Judgment Day forecaster points to new doomsday date

The evangelical Christian broadcaster whose much-ballyhooed Judgment Day prophecy went conspicuously unfulfilled on Saturday has a simple explanation for what went wrong -- he miscalculated.
Instead of the world physically coming to an end on May 21 with a great, cataclysmic earthquake, as he had predicted, Harold Camping, 89, said he now believes his forecast is playing out "spiritually," with the actual apocalypse set to occur five months later, on October 21.
Camping, who launched a doomsday countdown in which some followers spent their life's savings in anticipation of being swept into heaven, issued his correction during an appearance on his "Open Forum" radio show from Oakland, California.
The headquarters of Camping's Family Radio network of 66 U.S. stations had been shuttered over the weekend with a sign on the door that read, "This Office is Closed. Sorry we missed you!"
During a sometimes rambling, 90-minute discourse that included a question-and-answer session with reporters, Camping said he felt bad that Saturday had come and gone without the Rapture he had felt so certain would take place.
Reflecting on scripture afterward, Camping said it "dawned" on him that a "merciful and compassionate God" would spare humanity from "hell on Earth for five months" by compressing the physical apocalypse into a shorter time frame.
But he insisted that October 21 has always been the end-point of his own End Times chronology, or at least, his latest chronology.
The tall, gaunt former civil engineer with a deep voice and prominent ears has been wrong before. More than two decades ago, he publicly acknowledged a failed 1994 prophecy of Christ's return to Earth.
To publicize his latest pronouncement, the Family Radio network posted over 2,000 billboards around the country declaring that Judgment Day was at hand, and believers carried the message on placards in shopping malls and street corners.
Asked what advice he would give to followers who gave up much or all of their worldly possessions in the belief that his Judgment Day forecast would come true, Camping drew a comparison to the nation's recent economic slump.
"We just had a great recession. There's lots of people who lost their jobs, lots of people who lost their houses ... and somehow they all survived," he said.
"People cope, he added. "We're not in the business of giving any financial advice. We're in the business of telling people maybe there is someone you can talk to, and that's God."

Two dead as tornado hits New Zealand city

A freak tornado hit New Zealand's largest city Auckland on Tuesday, killing two people and injuring dozens more as it ripped the roof off a suburban shopping mall.Packing winds of 200 kilometres an hour (125 miles an hour), the twister hit the suburb of Albany without warning at about 3pm (0300 GMT), flipping cars and uprooting trees as it carved a trail of destruction stretching for kilometres. Television footage showed huge pieces of roofing and debris flying through the air after the tornado hit, sending panicked locals fleeing for shelter.

Witnesses said the tornado sounded like "a giant vacuum cleaner" when it tore across the Albany Megacentre, one of the largest shopping centres in the country.

Auckland mayor Len Brown said two people were killed and dozens injured, adding the death toll could rise.
"We've had two confirmed fatalities, it's absolutely disastrous," he told Radio New Zealand.
The tornado is the latest in a string of disasters to hit New Zealand, including two earthquakes in Christchurch, the second of which claimed more than 180 lives, and a colliery explosion last November in which 29 miners died.

Witness Rob Crawford said the scene around the shopping centre resembled a disaster movie after the tornado, which passed over in less than 30 seconds.
"Car parks scattered with the remains of trees, upturned cars. There's iron off the roof... it's surreal," he told the New Zealand Herald.
"It's a movie set. (You think) is this real, is this happening? But when you see people lying on the ground, covered in blood, clutching their heads, it's damn real."

One witness told Sky News that cars were crushed with people inside.
Shop worker Martin Sibrits said the resulting devastation looked like a bomb site.
"It was simply unbelievable, it was huge. I could see bit pieces of iron flying through the air, 100 metres up," he told Fairfax Media.

The Auckland city council said an emergency centre had been set up to coordinate relief efforts, while police urged people to stay indoors. "We encourage people to return home, contact family if necessary. Leave roads near Albany commercial area free for emergency services," police said. New Zealand Metservice meteorologist Peter Kreft said the tornado hit without warning and the damage stretched for kilometres, with the eye of the storm measuring more that 10 metres (33 feet) wide. He said such twisters were relatively rare in New Zealand.

