COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Four families in Yoder are building a sand bunker and stockpiling ammunition and weapons

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Fear

“Men’s hearts failing•Strongs 674: apopsucho, ap-ops-oo´-kho; from 575 and 5594; to breathe out, i.e. faint:—hearts failing. them for fear•Strongs 5401: phobos, fob´-os; from a primary fe÷bomai phebomai (to be put in fear); alarm or fright:—be afraid, + exceedingly, fear, terror., and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.”
—Luke 21:26

A Black Forest resident has erected a geodesic dome on her 5-acre spread to grow vegetables, keeps horses for emergency transportation, in case she can’t get gasoline for her car, and plans to acquire chickens and goats as food sources.

A husband and wife who have a cabin on 100 acres of secluded land in Park County have weaned their property from the electric grid, acquired a three-year food supply and taken other measures to become self-sufficient.

While there’s little threat of the earthquake and tsumani that rocked Japan last month in landlocked Colorado, other epic crises on the home front are possible: A flood or fire. A terrorist attack. A nuclear weapons launch. World War III. Or an apocalyptic-type scenario.

An increasing number of people say they are getting ready.

“More people are getting into the survivalist mode. I’ve been in business 30 years, and I’ve never sold so many assault rifles as now. The last year was the best we’ve ever had,” said Mel Bernstein, a Class III weapons dealer and owner of Dragon Man’s shooting range east of Colorado Springs.

Israeli gas masks, helmets and sand bags also have been selling well, he said.

“People are putting stuff away in case something big happens,” he said. “I think it’s superstition, but it’s been good for business.”

Interest in the survivalist movement has been heightened, many say, by global turmoil.

The ongoing strife in the Middle East, the lingering possibility that the Obama administration will enact stricter gun laws and the sustained economic downturn, coupled with political unrest in Libya and Japan’s nuclear catastrophe, have made people uneasy.

In addition, doomsday prophesies by Nostradamus and the Mayans pinpointing 2012 are distressing for some. There’s also a group of Christians who say they’ve determined that the end of the world will begin on May 21.

“People are afraid, and they want to be able to protect their families,” Bernstein said.

Y2K — the dawning of the third millennium — brought forth a fury of survivalist instincts, as many believed the nation’s network of electric connections and computer systems would crash.

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, raised concern among even the complacent.

But this time in history feels more urgent, say those who identify themselves as “preppers” — people preparing to have all they need to sustain a catastrophe.

“There’s a distinct possibility that some other country could wipe out our electronics and computers, and the U.S. infrastructure is not ready — it would take six months to rebuild a transformer,” said Bob, a retired engineer who said he designed airplanes, power plants and aqueducts for the government.

He asked that his last name not be used because he shares a philosophy common among preppers: the desire for anonymity. Not everyone understands why they’re doing what they’re doing, Bob said, and there’s the possibility of others looting their stockpiles.

“Preppers will give someone a pound of rice and a bowl of soup, but we’ll defend ourselves against people who are going to take everything we have,” he said. “We’re doing this to make sure that we can live the way we’ve been living and we’re not going to be out there scrounging or stealing food from others.”

Bob, who owns the cabin in Park County, said he used to be, as he says, “at peace” with the American government, but now, he said he is distrustful.

“It’s like the government and law enforcement are bullies. They won’t take care of us.

The dollar will crash, and the average American only has enough groceries in their house for three to five days. When it all goes to heck, what’s going to happen?” he said.

While they say they’re not among those on the fringes, preppers are doing more than just having a few extra provisions on hand.

“I believe in preparing for the worst and hoping for the best,” said a 69-year-old Black Forest resident who said she goes by the name Annie Oakley, a legendary 19th century American sharpshooter who performed in Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show. She declined to provide her real name because, she said, she too is fearful of being misunderstood and robbed.

“I was never a doomsday person. But with the way our society, our economy, our water problems, our dependency on oil are going, getting back to the basics makes a lot of sense,” she said.

