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.
GET READY AMERICA, HURRICANE SEASON IS UPON US SHORTLY.
Noted U.S. hurricane forecaster expects busy season Wed Apr 2, 6:10 PM ET
ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - The noted Colorado State University forecast team expects an above average Atlantic hurricane season and may raise its prediction of 13 tropical storms and seven hurricanes when it updates its outlook next week, the team's founder Bill Gray said on Wednesday. La Nina cool-water conditions in the Pacific and higher sea surface temperatures in the eastern Atlantic are contributing to enhanced conditions for hurricane activity, Gray told Reuters at the U.S. National Hurricane Conference.We're expecting an above average season, Gray said. The big question we have is, are we going to raise the numbers from our December forecast? We might.We're not going to lower the numbers, he said.The average hurricane season produces about 10 tropical storms and six hurricanes -- a standard that was blown out of the water in the record-busting season of 2005, when 28 storms formed, including the hurricane that swamped New Orleans, Katrina.
The Colorado State team issues forecasts several times a year. In December, it said it expected the 2008 season starting June 1 to produce 13 tropical storms, of which seven would become hurricanes and three would be major hurricanes with winds of at least 111 miles per hour (178 km per hour).Gray said La Nina, a cooling of waters in the eastern Pacific that can enhance conditions for hurricane activity in the Atlantic, will be on the cold side.Also, the sea surface temperatures in the eastern Atlantic particularly off Iberia and off northwest Africa, they are very warm, much like they were at this time in 1995 and 2005 when we had very active seasons,he said.(Reporting by Jim Loney, editing by Michael Christie)
Harsh storm blows through Labrador
Wed Apr 2, 3:23 PM
ST..JOHNS (CBC) - Police urged drivers in central Labrador Wednesday afternoon to stay off the roads, as an April storm brought snow and high winds to the region.Whiteout conditions made driving difficult, if not dangerous, in the Happy Valley-Goose Bay area, RCMP said.The Newfoundland and Labrador government closed its offices in the area in the afternoon, and children were kept home from school.As well, many roads in the south coast of Labrador are closed.Environment Canada said had a snowfall warning in effect for much of Labrador. As much as 35 centimetres of snow was expected to fall by Thursday, before the storm moves out to sea.Weather conditions in many areas of the island were difficult Wednesday, with warnings issued along the south and west coasts.Heavy drifting and whiteout conditions have been reported in the St. Anthony area.
Teams trace 30 bodies in flooded Tanzania mine
Wed Apr 2, 4:05 AM
MIRERANI, Tanzania (AFP) - Rescuers located more than 30 bodies as they dug through sludge and rock to search for dozens of miners trapped in northern Tanzania, an official said Wednesday.The teams overnight retrieved five bodies and were struggling to reach 25 others in pits in Mirerani, near the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, said Manyara regional commissioner Henry Shekifu.Last night, we brought out five bodies, the operation to reach the 25 others that we have traced is going on, he told AFP.Officials said 66 miners were trapped on Saturday when floods from days of heavy rains swept through the several pits. Some miners who were close to the surface managed to escape.On Monday, rescuers had pulled out 16 bodies. State-run Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) radio, quoting the owners, said there was no sign of any survivors.One of the owners, Mike Temi, said recovery teams still lacked enough pumps to get water from the pits.The teams have been working, but they still lack enough pumps to get waters from the pits where the bodies are believed to be trapped, he told AFP.The pumps are also needed to get water from pits where there were no fatalities.He said the operation has been going on for 24 hours with help from the government.Tanzanite, a purple-blue shimmering stone, has been found only in northern Tanzania and in 2005 a leading gemstone miner said it unearthed the world's largest tanzanite stone weighing about three kilograms (6.6 pounds).The lure of the gem has drawn thousands of miners to Mirerani, which resembles a gold-rush town dotted with hardware stores, bars and brothels.Small-scale miners such as those affected by the latest disaster only get food rations from their employers and are paid only if they hit tanzanite. Some of them work months without pay.Many dig in highly unsafe and unstable mines using primitive tools and garden implements.
Tanzanite is believed to be limited to east Africa's Rift Valley region and the pits where the accident happened are located in the heart of Maasai land, a short distance from Mount Kilimanjaro.The gemstone was discovered by Maasai tribesmen in 1967 and gained fame when it was launched by New York's Tiffany & Co. the following year.
The mining sector contributes less than three percent of the nation's GDP but that should reach 10 percent by 2025 according to a development plan outlined by the government.
Short, not sweet: angry Israeli PM snubs lawmakers Wed Apr 2, 12:59 PM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's prime minister angered opponents on Wednesday by answering their criticisms with a speech in parliament that lasted less than two minutes before he walked off the podium in apparent disgust. Ehud Olmert, a 35-year veteran of parliamentary debates, was obliged to attend the Knesset session by an opposition motion that forced him to sit through an hour and a half of speakers leveling a series of general complaints at his administration.When finally he could respond, Olmert rose to the podium to give the briefest of exposes of his policy agenda before saying: I have grown old in this house and have never before seen or heard such an amorphous, baseless and pointless debate.Snapping shut his document folder, he concluded, It serves no purpose but to damage the standing of the Knesset and walked off.Timed at just 1 minute and 50 seconds, Israeli media called it one of the shortest such parliamentary speeches on record.Opposition politicians called it a mockery.
EVIL INVENTIONS ARE PREDICTED IN THE BIBLE.
ROMANS 1:29-32
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
REVELATION 9:7-8
7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
I WONDER COULD THESE EVIL INVENTIONS LEAD TO THE DEOMONIC LOCUSTS THAT TORTURE SINNERS FOR 5 MONTHS DURING THE TRIBULATION PERIOD. ONLY TIME WILL TELL, BUT THESE EVIL INVENTIONS ARE HERE FOLKS.
Plan to create human-cow embryos APR 2,08
By Fergus Walsh BBC News, Medical correspondent
The Newcastle team is pioneering stem cell work UK scientists have applied for permission to create embryos by fusing human DNA with cow eggs. Researchers from Newcastle University and Kings College, London, have asked the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for a three-year licence. The hybrid human-bovine embryos would be used for stem cell research and would not be allowed to develop for more than a few days. But critics say it is unethical and potentially dangerous. Liberal Democrat MP Dr Evan Harris - a member of the Commons Science and Technology Select Committee - said: If human benefit can be derived by perfecting therapeutic cloning techniques or from research into subsequently-derived stem cells, then it would actually be immoral to prevent it just because of a yuck factor. Stem cell research is one of the most promising areas of medical science. You may begin to undermine the whole distinction between humans animals and humans-Calum MacKellar
Why create chimeras?
Stem cells are the body's master cells and five-day-old embryos are packed with them - each with the potential to turn into any tissue in the body. It is this ability which scientists want to harness to treat diseases such as Parkinson's Disease, strokes and Alzheimer's Disease. To do that, they say they need to have access to thousands of embryos for research.
Short supply
The problem is that human eggs for research are in short supply and to obtain them women have to undergo surgery. That is why scientists want to use cows' eggs as a substitute. They would insert human DNA into a cow's egg which has had its genetic material removed, and then create an embryo by the same technique that produced Dolly the Sheep. The resulting embryo would be 99.9% human; the only bovine element would be DNA outside the nucleus of the cell. It would, though, technically be a chimera - a mixing of two distinct species into one. The aim would be to extract stem cells from the embryo when it is six days old, before destroying it. If human benefit can be derived by perfecting therapeutic cloning techniques or from research into subsequently-derived stem cells, then it would actually be immoral to prevent it just because of a yuck factor
Dr Evan Harris
The quality and the viability of stem cells would then be checked to see if the technique had worked. The scientists also plan to examine the way the cells are reprogrammed after fusion to see if there are useful processes they could replicate in the laboratory.
Lead researcher Dr Lyle Armstrong said: If we can learn from the egg cell how to make embryonic stem cells without having to use an animal egg at all then some day we may be able to cure diseases such as Parkinson's disease, or better still some of the age-related diseases which are creating such a burden on society.Dr Stephen Minger, from King's College London, said: The current state of the technology is such that literally hundreds of human ooctyes (eggs) from young women will be required to generate a single human embryonic stem cell line. Therefore we consider it more appropriate to use non-human oocytes from livestock as a surrogate. We feel that the development of disease-specific human embryonic stem cell lines from individuals suffering from genetic forms of neurodegenerative disorders will stimulate both basic research and the development of new medicines to treat these horrific brain diseases.
Undermining humanity
Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, head of developmental genetics, National Institute for Medical Research, said: This is a very rational step: to learn what you can using animal eggs, which are readily obtainable, before moving on to valuable human eggs when or if this becomes necessary. But some will argue the end does not justify the means. Calum MacKellar, from the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, said the research undermined the distinction between animals and humans. He said: In the history of humankind, animals and human species have been separated. In this kind of procedure, you are mixing at a very intimate level animal eggs and human chromosomes, and you may begin to undermine the whole distinction between humans and animals. If that happens, it might also undermine human dignity and human rights.
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
2 PETER 2:5
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
2 PETER 3:7
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men
LEVITICUS 26:16
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you( sudden) terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
ISAIAH 33:1,18-19 Woe to thee that spoilest,(destroys) and thou wast not spoiled;(destroyed) and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil,(destroy) thou shalt be spoiled;(destroyed) and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
Al-Qaida's No. 2 defends deadly attacks By PAUL SCHEMM, Associated Press Writer APR 02,08
CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri, rejecting criticism of attacks by the terror network's followers that have killed thousands, maintained Wednesday that it does not kill innocent people. His comment came during a 90-minute audio response that was billed as the first installment of answers to the more than 900 questions submitted on extremist Internet sites by al-Qaida supporters, critics and journalists in December.We haven't killed the innocents, not in Baghdad, nor in Morocco, nor in Algeria, nor anywhere else, al-Zawahri said, according to a 46-page English transcript that accompanied the audio message posted on Web sites linked to al-Qaida.The answer was in response to the question: Excuse me, Mr. Zawahri, but who is it who is killing with Your Excellency's blessing the innocents in Baghdad, Morocco and Algeria?
Al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for the Sept. 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York and Washington in 2001, while its affiliates in Iraq, Afghanistan and Algeria regularly set off bombs in crowded urban areas that have taken thousands of lives.
If there is any innocent who was killed in the mujahedeen's operations, then it was either an unintentional error or out of necessity, al-Zawahri said.He went on to accuse al-Qaida's opponents of being the ones who kill innocent people. He also charged that the enemy intentionally takes up positions in the midst of the Muslims for them to be human shields for him.A banner bearing the logo of al-Qaida's media arm, al-Sahab, appeared earlier in the day on Web sites linked to the network to announce that al-Zawahri's first round of answers.Al-Zawahri, the chief deputy to Osama bin Laden, said in the audio that he had chosen approximately 100 questions to answer.Al-Sahab announced in December that al-Zawahri would take questions from the public posted on Islamic militant Web sites and would respond as soon as possible.Queries were submitted on the main Islamist Web site until the cutoff date of Jan. 16. After the deadline, the questions disappeared from the site.Self-proclaimed al-Qaida supporters appeared to be as much in the dark about the terror network's operations and intentions as Western analysts and intelligence agencies.The questioners appeared uncertain whether al-Qaida's central leadership directly controls the multiple, small militant groups around the Middle East that work in its name, or whether those groups operate on their own.Some asked if al-Qaida had a long-term strategy, while others wanted advice about conducting Islamic holy war.
PERSECUSSION,BEHEADINGS
JESUS PERSECUTED BIGTIME
PSALMS 14:1
1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
ISAIAH 53:4
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
MATTHEW 9:34
34 But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.
JOHN 8:41
41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
JOHN 10:20
20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?
PHILIPPIANS 2:10-11(JESUS GETS REVENGE)
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.(JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST AND FOR SINNERS, THE GREAT WHITE THRONE FINAL JUDGEMENT).
WE ARE CHRISTIANS WE WILL BE TREATED THE SAME.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5 (WHY WE ARE PERSECUTED BY THE WORLD)
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
MATTHEW 5:10-12
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
MATTHEW 24:9
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
JOHN 15:18-20
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me (JESUS) before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
REVELATION 6:9-11
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain(BEHEADED) for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
REVELATION 20:4
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
POOR JOHN HAGEE IS TAKING A BEATING BUT GOD WILL GIVE HIM STRENGTH TO MAKE IT THROUGH THIS HARASSMENT. NOW WE KNOW WHY ISRAEL NEEDS A LITTLE CHASTISEMENT BEFORE THEY ACCEPT JESUS AS MESSIAH AND TRUE GOD OF ISRAEL
ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST
1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
Jewish leader calls Hagee extremist APR 2,08
NEW YORK - The leader of the largest branch of American Judaism said Wednesday that synagogues in the movement shouldn't work with the Rev. John Hagee, a Christian Zionist, calling him an extremist on Israeli policy who disparages other faiths. Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the liberal Union for Reform Judaism, said Hagee and his group, Christians United For Israel, reject any Israeli land concessions to achieve peace with the Palestinians.Reform Judaism supports creating a Palestinian state; Hagee sees a biblical mandate for the territory so End Times prophecy can be fulfilled.
Yoffie also condemned Hagee's views on Roman Catholicism and Islam. The San Antonio pastor has suggested that Catholic anti-Semitism shaped Adolf Hitler, among other comments.Hagee has vehemently denied he is anti-Catholic and said his remarks have been mischaracterized.But Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, distanced himself from Hagee last month, after the pastor endorsed him, following an uproar over Hagee's views of Catholicism.On Israeli-Palestinian politics, John Hagee and the CUFI are extremists, Yoffie said, in a speech to Reform rabbis meeting in Cincinnati. In expressing contempt for other religions and rejecting territorial compromise under any and all circumstances, their views run against the American grain.The Union for Reform Judaism represents more than 900 North American synagogues.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
ANIMAL RIGHTS NO SACRIFICES ISRAEL
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.
Date Posted: Tuesday 01 April, 2008 Caribbean at risk for Tsunamis, Scientists confirm By Ryan Haas Reporter-SKNVibes.com
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts- Some of the leading scientists in the field of Oceanography, Geology and Geophysics are speculating that the possibility of the Caribbean region experiencing a major tsunami in the eminent future is only a matter of time. A tsunami disaster is highly likely in the future as six damaging tsunamis have occurred in the last century. These are most likely to be more damaging than past events as the coastal areas are more developed, asserts a University of the West Indies research report written by James Lander.Lander goes on to document the near 2400 fatalities that tsunamis have caused throughout the Caribbean from 1692-1946, and concludes that the current history is sufficient to indicate that there is a significant hazard from future tsunamis.Following the tragic loss of 230,000 lives in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, some experts have said there has never been a greater need for an effective regional tsunami warning system in the Caribbean. The situation in the Indian Ocean was similar to the Caribbean. Nobody believed it would happen, but it happened, said Peter Koltermann, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNIOC), during a March 26th conference regarding coastal hazard warning systems.
Koltermann, the thirteen Caribbean nations and the six regional organizations in attendance at the conference all concluded that a regional warning infrastructure similar to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, which temporarily serves the Caribbean, must be put in place no later than 2010.The warning system would be comprised of several early alert systems, such as earthquake and tidal monitors, as well as a variety of communications technologies to ensure that citizens of the Caribbean would have as much time as possible to head for higher ground during a deadly tsunami.
