, social cohesion and improving competitiveness, UNDP regional project leader and head of office in Lithuania, Lyra Jakuleviciene said.The project, expected to continue until mid-2008, will address both local and foreign enterprises in the eight countries, and will be carried out by UNDP offices in each country, in co-operation with national and regional partners. Business networks in Spain, the United Kingdom and Germany will contribute through exchange of experience and good practices.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

CARTER AIDS BACKOUT

1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Japan exhales as tsunami threat passes. 3-Alaska, Hawaii tsunami advisories nixed. 4-Winter storm blasts much of western Canada. 5-A wintry mess continues. 6-Red alert after Comoros volcano triggers tremors. 7-EU Foreign Policy Chief Calls for Mideast Progress Within Six Months. 8-ASEAN, EU can strengthen dialogue relations. 9-Palestinian PM accuses US of seeking civil war. 10-Indonesian bird flu deaths hit 61. 11-Rare brain worms latest border disease. 12-Carter Center Advisers Resign Over New Book.

EARTHQUAKES

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

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

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

WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)

Update time = Sun Jan 14 12:01 AM EDT

JAN 14,07
MAP 5.1 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.7 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.4 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 4.8 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.9 KEPULAUAN TALAUD, INDONESIA
MAP 4.9 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.8 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA

JAN 13,07
MAP 2.7 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.0 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.4 SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA
MAP 5.5 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 6.0 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.0 KOMANDORSKIYE OSTROVA, RUSSIA REGION
MAP 3.0 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.4 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.9 CHUKOTKA, RUSSIA
MAP 5.0 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.7 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.0 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.8 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.9 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.6 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.8 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.9 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.8 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.2 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.8 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.7 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.9 NORTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.6 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.1 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.0 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 8.2 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 8.2 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.5 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.9 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA

Japan exhales as tsunami threat passes By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Writer JAN 13,07

TOKYO /Thousands of people in residents along Japan's eastern coast fled to higher ground after an 8.2 magnitude earthquake triggered tsunami warnings Saturday in parts of the Pacific region, including Hawaii and Alaska. The warnings, which were lifted nine hours after the quake, rattled coastal residents more than two years after giant waves spawned by an Indian Ocean earthquake killed at least 230,000.But the largest wave reported by late Saturday was a 16-inch tidal surge along the shores of Chichi-jima, a Pacific island 620 miles south of Tokyo, more than three hours after the quake.Earlier, a tidal swell of about 4 inches was recorded in Japan's northeastern coastal town of Nemuro, and a higher tide also was observed in other coastal towns, including Kushiro, Abashiri and Otaru, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.

The quake struck around 1:24 p.m. local time about 310 miles east of Etorofu, the largest of a disputed four-island chain known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Kuril islands in Russia.

The Japanese agency initially estimated the magnitude as 8.3 but later reduced that to 8.2, the same strength recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake struck 19 miles below the seabed, the agency said.There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the quake, but the agency warned that higher than usual waves could hit the northeastern coast of Japan's main island of Hokkaido.Hokkaido officials responded by issuing evacuation orders to 85,000 people in 22 coastal towns.Disaster prevention official Haruyuki Komachi said thousands of people heeded the orders and gathered at community centers. Police closed off roads to the coast and train operators suspended some services as a precaution.The warnings were later downgraded to advisories, then canceled them altogether on the northwestern coast of Hokkaido, leading some municipalities to lift evacuation orders. Advisories in other parts of Hokkaido and towns facing the Pacific coast were still in effect late Saturday.The tidal change so far seems rather small, but a bigger one may come hours later, Komachi said. So we have to stay vigilant into the night in case a second or a third ones come in bigger waves.

A tsunami warning also was issued for Alaska's western Aleutian islands, and a tsunami watch was issued for Hawaii. Both were later canceled, but not before dozens of people sought refuge in underground shelters on two Aleutian islands.The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology advised residents along that nation's eastern seaboard to observe changes in the sea level.

