1,300 DEAD IN GEORGIA - RUSSIA ROW

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

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

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.

Quake jolts Tokyo, no damage reported Fri Aug 8, 12:32 AM ET

TOKYO (Reuters) - A short, sharp quake of magnitude 4.5 jolted Tokyo on Friday, but there were no immediate reports of damage and the Japan Meteorological Agency said no tsunami warning was issued.

The tremor was centered in western Tokyo, 40 km (25 miles) below the surface of the earth, the Agency said.Japanese broadcaster NHK said trains and highways were operating as usual.Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.In October 2004, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck the Niigata region in northern Japan, killing 65 people and injuring more than 3,000.

That was the deadliest quake since a magnitude 7.3 tremor hit the city of Kobe in 1995, killing more than 6,400.(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds and Yoko Kubota; Editing by Rodney Joyce)

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.

MORE HURRICANES PREDICTED FOR ATLANTIC
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=4226712&cl=9183171&src=news

Hernan hits Category 2 strength in remote Pacific Sat Aug 9, 5:50 AM ET

MEXICO CITY - The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami says Hurricane Hernan has strengthened far off Mexico's Pacific coast into a Category 2 storm. The center says the fifth hurricane of the eastern Pacific season poses no threat to land. But Miami-based forecasters reported Hernan's top sustained winds were close to 100 mph early Saturday. That was up from 90 mph a day earlier when Hernan formed as a Category 1 hurricane.Hernan was centered about 970 miles southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula and moving west-northwest, farther out to sea.The hurricane center says Hernan is expected to begin weakening in the next 24 hours as it heads toward cooler Pacific waters.

Heavy monsoon rains kill 18 in India Sat Aug 9, 5:17 AM ET

HYDERABAD, India - Monsoon rains crumpled homes and triggered flash floods in southern India, killing 18 people, an official said Saturday. Parts of Hyderabad and two other districts of Andhra Pradesh state were inundated when 4.7 inches of rain fell in less than five hours Friday, said Navin Mittal, a government official. He said it was the heaviest downpour there in eight years.A mother and her child were among the 13 people killed in house collapses in Hyderabad, the state capital, Mittal said. Three others died in Medak district and two in Vijaywada, raising the state's death toll to 28 in the past week.The deluge left thousands of vehicles stranded in up to three feet of water in Hyderabad.Monsoon rains, vital for India's farmers, bring massive destruction across the country. Thousands die every year as a result of flooding, broken houses and other rain-related incidents.Floods, mudslides, house collapses and lightning strikes have killed at least 184 people across the country so far this year. The monsoon season began in June and ends in September.

DRUG PUSHERS AND ADDICTS

REVELATION 18:23
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries (DRUGS) were all nations deceived.

REVELATION 9:21
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries (DRUGS), nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

Drug dealers turn Wash. vineyards into pot farms By SHANNON DININNY, Associated Press Writer Sat Aug 9, 7:05 AM ET

WAPATO, Wash. - Across central Washington's fruit bowl, farmers are buying vineyards, hoping to establish roots in the area and capitalize on the booming wine industry. Authorities believe some of the buyers are living in Mexico and their vineyards are producing tens of thousands of illegal marijuana plants — a crop that could easily surpass grapes in value this year.Law enforcement officials in the Yakima Valley already have converged on seven vineyards that had been converted to marijuana operations this summer. At least five had been recently purchased — the buyers are still being tracked — and one had been leased to pot growers by an unknowing owner.Pot growers aren't just hiding their crops in national forests and random cornfields any more, said Washington State Patrol Sgt. Richard A. Beghtol.They are able to amass a huge amount of money and using that money to go out and buy land to do their marijuana cultivation, Beghtol said. It's their big moneymaker.The valley, home to acres of fruit orchards and hop fields, has long been recognized as an important pipeline in the drug trade with easy interstate access to Seattle, Portland and points east.Crackdowns at the Canadian and Mexican borders have made it more difficult to ship marijuana into the United States, prompting dealers to establish U.S. growing operations.A bust of more than 60,000 plants on the Yakama Indian Reservation in 2004, one of the biggest nationwide at the time, was traced to organized crime in Mexico and valued at more than $35 million.

By 2006, authorities were seizing more than 144,000 marijuana plants across Washington state. That number more than doubled the following year to 296,611 plants, reflecting a rise in both drug activity and enforcement efforts, said Rene Rivera, the Drug Enforcement Agency's agent in charge in Yakima.This year, we're probably going to surpass 2007 easily, just given the way we're starting, Rivera said.Water use is often a vital clue. Beghtol has noted that grape vines require much less water than marijuana, which needs daily irrigation.Drug enforcement teams have confiscated approximately 110,000 marijuana plants valued at more than $100 million this spring and summer in the Yakima Valley alone, and they haven't even begun their annual aerial surveillance.

In 2006, grapes ranked No. 11 among Washington state crops with a value of $144.2 million. Vineyards cover about 31,000 acres.Finding farmers willing to sell their property isn't difficult. Fewer farmers have children who want to take over the family business, and rising costs have driven many farmers off the land despite increasing prices for their crops.But dealers aren't just limiting their property buys to older sellers, Beghtol said.In one case, drug operatives approached a farmer who didn't have his farm listed for sale. He resisted until, asked to name a price. He threw out a figure: $263,000 for 27 acres and no building. The buyer showed up a few days later and bought the property in cash, Beghtol said.

The seller had no idea the farm would become a marijuana operation.

The Yakima Valley is a huge player. These are big operations that are difficult to track down, Beghtol said. They use fictitious names, they put property in daughters, wives names to conceal identity and try to thwart law enforcement from going forward with civil forfeiture.There have been 22 arrests this year. Authorities expect that number to rise as aerial surveillance begins later this summer. As arrests mount, vineyard purchases by marijuana growers will likely decline, predicts Vicky Scharlau, executive director of the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers. I suspect after you've had numerous busts, somebody's future plan for growing pot in vineyards is going to be thwarted, she said.

Syria says IAEA can't visit suspect site again By ALBERT AJI, Associated Press Writer AUG 9,08

DAMASCUS, Syria - Syria says U.N. nuclear inspectors cannot make a return visit to a suspect site bombed by Israel last year because its agreement with the U.N. agency allowed only one check. The U.S. alleges that the remote site was a near-finished plutonium-producing reactor built with North Korean help and that Damascus is hiding linked facilities.

Syria denies the allegations.

A Foreign Ministry official said Saturday Syria has told the International Atomic Energy Agency it is ready to answer any questions. The official, who was not authorized to speak to the media, spoke on condition of anonymity.

Palestinians close down Hamas charities in WBank Sat Aug 9, 9:31 AM ET

HEBRON, West Bank (AFP) - Palestinian security forces have shut down four Hamas-linked charities and two printing presses in and around the southern West Bank town of Hebron, a security official said Saturday. Security forces loyal to president Mahmud Abbas shut down all six on Friday after raiding the buildings and confiscating a number of items from them, the official said.In recent weeks Abbas's forces have taken increasingly strict measures against Hamas, which seized power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after routing his forces from the impoverished territory in a week of street battles.Israel has also taken stricter measures against Hamas in recent weeks, shutting down several organisations and businesses it said were linked to the movement, which is considered a terrorist organisation in the West.

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.

EU diplomats fly out to mediate in Georgia-Russia war
Georgian soldier takes aim - the photo relates to previous events in 2004 (Photo: wikipedia)PHILIPPA RUNNER AUG 9,08 Today @ 11:01 CET

EU and US diplomats are arriving in Georgia on Saturday (9 August) to try to broker a ceasefire in a fast-escalating conflict between Georgia and Russia, after fighting intensified and spreadovernight, with casualties mounting despite international appeals. Russian jets have bombed the town of Gori near Tbilisi and oil installations in the southern Georgian port of Poti. Georgia has evacuated government buildings in the capital and president Mikhail Saakashvili has moved to a safe location, where he formally asked parliament to impose martial law.

Meanwhile, Russian tanks and Georgian armour continued to pound each other inside the breakaway Georgian republic of South Ossetia, with both sides making wildly different claims over who controls the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali.Georgia says 30 of its men have been killed, while Russia says 15 of its soldiers are dead. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov estimated that over 1,500 people, mostly civilians, have been killed, with Tskhinvali in ruins and refugees streaming north across the Russian border.The EU delegation is being led by South Caucasus envoy Peter Semneby, with the US sending its top South Caucasus diplomat, Matthew Bryza. Lithuanian foreign minister Petras Vaitiekunas is also going on a separate, fact-finding mission for the EU. The French EU presidency says it has had multiple contacts and is in liaison with all the protagonists to try and stop the fighting, while EU top diplomat Javier Solana has spoken by phone with the Georgian and Russian foreign ministers.

Diplomatic solution difficult

Prospects for a diplomatic solution remain uncertain, however, after a second meeting of the UN security council on Friday failed to agree on a ceasefire resolution, with the US and the UK at odds with Russia on the wording of the text.France, Germany, the UK and NATO have all urged an immediate end to hostilities, but steered clear of apportioning blame. The US statement was the most hawkish, deploring Russia's use of bombers and missiles as a dangerous and disproportionate escalation and calling for the withdrawal of Russian troops.The shooting began on 4 August between Georgia and South Ossetian separatists, in what at first looked like just another skirmish in a so-called frozen conflict that dates back to 1991, when South Ossetia began a war of independence during the break-up of the Soviet Union.But the rebels kept firing on ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia all week. On Friday morning, Georgia launched an offensive to restore constitutional order and capture the separatist capital. Hours later, Russia reacted by sending tanks across the Georgian border and ordering air strikes against its small neighbour. In the broader context, Russia has long-supported the South Ossetian separatists by smuggling arms, handing out Russian passports and stationing 2,500 Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia, in what Georgia sees as a Russian effort to stop it from joining NATO and to unseat its pro-western government.

Who is to blame?

