9 HEADLESS BODIES IN IRAQ

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.

Earthquake rattles East Timor Wed Jan 30, 4:09 AM ET

DILI, East Timor - A strong earthquake struck off the coast of East Timor on Wednesday, prompting authorities to briefly issue a tsunami alert — but no large waves hit the tiny nation's coast. The 6.2 magnitude tremor struck 160 miles northeast of the capital, Dili, in Indonesia's Banda Sea at a depth of 6 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Residents in the capital did not feel any shaking and there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Indonesia's Meteorological and Geophysics agency issued a tsunami alert, saying the quake had been powerful enough to generate giant waves. The warning was later retracted.East Timor, a former Portuguese colony that became Asia's youngest country after breaking from Indonesia in 1999, sits along a series of faultlines and volcanos known as the Pacific Ring of Fire.In December 2004, a massive earthquake struck off Indonesia's Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, including 160,000 people in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Freezing rain shuts down Quebec schools, ices roads
Last Updated: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 | 9:09 AM ET
CBC News

Freezing rain in southern Quebec made travel difficult and shut down several schools on Wednesday.Several school boards in the greater Montreal region cancelled classes because of icy road conditions.The Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board has cancelled classes in Laval, Lanaudière and Laurentians schools.Most institutions affected by the closure are north of St-Jérome, but parents are being urged to check their school board websites for details.The Conseil scolaire Rivière du Nord has also closed all of its schools, but daycare services remain open.Despite icy road surfaces, provincial police reported few accidents Wednesday morning.Environment Canada's freezing rain warning, issued early Wednesday, was lifted before 9 a.m.But the forecast includes strong wind gusts as high as 90 km/h later in the day.

Most of Ontario under weather warnings
Last Updated: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 | 7:40 AM ET
The Canadian Press

Environment Canada has posted a variety of wind, wind chill, winter storm, freezing rain and flash freeze warnings across most of Ontario.In the south, a wind warning covers Windsor to the Quebec border, with gusts of over 100 km/h expected in some regions.There are some street closures reported due to traffic hazards caused by wind-blown branches and debris.There is also a flash freeze warning from the London area to Quebec as a fast-moving cold front causes temperatures to plummet, and a freezing rain warning covers Ottawa and far eastern Ontario.A blowing snow warning is in effect for the traditional snow belt areas to the east of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. Drivers are advised to be on guard for widespread whiteout conditions through the day.Environment Canada has also posted wind chill and winter storm warnings in northern Ontario from Kenora to the North Bay region. Whiteout conditions have already prompted police to close Hwy. 17 between Sault Ste. Marie and Blind River and Hwy. 11 between Hearst and Kapuskasing.

P.E.I. ice storm leaves thousands without power
Updated Tue. Jan. 29 2008 10:28 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff

An ice storm left about 22,000 homes and businesses on Prince Edward Island without power Tuesday. Freezing rain in the early morning created thick layers of ice that brought down more than 40 power poles, which collapsed under the weight of ice and fallen trees. Crews are expected to work well into the night and over the coming days restoring power, but icy-roads are making their jobs even more challenging. Utility spokesperson Kim Griffin told CTV Atlantic that Maritime Electric hoped to have most customers back on line within 48 hours. We've had 18 crews on the roads and we've had snowmobile crews trying to assess the damage, said Griffin.
The damage is extensive through the western part of the province, in Prince County. Hunter River resident Thomas Bradley lost power at his home when trees fell onto power lines and crashed onto his yard. It was like cannons going off ... it was like listening to 105 howitzers going off -- the trees just exploded,'' he told CTV Atlantic. In St. John's, N.L., there was flooding at the Health Sciences Centre, the province's largest hospital, due to heavy rain. In Nova Scotia, Cape Breton and Georges River also saw flooding cause by snow followed by heavy rain. In Sydney, some properties were flooded when a brook choked with ice overflowed. With a report by CTV Atlantic's Kelland Sundahl

Snow, cold, storms pound the Midwest By CARYN ROUSSEAU, Associated Press Writer JAN 30,08

CHICAGO - Severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and fierce winds sliced through the Midwest and took aim at the Northeast early Wednesday, leaving behind bitterly cold air and blizzards in the northern Plains that sent temperatures in some areas plummeting by 50 degrees in a few hours. The bad weather reached upstate New York by early Wednesday and forecasters warned that the arctic blast would send mercury tumbling across the Northeast and New England.This is going to be a hard, vicious slap in the face from Mother Nature, Gino Izzi, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Romeoville, Ill., said Tuesday night. The temperature drop we saw was really spectacular in a bad way.The temperature in Buffalo, N.Y., went from a high of 54 degrees Tuesday to 21 degrees by 7 a.m. Wednesday, with winds gusting to more than 60 mph. Power was out in 40,000 homes and businesses, roads were slick and most schools in the Buffalo area were closed.