About 4,000 people in the northern province of Isabela were evacuated.Tsunami warnings are issued due to the imminent threat of a tsunami. Tsunami watches are issued as an advance alert to areas that could be impacted by a tsunami.Temblors of magnitude 7 are generally classified as major earthquakes, capable of widespread, heavy damage.The Japanese meteorological agency also issued warnings last November following a magnitude 7.9 quake in a similar area, but most areas saw waves of only about 7.8 inches.Seismologists, however, warned that this time the quake was stronger and cautioned residents to remain vigilant.

Tokyo University seismologist Yoshinobu Tsuji warned that high waves may still hit the region, hours after a tsunami warning. I urge everyone to stay alert, he said. On Dec. 26, 2004, a magnitude-9.0 earthquake off Indonesia's Sumatra island unleashed giant waves that fanned out across the Indian Ocean at jetliner speeds, leaving at least 230,000 dead and millions of homeless in its wake. Associated Press Writer Dan Joling in Anchorage, Alaska, contributed to this report.

Alaska, Hawaii tsunami advisories nixed By DAN JOLING, Associated Press Writer Sat Jan 13, 3:31 AM ET

ANCHORAGE, Alaska /Tsunami advisories were canceled Saturday in Alaska and Hawaii after officials determined waves from a powerful earthquake in the northern Pacific were too small to pose a threat.

A tsunami of less than 4 inches was recorded Friday night at Shemya, Alaska, at the western end of the Aleutians, the National Weather Service said.Alaska's tsunami warning, made after an 8.3 magnitude earthquake struck off Japan's northern coast on Friday, prompted more than two dozen people on a remote Aleutian island to take refuge in an underground shelter.It's one of those situations where the indications are, when you look at Shemya and the other places in Japan, it really doesn't meet the criteria to be destructive, said National Weather Service spokesman Greg Romano.Officials did, however, warn people of strong currents in the Pacific Northwest and Southern California into Saturday morning.

A tsunami watch issued in Hawaii was also canceled.

Tsunami warnings are issued due to the imminent threat of a tsunami.

Tsunami watches are issued as an advance alert to areas that could be impacted by a tsunami.Japan's Meteorological Agency said a small wave hit the shore near the town of Nemuro in northeastern Japan more than an hour after the quake and after officials detected a fall in the level of the tide. Most areas said there had been no visible change to the sea level.The quake struck about 310 miles east of the Etorofu islands between northern Japan and Russia, the agency said.Associated Press reporter Brian Charlton in Honolulu contributed to this report.On the Net:U.S. Geological Survey: http://www.usgs.gov/

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.

Winter storm blasts much of western Canada UPDATED: 2007-01-10 19:33:14 MSTBy PABLO FERNANDEZ, CALGARY SUN

Although Calgary has been spared the worst of the winter storm that assailed much of western Canada, the city is plummetting into the same deep freeze. The mercury in the city began its downward spiral today and howling winds pounded the city but winter didn’t assault Calgarians the way it lashed northern Alberta and neighbouring Saskatchewan, said Environment Canada meteorologist John McIntyre.In Saskatoon, people were afraid to go outside, the visibility was zero, they had very strong winds and it was very cold, he said. I talked with some companies that were concerned and wanted to send people home early but that it was too dangerous to send people out.Central Saskatchewan was really hit hard. Ravaging winds and biting temperatures killed a young man and a woman who left their stuck vehicle and tried to walk for help along an access road in Onion Lake First Nation, which is 230 km west of Edmonton on the Saskatchewan- Alberta border, said RCMP Sgt. Brad Kaeding. It appears an 18-year-old man and 38-year-old woman from the community attempted to walk when their vehicle failed to negotiate a turn at a T-intersection and became stuck in blizzard conditions sometime overnight, he said.

Not wanting to take the chance, Canada Olympic Park closed its doors early yesterday and will remain closed due to the high windchill.