Some analysts are blaming Georgia for the current crisis, saying its attempt to retake Tskhinvali has misjudged the international mood and has destroyed its chances of joining the North Atlantic military alliance.He [president Saakashvili] is in big danger of losing the cachet he built up for himself in being pro-western and the restraint he has often shown in the face of provocation by Russia, London's Royal Institute of International Affairs expert, James Nixey, told Reuters.I don't think he can count on the [US] cavalry riding in, Brussels' EU-Russia Centre analyst James Cameron said. You don't bring in [to NATO] a country that has this sort of trouble, RAND Corporation expert and former US ambassador to NATO, Robert Hunter, told Bloomberg.European Council on Foreign Relations analyst, Nicu Popescu, said the timing of Georgia's assault on Tskhinvali - the same day as the opening of the Beijing Olympics - may be significant. It might be a signal to the Russians saying that the [2014] Sochi Olympics will not go the way Russia wants if there is no progress on the settlement.

Geopolitics in play

Others say the surprise summer war was engineered in Moscow.

The goals behind Moscow's operation are threefold, Jamestown.org analyst Vladimir Socor explained. To re-establish the authority of Russian-controlled negotiating and peacekeeping formats...to capture Georgian-controlled villages in South Ossetia [and] to dissuade NATO from approving a membership action plan for Georgia.

The Russians want a more direct confrontation with the west and I hope the Bush administration has the wisdom not to give them that satisfaction, Globalsecurity.org analyst John Pike told newswires.

What is being decided here is whether bordering Russia and simultaneously being a US ally is a suicidal combination. Whichever way this works out, the dynamics of the entire region are about to be turned on their head, Strategic Forecasting Inc said in a flash report.

US, Europe scramble to stop Georgia-Russia war Sat Aug 9, 7:02 AM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States and European Union are leading a diplomatic push to prevent all-out war between Georgia and Russia, calling for a ceasefire as Russian tanks rolled into a rebel Georgian province. Envoys from the US, EU and Organization of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) were being deployed to Georgia to seek an end to the fighting in Russian-backed South Ossetia, a breakaway region of Western-backed Georgia.On Friday, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte summoned Russian Charge d'Affaires Alexander Darchiyev to the State Department to press Moscow to cease military operations in Georgia.The United States calls for an immediate ceasefire to the armed conflict in Georgia's region of South Ossetia, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement Friday.We call on Russia to cease attacks on Georgia by aircraft and missiles, respect Georgia's territorial integrity, and withdraw its ground combat forces from Georgian soil, she said.The United States was working actively with its European allies to launch international mediation to end the crisis, Rice said, adding that senior US officials have spoken with the parties in the conflict.We underscore the international community's support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, as articulated in numerous UN Security Council resolutions, she said.

US president George W. Bush spoke to Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley about the crisis from Beijing, where he is attending the Olympic Games, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters.Russian tanks and troops surged into South Ossetia on Friday to repel a Georgian offensive to reclaim the region amid fighting said to have left hundreds dead.On Saturday, the Russian army announced it had liberated the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali as Georgia declared a state of war.South Ossetia broke from Georgia in the early 1990s. It has since been a constant source of friction between Georgia and Russia, which disputes Tbilisi's hopes of joining NATO.South Ossetia has long sought unification with North Ossetia, which is inhabited by the same Ossetian ethnic group but ended up across the border in Russia after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.The Georgian government, led by President Mikheil Saakashvili, announced it would withdraw its 2,000 troops that are part of the US-led coalition in Iraq to help the fight in South Ossetia.The EU presidency said it was in contact with all protagonists and working to secure a ceasefire so as to avoid an extension of the conflict.

The EU calls on all parties to cease hostilities and to resume, without delay, so as to secure a political solution to the crisis, which respects Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, it said.EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has been busy on the phone talking with, among others, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Georgia's Foreign Minister Ekaterine Tkeshelashvili, a spokeswoman said.At the United Nations, however, the Security Council failed to agree Friday on a statement calling for an immediate truce in South Ossetia. The 15-member body was scheduled to try again on Saturday.Diplomats said a Belgian-drafted compromise text also urges the warring sides to show restraint and to refrain from any further acts of violence or force, calls for respect by the parties of past accords and for the provision of humanitarian aid to victims. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin insisted on the need for Georgia to agree to a formal renunciation of the use of force by either side. Georgia's reintegration minister, Temur Yakobashvili, told France's Le Figaro newspaper's website that Western diplomats would have a huge say over the outcome of the conflict. Asked what will happen next in the Caucasus, he said, much will depend on the reaction of the West.

The Washington Post called the situation in South Ossetia Saturday a grave challenge to the United States and Europe.The newspaper said in an editorial it was unrealistic to expect UN Security Council action because of a likely Russian veto. Thus, the United States and its NATO allies must together impose a price on Russia if it does not promptly change course, the editorial concluded.

Georgia: Russia enters into war in South Ossetia.Over 1,300 people are reported dead after Russian forces responded to a Georgian attack on rebels in the breakaway province of South Ossetia by mounting a full scale invasion. By Adrian Blomfield in Gori 1:29AM BST 09 Aug 2008

Columns of Russian tanks plunged the two neighbours into war as they filed into South Ossetia, marking the Kremlin's first military assault on foreign soil since the Soviet Union's Afghanistan intevention, which ended in 1989. Russian tanks rolled towards the capital of South Ossetia and fighters bombed Georgian air bases after Georgia launched attacks on rebels in the breakaway region. South Ossetia won de-facto independence in a war which ended in 1992but has been a source of tension ever since, along with Abkhazia, another separatist region. Russian peacekeepers have suffered 12 dead and 150 wounded, the peacekeeping forces were quoted as saying by Russian news agencies, while over 1300 civilians are reported to have been killed. Now our peacekeepers are waging a fierce battle with regular forces from the Georgian army in the southern region of Tskhinvali, a representative of the Russian force was quoted as saying by Interfax.

Reports last night claimed that Russia had started to bomb civil and economic infrastructure, including the Black Sea port of Poti and the military base at Senaki. Between 8 and 11 Russian jets reportedly hit container tanks and a shipbuilding plant at the port. I saw bodies lying on the streets, around ruined buildings, in cars, said Lyudmila Ostayeva, 50, who had fled with her family to Dzhava, a village near the border with Russia. It's impossible to count them now. There is hardly a single building left undamaged.

The confrontation between the two countries deepened in April when Nato promised that Georgia would be allowed to join - although no clear timetable was offered. The European Union was trying to secure a ceasefire in the pro-Russian enclave. The United States and the EU sent a joint delegation to the region in a bid to halt the fighting, while Nato called for an immediate end to the clashes and for direct talks between Russia and Georgia. Any ceasefire would be unlikely to hold. Hours after President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia, a devoutly pro-Western leader, declared a unilateral ceasefire on Thursday night, his forces began an artillery barrage against Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital.

The fighting broke out as much of the world's attention was focused on the start of the Olympic Games. Many leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President George W Bush, were in Beijing watching the opening ceremony. Mr Putin declared: War has started. Victor Dolidze, Georgia's ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said: If this is not war, then I wonder what it is. Mr Dolidze told the OSCE's permanent council in Vienna that Russian forces had been bombing Georgian territory since the morning, according to a diplomat who attended the 45-minute meeting. Vladimir Voronkov, Russia's representative, told the assembly that the true story is very different. He accused the Georgian side of launching a massive attack in defiance of diplomatic efforts. As the roar of warplanes and the explosion of heavy shells sounded outside Tskhinvali, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, accused the Georgians of driving people from their homes. We are receiving reports that a policy of ethnic cleansing was being conducted in villages in South Ossetia, the number of refugees is climbing, the panic is growing, people are trying to save their lives, he said in televised remarks from the ministry. Georgia, which would be hugely outnumbered in an all-out confrontation with Russia, said that it had control of the capital, but there were reports of Russian tanks on the outskirts and that Georgian forces had started to retreat. Georgia will withdraw 1,000 soldiers from its military contingent of around 2,000 troops in Iraq to help in the fighting against South Ossetian separatist rebels, a top Georgian official said. Georgia has asked the US military to provide aircraft to move Georgian troops home from Iraq as fighting rages in Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia region, a US military official said Friday. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Russia to withdraw its troops from Georgia. The United States calls for an immediate ceasefire to the armed conflict in Georgia's region of South Ossetia, Rice said in a statement. We call on Russia to cease attacks on Georgia by aircraft and missiles, respect Georgia's territorial integrity, and withdraw its ground combat forces from Georgian soil, she said.

The United States is working actively with its European allies to launch international mediation to end the crisis and senior US officials have spoken with the parties in the conflict, she added.

A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana: We repeat our message to all parties to immediately stop the violence.In Washington, State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said the US was sending an envoy to the region to engage with the parties in the conflict.

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.(TRADE 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 keeps ticking without Lisbon treaty, report says
HONOR MAHONY 08.08.2008 @ 09:17 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Europe continues to work without the Lisbon treaty and the demise of the document would not be a catastrophe for the bloc, an influential think tank has said.In an assessment of Ireland's referendum rejection of the EU treaty published on Thursday (7 August), the London-based Centre for European Reform concludes that Europe works fairly well in many areas with the current treaties.Croatia: could future accession provide a solution to the Irish EU treaty question? (Photo: European Commission)It notes that the 27-nation bloc continues to achieve results and integrate using intergovernmental bodies such as the European Defence Agency and through new laws such as those on liberalising the energy market in Europe or the Emissions Trading Scheme.But the paper suggests that the EU would be much better off with the Lisbon Treaty - already ratified by 23 member states - as it would clear up the dreadful arrangements for managing EU foreign policy, currently a mishmash of personalities and responsibilities. It would also allow easier decision-making in the area of justice and home affairs and give more power to national parliaments, writes Charles Grant, the author of the report and director of CER.His assessment concludes that there are three possible options ahead, with the treaty needing ratification by all member states if it is to go into place.

Under the first scenario, Ireland would hold a second referendum having secured reassurance from its EU partners that certain areas such as tax, neutrality and abortion would not be affected by the treaty. Timing would be important. If Dublin does not hold the referendum before April next year, then the current rules for reducing EU commissioners - and the haggling this entails - will remain in place.The second scenario envisages Dublin refusing to have a second referendum although this is likely to result in huge pressure from the French EU presidency, amongst others. This would likely mean that while the Lisbon treaty as a whole would be ditched, governments would try and salvage parts of it using Croatia's accession treaty. Croatia is due to join the EU in a few years and parts of the treaty could be tacked onto its accession package, something that has to be ratified by all member states but which is not normally put to referendum.Under the third most poisonous scenario, Ireland would hold a second referendum and vote No, leading to internal divisions, with countries such as Britain and central European states likely to block any attempt to kick the country out of the EU.The paper predicts that whatever eventually happens with the Lisbon Treaty, it is likely to be the last attempt by the EU to adopt a big, comprehensive treaty. Instead the bloc will probably opt for sectoral treaties in areas such as energy or migration policy in future.