In northern Illinois, high winds downed power lines and knocked trees onto utility lines, causing nearly 14,000 customers to lose power overnight, mostly in Chicago's south suburbs, said ComEd spokeswoman Judy Rader. Service to all but 1,300 had been restored by Wednesday morning.Thousands also were without power in Ohio and Illinois. In Michigan, Lower Peninsula residents were in the dark as blizzard conditions hit the western and northern parts of the state.The winds and thunderstorms may have killed two people in Indiana on Tuesday, authorities said. Firefighters in southwestern Indiana pulled two bodies from a mobile home near Evansville that had been turned on its side by winds in a thunderstorm, WEHT-TV reported.Wind gusts as high as 70 mph created problems for air travel and avalanche warnings were issued for some Western regions. Tornadoes or reports of tornadoes surfaced in several communities in the nation's midsection.I wouldn't call it a common occurrence to see winds this strong with this kind of snow, Izzi said. This isn't something we see every year.The system also dragged frigid air across the northern Plains. The Weather Service reported midday temperature Tuesday of minus-24 degrees at Glasgow, Mont. North Dakota registered wind chill factors of minus-54 degrees at Garrison, while Williston hit a low of minus-24 degrees.

Most of Minnesota was under wind chill warnings until noon Wednesday due to indexes that fell into the minus-30 degree level. It was as low as 50 degrees below freezing in Hibbing.Though only light snow fell in western, central and eastern Iowa on Tuesday, winds snapping as fast as 60 mph caused visibility problems, and temperatures dropped into single digits.It's a little worse than your average snowstorm, said Rod Donovan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Des Moines, Iowa.Some 1,500 workers went home early from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., while critical medical staff were put up in hotels so they could stay close to serve patients. The blustery winds also put flight operations on ice at the Rochester airport.In Cape Girardeau County, Mo., winds were as strong as 70 mph and dime-size hail fell. Two unconfirmed funnel clouds were reported, said Dick Knaup, the county's emergency management director.The weather week began with heavy snow pummeling mountain areas from Washington state to northern Arizona as two storms converged, one from hard-hit California and another from the Gulf of Alaska, meteorologists said.

The storms were followed Tuesday by a third that threatened to leave up to 20 inches of snow in Idaho's mountains, said Jay Breidenbach of the Weather Service office in Boise, Idaho.A fourth storm was on the way to the interior West: By Thursday, the next storm will be right on our doorstep. This is quite a storm system, Breidenbach said.In the snow farther west, avalanche danger forced officials to close Interstate 90 at Snoqualmie Pass, Washington state's main east-west artery across the Cascade Mountains. The pass was to remain closed until Wednesday morning, Meagan McFadden of the state Department of Transportation said. More than 200 trucks were backed up at North Bend, waiting to move freight across the pass. On a typical weekday, as many as 7,000 trucks travel I-90 over Snoqualmie Pass, she said. Snow also closed highways in Minnesota, Colorado and Wyoming. Two of three snowmobilers lost in the mountains west of Denver were found late Tuesday, said Summit County sheriff's spokeswoman Paulette Horr. The third was still missing. In Oregon, two snowmobilers were rescued Monday after spending two nights in the Wallowa Mountains, where they were trapped by storms. Authorities said the two were dressed warmly and equipped with survival gear, matches and an avalanche beacon.
Associated Press writers P. Solomon Banda in Denver; Sophia Tareen and Michael Tarm in Chicago; Henry C. Jackson in Des Moines, Iowa; Keith Ridler in Boise, Idaho; and Arthur H. Rotstein in Tucson, Ariz., contributed to this report. On the Net:
Weather Service warnings: http://www.weather.gov/view/nationalwarnings.php

China snow crisis shows vulnerability By ELAINE KURTENBACH and WILLIAM FOREMAN, Associated Press Writers Wed Jan 30, 6:08 AM ET