Tsunamis occur when large bodies of water, such as oceans, become rapidly displaced. This is often due to earthquake causing collisions between the tectonic plates that make up the surface of the Earth. The Puerto Rico Oceanic Trench, which lies just north of the Federation and is a major subduction zone like the one that caused the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, has been the source of several geological and oceanographic studies for it potential to cause tsunami events.Our results indicate that great subduction zone earthquakes, which often occur in the deep trenches offshore, have the potential to add stress or trigger earthquakes on other faults on the nearby islands, said Jian Lin, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute Geology and Geophysics Department. Jin speculates that these quakes would register 7.5 or more on the Richter Scale, substantially stronger than the earthquake that shook St. Kitts in November of 2007, and would make a major tsunami only a matter of time.The council has yet to decide where such a centre would be located, with Barbados, Puerto Rico and Venezuela all being named as potential hosts. The UNIOC has planned another meeting in July to present its US $250,000 per year plan for the technical, logistical and administrative requirements of a Regional Tsunami Warning Centre.
Tornadoes confirmed in Johnson County storm
06:09 PM CDT on Tuesday, April 1, 2008 From Staff Reports
The National Weather Service confirmed Tuesday that two brief tornadoes touched down in northern Johnson County during powerful storms on Monday afternoon. Based on interviews with witnesses and damage assessments, the agency said the first tornado struck one mile west of Godley around 3 p.m. Several sheds and outbuildings were toppled or destroyed, power lines were knocked down and fences were damaged. Ten minutes later, a mobile home was destroyed four miles east-northeast of Godley. A car and a shed were also heavily damaged.The weather service said both storms were rated EF-0 on the enhanced Fujita scale, with peak winds of 80 to 85 mph. Owners of companies that repair roofs and fences already were hearing Tuesday from customers who went through Monday’s bout of severe weather.
We've gotten a lot of calls already this morning, said Tina Anderson, who owns a roof repair shop in Lewisville with her husband Marc Anderson. Although most of Dallas County avoided the fast-moving storms, some nearby counties were not so lucky.
Meteorologist Steve Fano of the National Weather Service in Fort Worth said Monday's storms hit Denton, Ellis and Johnson counties the hardest. The small towns of Godley and Keene in Johnson County may have suffered tornado damage and Denton County received an inch and a half of hail, he said. Mr. Fano said North Texas residents should expect more rain and thunderstorms Wednesday with hail-producing storms and damaging wind gusts on Thursday. Mrs. Anderson, a 45-year-old resident of Highland Village, said customers called in to report damaged gutters and skylights from Monday’s storms. Some customers were concerned about their roofs because they had shingles in their grass, but Mrs. Anderson said sometimes those can be from their neighbor's home. We got major hail out here, Mrs. Anderson said. We got baseball-sized hail. We have to check our own roof.Mrs. Anderson said many people want to check their roofs for damages, but she advised them to stay off until they are dry – probably by noon Tuesday. It's hard to tell what kind of damage has been done when it's wet, she said. Grant Embree, who owns a landscape repair business in Flower Mound, said the price of lumber for fixing fences has doubled in the last six to eight months and the increase is reflected in the costs of repair. The price of wood is so astronomically high, you can't raise the prices enough to compensate, Mr. Embree said. Being in this business is hard because there's companies that will come in and undercut you.
Chris Dandridge said several customers already had dropped off their hail-damaged cars at Goodyear Gemini Auto Service in Highland Village. Mr. Dandridge said he was surprised by the hail, but the damage he has seen so far is not as severe as he expected. Monday’s rains also flattened tires, as well as spirits, for drivers on the Dallas North Tollway, thanks to washed out pavement on northbound lanes between Cedar Springs Road and Lemmon Avenue. The North Texas Tollway Authority said at least 15 drivers have filed claims with the agency after sustaining flat tires Monday evening. Bills for towing and repairs will be paid, NTTA spokeswoman Sherita Coffelt said. A contractor for the agency had diverted traffic onto new lanes beginning at about 5 a.m. Monday, said Ms. Coffelt. But by Monday afternoon, the paving materials used to smooth the transition from the old lanes to the news ones had been washed away, she said Tuesday. The contractor, Austin Bridge and Road, was made aware of the problem when one of its own vehicles sustained a flat tire Monday evening, she said. Once alerted, NTTA crews responded and repairs the road at about 9 p.m. The flat tires occurred between about 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., according to statements filed with the claims received so far, Ms. Coffelt said. NTTA’s insurance coordinator is handling the claims, which will be paid by the contractor, Ms. Coffelt said. Drivers who sustained damage may call NTTA at 214-461-2000 and ask for the insurance coordinator, she said. Dallas Morning News staff writers Andrew McLemore and Michael A. Lindenberger and WFAA.com contributed to this report.
SIGNS IN THE SUN, MOON AND STARS
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.
April 2, 2008 Tsunami sweeps across the Sun
Mark Henderson
Remarkable images of a solar tsunami spreading across the face of the Sun have been captured by a pair of spacecraft. The tsunami of superheated gas, caused by a huge explosion known as a coronal mass ejection, took only 35 minutes to cross almost the entire Sun. The solar tsunami, last May 19, was watched by Nasa’s twin Stereo probes. David Long, who led the research team of astronomers from Trinity College Dublin, said: The energy released in these explosions is about two billion times the annual world energy consumption in a fraction of a second.
REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE (THE EU DICTATORS TEMPLE)
REVELATION 11:1-2
1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
DANIEL 9:27
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
REBUILT 4TH TEMPLE (THE TRUE MESSIAHS TEMPLE)
ZECHARIAH 6:12-13
12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
13 Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
ISAIAH 60:9-10
9 Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.
10 And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.
ISAIAH 2:1-5
1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
MARK 11:9-10,15-17
9 And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:
10 Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.
15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
16 And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.
EZEKIEL 40 TO 48 IS THIS 4TH TEMPLE TO BIG FOR THE MOUNT I BELIEVE TO BE BUILT 25 MILES FROM JERUSALEM.
Animal Rights Group Challenges Instructional Pesach Sacrifice by Gil Ronen APR 2,08
(IsraelNN.com) Animal rights group Tnoo Lachayot Lichyot (Let the Animals Live) is threatening to take legal action to prevent the Jewish Temple movement from carrying out an educational demonstration of the Pesach (Passover) sacrifice next week. The group's chairman, Attorney Reuven Ladiansky, sent a letter to Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski and to Temple Institute Director Yehuda Glick, urging them to cancel the planned event or face legal action. The group sees the planned sacrifice as an act of illegal cruelty to an animal.
Temple pilgrimage in ancient times.The Temple Institute
The demonstration of the Paschal sacrifice is part of a study day scheduled to take place on Sunday, the First of Nissan (April 6), at the Kotel Yeshiva in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. The study day is a joint project of the Temple Institute, the Sanhedrin and the King David Museum. It was originally planned to take place one week later, but the organizers decided to dedicate it to the memory of the eight yeshiva boys murdered in Jerusalem recently, and to hold it on the 30th day after their death.The study day is to include a public sacrifice which is being termed a general rehearsal for the actual Pesach sacrifice on the Temple Mount, a ritual prescribed by the Torah but currently forbidden by the Israel government and courts.
Public sacrifices are allowed
Making the Paschal sacrifice is part of the religious freedom which is a basic human right and a cornerstone of democracy.Glick told Ynet Monday that according to Jewish law, abstaining from performing the sacrifice is an extremely serious offense, comparable in its severity to avoiding a brit (circumcision ceremony) for one's newborn boy. He explained that although Jewish law forbids Jews in an impure state (which all Jews are in as long as the Temple rites are not renewed) from entering the Temple area, an exception is made for public sacrifices like the Pesach sacrifice. The Temple movement recently sent a formal request to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Minister of Public Security Avi Dichter, to allow them to conduct the sacrifice on the Temple Mount. Making the Paschal sacrifice is part of the religious freedom which is a basic human right and a cornerstone of democracy, they wrote. Glick said, however, that the organizers have no intention of trying to ascend to the Mount without permission from the police.
A substitute should be used
According to the chairman of Tnoo Lachayot Lichyot,the demonstration sacrifice would violate the Israeli law which makes it illegal to torture animals or to kill them in a cruel way. Any use of animals for educational purposes requires prior approval by the Council for Experiments on Animals. Carrying out a general rehearsal in which a live animal is sacrificed for demonstrational purposes only, while a substitute – like a model of a sheep – can be used, is unjustified and unnecessary, he claimed.Another animal rights activist, Etti Altman, said the sacrifice has no place in an enlightened country.An animal rights activist said the sacrifice has no place in an enlightened country like Israel and quoted from the ancient Sifri biblical commentary which says: As God is called compassionate, so should you be compassionate.The Temple movement has conducted several Paschal sacrifices in recent years. The ceremonies took place in front of the Temple Mount, on a hill which is called the Hill of Hananyah, and on the Mount of Olives. These sacrifices, however, bore a symbolic nature and were seen as memorials to the real Pesach sacrifice, because Biblical law stipulates that the Pesach sacrifice can only be performed on the Temple Mount.
Court cited Special feelings
In Biblical times, pilgrims came to Jerusalem from all parts of the Land of Israel, each family bringing with it a lamb, which was sacrificed in the Temple. The family then took the lamb and roasted it according to the Bible's instructions, making sure it did not touch the oven or the ground during the roasting. Then each family sat together and ate the sacrifice. In 2007, the Temple Mount Faithful and the Sanhedrin rabbis purchased a herd of sheep and petitioned the Supreme Court to allow a Pesach sacrifice to be offered on the Temple Mount. However, the government and legal advisors to the police asked the Supreme Court to reject the plea. The act of bringing a sacrifice could threaten the general public's safety, they said, citing the Muslim public's special feelings for the Temple Mount and the possibility of a violent outbreak.Besides the planned Pesach sacrifice demonstration, next week's study day will include discussions regarding the possibility of using an electrical oven or a ceramic skewer for roasting the Pesach sacrifice.
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
Gold prices collapse on profit taking
Exposure towards gold, silver being scaled back
Losing lustre
The metal was down nearly Rs 220, trading at about Rs 11,690 per 10 gram on the bourses. Some analysts have ruled out the possibility of the metal returning to four-digit prices anytime soon; and surely not $ 1,200/oz as forecast until recently.G. Chandrashekhar
Mumbai, April 1 Gold prices are seen collapsing, for the second day running. In the London market, around noon today, the yellow metal moved below the psychological $900 an ounce to trade at around $895/oz. Silver breached $17/oz. Fears over recession and decline of the broader financial markets that created liquidity crunch pushed investors into exiting long positions. The latest CFTC data reveal a mixed sentiment towards the entire precious metals complex.
Exposure towards gold and silver is being scaled back.
According to analysts, during week ended March 25, net fund length in Comex silver declined heavily (down 18 per cent week-on-week).
Net fund length in gold declined by 16,300 lots primarily on the back of long liquidation, even as prices dropped by over $40 during the period. Interestingly, despite profit taking, overall speculative positions in Comex gold still remain large. They are only 36,000 lots away from record highs reached earlier in the year. This creates a downside risk. The domestic market continues to reflect global trends. The metal was down, trading at about Rs 11,690 per 10 gm on the bourses. Investors are rushing to sell off. There has no doubt been strong consumer resistance at higher price levels. The question from now onwards is whether investors will return to the market. Gold, it is widely believed, still has some downside left. There is the possibility of prices first touching $880/oz, and possibly move towards $850/oz.
external factors
However, external factors such as inflationary concerns and broader economic concerns, geopolitical tensions and Fed rate easing are likely to stay in the background to prop the market. Some analysts have ruled out the possibility of the metal returning to four-digit prices anytime soon; and surely not $1,200/oz as forecast until recently. As greed pushed the market up, fear seems to be ruling the roost now.
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 Why Shorting the Dollar Now Could Be a Big Mistake By Louis Basenese Guest Columnist
Editor’s Note: Louis Basenese is the Associate Investment Director of The Oxford Club and regular contributor to Investment U. He is one of the top analysts and most sought after speakers on financial topics in the country. The following article first appeared in Investment U. We thought it was incredible and wanted to share it with Money Morning readers.The world is short the dollar right now. But that could be a big mistake… The outlook for the ailing greenback – finally – is getting healthier, which makes it the perfect time to go long.I know this is a wildly unpopular and completely contrarian stance, so let’s get right to it. Here are the 10 reasons I think the dollar’s headed for an inevitable reversal:
1. If Not the Dollar… Then What?
With the greenback getting clubbed, China shocked the world recently by suggesting it would diversify away from the dollar. To which I simply say – into what? The likely suspect is the euro, but there’s not enough liquidity to handle the demand. Plus, it’s still a pre-pubescent, experimental currency that not one government can invest in with 100% faith. Moreover, with two-thirds of foreign reserves in dollars, it would take more than eight years to replace the dollar as the currency of choice. Bottom line, while many complain about the decline of the dollar, there’s not much they can do about it now… except complain.
2. The Fed: From Enemy to Ally
Currently, the U.S. Federal Reserve is trading off higher inflation and a weak dollar for the promise of economic growth. In the short-term, this obviously weakens the greenback. But once the credit markets return to normal (or almost normal) and a recession is averted or exited, expect the Fed to act swiftly, raising rates as its main priority swings back to fighting inflation. This will instantaneously strengthen the dollar.
3. What Goes Down Eventually Goes Back Up
As we speak, the dollar is trading at multi-decade lows versus the British pound, Canadian loonie, the euro and the Japanese yen. The cyclicality of the markets instructs us that the pendulum will eventually swing back the other way. And with so many multi-year lows being hit, I’m confident we’re near the turning point.
4. Warren Buffett, Jim Rogers and Bill Gross CAN Be Wrong
Believe it or not, three of perhaps the greatest investors of our time are not right 100% of the time. As we speak, all three hate the dollar…We’ve told all of our clients that if you only had one idea, one investment, it would be to buy an investment in a non- dollar currency.Bill Gross.We still are negative on the dollar relative to most major currencies, so we bought stocks in companies that earn their money in other currencies.Warren Buffett.And Jim Rogers sold his house and all his possessions denominated in dollars because the dollar is collapsing.And I think they’re wrong. Plus, they’re entitled to change their minds. And they won’t put out a press release if they do, as another legendary investor proved…
A trader named Jean-Manuel Rozan once spent an entire afternoon arguing about the stock market with George Soros. Soros was vehemently bearish, and he had an elaborate theory to explain why, which turned out to be entirely wrong. The stock market boomed.
Two years later, Rozan ran into Soros at a tennis tournament. Do you remember our conversation? Rozan asked. I recall it very well, Soros replied. I changed my mind, and made an absolute fortune.In the end, being a dollar bear just on account of these three investment greats is a risky move. They’re human just like the rest of us… and destined to be wrong every now and again. I’m convinced that’s the case this time because the dollar downturn is getting too long in the tooth.
5. Pop-Culture Even Hates It
In a recent music video, rapper Jay-Z opts for a suitcase full of euros instead of dollars. And supermodel Gisele Bündchen now wants to be paid in euros. I don’t think you can get a more clear-cut contrarian indicator than popular culture “hating” on the dollar to such extremes.
6. The Most Unlikely & Unsophisticated Are Speculating
More troubling is the fact the most unlikely and unsophisticated investors are now speculating against the dollar – wine merchants and antique shop owners. Reuters reports Euros Accepted signs are popping up throughout New York City. Why?
