Extinction Protocol CHINA - The H7N9 bird flu virus can be transmitted not only through close contact but by airborne exposure, a team at the University of Hong Kong found after extensive laboratory experiments. Though the virus appears to have been brought under control recently, the researchers urged the Hong Kong authorities to maintain strict surveillance, which should include not only poultry but humans and pigs.

“We also found that the virus can infect pigs, which was not previously known,” said Dr Maria Zhu Huachen, a research assistant professor at HKU’s School of Public Health. There have been 131 confirmed human infections, with 36 deaths, the World Health Organization said. All but one of the cases was on the mainland. The virus appears to have been brought under control largely due to restrictions at bird markets and there have been no new confirmed cases since May 8. But Zhu said that although there was no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission, their study provided evidence that H7N9 was infectious and transmissible in mammals. In the study, to be published today in the journal Science, ferrets were used to evaluate the infectivity of H7N9. It was found the virus could spread through the air, from one cage to another, albeit less efficiently. Inoculated ferrets were infected before the appearance of most clinical symptoms. This means there may be more cases than have been detected or reported. We also found that the virus can infect pigs, which was not previously known. Dr Maria Zhu Huachen, HKU’s School of Public Health, “People may be transmitting the virus before they even know that they’ve got it,” Zhu said. Additional tests using pigs, a major host of influenza viruses, showed that they could also get infected with H7N9. Zhu warned that H7N9 may combine with pig viruses to generate new variants. On a more positive note, it was found that the virus is relatively mild. “Most of the fatal H7N9 cases had underlying medical conditions, so there are probably some other factors that contribute to this kind of fatality,” Zhu said. To avoid H7N9 becoming endemic in poultry populations, which would create a greater opportunity for human transmission, the researchers suggested a rethink on how live poultry markets are managed. Zhu believed the Hong Kong government had “done a very good job” in this area and should continue to do so. The government implemented a surveillance program on local and imported poultry in 1998. It includes monitoring the live poultry supply chain, pet shops, parks and the wild bird environment. She said the government had collaborated with HKU on intensive surveillance of both birds and pigs. Zhu added that people who regularly had close contact with live poultry or pigs should take precautions, have routine body checks and report their case immediately if they feel unwell. –South China Morning Post

Pacific Plate turbulence increases: At 103 million square kilometers, the Pacific plate is the largest of the tectonic plates and consequently the most violent. Geological forces are tearing at the integrity and stability of this large lithospheric cross-section of the planet. As I reported several days ago, seismic tension was mounting along the Pacific tectonic plate. The cascading series of earthquakes over the last 24 hours are yet one more indication that dynamic geological change is accelerating within the interior of the planet. These processes of change will have profound implications for the entire Ring of Fire and all subduction zones located within this region.

Endtime Headlines Fox News  - Tragedy in Oklahoma: tornadoes devastate a community, an elementary school is leveled and the death toll stands at 24 dead. Does the idea of the existence of a loving God get swept away in the wake of such storms like a tin building or mobile home? Looking at the outpouring of prayer and the massive faith-based response to help those affected, it doesn’t seem to be the case. In fact, it appears to be just the opposite.

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve read or heard the phrase, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of OKC.” Still for some, the call for prayers for the victims and their families seems almost irrational. They say, “If prayer didn’t work before the storm to prevent it, why should we think it would work after the damage is done?” In moments like these, we have little time to waste asking questions like “why did this happen?” The urgent need of the hour is to give our collective focus and efforts toward those who are hurting and are in need. That’s where the practical side of prayer is clearly seen: It turns our focus and our faith towards the ones who need our help. Once this happens, that faith compels us to act.

