news 
Sometimes people are put through tests.
Those tests make us stronger and prepare us
for the battles we have to fight.
There are all kinds of battles.
Everyone has a unique role in God's plan.
One that no one else can play.
I am sure you will do what you are meant to do.
Have Faith.
No matter what lies ahead.
Hold onto your Faith.
TOP WORLD NEWS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE...
3 million people 'vote' to make Italy GM-free
14 November 2007 - More than 3 million Italians have signed a petition calling for Italy to ban all genetically modified foods, an alliance of food producers, consumers, and environmental groups said on Tuesday.
Afghanistan expanding pomegranate exports
14 November 2007 - Farm hands place mounds of bright red pomegranates into shipping boxes stamped 'Product of Afghanistan'. The price and quality of the sweet fruit are up, and the farmers are happy that a new storage facility has extended their selling season. The advances in the pomegranate trade are a sliver of good news from a region of Afghanistan known more for Taliban attacks and a thriving opium trade.
AP - Premiers of two Koreas begin talks
14 November 2007 - The Prime Ministers of North and South Korea met Wednesday for the first time in 15 years to discuss implementing a wide-ranging reconciliation agreement that their leaders signed at a summit last month. This week's talks are aimed at fleshing out an agreement that South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il signed at their October summit in Pyongyang -- only the second such meeting since the Korean peninsula was divided more than half a century ago.
England: London buys hydrogen-fuelled red buses
14 November 2007 - London's mayor said on Tuesday he had signed a 10 million-pound ($20.7 million) deal for ten hydrogen-powered buses to help reduce pollution and CO2 emissions in the UK capital. Hydrogen buses produced no emissions beyond water vapor.
Hong Kong shares rebound, mark best day in nearly three months
14 November 2007 - Hong Kong blue chips jumped nearly five per cent on Wednesday, boosted by Wall Street gains. The market's momentum accelerated in the afternoon as Shanghai's stock market rebounded sharply. Shares marked their best single-day percentage gain since 20 August, when Beijing said mainland citizens could invest directly in Hong Kong stocks, a programme which is now expected to be delayed.
India: Stock shares ride global surge, gain 4.7 per cent
14 November 2007 - India's main stock index rose 4.7 per cent on Wednesday, posting its biggest percentage gain in three weeks, as worries over US credit-related losses eased boosting world markets. The benchmark 30-share index ended up 4.69 per cent, or 893.58 points, at 19,929.06. It was the biggest percentage rise since a 4.99 per cent jump on 23 October, and the index is only 1.5 per cent away from a record high of 20,238.16 hit on 30 October. The broader NSE index gained 4.26 per cent to a record close of 5,937.90.
Mexico stocks surge as fears of US slowdown ease
14 November 2007 - Mexican stocks ended sharply higher on Tuesday helped by a rally in US equities which eased concerns that Mexico could be dented by a slowing US economy.
Russia closes last military base in Georgia
14 November 2007 - Russia said on Tuesday it had formally ended its military presence in Georgia after more than two centuries, closing its last base in its small neighbour. Russia's commander of military forces in the Caucasus, Andrei Popov, signed documents handing over to Georgia the territory of its last base at Batumi in the Ajara autonomous republic.
UK: Britain offers aid if Middle East talks make progress
14 November 2007 - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Wednesday he would offer a $500 million aid package to the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip if US-led talks this month make progress towards Middle East peace. He said the country would also call on the rest of the European Union and America to join in.
US: Progress made on solving North Korea uranium issue
14 November 2007 - Progress has been made towards answering suspicions North Korea tried to enrich uranium for atom bombs, the chief US negotiator on Pyongyang's nuclear disarmament said on Wednesday, although some issues remain to be solved. Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which has monitors in North Korea verifying the process to disable Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme, said the programme was 'moving in the right direction'.
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| What Is Global Warming? Global warming refers to an average increase in the Earth's temperature, which in turn causes changes in climate. A warmer Earth may lead to changes in rainfall patterns, a rise in sea level, and a wide range of impacts on plants, wildlife, and humans. When scientists talk about the issue of climate change, their concern is about global warming caused by human activities.
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Some comments about Global Warming... 
- If I were to say that Global Warming (a fact, the earth is warming and has been for the last 30 years) was not caused by human beings and that CO2 has almost no effect on it, a few things would happen. First, I would probably be called ignorant. Secondly, I would be accused of being part of an astroturfing campaign and in the pocket of "big oilTM" (i.e. "The Man"). It's not that I don't believe that the CO2 emissions from humans cause the earth to warm up, but I don't positively believe it, either. Maybe that's because the whole panic is coming from the same people (in my eyes anyway) that give us our yearly pandemic scare. Remember SARS? Killer Bees? Bird Flu? It's like Oprah put a revolving door on her studio for alarmist panic-ridden scientists. Every year, we're told that our world is just one step away from the apocalypse, so I'm afraid Global Warming, if it is in fact sound, is falling victim to boy-who-cried-wolf syndrome. People are so jaded, so used to being lied to, that none even pay attention to these scares any more.
The problem with Global Warming, SARS, and Bird Flu is that any real science behind them is consumed by emotion and alarmist rhetoric. Instead of allowing further study, the subjects are closed to any sort of debate. Any attempts to breach the imposed lock are interpreted as a corrupt pay-off. Human-caused Global Warming is an established scientific fact in the eyes of many people, but unfortunately it is not the case.