Denmark

While the Irish government contemplates its next move following the 12 June referendum, other countries have already made decisions in light of the rejection.Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has called off plans to hold a referendum on the country's four opt-outs from the current EU treaties.We had originally made reservations for an EU debate in the autumn and perhaps a referendum. Due to the Irish referendum, the situation is now so unclear that the plan is no longer current, he said in an interview with Danish daily Jyllands-Posten on Thursday (7 August).According to a fresh opinion poll published in business daily Borsen on Friday, a majority of Danes is in favour of scrapping the four opt-outs. A large majority is ready to join EU defence co-operation while a slim majority is in favour of taking part in the euro, fully joining EU justice and home affairs and accepting EU citizenship.

Most EU leaders stay away from Olympic ceremony
PHILIPPA RUNNER 08.08.2008 @ 09:10 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Just nine European Union leaders plan to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing on Friday (8 August), where France will officially represent the EU. Most member states are keeping a low profile instead, with a handful boycotting the festivities over China's human rights record. The presidents of France, Slovakia, Latvia, Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria, the prime ministers of the Netherlands and Finland and the Grand Duke of Luxembourg will watch alongside 70 or so other world leaders as 15,000 Chinese performers enact a three and a half hour-long spectacle starting at 8.08pm Beijing time (2.08pm CET). China has regained her standing among the greatest nations, French president Nicolas Sarkozy told Chinese state news agency Xinhua ahead of his arrival. It is as it should be: China, with her rich civilisation and hardworking people, now has the ability to make a decisive contribution to the emergence of a world of development and peace.

France, which currently holds the EU presidency, had in March threatened to stay away after Chinese soldiers shot protesters calling for a free Tibet. Citing repression of ethnic minorities and the arrests of dissidents and journalists, the European Parliament in April also called for EU leaders to snub Beijing, with parliament head Hans-Gert Poettering and European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso avoiding the Olympic opening.In contrast to US president George Bush's pre-Olympics speech urging a free press, freedom of assembly and labour rights, Mr Sarkozy did not mention any thorny issues in the Xinhua interview, noting instead that this is the first time a French president will be participating in the capacity of European Union president-in-office.

The French chief declined an invitation to meet Tibet leader-in-exile the Dalai Lama in Paris next week. His Beijing delegation includes businessmen such as the CEO of supermarket chain Carrefour, while pro-free speech NGO Reporters Sans Frontieres and Chinese minority groups were banned from picketing the Chinese embassy in Paris on Friday. We are asking for progress on human rights and that is something to be done looking each other straight in the eye, face-to-face, former French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who will also travel with the French delegation, told AFP. You don't talk to the Chinese via newspaper articles.

Washing their hair

The other big EU countries have avoided controversy by keeping a low profile. Germany's Angela Merkel said she cannot go to the opening because she is on holiday. UK prime minister Gordon Brown will attend the closing ceremony instead. Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi said Beijing is too hot and humid. Both Italy and Spain will send foreign ministers to save face. Many smaller member states have followed suit. Greece is sending its foreign minister to the opening. Sweden, Denmark, Portugal and Ireland are sending sports and culture ministers. The Belgian prime minister will attend the closing ceremony only. Austria, Hungary and Estonia indicated that their absence is nothing to do with politics. Poland has taken the sharpest position, with the country's president and all members of the government boycotting the event on human rights grounds. The presence of politicians at the Olympic inauguration seems inappropriate. I will not be going to the Olympics, Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said following the Tibet crackdown earlier this year.Czech and Lithuanian leaders also stood on their ethics, with Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek wearing a Tibetan-flag lapel pin while making his TV announcement not to go to the opening party. Mr Topolanek and Lithuanian prime minister Gediminas Kirkilas aim to attend sporting events in a semi-private capacity, however.A recent survey by the International Herald Tribune and France 24 showed that just 23 to 44 percent of people in France, Germany, the UK, Italy and Spain would like their leaders to boycott the Beijing ceremony. Between 50 and 65 percent wanted to see actions by athletes instead. But just 17 to 29 percent thought Beijing should be a politics-free zone. One hundred and twenty seven sportsmen, 40 of whom will compete in China, this week signed an open letter to the Chinese government calling for a peaceful solution on Tibet, release of political prisoners and a halt to the death penalty, with individual athletes expected to shout slogans or carry political banners at the opening parade.

Olympic spirit

We oppose those things. Also we hope and we believe that all the athletes involved in the Olympic games know they should not go against the spirit of the Olympic games, Chinese Olympics committee official Zhang Heping said.Some observers will be watching Beijing to see which of the old and new global superpowers will scoop the most medals, in a throwback to Cold War times, when the US and Russia tried to demonstrate the superiority of capitalism and communism through sporting prowess. In Athens in 2004, the US won 36golds, China took 32 and Russia 27, with Germany the closest EU country on 13. Last month, the head of the European Commission's office in Austria, Georg Dutlik, urged media to count EU medals in China instead of giving country-by-country European tallies, to foster a certain pride in Europe. The EU gold total for Athens was 90.

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

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

Death toll rises to 25 from Iraq market bombing By BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press Writer AUG 9,08

BAGHDAD - The death toll from a blast in a market in the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar rose to 25 on Saturday, after four of the six dozen people injured died from their wounds, a security official said. The predominantly ethnic Turkoman town was under an indefinite curfew following Friday's bombing, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to the speak to the media.The official, who was familiar with the police investigation, said the blast was carried out by a lone Sunni Turkoman suicide bomber from Tal Afar, whose identity was established after forensic tests on his remains. The bomber had been released from detention four months ago under an amnesty passed by parliament earlier this year, he added.The bomber may have avoided detection at a checkpoint leading to the busy market by having a man ride with him in the passenger seat, said the official. The passenger got off after the checkpoint, he added, quoting witness reports.Suicide car bombers are known to mostly ride alone, so having a fellow passenger could help avoid detection. Tal Afar, a frequent target of suicide bombings, has banned men from driving alone.The top U.S. diplomat and military commander in Iraq condemned the attack in Tal Afar, located 260 miles northwest of Baghdad.

Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus said in a joint statement Saturday that the senseless attack will further unite the Iraqi people to reject al-Qaida in Iraq and the indiscriminate violence it inflicts on civilians.The bombing, which bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida, could further stoke tensions among ethnic groups in northern Iraq, embroiled in a dispute over control of the oil-rich region of Kirkuk. The city is claimed by the Kurds who want to annex it to their self-ruled region, but Arab and Turkomen residents want to remain under central government control.Northern Iraq has been getting the lion's share of insurgent attacks while the rest of the country has seen lowest levels of violence in four years. That improvement has been attributed to the dispatch of additional U.S. troops last year, a cease-fire by a Shiite militia and a revolt by Sunni tribesmen and insurgents against the al-Qaida in Iraq.But Friday's deadly bombing was a grim reminder that al-Qaida in Iraq and other militant groups remain capable of executing major attacks, despite the presence of about 145,000 U.S. troops and improved Iraqi security forces.It came days after two Iraqi officials said the Americans had agreed to remove all U.S. troops from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009, and withdraw combat units by October 2010. All American troops would be gone around 2013, the Iraqis had said on condition of anonymity because the talks are ongoing. U.S. officials in Washington insisted that no firm dates have been agreed.Meanwhile, Georgia — the third largest contributor to the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq — said it's pulling out its 2,000-strong contingent from Iraq to join the fighting in the breakaway province of South Ossetia.Col. Bondo Maisuradze, commander of the Georgia brigade, told The Associated Press that all his troops would be leaving, but he couldn't say when because transportation arrangements had not been finalized. All the Georgian guys will be leaving for the homeland, he said.A U.S. military spokesman said the departure of the Georgians will have some impact in the near term but no significant long-term effect on Iraq's security. The Georgians have asked the United States to provide transportation, and U.S. spokesman Capt. Charles G. Calio said all options are being considered.In scattered violence Saturday, a bodyguard who works for Youth and Sports minister Jassim Mohammed Ja'afar was gunned down outside his home near the city of Kirkuk, according to a police source who did not want to be named because he is not authorized to disclose the information.Also in northern Iraq, unidentified gunmen shot dead a 50-year-old woman outside her home in the al-Maamoun district in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.

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Stocks jump as oil prices fall sharply By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer Fri Aug 8, 5:52 PM ET

NEW YORK - Wall Street rebounded smartly Friday, shooting higher as a surge in the dollar and another plunge in oil prices eased some of investors' worries about losses at mortgage finance company Fannie Mae. The Dow Jones industrials soared more than 300 points, more than wiping out a big loss from the previous session, and all the major indexes had their best weekly gains since April. The session extended a streak of volatility that has seen the Dow making frequent triple-digit moves as investors reacted feverishly to news about the financial sector, corporate earnings and the economy.On Friday, the dollar, which has sagged along with the economy, reached its highest level against the euro since February, and in the process sent a wave of confidence through the stock market. And because the dollar's strength has contributed to the recent skid in oil prices, light, sweet crude dropped sharply again, falling $4.82 a barrel to settle at $115.20 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That brought crude's decline over the past four weeks to more than $30.Investors see the drop in oil as a big boost for the economy, because it should allow consumers to spend more freely. For the moment, that has allowed the market to set aside nervousness about the financial sector, which is still contending with the fallout from the year-old credit crisis.

Fresh financial worries surfaced Friday after Fannie Mae, the largest U.S. buyer and backer of home loans, reported a quarterly loss more than three larger than what Wall Street had expected and said it would slash its quarterly dividend to conserve cash.Philip S. Dow, managing director of equity strategy at RBC Dain Rauscher in Minneapolis, said that while the strength in the dollar and the resulting drop in oil were attracting buyers Friday, Wall Street's recent back-and-forth trading illustrates investors' great anxiety.