That faith compels us to do something…anything to help those affected. The recurring story in this country is that when tragedy strikes, God shows up through the lives of countless thousands whose faith moves them to action–to give their time and resources to help the hurting.  Besides the tragic reports, there will be stories of hope that abound as well. Stories of not only the massive numbers that were spared or recovered in the rubble, but the inexplicable comfort those families most affected will experience. With little time to waste in mere speculation of God’s goodness and existence, we must remember some important things, lest in our pain we wrongly conclude that turning to God for help is a futile exercise. It’s self evident that our world runs by natural laws and processes. Wind currents, thunderstorms, pressure and temperature changes all contribute to form things like tornadoes and hurricanes. Without tectonic plate movement (which results in earthquakes), life on earth would not be possible. Is the creator of the car, a cruel and thoughtless person because of the millions of people that have died in auto accidents? Those natural laws affect everyone, believers and non-believers alike. In reality, this world we inhabit is a pale blue dot of hope in the midst of a violent, hostile universe. The existence of life, consciousness and reason in the midst of this vast, uncaring universe is the wonder of wonders. The fact that we are learning to protect ourselves from these natural forces is the result of these gifts. We’ll never know on this side of eternity how many prayers were answered and lives spared as a result of God’s mercy, or how many prayers made a difference.

Besides creating a world run by natural laws, which can be understood and harnessed, God made humans with the capacity to choose good or evil, knowing many would choose the latter, which gives insight into the atrocities committed in Boston or Newtown, Conn. Yet, God took things a step farther. He wrote Himself into the script of this cosmic drama. He became a man in Jesus Christ and felt the sufferings of the entire world. He also demonstrated who He was by subduing the forces of nature, calming storms and ultimately defying death itself. When we pray, we are engaging our Creator and asking for His help. Just as there are natural laws, there are spiritual laws as well, and prayer seems to be one of them. Rather than turn from God in dark times, we turn to Him because we know that there must be an ultimate source of comfort and strength to tap into. Skeptics use moments like this to mock and ridicule people of faith for their prayers. Yet, this doesn’t take away the pain, it just takes away the hope.  Faith is what will help those who have lost loved ones move forward and believe that something good can come out of something so tragic. It is also a vital tool that will help a city rebuild stronger and more compassionate than ever before. Fox News

A bridge on a US interstate highway has collapsed, with multiple vehicles and drivers plunging into the water below.Both north- and southbound lanes of the four lane bridge on the I5 collapsed, according to Washington State Patrol.

Three rescue boats and several private vessels are currently on the Skagit River, attempting to help people who are sitting on the roofs of their cars in the water, according to the Skagit Valley Herald. ….More

The Home Front Command on Wednesday was preparing for a massive military drill next week, to focus on coping with chemical weapons attacks. The nationwide exercise will drill the civilian population as well as military and emergency services.

The exercise was originally scheduled to take place three weeks ago but was postponed due to tension with Syria. The simulation, which is being run in conjunction with the emergency response services, starts Sunday morning as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces a week of national emergency preparedness

The drill will include preparation for possible missile strikes against Israel, particularly in the greater Tel Aviv area. The first few days will center on protecting civilian populations at public institutions and private households. Two alarms will be sounded on Monday, at 12:30 p.m. and 7:05 p.m., and citizens will be requested to go to protected rooms or bomb shelters and to stay inside for 10 minutes.

The drill will mark the first time an entire network of early warning systems will be tested. In addition to sirens, civilians are to receive alerts from various sources, including from cellphones, social networks, and the television.

Home Front Defense Minister Gilad Erdan warned Tuesday that rockets raining down on densely populated areas in Israel “are only a matter of time” and could happen at any moment. He referred to the threat posed to Israel by Syria and Iran’s unconventional weapons stockpiles.

“The question is no longer will rockets be fired at the large populated areas in Israel, the question is when it’ll happen,” Erdan told reporters during a briefing ahead of a large drill in southern Israel on Wednesday. He said the battles being fought no longer distinguish between the front line and the home front, as missiles and rockets allow strikes far from the battlefield.

Israeli jets reportedly struck sites near Damascus twice earlier this month, aiming to stop the transfer of advanced Fateh-110 missiles to the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah. Although Israel never took official responsibility for the strikes, it has said it will continue to act to stop weapons transfers and an unnamed official even reportedly threatened to topple the regime in Damascus should President Bashar Assad hit back at Israel for any further strikes. Syria, for its part, has threatened to retaliate if it is hit again.

Earlier this week, the UK’s Sunday Times reported that Damascus put a number of advanced weapons on standby to strike Israel, should Jerusalem hit targets inside Syria again. According to the report, satellite images show Syria has readied its stock of Tishreen missiles for use against Tel Aviv.