We had decided that money is money and we’ll take it and just do the exchange whenever we can with our bank, Robert Chu, owner of East Village Wines. Not to be outdone, antique storeowner Billy Leroy takes euros and doesn’t even bother to exchange them, according to Reuters.
Sounds like two sound investment plans to me!
Look, when the wine merchants and corner store owners start trying to earn an extra buck by speculating in the foreign currency market, instead of focusing on their business, we’re near a bottom. Think of it as almost the equivalent of the day-trading phenomenon we witnessed during the dot-com days, just in the currency markets. People giving up their professions to make a living doing something they know almost nothing about.
7. Psst! Did You Hear About the Amero?
Another contrarian sign we’re at an extreme bottom – talk of the Amero or Americo is popping up again. First floated by Dr. Herbert G. Grubel of the Fraser Institute in 1999, this is largely a conspiracy theory that the governments of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico are secretly planning to launch a unified currency to compete with the euro. This is such a bad idea on so many levels I can’t get into them all here. Just trust me, the world’s largest economy is not going to relinquish macroeconomic control by opting for a unified currency.
8. A REALLY Weak Dollar Helps No One
OK, back to more acceptable arguments. While many countries may dislike Americans, they dislike a really weak dollar even more. It makes U.S. exports attractive and all but forces them to patronize the enemy. And in turn, their manufacturing industries suffer. So don’t expect many governments to fight a modestly stronger dollar. If anything, when the reversal begins, they might encourage it.
9. We’re Not Decoupled Yet
A slowing U.S. economy affects the rest of the world… with a delay. According to Stephen Roach of Morgan Stanley (MS), For Euroland, historically, the delay has been one or two quarters. I’ll concede decoupling is a possibility, but not this time around. We’re already seeing weakness here spark sell-offs abroad. So while this may be last time the rest of the world comes down with us, they will nonetheless. In turn, this will provide a bottom for the dollar.
10. Stocks Love A Strong Dollar
If you’re not with me on the bullish dollar stance yet, but are invested in equities, you need to reconsider. Despite conventional wisdom, a weak dollar is NOT beneficial to the stock market. And here’s the proof from the Bespoke Investment Group:Since 1967, the dollar has had four up cycles and five down cycles. The average return of the S&P 500 during the four up cycles is a gain of 86.6%, which is over five times the average return of 16.4% during dollar declines.So if you want your stocks to go up (by a wide margin), history shows you should also want the dollar to go up.In short, the dollar might be traded like funny money right now, but it won’t last forever. In the near-term, I do expect more pressure to the downside, but a turn is coming. The fact that the dollar didn’t utterly collapse when the Fed cut interest rates 125 basis points in eight days only strengthens my conviction here.And rest assured, when the dollar bears turn into dollar bulls, the change will come swiftly.
Louis Basenese spent years with one of the country’s leading investment and brokerage firms as a top analyst and trading expert, specializing in corporate takeovers and IPOs. He is now the Associate Investment Director of The Oxford Club and regularly contributes his ideas to Investment U.
FALSE TEACHERS,PROPHETS,DECIEVERS
MATTHEW 24:4-5,11,24-25
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25 Behold, I have told you before.
1 TIMOTHY 4:1-2
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
MARK 13:22-23
22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
23 But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.
2 TIMOTHY 3:13
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
Cult still waits for world Apocalypse
Last Updated : Wednesday 02 Apr, 2008
Fourteen members of a doomsday sect have left a cave in western Russia after almost five months waiting for the end of the world, leaving 14 more behind. Two cells collapsed so they had to leave early, Anton Sharonov, a spokesman for the local administration in Penza region said. Fourteen people came to the surface, including two children, he said. Thirty-five members of the Orthodox sect, including four children, barricaded themselves in the cave five months ago to await the Apocalypse, which they calculated would come in May 2008. Before leaving the cave yesterday, the 14 members asked for guarantees that they could retreat to a house in the village and wait for the Apocalypse there.
After a different part of the cave collapsed last week, seven cult members came out after negotiations with their leader, Pyotr Kuznetsov, who stayed on the surface when his followers went into the cave. Kuznetsov was released from a psychiatric hospital as part of the negotiations and now lives with the sect in the village. During talks with officials in recent months, cult members had threatened to blow themselves up with gas canisters if police tried to get them out by force.We were saved by a miracle, said Sharonov, saying that the most hardened members of the sect, including one man who had threatened officials with gun, were among those who left the cave yesterday. But worries remain about the 14 people left underground, including two young girls - one of them just two years old.Flood water caused parts of the cave to collapse, said Penza deputy governor Oleg Melnichenko, but the remaining followers are in a section that is safe from collapse. Russian authorities on Monday had brought in an Orthodox priest specialising in apocalyptic literature to persuade the sect members to come out.
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).
Polish Parliament Approves EU Treaty
By VOA News 01 April 2008
Members of the Polish government vote to adopt new EU treaty during a special session of the Parliament in Warsaw, 01 Apr 2008
Poland's parliament has overwhelmingly passed a bill approving ratification of the new European Union treaty after weeks of political infighting.Lawmakers in the lower house voted 384 to 56 Tuesday to adopt the charter, which replaces the much-maligned EU constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005. Poland's upper house is expected to pass the bill Wednesday and President Lech Kaczynski is expected to sign it.The approval follows weeks of wrangling between Poland's pro-European government and the nationalist opposition, which argued the EU Treaty will limit Polish sovereignty.To resolve the dispute, lawmakers adopted a separate resolution saying the Polish constitution has supremacy over the EU charter.The EU Treaty requires the approval of all 27 member countries. France, Hungary, Slovenia, Malta and Romania have already ratified the treaty, which is designed to streamline decision-making and unify the bloc's foreign policy objectives.Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
France expects EU to invite Dalai Lama to Brussels
Tue Apr 1, 2008 1:28pm EDT
PARIS/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Tuesday he expected he and his European Union counterparts would invite the Dalai Lama to Brussels soon.Slovenian foreign minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country holds the EU presidency, said an invitation was do-able, but would have to be agreed by all 27 EU members.Such a move is likely to anger Beijing, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel did when she met the Dalai Lama last year, prompting a four-month chill in relations with China, a crucial market for many European companies.EU foreign ministers issued a joint statement on Saturday expressing strong concern over the situation in Tibet, where violent anti-Chinese protests have erupted, and called for dialogue between the Dalai Lama and Beijing.
I think that these 27 foreign ministers will invite the Dalai Lama to Brussels, Kouchner told RTL radio, adding he thought the invitation could happen soon.But Rupel said more time would be needed before the Dalai Lama could be invited to Brussels.The French minister has proposed to invite the Dalai Lama. Now I have not had time to really think about this. It sounds like a do-able idea but let's look around a little bit and let's give it another thought, he said.Everybody is concerned with the situation in Tibet but give me a few hours to think about it.Asked whether Tibet's spiritual leader would be invited to a meeting of EU foreign ministers in the coming months, the bloc's foreign policy chief Javier Solana told reporters: Continued...I don't know, at this moment I don't have any impression in particular of that.
The unrest in Tibet began with peaceful marches by Buddhist monks in Lhasa last month. Within days, riots erupted in which non-Tibetan Chinese migrants were attacked and their property burned, prompting a security crackdown.China says Tibetan mobs killed 19 people. The Tibetan government-in-exile says 140 died in Lhasa and elsewhere, most of them Tibetan victims of security forces.British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he will meet the Dalai Lama in May. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made no such commitment and Prime Minister Francois Fillon was cautious about the idea of a visit to Paris.We have not said we wouldn't do it, he told France Inter radio. We just say: What counts in this business? It's getting the Chinese government to move.You can be happy about speeches you make from a setting where you don't risk anything but what counts are results and we think that for the moment, you get results by talking directly to the Chinese government.(Reporting by Francois Murphy in Paris and Darren Ennis and Ingrid Melander in Brussels; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Russia's Putin could be voted in as PM on May 8
Reuters - Wednesday, April 2M
OSCOW - Russia's parliament could confirm Vladimir Putin as the new prime minister the day after his protege Dmitry Medvedev is sworn in to replace him as president, the speaker of parliament said on Tuesday.I Am: A Man A Woman Looking for: A Woman A Man Putin is stepping down as president because of constitutional term limits. He has said he will serve as prime minister under Medvedev, who will be sworn in on May 7. Asked by reporters if Putin's confirmation vote could be held on May 8, parliamentary speaker Boris Gryzlov said Why put it off? Russia's Interfax news agency reported.I think it is quite realistic there will be a situation where senators and deputies will gather and support the candidacy of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, the agency quoted Gryzlov as saying.Kremlin loyalists have a huge majority in the lower house of parliament and Putin is likely to be confirmed with ease.If the vote is on May 8, it would be unusually quick. Previous presidents taking office have needed several days after their inauguration to have their prime ministerial choices confirmed by parliament.
That schedule would also leave little time for Putin to follow the traditional procedure of coming to parliament and meeting with faction leaders before the vote.Putin has said he wants to remain influential in Russian politics and analysts have speculated that as prime minister he, not Medvedev, will be the real power in the land.Russian newspapers, citing sources in parliament, reported on Tuesday that a final decision had not yet been taken on when to hold Putin's confirmation vote. They said the date would be announced by April 14.
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.
Date Posted: Tuesday 01 April, 2008 Caribbean at risk for Tsunamis, Scientists confirm By Ryan Haas Reporter-SKNVibes.com
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts- Some of the leading scientists in the field of Oceanography, Geology and Geophysics are speculating that the possibility of the Caribbean region experiencing a major tsunami in the eminent future is only a matter of time. A tsunami disaster is highly likely in the future as six damaging tsunamis have occurred in the last century. These are most likely to be more damaging than past events as the coastal areas are more developed, asserts a University of the West Indies research report written by James Lander.Lander goes on to document the near 2400 fatalities that tsunamis have caused throughout the Caribbean from 1692-1946, and concludes that the current history is sufficient to indicate that there is a significant hazard from future tsunamis.Following the tragic loss of 230,000 lives in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, some experts have said there has never been a greater need for an effective regional tsunami warning system in the Caribbean. The situation in the Indian Ocean was similar to the Caribbean. Nobody believed it would happen, but it happened, said Peter Koltermann, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNIOC), during a March 26th conference regarding coastal hazard warning systems.
Koltermann, the thirteen Caribbean nations and the six regional organizations in attendance at the conference all concluded that a regional warning infrastructure similar to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, which temporarily serves the Caribbean, must be put in place no later than 2010.The warning system would be comprised of several early alert systems, such as earthquake and tidal monitors, as well as a variety of communications technologies to ensure that citizens of the Caribbean would have as much time as possible to head for higher ground during a deadly tsunami.
Tsunamis occur when large bodies of water, such as oceans, become rapidly displaced. This is often due to earthquake causing collisions between the tectonic plates that make up the surface of the Earth. The Puerto Rico Oceanic Trench, which lies just north of the Federation and is a major subduction zone like the one that caused the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, has been the source of several geological and oceanographic studies for it potential to cause tsunami events.Our results indicate that great subduction zone earthquakes, which often occur in the deep trenches offshore, have the potential to add stress or trigger earthquakes on other faults on the nearby islands, said Jian Lin, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute Geology and Geophysics Department. Jin speculates that these quakes would register 7.5 or more on the Richter Scale, substantially stronger than the earthquake that shook St. Kitts in November of 2007, and would make a major tsunami only a matter of time.The council has yet to decide where such a centre would be located, with Barbados, Puerto Rico and Venezuela all being named as potential hosts. The UNIOC has planned another meeting in July to present its US $250,000 per year plan for the technical, logistical and administrative requirements of a Regional Tsunami Warning Centre.
Tornadoes confirmed in Johnson County storm
06:09 PM CDT on Tuesday, April 1, 2008 From Staff Reports
The National Weather Service confirmed Tuesday that two brief tornadoes touched down in northern Johnson County during powerful storms on Monday afternoon. Based on interviews with witnesses and damage assessments, the agency said the first tornado struck one mile west of Godley around 3 p.m. Several sheds and outbuildings were toppled or destroyed, power lines were knocked down and fences were damaged. Ten minutes later, a mobile home was destroyed four miles east-northeast of Godley. A car and a shed were also heavily damaged.The weather service said both storms were rated EF-0 on the enhanced Fujita scale, with peak winds of 80 to 85 mph. Owners of companies that repair roofs and fences already were hearing Tuesday from customers who went through Monday’s bout of severe weather.
We've gotten a lot of calls already this morning, said Tina Anderson, who owns a roof repair shop in Lewisville with her husband Marc Anderson. Although most of Dallas County avoided the fast-moving storms, some nearby counties were not so lucky.
Meteorologist Steve Fano of the National Weather Service in Fort Worth said Monday's storms hit Denton, Ellis and Johnson counties the hardest. The small towns of Godley and Keene in Johnson County may have suffered tornado damage and Denton County received an inch and a half of hail, he said. Mr. Fano said North Texas residents should expect more rain and thunderstorms Wednesday with hail-producing storms and damaging wind gusts on Thursday. Mrs. Anderson, a 45-year-old resident of Highland Village, said customers called in to report damaged gutters and skylights from Monday’s storms. Some customers were concerned about their roofs because they had shingles in their grass, but Mrs. Anderson said sometimes those can be from their neighbor's home. We got major hail out here, Mrs. Anderson said. We got baseball-sized hail. We have to check our own roof.Mrs. Anderson said many people want to check their roofs for damages, but she advised them to stay off until they are dry – probably by noon Tuesday. It's hard to tell what kind of damage has been done when it's wet, she said. Grant Embree, who owns a landscape repair business in Flower Mound, said the price of lumber for fixing fences has doubled in the last six to eight months and the increase is reflected in the costs of repair. The price of wood is so astronomically high, you can't raise the prices enough to compensate, Mr. Embree said. Being in this business is hard because there's companies that will come in and undercut you.
Chris Dandridge said several customers already had dropped off their hail-damaged cars at Goodyear Gemini Auto Service in Highland Village. Mr. Dandridge said he was surprised by the hail, but the damage he has seen so far is not as severe as he expected. Monday’s rains also flattened tires, as well as spirits, for drivers on the Dallas North Tollway, thanks to washed out pavement on northbound lanes between Cedar Springs Road and Lemmon Avenue. The North Texas Tollway Authority said at least 15 drivers have filed claims with the agency after sustaining flat tires Monday evening. Bills for towing and repairs will be paid, NTTA spokeswoman Sherita Coffelt said. A contractor for the agency had diverted traffic onto new lanes beginning at about 5 a.m. Monday, said Ms. Coffelt. But by Monday afternoon, the paving materials used to smooth the transition from the old lanes to the news ones had been washed away, she said Tuesday. The contractor, Austin Bridge and Road, was made aware of the problem when one of its own vehicles sustained a flat tire Monday evening, she said. Once alerted, NTTA crews responded and repairs the road at about 9 p.m. The flat tires occurred between about 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., according to statements filed with the claims received so far, Ms. Coffelt said. NTTA’s insurance coordinator is handling the claims, which will be paid by the contractor, Ms. Coffelt said. Drivers who sustained damage may call NTTA at 214-461-2000 and ask for the insurance coordinator, she said. Dallas Morning News staff writers Andrew McLemore and Michael A. Lindenberger and WFAA.com contributed to this report.
SIGNS IN THE SUN, MOON AND STARS
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.
