JERUSALEM DIVIDED
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
O Jerusalem! America drafts plan to cut in 2
Allows Palestinian security control, asks Israel to forfeit Temple Mount April 09, 2008 11:30 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2008 WorldNetDaily
JERUSALEM – The United States, which has been mediating negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority here, has proposed a plan to divide Jerusalem, WND has learned.The plan, divided into separate phases, among other things calls for Israel eventually to forfeit parts of the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site.According to the first stage of the U.S. plan, which was obtained by WND, Israel would give the PA some municipal and security sovereignty over key Arab neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem.The PA would be allowed to open some official institutions in Jerusalem, could elect a mayor for the Palestinian side of the city and would deploy police forces to maintain law and order.The initial stage also calls for the PA to operate Jerusalem municipal institutions, such as offices to oversee trash collection and maintenance of roads.
After five years, if both sides keep their certain commitments called for in a larger principal agreement, according to the U.S. plan the PA would be given full sovereignty over the eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods and also over sections of the Temple Mount. The plan doesn't specify which parts of the Temple Mount would be forfeited to the Palestinians.After the five year period, the PA could deploy official security forces in Jerusalem separate from a police force and could also open major governmental institutions, such as a president's office, and offices for the finance and foreign ministries.The U.S. plan leaves Israel and the PA to negotiate which Jerusalem neighborhoods would become Palestinian. According to diplomatic sources familiar with the plan, while specific neighborhoods were not officially listed, American officials recommended sections of Jerusalem's Old City as well as certain largely Arab Jerusalem neighborhoods such as Jabal mukabar, Beit Hanina, Shoafat, Abu Dis and Abu Tur become part of the Palestinian side.As WND reported previously, many of the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem, including all of Shoafat, a large Arab section, were constructed illegally on property owned by the Jewish National Fund, a Jewish nonprofit that purchases property using Jewish donors funds for the stated purpose of Jewish settlement.
According to diplomatic sources, the plan is being discussed by Israel and the PA but has not yet been accepted.The sources said the plan was delivered earlier this month by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her trip to the region to push Israeli-Palestinian negotiations started at last November's U.S.-backed Annapolis summit, which aimed to create a Palestinian state before the end of the year.Since Annapolis, negotiating teams including Israeli Foreign Minister Tzippy Livni and chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia have been meeting weekly while Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and PA President Mahmoud Abbas have been meeting biweekly.The U.S. is very deeply involved in all aspects of the negotiations, according to a top diplomatic source.To demonstrate the level of U.S. involvement, the source pointed to recent U.S. supervision of Israeli commitments to dismantle about 50 West Bank anti-terror roadblocks and to bulldoze what are called illegal outposts, or West Bank Jewish communities constructed without government permits.The U.S. oversaw the removal of each and every roadblock, making sure the roadblocks were actually removed, said the source.Also, even though Israel prepared a report of all illegal outposts and handed it to the Americans, U.S. officials have been doing their own very specific independent investigating to find each and every illegal outpost and then oversee their dismantlement, the source said.Olmert's government has hinted a number of times it will divide Jerusalem.
In December, Israeli Vice Premier Haim Ramon said the country must give up sections of Jerusalem for a future Palestinian state, even conceding the Palestinians can rename Jerusalem to whatever they want.We must come today and say, friends, the Jewish neighborhoods, including Har Homa, will remain under Israeli sovereignty, and the Arab neighborhoods will be the Palestinian capital, which they will call Jerusalem or whatever they want, said Ramon during an interview.Positions held by Ramon, a ranking member of Olmert's Kadima party, are largely considered to be reflective of Israeli government policy.Olmert himself recently questioned whether it was really necessary to retain Arab-majority eastern sections of Jerusalem.Israel recaptured eastern Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – during the 1967 Six Day War. The Palestinians have claimed eastern Jerusalem as a future capital; the area has large Arab neighborhoods, a significant Jewish population and sites holy to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.About 231,000 Arabs live in Jerusalem, mostly in eastern neighborhoods, and many reside in illegally constructed complexes. The city has an estimated total population of 724,000.
AND THE RESULT OF A DIVIDED JERUSALEM
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.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:20,30
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).
MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
WW3 THE 3 WAVES THAT MARCH TO ISRAEL
DANIEL 11:40-45
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA 2ND WAVE OF WW3) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
The Third and Final Wave of WW3 is when all Nations march to Jerusalem, but JESUS bodily returns to earth and destroys them,sets up his KINGDOM OF RULE FOR 1000 YEARS THEN FOREVER.
2ND WAVE CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL
REVELATION 16:12
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THIS IS THE ATATURK DAM IN TURKEY,THEY CROSS OVER).
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(IRAQ-SYRIA)
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
ROBOTS IN JAPAN WORKPLACE
EARTHQUAKES
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Small earthquake hits South Texas; no injuries reported
By: Associated Press - Texarkana Gazette - Published: 04/08/2008
FALLS CITY, Texas—A small earthquake awoke residents in South Texas on Monday, but there are no reported injuries. The U.S. Geological Survey said the 3.7 magnitude quake happened at 4:51 a.m., about 45 miles southeast of San Antonio in South Texas. The quake was detected about 6 miles southwest of the Karnes County town of Falls City, near the line with Wilson County. Some Wilson County residents reported feeling the quake. Karnes County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy A.C. Alonzo said most people did not know about the quake until they heard the news this morning. We don’t have any reports of any property damage, Alonzo said. The only 911 call they received was from one of their deputies who was at the hospital with an inmate and wondered what was going on, Alonzo said. The Falls City Independent School District reported no damage to its campus. The epicenter was at a depth of about 3.1 miles. Texas occasionally has earthquakes.
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.
Dangerous severe weather possible Mark Avery
Wed Apr 9, 6:59 AM ET
A dangerous severe weather outbreak is expected to begin late tonight in the Southern Plains, and expand into the Lower and Mississippi Valley tomorrow. On the cold side of the system bringing this severe weather, heavy snow and strong winds are expected. Several rounds of severe weather are expected, especially the Southern Plains. Severe thunderstorms are expected to develop today in the Red River Valley into Arkansas. Tonight, a strong upper level system and a strengthening surface low and cold front will bring another chance of severe thunderstorms over the Southern Plains and into the Ozarks. As both the upper level and surface systems strengthen tomorrow, there is a chance of violent, long track tornadoes, large hail, damaging winds, and flooding rains over the Middle and Lower Mississippi Valley, Southern Plains, and Lower Ohio Valley tomorrow and tomorrow night. The greatest risk of tornadoes will come on Thursday.
The heavy rain will fall over areas that are saturated from heavy rains over the last month or so, with flood and flash flood watches extending from the Red River Valley to northern Illinois. This rain will eventually run off into rivers that will likely return to flood and then into the main stem rivers, worsening the ongoing flooding situation there. On the cold side of this system, winter storm watches extend from the Rockies to the western Great Lakes due to the potential of heavy snow and strong winds blowing that snow around. Near Duluth, Minnesota, a blizzard watch has been posted. The heaviest snows are expected on Thursday from the Central Rockies to the Northern Plains, and Thursday night from the Northern Plains into the Upper Mississippi Valley.
As this system moves east, the chance of heavy rain will move up the Ohio Valley and across the Southeast. Some severe thunderstorms are possible in Friday and possibly on Saturday in the Southeast, but coverage and intensity is not expected to be as great as Thursday. Locally heavy rains are expected in the Upper Ohio Valley and interior Northeast Friday and into the Megalopolis on Saturday. If you live in an area that is expecting severe weather--both thunderstorms and severe winter weather--over the next few days, please review your plans for what to do in the event severe thunderstorms affect your area. This includes planning for power outages, and securing outdoor objects that can be blown around by strong winds. If you live in an area threatened by severe thunderstorms and tornadoes in the overnight hours, be prepared by having something such as a NOAA Weather Radio on hand (with the alarm set on) to awaken you in case a warning is issued while you are asleep. Stay tuned to The Weather Channel and weather.com for the latest on this threatening weather situation.
Eastern Ontario snow melt brings risk of flooding
Tue Apr 8, 9:32 AM
Flood warnings have been issued in at least three regions of Ontario because of continued snow melt and rising river levels.The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority in eastern Ontario is warning of increased flows in rivers and streams throughout New Edinburgh, Old Ottawa East and Old Ottawa South.The conservation authority says there's the potential for flooding in the lowest-lying areas.
Flows and water levels will continue to rise over the next several days with higher temperatures and overnight low temperatures staying above the freezing point, the agency says.Rain is in the forecast for the region on Wednesday and more is expected on the weekend, which would further increase flows just as many streams and rivers are peaking.
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)
African inflation could cause humanitarian tsunami: Brussels Tue Apr 8, 10:02 AM ET
BRUSSELS (AFP) - Soaring prices of basic foodstuffs could cause a humanitarian tsunami in Africa, EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel warned Tuesday. A world food crisis is emerging, less visible than the oil (price) crisis, but with the potential effect of real economic and humanitarian tsunami in Africa, Michel said in a statement after a meeting with African Union Commission chief Jean Ping.Ping said the soaring prices represented a major challenge and called on the international community to invest in the farming sector, notably in Africa, the European Commission said in a statement.Michel said the EU's executive arm planned, in the short term, to boost its emergency food aid and push for more international mobilisation to help tackle the problem of food security in Africa.
Funding earmarked for agriculture and rural development in the poorest nations from the European Development Funds will be boosted from 650 million euros (one billion dollars) presently to 1.2 billion, he said.Since African households spend a relatively high proportion of their earnings on food, higher food prices hit them particularly hard.The rise in prices of food staples such as rice, wheat flour and maize are also forcing African governments to take emergency measures which are affecting their budgets.The rise in international food prices poses significant threats to Africa's growth, peace and security, African finance ministers warned in a statement at the end of a meeting in Addis Ababa last week to discuss the crisis.
AMERICA (POLITICAL BABYLON)
EZEKIEL 39:21
21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
ISAIAH 18:1-2
1 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!
JEREMIAH 50:11,37,12
11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;(BACKSLIDERS)
37 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.(A NATION OF MINGLED PEOPLE)
12 Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed:(MOTHER ENGLAND) behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
JEREMIAH 51:13,7,53
13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.
7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.
REVELATION 18:3,5,7
3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
JEREMIAH 50:3,24
3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD. (RUSSIA A SNEAK ATTACK)
REVELATION 18:10
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.
Democrat: Iraq makes US more vulnerable APR 9,08
WASHINGTON - The top Democrat on the House Armed Services panel says the Bush administration has not allocated sufficient resources to protect the nation from attack. Missouri Democrat Ike Skelton said the effort in Iraq is preventing the U.S. from effectively preparing for other conflicts and putting at risk the United States' ability to defeat those most likely to attack.Skelton's comments Wednesday came ahead of the second day of testimony by Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador there. Petraeus told lawmakers that security gains in the war zone are too fragile to promise further drawdowns.
Europol: Terrorism escalating in the European Union
Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:01:06 GMT ,DPA
Brussels/The Hague - European police authorities reported Monday an increase in the number of unsuccessful, prevented or actually carried out terrorist attacks in European Union states. Some 583 such attacks took place in the EU in 2007, a 24-per-cent increase from 2006, Europol Director Max-Peter Ratzel told the European Parliament in Brussels. The vast majority of these attacks were attributable to the Basque separatist organization ETA in France and Spain. Muslim terrorists carried out one attack in Britain, while a number of attempts were made in Britain as well as Germany and Denmark. ETA terrorism was responsible for the deaths of two Spanish policemen, but no other deaths were caused by terrorism within the EU.
Europol however warned that Islamic terrorists attempted to cause the most casualties with their attacks, both in their choice of targets as well as the means used. In a recent unsuccessful attack in London, the would-be attackers placed nails in their homemade bombs. In the entire EU last year, 1,044 suspects were jailed for acts in connection with terrorism, an increase of 48 per cent from 2006. This consisted mainly of arrests of separatists in France and Spain. The number of detained Muslim terrorist suspects dropped from 257 in 2006 to 201 in 2007.
EU eyes investment in southern Mediterranean countries
April 08, 2008
The European Union told leaders from southern Mediterranean countries on Tuesday that the 27-nation bloc wants to boost its investment in the region. Leaders from Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan met during the day with senior EU policy-makers and business representatives for talks to sharply increase EU investment in the southern Mediterranean. Despite their closeness to Europe and their promising growth, the countries of the Southern Mediterranean have attracted only one percent of EU foreign investment since 2000. We need to change that, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said when opening the talks.
The discussion focused on improving legal frameworks for investment, encouraging joint partnerships between the EU and southern Mediterranean businesses and boosting EU investment in the region, which is among the lowest in the world, the European Commission said in a press release. The four southern Mediterranean countries are parties to the Agadir Agreement, which was signed in 2004 to establish a free trade agreement among them. The EU said it aims to boost regional integration and remains committed to an EU-Mediterranean free trade area by 2010. Although they increasingly trade with the EU, it is just as important to help the countries of the Agadir agreement to develop their trade with each other, Mandelson said. Direct investment flows from the EU to the southern Mediterranean amounted to 4.9 billion euros (7.69 billion U.S. dollars) in 2006,accounting for around 2 percent of the EU's total direct investment abroad. The European Commission said southern Mediterranean countries could make substantial gains from attracting new investment, especially in the service sector, which is key to their economies. Source: Xinhua
Importance of EU-Israel relations to be stated by EU leaders? by: Yossi Lempkowicz 08/Apr/2008 17:45
Patrick Child, cabinet chief of EU External Relations and Neighbourhood Policy Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
BRUSSELS (EJP)---The European Union might endorse later this year a new political statement stressing the importance of EU-Israel relations, an EU official said Tuesday. Such a statement is now circulating among the EU member states and could be endorsed at a summit meeting before the end of this year, Patrick Child, cabinet chief of EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said. He was one of the speakers at an event in the European Parliament organized by B’nai B’rith International to celebrate Israel’s 60th anniversary.Last week, Ferrero-Waldner announced that the EU would deepen its political dialogue with Israel and involve the country more closely in several EU policies, as part of the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), the EU’s framework foreign policy covering its eastern and southern neighbours.Israel was described as the front-runner among non-EU members participating in EU programs that range from scientific cooperation to trade integration.
A reflection group is considering areas where the future EU-Israel relations could be upgraded to a special status. But Patrick Child said that while Israel is a leading country in the European Neighbourhood Policy, the EU cannot ignore the political developments in the Mideast peace process. Speaking at the same event, Israel’s ambassador to the EU, Ran Curiel, praised the fact that after years of mistrust and suspicion, the EU and Israel have been able to develop a mature political dialogue.Israel and the EU have the same long-term interest, he added. But he ruled out the idea of Israel joining the European Union even if the Israeli population appears to favour such a plan. This is not in our cards. We have not asked to join the EU and we have not been asked to join, he said. The EU and Israel are linked by an association agreement which came into force in 2000. The EU is Israel’s main trade partner and an EU-Israel Association Council meets annually at ministerial level.This week's celebration of Israel’s anniversary in the framework of the European Parliament includes discussions hosted by MEPs on issues highlighting Israeli innovation in such fields as immigration absorption, development aid, environment and international cooperation.
