Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

At least 20 of the 51 people killed by a devastating monster tornado that ripped through Moore, Okla., were children, the Oklahoma Chief Medical Examiner said this evening, as searchers picked through the rubble of schools, homes and businesses leveled by the storm. Officials said they expect the total number of deaths to rise overnight

The breakthrough could lead to customised cells to help treat and even cure a range of diseases, from Alzheimer’s to multiple sclerosis.

However, it also raises the spectre of babies being cloned in laboratories. This could allow couples who lose a child to pay for the creation of a ‘duplicate’.

While human embryos have been cloned before, none have had healthy stem cells extracted from them. The latest advance means scientists are now even closer to being able to clone children.

The US team behind the work stress that they want to find treatments for incurable diseases – but critics fear there is little to stop a rogue scientist from copying their work to try to clone humans.

Dr David King, founder of the campaign group Human Genetics Alert, called for an international ban on human cloning and said it was ‘irresponsible in the extreme’ to have published details of the stem-cell technique.

The world first was achieved at Oregon Health and Science University, with a technique similar to the one used to clone Dolly the sheep.

First, Dr Shoukhrat Mitalipov took eggs donated by healthy young women and removed their DNA.

He then placed skin cells inside the hollowed-out eggs and used a zap of electricity to make them start developing into embryos.

When the embryos were five or six days old, and around the size of a pinhead, Dr Mitalipov successfully harvested them for stem cells.

These cells, known as ‘master cells’, are capable of turning into every type of cell in the body and are widely seen as a potential repair kit for diseased, damaged and worn-out body parts.

Dr Mitalipov has spent many years refining the technique, which involves feeding the eggs caffeine at a key point in the process.

He said: ‘Our finding offers new ways of generating stem cells for patients with dysfunctional or damaged tissues and organs.

‘Such stem cells can regenerate and replace those damaged cells and tissues and alleviate diseases that affect millions of people.

‘While there is much work to be done in developing safe and effective stem-cell treatments, we believe this is a significant step forward in developing the cells that could be used in regenerative medicine.’

Using a sliver of the patient’s skin at the start of the process would ensure that stem cells would be a perfect match for their body.

This would raise the odds of the treatment being successful, and remove the need for powerful drugs to suppress the patient’s immune system.

Tailor-made cells could also be used to learn more about a person’s illness, and test drugs to find those that work best.

Chris Mason, a professor of regenerative medicine at University College London, said Dr Mitalipov’s work, detailed in the journal Cell, looked like ‘the real deal’.

Dr Paul De Sousa, of Edinburgh University, said that improving our understanding of women’s eggs could lead to new treatments for infertility. However, other scientists warned that the new research brings us closer to babies being cloned to order.

In Britain, the law states that cloned embryos have to destroyed after 14 days, and it is illegal to implant them in a woman. Other countries have more relaxed rules for so-called reproductive cloning.

Josephine Quintavalle, of campaign group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, questioned the need for the research, given that another, more simple way of making customised stem cells already exists.

She said: ‘The suspicion has to be that the real interest is not stem cell therapy per se, given that other uncontroversial approaches are already so successful. Let’s hope that the goal is not out and out reproductive cloning.’

Dr Mitalipov said he has failed to create baby monkeys via cloning, and that it is therefore unlikely his technique could be used to clone humans.

Others claim that creating a five-day-old bundle of cells is a far cry from someone giving birth to a fully-formed cloned baby.

However, Dr King warned: ‘Scientists have finally delivered the baby that would-be human cloners have been waiting for: a method for reliably creating cloned human embryos.

'This makes it imperative that we create an international ban on human cloning before any more research like this takes place.

‘It is irresponsible in the extreme to have published this research.’

In 2004 Hwang Woo-suk of South Korea claimed to have cloned the first human embryo and extracted stem cells from it.

It later emerged that his data was fabricated, and he was convicted of embezzlement and other charges.

Saudi Arabia says it has recorded another death from a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing the total number of deaths in the kingdom to 16. Saudi Arabia remains the center for the virus as investigators from the World Health Organization seek more clues about its origins and how it is spread. More than than 20 people have died from the virus worldwide.

The Saudi Health Ministry announced the latest death Monday but gave no other details.

Since September 2012, the WHO has been informed of 41 confirmed cases of the virus.