It is a very new field of study, which is because up until the 1970's, the earth wasn't warming. It was, naturally, cooling. Of course, concerns about a new ice age were foremost in the minds of the same panic-ridden elements that push the doctrine of the opposite today. Personally, I think it's rather silly. Of course the earth's climate is going to fluctuate. You'd have to be a fool to expect it to maintain a completely constant temperature throughout time. It just doesn't work that way. I accept the possibility that it could be correct, but it's simply too soon to declare it as fact as if it were the same as Evolution or Gravity, theories that have been around for far longer.
As for the evidence on either side, I don't really have enough time to consider it all, but I think it is reasonable to consider that, maybe, for a little while at least, our world might not be on the brink of disaster. -Moralnihilist
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Never mind Rudy Huxtable. Forget that silly frog. Being green is easy!
Don’t get me wrong. I’m no Green Peace terrorist out to blow up whaling ships; I’m as worried about global warming as my father and grandfather were about global cooling in the ’70’s and ’40’s; and the earth is not my mother...but it is my home. I think it is our duty to be good stewards of the earth, and there are some simple things we can do that require little time, effort, or expense, and are good for the environment at the same time.
We use energy efficient light bulbs in our house. They’re rather expensive—at least by unemployed student standards—but they save us money on our utility bills and last longer than incandescent bulbs.
Perhaps the easiest thing we can do for the environment, as pointed out in Tuesday’s Southerner, is recycling. I became interested in this when I learned of those monthly fees on our utility bills whether we use our curbside recycling bins or not. The wife and I didn’t even have a bin, so I called and had one delivered. It’s a paltry amount, but if we’re being charged at all, it’s stupid not to use it.
How many plastic drink bottles and steel food cans does your household go through in a week? We eat three meals a day and have something to drink with each one. It adds up. Why send all that perfectly good refuse to the landfill when it can be used again?
We recycle our plastic grocery bags. We use some of them again for lunch bags and trashcan liners, and the rest we take to the recycling barrel outside Food Lion. Perhaps I should check to make sure they really are recycling those bags. When I worked at Harris Supermarket, we had a barrel that the store manager would have someone go empty into the dumpster when it was full.
If you’re reading this, you have a newspaper to recycle. My bin contains almost as many newspapers as it does bottles. Cardboard can be recycled, as well as the reams of junk mail we all hate.
At least once a week, our mailboxes are stuffed with the same coupons, circulars, and insurance ads that are stuck in our newspapers. Those of us with P.O. boxes get triple the aggravation. Throw in the daily credit card offers, and that’s a whole lot of trees dying needlessly.
Each time I check my box, I see the trashcans in the post office overflowing with junk mail, so I came up with a simple solution: requiring the U.S. Postal Service to provide recycling bins in their facilities.
I wrote to Rep. G.K. Butterfield, Sens. Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr, and Postmaster General John Potter, as well as Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL), who chair their respective chambers’ subcommittees dealing with the USPS. I shared my idea with each and pointed out how this would be a good opportunity for the federal and local governments to work together since most municipalities have some sort of recycling program already.
Three months later, I have only received a response—if you could call it that—from Dole. She never once mentioned my issue, but did thank me three times for sharing my concerns. I didn’t expect much from her or Burr, though any acknowledgement is better than none.
I’m really disappointed in the three Democrats, especially Butterfield. My own representative—the first line of defense, so to speak—should have the gumption to respond in a timely manner. I thought any green issue drew Democrats like an outhouse draws flies.
I voted for Dole, Burr, and Butterfield, and they can count on my remembering their shoddy constituent service when they come up for reelection. But, even without the help of the government, I can still have an impact on the environment in my own small way.
Go thou and do likewise. -Jabberwocky
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Fred Harteis News Articles - Scientists' portraits of continued global warming are not a pretty sight: intensified hurricanes, droughts, floods and dramatic shortages of clean air, water and food supplies.
But if you think that's bad, wait until you get the bill.
"Global warming will cause profound changes, and it will be costly for people," says Chris Miller, director of Climate Campaigns for Greenpeace. "Things we've been taking for granted for so long in this country will be hard to take for granted -- from driving big cars we can afford to fuel to turning on the tap."
While no one is predicting water will stop running altogether, many global warming experts predict that it will be scarcer in some areas and more expensive across the board.
Signs of the early damage from warming already are appearing, according to a growing number of scientists and environmentalists. "There's likely going to be an increase in droughts and floods," says Stephen H. Schneider, climatologist and professor at Stanford University. "We're just beginning to show that emerging," he adds, in the form of more intense, destructive and deadly storms.
"You can never say with any one storm, 'We caused that,'" says Schneider. "But you can also never say with any one storm, 'We did not cause that.'"
Unchecked, continued climate change could mean big lifestyle changes in the next 30 years to 50 years. And it could also mean that life for your children and grandchildren will be more difficult and more expensive.
What's up weatherwise?
With global warming, "Dry areas are likely to get dryer and wet areas are likely to get wetter," says Chris Field, director of the department of global ecology for the Carnegie Institution at Stanford University.
And that can wallop the pocketbook. - Fredharteis
Watch Videos On Nature's Wrath...
-Volcanic Eruption...
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