Benita Ferrero-Waldner European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy.The European Union and its place in the world Рthe current agenda College of EuropeBruges, 7 April 2008 By Commission Europ̩enne (europa.eu.int) - April 08, 08 at 17:39
College of Europe Bruges, 7 April 2008
Professors,
Dear students,
Thank you for your kind invitation to visit the College of Europe and for this warm welcome today. And thank you Julia for those charming words of introduction. I am delighted to have this opportunity to speak here at this centre of European excellence which has produced so many of Europe’s leaders in the past and, I am sure, is now shaping those of the future. There is no shortage of challenges ahead as you begin your career in Europe. But the one which most concerns me is how best to strengthen the EU’s position in the world to respond to accelerating globalisation. After all, as John F Kennedy put it, Domestic policy can only defeat us; foreign policy can kill us!
I know you are already familiar with the EU’s external relations and the changes which are about to be implemented. So perhaps today I will give you the perspective of an insider, and share with you some of the issues on my mind. Four subjects are on the top of my agenda, not least because the French Presidency which begins in July has already indicated that these will be its priorities: first, preparing for the implementation of the Lisbon Reform Treaty and the changes it will introduce in the field of external relations; second, the revision of the European Security Strategy first drawn up in 2003; third, energy and climate change; and fourth, the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Mediterranean Union.
1) Implementing the Lisbon Reform Treaty
The major innovations the Treaty introduced in the field of foreign policy and external relations are well known – a new High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, who will also be double-hatted as a Vice-President of the European Commission; a President of the European Council who will be the external face of the EU on his or her level; and a new External Action Service to serve their needs and those of the Commission’s President. But of course what you don’t know, what indeed none of us yet know, is exactly how this will work out in practice. What is clear, however, is that three principles should guide us as we prepare the Treaty’s implementation: First, we must adopt a high level of ambition – if we want a secure and economically strong Europe playing a leading role in world affairs, we need a strong EU foreign policy. That means pushing for those arrangements which will give us the most coherent, effective and visible EU foreign policy possible. We must not lose sight of our overriding objective: the stronger we are, the more we can achieve.
Second, we have to take into account the existing institutional realities and ensure we are building on every institution’s strengths. That is how we will get the strongest possible system and thus the most effective foreign policy. Third, I am telling no secrets by saying that the fundamental obstacle to a more effective EU foreign policy is our Member States mustering the necessary political will to pursue the common EU interest. As we determine the set-up of the EU’s foreign policy we must keep in mind the need to help our Member States overcome that obstacle. 2009 will inevitably be a transitional year, with the entry into force of the new Treaty and the new institutional set-up that entails; a new Commission and European Parliament taking office; and the Treaty’s requirement that the new High Representative / Vice-President should finalise the proposals for the functioning of the External Action Service, which will then need to be agreed by the Commission as a whole, followed by the European Parliament and Member States.
The first challenge therefore will be ensuring the success of 2009 as the transitional year, ensuring everything necessary is in place for day one of the treaty’s implementation. And the full implementation of the External Action Service will follow in a second phase. The final proposals for the External Action Service will only emerge next year. However, three points seem clear to us now:
i) The system must be genuinely inclusive, enabling all Member States and EU institutions to play their role.
ii) Although it will be a sui generis service, it will need to be as close as possible to the Commission’s policy coordination, budgetary and administrative processes. This is the only way it will be able to effectively support the Vice-President in his or her task of coordinating the Commission’s external policy instruments, and in managing the external projection of internal policies like energy, environment, and transport.
iii) The new service, together with the EU delegations, should be the single source of advice and support for all EU actors, including the European Commission and European Council Presidents. That is the most efficient model to avoid duplication.
The simulation games you have played this semester will have given you an insight into the complexity of the issues at stake in the field of external relations and foreign policy so I am sure you can appreciate that there will be many difficult questions for the Commission, Council, Parliament and Member States to answer in the coming months. But we are determined to push ahead, and President Barroso and I will be working closely with the Council Secretariat, Member States and others to ensure the necessary political orientation is in place before the end of the French Presidency.
2) European Security Strategy
The second big issue on my mind is the revision of the EU’s 2003 Security Strategy. The Security Strategy’s basic focus on terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, regional conflicts, failed states and organised crime is still valid five years on. But there are other global challenges which are not mentioned and should have been, like energy security, climate change and migration. Last December’s European Council tasked us with looking at how we could improve implementation of the current strategy and ensure the gaps are plugged. I believe that we need to add three objectives to the strategy, to ensure it fully reflects the EU’s security situation. These are: Addressing threats to our ability to maintain basic supplies and services (including energy security); Dealing with global issues such as climate change and migration; and Adopting a human security approach – putting people rather than nation-states at the centre of our concerns.
We need to ensure that the external dimension of internal policies is fully taken into account. For, in reality, the world has moved on since JFK made his statement about domestic and foreign policy. Now the two cannot be so easily separated. In this highly integrated world, events in one place have a direct and immediate impact on another. The very nature of what we consider “security” has changed.
3) Energy and Climate Change
That brings me to the third point on my agenda – energy and climate change.
I don’t need to explain to this audience the importance of energy security – you have all seen the rise and rise of the price of oil and the annual disputes between Russia and some of its neighbours over gas supplies. We are facing more competition from other consumer countries (China), and re-nationalisation of resources by producers. We clearly need to pay energy security more importance in the future, adjusting to the new World Energy Equation. That means diversifying our sources of supply, our transit routes and our internal energy mix. For that the EU needs a more proactive and coherent energy security diplomacy: addressing energy security in our political dialogue with all external partners; discussing and taking action to protect critical infrastructure and diversify supply routes; and building on the memoranda of understanding we have already signed with countries like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Egypt, and also Turkmenistan and Jordan. I am travelling to Turkmenistan tonight, and next week to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region to discuss energy issues.
An important part of our approach must also be internal – improving our internal market to give us more flexibility and solidarity, and accepting the need for more coordination and transparency to enable us to speak with one voice towards our external partners. That is why the new Treaty provision on energy solidarity is so important.
The Commission will propose concrete policy measures on securing energy supplies and our external energy policy in the 2nd Strategic Energy Review in November. Climate change is intimately linked with energy security, and an international security issue in its own right. You will have noted that at the last European Council Europe’s leaders discussed a paper prepared jointly by the Commission and Council which focused precisely on the issue of climate change and international security. Climate change is a threat multiplier that will increase risks for societies in almost every part of the globe. Climate change will exacerbate water and food scarcity, aggravate poverty, worsen health conditions, and potentially generate increased resource competition (as we saw in last summer's muscle flexing over the Arctic). If the weakest countries cannot adapt, it may even lead to more forced migration and possibly radicalization and state failure causing internal and external security risks. For that reason our paper made a number of recommendations for addressing this issue: taking mitigation and adaptation measures on the ground; working closely with the UN to internationalise the response – i.e. strengthening effective multilateralism in the run-up to Copenhagen 2009, also under Japan’s G8 Presidency; engaging our partner countries in all relevant fora; and finally mainstreaming climate change into all EC policies.
4) ENP and the Mediterranean Union
I understand that last month you undertook an intensive course on the EU’s Neighbourhood Policy, so you will have understood the context in which we released our latest country reports last week.
I know several of you also come from ENP partner-countries and were responsible for the Noisy Neighbours week earlier this year – certainly a highlight in the College's long tradition of student parties! I am delighted that you have benefited from EU scholarships to attend this eminent institution. ENP continues to prove its worth – showing that our policy of encouraging and rewarding reform does have an impact on our neighbours and is bringing them closer to us. Our goal of promoting stability, security and prosperity for our neighbours, and thus also for ourselves, is more relevant than ever. ENP will therefore remain an important priority in the months ahead. In particular, I plan to move ahead with four avant-garde countries (Ukraine, Israel, Morocco and Moldova), with whom we want to deepen relations specifically. The French Presidency has already made clear its desire to reinforce the multilateral element of our relations in the South. So the last European Council proposed that the Barcelona Process be given a boost by a new Union for the Mediterranean.
This political impulse is welcome. The aim is to build on the achievements of the Barcelona Process to intensify our cooperation with the region and strengthen key bilateral relationships. Clearly, we must focus on added value – e.g. by better involving the private sector. Also, it is crucial that all EU Member States and institutions are fully involved. We are currently preparing proposals on how this will work with a view to the Summit that will take place in Paris in July. So in short: It’s not a question of competing with existing institutions but rather of finding ways to go further in our relations. So the focus will be on regional projects. In thinking about those projects we will be talking to all the EU’s member states and our partner countries, but I can imagine an emphasis on common areas of concern like developing infrastructure interconnections and promoting regional cohesion, economic integration and environmental protection. After all, our common objective is to strengthen our relations across and around our mare nostrum, the Mediterranean region that we all share. This will also be reflected in the planned Co-Presidency of this Union from a Northern and Southern country.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
These are the issues which are on the top of my agenda at the moment, but there are many other topics of burning importance.
Peace in the Middle East continues to elude us, but as a member of the Middle East Quartet and co-chair of the Paris Donors’ Conference, I am hopeful that we will be able to make progress on the ground as soon as possible, not least on access and movement for the Palestinians as well as on Israeli settlements (which are an obstacle to peace). EU support – both political and financial – will remain crucial for the development of a democratic and viable Palestinian state (esp. through our financial mechanism Pegase).
Furthermore, our relations with Russia are of great importance, and we are faced now with a moment of opportunity as a new President enters the international stage. Let us take president-elect Medvedew at his word. And of course, Afghanistan, relations with China and other issues remain high on my agenda. Beyond that there is an important Summit next month with the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and a whole host of thematic issues – especially women and security – which are an important focus of my work – as reflected in the major conference of female leaders which I hosted in March. I hope you have a flavour now for the current debate in the corridors of Brussels’ institutions and of the kinds of issues which await you when you graduate later this year. Europe needs you - its young generation - to help it operate more effectively in a globalized world. And let me say how pleased I am that the College has added the International Relations and Diplomacy strand to its curriculum. As Isaac Goldberg joked, Diplomacy is to do and say the nastiest things in the nicest way – an important skill! More seriously, I am convinced this will make an essential contribution to building up the European Union’s identity and power on the world stage. And I hope you will be even more inspired to do all you can to play your part, now and in the future. By Commission Européenne (europa.eu.int)
EU Urges Bloc to Back EU Membership for Serbia
By VOA News 08 April 2008
The European Union is urging member-nations to back steps necessary for eventual Serbian membership in the bloc. Javier Solana gestures while addressing the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament in Brussels, 08 Apr 2008.Foreign policy chief Javier Solana says a pre-membership agreement should be signed ahead of Serbian parliamentary elections next month. Solana told the European Parliament Tuesday in Brussels that Europe must send a clear signal that the Serbian people are wanted in the union.
He said the pre-membership Stabilization and Association Agreement would boost prospects for pro-Western candidates in the May 11 polls.The Netherlands and Belgium have blocked a pre-membership pact with Belgrade, demanding first the arrest and transfer of wartime Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander, Ratko Mladic. Both fugitives have been charged with war crimes during the Balkan wars of the 1990s, and are thought to be hiding in the region.Anti-Western sentiment has intensified in Serbia since the United States and most EU nations recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia in February. Belgrade has responded by withdrawing its ambassadors from those countries.The upcoming Serbian polls were triggered by the collapse of Belgrade's ruling coalition over Kosovo.Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
Palestinian attack kills 2 Israelis By YANIV ZOHAR, Associated Press Writer APR 9,08
NAHAL OZ, Israel - Palestinian militants crossed into southern Israel and killed two Israeli civilians in a surprise attack before fleeing back to the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said. The army rushed forces across the border into northern Gaza. Israeli police said at least one of the militants who attacked the Israeli terminal delivering fuel to the Gaza Strip was killed.We are surrounded by tanks. It's a war out there, said Munther Rahmi, a worker on the Palestinian side of the border.The attack on the Nahal Oz terminal upset a recent period of calm.There had been a sharp drop in fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants since Israel ended a broad military offensive early last month. Egypt has been trying to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas militants.Israel, the sole provider of fuel to Gaza, sealed the border after Hamas seized control of the area last June.
Wednesday's attack could bring a new round of fighting. Two smaller militant groups, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, claimed responsibility for the attack, but Israel has said it holds Hamas responsible for all violence coming out of Gaza.
We are talking of a unique and complicated operation, said Islamic Jihad spokesman Abu Ahmad. He said details would be released later, but Israeli media said the militants had fired a series of mortar shells before the infiltration to divert Israeli attention.Hamas threatened Tuesday to burst across the Israeli border to end Israel's blockade of Gaza.
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.
Sect accused of marrying pubescent girls By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer APR 9,08
ELDORADO, Texas - The scared girl, already a mother at 16, whispered into a cell phone: she wanted out. She'd been forced to spiritually marry a man more than three times her age, becoming his seventh wife. Her husband sexually assaulted her, and when he was angry, he would beat her while other women held her infant, she told a family violence shelter in a series of secret calls that triggered an investigation of the polygamist sect here.The girl had looked for opportunities to escape before, but she was warned that outside the double-gates blocking entry to the Yearning For Zion Ranch, in a world completely foreign to her, she would be forced to cut her hair and wear makeup, and to have sex with many men — all damning transgressions in a faith where modesty calls for women to wear long underwear year-round under pioneer-style dresses.At the end of one call she began to cry; she wanted to take it all back.
But child welfare officials allege in court documents released Tuesday that the compound built by leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was rife with sexual abuse, with girls spiritually married to much older men as soon as they reached puberty and boys groomed to perpetuate the cycle.
The documents detail the hushed phone calls, but days after raiding the West Texas compound, officials still aren't sure where the girl is. She is not named among the children in initial custody petitions by the state.Texas authorities have legal custody of 416 children, all of those believed to have lived at the ranch, Child Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner told reporters in San Angelo, about 40 miles from the compound in Eldorado.Court documents said a number of teen girls at the 1,700-acre compound were pregnant, and all the children were removed on the grounds that they were in danger of emotional, physical, and-or sexual abuse. Nearly 140 women left on their own.Investigators determined that there is a widespread pattern and practice of the (YFZ) Ranch in which young, minor female residents are conditioned to expect and accept sexual activity with adult men at the ranch upon being spiritually married to them, read the affidavit signed by Lynn McFadden, a Department of Family and Protective Services investigative supervisor.McFadden said the girls were spiritually married to the men as soon as they reached puberty and were required to bear children.
Attorneys for the church and church leaders have filed motions asking a judge to quash the search on constitutional grounds, saying state authorities didn't have enough evidence and that the warrants were too broad. A hearing on their motion was scheduled for Wednesday in San Angelo.Church lawyer Patrick Peranteau did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment Tuesday.An unknown number of men and women were at the ranch while authorities completed the search of the gleaming 80-foot-high temple, a cheese-making plant, a cement plant, a school, a doctor's office and housing units. Tela Mange, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Safety, said Tuesday the adults were not being held, but if they left the compound, they could not return while the search continued.At least two FBI agents were seen entering the back entrance of the temple on Tuesday.