The virus has been compared to SARS, a respiratory infection that surfaced in China in late 2002 and killed at least 774 people worldwide.

A boulder-sized meteor slammed into the moon in March, igniting an explosion so bright that anyone looking up at the right moment might have spotted it, NASA announced Friday.

NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office is reporting the discovery of the brightest impact seen on the moon in the eight year history of the monitoring program.

Some 300 lunar impact events have been logged over the years but this latest impact, from March 17, is considered many orders of magnitude brighter than anything else observed.

“We have seen a couple of others in the ‘wow’ category but not this bright,” said Robert Suggs, manager of NASA’s Lunar Impact Monitoring Program at Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

The blast lasted only about a single second and shone like a 4th magnitude star—making it bright enough to see with just the unaided eye.

Syria and Hizballah, flushed with the success of breaking the rebel hold on the strategic town of al Qusayr, Sunday, May 19, are making no secret of their plans for the “great confrontation,” i.e. military confrontaiton with  Israel after they win the Syrian civil war.  Israel’s military leaders are taking with the utmost seriousness the words

When is the economic collapse going to happen? Just open up your eyes and take a look around the globe. The next wave of the economic collapse may not have reached Wall Street yet, but it is already deeply affecting billions of lives all over the planet.

Much of Europe has already descended into a deep economic depression, very disturbing economic data is coming out of the second and third largest economies on the globe (China and Japan), and in most of the world economic inequality is growing even though 80 percent of the global population already lives on less than $10 a day.

Just because the Dow has been setting brand new all-time records lately does not mean that everything is okay. Remember, a bubble is always the biggest right before it bursts. The next major wave of the economic collapse is already sweeping across Europe and Asia and it is going to devastate the United States as well. I hope that you are ready.

The following are 10 scenes from the economic collapse that is sweeping across the planet...

#1 27 Percent Unemployment/60 Percent Youth Unemployment In Greece.

The economic depression in Europe just continues to get worse with each passing month. According to the Daily Mail, the unemployment rate in Greece has nearly tripled since 2009...

Greek youth unemployment rose above 60 per cent for the first time in February, reflecting the pain caused by the country's crippling recession after years of austerity under its international bailout.

Greece's jobless rate has almost tripled since the country's debt crisis emerged in 2009 and was more than twice the euro zone's average unemployment reading of 12.1 percent in March.

While the overall unemployment rate rose to 27 per cent, according to statistics service data released on Thursday, joblessness among those aged between 15 and 24 jumped to 64.2 percent in February from 59.3 percent in January.

#2 Detroit, Michigan Is Insolvent And Is Rapidly Running Out Of Cash

I love to write about Detroit because it is a perfect example of where the rest of the country is headed. They have just gotten there first. At this point, Detroit is essentially bankrupt, and the new emergency financial manager is saying that Detroit may totally run out of cash next month...

Detroit may run out of cash next month and must cut long-term debt and retiree obligations, according to emergency financial manager Kevyn Orr’s preliminary plan to save Michigan’s largest city from bankruptcy.

Orr’s report says the cost of $9.4 billion in bond, pension and other long-term liabilities is sapping the ability to provide public safety and transportation. He listed cutting debt principal, retiree benefits and jobs among his options.

“No one should underestimate the severity of the financial crisis,” Orr said yesterday in a statement. He called his report “a sobering wake-up call about the dire financial straits the city of Detroit faces.”

#3 Economic Despair In France

France is going down the same path that Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy have gone. The following is an excerpt from a recent article in the Economist...

HELDER PEREIRA is a young man with no work and few prospects: a 21-year-old who failed to graduate from high school and lost his job on a building site four months ago. With his savings about to run out, he has come to his local employment centre in the Paris suburb of Sevran to sign on for benefits and to get help finding something to do. He’ll get the cash. Work is another matter. Youth unemployment in Sevran is over 40%.

#4 7,000 Abandoned Buildings In Dayton, Ohio

All over the upper Midwest, there are formerly great cities that are dealing with thousands of abandoned buildings. Dayton, Ohio is one example...

Like many urban cities in recent years, Dayton still finds itself knee-deep in abandoned, dilapidated properties as the result of the foreclosure crisis and economic downturn five years ago.

Boarded up buildings that appear to be on their last legs litter the city as it attempts to recover.

