Cost of meat, sugar, rice, wheat and maize soars as World Bank predicts five years of price volatility
An Indian farming family carry bundles of paddy from a rice field in the northeastern state of Tripura. India has had food price inflation of 17% in the last year. Photograph: AFP/Getty ImagesRising food prices and shortages could cause instability in many countries as the cost of staple foods and vegetables reached their highest levels in two years, with scientists predicting further widespread droughts and floods.
ANKARA, Turkey, Oct. 26 (UPI) — Turkey’s intelligence establishment has severed working ties with Israel’s Mossad, further proof of strained relations between the countries, officials said.
A report in the Sabah newspaper quoted officials as saying the two agencies that once enjoyed close cooperation have stopped exchanging intelligence and conducting joint operations.
High-ranking Israeli officials privy to the matter neither confirmed nor denied the Turkish report and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office refused to comment, Haaretz reported Tuesday.
A tsunami triggered by the 7.7 quake recently in Indonesia has decimated some areas of Indonesia. Jesus predicted that we would see the roaring sea and many quakes during the end times. We are seeing the escalation of the birth pains now. How many quakes greater than 7.0 have we seen this year alone?
SLEMAN, Indonesia, Oct 28 (Reuters) – Indonesia’s Mount Merapi volcano erupted again on Thursday, blasting vast ash clouds into the sky and unleashing jets of searing gas, two days after an initial eruption killed at least 34 people. There were no immediate reports of casualties. More than 40,000 people had fled or been evacuated from Merapi’s slopes ahead of the previous eruption, but many had started to return after the volcano appeared to become calmer on Wednesday. Indonesia is also dealing with the aftermath of a tsunami that killed at least 343 people in remote western islands on Monday.
MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia (Oct. 26) — Doctors and television reports say at least 19 people were killed when Indonesia’s most volatile volcano erupted.
Scientists have warned that pressure building beneath Mount Merapi’s lava dome could trigger its most powerful blast in years.
But some vulcanologists are saying that while a big eruption is still possible, the mountain appears to be letting off steam slowly.
The death toll was quickly climbing, however.
Hospital officials said a baby died Tuesday when a mother ran in panic after Merapi started rumbling. Three other villagers died from serious burns.
Metro TV reported that 15 other bodies were found in several houses. It carried footage of corpses being carried to waiting vehicles.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit on Thursday said there had been no “breakthrough” in efforts to revive Middle East peace talks during a rare visit to the West Bank.
Abul Gheit, who was accompanied by Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, reiterated Arab support for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s demand that Israeli settlement building be frozen ahead of fresh talks.
“The goal is achieve the Palestinian demand, which has Arab support, for a complete halt to settlements in order to clear the way for a return to negotiations,” Abul Gheit told reporters after meeting with Abbas in Ramallah.
Officials warned that Haiti should prepare for the worst as hundreds more patients packed into hospitals amid a deadly cholera outbreak that has claimed almost 300 lives.
A total of 4,147 people were being treated for the disease, said the head of Haiti’s health department Gabriel Thimote, while eight new fatalities brought the death toll to 292.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned the outbreak was far from over and Haiti should prepare for the disease to hit its capital Port-au-Prince, which is teeming with squalid tent cities after January’s catastrophic earthquake.
According to Asharq al-Awsat, U.S. offers in secret negotiations that Israel lease lands in E. Jerusalem from future Palestinian state for 40-99 years.
Israel is conducting secret negotiations with the U.S. on establishing the future borders of a Palestinian state, the London-based Arabic language daily Asharq al-Awsat reported on Friday.
MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia – Indonesia warned Monday that its most volatile volcano could erupt at any time and started evacuating some of the thousands of villagers living on the mountain’s slope.
Mount Merapi has seen increased volcanic activity over the past week and officials have raised the alert level for the 9,737-foot (2,968-meter) -high mountain to the most urgent level, said government volcanologist Surono, who uses only one name.
The mountain last erupted in 2006, when it sent an avalanche of blistering gases and rock fragments racing down the mountain that killed two people. A similar eruption in 1994 killed 60 people, while 1,300 people died in an eruption in 1930.
“Officials have predicted that if it erupts, magma would flow to the southern side,” said Sri Purnomo, the head of Sleman district on Java island, where Mount Merapi is located.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi pledged a swift end to the Naples garbage crisis on Friday as TV pictures of piles of rubbish and angry protests put his struggling government under pressure.