Blowing snow and ice prompted RCMP to warn motorists about dangerous driving conditions along the Calgary-Edmonton corridor and along mountain highways.At least 16 vehicles were located with people in them on a road between Dawson Creek and Fort St. John, B.C., by rescue crews using heavy equipment to scour remote highways after blizzard conditions that descended on much of northern B.C. stranded motorists along the road.Schools and airports in the Grande Prairie area were closed due to the winter snap and even fair-weather Vancouver was hit hard by snow and driving winds. When the cold front, which is affecting all four western provinces, moved through Calgary over night yesterday (WED), winds gusted up to 80 km/h, said McIntyre. And there’s no relief in sight, he said, as skies will clear today but temperatures will plummet to a high near -20C over night, which, with the help of winds of 15 km/h, will create windchills in the -30s. With files from CP.

A wintry mess continues Wayne Verno, Meteorologist, The Weather Channel Sat Jan 13, 6:10 AM ET

Midwest

Arctic air will remain in place across the Plains and western Great Lakes today, with very cold temperatures expected again today. A wave of low pressure moving along a stationary front from the southern Plains into the Ohio Valley, will keep rain, heavy at times, from the Mid-Mississippi Valley, into the Ohio Valley. Freezing rain and sleet will dominate the southern Plains into parts of the Midwest, with snow developing into the central Plains. Sunday into Monday, a band of heavy snow may set up across parts of the Midwest into the Lower Great Lakes, with a wintry mix just south of the heavy snow band. All areas will change over to snow before ending on Monday. Much colder temperatures will remain in place into early next week.

South

A front will remain nearly stationary from the southern Plains into the Middle Mississippi River Valley today, allowing rain to continue from Texas, through the Mississippi Valley. A few strong thunderstorms may also develop across southeast Texas into parts of the Lower Missisippi River Valley. South of the cold front, rain could be heavy at times across the Middle Mississippi Valley where flooding will be possible, while north of the front a wave of low pressure will swing into the Plains, increasing another round of sleet and freezing rain. Across the southeastern states and Florida, high pressure will stay in control, allowing for a continuation of warming temperatures. This same pattern will remain in place on Sunday. Showers and thunderstorms will arrive in the far southeast by Monday, as the cold front presses eastward, and the wintry precipitation will shift into the Midwest. Much colder air will settle in across the entire south by early next week, with the potential for lingering showers near the Gulf and far southeastern states.

Northeast

A cold front moving into the New England will continue to spread rain through the Ohio Valley into the Northeastern States today. Colder temperatures moving into the New England states will allow for some mixed rain, freezing rain, and sleet through interior New England and the higher mountains. An area of low pressure will approach the Mid-Atlantic from the southwest Sunday, setting up a messy weather pattern. Rain will be likely from the Ohio Valley, through the Mid-Atlantic, with a mixture of freezing rain, sleet, and snow occurring from northern Pennsylvania through the interior New England states. Rainfall could be heavy at times across parts of the Upper Ohio Valley, significant accumulations of snow and ice may occur across parts of the New England states. The weather system will move east across the area into Monday, gradually changing all precipitation over to snow before ending. Much colder
temperatures will be left in its wake.

West

Arctic high pressure will build across the northern Rockies, keeping very cold temperatures in the single digits and teens across that area. Colder temperatures in the 30s will also be felt as far as the Pacific Northwest Coast today. Meanwhile, low pressure over the southern Rockies will keep snow over the interior mountains through today.

Accumulations through the mountains will range from 6 to 12 inches with higher amounts over as foot possible. This snow will begin to shirt into the central Plains Sunday into Monday, as the low pressure moves northeast. High pressure will remain in control of all of the western states into early next week. Much colder temperatures will settle into the central and southern California areas through the weekend, with freezing temperatures expected in some areas. A slow moderation in temperatures will take place the middle of next week.