We live in a market where people react, they don't anticipate, he said. So you've got this market that's kind on a seesaw every day reacting to news.The Dow rose 302.89, or 2.65 percent, to 11,734.32. The blue chips fell nearly 225 points Thursday after concerns about the financial sector, a weak showing by retailers in July and a spike in weekly unemployment claims; Friday's advance marked the seventh time in two weeks that the Dow rose or fell by triple digits.Broader indicators also rose sharply Friday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 30.25, or 2.39 percent, to 1,296.32 and the Nasdaq composite index advanced 58.37, or 2.48 percent, to 2,414.10.For the week, the Dow rose 3.6 percent, the S&P gained 2.9 percent and the technology-heavy Nasdaq jumped 4.5 percent. It was their best weekly performance since the week ended April 18.Bonds ticked lower as stocks jumped, easing demand for the safety of government debt. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its prices, rose to 3.94 percent from 3.93 percent late Thursday. Gold prices fell. Prices rebounded in after-hours trading, sending the 10-year yield to 3.93 percent.The dollar's rise against the euro came after the European Central Bank and the Bank of England separately left their benchmark interest rates unchanged Thursday. With the ECB signaling more rate hikes aren't likely, the euro wasn't as attractive as an investment option.

Kelli Hill, a portfolio manager at Ashfield Capital Partners in San Francisco, said a more robust dollar not only makes commodities like oil less expensive but can also offer a much-needed dose of faith in the U.S. markets and economy.People want to sell on anything or buy on anything, she said, noting that light trading volume can exacerbate the market's gyrations. Strengthening in the dollar is a good thing not only for business but also to build back confidence both domestically and internationally.She is optimistic the markets will recover and said the rebound could come swiftly once the money sitting on the sidelines gets a sense that the economy is poised to turn higher.The falling price of oil also overshadowed a Labor Department report showing that U.S. workers' efficiency grew at a slightly slower pace in the second quarter. Worker productivity grew at an annual rate of 2.2 percent. Economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR had predicted growth would come in at 2.7 percent compared with 2.6 percent in the first quarter. Still, some market watchers said any gains are positive.Fannie Mae reported a loss of $2.3 billion, or $2.54 a share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected the company to report a loss of 68 cents a share. The company also said it would cut its quarterly dividend to 5 cents from 35 cents. Fannie Mae fell 90 cents, or 9 percent, to $9.05.The report from Fannie Mae follows a loss Wednesday from fellow mortgage financier Freddie Mac that was more than three times larger than Wall Street analyst had expected.

McDonald's Corp. said strong demand for breakfast items helped lifted global same-store sales 8 percent in July. The world's largest hamburger chain said same-store sales, or sales at locations open at least a year, rose 6.7 percent in the U.S. The stock, one of the 30 that comprise the Dow industrials, rose $3.81, or 6.2 percent, to $65.67 after reaching a new high of $66.24.

While the drop in oil helped stocks in general, certain sectors like the airlines, which have been hit by soaring fuel prices, showed steep gains. United Airlines parent UAL Corp. jumped $1.52, or 16 percent, to $11.13, and Continental Airlines Inc. rose $1.73, or 12 percent, to $16.48. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 3 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to a relatively light 4.82 billion shares compared with 5.09 billion shares traded Thursday. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 20.89, or 2.93 percent, to 734.30. Global wasn't affected by a 4.5 percent drop Friday in the Shanghai Composite Index. China's benchmark index fell to its lowest level in nearly 19 months over investor disappointment that a rally tied to the Beijing Olympic games didn't develop. Elsewhere overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.33 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.21 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.28 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.77 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average ended the week up 408.00, or 3.60 percent, at 11,734.32. The Standard & Poor's 500 index finished up 36.01, or 2.86 percent, at 1,296.32. The Nasdaq composite index ended the week up 103.14, or 4.46 percent, at 2,414.10. The Russell 2000 index finished the week up 18.14, or 2.53 percent, at 734.30. The Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Composite Index — a free-float weighted index that measures 5,000 U.S. based companies — ended Friday at 13,197.13, up 308.92 points, or 2.40 percent, for the week. A year ago, the index was at 14,641.03. On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com
Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

Fannie Mae loses $2.3B in quarter as defaults rise By ALAN ZIBEL, AP Business Writer Fri Aug 8, 6:42 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Fannie Mae is making bold cutbacks that will send shock waves through the mortgage market, after posting a quarterly loss Friday that was three times larger than Wall Street expected.

To slow its financial decline, the mortgage finance giant slashed its dividend to 5 cents a share from 35 cents a share and said it will eliminate loans for borrowers with solid credit scores, but little proof of income or small or no down payments.The company also is raising its mortgage fees, which will be passed onto borrowers as higher interest rates or closing costs.With Fannie Mae and its sibling company Freddie Mac becoming more risk-averse, fears are building that mortgage rates will keep climbing, making it harder for people to afford a mortgage or refinance their home, and spur even more foreclosures.We are already in that spiral, said Chris Mayer, real estate professor at Columbia Business School.

Volatility and disruptions in the capital markets worsened in July. And though Fannie Mae's losses should still peak this year, said Chief Executive Daniel Mudd, he couldn't predict how long the housing recession will last or how low prices will fall.The housing market has returned to earth fast and hard, Mudd said.Disappointed stockholders sent Fannie Mae's shares down 9.1 percent, or 90 cents, to $9.05 Friday.Investors continue to worry that Fannie and Freddie will be overwhelmed by losses and require government aid. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are the biggest buyers of U.S. home loans from banks and other lenders. Together they own or guarantee nearly half of outstanding U.S. mortgage debt.Under the housing bill signed by President Bush last week, the government may boost lines of credit to the companies or buy their stock.Mudd, however, said the company has no plans to use that financial lifeline. We're going to manage our way through it, he said.While Fannie and Freddie generally had higher standards for lenders than the subprime mortgage companies that started going belly-up at the end of 2006, the duo lowered their standards during the housing boom and bought securities linked to riskier loans.

Even as the subprime mortgage market collapsed, the industry — backed by Fannie and Freddie — kept making risky so-called Alt-A loans. They made up about 15 percent of all loans in the first half of 2007, up from 13 percent in all of 2006, according to trade publication Inside Mortgage Finance.For Fannie and Freddie, these Alt-A loans made up roughly 10 percent of their portfolios but accounted for more than half of their losses in the second quarter. The souring loans were concentrated in California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona, where speculation was rampant, prices soared and homeowners stretched to the financial limit to afford a home.If Freddie Mac follows Fannie Mae and stops buying Alt-A loans, it means that market is not going to exist at all. It's barely hanging on now, said Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance,

For homebuyers who don't have stellar credit and a big down payment, there are few options these days but loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration. Those loans require a minimum of 3.5percent down and full proof of income.What's more, Fannie Mae's new fees will price more borrowers out of the market. For a borrower with less-than-perfect credit, such fees could hike closing costs by $3,000 for a borrower with a $300,000 mortgage, or raise payments by $50 per month, said Patrick Cunningham, a vice president with Home Savings & Trust Mortgage in Fairfax, Va.To avoid such fees, paying attention to your credit is going to be paramount for people, he said.

But Fannie Mae didn't have much choice.

The Washington-based company lost $2.3 billion, or $2.54 a share, for the quarter that ended June 30. The loss, the company's fourth-consecutive quarter of red ink, compares with profit of $1.95 billion, or $1.86 a share, in the period last year. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected a loss of just 68 cents a share. While revenue rose to $3.97 billion from $1.42 billion a year earlier, Fannie Mae's losses from defaulting mortgages skyrocketed. Fannie Mae booked $5.3 billion in credit expenses, including a $3.7 billion addition to its loss reserves. Loans three-months past due or more than doubled last year's level to 1.36 percent. The company said it is boosting efforts to recover money from lenders who committed fraud in loans that were sold to the company. To speed up the sale of foreclosed properties, Fannie Mae is opening offices in California and Florida and said it would consider selling those properties in bulk to investors. I do not think this is a time to be holding onto (foreclosed properties) hoping for a better day, Mudd said.

DISEASES

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

Rabies from bats suspected in Venezuela deaths By IAN JAMES, Associated Press Writer Fri Aug 8, 9:35 PM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela - At least 38 Warao Indians have died in remote villages in Venezuela, and medical experts suspect an outbreak of rabies spread by bites from vampire bats. Laboratory investigations have yet to confirm the cause, but the symptoms point to rabies, according to two researchers from the University of California at Berkeley and other medical experts. The two UC Berkeley researchers — the husband-and-wife team of anthropologist Charles Briggs and public health specialist Dr. Clara Mantini-Briggs — said the symptoms include fever, body pains, tingling in the feet followed by progressive paralysis, and an extreme fear of water. Victims tend to have convulsions and grow rigid before death.Dr. Charles Rupprecht, chief of the rabies program at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, agreed with their preliminary diagnosis.The history and clinical signs are compatible with rabies, Rupprecht told The Associated Press on Friday. Prevention is straightforward: Prevent bites and vaccinate those at risk of bites.Venezuelan health officials are investigating the outbreak and plan to distribute mosquito nets to prevent bat bites and send a medical boat to provide treatment in remote villages on the Orinoco River delta, Indigenous Peoples Minister Nicia Maldonado said Thursday, according to the state-run Bolivarian News Agency.

Outbreaks of rabies spread by vampire bats are a problem in various tropical areas of South America, including Brazil and Peru, Rupprecht said.He said researchers suspect that in some cases environmental degradation — including mining, logging or dam construction projects — may also be contributing to rabies outbreaks.Vampire bats are very adaptable, Rupprecht said. And when their roosts are disrupted or their normal prey grow scarce, Homo sapiens is a pretty easy meal.More study is needed to confirm through blood or other samples from victims that it is the rabies virus in Venezuela, researchers say.At least 38 Warao Indians have died since June 2007, and at least 16 have died in the past two months, according to a report the Berkeley researchers and indigenous leaders provided to Venezuelan officials this week.

One village, Mukuboina, lost eight of its roughly 80 inhabitants — all of them children, Briggs said. All victims throughout the area died within two to seven days from the onset of symptoms, he said.