SHANGHAI, China - China's worst winter storms in five decades have highlighted the vulnerabilities of the country's booming economy, bringing transportation and much industry to a halt and prompting the government to deploy nearly 500,000 army troops to assist troubled areas Wednesday. Snow and ice storms in east, central and southern China — at no more than a foot of snow overall in some places — have overloaded businesses, the electricity grid and other systems that normally keep the economy ticking at double-digit rates. The weather was unusual for those regions, and they were ill-equipped to handle it.China's already overburdened railways, coupled with an incomplete road system, buckled under the added pressure as tens of millions of Chinese were on the move for the Lunar New Year — one of the world's biggest annual mass movements of humanity.Before the storms, railway officials estimated a record 178.6 million people — more than the population of Russia — would travel by train for the holiday, which begins Feb. 7.The complications illustrate the limitations China faces, despite 30 years of economic reforms that have turned it into an export juggernaut, with economic growth forecast at more than 10 percent this year.China's antiquated and inefficient power grid, which is powered largely by coal, ground to a near halt, plunging many cities into darkness.

Dozens of factories were closed, with mining and metals companies suffering from severe power shortages. The storms have caused economic losses of $3 billion since they began Jan. 10, the Civil Affairs Ministry said Tuesday.Meanwhile, the China Meteorological Administration said the bad weather, including more snow, would continue for at least the next three days in parts of eastern and southern China.China's leaders, who held an emergency meeting Tuesday, deployed more than 450,000 army troops and extra units of police to clear roads and help provide emergency supplies to the millions of travelers stranded by the weather, state-run media reported, saying authorities had declared an all out war on the crisis.James Sung of the City University of Hong Kong said top leaders were slow to respond to the massive travel holdup and that the crisis exposed the country's faulty infrastructure.The central government underestimated the impact of the snow. They probably thought if they could do a good job providing electricity and rail services after the snow, after a few days of chaos, they would be OK. They didn't think it would be this bad, Sung said.The worst-hit by the transportation woes were migrant workers trying to leave booming southern Guangdong province — often called the world's factory floor because it makes everything from Honda sedans to Apple iPods and Nike sneakers.The official Southern Daily newspaper in the Guangdong capital of Guangzhou said that so far 470,000 people had given up hope of getting home now and had got refunds for their tickets. It said 200,000 were still spread out in temporary shelters away from the main Guangzhou station.

In China, the New Year holiday is as important as Christmas is in the West. For most migrant workers, it's the only time of the year when they can visit their hometowns. Many laborers were ignoring the government's pleas to scuttle their plans to return home.Sung said the government should be wary of fallout among ordinary workers who couldn't go home.The risk of a bigger crisis in the short run is low, but some level of grievances has been accumulated. We'll have to see how the government comforts the stranded tourists. It's a tough task, Sung said.In Guangzhou, fights broke out among travelers seeking to board buses to the train station. Police intervened in at least one case as passengers clawed their way onto a bus not even headed to the station.For the second straight day, Premier Wen Jiabao visited affected regions Wednesday to display high-level government and Communist Party concern. This has been very hard on everyone, Wen said to some of the hundreds of thousands who have been sleeping outdoors while waiting to board trains. Currently all levels of government are working on getting electricity restored. After that, transport will resume, he told the crowd in Guangzhou, according to the Web site of the Yancheng Evening News. Factory worker Hong Qiyuan was among the tens of thousands of travelers staying in a temporary shelter at a convention center in the city. Gripping a small blue suitcase, the 31-year-old man stood outside the building with an orange plastic bag on his head to protect himself from a driving rain.

I think you can say that the government is doing an OK job. What can you do? It's the weather, said Hong, whose hometown in Hunan was seven hours away by train. Another worker, He Mingtong, 48, said much of the delays could have been avoided. If this happened in America, it would have been cleared up much faster, said He while standing under a pedestrian bridge with five co-workers from a fabric factory outside Guangzhou. America has the equipment, the trucks, to clear away the snow. But we haven't had snowfall like this for 30 years or more, so we were unprepared.