At least 20 police officers were injured on Thursday and there was further violence overnight as the chronic problem of waste disposal in Italy’s third largest city flared into violence for another night.
Hundreds of tonnes of garbage lie uncollected in the streets after a dispute erupted over a new dump near the town of Terzigno, near Naples, where the existing facility is full and where residents complain about the stench and toxic waste.
“Naples is no good. We are drowning in garbage again. They have to open the new dump but they need to do it far from the houses, because rubbish spreads disease,” an 80-year old woman, who gave her name as Assunta, told Reuters.
Clutching her sickly 1-1/2-year-old son, Anna Langella says the family doctor had this simple prescription for her: move somewhere else.
Langella says her toddler often vomits and she blames this on the foul smell and toxic waste piling up in a rubbish dump near her house in Terzigno, on the outskirts of Naples where the streets are strewn with mounds of garbage.
“We have to keep the children inside, with the doors and windows shut, but even then it’s not enough,” she told Reuters. “It’s terrible. The state has abandoned us.”
GYEONGJU, South Korea — The world’s leading advanced and emerging countries vowed Saturday to avoid potentially debilitating currency devaluations, aiming to quell trade tensions that could threaten the global recovery.
The Group of 20 also said it will pursue policies to reduce trade and current account imbalances that threaten the economic recovery, and agreed to give developing nations more say at the International Monetary Fund, part of what it described as an ambitious set of proposals to reform IMF governance.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – Searchers in Taiwan found mangled vehicle parts thought to be a bus carrying 19 Chinese tourists that disappeared when typhoon rains triggered massive mudslides on a mountainside highway, the transport minister said Saturday.
Landslides caused by Typhoon Megi killed nine people and buried a Buddhist temple in hardest-hit Ilan county in the northeast, where a record 45 inches (114 centimeters) of rain fell over 48 hours. Three other people drowned in their flooded homes, the Central Emergency Operations Center said.
In final statement of two-week conference, bishops’ synod says Biblical concept of ‘promised land’ cannot be used to justify settlements
Israel cannot use the Biblical concept of a promised land or a chosen people to justify new “settlements” in Jerusalem or territorial claims, a Vatican synod on the Middle East said on Saturday.
In its concluding message after two weeks of meetings, the synod of bishops from the Middle East also said it hoped a two-state solution for peace between Israel and the Palestinians could be lifted from dream to reality and called for peaceful conditions that would stop a Christian exodus from the region.
“We have meditated on the situation of the holy city of Jerusalem. We are anxious about the unilateral initiatives that threaten its composition and risk to change its demographic balance,” the message said.
More countries and leaders weighing in on what Israel should do…the world is focused on tiny Israel, just as God predicted would happen during the last days…
Italian PM reportedly doubts that sanctions will be effective, favors “a more gentle approach” with China and Russia’s help.
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi reportedly said he hopes Israel does not attack Iran, and expressed doubts about the effectiveness of sanctions, according to Friday’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a German daily.
“Regarding Israel, we can only hope that the nuclear threat is not viewed as so great that Israel takes military action against Iran,” Berlusconi was quoted as saying.
Berlusconi was also quoted as telling Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that, although Italy has participated in the sanctions, “I fear that sanctions will not bring success.”
He said sanctions have tended to reinforce regimes in countries such as Cuba, and “a gentle and circumspect approach would be more helpful,” the newspaper reported
Speaking at a conference on the future of the Jewish people, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that “only when our partners recognize the State of Israel as a Jewish state they will be ready for peace.”
The prime minister said this was his conclusion “after we left Gaza and had 12,000 rockets fired on us.” He noted that “the only peace which will survive is one that can be defended.” (Yair Altman)
PARIS (AP) – The French government says fuel shortages caused by strikes will go on for several more days.
The head of the national petroleum industry body says it is struggling to import fuel to make up for the shortfall.
Prime Minister Francois Fillon convened oil industry executives Friday to look at the country’s lagging fuel supplies, which have been disrupted by strikes at depots and oil terminals. Fillon said it will take “several more days” for a return to normal.
Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said there was no question of rationing gas supplies.