During a study trip Briggs and Mantini-Briggs made through 30 villages in the river delta, relatives said the victims had been bitten by bats. The couple have worked among the Warao in Delta Amacuro state for years and were invited by indigenous leaders to study the outbreak.It's a monster illness, said Tirso Gomez, a Warao traditional healer who said the indigenous group of more than 35,000 people has never experienced anything similar.Mantini-Briggs, a Venezuelan former health official, said she was surprised to find many Warao villages now have cats — a new development. The Waraos told us it was because there were too many bats that were biting the children, she said.Another tropical medicine expert, Dr. Daniel Bausch of Tulane University in New Orleans, agreed the symptoms and accounts suggest rabies transmitted by bats, and if confirmed, probably a vaccination campaign would be in order.The researchers have begun taking precautions. Mantini-Briggs said she started to wonder about her own health Friday while talking with biologist Omar Linares, a bat expert at Simon Bolivar University.

She remembered there was blood on her sheet after sleeping in a hammock in a Warao village two weeks ago. Initially she had dismissed it as an unimportant insect bite or something else, but she remembered her finger hurting that morning and that she saw two small red dots there.Confirming it must have been a bat bite, Linares suggested she get rabies shots immediately. I'm sure a bat bit me, she said. I remembered and said I'm going to get vaccinated.

9TH OF AV IN ISRAEL TODAY

AT 6PM TODAY- ISRAEL CELEBRATES THE DESTRUCTIONS OF THE 1ST AND 2ND TEMPLES. ITS THE 9TH OF AV, AND MANY DESTRUCTIONS HAVE OCCURRED ON THIS DAY INCLUDING 2005 WHEN ISRAELIS WERE THROWN OFF THEIR OWN LAND BY OTHER ISRAELIS.

WE WILL LOOK AT THE 3 WEEKS FROM THE 17TH OF TAMMUZ TO THE 9TH OF AV.

17TH OF TAMMUZ

This day marks the beginning of the three weeks of mourning for the fall of Jerusalem and the loss of our holy Temple.

The 17th of Tammuz is a fast day commemorating the fall of Jerusalem, prior to the destruction of the Holy Temple. This also marks the beginning of a 3-week national period of mourning, leading up to Tisha B'Av. The 17th of Tammuz is the first of four fast days mentioned in the prophets. The purpose of a fast day is to awaken our sense of loss over the destroyed Temple - and the subsequent Jewish journey into exile.

Agonizing over these events is meant to help us conquer those spiritual deficiencies which brought about these tragic events. Through the process of Teshuva - self-introspection and a commitment to improve - we have the power to transform tragedy into joy. In fact, the Talmud says that after the future redemption of Israel and the rebuilding of the Temple, these fast days will be re-dedicated as days of rejoicing and festivity. For as the prophet Zechariah says: the 17th of Tammuz will become a day of joy to the House of Judah, and gladness and cheerful feasts.

WHAT HAPPENED ON THE 17TH OF TAMMUZ?

Five great catastrophes occurred in Jewish history on the 17th of Tammuz:

1 - Moses broke the tablets at Mount Sinai - in response to the sin of the Golden Calf.

2 - The daily offerings in the First Temple were suspended during the siege of Jerusalem, after the Kohanim could no longer obtain animals.(THIS WILL HAPPEN AGAIN IN THE FUTURE)(AS THE EU DICTATOR STOPS THE SACRIFICES HALF WAY THROUGH THE 7 YR PEACE TREATY)

3 - Jerusalem's walls were breached, prior to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE.

4 - Prior to the Great Revolt, the Roman general Apostamos burned a Torah scroll - setting a precedent for the horrifying burning of Jewish books throughout the centuries.

5 - An idolatrous image was placed in the Sanctuary of the Holy Temple -a brazen act of blasphemy and desecration.(THIS ALSO WILL HAPPEN AGAIN IN THE FUTURE AS THE EU DICTATOR SETS UP AN IMAGE OF HIMSELF IN THE 3RD TEMPLE AS WELL)(I BELIEVE A ROBOT OF THE DICTATOR TO BE SET UP TO BE WORSHIPPED OR YOU WILL BE KILLED)

(Originally, the fast was observed on the Ninth of Tammuz since that was the day Jerusalem fell prior to the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE. However, after Jerusalem fell on the 17th of Tammuz - prior to the destruction of the Second Temple - the Sages decided upon a combined observance for both tragedies, the 17th of Tammuz.)

HOW DO WE OBSERVE THE 17TH OF TAMMUZ?

No eating or drinking is permitted from the break of dawn, until dusk.Pregnant and nursing women - and others whose health would be adversely affected - are exempted from the fast.Should the day coincide with Shabbat, the fast is delayed until Sunday.Bathing, anointing, and wearing leather shoes are all permissible.

The Aneinu prayer is inserted into the Amidah of Shacharis and Mincha by the chazan. Individuals insert it in Mincha only.Slichos and Avinu Malkeinu are recited.Exodus 32:11, in which the 13 Attributes of Mercy are mentioned, is read at both the morning and afternoon services.Isaiah 55:6 - 56:8, which discusses the renewal of the Temple service, is read as the Haftorah at the Mincha service.Written by Rabbi Shraga Simmons, with thanks to Rabbi Moshe Lazerus.

EXODUS 32:11-35
11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?
12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.
17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.
18 And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear.
19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.
20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.
21 And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?
22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief.
23 For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
24 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.
25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)
26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD'S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.
27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
29 For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.
30 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.
31 And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin––; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
33 And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.
34 Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.
35 And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.

ISAIAH 55:6-56:8
6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

ISAIAH CHAPTER 56:1-8 King James Bible
1 Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.
2 Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.
3 Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.
4 For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;
5 Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;
7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.
8 The Lord GOD, which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.

NOW THE 9TH OF AV (DESTRUCTION OF BOTH TEMPLES)

Overview and laws of the Jewish national day of mourning.

WHAT HAPPENED ON THE NINTH OF AV?

On Tisha B'Av, five national calamities occurred:

1 - During the time of Moses, Jews in the desert accepted the slanderous report of the 10 Spies, and the decree was issued forbidding them from entering the Land of Israel. (1312 BCE)

2 - The First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, led by Nebuchadnezzar. 100,000 Jews were slaughtered and millions more exiled. (586 BCE)

3 - The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans, led by Titus. Some two million Jews died, and another one million were exiled. (70CE)

4 - The Bar Kochba revolt was crushed by Roman Emperor Hadrian. The city of Betar -- the Jews' last stand against the Romans -- was captured and liquidated. Over 100,000 Jews were slaughtered. (135 CE)

5 - The Temple area and its surroundings were plowed under by the Roman general Turnus Rufus. Jerusalem was rebuilt as a pagan city -- renamed Aelia Capitolina -- and access was forbidden to Jews.

6 - 10,000 Israelis were thrown off their land by other Israelis in 2005.

Other grave misfortunes throughout Jewish history occurred on the Ninth of Av, including:

1 - The Spanish Inquisition culminated with the expulsion of Jews from Spain on Tisha B'Av in 1492.

2 - World War One broke out on the eve of Tisha B'Av in 1914 when Germany declared war on Russia. German resentment from the war set the stage for the Holocaust.

3 - On the eve of Tisha B'Av 1942, the mass deportation began of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto, en route to Treblinka.

ASPECTS OF MOURNING: THE AFTERNOON BEFORE TISHA B'AV

During the afternoon prior to Tisha B'Av, it is customary to eat a full meal in preparation for the fast. At the end of the afternoon, we eat the Seudah Hamaf-seket -- a meal consisting only of bread, water, and a hard-boiled egg. The egg has two symbols: The round shape reminds us of a sign of the cycle of life. Also, the egg is the only food which gets harder the more it is cooked -- a symbol of the Jewish people's ability to withstand persecution.

Food eaten at the Seudah Hamaf-seket is dipped in ashes, symbolic of mourning. The meal should preferably be eaten alone, while seated on the ground in mourner's fashion. When the afternoon prior to Tisha B'Av occurs on Shabbat, there is no Seudah Hamaf-seket with eggs and ashes. Rather, the regular Shabbat third meal is eaten, albeit without guests and fanfare.

RESTRICTIONS ON TISHA B'AV

Upon sundown, the laws of Tisha B'Av commence -- consisting of the following expressions of mourning:

1. No eating or drinking until nightfall the following evening.

Pregnant and nursing women are also required to fast. If one suspects it could be harmful to the baby or mother, a rabbi should be consulted.

A woman within 30 days after birth need not fast.

Others who are old, weak, or ill should consult with a rabbi. (MB 554:11)

Medicine may be taken on Tisha B'Av, preferably without water.

In case of great discomfort, the mouth may be rinsed with water. Great care should be taken not to swallow anything. (MB 567:11)

2. Other prohibitions include:

Any bathing or washing, except for removing specific dirt -- e.g. gook in the eyes (OC 554:9, 11). (Upon rising in the morning, before prayers, or after using the bathroom, one washes only the fingers. See OC 554:10, OC 613:3, MB 554:26)

Anointing oneself for pleasure. (Deodorant is permitted.)

Having marital relations.

Wearing leather shoes. (Leather belts may be worn.)(see: ?Laws of Shoes and Chairs?)

Learning Torah, since this is a joyful activity. It is permitted to learn texts relevant to Tisha B'Av and mourning -- e.g. the Book of Lamentations, Book of Job, parts of Tractate Moed Katan, Gittin 56-58, Sanhedrin 104, Yerushalmi end of Ta'anis, and the Laws of Mourning. In-depth study should be avoided. (MB 554:4)

3. Other mourning practices include:

Sitting no higher than a foot off the ground. After midday, one may sit on a chair. (OC 559:3)(see: Laws of Shoes and Chairs)

Not engaging in business or other distracting labors, unless it will result in a substantial loss. (OC 554:24)

Refraining from greeting others or offering gifts. (OC 554:20)

Avoiding idle chatter or leisure activities.

Following Tisha B'Av, all normal activities may be resumed, except for the following which are delayed until midday of the 10th of Av, because the burning of the Temple continued through the 10th of Av:

Haircuts and washing clothes. (When Tisha B'Av falls out on Thursday, these are permitted immediately following Tisha B'Av, in honor of the coming Shabbat.)