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

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

Red alert after Comoros volcano triggers tremors JAN 13,2007

MORONI (AFP) Authorities in the Comoros Islands have placed the population of the tiny Indian Ocean nation on red alert following several seismic tremors triggered by a volcanic eruption on Mount Karthala. There were no immediate reports of damage and the government held back from ordering residents to evacuate their homes as a red glow could be seen over the top of the volcano, just 15 kilometers (nine miles) from the capital Moroni.Hamid Soule, head of the Karthala observatory, told reporters that the eruptions had begun overnight.The tremors had been a result of internal (magma) activity which has given us cause for concern, he told a press conference. While the lava which was produced overnight had now probably solidified, he added that the internal activity is continuing.We cannot rule out the danger of a lateral eruption outside of the crater, said Soule Saturday.A statement from the president's office confirmed that a red alert status has been declared and emergency measures to ensure the security of people and property have been activated.The armed forces and police had been primed to prepare for any eventuality, Colonel Ismael Mogne Daho, a senior official at the archipelago's emergency operation centre, told AFP.There have been a number of scares in recent years after activity within the volcano.In November 2005, Karthala spewed huge plumes of ash that blanketed the island and temporarily deprived its 250,000 inhabitants of drinkable water.In April 2005, nearly 10,000 villagers living at the base of the mountain fled their homes after similar emissions of ash started widespread fears of drinking-water contamination. Mount Karthala last had an overflow magma eruption in 1977, when lava destroyed the village of Singani, some 20 kilometres south of Moroni, and toxic gas was released into the air but did not cause any deaths.

EU Foreign Policy Chief Calls for Mideast Progress Within Six Months
By VOA News 12 January 2007


The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, says the group will do everything it can to get the Middle East peace process moving in the next six months.Speaking at a meeting in Spain Friday, Solana said he thinks the roadmap for peace, a plan developed by the United States and other nations, contains everything necessary for success if there is the political will. The two-day meeting, known as the Madrid Plus 15 conference, involved present and former Middle East officials. It commemorated the 1991 Madrid Conference that began peace talks between Israel and its Arab enemies.The first conference ended with the 1993 Oslo accords between Palestinians and the Jewish state. This year's meeting was sponsored by private peace groups, in hopes of spurring progress in the Middle East peace process.The Israeli newspaper, Ha'aretz, reported that two senior Syrian officials attended the conference, which also included members of Israel's parliament as well as several former Israeli cabinet ministers.

Ha'aretz said this was the first time in seven years that Israeli and Syrian officials were sitting at the same table.Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP.

ASEAN, EU can strengthen dialogue relations
By Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia | 13 January 2007 2357 hrs


CEBU : Dialogue relations between ASEAN and the European Union should be further strengthened. Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo and French Minister Delegate for European Affairs Catherine Colonna came to this agreement at a meeting on sidelines of the ASEAN Summit on Saturday.To forge closer ties, the two ministers agreed that possible initiatives between the two regions can include closer economic cooperation and the convening of a Commemorative Summit. Mr Yeo also welcomed France's accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia. He also encouraged France to further engage ASEAN. - CNA /ls

Palestinian PM accuses US of seeking civil war Sat Jan 13, 5:29 AM ET

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya has accused Israel and the United States of trying to stoke Palestinian civil war, in an address delivered shortly before US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice starts a regional tour. The American and Israeli policies seek to push the Palestinian people towards civil war and internal conflict so that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict becomes a Palestinian-Palestinian conflict, he said in a televised address Saturday.He had earlier appealed for a halt to the fierce feuding between his ruling Hamas movement and the rival Fatah party that has left 30 people dead in a month, raising fears that the
Palestinians could be plunged into all-out war.

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).

Indonesian bird flu deaths hit 61
POSTED: 0317 GMT (1117 HKT), January 12, 2007


JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) Two Indonesian women died from bird flu, a health official said Saturday, the latest in a flurry of cases in recent days to strike the country worst hit by the virus.One of the women died late Friday, the other early Saturday, said Nyoman Kandun, the Ministry of Health's director general of communicable disease control. Both had been treated in the same hospital in the capital, Jakarta.The cases underscore the threat posed by the virus in Indonesia, which was criticized for being slow to react to H5N1 when it first appeared in poultry stocks and among backyard chickens in 2004.We keep warning people to be careful in handling chickens, Kandun said.The source of the virus is from chickens. As long as there are chickens around with bird flu, then it is dangerous for people living nearby.The deaths bring Indonesia's tally of human fatalities to at least 61 more than a third of the world's total.Earlier this week, a teenage boy and a 37-year-old woman died, also in Jakarta.

