Revelations
11:17 "We give you thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, the one who is and who was; because you have taken your great power, and reigned.

11:18 The nations were angry, and your wrath came, as did the time for the dead to be judged, and to give your bondservants the prophets, their reward, as well as to the saints, and those who fear your name, to the small and the great; and to destroy those who destroy the earth."

Planet enters 'ecological debt'

Rising consumption of natural resources means that humans began "eating the planet" on 9 October, a study suggests.

The date symbolised the day of the year when people's demands exceeded the Earth's ability to supply resources and absorb the demands placed upon it.

Rising seas could leave millions homeless in Asia

SYDNEY, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Millions of people could become homeless in the Asia-Pacific region by 2070 due to rising sea levels, with Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, China and Pacific islands most at risk, says Australia's top scientific body.

A climate change report by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) found global warming in the Asia Pacific region could cause sea levels to rise by up to 16 cm (six inches) by 2030 and up to 50 cm (19 inches) by 2070.

Rising temperatures will also result in increased rainfall during the summer monsoon season in Asia and could cause more intense tropical storms, inundating low-lying coastal villages.

"The coastlines of Asia-Pacific nations are generally highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, particularly sea-level rise caused by rising global temperatures," said the CSIRO report released on Monday.

"Vast areas of the Asia-Pacific are low lying, particularly the small-island states, as well as the large river deltas found in India and Bangladesh, Southeast Asia and China."

Sea level rise between 30 to 50 cm (11 to 19 inches) would affect more than 100,000 km (62,140 miles) of coast, particularly China's Pearl Delta and Bangladesh's delta, said the report.

"As sea level rise exceeds half a metre, the area affected in the Asia-Pacific region rises to over half a million square kilometres, affecting hundreds of millions of people," it said.

Tornado damages apartment complex, leaving 75 homeless

APOPKA, Fla. (AP) — A small tornado damaged the roof of an apartment complex leaving about 75 people homeless, officials said.
No one was injured during the tornado, which occurred about 8 p.m. Saturday, said Sgt. Jerome Miller, with the Apopka Police Department.

The tornado was small and brief, according to senior forecaster Scott Kelly of the National Weather Service in Melbourne.

The storm did, however, peel back a significant portion of the roof of the apartment building and exposed the inside to substantial water damage, the National Weather Service reported. Little else appeared to be damaged in the area, according to investigators.

Some residents of the two-story building, most of them Mexican migrant workers, said they were drenched by rain and hail.

Relief workers from the American Red Cross have responded to the scene.

Lettuce recalled over E. coli concerns

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Less than a week after the Food and Drug Administration lifted its warning on fresh spinach grown in California's Salinas Valley, a popular brand of lettuce grown there was recalled Sunday over concerns about E. coli contamination.
The lettuce does not appear to have caused any illnesses, the president of Salinas-based Nunes Co. said.

The lettuce scare comes amid other federal warnings that some brands of spinach, bottled carrot juice and recent shipments of beef could cause grave health risks — including paralysis, respiratory failure and death.

Executives ordered the recall after learning that irrigation water may have been contaminated with E. coli, said Tom Nunes Jr., president of the company.

So far, company investigators have not found E. coli bacteria in the lettuce itself, Nunes stressed.

"We're just reacting to a water test only. We know there's generic E. coli on it, but we're not sure what that means," he said. "We're being extra careful. This is precautionary."

The recall covers green leaf lettuce under the Foxy brand that was purchased in grocery stores Oct. 3-6 in Arizona, California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. It was also sold to distributors in those states who may have sold it to restaurants or institutions.

The recalled lettuce was packaged as "Green Leaf 24 Count, waxed carton," and "Green Leaf 18 Count, cellophane sleeve, returnable carton." Packaging is stamped with lot code 6SL0024.

FDA spokeswoman Julie Zawisza said the agency is aware of the voluntary recall but had no details.

"As a standard course of action, we would expect the firm to identify the source of the contamination and take steps to ... ensure that it doesn't happen again," Zawisza wrote in an e-mail.

It's unlikely that the bacteria in the lettuce fields share the source of the E. coli found in spinach that has sickened nearly 200 people and has been linked to three deaths nationwide, Nunes said.

Pathogenic Escherichia coli bacteria, or E. coli, can proliferate in uncooked produce, raw milk, unpasteurized juice, contaminated water and meat. When consumed, it may cause diarrhea and bloody stools.

Although most healthy adults recover within a week without long-term side effects, some people may develop a form of kidney failure.

That illness is most likely to occur in young children, senior citizens and people with compromised immune systems. In extreme cases, it can lead to kidney damage or death.

Strong earthquake strikes near Tonga

SYDNEY, Australia - A strong earthquake struck under the sea floor near the South Pacific nation of Tonga on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. No damage or tsunami threat was reported.

The magnitude-6.2 temblor hit shortly before 2 a.m. six miles under the sear floor about 170 miles south of Nuku'alofa, Tonga's capital, the USGS said.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, which maintains an ocean-wide wave warning system, did not issue a tsunami warning bulletin.

Bird flu found in pigs in Indonesia's Bali

JAKARTA, Oct 9 (Reuters) - The H5N1 bird flu virus has infected pigs on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, a senior agriculture ministry official said on Monday.

"There were two pigs that were infected by bird flu in Bali. These were old cases that happened last July," Musni Suatmodjo, agriculture ministry director of animal health, told Reuters.

Koran Tempo newspaper had reported on the weekend that a team from the veterinary faculty at Udayana University had discovered avian influenza infected two pigs in the regencies of Gianyar and Tabanan in Bali.

It was not clear if the pigs died.

Pigs are a concern because they are susceptible to many of the viruses that infect humans. Swines can act as mixing vessels in which genetic material from avian flu viruses can mix with human influenza viruses, potentially producing new and deadly strains for which humans have no immunity.

I Gusti Putu Suwandi, head of the Tabanan agriculture office, said there have not been new cases of avian influenza in the area since July.

"As for the pigs' cases, we haven't received a formal report of the finding from the university," Suwandi told Reuters by telephone.

The agriculture ministry's Suatmodjo said bird flu had been detected in 30 out of 33 provinces in the country, with the latest cases in North Sulawesi province.

He said that although that was an increase from 29 provinces last year, the percentage of deaths in poultry was lower thanks to better vaccination and other control measures.

"The number of death cases in poultry due to bird flu were relatively small as commercial farms have done proper vaccination and biosecurity, but the main problems remain on the backyard farms," Suatmodjo said, referring to the many Indonesians who keep a handful of chickens at their homes.

Indonesia has become one of the frontlines in the battle against the disease. So far, 52 people have died of bird flu, the highest of any country, with the majority of deaths occurring since the beginning of this year.

Worldwide, 148 people have died of bird flu since 2003.

Although the human death toll has climbed, the Indonesian government has resisted mass culling of birds, citing the expense and impracticality in a huge, populous country where keeping a few chickens or ducks in backyards is common.

Culling at selective farms and their immediate surroundings has been the preferred method.

Millions of chickens and other fowl in Indonesia have died from the disease or been killed to prevent its spread since it first surfaced in the archipelago in late 2003.

WHO: TB poses greatest threat to Europe

GENEVA - Tuberculosis has come back in a new, more deadly form to pose the disease's greatest threat to Europe since World War II, world health officials said Tuesday.

Drug-resistant strains of the disease are lurking just beyond the European Union's borders, in countries where AIDS blossomed following the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to U.N. and Red Cross health officials.