DISEASES

REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

Saudis kill poultry after bird flu found Tue Jan 29, 5:36 PM ET

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia said Tuesday it had killed some 158,000 chickens after the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain was found at an infected farm. The birds were killed in Kharaj province, south of the capital, Riyadh, according to a statement by the Agriculture Ministry. About 475 workers were tested, but no human infections were found.The ministry also said more than 4.5 million fowl have been killed in provinces around the capital, but it did not specify when the killing took place.Bird flu resurfaced in November in Kharaj province, in another blow to Saudi Arabia's $10 billion poultry industry.To stem the flu's spread, some countries temporarily banned imports of birds, poultry and poultry products from Saudi Arabia earlier this month.H5N1 so far has infected more than 340 people and killed at least 216 since 2003, mostly in Asia, according to the World Health Organization. Most were infected through close contact with sick poultry. The virus does not easily spread among people.

METEORS HIT THE EARTH

REVELATION 6:12-17
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

REVELATION 8:12-13
12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels,which are yet to sound!

THE ASTEROID THAT FLEW BY EARTH YESTERDAY (JAN 29) NEVER HIT EARTH, I CAN'T FIND A STORY ON IT BUT I WILL TRY TO FOR TOMORROW.

Research: Asteroids pose greater danger By SUE MAJOR HOLMES, Associated Press Writer Tue Jan 29, 9:42 PM ET

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - An asteroid that exploded over Siberia a century ago, leaving 800 square miles of scorched or blown down trees, wasn't nearly as large as previously thought, a researcher concludes, suggesting a greater danger for Earth. According to supercomputer simulations by Sandia National Laboratories physicist Mark Boslough, the asteroid that destroyed the forest at Tunguska in Siberia in June 1908 had a blast force equivalent to one-quarter to one-third of the 10- to 20-megaton range scientists previously estimated.Better understanding of what happened at Tunguska will allow for better estimates of risk that would allow policymakers to decide whether to try to deflect an asteroid or evacuate people in its path, he said.It's not clear whether a 10-megaton asteroid is more damaging than a Hurricane Katrina, Boslough said. We can more accurately predict the location of an impact and its time better than we can a hurricane, so you really could get people out of there if it's below a certain threshold.On Tuesday, an asteroid at least 800 feet long was making a rare close pass by Earth, but scientists said there was no chance of an impact. The closest approach of 2007 TU24 will be 334,000 miles — about 1.4 times the distance of Earth to the moon. An actual collision of a similar-sized object with Earth occurs on average every 37,000 years.

Although the computer simulation shows the Tunguska asteroid was smaller, its physical size isn't known. That would depend on such factors as speed, shape, how dense or porous it was and what it was made of, Boslough said.Smaller asteroids approach Earth about three times more frequently than large ones. So if large asteroids approach about every 1,000 years, a smaller one would be about every 300 years, Boslough said.Of course there's huge uncertainties, he said.The three-dimensional computer simulations were done last summer. Boslough presented the findings at scientific meetings in September and December. A paper on the phenomenon, co-authored by Sandia researcher Dave Crawford, has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Impact Engineering.The simulation, which better matches what's known of Tunguska than earlier models did, shows that the center of the asteroid's mass exploded above the ground, taking the form of a fireball blasting downward faster than the speed of sound.But the fireball did not reach the ground, so while miles of trees outside the epicenter were flattened, those at the epicenter remained standing — scorched, with their branches stripped off.

Boslough said they were likened to telegraph poles by the first Russian expedition to Tunguska — an expedition that didn't arrive until 1927 because of the distance, primitive travel conditions and turbulent times in Russia.If the asteroid had been as large as previously thought, it would have had really different effects on the ground, Boslough said.It wouldn't have just blown over trees. There would have been a zone of completely scorched earth for several miles, he said. That fireball would have come all the way down to the surface and everything it came in contact with would have basically just vaporized.Alan Harris, a planetary scientist at Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo., said he's been following Boslough's work on Tunguska for several years and I think the idea that he has there seemed very sound.A meteorite or asteroid coming into Earth's atmosphere has a lot of momentum, he said. The idea that it would push down into the atmosphere seems very plausible. The bottom line is it takes a lot less energy, a small explosion, to create ground damage such as that at Tunguska, said Harris, who studies the frequency of such impacts to assess hazards.In the future, he said, he'll take Boslough's work into account and revise estimates of damage from impacts by smaller objects.

AF General: Spy satellite could hit US By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer Wed Jan 30, 3:35 AM ET

WASHINGTON - The U.S. military is developing contingency plans to deal with the possibility that a large spy satellite expected to fall to Earth in late February or early March could hit North America. Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, who heads of U.S. Northern Command, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the size of the satellite suggests that some number of pieces will not burn up as the orbiting vehicle re-enters the Earth's atmosphere and will hit the ground.We're aware that this satellite is out there, Renuart said. We're aware it is a fairly substantial size. And we know there is at least some percentage that it could land on ground as opposed to in the water.A U.S. official confirmed that the spy satellite is designated by the military as US 193. It was launched in December 2006 but almost immediately lost power and cannot be controlled. It carried a sophisticated and secret imaging sensor but the satellite's central computer failed shortly after launch. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is classified as secret.