They were the first deaths from the virus in six weeks a lull that led some Indonesian officials to say they were succeeding in beating the disease. The World Health Organization cautioned that it was too soon to draw that conclusion.Bird flu remains hard for humans to catch and has killed a relatively small number compared to the hundreds of thousands of people who die each year in developing countries from easily preventable diseases.But international experts fear it may mutate into a form that could spread easily between humans and potentially kill millions around the world, including in wealthy nations that have so far been spared human cases.The Associated Press.

Rare brain worms latest border disease.Fatal disease found in developing countries with poor hygiene habits hits South TexasJanuary 13, 2007 - 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Medical professionals in South Texas have identified another disease that has apparently slipped across the border caused by a rare brain worm that can be fatal and is being spread by unsanitary food-handling practices. While not yet classified as a major outbreak, several cases of cysticercosis have been identified in South Texas, a spokesman for San Antonio's Metro Health District told KENS-TV, San Antonio.Magnetic resonance image showing multiple cysticerci within patient's brain According to the Center for Disease Control, cysticercosis is an infection caused by the pork tapeworm, Taenia solium. Infection occurs when the tapeworm larvae are ingested, pass through the intestinal wall and enter the body to form cysticerci, or cysts. The cysts migrate throughout the body, resulting in symptoms that vary depending on whether they lodge in the muscles, the eyes, the brain or spinal cord.

Symptoms for Renaldo Ramirez, 50, of Houston, began with mild headaches. The tile worker, who immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador 20 years ago, told KENS-TV he had been eating most of his meals at mobile kitchens because of the convenience, but after his ordeal with brain worms, he insisted on preparing his own food. He's scared now. He's scared of any food from outside, his sister, who interpreted for him, said. It was a mild headache, but it wouldn't go away, Ramirez said. It was just there and it wouldn't go away with Tylenol. Clinic doctors gave him blood pressure medicine, but a few days later, he passed out and did not awaken for eight days. Dr. Aaron Mohanty, an assistant professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Texas Medical School, found and removed a cyst caused by a tapeworm larvae living in Ramirez's brain. Undiagnosed and untreated, he could have died within hours. According to the CDC, infection from the tapeworm, which is found worldwide, occurs most often in rural, developing countries with poor hygiene where pigs are allowed to roam freely and eat human feces. This allows the tapeworm infection to be completed and the cycle to continue.

The risk for U.S. citizens has been considered rare due to strict food processing and handling regulations, especially for pork products, and generally high levels of hygiene. The condition is very rare in Muslim countries where eating pork is forbidden. The cycle starts with a human that's infected with the tapeworm, said Dr. Luis Ostrosky, of the UT Houston Medical Center. Failure to wash hands after using the restroom can result in contaminating food and infecting further victims. These eggs hatch in the intestine and go through the gut-wall and into the circulation where they get stuck somewhere, Ostrosky said. Cysticercosis joins Morgellons disease, a mysterious infection seemingly similar to one documented 300 years ago, in the list of new illnesses spreading throughout South Texas.

While Morgellons disease has not been known to kill and it doesn't appear to be contagious, WND has reported its horrible symptoms are what worry doctors. These people will have like beads of sweat but it's black, black and tarry, Ginger Savely, a nurse practitioner in Austin who has treated a majority of Morgellons patients, told the San Antonio Express-News. Patients infected with the disease get lesions that never heal.Fibers removed from facial lesion of 3-year-old boy Sometimes little black specks come out of the lesions and sometimes little fibers, said Stephanie Bailey, a Morgellons patient. It's those different-colored fibers that pop out of the skin that may be the most bizarre symptom of the disease. More than 100 cases have been reported in South Texas. It really has the makings of a horror movie in every way, Savely said. The South Texas outbreak's proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border comes at a time when the issues of illegal immigration, border security and possible amnesty for over 12 million illegal aliens are being debated in the U.S. Despite Morgellons disease's distinctive symptoms and patients tales of suffering, most of the medical community don't see the disease as real, with some doctors telling patients it's all in their head. Morgellons disease may remain a mystery, but cysticercosis does not. Doctors say washing hands, cooking meats thoroughly, especially pork, and washing fruits and vegetables are the best ways to avoid the disease.