She said she has spent about $16,000 so far on prepping. After watching futurists discuss the world’s overpopulation, declining financial situation, decreasing fossil fuels supply and other problems on a television program about three months ago, she said she got busy.

She bought a geodesic dome to grow vegetables, a solar generator to help get off the grid and a torpedo bucket to draw water from her well if the electric pump isn’t functioning. She also began storing nonperishable food.

Chickens, goats, composting, grain grinders and a full-blown solar or wind power system are next. She also plans to acquire weapons for protection.

“I’m looking at the worst-case scenario to defend my resources. The end goal is to have food and clean water, stay warm and be self-sufficient,” she said. Before retirement, she worked in the low-income housing division of a city in Southern California.

“A lot of people — and it’s just human nature — think ‘Oh, it’ll never happen.’ Or, ‘Someone will take care of us.’ Look what happened during (Hurricane) Katrina. You’re going to be on your own.”

But preppers want to band together. Bob has amassed 22 families who are interested in storing food and other essentials on his spacious mountain compound and congregate there in an emergency.

“We’re ready, and we’re looking for other like-minded people. So we’re connecting and networking with people who are into pooling their talents,” he said.

The woman who goes by the name Annie Oakley also is hooking up with fellow preppers via the Internet and in her neighborhood.

“It’s like a support group. You share ideas, and there’s strength in numbers,” she said.

“It’s hard to envision life without all the conveniences. But we can survive if we’re ready. It’s like the Boy Scouts say: Be prepared.”

Bernstein, too, has heard of small survivalist-type groups forming, including the Yoder families who are building a sand bunker and studied a simulated machine-gun bunker Bernstein has on display in a military museum on his property.

One man in the group visits Bernstein every week to buy 1,000 to 2,000 rounds of bullets, Bernstein said. The man declined to be interviewed.

Logan airport security just got more up close and personal as federal screeners launched a more aggressive palms-first, slide-down body search technique that has renewed the debate over privacy vs. safety.

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Fear

“Men’s hearts failing•Strongs 674: apopsucho, ap-ops-oo´-kho; from 575 and 5594; to breathe out, i.e. faint:—hearts failing. them for fear•Strongs 5401: phobos, fob´-os; from a primary fe÷bomai phebomai (to be put in fear); alarm or fright:—be afraid, + exceedingly, fear, terror. , and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.”
—Luke 21:26

Perplexity

“…upon the earth distress•Strongs 4928: sunoche, soon-okh-ay´; from 4912; restraint, i.e. (figuratively) anxiety: — anguish, distress. of nations, with perplexity•Strongs 640: aporia, ap-or-ee´-a; from the same as 639; a (state of) quandary:—perplexity.
•Strongs 639: aporeo, ap-or-eh´-o; from a compound of 1 (as a negative particle) and the base of 4198; to have no way out, i.e. be at a loss (mentally):— (stand in) doubt, be perplexed….”
—Luke 21:25

The new procedure – already being questioned by the ACLU – replaces the Transportation Security Administration’s former back-of-the-hand patdown.

Boston is one of only two cities in which the new touchy-feely frisking is being implemented as a test before a planned national rollout. The other is Las Vegas.

“We’re all for good effective security measures,” American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts spokesman Christopher Ott said. “But, in general, we’re concerned about this seemingly constant erosion of privacy, and we wonder whether or not it’s really going to be effective.

“Accepting these kinds of searches may keep people safer in some situations, but not in every situation, and we’re encouraging people to stop and think about what is the right balance between privacy and security,” Ott said.

A TSA spokeswoman yesterday confirmed the switch to what the agency calls an “enhanced patdown.”

“TSA is in the process of implementing an enhanced patdown at security checkpoints as one of our many layers of security,” said Ann Davis, TSA spokeswoman for the Northeast region. “Patdowns are designed to address potentially dangerous items, like improvised explosive devices and their components, concealed on the body.”

The body searches are conducted by same-gender TSA officers, and passengers can request private screenings at any time.

Previously, TSA screeners used patdown motions of their hands to search passengers over their clothes, switching to the backs of their hands over certain ’sensitive’ body areas, such as the torso.