April 2, 2008 Tsunami sweeps across the Sun
Mark Henderson
Remarkable images of a solar tsunami spreading across the face of the Sun have been captured by a pair of spacecraft. The tsunami of superheated gas, caused by a huge explosion known as a coronal mass ejection, took only 35 minutes to cross almost the entire Sun. The solar tsunami, last May 19, was watched by Nasa’s twin Stereo probes. David Long, who led the research team of astronomers from Trinity College Dublin, said: The energy released in these explosions is about two billion times the annual world energy consumption in a fraction of a second.
REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE (THE EU DICTATORS TEMPLE)
REVELATION 11:1-2
1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
DANIEL 9:27
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
REBUILT 4TH TEMPLE (THE TRUE MESSIAHS TEMPLE)
ZECHARIAH 6:12-13
12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
13 Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
ISAIAH 60:9-10
9 Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.
10 And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.
ISAIAH 2:1-5
1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
MARK 11:9-10,15-17
9 And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:
10 Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.
15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
16 And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.
EZEKIEL 40 TO 48 IS THIS 4TH TEMPLE TO BIG FOR THE MOUNT I BELIEVE TO BE BUILT 25 MILES FROM JERUSALEM.
Animal Rights Group Challenges Instructional Pesach Sacrifice by Gil Ronen APR 2,08
(IsraelNN.com) Animal rights group Tnoo Lachayot Lichyot (Let the Animals Live) is threatening to take legal action to prevent the Jewish Temple movement from carrying out an educational demonstration of the Pesach (Passover) sacrifice next week. The group's chairman, Attorney Reuven Ladiansky, sent a letter to Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski and to Temple Institute Director Yehuda Glick, urging them to cancel the planned event or face legal action. The group sees the planned sacrifice as an act of illegal cruelty to an animal.
Temple pilgrimage in ancient times.The Temple Institute
The demonstration of the Paschal sacrifice is part of a study day scheduled to take place on Sunday, the First of Nissan (April 6), at the Kotel Yeshiva in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. The study day is a joint project of the Temple Institute, the Sanhedrin and the King David Museum. It was originally planned to take place one week later, but the organizers decided to dedicate it to the memory of the eight yeshiva boys murdered in Jerusalem recently, and to hold it on the 30th day after their death.The study day is to include a public sacrifice which is being termed a general rehearsal for the actual Pesach sacrifice on the Temple Mount, a ritual prescribed by the Torah but currently forbidden by the Israel government and courts.
Public sacrifices are allowed
Making the Paschal sacrifice is part of the religious freedom which is a basic human right and a cornerstone of democracy.Glick told Ynet Monday that according to Jewish law, abstaining from performing the sacrifice is an extremely serious offense, comparable in its severity to avoiding a brit (circumcision ceremony) for one's newborn boy. He explained that although Jewish law forbids Jews in an impure state (which all Jews are in as long as the Temple rites are not renewed) from entering the Temple area, an exception is made for public sacrifices like the Pesach sacrifice. The Temple movement recently sent a formal request to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Minister of Public Security Avi Dichter, to allow them to conduct the sacrifice on the Temple Mount. Making the Paschal sacrifice is part of the religious freedom which is a basic human right and a cornerstone of democracy, they wrote. Glick said, however, that the organizers have no intention of trying to ascend to the Mount without permission from the police.
A substitute should be used
According to the chairman of Tnoo Lachayot Lichyot,the demonstration sacrifice would violate the Israeli law which makes it illegal to torture animals or to kill them in a cruel way. Any use of animals for educational purposes requires prior approval by the Council for Experiments on Animals. Carrying out a general rehearsal in which a live animal is sacrificed for demonstrational purposes only, while a substitute – like a model of a sheep – can be used, is unjustified and unnecessary, he claimed.Another animal rights activist, Etti Altman, said the sacrifice has no place in an enlightened country.An animal rights activist said the sacrifice has no place in an enlightened country like Israel and quoted from the ancient Sifri biblical commentary which says: As God is called compassionate, so should you be compassionate.The Temple movement has conducted several Paschal sacrifices in recent years. The ceremonies took place in front of the Temple Mount, on a hill which is called the Hill of Hananyah, and on the Mount of Olives. These sacrifices, however, bore a symbolic nature and were seen as memorials to the real Pesach sacrifice, because Biblical law stipulates that the Pesach sacrifice can only be performed on the Temple Mount.
Court cited Special feelings
In Biblical times, pilgrims came to Jerusalem from all parts of the Land of Israel, each family bringing with it a lamb, which was sacrificed in the Temple. The family then took the lamb and roasted it according to the Bible's instructions, making sure it did not touch the oven or the ground during the roasting. Then each family sat together and ate the sacrifice. In 2007, the Temple Mount Faithful and the Sanhedrin rabbis purchased a herd of sheep and petitioned the Supreme Court to allow a Pesach sacrifice to be offered on the Temple Mount. However, the government and legal advisors to the police asked the Supreme Court to reject the plea. The act of bringing a sacrifice could threaten the general public's safety, they said, citing the Muslim public's special feelings for the Temple Mount and the possibility of a violent outbreak.Besides the planned Pesach sacrifice demonstration, next week's study day will include discussions regarding the possibility of using an electrical oven or a ceramic skewer for roasting the Pesach sacrifice.
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
Gold prices collapse on profit taking
Exposure towards gold, silver being scaled back
Losing lustre
The metal was down nearly Rs 220, trading at about Rs 11,690 per 10 gram on the bourses. Some analysts have ruled out the possibility of the metal returning to four-digit prices anytime soon; and surely not $ 1,200/oz as forecast until recently.G. Chandrashekhar
Mumbai, April 1 Gold prices are seen collapsing, for the second day running. In the London market, around noon today, the yellow metal moved below the psychological $900 an ounce to trade at around $895/oz. Silver breached $17/oz. Fears over recession and decline of the broader financial markets that created liquidity crunch pushed investors into exiting long positions. The latest CFTC data reveal a mixed sentiment towards the entire precious metals complex.
Exposure towards gold and silver is being scaled back.
According to analysts, during week ended March 25, net fund length in Comex silver declined heavily (down 18 per cent week-on-week).
Net fund length in gold declined by 16,300 lots primarily on the back of long liquidation, even as prices dropped by over $40 during the period. Interestingly, despite profit taking, overall speculative positions in Comex gold still remain large. They are only 36,000 lots away from record highs reached earlier in the year. This creates a downside risk. The domestic market continues to reflect global trends. The metal was down, trading at about Rs 11,690 per 10 gm on the bourses. Investors are rushing to sell off. There has no doubt been strong consumer resistance at higher price levels. The question from now onwards is whether investors will return to the market. Gold, it is widely believed, still has some downside left. There is the possibility of prices first touching $880/oz, and possibly move towards $850/oz.
external factors
However, external factors such as inflationary concerns and broader economic concerns, geopolitical tensions and Fed rate easing are likely to stay in the background to prop the market. Some analysts have ruled out the possibility of the metal returning to four-digit prices anytime soon; and surely not $1,200/oz as forecast until recently. As greed pushed the market up, fear seems to be ruling the roost now.
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 Why Shorting the Dollar Now Could Be a Big Mistake By Louis Basenese Guest Columnist
Editor’s Note: Louis Basenese is the Associate Investment Director of The Oxford Club and regular contributor to Investment U. He is one of the top analysts and most sought after speakers on financial topics in the country. The following article first appeared in Investment U. We thought it was incredible and wanted to share it with Money Morning readers.The world is short the dollar right now. But that could be a big mistake… The outlook for the ailing greenback – finally – is getting healthier, which makes it the perfect time to go long.I know this is a wildly unpopular and completely contrarian stance, so let’s get right to it. Here are the 10 reasons I think the dollar’s headed for an inevitable reversal:
1. If Not the Dollar… Then What?
With the greenback getting clubbed, China shocked the world recently by suggesting it would diversify away from the dollar. To which I simply say – into what? The likely suspect is the euro, but there’s not enough liquidity to handle the demand. Plus, it’s still a pre-pubescent, experimental currency that not one government can invest in with 100% faith. Moreover, with two-thirds of foreign reserves in dollars, it would take more than eight years to replace the dollar as the currency of choice. Bottom line, while many complain about the decline of the dollar, there’s not much they can do about it now… except complain.
2. The Fed: From Enemy to Ally
Currently, the U.S. Federal Reserve is trading off higher inflation and a weak dollar for the promise of economic growth. In the short-term, this obviously weakens the greenback. But once the credit markets return to normal (or almost normal) and a recession is averted or exited, expect the Fed to act swiftly, raising rates as its main priority swings back to fighting inflation. This will instantaneously strengthen the dollar.
3. What Goes Down Eventually Goes Back Up
As we speak, the dollar is trading at multi-decade lows versus the British pound, Canadian loonie, the euro and the Japanese yen. The cyclicality of the markets instructs us that the pendulum will eventually swing back the other way. And with so many multi-year lows being hit, I’m confident we’re near the turning point.
4. Warren Buffett, Jim Rogers and Bill Gross CAN Be Wrong
Believe it or not, three of perhaps the greatest investors of our time are not right 100% of the time. As we speak, all three hate the dollar…We’ve told all of our clients that if you only had one idea, one investment, it would be to buy an investment in a non- dollar currency.Bill Gross.We still are negative on the dollar relative to most major currencies, so we bought stocks in companies that earn their money in other currencies.Warren Buffett.And Jim Rogers sold his house and all his possessions denominated in dollars because the dollar is collapsing.And I think they’re wrong. Plus, they’re entitled to change their minds. And they won’t put out a press release if they do, as another legendary investor proved…
A trader named Jean-Manuel Rozan once spent an entire afternoon arguing about the stock market with George Soros. Soros was vehemently bearish, and he had an elaborate theory to explain why, which turned out to be entirely wrong. The stock market boomed.
Two years later, Rozan ran into Soros at a tennis tournament. Do you remember our conversation? Rozan asked. I recall it very well, Soros replied. I changed my mind, and made an absolute fortune.In the end, being a dollar bear just on account of these three investment greats is a risky move. They’re human just like the rest of us… and destined to be wrong every now and again. I’m convinced that’s the case this time because the dollar downturn is getting too long in the tooth.
5. Pop-Culture Even Hates It
In a recent music video, rapper Jay-Z opts for a suitcase full of euros instead of dollars. And supermodel Gisele Bündchen now wants to be paid in euros. I don’t think you can get a more clear-cut contrarian indicator than popular culture “hating” on the dollar to such extremes.
6. The Most Unlikely & Unsophisticated Are Speculating
More troubling is the fact the most unlikely and unsophisticated investors are now speculating against the dollar – wine merchants and antique shop owners. Reuters reports Euros Accepted signs are popping up throughout New York City. Why?
We had decided that money is money and we’ll take it and just do the exchange whenever we can with our bank, Robert Chu, owner of East Village Wines. Not to be outdone, antique storeowner Billy Leroy takes euros and doesn’t even bother to exchange them, according to Reuters.
Sounds like two sound investment plans to me!
Look, when the wine merchants and corner store owners start trying to earn an extra buck by speculating in the foreign currency market, instead of focusing on their business, we’re near a bottom. Think of it as almost the equivalent of the day-trading phenomenon we witnessed during the dot-com days, just in the currency markets. People giving up their professions to make a living doing something they know almost nothing about.
7. Psst! Did You Hear About the Amero?
Another contrarian sign we’re at an extreme bottom – talk of the Amero or Americo is popping up again. First floated by Dr. Herbert G. Grubel of the Fraser Institute in 1999, this is largely a conspiracy theory that the governments of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico are secretly planning to launch a unified currency to compete with the euro. This is such a bad idea on so many levels I can’t get into them all here. Just trust me, the world’s largest economy is not going to relinquish macroeconomic control by opting for a unified currency.
8. A REALLY Weak Dollar Helps No One
OK, back to more acceptable arguments. While many countries may dislike Americans, they dislike a really weak dollar even more. It makes U.S. exports attractive and all but forces them to patronize the enemy. And in turn, their manufacturing industries suffer. So don’t expect many governments to fight a modestly stronger dollar. If anything, when the reversal begins, they might encourage it.
9. We’re Not Decoupled Yet
A slowing U.S. economy affects the rest of the world… with a delay. According to Stephen Roach of Morgan Stanley (MS), For Euroland, historically, the delay has been one or two quarters. I’ll concede decoupling is a possibility, but not this time around. We’re already seeing weakness here spark sell-offs abroad. So while this may be last time the rest of the world comes down with us, they will nonetheless. In turn, this will provide a bottom for the dollar.
10. Stocks Love A Strong Dollar
If you’re not with me on the bullish dollar stance yet, but are invested in equities, you need to reconsider. Despite conventional wisdom, a weak dollar is NOT beneficial to the stock market. And here’s the proof from the Bespoke Investment Group:Since 1967, the dollar has had four up cycles and five down cycles. The average return of the S&P 500 during the four up cycles is a gain of 86.6%, which is over five times the average return of 16.4% during dollar declines.So if you want your stocks to go up (by a wide margin), history shows you should also want the dollar to go up.In short, the dollar might be traded like funny money right now, but it won’t last forever. In the near-term, I do expect more pressure to the downside, but a turn is coming. The fact that the dollar didn’t utterly collapse when the Fed cut interest rates 125 basis points in eight days only strengthens my conviction here.And rest assured, when the dollar bears turn into dollar bulls, the change will come swiftly.
Louis Basenese spent years with one of the country’s leading investment and brokerage firms as a top analyst and trading expert, specializing in corporate takeovers and IPOs. He is now the Associate Investment Director of The Oxford Club and regularly contributes his ideas to Investment U.
FALSE TEACHERS,PROPHETS,DECIEVERS
MATTHEW 24:4-5,11,24-25
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25 Behold, I have told you before.
1 TIMOTHY 4:1-2
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
MARK 13:22-23
22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
23 But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.
2 TIMOTHY 3:13
13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
Cult still waits for world Apocalypse
Last Updated : Wednesday 02 Apr, 2008
Fourteen members of a doomsday sect have left a cave in western Russia after almost five months waiting for the end of the world, leaving 14 more behind. Two cells collapsed so they had to leave early, Anton Sharonov, a spokesman for the local administration in Penza region said. Fourteen people came to the surface, including two children, he said. Thirty-five members of the Orthodox sect, including four children, barricaded themselves in the cave five months ago to await the Apocalypse, which they calculated would come in May 2008. Before leaving the cave yesterday, the 14 members asked for guarantees that they could retreat to a house in the village and wait for the Apocalypse there.
After a different part of the cave collapsed last week, seven cult members came out after negotiations with their leader, Pyotr Kuznetsov, who stayed on the surface when his followers went into the cave. Kuznetsov was released from a psychiatric hospital as part of the negotiations and now lives with the sect in the village. During talks with officials in recent months, cult members had threatened to blow themselves up with gas canisters if police tried to get them out by force.We were saved by a miracle, said Sharonov, saying that the most hardened members of the sect, including one man who had threatened officials with gun, were among those who left the cave yesterday. But worries remain about the 14 people left underground, including two young girls - one of them just two years old.Flood water caused parts of the cave to collapse, said Penza deputy governor Oleg Melnichenko, but the remaining followers are in a section that is safe from collapse. Russian authorities on Monday had brought in an Orthodox priest specialising in apocalyptic literature to persuade the sect members to come out.
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).