US Secretary of State John Kerry stated recently that “strong evidence” exists that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons against its people. Kerry’s comments came the same day that Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu cited tests on Syrian war casualties being treated in Turkey that indicated chemical weapons had been used against them.

Damascus’s large stockpile of chemical weapons, and President Bashar Assad’s refusal to sign international accords banning them, has become a major international concern as the civil war in Syria rages on.>>Source - Times of Israel

Joshua Davidovich contributed to this report.

Posted By Extinction Protocol – ISRAEL - A day after the IDF and the Syrian Army exchanged fire in the Golan Heights, Israel Air Force chief Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel warned that Israel must be prepared for a “surprise war” developing. Speaking at a conference in Herzliya focusing on the conclusions of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Eshel stated that “a surprise war can develop today in many forms.

Isolated events can escalate very quickly and require that we are ready in hours to act in the full spectrum – and when I say the full spectrum, I mean activating the full capabilities of the Air Force.” Eshel stated that, in the Second Lebanon War, the IAF had employed just a “small amount” of its capabilities, but that in the next war, the Air Force “will need to give 100 percent, in order that our operations will be very quick and powerful.” After Russia said last week that it remains committed to an arms deal with Syria to deliver the S-300 air defense system to the Assad regime, Eshel warned that the advanced platform could change the equation. “The Assad regime invested a great deal in order to achieve the best air defense capabilities that it could buy. Systems such as these are not just an operative threat, they also give a sense of security that can cause countries to do things they would not otherwise do.” Eshel stated that the air defense system represented weaponry “from a completely different generation, which does not resemble what has come in the past.” He added, however, that “there is no system which does not have a solution, the only question is, at what cost.” Eshel stated that Syria was “changing before our eyes. If [the regime] should collapse tomorrow, we may very quickly find its large arsenal scattered and directed toward us.” –Jerusalem Post

Abraham Rabinovich - JERUSALEM — Israel’s air force commander, Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel, said yesterday that the sudden collapse of Syria would oblige Israel to undertake a massive attack “within hours.” Missions would include the demolition of the vast stores of conventional and unconventional weapons in Syria to prevent their falling into the hands of militants, he said.

“If Syria collapses tomorrow we could find ourselves in the thick of it — very fast and in great numbers (of planes),” he said during a security conference at the Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies in Herzliya. “There is an immense arsenal parked there, just waiting to be looted. It could spread with each gust of wind and you will find yourself having to act very fast.”

Eshel said the Assad regime could fall at any moment and many groups were eager to lay their hands on its weapon stockpiles.

Unlike the month-long cross-border war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia in 2006, in which Israel used only a small portion of its air strength, the air force would this time use every plane at its disposal in order to achieve its operational goals in a matter of days, he said.

These goals include opening a path for the ground army to advance on targets across the northern border.

Rhetoric in Israel has escalated in recent days with unusual intensity following statements by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that Syria would no longer ignore Israel’s air attacks inside Syria on weapons bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Additionally, the Syrian government took responsibility this week for firing at an Israeli jeep in the Golan Heights. The attack was seen as an attempt to restore injured national pride. Israel said its return fire killed three Syrian soldiers.

Officials in Jerusalem have warned that Israel might be drawn into the Syrian civil war despite its stated desire to stay on the sidelines. If war breaks out, the officials warned, Israeli cities would this time be on the front line.

“The question is no longer whether rockets will be fired at densely populated areas in Israel,” Home Front Minister Gilad Erdan was quoted as saying in the Times of Israel and elsewhere Tuesday. “The question is when it will happen.”

Maj. Gen. Eyal Eisenberg, in charge of Home Front Command, said Israeli cities would be subjected in the next war to an unprecedented barrage of missiles. It was “a certainty,” he said, that Israel would be hit with large warheads in a confrontation that would test the mettle of the civilian sector.

However, he warned Hezbollah and Syria that they would pay a heavy price for any such attack.

