NEWS TODAY

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

Mild Earthquake jolts South Punjab, Balochistan

PESHAWAR : Mild earthquake tremors were felt in the areas of Southern Punjab and North Eastern Balochistan on Wednesday. The tremors were recorded at intensity of 4.7 on the Richter scale.
According to the meteorological department in Peshawar the earthquake tremors were felt on Wednesday morning at 8.15 am and its epicenter was the border area of Punjab and Balochistan some 450 km away from south of Peshawar. No loss of life or property was reported.

Eurozone troika ready to act on world stage
04.12.2007 - 09:28 CET | By Mark Beunderman

The eurozone - the EU's common currency area - is ready to defend its interests abroad through talks with foreign leaders at the highest political level, the eurozone's chief has said. Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg's leader and finance minister who chairs meetings of eurozone states, told Financial Times Deutschland that last week's top-level EU mission to China could serve as an example for how the euro area could jointly stand up for its interests.Mr Juncker travelled to China together with European Central Bank (ECB) chief Jean-Claude Trichet and EU monetary affairs commissioner Joaquin Almunia for talks with Chinese officials – including prime minister Wen Jiabao – to discuss currency imbalances and resulting trade problems. Describing the China trip as a precedent, Mr Juncker said If there are reasons which make it necessary to act jointly, we will repeat this.

If the need arises we should promote our arguments, he stated. One does not always need to do this immediately at the highest political level however, he added. The comments raise the prospect of the top eurozone trio – the eurozone chair, the central bank chief and the monetary commissioner – operating more often as the EU's political troika on economic issues on the world stage. The euro is not only seen as playing an increasingly important role in the global financial system – but the recent strength of the currency is directly affecting European companies. Mr Juncker, Mr Trichet and Mr Almunia told the Chinese leadership last week that the ongoing depreciation of the Chinese currency, the remnibi, against the euro is hitting EU exports and damaging EU competitiveness. This is creating a lot of problems for the European economy and as a result protectionist reactions could occur, Mr Juncker said after the Beijing talks.At the meeting, the EU and China agreed to set up a central banks working group to tackle currency questions. Since 2005, the renminbi has fallen by almost 10 per cent against the euro while it has risen by more than 10 per cent against the US dollar - a development seen as a key factor in Europe's ballooning trade deficit with China. It is difficult to understand, whereas China is exporting less to the US than to Europe, why the yuan is appreciating vis-à-vis the dollar and why the yuan is depreciating against the euro, Mr Juncker said. We do think we have to correct this obvious imbalance, he added.

AP
EU Proposes to Open Defense Markets
Wednesday December 5, 11:36 am ET
By Paul Ames, Associated Press Writer

European Union Plans to Open Defense Supply Industry to More Cross-Border Competition

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- The European Commission unveiled plans Wednesday to open up the European Union's $117.9 billion defense market to more cross-border competition.Government protection of national defense companies has meant arms sales have been largely excluded from laws which have torn down barriers to trade around the 27-nation European Union.The Commission says the exemptions cost billions of dollars in waste, duplication and red tape, pushing up national defense budgets and holding back efforts to develop a European industry that can compete with the United States on the world stage.The EU's executive office has drafted two bills to remedy the situation. One will limit an EU country's ability to exempt defense-related goods from EU free market rules to truly exceptional cases where national security is engaged. The other will streamline licensing arrangements for defense sales between member countries.This gives us the instruments to allow for a more competitive and more innovative European defense industry, said Guenter Verheugen, the EU's industry commissioner.

The bills must be approved by EU governments and the European Parliament. Some governments have been hostile to the idea of the EU weakening national controls, but Commission officials said previous consultations with national capitals suggested the proposals could be adopted quickly.It shouldn't take an awfully long time to get through the legislative process, Charlie McCreevy, the EU's internal market commissioner told a news conference.EU officials stressed that the new rules would not shut out U.S. or other non-EU nations from European markets, stressing that governments would remain free to buy their weapons outside the bloc.EU defense ministers agreed in May that urgent action was needed to halt a decline in Europe's defense technological and industrial base and keep companies competitive by opening up protected national markets.If adopted, the new laws would strengthen a voluntary code of conduct launched last year by 23 EU nations under which they post tenders for defense contracts on an electronic bulletin board open to companies from across the bloc, rather than just to national ones.