(AP) Demonstrators vote to renew the strike at a logistic center at Carbon Blanc, near Bordeaux,… Full Image
The government has ordered oil companies to pool fuel to ensure gas stations are stocked, particularly for this weekend as nationwide school vacations begin.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
PARIS (AP) – French riot police forced open a strategic fuel refinery Friday that had been a bastion of resistance to President Nicolas Sarkozy’s bid to raise the retirement age to 62, pushing striking workers aside with shields in a bid to end gasoline shortages.
The operation came as the French Senate prepared to vote on a pension reform at the heart of the unions’ anger, after the government short-circuited a protracted debate.
Marseilles, Paris’s Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports affected
Passengers forced to carry their own luggage off planes
3,000 of the country’s 12,000 petrol stations have run dry
Disputes costing country £100million a day
Armed with pump-action shotguns, sidearms and stun grenades the officers look like they belong in a war zone.
In fact they are elite French policemen who were deployed to the historic centre of Lyon yesterday to deal with rioting students.
President Nicolas Sarkozy took the extreme measure in the face of growing protests against an unpopular law aimed at increasing the retirement age from 60 to 62.
Taking aim: Riot police fired flashball guns at student demonstrators in Lyon yesterday. Two thousand had gone on the rampage, burning cars and destroying shop windows
Nicknamed ‘Sarko’s Stormtroopers’, the GIPN (National Police Intervention Group) faced down 2,000 youngsters in Place Bellecour where cars had been set on fire and shop windows smashed.
Perhaps the most misunderstood word in existence is “Christian”. Its origination is found in Acts 16:31, “…And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” We see in the previous verses to verse 31 that the disciples were preaching the Lord Jesus, and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord. They were exhorted by Barnabas to cling unto the Lord. Barnabas left and brought back Saul (who was later called Paul) and they taught the people about Jesus. So, simply put, Christians are followers of Jesus.
It did not take Satan long though to muddy the water. People began seeing a Christian as one who was religious. However, religion and Christianity are not the same. Religion is man seeking a god, through his own works. Christianity is all about Jesus Christ and what He has provided for those who will follow Him.
Today, generally speaking, we are so far away from the real truth of being a Christian, it is no wonder that those who do not know Jesus (the world) can tell little difference between themselves and a Christian.
Politicians (not all) use Christianity when it is convenient for them. When it is not convenient, look out. Many politicians will say, “I am a Christian. I pray. I read the Bible. I go to church.” Does that make them a Christian? Maybe when we arrive in Heaven, we should ask the millions of babies who have been murdered in the wombs of their mothers. Maybe God Himself will have something to say to the politicians and their followers about how He has been legislated out of every area of our lives.
The Hollywood crowd (not all) lives as if anything and everything goes. The raunchier they can live, the better. The (more…)
Standing behind the first lithium-ion battery off the Brownstown, Mich., assembly line of the Chevrolet Volt in January were, from left, Rep. Sander… View Enlarged Image
Green Technology: Government Motors’ all-electric car isn’t all-electric and doesn’t get near the touted hundreds of miles per gallon. Like “shovel-ready” jobs, maybe there’s no such thing as “plug-ready” cars either.
The Chevy Volt, hailed by the Obama administration as the electric savior of the auto industry and the planet, makes its debut in showrooms next month, but it’s already being rolled out for test drives by journalists. It appears we’re all being taken for a ride.
When President Obama visited a GM plant in Hamtramck near Detroit a few months ago to drive a Chevy Volt 10 feet off an assembly line, we called the car an “electric Edsel.” Now that it’s about to hit the road, nothing revealed has changed our mind.
Advertised as an all-electric car that could drive 50 miles on its lithium battery, GM addressed concerns about where you plug the thing in en route to grandma’s house by adding a small gasoline engine to help maintain the charge on the battery as it starts to run down. It was still an electric car, we were told, and not a hybrid on steroids.
That’s not quite true. The gasoline engine has been found to be more than a range-extender for the battery. Volt (more…)
U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner speaks during the first meeting of the financial stability oversight council to vote on a number of resolutions at the Treasury Department in Washington, October 1, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Jason Reed
By Abhijit Neogy and Toni Vorobyova
GYEONGJU, South Korea | Thu Oct 21, 2010 11:06am EDT
GYEONGJU, South Korea (Reuters) – G20 officials are unlikely to reach an accord rejecting currency devaluations and capping current account balances, an informed source said on Thursday, after U.S. proposals ran into stiff opposition.