Spokesmen for the FBI and DPS declined comment.
The compound was raided Thursday after the girl called a local family violence shelter March 29 and 30, using someone else's cell phone and speaking quietly to avoid being overheard, McFadden's affidavit said.The girl said she was not allowed to leave the compound unless she was ill. She told the shelter that her husband would beat and hurt her when he got angry, hitting her in the chest and choking her while another woman in the house held her baby. Once, he broke her ribs, she said.The girl also said her husband sexually assaulted her, and that she was several weeks pregnant. The girl told the shelter her husband went to the outsiders' world but she didn't know where. The girl's husband was not identified in the court documents released Tuesday. But authorities have issued an arrest warrant for church member Dale Barlow, a 50-year-old believed to be in Arizona. Authorities were looking for documents, family photos or even a family Bible with lists of marriages and children to determine whether the girl was married to Barlow, who was sentenced to jail last year after pleading no contest to conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. He was ordered to register as a sex offender for three years while he is on probation. Authorities were trying to determine the identities and parentage of many of the children; some were unwilling or unable to provide the names of their biological parents or identified multiple mothers.
The boys were groomed to be ready to marry underage girls upon adulthood and engage in sexual activity, resulting in them becoming new perpetrators, the affidavit said. Children in the sect were deprived of food and forced to sit in closed closets as a form of discipline, a warrant said. An FLDS member now living in the Texas Panhandle, Samuel Fischer, objected to the raid. It's religious persecution, said Fischer, who moved to a ranch near Lockney with his two wives and 12 of his children from Hildale, Utah, last year.
The Texas investigation is the state's first of FLDS members, but prosecutors in Utah and Arizona have pursued several church members in recent years, including sect leader Warren Jeffs, who is serving two consecutive sentences of five years to life for being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old wed to her cousin in Utah. He awaits trial on other charges in Arizona. Authorities investigating the Eldorado compound have described FLDS members as cooperative, but the house-by-house search of the temple, factories and living quarters has led to some trouble. On Monday, 41-year-old Leroy Johnson Steed was arrested on charges of felony tampering with evidence — a day after 19-year-old Levi Barlow Jeffs was arrested on misdemeanor charges of interfering with the duties of a public servant, said DPS spokesman Tom Vinger. He declined to give details on the arrests or how Levi Barlow Jeffs might be related to the FLDS leader. Associated Press Writer Betsey Blaney contributed to this report from Lockney and Associated Press Photographer Tony Gutierrez contributed to this report from Eldorado.
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).
Colombia trade deal splits Clintons By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer Wed Apr 9, 2:25 AM ET
WASHINGTON - The presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that her husband, the former president, supports a free trade agreement with Colombia that she strenuously opposes. The acknowledgment adds new hurdles to the New York senator's bid to woo Democratic voters in Pennsylvania and elsewhere who believe free trade agreements have eliminated thousands of U.S. jobs. On Sunday, she demoted her chief campaign strategist for his role in promoting the Colombia pact.Hillary Clinton told union activists Tuesday she would do everything in her power to defeat the Colombia Free Trade Agreement now before Congress.Her campaign spokesman, Jay Carson, said in response to a query from The Associated Press that the senator's opposition is clear and firm. He added: Like other married couples who disagree on issues from time to time, she disagrees with her husband on this issue. President Clinton has been public about his support for Colombia's request for U.S. trade preferences since 2000.
Bill Clinton has been his wife's most prominent campaign surrogate and advocate for months.A high point of his presidency was passage of the North America Free Trade Agreement, which his wife now criticizes at virtually every campaign stop. White House records show that as first lady Hillary Clinton attended several meetings designed to build congressional support for NAFTA in the early 1990s. She says she had reservations about the pact at the time, and made her feelings known in such gatherings.Speaking about the Colombia trade deal Tuesday to a meeting of the Communication Workers of America, she said: As I have said for months, I oppose the deal, I have spoken out against the deal, I will vote against the deal and I will do everything I can to urge the Congress to reject the Colombia free trade agreement.On Sunday, Mark Penn left his post as top strategist for Clinton's campaign after it was reported that he had met with Colombia's ambassador to the United States to discuss passage of the agreement. Colombia was a client of Penn's large public relations firm, Burson-Marsteller.Many labor unions, including the CWA, oppose such trade deals, saying they displace U.S. jobs and encourage abuses of workers and the environment in other countries.As president, Bill Clinton's support of trade agreements with Mexico, Canada, China and other nations often put him at odds with fellow Democrats and labor leaders who backed a more protectionist approach. Clinton argued that Democrats should support lower barriers to trade because the nation, on balance, would benefit.
Many nonpartisan economists agree.
In 2005, the former president was paid $800,000 by Gold Service International, a Bogota-based business development group, for four days of appearances in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil. The group supports, among other things, the Colombia Free Trade Agreement.
Hillary Clinton's Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, noted his opposition to the Colombia deal Tuesday when he spoke to the CWA group moments after Clinton left the stage. He said he opposes the treaty because when organizing workers puts an organizer's life at risk, as it does in Colombia, it makes a mockery of our labor protections.President Bush on Monday sent the proposed Colombia deal to Congress, which has 90 days to ratify or reject it. The administration says it would help the United States by eliminating high barriers for U.S. exports to Colombia. Most Colombian products enter the United States duty free under existing trade preference laws, the administration says.Obama did not mention Penn in his 25-minute speech to CWA activists. But in a conference call arranged by his campaign, Teamsters President James Hoffa called on Clinton to cut all ties with Penn, who continues to advise her campaign.This latest issue with Mark Penn really hurts her credibility, especially on trade issues, said Hoffa, who supports Obama.In a separate conference call, Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson likened Penn to a newspaper editor who plays an important role but isn't in charge of the paper.Earlier this week, aides said both Hillary and Bill Clinton were angry upon hearing of Penn's meeting with the Colombia's ambassador, which proved deeply embarrassing to the campaign.
Robots seen doing work of 3.5 million in Japan Tue Apr 8, 10:53 AM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - Robots could fill the jobs of 3.5 million people in graying Japan by 2025, a thinktank says, helping to avert worker shortages as the country's population shrinks. Japan faces a 16 percent slide in the size of its workforce by 2030 while the number of elderly will mushroom, the government estimates, raising worries about who will do the work in a country unused to, and unwilling to contemplate, large-scale immigration.The thinktank, the Machine Industry Memorial Foundation, says robots could help fill the gaps, ranging from microsized capsules that detect lesions to high-tech vacuum cleaners.Rather than each robot replacing one person, the foundation said in a report that robots could make time for people to focus on more important things.Japan could save 2.1 trillion yen ($21 billion) of elderly insurance payments in 2025 by using robots that monitor the health of older people, so they don't have to rely on human nursing care, the foundation said in its report.
Caregivers would save more than an hour a day if robots helped look after children, older people and did some housework, it added. Robotic duties could include reading books out loud or helping bathe the elderly.Seniors are pushing back their retirement until they are 65 years old, day care centers are being built so that more women can work during the day, and there is a move to increase the quota of foreign laborers. But none of these can beat the shrinking workforce, said Takao Kobayashi, who worked on the study.
Robots are important because they could help in some ways to alleviate such shortage of the labor force.The current fertility rate is 1.3 babies per woman, far below the level needed to maintain the population, while the government estimates that 40 percent of the population will be over 65 by 2055, raising concerns about who will look after the graying population.Kobayashi said changes was still needed for robots to make a big impact on the workforce.There's the expensive price tag, the functions of the robots still need to improve, and then there are the mindsets of people, he said.People need to have the will to use the robots.
(Reporting by Yoko Kubota; Editing by Rodney Joyce)
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Small earthquake hits South Texas; no injuries reported
By: Associated Press - Texarkana Gazette - Published: 04/08/2008
FALLS CITY, Texas—A small earthquake awoke residents in South Texas on Monday, but there are no reported injuries. The U.S. Geological Survey said the 3.7 magnitude quake happened at 4:51 a.m., about 45 miles southeast of San Antonio in South Texas. The quake was detected about 6 miles southwest of the Karnes County town of Falls City, near the line with Wilson County. Some Wilson County residents reported feeling the quake. Karnes County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy A.C. Alonzo said most people did not know about the quake until they heard the news this morning. We don’t have any reports of any property damage, Alonzo said. The only 911 call they received was from one of their deputies who was at the hospital with an inmate and wondered what was going on, Alonzo said. The Falls City Independent School District reported no damage to its campus. The epicenter was at a depth of about 3.1 miles. Texas occasionally has earthquakes.
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.
Dangerous severe weather possible Mark Avery
Wed Apr 9, 6:59 AM ET
A dangerous severe weather outbreak is expected to begin late tonight in the Southern Plains, and expand into the Lower and Mississippi Valley tomorrow. On the cold side of the system bringing this severe weather, heavy snow and strong winds are expected. Several rounds of severe weather are expected, especially the Southern Plains. Severe thunderstorms are expected to develop today in the Red River Valley into Arkansas. Tonight, a strong upper level system and a strengthening surface low and cold front will bring another chance of severe thunderstorms over the Southern Plains and into the Ozarks. As both the upper level and surface systems strengthen tomorrow, there is a chance of violent, long track tornadoes, large hail, damaging winds, and flooding rains over the Middle and Lower Mississippi Valley, Southern Plains, and Lower Ohio Valley tomorrow and tomorrow night. The greatest risk of tornadoes will come on Thursday.
The heavy rain will fall over areas that are saturated from heavy rains over the last month or so, with flood and flash flood watches extending from the Red River Valley to northern Illinois. This rain will eventually run off into rivers that will likely return to flood and then into the main stem rivers, worsening the ongoing flooding situation there. On the cold side of this system, winter storm watches extend from the Rockies to the western Great Lakes due to the potential of heavy snow and strong winds blowing that snow around. Near Duluth, Minnesota, a blizzard watch has been posted. The heaviest snows are expected on Thursday from the Central Rockies to the Northern Plains, and Thursday night from the Northern Plains into the Upper Mississippi Valley.
As this system moves east, the chance of heavy rain will move up the Ohio Valley and across the Southeast. Some severe thunderstorms are possible in Friday and possibly on Saturday in the Southeast, but coverage and intensity is not expected to be as great as Thursday. Locally heavy rains are expected in the Upper Ohio Valley and interior Northeast Friday and into the Megalopolis on Saturday. If you live in an area that is expecting severe weather--both thunderstorms and severe winter weather--over the next few days, please review your plans for what to do in the event severe thunderstorms affect your area. This includes planning for power outages, and securing outdoor objects that can be blown around by strong winds. If you live in an area threatened by severe thunderstorms and tornadoes in the overnight hours, be prepared by having something such as a NOAA Weather Radio on hand (with the alarm set on) to awaken you in case a warning is issued while you are asleep. Stay tuned to The Weather Channel and weather.com for the latest on this threatening weather situation.
Eastern Ontario snow melt brings risk of flooding
Tue Apr 8, 9:32 AM
Flood warnings have been issued in at least three regions of Ontario because of continued snow melt and rising river levels.The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority in eastern Ontario is warning of increased flows in rivers and streams throughout New Edinburgh, Old Ottawa East and Old Ottawa South.The conservation authority says there's the potential for flooding in the lowest-lying areas.
Flows and water levels will continue to rise over the next several days with higher temperatures and overnight low temperatures staying above the freezing point, the agency says.Rain is in the forecast for the region on Wednesday and more is expected on the weekend, which would further increase flows just as many streams and rivers are peaking.
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)
African inflation could cause humanitarian tsunami: Brussels Tue Apr 8, 10:02 AM ET
BRUSSELS (AFP) - Soaring prices of basic foodstuffs could cause a humanitarian tsunami in Africa, EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel warned Tuesday. A world food crisis is emerging, less visible than the oil (price) crisis, but with the potential effect of real economic and humanitarian tsunami in Africa, Michel said in a statement after a meeting with African Union Commission chief Jean Ping.Ping said the soaring prices represented a major challenge and called on the international community to invest in the farming sector, notably in Africa, the European Commission said in a statement.Michel said the EU's executive arm planned, in the short term, to boost its emergency food aid and push for more international mobilisation to help tackle the problem of food security in Africa.
Funding earmarked for agriculture and rural development in the poorest nations from the European Development Funds will be boosted from 650 million euros (one billion dollars) presently to 1.2 billion, he said.Since African households spend a relatively high proportion of their earnings on food, higher food prices hit them particularly hard.The rise in prices of food staples such as rice, wheat flour and maize are also forcing African governments to take emergency measures which are affecting their budgets.The rise in international food prices poses significant threats to Africa's growth, peace and security, African finance ministers warned in a statement at the end of a meeting in Addis Ababa last week to discuss the crisis.
AMERICA (POLITICAL BABYLON)
EZEKIEL 39:21
21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
ISAIAH 18:1-2
1 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!
JEREMIAH 50:11,37,12
11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;(BACKSLIDERS)
37 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.(A NATION OF MINGLED PEOPLE)
12 Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed:(MOTHER ENGLAND) behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
JEREMIAH 51:13,7,53
13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.
7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.
REVELATION 18:3,5,7
3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
JEREMIAH 50:3,24
3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD. (RUSSIA A SNEAK ATTACK)
REVELATION 18:10
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.
Democrat: Iraq makes US more vulnerable APR 9,08
WASHINGTON - The top Democrat on the House Armed Services panel says the Bush administration has not allocated sufficient resources to protect the nation from attack. Missouri Democrat Ike Skelton said the effort in Iraq is preventing the U.S. from effectively preparing for other conflicts and putting at risk the United States' ability to defeat those most likely to attack.Skelton's comments Wednesday came ahead of the second day of testimony by Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador there. Petraeus told lawmakers that security gains in the war zone are too fragile to promise further drawdowns.
Europol: Terrorism escalating in the European Union
Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:01:06 GMT ,DPA
Brussels/The Hague - European police authorities reported Monday an increase in the number of unsuccessful, prevented or actually carried out terrorist attacks in European Union states. Some 583 such attacks took place in the EU in 2007, a 24-per-cent increase from 2006, Europol Director Max-Peter Ratzel told the European Parliament in Brussels. The vast majority of these attacks were attributable to the Basque separatist organization ETA in France and Spain. Muslim terrorists carried out one attack in Britain, while a number of attempts were made in Britain as well as Germany and Denmark. ETA terrorism was responsible for the deaths of two Spanish policemen, but no other deaths were caused by terrorism within the EU.
Europol however warned that Islamic terrorists attempted to cause the most casualties with their attacks, both in their choice of targets as well as the means used. In a recent unsuccessful attack in London, the would-be attackers placed nails in their homemade bombs. In the entire EU last year, 1,044 suspects were jailed for acts in connection with terrorism, an increase of 48 per cent from 2006. This consisted mainly of arrests of separatists in France and Spain. The number of detained Muslim terrorist suspects dropped from 257 in 2006 to 201 in 2007.
