Welcome to Sunday

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."

Storm-hit area turns attention to cleanup of debris

St. Louis — With all power expected to be back on for storm-affected customers in Missouri and Illinois, attention turned Friday to cleanup of limbs and other debris.

In Waterloo, Ill., southeast of St. Louis, Mayor Terry Kipping said city workers have done a yeoman's job in hauling off many of the countless limbs and downed trees — damage he likened to a tornado's legacy.

"It's bad. I really don't know how to begin to describe it," said Kipping, a 57-year-old lifelong resident of the community of about 10,000. "It's the worst I've ever seen. We've had some streets that weren't passable, backyards and front yards, you name it. It's just total demolition."

Five feared dead as typhoon whips Philippines

MANILA, Dec 10 (Reuters) - At least five people were feared dead and tens of thousands spent the night in makeshift shelters as Typhoon Utor ploughed through the central Philippines on Sunday, cutting power and communication lines in the archipelago.

The storm, bringing winds of about 120 km per hour (75 mph) and gusts of up to 150 kph, hit Samar and Masbate islands overnight, forcing residents of coastal and low-lying areas to seek higher ground.

The Philippines' National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said two people were confirmed dead, including a 1-year-old girl whose house was pinned by a fallen tree in Capiz province.

Three residents of Roxas City, also in Capiz, were feared dead after they reportedly drowned. The NDCC, however, listed the three as missing, as their bodies had not been found.

Authorities evacuated more than 90,000 residents, most of them in Albay province, where villages were wiped out by Typhoon Durian last week when its winds and rain sent tonnes of mud and water crashing from Mount Mayon, an active volcano, leaving more than 1,000 people feared dead.

The NDCC said nearly 9,000 passengers were also stranded in ports as interisland ferries stopped operations due to rough seas. It said power was knocked out in wide areas in the Visayas region.

The typhoon passed just north of Boracay, a popular tourist destination known for its white sand beaches.

Utor, which brought rain to Manila, is expected to head out to the South China Sea during the next 48 hours on a path that could take it towards northern Vietnam or south China and Hong Kong.

"We expect the typhoon to intensify as it heads over the south China Sea," said Nathaniel Cruz, head of weather forecasting at the Philippines' national weather bureau.

Utor could strengthen to a category 5 "super typhoon" -- with winds of more than 250 kph -- over the sea and is forecast to slam into coastal regions in the northwest of the South China Sea by Friday, according to www.tropicalstormrisk.com.

On Friday, the Philippines hastily postponed an annual summit of 16 Asian leaders until January, citing concerns the typhoon could wreak havoc at the venue on the central island of Cebu.

Presidents and prime ministers from 16 countries were due to start arriving on Cebu and nearby Mactan Island on Saturday for the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting and an East Asia summit on Dec. 11-13.

While Philippine officials insisted the surprise move was unrelated to warnings from the U.S., British and Australian governments that terrorists were planning to bomb the gathering, security officials told Reuters fears of political unrest in Manila had influenced the government's surprise decision.

"We made the right decision, considering the safety of the delegates," Marciano Paynor, Secretary General of the ASEAN Organising Committee, said in Cebu.

Two other typhoons, Cimaron and Chebi, hit the country in late October and early November, causing landslides and flashfloods in some areas and massive damage to property.

Storms regularly hit the Philippines. In one of the worst disasters in recent years, more than 5,000 people died on the central island of Leyte in 1991 in floods triggered by a typhoon.

Two homes lost as Victoria bushfires rage

Two homes have been lost as soaring temperatures and strong winds combined to create nightmare bushfire conditions for firefighters across Victoria.

As palls of acrid smoke hung over much of the state on its hottest December day in more than half a century, 3,000 firefighters battled blazes which have already burnt out more than 220,000 hectares of bush.

A shift from the hot northerly winds to cooler southerly breezes predicted for early evening, it was hoped, would provide some relief in the battle against 14 major outbreaks.