The swift rebuff of a U.S. call for numerical targets for “sustainable” trade surpluses and deficits underscored the difficulties facing Group of 20 finance ministers gathering in South Korea as they try to defuse tensions over currencies and economic imbalances.
The G20 source, who has direct knowledge of deliberations at the meeting, said the proposals had not found favor with India, China and other emerging economies, or even the likes of Germany, which has a large current account surplus.
RICE, Texas — Authorities say tornadoes have damaged several North Texas homes and a school and overturned several vehicles on an interstate highway near Dallas.
Navarro County Sheriff Leslie Cotten said Sunday’s storm caused an unknown number of injuries. Cotten said officials had “a mess” on Interstate 45 near Rice, about 45 miles south of Dallas. He said the severity of the injuries wasn’t known.
Cotten said the roof of the elementary school in Rice was severely damaged, and the high school football field sustained damage as well.
The National Weather Service said a tornado caused “significant” damage to several homes near Lone Oak, about 80 miles northeast of Rice.
JACKSON, Wyo. — A magnitude 4.6 earthquake has hit northwest Wyoming, apparently triggering a landslide on a hiking trail, but no injuries have been reported.
The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake hit at about 11:45 a.m. Sunday.
Bridger-Teton National Forest spokeswoman Mary Cernicek says rangers are investigating reports that a landslide covered about a quarter-mile of a trail in the national forest about 20 miles northeast of Jackson.
Cernicek says some hikers may have been further up the trail, beyond the landslide, but she didn’t know how many. She says no one is believed to have been in the slide.
Cernicek says the slide wouldn’t prevent any hikers from getting out. She says a forest ranger is checking to see if anyone is on the trail.
Recent reports suggest that the major rupture predicted for the southern San Andreas fault could be longer and stronger than the last big quake, shaking from Monterey County down to the Salton Sea.
The “Big One” that has been forecast for the San Andreas fault could end up being bigger than earthquake experts previously thought.
Recent research showing that a section of the fault is long overdue for a major earthquake has some scientists saying the southern portion of the fault is capable of a magnitude 8.1 earthquake that could run 340 miles from Monterey County to the Salton Sea.
That’s significantly stronger and longer than the southern San Andreas’ last major rupture, in 1857. Such a temblor would cause much more damage because with a larger stretch of the fault rupturing, a larger area would be exposed to the quake and the shaking would last longer.
Prophecy Sign: Did you remember that Jesus said to watch for “great earthquakes”? Read Luke 21:11 and remember what you read becasue more of these huge quakes are coming. I am sending up a red flag so when they happen, I will point you back to Jesus warning. In Matthew 24:7 Jesus also said there would be “many earthquakes. Look at what has happen in the past 7 days and what happened today.
Knowing what Jesus has said, and knowing His Words are always fulfilled, I told you in the past to watch for more of these huge earthquakes. Today we saw Jesus warning come to pass again, and I quote, “A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck Mexico’s Baja peninsula Thursday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported. The quake was centered 717 miles (1,154 km) SE ofTijuana, Mexico. No tsunami warning was issued, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, although the agency said it could cause local waves. The quake, initially reported as a magnitude 6.6, was centered in the Gulf of California, 65 miles south of Los Mochis in the state of Sinaloa on the mainland. It was very shallow, just 6.2 miles below the seabed. The Hotel Santa Anita in nearby Los Mochis, Mexico, reportedly felt very strong shaking, but the hotel was not damaged by the quake. There are no immediate reports of damage or injury.”
Yesterday from (Reuters). “A 5.8-magnitude quake shook central Chile late on Wednesday, swaying buildings in the capital Santiago, but causing no damage, emergency officials said.”