Bathing. (When Tisha B'Av falls out on Thursday, bathing is permitted on Friday morning.)

Eating meat and wine.

Music and swimming.

PRAYER ON TISHA B'AV

Lights in the synagogue are dimmed, candles are lit, and the curtain is removed from the Ark. The cantor leads the prayers in a low, mournful voice. This reminds us of the Divine Presence which departed from the Holy Temple.

The Book of Eicha (Lamentations), Jeremiah's poetic lament over the destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple, is read both at night and during the day.Following both the night and day service, special Kinot (elegies) are recited.

LAMENTATIONS 1:1-22
1 How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!
2 She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.
3 Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.
4 The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.
5 Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the LORD hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.
6 And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer.
7 Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths.
8 Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.
9 Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy hath magnified himself.
10 The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: for she hath seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy congregation.
11 All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O LORD, and consider; for I am become vile.
12 Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
13 From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate and faint all the day.
14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the Lord hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up.
15 The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress.
16 For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.
17 Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to comfort her: the LORD hath commanded concerning Jacob, that his adversaries should be round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them.
18 The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
19 I called for my lovers, but they deceived me: my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought their meat to relieve their souls.
20 Behold, O LORD; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death.
21 They have heard that I sigh: there is none to comfort me: all mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that thou hast done it: thou wilt bring the day that thou hast called, and they shall be like unto me.
22 Let all their wickedness come before thee; and do unto them, as thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions: for my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.

LAMENTATIONS 2:1-22
1 How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!
2 The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied: he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath brought them down to the ground: he hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.
3 He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about.
4 He hath bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.
5 The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.
6 And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.
7 The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast.
8 The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together.
9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
11 Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers’ bosom.
13 What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?
14 Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment.
15 All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?
16 All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.
17 The LORD hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn of thine adversaries.
18 Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease.
19 Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.
20 Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, and not pitied.
22 Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the LORD’S anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.

LAMENTATIONS 3:1-66
1 I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2 He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
3 Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.
4 My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
5 He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
6 He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.
7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
8 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
9 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.
10 He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
11 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.
12 He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13 He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
14 I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.
15 He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.
16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.
17 And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.
18 And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:
19 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
20 My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
22 It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28 He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.
29 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.
30 He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.
31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever:
32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
34 To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
35 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,
36 To subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.
37 ¶ Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
38 Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?
39 Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
42 ¶ We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned.
43 Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.
44 Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.
45 Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.
46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
47 Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction.
48 Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,
50 Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven.
51 Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.
52 Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.
53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.
54 Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.
55 ¶ I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.
56 Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.
57 Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.
58 O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.
59 O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.
60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me.
61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me;
62 The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day.
63 Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick.
64 Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65 Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them.
66 Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.

LAMENTATIONS 4:1-22
1 How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.
2 The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!
3 Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
4 The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.
5 They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.
6 For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.
7 Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire:
8 Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.
9 They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.
10 The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 The LORD hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof.
12 The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.
13 For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,
14 They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.
15 They cried unto them, Depart ye; it is unclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there.
16 The anger of the LORD hath divided them; he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the elders.
17 As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us.
18 They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.
19 Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.
20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.
21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.
22 The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins.

LAMENTATIONS 5:1-22
1 Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.
2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
3 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.
4 We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.
5 Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest.
6 We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.
8 Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.
9 We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.
10 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.
11 They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.
13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.
14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.
15 The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.
16 The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!
17 For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.
18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.
19 Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.
20 Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?
21 Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.
22 But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.

In the morning, the Torah portion of Deuteronomy 4:25-40 is read, containing the prophecy regarding Israel's future iniquity and exile. This is followed by the Haftorah from Jeremiah (8:13, 9:1-23) describing the desolation of Zion.

MORNING READINGS

DEUTERONOMY 4:25-40
25 When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger:
26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.
27 And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.
28 And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;
31 (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
32 For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?
33 Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?
34 Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35 Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him.
36 Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.
37 And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;
38 To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.
39 Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
40 Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.

JEREMIAH 8:13
13 I will surely consume them, saith the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.

JEREMIAH 9:1-23
1 Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
3 And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.
4 Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders.
5 And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.
6 Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD.
7 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?
8 Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.
9 Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.
11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.
12 Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?
13 And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;
14 But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:
15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
16 I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.
17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:
18 And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.
20 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.
21 For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.
22 Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them.
23 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:

In the afternoon, Exodus 32:11-14 is read. This is followed by the Haftorah from Isaiah 55-56.Since Tallis and Tefillin represent glory and decoration, they are not worn at Shacharit. Rather, they are worn at Mincha, as certain mourning restrictions are lifted.

Birkat Kohanim is said only at Mincha, not at Shacharit.Prayers for comforting Zion and Aneinu are inserted into the Amidah prayer at Mincha.Before the fast is broken, it is customary to say Kiddush Lavana.

EXODUS 32:11-14
11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?
12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

ISAIAH 55 + 56
ISAIAH CHAPTER 55:1-13 King James Bible
1 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.
6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

ISAIAH CHAPTER 56:1-12 King James Bible
1 Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.
2 Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.
3 Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.
4 For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;
5 Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;
7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.
8 The Lord GOD, which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.
9 All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.
10 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
11 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.
12 Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.

WHEN TISHA B'AV FALLS ON SHABBOS

For a full treatment of this topic, see: ?When Tisha B'Av falls on Shabbat or Sunday?. Here is a brief overview of the special conditions that apply: The fast is pushed off until Saturday night/Sunday.All other prohibitions of Tisha B'Av (washing, learning Torah, leather shoes, etc.) are permitted on Shabbat itself, except for marital relations.Seudah Shlishit has none of the restrictions of Seudah Hamaf-seket, and may include meat and wine. However, the mood should be somber, should not include invited guests, and eating must stop before sundown.Ma'ariv on Saturday night is delayed, so that everyone can say Boruch Hamavdil bein kodesh li'chol, then remove their leather shoes and come to synagogue.Havdallah on Saturday night is recited only over a candle, without wine or spices. On Sunday night, Havdallah is then said over wine.Written by Rabbi Shraga Simmons, with thanks to Rabbi Moshe Lazerus.

RUSSIA - GEORGIA CONFLICT

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.

U.S. Calls for Russia to Halt Attacks as Fighting in Breakaway Georgia Province Escalates Friday, August 08, 2008Reuters

Aug. 8: Georgian troops fire rockets at a South Ossetian separatist territory a settlement in Ergneti, 59 miles from Tbilisi.Aug. 8: Georgian troops fire rockets at a South Ossetian separatist territory a settlement in Ergneti, 59 miles from Tbilisi.Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili is expected to declare martial law within hours, according to the Georgian security council chief, Reuters reported.This comes after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Russia Friday to halt attacks in South Ossetia, after Georgian troops entered the breakaway province in an attempt to crush separatist forces seeking control.Rice's announcement came as the European Union was working on a cease-fire with Georgia and South Ossetia separatists to end the violent conflict.Georgia, a staunch U.S. ally, launched a surprise military offensive to retake South Ossetia and reportedly killed hundreds of people, triggering a ferocious counterattack from Russia that threatened to plunge the region into full-scale war.Moscow, which has close ties to the separatists, sent a column of tanks rolling into South Ossetia and reportedly attacked two Georgian air bases as it moved to assert itself as the dominant regional power.

As night fell, there were wildly conflicting claims as to who held the battlefield advantage.Presidential Candidates Call for End to Fighting in Georgia Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said Georgian military forces completely control all the territory of South Ossetia except for a northern section adjacent to Russia. But Russian news agencies cited a Russian military official as saying heavy fighting was under way on the outskirts of the regional capital.Witnesses said the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, was devastated.We lost our city ... The Georgians are like Nazis, they are killing civilians, women and children with heavy artillery and rockets, said 28-year-old Sarmat Laliyev, a Tskhinvali resident who had fled to Dzhava, a village near the border with Russia.The fighting broke out as much of the world's attention was focused on the start of the Olympic Games and many leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Bush, were in Beijing.

• U.S. Urges Cease-Fire in Conflict Between Russia, Georgia

The timing suggests Saakashvili may have been counting on surprise to fulfill his longtime pledge to wrest back control of South Ossetia — a key to his hold on power.Saakashvili agreed the timing was not coincidental, but accused Russia of being the aggressor. Most decision makers have gone for the holidays, he said in an interview. Brilliant moment to attack a small country.Diplomats issued a flurry of statements calling on both sides to halt the fighting, but with no immediate effect. It was unclear what might persuade either side to stop shooting. Both claim the battle started after the other side violated a cease-fire that had been declared just hours earlier after a week of sporadic clashes.The United States was sending its top Caucasus envoy, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza, to the region to try to end the bloodshed.Russia, which has granted citizenship to most of the region's residents, appeared to lay much of the responsibility for ending the fighting on Washington.In a telephone conversation with Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Georgia must be convinced to withdraw its forces, according to a ministry statement.

Georgia has about 2,000 troops in Iraq, making it the third-largest contributor to coalition forces after the U.S. and Britain. But Saakashvili said that the troops would be called home Saturday in the face of the South Ossetia fighting.Georgia, which borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia, was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the breakup of the Soviet Union. Georgia has angered Russia by seeking NATO membership — a bid Moscow regards as part of a Western effort to weaken its influence in the region.The leader of South Ossetia's rebel government, Eduard Kokoity, said about 1,400 people were killed in the onslaught, the Interfax news agency reported. The toll could not be independently confirmed.Twelve Russian peacekeepers were killed and 30 wounded in the fighting, said Russian Ground Forces spokesman Col. Igor Konashenkov. Russia has soldiers in South Ossetia as peacekeeping forces but Georgia alleges they back the separatists.

Georgia's Foreign Ministry accused Russian aircraft of bombing two military air bases inside Georgia, inflicting some casualties and destroying several military aircraft. Rustavi 2 television said four people were killed and five wounded at the Marneuli air base.