But now the searches will be done using all front-of-the-hand sliding motions over greater areas of passengers’ bodies, including sensitive areas.

“The pat down just (because I) was wearing jewelry seems like overkill,” one woman wrote on Logan’s Twitter account yesterday.

But Justine Griffin, a senior vice president at Rasky Baerlein Communications and frequent flier, said yesterday, “The most important thing is to have an effective patdown. If using the back of the hand is less effective, then security trumps niceties.”

The TSA implemented the new body-search procedures at Logan and Las Vegas-McCarran because both airports are using the greatest number of the walk-through full-body scanners. Those scanners use low-dose X-rays to produce two-sided, head-to-toe images of passengers’ bodies – including discernible but not distinct images of their private parts – but blur their facial features.

Passengers who opt not to walk through the full-body scanners – which have also been assailed by privacy advocates – must instead walk through a metal detector and submit to a body search. If the full-body scanners detect an image on a person’s body that screeners can’t decipher, those passengers also are subjected to body searches.

If there is no full-body scanner at a security checkpoint, passengers go through a metal detector and are subjected to a body search if the alarm sounds. The TSA also subjects random passengers to body searches.

“It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster on planet Earth in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand, or million. The human race shouldn’t have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet,” he said.

Fear

“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.”
—Luke 21:26

It’s time to abandon Earth, warned the world’s most famous theoretical physicist.

In an interview with website Big Think, Stephen Hawking warned that the long-term future of the planet is in outer space.

“It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster on planet Earth in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand, or million. The human race shouldn’t have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet,” he said.

“I see great dangers for the human race,” Hawking said. “There have been a number of times in the past when its survival has been a question of touch and go. The Cuban missile crisis in 1963 was one of these. The frequency of such occasions is likely to increase in the future.”

“But I’m an optimist. If we can avoid disaster for the next two centuries, our species should be safe, as we spread into space,” he said.

That said, getting to another planet will prove a challenge, not to mention colonizing it for humanity. University of Michigan astrophysicist Katherine Freese told Big Think that “the nearest star [to Earth] is Proxima Centauri which is 4.2 light years away. That means that, if you were traveling at the speed of light the whole time, it would take 4.2 years to get there” — or about 50,000 years using current rocket science.

Still, we need to act and act fast, Hawking stated. “It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand or million. Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain inward looking on planet Earth but to spread out into space. We have made remarkable progress in the last hundred years. But if we want to continue beyond the next hundred years, our future is in space.”

This is not the first time Hawking has warned of impending planetary doom. In 2006, the physicist warned that Earth was at an ever increasing risk of being wiped out. And lately, Hawking has become quite outspoken.

In April, he warned of the dangers of communicating with aliens, telling the Discovery Channel that extra-terrestrials are almost certain to exist — and humanity should avoid contact with them at all cost.

“To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational,” he said. “The real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like.”

The answer, he suggests, is that most of alien life will be the equivalent of microbes or simple animals — the sort of life that has dominated Earth for most of its history — and they could pose a serious threat to us.

In May Hawking said he believed humans could travel millions of years into the future and repopulate their devastated planet. If spaceships are built that can fly faster than the speed of light, a day on board would be equivalent to a year on Earth. That’s because — according to Einstein — as objects accelerate through space, time slows down around them.

“Time travel was once considered scientific heresy, and I used to avoid talking about it for fear of being labelled a crank,” he said in Stephen Hawking’s Universe.

“These days I’m not so cautious.”

When a man ducked past security at Newark Liberty International Airport last Sunday to kiss his girlfriend goodbye, the breach in security shut down one of the country’s busiest airports, delayed flights through Monday and prompted an intensive manhunt from New Jersey detectives that ended on Friday evening on a street in Piscataway, N.J.