EU eyes investment in southern Mediterranean countries
April 08, 2008
The European Union told leaders from southern Mediterranean countries on Tuesday that the 27-nation bloc wants to boost its investment in the region. Leaders from Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan met during the day with senior EU policy-makers and business representatives for talks to sharply increase EU investment in the southern Mediterranean. Despite their closeness to Europe and their promising growth, the countries of the Southern Mediterranean have attracted only one percent of EU foreign investment since 2000. We need to change that, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said when opening the talks.
The discussion focused on improving legal frameworks for investment, encouraging joint partnerships between the EU and southern Mediterranean businesses and boosting EU investment in the region, which is among the lowest in the world, the European Commission said in a press release. The four southern Mediterranean countries are parties to the Agadir Agreement, which was signed in 2004 to establish a free trade agreement among them. The EU said it aims to boost regional integration and remains committed to an EU-Mediterranean free trade area by 2010. Although they increasingly trade with the EU, it is just as important to help the countries of the Agadir agreement to develop their trade with each other, Mandelson said. Direct investment flows from the EU to the southern Mediterranean amounted to 4.9 billion euros (7.69 billion U.S. dollars) in 2006,accounting for around 2 percent of the EU's total direct investment abroad. The European Commission said southern Mediterranean countries could make substantial gains from attracting new investment, especially in the service sector, which is key to their economies. Source: Xinhua
Importance of EU-Israel relations to be stated by EU leaders? by: Yossi Lempkowicz 08/Apr/2008 17:45
Patrick Child, cabinet chief of EU External Relations and Neighbourhood Policy Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
BRUSSELS (EJP)---The European Union might endorse later this year a new political statement stressing the importance of EU-Israel relations, an EU official said Tuesday. Such a statement is now circulating among the EU member states and could be endorsed at a summit meeting before the end of this year, Patrick Child, cabinet chief of EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said. He was one of the speakers at an event in the European Parliament organized by B’nai B’rith International to celebrate Israel’s 60th anniversary.Last week, Ferrero-Waldner announced that the EU would deepen its political dialogue with Israel and involve the country more closely in several EU policies, as part of the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), the EU’s framework foreign policy covering its eastern and southern neighbours.Israel was described as the front-runner among non-EU members participating in EU programs that range from scientific cooperation to trade integration.
A reflection group is considering areas where the future EU-Israel relations could be upgraded to a special status. But Patrick Child said that while Israel is a leading country in the European Neighbourhood Policy, the EU cannot ignore the political developments in the Mideast peace process. Speaking at the same event, Israel’s ambassador to the EU, Ran Curiel, praised the fact that after years of mistrust and suspicion, the EU and Israel have been able to develop a mature political dialogue.Israel and the EU have the same long-term interest, he added. But he ruled out the idea of Israel joining the European Union even if the Israeli population appears to favour such a plan. This is not in our cards. We have not asked to join the EU and we have not been asked to join, he said. The EU and Israel are linked by an association agreement which came into force in 2000. The EU is Israel’s main trade partner and an EU-Israel Association Council meets annually at ministerial level.This week's celebration of Israel’s anniversary in the framework of the European Parliament includes discussions hosted by MEPs on issues highlighting Israeli innovation in such fields as immigration absorption, development aid, environment and international cooperation.
Benita Ferrero-Waldner European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy.The European Union and its place in the world Рthe current agenda College of EuropeBruges, 7 April 2008 By Commission Europ̩enne (europa.eu.int) - April 08, 08 at 17:39
College of Europe Bruges, 7 April 2008
Professors,
Dear students,
Thank you for your kind invitation to visit the College of Europe and for this warm welcome today. And thank you Julia for those charming words of introduction. I am delighted to have this opportunity to speak here at this centre of European excellence which has produced so many of Europe’s leaders in the past and, I am sure, is now shaping those of the future. There is no shortage of challenges ahead as you begin your career in Europe. But the one which most concerns me is how best to strengthen the EU’s position in the world to respond to accelerating globalisation. After all, as John F Kennedy put it, Domestic policy can only defeat us; foreign policy can kill us!
I know you are already familiar with the EU’s external relations and the changes which are about to be implemented. So perhaps today I will give you the perspective of an insider, and share with you some of the issues on my mind. Four subjects are on the top of my agenda, not least because the French Presidency which begins in July has already indicated that these will be its priorities: first, preparing for the implementation of the Lisbon Reform Treaty and the changes it will introduce in the field of external relations; second, the revision of the European Security Strategy first drawn up in 2003; third, energy and climate change; and fourth, the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Mediterranean Union.
1) Implementing the Lisbon Reform Treaty
The major innovations the Treaty introduced in the field of foreign policy and external relations are well known – a new High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, who will also be double-hatted as a Vice-President of the European Commission; a President of the European Council who will be the external face of the EU on his or her level; and a new External Action Service to serve their needs and those of the Commission’s President. But of course what you don’t know, what indeed none of us yet know, is exactly how this will work out in practice. What is clear, however, is that three principles should guide us as we prepare the Treaty’s implementation: First, we must adopt a high level of ambition – if we want a secure and economically strong Europe playing a leading role in world affairs, we need a strong EU foreign policy. That means pushing for those arrangements which will give us the most coherent, effective and visible EU foreign policy possible. We must not lose sight of our overriding objective: the stronger we are, the more we can achieve.
Second, we have to take into account the existing institutional realities and ensure we are building on every institution’s strengths. That is how we will get the strongest possible system and thus the most effective foreign policy. Third, I am telling no secrets by saying that the fundamental obstacle to a more effective EU foreign policy is our Member States mustering the necessary political will to pursue the common EU interest. As we determine the set-up of the EU’s foreign policy we must keep in mind the need to help our Member States overcome that obstacle. 2009 will inevitably be a transitional year, with the entry into force of the new Treaty and the new institutional set-up that entails; a new Commission and European Parliament taking office; and the Treaty’s requirement that the new High Representative / Vice-President should finalise the proposals for the functioning of the External Action Service, which will then need to be agreed by the Commission as a whole, followed by the European Parliament and Member States.
The first challenge therefore will be ensuring the success of 2009 as the transitional year, ensuring everything necessary is in place for day one of the treaty’s implementation. And the full implementation of the External Action Service will follow in a second phase. The final proposals for the External Action Service will only emerge next year. However, three points seem clear to us now:
i) The system must be genuinely inclusive, enabling all Member States and EU institutions to play their role.
ii) Although it will be a sui generis service, it will need to be as close as possible to the Commission’s policy coordination, budgetary and administrative processes. This is the only way it will be able to effectively support the Vice-President in his or her task of coordinating the Commission’s external policy instruments, and in managing the external projection of internal policies like energy, environment, and transport.
iii) The new service, together with the EU delegations, should be the single source of advice and support for all EU actors, including the European Commission and European Council Presidents. That is the most efficient model to avoid duplication.
The simulation games you have played this semester will have given you an insight into the complexity of the issues at stake in the field of external relations and foreign policy so I am sure you can appreciate that there will be many difficult questions for the Commission, Council, Parliament and Member States to answer in the coming months. But we are determined to push ahead, and President Barroso and I will be working closely with the Council Secretariat, Member States and others to ensure the necessary political orientation is in place before the end of the French Presidency.
2) European Security Strategy
The second big issue on my mind is the revision of the EU’s 2003 Security Strategy. The Security Strategy’s basic focus on terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, regional conflicts, failed states and organised crime is still valid five years on. But there are other global challenges which are not mentioned and should have been, like energy security, climate change and migration. Last December’s European Council tasked us with looking at how we could improve implementation of the current strategy and ensure the gaps are plugged. I believe that we need to add three objectives to the strategy, to ensure it fully reflects the EU’s security situation. These are: Addressing threats to our ability to maintain basic supplies and services (including energy security); Dealing with global issues such as climate change and migration; and Adopting a human security approach – putting people rather than nation-states at the centre of our concerns.
We need to ensure that the external dimension of internal policies is fully taken into account. For, in reality, the world has moved on since JFK made his statement about domestic and foreign policy. Now the two cannot be so easily separated. In this highly integrated world, events in one place have a direct and immediate impact on another. The very nature of what we consider “security” has changed.
3) Energy and Climate Change
That brings me to the third point on my agenda – energy and climate change.
I don’t need to explain to this audience the importance of energy security – you have all seen the rise and rise of the price of oil and the annual disputes between Russia and some of its neighbours over gas supplies. We are facing more competition from other consumer countries (China), and re-nationalisation of resources by producers. We clearly need to pay energy security more importance in the future, adjusting to the new World Energy Equation. That means diversifying our sources of supply, our transit routes and our internal energy mix. For that the EU needs a more proactive and coherent energy security diplomacy: addressing energy security in our political dialogue with all external partners; discussing and taking action to protect critical infrastructure and diversify supply routes; and building on the memoranda of understanding we have already signed with countries like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Egypt, and also Turkmenistan and Jordan. I am travelling to Turkmenistan tonight, and next week to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region to discuss energy issues.
An important part of our approach must also be internal – improving our internal market to give us more flexibility and solidarity, and accepting the need for more coordination and transparency to enable us to speak with one voice towards our external partners. That is why the new Treaty provision on energy solidarity is so important.
The Commission will propose concrete policy measures on securing energy supplies and our external energy policy in the 2nd Strategic Energy Review in November. Climate change is intimately linked with energy security, and an international security issue in its own right. You will have noted that at the last European Council Europe’s leaders discussed a paper prepared jointly by the Commission and Council which focused precisely on the issue of climate change and international security. Climate change is a threat multiplier that will increase risks for societies in almost every part of the globe. Climate change will exacerbate water and food scarcity, aggravate poverty, worsen health conditions, and potentially generate increased resource competition (as we saw in last summer's muscle flexing over the Arctic). If the weakest countries cannot adapt, it may even lead to more forced migration and possibly radicalization and state failure causing internal and external security risks. For that reason our paper made a number of recommendations for addressing this issue: taking mitigation and adaptation measures on the ground; working closely with the UN to internationalise the response – i.e. strengthening effective multilateralism in the run-up to Copenhagen 2009, also under Japan’s G8 Presidency; engaging our partner countries in all relevant fora; and finally mainstreaming climate change into all EC policies.
4) ENP and the Mediterranean Union
I understand that last month you undertook an intensive course on the EU’s Neighbourhood Policy, so you will have understood the context in which we released our latest country reports last week.
I know several of you also come from ENP partner-countries and were responsible for the Noisy Neighbours week earlier this year – certainly a highlight in the College's long tradition of student parties! I am delighted that you have benefited from EU scholarships to attend this eminent institution. ENP continues to prove its worth – showing that our policy of encouraging and rewarding reform does have an impact on our neighbours and is bringing them closer to us. Our goal of promoting stability, security and prosperity for our neighbours, and thus also for ourselves, is more relevant than ever. ENP will therefore remain an important priority in the months ahead. In particular, I plan to move ahead with four avant-garde countries (Ukraine, Israel, Morocco and Moldova), with whom we want to deepen relations specifically. The French Presidency has already made clear its desire to reinforce the multilateral element of our relations in the South. So the last European Council proposed that the Barcelona Process be given a boost by a new Union for the Mediterranean.
This political impulse is welcome. The aim is to build on the achievements of the Barcelona Process to intensify our cooperation with the region and strengthen key bilateral relationships. Clearly, we must focus on added value – e.g. by better involving the private sector. Also, it is crucial that all EU Member States and institutions are fully involved. We are currently preparing proposals on how this will work with a view to the Summit that will take place in Paris in July. So in short: It’s not a question of competing with existing institutions but rather of finding ways to go further in our relations. So the focus will be on regional projects. In thinking about those projects we will be talking to all the EU’s member states and our partner countries, but I can imagine an emphasis on common areas of concern like developing infrastructure interconnections and promoting regional cohesion, economic integration and environmental protection. After all, our common objective is to strengthen our relations across and around our mare nostrum, the Mediterranean region that we all share. This will also be reflected in the planned Co-Presidency of this Union from a Northern and Southern country.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
These are the issues which are on the top of my agenda at the moment, but there are many other topics of burning importance.
Peace in the Middle East continues to elude us, but as a member of the Middle East Quartet and co-chair of the Paris Donors’ Conference, I am hopeful that we will be able to make progress on the ground as soon as possible, not least on access and movement for the Palestinians as well as on Israeli settlements (which are an obstacle to peace). EU support – both political and financial – will remain crucial for the development of a democratic and viable Palestinian state (esp. through our financial mechanism Pegase).
Furthermore, our relations with Russia are of great importance, and we are faced now with a moment of opportunity as a new President enters the international stage. Let us take president-elect Medvedew at his word. And of course, Afghanistan, relations with China and other issues remain high on my agenda. Beyond that there is an important Summit next month with the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and a whole host of thematic issues – especially women and security – which are an important focus of my work – as reflected in the major conference of female leaders which I hosted in March. I hope you have a flavour now for the current debate in the corridors of Brussels’ institutions and of the kinds of issues which await you when you graduate later this year. Europe needs you - its young generation - to help it operate more effectively in a globalized world. And let me say how pleased I am that the College has added the International Relations and Diplomacy strand to its curriculum. As Isaac Goldberg joked, Diplomacy is to do and say the nastiest things in the nicest way – an important skill! More seriously, I am convinced this will make an essential contribution to building up the European Union’s identity and power on the world stage. And I hope you will be even more inspired to do all you can to play your part, now and in the future. By Commission Européenne (europa.eu.int)
EU Urges Bloc to Back EU Membership for Serbia
By VOA News 08 April 2008
The European Union is urging member-nations to back steps necessary for eventual Serbian membership in the bloc. Javier Solana gestures while addressing the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament in Brussels, 08 Apr 2008.Foreign policy chief Javier Solana says a pre-membership agreement should be signed ahead of Serbian parliamentary elections next month. Solana told the European Parliament Tuesday in Brussels that Europe must send a clear signal that the Serbian people are wanted in the union.
He said the pre-membership Stabilization and Association Agreement would boost prospects for pro-Western candidates in the May 11 polls.The Netherlands and Belgium have blocked a pre-membership pact with Belgrade, demanding first the arrest and transfer of wartime Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander, Ratko Mladic. Both fugitives have been charged with war crimes during the Balkan wars of the 1990s, and are thought to be hiding in the region.Anti-Western sentiment has intensified in Serbia since the United States and most EU nations recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia in February. Belgrade has responded by withdrawing its ambassadors from those countries.The upcoming Serbian polls were triggered by the collapse of Belgrade's ruling coalition over Kosovo.Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
Palestinian attack kills 2 Israelis By YANIV ZOHAR, Associated Press Writer APR 9,08
NAHAL OZ, Israel - Palestinian militants crossed into southern Israel and killed two Israeli civilians in a surprise attack before fleeing back to the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said. The army rushed forces across the border into northern Gaza. Israeli police said at least one of the militants who attacked the Israeli terminal delivering fuel to the Gaza Strip was killed.We are surrounded by tanks. It's a war out there, said Munther Rahmi, a worker on the Palestinian side of the border.The attack on the Nahal Oz terminal upset a recent period of calm.There had been a sharp drop in fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants since Israel ended a broad military offensive early last month. Egypt has been trying to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas militants.Israel, the sole provider of fuel to Gaza, sealed the border after Hamas seized control of the area last June.