Russia's Defense Ministry said it was sending reinforcements for its peacekeepers, and Russian state television and Georgian officials reported a convoy of tanks had crossed the border. The convoy was expected to reach the provincial capital, Tskhinvali, by evening, Channel One television said.We are facing Russian aggression, said Georgia's Security Council chief Kakha Lomaya. They have sent in their troops and weapons and they are bombing our towns.Putin warned in the early stages of the conflict that the Georgian attack would draw retaliation and the Defense Ministry pledged to protect South Ossetians, most of whom have Russian citizenship.Chairing a session of his Security Council in the Kremlin, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also vowed that Moscow will protect Russian citizens.In accordance with the constitution and federal law, I, as president of Russia, am obliged to protect lives and dignity of Russian citizens wherever they are located, Medvedev said. We won't allow the death of our compatriots go unpunished.On Friday, an AP reporter saw tanks and other heavy weapons concentrating on the Russian side of the border with South Ossetia — supporting the reports of an incursion. Some villagers were fleeing into Russia.I saw them (the Georgians) shelling my village, said Maria, who gave only her first name. She said she and other villagers spent the night in a field and then fled toward the Russian border as the fighting escalated.Yakobashvili said Georgian forces had shot down four Russian combat planes over Georgian territory but gave no details. Russia's Defense Ministry denied an earlier Georgia report about one Russian plane downed and had no immediate comment on the latest claim.Yakobashvili said that one Russian plane had dropped a bomb on the Vaziani military base near the Georgian capital, but no one was hurt.More than 1,000 U.S. Marines and soldiers were at the base last month to teach combat skills to Georgian troops. Georgia has about 2,000 troops in Iraq, making it the third-largest contributor to coalition forces after the U.S. and Britain.South Ossetia officials said Georgia attacked with aircraft, armor and heavy artillery. Georgian troops fired missiles at Tskhinvali, an official said, and many buildings were on fire.Georgia's president said Russian aircraft bombed several Georgian villages and other civilian facilities.A senior Russian diplomat in charge of the South Ossetian conflict, Yuri Popov, dismissed the Georgian claims of Russian bombings as misinformation, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.

Saakashvili long has pledged to restore Tbilisi's rule over South Ossetia and another breakaway province, Abkhazia. Both regions have run their own affairs without international recognition since splitting from Georgia in the early 1990s and built up ties with Moscow.Relations between Georgia and Russia worsened notably this year as Georgia pushed to join NATO and Russia dispatched additional peacekeeper forces to Abkhazia.The Georgian attack came just hours after Saakashvili announced a unilateral cease-fire in a television broadcast late Thursday in which he also urged South Ossetian separatist leaders to enter talks on resolving the conflict.Georgian officials later blamed South Ossetian separatists for thwarting the cease-fire by shelling Georgian villages in the area.The Associated Press contributed to this report.

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU Hezbollah might attempt to shoot down Israeli aircraft.Terror group stockpiling advanced radar missile systems, say security officials August 08, 2008 1:00 am Eastern By Aaron Klein 2008 WorldNetDaily

Israel Air Force jet
JAFFA, Israel – Israel has general information the Hezbollah terror organization may be looking to shoot down an Israeli aircraft over the skies of Lebanon, according to informed security sources.The sources believe Hezbollah, aided by Iran, is in the early stages of acquiring advance radar and anti-aircraft missiles that could threaten the Israel Air Force.Since the second Lebanon war in 2006, Israel has been carrying out regular flights over Lebanon that the defense establishment here deems necessary for intelligence purposes. The flights provide Israel with important data on Hezbollah's continued armament and strategic information, such as the locations of missile storage bunkers and the rebuilding of Hezbollah bases in southern Lebanon.Arab media accounts the last few weeks reported Hezbollah already set up sophisticated radar-guided anti-aircraft missile bases in Lebanon's vast 7,800 foot-high Sannine mountain range.But Israeli security officials told WND they estimate Hezbollah is still in the early stages of acquiring the advanced anti-aircraft system.

They said Hezbollah has made the import and set up of such a system top priority and that the terror group could easily bring in the missiles along active Syria-Lebanon smuggling routes, or even through Lebanon's international airport.During the 2006 war, Israel essentially exercised complete dominance of the Lebanese skies, but Hezbollah is looking to change that, according to security officials.The officials said Hezbollah likely was looking to stockpile the anti-aircraft missile system for a future confrontation with Israel. But there is a chance, they said, the terror group could attempt to shoot down an IAF plane to score points with its Lebanese constituency and to legitimize the group's continued armament as necessary to defend Lebanese airspace. A U.N.-brokered cease-fire, however, called for Lebanese militias, meaning Hezbollah, to relinquish their weapons.Israeli security officials said they have been debating this week whether to make any changes to the IAF's current over-flights and how the Jewish state would respond should Hezbollah attempt to shoot down an Israeli aircraft.

The information comes just days after the Lebanese parliament passed a statement that essentially legalized Hezbollah's continued armed presence in Lebanon. The country's new parliamentary cabinet unanimously adopted a statement laying out its goals, including a clause that Hezbollah has a right to liberate Lebanese territories.

The policy statement said it is the right of Lebanon's people, the army and the resistance to liberate all its territories. The resistance refers to Hezbollah, and all its territories is a reference to the disputed Sheba Farms area, a tiny zone Israel retains but Hezbollah claims it is trying to liberate and uses as an excuse to retain its weapons.Following a violent confrontation with pro-democracy group in Lebanon earlier this year, Hezbollah was granted virtual veto power over the country's parliament.

An Antichrist Obama in McCain Ad? Friday, Aug. 08, 2008 By AMY SULLIVAN /

WASHINGTON Charlton Heston as Moses in The Ten Commandments, left, and presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama.It's not easy to make the infamous Willie Horton ad from the 1988 presidential campaign seem benign. But suggesting that Barack Obama is the Antichrist might just do it.

When Obama Goes Home to Hawaii
Returning to his native land, the Democratic nominee will find an island that itself has felt the impact of his celebrity

That's just what some outraged Christian supporters of the Democratic nominee are claiming John McCain's campaign did in an ad called The One that was recently released online. The Republican nominee's advisers brush off the charges, arguing that the spot was meant to be a creative and humorous way of poking fun at Obama's popularity by painting him as a self-appointed messiah. But even this innocuous interpretation of the ad — which includes images of Charlton Heston as Moses and culled clips that make Obama sound truly egomaniacal — taps into a conversation that has been gaining urgency on Christian radio and political blogs and in widely circulated e-mail messages that accuse Obama of being the Antichrist. The ad was the creation of Fred Davis, one of McCain's top media gurus as well as a close friend of former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed and the nephew of conservative Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe. It first caught the attention of Democrats familiar with the Left Behind series, a fictionalized account of the end-time that debuted in the 1990s and has sold nearly 70 million books worldwide. The language in there is so similar to the language in the Left Behind books, says Tony Campolo, a leading progressive Evangelical speaker and author. As the ad begins, the words It should be known that in 2008 the world shall be blessed. They will call him The One flash across the screen. The Antichrist of the Left Behind books is a charismatic young political leader named Nicolae Carpathia who founds the One World religion (slogan: We Are God) and promises to heal the world after a time of deep division. One of several Obama clips in the ad features the Senator saying, A nation healed, a world repaired. We are the ones that we've been waiting for.The visual images in the ad, which Davis says has been viewed even more than McCain's Celeb ad linking Obama to the likes of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, also seem to evoke the cover art of several Left Behind books. But they're not the cartoonish images of clouds parting and shining light upon Obama that might be expected in an ad spoofing him as a messiah. Instead, the screen displays a sinister orange light surrounded by darkness and later the faint image of a staircase leading up to heaven.

Perhaps the most puzzling scene in the ad is an altered segment from The 10 Commandments that appears near the end. A Moses-playing Charlton Heston parts the animated waters of the Red Sea, out of which rises the quasi-presidential seal the Obama campaign used for a brief time earlier this summer before being mocked into retiring it. The seal, which features an eagle with wings spread, is not recognizable like the campaign's red-white-and-blue O logo. That confused Democratic consultant Eric Sapp until he went to his Bible and remembered that in the apocalyptic Book of Daniel, the Antichrist is described as rising from the sea as a creature with wings like an eagle. Sapp knows that the phrasing and images could just be dismissed as a peculiar coincidence. After all, it was Oprah Winfrey who told an Iowa crowd that Obama was the one! But, he insists, the frequency of these images and references don't make any sense unless you're trying to send the message that Obama could be the Antichrist. Mara Vanderslice, another Democratic consultant, who handled religious outreach for the 2004 Kerry campaign, agrees. If they wanted to be funny, if they really wanted to play up the idea that Obama thinks he's the Second Coming, there were better ways to do it, she says. Why use these awkward lines like, And the world will receive his blessings? Two months ago, Vanderslice founded a Democratic PAC called the Matthew 25 Network and soon noticed that the negative e-mails she received from conservative Christians fell into two general topical categories: abortion, and the assertion that Obama is the Antichrist. The cataloging of similarities Obama shares with the Antichrist began nearly two years ago. But it picked up steam in February 2008 after he racked up a string of impressive primary victories. A Google search for Obama and Antichrist turns up more than 700,000 hits, including at least one blog dedicated solely to the topic. A more obscure search for Obama and Nicolae Carpathia yields a surprising 200,000 references.

It's not hard to see how some Obama haters might be tempted to make the comparison. In the Left Behind books, Carpathia is a junior Senator who speaks several languages, is beloved by people around the world and fawned over by a press corps that cannot see his evil nature, and rises to absurd prominence after delivering just one major speech. Hmmh. But serious Antichrist theorists don't stop there. Everything from Obama's left-handedness to his positive rhetoric to his appearance on the cover of this magazine has been cited as evidence of his true identity. One chain e-mail claims that the Antichrist was prophesied to be A man in his 40s of MUSLIM descent, which would indeed sound ominous if not for the fact that the Book of Revelation was written at least 400 years before the birth of Islam. The speculation reached a fever pitch after Obama's European trip and the Berlin speech in which he called for global unity. Conservative Christian author Hal Lindsey declared in an essay on WorldNetDaily, Obama is correct in saying that the world is ready for someone like him — a messiah-like figure, charismatic and glib ... The Bible calls that leader the Antichrist. And it seems apparent that the world is now ready to make his acquaintance. The conservative website RedState.com now sells mugs and T shirts that sport a large O with horns and the words The Anti-Christ underneath. Even if a fraction of the Internet-using public engages in outrageous Antichrist speculation, feeding those extreme beliefs wouldn't seem to be an obvious political strategy. But McCain advisers are aware that one of the goals of Democratic outreach to Evangelicals has been to simply neutralize their opposition. You just have to take the edge off, says Michigan Democratic Party chair Mark Brewer, explaining why he spent much of a 2006 meeting with conservative pastors around his state. Now that they've met me, they can see I don't have two horns and a tail.A new TIME poll finds that the most conservative Evangelicals are the least enthusiastic about McCain's candidacy. Convincing them that Obama does have two horns and a tail might be the best way of getting them to vote. That's what worries Campolo, who also sits on the Democratic Party's platform committee. Those books have created a subliminal language, and I think judgments will be made unconsciously about Barack Obama, he says. It scares the daylights out of me.