MAG UTC DATE-TIME Region
6.9 2010/10/21 17:53:15 GULF OF CALIFORNIA
5.0 2010/10/21 13:56:27 TONGA
5.2 2010/10/21 11:50:32 SOUTH OF THE KERMADEC ISLANDS
5.3 2010/10/21 11:00:35 NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
5.0 2010/10/21 07:25:45 SOUTH OF THE FIJI ISLANDS
5.8 2010/10/21 02:49:56 OFF COAST OF LIBERTADOR O’HIGGINS, CHILE
———-
5.2 2010/10/20 14:35:53 TONGA
5.1 2010/10/20 07:12:37 SAMAR, PHILIPPINES
5.8 2010/10/20 06:58:16 GULF OF CALIFORNIA
5.5 2010/10/20 04:15:37 GULF OF CALIFORNIA
5.7 2010/10/20 04:09:45 GULF OF CALIFORNIA
———-
5.1 2010/10/19 21:16:25 TONGA
5.0 2010/10/19 20:49:09 SUNDA STRAIT, INDONESIA
5.5 2010/10/19 20:39:38 TONGA
5.0 2010/10/19 10:58:17 TONGA
5.0 2010/10/19 10:06:13 KAMCHATKA PENINSULA, RUSSIA
5.0 2010/10/19 08:06:51 PACIFIC-ANTARCTIC RIDGE
5.0 2010/10/19 00:24:05 SOUTHEAST OF EASTER ISLAND
———-
5.1 2010/10/18 08:02:18 NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
———-
5.0 2010/10/17 21:49:39 SICHUAN-YUNNAN-GUIZHOU REGION, CHINA
5.2 2010/10/17 08:27:52 CENTRAL PERU
———-
5.2 2010/10/16 23:59:46 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
5.9 2010/10/16 20:08:32 TONGA
5.3 2010/10/16 19:51:51 NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
6.1 2010/10/16 15:44:33 KEPULAUAN BARAT DAYA, INDONESIA
5.2 2010/10/16 13:51:41 MACQUARIE ISLAND REGION
5.8 2010/10/16 13:27:46 TONGA
5.0 2010/10/16 05:36:25 IZU ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
5.0 2010/10/16 03:24:00 SOUTH OF THE FIJI ISLANDS
———-
5.0 2010/10/15 23:41:08 GUATEMALA
5.0 2010/10/15 17:54:02 NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.1 2010/10/15 12:43:55 OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
5.1 2010/10/15 09:56:52 NEW IRELAND REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
A car explodes in flames and policemen clash with rioting youths as spiralling violence grips France.
This was one of many flashpoints across the country yesterday amid growing public anger against raising the retirement age to 62.
In the town of Nanterre, north-west of Paris, officers also fired rubber bullets and tear gas at youths protesting outside their secondary schools.
Battle: The police officers clash with rioters in Nanterre, north-west of Paris. They fired rubber bullets and tear gas at youths protesting outside their secondary schools
Troublemakers – not students – were accused of starting a riot, pelting firemen with rocks as dozens of vehicles were smashed and set ablaze.
New Delhi – Malaria kills 205,000 people in India annually, a figure more than 13 times higher than UN estimates, research released Thursday said.
The study, published in the Lancet medical journal, raised doubts about the total number of malaria deaths reported worldwide. The UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) estimated 881,000 malaria deaths per year globally, of which 91 per cent occur in Africa and about 15,000 occur in India.
‘This low estimate should be reconsidered as should the low WHO estimate of adult malaria deaths worldwide,’ the study, published online, said.
TEHRAN, Iran – The leaders of Iran and Venezuela hailed what they called their strong strategic relationship on Wednesday, saying they are united in efforts to establish a “new world order” that will eliminate Western dominance over global affairs.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and visiting Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez, watched as officials from both countries signed 11 agreements promoting cooperation in areas including oil, natural gas, textiles, trade and public housing.
* Typhoon Megi could be worst typhoon in S. China in decades
* Hong Kong warns direct hit could cause very serious impact
* S. China ports and oil terminals shut, masses evacuated (Adds details throughout)
By James Pomfret
HONG KONG, Oct 21 (Reuters) – Ports and oil terminals in Hong Kong and southern China shut down operations on Thursday, forcing tankers to anchor offshore to ride out one of the biggest typhoons to threaten the South China coast in years.
53,000 fishing vessels had returned to port, while on the tropical resort island of Hainan, vulnerable to heavy flooding, as many as 200,000 people had been evacuated from low-lying areas along with another 150,000 from the southeastern coastal province of Fujian, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Marine authorities say the typhoon could generate a huge and destructive “50-year storm surge” along the China coastline.