Despite the most frightening conditions since the Ash Wednesday fires that claimed 75 lives 23 years ago, Victoria has so far been spared the weekend of horror it had been warned to expect.

But Police chief commissioner Christine Nixon told journalists the bushfire threat remained extreme.

"We may lose lives," she said.

"We will lose more assets but we will have done the best we can to protect people and this whole environment."

In addition to fires raging in the state's north-east and Gippsland regions, fire authorities scrambled as fire broke out on a third front near Camperdown, south-west of Melbourne.

On Sunday morning, residents in settlements across the state's east from Germantown to Gaffneys Creek, and from Cheshunt to Castleburn, prepared to face the flames.

A woman in Waterford, near Dargo in Gippsland, summed up the unspoken feelings of many as the flames neared her property.

"We're just waiting. I'm as scared as shit," she said.

In the North Eastern Alpine region, 131,000 hectares have already been burnt out.

Early in the afternoon, a new fire started east of Bright, threatening properties in Germantown, Freeburgh, Snowy Creek and parts of Mt Beauty.

Fires burning in the Black Range, Mt Typo, Lake William Hovell East and Rose River area joined up with residents of Cheshunt and Paradise Falls areas warned that spot fires would break out as the fire front advanced towards them.

The Country Fire Authority (CFA) confirmed a holiday home had been lost in Rose River as the area came under intense ember attack early in the day.

East of Tolmie, residents between Merrijig and Mirimbah were placed on high alert and warned to expect an ember attack when a fire broke through containment lines.

And people living in Gaffneys Creek and A1 Mine Settlement were warned fires were approaching them.

In Gippsland, heavy smoke from the Mt Terrible fire made life difficult for residents of Erica, Rawson, Walhalla, Noojee and Willow Grove.

Briagolong resident Joyce Baker, 86, said smoke was very thick around their property.

"I have had a gut full, I'll be glad when it's over. It's the sitting and waiting that's the worst bit," she said.

By mid-afternoon, the waiting was over for many, as blazes crept closer and fire authorities issued a flurry of warnings of imminent danger.

Erratic winds wrought havoc for firefighters trying to protect properties from a blaze which broke out near Stonyford, south-west of Melbourne, where one home was lost.

CFA incident controller Malcolm Fallon said water bombing aircraft and 160 firefighters had been deployed to fight the blaze, which quickly ripped through 900 hectares.

The fire was contained late in the afternoon, the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) said.

Premier Steve Bracks said all the possible resources were being directed to the fires.

"I can guarantee all Victorians we have every resource possible to fight these fires," he said.

"We are the best prepared we have ever been in this state.

"But we have some of the worst conditions we have ever faced in this state as well."

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Terry Ryan said there was only one way the fires were going to be stopped.

"To put them out it's going to take rain," he said.

"There's a front coming up Thursday, there's some showers and thunderstorms going to happen with that probably, and that will extend to the north-east on Friday.

"There is hope there."

Huge demo in Beirut piles pressure on government

There were no official estimates of the size of Sunday's crowd but one security source said it was the largest such gathering ever seen in Lebanon.

Venice's St Mark's Square under water with new 'acqua alta'

ROME (AFP) - Venice's historic St Mark's Square was under water as a new episode of "acqua alta" struck the city with the convergence of high tides and a strong sirocco.

The city's tide monitoring center put residents on alert and raised walkways were put in place on main streets to allow people to get around the city, five percent of which was under water with levels up to 103 centimeters (3.3 feet).

The highest "acqua alta" of the year occurred on October 24, at 112 centimeters.

The record "aqua alta" in the Renaissance canal city remains November 4, 1966, when the waters reached 1.94 meters amid severe flooding throughout Italy.

The government launched the multi-billion-euro "Moses" plan in 2003 to build 78 mobile dikes together to be situated at either end of Venice's lagoon.

The work is scheduled for completion in 2012.

Venice has become increasingly vulnerable over time, suffering more than 50 significant floods between 1993 and 2002 and sinking about 23 centimeters over the course of the 20th century.