Wednesday's attack could bring a new round of fighting. Two smaller militant groups, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, claimed responsibility for the attack, but Israel has said it holds Hamas responsible for all violence coming out of Gaza.
We are talking of a unique and complicated operation, said Islamic Jihad spokesman Abu Ahmad. He said details would be released later, but Israeli media said the militants had fired a series of mortar shells before the infiltration to divert Israeli attention.Hamas threatened Tuesday to burst across the Israeli border to end Israel's blockade of Gaza.
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.
Sect accused of marrying pubescent girls By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer APR 9,08
ELDORADO, Texas - The scared girl, already a mother at 16, whispered into a cell phone: she wanted out. She'd been forced to spiritually marry a man more than three times her age, becoming his seventh wife. Her husband sexually assaulted her, and when he was angry, he would beat her while other women held her infant, she told a family violence shelter in a series of secret calls that triggered an investigation of the polygamist sect here.The girl had looked for opportunities to escape before, but she was warned that outside the double-gates blocking entry to the Yearning For Zion Ranch, in a world completely foreign to her, she would be forced to cut her hair and wear makeup, and to have sex with many men — all damning transgressions in a faith where modesty calls for women to wear long underwear year-round under pioneer-style dresses.At the end of one call she began to cry; she wanted to take it all back.
But child welfare officials allege in court documents released Tuesday that the compound built by leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was rife with sexual abuse, with girls spiritually married to much older men as soon as they reached puberty and boys groomed to perpetuate the cycle.
The documents detail the hushed phone calls, but days after raiding the West Texas compound, officials still aren't sure where the girl is. She is not named among the children in initial custody petitions by the state.Texas authorities have legal custody of 416 children, all of those believed to have lived at the ranch, Child Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner told reporters in San Angelo, about 40 miles from the compound in Eldorado.Court documents said a number of teen girls at the 1,700-acre compound were pregnant, and all the children were removed on the grounds that they were in danger of emotional, physical, and-or sexual abuse. Nearly 140 women left on their own.Investigators determined that there is a widespread pattern and practice of the (YFZ) Ranch in which young, minor female residents are conditioned to expect and accept sexual activity with adult men at the ranch upon being spiritually married to them, read the affidavit signed by Lynn McFadden, a Department of Family and Protective Services investigative supervisor.McFadden said the girls were spiritually married to the men as soon as they reached puberty and were required to bear children.
Attorneys for the church and church leaders have filed motions asking a judge to quash the search on constitutional grounds, saying state authorities didn't have enough evidence and that the warrants were too broad. A hearing on their motion was scheduled for Wednesday in San Angelo.Church lawyer Patrick Peranteau did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment Tuesday.An unknown number of men and women were at the ranch while authorities completed the search of the gleaming 80-foot-high temple, a cheese-making plant, a cement plant, a school, a doctor's office and housing units. Tela Mange, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Safety, said Tuesday the adults were not being held, but if they left the compound, they could not return while the search continued.At least two FBI agents were seen entering the back entrance of the temple on Tuesday.
Spokesmen for the FBI and DPS declined comment.
The compound was raided Thursday after the girl called a local family violence shelter March 29 and 30, using someone else's cell phone and speaking quietly to avoid being overheard, McFadden's affidavit said.The girl said she was not allowed to leave the compound unless she was ill. She told the shelter that her husband would beat and hurt her when he got angry, hitting her in the chest and choking her while another woman in the house held her baby. Once, he broke her ribs, she said.The girl also said her husband sexually assaulted her, and that she was several weeks pregnant. The girl told the shelter her husband went to the outsiders' world but she didn't know where. The girl's husband was not identified in the court documents released Tuesday. But authorities have issued an arrest warrant for church member Dale Barlow, a 50-year-old believed to be in Arizona. Authorities were looking for documents, family photos or even a family Bible with lists of marriages and children to determine whether the girl was married to Barlow, who was sentenced to jail last year after pleading no contest to conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. He was ordered to register as a sex offender for three years while he is on probation. Authorities were trying to determine the identities and parentage of many of the children; some were unwilling or unable to provide the names of their biological parents or identified multiple mothers.
The boys were groomed to be ready to marry underage girls upon adulthood and engage in sexual activity, resulting in them becoming new perpetrators, the affidavit said. Children in the sect were deprived of food and forced to sit in closed closets as a form of discipline, a warrant said. An FLDS member now living in the Texas Panhandle, Samuel Fischer, objected to the raid. It's religious persecution, said Fischer, who moved to a ranch near Lockney with his two wives and 12 of his children from Hildale, Utah, last year.
The Texas investigation is the state's first of FLDS members, but prosecutors in Utah and Arizona have pursued several church members in recent years, including sect leader Warren Jeffs, who is serving two consecutive sentences of five years to life for being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old wed to her cousin in Utah. He awaits trial on other charges in Arizona. Authorities investigating the Eldorado compound have described FLDS members as cooperative, but the house-by-house search of the temple, factories and living quarters has led to some trouble. On Monday, 41-year-old Leroy Johnson Steed was arrested on charges of felony tampering with evidence — a day after 19-year-old Levi Barlow Jeffs was arrested on misdemeanor charges of interfering with the duties of a public servant, said DPS spokesman Tom Vinger. He declined to give details on the arrests or how Levi Barlow Jeffs might be related to the FLDS leader. Associated Press Writer Betsey Blaney contributed to this report from Lockney and Associated Press Photographer Tony Gutierrez contributed to this report from Eldorado.
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).
Colombia trade deal splits Clintons By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer Wed Apr 9, 2:25 AM ET
WASHINGTON - The presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that her husband, the former president, supports a free trade agreement with Colombia that she strenuously opposes. The acknowledgment adds new hurdles to the New York senator's bid to woo Democratic voters in Pennsylvania and elsewhere who believe free trade agreements have eliminated thousands of U.S. jobs. On Sunday, she demoted her chief campaign strategist for his role in promoting the Colombia pact.Hillary Clinton told union activists Tuesday she would do everything in her power to defeat the Colombia Free Trade Agreement now before Congress.Her campaign spokesman, Jay Carson, said in response to a query from The Associated Press that the senator's opposition is clear and firm. He added: Like other married couples who disagree on issues from time to time, she disagrees with her husband on this issue. President Clinton has been public about his support for Colombia's request for U.S. trade preferences since 2000.
Bill Clinton has been his wife's most prominent campaign surrogate and advocate for months.A high point of his presidency was passage of the North America Free Trade Agreement, which his wife now criticizes at virtually every campaign stop. White House records show that as first lady Hillary Clinton attended several meetings designed to build congressional support for NAFTA in the early 1990s. She says she had reservations about the pact at the time, and made her feelings known in such gatherings.Speaking about the Colombia trade deal Tuesday to a meeting of the Communication Workers of America, she said: As I have said for months, I oppose the deal, I have spoken out against the deal, I will vote against the deal and I will do everything I can to urge the Congress to reject the Colombia free trade agreement.On Sunday, Mark Penn left his post as top strategist for Clinton's campaign after it was reported that he had met with Colombia's ambassador to the United States to discuss passage of the agreement. Colombia was a client of Penn's large public relations firm, Burson-Marsteller.Many labor unions, including the CWA, oppose such trade deals, saying they displace U.S. jobs and encourage abuses of workers and the environment in other countries.As president, Bill Clinton's support of trade agreements with Mexico, Canada, China and other nations often put him at odds with fellow Democrats and labor leaders who backed a more protectionist approach. Clinton argued that Democrats should support lower barriers to trade because the nation, on balance, would benefit.
Many nonpartisan economists agree.
In 2005, the former president was paid $800,000 by Gold Service International, a Bogota-based business development group, for four days of appearances in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil. The group supports, among other things, the Colombia Free Trade Agreement.
Hillary Clinton's Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, noted his opposition to the Colombia deal Tuesday when he spoke to the CWA group moments after Clinton left the stage. He said he opposes the treaty because when organizing workers puts an organizer's life at risk, as it does in Colombia, it makes a mockery of our labor protections.President Bush on Monday sent the proposed Colombia deal to Congress, which has 90 days to ratify or reject it. The administration says it would help the United States by eliminating high barriers for U.S. exports to Colombia. Most Colombian products enter the United States duty free under existing trade preference laws, the administration says.Obama did not mention Penn in his 25-minute speech to CWA activists. But in a conference call arranged by his campaign, Teamsters President James Hoffa called on Clinton to cut all ties with Penn, who continues to advise her campaign.This latest issue with Mark Penn really hurts her credibility, especially on trade issues, said Hoffa, who supports Obama.In a separate conference call, Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson likened Penn to a newspaper editor who plays an important role but isn't in charge of the paper.Earlier this week, aides said both Hillary and Bill Clinton were angry upon hearing of Penn's meeting with the Colombia's ambassador, which proved deeply embarrassing to the campaign.
Robots seen doing work of 3.5 million in Japan Tue Apr 8, 10:53 AM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - Robots could fill the jobs of 3.5 million people in graying Japan by 2025, a thinktank says, helping to avert worker shortages as the country's population shrinks. Japan faces a 16 percent slide in the size of its workforce by 2030 while the number of elderly will mushroom, the government estimates, raising worries about who will do the work in a country unused to, and unwilling to contemplate, large-scale immigration.The thinktank, the Machine Industry Memorial Foundation, says robots could help fill the gaps, ranging from microsized capsules that detect lesions to high-tech vacuum cleaners.Rather than each robot replacing one person, the foundation said in a report that robots could make time for people to focus on more important things.Japan could save 2.1 trillion yen ($21 billion) of elderly insurance payments in 2025 by using robots that monitor the health of older people, so they don't have to rely on human nursing care, the foundation said in its report.
Caregivers would save more than an hour a day if robots helped look after children, older people and did some housework, it added. Robotic duties could include reading books out loud or helping bathe the elderly.Seniors are pushing back their retirement until they are 65 years old, day care centers are being built so that more women can work during the day, and there is a move to increase the quota of foreign laborers. But none of these can beat the shrinking workforce, said Takao Kobayashi, who worked on the study.
Robots are important because they could help in some ways to alleviate such shortage of the labor force.The current fertility rate is 1.3 babies per woman, far below the level needed to maintain the population, while the government estimates that 40 percent of the population will be over 65 by 2055, raising concerns about who will look after the graying population.Kobayashi said changes was still needed for robots to make a big impact on the workforce.There's the expensive price tag, the functions of the robots still need to improve, and then there are the mindsets of people, he said.People need to have the will to use the robots.
(Reporting by Yoko Kubota; Editing by Rodney Joyce)
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
IRANS INSTALLS MORE CENTRIFUGES
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.
The Nation's Weather By WEATHER UNDERGROUND, For The Associated Press APR 08,08
A developing storm system in the Central Plains was inching northeast early Tuesday, carrying a cold front across the Mississippi and Ohio valleys. High pressure was keeping the Northeast clear. Light to moderate rain was to continue in the Central Plains, spreading across the Southern Plains, mid-Mississippi and Ohio Valleys later in the day.Portions of the Upper Midwest can expect rain mixed with snow, and large hail was possible from central and northern Oklahoma northwestward into eastern Kansas and western Missouri.As Gulf moisture gradually increases across the Plains, strong to severe thunderstorms will begin to fire up along and ahead of the cold front from the Southern Plains into the lower Ohio Valley. The main threat will be large hail and damaging winds. A few tornadoes may also develop, especially from central Missouri to part of central and southern Illinois.
Farther east, the low pressure system off the mid-Atlantic coast was to continue to draw Atlantic moisture into the coastal region, triggering mostly light rain. Otherwise, high pressure will keep the Northeast mostly dry. A warming trend also will take hold through the rest of the week.Out West, unsettled and cool weather will continue from the Pacific Northwest to the Rockies over the next few days. Coastal rain and scattered snow showers will continue across the region. Another Pacific system will be approaching the coast, pushing through the Pacific Northwest and far northern California into Wednesday morning.Temperatures in the Lower 48 states on Monday ranged from a low of 7 degrees at Mobridge, S.D., to a high of 100 degrees at Laredo, Texas.On the Net:Weather Underground: http://www.wunderground.com
National Weather Service: http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov
Intellicast: http://www.intellicast.com
FAMINE
REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)
Thousands flood Haitian streets in protests over high food prices; 1killed Mon Apr 7, 3:44 PM By Jonathan M. Katz, The Associated Press
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Protesters angered by high food prices flooded the streets of Haiti's capital Monday, forcing businesses and schools to close as unrest spread from the countryside.
Witnesses said at least one person was killed by hotel security guards during a protest in the southern city of Les Cayes, where at least three people were killed Friday in food riots and clashes with UN peacekeepers. Police said they were investigating.
Thousands of people marched mostly peacefully past the National Palace in Port-au-Prince. We're hungry, some called out. Others carried posters reading Down with the expensive life! Haitians are particularly affected by food prices that are rising worldwide. Eighty per cent of the population lives on less than US$2 a day. The cost of staples such as rice, beans, fruit and condensed milk has gone up 50 per cent in the past year, while the cost of pasta has doubled. Some can't take the hunger anymore, Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste told The Associated Press. As a priest, I encourage all government officials to do their best to find ways to solve the near-famine situation.The UN World Food Program made an urgent appeal for donations Monday to support its operations in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned last week that the food crisis could threaten Haiti's already fragile security.
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.
Iran begins installing more centrifuges By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer APR 8,08
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran has begun installing 6,000 new centrifuges at its uranium enrichment plant in Natanz, state television quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying Tuesday. The U.S. immediately criticized the announcement as an example of Iran's continued defiance of international demands that it suspend uranium enrichment, which can produce fuel for a nuclear reactor or fissile material for a weapon.Today's announcement reflects the Iranian leadership's continuing violation of international obligations and refusal to address international concerns, said Gregory Schulte, the U.S. representative to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency.Iran already has about 3,000 centrifuges operating at its underground nuclear facility in Natanz, and the U.N. has passed three sets of sanctions against Iran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment. Tehran insists its nuclear program is focused on the peaceful production of energy, not the development of weapons as claimed by the U.S. and many of its allies.Iran has not only failed to suspend enrichment, but has chosen to ignore the will of the international community by announcing the installation of new centrifuges, said a spokesman for Britain's Foreign Office on condition of anonymity in line with policy.This is despite the fact that Iran's enrichment program has no apparent civilian purpose, and shows that Iran is making no effort to restore international confidence in its intentions, he said.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Iran's uranium enrichment effort is dangerous and continued sanctions may be necessary against Tehran.Ahmadinejad made Tuesday's announcement as he toured the Natanz facility in central Iran.The president announced the start of the phase of installing 6,000 new centrifuges in Natanz, state television reported.State television also quoted Ahmadinejad as saying that we have reached new achievements in Natanz that he would announce later Tuesday.The president's trip was scheduled to coincide with Iran's National Day of Nuclear Technology, marking the second anniversary of Iran's first enrichment of uranium.Ahmadinejad is widely expected to confirm for the first time Tuesday that Iran has installed hundreds of more sophisticated centrifuges that can enrich uranium faster.