“The storm surge could be so devastating that buildings, docks, villages and cities could be destroyed by it,” Bai Yiping, director of South China Sea Forecasting Center of the State Oceanic Administration was quoted as saying by Xinhua.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he would use weekend meetings of G-20 finance ministers to advance efforts to “rebalance” the world economy so it is less reliant on U.S. consumers, to move toward establishing “norms” on exchange-rate policy, and to persuade others the U.S. doesn’t aim to devalue its way to prosperity.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Geithner said the world sorely needs to agree on guidelines for exchange-rate policy. “Right now, there is no established sense of what’s fair,” he said.
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) is cooperating with Google Israel on a huge project: the creation of an online digital library that will finally display the Dead Sea scrolls to the general public, more than 50 years after their discovery. The scrolls include all of the books of the Bible and date from the late Second Temple period.
The project – The Leon Levy Digital Library of the Judean Desert Scrolls – will display 900 manuscripts online. The manuscripts are made up of about 30,000 pieces of different sizes. Besides a grant from the Leon Levy Fund, it is being underwritten by the Arcadia Fund and Yad HaNadiv Fund.
Fearing a global catastrophe, the mayor of Naples may halt exploration of the massive volcano that lies under her city. But some scientists say inaction could be riskier.
It is a stretch of southern Italy known as the Phlegraean Fields, or “burning fields.” According to Greek mythology, this is where the god of fire, Hephaestus, made his home and where an epic battle between the Titans and the world’s most powerful deities shook the earth. The ancient Romans said the entrance to Hades was also here, hidden beneath a serene lake.
Thousands of years later, the site is still subject to epic forces, but the story is more science than myth. The ground under the small fishing villages in this area around Naples is in constant slow movement because of volcanic activity deep below the surface. In Pozzuoli, a town just north of the city, the walls of the terra-cotta villages are falling down. The earth has risen and dipped more than 11 feet in the last decade, destroying roads, a hospital, and thousands of homes. Small tremors are common. On the outskirts of town, fields of boiling mud and dramatic sulfur spouts known as the Solfatara are a constant reminder that Naples sits on the Campi Flegrei caldera, or cauldron, one of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes.
Beijing – Local authorities had evacuated at least 140,000 people and suspended some transport services on Wednesday as Typhoon Megi approached southern China after killing 19 people in the Philippines.
The island province of Hainan and nearby Guangdong and Fujian provinces were placed on high alert for the typhoon, which was expected to make landfall in southern China on Thursday or Friday.
Weather forecasters warned that Megi could be the strongest typhoon to hit southern China in 20 years and could bring the highest tides for 200 years to some coastal areas.
The State Oceanic Administration forecast waves up to 7 metres high off Guangdong over the next two to three days, the China Daily newspaper said.
Praise the Lord, for His Word is truth. He predicted that Israel would find oil and riches during the last days. Prophecy is being fulfilled right before our eyes! Amazing! Praise the Lord!
A new preliminary geological survey indicates 26 million barrels of recoverable oil—worth $2 billion—may be sitting underneath the sandy soil in the area of two kibbutzim in the Western Negev, near Gaza.
Energtek announced it has received a geological survey on the Nir-am—Sa’ad block, “identifying the potential for exploitable oil and natural gas reserves.” Its subsidiary Energtek Products has the exclusive license to explore and exploit the resources in the area.
The firm added, “Current estimates will need to be confirmed by additional studies. Additional seismic analysis, modeling and further verifications are required to compile more accurate data on the fields and to provide more accurate reports on actual recoverable reserves.”
MITROVICA, Kosovo—Assailants struck in the middle of the night, setting fire to a car belonging to one ethnic Serb politician who favors cooperation with Kosovo’s Albanian-dominated national government and tossing a grenade at the home of another.
And He that sat upon the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” (Rev. 21:5)
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind had conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him” (I Cor 2:9).
The Greek word translated new in
Rev 21:5 can also mean renewed or restored, and includes circumstances and conditions along with appearance. It’s the same word used in Rev 21:1 referring to a new heaven and a new earth. And Rev. 21:1 is a reference to Isaiah 65:17 where new heavens and a new earth are also mentioned, along with one of the better descriptions of life in Israel during the Millennium. The Hebrew word for new in Isaiah 65:17 comes from a root meaning to rebuild, renew, or repair.