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Perplexity

“…upon the earth distress•Strongs 4928: sunoche, soon-okh-ay´; from 4912; restraint, i.e. (figuratively) anxiety: — anguish, distress. of nations, with perplexity•Strongs 640: aporia, ap-or-ee´-a; from the same as 639; a (state of) quandary:—perplexity.
•Strongs 639: aporeo, ap-or-eh´-o; from a compound of 1 (as a negative particle) and the base of 4198; to have no way out, i.e. be at a loss (mentally):— (stand in) doubt, be perplexed….”
—Luke 21:25

Fear

“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.”
—Luke 21:26

But the man police sought was not even home. He was at the gym.

When Haisong Jiang, a 28-year-old Rutgers University graduate student, returned, the police arrested him.

On Saturday, some of Mr. Jiang’s roommates described him as a “romantic” now trying to secure a lawyer after the dizzying turn of events. His actions might have seemed innocently romantic to him, his friends said. But the incident was yet another lapse in airport security that frustrated harried travelers in the wake of the failed plane bombing on Christmas and incensed one New Jersey lawmaker over the leniency of Mr. Jiang’s potential penalty.

According to a statement from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Mr. Jiang would be charged with defiant trespass. He was issued with a summons and told to appear in Newark Municipal Court.

It is a “petty disorderly persons offense,” said Paul M. Loriquet, a spokesman for the Essex County district attorney’s office, explaining that such an offense did not qualify to be prosecuted in federal court and only carries a maximum sentence of 30 days in jail.

In an interview on Saturday, Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, of New Jersey, said he was hoping that the United States attorney’s office would consider bringing federal charges because the penalty Mr. Jiang is facing, “is hardly noteworthy and would not discourage people who want to break through the perimeter.”

The senator said the trouble the security breach caused far outweighed the punishment: 1,600 people stuck in the airport for six hours; flights delayed and an “incalculable” loss of money. And then for five days after the incident, New Jersey law enforcement officials searched exhaustively for the man caught on a grainy surveillance video, one which Sen. Lautenberg had released on Thursday.

The video showed that Mr. Jiang was able to step past security last Sunday when a guard, identified by a law enforcement official as Ruben Hernandez, left his post. The guard has been on administrative leave since Tuesday, and he faces disciplinary action, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

Without Mr. Hernandez watching, Mr. Jiang was able to slip into an area of people who had already cleared security and embraced a woman in a puffy coat and kissed her. When security officials were alerted that someone had breached a secure area, they took steps to lock down the terminal.

Ning Huang, 33, a former Rutgers graduate student and a friend of Mr. Jiang’s identified the woman as Mr. Jiang’s girlfriend. Mr. Huang did not provide the woman’s name, but said she is a former Rutgers student who has dated Mr. Jiang for about a year and now lives in Los Angeles.

“He loves her very much,” Mr. Huang said on Saturday, outside the two-story house Mr. Jiang shares with five roommates. Mr. Huang added that his friend “just wanted to say goodbye to his girlfriend, so it was a very emotional moment. I don’t think he realized what he’s doing.”

Andy Riu, a friend of Mr. Jiang, also came to the Piscataway house after word spread on a soccer league’s online message board that Mr. Jiang would miss a scheduled 2 p.m. pickup game because he had been arrested.

“I think this man is very romantic,” Mr. Riu said.

Mr. Jiang, who comes from the Jiangxi province of China, said Mr. Huang, is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, according to the Rutgers University Web site. He intended to find a job in Los Angeles after graduation so he could be with his girlfriend, Mr. Huang said.

“I just hope this doesn’t affect his future career path.”

Mr. Jiang has not spoken publicly since his arrest. He was held in a building at the airport until about midnight Friday, when he was released on his own recognizance.

No date for his arraignment has been set yet, Esmeralda Cameron, a spokeswoman for the Newark Municipal Court said on Saturday.

Nate Schweber contributed reporting from Piscataway, N.J.

Individual Chinese investors are now rushing to hoard the precious yellow metal, hoping it will retain value if the dollar collapses.

To view dictionary popup window put your cursor on the blue scripture words.