The workhorse of Iran's enrichment program is the P-1 centrifuge, which is run in cascades of 164 machines. But Iranian officials confirmed in February that they had started using the IR-2 centrifuge that can churn out enriched uranium at more than double the rate.Diplomats in Vienna told The Associated Press on Thursday that Iran has assembled hundreds of advanced centrifuges at Natanz.
One diplomat said more than 300 of the centrifuges have been linked up in two separate units in Iran's underground enrichment plant and a third was being assembled. He said the machines apparently are more advanced than the thousands already running underground.But a senior diplomat said that while the new work appeared to include advanced centrifuges, they were not IR-2s.Both diplomats are linked to the IAEA and asked for anonymity because their information was confidential.A total of 3,000 centrifuges is the commonly accepted figure for a nuclear enrichment program that is past the experimental stage and can be used as a platform for a full industrial-scale program that could churn out enough enriched material for dozens of nuclear weapons. Iran says it plans to move toward large-scale uranium enrichment that ultimately will involve 54,000 centrifuges. Associated Press writers George Jahn in Vienna, Austria, and David Stringer in London contributed to this report.
Modern Russia more painful than doom
Louise Evans | April 08, 2008
AFTER living in a cave for five months, cut off from the outside world and without access to email or mobile phones, you'd expect to find more than the weather had changed when you emerged.When members of a Russian doomsday cult came out of a cave southeast of Moscow last week after melting snow caused part of their hillside hovel to collapse as they had waited since November for the world to end, here's what they found. Their hunk o'spunk Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was named Time magazine's 2007 Person of the Year in December, is being replaced next month by a clone called Dmitry Medvedev, who was shoehorned into the Kremlin after a dodgy election. In light of further news updates about anti-Putin demonstrations in St Petersburg and Moscow in November, the assassination in December of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, the February resignation of Fidel Castro as Cuba's president and the demise of Zimbabwe despot Robert Mugabe after 28 years, panic flashed through the doomsday group. Instead of thinking about the end of the world, they were worried about their immediate future.
Who was this Putin mini-me, who walks and talks just like their Ken-doll President and has even been known to answer to Pootie-Poot, George W. Bush's nickname for Russia's answer to gun-toting American hero Charlton Heston? Cave dwellers alarmed that their Pootie-Poot was kaput were calmed when advised that Medvedev would be the grip-and-grin man charged with marauding across the world and monstering democratically elected leaders, those pests who pop up and then disappear after just a few years. Meanwhile, Putin will stay on as prime minister and continue to run Russia, ensuring that foreign companies' assets are sequestered, investigative journalists and spies are killed and the courts support the ruling elite and their cronies. Doomsdayers have been assured Putin won't tighten his authoritarian rule on the country's 141 million population, providing no one mentions the words democracy, free media or Russian mafia. Cave dwellers were also stunned to discover that, in the free world, a black man whose middle name is Hussein is leading the race to the White House. When they asked whether it would be renamed the Black House if Barack Obama became the US president, they were advised by the official government-controlled news agency that Russia was pro-Hillary Clinton. Putin is convinced that once Bush is gone he can get Clinton to lower that defence shield, or at least pay lip service to his missile system.
Negotiators who talked the doomsdayers out of their cave also allayed fears that Putin wanted to start a new cold war with the West. But if global players did not accede to Putin's demands at the NATO summit, Putin might have used his old party trick and started a cold snap by turning off the natural gas and oil that Russia supplies to a quarter of Europe. Doomsdayers were advised to be cautious with loans and savings as the US economy was behaving like Britney Spears. It's overrated, out of control and teetering on the brink of collapse, forcing other world economies into rehab.
Catching up on celebrity gossip, doomsdayers learned that Britain has found a replacement for its long lost queen of hearts, princess Diana. Not Prince William's girlie Kate Middleton, but France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the new wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Like Diana, Carla is a gorgeous, long-legged fashion horse. The thought of all those frumpy equine English dames and paunchy dandruff-dusted dandies fawning over a non-aristocratic Italian model made the doomsdayers forget that the end of the world was not nigh. One of the few pleasures while living in that leaky cave was chain-smoking and drinking vodka. Who cares about lung cancer and liver failure if the world is about to end? So doomsdayers were disappointed to learn the worldwide trend to ban smoking in public places continued apace while they were holed up. Even nicotine-addicted ally China is falling in behind the self-righteous anti-cigarette West. There was further dismay when they learned their doomsday leader and self-declared prophet, Pyotr Kuznetsov, had been admitted to hospital with a self-inflicted open head wound. It appears Kuznetsov attempted suicide, not because he's a fraud or because the world isn't ending, but because when he checked his inbox after five months he had 2,358,694 emails. More than two million were from Russia and were flogging Viagra, fake luxury goods, Russian brides and money scams. Some things never change. evansl@theaustralian.com.au
Oil prices slip; gas in volatile trading By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer APR 8,08
VIENNA, Austria - Oil prices inched downward Tuesday after jumping by almost $3 a barrel in the previous session on concerns about falling gasoline supplies and expectations that U.S. interest rates will be cut again. Gasoline prices also fell, but remained volatile ahead of Wednesday report of U.S. oil, gas, diesel and heating oil stocks.Oil prices had climbed Monday as traders bet that future U.S. Federal Reserve rate cuts will weaken the greenback. A weak dollar attracts investors to hard commodities such as oil, which are seen as a hedge against inflation. Also, a falling dollar makes oil cheaper to overseas investors.What we're seeing at the moment is still a very high interest in commodities, driven by non-fundamental issues such as a hedge against the falling U.S. dollar, said Mark Pervan, senior commodity strategist with the ANZ Bank in Melbourne.Light, sweet crude for May delivery slipped by 44 cents to $108.65 a barrel by noon in European electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $2.86 overnight to settle at $109.09 a barrel on the Nymex, the highest settlement for a front-month contract since March 18.
Still they remain within striking range of last month's trading record of $111.80 a barrel after a swoon that twice brought them briefly below $100. The rise is helped by a growing belief that gasoline supplies are falling as the summer driving season in the U.S. approaches.Last week, the Energy Information Administration said gasoline inventories fell more than expected during the week ended March 28. Also, gasoline demand rose for the first time since January, last week's EIA report showed, raising the prospect that supplies will fall further as Americans drive more during the spring and summer.We're now moving into the gasoline market, so falling gasoline stocks will certainly be supportive of oil prices, Pervan said.Analysts say refiners have cut back on gasoline production due to low profit margins. The rising price of crude means it costs refiners more to turn the raw product into motor fuel.Vienna's JBC Energy, in its daily newsletter said expectations were that newest snapshot of U.S. energy stocks to be released on Wednesday would show a further drawdown in gasoline supplies, with crude stocks swelling by 2.2 million barrels.The prospect that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will hold production steady this year also pushed oil prices higher Monday.In other Nymex trading Tuesday, May heating oil futures were essentially steady at $3.0872 a gallon (3.8 liters), while May gasoline prices lost more than 2 pennies to fetch $2.7595 a gallon.Natural gas futures dropped 2.6 cents to $9.765 per 1,000 cubic feet.In London, May Brent crude fell by 54 cents to $106.60 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange after rising $2.24 overnight to settle at $107.14 a barrel.Associated Press writer Gillian Wong contributed to this report from Singapore.
US stock futures dip on Alcoa, AMD news By MADLEN READ, AP Business Writer APR 8,08
NEW YORK - Stocks were poised to open lower Tuesday, after downbeat corporate reports from aluminum company Alcoa Inc. and chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. led off the first-quarter earnings season. Alcoa, the world's third-largest aluminum producer, said its first-quarter profit dropped by more than half due to higher costs and a weakening U.S. dollar. The per-share profit of 44 cents was below the average analyst estimate of 48 cents.Investors were also underwhelmed by news from the chip making sector.Sales at Advanced Micro Devices for the three months ended March 29 fell 15 percent from the same period a year ago, due to product delays and tough competition from Intel Corp. AMD's $1.5 billion sales figure was below the average analyst estimate of $1.61 billion, and the company said it plans to eliminate 10 percent of its work force.
Meanwhile, Novellus Systems Inc., another semiconductor maker, lowered its estimate of its first-quarter earnings to a range of 15 cents to 17 cents a share from its previous expectation of 21 cents to 24 cents.The dreary company reports Tuesday arrived ahead of the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's meeting March 18, when it lowered interest rates by three-quarters of a point to 2.25 percent. Investors are also awaiting a National Association of Realtors report on pending home sales in February.Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 44, or 0.35 percent, to 12,558. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures declined 5.20, or 0.38 percent, to 1,367.00. Nasdaq 100 index futures decreased 8.00, or 0.43 percent, to 1,857.75.On Monday, the major indexes finished narrowly mixed ahead of earnings releases after the bell.Bond prices dipppercent from 3.53 percent late Wednesday.Light, sweet crude fell 40 cents to $108.69 a barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.Gold prices fell, while the dollar was mixed against other major currencies.Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 1.49 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 slid 0.90percent, Germany's DAX index lost 1.21 percent, and France's CAC-40 dropped 1.08 percent.On the Net:New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com.Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:20,30
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).
MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Local nuke war would cause world havoc Mon Apr 7, 11:06 PM ET
WASHINGTON - A regional nuclear war would not only be devastating to the countries involved, it would cause havoc worldwide for at least a decade, according to a new analysis. The massive fires resulting from even a limited conflict would blast enough soot into the atmosphere to create an ozone hole over heavily populated areas, researchers warned in a paper in Monday's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.A region of depleted ozone over the Antarctic, known as an ozone hole, has been a concern for years as it allows damaging ultraviolet radiation from the sun to reach the Earth's surface. Some chemicals have been banned from use to help eliminate that hole.Unlike the Antarctic, a nuclear-induced ozone hole would affect much of the world, causing damage to plants and animals and adding to skin cancer, eye damage and other effects in millions of people, according to researchers led by Michael J. Mills of the University of Colorado.
Mills' team used complex computer programs to model what would happen in the atmosphere in the event of a war between India and Pakistan in which each detonated 50 Hiroshima-sized nuclear explosives.They calculated that the blasts would send as much as five million metric tons of soot as high as 50 miles into the atmosphere.The soot and the heat from solar radiation would cause a series of chemical reactions that would break down the stratospheric ozone layer that protects Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation, they said.We would see a dramatic drop in ozone levels that would persist for many years, Mills said in a statement. At mid-latitudes the ozone decrease would be up to 40 percent, which could have huge effects on human health and on terrestrial, aquatic and marine ecosystems.They calculated that a 40 percent ozone decrease would result in a 132 percent increase in light damage to plants and a 213 percent increase in DNA damage associated with skin cancer.The mid-latitudes are the regions between the tropics and the arctic and are home to the largest numbers of people.On the Net:PNAS: http://www.pnas.org
Moses was considered a prophet, but even he knew that a far greater prophet would come forth in God's perfect time. Moses wrote in the book of Deuteronomy.The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to My words that the prophet speaks in My name,I Myself will call him to account.(Deuteronomy 18:15, 18-19).
It was the role of Moses to establish the credentials of the Messiah. Even the Talmudic commentaries, written by Jewish rabbis and sages throughout the ages, declared that the Messiah must be the
greatest of prophets, and nearest in spirit to Moses.
Was Yeshua's life a parallel to Moses? Yes. In fact, no one else in history even came close. Scriptures show events parallel to both lives.Moses and Yeshua fulfilled their roles as prophet, priest,
lawgiver, teacher, and leader.Both spent their early years in Egypt, miraculously protected from those who wanted to kill them.
Moses' family did not initially accept his role as redeemer, nor did Yeshua's family, but later they would.
Both fasted for 40 days and faced spiritual crises on mountain tops.
Moses' brother Aaron, would become the High Priest for the young nation of Israel in the Wilderness. Yeshua's brother, James, would become the leader of the first Believers and Congregation/Church in
Jerusalem.Each was considered the wisest man in his day. Each confronted demonic powers and successfully subdued them.Moses sent 12 spies to explore Canaan. Yeshua sent 12 apostles to reach the world.Moses appointed 70 rulers over Israel. Yeshua anointed 70 disciples to teach the nations.
Moses parted the Red Sea with his outstretched arm.Yeshua calmed the Sea of Galilee.The list of similarities goes on and on. The point to all this is that while Passover began with Moses, it was fulfilled - in Yeshua the Passover Lamb.When a person is in Messiah,. . . he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Messiah and gave us the ministry of reconciliation(2 Cor. 5:17-18)
Moses writes in Leviticus 17:11 - For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's soul.May you and your loved ones have a blessed Passover season in Messiah Yeshua.
For He came just as foretold,lived among us, died for our sins,
and lives forever as proof that death has been overcome by the
blood of the Passover Lamb.
MESSIANIC BIBLE PROJECT. PROPHECY BIBLES FOR ISRAEL.
European Union members reach agreement on Galileo Navigation System news 07 April 2008
European Union members have reached agreement on the long delayed Galileo satellite project, according to a Bloomberg report which cites a statement issued by German transport minister Wolfgang Tiefensee. The agreement, according to the minister's statement, crosses the final hurdle for the EU, which can now start placing orders for the project by the end of the year.The project still needs to be cleared by the European Parliament in the next few weeks,according to the statement. Once cleared by the parliament, the European Space Agency will then start offering contracts to companies by the end of the year. As a system, Galileo is expected to begin operating by 2013. The accord on Galileo, which is meant to compete with the US Global Positioning System, represents a huge chance for the German aerospace industry, Tiefensee said in his statement, which was issued after meeting with his EU counterparts in Luxembourg. The $7 billion Galaileo project went under EU control after it was abandoned by a private-sector consortium as being unviable.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
EU pressuring countries to sign economic deals
April 07, 2008, 18:45
The European Union (EU) has been accused of trying to push Commonwealth countries into signing new trade agreements that will leave them worse off.The accusations have been made at the opening of a conference in Cape Town, where trade representatives of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries are taking stock of the current Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) being negotiated with the EU Commission.ACP Secretary General John Kaputin says countries found themselves under pressure to agree to clauses they believed would harm their economic interests. These included giving EU investors access to service industries and government contracts, as well as greater protection to intellectual property rights.
The race towards the deadline of December 31, 2007 was fraught with panic, confusion and frustration. In the end only 35 out of 77 countries initialed interim or full EPAs. Many more may not have initialed, but were held captive by the possibility of trade disruption that would have followed if they had not initialed, says Kaputin.South Africa was among countries that did not sign an EPA agreement. Many delegates at the conference have agreed that it is now time for the EU to build bridges and try to put a fair deal back on track.