INVENTION OF THE ATOMIC BOMB.

2 PETER 3:10-11
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.

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 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth before them; 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.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

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.

AUG (08) 8 (08) 2008 (08) at 8:08:08 IN CHINA

AUG 08 2008 AT 08:08:08 LET THE GAMES BEGIN.
http://www.google.com/search?q=chinese+Olympics&rls=com.microsoft:*:IE-Address&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7SUNA

Teams parade at opening ceremony AUG 08,2008

The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics is taking place, as athletes from more than 200 countries prepare to parade through the Bird's Nest stadium. Drums, a light show and a display of fireworks began the three-hour ceremony at 1300 BST - basketball star Yao Ming led the host athletes into the arena. Rows of fireworks, representing each of the 29 modern Games, lit up Beijing. Chinese gymnastics champion Li Ning is expected to light the cauldron at the end the ceremony. US President George W. Bush and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin joined China's Hu Jintao to watch the spectacle. The initial firework display gave way to a cast of thousands of dancers, distilling 5,000 years of Chinese history into intricately choreographed and beautifully lit sequences.

Giant, illuminated Olympic rings and enormous pillars rose up from the floor of the stadium, followed by a piano duet performed by a five-year-old girl and famed Chinese pianist, Lang Lang. The ceremony was opened by 2,008 drummers conducting a light show
In keeping with tradition, Greece - Olympic founders and hosts of the first modern Games - led the 204 competing nations into the arena, followed by China. The procession of athletes takes place with nations appearing according to the order of how many brush strokes are required to write each country's name in Chinese. Team GB are therefore 115th into the arena, with Australia - traditionally third into the arena by alphabetical order - appearing third last. However, Brunei do not feature, having missed the deadline to register their athletes for the ceremony. Brunei had until midday Friday to register its two athletes - 15-year-old swimmer Maria Grace Koh and shot putter Mohammed Yazid Yatimi Yusof - with the International Olympic Committee, but failed to do so. A number of British athletes are also missing the ceremony in order to prepare for events on Saturday and Sunday. We cannot march as it goes on until very late, GB rower Frances Houghton told BBC Sport. It would be like going out for a big night out two days before racing.Britain's track and field athletes are also absent from the ceremony, as they are yet to travel to Beijing from the team's Macau training camp.

BBC OLYMPICS BLOG

The big talking point is how they will light the Olympic cauldron

BBC's Tom Fordyce in Beijing
A giant plasma screen enveloping the roof of the stadium produced a stunning virtual torrent of water - but fears of rain spoiling the ceremony appear to be unfounded. Despite a smoggy start to the day, visibility at the Bird's Nest improved in the hours before the event began. By contrast, thunderstorms have dampened celebrations in Hong Kong, the Olympic equestrian venue. The Games are expected to attract a record TV audience of four billion - over 100 million more than for the 2004 Athens Olympics. A capacity crowd of around 90,000 packed into the famous stadium, in the heart of the Olympic Green, to watch Chinese film director Zhang Yimou's opening ceremony. Seventeen of the 28 sports feature action on Saturday, with the Games running until 24 August. When events begin, judo player Craig Fallon will have the chance to win Great Britain's first medal of the Games. China's Du Li could win the first gold for the host country when she defends her title in the women's 10m air rifle. And American swimming star Michael Phelps also begins his quest to win an unprecedented eight Olympic golds in a single Games as he competes in the heats of the 400m individual medley.


The Bird's Nest stadium exploded into life with a spectacular firework display .The host nation is fielding its biggest ever Olympic team, with 639 athletes competing in all 28 sports at the Olympics for the first time, in a bid to top the medals table ahead of the United States. China has come under close scrutiny since Beijing was chosen in 2001 to host the Olympics. Demonstrations dogged the Olympic torch relay during its journey around the world.

China's treatment of Tibet has been the subject of much of the controversy, and campaigners such as Amnesty International claim that journalists in China are still detained and websites blocked.

Beijing has always promised to make improvements in human rights, media freedoms and the provision of health and education. There had been a security crackdown across Beijing in advance of the high-profile event, with thousands of armed police deployed and areas of the city centre locked down. Beijing's international airport was closed for the duration of the ceremony, and a no-fly zone imposed in the air above the city. The Bird's Nest stadium was protected by rows of tall fences, surveillance cameras and anti-aircraft missile batteries. Many of the city's 17m residents stayed at home after the Beijing authorities declared a public holiday to mark the auspicious start at 8pm (1300 BST) on 08/08/08 - the number eight is very lucky in China.

LUCKY 8 IN CHINA
http://www.google.com/search?q=lucky+8s+in+china&rls=com.microsoft:*:IE-Address&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7SUNA

CHINA'S LUCKY DATE Thousands of young lovers plan to get married on 08-08-08, as it is considered an auspicious date according to Chinese traditions Aileen McCabe, at the Beijing Games , Canwest News Service Published: Thursday, August 07, 2008

BEIJING - Wedding bells will drown out the songs of the cicadas Friday as more than 16,400 couples officially tie the knot in China's capital on 08-08-08.It's those lucky Olympic numbers young lovers want to see on the marriage certificates they will be picking up at registry offices across the city - and the nation - Friday.To the Chinese ear, eight in Mandarin (ba) sounds like fa, the word for wealth or prosperity - a very lucky concept in anyone's tradition.Xu Panpan, 25, will marry Sun Xi on Friday, but she says she picked the day mainly because of the Olympics: 'There are many auspicious days, but the Olympics are like a chance in 100 years. Canwest News Service

That it's also the opening day of the Beijing Olympic Games is icing on the wedding cake.Xu Panpan, a 25-year-old Shanghainese who will marry her finance Sun Xi, said she picked the day mainly because of the Games.The three eights are not as important to me compared with the Olympics, Xu said. It's China's first Olympics. There are many auspicious days, but the Olympics are like a chance in 100 years.In the next breath, however, Xu concedes the eights also influenced her decision. She and Sun had matching wedding rings made, she said, with figure 8s carved around the bands.He Tieging, spokesman for the marriage registry office in Beijing's Chaoyang District, tries to explain to a foreigner the wedding craze that has caught on across the country.In Chinese tradition, eight, six and nine are lucky numbers. Dates including those numbers are considered good days for weddings, He said.It's not superstition, but Chinese tradition that made young couples want to get married (on Aug. 8).Also it's the time of the Beijing Olympics. The whole world is watching China. Young couples can match their big day with the country's big day. It's a day to remember.In a nation of 1.3 billion, numbers always tend to look phenomenal. But when you consider the countrywide trend - 6,000 couples, for example, made appointments to marry in Shanghai, 3,300 are collecting their certificates in Guangzhou, 1,000 in Zhengzhou, etc. - it is fair to expect newly wedded bliss to sweep the nation, at least until the Olympic opening ceremonies begin Friday night.

Xu says she is planning a family dinner after she picks up her wedding certificate, but by 8 p.m. she will be happily ensconced on the couch watching the ceremonies.While 08/08/08 will mark the official wedding day for tens of thousands, it's actually not the day for white dresses and lace veils in China. The finery is saved for the elaborately posed pictures that are taken in the weeks before the visit to the registry office and the social wedding - often a sumptuous banquet - is usually held several weeks or months after it.

Xu and Sun won't have their banquet until next May.

Rarely does a marriage in China entail any kind of a religious ceremony or even a judge or justice of the peace. A bureaucrat will merely give the couple the official certificate they have applied for and the deed is done.

The bureaucrats will do it with a smile, however.

Though it's an official holiday, our staff here is happy to give up their holidays to help young couples fulfil their wish of getting married on this special day, He said.The Chaoyang registry office is in a bleak, grey building in central Beijing. As of Thursday, however, it was boring no more.He watched as workmen erected a giant, inflatable scarlet arch over the doorway, depicting a dragon and a phoenix, traditional and deeply lucky symbols for a bride and groom. It was just one of the welcoming touches being added to celebrate the country's Olympic newlyweds.In Beijing, they will also be asked to sign a billboard for all to see and join in their happiness. It reads like a toast: A century of Olympics; a century-long dream; a century-long prayer for happiness; a century of perfect marriage.In keeping with such harmonious sentiments, many registry offices across China will not process divorces on Friday. He said his bureau would do them, but he didn't sound like he actually expected any quarrelling couples to come and spoil the day.

If they try, he warned, the lines will be long.Aileen McCabe is in Beijing as part of the Canwest News Service Olympic Team.With files from Jessie Zhou Canwest News Service 2008

LUCKY 8"S IN CHINA
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/05/world/asia/05china.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

July 5, 2006, 9:21 am Lucky 8’s in China By Stephen J. Dubner

We’ve posted before on the subjects of randomness and luck. Along those lines, there’s a fascinating article by Jim Yardley in today’s N.Y. Times about the Chinese appetite for lucky numbers — well, for 8’s, the luckiest of all numbers — and how the government now auctions off lucky license plates for thousands of dollars. It used to be that government officials and their families and friends got all the good license plates, but this was seen as a corrupt practice. So now the government auctions off the plates — AC6688 recently sold for $10,000 — with the proceeds supposedly going to the victims of automobile accidents. Considering that 100,000 people die each year in auto accidents in China (this is good news only if you are awaiting an organ transplant), this is probably a worthwhile cause. Yardley points out that the Chinese consider 8 to be such a lucky number that the Beijing Olympics are due to open on 8/8/08 at 8 p.m