Polish Parliament Approves EU Treaty
By VOA News 01 April 2008
Members of the Polish government vote to adopt new EU treaty during a special session of the Parliament in Warsaw, 01 Apr 2008
Poland's parliament has overwhelmingly passed a bill approving ratification of the new European Union treaty after weeks of political infighting.Lawmakers in the lower house voted 384 to 56 Tuesday to adopt the charter, which replaces the much-maligned EU constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005. Poland's upper house is expected to pass the bill Wednesday and President Lech Kaczynski is expected to sign it.The approval follows weeks of wrangling between Poland's pro-European government and the nationalist opposition, which argued the EU Treaty will limit Polish sovereignty.To resolve the dispute, lawmakers adopted a separate resolution saying the Polish constitution has supremacy over the EU charter.The EU Treaty requires the approval of all 27 member countries. France, Hungary, Slovenia, Malta and Romania have already ratified the treaty, which is designed to streamline decision-making and unify the bloc's foreign policy objectives.Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
France expects EU to invite Dalai Lama to Brussels
Tue Apr 1, 2008 1:28pm EDT
PARIS/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Tuesday he expected he and his European Union counterparts would invite the Dalai Lama to Brussels soon.Slovenian foreign minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country holds the EU presidency, said an invitation was do-able, but would have to be agreed by all 27 EU members.Such a move is likely to anger Beijing, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel did when she met the Dalai Lama last year, prompting a four-month chill in relations with China, a crucial market for many European companies.EU foreign ministers issued a joint statement on Saturday expressing strong concern over the situation in Tibet, where violent anti-Chinese protests have erupted, and called for dialogue between the Dalai Lama and Beijing.
I think that these 27 foreign ministers will invite the Dalai Lama to Brussels, Kouchner told RTL radio, adding he thought the invitation could happen soon.But Rupel said more time would be needed before the Dalai Lama could be invited to Brussels.The French minister has proposed to invite the Dalai Lama. Now I have not had time to really think about this. It sounds like a do-able idea but let's look around a little bit and let's give it another thought, he said.Everybody is concerned with the situation in Tibet but give me a few hours to think about it.Asked whether Tibet's spiritual leader would be invited to a meeting of EU foreign ministers in the coming months, the bloc's foreign policy chief Javier Solana told reporters: Continued...I don't know, at this moment I don't have any impression in particular of that.
The unrest in Tibet began with peaceful marches by Buddhist monks in Lhasa last month. Within days, riots erupted in which non-Tibetan Chinese migrants were attacked and their property burned, prompting a security crackdown.China says Tibetan mobs killed 19 people. The Tibetan government-in-exile says 140 died in Lhasa and elsewhere, most of them Tibetan victims of security forces.British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he will meet the Dalai Lama in May. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made no such commitment and Prime Minister Francois Fillon was cautious about the idea of a visit to Paris.We have not said we wouldn't do it, he told France Inter radio. We just say: What counts in this business? It's getting the Chinese government to move.You can be happy about speeches you make from a setting where you don't risk anything but what counts are results and we think that for the moment, you get results by talking directly to the Chinese government.(Reporting by Francois Murphy in Paris and Darren Ennis and Ingrid Melander in Brussels; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Russia's Putin could be voted in as PM on May 8
Reuters - Wednesday, April 2M
OSCOW - Russia's parliament could confirm Vladimir Putin as the new prime minister the day after his protege Dmitry Medvedev is sworn in to replace him as president, the speaker of parliament said on Tuesday.I Am: A Man A Woman Looking for: A Woman A Man Putin is stepping down as president because of constitutional term limits. He has said he will serve as prime minister under Medvedev, who will be sworn in on May 7. Asked by reporters if Putin's confirmation vote could be held on May 8, parliamentary speaker Boris Gryzlov said Why put it off? Russia's Interfax news agency reported.I think it is quite realistic there will be a situation where senators and deputies will gather and support the candidacy of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, the agency quoted Gryzlov as saying.Kremlin loyalists have a huge majority in the lower house of parliament and Putin is likely to be confirmed with ease.If the vote is on May 8, it would be unusually quick. Previous presidents taking office have needed several days after their inauguration to have their prime ministerial choices confirmed by parliament.
That schedule would also leave little time for Putin to follow the traditional procedure of coming to parliament and meeting with faction leaders before the vote.Putin has said he wants to remain influential in Russian politics and analysts have speculated that as prime minister he, not Medvedev, will be the real power in the land.Russian newspapers, citing sources in parliament, reported on Tuesday that a final decision had not yet been taken on when to hold Putin's confirmation vote. They said the date would be announced by April 14.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
EU PROJECT - BIOMETRICS IVITED TO
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.
Warm weather means flood warnings across Ontario
Tue Apr 1, 8:27 AM
CALGARY (CBC) - The return of spring warmth has prompted warnings of another weather concern - flooding.Toronto is expected to reach a high on Tuesday of 14 C, and with a significant snow pack still on the ground, provincial officials say that could mean heavy flooding in watershed near London, Ont., Peterborough, right across eastern Ontario and stretching as far north as Elliot Lake and North Bay.Ian Cameron, a specialist at the Surface Water Monitoring Centre in Peterborough, said the combination of warm weather and rain is the worst.We could be into flooding this weekend, if the temperatures are going to be in the mid-teens and we get rainfall with that, he said.The centre uses 600 remote sensors to monitor river and lake levels, and Minister of Natural Resources Donna Cansfield said those cameras should be able to give people 48 hours notice of a flood threat.We want to ensure they have good, accurate solid information, so they can make some good decisions about whether they should evacuate or what they can do, said Cansfield.
Thunderstorms cause wind damage and outages in parts of Oklahoma and Louisiana Mon Mar 31, 11:43 AM By The Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY - Strong storms that may have included tornadoes caused scattered damage and power outages in parts of Oklahoma early Monday. No injuries were reported. The National Weather Service posted severe thunderstorm watches and warnings for parts of Oklahoma and Kansas. A tornado watch was issued for much of Oklahoma, including the Tulsa and Oklahoma City areas, and flash flood watches were issued because of heavy rain. The weather service said it hadn't confirmed yet whether the early morning Oklahoma damage was caused by tornadoes or by high wind. There were scattered reports of roof damage and several roads in northwest Oklahoma County were closed because of high water. Oklahoma Gas & Electric says several thousand customers were blacked out and dozens of utility poles were toppled. A storm in northwest Louisiana on Sunday afternoon damaged a mobile home park at the town of Provencal. Two people were injured. Also on Sunday, one man drowned in southeastern Texas when an overflowing creek swept a car off a highway near San Augustine. The weather service reported up to 30 centimetres of rain fell on the area over a two-day period.
REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE (THE EU DICTATORS TEMPLE)
REVELATION 11:1-2
1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
DANIEL 9:27
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
REBUILT 4TH TEMPLE (THE TRUE MESSIAHS TEMPLE)
ZECHARIAH 6:12-13
12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
13 Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
ISAIAH 60:9-10
9 Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.
10 And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.
ISAIAH 2:1-5
1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
MARK 11:9-10,15-17
9 And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:
10 Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.
15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
16 And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.
EZEKIEL 40 TO 48 IS THIS 4TH TEMPLE TO BIG FOR THE MOUNT I BELIEVE TO BE BUILT 25 MILES FROM JERUSALEM.
The World's Greatest Treasure Hunt Chris Mitchell
CBN News Mideast Bureau Chief April 1, 2008
CBNNews.com - In 1981, Indiana Jones made his big-screen debut re-igniting world-wide interest in history's most hunted relic: the Ark of the Covenant.That same year, two real-life raiders went on their own search for the Ark. There were no Nazis and no snake pits - like the movie.Just two renegade Rabbis on a mission. Their search came to an end in Jerusalem.God signed, like with a pen, the location where the Ark of the Covenant was located. You can see it today even, on the rock, said Gershon Salomon, Founder of Temple Mount Faithful.
Masada and Dead Sea
Designed by God, created by Moses, and revered by the Israelites, from the Sinai Desert to the Temple of Solomon, the Ark of the Covenant was the place of meeting between God and man.In 586 B.C., Israel was conquered by the Babylonians. The Temple was raided by Nebuchadnezzar's army and the Ark disappeared from the pages of history.What happened, why did this most dramatic instrument of God's glory and power in human history suddenly vanish?, questioned Joel Rosenberg, Author of Dead Heat.All what we know is legends, said Archaeologist Gabriel Barkay who believes the legends are what makes so many people interested in finding the Ark.Those legends stretch all over the ancient world - starting with Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.The Ark of the Covenant was made of wood and it was gold plated. Such an amount of gold would be melted down at the time of war immediately after it was captured, Barkay told CBN.When asked if he thought the Ark itself was destroyed at that time, Barkay told CBN that is what he believed.Jewish writings say the prophet Jeremiah hid the Ark on Mount Nebo in Jordan. Another legend claims it was smuggled to Ethiopia by the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.In Israel, most Rabbis agree that when it comes to the Ark all roads lead back to Jerusalem. They say the Ark never left the city. To them, the so-called Lost Ark was never really lost.
On June 7, 1967, Israeli troops recaptured Jerusalem in the Six-day War. The Western Wall was in Jewish hands and those hands were ready to dig.Archaeologists exposed parts of the wall that had been buried for 2000 years. Not all of the digging was done legally. In 1981, two of Israel's highest-ranking Rabbis, Shlomo Goren and Yehuda Getz picked up their pick-axes and started chiseling their way under the Temple Mount.And he knew that at the end of the gate he will come to the secret room where the ark of covenant is located, said Salomon, who was also one of the paratroopers who liberated the Western Wall in 1967.Salomon was there 14 years later the night Rabbi Getz opened a secret passage in the Wall and remembers their conversation.It was after midnight. And he called me and said to me, Gershon, come immediately, don't wait, your dream is going to be fulfilled. What happened?, I told him. The Messiah came? And he told me, He is coming almost.What came next was a subterranean slugftest according to Salomon.Arab demonstrations, you know? The Israelis are coming to build their temple underneath the dome of the rock.At the end of the day, the passage to the Temple Mount was permanently sealed by Israeli Police.No doubt, I tell you. No doubt, we needed just two days more to come to the place where the ark of the covenant is located, Salomon explained.
The work was done without archaeological supervision and when I was the official archaeologist of Jerusalem, I decided to stop the work, said Archaeologist Dan Bahat, who directed the excavation of the Western Wall tunnels.According to him, the search for the Ark stops with Jeremiah 3:16.Prophet Jeremiah says, there will come a day when the ark of the covenant will not be seen, nor will it be visited which means that somehow, he sees the days when it will not be there. In other words, this was a hint from God. Don't look for the Ark of the Covenant! Scholars may not agree on the fate of the Ark but many of them agree on one thing: it's discovery could set in motion another event that's been 2000 years in the making - the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple.Perhaps when it's time to build the third temple, the second temple treasures will be found. Why? Because in Ezra and Nehemiah the Bible indicated that when it was time to build the second temple, God restored the treasures from the first temple which of course have been carted off to Babylon, said Rosenberg.When it's time to build a third temple, the second temple's treasures would be found. Wouldn't that be dramatic?, he concluded.It is soon to come, I tell you, I promise you, and you check me. Test me. It will be in our lifetime, added Salomon.
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).
Poettering elected new president of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly by: Yossi Lempkowicz Updated: 31/Mar/2008 18:24
Regarding the Middle East, Hans-Gert Poettering (picture) called for a lasting solution for the conflict based on respect for human life, the achievement of security through reconciliation, and compliance with international law.Photo: European Parliament
ATHENS (EJP)---The head of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, was elected the new president of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA) during its annual plenary meeting in Athens on Friday. Poettering, a German Christian-Democrat, takes over the presidency for a period of one year on behalf of the European Parliament until March 2009.With Romania and Bulgaria joining the EU in 2007, the Assembly has expanded from 240 Members to 260 in total. 130 MPs now represent the European Union (49 MEPs and 81 MPs appointed by the parliaments of the 27 EU Member States) and 130 represent the national parliaments of the non-EU Mediterranean partners: Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey.
In his address, Poettering said the political priorities of his mandate will be the peace process in the Middle East and intercultural dialogue.Regarding the Middle East he called for a lasting solution for the conflict based on respect for human life, the achievement of security through reconciliation, and compliance with international law. He recalled the initiatives that have taken place in the European Parliament, including the solemn sessions with relevant personalities, his official visits to Arab countries and Israel, and the setting up of a Working Group on the Middle East.He also suggested that an extraordinary plenary meeting of the Assembly could take place in the Middle East region in the autumn. It would be devoted to the peace process as well as to concrete regional cross-border cooperation on concrete issues like water and energy.
Union for the Mediterranean
Earlier this month, European Union leaders backed a French plan to forge closer political ties with Europe's North African and Mideast neighbors along the Mediterranean Sea, called Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean.The project foresees the involvement of 39 partners, the 27-nation EU in addition to a dozen Mediterranean countries - from Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Morocco, Syria and Turkey.
France is scheduled to hold a summit on the issue in July when it takes over the six-month rotating EU presidency. The original EU’s Euromed programme, was launched in 1995 in Barcelona to foster economic, political and social reforms in the Middle East and North Africa. It aimed at creating a Euro-Mediterranean free trade area by 2010 but progress has been slow due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the refusal of many Arab states to abide by international human rights standards. I think it is undeniable that the major single issue that has held us back is the enduring Middle East conflict, Jose-Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, said. We need to move from intentions to deliver, we need a Euro-Med of results, he added. Barroso said the region is faced with major challenges in achieving peace, security and prosperity.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
Monday, Mar. 31 2008
PRECISE BIOMETRICS INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN EU PROJECT
LUND, SWEDEN, Mar 31, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- Precise Biometrics has been invited to participate in the EU financed research project, TURBINE (TrUsted Revocable Biometric IdeNtitiEs). The project aims to develop an advanced identity management solution that combines fingerprint biometrics and cryptography. During the course of the project Precise Biometrics will be awarded research funding amounting to approximately SEK 5.7 million.
Precise Biometrics has been chosen to participate in the TURBINE project due to its expertise when it comes to fingerprint recognition and Match-on-Card technology. The project will benefit Precise Biometrics when it comes to Research and Development, which in return will have a long-term positive impact on future products and solutions.The authentication method that the TURBINE Project aims to develop during a three-year period is based on advanced fingerprint recognition technology and complex cryptographic techniques. The outcome of the project is intended to meet usage requirements for various market segments. During the project, several representatives from a range of sectors such as banking, eGovernment, eHealth and the aviation industry will be advised and the end-result will be tested in a live airport environment.
Precise Biometrics will mainly contribute with its expertise within fingerprint recognition technology and further developments concerning methods of extracting fingerprint information as well as evaluation. The project as a whole was awarded SEK 60.2 million from the European Union 7th Framework Programme for Research. Precise Biometrics will receive SEK 5.7 million to meet several research objectives.Besides the acknowledgement of competence, Precise Biometrics' CEO Thomas Marschall sees numerous advantages with the company's participation in the TURBINE project,; We have earlier successfully participated in EU projects like this and consider TURBINE a great opportunity to strengthen our relation to other Identity Management players. In addition it will give us a chance to advance our position on the European market, which in return may give us additional advantages in upcoming European national ID card procurements says Thomas Marschall.Precise Biometrics has successfully been involved in EU financed projects earlier, such as the Omom@topic+ that came to an end at the turn of the year. Onom@topic+ combined functions of smart biometric EU citizen cards and mobile applications aiming to leverage eGovernment services to both fixed and mobile platforms. The project was awarded the Jean-Pierre Noblanc Excellence Award for its innovation and sustainability.