Perplexity

“…upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity•Strongs 640: ajpori÷a aporia, aporia, ap-or-ee´-a; from the same as 639; a (state of) quandary:—perplexity.
•Strongs 639: aporeo, ap-or-eh´-o; from a compound of 1 (as a negative particle) and the base of 4198; to have no way out, i.e. be at a loss (mentally):— (stand in) doubt, be perplexed….”
—Luke 21:25

Fear

“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.”
—Luke 21:26

“The declining value of the dollar along with the worsening economic outlook is forcing investors to seek other anti-inflationary investment tools, like gold,” Ping An securities analyst Xiao Zheng told The China Daily.

China is the world’s second-largest gold consuming country. In late April, the People’s Bank of China announced its gold reserves had risen 454 tons since 2003 to 1,054 tons, a signal that the central bank is taking gold as a reliable hedge against financial uncertainties as fears over the global recession deepen.

Analysts say they expect the Chinese government would continue to raise its gold holdings as the yuan becomes increasingly internationalized.

Chinese demand for gold bullion reached 68.9 tons in 2008, up 176 percent from 25 tons in 2007.

The World Gold Council’s Gold Demand Trends report for the first quarter shows gold demand in China jumped to 114 tons in the first quarter.

“If I look at 10 years from now, I do believe that the purchasing power of the dollar is going to be substantially less,” portfolio manager Axel Merk told The U.K. Guardian.

“Gold is … the simplest way to play the devaluation of the dollar and potential inflation,” Merk said.

US lawmakers are building roadblocks to the rapid restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler, arguing for more scrutiny of plans to shut the carmakers’ dealerships and plants.

To view dictionary popup window put your cursor on the blue scripture words.

Perplexity

“…upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity•Strongs 640: aporia, ap-or-ee´-a; from the same as 639; a (state of) quandary:—perplexity.
•Strongs 639: aporeo, ap-or-eh´-o; from a compound of 1 (as a negative particle) and the base of 4198; to have no way out, i.e. be at a loss (mentally):— (stand in) doubt, be perplexed….”
—Luke 21:25

Root of All Evil

“For the love of money is the root •Strongs 4491: rhiza, hrid´-zah; apparently a primary word; a “root” (literally or figuratively):—root of all.of all evil•Strongs 2556: kakos, kak-os´; apparently a primary word; worthless (intrinsically, such; whereas 4190 properly refers to effects), i.e. (subjectively) depraved, or (objectively) injurious:—bad, evil, harm, ill, noisome, wicked. …..”
—1 Timothy 6:10a

Fear

“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.”
—Luke 21:26

President Barack Obama said this week that the government was a “reluctant” shareholder in both companies and pledged that his administration would not interfere with day-to-day operations.

But there were increasingly load complaints on Capitol Hill Wednesday as senators cross-examined Fritz Henderson, chief executive of GM, and Jim Press, president of Chrysler.

“I never would have believed . . . that the United States government could buy General Motors without a hearing, without a vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’,” said Mike Johanns, Republican senator for Nebraska, at a Senate commerce meeting hearing focused on dealership closures.

Mr Johanns said he would attempt an amendment, barring the government from using money from the troubled asset relief programme to acquire equity stakes in companies.

The Treasury’s automotive task force, headed by Steve Rattner, has defied the expectations of outside legal observers with the speed of Chrysler’s passage through bankruptcy.

People familiar with GM believe the carmaker could exit Chapter 11 even before the 60 to 90-day target set by the task force, following Chrysler’s planned exit this week after less than 40 days. It is believed speed is essential to reassure US consumers that the “new” companies are viable.

It has had the side-effect of limiting the opportunity for Congress to weigh in on the restructuring, which will see the US government take 60 per cent of GM’s equity in return for $50bn of financing.

John Rockefeller, the Democratic chairman of the commerce committee, on Wednesday expressed concern about a “short and insufficient transition period” for dealerships, which will endure drastic cuts. Chrysler said it will close about 800 dealerships and GM said it would close more then 2,000 in an efficiency drive.

Mark Warner, Democratic senator for Virginia, said: “If I would have ever thought in my business life that I would see a group of senators trying to micromanage the workings of an industry like GM and Chrysler, I would have said, ‘never going to happen’. However, he said Congress had a “right and responsibility” to ask questions.