So far, more than 200 tenders worth some 10 billion euros ($15 billion) have been published under that system. The first eight cross-border contracts have recently been awarded, worth a total of 44 million euros ($65 million).EU headquarters has long argued the fragmentation of the European market along national lines has pushed up prices and undermined competitiveness putting at risk the 300,000 European jobs in defense manufacturing.Officials say nations have abused the exemption from open market rules to include products like uniforms, boots, stationery and tents. McCreevy spoke of nations seeking to protect contracts for soldiers socks and underwear. The purpose of this directive is not to have that kind of nonsense going on, he said.The proposed laws will also remove stipulations that exporters must obtain security licenses each time they export defense goods to other EU nations, despite the close military cooperation among EU governments.

European companies have to apply for around 11,500 such licenses every year although not one has been turned down on security grounds since 2003, Verheugen said, estimating the overall cost of such red tape at 2.7 billion euros ($4 billion).

North American Union by 2010, be very afraid NOV 4,07

Globalist bankers work for years to subvert our freedoms, yet little is done by our own government to prevent them.
A 12- lane NAFTA TransAmerican Highway is being built from Mexico to Canada without the prior knowledge or approval of the American people, and our so-called free press mentions nothing about it.
President Bush signs the 2005 Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) with Mexico's Presidente Fox, and Canada's Prime Minister Martin which requires the three countries to be merged into one nation called the North American Union by 2010! Our Constitution is betrayed, our Bill of Rights trampled. American sovereignty is ending, our American dollar will be replaced by the amero, much the same as the euro has become the European Union currency.

A talk show host recently commented, Americans are no longer interested in freedom: they just hope that their new masters will be kind. History shows that no master is kind.Become informed through books like: The Insiders by John McManus, Shadows of Power by James Perloff, None Dare Call It Treason by John Stormer and magazines like The New American published by the John Birch Society.Let's kick our AWOL Congress into action! It is high time to get us out of the United Nations before our Constitution is annulled, our middle class is destroyed, and America is made into a third-world nation. It's also time to urge Maine's Legislature to impeach Bush as Vermont's has.Robert Bruce Acheson

Role of EU President will create conflict
By Martin Banks in Brussels and Henry Samuel in Paris
Last Updated: 12:24am GMT 04/12/2007

A leading Europhile has called into question the idea of creating a permanent position for a president of the European Union, one of the key clauses in the new EU reform treaty.The treaty, set to be signed by EU leaders later this month, proposes the creation of a President of the European council, replacing the current system of six month rotating presidencies.The job, with a reported salary of £200,000, would be on a two and a half year fixed term and would involved chairing EU meetings with the aim of creating a more efficient decision making process.It is supposed to give the EU a figurehead on the world stage, although national leaders insist the key decisions will continue to be made with them.Tony Blair, currently envoy in the Middle East, has been widely touted for the post, dubbed president of Europe.

But UK Socialist MEP Richard Corbett, a well known Europhile and strong supporter of the treaty, has warned the European parliament that there is huge potential for conflict between the post and that of European commission president, currently occupied by Jose Manuel Barroso, a former prime minister of Portugal.We could see the occupant of one not wanting to trespass on the responsibilities of the other. This situation could be a cause for real confusion and pose a threat and danger to workings of the EU, Mr Corbett said.His comments were echoed by Danish eurosceptic MEP Jens Peter Bonde who said: It will be a big battle and will never work. There will be a permanent competition over who should take the initiative between the commission president and the president of the European council.He warned that the proposal contained in the treaty would lead to confusion, particularly over foreign policy issues.Both were speaking at a joint parliamentary hearing on the treaty between MEPs and national parliamentarians from 27 member states.The job will not be on offer unless the treaty is ratified by all 27 member states.At the same time, a group of politicians from the French Left and Right have issued a joint call on president Nicolas Sarkozy to put the new simplified European treaty to referendum.Jean-Pierre Chevènement, a former left-wing interior minister, told a crowd of 1,000 that Mr Sarkozy’s plan to push through the treaty in a parliamentary vote was a denial of democracy.

France rejected the initial draft European constitutional treaty in a referendum in 2005, with 55 voting Non.What has been rejected by referendum should only be allowed to be re-established by universal suffrage, he said in a joint meeting with Marie-Noelle Lienemann, a Socialist MEP, and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, Gaullist leader of the Debout La Republique movement and a vocal No campaigner in 2005.They launched their campaign for a referendum in front of 1,000 sympathisers on Sunday night.Mr Sarkozy announced a mini-treaty. It’s a maxi-betrayal, he insisted.The changes to the original are purely cosmetic, said Mr Chevenement, who hopes to impose a referendum on Mr Sarkozy by persuading two fifths of parliament to oppose the simplified treaty — sufficient to block a vote to change the constitution.Pierre Lefranc, Charles de Gaulle’s former principle private secretary, said a parliamentary vote was tantamount to a coup d’etat and the rape of the nation.Mr Dupont-Aignan told The Telegraph that there was massive media, financial and political disinformation to hide the real nature of the treaty.They make out it is a mini-treaty when it is the exact copy of the Giscard constitution, he said.Mr Dupont-Aignan, who left Mr Sarkozy’s UMP party over the European issue earlier this year, has begun a tour of France to raise awareness before a parliamentary vote, which could come as early as late January.He remained optimistic: France is like a horse than can suddenly rear up when it realises it is being taken for a ride.However, should he fail, he called on the British to stand firm: "The British can save us once again! I count on them to block this treaty, which is very dangerous for all European democracies. Just as Europe is failing and the people are against the direction it is taking, it accelerates. It is folly.