“Israel possesses far greater destructive power than our enemies,” he said, according to Israeli media reports. “And I would advise them to weigh the odds once more before warming up the engines.” Source Free Beacon

As they explore religious sites across the Middle East and around the world, Biblical archaeologists work to piece together the historical facts and ascertain the accuracy of the Bible. Read more: foxnews.science/slideshow

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand why genetically modified foods are dangerous, but if you look closely, you may just find the name of one listed among the names of more than 800 scientists from around the globe who have joined forces in an open letter to all world governments, outlining their detailed concerns over the alarming potential threat of biotech’s unauthorized, worldwide GM foods experiment.

In a country whose government and media appear only too eager to conjure up fear of “bioterrorism” and “biological weapons,” it’s shocking (albeit obviously deliberate) to what extent the GMO issue remains omitted from mainstream discussion. Consider that the message from these scientists seems to be that the whole planet is already under attack by the persistent and largely unchecked, reckless behavior of greedy, unruly U.S. corporations – corporations whose activities appear to be sponsored by the federal government. And whether you know it yet or not, your body is the battleground.

The letter, as posted by the Institute of Science in Society (http://www.i-sis.org.uk/list.php), is a collective call for the immediate suspension of any and all releases of GM crops and products into the environment for at least five years, in order to allow for more thorough testing. The scientists further demand that all patents on life-forms and living processes – including seeds, cell lines and genes – be revoked and banned “for a comprehensive public inquiry into the future of agriculture and food security for all.”

Life is a discovery, they say, not an innovation, and patents on life-forms and living processes “sanction biopiracy of indigenous knowledge and genetic resources, violate basic human rights and dignity, compromise healthcare, impede medical and scientific research and are against the welfare of animals.” Furthermore, they argue that GM crops provide no identifiable benefits either to farmers or consumers; instead, they offer only very significant risks to all living things.

GMOs are just bad news, followed by more bad news

Any consumption of GMO products is basically a smorgasbord of disaster, say these global scientists. In their thorough and fully cited open letter, they take biotechnology to task – making clear, undeniable connections between GM food crops and other products (like milk from cows injected with genetically modified Bovine Growth Hormone) and health problems for mammals in general. At the same time the GM crops themselves actually contribute to lower yields, increased use of herbicides/insecticides, unpredictable performance, poor economic returns, and a progressive monopoly on food by big corporations, they also encourage herbicide-tolerant weeds and pesticide-resistant superbugs, making their purported goal of “feeding the world” appear just as it is – clearly out of the reach of biotech industry. Scientists propose, instead, that these large food corporations are actually more the cause of world hunger currently, than they are the solution to it.

“It is on account of increasing corporate monopoly operating under the globalised economy that the poor are getting poorer and hungrier,” scientists say. “Family farmers around the world have been driven to destitution and suicide… Mergers and acquisitions are continuing.” Seed patent policies currently in place at biotech companies prevent farmers from saving and replanting seeds, an activity the scientists acknowledge, is one enjoyed even by third world farmers.

As promised; however, it only gets worse. Scientists agree that GMOs actually harm the delicate biodiversity necessary to the balance and maintenance of life on this planet. GM products, they say, “decimate wild plant species indiscriminately,” cause birth defects in mammals, kill insects essential to pollination like bees, lacewings, monarch butterflies, and pose other very serious threats related to horizontal gene transfer – for example, the “spread of antibiotic resistance marker genes that would render infections diseases untreatable, the generation of new viruses and bacteria that cause diseases, and harmful mutations which may lead to cancer.”

Multiple hazards to both animal and human health have already been identified by sources around the world, resulting either in bans on GM products or the adoption of strict labeling laws by many countries. Here in the U.S.; however, secret memoranda from inside the FDA have revealed its history of disregarding the warnings of its own scientists. Still, with a separate but similar mass appeal to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 2009 failing to make a rippled, lasting impact, one can only hope that eventually the science on GMOs – and the growing number of people who know about it – will simply be too loud to ignore.

Sources for this article include:
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/list.php
http://www.the-scientist.com
http://www.grain.org
http://www.naturalnews.com/037289_Monsanto_corporations_ethics.html

Source: NaturalNews.com – See more at: http://www.riseearth.com/2013/05/over-800-world-scientists-agree-gm.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+riseearth%2FKRRf+%28RiseEarth+RSS%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail#sthash.wXPIIDnJ.dpuf