The TURBINE project will last during three years, starting in February 2008 and finishing in January 2011. Together with Precise Biometrics, the TURBINE project includes the project coordinator Sagem Securite, Philips Research Europe, SAGEM-ORGA, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Gjovik University College, Cryptolog, 3D-GAA S.A. and ARTTIC.
For further information, please contact
Thomas Marschall, President & CEO, Precise Biometrics AB.
Telephone +46 46 31 11 00
E-mail thomas.marschall@precisebiometrics.comPrecise Biometrics AB is an innovative company offering solutions for fingerprint recognition to prove people's identities. With top-of-the-line expertise in fingerprint verification, Precise Biometrics offers fast, accurate and secure authentication of a person. Our core product Precise BioMatch(TM: 102.89, +2.00, +1.98%) integrates into ID and bank card programs and secure chips, as well as systems for access control to buildings, computers and networks. We act on a global market and our technology is licensed to more than 78 million users all over the world. The Precise Biometrics group has subsidiaries in Sweden (with group headquarters in Lund), Great Britain, Hong Kong and USA, and a joint venture agreement in China. Precise Biometrics is listed on the small cap list at the Nordic Exchange in Sweden (symbol:PREC). For more information, please visit http://www.precisebiometrics.com/http://hugin.info/131387/R/1204570/247296.pdf Hugin AS 2008.SOURCE: Precise Biometrics AB
Market Wire.
Spain Holds Staff From EU Kosovo Mission APR 01,08
Angel Moratinos 31 March 2008 Pristina - Spain will not send personnel to the EU’s law and order mission in Kosovo, until legal questions over how it will replace the UN administration are answered. Spanish Foreign Minister Angel Moratinos told a meeting of European Union Foreign Ministers in Slovenia over the weekend that Madrid will not send its contingent of 15-20 staff to the 2,000-strong EULEX mission until there has been a formal transfer of powers from the United Nations.Madrid says the agreed EU text setting out the conditions for the mission states that there should be a direct transfer from the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, to the EU.But UNMIK has been slow to respond amid protests from Belgrade, and key ally Russia.Serbia has branded EULEX illegal, claiming that under UN Security Council Resolution 1244 passed at the end of the 1998-1999 conflict between Serb forces and Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority, only the UN has the right to administer Kosovo on Serbia’s behalf.
Most EU states are prepared to deploy their police personnel on the basis of an invitation from the Kosovo government, but that would be awkward for Spain and potentially for other countries that have not recognised Kosovo.Spain is one of nine EU countries which has not recognised Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leaders February 17 declaration of independence from Serbia.Spain is home to various national groups, including Basques and Catalans and claims Kosovo’s independence sets a precedent for other separatist movements worldwide..EULEX will have a mostly advisory function but also includes some anti-riot units and is set to start by mid-June as planned.
Bush backs NATO bids by Ukraine, Georgia By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent APR 01,08
KIEV, Ukraine - President Bush said Tuesday that Russia will not wield veto power over Ukraine's aspirations to join the NATO military alliance, but countries such as France and Germany stand ready to block the former Soviet republic, fearful of further straining ties with Moscow. Visiting Ukraine ahead of a NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania, Bush told President Viktor Yushchenko the U.S. strongly supports your request and a similar effort by Georgia.
Those Russian neighbors want to begin the process by learning what they would need to do to gain membership. Russia is not a NATO member and holds no veto authority over the alliance's decisions. But all NATO actions require a consensus, meaning any one of the 26 nations can blackball a potential new member. Greece, for example, is threatening to block Macedonia's membership application because of a dispute over Macedonia's name.Bush's purpose in Kiev appeared to be intended to congratulate Ukraine on its democratic reforms and promise that someday it will join NATO, created 59 years ago to confront the Soviet Union and its expansionist goals.Bush and Yushchenko held a news conference at the presidential secretariat, sitting behind a low credenza and a floral arrangement that included red and yellow roses.Bush said it was a misperception that the United States might soften its push to get Ukraine and Georgia into NATO if Russia were to ease opposition to Washington's plan for a missile defense system based in Poland and the Czech Republic.
There's no trade-offs. Period, Bush said, adding that is exactly what he told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a recent telephone call.Bush and Putin, whose successor takes over in May, are meeting Sunday in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. White House officials have expressed hopes the leaders could end months of sharp disagreements and strike a deal.As if to give a last reminder of Russia's wishes, Putin's deputy foreign minister, Grigory Karasin, said Ukraine's accession to NATO would cause a deep crisis in relations with Ukraine and the West.Nevertheless, Bush said he would go to NATO carrying a banner of support for the Ukraine and Georgia.He pledged to make America's position clear at the NATO summit. My stop here should be a clear signal to everybody that I mean what I say: It's in our interest for Ukraine to join, Bush said after talks with Yushchenko.Nine former Soviet bloc countries are in NATO, and Russia opposes Ukraine and Georgia even starting the process, fearing a further loss of influence among the former Soviet sphere. Russia's position has found backing even among U.S allies.France will not give its green light to the entry of Ukraine and Georgia, the French prime minister, Francois Fillon, said in a radio interview. He said their potential NATO membership could upset the balance of power between Europe and Russia.Bush, however, praised Ukraine's democratic and military reforms, and noted that Ukraine is the only non-NATO nation supporting every NATO mission. Ukraine has sent troops to Afghanistan, Kosovo and Iraq.A positive decision, Bush said, is in the interests of our organization.Bush's forceful backing sets up an internal showdown in the alliance. The president said he and his top aides would continue to lobby all NATO members.Every nation has told me Russia will not have a veto over what happens in Bucharest. I take their word for it, he said, adding later: I wouldn't prejudge the outcome just yet, the vote will be taken in Bucharest.
The pro-western Yushchenko said he was optimistic his country would get the nod from NATO, and he discounted opposition from some in Ukraine. I am sure that we will receive a positive signal in Bucharest and that's the spirit that we are going there with, he said, sitting beside Bush at a news conference in a narrow room with a high ceiling decorated with ornate molding. Despite differences on new NATO members, Bush showed optimism about winning Moscow's approval for a missile defense system in Europe.
Obviously, we've got a lot of work to do to allay suspicions and old fears, but I think we're making pretty good progress along those lines, he said. He repeated his stance that the missile defense plan is meant to counter a threat from the Middle East and poses no threat to Russia. Still, Putin has heard that many times before and remains wary. For months, Putin has stepped up anti-American rhetoric, demanding that the U.S. abandon the plan to base missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic, one-time Soviet satellites. He has complained it would upset the balance of power and was aimed at weakening Russia; the U.S. denies the charges.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the U.S. and Russia are closer to an accommodation on the issue and he expressed hope for an agreement on new steps at the Bush-Putin meeting. Overcoming Russian objections could help ease concerns among U.S. allies in Europe about Russia's public threats to retaliate if the bases are installed, Gates said in Denmark. Ukraine long has flirted with joining NATO. It started taking real steps toward meeting the alliance's military and political standards only after Yushchenko became president in the wake of 2004 street protests, called the Orange Revolution. Since then, Ukraine has gained a vibrant opposition, a robust media and has held a series of clean elections. and early elections over the past years. In my opinion, there are no alternatives to the idea of collective security and I believe that collective responsibility for security policy, or defense policy, is the best response to the challenges that currently exist in society and in the international system, Yushchenko said. On the Net: NATO summit site: http://tinyurl.com/3yuwr2 White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/nato/
FAMINE
REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)
Oil slips below $100 on dollar gains By JOHN WILEN, AP Business Writer APR 01,08
NEW YORK - Oil futures extended their slide Tuesday, dipping below $100 at times as the dollar gained ground, making commodities such as energy futures less attractive to investors seeking a hedge against inflation. Retail gas prices, meanwhile, slipped slightly from the record they set one day earlier.Investors who previously bought commodities such as oil as a haven against inflation and a falling dollar were selling Tuesday as the greenback strengthened against the euro and other currencies. The stronger dollar also made oil more expensive to overseas investors.Many analysts believe oil investors have taken most of their price cues in recent months from gyrations in the dollar.The dollar's stronger, and (therefore) oil's weaker, said Brad Samples, an analyst with Summit Energy Services Inc., in Louisville, Ky.Light, sweet crude for May delivery fell $1.73 to $99.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil futures fell $4.04 a barrel on Monday.While the dollar was driving oil prices on Tuesday, Samples and other analysts believe the market is also beginning to focus more closely than it has in months on fundamentals such as rising supplies and falling demand. The second quarter of the year, which began Tuesday, is typically the weakest for petroleum demand. The country's appetite for oil and gasoline have fallen sharply since January, and oil supplies have mostly risen in recent weeks.
Weak demand in the U.S. is one of the primary reasons that the fundamentals may be on the verge of taking center stage as the primary driver of prices, said Addison Armstrong, director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Conn., in a research note.Economic data also weighed on oil prices Tuesday. The Institute for Supply Management reported that manufacturing continued to weaken in February, and the Commerce Department said overall construction activity fell last month for the 24th straight month.Many analysts have long argued that dollar-induced buying has driven oil prices far beyond levels that can be justified by supply and demand or economic conditions. However, few are willing to call an end to crude's bull run, noting that prices have dipped below $100 several times in recent months, only to rebound and surge higher.Soaring crude prices have sent fuel prices higher, despite falling demand. At the pump, the national average price of a gallon of gas slipped 0.1 cent Tuesday to $3.286 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. While that's a slight retreat from Monday's record, gas prices remain 60 cents higher than a year ago, and are expected to rise as high as $3.50 or $4 a gallon this spring as suppliers stock up in advance of peak summer driving season.Other energy futures also fell Tuesday. In other Nymex trading, May heating oil futures fell 4.37 cents to $2.8624 a gallon while May gasoline futures fell 2.01 cents to $2.607 a gallon. May natural gas futures fell 20.9 cents to $9.892 per 1,000 cubic feet.In London, May Brent crude rose $1.09 to $99.21 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
NY, NJ trees treated for killer beetles By BRAD HAYNES, Associated Press Writer Mon Mar 31, 5:18 PM ET
NEWARK, N.J. - Nearly 80,000 trees in New Jersey and New York are being treated to protect them from a deadly beetle infestation. The Asian longhorned beetle has destroyed more than 30,000 trees since it arrived in the country about a decade ago. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said treatments began last week around New York City. They'll start April 21 on Staten Island and in New Jersey's Middlesex and Union Counties, where the beetles were discovered in 2002.If unchecked, the invasive species could threaten the nation's lumber, maple syrup and tourism industries, according to the Agriculture Department.The Asian longhorned beetle first appeared in New York City in 1996, after apparently hitching a ride from China in the wood of shipping crates. Subsequent infestations in New Jersey were discovered in 2002 and 2004.Agriculture Department spokeswoman Suzanne Bond said the agency has been treating trees since 2001 to eradicate the beetle from the continent.
The beetles measure about one to one-and-a-half inches long and have a shiny black exterior with white spots. They attack hardwood trees like maple, willow, ash, poplar and elm, usually in the early summer when the female makes an indentation in the bark and plants eggs.To kill off the beetles, workers inject tree trunks and soil during the spring with an insecticide called imidacloprid, which is also used to kill lawn grubs and pet fleas. The chemical makes its way into the leaves during the summer, which are eaten by newborn beetles emerging from the bark.
Israel to consider opening Gaza By LAURIE COPANS, Associated Press Writer APR 01,08
JERUSALEM - Israel's defense minister said he would consider reopening Gaza's border crossings if violence from the territory ceases, but defense officials warned Tuesday that such a move is a long way off. The officials said Ehud Barak's statement was aimed at bolstering the moderate Palestinian government of President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank. Barak has previously opposed opening Gaza's borders since the Hamas militant group, which often fires rockets into southern Israel, violently seized control of the area last June.The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.The officials said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressed Barak during a visit this week to consider easing Israel's blockade of Gaza, which has caused widespread economic hardship in the territory of 1.4 million Palestinians.When conditions have matured in the future for an end to the rockets, the terror and the reduction of the weapons' smuggling, we will be willing to consider easements in the Gaza crossings through cooperation with representatives of (Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam) Fayyad's government, Barak said.The defense officials said Israel would not be fully opening the crossings in the near future since the violence has persisted.Israel considers Hamas a terrorist group and closed Gaza's crossings after the Islamic militant group overran Gaza. It has only let in limited humanitarian supplies since.
In new violence Tuesday, Israeli troops shot and killed two Hamas gunmen during a raid on the central Gaza Strip, Hamas said. The army said the gunmen approached troops operating against rocket launching squads.Also Tuesday, a Palestinian mortar attack wounded two civilians in a southern Israeli farming community, the army said.Egyptian authorities opened the Rafah terminal on the Egypt-Gaza border for a single day to let around 350 Egyptians stuck in the Gaza Strip for two months to return home, an Egyptian security official said.
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child,(ISMAEL FATHER OF MUSLIMS-ARABS) and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
OH BUT I THOUGHT ISLAM WAS SUCH A PEACEFUL RELIGION, THEY WOULD NEVER TELL THEIR KIDS TO MURDER NONE MUSLIMS......RIGHT.
Bush stabbed in TV puppet show APR 01,08
View GalleryBRANDISHING the sword of Islam, a Palestinian boy stabbed US President George W Bush to death in a new puppet show for children. The show was aired by Hamas-owned television in the Gaza Strip.The hand-held puppet proclaimed: You are a criminal, Bush, a despicable man. You made me an orphan.The full article contains 59 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.Last Updated: 01 April 2008 1:51 PM
Anti-Islam film back on LiveLeak website Agence France-Presse First Posted 07:20:00 04/01/2008
THE HAGUE—The anti-Islamic film Fitna by far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders was back on Liveleak.com Monday three days after the British-based Internet site removed it following threats to staff.
In a statement dated Sunday and posted on the website, LiveLeak.com says it has been working on upgrading all security measures and offering better protection for staff and their families.With these measures in place we have decided to once more make this video live on our site. We will not be pressured into censoring material which is legal and within our rules, the website said.The film has already been seen by millions of viewers and is online in whole or in part on several other websites including YouTube.Liveleak was the first to release the film on Thursday. It has since provoked widespread condemnation, with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling it offensively anti-Islamic.Featuring shocking imagery of the attacks on New York in 2001 and Madrid in 2004 combined with quotes from the Koran, Islam's holy book, it has drawn outrage in some Muslim countries.Over the weekend there were protests in Indonesia and Pakistan and calls for a boycott of Dutch products in Jordan and Malaysia.
China, Syria steadily promote bilateral cooperation
March 31, 2008
The upcoming visit to Syria by Li Changchun, a senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC), will consolidate and promote the traditionally friendly bilateral cooperation between the two countries. Invited by the ruling Baath Arab Socialist Party, Li Changchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC's Central Committee, will visit Syria on April 1-3to become the highest-level CPC official to visit the country in nearly five years. Since China and Syria formally established diplomatic relations on Aug. 1, 1956, the two countries have been enjoying mutual understanding and support in the international arena. While opposing any attempt to undermine the reunification of China, the Syrian government firmly pursues the one-China policy and has no official contacts with the Taiwan authorities.