Carter Center Advisers Resign Over New Book, By Karen DeYoung - Washington Post Staff Writer - Friday, January 12, 2007; Page A03

Fourteen members of an advisory board to the Carter Center in Atlanta resigned yesterday in protest over former president Jimmy Carter's best-selling new book about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying that they could no longer in good conscience continue to serve.The resignations were the latest episode in an escalating controversy over the book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, published in late November. It has been criticized within the American Jewish community as tilting sharply toward the Palestinians. Scholars have found fault with his fact-checking on small and large points. At least one former Mideast negotiator expressed outrage over what he called misrepresented history.The deciding factor for board member Steve Berman, he said yesterday, was a passage on Page 213 that he quoted easily from memory: It was imperative, Carter wrote, that Arabs and Palestinians make it clear that they will end the suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism when international laws and the ultimate goals of an internationally proposed peace accord are accepted by Israel.What does that say to you? asked Berman, a commercial real estate developer in Atlanta. It says they can stop when they get their state. He's condoning terror as a means of obtaining the objective of a Palestinian state.

Carter has been critical of the Bush administration's policies in the Middle East and has said he wanted the book to be provocative. If it provokes debate and assessment and disputes and arguments and maybe some action in the Middle East to get the peace process, which is now completely absent or dormant, rejuvenated, and brings peace ultimately to Israel, that's what I want, he said last month on NBC's Meet the Press.Carter declined to comment about yesterday's resignations. In a statement issued by the center's press office, Executive Director John Hardman expressed gratitude to the members for serving and emphasized that those on the board are not engaged in implementing work of the Center and are not a governing board.The appointed Board of Councilors is not the Carter Center's policy-making body, but a group of 200 mostly local Atlanta leaders who help promote the institution as an international leader in human rights and health issues. But the departure of 14 of its members, who called several news organizations to make their resignations public, served to keep the controversy alive. Word of the resignations first appeared yesterday on the Web site of the Wall Street Journal.Several of the resigning members served in the Carter administration, including William B. Schwartz Jr., former U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas, and S. Stephen Selig III, a real estate developer who was a White House aide and host committee chairman of the 1988 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta.

Berman said he began the resignation campaign after reading the book last month, and he emerged yesterday as its spokesman. He answered one question before it was asked.It's fair to say, he said in an interview, that most of the people he contacted about the book are Jewish, as were the signatories of the resignation letter. But that wasn't a subject that came up in our discussion.

He described himself as a great admirer of Carter and as a liberal Jew who is worried about the direction that Israel is taking in resolving its conflict with the Palestinians.But he and the others who signed yesterday's letter say Carter went too far. The thing that really disenchanted all of us, it broke our hearts, was to see the president abandon his traditional position of mediator, promoter of peace and honest broker [to become] an advocate for one side of the conflict. It wouldn't even have mattered, Berman said, if he had promoted the Israeli side.Although Carter's book widely apportions blame for decades of failure since the historic peace agreement that he negotiated between Egypt and Israel, it concludes that Israel's continued control and colonization of Palestinian land have been the primary obstacles to a comprehensive peace agreement in the Holy Land.In an opinion piece published yesterday in the New York Times, before the resignations were made public, Clinton administration Mideast envoy Dennis Ross said that maps Carter used in his book rewrite history and misrepresent peace proposals advanced by Bill Clinton in the final days of his presidency. Carter, Ross wrote, mislabeled Clinton and Israeli versions of maps of proposed borders used during the negotiations to inaccurately imply that the Palestinians had been more accommodating than they were. Ross now has the title of counselor at the Washington Institute for Mideast Policy.

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