Kevin Powell, the city’s acting manager of housing inspection, says officials plan to use $5.2 million — half from the state’s Moving Ohio Forward program and a matching grant from the city’s general fund — to raze 475 abandoned properties by the end of September.

That will scratch the surface of an estimated 7,000 abandoned property problem that is growing.

#5 Overwhelmed By Squatters In Spain

In Spain, unemployment is rampant and people have become incredibly desperate. In fact, in some Spanish cities you can now find entire apartment buildings that are being overwhelmed by squatters...

A 285-unit apartment complex in Parla, less than half an hour’s drive from Madrid, should be an ideal target for investors seeking cheap property in Spain. Unfortunately, two thirds of the building generates zero revenue because it’s overrun by squatters.

“This is happening all over the country,” said Jose Maria Fraile, the town’s mayor, who estimates only 100 apartments in the block built for the council have rental contracts, and not all of those tenants are paying either. “People lost their jobs, they can’t pay mortgages or rent so they lost their homes and this has produced a tide of squatters.”

#6 The Collapse Of Chinese Power Consumption

Energy consumption tends to closely mirror economic activity. That is why the recent collapse of Chinese power consumption is so alarming. The following is from Zero Hedge...

According to CLSA's Chris Wood using NEA data, China's monthly power consumption (the most accurate proxy for underlying economic strength according to the current premier) growth slowed from 5.5% YoY in Jan-Feb 2013 to 1.9% YoY in March, the slowest growth rate since May 2009 (as discussed in-depth here).

#7 Horrible Economic Data Coming Out Of The Second Largest Economy On The Planet

The economic data that has been coming out of the second largest economy on the globe has been quite alarming recently...

For starters, China’s recent economic data, as massaged as it is to the upside, is downright awful. China’s PMI numbers were the worst in two years. Staffing levels in the Chinese service sector decreased for the first time since January 2009 (remember that year).

China’s LEI also shows no sign of recovery. If anything, it indicates China is heading towards an economic slowdown on par with that of 2008. And if you account for the rampant debt fueling China’s economy you could easily argue that China is posting 0% GDP growth today.

#8 One Out Of Every Five U.S. Households On Food Stamps

Back in the 1970s, about one out of every 50 Americans was on food stamps. Today, even though we are supposedly in the midst of an "economic recovery", food stamp enrollment continues to soar to new highs. The following is from CNS News...

The most recent Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program (SNAP) statistics of the number of households receiving food stamps shows that 23,087,886 households participated in January 2013 - an increase of 889,154 families from January 2012 when the number of households totaled 22,188,732.

The most recent statistics from the United States Census Bureau-- from December 2012-- puts the number of households in the United States at 115,310,000. If you divide 115,310,000 by 23,087,866, that equals one out of every five households now receiving food stamps.

#9 Child Hunger In America

Those that work for the big banks on Wall Street may have no problems feeding their children, but overall there is a rapidly growing child hunger crisis in America today. Just check out the following statistics from one of my previous articles...

*For the first time ever, more than a million public school students in the United States are homeless. That number has risen by 57 percent since the 2006-2007 school year.

*In Miami, 45 percent of all children are living in poverty.

*In Cleveland, more than 50 percent of all children are living in poverty.

*According to a recently released report, 60 percent of all children in the city of Detroit are living in poverty.

#10 The Tremendous Suffering Of Hundreds Of Millions Of Desperately Poor People That We Never Hear About

There are billions of people around the globe that are deeply suffering but that do not have a voice. We usually never hear about the desperate poverty that these people are living in, but that doesn't mean that they don't exist. The following statistics that Stephen Lendman recently compiled should shock and alarm you...

At least 80% live on less than $10 a day. Over three billion people live on less than $2.50 a day. More than 80% live in countries where income disparity is increasing.

The poorest 40% of world population has 5% of global income. The bottom fifth has $1.5%. The top 20% has 75%.

According to UNICEF, 22,000 impoverished children die daily. They "die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death."

An estimated 28% of children in developing countries are underweight, malnourished and/or stunted.

How can so many people be living like that in a world with such wealth?

Sadly, things are going to get much worse. The economic and financial systems of the world are rapidly breaking down, and in a few years these are going to look like "the good old days".

And a growing number of people are starting to realize the direction that things are headed. For example, according to a survey that has just been released, 48 percent of all Americans believe that the best days of America are now behind us.

So what do you think?

Are our best days behind us, or are they still ahead of us?