Renuart added that, As it looks like it might re-enter into the North American area, then the U.S. military along with the Homeland Security Department and the Federal Emergency Management Agency will either have to deal with the impact or assist Canadian or Mexican authorities.Military agencies, he said, are doing an analysis to determine which pieces most likely would survive re-entry. But he cautioned that officials won't have much detail on where or when it will crash until it begins to move through the atmosphere and break up.Renuart added that there does not as yet appear to be much concern about sensitive technologies on the satellite falling into enemy hands.I'm not aware that we have a security issue, he said. It's really just a big thing falling on the ground that we want to make sure we're prepared for.The satellite includes some small engines that contain a toxic chemical called hydrazine — which is rocket fuel. But Renuart said they are not large booster engines with substantial amounts of fuel.

Video images of the satellite captured by John Locker, a British amateur satellite watcher, show it to be about 13 feet to 16.5 feet across. He believes it weighs a maximum of 10,000 pounds. Locker calculated its size with data on its altitude and location provided by other amateur satellite watchers, using the International Space Station as a yardstick.Satellite watchers — a worldwide network of hobbyists who track satellites for fun — have been plotting the satellite's degradation for a year. They estimate it is now at an altitude of about 173 miles, and Locker believes it is dropping about 1,640 feet a day.Where it lands will be difficult to predict until the satellite falls to about 59 miles above the Earth and enters the atmosphere. It will then begin to burn up, with flares visible from the ground, said Ted Molczan, a Canadian satellite tracker. From that point on, he said, it will take about 30 minutes to fall.In the past 50 years of monitoring space, 17,000 manmade objects have re-entered the Earth's atmosphere.Associated Press writer Pamela Hess contributed to this report.On the Net:
U.S. Northern Command: http://www.northcom.mil/

HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

China Worries Worsen Asian Plunge
Stock markets in Asia continue to plummet on concerns about a U.S. recession and a slowdown in China's economic growth by Bruce Einhorn

Investors react to stock indexes at a securities company on January 17, 2008 in Chongqing Municipality, China. Following a dive in US stocks, the Shanghai Composite Index closed with the largest one-day decline in six weeks. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

Asia-Pacific markets last year were propped up by investor confidence that China and its hot economy would offset negative impact from any slowdown in the U.S. That Chinese life raft is now seriously leaking. Stock markets throughout Asia took a hammering on Jan. 21. And with the U.S. futures markets expecting a 500-point plunge in the Dow Jones industrial average when American markets reopen, the rout continued on Jan. 22 in Asia as worries about a recession in the U.S. and a slowdown in China continued to scare away investors. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 ended the Jan. 22 session down 5.65%, to 12,573, as the index fell below 13,000 points for the first time since October, 2005. The steep fall came after a 3.86% dive the day before. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index followed its 5.5% drop on Jan. 21 with a fall of another 8.65% on Jan. 22, and Shanghai was down 7.2%, after a 5% drop a day earlier. South Korean shares fell sharply, with the benchmark Kospi index falling 4.4% after declining 2.95% the day before. The contagion effects are spreading rapidly, says Ahn Young Hoe, chief investment officer at Seoul-based fund manager KTB Asset Management. The epicenter is the U.S., but Japan and Europe have been hit and China doesn't appear to be free from the shock now.In the process, the decoupling theory—that a sinocentric Asia would buoy the world while the U.S. sank into recession&mdashhas been shredded. Companies with China exposure are now taking the hit. Declines in Korean shares have been led by shipbuilding and steel shares that benefited the most last year from China's sizzling growth. Samsung Heavy Industries, one of the country's largest shipbuilders, dropped 6% on Jan. 22 while Hyundai Steel, a leading Korean steelmaker, fell 6.5%. In Australia, shares fell again, continuing an uninterrupted two-week drop that has seen big declines in resources heavyweights such as BHP-Billiton (BHP), which had been riding high, thanks largely to growing demand from China. The Anglo-Australian giant's shares have dropped 22.8% so far this year.