He quoted Valery Giscard d’Estaing, who drew up the original constitutional text.In an article in Le Monde in October, the former French president said: In the Lisbon treaty, drawn up exclusively from the constitutional treaty plan, the tools are exactly the same. Only the order has changed...What is the point of this subtle manouevre? First and foremost to escape the constraint of a recourse to referendum, by spreading the articles out and dropping constitutional vocabulary.

Gulf Arabs leaders stress economic integration, regional stability despite divisions www.chinaview.cn 2007-12-05 04:40:35

DOHA, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Six oil-rich Gulf Arab nations on Tuesday pushed forward the economic integration process in announcing establishment of a Gulf common market, while showing welcome to Iranian president's proposals for economic and security cooperation despite concerns over its nuclear program. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a regional alliance grouping Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, wrapped up their two-day annual summit in the Qatari capital of Doha on Tuesday. Omani Sultan Qaboos bin Said, Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and Saudi Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud (from L to R) pose for a group photo in the final day of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in Doha，Dec. 4, 2007. Abdul Rahman al-Attiya, secretary general of the six oil-rich GCC nations, announced the establishment of a common market at the closing session of the GCC summit here on Tuesday.(Xinhua Photo)

COMMON MARKET HIGHLIGHTED

At the closing session of the GCC summit, the GCC Secretary General Abdul Rahman al-Attiya announced the establishment of the common market, seen as a big step forward for the alliance striving for a European Union-style bloc. Reading out the Doha Declaration, al-Attiya said that the long-anticipated common market will be brought into play from Jan. 1, 2008, adding that launching the common market is for the interests of the Gulf people and out of desire to boost the Gulf economy. On the timetable of its economic integration, the GCC launched a customs union in 2003 and is also committed to adopt a single currency in 2010. In the final communique, the Gulf heads of state called on concerned policymakers to work out financial and monetary polices towards a common currency to take to the next GCC summit due to beheld in Oman. They expressed satisfaction over the progress on implementing the pan-GCC electricity power grid, urging concerned parties to finalize economic feasibility studies of a pan-GCC railway network project and a water network project. The leaders, however, sidestepped the pressing foreign exchange issue, which indicates divisions among the Gulf nations on how to deal with spiraling inflation and the tumbling dollar.

CAUTIOUS WELCOME TO IRAN'S PROPOSALS

Though still concerned about Iran's controversial nuclear program, the GCC expressed welcome earlier in the day to the proposals made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the opening ceremony of the GCC's annual summit on Monday. The GCC said in a brief statement that the bloc would study those proposals in a bid to boost good neighborliness and reciprocal respect and contribute to fostering peace and stability in the region.During his speech, Ahmadinejad brought forward a string of proposals, including opening borders with the GCC to strengthen economic relations, annulling visas to facilitate free movement of citizens and protecting regional environment. Moreover, Ahmadinejad offered to share Iran's expertise in various fields, including energy and the new technologies, and to provide water and natural gas to its Gulf neighbors. The Iranian president said the six Gulf Arab nations and Iran should work together to establish regional security and economic pacts without foreign influence. Well informed sources said that faced with stepped up international pressure over its controversial uranium enrichment program, Iran is eager to improve ties with its Gulf neighbors, which are staunch U.S. allies. GCC countries fear the rising tensions between the Shiite-dominated Islamic Republic and western countries over the issue might lead to regional instability.

