Here's a video of a Texas man who said that this is the face of Jesus--on a moth. Where is this world headed to?

11 charged in connection with credit card fraud
BOSTON - Eleven people, including a U.S. Secret Service informant, have been charged in connection with the hacking of nine major retailers and the theft and sale of more than 41 million credit and debit card numbers, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.

‘Grand Theft Auto’ drives Thai teen to kill cabbie
BANGKOK: A Thai teenager incensed that he could not afford to play the violent computer game Grand Theft Auto robbed a taxi driver and stabbed him to death in his cab, police said Monday. 

Fear of Catastrophes?

The message was largely the same: The rest of the world is not prepared for the coming catastrophe -- whatever it may be. For this crowd, flu pandemics, cyber warfare, rising sea levels and tumbling asteroids are all potent threats -- but the public simply isn't paying enough attention, they insist.

As public consciousness swings from one crisis to the next, from SARS and BSE to the current salmonella contamination of American tomatoes, emergency planners spend their days preparing communities for the changing roster of imminent threat.

At the Disaster Management conference, the word of the day was "resilience," or how to brace people -- who simply want to enjoy their lives without worrying about the sky falling--for the worst. (Excerpts from nationalpost.com)

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Let's shake the heavens and the heavens on earth.

Thousands Expect Apocalypse in 2012

Survival groups around the world are gearing up and counting down to a mysterious date that has been anticipated for thousands of years: Dec. 21, 2012.

"You have to understand, there will be nothing, nothing left," Patrick Geryl told ABC News. "We will have to start an entire civilization from scratch." Geryl, a 53-year-old former laboratory worker who lives in Belgium, quit his job two years ago after he saved up enough money to last him until December 2012. He’s now stocking survival supplies, a list of which runs 11 pages long.

Geryl is certainly not the only one. Searching for "2012 the end of the world" on Google brings up nearly 700,000 hits. More than 6,500 video posts about the day have been posted on YouTube. There are also countless books on the topic, many published in the wake of the success of Daniel Pinchbeck's "2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl," which has been selling thousands of copies each month since it was released last May. (Excerpts from news.aol.com)

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Expect the unexpected

Here's my worst fear; this morning my mother died. She died in her bed. Woe unto me! I hate thinking that this will happen in a time when the world is in great distress. Deaths and sorrows everywhere!

From a poem written by Dreamcatcher

I Regret

My God, why did you take my mother?
Angels took the wrong one - not her - another.
Regret is a feeling that I feel everyday;
You took her from me, and I didn't say -

"I Love You, Mom," in my own way;
Only to hear her say it back to me.
God, why couldn't you just let us be?
She didn't deserve to die;

More than 50,000 people may have died in the earthquake that devastated parts of China on Monday, state media say.

The warning came after the government confirmed the death toll had risen to 19,500, as rescue efforts continue to search for thousands still trapped.

About 10 million people across Sichuan province have been directly affected by the 7.9 quake, the media said. (More on bcc news)

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(From Real News)
Earthquake in China kills thousands

More than 12,000 people were killed in Monday's earthquake in central China. The 7.9 quake also left thousands buried under rubble, and rescue efforts by 20,000 Chinese security and relief workers are slowly uncovering them. International leaders offered their support, though China is not allowing the entry of foreign relief workers yet.

YANGON, Myanmar - The Red Cross said Wednesday that the death toll in Myanmar's cyclone may reach as high as 127,990.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in its daily report that it arrived at the figure by pooling and extrapolating assessments by other 22 aid groups and organizations in 58 townships.

BEIJING - A massive earthquake struck central China on Monday and state media reported that as many as 5,000 people were killed in a single county while nearly 900 students were trapped under the rubble of their school.

The official Xinhua News Agency said 80 percent of the buildings had collapsed in Beichuan county in Sichuan province after the 7.8-magnitude quake.

Xinhua reported that 3,000 to 5,000 people had died in Beichuan, which has a population of 160,000, raising fears the overall death toll could increase sharply. Another 10,000 people were believed to be hurt. (Excerpts from news.yahoo.com)

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UPDATE

Death toll in China earthquake rises to 8,533

CHONGQING, China - A massive earthquake struck central China on Monday, killing more than 8,500 people, trapping nearly 900 students under the rubble of their school and spilling ammonia from a chemical plant, state media reported.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake was among the worst to strike China in decades, devastating a hilly region of small cities and towns in Sichuan and nearby provinces. The official Xinhua News Agency said 8,533 people died in Sichuan and dozens of other deaths were reported elsewhere. (Excerpts from news.yahoo.com)

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UPDATE

China quake toll close to 15,000

Nearly 15,000 people died in the devastating earthquake that hit China's Sichuan province, the official Xinhua news agency has reported.

Thousands more are still trapped in the rubble two days after the 7.9 quake struck, causing landslides and razing homes, schools and whole villages. (Excerpts from bbc news)

PATUAKHALI, Bangladesh-- Bangladesh's death toll from Cyclone Sidr has reached an estimated 2,000 people, officials said Sunday, amid fears that it could skyrocket to five times that number.

The chairman of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society said he is concerned the deaths blamed on Thursday's Category 4 cyclone could reach between 5,000 and 10,000.

Thousands are missing, while an estimated 280,000 others are unable to return to their homes that the storm wiped away in the impoverished South Asian nation. (More on CNN)

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UPDATE

Myanmar cyclone death toll exceeds 22,000

YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- A Myanmar government radio station said Tuesday that more than 22,000 people are dead and 41,000 missing after the catastrophic cyclone that battered the country.

A news broadcast on the state-run station said Tuesday that 22,464 people had been confirmed dead from Cyclone Nargis. The broadcast added that 41,000 more were missing.

The U.N. estimated up to a million could be homeless. (More on CNN)