Cooling Off at a Bad Time

As in other parts of Asia, investor worries about China start with questions about how many more billions of dollars banks such as Bank of China will need to write off because of bad bets on U.S. subprime securities (BusinessWeek.com, 1/16/08). But the fears extend far beyond the U.S. financial crisis to other issues. China may be cooling off at just the wrong moment for world economic growth. Beijing has been trying to slow down the Chinese economy, which last year grew at close to a 12% clip. To do that, the government has been letting the Chinese currency, the yuan, appreciate at a faster pace against the U.S. dollar. The government also has been raising reserve requirements for Chinese banks. Starting Jan. 25, the amount that banks need to keep on reserve with the People's Bank of China, China's central bank, will jump another 50 basis points to 15% of their total deposits.

At the same time, to combat inflation that's running at more than 6.9% in November, the government on Jan. 16 introduced price controls on food and liquefied petroleum gas. We have already seen shortages of coal and fights over gas, says Garry Evans, Asia Pacific equities strategist at HSBC (HBC) in Hong Kong. These problems will get exacerbated. Companies will cut back on production if they are making a loss on every unit.While the measures are starting to have an impact in cooling off the Chinese economy, they're also hurting earnings at Chinese companies that have become accustomed to growth numbers heading in one direction only, up. China's exports are set to slow dramatically this year, according to Stephen Green, an economist in Shanghai with Standard Chartered Bank (STAN.L). Last year, for instance, exports accounted for 2.5 percentage points of the country's GDP growth, but in 2008 that figure will shrink to 1.3 percentage points and next year will fall to zero.

Spillover into Hong Kong, Taiwan

As demand from the U.S. and other markets causes China's export engine to sputter, more Chinese companies will be focusing on the domestic market and cutting prices to gain market share. You will see more price pressure, predicts Green, who expects China's GDP growth to drop two full percentage points this year, to 9.5%. The recent performance of China's largest fixed-line telecom operator, China Telecom (CHA), provides a sense of just how bad Chinese price wars can get. The state-controlled company on Jan. 21 reported that it had lost a record 1.48 million subscribers in December due largely to intense competition from rivals China Mobile (CHL) and China Unicom (CHU), cellular operators that have been slashing prices to pick up customers. Problems in China's corporate sector could spill over into the rest of Greater China, where Hong Kong and Taiwan have become increasingly dependent on growth from the mainland. Hong Kong's tourism and retail industries have been big beneficiaries of spending by Chinese visitors, and that's helped drive down the city's unemployment rate to just 3.6%. Taiwanese investors have been hoping for a similar Chinese-powered surge following legislative elections on the island last week. The elections saw the opposition Kuomintang, which favors closer ties with the mainland, score a decisive win over the party of lame-duck President Chen Shui-bian, who has been against fast opening of the island to its longtime rival across the Taiwan Strait. There's been some optimism, post-election, says Eli Polatinsky, an economist in Hong Kong with Macquarie (MQBKY). Even so, though, he expects Taiwanese growth to fall to 4% this year, compared with 5.23% in 2007, as the impact of the U.S. downturn hits the island's export-dependent electronics makers. If you're an investor in Taiwan, he says, you clearly don't want to be in tech.

Fears for Japan's Economy

In Japan, the subprime-inspired slowdown in the U.S., Japan's largest export market, and the rising yen, which moved above 106 yen to the dollar in morning trading Jan. 22, are major concerns for exporters. Shares in Nissan (NSANY), which makes more than half its earnings in North America, are off 25% this month alone. It is quite difficult to take an optimistic attitude toward the U.S. market [as a whole], Nissan Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga told reporters in Tokyo on Jan. 21, although he said Nissan, which increased U.S. sales by 4.7% in a shrinking market in 2007, was in good shape. Adding to the downward momentum, there are also worries that Japan's domestic economy is slowing. The Nikkei newspaper reported Jan. 22 that new condo offerings had slumped to a 14-year low, although one reason for the falling supply is the botched introduction of stricter housing standards last year, which slowed down new building starts. The government has already trimmed its GDP growth target for the year to 1.3%, down from 2.1% a year ago. And the Cabinet Office's monthly consumer confidence survey shows consumer sentiment has been on a slide since the end of 2006 amid sluggish wage growth. A recession is not our baseline scenario, but we see a heightened risk of one, particularly given the shaky global backdrop, wrote Kenichi Kawasaki, chief economist at Lehman Brothers (LEH) in Tokyo, in a note to clients last week. While it's unclear how much worse things will get in the U.S., there's some reason to hope that the situation in China might improve later this year, says Cho Yong Jun, head of research at Shinyoung Securities in Seoul. The Chinese authorities may relent in their battle against inflation if local food supplies increase and food prices drop. Until then, though, the picture doesn't look good. We are going to have a cold winter, says Cho. Einhorn is BusinessWeek's Asia Regional Editor in Hong Kong. With Moon Ihlwan in Seoul, Frederik Balfour in Hong Kong, and Ian Rowley in Tokyo.