PARIS (AP) – Workers opposed to a higher retirement age blocked access to airports in Paris and around the country on Wednesday as hooded youths smashed store windows amid clouds of tear gas outside the capital.
Riot police in black body armor forced striking workers away from blocked fuel depots in western France, restoring gasoline to areas where pumps were dry after weeks of protests over the government proposal raising the age from 60 to 62.
Riot officers in the Paris suburb of Nanterre and the southeastern city of Lyon sprayed tear gas but appeared unable to stop the violence.
“It would seem that Ban Ki-moon… failed to notice that Hizbullah… has been at the heart of Lebanese politics,” group says in statement after UN report calls for disarmament in Lebanon.
Hizbullah on Wednesday accused the United Nations of meddling in Lebanese civil affairs, according to an AFP report.
The charges came two days after the UN released a report on disarmament in Lebanon, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned of instability in the country.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European Commission has proposed a list of potential methods to enable the EU to raise its ‘own resources’ in future, citing the need to end current wrangling over member state contributions to the Brussels budget.
A separate EU-wide value added tax (VAT) is among the ideas contained in the commission’s “budget review” published on Tuesday (19 October), a document which stems from a Franco-British spat in December 2005 over EU payments.
Other self-funding mechanisms could include a financial sector tax, a share of profits from auctioned greenhouse gas emission allowances, an EU charge related to air transport, an EU energy tax or an EU corporate income tax.
Presenting the review in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, EU budget commissioner Janusz Lewandowski said the EU budget should rely less on member state contributions, as was previously the case.
National contributions, based on gross national income (GNI), represented 10 percent of the EU budget in 1988, but these days amounts to roughly 70 percent as takings from EU customs duties and farm levies have declined.
“The question of EU funding priorities is always overshadowed by debate on ‘net contributors’ or ‘juste retour’,” Mr Lewandowski told the MEPs. “That is why we need to find a way out of this.”
The 17 different rare earths are found in everything from magnets to hybrid cars and computer monitors
US trade officials say they are looking into a New York Times report that China is blocking shipments of rare earths to the US and Europe.
China mines 97% of the specialist metals crucial to green technology.
The report, citing anonymous industry sources, said Chinese customs officials had broadened export restrictions.
Meanwhile China’s commerce ministry has denied a report by the official China Daily that it will cut quotas by 30% next year to stop overmining.
“The report is completely false,” the ministry said in a statement.
“China will continue to supply rare earths to the world, and at the same time, to protect usable resources and sustainable development, China will also continue to impose restrictive measures on exploration, production and import and export of rare earths.”
Damascus believes ties with Beirut not as strong as expected, pointing finger at Lebanese prime minister
Is Syria working to replace Lebanon’s prime minister? A Damascus official has told Lebanese daily al-Akhbar that “we must make a deep change in Lebanon. Saad Hariri is the only obstacle to reconciliation between the Syrian and Lebanese people.”
According to a report published Wednesday, Syria is disappointed with Hariri’s performance, particularly after a series of meetings with Syrian President Bashar Assad over the past year after the two reconciled.
Damascus officials believe the relations with Lebanon are not as strong as expected, pointing a finger at Hariri.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." -- Ephesians 2:8-10
An Indian farming family carry bundles of paddy from a rice field in the northeastern state of Tripura. India has had food price inflation of 17% in the last year. Photograph: AFP/Getty ImagesRising food prices and shortages could cause instability in many countries as the cost of staple foods and vegetables reached their highest levels in two years, with scientists predicting further widespread droughts and floods.
An army officer walks past a pile of garbage in downtown Naples Enlarge photo 
Taking aim: Riot police fired flashball guns at student demonstrators in Lyon yesterday. Two thousand had gone on the rampage, burning cars and destroying shop windows
Prophecy Sign: Did you remember that Jesus said to watch for “great earthquakes”? Read Luke 21:11 and remember what you read becasue more of these huge quakes are coming. I am sending up a red flag so when they happen, I will point you back to Jesus warning. In Matthew 24:7 Jesus also said there would be “many earthquakes. Look at what has happen in the past 7 days and what happened today.
Battle: The police officers clash with rioters in Nanterre, north-west of Paris. They fired rubber bullets and tear gas at youths protesting outside their secondary schools
The 17 different rare earths are found in everything from magnets to hybrid cars and computer monitors
myBlessedHope 