[Comment] It's time Europe joined the dots on migration
08.04.2008 - 09:17 CET | By Graham Watson
EUOBSERVER / COMMENT - The forthcoming French Presidency of the EU has announced plans for an immigration pact to control illegal entry and make it harder for foreigners to live and work in Europe, bringing immigration back to the top of the political agenda once again.President Sarkozy outlined his plans after the Anglo-French summit in London, where he and Gordon Brown agreed to improve cooperation on a range of issues from tighter immigration controls to energy, security and defence. While the two sides will focus on tightening border controls at the French port of Calais, following a series of security lapses, long-term they plan a package of highly restrictive immigration measures which could practically seal off the EU to outsiders.This is par for the course for a President who campaigned to expel 25,000 illegal immigrants, and was later denounced by a coalition of Mayors and NGOs for making deportation the alpha and omega of migration policy and treating migrants like disposable objects. It is also a logical though deeply illiberal sequel to the tougher controls already introduced by the UK's Labour Government.
French ministers have also said they want a common definition of the right of asylum and have backed European Commission proposals that could see asylum seekers shared between EU states. British ministers probably secretly aspire to this too, though media mogul Rupert Murdoch's reaction dissuades them from saying so.Britain and France should be applauded for recognising the need for a European approach to migration in place of the 27 - often contradictory - immigration and asylum systems, yet their heavy handed approach may well prove counterproductive in the long-term.The fact of the matter is that the fight against illegal migration is the only area in which European Union member states have actively cooperated since it became a community competence in 1999, leaving legal migration and development policies up to national governments. This has resulted in some successes, notably improved police and judicial co-operation, an increasing number of readmission agreements with third countries, and the creation of the European Border Control Agency FRONTEX to help police land and sea routes into the EU.Yet by focussing our collective energy exclusively on policing borders and intercepting migrants, as Sarkozy and Brown suggest, Europe risks overlooking the need to address skills shortages, not to mention the factors that lead people to leave their countries in the first place.War, poverty and human rights abuses will ensure that the movement of people from poor and failing states to rich and stable ones continues to grow until properly funded policies to promote democracy and development are put in place.
The EU must recognise that unless its trade policies prevent the easy trade in armaments and allow developing country producers to sell their goods on our markets and so create wealth, jobs and opportunities at home, people from poor countries will continue to vote with their feet. Similarly, unless workers, through legal migration channels, can provide a steady flow of remittances of income to their home countries, investment capital for development in countries of origin will be insufficient to arrest brain drain and reverse the exodus.It is unsurprising that the tide of illegal migrants will keep flowing towards Europe while in EU capitals there is still resistance to sending necessary troops and equipment to some of the world's worst trouble-spots, from Darfur, to Chad and Afghanistan.Likewise, restrictive policies which aim to shut the gates of Fortress Europe on all comers tend to ignore the fact that the European economy, already reliant in large part on migrant labour, is set to lose 20 million workers in the next twenty years if we do not actively increase migration flows.Unlike Canada and Australia which long-ago developed sophisticated strategies to attract the skills their economies need to thrive, the European Union has so far failed to reap the benefits of a skilled and mobile international workforce.The lack of attractive legal migration options to Europe has ensured that 85% of the world's best brains go to America and Australia, put off by Europe's bureaucracy and inflexibility, while most migrants who actually reach our shores have few, if any, qualifications. Clearly the status quo is not working. That is why a coalition of MEPs from across the European Parliament's political spectrum have written a pamphlet calling, in no uncertain terms, for a radical rethink of the way Europe handles migration policy.We believe that putting the emphasis on illegal migration at the expense of a comprehensive, joined-up European Migration Policy fails both to address future demographic and economic challenges and tackle problems in their countries at their source.
Instead of the narrow-minded approach suggested at the Anglo-French Summit Europe we need to agree a far more ambitious package: one which combines the fight against illegal migration with the creation of legal migration channels and development and security policies that actively bolster third countries.Before our ambitions can be achieved, however, parliamentarians and the media alike must commit to engaging in the crucial step of changing public perceptions. For without public confidence and backing, an ambitious global migration policy for Europe is unlikely to see the light of day.The author is head of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) in the European Parliament.
MIKE EVANS THE JERUSALEM PRAYER TEAM APR 8,08
Last week it was revealed that despite official denials, Israel is indeed engaged in negotiations with the terrorists of the Palestinian Authority to divide the Holy City. This has long been a key demand of the Palestinians, and the idea of dividing Israel's eternal capital has also been pushed by President Bush, the European Union and the United Nations.I will be in Israel this week and will be meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. I would like very much to inform him that the Jerusalem Prayer Team members are staying united against Jerusalem being divided. If we do not speak out right now, it may soon be too late to keep Jerusalem united and in the hands of Israel. But I believe this tragedy can be averted if we speak out right now. Add your vote and your voice today.
So far we have already received 148,000 names toward our 200,000 goal. You must understand that the key to Israel withstanding the pressure they are receiving from President Bush and the State Department is knowing that many Americans are on their side. They must know we will not turn our backs on them. They must know we will not sell out their capital for oil. They must know we will not abandon them to appease the terrorists. They can only know this if we tell them. I encourage you to forward this email to everyone on your personal mailing list. Urge your family members and friends to add their voices to this vital petition to keep Jerusalem secure and undivided. Sign the petition and cast your vote to preserve Jerusalem today.
Your Ambassador to Jerusalem Dr. Michael Evans
Your Jerusalem World News: www.myjwn.com
Your Save Jerusalem Site: www.savejerusalem.org
Jerusalem Prayer Team
P.O. Box 210489
Bedford, TX 76095
FAX: 817-285-0962
1-800-825-3872
http://jerusalemprayerteam.org
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.
The Nation's Weather By WEATHER UNDERGROUND, For The Associated Press APR 08,08
A developing storm system in the Central Plains was inching northeast early Tuesday, carrying a cold front across the Mississippi and Ohio valleys. High pressure was keeping the Northeast clear. Light to moderate rain was to continue in the Central Plains, spreading across the Southern Plains, mid-Mississippi and Ohio Valleys later in the day.Portions of the Upper Midwest can expect rain mixed with snow, and large hail was possible from central and northern Oklahoma northwestward into eastern Kansas and western Missouri.As Gulf moisture gradually increases across the Plains, strong to severe thunderstorms will begin to fire up along and ahead of the cold front from the Southern Plains into the lower Ohio Valley. The main threat will be large hail and damaging winds. A few tornadoes may also develop, especially from central Missouri to part of central and southern Illinois.
Farther east, the low pressure system off the mid-Atlantic coast was to continue to draw Atlantic moisture into the coastal region, triggering mostly light rain. Otherwise, high pressure will keep the Northeast mostly dry. A warming trend also will take hold through the rest of the week.Out West, unsettled and cool weather will continue from the Pacific Northwest to the Rockies over the next few days. Coastal rain and scattered snow showers will continue across the region. Another Pacific system will be approaching the coast, pushing through the Pacific Northwest and far northern California into Wednesday morning.Temperatures in the Lower 48 states on Monday ranged from a low of 7 degrees at Mobridge, S.D., to a high of 100 degrees at Laredo, Texas.On the Net:Weather Underground: http://www.wunderground.com
National Weather Service: http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov
Intellicast: http://www.intellicast.com
FAMINE
REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)
Thousands flood Haitian streets in protests over high food prices; 1killed Mon Apr 7, 3:44 PM By Jonathan M. Katz, The Associated Press
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Protesters angered by high food prices flooded the streets of Haiti's capital Monday, forcing businesses and schools to close as unrest spread from the countryside.
Witnesses said at least one person was killed by hotel security guards during a protest in the southern city of Les Cayes, where at least three people were killed Friday in food riots and clashes with UN peacekeepers. Police said they were investigating.
Thousands of people marched mostly peacefully past the National Palace in Port-au-Prince. We're hungry, some called out. Others carried posters reading Down with the expensive life! Haitians are particularly affected by food prices that are rising worldwide. Eighty per cent of the population lives on less than US$2 a day. The cost of staples such as rice, beans, fruit and condensed milk has gone up 50 per cent in the past year, while the cost of pasta has doubled. Some can't take the hunger anymore, Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste told The Associated Press. As a priest, I encourage all government officials to do their best to find ways to solve the near-famine situation.The UN World Food Program made an urgent appeal for donations Monday to support its operations in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned last week that the food crisis could threaten Haiti's already fragile security.
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.
Iran begins installing more centrifuges By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer APR 8,08
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran has begun installing 6,000 new centrifuges at its uranium enrichment plant in Natanz, state television quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying Tuesday. The U.S. immediately criticized the announcement as an example of Iran's continued defiance of international demands that it suspend uranium enrichment, which can produce fuel for a nuclear reactor or fissile material for a weapon.Today's announcement reflects the Iranian leadership's continuing violation of international obligations and refusal to address international concerns, said Gregory Schulte, the U.S. representative to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency.Iran already has about 3,000 centrifuges operating at its underground nuclear facility in Natanz, and the U.N. has passed three sets of sanctions against Iran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment. Tehran insists its nuclear program is focused on the peaceful production of energy, not the development of weapons as claimed by the U.S. and many of its allies.Iran has not only failed to suspend enrichment, but has chosen to ignore the will of the international community by announcing the installation of new centrifuges, said a spokesman for Britain's Foreign Office on condition of anonymity in line with policy.This is despite the fact that Iran's enrichment program has no apparent civilian purpose, and shows that Iran is making no effort to restore international confidence in its intentions, he said.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Iran's uranium enrichment effort is dangerous and continued sanctions may be necessary against Tehran.Ahmadinejad made Tuesday's announcement as he toured the Natanz facility in central Iran.The president announced the start of the phase of installing 6,000 new centrifuges in Natanz, state television reported.State television also quoted Ahmadinejad as saying that we have reached new achievements in Natanz that he would announce later Tuesday.The president's trip was scheduled to coincide with Iran's National Day of Nuclear Technology, marking the second anniversary of Iran's first enrichment of uranium.Ahmadinejad is widely expected to confirm for the first time Tuesday that Iran has installed hundreds of more sophisticated centrifuges that can enrich uranium faster.
The workhorse of Iran's enrichment program is the P-1 centrifuge, which is run in cascades of 164 machines. But Iranian officials confirmed in February that they had started using the IR-2 centrifuge that can churn out enriched uranium at more than double the rate.Diplomats in Vienna told The Associated Press on Thursday that Iran has assembled hundreds of advanced centrifuges at Natanz.
One diplomat said more than 300 of the centrifuges have been linked up in two separate units in Iran's underground enrichment plant and a third was being assembled. He said the machines apparently are more advanced than the thousands already running underground.But a senior diplomat said that while the new work appeared to include advanced centrifuges, they were not IR-2s.Both diplomats are linked to the IAEA and asked for anonymity because their information was confidential.A total of 3,000 centrifuges is the commonly accepted figure for a nuclear enrichment program that is past the experimental stage and can be used as a platform for a full industrial-scale program that could churn out enough enriched material for dozens of nuclear weapons. Iran says it plans to move toward large-scale uranium enrichment that ultimately will involve 54,000 centrifuges. Associated Press writers George Jahn in Vienna, Austria, and David Stringer in London contributed to this report.
Modern Russia more painful than doom
Louise Evans | April 08, 2008
AFTER living in a cave for five months, cut off from the outside world and without access to email or mobile phones, you'd expect to find more than the weather had changed when you emerged.When members of a Russian doomsday cult came out of a cave southeast of Moscow last week after melting snow caused part of their hillside hovel to collapse as they had waited since November for the world to end, here's what they found. Their hunk o'spunk Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was named Time magazine's 2007 Person of the Year in December, is being replaced next month by a clone called Dmitry Medvedev, who was shoehorned into the Kremlin after a dodgy election. In light of further news updates about anti-Putin demonstrations in St Petersburg and Moscow in November, the assassination in December of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, the February resignation of Fidel Castro as Cuba's president and the demise of Zimbabwe despot Robert Mugabe after 28 years, panic flashed through the doomsday group. Instead of thinking about the end of the world, they were worried about their immediate future.
Who was this Putin mini-me, who walks and talks just like their Ken-doll President and has even been known to answer to Pootie-Poot, George W. Bush's nickname for Russia's answer to gun-toting American hero Charlton Heston? Cave dwellers alarmed that their Pootie-Poot was kaput were calmed when advised that Medvedev would be the grip-and-grin man charged with marauding across the world and monstering democratically elected leaders, those pests who pop up and then disappear after just a few years. Meanwhile, Putin will stay on as prime minister and continue to run Russia, ensuring that foreign companies' assets are sequestered, investigative journalists and spies are killed and the courts support the ruling elite and their cronies. Doomsdayers have been assured Putin won't tighten his authoritarian rule on the country's 141 million population, providing no one mentions the words democracy, free media or Russian mafia. Cave dwellers were also stunned to discover that, in the free world, a black man whose middle name is Hussein is leading the race to the White House. When they asked whether it would be renamed the Black House if Barack Obama became the US president, they were advised by the official government-controlled news agency that Russia was pro-Hillary Clinton. Putin is convinced that once Bush is gone he can get Clinton to lower that defence shield, or at least pay lip service to his missile system.
Negotiators who talked the doomsdayers out of their cave also allayed fears that Putin wanted to start a new cold war with the West. But if global players did not accede to Putin's demands at the NATO summit, Putin might have used his old party trick and started a cold snap by turning off the natural gas and oil that Russia supplies to a quarter of Europe. Doomsdayers were advised to be cautious with loans and savings as the US economy was behaving like Britney Spears. It's overrated, out of control and teetering on the brink of collapse, forcing other world economies into rehab.
Catching up on celebrity gossip, doomsdayers learned that Britain has found a replacement for its long lost queen of hearts, princess Diana. Not Prince William's girlie Kate Middleton, but France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the new wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Like Diana, Carla is a gorgeous, long-legged fashion horse. The thought of all those frumpy equine English dames and paunchy dandruff-dusted dandies fawning over a non-aristocratic Italian model made the doomsdayers forget that the end of the world was not nigh. One of the few pleasures while living in that leaky cave was chain-smoking and drinking vodka. Who cares about lung cancer and liver failure if the world is about to end? So doomsdayers were disappointed to learn the worldwide trend to ban smoking in public places continued apace while they were holed up. Even nicotine-addicted ally China is falling in behind the self-righteous anti-cigarette West. There was further dismay when they learned their doomsday leader and self-declared prophet, Pyotr Kuznetsov, had been admitted to hospital with a self-inflicted open head wound. It appears Kuznetsov attempted suicide, not because he's a fraud or because the world isn't ending, but because when he checked his inbox after five months he had 2,358,694 emails. More than two million were from Russia and were flogging Viagra, fake luxury goods, Russian brides and money scams. Some things never change. evansl@theaustralian.com.au
Oil prices slip; gas in volatile trading By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer APR 8,08
VIENNA, Austria - Oil prices inched downward Tuesday after jumping by almost $3 a barrel in the previous session on concerns about falling gasoline supplies and expectations that U.S. interest rates will be cut again. Gasoline prices also fell, but remained volatile ahead of Wednesday report of U.S. oil, gas, diesel and heating oil stocks.Oil prices had climbed Monday as traders bet that future U.S. Federal Reserve rate cuts will weaken the greenback. A weak dollar attracts investors to hard commodities such as oil, which are seen as a hedge against inflation. Also, a falling dollar makes oil cheaper to overseas investors.What we're seeing at the moment is still a very high interest in commodities, driven by non-fundamental issues such as a hedge against the falling U.S. dollar, said Mark Pervan, senior commodity strategist with the ANZ Bank in Melbourne.Light, sweet crude for May delivery slipped by 44 cents to $108.65 a barrel by noon in European electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $2.86 overnight to settle at $109.09 a barrel on the Nymex, the highest settlement for a front-month contract since March 18.