PERSECUSSION,BEHEADINGS

JESUS PERSECUTED BIGTIME

PSALMS 14:1
1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

ISAIAH 53:4
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

MATTHEW 9:34
34 But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.

JOHN 8:41
41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.

JOHN 10:20
20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?

PHILIPPIANS 2:10-11(JESUS GETS REVENGE)
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.(JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST AND FOR SINNERS, THE GREAT WHITE THRONE FINAL JUDGEMENT).

WE ARE CHRISTIANS WE WILL BE TREATED THE SAME.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5 (WHY WE ARE PERSECUTED BY THE WORLD)
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

MATTHEW 5:10-12
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

MATTHEW 24:9
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.

JOHN 15:18-20
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me (JESUS) before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

REVELATION 6:9-11
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain(BEHEADED) for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

REVELATION 20:4
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Nine headless bodies, 10 heads and nine complete corpses found in Iraq By Leila Fadel and Hassan al Jubouri, McClatchy Newspapers Tue Jan 29, 5:53 PM ET

BAGHDAD — Civilians stumbled upon nine headless bodies in a field about 60 miles north of Baghdad on Tuesday. The nine, including three women, had been targeted because they were suspected of being part of a local awakening council, or concerned local citizens group, that was working with U.S. troops to fight al Qaida in Iraq , said a police officer involved in the investigation.The officer said the nine headless bodies were found with two DVDs showing one of the dead men confessing that he was a member of an awakening council and another man refusing to confess.Another official said police also found 10 heads and nine bodies with their heads intact in the same area. The nine people whose corpses were intact had been shot in their chests and were killed more recently than the 10 people whose heads were discovered, police said.

It's unclear whether the killings are connected or how many people were killed and beheaded. The police official, who asked not to be named because he wasn't authorized to speak, couldn't confirm that nine headless bodies also were found, and the U.S. military couldn't verify the reports.The discoveries reportedly were made in Diyala, one of the bloodiest provinces in Iraq , where the Sunni Muslim extremist group al Qaida in Iraq , Shiite militias and Kurdish militias are active. On Jan. 17 , a bombing killed 12 people in Diyala, and unidentified and headless bodies are found sporadically in the province.The concerned local citizens group members, who file for compensation after military raids or attacks on behalf of members of the community, apparently were kidnapped after they left an Iraqi army base five days ago. They'd complained last week that al Qaida in Iraq had threatened them, the investigating officer said.Al Qaida in Iraq declared in December that it had a group of fighters dedicated to attacking members of the Sahwa, or awakening councils. Since then, a series of attacks have targeted Sahwa members or leaders in Iraq . The groups are mostly Sunni, and many of their members are former insurgents.

The corpses underscore the power al Qaida still has in northern Iraq , especially in Diyala and Nineveh provinces.Last week, a bombing killed at least 60 people and brought down a building in Mosul , and the police chief was assassinated. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki said he'd reinforce Iraqi troops and added that the battle in Mosul would be decisive, although the U.S. military dismissed much of that as posturing.Also Tuesday, a car bomb in Mosul targeted a U.S. military convoy, killing an Iraqi civilian and wounding 15, and a police commander's convoy was attacked north of Fallujah in Anbar province. Police said members of an awakening council who'd been absorbed into the police force followed the attackers, rounded up 20 suspects and executed them.In Fallujah , two truck drivers were kidnapped and their hands were bound. The kidnappers dumped the gravel they were transporting on top of them to kill them.On the road between Tikrit and Baghdad , gunmen attacked three employees of a local Iraqi TV station. Two men died and a woman was seriously injured.In Baghdad , five roadside bombs detonated throughout the capital, injuring 31 people, including five U.S. soldiers and seven members of the Iraqi security forces.
( McClatchy special correspondent Hassan al Jubouri contributed.)