Outside the hearing, Darrelll Issa, lead Republican on the House oversight committee, demanded documents from the task force in a letter to Mr Rattner, in which he accused the team of a “lack of transparency”.

John Dingell, a Democratic representative from Michigan, asked Mr Henderson of GM to reverse a planned closure of a transmission plant.

Mexico’s president ordered a partial economic shutdown to slow the spread of the swine flu virus as officials urged increased precautions against an imminent pandemic.

To view dictionary popup window put your cursor on the blue scripture words.

Fear

“Men’s hearts failing•Strongs 674: apopsucho, ap-ops-oo´-kho; from 575 and 5594; to breathe out, i.e. faint:—hearts failing. them for fear•Strongs 5401: phobos, fob´-os; from a primary fe÷bomai phebomai (to be put in fear); alarm or fright:—be afraid, + exceedingly, fear, terror. , and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.”
—Luke 21:26

Pestilences

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“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines•Strongs 3042:limos, lee-mos´; probably from 3007 (through the idea of destitution); a scarcity of food:—dearth, famine, hunger., and pestilences•Strongs 3061: loimos, loy´-mos; of uncertain affinity; a plague (literally, the disease, or figuratively, a pest):—pestilence(-t), and earthquakes, in divers places.”
—Matthew 24:7

One day after the World Health Organization warned that the world was on the brink of a global outbreak of the new flu strain H1N1, an International Monetary Fund economist warned that some countries could see drastic consequences from the illness.

New cases of swine flu infections were reported in the United States, Latin America and in Europe. U.S. officials said new infections were occurring, although only a handful of people outside Mexico have required hospital treatment.

In Mexico, the worst hit country with 176 deaths, President Felipe Calderon told government offices and private businesses not crucial to the economy to stop work beginning on Friday to avoid further spreading a virus that is striking across age and class lines.

“There is no safer place than your own home to avoid being infected with the flu virus,” Calderon said in his first televised address since the outbreak started.

Global markets were taking the flu news in their stride, and Wall Street opened stronger on hopes that the U.S. recession is easing.

But the International Monetary Fund’s chief economist warned of “quite drastic” consequences for some countries, particularly on tourism, while a top White House aide said the biggest threat was uncertainty.

“Uncertainty is probably the biggest effect right now. Whether it will make consumers more nervous, whether … governments will have to take actions that will have economic consequences,” Christina Romer, chairwoman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told a congressional hearing.

The WHO and flu experts say they do not yet know enough about this new strain to say how deadly it actually is, how far it might spread and how long any potential pandemic may last.

Flu epidemics generally last a few weeks or months in any single community, and can pass around the world in one or two waves over 18 months to two years before fading out.

U.S. officials have reported 109 confirmed swine flu infections and the only death recorded outside of Mexico — a Mexican toddler visiting Texas.

Vice President Joe Biden repeated the government’s opposition to suggestions that it should close the U.S-Mexican border — but then was forced on the defensive about his own comments suggesting he would tell his family to stay out of airplanes and subways to avoid the flu.

“Every American should take the same steps you would take to prevent any other flu: keep your hands washed; cover your mouth when you cough; stay home from work if you’re sick; and keep your children home from school if they’re sick,” Biden’s spokeswoman said in a statement.

PREPARATIONS INTENSIFY

Worldwide, 12 countries have reported cases of the H1N1 strain, with the Netherlands the latest to join the list. It said a three year-old who had recently returned from Mexico had contracted the virus.

Switzerland also confirmed its first case on Thursday in a man returning from Mexico. Peru reported what appeared to be the first case in Latin America outside Mexico, also in someone who had been to the country.

Around the world flu preparations were intensified after the World Health Organization raised its alert level to phase 5, the last step before a pandemic.

The WHO recommended all countries track any suspect cases and ensure medical workers dealing with them wear protective masks and gloves. But it stopped short of recommending travel restrictions, border closures or any limitation on the movement of people, goods or services.