China, for its part, supports Syria as an important party in the Middle East peace process to play a significant role in regional affairs as well as Syria's legitimate right to restore its sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights. The two countries also share similar views on the human rights issue, resolutely opposing some Western countries' attempts to use it as a pretext to interfere in the internal affairs of developing countries. Since Bashar al-Assad succeeded his father Hafez al-Assad as Syrian president in July 2000, high-level contacts between the two sides have grown in depth as Syria puts developing a strategic partnership with China as a priority in its diplomatic relations.
In January 2001, Hu Jintao, then vice president of China, paid a visit to Syria, which opened a new chapter in China-Syria relations. In June 2004, Assad carried out the first visit to China by a Syrian president. During his stay, the two sides signed a package of cooperation agreements which boosted bilateral relations to a new level. Since then, the two countries have maintained high level exchanges in all fields. In 2006, a series of special festivities were held both in Beijing and Damascus to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Syria. Meanwhile, both countries attach great importance to their economic and trade cooperation which has also achieved fruitful results. In 2007, the bilateral trade volume reached 1.87 billion U.S. dollars, up 32.9 percent compared with that in 2006, of which China's exports to Syria reached 1.862 billion dollars, an increase of 37.3 percent than 2006. China has thus become Syria's largest importer. China and Syria also carried out effective cooperation in various fields such as oil, electricity, transport and telecommunications. Well-known Chinese enterprises, such as China National Petroleum Corporation, ZTE and Huawei, have contracted important projects in Syria and China's automobile sales in Syria exceed 10,000 vehicles annually. Furthermore, the China Import and Export Fair in Guangzhou attracts hundreds of Syrian businessmen every year and Made in China can be seen everywhere in the Syrian market.
In June 2007, Syria officially recognized China's full market economy status during meetings of the Third Sino-Syrian Joint Committee, which lifted bilateral economic cooperation to new horizons. During the meetings, the two sides expressed their belief in the great potential of the cooperation, hoping to increase bilateral trade volume to 3 billion dollars in the next five years while endeavoring to balance the two-way trade. Along with the close political and economic ties, the friendly civil contacts between China and Syria have also been promoted. In 2005, China and Syria signed a tourism agreement, making Syria a tourist destination for the Chinese people. Syria, a significant country on the ancient Silk Road with its long history, profound culture and rich exotic flavor, is attracting more and more Chinese tourists.
Source: Xinhua.
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.
Warm weather means flood warnings across Ontario
Tue Apr 1, 8:27 AM
CALGARY (CBC) - The return of spring warmth has prompted warnings of another weather concern - flooding.Toronto is expected to reach a high on Tuesday of 14 C, and with a significant snow pack still on the ground, provincial officials say that could mean heavy flooding in watershed near London, Ont., Peterborough, right across eastern Ontario and stretching as far north as Elliot Lake and North Bay.Ian Cameron, a specialist at the Surface Water Monitoring Centre in Peterborough, said the combination of warm weather and rain is the worst.We could be into flooding this weekend, if the temperatures are going to be in the mid-teens and we get rainfall with that, he said.The centre uses 600 remote sensors to monitor river and lake levels, and Minister of Natural Resources Donna Cansfield said those cameras should be able to give people 48 hours notice of a flood threat.We want to ensure they have good, accurate solid information, so they can make some good decisions about whether they should evacuate or what they can do, said Cansfield.
Thunderstorms cause wind damage and outages in parts of Oklahoma and Louisiana Mon Mar 31, 11:43 AM By The Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY - Strong storms that may have included tornadoes caused scattered damage and power outages in parts of Oklahoma early Monday. No injuries were reported. The National Weather Service posted severe thunderstorm watches and warnings for parts of Oklahoma and Kansas. A tornado watch was issued for much of Oklahoma, including the Tulsa and Oklahoma City areas, and flash flood watches were issued because of heavy rain. The weather service said it hadn't confirmed yet whether the early morning Oklahoma damage was caused by tornadoes or by high wind. There were scattered reports of roof damage and several roads in northwest Oklahoma County were closed because of high water. Oklahoma Gas & Electric says several thousand customers were blacked out and dozens of utility poles were toppled. A storm in northwest Louisiana on Sunday afternoon damaged a mobile home park at the town of Provencal. Two people were injured. Also on Sunday, one man drowned in southeastern Texas when an overflowing creek swept a car off a highway near San Augustine. The weather service reported up to 30 centimetres of rain fell on the area over a two-day period.
REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE (THE EU DICTATORS TEMPLE)
REVELATION 11:1-2
1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
DANIEL 9:27
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
REBUILT 4TH TEMPLE (THE TRUE MESSIAHS TEMPLE)
ZECHARIAH 6:12-13
12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
13 Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
ISAIAH 60:9-10
9 Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.
10 And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.
ISAIAH 2:1-5
1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
MARK 11:9-10,15-17
9 And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:
10 Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.
15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
16 And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.
EZEKIEL 40 TO 48 IS THIS 4TH TEMPLE TO BIG FOR THE MOUNT I BELIEVE TO BE BUILT 25 MILES FROM JERUSALEM.
The World's Greatest Treasure Hunt Chris Mitchell
CBN News Mideast Bureau Chief April 1, 2008
CBNNews.com - In 1981, Indiana Jones made his big-screen debut re-igniting world-wide interest in history's most hunted relic: the Ark of the Covenant.That same year, two real-life raiders went on their own search for the Ark. There were no Nazis and no snake pits - like the movie.Just two renegade Rabbis on a mission. Their search came to an end in Jerusalem.God signed, like with a pen, the location where the Ark of the Covenant was located. You can see it today even, on the rock, said Gershon Salomon, Founder of Temple Mount Faithful.
Masada and Dead Sea
Designed by God, created by Moses, and revered by the Israelites, from the Sinai Desert to the Temple of Solomon, the Ark of the Covenant was the place of meeting between God and man.In 586 B.C., Israel was conquered by the Babylonians. The Temple was raided by Nebuchadnezzar's army and the Ark disappeared from the pages of history.What happened, why did this most dramatic instrument of God's glory and power in human history suddenly vanish?, questioned Joel Rosenberg, Author of Dead Heat.All what we know is legends, said Archaeologist Gabriel Barkay who believes the legends are what makes so many people interested in finding the Ark.Those legends stretch all over the ancient world - starting with Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.The Ark of the Covenant was made of wood and it was gold plated. Such an amount of gold would be melted down at the time of war immediately after it was captured, Barkay told CBN.When asked if he thought the Ark itself was destroyed at that time, Barkay told CBN that is what he believed.Jewish writings say the prophet Jeremiah hid the Ark on Mount Nebo in Jordan. Another legend claims it was smuggled to Ethiopia by the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.In Israel, most Rabbis agree that when it comes to the Ark all roads lead back to Jerusalem. They say the Ark never left the city. To them, the so-called Lost Ark was never really lost.
On June 7, 1967, Israeli troops recaptured Jerusalem in the Six-day War. The Western Wall was in Jewish hands and those hands were ready to dig.Archaeologists exposed parts of the wall that had been buried for 2000 years. Not all of the digging was done legally. In 1981, two of Israel's highest-ranking Rabbis, Shlomo Goren and Yehuda Getz picked up their pick-axes and started chiseling their way under the Temple Mount.And he knew that at the end of the gate he will come to the secret room where the ark of covenant is located, said Salomon, who was also one of the paratroopers who liberated the Western Wall in 1967.Salomon was there 14 years later the night Rabbi Getz opened a secret passage in the Wall and remembers their conversation.It was after midnight. And he called me and said to me, Gershon, come immediately, don't wait, your dream is going to be fulfilled. What happened?, I told him. The Messiah came? And he told me, He is coming almost.What came next was a subterranean slugftest according to Salomon.Arab demonstrations, you know? The Israelis are coming to build their temple underneath the dome of the rock.At the end of the day, the passage to the Temple Mount was permanently sealed by Israeli Police.No doubt, I tell you. No doubt, we needed just two days more to come to the place where the ark of the covenant is located, Salomon explained.
The work was done without archaeological supervision and when I was the official archaeologist of Jerusalem, I decided to stop the work, said Archaeologist Dan Bahat, who directed the excavation of the Western Wall tunnels.According to him, the search for the Ark stops with Jeremiah 3:16.Prophet Jeremiah says, there will come a day when the ark of the covenant will not be seen, nor will it be visited which means that somehow, he sees the days when it will not be there. In other words, this was a hint from God. Don't look for the Ark of the Covenant! Scholars may not agree on the fate of the Ark but many of them agree on one thing: it's discovery could set in motion another event that's been 2000 years in the making - the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple.Perhaps when it's time to build the third temple, the second temple treasures will be found. Why? Because in Ezra and Nehemiah the Bible indicated that when it was time to build the second temple, God restored the treasures from the first temple which of course have been carted off to Babylon, said Rosenberg.When it's time to build a third temple, the second temple's treasures would be found. Wouldn't that be dramatic?, he concluded.It is soon to come, I tell you, I promise you, and you check me. Test me. It will be in our lifetime, added Salomon.
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).
Poettering elected new president of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly by: Yossi Lempkowicz Updated: 31/Mar/2008 18:24
Regarding the Middle East, Hans-Gert Poettering (picture) called for a lasting solution for the conflict based on respect for human life, the achievement of security through reconciliation, and compliance with international law.Photo: European Parliament
ATHENS (EJP)---The head of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, was elected the new president of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA) during its annual plenary meeting in Athens on Friday. Poettering, a German Christian-Democrat, takes over the presidency for a period of one year on behalf of the European Parliament until March 2009.With Romania and Bulgaria joining the EU in 2007, the Assembly has expanded from 240 Members to 260 in total. 130 MPs now represent the European Union (49 MEPs and 81 MPs appointed by the parliaments of the 27 EU Member States) and 130 represent the national parliaments of the non-EU Mediterranean partners: Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey.
In his address, Poettering said the political priorities of his mandate will be the peace process in the Middle East and intercultural dialogue.Regarding the Middle East he called for a lasting solution for the conflict based on respect for human life, the achievement of security through reconciliation, and compliance with international law. He recalled the initiatives that have taken place in the European Parliament, including the solemn sessions with relevant personalities, his official visits to Arab countries and Israel, and the setting up of a Working Group on the Middle East.He also suggested that an extraordinary plenary meeting of the Assembly could take place in the Middle East region in the autumn. It would be devoted to the peace process as well as to concrete regional cross-border cooperation on concrete issues like water and energy.
Union for the Mediterranean
Earlier this month, European Union leaders backed a French plan to forge closer political ties with Europe's North African and Mideast neighbors along the Mediterranean Sea, called Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean.The project foresees the involvement of 39 partners, the 27-nation EU in addition to a dozen Mediterranean countries - from Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Morocco, Syria and Turkey.
France is scheduled to hold a summit on the issue in July when it takes over the six-month rotating EU presidency. The original EU’s Euromed programme, was launched in 1995 in Barcelona to foster economic, political and social reforms in the Middle East and North Africa. It aimed at creating a Euro-Mediterranean free trade area by 2010 but progress has been slow due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the refusal of many Arab states to abide by international human rights standards. I think it is undeniable that the major single issue that has held us back is the enduring Middle East conflict, Jose-Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, said. We need to move from intentions to deliver, we need a Euro-Med of results, he added. Barroso said the region is faced with major challenges in achieving peace, security and prosperity.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
Monday, Mar. 31 2008
PRECISE BIOMETRICS INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN EU PROJECT
LUND, SWEDEN, Mar 31, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- Precise Biometrics has been invited to participate in the EU financed research project, TURBINE (TrUsted Revocable Biometric IdeNtitiEs). The project aims to develop an advanced identity management solution that combines fingerprint biometrics and cryptography. During the course of the project Precise Biometrics will be awarded research funding amounting to approximately SEK 5.7 million.
Precise Biometrics has been chosen to participate in the TURBINE project due to its expertise when it comes to fingerprint recognition and Match-on-Card technology. The project will benefit Precise Biometrics when it comes to Research and Development, which in return will have a long-term positive impact on future products and solutions.The authentication method that the TURBINE Project aims to develop during a three-year period is based on advanced fingerprint recognition technology and complex cryptographic techniques. The outcome of the project is intended to meet usage requirements for various market segments. During the project, several representatives from a range of sectors such as banking, eGovernment, eHealth and the aviation industry will be advised and the end-result will be tested in a live airport environment.
Precise Biometrics will mainly contribute with its expertise within fingerprint recognition technology and further developments concerning methods of extracting fingerprint information as well as evaluation. The project as a whole was awarded SEK 60.2 million from the European Union 7th Framework Programme for Research. Precise Biometrics will receive SEK 5.7 million to meet several research objectives.Besides the acknowledgement of competence, Precise Biometrics' CEO Thomas Marschall sees numerous advantages with the company's participation in the TURBINE project,; We have earlier successfully participated in EU projects like this and consider TURBINE a great opportunity to strengthen our relation to other Identity Management players. In addition it will give us a chance to advance our position on the European market, which in return may give us additional advantages in upcoming European national ID card procurements says Thomas Marschall.Precise Biometrics has successfully been involved in EU financed projects earlier, such as the Omom@topic+ that came to an end at the turn of the year. Onom@topic+ combined functions of smart biometric EU citizen cards and mobile applications aiming to leverage eGovernment services to both fixed and mobile platforms. The project was awarded the Jean-Pierre Noblanc Excellence Award for its innovation and sustainability.
The TURBINE project will last during three years, starting in February 2008 and finishing in January 2011. Together with Precise Biometrics, the TURBINE project includes the project coordinator Sagem Securite, Philips Research Europe, SAGEM-ORGA, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Gjovik University College, Cryptolog, 3D-GAA S.A. and ARTTIC.
For further information, please contact
Thomas Marschall, President & CEO, Precise Biometrics AB.
Telephone +46 46 31 11 00
E-mail thomas.marschall@precisebiometrics.comPrecise Biometrics AB is an innovative company offering solutions for fingerprint recognition to prove people's identities. With top-of-the-line expertise in fingerprint verification, Precise Biometrics offers fast, accurate and secure authentication of a person. Our core product Precise BioMatch(TM: 102.89, +2.00, +1.98%) integrates into ID and bank card programs and secure chips, as well as systems for access control to buildings, computers and networks. We act on a global market and our technology is licensed to more than 78 million users all over the world. The Precise Biometrics group has subsidiaries in Sweden (with group headquarters in Lund), Great Britain, Hong Kong and USA, and a joint venture agreement in China. Precise Biometrics is listed on the small cap list at the Nordic Exchange in Sweden (symbol:PREC). For more information, please visit http://www.precisebiometrics.com/http://hugin.info/131387/R/1204570/247296.pdf Hugin AS 2008.SOURCE: Precise Biometrics AB
Market Wire.
Spain Holds Staff From EU Kosovo Mission APR 01,08
Angel Moratinos 31 March 2008 Pristina - Spain will not send personnel to the EU’s law and order mission in Kosovo, until legal questions over how it will replace the UN administration are answered. Spanish Foreign Minister Angel Moratinos told a meeting of European Union Foreign Ministers in Slovenia over the weekend that Madrid will not send its contingent of 15-20 staff to the 2,000-strong EULEX mission until there has been a formal transfer of powers from the United Nations.Madrid says the agreed EU text setting out the conditions for the mission states that there should be a direct transfer from the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, to the EU.But UNMIK has been slow to respond amid protests from Belgrade, and key ally Russia.Serbia has branded EULEX illegal, claiming that under UN Security Council Resolution 1244 passed at the end of the 1998-1999 conflict between Serb forces and Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority, only the UN has the right to administer Kosovo on Serbia’s behalf.