"Tornadoes in New Zealand are typically of that size, they're nothing like the size that are observed in the Midwest of the US," he told Radio New Zealand.
"So while it's a tragic and devastating event for the area it's passed over, in the broader scheme of things it's a relatively small tornado."
Another tornado struck Albany 20 years ago in May 1991, killing one man who was hit by debris while he was driving a bulldozer.

Powerful Super Tornado Killer in US killed 300

Shocked Americans struggled Thursday to grasp the magnitude of the worst US tornadoes in decades, which carved a trail of destruction across the south, claiming at least 295 lives.
Communities like Alabama Governor Robert Bentley's small hometown of Tuscaloosa were virtually wiped off the map and officials warned the body-count would rise as rescuers uncover more dead amid the debris.
Disbelief was written on faces across eight states crippled by the ferocious spring storms -- the deadliest tornado tragedy to strike the United States since 310 people were killed in 1974.
Scene: Deadly tornadoes rip apart life in southern US
Recalling the more recent horror of 2005's Hurricane Katrina, families picked through the remains of homes, businesses and schools, bearing witness to scenes of devastation more common in war zones or after earthquakes.

The toll reached 195 in Alabama and President Barack Obama said he would travel to the worst-hit state on Friday for a first-hand look at the unfolding human tragedy.
"The loss of life has been heartbreaking, especially in Alabama," Obama said at the White House, describing the disaster as "nothing short of catastrophic."
The storms "took mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, friends and neighbors -- even entire communities," he said, vowing to rush federal assistance to those most in need.
States of emergency were declared from central Oklahoma to Georgia on the eastern seaboard and governors called out the National Guard -- including 2,000 troops in Alabama -- to help with the rescue and clean-up operations.
"We had a major catastrophic event here in Alabama with the outbreak of numerous long-track tornadoes," said Governor Bentley, who declared a major disaster for the state, where up to a million people were left without power.

Emergency responders searched through toppled trees, twisted billboards and ruined homes for signs of life, while thousands of survivors prepared to spend the night in makeshift shelters.
"There were direct hits on two towns, Hackleburg and Dadeville," National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist in Alabama, John De Block, told AFP.
Most of the homes in Hackleburg, population 1,500, were built on slab foundations and "the slabs have been swept clean in several locations," he said, adding that colleagues told him the town was "90 percent destroyed."
Focus: Tornadoes whipped up by wind, not climate
More than 160 tornadoes were reported on Wednesday alone and if more than 148 are confirmed that would set a new record for a 24-hour period, surpassing the so-called "Super Outbreak" in 1974.
In Tuscaloosa, population around 100,000, an AFP journalist witnessed entire blocks of the small town obliterated. In addition to 36 confirmed fatalities there were at least 600 people injured and dozens unaccounted for.
"Infrastructure has been absolutely devastated," Mayor Walter Maddox told CNN. "When you look at this path of destruction, likely five to seven miles (eight to 11 kilometers) long and half a mile to a mile wide, I don't know how anyone survived.
"There are parts of this city I don't recognize," he added.
It was also a dark day for Birmingham, Alabama's largest city with more than a million residents. Mayor William Bell spoke of "whole neighborhoods of housing, just completely gone. Churches, gone. Businesses, gone."
Incredulous Birmingham residents assessing the damage were counting their blessings at having survived, while others were distraught over the loss of their loved ones or homes.
"There were two-by-fours (wooden beams) falling out of the sky," convenience store manager Jack Welch said, adding "there were well over 30 homes destroyed" just behind his store.
The overall toll includes 34 deaths in Tennessee, 32 in Mississippi, 14 in Georgia, 12 in Arkansas, five in Virginia, two in Missouri, and one in Kentucky, according to state officials contacted by AFP.
Facts: Deadliest tornado days in US history
"Oh my God, our town is in pieces," said Tim Holt, a clerk at a local hotel in Ringgold, Georgia. "We saw the funnel cloud coming and I ran into the bathroom with my wife and daughter. It's an 80 percent loss in our town."
Several eastern states were still on tornado and severe thunderstorm alert Thursday, while another major storm system was forecast to bring heavy rain and high winds on Saturday.