Keiji Fukuda, acting WHO assistant director-general, told reporters Swiss drugmaker Roche, indicated it was stepping up production of Tamiflu to deal with the infection but that there was at the moment no evidence to move to the agency’s highest alert level.

“Today that evidence holds steady,” Fukuda told reporters.

Fukuda said the WHO had released some of its own stockpiles of Tamiflu — known generically as oseltamivir and proven effective against the new strain — to developing countries deemed most at need, including Mexico.

In Mexico City, a metropolis of 20 million, all schools, restaurants, nightclubs and public events have been shut down to try to stop the disease from spreading, bringing normal life to a virtual standstill.

Several countries have banned pork imports, though the World Health Organization says swine flu is not spread by eating pork. Egypt started confiscating and slaughtering pig herds despite criticism from the United Nations.

“There is no reason to do that. It’s not a swine influenza, it’s a human influenza,” said Joseph Domenech, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation’s chief veterinary officer. The FAO is lobbying for a name change for the virus.

Mexico’s central bank warned the outbreak could deepen the nation’s recession, hurting an economy that has already shrunk by as much as 8 percent from the previous year in the first quarter.

The United States, Canada and many other countries have advised against non-essential travel to Mexico. Many tourists were hurrying to leave, crowding airports.

European Union health ministers a hastily-convened meeting in Luxembourg were cool to a French call to suspend all EU flights to Mexico, with many saying travel restrictions would do little to halt the spread of the virus.

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Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh operated a command and control center inside Shifa Hospital in downtown Gaza City throughout Operation Cast Lead in January, the IDF revealed on Wednesday.

To view dictionary popup window put your cursor on the blue scripture words.

Fear

“Men’s hearts failing•Strongs 674: apopsucho, ap-ops-oo´-kho; from 575 and 5594; to breathe out, i.e. faint:—hearts failing. them for fear•Strongs 5401: phobos, fob´-os; from a primary fe÷bomai phebomai (to be put in fear); alarm or fright:—be afraid, + exceedingly, fear, terror. , and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.”
—Luke 21:26

“Ashkelon shall see it, and fear•Strongs 3372: yÃŽréa yare}, yaw-ray´; a primitive root; to fear; morally, to revere; caus. to frighten:—affright, be (make) afraid, dread(-ful), (put in) fear(-ful, -fully, -ing), (be had in) reverence(-end), x see, terrible (act, -ness, thing).; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.”
—Zechariah 9:5

IDF probes opened following the offensive discovered that Haniyeh and other senior Hamas commanders took over a ward of the hospital, the Gaza Strip’s largest, and set up a command center for the duration of the campaign.

Hamas believed that Israel would not target the hospital due to the high risk of collateral damage.

Guards were posted at the entrance to the ward and field commanders took advantage of the humanitarian corridor and cessation of action that the IDF instituted every day for several hours, to enter the hospital and meet with senior Hamas officials to receive instructions.

Senior Hamas commanders also set up a command center in a Red Crescent Society clinic in Khan Yunis and used it as a detention center.

An IDF investigation, conducted by Col. Erez Katz, focused on the targeting of health facilities, vehicles and medical teams. The probe discovered that out of seven medical personnel claimed to have been killed by the IDF, five were Hamas operatives, including a nephew of the Hamas health minister. Two were civilians.

The probe also uncovered a number of cases during which Hamas used ambulances to transport operatives. Testimony by a Gazan medical worker and obtained by the IDF revealed how Hamas forced the Red Crescent to hand over medic and nurse uniforms for its operatives.

During the probe, the army also looked into a complaint filed by the United Nations that the air force had bombed an UNRWA vehicle in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in southern Gaza City. The probe revealed that the vehicle was bombed since it did not have markings and was driving at night in an area off limits to civilian vehicles.

Furthermore, the UN vehicle was used to transport a Palestinian anti-tank squad and was bombed after it unloaded the squad. The driver was wounded; he was later identified as the former driver of Hamas co-founder Ahmed Yassin, who was killed by Israel in 2004.