PRESSING REGIONAL ISSUES

Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani said at the opening speech on Monday that the summit was being held in a climate of grave dangers threatening our homelands, the region and the world, noting that security and development were two faces of the same coin. With regard to the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the GCC countries expressed aspiration that the Annapolis peace conference held in the U.S. last week may attain more positive steps for peace in the Middle East.The bloc, once again, urged Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and subject all of its nuclear facilities under the international inspection of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, the only nuclear power in the region, arousing great concerns in Arab countries, which have fought five wars with the Jewish state. Israel has never admitted or denied that it has nuclear weapons. The Sunni-dominated GCC countries also underscored the need to respect Iraq's unity, sovereignty and independence, affirming that the achievement of national reconciliation is essential for its stabilization. Founded in 1981, the GCC has been striving to achieve wide-ranging cooperation among member states in face of internal and international challenges.Editor: Yan Liang

PRESIDENT BUSH TO VISIT ISRAEL IN JANUARY.
Historic first -- plus new CIA estimate says Iran has stopped pursuing nuclear weapons. Are they right?
By Joel C. Rosenberg

(Washington, D.C., December 4, 2007) -- On January 9, 2008, President Bush will make his first official visit to Israel as commander-in-chief and leader of the free world. This is an excellent development. As readers of Flash Traffic know, I have been saying for the last 18 months -- including just last week -- that President Bush should make this historic visit to Jerusalem to show solidarity with the people of Israel. He has traveled repeatedly to Iraq and Afghanistan, and visited Jordan last summer. But until now, the only time Mr. Bush has visited the Jewish State was in 1998 as Governor of Texas. The President should be applauded for this bold move. Let us also pray for the peace of Jerusalem, for safety for the President and his team, and for a new era of quiet and calmness in the epicenter.

In other key news from the epicenter, a new assessment by American intelligence agencies made public Monday concludes that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains on hold, contradicting an assessment two years ago that Tehran was working inexorably toward building a bomb, reports the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune. The assessment, a National Intelligence Estimate that represents the consensus view of all 16 American spy agencies, states that Tehran is most likely keeping its options open with respect to building a weapon, but that intelligence agencies do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons. Iran is continuing to produce enriched uranium, the report says, a program that the Tehran government has said is designed for civilian purposes. The new estimate says that the enrichment program could still provide Iran with enough raw material to produce a nuclear weapon sometime by the middle of next decade, a timetable essentially unchanged from previous estimates. But the new estimate declares with 'high confidence' that a military-run Iranian program intended to transform that raw material into a nuclear weapon has been shut down since 2003, and also says with high confidence that the halt was directed primarily in response to increasing international scrutiny and pressure.Translation: The U.S. is now far less likely to launch a series of preemptive military strikes against actual and suspected Iranian nuclear research facilities before the end of this President's term in office and the current Congressional leadership would be far less likely to support such a strike if one were proposed or made (not that they would have been that supportive anyway).

Question: Is this intelligence assessment correct? Maybe. And let's hope so. It would be wonderful if Iran is not the immediate nuclear threat that U.S. intelligence agencies have been saying they were right up to this week. But there is always the possibility that the U.S. assessment is wrong. The accuracy of some of our intelligence reports in the Middle East have certainly been in question in recent years. And we must always remember May 1998, when India and Pakistan conducted multiple nuclear weapons tests, stunning U.S. and Western intelligence agencies who had absolutely no idea either country so close to getting the Bomb. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), then the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called this a colossal failure of the U.S. intelligence community. God forbid we should have a similar such failure with regards to Iran. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Jerusalem Post that U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates showed him the NIE in Annapolis last week but the Israeli conclusion remains that Iran is actively trying to build nuclear weapons. I am familiar with the American intelligence assessment, Barak said....Nevertheless, I say again that Iran is today a central threat on the world and the State of Israel....There is a lot that can be done with regard to the Iranian nuclear program but it is important to mention that words do not stop missiles, Action is needed in the form of sanctions, in the diplomatic sphere and in other spheres as well. In November, Barak warned military strikes might be needed in the next 24 months. We cannot take any option off the table and we need to study operational aspects. This is not just for the coming months but also for the coming two years.

Israel, Vatican close to historic accord: Israeli ambassador Tue Dec 4, 2:57 AM ET

VATICAN CITY (AFP) - Israel and the Vatican are close to concluding a historic bilateral accord on the legal and financial status of the Roman Catholic Church in Israel, the country's ambassador said Monday. We are very close to the conclusion of this historic accord, Oded Ben Hur was quoted as saying by Italy's ANSA news agency at a debate organised by a pontifical university in Rome.The text under negotiation is the economic section of the fundamental agreement on relations the Vatican and Israel signed in December 1993.About 85 percent of the text has been examined and approved by the representatives of Israel and the Vatican, said the ambassador.Negotiations on the text resumed in 2004 after a 10-year hiatus, and Ben Hur said the next round of talks will take place on December 13 in Israel.The two sides are seeking to hammer out an agreement concerning the legal and tax status of Church property in Israel and the commercial activities of Christian communities there.The Vatican is seeking tax-exempt status for Church institutions.