Most EU states are prepared to deploy their police personnel on the basis of an invitation from the Kosovo government, but that would be awkward for Spain and potentially for other countries that have not recognised Kosovo.Spain is one of nine EU countries which has not recognised Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leaders February 17 declaration of independence from Serbia.Spain is home to various national groups, including Basques and Catalans and claims Kosovo’s independence sets a precedent for other separatist movements worldwide..EULEX will have a mostly advisory function but also includes some anti-riot units and is set to start by mid-June as planned.
Bush backs NATO bids by Ukraine, Georgia By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent APR 01,08
KIEV, Ukraine - President Bush said Tuesday that Russia will not wield veto power over Ukraine's aspirations to join the NATO military alliance, but countries such as France and Germany stand ready to block the former Soviet republic, fearful of further straining ties with Moscow. Visiting Ukraine ahead of a NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania, Bush told President Viktor Yushchenko the U.S. strongly supports your request and a similar effort by Georgia.
Those Russian neighbors want to begin the process by learning what they would need to do to gain membership. Russia is not a NATO member and holds no veto authority over the alliance's decisions. But all NATO actions require a consensus, meaning any one of the 26 nations can blackball a potential new member. Greece, for example, is threatening to block Macedonia's membership application because of a dispute over Macedonia's name.Bush's purpose in Kiev appeared to be intended to congratulate Ukraine on its democratic reforms and promise that someday it will join NATO, created 59 years ago to confront the Soviet Union and its expansionist goals.Bush and Yushchenko held a news conference at the presidential secretariat, sitting behind a low credenza and a floral arrangement that included red and yellow roses.Bush said it was a misperception that the United States might soften its push to get Ukraine and Georgia into NATO if Russia were to ease opposition to Washington's plan for a missile defense system based in Poland and the Czech Republic.
There's no trade-offs. Period, Bush said, adding that is exactly what he told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a recent telephone call.Bush and Putin, whose successor takes over in May, are meeting Sunday in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. White House officials have expressed hopes the leaders could end months of sharp disagreements and strike a deal.As if to give a last reminder of Russia's wishes, Putin's deputy foreign minister, Grigory Karasin, said Ukraine's accession to NATO would cause a deep crisis in relations with Ukraine and the West.Nevertheless, Bush said he would go to NATO carrying a banner of support for the Ukraine and Georgia.He pledged to make America's position clear at the NATO summit. My stop here should be a clear signal to everybody that I mean what I say: It's in our interest for Ukraine to join, Bush said after talks with Yushchenko.Nine former Soviet bloc countries are in NATO, and Russia opposes Ukraine and Georgia even starting the process, fearing a further loss of influence among the former Soviet sphere. Russia's position has found backing even among U.S allies.France will not give its green light to the entry of Ukraine and Georgia, the French prime minister, Francois Fillon, said in a radio interview. He said their potential NATO membership could upset the balance of power between Europe and Russia.Bush, however, praised Ukraine's democratic and military reforms, and noted that Ukraine is the only non-NATO nation supporting every NATO mission. Ukraine has sent troops to Afghanistan, Kosovo and Iraq.A positive decision, Bush said, is in the interests of our organization.Bush's forceful backing sets up an internal showdown in the alliance. The president said he and his top aides would continue to lobby all NATO members.Every nation has told me Russia will not have a veto over what happens in Bucharest. I take their word for it, he said, adding later: I wouldn't prejudge the outcome just yet, the vote will be taken in Bucharest.
The pro-western Yushchenko said he was optimistic his country would get the nod from NATO, and he discounted opposition from some in Ukraine. I am sure that we will receive a positive signal in Bucharest and that's the spirit that we are going there with, he said, sitting beside Bush at a news conference in a narrow room with a high ceiling decorated with ornate molding. Despite differences on new NATO members, Bush showed optimism about winning Moscow's approval for a missile defense system in Europe.
Obviously, we've got a lot of work to do to allay suspicions and old fears, but I think we're making pretty good progress along those lines, he said. He repeated his stance that the missile defense plan is meant to counter a threat from the Middle East and poses no threat to Russia. Still, Putin has heard that many times before and remains wary. For months, Putin has stepped up anti-American rhetoric, demanding that the U.S. abandon the plan to base missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic, one-time Soviet satellites. He has complained it would upset the balance of power and was aimed at weakening Russia; the U.S. denies the charges.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the U.S. and Russia are closer to an accommodation on the issue and he expressed hope for an agreement on new steps at the Bush-Putin meeting. Overcoming Russian objections could help ease concerns among U.S. allies in Europe about Russia's public threats to retaliate if the bases are installed, Gates said in Denmark. Ukraine long has flirted with joining NATO. It started taking real steps toward meeting the alliance's military and political standards only after Yushchenko became president in the wake of 2004 street protests, called the Orange Revolution. Since then, Ukraine has gained a vibrant opposition, a robust media and has held a series of clean elections. and early elections over the past years. In my opinion, there are no alternatives to the idea of collective security and I believe that collective responsibility for security policy, or defense policy, is the best response to the challenges that currently exist in society and in the international system, Yushchenko said. On the Net: NATO summit site: http://tinyurl.com/3yuwr2 White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/nato/
FAMINE
REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)
Oil slips below $100 on dollar gains By JOHN WILEN, AP Business Writer APR 01,08
NEW YORK - Oil futures extended their slide Tuesday, dipping below $100 at times as the dollar gained ground, making commodities such as energy futures less attractive to investors seeking a hedge against inflation. Retail gas prices, meanwhile, slipped slightly from the record they set one day earlier.Investors who previously bought commodities such as oil as a haven against inflation and a falling dollar were selling Tuesday as the greenback strengthened against the euro and other currencies. The stronger dollar also made oil more expensive to overseas investors.Many analysts believe oil investors have taken most of their price cues in recent months from gyrations in the dollar.The dollar's stronger, and (therefore) oil's weaker, said Brad Samples, an analyst with Summit Energy Services Inc., in Louisville, Ky.Light, sweet crude for May delivery fell $1.73 to $99.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil futures fell $4.04 a barrel on Monday.While the dollar was driving oil prices on Tuesday, Samples and other analysts believe the market is also beginning to focus more closely than it has in months on fundamentals such as rising supplies and falling demand. The second quarter of the year, which began Tuesday, is typically the weakest for petroleum demand. The country's appetite for oil and gasoline have fallen sharply since January, and oil supplies have mostly risen in recent weeks.
Weak demand in the U.S. is one of the primary reasons that the fundamentals may be on the verge of taking center stage as the primary driver of prices, said Addison Armstrong, director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Conn., in a research note.Economic data also weighed on oil prices Tuesday. The Institute for Supply Management reported that manufacturing continued to weaken in February, and the Commerce Department said overall construction activity fell last month for the 24th straight month.Many analysts have long argued that dollar-induced buying has driven oil prices far beyond levels that can be justified by supply and demand or economic conditions. However, few are willing to call an end to crude's bull run, noting that prices have dipped below $100 several times in recent months, only to rebound and surge higher.Soaring crude prices have sent fuel prices higher, despite falling demand. At the pump, the national average price of a gallon of gas slipped 0.1 cent Tuesday to $3.286 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. While that's a slight retreat from Monday's record, gas prices remain 60 cents higher than a year ago, and are expected to rise as high as $3.50 or $4 a gallon this spring as suppliers stock up in advance of peak summer driving season.Other energy futures also fell Tuesday. In other Nymex trading, May heating oil futures fell 4.37 cents to $2.8624 a gallon while May gasoline futures fell 2.01 cents to $2.607 a gallon. May natural gas futures fell 20.9 cents to $9.892 per 1,000 cubic feet.In London, May Brent crude rose $1.09 to $99.21 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
NY, NJ trees treated for killer beetles By BRAD HAYNES, Associated Press Writer Mon Mar 31, 5:18 PM ET
NEWARK, N.J. - Nearly 80,000 trees in New Jersey and New York are being treated to protect them from a deadly beetle infestation. The Asian longhorned beetle has destroyed more than 30,000 trees since it arrived in the country about a decade ago. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said treatments began last week around New York City. They'll start April 21 on Staten Island and in New Jersey's Middlesex and Union Counties, where the beetles were discovered in 2002.If unchecked, the invasive species could threaten the nation's lumber, maple syrup and tourism industries, according to the Agriculture Department.The Asian longhorned beetle first appeared in New York City in 1996, after apparently hitching a ride from China in the wood of shipping crates. Subsequent infestations in New Jersey were discovered in 2002 and 2004.Agriculture Department spokeswoman Suzanne Bond said the agency has been treating trees since 2001 to eradicate the beetle from the continent.
The beetles measure about one to one-and-a-half inches long and have a shiny black exterior with white spots. They attack hardwood trees like maple, willow, ash, poplar and elm, usually in the early summer when the female makes an indentation in the bark and plants eggs.To kill off the beetles, workers inject tree trunks and soil during the spring with an insecticide called imidacloprid, which is also used to kill lawn grubs and pet fleas. The chemical makes its way into the leaves during the summer, which are eaten by newborn beetles emerging from the bark.
Israel to consider opening Gaza By LAURIE COPANS, Associated Press Writer APR 01,08
JERUSALEM - Israel's defense minister said he would consider reopening Gaza's border crossings if violence from the territory ceases, but defense officials warned Tuesday that such a move is a long way off. The officials said Ehud Barak's statement was aimed at bolstering the moderate Palestinian government of President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank. Barak has previously opposed opening Gaza's borders since the Hamas militant group, which often fires rockets into southern Israel, violently seized control of the area last June.The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.The officials said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressed Barak during a visit this week to consider easing Israel's blockade of Gaza, which has caused widespread economic hardship in the territory of 1.4 million Palestinians.When conditions have matured in the future for an end to the rockets, the terror and the reduction of the weapons' smuggling, we will be willing to consider easements in the Gaza crossings through cooperation with representatives of (Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam) Fayyad's government, Barak said.The defense officials said Israel would not be fully opening the crossings in the near future since the violence has persisted.Israel considers Hamas a terrorist group and closed Gaza's crossings after the Islamic militant group overran Gaza. It has only let in limited humanitarian supplies since.
In new violence Tuesday, Israeli troops shot and killed two Hamas gunmen during a raid on the central Gaza Strip, Hamas said. The army said the gunmen approached troops operating against rocket launching squads.Also Tuesday, a Palestinian mortar attack wounded two civilians in a southern Israeli farming community, the army said.Egyptian authorities opened the Rafah terminal on the Egypt-Gaza border for a single day to let around 350 Egyptians stuck in the Gaza Strip for two months to return home, an Egyptian security official said.
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child,(ISMAEL FATHER OF MUSLIMS-ARABS) and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
OH BUT I THOUGHT ISLAM WAS SUCH A PEACEFUL RELIGION, THEY WOULD NEVER TELL THEIR KIDS TO MURDER NONE MUSLIMS......RIGHT.
Bush stabbed in TV puppet show APR 01,08
View GalleryBRANDISHING the sword of Islam, a Palestinian boy stabbed US President George W Bush to death in a new puppet show for children. The show was aired by Hamas-owned television in the Gaza Strip.The hand-held puppet proclaimed: You are a criminal, Bush, a despicable man. You made me an orphan.The full article contains 59 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.Last Updated: 01 April 2008 1:51 PM
Anti-Islam film back on LiveLeak website Agence France-Presse First Posted 07:20:00 04/01/2008
THE HAGUE—The anti-Islamic film Fitna by far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders was back on Liveleak.com Monday three days after the British-based Internet site removed it following threats to staff.
In a statement dated Sunday and posted on the website, LiveLeak.com says it has been working on upgrading all security measures and offering better protection for staff and their families.With these measures in place we have decided to once more make this video live on our site. We will not be pressured into censoring material which is legal and within our rules, the website said.The film has already been seen by millions of viewers and is online in whole or in part on several other websites including YouTube.Liveleak was the first to release the film on Thursday. It has since provoked widespread condemnation, with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling it offensively anti-Islamic.Featuring shocking imagery of the attacks on New York in 2001 and Madrid in 2004 combined with quotes from the Koran, Islam's holy book, it has drawn outrage in some Muslim countries.Over the weekend there were protests in Indonesia and Pakistan and calls for a boycott of Dutch products in Jordan and Malaysia.
China, Syria steadily promote bilateral cooperation
March 31, 2008
The upcoming visit to Syria by Li Changchun, a senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC), will consolidate and promote the traditionally friendly bilateral cooperation between the two countries. Invited by the ruling Baath Arab Socialist Party, Li Changchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC's Central Committee, will visit Syria on April 1-3to become the highest-level CPC official to visit the country in nearly five years. Since China and Syria formally established diplomatic relations on Aug. 1, 1956, the two countries have been enjoying mutual understanding and support in the international arena. While opposing any attempt to undermine the reunification of China, the Syrian government firmly pursues the one-China policy and has no official contacts with the Taiwan authorities.
China, for its part, supports Syria as an important party in the Middle East peace process to play a significant role in regional affairs as well as Syria's legitimate right to restore its sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights. The two countries also share similar views on the human rights issue, resolutely opposing some Western countries' attempts to use it as a pretext to interfere in the internal affairs of developing countries. Since Bashar al-Assad succeeded his father Hafez al-Assad as Syrian president in July 2000, high-level contacts between the two sides have grown in depth as Syria puts developing a strategic partnership with China as a priority in its diplomatic relations.
In January 2001, Hu Jintao, then vice president of China, paid a visit to Syria, which opened a new chapter in China-Syria relations. In June 2004, Assad carried out the first visit to China by a Syrian president. During his stay, the two sides signed a package of cooperation agreements which boosted bilateral relations to a new level. Since then, the two countries have maintained high level exchanges in all fields. In 2006, a series of special festivities were held both in Beijing and Damascus to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Syria. Meanwhile, both countries attach great importance to their economic and trade cooperation which has also achieved fruitful results. In 2007, the bilateral trade volume reached 1.87 billion U.S. dollars, up 32.9 percent compared with that in 2006, of which China's exports to Syria reached 1.862 billion dollars, an increase of 37.3 percent than 2006. China has thus become Syria's largest importer. China and Syria also carried out effective cooperation in various fields such as oil, electricity, transport and telecommunications. Well-known Chinese enterprises, such as China National Petroleum Corporation, ZTE and Huawei, have contracted important projects in Syria and China's automobile sales in Syria exceed 10,000 vehicles annually. Furthermore, the China Import and Export Fair in Guangzhou attracts hundreds of Syrian businessmen every year and Made in China can be seen everywhere in the Syrian market.
In June 2007, Syria officially recognized China's full market economy status during meetings of the Third Sino-Syrian Joint Committee, which lifted bilateral economic cooperation to new horizons. During the meetings, the two sides expressed their belief in the great potential of the cooperation, hoping to increase bilateral trade volume to 3 billion dollars in the next five years while endeavoring to balance the two-way trade. Along with the close political and economic ties, the friendly civil contacts between China and Syria have also been promoted. In 2005, China and Syria signed a tourism agreement, making Syria a tourist destination for the Chinese people. Syria, a significant country on the ancient Silk Road with its long history, profound culture and rich exotic flavor, is attracting more and more Chinese tourists.
Source: Xinhua.
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