Still they remain within striking range of last month's trading record of $111.80 a barrel after a swoon that twice brought them briefly below $100. The rise is helped by a growing belief that gasoline supplies are falling as the summer driving season in the U.S. approaches.Last week, the Energy Information Administration said gasoline inventories fell more than expected during the week ended March 28. Also, gasoline demand rose for the first time since January, last week's EIA report showed, raising the prospect that supplies will fall further as Americans drive more during the spring and summer.We're now moving into the gasoline market, so falling gasoline stocks will certainly be supportive of oil prices, Pervan said.Analysts say refiners have cut back on gasoline production due to low profit margins. The rising price of crude means it costs refiners more to turn the raw product into motor fuel.Vienna's JBC Energy, in its daily newsletter said expectations were that newest snapshot of U.S. energy stocks to be released on Wednesday would show a further drawdown in gasoline supplies, with crude stocks swelling by 2.2 million barrels.The prospect that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will hold production steady this year also pushed oil prices higher Monday.In other Nymex trading Tuesday, May heating oil futures were essentially steady at $3.0872 a gallon (3.8 liters), while May gasoline prices lost more than 2 pennies to fetch $2.7595 a gallon.Natural gas futures dropped 2.6 cents to $9.765 per 1,000 cubic feet.In London, May Brent crude fell by 54 cents to $106.60 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange after rising $2.24 overnight to settle at $107.14 a barrel.Associated Press writer Gillian Wong contributed to this report from Singapore.
US stock futures dip on Alcoa, AMD news By MADLEN READ, AP Business Writer APR 8,08
NEW YORK - Stocks were poised to open lower Tuesday, after downbeat corporate reports from aluminum company Alcoa Inc. and chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. led off the first-quarter earnings season. Alcoa, the world's third-largest aluminum producer, said its first-quarter profit dropped by more than half due to higher costs and a weakening U.S. dollar. The per-share profit of 44 cents was below the average analyst estimate of 48 cents.Investors were also underwhelmed by news from the chip making sector.Sales at Advanced Micro Devices for the three months ended March 29 fell 15 percent from the same period a year ago, due to product delays and tough competition from Intel Corp. AMD's $1.5 billion sales figure was below the average analyst estimate of $1.61 billion, and the company said it plans to eliminate 10 percent of its work force.
Meanwhile, Novellus Systems Inc., another semiconductor maker, lowered its estimate of its first-quarter earnings to a range of 15 cents to 17 cents a share from its previous expectation of 21 cents to 24 cents.The dreary company reports Tuesday arrived ahead of the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's meeting March 18, when it lowered interest rates by three-quarters of a point to 2.25 percent. Investors are also awaiting a National Association of Realtors report on pending home sales in February.Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 44, or 0.35 percent, to 12,558. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures declined 5.20, or 0.38 percent, to 1,367.00. Nasdaq 100 index futures decreased 8.00, or 0.43 percent, to 1,857.75.On Monday, the major indexes finished narrowly mixed ahead of earnings releases after the bell.Bond prices dipppercent from 3.53 percent late Wednesday.Light, sweet crude fell 40 cents to $108.69 a barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.Gold prices fell, while the dollar was mixed against other major currencies.Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 1.49 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 slid 0.90percent, Germany's DAX index lost 1.21 percent, and France's CAC-40 dropped 1.08 percent.On the Net:New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com.Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:20,30
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).
MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Local nuke war would cause world havoc Mon Apr 7, 11:06 PM ET
WASHINGTON - A regional nuclear war would not only be devastating to the countries involved, it would cause havoc worldwide for at least a decade, according to a new analysis. The massive fires resulting from even a limited conflict would blast enough soot into the atmosphere to create an ozone hole over heavily populated areas, researchers warned in a paper in Monday's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.A region of depleted ozone over the Antarctic, known as an ozone hole, has been a concern for years as it allows damaging ultraviolet radiation from the sun to reach the Earth's surface. Some chemicals have been banned from use to help eliminate that hole.Unlike the Antarctic, a nuclear-induced ozone hole would affect much of the world, causing damage to plants and animals and adding to skin cancer, eye damage and other effects in millions of people, according to researchers led by Michael J. Mills of the University of Colorado.
Mills' team used complex computer programs to model what would happen in the atmosphere in the event of a war between India and Pakistan in which each detonated 50 Hiroshima-sized nuclear explosives.They calculated that the blasts would send as much as five million metric tons of soot as high as 50 miles into the atmosphere.The soot and the heat from solar radiation would cause a series of chemical reactions that would break down the stratospheric ozone layer that protects Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation, they said.We would see a dramatic drop in ozone levels that would persist for many years, Mills said in a statement. At mid-latitudes the ozone decrease would be up to 40 percent, which could have huge effects on human health and on terrestrial, aquatic and marine ecosystems.They calculated that a 40 percent ozone decrease would result in a 132 percent increase in light damage to plants and a 213 percent increase in DNA damage associated with skin cancer.The mid-latitudes are the regions between the tropics and the arctic and are home to the largest numbers of people.On the Net:PNAS: http://www.pnas.org
Moses was considered a prophet, but even he knew that a far greater prophet would come forth in God's perfect time. Moses wrote in the book of Deuteronomy.The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to My words that the prophet speaks in My name,I Myself will call him to account.(Deuteronomy 18:15, 18-19).
It was the role of Moses to establish the credentials of the Messiah. Even the Talmudic commentaries, written by Jewish rabbis and sages throughout the ages, declared that the Messiah must be the
greatest of prophets, and nearest in spirit to Moses.
Was Yeshua's life a parallel to Moses? Yes. In fact, no one else in history even came close. Scriptures show events parallel to both lives.Moses and Yeshua fulfilled their roles as prophet, priest,
lawgiver, teacher, and leader.Both spent their early years in Egypt, miraculously protected from those who wanted to kill them.
Moses' family did not initially accept his role as redeemer, nor did Yeshua's family, but later they would.
Both fasted for 40 days and faced spiritual crises on mountain tops.
Moses' brother Aaron, would become the High Priest for the young nation of Israel in the Wilderness. Yeshua's brother, James, would become the leader of the first Believers and Congregation/Church in
Jerusalem.Each was considered the wisest man in his day. Each confronted demonic powers and successfully subdued them.Moses sent 12 spies to explore Canaan. Yeshua sent 12 apostles to reach the world.Moses appointed 70 rulers over Israel. Yeshua anointed 70 disciples to teach the nations.
Moses parted the Red Sea with his outstretched arm.Yeshua calmed the Sea of Galilee.The list of similarities goes on and on. The point to all this is that while Passover began with Moses, it was fulfilled - in Yeshua the Passover Lamb.When a person is in Messiah,. . . he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Messiah and gave us the ministry of reconciliation(2 Cor. 5:17-18)
Moses writes in Leviticus 17:11 - For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's soul.May you and your loved ones have a blessed Passover season in Messiah Yeshua.
For He came just as foretold,lived among us, died for our sins,
and lives forever as proof that death has been overcome by the
blood of the Passover Lamb.
MESSIANIC BIBLE PROJECT. PROPHECY BIBLES FOR ISRAEL.
European Union members reach agreement on Galileo Navigation System news 07 April 2008
European Union members have reached agreement on the long delayed Galileo satellite project, according to a Bloomberg report which cites a statement issued by German transport minister Wolfgang Tiefensee. The agreement, according to the minister's statement, crosses the final hurdle for the EU, which can now start placing orders for the project by the end of the year.The project still needs to be cleared by the European Parliament in the next few weeks,according to the statement. Once cleared by the parliament, the European Space Agency will then start offering contracts to companies by the end of the year. As a system, Galileo is expected to begin operating by 2013. The accord on Galileo, which is meant to compete with the US Global Positioning System, represents a huge chance for the German aerospace industry, Tiefensee said in his statement, which was issued after meeting with his EU counterparts in Luxembourg. The $7 billion Galaileo project went under EU control after it was abandoned by a private-sector consortium as being unviable.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
EU pressuring countries to sign economic deals
April 07, 2008, 18:45
The European Union (EU) has been accused of trying to push Commonwealth countries into signing new trade agreements that will leave them worse off.The accusations have been made at the opening of a conference in Cape Town, where trade representatives of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries are taking stock of the current Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) being negotiated with the EU Commission.ACP Secretary General John Kaputin says countries found themselves under pressure to agree to clauses they believed would harm their economic interests. These included giving EU investors access to service industries and government contracts, as well as greater protection to intellectual property rights.
The race towards the deadline of December 31, 2007 was fraught with panic, confusion and frustration. In the end only 35 out of 77 countries initialed interim or full EPAs. Many more may not have initialed, but were held captive by the possibility of trade disruption that would have followed if they had not initialed, says Kaputin.South Africa was among countries that did not sign an EPA agreement. Many delegates at the conference have agreed that it is now time for the EU to build bridges and try to put a fair deal back on track.
[Comment] It's time Europe joined the dots on migration
08.04.2008 - 09:17 CET | By Graham Watson
EUOBSERVER / COMMENT - The forthcoming French Presidency of the EU has announced plans for an immigration pact to control illegal entry and make it harder for foreigners to live and work in Europe, bringing immigration back to the top of the political agenda once again.President Sarkozy outlined his plans after the Anglo-French summit in London, where he and Gordon Brown agreed to improve cooperation on a range of issues from tighter immigration controls to energy, security and defence. While the two sides will focus on tightening border controls at the French port of Calais, following a series of security lapses, long-term they plan a package of highly restrictive immigration measures which could practically seal off the EU to outsiders.This is par for the course for a President who campaigned to expel 25,000 illegal immigrants, and was later denounced by a coalition of Mayors and NGOs for making deportation the alpha and omega of migration policy and treating migrants like disposable objects. It is also a logical though deeply illiberal sequel to the tougher controls already introduced by the UK's Labour Government.
French ministers have also said they want a common definition of the right of asylum and have backed European Commission proposals that could see asylum seekers shared between EU states. British ministers probably secretly aspire to this too, though media mogul Rupert Murdoch's reaction dissuades them from saying so.Britain and France should be applauded for recognising the need for a European approach to migration in place of the 27 - often contradictory - immigration and asylum systems, yet their heavy handed approach may well prove counterproductive in the long-term.The fact of the matter is that the fight against illegal migration is the only area in which European Union member states have actively cooperated since it became a community competence in 1999, leaving legal migration and development policies up to national governments. This has resulted in some successes, notably improved police and judicial co-operation, an increasing number of readmission agreements with third countries, and the creation of the European Border Control Agency FRONTEX to help police land and sea routes into the EU.Yet by focussing our collective energy exclusively on policing borders and intercepting migrants, as Sarkozy and Brown suggest, Europe risks overlooking the need to address skills shortages, not to mention the factors that lead people to leave their countries in the first place.War, poverty and human rights abuses will ensure that the movement of people from poor and failing states to rich and stable ones continues to grow until properly funded policies to promote democracy and development are put in place.
The EU must recognise that unless its trade policies prevent the easy trade in armaments and allow developing country producers to sell their goods on our markets and so create wealth, jobs and opportunities at home, people from poor countries will continue to vote with their feet. Similarly, unless workers, through legal migration channels, can provide a steady flow of remittances of income to their home countries, investment capital for development in countries of origin will be insufficient to arrest brain drain and reverse the exodus.It is unsurprising that the tide of illegal migrants will keep flowing towards Europe while in EU capitals there is still resistance to sending necessary troops and equipment to some of the world's worst trouble-spots, from Darfur, to Chad and Afghanistan.Likewise, restrictive policies which aim to shut the gates of Fortress Europe on all comers tend to ignore the fact that the European economy, already reliant in large part on migrant labour, is set to lose 20 million workers in the next twenty years if we do not actively increase migration flows.Unlike Canada and Australia which long-ago developed sophisticated strategies to attract the skills their economies need to thrive, the European Union has so far failed to reap the benefits of a skilled and mobile international workforce.The lack of attractive legal migration options to Europe has ensured that 85% of the world's best brains go to America and Australia, put off by Europe's bureaucracy and inflexibility, while most migrants who actually reach our shores have few, if any, qualifications. Clearly the status quo is not working. That is why a coalition of MEPs from across the European Parliament's political spectrum have written a pamphlet calling, in no uncertain terms, for a radical rethink of the way Europe handles migration policy.We believe that putting the emphasis on illegal migration at the expense of a comprehensive, joined-up European Migration Policy fails both to address future demographic and economic challenges and tackle problems in their countries at their source.
Instead of the narrow-minded approach suggested at the Anglo-French Summit Europe we need to agree a far more ambitious package: one which combines the fight against illegal migration with the creation of legal migration channels and development and security policies that actively bolster third countries.Before our ambitions can be achieved, however, parliamentarians and the media alike must commit to engaging in the crucial step of changing public perceptions. For without public confidence and backing, an ambitious global migration policy for Europe is unlikely to see the light of day.The author is head of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) in the European Parliament.
MIKE EVANS THE JERUSALEM PRAYER TEAM APR 8,08
Last week it was revealed that despite official denials, Israel is indeed engaged in negotiations with the terrorists of the Palestinian Authority to divide the Holy City. This has long been a key demand of the Palestinians, and the idea of dividing Israel's eternal capital has also been pushed by President Bush, the European Union and the United Nations.I will be in Israel this week and will be meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. I would like very much to inform him that the Jerusalem Prayer Team members are staying united against Jerusalem being divided. If we do not speak out right now, it may soon be too late to keep Jerusalem united and in the hands of Israel. But I believe this tragedy can be averted if we speak out right now. Add your vote and your voice today.
So far we have already received 148,000 names toward our 200,000 goal. You must understand that the key to Israel withstanding the pressure they are receiving from President Bush and the State Department is knowing that many Americans are on their side. They must know we will not turn our backs on them. They must know we will not sell out their capital for oil. They must know we will not abandon them to appease the terrorists. They can only know this if we tell them. I encourage you to forward this email to everyone on your personal mailing list. Urge your family members and friends to add their voices to this vital petition to keep Jerusalem secure and undivided. Sign the petition and cast your vote to preserve Jerusalem today.
Your Ambassador to Jerusalem Dr. Michael Evans
Your Jerusalem World News: www.myjwn.com
Your Save Jerusalem Site: www.savejerusalem.org
Jerusalem Prayer Team
P.O. Box 210489
Bedford, TX 76095
FAX: 817-285-0962
1-800-825-3872
http://jerusalemprayerteam.org
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